halley, female
mash-up: fly me to the moon + la vie en rose
defining point:
---
her whole life, halley's appearance had been something of a conversation point. people took one look at the stars, the constellations, and would assume. assume that her outward form dictated her inner. assume that they knew everything about her from a single glance. they would smile knowingly when the topic of careers come up, and say, 'well, i guess i don't have to ask what you decided to be!' and would then laugh, as though her life was all some hilarious joke.
all her life it had been this way. in primary, middle, and high school, teachers would encourage her to 'pursue her passions,' while steering her towards the science labs and never asking what her passion might be, simply assuming.
and all her life, halley had been painfully, irrevocably shy, never able to disagree or complain. and so when people laughed, or told her what she was destined to be, she simply smiled and ducked her head, wondering if perhaps this was what she wanted to be, she just had to consider it more carefully, spend more time mapping the stars in the sky and her heart. then, perhaps, she would realise they were right, and she was wrong
it wasn't as though she didn't like stars. she considered them very beautiful indeed. if this was only from an aesthetic perspective, surely it was enough evidence that she was meant to travel among them? surely?
all this changed however, when she saw a starlit ocean for the first time.
halley had been to the beach before. the sea was a beautiful mysterious thing, and it seemed to have an invisible hold over her, calling her back time and time again. she loved the many faces of the briny deep, the chattering birds of the morn, the crashing waves at noon, the cool mirror at dusk. all these things she knew and loved, and yet she had never seen the ocean at night.
everyone knew the warnings about the dangers of a darkened beach. halley, more perhaps than anyone. though she was by no means afraid of a midnight sea, she was afraid of how others perceived her, and how they might think she was irresponsible for not following the self-laid rules of society. so, come sundown, when the sky and sea turned to fire and flame, she would quietly slip away, and murmur a silent promise that she would return tomorrow.
but one day, she fell asleep, calmed by the wash of waves and the chatter of crabs.
as the sunset burned and died, she did not depart. as the sky darkened she slept on. only when the stars shone brightly above did she awake, and what she saw when she opened her eyes gave her new purpose.
she saw the vast ocean, sprinkled with innumerable stars on the surface, but deep as knowledge and a riddle beneath, and smiled.
she saw herself.
finally, for the first time in her life, she knew who she was supposed to be.
mash-up: fly me to the moon + la vie en rose
defining point:
---
her whole life, halley's appearance had been something of a conversation point. people took one look at the stars, the constellations, and would assume. assume that her outward form dictated her inner. assume that they knew everything about her from a single glance. they would smile knowingly when the topic of careers come up, and say, 'well, i guess i don't have to ask what you decided to be!' and would then laugh, as though her life was all some hilarious joke.
all her life it had been this way. in primary, middle, and high school, teachers would encourage her to 'pursue her passions,' while steering her towards the science labs and never asking what her passion might be, simply assuming.
and all her life, halley had been painfully, irrevocably shy, never able to disagree or complain. and so when people laughed, or told her what she was destined to be, she simply smiled and ducked her head, wondering if perhaps this was what she wanted to be, she just had to consider it more carefully, spend more time mapping the stars in the sky and her heart. then, perhaps, she would realise they were right, and she was wrong
it wasn't as though she didn't like stars. she considered them very beautiful indeed. if this was only from an aesthetic perspective, surely it was enough evidence that she was meant to travel among them? surely?
all this changed however, when she saw a starlit ocean for the first time.
halley had been to the beach before. the sea was a beautiful mysterious thing, and it seemed to have an invisible hold over her, calling her back time and time again. she loved the many faces of the briny deep, the chattering birds of the morn, the crashing waves at noon, the cool mirror at dusk. all these things she knew and loved, and yet she had never seen the ocean at night.
everyone knew the warnings about the dangers of a darkened beach. halley, more perhaps than anyone. though she was by no means afraid of a midnight sea, she was afraid of how others perceived her, and how they might think she was irresponsible for not following the self-laid rules of society. so, come sundown, when the sky and sea turned to fire and flame, she would quietly slip away, and murmur a silent promise that she would return tomorrow.
but one day, she fell asleep, calmed by the wash of waves and the chatter of crabs.
as the sunset burned and died, she did not depart. as the sky darkened she slept on. only when the stars shone brightly above did she awake, and what she saw when she opened her eyes gave her new purpose.
she saw the vast ocean, sprinkled with innumerable stars on the surface, but deep as knowledge and a riddle beneath, and smiled.
she saw herself.
finally, for the first time in her life, she knew who she was supposed to be.
