text | un: m.cabrera

[naloxone]

[ turns out? space doesn't give a single fuck about your circadian rhythm. or maybe insomnia is just that attached to her that even the absence of a sun dictating her internal clock doesn't faze it, like an old friend you wish would just forget you already.

one night (?) late into the early hours (???) marta finds herself drifting out of the room she's come to assume will be hers for the indefinite future, passing through stark white walls with all the sterility of a hospital, but none of its familiar chaos.

she's still getting used to the earpiece. still getting used to hearing other people's voices in her head. she doesn't mean to add another in the void, but one of her own thoughts blares out too vividly as she stares out into an actual void: ]

—but where are the stars?

Comments

audio; un: doctor.disco

[attackbrows]

[Typical sleep schedules for chumps. In space, it's always the witching hour.]

Have you ever tried having a rave alone with a glow stick?

You and several billion others spread across throughout the room at varying distances. It is one big cosmic get together for solo dancing.

--> gee i guess we're audio now

[naloxone]

[ yeah, she doesn't know if she'll ever get used to this. ]

Is... that how many of us are here?

[ let's just focus on one thing at a time, yeah? ]

text; un: kovacs

[kovach]

[ what's a normal sleep schedule anyway? it's always insomnia o'clock here in the existential space station. ]

Could be far enough out that they don't exist here.
A few billion light years off from the nearest.

[naloxone]

[ it's like filling a station with people full of regrets is a bad idea or something. no way will they at all be bad influences on each other. ]

Is that how space works?
I've only ever seen it in TV. Movies.
Out in the country, you see so many stars so close together, I guess it never hit me that they could be so lonely.

[ —that's. that's not what she meant to say. ]

...far apart. I didn't realize they could be so far apart.

text ↪ un: 朱

[blackfire]

There are stars visible in the Sunlight Room during the station's night cycle should you wish to see them.

( he assumes both newcomer and nostalgia — and of course provides the utilitarian response. )

[naloxone]

[ newcomer, nostalgia, melancholy... pick your poison. she'd never been big on stars before, but suddenly they're gone. suddenly she's learning to miss them. ]

They're not real there though, right? Nothing in there is...

text; un: stargirl

[bossily]

[finally. someone that wants to talk stars with her!!]

Oh, they're always out there. Just not in the same way you may remember from back home. We're in a star system far from whatever you may remember. One that's likely never been discovered or explored before. Could even exist in a pocket universe where stars are far and few between. But if you ever find yourself missing the sight of them, I recommend giving the sunlight room a try.

It's beautiful late at night when everyone else is sleeping.

[naloxone]

[ she hadn't really felt anything about them before; one of those things she took for granted, just passing moments of noticing and momentary appreciation. but her attention would always be pulled back down to earth, a place that suddenly seems so very, very small in comparison.

so what does that make her? ]

Is it still comforting? Even if the stars there aren't real, or don't look like the ones you know.

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

Given what this station is meant to contain, it's probably for the best that it's as far away from anything else as possible.

There are stars in the sunlight room at night, and you can make the simulation room show you any constellations you'd like though.

--> audio too

[naloxone]

You're talking about the orbs, right? Someone mentioned them... Something about keeping them from doing more damage?

voice; un: newt

[groupiedrifter]

Hey, who needs stars when we're all stars... on the inside?

[he's not serious at all but also he kind of is but also is absolutely not

... Also apologies, Marta; Newton is hard to keep on text-only.]

--> voiceroo

[naloxone]

[ the thought-to-text thing is... new. but save for that initial knee-jerk self-consciousness about her accent, she rather prefers the audio option. it's at least a lot easier to control her words.

because what does she even say to that? ]

I'm not used to the voices in my head being so encouraging.

[ lol she's kidding.

maybe. ]

text / un: starkov

[peasant]

the stars in the sunlight room are real enough.
or ... real enough to me that i can't tell a difference. i don't know. sunshine is more my expertise.

i wouldn't suggest going there without a sweater, though, unless you want to start a new life as an icicle. i may or may not asked viveca to add snow.

[naloxone]

[ that actually puts a small smile to her lips. ]

It was just starting to be winter, back home.

[ which is to say, ]

I have a sweater, thank you.
I probably couldn't tell either. But somehow just knowing they're fake... suddenly I think I'm an expert.

( text | un: jaguar )

[scarcastically]

Why're you looking for them?

[naloxone]

[ that— is a good question. it's actually one she hadn't considered herself. is she really looking for them? or is she just acutely aware they're not there, not where she thought they'd be, and that's suddenly why she's interested. ]

I thought they'd be there. But they're not — just some little dusting, like it's all too far away.
I guess just knowing they're gone makes me miss them.

un: navigator

[droide]

Even if you could see them, they wouldn't be of any use.
We're far outside of any galaxy you may be familiar with.

[ Because that's why people look at stars, right? To plot navigational maps? That's why L3-37 looks at stars, anyway. ]

[naloxone]

[ the pragmatic response combined with that username... it aligns, at least. ]

Is it a galaxy anyone is familiar with?
Someone has to be, right?

[ otherwise who is driving this ship???????

or. keeping it stationary, as it were. ]

txt: ACE

[doze]

well
theyre in the sky i think

[naloxone]

I thought so too.
But unless you're seeing something I'm not, I don't think they're here.

text, un: silent

[callada]

I miss them too.

Part of me thinks we can't see them because of whatever the Commander and Viveca are doing to keep this place hidden. Might be some kind of shield around us.

Just a guess, though. Don't know enough about any of this stuff to do better than that.

