The Dreams I Can't Declare

Mirium quirked the corners of her mouth up when she saw him nod, read the affirmative on his lips. She was glad the soup had been a good choice. The girl scribbled that down too, itching to get away, to hide and breathe a bit. His thanks made her warmer, though, than she had been all evening.

When he smiled at her the ball of anxiety in her chest loosened and her shoulders sagged forward, eyes wide and a bit watery with tiredness. She watched him speak warily, for a moment, unsure about the nature of his offer. Until he got to the part about being a teacher, that is. Mirium brightened up at that, then, and nodded her head.

Careful with her apron, Mirium sat herself across from the man and squished the mound of her cheek into the palm of her hand, thanking him with a small smile.

Dropping her eyes for a moment, Mirium fiddled with her fingers on the tabletop before sighing a bit. She sparked up her magick, the light dimmer than normal as it flashed above her head. “I appreciate this, really. I–I don’t know what’s wrong just that it…is.”

It was killing Delbert not to ramble on. His nerves made his mouth want to move a mile a minuet, attempting to save face by spilling out every thought that came to mind. But--- He wasn’t sure how well the girl could keep up with him. She was doing fine so far, but he felt as though he should perhaps choose his words carefully and not make things harder for her. So, for once in his life, Delbert sat quiet for a moment. Letting her make up her mind.

When she actually moved to sit across from him, the teacher immediately knew that he’d done the right thing by offering her a seat. That small smile of hers was enough for him to relax a bit. ---- He’d become a rather good listener over his past few months of working at Pride U. Given the chance, some students just liked to talk about their day to someone who would listen. Others saw him as a father figure and would ask him for advice on their young adult world problems. ( Mind you, Delbert was very bad at advice and told them as much, but they continued to come and ask regardless. )

Mirium nodded her head, arching a delicate brow at the older man’s frazzled appearance and overall air of…disaray. There was something there that caught her eye, something there that reminded her a bit of herself, right this very moment. It made the brunette pause, the cap of her pen taptaptapping against the edge of her pad of paper. A little frown furrowed her brow as she watched his mouth move, having a hard time catching all of the things he said. 

One word stood out though. 

Coffee. Now, that she could do. 

Scribbling it down on her paper, the brunette nodded her head to herself and made to turn back around, to leave, but she paused. He was still talking, still asking her something…what was it…

Are you alright?

That made her stop. It made her stare. She didn’t know how to respond. And he’d…he had asked something else hadn’t he? What she would recommend…

Reaching over to move the menu to the edge of the table he’d sat himself at, Mirium perused it for a moment before tapping the tip of her index finger against the page. Their seasonal soup was always good, if he liked squash. 

As to the other thing, well, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and gave a small shrug, not knowing how to answer him. She didn’t know if she was okay. 

Oh poor thing, Delbert thought, hand dropping away from his messy hair, she’s only just walked up to the table and already I’m driving her up a wall. This was supposed to be quick and easy. He didn’t want to be one those guests, giving the staff a hard time. No, he was normally very prompt and organized !! ( or so he told himself. ) 

... Or maybe it’s not me. 

He watched her expression carefully, wondering why she hadn’t said anything yet. Maybe she was so caught off guard by his awkward panic that he’d stunned her into silence. Maybe she was so annoyed by him she didn’t have time for words. Maybe... He followed her finger, first to her lips to ponder then to the menu before him. Maybe she just didn’t speak.

The realization made his eyebrows go up a bit. “ Oh!! Oh yes, good choice. “ He agreed, back at the topic at hand “ That sounds perfect. Thank you. “ And it really did. Warm soup on a cold, winter day would just hit the spot. 

“ Oh. Well. “ His excitement died down a bit as she shrugged. “ I know it’s not really my place to press, but if you need a moment to hide, by all means sit down. --- You can blame it on me if your manager comes over. Say I bothered you into sitting with me. “ 

TASK TWENTY-ONE - A list of 10+ characters you’d like to see in the RP (for you to play or someone else!)

