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It wouldn’t be a star festival without a meteor shower! Right on time, a beautiful array of shooting stars graces the night sky. Most meteor fragments appear to be little white or yellow lights streaming across the sky, but if you watch closely enough you may find that some of them seem to be pink, blue, and even purple in color. The scientists have reported that it’s just different components burning up as they enter the atmosphere, but there’s something undeniably magical about it.
Ryan was beginning to get exhausted, this late at night. The festival had been so much fun so far, and he'd had a shockingly good time. He hadn't realized how much he just missed being around people in general. It felt really good to just get out of the house (apartment) and be around people, even if he wasn't really making any connections or hanging with his, as of yet non-existent, friends. Plus, he'd gotten another star charm! He was so close to collecting all the colors, now!
As good as it felt mentally and emotionally, however, walking around so much and doing so much after being a shut-in for so long had his feet dragging as he shuffled along and his breath coming out in ragged pants. Man, he hadn't had so much exercise in so long. Relief flooded him when he finally spied an open bench and staggered over to it, plopping down with a heavy, content sigh. Damn, his feet hurt. He hoped he'd be able to make it home, even it would be a really wobbly walk, and not because he was drunk.
He started to take slow, deep breaths, trying to bring his heart rate down. Exercise really sucked, even if it less of a workout routine and more of a "walk around and do stuff all day" thing, however fun (or not) the latter could be.
Hearing "ooh"'s and "aah"'s coming from around him, he looked up to see shooting stars. Right, there was supposed to be some kind of meteor shower tonight, or something. He smiled up at the sky and leaned against the back of the bench to tilt his head an angle that felt easier on his poor neck muscles to watch more comfortably.
Ryan hummed "When You Wish Upon A Star" underneath his breath as he watched the lights streak brilliantly across the sky. God, it looked so beautiful he could just cry.
Then he realized his cheeks felt wet and, uh, yeah, no, he was definitely already crying. He snorted at himself and wiped at his eyes, catching the edge of a strangely purple streak as he opened them again. He sat more alertly, more tense, eyes scanning the sky for more different colors from the usual white and yellow. He gasped quietly to himself when he saw pink, and blue, and then more purple swirling around the sky, much less than the white and yellow, but still noticeable.
"I wonder how that happens," he whispered to himself, entranced by the beautiful spectacle of nature before him. Maybe something like... how beach campfires made from nearby wood burned green or something because of the salt content of the wood? He didn't know exactly how that worked, either, but it was from a little something extra in the wood as it burned; that he was pretty sure of.
Maybe these stars had a little something extra in them, too. Like maybe they came from shards of another planet just exploding or something. He didn't think salt would exist in other places, at least, exactly the way they had it on Earth, but it wasn't entirely impossible. He frowned sadly for a moment, just a moment, mourning the loss of the fake planet he made up in his mind, for its beaches that exploded to burn up all their salt in such hellfire that only appeared like pretty lights to these people so far away, who had no idea what had just been lost.
Geez, his imagination was really overactive. But still, it was a nice... er, not so nice thought, but. He had a good imagination, at least. It made life more fun. And sad, too, considering he'd just imagined a whole planet exploding and that's why they had neat stars. But still. Maybe just more interesting was the right word.
Either way, it ended too soon, and Ryan blinked when he didn't spy as many stars streaking across the sky anymore. He stood and stretched, adding a yawn mostly for effect, and started the long walk home.
