Summary: Jaune's parents sent him a new telescope for his birthday. Blake has been reading a book on the stars, the constellations, and the galaxies. A quiet night. A clear sky with stars twinkling off in the distant reaches of the universe. Just the two of them.

Astronomy

RWBY

Written from the perspective of Blake Belladonna

What are the stars?

Are they the eyes of God? Are they the letters of the Heavens? People revere them so. So many songs and poems mention them and how people pray to them. Children wish upon them. All that faith and adoration concentrated onto little dots in the sky.

Just what are they really?

Gaseous giant balls of burning space fuel? The remnants of some cosmic accident? The natural formation of all free roaming debris in the great void of darkness and unknown?

I wish I knew.

But today I'll settle just for seeing some.

While I have cat's eyes, I don't have telescope eyes.

It just so happened that Jaune's birthday had come recently and he received a gift from his parents: a telescope. It was brand new, expensive, and apparently very powerful. But Jaune has no clue how to operate it.

Fortunately for him, I know how to read manuals.

I did some light reading on the topic of telescopes and how they use curved lenses to achieve perfection positioning of the focal points to enhance the imaginary image size. Of course, I also happened to do some light reading on the topics of stars, galaxies, and planets as well. Not to mention the abundance of constellations both ancient and recent.

The grass is cool to the touch, as is the air.

Jaune fumbled around, getting the telescope stand in position. He was in charge of assembling it while I would do the fine tuning. I sat on a picnic blanket, leaning back. The palms of my hands ran through the grass. It tickled a bit and it felt nice, kind of like running my hand over a cat's tongue.

"I think this piece goes here… or was it there…? Hmm… okay, this triangle peg goes into the triangle hole but why is the peg red and the hole blue…?" Watching Jaune trying to set up a telescope was like watching a toddler clean up his own mess.

Sighing, I got up to help him.

"Let me-"

"No no no! I got it! I insist. Besides, I invited you and it would be pretty dishonorable of me to let the lady do the heavy work and assembly," Jaune said waving me off.

I rolled my eyes.

"Women can assemble telescopes just as well as men. That sort of traditional attitude turns off a lot of women, you know?"

"Wait-really?"

"Yeah really."

Jaune stayed silent for a moment.

"Okay, how about you have a hand at this?"

"Gladly," I said.

Within moments, the telescope was assembled and perfectly calibrated. The moon fragments would be perfectly visible tonight thanks to the clear side and bright illumination. It would pure white. Even without the telescopes the major craters were visible. From Mons Huygens and Mons Hadley to Vallis Rheita and Vallis Schrodinger, it was all there in its shattered glory.

"Well there, it's prepared," I said. Standing aside, I offered Jaune the first look.

"Ladies first," he replied.

"Well… okay, if you insist," I said barely able to contain my excitement and amusement. Perhaps a bit of traditionalist macho-chauvinism isn't so bad. Leaning over, I peeked into the glass and began roaming my sights throughout the great formations upon the moon and the many pieces that float in its wake.

We took turns afterwards.

After we looked at the moon, we looked at the comets zooming throughout the system. Then came the other planets and the stars and asteroid belt and the many stars twinkling on and off in the distance. The white dwarfs and supernovas - all so peculiar like glass marbles filled with living flame.

"... did you know we are all formed from space dust?" I mentioned offhandedly.

"Really?" Jaune seemed bewildered by the realization.

"Yeah. When the Big Bang occurred, most of the elements on the periodic table was formed. First hydrogen then helium then everything up to iron and lead. And from there, even more elements were formed and these elements combined to form molecules and compounds. Then from that primordial soup of molecules, primitive cell walls and mitochondria and proto-bacteria began to form and engulf each other until evolution took its course and brought us. We are descended from that same primordial stock of star dust and matter, from ourselves to our parents and their parents and their parents all the way back before memories and our place in this universe was even realized."

Jaune blinked.

"I lost you after 'Big Bang'."

I sighed.

"We can go over it again another time."

Jaune scratched his chin. "You sure do know a lot of science and philosophical stuff. That's pretty impressive! I wish I was a reader. I'm more of a do now and think later kind of guy."

"How does that work out for you on multiple-choice tests?"

"...badly."

"Figures," I laughed.

"Hey! You're laughing at my expense!"

Covering my mouth, I apologized. He still looked downcast. "Hey there there. I didn't mean it like that. If you want, we can study together. It'd be a shame if you got put on academic probation and had to drop out. What will Weiss go without her favorite suitor?"

"Really? I'm her favorite suitor?"

"No, but the thought is what counts."

Jaune clutched his heat and, again, I giggled at his expense.

"We should get something to eat later."

"It's late… that's not good for your metabolism," I explained with a sigh. I was a bit hungry and a late night snack did sound good. Unfortunately it would be serious murder on my figure - not to mention my diet.

"Well I was thinking of trying that new fad. You know, the one with raw fish slices… sasami or sahari or something…"

My ears perked up at the mention of raw fish. To hell with the diet. Raw fish slices sound amazing right about now.

"I'm down."

Jaune turned to me and smiled. "It's a date then," he joked.

I turned at him to tell him it wasn't a very funny joke but his gaze wasn't at me. Jaune had taken off his shoes and laid on the grass. His eyes were primed for the night sky, as if it were looking for a connection in the stars between all the inhabitants of the world and firmaments of heaven.

He look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

And I couldn't help but join him.

Astronomy Fin

Author's Notes: THE VOLUME THREE HYPE IS SO REAL RIGHT NOW.