TASK TWENTY -- Create a Magick historical figure and write a brief biography, including where they were from, their accomplishments, etc. ( like what you’d find on a wikipedia page. )

                 .:*・°☆ TRIGGER WARNINGS: BOMBS, FIRE, RADIATION, SPACE AND DEATH. James Van Belt is heavily inspired by IRL space scientist guy, JAMES VAN ALLEN. He’s the scientist who discovered the James Van Allen radiation belts around the earth, and the same guy who proposed a nuke bomb would put a hole in it. ( which... kinda, accidentally happened ?? Not by his hand or will though. watch this video for the full story. ) Some people say that because the later/successful  Apollo missions passed through the belts without affects ( or because of that one engineer guy Kelly Smith who claims we don’t have the tech to get through such radiation. also see video here. )  the Apollo mission didn’t happen. lots of theories and accusations. It’s wild stuff.

so long story short here’s my take on ‘ what if James Van Allen didn’t discover the belts.... what if he was the one that caused them ‘. It’s a mix of true science ( like the apollo 1 story and the fact that there are 2/3 belts, etc ) and science fiction. Don’t think too hard into it lol

JAMES VAN BELT

BORN

James Alfred Van Belt September 7, 1914 Mount Pleasant, Iowa

DIED

2 February 1969 

ALMA MATER

Iowa Wesleyan College (B.S.) (1935) University of Iowa (M.S.) (1936) University of Iowa (Ph.D) (1939)

KNOWN FOR:

Being the first Magick persons in space and for creating the James Van Belts around Earth. 

DISCOVERY:

After the tragedy of Apollo 1, everyone at NASA was on high alert. They refused to lose another crew in a similar fashion ( Apollo 1 died during a test on the launch pad. There was a fire. It changed the way NASA designed everything. ) so every team began to rework the entire system. From things as large as the design of the shuttle, to the reworking of seat belts. There wasn’t a single blueprint or calculation that didn’t get scrutinized.

Doctor James Van Belt was one of the lab technicians on hand at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory in Long Island, New York at the time reworking their defenses against radiation when the next tragedy hit. ---- Only this disaster wasn’t broadcasted for all of America to see like the Apollo had been.

The entire lab was put on lock-down, radiation on everything and everyone within the two most northern wings. That is, everyone except for Doctor Belt.

UNKNOWN MAGICK:

After months of testing, it turned out that Doctor Belt’s body took no effects from radiation. No “radiation sickness”, burns, or nausea. His cells didn’t seem to react to them at all. ---- They eventually dared to go further and test the limits, putting the man under ( by his own will, of course ) more experiments with the dangerous electromagnetic waves.

It almost seemed as if he body took it in. Rather than rip his cells apart and do it harm, it almost seemed as though it had the opposite affect on him. He was healthier than ever. 

---- The extents of Doctor Belt’s magick are hypothesized, but there is no documented articles explaining in depth just how his magick worked. It is widely believed the man could also emit the very radiation that his body took in, but there is no concrete proof. 

THE FIRST MAGICK IN SPACE:

NASA had been wary to send a magick person into space, under the guise that they felt the person might “ loose control “ or feel the need to use their magic when in a stressful environment. But given that they now had someone who could go into space, through the radiation in Earth’s magnetic field, without harm -- It was an opportunity too good to pass up.

And James Van Belt agreed. 

DEATH:

The launch went untelevised. Almost 2 years had passed since the incident, but NASA feared two mistakes in a row. --- After all, it wasn’t just America watching. It was the entire world. 

The mission was meant to be a rather simple one. James Van Belt and two other astronauts were to simply orbit the moon and return; bringing back radiation readings and other statistics with them.

---- To the crew’s relief, the launch was a success. In fact, everything until they reached the magnetic field went smoothly. But as they pushed the limits, getting further and further away from ground control things begin to fall apart.

Ground Control lost connection with the ship entirely, so what happened to the crew and their ship upon arrival to the field was unknown. The crew heard radio silence for 13.34 minuets before their boards lit up with signs of an explosion at the ship’s coordinates.

THE REMAINING BELTS:

Not long after the explosion, scientists were able to detect what they now call the James Van Belts around earth. It’s two, occasionally three, magnetic radiation belts that circle the Earth and feed off it’s metal core. These are meant to represent the crew members on board, but why the third comes and goes in unknown.

TASK SIXTEEN -- Jukebox Musical/TV or Movie Soundtrack: come up with a playlist of at least 10 songs, write a scene summary to go with each one

                 .:*・°☆  A movie about the life of Doctor Delbert Doppler. From 1986 to present. It’s not always a happy story, but ( spoiler alert ) it ends on a good note. 

                            With shortness of breath, I’ll explain the infinite                             How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist.

 FLY ME TO THE MOON. Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like On a-Jupiter and Mars

Opening credits. Introducing you to a family in the late 80s--- A loving father, a sweet and gentle mother, and their newborn baby. They live in the city and sometimes money is hard to come by, but they manage. As time progresses and the song goes on, the viewer watches the family grow together. The boy falls in love with the night sky and his parents encourage his love of the stars, buying him a telescope, dressing up for an astronaut for Halloween, and doing his school projects on the planets. This shows Delbert’s life until about middle school.

