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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:57 pm
Otto missed the sound of crickets.
That's what he thought when he stepped outside at midnight into the training fields. He wanted air, wanted fresh air and the feel of the tropical night air on his face. He got that much, but he heard no crickets. No noises aside from the very faint sound of the ocean far, far away.
There were so few things Otto really missed about home. He didn't really get home sick much. A lot of that had to do with his abusive father and his shrug-it-off mother.
But he did miss the sounds of night time in the farmer's fields.
So there he stood, lost and missing a pivotal detail of what night time jaunts were supposed to include. He let out a depressed sigh, and slowly trudged across the field.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 5:16 pm
He wasn't sleeping, as usual.
Even after the incident with his promotion hadn't yet helped that particular quirk about himself; the bedtimes extended first from midnight, to two, three, four in the morning, with the occasional all-nighter. There were times when Chance dragged his telescope out to the middle of the field (only when there was zero chance of rain) to stargaze for as long as he could before people began appearing for early-morning training sessions.
This was one of those times; Chance had dragged a blanket out to the middle of the field and was sitting cross-legged on it, dressed in a pair of star-printed sweatpants and a loose teeshirt, a travel mug of coffee leaning against his foot.
He'd been squinting through the lens to try and find a particular star cluster when he'd caught sight of the figure traipsing mopishly across the field. Chance leaned back, curiosity flickering in his eyes, and watched him grow closer for a few moments before he said anything.
"Good evening."
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:57 pm
Otto's eyes squinted at the figure who'd camped themselves out on the field. Star gazing was something he'd only seen mimsy take an interest in, so at first he almost assumed it to be her. But as he got close, it was evident they were male, and very not Mimsy. "Evenin'.." He drawled back, curiosity getting the better of him. He blinked slowly as he looked over the set up, particularly the telescope. He opened his mouth to say something predictable like 'stargazing?', but realized the answer was obvious, and said nothing. So he stood there awkwardly after that, looking around and wondering if he ought to just leave him alone.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:01 pm
There was a moment of muted silence while Chance just smiled pleasantly up at the other and the other stood there looking somewhat awkwardly at the fact that he'd just stumbled across someone sitting with a telescope in the middle of the training field.
"Out for a nighttime stroll?" Chance asked, tilting his head up to indicate the otherwise empty field. "I'm Chance, by the way. If you want, you can join me, I'm just taking a bit of a break from life, as you can see."
He gestured to the blanket he was currently sitting on.
"I've got some chips and some coffee too, which make for a weird combination, but whatever."
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:17 pm
"Um.. yeah." Otto murmured. He didn't plan to venture far. He was still a little bit afraid of the dark, even with his night vision shades. If he ever lost them, his fear would once again skyrocket to intolerable levels. The blond nodded to his offer. A break from life was always welcome. He said down on the blanket, glad to fill the silence with something other than... silence. And a lack of crickets. "I like chips." But he hated coffee. So he wouldn't even ask for that one. He lifted his chin for once, and looked up at the sky. "Anythin' fun goin' on up there?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:22 pm
Chance was always grateful for the company, and he just scooted over a bit to make room for the other as he padded over. The chips were placed between them, the coffee picked up so that Chance could take another swallow of it before setting it back down again, resting it against his knee so that it wouldn't tip over.
"Help yourself," he said mildly, indicating the food. "I've got plenty."
His gaze swept skyward at Otto's question, and Chance gave a little laugh. "To me, always," he said, and grinned, eyes sparkling with amusement. "Sometimes it's far more fun up there than it is down here, I have to say. But I'm kind of biased, really."
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:40 pm
Otto did help himself, as soon as he heard the words. A hand reached into the bag, and he helped himself to a hand full. He ate one chip at a time, taking small bites. Normally, were he in a better mood, the chips would be eaten whole; sometimes multiple at a time. This was not one of those times, and he barely nibbled each one. So he sat there, staring up at the sky once more. "Biased?" He murmured, "Guessn' you're big into this stuff then." He closed his eyes a short moment, letting the night air be the only thing he focused on before reopening his eyes to the worlds above him. He wondered if maybe there was life outside of Earth; and if things could be just as terrible and complicated up there. "It's pretty.." He murmured absently. If humans only existed here on Earth, and the vastness of space was indeed void of much else, then at least it was pretty to look at. Sitting there, Otto let himself believe that nothing else existed other than that night sky for a while. Pretended he was all alone in the universe. It might have been a lonely thought, but to him at that moment, it felt relaxing.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:57 pm
He cast a sidelong glance at Otto, curiosity evident in Chance's eyes; but he didn't ask too many questions, at least not yet. A smile touched his lips, and the laugh that echoed from his throat this time was a little softer than it might have been before.