[naloxone]

I didn't know I could miss them.
Even in the city, when the streetlights made them harder to see, it was enough to know they were there.
Just one other thing I took for granted, I guess.

[ it's not a lot, but for someone as quiet as marta generally is, she already feels like she's babbling. she's quickly coming to realize this thought to text thing is dangerous. ]

Are we hidden because of the things we're holding?
Those... orbs people have spoken about?

text; un: megatron

[flickerandfade]

It's strange to not be able to see them, isn't it?

[ Megatron? Sleeping? You must be joking. ]

[naloxone]

I regret not really paying attention before.
It's weird how you can miss something you never really noticed.

Voice | Un: All_the_jingle_ladies

[spacedisaster]

[ Normal sleeping hours? I don't know her.

Peter's a night owl, anyway, the hard part is getting him to wake up in the mornings. He also likes audio more than text, sorry, Marta. You're now welcome to a rather cheerful voice, considering the hour of the night. ]

Try looking to the right and then straight on 'til morning...?

Jokes aside, the station isn't located near any discernible star. But even if it were, the stars here wouldn't be the same you're used to see in your home world. We're in a parallel dimension, or a pocket one of some sort.

Firs time in space, I take it?

[naloxone]

[ marta doesn't mind the voice option. in fact, compared to the riskier thought-to-text option, she kind of prefers it. sure, there's always that instinctive self-consciousness about her accent... but it's currently better than accidentally letting too much of her thoughts spill out. ]

First time in space, first time in another dimension.
Back home, I barely got out of Massachusetts.

Text. un: Kirigan

[cruelyethuman]

Hidden or gone.

The only real stars you will see, are the ones we see when we're on missions. That is, if the lights of the world allows for it.

[naloxone]

Did you have time to notice them during missions?
It sounds like it would have been too busy or stressful.

text; un: kozuki.oden

[hannyas]

oh, they're up there! right? that's where they're supposed to be! but wait, if we're in space as well... they're around us? would we see them like stars if we're where they are? or would they look like bonfires?

[naloxone]

[ hang on, getting a strange sense of deja vu— ]

I don't know, actually. I've never been in space.
But so far I haven't seen either.

Text ; @Samsa

[anthropophagite]

I wonder if we are so far into the universe that we don't have suns or planets around us.

[naloxone]

People have been saying we might not even be in the universes we know of.
It's a little overwhelming.

text | un: andy

[oiorpata]

[ there is no rising and setting sun cycle on this space ship so andy's own circadian rhythm is so out of whack, like many others on board. who knew the sun had that much value?? ]

The real ones are technically out there somewhere. The simulation room has fake ones that feel real enough if you wanna stargaze.

[naloxone]

[ maybe one day she'll get used to it. but that's the day she'll have been here for too long. ]

I never really stargazed before. Feels typical I'd want to, now that they aren't around.

action; fashionably late

[homeostatic]

( Early hours means it's time for more coffee, a hike through the dim quiet of the sunlight room and back again to the infirmary. Pocketing his earpiece after the recent burst of chatter–does anyone actually sleep here?, he wonders, with wry exasperation–McCoy skims through his PADD as he walks, not expecting to see anyone once he's out once more in the plain, white halls. Night owls tended to stick together, clustering in the sunlight room, the mess, or in their quarters, 's how it goes.

She's a new face, and he's not so invested in his work that he won't slow down for the lone orber when he sees her. )

Can't sleep?

where's my starbucks wow

[naloxone]

[ maybe it's an odd sight, or maybe it's a familiar one by now — someone standing off to the side, eyes gazing off into something distant, something unseen, lips slightly parted on a thought turned print, flashing where only they can see.

when bones approaches her, she jolts, turns towards him like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't, like somehow her mere presence is taking up space where it shouldn't be, tucked towards the wall as it is. ]

Sorry, [ comes her reflex, before she can even think to process his words. she smiles a second later, polite and cordial. she gives a slight shake of her head. ]

Too much to think about. [ not that she wants to. ]

text - un; jaegermeister

[unbreachable]

[ also a resident insomniac, here. ]

I wondered that, too.

[naloxone]

[ she's starting to think nobody here sleeps... ]

Do you notice them often? Where you're from?

audio — un: the.doctor ;

[lateness]

Well. Even if you could see them, you'd hardly recognize them, hey? Different universe, different stars, different everything.

[ Beat. ]

Hello — I'm the Doctor. Bit late to be scrolling through the network, isn't it?

[ As if he isn't also chilling out right now. ]

--> audio

[naloxone]

Does it make any difference if I said it wasn't on purpose?

[ probably not. she wound up bothering a bunch of people anyway; most wouldn't care if it was accidental or not, not at this hour. whatever hour this is. ]

To be honest, I don't think I'd even recognize the ones from my own universe. [ my universe. what a strange, strange thing to say. ] I wasn't really looking for them for familiarity's sake. Just... this is space, and in space there are supposed to be stars.

But maybe this universe doesn't work that way.

[ god. she's going to get a headache soon enough, she knows it. ]

text; un: clarke

[romancekiller]

They're out there somewhere even if they probably wouldn't be recognizable to us. I think the closest we can get is seeing them in the sunlight or simulation room.

[naloxone]

That's what I'm hearing... Do those rooms get used very often?

un: dragongirl

[catchatting]

THAT'S your first question? Not like how is all this possible or what the hell are the orbs we're supposed to collect or HOW AM I GOING TO KEEP UP MY SKINCARE ROUTINE?

[naloxone]

...No, I also want to know those things.



Except the last one, I guess. I don't really have a routine.