The Meteor Shower (9) : One of the hallmark features of the Star Festival is the week long meteor shower that kicks off at the beginning of the celebrations. The first night is usually a little slow, and it picks up more on the second and third evening, but tonight is different. Within the first hour of the first visible falling meteor, something hits the ground with enough force that the ground trembles and power is lost for a few seconds. The impact can be heard throughout the city and the news reports that a small meteor made impact--only, they don’t report that they can’t find any damage and have no idea where it landed. Maybe that’s enough to convince some people, but anyone who knows about this powered war might expect that nothing good ever comes from space.
It had been an exhausting few months.
Nataniel had been accustomed to his own space: an apartment he shared with just his school-appointed roommate. But after he’d graduated in the winter, he’d lost access to student housing. Even though he had a job, he had to intern for a year before he could be an “official” dietician at the hospital and make a living wage.
It wasn’t like he had any friends who were also looking for a place, and he couldn’t afford to live on his own… That meant it was more fiscally reasonable to live at home with his parents and brother once again.
It was humiliating and degrading, and he felt like a child once more after having been perfectly content with his own place for six years. Now it was back to unnecessary curfews and inability to have people to meet his needs over without judgement from anyone who happened to spot them. Not that Nataniel had ever tried, but he felt beyond too abashed to even consider inviting one night stands to his family home.
Basyl had grown out of “one night stand” status, but Nat was still well out of his comfort zone at the thought of bringing the lavender-haired man home. This place had too many curious eyes.
But it was just what happened to be available for the moment.
Things would get better.
Just the thought of six more months under his parents’ roof, six more months until he had his “official” job… It really stung him. It didn’t help that he was exhausted when he came home from the hospital and particularly unwilling to engage his family for dinner or games or other pleasantries. He didn’t think he wanted to be alone, just not with them.
When Nataniel got off work, he slunk in through the door from the garage, keys clinking with the added charms of the summer. A particular emerald one had been acquired just that day. He had to pass through the kitchen and living room on the way to his bedroom, which meant extending greetings to his mother and father, but being careful enough not to seem too engaging. He didn’t want to talk. He wanted to go to his room and relax.
Some days it was more difficult than others to bypass them, but today both were engrossed in a news program and chatting idly among themselves.
Nataniel passed through long enough to hear news that the annual meteor shower had commenced, and with it, a peculiarity: something had landed within city limits. A meteor had fallen, though they didn’t say where. Nataniel didn’t pause as he proceeded through the living room, but…
He knew any kind of peculiarity in Destiny City was likely to affect his powered life.
He didn’t know how it would manifest or what anomaly it would cause, but something would happen, and he was sure the news would not be at all helpful in figuring it out. But at least he had the information such that he could be alert for things on the horizon. Rakovanite would have to look out for strangeness underfoot.
