Fic: Stardom
Nov. 23rd, 2006 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silentdescantStardom
warnings for angst, Billy's first person POV, and really weird, convoluted metaphors. I should tell you that even though I wrote this while studying for astronomy, the star metaphors probably have multitudes of errors. We'll call it artistic license. :) Even so, this is embarrassingly strange.
happy birthday, Raquel. ♥
It’s often said that we (humans, objects, everything) are star stuff. Chemically, elementally, that is correct; the atoms that make up our bodies all stem from the atoms ejected from stars. But in another sense, star stuff could mean that one is Hollywood-star material. If one were star stuff in that sense, it would mean that they possess a certain physical beauty, usually only a surface beauty, and… Well, that’s the only real quality of all stars today. Bu then, there are varying degrees of stars, just as there are different spectral classes out in space. An A-list star, for example, means that they are beautiful, talented, and most often intelligent and kind. On through the B- and C-listers, these qualities eventually drop off, leaving a normal, everyday person like myself. But, also like myself, sometimes these normal, everyday people can be projected into the star system, even making it as far as the A-list. Others, however, are born made from star material. They are born with the talent and beauty, intelligence and kindness, and they can sneak up the list, subversive-like. That’s Dom, the star who sneaks his way up the list. We’re very much the same, he and I, but also so different. I worked to get to where I am now; my talent and beauty, etc, didn’t give me the initial burst that it did Dom. He more of fell into his position; initiated at an early age, accepted into the system, however far down the list he may have been. But then we both rocketed up, from protostars to main-sequence, in league with the big names and high profiles. After our initial flash, however, our brightness dimmed. I, having lived most of my life as a normal, everyday person, was happy with the taste of stardom I got; I knew there would be other chances for someone like me. Dom, on the other hand, the one made for stardom, needed the apparent brightness of Hollywood. The ferocious heat of it nearly burned him up, and that’s when he decided to take the long way ‘round, the back way: going through a turbulent cycle of growing and shrinking, growing more and shrinking, like a red supergiant star. For a time, I was happy; Dom burned bigger and brighter than the others, quickly ascending to the top of the chart. But the I realized that it wouldn’t last. Dom would burn too bright, grow too big, and quickly disappear. He would go out in a beautiful blaze of light and glory, a magnificent supernova, visible throughout the galaxy. And people would gaze in awe, but quickly forget the reason behind the spectacle. All that would remain of Dom would be a small neutron star, collapsing onto himself in a downward spiral with no escape from his own gravity. Eventually, Dom would simply disappear, turning into a black hole, unknown and unknowingly seen. The beautiful self destruct of such a star as Dom. But perhaps his fate is not inevitable. There’s still time now for me to save him. The transfer of mass between two main sequence stars is not uncommon for binary systems. Rotating quickly around each other, trading off luminosity and star stuff, we could overcome Dom’s supergiant future. Locked in orbit around each other, we can survive.
warnings for angst, Billy's first person POV, and really weird, convoluted metaphors. I should tell you that even though I wrote this while studying for astronomy, the star metaphors probably have multitudes of errors. We'll call it artistic license. :) Even so, this is embarrassingly strange.
happy birthday, Raquel. ♥
It’s often said that we (humans, objects, everything) are star stuff. Chemically, elementally, that is correct; the atoms that make up our bodies all stem from the atoms ejected from stars. But in another sense, star stuff could mean that one is Hollywood-star material. If one were star stuff in that sense, it would mean that they possess a certain physical beauty, usually only a surface beauty, and… Well, that’s the only real quality of all stars today. Bu then, there are varying degrees of stars, just as there are different spectral classes out in space. An A-list star, for example, means that they are beautiful, talented, and most often intelligent and kind. On through the B- and C-listers, these qualities eventually drop off, leaving a normal, everyday person like myself. But, also like myself, sometimes these normal, everyday people can be projected into the star system, even making it as far as the A-list. Others, however, are born made from star material. They are born with the talent and beauty, intelligence and kindness, and they can sneak up the list, subversive-like. That’s Dom, the star who sneaks his way up the list. We’re very much the same, he and I, but also so different. I worked to get to where I am now; my talent and beauty, etc, didn’t give me the initial burst that it did Dom. He more of fell into his position; initiated at an early age, accepted into the system, however far down the list he may have been. But then we both rocketed up, from protostars to main-sequence, in league with the big names and high profiles. After our initial flash, however, our brightness dimmed. I, having lived most of my life as a normal, everyday person, was happy with the taste of stardom I got; I knew there would be other chances for someone like me. Dom, on the other hand, the one made for stardom, needed the apparent brightness of Hollywood. The ferocious heat of it nearly burned him up, and that’s when he decided to take the long way ‘round, the back way: going through a turbulent cycle of growing and shrinking, growing more and shrinking, like a red supergiant star. For a time, I was happy; Dom burned bigger and brighter than the others, quickly ascending to the top of the chart. But the I realized that it wouldn’t last. Dom would burn too bright, grow too big, and quickly disappear. He would go out in a beautiful blaze of light and glory, a magnificent supernova, visible throughout the galaxy. And people would gaze in awe, but quickly forget the reason behind the spectacle. All that would remain of Dom would be a small neutron star, collapsing onto himself in a downward spiral with no escape from his own gravity. Eventually, Dom would simply disappear, turning into a black hole, unknown and unknowingly seen. The beautiful self destruct of such a star as Dom. But perhaps his fate is not inevitable. There’s still time now for me to save him. The transfer of mass between two main sequence stars is not uncommon for binary systems. Rotating quickly around each other, trading off luminosity and star stuff, we could overcome Dom’s supergiant future. Locked in orbit around each other, we can survive.