riding on nebulas

Thrill-seeker by day, Drac killer by night

[justinhongiv]

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[therealneo]

Visit Original Link

[paradise-city-sparks]

[strawberry-straw-deactivated201]

[lustere-blog]

hipster | Tumblr on We Heart It.

[saltseabones]

"It didn’t really seem necessary. I know where I can get food and drinks and things and I have a little house. And a blanket!" They hold up a corner of it in case Star didn’t notice. The blanket serves as bed, couch, and actual blanket in the empty house. "Heh, that suits you, if you stargaze so much. I’m sure I’ll find something someday. It can’t be that hard!" Ellis knew it could, but at least out here they were helpful.

"Honestly? I don’t really have that much of a reason. It was more of an…itch. Kind of deep in my soul or something. Half ‘I need to get out of here’ and half ‘there’s got to be something more to life’. I don’t know why. Random things would set it off…the commercial for the Green Galaxy Retinal Resort, the smell of a pack of Plus an android was carrying on the way home from work, the new part-timer at the coffee shop I liked to go to, the Power Purr cat food jingle, how my sneakers felt when I was walking downstairs, the juice stain on the upholstery of my desk chair. Things like that. And more and more things started doing it until it just wouldn’t go away, and at the end I turned on my light and looked at it and I just needed out so I grabbed a few important things and left. And that was it.” They shrug. “It’s not anything big and wonderful…and I’m still working on the ‘something more’ part. The ocean helps, I think. It feels right. Not itchy.”

[starredskyy]

Star nodded along as Ellis talked. "I get that," She started, slowly, once they finished. "I 'member havin' that feelin' for a while 'fore I ran. 'Course, it was less 'somethin' more' and more feelin' trapped, but seniment's same." She offered, laughing a little. Star noticed her gaze flying upwards, and she put her hands behind her as support for not falling over on the tiles.

"I 'member runnin' off, too," Star started, voice a little distant. "Hadta leave in the middle of th'night; smuggled shit outta a bike store, 'cludin' Nebula, my bike, and ran out. The East, Ellis? Ain't nothin' but skyscrapers, so high you ain't seein' nothin' in the sky but wires 'n other 'partments. Fuckin' terrible. Few hours after I left, handfula miles out, though, y'know what I saw? The night sky, the true night sky. Ain't no towerin' 'scrapers, wires, left-on lights, ain't nothin' like that. Just dark sky 'n the stars. 'Nd lemme tell you Ellis, that night? Fuckin' beautiful, ain't ever seen nothin' like it 'fore. And that night, I still say that I had a 'spiritual 'piphany'. I realised that night that I couldn't never go back to no Cities, and that I needed'ta see whatever I could wit' me 'n Nebula.

"An' now I'm here," Star's distant story-telling voice disappeared, and she looked at Ellis with a warm grin on her face. "The Zones, Ellis? They change a man, I'm tellin' ya. I seen lil' kids who ran for stupid-ass reasons, said they'd go home 'n 'tend nothin' happened... But a few days later? They back. W'out fail. Livin' out 'ere 's'a challenge, ain't gon say it ain't, but once those bumps're smoothed out, y'ain't ever gon' dream of leavin'. I guarantee."

[starredskyy]

bloodredecho started following you

[bloodredecho]

… //snickering// The great Red Echo, ‘eyyyy? Like the sooound o’that..

[starredskyy]

Y'should see half the shit people 'cross the country thinka ya! People out there, some'a them fuckin' praise your ery'action, they think you're the best thing 'gainst BLI since Death Defyin'! Some more think yer just a rumor from BLI, tryin'ta cause support fer civvies 'gainst 'Joys; yer infamous in more ways than one! 

You'n the Four, y'all are the pride'n joy of half all 'Joys 'cross th'East.

[starredskyy]

bloodredecho started following you

..... Holy shit.

