Astronomically Imposterble

I

Ten people sit around a circular lunch table, each wearing a different colored space suit. Black and Purple sit close together, near inseparable. Black drapes his arm around Purple's shoulders and their free hands are linked in their laps. Ever since the start of the mission, they've never gone anywhere without the other. They were instantly infatuated the second they laid eyes on each other. White and Cyan sit across from Purple and Black. When one isn't looking, the other sure is--until they almost get caught and the roles reverse. Unlike Black and Purple, these two were not smitten with each other immediately. They started out as allies--doing tasks together, sharing the same room, everything crewmates were supposed to do for each other. But as their dependence on each other grew, so did their feelings. Neither has plucked up the courage to ask the other out yet. Red and Brown sit close to one another. They do not share longing glances while the other isn't looking nor are they draped across the other. They just sit. A significant space between. Brown's eyes are trained on Yellow--not in a romantic way but in a way one would look to their boss in a meeting (which is essentially how their roles are). He's enjoyed their mission so far but now that they've accomplished their objective, he knows there's not much else for them to do. Red's gaze flickers between Yellow and the window behind her, looking out at the vast new planets and moons they stumbled upon. When she first heard the news of the exploration of the new galaxy, Red did not believe she would be sitting on the spacecraft getting sent there. Yet here she is. Even with it staring her straight in the face, she still can't believe she's here. Pink and Blue share a bench. Pink drums her fingers against the table as she waits for the silence to be broken. Though Purple is the one who suffocates in the silence, Pink can't take it anymore. She wants to talk about all they saw, all they have left to do, what will happen when they get home. For now she'll wait for someone else to speak. Blue glances around the room, his eyes narrowed as if already searching for something--a reason not to trust anyone in the room. So far he hasn't found anything. Which leaves Yellow and Green together. Green, the oldest out of the two (because Yellow is the youngest out of them all), sits close to Yellow, rather protectively. Her eyes, also narrowed, glance around the room. There's a familiar stench in the air that she can't quite place yet. Something foul. Something unsettling. And she will not let this thing ruin such an innocent girl. Yellow, oblivious to all that is going on under everyone's helmets, goes to break the silence as she takes hers off.

Yellow--otherwise known as Elorie Moonvez--sets her helmet down at her feet. She runs her gloved fingers through her hair which only helps the static. Giving up on combing her hair, she shakes it out instead before leaning over the table. Now everyone can see as her eyes bounce between people, a big smile on her face.

"So," she says. If she didn't have it before, she'd have everyone's attention now. "What did you guys think?"

Elorie would be the first to admit that she doesn't know a thing about space. Unlike most of her crewmates sitting around her, she didn't study the subject as if she'd die without not knowing. She preferred to keep her nose buried in her sketchbooks when she wasn't getting yelled at for not paying attention in class or not understanding what they'd just gone over. It's not her fault that she doesn't understand why the alphabet got mixed with numbers in math. Nor does she understand why imaginary numbers exist; like seriously, as if real numbers weren't complicated already! And it most certainly is not her fault that the words tend to float around on the page when she tries to read! But teachers don't understand that. Which is why she prefers being in the worlds she creates with her pencils--both lead and colored. But she came on the mission on behalf of her parents who no longer could handle the arduous flights. And she plans on making her parents proud.

There is a brief moment of silence before everyone starts talking at once. Most people take their helmets off, breathing in the beginnings of stale bottled oxygen. Some keep theirs on for a moment longer before finding it easier to speak without it. Elorie's eyes widen as she tries to listen to everyone's remarks. It soon grows too much for her to process and she holds up a hand, silencing everyone.