outer_divide | Starlight, Starbright... [Video

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character: randolph lyall

Starlight, Starbright... [Video | Thursday night]

Good evening... Randolph Lyall here.

[For those of them who don't recognize him by now. His face is only on camera briefly, however, before he turns it up to the now-clear sky, panning slowly and steadily around to show as much of it as he can-- well, the parts he's noticed have changed. Wherever he is, it's far enough from Poseidon and any residual lights that the stars are very clear.]

I'm not really sure if anyone has noticed, but the sky has changed from what I remember. I spend most of my nights out under it, especially lately, so I take note of the stars quite a bit. That set there--

[He pauses the camera over one constellation in particular.]

--belongs several feet over to my left, and this one--

[He moves the camera again.]

--belongs several along the horizon at this time of night. Even worse, at least one formation I've actually taken note of seems to have vanished entirely, or at least is now missing enough pieces that I can no longer identify it.

[He doesn't memorize every star there is, you know. Just the patterns that help keep him on track when scent trails fail him, or that stand out when a nocturnal wolf is bored and watching the stars.]

I'm not at all sure what could do such a thing. Whether the planet system has moved and we didn't notice, whether something is blocking them out, or... well, I'm open to ideas, if anyone has any.

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Could the entire planet have time travelled?

[Sure, it being the entire planet would be new. But other than that, there is precedent!]

Wasn't even drinking this time.

I'm fairly certain your drinking or lack of drinking doesn't have anything to do with it.

[The camera's back on Lyall, now, and he looks a bit bemused by the suggestion that it might have.]

I wouldn't put anything past this place, to be honest, but I will admit moving the whole planet would be a feat I'm not sure is doable. I already know it's not just that we've been moved in time, ourselves, unless it happened entirely without notice... I discovered the problem last night, and today has been perfectly normal, otherwise.

Still haven't heard of a better explanation for our last bout of time travel.

[Lyall you have to understand how drunk he got the night before]

It's always been just us affected before. But stars don't change that much in a couple weeks.

[He decides not to comment on the bit about the earlier time travel. He's certain Salvation had plenty to say on the subject that made plenty of sense.]

I know, something has to have changed. The ones entirely missing could be being blocked by something, but the ones that moved have me utterly baffled. I know stars move depending on season, but the seasons haven't changed at all, and over thousands of years, but it doesn't seem like it ought to have been that long.

Perhaps someone ought to consult Salvation.

[Speaking of her, since she's the one among them most likely to know if something temporal or spacial has changed...]

Probably our best bet. This shouldn't happen without a change in galactic positioning. So drift or... the other option doesn't even sound like it should be possible.

I suppose I'll do that, then, unless some other enterprising individual decides to get to it before I can. Which really won't be all that long from now-- I might as well just head up there tonight, rather than waiting, I suppose.

Have you heard from any of the techies that practically live out there yet?

Stark told me to keep an eye on it, but nothing more than that.

Well, I guess since you're heading out anyway it doesn't really save much time to get them to ask anyway.

Not really, no. Though I might get there to find out it's already been asked. I suppose we'll see.

Keep an eye on it. Axial tilt could account for the movement, and something large enough would create a void - but if there's something blocking pieces of the sky, it'll move or make itself visible eventually.

I will. Nothing's changed since last night, at least, but I'm out here often enough that I'll likely notice if it does.

Professor Firenze would call it an omen.

[Divination has never been his strength. And yet the dreams he's had...]

[Neville gets a little smile.]

I'm sure there's a perfectly scientific explanation for it, whatever it is. We're simply lacking in data at the moment.

His tend to be a little more...

He doesn't just constantly predict that Harry's going to die.

Someone predicted someone was going to die, repeatedly? That sounds terribly macabre, and a bit tedious.

[He doesn't believe in such things himself, in general, though he's technically aware that they might be true on other worlds than his own.]

Professor Trewlawney, our last Divination teacher.

She hasn't been right about that yet.

That's good to know. I would hate for a prediction like that to actually come true. In this case, however, I'm entirely certain if it's an omen for anyone's deaths, it would be, well, all of ours. Something that can change the stars is certainly beyond anything I can handle.

