( open ) i'll fly you to the moon and back

[initiates]

Date & Time: September 21st - September 30th, 11:59 PM
Location: The Hold, the Moon Base
Characters: Any/all.
Summary: The Transports are evacuating to the Moon Base. Those on the Moon Base try to settle in and figure out their next move. Setting info can be found here.
Warnings: Talk of nuclear warheads and reference to immense loss of life. Please contact the mods should any individual thread get graphically violent or anything else of the sort.
Note: Use date and location tags in your subject headlines! Such as "On the moon, 23rd onward" or "On the spaceship, 25th" or "down at the Hold, 29th."

The Hold is a flurry of activity, grim faced members of the Initiative group directing supplies and people with the subdued air of people facing their own doom, and wondering at how to process the knowledge. None of the Initiative appears unaware of what will happen; their eyes linger on the Transports, expressions pleading, hopeful, doubtful, or immeasurably sad in turn.

Every eight hours, the space ship is sent back up with a load of people and supplies. The pilots are worked until they can't; the AI stolen ages ago by the Initiative greets and corrals people and supplies at both ends, and in the middle step between.

The network continues to broadcast on narrow channels between the Moon Base and Exsilium, up until the time that all connections are lost, with the carrier located en route to Exsilium. The first airship will pass by without dropping anything, but it's too early to celebrate. At a six hour delay from behind, the second airship arrives, and with it, the dark promise of the Black Code's nuclear weaponry.

The six hour window allows for time for those left behind, either by choice or circumstance, to be pulled to the Moon Base with the successful activation of the Transport Pad. New characters will ultimately arrive with the remainder of those not yet on the Moon Base, all in time to witness the explosive contact of the nuclear warhead with the ground of Exsilium live on satellite.

But until then, there's only the hurry, the silence, and the potential for full out rioting should the Transports spread word to the Exiles inevitably left behind to face this fate.

Comments

[maddeninghatter]

[ Such open terror; such naked grief. This man is more like a child than anything... perhaps because he isn't a man.

He is reminded, just then, of the way Lady Emily Sinclair wept and clung to him, shaking, the night her whole family died. Children. He's not good with them, why is he always surrounded by them? Kids who weep - and for good reason. He can't make them stop weeping, because he can't stop the cause of their weeping. He can't undo everything bad that's happened and make it better.

Which is all he's ever wanted to do, really. ]

Shh.

[ Somehow his arm is around Kevin's shoulders, pulling him close. ]

[senseandcecilbility]

[Kevin nods only once and sinks into the half-embrace without resistance. His own instincts urge him to shelter Break from his own pain, shelter at least one human being from this whole mess. The aura that has so bothered Break in the past reaches out for him again, enveloping him like a gentle blanket as Kevin closes his eyes, waiting for the inevitable death of millions - his millions - much like a man standing at a hangman's scaffold.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ Suffering alone is what he does. Why should he draw anyone else into the bed he made, all by himself? His instinct is to struggle against this angel's bright aura. His body tenses. He is about to push Kevin away, when it abruptly occurs to him...

This angel is most probably consumed with guilt and self-hatred, for not being there on the ground, with the doomed people. Even so, he is allowing himself to be comforted. Rejecting his light, this literally heaven-sent gift would be nothing but egotistical self-indulgence.

Rejecting an angel's gift... rejecting any friend's gift, because of his own guilty feelings is just... it's petty and small. It's vain. Which is when he realizes this obvious truth: you can't properly take care of somebody, unless you let them take care of you, too.

Something tightly bound inside his heart begins to unwind, as he allows Kevin's divine aura to envelop him, and seep in around the edges. It's as if an enormous burden has been lifted from him. He feels weightless.

...

In fact, he is weightless. The space ship has stopped accelerating away from the earth and is now technically "falling" towards the moon. It will start decelerating in a few minutes, but right now everything feels floaty and surreal. ]

What's going on?

1/2

[senseandcecilbility]

[He feels extremely guilty. Angel of Repentance indeed. Why can’t he do anything right? And yet he cannot blame Break for kidnapping him. He has not reached such levels of hypocrisy. But as he senses Break’s soul unwind under his shy influence, he finds his own measure of calm, and strength enough to speak more steadily.]

Thank you. For risking your life to save mine. [He adds, after a long pause.] And for never saying it was acceptable to abandon them. So many did.

[senseandcecilbility]

[The floating sensation interrupts this line of thought. He gapes at the front seat, startled, and pulls the other man closer to him. Whatever tries to get to Break will have to get him first.]

It is not me!

1/2

[maddeninghatter]

[ An announcement comes on, just then, a tinny female voice announcing that weightlessness will last five minutes and the fasten seatbelts light is on. There's a buzz of conversation all around them and even a bit of laughter. Unexpected delight despite so much fear and sadness.

Break doesn't push Kevin away, but he does pluck at his seatbelt, unfastening it. Following directions was never his forté. ]

It's okay.

[maddeninghatter]

[ He feels himself starting to float. Emily drifts off his shoulder. ]

And I hardly risked my life. You were a pushover.

[ In mid-air, Emily starts cackling and cries: ]

H-HOLD ME! PLEASE, LIKE YOU DID BEFORE! HAHAHAHAHA!

