12462/Among the Stars

Among the Stars
Date of Scene:	07 August 2022
Location:	105 W 29th - Jon and Cael's Apartment
Synopsis:	Jon's birthday gift to his daughter, Agnes, is her very first astral projection trip. He takes Agnes and Cael to a stretch of the Great River and shows them the beauty of a river of stars, and the joys of catching starfish to eat.
Cast of Characters:	Jonathan Sims, Cael Becker

---

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    There's no cake for Agnes' birthday--Jon teaches her how to make creme brulees instead, an inventive culinary use for her fire magic--but there are presents and a few friends come over, and generally speaking Agnes declares it's the best birthday she's ever had.

    And that's /before/ Jon gets to the proper birthday present he's come up with.

    As it turns out, what the Archivist has in mind is Agnes' first lesson in astral projection. Cael's come along for the ride before, but Jon provides her with the magically-infused tea that will help her project her dreaming body into the Astral Plane--as opposed to going there physically as they do when they visit the Velvet Room. This is far safer, he explains, and it'll be far easier for them to travel some good distance and see something truly interesting.

    So it is that they fall asleep, and dream themselves on the bank of a wide river, at the estuary where it flows into an endless sea. At first, it's just Agnes and Cael there, which might be a little scary. And Agnes, in the astral plane... isn't entirely human, evidently. She has the head of a lioness, and a tail, and has a faint reddish glow about her body.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael also provided gifts - namely, whatever video game Agnes has been pining over lately. In private, she also offered over several more 'retro' titles from the early 2000's and 2010's, provided with the explination, "These were some of my favorites growing up."
    The tea is eyes almost skeptically but- well, fine, if Jon says it's true... Fuck, she takes far too many things on 'faith' these days. She downs it, before settling down to sleep, 'waking' on the shore beside the lion-headed figure. "Uhhh..." She looks the girl up, and then down before asking, "Agnes? Why are you- ...a lion?" There's a pause before she reaches up to feel her own head. "Oh, God, am I a wolf? I get enough of the shit when I'm awake..."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Agnes blinks at Cael for a moment, then reaches up to feel at her face. "I... what? Oh. Huh. I mean... I guess it has something to do with Sekhmet...?"

    "Your astral form is essentially your idealized self," comes Jon's voice from a little further down the river bank. He comes toward them, smiling. "That's why I don't really look any different here--the body I'm projecting in the real world is already my idealized body. I'm summoning it from the Astral Plane, essentially." He does, indeed, look pretty much the same as always.

    "Dad! Where were you?" Agnes gestures at Cael. "She's freaking out," she says in that tone of 'why do you leave me alone with the /mundane/ person?!'

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I am //not// freaking out," Cael counters with a roll of her eyes. "I voiced legitimate confusion and concern. Geeze." Finding her face to be perfectly human, she drops her hands to her sit, and turns slowly to enjoy the vista.
    "You know, if someone told me a year ago I'd be astral projecting with my boyfriend and- their daughter, I'd tell them to fuck right off. This is nice, though. Is the water safe to swim in?" she asks curiously.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "It's the Hudson," Agnes says. "Right? Can't possibly be safe to swim in."

    Jon shakes his head. "Not /quite/. It's an offshoot of the Great River. I wanted to see how far upstream we can go, see if we can meet up with the River itself, see anything interesting. Come on, follow me." He conjures up a boat, large enough for the three of them to sit in comfortably, and goes to climb aboard.

    "You were totally freaking out," Agnes adds to Cael, aside, as she climbs into the boat after her father.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Jon - am I allowed to push your child overboard?" Cael asks in a dry voice as she steps aboard the boat, and amused smirk on here lips. She's not going to engage in a childish game of 'was not - were too.' ...but childish threats of shoving her overboard? Appearantly just fine.
    "Do you think we'll run into any of the beings you met during your travels?" she asks curiously. "You've only been home for a few days - but it'll have been years for them, yeah?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Please don't push my child into the Astral river that may or may not be the Hudson, that flows to a body of water we know nothing about," Jon replies with a vague smirk. Once they're both settled, the boat starts to move upriver, without any obvious means of propulsion. As they travel, they can see stretches of the Astral reflecting New York and New Jersey to either side, buildings and towns appearing and disappearing in an odd patchwork.

