IT IS A NEW YEAR

[garmentgoddess]

When: Dec 31st
Where: Commons
What: PARTY
Who: EVERYONE IS INVITED



Rene hung the last of the party decorations over the door and quickly put the ladder away. The tables were set with various edibles, the curtains were crisp and ironed, the paper decorations were festive and cute, and the year was about to change.

2017 though? What a strange number. She wondered what their calendar was based on. No matter, a celebration was always a good time.

Comments

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

Rosalina kept mostly to herself at the party, hanging at the sidelines and watching things go on with a curious eye. It had been a while since she'd been to a simple new years party like this. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what she should say... Who she should talk to...

[trustycrowbar]

"Excuse me--err, where's your moth--oh."

There was at least someone who could supply some conversation. Assuming he can get to her around all the excited lumas orbiting her.

"Ah, I knew I'd find you eventually. How are you, Rosalina?"

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

"Oh! Doctor Freeman," Rosalina responded with a smile, but hint of blush on top of it. The lumas giggled and continued to float about, until Rosalina addressed them. "Dears, why don't you go get yourselves something to eat, hm?" At the suggestion, they squeaked in delight and floated off, leaving the two alone. Rosalina looked him over, trying to think of what to say. She wasn't sure how to approach him. Especially not after their... 'encounter' the other day under the mistletoe. "I'm just fine, thank you," she answered quietly. "And you...?"

[trustycrowbar]

"I'm good! I'm, I'm good..."

Oh yeah, he remembers the mistletoe thing. It was only a kiss, but for some reason he can't shake it from his mind. On reflection, he's starting to realize why:

"You seem... rather alone, over here. Even with your entourage." He indicates the baby stars raiding the sweets at the snack tables.

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

Rosalina blinked. "Do I..." It was less a question and more of a thought that decided to give voice to itself. It was true, and he was quite observant for saying it. She looked down, avoiding his gaze and gripping her wand. "...I suppose... I am lonely... My children are my joy, but all the same, it's been a long time since I've had true company from, well, my own kind."

[trustycrowbar]

He scoops a pair of drinks off the table and offers her one.

"That wouldn't happen to be why you kissed me the way you did, would it?" Said quietly and without accusation. "Not that I didn't enjoy it... it was just surprising, is all."

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

"It... would be, yes," Rosalina agreed, taking the cup gratefully. "I should not have done it, and I deeply apologize for my... untowards behaviour. Although... I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. Or that the thought of it happening again didn't... excite me in a shameful way."

[trustycrowbar]

...actually that excites him too...

"It's not shameful. We're social creatures. We need physical contact. You take that away from us, and we lose a lot about what makes us human."

The Combine had tried to do just that in his world, set up a field that eradicated both conception itself, and indeed any drive to attempt it. Somehow shutting down one primal urge seemed to cripple the others, and it left behind a bunch of disorganized, scared and docile creatures for citizens. That's why he may not ACT on all his impulses, but he will never not acknowledge them.

"...hell, I'd kiss you again right now, but..." He nods to Shantae, happily socializing across the room. "I think I need to at least talk to her about it first."

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

"I feel that I've been so long removed from humanity that I've forgotten so much of what it was like to be one," she commented quietly.

"...R-really?" she asked, feeling her heart skip another beat at the thought. She looked back at Shantae, who had not seemed to notice them yet, and then back up at Gordon. "I don't want to impose... I have no intention of stealing you from your beloved, and the last thing I want to do is interfere in your life, or her life."

[trustycrowbar]

"I know. The fact that you care so much is part of what I like about you. Beyond the obvious, of course... Anyway, I think the two of us can handle a little constructive interference."

He chortles at his own little science joke, and before he gulps the rest of his punch, he adds hastily: "Just uh, don't be surprised if she says that she's interested in you too--"

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

"...Thank you, Gordon," she replied, giving him a small smile. "I do like you too. Although I didn't think my appearance would ever be called constructive interference," she added with a quick laugh.

But then she blinks. "...I had not even considered that would be a possibility..." she said truthfully, face reddening.

[trustycrowbar]

"Well... it's a nonzero chance." He added with a shrug. "But in any case, I don't think she'll mind."

He gazes away at the glittery cloud descending the snack table. "...Is it me, or are there more of more of your star... lings... than before?"

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

"But is it something you'd WANT to happen...? I-I mean you and I, not myself and Shantae," Rosalina asked hesitantly.

The shift of topics gave her a bit of relief as she could speak on something with more authority than her love life. "Yes, there are... It would seem wherever we are in the cosmos, there are Lumas here as well. And they've gravitated towards me," she explained.

[trustycrowbar]

Oh don't worry, Rosie,he'll come back to the topic. But for now...

"'Gravitated?' Was that deliberate, it did you make that pun my accident?"

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

Now she could smile again, feeling her confidence return. "A happy accident, I assure you," she commented with a small laugh. "Lumas are drawn to me. Wherever they are. I suppose all children long for a home..."

[trustycrowbar]

"Lumas? Right, that's what they're called." He reminds himself. "And do they all actually become stars? Far as I knew, The process involved more gravity and dust, and gamma rays and neutrinos..."

He trails off, watching lumas play catch with a jawbreaker.

"It isn't so, you know... Cute, either."

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

"So I've heard," Rosalina said, nodding. "Yes, it's true, Lumas are baby stars. They will eat, they will grow, and when their time comes they will transform. Some will become comets, some will become planets, some will become stars... Some will even become entire galaxies."

[trustycrowbar]

"I guess it's going to take a helluva lot more candy for any of them to become a galaxy..."

He's actually being facetious, but he doesn't realize how close to the truth he actually is.

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

She laughed softly at that, smiling for him in that soft, mysterious way she did. "You're not that far off," she told him. "Lumas primarily eat Star Bits. The more they eat, the closer they come to being able to transform. It's not uncommon for a luma to gorge itself on star bits to change right away," she explained.

[trustycrowbar]

That sounds, in a rather comforting way to him, like stars accumulating dust and matter. Maybe this isn't so strange after all...

"Since we're on a floating island, are star bits hard to find here?"

[ladyoftheshootingstars]

"Perhaps not as much as you might think," Rosalina said. "Comets and shooting stars often deposit star bits. And there seem to be enough in the space surrounding the island that I can draw them down here with my power," she explained.