Let's be war buddies...

[initiates]

Date & Time: 18th, beginning at 2100 hours, through to the 20th.
Location: All around Exsilium.
Characters: Everyone!
Summary: The United Earth decides Exsilium had obviously not learned its lesson back in October, and does another round of humble-making bombing for those impertinent exiles. OOC info can be found here.
Warnings: Violence, death, general gloom and doom.

The warning had gone out approximately two hours before the bombing began, broadcast to any available receptor on the island: UE aggressions incoming, bombs expected; please proceed to Catacombs immediately. It repeats over and over, right up until the first bomb, aimed at the Hold itself, silences the signal.

The air is thick with smoke and worse. Every one to two hours another bomb shakes the island. Buildings crumble and shatter, but the focus is on the Hold and the native hospital. Initiative employees, some sick as anyone else, are steadfast in their escorting natives and transports alike into the underground catacombs. For two days the bombs continue ceaselessly, dropped by their cloaked and invisible carriers overhead.

The United Earth is nothing if not thorough.

Comments

ahahaha

[velveteened]

( oz misses the stare of course, rearranging himself but keeping his knees drawn up to his chest to avoid tripping anyone else. he assumes stanley's left from the lack of response, and so faces forward and away from him, considers what just happened with a trace of bitterness.

so he starts slightly at the questions, blinking and looking back in that direction. )

Me?

[lazyinlove]

No, the other guy I tripped over.

[It's clearly sarcasm, but there's no sarcastic tone that goes along with it. In fact, there's no real infliction at all. Almost as if it's a reflex. Either that, or Stanley has the driest sense of humor ever.

He glances over at Oz, still drawn and pale, and not yet aware that the other isn't tracking his movements, even if something seems off.]

Why were you on the ground?

[velveteened]

( it may not be quite clear whether or not stanley's being dry, but oz certainly is in turn. )

I was sitting. There isn't a lot of seating down here.

[lazyinlove]

Guess not.

(If Stanley finds that reply a bit brusque he clearly isn't bothered by it. Anyway, it makes sense. He's sitting on the ground right now himself.)

You get ditched?

[velveteened]

( he finds himself bristling, almost surprised with himself; rare enough that he gets irritated this easily. )

Of course not. Do you usually ask strangers this many questions?

( though he's really, really not one to talk. )

[lazyinlove]

(Okay, this time there's no mistaking the tone. But it's not as if a guy alone on the floor looking sick during a city bombing has no reason to be a little cranky. He's not going to take that personally just yet. Instead, he waits a few minutes silently before replying. Still tonelessly, and more in the direction of the wall that's straight acros from them, which he's taken to staring at instead.)

No.

(And then, as an afterthought, or maybe another reflex, he apologizes. Because it's easier than arguing with a miserable underclassman in the ugly underground of this ugly, ruined city.)

Sorry.

[velveteened]

( the pause and apology are enough to make that irritation fade, make him feel a little bad for losing his temper at a stranger himself. oz can't see the other person of course, but he doesn't sound much older than he is, and seems to mean well too. breathes out, then answers in a more level tone. )

I am, too. Usually my manners are better. ( as if manners matter at a time like this, but maybe they do. ) What's your name?

[lazyinlove]

Stanley.

(And he tends to skate by on the sort of manners his parents insisted on installing in him when he was young, so there's not much room to comment on anyone else's. But he does nod in acknowledgement of the apology. He's not used to getting those, but they go a long way, don't they?

And since it seems like this guy doesn't want to talk about himself the way most people do, maybe conversation rests on him. That's a new one. Stanley casts around for a topic, but his head is still swimming. Nothing comes to mind.)

I didn't see you. The bombs, you know? They kind of fucked me up. I don't feel so hot.

[velveteened]

I'm Oz.

( he - would shoot stanley an alarmed look but instead it's directed nowhere. )

Do you need a doctor? Everyone working at the clinic should be here somewhere.

[lazyinlove]

I don't know. Maybe. I think it'll be alright. No missing limbs or anything.

(He's not the guy with the hole in his guts, at least. Or one of the people crushed under buildings. He's not outside in pieces.

But hey, might as well ask. There's an opening.)

What about you?

[velveteened]

But are you hurt?

( "no missing limbs" is a meterstick he can understand wanting to measure by, but not one that it'd be good to. may hold himself to it, but never someone else. at the question, he shakes his head - he's seen one, and she did as much as she could for the time being. )

I'm alright.

[lazyinlove]

A little scuffed up. Mostly just wobbly. I think this is the worst thing.

(He points to an impressive bump on his head, not realizing that Oz can't see the gesture. It would be obvious to anyone who could, though. Head wounds bleed a lot, it turns out.

And even though something still seems off, if Oz says he's alright, then he must be. So Stanley leans back against the wall again, and covers his eyes. It shouldn't feel too bright underground, but it kind of does.)

[velveteened]

( has no idea what the "worst thing" is of course, and it's enough to make him consider forgetting the charade. is there any point to it?

slowly, ) What's the worst thing?

[lazyinlove]

(That gets him to peek through his fingers again, frowning. Huh? Why would Oz need to ask when he just showed him?

...Oh.

Stanley sits forward a bit, and takes the hand off his own eyes to wave it in front of Oz's and see if he can track the motion.)

You have a weird definition of "fine."

[velveteened]

( he doesn't track the motion at all, though he offers a wry sort of smile and a slight cant of the head as he answers. )

'No missing limbs or anything.' Besides, you probably can't do anything about it.

[lazyinlove]

Yeah I got nothin.

(No healing powers, at least. Or any powers he's aware of at all. But he's got his eyesight, which apparently not everyone does. So there's that.)

Warn you if you're gonna walk off a cliff, right?

[velveteened]

That's true.

( for all the lack of literal cliffs belowground, there are still any number of obstructions. )

That'd help a lot.

[lazyinlove]

Done.

(Since Oz doesn't seem to appreciate questions very much, Stanley falls back onto his usual state of generally not speaking unless spoken to. But the silence is companionable, not tense.)