[senseandcecilbility]

[Kevin gives him a judging look. One ought to abide by safety norms. But honestly, why space? Wasn’t an entire planet quite enough?

Humans.

[And then the possessed doll is back, causing him to jump away from Break and collide – in slow motion – against the window. ]

GOOD LORD, Mister Break! [He blushes at his own naiveté. ] W-why do you keep this thing anyway?

[But Emily has a positive effect which is...at least for the time being, to distract him from Exilium's fate.]

[maddeninghatter]

Thing? That's no way to speak to a lady~!

[ He plucks Emily out of the air, and tucks her away safely in a pocket. Then he pushes down on his armrests, which propels him up. Up up up, until he hits the ceiling of the spacecraft-- ]

Ow!

[ --with exactly the same force he'd used to push himself up, so not very hard. He manages to twist and stretch himself across the ceiling, above Kevin. His hair floats all around his face, like a white halo. ]

Ahaha! Is this what it's like? Flying?

[senseandcecilbility]

[Lady, he says. But Kevin cannot help but smile at the silly man while attempting to stop his own weightless cravat from blocking his sight.]

What a shocking assumption, sir! Don't you know winged creatures are far more gracious?

[maddeninghatter]

[ He flaps his arms like a bird. ]

Are they?

[ Dropping his voice: ]

I should think flying with a single wing might be awkward.

[senseandcecilbility]

[His smile becomes far more contrite.]

Ah, you did notice…

…Some winged creatures are not as bound by the laws of physics.

[maddeninghatter]

I worked it out.

[ The shoulder grabbing, the reference to an "old scar" and "missing body parts." It wasn't too difficult. ]

That's why I made you come along, actually. I would have assumed an angel to be immortal...

[ Five minutes are probably coming to an end soon, so he pushes himself off the ceiling and twists back down into his seat. He reaches for the seat belt, to strap himself in, once more. ]

...but if you can lose a wing, you can lose your life.

[senseandcecilbility]

[He checks if Break's seatbelt is properly fastened, and even pauses to comb down his hair. Someone is obviously too used to being a parent. His hands are shaking again, though he is making an effort to look calmer.]

Only God is truly immortal.

[maddeninghatter]

[ Okay, there's letting somebody take care of you... ]

Ah, Mister Cecil...

[ ...and then there's just plain fussing. He draws away, exactly like a child recoiling from a hovering parent. ]

[senseandcecilbility]

[Sometimes, Mister Break is a kid.]

Ah, I merely wish to save Mister Gilbert the trouble.

[But he has stopped fussing. Break's friends must be concerned about his absence and that is certainly Kevin's fault.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ He smooths his own hair down, particularly the fringe over his lost left eye. ]

Eh? Gilbert doesn't--

[ "Fuss" he was going to say, but the words die on his lips. Gilbert fusses over him constantly, in his own way--which involves a lot of shouting and far too much pouting. ]

[senseandcecilbility]

[Kevin gives him a knowing look, which is probably made much more obvious by his prolonged silence. Mister Gilbert totally fusses.]

I was there when it was made.[He whispers at last.] The moon, I mean. Two colliding bodies in perfect silence. It was...rather impressive.

[And no angel could understand what was the point.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ ... ]

Ah...

Haha! Tell me another, Mister Cecil.

[ This fellow is clearly trying to get him back for the whole "gullible" thing... ]

[senseandcecilbility]

[Kevin smiles sheepishly. At least the man is amused.]

Cross my heart, Mister Break. When was the last time I succeeded at telling you a lie?

[maddeninghatter]

[ Point. Even so, he's got to be skeptical... ]

Why, you're a fossil.

[ He settles into his seat, as the deceleration phase starts. The ship turns and orients itself so the force vectors point down, mimicking gravity. ]

How can you be...

[ ...such a fool is what he was going to say, but that's not quite what he means. ]

How is it that you aren't at all, you know, cynical?

[senseandcecilbility]

...

[Well, nobody has ever phrased that question in such a way.]

Huh, I fear I might be a bit of a slow learner. Even other angels think I am too...

[He makes a vague gesture. Pure and shiny Angel of the Presence, Metatron had called him.]

...Besides, I have never been too close to humans until recently.

[ And by "recently", he means three thousand years or so. Before that, he would mostly interact with humans in order to deliver enlightenment and punishment, which was not particularly conductive of intercultural exchanges.]

[maddeninghatter]

Is that so?

[ He twists in his seat, trying to hook his legs over the aisle armrest; but it's awkward, made more so by the seat belt, so he leaves off trying, instead contenting himself with leaning against Kevin's shoulder. It's a careless gesture, as if he were using Kevin as nothing more than a warm cushion. ]

What made you decide to come down from Heaven and slum about with us, hm?

[senseandcecilbility]

...

[Mister Break is indeed a kid. Fortunately, he is using his good shoulder, so Kevin does not pull away, but Break will probably feel it tense at the question. He replies, pretending detachment:]

It is a punishment...for a crime.

[maddeninghatter]

[ He considers this for a long moment. Kevin's discomfort isn't lost on him, but he stays where he is. ]

You...

I, er, I wouldn't have taken you for the sort of person who could commit any crime, at all.

[ And certainly not one that would warrant being banished from Heaven. ]