psl: polychromatic AU | stargazers

[sleepingstar]

[On the top of the hill, Pai feels like she can reach up and touch the stars. Lying on her back, the grass scratchy on the back of her neck, she stares up at the sky.

She reaches an arm up and covers one of the stars with her thumb. Look, brother! I made another star fall! Except it's still there; all she has to do is move her hand. She doesn't have to kill anyone anymore. Neither of them do.

Hei isn't comfortable here. He's fallen into the habit of paranoia. He doesn't trust the peace, doesn't remember who he is outside of the Syndicate's control. He's so very human in that respect. Pai isn't bothered by the uncertainty. It's irrational to worry about something so completely out of her control.

Instead of making the stars fall, she can make them into stories. She traces shapes in the sky -- finding a bear, a swan, a man dancing. It's a silly exercise, but important. The mind is a muscle like any other; it requires a variety of exercises. It needs whimsey & rationality, exertion & rest.]

熊...

Comments

[candothat]

[Chekov, collapsible telescope in tow, is somewhat surprised to find someone--someone who isn't Hei--on his hill (not that he owns the hill, of course, but it's the best place in the City to stargaze that isn't on top of a mountain and, therefore, a location that he frequents). The fact that the someone is a girl is puzzling. More puzzling is the fact that Chekov doesn't recognize her, as he is at least acquainted with a significant portion of the City's female population.

The teenager puts his telescope down and approaches the stranger.]

Hello, miss?

[sleepingstar]

[Pai pretends not to notice the young man approaching, although she'd glanced quickly from the corner of her eye at the first sound of footsteps to make sure he didn't have a weapon. Without her brother standing guard, she can't afford to relax too much.

She sits up when the young man speaks, thinking idly to herself that he has a lovely accent. Russian, most likely, although with only two words to go by, he could easily be from anywhere in the former USSR. She smiles.]

Hello.

[candothat]

[He returns the smile easily.]

Are you watching the stars?

[sleepingstar]

[She wraps her arms around her knees as she nods.]

They're very different from the stars at home.

[And then she gestures to his telescope.]

You too, huh?

[Hei would love that, she thinks, and wishes her brother was here. She loves stars, but he's the one who really dreamed of studying them.]

[candothat]

Very. None of the constellations I know from home are here.

[He shrugs in answer to her question.]

Only if you are not opposed to company, miss.

[sleepingstar]

[Opposed to company? Not a bit. She's spent long enough almost entirely alone. She pats the ground nearby, inviting him to sit.]

Where is your home?

[candothat]

[He thanks her as he sits, cross-legged as opposed to sprawled out as he would be if alone.]

Russia, originally. And where is yours?

[sleepingstar]

[She's not even sure she could say at this point; it's been so long since she's thought of anywhere as home.]

South America. [It's as good an answer as any. South America has certainly shaped her life more than any other place she's been.]

What do you know about the stars here?

[candothat]

I have heard of that continent, but I've never been there.

[Chekov looks up at the stars.]

Very little, but they behave as normal stars. They have a rotational period of approximately twenty-four hours, their light appears to flicker as light should when it passes through a planet's atmosphere. The arrangement is wholly unfamiliar to me and I have yet to see evidence of any planets, which is peculiar; very few solar systems have only one planet.

[He smiles at the young woman.] But all of that must be boring. My name is Pavel Andreievich Chekov.

[sleepingstar]

[She shakes her head.] Not at all. You sound a little like my brother. He's always loved the stars.

My name is Pai.

[candothat]

Is that why you've come to look at the stars?

A pleasure to meet you, Pai.

[sleepingstar]

No, I just like looking at them. My brother's busy at work and I got bored.

[candothat]

As good a reason as any. They are very beautiful.

[He doesn't bother asking who her brother is. It's none of his business.]

Pai, have you been here for long?

[sleepingstar]

[Making small talk like this is a novelty. She can't remember the last time she made idle conversation like this.

Only a week. [It feels like longer, in some ways. This is the first day Hei has let her out of his sight.]

[candothat]

A week? My apologies for not meeting you sooner.

[There he goes, flirting subconsciously.]

[sleepingstar]

It's a big city. [She takes his words at face value, the subconscious flirting escaping her. She's far from innocent, but growing up in a warzone with an overprotective older brother, she hasn't had much opportunity to flirt.] I'm sure there are a lot of people you haven't met.

[candothat]

Certainly, but how many of them like looking at stars? [as an afterthought:] Rhetorical question. I'm glad for the company.

[sleepingstar]

[She smiles.]

I am too.

[She rests her chin on her knees and looks back up on the stars.]

Do you know if there are any constellations?

[candothat]

[He likes Pai. She seems like one of the nicer people he has met in the City.]

None that anyone has named yet.

[sleepingstar]

[Pai has a good feeling about him. Appearances can be deceiving, of course, but he has a pleasant energy to him. (And it's nice, having a boy's company besides her brother. Being a Contractor doesn't completely preclude being a teenage girl.)]

You should name one.

[candothat]

Me? I'm not so creative. I think you would do better, Pai.

[sleepingstar]

What makes you think that?

[candothat]

Because there is no one less creative than a scientist.

[sleepingstar]

You're not the one who just named a constellation "Bear."

[candothat]

A sensible enough name, if it looks like a bear. Where is it?

[He looks up at the stars and just sees... stars. No bears.]