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Who: Zessica Wong
Broadcast: Everyone
Action: On the planet
When: Friday 8/7, afternoon/evening

➤ [VIDEO:]
[The video flickers on, and with her eyes closed, it looks like Zessica's laying down somewhere. She exhales loudly before cracking one eye open to address the comm.]

There's something good to be said for a nice nap on the beach. [Her other eye opens, and she sits up, adjusting the video angle to move with her.] I'm still pretty new here, so I wanted to know, how long do we normally stay on planets? I mean, it wouldn't make sense to just set up camp indefinitely. Not that I'd mind on this one.

[Video from her comm now moves from her to the beach, a stunning sunset just beginning to form. Her voice can still be heard.] Sunset at home wasn't that much different than this, but the colors weren't as vibrant, even when you were on the beach.

[And back to her once more.] Guess that means it's time for dinner. I'd like some company if anyone's planetside. Recommendations are good, too. Just let me know!

[End.]

➤ [ACTION:]
[True to her word, she's able to be found leaving the beach, towel draped over her shoulders. Her clothes are in a bag slung over her shoulder, but she doesn't seem intent on changing back right away.

Later, she's likely to be found shopping, too.]

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[Clay's out on the beach too, though his eyes aren't on the sunset. It's on the sky above and at all the stars that start to appear, and he appears to mutter to himself before he ducks his head to write something on his arm. He's learned his lesson shortly after coming here; don't bring your papers out here, they'll only get blown away by the storms for you to find and pick up later if you do.

There doesn't seem to be much scrawled on his arm yet, as he's waiting for night time to settle more than anything. He is, however, so invested that he hardly notices anyone else around him. Wanna change that, Zessica?]

[Yes, she does. Zessica spots him as she's packing up to leave, the light still prevalent enough to tell who it is. A grin forms, and she grabs her things, tiptoeing over as quietly as she can. Her bag's set down a few feet away before she walks right on over to him. One hand goes on his shoulder as she peers around his unwritten on arm to get a close look at what he's scribbled. Since the light's fading, she has to press closer to see. Yup.]

Whatcha doing?

[The first touch makes him jump a little due to not realizing anyone was there, but the second? Clay freezes up, brain short-circuiting a little, because she is pressed up against him and thus there's a boob smush going on right there.

His whole face starts to turn red, and he glances over his shoulder at her before he looks down at his arm - what... what was he doing again?]

Uh... I'm, um... [Processing... ah wait that's right!] I-I was taking notes on the stars in the sky, I was thinking... you know, I'm trying to make a chart, so...

A star chart, huh? That actually sounds pretty neat. [She narrows her eyes to see a little more, nudging him with her toe to get his attention.] Hey, bring it up more, I want to see.

[Her eyes travel from his arm to the sky and back again, trying to make sense of what he's scribbled.] Anything of note?

Uh - Yeah, hold on -

[Aaaand he's going to scoot away some, both to loosen her hold a bit and to give him more room as he lifts up his scribbled arm and talks.]

I've been coming out here every night to keep note of some of the stars. Not all of them, since that'd take me forever, and I'd probably lose sight of them. The brightest ones are what I'm after.

[He points up and towards the left.] See that one? That's the brightest one. I'm not going to have time to get a full reading, but if I take the coordinates I got for it the first time I saw it and compare it to the last night we're here, I might be able to get a read on how far away it is. It'll be tricky; usually a reading like this requires six months and way more advanced equipment. It won't be entirely accurate, but I can at least make some kind of estimate with this. [He gestures to the arm he's written on.]

[Zessica lets him move, the initial amusement done with, anyway, and she looks upwards to spot the star he's pointing out. Her brows furrow as she squints to see it, the sky still light enough to make it more difficult. A moment later... there!]

Ha, there it is! [She's a little excited now.] Whoa, that is pretty bright compared to the rest. Does that mean it's the closest or a brighter type than the others?

[Her gaze goes back to his arm, then she meets his eyes with a smile.] You'd have to do this from the same spot every night, right?

[Clay returns that smile, looking genuinely excited about this, then nods as he gets to his feet.]

Yup! Exactly the same spot, or the calculation gets thrown off. [He lifts his foot to set his toe against something in the sand - on closer inspection, it's revealed to just be a stick.] I buried this pretty deep so that it won't go anywhere when the storms whip up. See the notch there? [He bends to point at a little mark on the stick.] I put the heel of my foot against that, and I sit where the end of my toes are.

[With that, he demonstrates. Clay looks down at the marker as he gently bumps the stick with the back of his heel, readjusts a bit, then moves to sit down right where his toes were.]

Not bad for having virtually no supplies for this, eh? Hopefully by the time we get out of here, I'll know if that one star in particular is the closest or just a brighter kind of star. My money's on the former, though.

[Zessica actually looks a little impressed at this. She watches his display with the stick and the sitting with a grin.]

It has to be that exact, huh? That's impressive. [And she means it.] Can you tell the difference in position from just one night to the next?