"I'm huge into this sort of thing," said Chance, running a hand through his hair as the curls swayed in the light wind. "I always find it really relaxing to just sit out here and...not care about anything except them." He pointed skyward. "It's pretty ******** amazing, in my opinion. There's just so much of it that the discoveries are never ending, so I never get bored."
A small part of the excitement he usually felt when stargazing was visible in his eyes, which were alight with a quiet sort of passion; but Chance was repressing most of it at the current moment. The other seemed lost in his own thoughts, and Chance just sat there and let him have a moment, because sometimes that was what he did anyway.
"What do you think?" he asked gently, gesturing upwards. "Other than pretty, I mean."
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:05 pm
"I think.. it's hard to imagine something so big." He murmured, uncertain of his own words. His head tilted to the side, and he brushed his bangs behind his ear before they blanketed over his face entirely. "When I was a kid, I really believed in aliens. When I was pissed off at my parents I'd sneak out and wait in the fields for a UFO to come get me." He'd kind of forgotten Chance was there a moment as he recollected an old memory. Even as a child, all he wanted to do was run away. "I'm not sure if life outside of Earth is possible, even though theres so many other galaxies... but then again we get weird s**t like Halloween creeps, so..." He shrugged. "Is space never ending?" He mused aloud, "That's just weird to think about. How can somethin' just not end? Kinda pisses me off."
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:09 pm
"It can be a little overwhelming, yeah," Chance admitted, smiling slightly as he tugged absently at one of his curls. "The fact that it just...goes on forever in all directions is mind blowing, it's hard to even comprehend."
He listened quietly to the story, which was interesting in and of itself, and Chance's eyes narrowed slightly as he scrutinized the other, trying to figure him out. "I don't see why aliens couldn't be real, really," he said with another laugh, shaking his head. "Like you said, we've got Halloween creatures and s**t, so why not aliens? Galaxies are pretty damn huge."
Chance reached for his mug and took a sip of coffee, lifting his gaze skyward briefly.
"I assume it's never ending," he said thoughtfully. "It's kind of like..well, it's pretty crazy. Why does that piss you off, though?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:23 pm
"It pisses me off cause like..." He held up his hands, now free of the chips and their crumbs. "I can't picture it. Or even like.. ugh!" He dropped his hands again, then belatedly lifted one up to start licking the salt off his fingers. "It ain't a tangible thing I can see and touch and understand. I know the Earth can be circled 'round cause it's a sphere. That makes sense to me. Space don't make sense to me. I mean it'd be worse if it did have an end cause then what's on the other side right? Can't be any such thing as nothingness." He paused. "If there is, then that'd piss me off more than endlessness." He returned to idly licking his fingers as he stared into space; trying to figure out what specs of light were stars and which were planets, all while trying to get salt out from under his nails with his tongue. A fairly fruitless effort.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:27 pm
Chance considered this for a moment, letting out a hum of thought.
"I can dig that, I mean...it's pretty far out there. It's like our brains can't comprehend that there's just no end to something, so automatically it's like they try and short circuit." Chance flitted his fingers beside his head, the corners of his lips quirking upwards in a slight smile, which faded a little.
"I don't like the idea of nothingness, I'll admit," he said softly, looking up again as Otto did the same. "That's something that's pretty...upsetting, I'd guess, to think about. I don't like the idea that there just isn't anything beyond."
He felt strangely peculiar about that sort of concept. Chance shook it off and turned back to Otto.
"So I take it you're the type of guy who likes to have things concrete and right in front of him?" he ventured, taking another sip of coffee.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:39 pm
"You guessed right." Otto said with a nod, looking up at Chance instead of at the sky. He idly nabbed another chip, but didn't eat it just yet. "It bugs me if I can't have a clear answer I understand."
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:41 pm
A loaded response, if Chance had ever heard one. He thought about this for a moment, and then asked, "So how do you find an answer to something that you don't understand?"
A pause as he considered, and then added, "Or, well, I mean, if you can't understand your answer when you get it?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 10:08 pm
Otto went quiet. As was his nature, he tried to answer Chance seriously. However... His mind went blank. "I guess I can't." He murmured, nibbling on the chip. "If I don't understand it... I just get... numb, I guess. Cause not bein' able to understand is too frustrating."
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