(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

[fraternize]

[he knows that voice.

vaguely, in the corner of his mind, he recalls something as a child: a sorrowful man, a pitiful man, with that very same voice telling him of sablier from a shallow point of view. he knew nothing of real importance, not how it happened or why, or who actually caused it, and when oswald grew up - ah, well. he knows it.

jabberwock reacts before he does and leans over him, kicking him into action and making him say,]

I'm not Leo... [you don't remember me, but i sure remember you. he remembers the voice, at least, remembers the words, because he can never ever get his memories to calm.] - and I had nothing to do with this.

[maddeninghatter]

[ Not Leo. And yet, beyond all doubt, that black-winged Chain is Jabberwock. ]

You--

[ Click click click, his mind starts to whir. What he knows, what he has long suspected, what he has found out since arriving here. Fact and conjecture, all coming together. The puzzle pieces slot into place. ]

My my...

[ His cheeks flush. He'd felt the same way when he'd grasped (all too briefly) Cheshire's bell. His life's work, coming together. He steps forward, his sightless eye shining. ]

Lord Glen Baskerville, I presume.

[fraternize]

[oswald remembers feeling like everything lagged once upon a time, when everyone knew everything before he did, when everyone tried to hide what had happened— he remembers making lily cry, too, because she questioned the one thing she should know above all else.

his title would be 'glen baskerville', there is no doubt - not even here.

and yet he finds himself repeating it,] Not quite. [and then, as jabberwock curls close and oswald remembers a man breaking into pieces, a man that leo corrected on many things.] My name is Oswald Baskerville.

[the one without the burdening title that belongs to leo right now.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ Not quite? Not quite as in not? How disappointing. He was almost sure...

Or not quite as in not quite yet? Curious. ]

My apologies, Lord Os-

[ The slightest hesitation over the first syllable. ]

-wald.

[ Hmmm. Coincidence, maybe? But he doesn't believe in coincidences. (Like the way Alice and Lacie are anagrams, this has bothered him for some time.) He'll file that away in the steel lockbox of his mind.

Now he puts on his most brilliant, most perfectly ingratiating, servant's smile and steps forward. ]

You're new here, aren't you? Are you all right? My, my - what a welcoming!

[fraternize]

[ah.] I'm fine... [casual, light, you don't really care.] Once you're taken from one world to the next and end up in another almost a year later, you start becoming used to it.

[somarium was one thing, though. he showed up in the rain with jabberwock at his back again, looking for lacie. now, he doesn't, watching break (watches kevin, misfortunate man learned how to smile quite well, didn't he), and if it seems like he's a lot less cautious than he should be, that isn't the case. he has four other chains at the back of his mind, centuries of experience ingrained in his mind and body, and even more in leo.

(it's too bad he never learned how to use that all, poor child.)

still, no matter how many times this happens... the way he shows up, the way this one lingers on the first syllable - has it clicked yet that oz was named after him? - tells him that he's gotten better at deducing things. of course, it's not that hard once you have the other pieces.]

—how long have you been here? [is what he asks, wondering, how long does it take a weeping willow to mature?]

[maddeninghatter]

[ ...

What?

Click click click. He thinks. Ahiru had mentioned something like this: she, like this Oswald, had come to this place by way of another, not her home.

(At which point he realizes that her version of Gilbert is, sadly, not the one who was transported here. Oh dear. There will be crying. He pushes the thought from his mind.) ]

I saaaay, you've got the right attitude~♥

[ His voice is light, sing-song, a laugh in every word. ]

I've been here for a few months already, but I still haven't got used to the rain.

[fraternize]

[click, click, click, this is the only attitude he's allowed to take as he is right now. there's nothing much he can do about the situation other than fight. you only live if you win.

he's accepted that for the situation at hand.]

Of course... [trailing off, quiet as he looks off to the side for a minute. to breach the subject, or not to breach the subject...

not. continuing, then.]

I'm sorry to hear that - [and he is because nothing that comes out of oswald's mouth is something he doesn't mean. then, like he knows something:] - I'd expected the storm to have passed by now.

[foolish. men like kevin resolve the storm themselves; he just hasn't gotten there yet.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ Of course... what? He'd started to say something, clearly, and then thought better of it. Hmm. ]

In this place, the storm stays put. We are the ones who pass through.

[ Not Glen, or not quite? How to answer this question... ]

And sometimes others pass through as well, people we know of. There's a lady here who is your kinswoman, perhaps?

[ Casually, plucking a non-existent mote from the ruffled cuff of his sleeve. ]

Lady Lacie Baskerville, do you know her?