walking in circles seems to have meaning somehow; shahrizai

[Carinae]

astra inclinant, non necessitant ------ (the stars incline; they do not compel) He’s the first to call her beautiful. She was nothing in the stars – sister mirrored her, mother was a rich teal, father was…well, father was a hundred different things. Mostly he was a nebula, a comet streaking across their field of vision. But a paltry reflection, as she is, is so small and pointless when there is vastness engulfing you, when black holes are tearing open over your shoulders. It wasn’t until she came here that she realized her mirroring was different, if not entirely unique. There are many colors, some of them shifting, some of them static. She thinks they’re all lovely, even if so few remind her of home. “Thank you,” she says. She is as unsure how to accept a compliment as he is at how to give them. For all her experiences, her social interactions have been few and far between. “I’d like that,” she says, and finds herself smiling. She’s never had friends – only her family, who are lost to the stars for now (she holds out hope they will return, or she will – that one day she will open her eyes to a world of stars and galaxies, to sister’s smile). “I don’t know how to have friends,” she confesses, suddenly seeming young, a child again, “I’ll try to be good at it.” carinae