(open) crash into me

[whatsupcroc]

Date & Time: Mid-afternoon Sunday, May 5th
Location: The Hold and Housing Complex
Characters: All who wish to be in the vicinity!
Summary: The Initiative asked for the Housing Complex to be evacuated starting early morning on 5/5, in preparation for the expected landing of the spaceship stolen from the United Earth. The landing goes horribly wrong when an undiscovered bomb detonates onboard the ship, causing partial engine failure. The ship proceeds to be crash landed into the Housing Complex; no lives, however, are lost.

Warnings: Spaceship crash landings it's all horrible!
Notes: Respond in action tags or prose, as you please!

The ship breaks cloud-cover as a spot of light in the dreary skies, leaving behind the beauty of sunlight above the broken cloud layer as it continues to descend. With the Initiative having instigated an evacuation of the area ahead of time, just in case, those watching in the light drizzle may find it an interesting sight to behold.

Doubtlessly, the United Earth, from its great distance, may have also found it interesting.

The first sign of something going wrong is an explosion visible from the ground. People who hear it might startle; the ship itself goes from a smooth, controlled flight path to one wobbly and filled with dark, flaming smoke. The whine of its remaining engine is slower to reach the ground, though the ship itself seems to pick up a spiraling speed, still controlled to those familiar with watching things that fly come crashing down to the ground.

The Initiative members on the ground are calling for people to get back and take cover. Inside the main Hold, one man at the transport pads hears his radio blast to life and swallows past his own fear, glancing at the active pad waiting to pull in another unlucky soul.

When the ship hits the Housing Complex, it demolishes the upper levels, though the force with which it hits doesn't seem to be the same as what it should be. Combined telekinetic buffering and excellent piloting from a former Guardian of the Universe Galaxy keeps damage to a catastrophic minimum.

Welcome to the fallout. What will you do from here?

Comments

[velveteened]

( he's moving to shrug her off before he even looks at her, mind still trying to wrap itself around the horror. collette, who'd said she could find him anywhere, treasured in her heart and memory; caesar, who'd trusted him; ellie, with whom he'd had that talk, said she should meet elliot; and others too, that just looking at the impact -

- because fire and smoke and blood is a combination he's no stranger to, and the last time had ended so so so horribly, because a pile of blood and corpses is too horribly familiar to him but not here -

he looks at her only long enough to recognize her, for once not about to make light of her sudden appearance )

What?

( impatient, a little sharp )

[accidentalrebellion]

[Somewhere along the way, a dissociation begins. Her mind loses its capacity to keep track of the actions of her body, because it only truly sees one thing. Smoke. Fire. Ruins.

Ashes.

The wasteland around her isn't in some far-flung future with time travel. It's something much more salient. Intimate. She's back among what remains after the fire that started purely from her own hands. Back--

But it's the voice that pulls her into reality once again, eliminates the separation. Her face hardens, her grip doesn't release, and her tone is equally as sharp.]

You don't know what's happening in there.

[velveteened]

I know exactly what's happening there!

( no, he doesn't. he thinks he does but hopes he doesn't, still has some wild notion of doing something instead of standing by helplessly with everything happening, burning down to nothing and that's how this endeavor, this story, comes to a close. he tries to jerk away from her, but his movements are unfocused, panicked, and in any case he's not as strong as she is. )

[accidentalrebellion]

[He really doesn't, no more than she does. And it's that brand of stupidity that's currently fueling her anger. Anger, which is, in turn, the only thing that's fueling her. As long as it's there, she has a purpose; no matter how hard he tries to jerk away, she's not giving in.

As long as it's there, her mind is clear.]

It's a good way to get killed.

[velveteened]

( when he opens his mouth, it's to articulate a sentiment he hadn't even realized he'd been thinking until right up at that moment: so what? that doesn't - that's not what matters, not in the face of something so horrible happening, and surely with his chain he'd be fine. (and, some part of his mind whispers, the dead don't even remain so here).

how many hearts have you broken, just like that?

it's the thought of elliot, of course, what he'd have to say to oz's stupidity that makes him pause, at least. his influence isn't gone yet, especially not with him so present and alive in reminder. his eyes drop, though he's still tensed as though he may try to leave again. )

I wouldn't get killed.

( it's pathetic, it can't even masquerade as some kind of a promise because they both know better and he can't even make himself sound like he believes it. )

[accidentalrebellion]

["I wouldn't get killed."

What was once anger practically explodes into rage at those words. Clarity is obliterated, instantly a thing of the past, leaving only a clenched fist and shorte. How can anyone say that with any kind of confidence? They can't; they can only say it with arrogance. If he'd been in the arena, if he'd seen the things she's seen, then he'd understand what it really means to say something like that.

There's a part of her that wants to yell at him. Maybe even shake him. Instead, though, she remains silent for a stretch, at least until she can open her mouth again.]

That's not up to you. [She practically spits it out more than says it.]

[velveteened]

( he comes to realize, in that long silence, that there's a lot he doesn't know.

that katniss has a temper isn't particularly surprising, given the rest of her demeanor, but her strong reaction to this situation is unexpected. he's figured her capable of small kindnesses, and he knows that rita skeeter would never have bothered anyone so much if she hadn't struck nerves - and more, judging by ellie's reaction.

she isn't seeing him, right now, is the conclusion he comes to. she's seeing something else, maybe even someone else, from her past, and it'd been stupid of him to think that what might really be in her past doesn't matter because it does, of course, matter to her. )

...I'm sorry.

( an apology's the only thing he can think to do. )

I understand.

[accidentalrebellion]

[His apology falls on deaf ears, because what comes next is so unforgivable that no apology will ever be able to atone for it.

Fire spreads from the explosion, burning through her veins until it's reached every tip of her. Consumed everything in its path, every intention, every thought. Created something else entirely out of the ashes: a creature that has no regard for anything but the anger that sustains it.

Her hand detaches from his shoulder, and shoves him a little in the process.]

No. [One word, one simple word, but there's quite a punch behind it. Enough to where it'd be almost as good as truly physically hitting him.] You don't.

[velveteened]

( he stumbles backwards a step or two, both from the actual push and the way she speaks, feeling almost literally scalded by her anger. another misstep, he thinks, another misapprehension. the look he gives her is startled and wide-eyed but only for a moment; it's not long before self-deprecation takes its place. )

No, you're right. I don't.

( someone like that, elliot had said about him once, has no right to protect anyone. )

[accidentalrebellion]

[Maybe something in her relents in that moment. Does its part to help her snap back to some part of reality, at least temporarily. The look in his eyes elicits a stab of an emotion she can't quite identify, one that's strong enough to break through barriers upon barriers of anger and surely flash on her face.

She can't take it for too long, though. The only thing she can do is turn away. Not just her gaze; her entire body. It almost seems as if she's going to take a step, but she has something else to say.]

Then stop pretending like you do.