    "As for time, well... it runs oddly here. Not really uniformly. It could be that it'll have been years for some, or minutes for others. So it's really 'I suppose we'll have to see.' But my aim today was to see... well... the next stretch of the Great River after this turnoff is pretty amazing, and I was thinking of exploring it a bit."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael's only response to Jon's words is to continue giving Agnes a speculative look - like she's still planning on pushing the teen into the water. But in the end, she flashes Agnes a broad smile, before settling in to enjoy the journey, her gaze watching the scenery they pass with a curious expression.
    "So - is it possible we spend hours, for days, or even months here - while only minutes will have passed for our sleeping bodies?" she asks in a curious tone. "Is there a way to know how much time is passing for our bodies?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "We'll wake up when the alarm goes off, for one," Jon notes. "That's why I set it--it's best to have someone watching your body while you do this, but we're not going too far. If nothing else, I have Ma'at to warn me if it's been too long." He looks to Agnes. "Which is something /you/ need to remember, for when you start doing this on your own. You won't have the Archive or a goddess attached to you, to ground you, so we're going to make sure you are /extra/ careful about all of this, okay?"

    Agnes nods somberly. "Right," she says. "Got it. But--like Cael said, could we spend /days/ here and it's just minutes or hours in the waking world?"

    Jon nods. "Well, we're technically dreaming. We're just--awake while doing so. The weird time dilation isn't /quite/ as likely, especially not here right close to the real world."

    The boat's moving far more swiftly than it did when Jon came this way originally, partly because he generally knows where they are. The bank begins to zoom right by as Jon takes them to his intended destination.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "We have Bear, Lady, and Nimue looking over us," Cael remarks in amusement. "I mean - if Bear doesn't get his breakfast - he will Let Us Know." The capital letters in her tone is almost palpable, as she continues to watch the scenery zipping past them.
    "This... is peaceful," Cael admits. "Which, I'll thank you both not to let on to others that... it's something I occasionally enjoy." She grins towards the pair of them.
    "I know you learned a lot in your journey, Jon - but there's a part of me that still wishes all of it could have been like this for you."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Nothing is learned without struggle," Agnes says, rather pedantically, and Jon chuckles.

    "That's true, but I think Cael already knows that. It could have been... hmm... easier? But it would've taken longer, I suppose." He glances around. "This /is/ nice, even if the left bank appears to be Jersey." Indeed, there's a flash of the buildings of Gotham as they go by--someone's dream of the place, perhaps? Someone's nightmare? Hard to say.

    They approach a point where it's clear that somehow, this river is coming /out/ of another river, rather than flowing /into/ it, like a reverse tributary. The river in question is--huge. Hard to see the other side of it. And, right downstream from where they're joining up, it appears to flow /up/ into the air.

    "Rivers don't normally do that, do they?" Agnes asks in confusion.

    "Not normally, no," Jon replies with a grin. "But this is not a normal river."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I mean. I think some things can be learned without struggle. ...but no, probably not all things. And how you define the struggle..." Cael looks towards Jon as she adds, "You remember what a struggle it was for me to say 'I love you,' the first time. There was a lot of learning there, but not because some outside force was making me //suffer// in order to learn."
    She looks over towards Agnes - and there's a pause before she manages to say, "I do love you, too, you know, Agnes. I know I haven't said that before. But I do."
    Rather than linger in that, she looks up towards the sky and asks, "Breathing up there won't be a problem, right? Or did it just become a problem because I thought of it?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Cael, love," Jon says gently, "I /asked/ them to put me in the flaming tomb. Nobody forced me to suffer in order to learn--I chose to submit to the suffering, in order to sort myself out. It was hard, but in aggregate no harder than years of therapy would have been. And far less expensive." He smirks.

    Agnes is beaming at Cael, and leans over to give her a hug enthusiastically. "I know! 'I'll be here even if your Dad disappears' means that. I love you too! But it's good to hear you say it."

    The boat rocks a bit and Jon--who's looking away because there's something in his eye and it's definitely a tear or five--says, "Careful, now. Don't capsize us." A pause. "We should be able to breathe up there. I always was. It's... well... here, let me show you."

    The boat manuevers itself onto the Great River, then turns to face downstream. Jon visibly relaxes as he lets the boat go in the direction of the water flow, and they proceed to go--/up/. Into the air. Into space. And, yes, they can breathe just fine.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Asked them to-" There's something akin to anger in Cael's voice at the thought that Jon would //ask// to be thrown into a fiery pit. It's just- not something she can comprehend, and Jon doing something to themself willingly is- It hurts and confuses her.
    But then she's being hugged by Agnes. Her posture stiffens at the unexpected contact - though it slowly begins to relax again, as her hand reaches over to rest on Agnes' arm. "'Family' means that, too," she offers quietly. "It's just- hard for me to actually say the words. It's- still something I need to work at, for it to feel natural. You know?" She turns her head to give the girl a wry smile, before turning to watch their ascent into the stars.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "It helped me get home to you faster," Jon says softly, regarding Cael with an expression that is, for a moment, heart-achingly vulnerable and lonely. "And it helped me figure something out that I /needed/ to figure out. I'd been torturing myself over something for /years/ and I didn't need to be." He reaches out to take Cael's hand as Agnes sits back. "Think of it like surgery to remove a tumor. It hurt, the recovery hurt, but I'm /so/ much happier now, without all of that."

