voicemail/ic contact

[substitutable]

Aah, this is Kisaragi. I'm sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message, and I'll call you back when I can.

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION | ETC.

Comments

[imusntrunaway]

[He points out on the map where the stars they're looking for are.]

These ones. Visibility is fine, since the observatory's on the moon's dark side. Picking them out will be a little hard, but it's not impossible...

[substitutable]

[He tries to remember what little he knows from astronomy articles. What they needed were coordinates, but those would be inaccurate because of their altitude.]

All right. Let's try it -- which way are we facing...?

[imusntrunaway]

[The tablet's handy for this purpose--he takes it out and brings up the compass.]

... right now, we're east. So these stars over there... will probably be shifted this way...

[substitutable]

[They've determined the direction. Shintaro nods and glances at the compass as well to calculate the degree of the shift, tracing lines with his fingers on the map and doing whatever math is necessary in his head before he points.]

Try pointing the telescope in that direction.

[imusntrunaway]

[He nods, trusting Shintaro's judgement as he turns it. Peering into the telescope, he manages to identify the ones he's looking for. With a small smile, he straightens up.]

Here. Do you want to see?

[substitutable]

[He's kind of proud of himself that that worked out. He hadn't calculated like that in ages and it's always nice to know you're not out of shape in every way.]

Yeah -- I want to. I haven't looked at stars before.

[imusntrunaway]

Never? I guess it's hard to see them in the city...

[substitutable]

Yeah. The light pollution makes it pretty hard to see -- I think we might've gone camping or something when I was younger, but it's hard to remember anything from that long ago.

[He moves over to the telescope to peer into it, searching for the star Shinji found. The view from outside the Earth's atmosphere really is incredible -- that much he gathers. So many stars.]

[imusntrunaway]

[The star that Shinji's pointed him at is Sirius--one of the brightest ones out of the bunch. He glances down at the map again.]

When I was younger I liked looking at the stars. Whenever I was lonely, they made me feel less alone. I don't know. There was something about them that was soothing.

[substitutable]

[Friends more comfortable with each other would tease for that. That's romantic. Cheesy. But it suits you. Shintaro doesn't say those because they're still on a very precarious balance.]

... Yeah. They are pretty impressive, aren't they?

[imusntrunaway]

[It's something he's always been a little conscious about. What sort of boy sits around looking at stars all the time instead of more practical things like motors or mathematics? His interest remained strictly as a hobby, too. He never wanted to be an astronaut or anything of that sort, much like how he never wanted to be anything.

(There was one thing he wanted to be, but he never could become it. No matter what he did would never be enough to please his father.)

In the end, it became a fondness he rarely shared unless prompted to by others.]

I used to live in the country with my teacher. You didn't need a telescope to see them out there.

[substitutable]

Yeah, I'd bet. That's kind of nice too isn't it?

[He straightens, pulling his face away from the telescope, leaning back, lowering himself down to the floor to sit down and look at the sky from the window instead.]

The countryside, huh...

[imusntrunaway]

[Shinji takes the telescope now, looking into it.]

It was my biggest hobby, since there wasn't much to do there. [He wasn't good at making friends. He'd never been close to his teacher. But even though it'd been lonely, it'd been safe and repeating. Days blurred together. He didn't have to worry about the outside world edging in with its responsibilities.] But it was peaceful.

[substitutable]

I'd imagine. [He draws his knees up and holds them against his chest with his arm, glancing at Shinji.]

Do you miss it?

[imusntrunaway]

[His eyes are fixed on the sky, sorry.]

... even if I could go back, I don't think I would. [They gave him that chance once and he threw it away.] I don't belong there anymore.

[substitutable]

... I see.

But you at least have this, huh? That's nice.

[imusntrunaway]

Yeah. I wouldn't mind staying up here.

[substitutable]

Here, the moon?

... It's not bad, I guess. I can't say I like it though. Not being able to breathe -- it's just like the ocean. If you get throw out into it you might not survive.

[imusntrunaway]

That's true. But it's quiet in space.

[substitutable]

Mm.

I think anything above the earth is pretty quiet. There's a lot less, you know?

[imusntrunaway]

... I think I prefer these sorts of places best. I can't stand it when people are so loud.

[substitutable]

I thought you were that sort. It's kind of nice how the observatory quiets down at night, then.

I guess -- it's weird but I guess I'm getting used to the noise now.

[imusntrunaway]

You seem like the kind of person to enjoy company easier. [Shinji glances down at the map.] You made a lot of friends even after you dropped out.

[substitutable]

... Actually, I was a shut-in. Spent two years in my house and never stepping out.

I met Kido and the rest of them when I happened to go to the department store at the exact same time they did and we all had a run-in with some terrorists.

[imusntrunaway]

[What.]

You shut... yourself in? Terrorist attack? Um, wait, how did you get out--?!