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

[copia]

It will take several hours to really notice improvement, just so you know.

[ this is...definitely a weird thing for her — talking and interacting with someone whose eyes are closed, but yet the person is awake and aware??? she is so used to making eye contact with people and this time she can't, even though it is not her fault nor oz's that this is the case.

she beats herself up silently for the question about a minute later after she lets it sink in. silly kaede, of course he won't know if this is temporary or not! and knowing that the United Scum caused it in the first place makes her doubtful.

god, if she knew swear words, she would call them by every name in the book and then some. ]

That is true. If they could cure that virus, they should be able to reverse this, too.

[velveteened]

Mm, that's alright.

( a few hours isn't much of a wait after weeks, and at least it's a guaranteed improvement. unlike, of course, their other topic of conversation. he continues to keep things light, unsure of what he'd be if he isn't positive. )

Exactly! It should be a small thing after something like that.

[copia]

And honestly, the Initiative owes it to us to keep us in top shape since they want us to fight their battles for them. [ she rolls her eyes with a huff, fingers tapping against the stone ground they sit on. ]

Anyway, someone has been staying with you with your vision temporarily gone, right? Do you need anything — more water, some snacks? I can always come back and bring some to you in-between bomb drops...

[velveteened]

( he reaches in front of him for the pocketwatch he'd set down earlier, walking his fingers on the cold hard ground a few centimeters before finding it again. normally it's affixed to his clothes as a pocketwatch properly should be, but that hadn't been the case in the hospital. it'd been lucky that he'd thought to scoop it into his pocket before having to evacuate; he would've been sad to lose it after everything. the chain jangles slightly as he pulls it towards him and nods at her question. )

He's just gone to get supplies. ( and check on people, oz's sure; he's been just as worried as anyone else but still spent a lot of time with oz. ) But I'll be alright. You don't need to worry, Kaede.

[copia]

That's good to hear, otherwise I would drag you back with me to my spot.

[ Her mind wanders off as she falls quiet for a moment, thoughts of conversation snippets she's heard during her walks that start to actually chip away at her. Most of those snippets focus on how similar this bombing is to a bombing from a few months ago.

Her dad's face appears in her mind, grinning like the big doofus he is. She thinks of his time here in Exsilium, and, estimating what "a few months ago" would be, concludes that the possibility of him being present for it is high. He had probably been in the catacombs as well, walking through, checking on people, taking a break to breathe.

She lets out a short laugh as she shakes her head, but there really isn't any humor or lightheartedness in it. ] I'm not laughing at you, Oz, I promise. I just had a thought that makes this entire situation so ridiculously frustrating.

[velveteened]

( he just laughs in response to that threat, a little bemused. and so - doesn't feel any irritation when she laughs herself. just concern at the tone of it. )

I know you weren't. What happened?

[copia]

[ Her short fingernails tap against the stone ground they sit on, her eyes drifting up to the ceiling above them as she talks. ]

I was just thinking of how my dad must have felt during the first bombing when he was here. He probably felt like us — frustrated, tired, stuff like that. And now here I am going through the same thing, probably sitting in the same spot he sat. He would hate this entire thing.

[velveteened]

( ah. that'd explain it.

more subdued: ) He's not here anymore?

[copia]

No. He left practically right after I showed up. He is definitely more equipped for this sort of thing than I am right now.

[velveteened]

( he can imagine how that might feel - not with his own father, but perhaps uncle oscar. )

Even if that's the case, ( he says bracingly, sits up a little ) you were able to come and find me, and helped me get medicine I need. And I'm sure you're doing it for other people too. So, to me, it seems like you've been doing really well with the situation, Kaede.

[copia]

[ she looks back at him and smiles a bit, even if he can't see it. ]

Thanks. I'm trying my best to handle it all the best I can. [ because otherwise the mental dam she has holding back everything will break, and everything will come rushing out. ]

[velveteened]

( he grins, at least sort of at her if not with. )

You're doing really well.

[copia]

Thanks, and the same goes for you. You're pretty cool and collected for having lost your sight temporarily.

[velveteened]

It doesn't help to panic, right? ( said with a light laugh ) Or to assume the worst. Once my uncle told me, "What's important is that you stay calm at a time like this!" when it comes to difficult situations.

[copia]

[ She laughs lightly as well. ] Your uncle sounds like a seasoned man!

[velveteened]

He is, he is! He's very wise - and always has good advice.

( well, not always. )

[copia]

Then again, the older figures around us should have good advice, right? [ She laughs lightly. ]

[velveteened]

( he laughs as well )

That's true, but they still often don't.