[Hee. She's impressed by his slapped-together work. He ends up blushing a bit out of the praise, then straightens up a bit on the next question.]

Nah, the difference is so small that it's hard to tell what it is from one night to another. That's another reason why the readings probably won't be too accurate; I don't have a telescope or any equipment to tell where the star in the sky originally was. Usually, an astronomer will come here one night, then not come back until six months later, when the movement is obvious. But since I don't know when we're going to leave...

[He shows off his arm again, the one with writings on it.] That's why I've got this. I wrote down the position of the stars according to the angle of my arm when I point on the first night, then wrote down any changes to that angle on all the other nights. [And, indeed, she'll see star names that he made up as well as two degrees: what his arm is like vertically and what it's like horizontally.] I really only need the first one, but like I said, I don't know when we're leaving. I don't want to miss a night, only to find out we're leaving that next day.

Edited 2015-08-14 20:52 (UTC)

[Nodding, she watches and listens to his explanations, attention fully gotten. Zessica sits next to him, not bothering to put down her towel first, and scoots over to get a better look at his arm. Since it's on the far side of where she's sitting, she reaches over and takes his wrist she she can hold it in place. Her eyes go back up to the sky then back to his arm, and she repeats these motions a few times to get what he's explaining.

Once she's satisfied, she lets him go and looks at him again, grin still there.] You said the difference might not be noticeable, but doesn't the size of the planet and distance from its sun have an impact, too? I'm from a planet called Vega, and I know our stars might look different from the planet next to us.

[Her brow furrows as she thinks about it.] Or am I off base?

[Oooh, so she has some idea of what he's talking about? That just gets Clay to look more excited, and he looks down at her again with a big smile.]

Yup, those are all factors that go into it! The rotation of a planet on its axis and how long it takes for it to revolve around the sun are major factors, too. I'm using the method that's used for Earth's view of the stars, so again, not going to be entirely accurate. But once we leave, I can take the planet's approximate distance from the sun, how long a full day is here, and how long a year is, then use that to get some idea of how far away the stars I've got here are. At least, that's the idea.

Huh... [Zessica's gaze goes back to the sky, but the crease in her forehead is still there.]

I gotta say, looking at them this way is nice. It's a lot calmer than other times I've done it.

[She falls silent for a moment before just flopping on to her back so she doesn't have to keep craning her neck.] There was another planet I went to once. The air was so polluted you could barely see the sky at night.

Aww, really? [Clay looks down at her, a frown on his own face now, though he looks more sad about that than anything. After a moment, Clay leans back too, flopping to his back beside her.] Our planet's pretty polluted, but I don't know what I'd do if it was so bad I couldn't see the sky like this. How did you deal with it? I mean, seeing the stars aside, if a planet's that badly polluted...

[She minutely shakes her head, moving it over so she can look at him while still talking.]

Remember I mentioned the machines from another world that were taking women from ours? That was the planet. We went there to try to rescue a friend... [She pauses, expression suddenly somber.] She was taken by them, instead of me.

[A heavy sigh.] I mean, we got her back, and she's perfectly fine now. So we weren't exactly there for sightseeing.

[Rogue's been working most of the morning. She'll likely be working most of the evening too. The afternoon, though, it's too hot to work. It is the perfect weather (barring the occasional storm) to find an isolated spot of the beach and work on turning her paper white skin... faded paper white? Really, nothing ever changed it, but the warmth of the sun and stripping off the necessary layers to enjoy it in utter privacy was... lonely. But worth it.

She really should have put her pants back on when she abandoned her spot to head back in, but it was just so nice that she started walking back, stuffing her clothes and shoes in her bag. Instead she just wore her gloves, a sheer, long-sleeved cover-up she'd bartered for early on, and the lovely black and green bikini that had been so generously provided for her.

And so it was, wearing what she really shouldn't be wearing around other people, that Rogue saw Zessica packing up a little further ahead of her.

...aw, crap. Can she turn around? Is there enough time for her to at least slam her pants on? Argh, she hates her powers. D8]

[Nope, no time, sorry! Zessica hears someone approaching from behind, so she turns to see, a bright smile forming when she recognizes the other figure.]

Hey, Rogue! [She waves, hiking her bag over her shoulder.] I didn't know you were out here, too.

[EMERGENCY. Person incoming. DEFENSES DOWN.

Rogue immediately drops what she's carrying to gracelessly shove on her pants.]

Hey! [She is happy to see you, I swear. Sort of. Ugh, stupid powers.] It's a small planet after all, huh?

Small habitable surface on the planet at least. [She hangs in place and waits for Rogue to finish doing whatever the heck she's doing. Zessica won't rush her.]

I was just gonna grab some dinner. Want to join me?

Uh, [Okay, clothes on, distance maintained, whew.] sure. You got any place you wanna go?

Not particularly. You know of anything that stands out? [She still stands where she was, giving Rogue the chance to catch up.]