Ain't no one tol' me the great Red Echo's kickin' out here, thought you were hidin' in some hole out Midwest!

[mockujin-deactivated20151115]

Cbr girl

[saltseabones]

"I think I’m just still jumpy. Left ‘bout a week ago. I keep expecting them to send someone for me. I doubt Ma and Dad care, though." Ellis shrugged, took a second to look at Star—the piercing looked cool—before returning their gaze to the sea. Since the West had not been as heavily hit as the East during the Wars, it was still mostly a normal ocean. The only fish they had ever seen in or around it were dead, of course, but Ellis was no fisherperson. Other than all the dead things and, in daylight, the rainbow sheen, not much had changed.

"Yeah, there are tons more out here than back inside. For obvious reasons." The lights of Battery City shone into the heavens and blotted out the stars, the suns of other creatures in other places, who must have been deemed less important. If they could blot out the sun of the Killjoys, they surely would. Ellis, thinking on this, took a tiny swig from the bottle. It burned as they swallowed. "Thanks. I don’t think I got your name, anyway. I’m Ellis. Don’t have an out here name yet, but I’ll get it someday."

[starredskyy]

She looked at her stargazing partner, disbelief apparent with a slightly opened mouth and raised eyebrows. "Y'never said nothin' 'bout bein' new to the world, kid," Star joked, laughing more to herself than to the conversation topic. "'N I'm Star Skyy. Y'don't needta worry 'bout yer new name, though, Ellis. Take yer time with it. Took me a while 'fore I got Star. Jus'make sure it's somethin' meaninful s'all, ain't wanna call y'self somethin' y'ain't got passion 'bout, or that don't exemplify ya.

"Why'd ya leave, by th' by, if y'don't mind m'askin'? Hadta be a good reason t' walk out s'simply." Star asked, looking at Ellis as she took another swig of her alcohol. It'd been such a long time since Star was at her old home in the East, some days she'd almost forgotten about it. Hearing of new kids always made her remember the overall parts of her life before being Star, though. She liked being around new kids for that reason, she supposed. 

[love-doesnt-know-wht-distance-is]

galaxy | via tumblr on We Heart It.

[landture]

**Stardust above the mountains** by KONSTANTINOS_BASILAKAKOS

[saltseabones]

"Well, can you take it off?" It’s a bit of a harsh question, now that Ellis is over the knee-jerk fear reaction stage and has noted Star’s more alternative style of dress, but it’s going to wig them out all night. They put the gun—still bright white—back in its holster and shrug the blanket back on, glad it didn’t fall off the roof. "I’m sorry, I just don’t want to look over at you and freak out and fall. It’s a dangerous spot."

They wait for a second for Star to move or not, as the case may be, and return their gaze to the ocean. The pale-topped breakers that would be oily-rainbow in the light now just look like any other ocean at night. There are a few dark specks where dead fish and plants are being pushed toward shore; a large spot farther out could be a boat or some large carcass failing to resist the tide of death. The stars aren’t particularly bright, as even Zone Six is rather close to the City, but Ellis can see a few of the major constellations. “Does that thing cause you lots of trouble?”

[starredskyy]

"Yeah, yeahyeahyeah," Star chuckled to herself, tearing off the mask from her head. With her face now uncovered, her large smile was seen and her septum piercing was reflecting what little light it could get from. "Sorry 'bout freakin' ya out, I sometimes forget when I en'er new towns that people ain't used t'it. She tried to explain, walking towards Elie, her smile never leaving. She seemed to always be smiling in some intensity. A frown on her face, Star had realised a few years ago, was decently rare.

