Procrastinating and Not Solving My Problems | Open to All

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Who: Darin Altway and anyone who wants to join!
When: On especially clear nights throughout the month!
Where: Kauto, Region 5
What: Stargazing! Introspection! Relaxation! Bonding! Hilarity!

[Life had been decidedly quiet for Darin in the last month and a half. After that tumultuous mission with Shiro and the ensuing fallout, things had returned to be as peaceful as they could possibly be on an alien world. It was as close to feeling like 'home' as it could while not actively being the same.]

[Perhaps it was this longing for 'home' that found Darin on top of a grassy hill, sprawled out on his back and gazing up at the night sky. Back home, he would do this often when he had to turn his thoughts inward. He would gaze up at the twin moons of his world, one perpetually almost eclipsing the other, and think about his place in that world.]

[He found himself doing the same thing now, but instead of wondering what his place was, he was wondering what he could do to protect it. The laboratory on Asteroid 276 presented a path: a chance to limit himself and his abilities, thereby protecting everyone he had come to know and love in this world. But what would that mean for him if he was ever sent back to his real home? On the other hand...if he chose to keep himself limit free, where did he start in gaining mastery over himself? Dromas had been taught to use his powers. The power gap between them was like comparing an ocean to a babbling brook. How could he even begin to learn something about which he had no previous desire to know?]

[He sighs and reaches into a holster on his hip, drawing forth the tablet that Lucio had given him. He points it up towards the star-filled sky and begins opening window after window: star charts he'd taken from the Hub and meticulously recreated as images in the tablet. He starts moving the images around with his hands, trying to find matches among this night's tapestry. He didn't really expect to find his home...or anything in particular. But, it kept his mind busy. Kept its gears turning. Who knows...maybe he'd find an answer tonight?]

Comments

[justice_from_above]

It's been a rough time for Fareeha has well. The two-week security contract was enough space to let her come to terms with certain things, but she wasn't as at ease as she was previously.

She'd taken a walk to clear her head and to enjoy the clear sky, and it isn't long before she finds Darin on the grassy hill. She climbs it, pulling her hands from her pockets in order to settle down next to him and stretch out on her back, taking in a breath and letting it out in a long, cathartic sigh as she relaxes into the grass. She looks up at the sky in silence for a few moments before chancing to speak. It felt loud and almost sacrilegious on such a clear, still night.]

What have you got there, Darin?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[He doesn't look away from his star maps as he gradually pans them across the sky, idly searching for matches. He could hear footsteps, and he recognized the weight without even having to look. He certainly didn't mind the company, and Fareeha was always comforting to be around. He finds himself smiling slightly as she sprawls out next to him.]

A whole lotta nothing, really. I guess I'm just looking for some connection...anything to put us in a definitive place in this universe.

I used to do this a lot back home. But I never had holotech. I just used my imagination...drew pictures...came up with stories.

[justice_from_above]

I'd be interested to hear what stories you could come up with for these.

[She makes a general motion to the starry night above them, then turns her head to the side to look at him.] Have you found any matches, yet?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Oh believe me...I've got plenty of stories. Some I doubt you'd even believe.

[He laughs warmly.]

No matches yet. To be honest, I don't expect to find anything.

It's...crazy to think about. Back home, when I used to do this, I'd look up at the twin moons and whatever stars were in view and I'd see them as just that: Stars. Sure, people used to say they were the souls of the Celestials that far in the War of Creation but...I never could fathom the truth. That all of those stars were suns. And that worlds teeming with life and mysteries orbited them.

[He heaves an almost dreamlike sigh.]

It makes me feel so small, you know? It makes my problems seem so...insignificant. In the grand scheme of things. I've met so many people from so many different worlds...with so many different battles behind them and ahead of them. It's like...

[He raises his hand to look at it with the night sky as a back drop.]

Why do we have so many worries and concerns? It...almost seems selfish.

[justice_from_above]

It does. What are we but some tiny little speck on the timeline? I don't think it makes our concerns any less important, though; that is our personal reality. We don't live in eons like suns and moons.

[She stops to think for a moment, tilting her head as she looks up at the night sky,] I think, it's not selfish to feel those things, so long as we don't let them consume us. This might be all we get; we shouldn't spend it with our stomach tied up in knots.

[Which is advice she should take for herself, lately.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...Yeah. Believe me, I know what you mean.

I ever tell you that I had--have a brother? A twin brother?

His name's Dromas. When we were kids...he was the daring one. He always acted first and did so with little to no concern for the repercussions. He just...lived. He was bold and outspoken...everything I wasn't. I was the one always hiding behind him. Swept up in his pace.

[He opens a blank window on his tablet and expands it to cover his view of the night sky. He begins tapping away, marking stars.]

[justice_from_above]

Hm? No, I don't think you have ...

[At least, not with so many details.] Do you miss him?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[There's a long pause before he answers.]

I...do.

I do because he always filled me with courage, even when I had none.

[He falls silent for a few minutes.]

...He died with my father. When I was five. He was killed in the same attack that gave me that scar I have on my back. I tried to run. He threw himself between the sword strike and me.

