PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

[ricksybusiness]

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! ]

Comments

[adlantisag]

[ Oh, goodness. She's never used a machine this advanced before. Apprehensive but curious, she scoots over, placing her eye at the lens.

It's dark--there isn't much to see. Lightning arcs occasionally. Distantly, pinpricks of light, but not as great a number as the myriad stars she saw in Anwick. The more she looks, the more the blackness seems to press on her, and eventually she stops, pulling away from the telescope. ]

There are so few stars, but surely they should not be visible with the storm?

[ She considers the sky for a moment, then has to look away when thunder booms. ]

I am sorry I cannot be more helpful to you. I have never... [ She purses her lips, looking for the word. ] Experienced a lightning storm before.

[viscontree]

It's nothing you should apologize for. You're being helpful enough as it is, Kida. Don't worry.

I received a lot of information from your summary. [Julius has seen plenty of storms back in the Far East. He's thinks about what kind of time and place Kida lived in and how often they even saw things like rain.]

This is your first time viewing a storm? What are your thoughts on it?

[adlantisag]

[ She blinks. Her thoughts? ]

It is off-putting. [ Just shy of frightening, though she'd never say as much. ] It is as if the sky is angry with us.

[ She looks at him, frowning. ] It is not, is it? Angry at being... [ She motions upwards. ] ...veiled?

[ Kida doesn't truly believe in gods, not in the way the stories described them, and certainly nothing like what Julius called 'gods'. But she does believe in a kind of animism, an intentional quality to the universe's various aspects. Maybe the sky is a part of that, too. How would she know? The last time she saw it properly was millennia ago. ]

[viscontree]

The sky isn't angry with us.

I can see how you'd interpret it that way however. Almost as if the sky is shaking the world itself. [It's not really mad, just a weather phenomenon. Kida's words have some insight to them though.]

Storms like this don't normally last long. I wouldn't worry about it.

[He has a feeling that storms scare Kida a little. Julius is trying to be nice to her.]

[adlantisag]

[ She nods. There's some kind of logical explanation to all this, but it seems incredibly magical to her now. He's not wrong in assuming it frightens her--it does--but she'd be loath to admit it.

She sits back down, drawing up her knees. A moment passes before she tilts her head at him: ]

Is this common, in your world?

[viscontree]

It was. The rain itself was a threat to humans on occasion. I realize that this isn't common in other worlds.

[Rain doesn't normally kill people. Julius frowns at that thought. Perhaps it's something unique to his world, but if it is then he doesn't like it.]

To me storms are deadly. It can make even living difficult.