a_time_slip | (no subject)

Perfect.

Is it? [He smiles, a little bit unsure for a moment.]

Well. Then our evening will be even better.

Yes. [Janie grins]

I haven't danced on the beach in ages.

I don't think I ever have. It's probably more complicated, but at least we won't fall hard.

You'll be there to catch me, won't you?

Always. [He says so almost solemnly.]

[She's quiet for a moment]

We should... go. Do you like looking at the night sky? I do.

... yes. Let's go. [He starts climbing off the boat.]

I've always loved watching stars. Back home, I knew most of their names and constellations. The way I can see them now, though, with ... with these eyes, it's even more marvelous. [He blushes a little, as if this was an embarrassing thing to admit.]

[She follows him, briefly wondering if she should change her outfit to something dressier]

I didn't learn those until I was older, but I can watch them for hours... Is your vision better now that you're a vampire? That's got to be amazing.

[He jumps down and extends a hand to help Janie.]

It is. I can't even properly describe it, but there's ... more. It's dark right now, but I can see as well as if it were a bright day. And the stars ... I never knew there were so many of them, and so many different, subtle shades of color. I wish I could show you.

[She hesitates, but accepts the help down.]

That- I think I understand. I wish I could see it like that, but I'll have to rely on your descriptions instead.

[He just stands there, looking up into the foreign sky.]

They won't do it justice, because I don't think I have the proper words, or if they even exist ... but show me one star you like, and I'll try to describe what it looks like to me.

[Janie looks at him for a moment, then back up at the sky]

Alright... What about that one? [She points to a very bright star]

[Julian follows her gaze, and looks at the star for a moment before speaking in a quiet voice.]

It's huge and shimmering, bright white in its center but surrounded by a blueish, pulsating halo almost ten times its size. It looks solid, like a dancing shard of ice-cold glass on a glittering backdrop, while in truth it's quite the opposite.

That sounds even more beautiful than I could imagine. Thank you.

... it's not even close to what it really looks like, but I can't do it any better.

The sky looks so different here ... is this a star we could see back home, too?

I... don't know. I can't work out where we are on the map.

You don't? I thought this was one of our destinations.

[The news doesn't seem to bother him much, though.]

It tends to find me... [She doesn't seem to mind either]

What does the moon look like?

[Julian nods, accepting that answer. For once, he isn't worried about getting stuck.]

This one? It's different from ours, almost familiar, but not quite. Misty, changing, perhaps it has an atmosphere of its own. A shiny marble, speckled with gold. And the sky around it seems brighter, more blue than black. It's … like a little sun, illuminating everything around it. I can almost feel its light.

[Which is why he can't look at it for too long, unfortunately.]

...Everything sounds magical when you say it.

I um. Wish I could see it. Sometimes I can see time, but that doesn't happen very often.

[He smiles a little shyly, trying not to show too obviously how pleased he is that Janie liked his description.]

Time? … I can't even imagine that. What does time look like?

Um... The edges are fuzzy. [She sighs, because it took her several moments to come up with that] It's easy with things that don't change a lot, but otherwise it's confusing and I have to concentrate.

[He tries hard to imagine.] The fuzzy edges I can imagine, I guess. But the things which change ... so you see these changes?

Yes... like ghosts? Some people are different too... almost a suntan but not the same. I'm not good with words the same way that you are.