( 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

[crocodilesmiles]

( She sounds a touch smug: )

Says you. I, however, have a very good idea of what I can and cannot reach.

( Which explains approximately none of the amazing leaps in belief and understanding she makes. Collette does not, in fact, pay attention to her knowledge of what she can or cannot reach. )

And you aren't exactly six feet tall!

( Another tease, considering she doesn't spend much time at all considering his height or lack there-of. He was taller than she was. What more did she care? He's easier to reach like this.

Having resumed moving, she adds a few other notes of places that occur to her as she moves. )

There's one big cafeteria, to the left of where we came into here from that big main room. Also, there's my door!

( She points to it in passing. )

Yours is just a bit further down, same side though.

[commentboxtroll]

I could be if I stood on something.

[ Yeah! He... no, okay, he's short, shush. As they move along, the cafeteria gets a bored look. Her door, he'll have to try and remember that one, though they all look the same! ]

It is? [ He slows to a full stop again, peering down the hall. ] Do you think they'll already be in there?

[crocodilesmiles]

Like my chair? Who knows. Maybe if I find more mistletoe before Christmas...

( Now there's a thought. More of a sideways memory, such as it is, though it makes her smile. Caesar hadn't been the only shorty she'd asked to help her hang the sprigs and ribbons in doorways and halls.

Warmer halls than these, that was for sure. She comes to a stop, hearing his footsteps cease behind her. A half turn makes it easier to look back at him, considering his face, how he stood. )

Lenalee waited like you did.

( A statement she keeps neutral. She smiles, after a tick. )

Oz might be. Do you wish they weren't?

[commentboxtroll]

Your chair still puts me in reach. You'd just knock me back down to your level.

[ No, he would have to take a different high ground! The high grand gives you +5 agility!!! Oz, though... He might be in there. Does he really want to talk with anyone else yet?

Caesar's gaze drifts down to the floor, the smooth, sterile surface of sudden interest to him. ]

No. It's not that. They're both going to be so nosy and weepy, that's all.

[crocodilesmiles]

It's not so bad, being a little weepy every once in a while.

( She says it softly, watching him. Her lips curl up into a lopsided smile. )

Not around people you trust. ( Or trust not to go blabbing on you. She takes it as a mixture between what he doesn't want to deal with, and maybe some of his own feelings, or lack thereof, under the numbness. )

It's such a terrible thing, having friends who care about you! Always pressing and questioning and crying for you since they can't do it with you... though who knows? Maybe you need to outsource that stuff anyway. Besides, Oz doesn't connect well enough to know when he should cry. Or be happy, or angry, or much of anything. He's getting better, but there's been a lot of emptiness behind his smiles for months, probably years.

( Among the four of them, Caesar was, in some respects, the most honest. Collette the most emotionally honest, though Lenalee felt things to similarly expressed levels. And while they all lied, by omission or otherwise, Oz was perhaps the most chronic. )

We can handle it.

( We in part because she needs a we. We also because she doesn't want to leave him alone, not even in the face of weepy nosy roommates. (Though they were very fun ones, and she appreciates their nosiness as much as anything.) Collette gestures with her free hand, a come here motion lost if he doesn't so much as glance up. )

Hup hup!

[commentboxtroll]

[ Crying for him? Maybe he needs to outsource that stuff? He will agree on one thing, at least. ]

He does have an awful smile. [ Something he's told Oz already, several times before. He supposes that explains why that is. The rest, though... ] I don't want or need anyone crying for me because I won't, Collette. As if I'm incapable of feeling all the same things!

[ Just because he does it differently! Or doesn't react however everyone thinks is normal! ]

I thought you might get that, at the very least. [ He looks up, the motion caught in his sight on the end of it, but he doesn't move any closer. ] Is there anything else I need to know about this place or are we done?

[crocodilesmiles]

I'm sorry.

( Her lopsided smile stays in place. )

What makes you think that I don't?

( Her tone sticks to conversationally curious rather than defensive. She hardly finds him emotionless! She'll have to work on her humor delivery. It's falling flatter than usual.

His last question has her snorting, shaking her head. She doesn't offer anything else. Of course there's more, and also less, depending on one's perspective. But she doesn't offer any of that. She's tempted, for a moment, to tell him he's not to turn off the gravity. It'd be liable to see him bouncing off the walls! )

[commentboxtroll]

Well! Because you said things like...

[ He loses some of his composure here, like maybe even he isn't entirely sure. Did he miss something? He waves his free hand around a bit, that gesture like he's trying to explain what he means without actually saying it, but that rarely ever works. In the end, it ends up running over the top of his unruly hair, to rub the back of his head. ]

That. That I have to outsource emotions! That's absurd!

[ Very absurd. Absurd enough that he frowns over it, now that he's focused on it. ]

Or... were you just kidding?

[crocodilesmiles]

( She rests her free hand on top of his pack. )

It was a pretty lame joke. ( She admits, keeping her tone light. ) Ended up getting your goat, and me not even trying!

( Pulling laughter out from somewhere, she shook her head, glancing down before looking back his way. Following a lame joke with a lame bit of wordplay was a paltry effort, but she does try. )

I don't think that way about you. I never have.

( Tilting her head back down the hall, she nods a little in the direction they'd been traveling. She lets her question be silent for the moment. Shall they go on? )

[commentboxtroll]

Well... Good.

[ Was there really more to say to that? No. Not really. If he can slide by the awkwardness of having gotten that all wrong, all the better. Was he really on that much of an edge if he'd taken it so seriously?