Ever since that day...I decided I was going to live like I pictured he would have. It's probably why I act before thinking so much. If I think, I'll second guess myself. Slip back into the person I was before.

[justice_from_above]

[She listens. She's not sure she really knows how to respond, but it sounds like Darin's made peace with the situation in his own way. His sentiment is touching, about living like he thought his brother would have. She reaches over, and slips her hand into his as a quiet sign of solidarity.]

I think that's a beautiful way to look at it, Darin.

[shiro2hero]

Busy?

[He probably should have announced himself a little more before just padding up the hill. He'd been on his way home from a late night shift, seen the tablet glow, and gone to check it out. Only to find their other blue teammate.]

[At least he wasn't in uniform, dressed down to loose pants and a black sweatshirt, spangled with little white whirls of stars.]

[He stops a pace or two away, hands shoved in his pockets.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Without looking away from his little matching game, Darin offers a bit of a laugh.]

Me? Never. Just wasting the night away playing connect the dots with the universe.

You gonna stand there or are you gonna have a seat?

[shiro2hero]

I wouldn't say stargazing is a waste of time. I really, really wouldn't.

[He does pad over though, standing next to him for a moment or two, looking up.]

I'll stand for a bit.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I used to do it a lot back home. There was nothing better...

A warm night, the breeze carrying the sent of the ocean on its wake. The sound of the tide. The way the twin moons gave everything an ethereal glow...

It's different here. Not any less amazing but...back home the sky seemed full. Here it just seems kind of...empty.

[He huffs.]

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it.

[shiro2hero]

It's light pollution.

[He sits down, then, elbows propped up on his knees.]

The more light there is from cities and people, the less the stars show. Same goes for things like moons.

So yeah, it makes sense.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...So, you mean to tell me that the more advanced people became, the more we literally lost sight of the universe we live in?

Because that might be the first solid argument I have in favor of my world being better than anything I've found here.

[shiro2hero]

[So help him, he laughs. A real laugh, this time. Not the strained one he usually has.]

Something like that, sure.

But it happens in nature, too. Planets with more light sources -- more moons -- those block the stars out too. Same reason you can't see them when the sun's up.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Yeah, but my moons were gorgeous. There's a legend about them and everything. Then again...considering everything about me, I wouldn't be surprised if it was fact.

[patchricide]

[There was a reason she had gone looking for him. But it's momentarily forgotten as she catches him in what seems like an unusually pensive moment.]

[The obvious question, of course, is what is he doing? She's not even sure if he's exploring with curiosity, or if it's more of a meditative act. But she holds back on that, watching him, seeing if she can catch it from observation before interrupting.]

[Especially since there were so many times that her words never hit the right mark with him If she questioned it, would it sound like she found it strange that he'd take an interest in the cosmos? (Honestly, it's not. It would be strange if he didn't.)]

[So she approaches nonchalantly, even looking away from him as she tries to be indirect in her curiosity.]

It's a wonderful night, isn't it? With a sky this clear, you can see so many of them.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin could feel someone's gaze on him, but things like that never really bothered him. When you spend your entire life drawing looks because of your blue hair, a trait no one else had naturally, you get used to questioning looks and prolonged stares. He's learned to ignore it for the most part.]

[He's a little surprised that, of all people, it's the Princess that decides to approach him. But he doesn't really look away from his machinations. He just continues to examine the charts and comparing them to the stars.]

Yeah. Not as bright they were back home but...stars are stars, you know? At least here, I have something to compare them to. Maps and charts. Back home, I would just make stuff up.

[patchricide]

It might be because we're still so close to civilization. There's still quite a bit of light pollution in the atmosphere. You might need a camping trip before you can see them that clearly...

[She takes a seat nearby, oddly unconcerned with her dress getting covered in grass and dirt. What can she say? She has a soft spot for open fields.]

Did they make maps of the stars, back where you came from? Or... was it just a matter of being permitted to see them? [In both cases, it's hard for her to imagine, due to the differences in worlds.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[He laughs a bit.]

Not everything was regulated to the rich and magically powerful on Anmaral, Princess. The stars were perfectly free to look at. And even if they weren't, I'd like to see them try and stop me.

But...yeah we had some rudimentary star charts. Things to navigate by and whatnot. Legends and stories and all kinds of things to along with them as well.

Camping trip sounds nice though. Maybe I'll consider going on one, one day.

[patchricide]

[That gets a small laugh out of her.]

I meant the maps, not the stars themselves! Taking the stars away would just be... cruel. Evil for the sake of evil.

[She puts the camping idea aside for a moment, and asks,] What kind of stories? I'd love to hear one.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Oh there's all kinds. Legends about the stars, legends about our moons and why they were created...

Hell, people have been waxing poetic about the heavens for centuries. But you didn't come out here looking for me just to hear me tell stories, did you?

[patchricide]

No, but the reason I was looking for you happens to resemble work.

[Chores, something to fix. All those usual things.]

But when I saw you out here? This seemed... more important, somehow.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Hey, I happen to like work. Work keeps me busy. Keeps my mind going.

Though, when you phrase it like that, seeing me stargazing? It almost sounds flattering.

So, what do you need done, Princess?