God bless, Star thought as she saw the ocean finally. The last time she saw ocean was in the east, and it was a pure black, plagued with now-extinct dead vegitation and animals. It was more reminiscient of petroleum than water, much less ocean. It might've just been the fact that she hadn't seen water in ten-ish years that made Star romanticize it, but it was breathtaking regardless. Ther were pictures of the seas and oceans that her grandparents had shown her maybe twice when she was a child, but the water was still lovely. "A decent 'mount." Star mumbled, nodding to herself, and she looked up. Even with the smog, the stars were brighter than she had seen ever. She was used to towering skyscrapers, so to see the pure night sky of any measure to her was breathtaking. "'Course," She said, looking to Ellis and smirking. "If people rose too much shit 'gainst it, they didn' last long," She laughed and pulled out a small glass liquor bottle from her back pocket, opening it and taking a drink. She motioned it to Ellis, asking if they wanted any.

[starredskyy]

demolitionlovedher started following you

[demolitionlovedher]

Yeah, but then what??

Today could work… It’s not like I’m doing anything right now.

[starredskyy]

Rad! I'll get in on yer coordinates, I'll be there in not that long if that's ai'ight.  

[starredskyy]

demolitionlovedher started following you

[demolitionlovedher]

Yeah, but I still don’t get why you would…

Ah… Sure!! I wouldn’t mind that…

[starredskyy]

'S'a good time-killer. Start cuttin' up shit, next thing y'know 's seven hours later. 

Bu'yeah. I'll hop on yer local, we can chill. Even today, if y'want.

[starredskyy]

demolitionlovedher started following you

[demolitionlovedher]

I like skygazing… I don’t think I’ve really chopped anything up, though…? It seems… messy. Like, a lot of work and I don’t really see the… point…

[starredskyy]

Can be messy, ain't gon' lie. Trick is knowin' how an' where to cut what'chyer cuttin'. 

We should skygaze sometime, though. Y'seem like a cool-'nough cat.

[saltseabones]

Ellis heard the bike drive up and stop, but they didn’t move, having just gotten comfortable. They had wrapped a blanket around their shoulders, because the now-ratty City clothes underneath might frighten whoever it was on the radio, for one, and for another because it was chilly at night. If they had known, they could have brought their sweatshirt.

Ellis, if appearances are necessary, was not tall, but not particularly short either. Their belly was still convex, rounded ever so slightly like a telescope lens, as they had not yet been out in the desert for long enough to wear off their fat reserve. Their hair was wispy and curly, a little bleached-yellow cloud that only barely covered ears that stuck out more than Ellis wanted, one with a little earring hole that had mostly closed. They had an Individual in its plain black holster strapped around one thigh, and a few little City mementos in the deep pockets of their jeans: a family photo that had crumpled around the edges, a pin certifying good grades in math and science, a length of skinny ribbon, a bright red laminated leaf from a trip to the East, a wallet full of the contents of their bank account in 20c notes. They wore a thick silver ring on their right thumb. Other than that, there wasn’t anything special about the outfit, nothing Killjoy, the only real indicators of allegiance being the unnatural yellow of their hair.

Ellis looked over to where the heavy boots were thundering across the roof, about to ask the person not to stomp so much or the roof might break, but then they turned to look and it was a Draculoid oh no. They tensed and drew the gun. “Don’t move! I’ll shoot, I really will!” It would be hard to do much with those trembling hands, but Ellis was hoping it would be too dark to notice.

[starredskyy]

Star blinked at the figure whose voice sounded familiar shrilled at her, and she raised her hands to where her wrists were on level with her shoulders. "Hol'on now," She began, sounding less concerned about the gun being pointed to her and more confused about why it was pointed to her. She'd radioed them no more than 30 minutes ago, she'd wager to guess, so why was she being given such a rude welcome, especially as a new face?

And then she remembered she was wearing her mask, and her body jumped just a little bit before relaxing into something much more casual. "'Ey 'ey, no worries man. I ain't fer BLI, this thing's stolen." She tried to reason with a smile on her face behind the mask. This happens whenever she moved to a new town, usually without fail. It's given Star quite a bit of trouble, but hey, it's the best addition to have whenever she sneaks into Cities with the rest of her stolen Drac uniform.