By some miracle I'm not entirely sick of fish yet, so anything's pretty much fair game.

I've been catchin' drinks at night at the Blue Parrot. [She glances up toward the sun.] Don't think it's late enough for them to be open, though. Maybe just raidin' the stalls?

Sounds good to me. There's a really nice one with a lot of variety over this way. [She nods her head towards one of the pathways from the beach.]

It's a little out of the way, but it's worth it. You game?

Sure. I wasn't really plannin' on hunting up anymore odd jobs today, anyway.

[...probably.]

Lead the way!

Can do. [And Zessica heads towards the indicated path. She doesn't even bother stopping to put shorts or a top on, perfectly content to wander around in her swimsuit.]

So what do you think of the planet?

I like it better than the space ships, that's for sure. [So... much... more... ROOM!] I'm gettin' kinda used to the storms, but they still take me by surprise now an' again. What about you?

I'm taking as much in as I can, because from the sound of things, it won't last that long in the end. [She continues down the path, taking a right when it forks.]

The ships aren't that bad, but maybe it's just because I have my own room.

Right. I did mention I was jealous of that, didn't I?

[She glances around as they walk, taking in the various street vendors. She hasn't come this way often.]

An' it's been a good place ta find odd jobs. I picked up some material an' some spices... thinkin' of gettin' one of those fish.

[Her finger taps her chin in mock recollection.] You know, I think I might remember you saying something similar to that.

[A nod.] Yeah? What kind of material? [And a laugh.] I'm tempted with a fish, too.

Mostly stuff like this. [She plucks at her sheer cover up.] I can use it to wear under the jumpers, or over the tank tops.

[Side-eyeing Zessica, then.] ...so after lunch, you wanna go look at the fish?

[A nod of approval is earned at the example.] Not bad, it's cute!

[She laughs aloud, grin in place.] It's a date. Come on, just a little more.

Better'n nothing, anyway.

[Walking along, following Zessica's direction to - hopefully - delicious food.] How about you? Been pickin' up any odd jobs?

But some isn't! You should have seen some of the options I saw; I cringed more than I wanted.

[It is! Hold your horses, missy.] A few, here and there, mainly to get some supplies like yours. The jumpsuits leave a lot to be desired.

Ugh, I know. They're hideous. Baggy an' shapeless an' -- tacky. I mean just -- why?

[A shake of her head.] Gotta see if I can find a decent sewing kit here. Won't be able ta make much of 'em, but... gotta try.

[Seriously, they were unacceptable.]

Right?! [Finally something to connect with. It's important to be upset over this!!] I saw more than one that would make anyone look like they were wearing a gross looking beach umbrella! How is that acceptable?

[She's getting a little worked up.] And who thinks mustard and eggplant is a good color combination?

[Gross looking beach umbrella is right! And amusing, so it gets a snort of agreement.

And yes!!! This is very important!!]

Bunch of colorblind monkeys, that's who. I mean, this is supposed ta be a TV show, right? You'd think they'd want us lookin' halfway decent if they were gonna broadcast us around their known universe!

Or maybe not! I know people where I'm from would love watching a train wreck of fashion or whatever. [And then a terrifying thought occurs to her.]

You don't think they're watching, do you?! [She looks like a deer in headlights right now.]

What, people from home? [Rogue's eyebrows tilted upwards for a moment, then she shook her head.] Nah. If not, we'd have heard of it, right?

We don't normally stay this long. [she taps her chin... It's a good question, one she's been pondering as well]

Previously, we only remained on a planet for a month at a time.

No? Huh, how long's it been here? I only arrived after we were planet side.

[She tilts her head, a little more curious now.]

A month, give or take a few days. I thought we would be leaving by now, but perhaps they thought that we earned a true vacation?

[the cynic in her says no... it's probably the swimsuit ratings. But eh, a girl can dream]

Really? Well, depending on how much notice we get, it could be soon.

[Swimsuit ratings are important!]

I suppose we'll have to wait and see. [She smiles, a bit of a wry 'what can you do' sort of smile]

So you arrived very recently... has the fleet been treating you well?

[Zessica pauses to think on this.]

Define 'well.' I've been kidnapped for a space reality show, so it could go either way. [Despite her words, her tone's pretty casual.]

Ah, that's a good point. [she pauses, tapping her chin]

Has your crew been kind?

Yeah! Everyone's been pretty cool, there's nothing bad to report. [She grins.] I'm Zessica, by the way.

[she makes a slight show of nodding happily, as if her invisible checklist has been satisfied] I'm glad to hear that.

I'm Nunnally. It's a pleasure to meet you... Zessica? [there's a lilt of a question as she says the name, almost as if she's worried that she mispronounced "Jessica" and wants to make sure she's not saying it wrong, haha]

[She laughs.] Yup, that's it. Nice to meet you, too, Nunnally. Have you been here a while?

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video

video; omg mimi

video; /gently smooshes your cutie face :D

video; <333

video; <333

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