    He squeezes her hand and then turns to look at the sky, smiling softly as the boat rises up to the stars. The water fades out, so that the boat is floating on something that looks like liquid light. "From below," he says, clearly changing the subject, "this looks like the Milky Way. A glimmering band of stars."

    Agnes leans over the side, just a little, to put her hand into the river. "It doesn't feel like water at all," she says in wonder. "It... tingles a little."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I know," Cael answers quietly. "I know you feel it helped you. I know you're okay with it - but I don't know how to be okay with the thought of- a fucking //pit of fire.//" Or Jon willing willingly subjecting himself to it. "I just don't know how to do that." She squeezes's Jon's hand, lifting it to her heart, before she turns her attention back to their surroundings.
    She looks down to the 'water' - and to the distant shore below them, reaching out with one hand to lightly touch the water herself. She lets out a speculative sound before adding, "If it helps - I wouldn't push Agnes overboard at //this// point." She gives the girl an impish smile along with her remark.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Can you just accept that your boyfriend is weird?" Jon asks with a grin. He's clearly thrilled by their surroundings, and unwilling to let anything spoil the mood. "I would happily spend years fishing up here. We don't have the right kind of net for nebula crab, but--there might be some starfish, and I think I saw some blue dwarf tuna. You can usaully catch those by hand, though it's hard."

    Agnes peers down into the water and leans over further. "I think I see--do they kind of glimmer? How do you even eat them? I mean, if they're made of stars..." She's threatening to go overboard herself, without any help from Cael.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Fuck, Jon, I accepted that //months// ago." There's a brief pause before she adds with a smirk, "Or //years// ago, depending on your point of view.
    "...wait. You can catch fish up here?" Cael asks with some surprise. She joins Agnes at the edge of the boat, looking down. She doesn't lean over as far, however. In fact - she puts her hand on the girl's back - gripping her clothes the be sure. "And what do you mean we don't have the right net? Can't you just... make things with your mind?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "There are, indeed, fish up here! They're often considered delicacies, because you have to know how to catch them, and there's only certain areas of the Great River that go up into the stars, but--I practically lived off the stuff for a while." Jon beams. "I was thinking maybe if we caught some we could take it home and I could cook it for you. It might not be as properly filling as 'real' food, but... well... worth a try?"

    Agnes blinks at Jon as she lets Cael pull her back into the boat. "We could have--/magic/ fish?!"

    Jon keeps grinning. "Sure! Why not? As for the nets--they're made of dream-stuff that I can't just conjure up. The /raw/ stuff of the Astral Plane is what I work with, but there's a lot around here that's more refined, more specialized or ephemeral. I could probably learn to make the nets, but I never did."

    He gestures to a thing scuttling along the bottom of the river, a cloudy crab shape that swirls with color even as it moves by. "See there? Nebula crab. Trying to grab them with your hands is like trying to catch a cloud. You have to have the right net, and then the right tools to crack them open and get at the meat. Just /one/ of those things is like a sackful of gold with the right people."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...we can take things back from here?" Cael asks in confusion. "When we wake up - wouldn't it just... stay here?" She sounds uncertain, as she looks between the two.
    She studies the crab for a moment before murmuring under her breath, "Crab is delicious, though." Too bad they can't catch one.
    "How do we catch the fish, though? You said there was a technique? Teach us oh wise Archivist, Avatar of Ma'at, Your Royal Godliness, Leader of the Justice League Dark, Agent of SHIELD - etc, etc." Mischief flashes in her eyes as she lists off Jon's various titles - regardless of whether or not they even lets her get to the end of the list.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon blinks at Cael for a moment. "...Oh. Right. We're asleep." A pause, and then, "Well, the, I suppose we'll just have to grill it up and enjoy it here. I /do/ wish we could catch the crab. First crab I've been able to enjoy in years."

    He leans in to kiss Cael, to stop the litany of titles, ignoring Agnes' eyeroll. "I missed that," he says with a smile. "As for technique..."

    He turns to the side of the boat, flexes his fingers, then says, "The starfish like to lurk on rocks under the river." The boat stops as though anchored, near a rock covered in starfish below the water line. "You lean in and sort of... gently stroke them, and they'll let go of the rock. Then you toss them in the bucket. Oh!"

    A bucket appears. "There we go."

    Jon leans over and very gently reaches out to one of the starfish. "The fishermen use poles that let them stroke the starfish at a distance and then catch them in nets downstream. But this should work just fine for us." He gently strokes the fish, from the center outward, along each leg in a clockwise circle. And the creature releases from the rock, into Jon's hand.

