( 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

[chosenfake]

[Luke responds well to touch. No one's put a hand on his back or anything like that since Guy left. It's more effective than using his name, but it's a reminder, too. His back feels tight beneath Riku's pale fingers; he is stressed and tense and taking this as hard as one can imagine.]

Riku...

[He gingerly takes off the remaining earbud, gently holding it and the iPod in his left hand.]

I can't believe we're abandoning them. After everything we fought for. Asch and I both-- we laid down everything we had when we fought the UE on that other world. We couldn't save the people there, and now we can't save the ones right in front of us.

[He crumbles a little, hiding his face in his hands.]

So many people have died because of me. I can't make things right, and I can't help them. Even if we go back and prevent all of this, I can't look them in the eye after leaving them to die.

[limitstorm]

[ quietly; ]

I know. [ he doesn't want luke to go through the same self-hate he did, but it looks like it's already starting, and if there's one thing riku knows, it's that it never stops after the first few instance. his fingers curl into a fist against his back, and riku falls silent, unsure of what to say. what can he say? luke is right. riku did everything he could to fight united earth on the other world; he even died. going back to prevent that from happening wouldn't have stopped it from happening.

how did xehanort do this without a beat? how did he mess with time, knowing it would affect others?

riku feels a new douse of blood on his hands, when the others hadn't dried. it feels like they're failing and failing and never getting anywhere.

he can't think that way. he knows he can't think that way. he breathes in deep, closing his eyes, trying to think of the tales of old yen sid would tell him, about good and bad masters alike. ]

If you won't be able to... then, don't. Do what you have to, to take care of yourself. They saved us so we can win this war. We can't let their lives be in vain.

[chosenfake]

[Riku, cutie, Luke was hating himself long before he got to Exsilium. This is just adding more to what Luke considers a laundry list of people he's killed (either personally, or due to cause and effect).

He lets Riku's words sink in for a moment. Slowly, he relaxes, returning his hands to his sides.]

I feel like it'll never be enough. No matter what the Initiative tells us to do, we never really fix anything. [His voice grows quiet.] The Initiative hasn't done anything to help their people like a government would. Even if we stop this bomb from falling, it won't change the Initiative's attitude.

That's... what makes this so sad. There's no one to miss them but us.

[limitstorm]

Then shouldn't we do something to make their sacrifices not in vain?

[ riku struggles with saying it--he's been beaten down by this heavy emotion too, but he knows he has to be a leader. he has to be a master. ]

Sometimes, it feels like you're not moving forward at all... and then you look behind you, and you've walked a mile. A little progress is still progress.

[ god knows he thought he'd never be worthy or shake free of xehanort, but when he took the exam and realized he was essentially immune... and he'd never realized. ]