IM STILL HERE. I am a question to the world. Not an answer to the Earth. 

Okay so high school is nothing like elementary school. Delbert’s kind of nerdy and awkward ( okay--- he’s VERY nerdy and awkward ) and the other kids tease and bully him. SPACEBOY. He tries to hide his passion for the first two years, but then... something snaps. The song starts playing; queue Delbert going harder into his studies than ever before. A montage of passing grades, late night studying, and space museum tours at Kennedy Space Center. He’s starting to smile more, confident in his choices. --- Teachers and kids still continue to tell him his dream is unrealistic, but he presses on anyway.  The occasional glimpse at his parents hint to his father’s health conditions ( ie, him coughing. subtle, but enough to hint something is up. )

SPUTNIK. This is the beginning of a new era for mankind. The era of man's cosmic existence. You will now hear the voice of the Russian moon.

Everything is going uphill. Delbert makes it through community college getting his AA. Then he transfers and gets his Bachelors, and his masters and his doctorate. For the first time in his life, he’s grinning and making friends and finally feels like he’s going somewhere with this. He’s totally in his element. 

SPACE ODDITY. This is Ground Control to Major Tom. You've really made the grade. And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear. Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare.

One of Delbert’s papers ends up on a desk in NASA and the next thing you know- Cut to the young man receiving a phone call offering him a job at the company on the Space Coast. ---- HARD CUT TO A FANTASY DREAM SEQUENCE. He sees himself in the spacesuit. Walking on the moon, placing his feet in Neil Armstrong’s footprints. This is finally it !! His calling !! He hugs his parents and they all cheer. He’s invincible, nothing hurts. 

LET’S GO. Here I am, tied and bound. Every night feeling low. Bad days come back, whatever. In the sun I bathe, in everyday light. You draft me down for a split-second tomorrow. What am I supposed to do?

I actually titled the place holder for this part: ‘ Nasa....sucks? wtf ‘. Delbert’s finally at his dream job... and he HATES it. He’s stuck in a cubicle all day, staring down paperwork. It’s not even fun stuff-- he’s writing articles on topics that have been covered a million times over. He’s not making discoveries. His attempts at speaking to his higher-ups goes badly; them scoffing and telling the doctor to go back to where he belongs. There are no opportunities for growth and Delbert falls into this mundane, dreary life. He worked his whole life to get to NASA and now... He just kinda has to suck it up. And pretend he’s happy, even though he’s miserable and this isn’t what he wanted at all. 

GOODBYE MOONMEN. We say goodbye, Moonmen. Goodbye, Moonmen Goodbye, Moonmen. Oh, goodbye.

His father’s health is going downhill. It’s been hinted at for the past few scenes but... dang. Just when Delbert’s starting to sink into depression, his father passes away. Queue the phone call at work, dropping the phone, and running through the parking deck to his car. He’s praying to whoever will listen that his father lives, even if it’s just long enough so that he can say goodbye, but he’s just short on time. He runs up to the room and his mother... their eyes meet and she doesn’t have to say another word. He’s gone. Delbert skips work for a few days. Doesn’t eat. doesn’t talk. 

SATURN. You taught me the courage of stars before you left. How light carries on endlessly, even after death. With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite. How rare and beautiful it is to even exist.

Delbert clearly isn’t okay. Everything sucks. But one day he gets a call from an old collogue who has heard his story through the grape vine and wants to offer him a job. It isn’t as an astronaut, but instead as a university teacher in a completely different country. ---- The doctor struggles to make up his mind and has to dig deep. Go back to his old childhood home and stare up at the sky like he used to. He finds old pictures of his family when they were whole, and old supportive notes from his father. THIS PHONE CALL/AUDIO PLAYS OVER THE MUSIC ( click to read ). Cut to Delbert packing in a hurry and running through the airport to catch a plane. 

HERE COMES THE SUN. Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here Here comes the sun Here comes the sun, and I say, It's all right.

The audio is soft. The camera pans over Delbert walking into a new apartment, then to him unpacking ( a familiar telescope from his childhood is placed in the window. Notes from his parents taped up to fridge, old models and Styrofoam painted planets hang from the ceiling. ). His classroom is full of light, his coworkers and neighbors are nice. He’s frequenting coffee shops and record stores, and slowly but surely... he lets himself start to smile again. And it’s obvious that for the first time in a long time, he’s actually happy. 

NOT THE FUTURE. Even though some things look so familiar. They're not really on Earth. Yeah, it's a galaxy far, far away. Alien DNA walking ‘round every day