At her nod, he does likewise, only his is a nod of agreement. Let's go on. ]

[crocodilesmiles]

( The nod is enough to have her moving again, both hands back on her handrails as she shifts the chair, pointing it down the hall rather than slantwise. She rolls herself forward, glad Caesar's not in a quick mood. Around the bulk of his bag, it'd get a little uncomfortable on her chest.

She leads them on to his door, or just a door, one among many. Collette glances up at it, then looks back over her shoulder. She can't get a good look at Caesar this way. She hooks her thumb toward the door. )

407, more or less! Want me to knock?

( She'd test for roommates for him, no problem. Even try to pull them out regardless of how tired she was, if he wanted that time alone.

It'd be crashed not long after when her patience wore through, but there was something of considerateness in her thoughts. That and strange cravings for raisins. )

[commentboxtroll]

No, it's fine. I can handle it from here. Even if they are in, where else is there to go?

[ As much as he wants time alone, he also wants time alone somewhere with a bed. Hopefully. If these things have beds or... space... beds? His last few steps bring him to stand at the door next to her. ]

Thanks, though.

[crocodilesmiles]

( She shoots him a lopsided smile and a shrug, pulling the handles to his bag up for him, One hand slips over the side to hold her handrail, making sure her chair wouldn't move without her deeming it appropriate. )

You're welcome. See you later?

[commentboxtroll]

[ He takes the bag back, pausing for a few seconds when he leans over closer to take it from her. In that time, he looks conflicted about something, frowning at her (or just frowning that just happens to be in her direction, who knows), but then he takes the weight of the bag in hand and leans away. ]

I guess. In a place this small, you're bound to see me eventually.

[crocodilesmiles]

Or hear you. Or smell you.

( She tosses out with a weaker laugh, tapping the end of her nose. No point in not pointing out that she has a variety of resources all her own to call upon, should she choose. There's a high probability she will.

Her eyes flick to his face, watching, though she doesn't say anything else. It's suddenly hard to, around a lump in her throat. So instead she smiles, and hopes the conflicted emotions she feels don't show on her face. )

[commentboxtroll]

[ Or smell him, huh?

At that, he musters, at the very least, a weak smile. ]

Just don't wake me up by shoving a dog nose in my face. [ Or overdo it... Although, now that that crosses his mind. ] Hey, do they have an infirmary set up here yet?

[crocodilesmiles]

I won't.

,small>( She promises, some sense of mischief making a brief appearance in her eyes. No cold dog noses for his face, sure. Elsewhere? Heh.

The mischief slides right away at his next question. She shakes her head. )

No, not yet. We don't have any of the old infirmary labs, so... it's more basic stuff until we get those rooms back online. But it's fine! Really. I think the guy who is supposed to be heading medical from the Initiative is up here, and we've got like, ten magical healers, even if I do-- anyway, I can track one of them down.

( Ten to one she won't, but she doesn't say that. Just like she doesn't say that if there's something off with her, she doesn't think the magical healers will know what it is. They don't study the body like the doctors she knows; or so she presumes. )

No worrying about me! I've been fine. I can even read the tablet now! I think it was just the excitement from things... before.

( At that, she does manage to look back to him, trying to meet his eyes if she can. This is her reassuring face. She looks like she so wants to be believed. )

[commentboxtroll]

[ So much for lightening the mood. Just as her answer put a quick end to that gleam of mischief, it puts an end to his smile, which vanishes with every excuse. At the end, he's left frowning at her once again, but this time there's an obvious purpose there. ]

You said you would have someone look at you.

[ Even though it's been so many days since then and she seems fine. Even though he already made Oz get checked out and he was fine, too. Still... ]

[crocodilesmiles]

Gilbert kidnapped me to the moon for my own good before I got to the doctors.

( She says flatly. It's an annoyance with Gilbert and not being asked if she wanted to go up on the shuttle -- for not being consulted at all, but having him presume he knew better and knew right what to do with her. )

[commentboxtroll]

A few days ago. The are doctors up here now, so there's no reason not to ask anymore.

[crocodilesmiles]

There are healers up here. They're not the same thing!

[commentboxtroll]

Then ask the one who isn't! The one from the Initiative! Wouldn't they sent a real doctor to head up medical?

[crocodilesmiles]

I'd hope so, but if they did, I haven't seen him yet.

( She doesn't look at Caesar. She wasn't trying to find him so hard that she could honestly say he hadn't arrived in the last few days -- or she hadn't. Collette didn't know either way. )

[commentboxtroll]

I want to say they can't possibly be that incompetent, but they prove me wrong every time I do.

[ But a doctor, a real medical staff, that seems like a no-brainer! ]

I should go ask around and find out.

[ Y'know, instead of going into that room or getting any sleep or other things he seems to be avoiding a bit. ]

[crocodilesmiles]

( Oh no, mister! Collette's eyebrows fly up, and she shakes her head, laughing. )

Not until after you've slept! Caesar, you look more tired than I ever remember seeing you. We can look after you've gotten rest, okay?

( Delaying on facing whoever was or wasn't in that room wouldn't do him any good. Neither would failing to get rest, whatever he can after what they've seen. )

Will you even be able to sleep? Because I will find Ashraf, and I know he's got something to help with that. Even I can! I've got a medicine like NyQuil.

( Collette folds her arms over her chest, attempting to look stern. She looks more concerned than stern, but she tries! )