(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

[imusntrunaway]

Living life as meekly as he could, Shinji learned an important skill: to watch others' faces. It's not something he does on a conscious level--it's a subconscious defense mechanism, an instinct to check for danger. The furrowing of the brow, the slight frown tugging at the corner of the mouth. And he watched Martin's face now, seeing something unpleasant mirrored back at him from the surface.

Do I wear an expression like that too...?

Maybe a comforting word is what Martin wanted to hear. Some reassurance that even failing at something simple as getting a tablet to work was fine. Shinji looked at those teary eyes, at the uncertainty in them, and made his decision.

"... all right." And like so many times before, he'll let the chance to reach out and connect slip away, too afraid to open his walls. He looked away, focusing his gaze on the path. If he stared, maybe he'd only embarrass the other more... "If you tell me their names, I could help you call them."

[theguideless]

"Mmh," Martin nodded quickly, his hands clasping behind his back tightly. "Thank you, that will help. I've never been so good with them..."

Them? He blinked and frowned at that. Wait...

Wait, there was a different one, before. Right? He glanced at Shinji as he thought, wondering if he ought to ask. But did it matter all that much? Compared to the problems at-hand...

"Did you hear from them?" he heard himself ask, eyebrows lifting. "Your friends, I mean. Is that why you were there, too?"

[imusntrunaway]

Shinji doesn't look at Martin as he talks. "Yeah. I haven't heard from all of them, but..."

Kaworu can handle himself. Asuka and Rei and Toji, he knows they'll all be fine, too. It's his housemates he's more worried about, Ahiru especially. Even so, he gives a small smile to show it's all right. Martin has enough to worry about already. "I'll try calling them again soon."

[theguideless]

The silence stretched between them after that, save for the mix-and-match rhythm of footfalls and the noises of a city shuffling and readjusting from disaster. Distant shouting, tires screeching.

"It's strange," said Martin suddenly, slicing through their quiet with an absent thought brought aloud. His voice faltered after that, having not thought up how to say the rest yet. "That...That, I mean. I don't remember having to...to wonder so much." He grimaced; it sounded all wrong aloud.

"I mean, I wasn't worried about things like this before. I just...knew it was alright. That's strange, isn't it?"

[imusntrunaway]

The further away they are from the crash site, the more detached the surroundings were from the disaster. If anything, it almost seemed like they were returning to a state of normalcy the deeper they went into the city, ignoring the wailing of sirens. Shinji was contemplating this when Martin spoke.

... it'd been like this back home, too. Periods of peace when it seemed impossible for another Angel to attack. They took for granted that the lazy days would continue without any trouble.

"We didn't have to fight," Shinji said. Because of that, they assumed everything was all right. "The UE... they didn't try anything either. It was normal to think we were safe."

This was just one mistake. But it jolted them out of their security. "... it was an accident."

[theguideless]

Accident.

"It wasn't about their war?" Martin's eyebrows were raised, surprised. He paid little attention to the network on a good day, and word about the spacecraft had gone well past his attention.

"Accident...Someone we know? Or...Or someone else? I didn't know..."

[imusntrunaway]

"I think... it doesn't seem like an attack." If it'd been an attack... there was no reason for the UE to stop at blowing up one building, right? Shinji shifted. "I don't think I know who might've crashed it..."

He remembered that network post where someone had been showing off a spaceship. Maybe it'd been them...?

[theguideless]

Martin's pace staggered and slowed in places as he tried to think about it, not having a good time of it. He grimaced, stopping once more solely to get his bearings again. They were headed...to a place? Someplace Shinji said to go.

He rubbed his forehead roughly, squinting and then looking toward Shinji once more.

"Mrh, I'm sorry," he uttered, moving to catch up. "Are we almost there?"