Her jaw all but dropped into an awestruck smile. "damn…How did I survive that…" she murmured, gingerly touching the tattoo under her left eye. "You're right though.. Anything that was in there is toasted, I'm certain." Her tattoo looked an awful lot like the shapes the people of this planet send out into the stars
Allyanna scurried away, grabbing some comparable food for Al. When she came back, she handed over the food and squinted at the tattoo. "What are the mark on your face?" She asked, trying not to be rude.
She took the food, smiling softly in gratitude, glancing up. "Oh this?" she replied, touching it again. "Its a constellation.. My people observe the sky, and we each pick a star pattern that had been out the night we are born, representing something. Mine is Taurus, representing resilience."
Allyanna couldn't stifle a giggle. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to laugh… It's just that… How can a pattern cast into the sky among the stars mean resilience?"
She cocked an eyebrow, not offended, simply confused. "I'm sorry?"
"Did the translator fail?" Allyanna asked, tilting her head. " The patterns cast into the sky to be among the stars. How to they mean resilience?" She asked again. "It is just a pattern."
She gave a soft chuckle. "No I understood you… They each mean different things.. what do you mean patterns?"
Allyanna's eyes widened. "They all mean different things? But they're just patterns!"
Allyanna tilted her head again. "The… Patterns? The lights that make shapes? That are up in the sky?"
"Yeah.." she murmured. "They're stars, aren't they?" She asked, now confused. Her whole life she'd believed they were stars, cosmic patterns meant to write destinies for her species. All of humanity did..
"I mean, kind of? I guess? They're similar, I guess. Lights cast up with the stars. I've never fully understood why, but I've been told it makes more sense if you've done it."
Allyanna said, pulling one of the floating screens over to her.
She raised an eyebrow, watching. "If you've done it?.." She sat back up, pained but far too intrigued to care
Allyanna frowned at Al. "You should stay down, let yourself heal." She scolded. "And no, I haven't done it."
She furrowed her eyebrows. She was super confused. "No. What do you even mean?" The alien was being super vague with the faith-shattering revelation, and so casual, as if it was common knowledge
Allyanna looked at the human curiously. "Are you sure the translator is working? I'm pretty sure I've been very clear. I haven't cast a pattern among the stars. I don't really understand why so many have, but they say it makes more sense once you have."
Al sat there quietly for a moment. "…My people have always believed they were stars.. that they meant something…." she murmured. Her entire world view had just been so casually shattered, and she didn't know what to do
Allyanna looked worried. "Is something wrong? They might mean something! Like I said, I don't fully understand the practice. And a lot of the stars are natural, they just don't make patterns like that." Allyanna seemed to recognize that she said something wrong, but didn't know what.
"The patterns have always meant something.." she murmured. "My entire race has believed in them for centuries.." She simply looked down, examining her hands.
Allyanna seemed to panic. "I'm sorry! I did something wrong, didn't I? I always do things like this! I'm so sorry!"
She looked up with a gentle smile. "You didn't do anything.." She hummed. "You saved my life. Do you have a mirror?" she asked
Allyanna furrowed her brow. "Maybe? Not s small one though. Why? I can take a capture of you if you'd like."
She nodded "Yes please.. I wanna look at it" she replied, touching her tattoo lightly.
Allyanna moved around several of the objects suspended in the air around her, before pulling up something that looked almost like a camera from earth, with a couple differences. "Alright, stay still so it dosent blur…"
She did so, sitting as still as she could while observing the camera-looking object
Allyanna adjusted some things on the screen before pressing a button on the side of the device. "Alright, give me a second to get that pulled up."
She brought over the screen that had shown the ship wreckage before, clicking around before turning it to show Al. "Here you are. You look a lot better than you did when I found you! Lucky I found you quickly, more things could have scarred if I found you later."
She nodded, murmuring a small thank you as she examined her tattoo. "Do you know anyone who has made a pattern?" she asked softly