( stargazing )

[absurdities]

the stargazing meme

oo1. comment with your characters
make sure to put names, series, & preferences somewhere!
you can use < ! > sans the spaces to make the comment "blank"
oo2. reply to others in character
oo3. use the rng and enter 1-10
oo4. play out what happens—anything goes!
oo5. profit? oh yeah!

prompts

one → meteor shower you just saw a falling star! and another! make a wish!
two → aliens what was that? was that really? omg no way a ufo!
three → lunar eclipse you've been sitting out for hours, waiting for this. it's so cool!
four → comet does it move fast or slow? either way, it's amazing.
five → full moon the moon is so huge! just don't look too long, it's really bright too.
six → star dust anything can happen in space. make up your own plot!
seven → solar eclipse this might be happening in the middle of the day!
eight → planet sighting is that a new star? nope, just a neighbor in the solar system!
nine → constellations do you know the stories behind these odd patterns?
ten → deep space normal stargazing isn't that much fun. you got a telescope!

Comments

Arthur Dent | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | OTA

[unfroody]

8?

[zunarjayfive]

[Congratulations, Arthur, that planet you've landed on? It's completely populated by cats. Sentient cats. Who are all glancing and staring curiously at you, the only human around. One of them comes right up to his feet, still giving him that open eyed curious look that cats can do so well. As if he might speak but doesn't.

Not yet.]

Yes excellent

[unfroody]

[Cats. Cats everywhere. Arthur would laugh with hysterical glee at seeing something familiar from the late-Earth, but he's too busy waiting for something terrible to happen. It is a Thursday, after all.]

I'm surrounded by cats.

[He says no one in particular. Certainly not to the oddly perceptive looking feline that has just approached him.]

[zunarjayfive]

[Despite their aloof personalities, they were actually treating him quite well. Humans could be such skittish creatures, if they all started talking at once, he would run off and get himself into trouble.

Fortunately, the cat at his feet had visited Earth before and knew a few more things about humans than his fellow cats.

First, get their attention. He got up on his hind legs, his forepaws against Arthur's leg. A voice speaks, and it seems to come from the cat, though his mouth doesn't move.]

Hey, psst....down here.

[unfroody]

[When Arthur hears a voice coming from seemingly no where, he wiggles a finger in his ear, wondering if his Babel fish was on the fritz. After removing his finger, the voice has gone. Or perhaps whoever was speaking simply stopped.

He does look down at the cat, which is now resting its paws against his leg. All logic would tell Arthur that it isn't the cat that just spoke to him. But really, logic hasn't been on his side very much lately.]

Pardon me?

[zunarjayfive]

[The cat's ears go up more and he quickly moves to sit in front of him, hoping he can coax the human to squat down and they can have a better conversation.] You aren't hearing things, it's me down here.

[Good, attention is got. Now to address the situation at hand. Politely.]

I couldn't help noticing you look a little lost.

[He certainly looks as if he's addressing Arthur, despite the lack of mouth movement. What's really happening is Zunar is projecting his thoughts audibly through use of his crystalline collar.]

[unfroody]

[It takes a few moments for Arthur to get the hint, but he does eventually sit himself down on the ground.]

Oh, yes.

[He responds politely, even as the urge to panic begins to bubble up in his chest. The trouble with riding in an a ship powered by infinite improbability is that infinitely improbable things tend to happen to you. In this case, being dropped off on a planet full of sentient, talking cats. That is remarkably improbable.]

I'm afraid so. [He adds, after a second's pause.]

[zunarjayfive]

[The cat doesn't exactly nod, but there's an 'mhmm' noise as if he had done so.]

We don't get many humanoids here too often.

[a beat]

Ever, in fact.

[Which would explain why all of the other cats were giving them a wide berth and staring now and again. Here, Arthur was the clear minority.]

Where are you from? I would say Earth if I had to guess.

[unfroody]

I wouldn't expect so.

[He looks around at all of the cats, watching them shy away. At least they aren't hostile.

The mention of Earth, however, causes his eyes to widen and mouth to hang open in utter bewilderment.]

You know about Earth?

[zunarjayfive]

Of course, I was assigned to it for a time. Nice place, the tuna was delicious. [He licked his tongue across his whiskers in remembrance.] I don't suppose you have any tuna with you?

[This was going pretty well. Introductions were in order next, obviously.]

My name is Zunar J 5 slash 9 Doric 4-7. I usually go by Jake though if that's too much to remember. [As he recalled, humans were partial to short names like Jim and Bill or Frank.]

[unfroody]

No... no I don't.

[He wonders if the cat is aware that Earth has been recently demolished. Arthur isn't quite sure how fast news travels in space.]

Sorry.

[He's apologising to a cat for not having any tuna fish. Arthur shifts a little with the anxiety of this whole situation and works hard to resist the urge to curl up into a little ball on the ground and cry until the universe takes pity on him and he wakes up back on the Heart of Gold.]

Jake it is. I'm Arthur.

[zunarjayfive]

Nice to meet you, Arthur.

[Now. What to do with the lost human named Arthur?]

I could get you a ride back to Earth but it would take a couple of months to get there from here...unless that's not a problem?

[unfroody]

[Arthur makes an odd whining sound at the offer, then slowly shakes his head.]

That wouldn't be possible. Earth has been demolished, you see?

[zunarjayfive]

[Jake's expression almost frowns back seriously at Arthur at that bit of news.]

Demolished? Surely not.... [He didn't quite take his meaning initially, thinking perhaps the planet's surface had been destroyed.] Did the planet have to be evacuated for some reason? We hadn't heard this far away.

[unfroody]

That would have been the proper way to go about it, I would think.

[But no. Everyone he ever knew is dead. England is obliterated. McDonald's hamburgers are gone forever.]

It was the Vogons. Something about a bypass.

[zunarjayfive]

[Jake stands and paces back and forth, looking perturbed for a cat.]

Bypass, of all the idiotic... [He hisses out the name] Vogons are contemptible. We've had a few run ins with them. [The cats refused to do anything involving paper work. Or work in general.] I didn't think they would be as stupid as to go that far.

[He finally sits again, a paw on Arthur's knee.] But you made it here.

[unfroody]

[Arthur was more of a dog person, himself. As such, he never really bothered to study cat behavior, or consider what one would look like should it be perturbed. Pacing, however, is something he can understand.]

I don't like them very much, no. One read us... poetry... before ejecting us into space.

[He shivers at the memory of the poem. God, that was awful.]

I wonder if the others will find me. I don't know if I would precisely... fit in here.

sorry, catching up on tags slowly

[zunarjayfive]

[Jake gives himself a shake, not liking the idea of poetry either.]

There, there. It's alright, we'll work something out. [Was it a comfort or strange to think about cats caring for a human?]

Are you hungry? Or would you like a nap? I'm sure I can arrange a place to sleep for tonight.