an astronomer fell in love with a star, and she with him. she fell to earth to embrace him, and out of this a star was born.

she was ethereal, with sharp features but a smile that softened her eyes, and the baby looked just like her. they named him hongseok.

but two stars could never be so close without disaster following, and so she ended their short-lived romance and returned to the night sky, leaving the heartbroken astronomer to raise a star with his bare hands.

• supernova

it was not easy. no amount of experience with a mature star could prepare him for a newborn unable to control itself. it was hard enough to cope with her leaving, but looking at a baby with her smile every waking moment of his day was harder. still, he couldn't give up -- not on their baby, and especially not on her.

luckily, as he found quickly, baby stars functioned relatively the same as baby humans. still a feat, but much more manageable than something capable of setting things on fire with a single touch.

stars had a natural glow of a sort, illuminated the room with their emotions, often creating heat with more negative ones. this didn't manifest in hongseok until he was a teenager, about fifteen, when he first noticed the light hum of the sky. a dozen doctors said there was nothing wrong with his ears, so he tried to ignore it, but they couldn't explain his rising body heat either, and that had him worried.

it never went away, but it never hurt him, either. despite his worries, it was like being engulfed in his favorite blanket fresh out the dryer, calming his confused thoughts. he embraced it soon enough -- not that he had a choice. something told him it wasn't going to be fading anytime soon.

his father finally explained it to him when, unable to sleep, he'd stepped out into their yard for fresh air, only to find his father sitting with his face to the sky, smiling and talking like it were an old friend.

• aureole

being inhuman is one thing. knowing you're inhuman is another, a new world of knowing you don't belong instead of just believing it.

but the universe sings to him in high pitches, a calming hum, an ebb and flow. his mother's tone is sublime, washes over him like a gentle tide over his feet at the beach, a constant reminder that he's not alone. his own tone is lower than other stars, the bass among a chorus of falsetto. ostracized, but not painfully so. unlike humans, stars don't discriminate. they embrace with the love of a family.

he gets his military service out of the way the second he's out of high school, and then he discovers there's a universe in everyone's brain. an interesting concept. he thinks, hopes, maybe he's not so different from humans after all.

• nadir

• start over
• ooc note

SUPERNATURAL MUSES will probably know hongseok is not quite human. however, in my canon, stars aren't exactly common on earth (as in, he is the only one on the planet) (no i will not interact with other stars for this reason), so it's unlikely they'd know exactly what he is without being told. human muses should not, under any circumstances, be aware of what he is, unless he tells them. please don't just assume i'm okay with your muse knowing something.

• asterism