The stars are supposed to predict a bigger scale than individual lives. Wars, that kind of things.

It makes more sense to me than them meaning anything specific for just one person anyway.

[Which is just a load of rubbish, as far as Lyall is concerned, but he's still gentle about it when he explains his own point of view.]

The stars of my world follow predictable patterns due to their places in the rest of the universe. So unless these predictions are cyclical, over the course of thousands of years, I'm not certain they really have much power over anything, individuals or otherwise.

I... don't really know the answer to that. Professor Firenze only started teaching partway through the year and everything was already going quite mad by then.

[As opposed to the usual level of sanity at Hogwarts]

It may be that your world and mine are different, as well.

[He says it kindly, at least.]

But I can be tolerably certain that the stars here have no real bearing on the actions of the people on one tiny, misaligned planet.

[Thoughtfully] Have you kept track of when you first noticed these occurrences?

Last night was the first time we haven't had clouds overnight in several weeks, so it could have begun any time during the storms. I first noticed it last night, however.

[He adds, dryly and not figuring this to be what Bruce is actually after:]

Or do you mean when I first started assuming stars held to particular patterns?

[Bruce laughs, and shakes his head.] No, the first answer is what I wanted to know. It's possible the two are connected -- the storms and the disrupted star patterns, that is.

Do you think?

[Lyall can't imagine a storm actually altering stars-- aren't they millions of miles away? Further, even? But if Bruce is saying it, it's entirely possibly, so he asks:]

How so?

Mm, not in a direct kind of way, unless the storms altered the atmosphere enough to alter our view of the night sky somehow. But maybe something caused the storms that also caused the star patterns to shift.

I had assumed they were simply part of the normal weather patterns. We had rain about this time last year, as well, if I recall. We get quite a bit of rain here, to be honest. I'll ask about and see how common storms like that really are.

It might be a good thing to ask about...it might also be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed abnormal star patterns before, though I don't know if it's something anyone else pays much attention to here.

I'm mostly certain there's not a way to move a whole planetary system. [ even so, the masked alien woman, doesn't seem as sure as her words might make her sound. this planet likes to test just how far she can stretch her working knowledge (and belief) of theoretical physics. ]

Missing stars could have a mostly reasonable explanation, but the moved ones... I'm guessing it's too much to ask if anyone's actually charted them? [ yeah, probably. ] Oh, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, by the way. It's nice to meet you, Randolph Lyall.

A pleasure.

[Though he's terribly curious what she looks like under that mask, now. What could it be for, exactly?]

Actually, I'm sure there are, quite likely in the library. The people here aren't entirely backward, you know.

[He says that with a little amusement, considering they're rather the opposite, compared to where he comes from.]

That was my next task, once I verified tonight that I hadn't merely been seeing things, between the cloud wisps last night.

[ he can wait patiently to never know what exactly is behind that mask, just like everyone else. it's a mystery. ]

I don't know how far I'd go in agreeing they aren't backward. [ tali snorts, a little amused as well. maybe with a little more judgement, though. ] It'll be a handful without proper mapping equipment, but if you need another pair of eyes to help with comparison mapping, I'm curious to see what might have caused this.

[At least he's too polite to ask about it. He does, instead, give a bit of a chuckle.]

I come from eighteen seventy-five, on Earth. This place is rather more advanced than what I am used to. Regardless, I won't turn down help, seeing as I only notice patterns, I've never actually made a star chart, of my own.

That was even a long time before humans made their first contact. I can't imagine what sort of technology you actually had to work with. [ her knowledge of human history isn't great, but she knows that they're leaps and bounds behind the rest of the galaxy in everything except stubbornness. that trait does come in handy, though. ]

Anyway, I've edited a couple of star charts before, and done some data transfer of them, so I'm sure we can figure out something.

Well before, yes, I know. We haven't even made it out of the aethersphere yet, much less considered life in other solar systems. Regardless, I'm used to it now, at least, and your help would be welcome.

((I have some infos now, if you'd like to play anything out with them poking at the star charts in person :3 or we can off-screen, however you'd like!))

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Starlight, Starbright... [Video | Thursday night]

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