    "See?" he says with a smile.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael returns the kiss - her eyes twinkling with mischief and amusement. It does stop her from finishing the littany of titles, though.
    "Starfish generally aren't edible. ...are they? But these ones are?" She sounds curious as she watches Jon stroking and then capturing the starfish. She leans over to try herself - one hand holding firmly to the edge of the boat. She strokes each of the arms in turn - letting out a quiet 'oh!' as it releases into her hand. "...easy." She remarks.
    "You should try it, Agnes."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Actually, starfish are quite edible," Jon replies as he watches Cael. "It's a delicacy in some places. You only want to go for the meat in the legs, and you have to know what you're doing. I've never eaten real starfish--but these are delicious."

    Agnes slowly strokes the fish, one leg after another, then giggles as it comes free in her hand. "You ate these for--years? Just starfish and crabs?"

    "Well," Jon says, "There's a lot of different types of food on the astral plane. Meat and vegetables and fruit, fish and game... things I can't even begin to describe. Anything you can think of and more. I ate centipede down in Hell, and fungus, and..." He makes a face. "Most of the food in Hell was pretty gross, aside from the times when I wasn't foraging. I think the Lords must import from somewhere else."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "So. Where are the best noodles on the astral plane?" Cael asks - even as she's stroking her second starfish from the rock.
    Because of //course// that's what she asks.
    She frowns slightly as she asks, "Did they have tea here for you? Or scones? Or you just... had to get used to having whatever new and different then they had one hand?" she sounds curious - and a little sympathetic. Did Jon go //ten years// without tea?

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Some places had tea. Some didn't. Some of it was the best tea I've ever had." Jon sighs. "Not the same as home though. And nobody had proper cream tea." He sounds a little wistful. "There are wonders out here, but--I'm glad to be home. Terribly glad."

    He glances to Cael. "The best noodles I found were on a space station further up the river, on one of these stretches in the sky. /Amazing/ ramen. We'll have to find a way to get there some time, it was... really quite something."

    Agnes giggles and shakes her head, leaning out to 'catch' another starfish. "Hell for Cael would be no more noodles, huh?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Do not even speak such a thing!" Cael protests, before letting out a laugh. "It would be pretty awful - yeah. But... there are worse things." She glances over at Jon as she says this with a small smile. The thought of losing her new family - ever, for any reason - that was still far worse.
    She shifts on the boat, so she's leaning back against Jon, watching Agnes with the starfish.
    "Can we come here every night?" She knows they can't - but it's a nice thought, isn't it?

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I wish we could," Jon murmurs. "Unfortunately, much of my 'work' happens on this plane, while I sleep. And you shouldn't astrally project /too/ much--you do need to allow yourself to have normal dreams." He wraps an arm around Cael, sighing softly.

    "I have missed this, though. I mean. Being with you. Missed you. So much." He leans down to kiss her head, gently.

    Agnes, in the meantime, seems to decide that they've got enough starfish, and plops back down on the other side of the boat. "So! Now what? Do we go cook the starfish over a campfire, or gather berries or something to go with? Starberries?!"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael wraps her arm up and around - burying her fingers in Jon's hair in that possessive way she has sometimes. She seems perfectly content to stay like that - for as long as she can. "I missed you, too. I know it was only 10 days for me - and it was more than three hundred times longer for you. But I missed you, too."
    She lets out a contented sigh then asks, "Yes, Jon. What do we eat with our starfish? I'm curious to see."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Starberries?" Jon looks a little bit at a loss, with this. "Ahh--no. We can head upstream a bit and see if there's some berry bushes, though, maybe some tubers. And then I suppose we can cook over a campfire and I can show you the sort of meals I was eating when I was roughing it on the way home."

    Agnes smiles brightly. "I've never been camping properly. Sydney says it's brilliant, they go every summer to different places. Pitch tents, and go hiking, and they say when they're a bit older their aunt's going to take them mountain climbing. But this would be a good start."

    Jon grins. "Right, well--as the birthday girl says, then." And the boat starts moving, to head back upstream toward the 'normal' level.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Your friend goes camping?" Cael asks - sounding a little surprised. "Would you... like to go camping?"
    She tilts her head back to Jon, seeming to ask him 'is this okay?' as she does so. "I mean. I've got no experience with it... but if your friend Sydney's family showed us the ropes, uhh... Maybe we could all go camping together? Us, and Sydney's family... in neighboring campsites or whatever." She continues to lean back into Jon as their boat continues their journey along the starry river.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Could be an idea," Jon murmurs softly. For the moment, he seems content to let the boat drift upriver.

    "Oh, that'd be /amazing/!" Agnes enthuses. And then she proceeds to regale the adults with tales of how great she hears camping is, while Jon looks on, amused.

    A good start to a birthday trip. And they still have the starfish to eat.