epidemiology | PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION.

It's difficult to tell time without the presence of a sun or moon. There are no stars. The world is in constant blackness, the heavens barely visible from below and the only light artificial. It's been like this for months.

Suddenly, those who expressed interest in observing the sun (or lack thereof) will all at once receive a text message on their ALASTAIR jewellery from 82736775:

Get your shit and go look at the sky. Now's the time. If you need me, I'm around.

It's time to get to work.

OBSERVATION.

Find the highest point you can and point the telescopes at the sky. Should be easy, right?

Be mindful that there are still guards patrolling the city, looking for escaped prisoners, and some citizens would be very happy to tip them off to your presence. There are still animals in the forests to contend with, and there are still nosey citizens who may ask you too many questions. There are also your fellow ALASTAIR agents, who may not be very willing to share the spot they already staked out before you just showed up.

People and animals aren't all you need to look out for, either. Seven hours after the observation starts, there is a lightning storm. It lasts for 30 minutes, bolts of electricity arcing across the sky. It might be a good idea to scurry down someplace lower when this happens -- you know what they say about lightning and height.

82736775 doesn't contact anyone after the initial text, so observers are free to give up whenever they decide they've been sitting out in the freezing dark for long enough.

[ note: even if you didn't sign up, feel free to tag in! your character won't have a telescope but that doesn't mean they can't mingle. ]

[ previously: ic info | ooc info ]
[ direct questions here! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I’ll only corrupt you.
_{[ Which is why you’re adventurous, evidently. Corruption was something he didn’t go into details with, but he meant anything from something sexual, to something moral, to something emotional— all of the above and then some. Gintoki huffs out a flustered breath, completely turning away to hide the red that made itself more prominent in his cheeks and spreading all the way to his ears.

He’s pushing you away, Olivia, but you are more than welcome to continue to struggle for his affections that he had concealed with much effort seeing as he felt something for her too.
After all, he has done his part and he isn’t going to break his promises.

Especially if it meant to protect another person. ]}

Edited 2016-01-16 03:52 (UTC)

[ she's not entirely sure when it was the planet stood still, but she thinks it might have happened sometime after her heart burst in her chest.

she had hoped, though she hadn't dared to do so loud enough that her own mind had heard it, but she'd hoped for some kind of favorable response. something, anything, even something tiny that wouldn't automatically dissuade her, or put a stop to these feelings that she knew, simultaneously, were happening far too quickly yet stalling too much to be painless. a nod, perhaps, or even a gentle acquiescence. she didn't need the feelings to be returned, especially not when she's still struggling to define them herself, but just something to tell her it was okay. it's okay to feel what she feels and, maybe, it's even okay to let them grow. she would have been happy with that. she would have been thrilled to simply admire him from a distance, and stay quiet about it for as long as it lasts. so long as it was okay.

she never actually thought it wouldn't be.

i'll only corrupt you, he says. looking away from her, as if he were ashamed, as if the brush of their lips wasn't supposed to happen, but the tingling on her skin tells her it had, it was real, and whatever it is he's keeping back — that's real too.

isn't it?

but just because something is real, doesn't mean it should be pursued.

i'll only corrupt you. corrupt her? is she so pure? he must think so, but she knows better. she is nothing — just a dancer, a nobody. not untouchable, not a deity, just a human. painfully, pitifully human, if only because she can only ever wonder at her rotten luck. ]

Don't think I don't know what you're doing—

[ she isn't quite like him, able to read people so naturally, so easily. but she can still read them, and try as he might to close himself off to her— she's seen enough.

his heart isn't quite so far from the surface as he'd like to believe.

in a way, it's touching. even if it is incredibly disappointing. if he means to do this for her... then isn't it the least she could do to let him? ]

...thanks.

[ and despite the heaviness of her words, the way it weighs on her shoulders like a failure, like a loss — she is thankful. grateful that he would care enough to protect her even from herself.

(if he hadn't stopped her now, who knows how far she would have fallen? there's no getting up from that kind of height.)

she'll stand now, busying her hands with the motions of fixing her coat, taking up her basket. she presses her tingling lips into a firm line, it even almost looks like a smile. ]

I think I heard your telescope beeping earlier. Maybe it found something special.

[ and on that hopeful note, she'll take her leave. ]

_{[ Gintoki doesn't show any sign of disappointment, as he often does when he does something like this. He rolls his shoulder and rubs it with one of his hands firmly, pressing into it. His gaze finally pulls from the ground when he senses her movement, his hand still clasped on his shoulder as he watches her take her leave, tipping his head upward and face carrying a vacant expression.

He doesn't regret what he has done and said— though he thinks it probably was better if he hadn't kissed her. Too late for that; the tip of his tongue traces through the line of his lips, catching any remnants of her as she turns to leave, saying absolutely nothing to her.

She's out of ear shot, but he still says to himself as he puts his attention back on the telescope. ]}

I did find something special.
_{[ He adjusts the telescope and takes another peek in it. ]}

—I just wish you would believe it.

PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

2.2

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