( 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

[retraced]

This isn't a compromise!

[SHOVING THE CUP TOWARDS HIM AGAIN.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ He's very tempted to take the cup - and pour it over Gilbert's head. But this is, apparently, far more effective torment. ]

Do I have to say aaaahh~n~ to get you to eat? Like a little baby, hm?

[retraced]

I'd like to see you try to--

[His words are cut off by a sudden harsh cough. A mixture of dehydration and lack of nicotine haven't had the best lasting effects on his throat and lungs. At least he's not coughing up tar yet though. He swallows and continues as though nothing is wrong.]

Just take it and I'll find something to eat! You brought enough with you...

[maddeninghatter]

Gilbert--

[ Break drops from his bed, landing lightly on the floor, and pulls the cup from Gilbert's hands and drains it (YOU WIN, IDIOT). And then he's pushing on Gilbert's shoulders, to get him to sit down on his lower bunk. ]

Just... just relax, okay? Haha! Nothing to get worked up about.

[retraced]

[Well, in this circumstance, he's both a winner and a loser. Winner because at least he got Break to drink the damned water, but loser...well, on every single other account. He's caught off guard, so he does indeed stumble backwards until he's sitting down on the bottom bunk with a soft grunt of surprise.]

H-hey, I don't need to relax! Are you listening to me? I already said I was fine!

[maddeninghatter]

Yes of course you're fine~!

[ He slides down onto the floor and begins rooting around in one of the packages. He swiftly finds what he'd been searching for, something he'd bought especially for Gilbert, a bottled drink with ginger in it - which he'd been assured would settle queasy stomachs. He reaches over and hands it up. He'd been concerned before, but now he is actively worried. That cough sounds terrible, and--

Oh hang on.

That's actually.... a familiar cough! ]

Ahahaa, have you been able to smoke, since you've been here?

[retraced]

[He sighs softly as he reaches out to take the drink, his hands nervously fumbling to unscrew the top of it -

But the minute that Break says the Magic Words, his fingers tighten around the bottle and he makes a pained, sick sounding hrrrnk?! noise. It's more obvious that Break is correct in closed quarters like this. Nothing smells like smoke in this room or on Gilbert's person.]

[maddeninghatter]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!

[ He giggles behind a hand. It's not as if he would ordinarily be at all sympathetic to this particular plight, but certainly in present circumstances... ]

Well! Now you know how I felt, when you cruelly deprived me of candy~!

[retraced]

[While he'd rather give any number of excuses right now, insist that he'd banned sugar for a reason and that it can't possibly be the same thing that he's currently going through, his guilt is more overwhelming than his stubborn pettiness. He suddenly feels even more terrible for taking Break's sugar away for so long. He'd never considered that he might have gone through something similar, such a shock to his system with the sudden lack of something that he'd gotten so used to over such a long period of time, and on top of it, it had all been Gilbert's fault...

His stomach turns again, and the drink that Break has handed him is set down still capped on the bed as he dashes out of the room.

It's a good thing that their room is close to the bathroom. He'll come back and apologize once he's finished being sick.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ Whenever Gilbert finally manages to return, he'll find Break grouping his purchases according to...

10-lb bags of things, variously sugar, flour, and rice. And another bag of sugar.
Boxes full of things that rattle satisfyingly and might be cookies or crackers, or dried rhubarb berries.
Boxes full of things that rattle in an unsatisfying way, and might be pancake mix, baking soda, or washing powder.
Boxes of tea (all Collette's)
A string bag full of fresh (-ish) fruit.
Cans full of complete unknowns; he has them stacked up in a tower. They contain soup, tomato sauce, stewed apple-peaches (very mutated), water chestnuts, maraschino cherries, tofurkey, pineapple chunks, and various other assorted things.

...by some unhappy coincidence, the top-most can has "HAPPY CAT GOURMET CUISINE" stamped in bold letters on the front label, with a picture of an appropriately gleeful kitty, with fork and knife, and a pink bow on its head. ]

[retraced]

[He returns once Break has set everything out, slumped over even further from humiliation and defeat. The sight of all this food cheers him up, though, if only because it means that Oz, Collette and Elliot might have something to supplement the food here for a while until missions back in time become available once more. His own stomach isn't quite ready for something like tofurkey, but maybe another day or two will change his mind.]

You really did bring a lot...

[He mumbles from the doorway. The cat food happily goes unnoticed for the moment.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ There are so many things he could say. But after having (mostly) unintentionally reduced Gilbert to tears and... okay, yes well, he could hear that retching even several doors down.

He is still kneeling on the floor with his back to the door, so he simply turns over his shoulder and says mildly: ]

I didn't think there'd be much use for Marques anymore, so--

[ A shrug. He'd spent everything he had (and everything anyone else left behind, oops). ]

[retraced]

[Right. Because the world below is set to be destroyed any day now.

If he hadn't just vacated his entire stomach, he might feel up to doing it now with that reminder. He'd selfishly abandoned everything quickly in order to get everyone who would have any trouble out safely. A coward running from things in order to protect what was precious, as always.]

...Thank you, Break.

[He mumbles weakly before finally stepping into the room and sitting down on the bottom bunk.]

1/2

[maddeninghatter]

[ An entire city about to be destroyed, and four hours on a spaceship with an agitated angel spewing divine aura all over him...

These experiences have adjusted his perspective. Rejecting Kevin's heavenly gift he recognized as being petty. Therefore, recoiling from Gilbert's sincere thanks and gratitude would be.... ]

[maddeninghatter]

[ He shoves Emily into Gilbert's face. ]

KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE KE!

[ Some things have to remain constant, no matter what. ]

[retraced]

[WHY DO OUR PRECIOUS MOMENTS ALWAYS END THIS WAY.]

Gaagh-!

[He twists his head away, reaching out to try and shove Break's arm out of his face.]

Stop that! Just - give me those crackers you were talking about!

[maddeninghatter]

[ Emily returns to her perch on Break's shoulder and he returns to the floor. A moment's scrabbling and then he returns with several boxes that probably contain crackers, if the rattling is any indication. ]

Here you are!

Now see if you can keep these down, 'kaaay~? Cos if you fall over, you won't be any good to anybody. People will have to take care of you.

[ He hands the boxes over, then sits back on his heels and drawls smoothly: ]

Like I'm doing now.

[retraced]

[He reaches out and takes the one that looks more like crackers. Even though Break can't see it, he's outright avoiding looking him in the eye as he takes it and pulls the box open.]

You don't have to tell me that.

[It's not like he's happy puking his guts out in space, okay.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ He keeps fiddling with the packages, even though he has organized them already, as best he can. He isn't facing Gilbert, either.

You don't have to tell me that...

It's a weak sort of protestation. Gilbert took the coffee and now the crackers. It's testament to how desperately he needs help that he's actually accepting it.

...

Break stacks up all the boxes in a tower, end to end, before he finally murmurs: ]

You're welcome, by the way.

[retraced]

[Ugh, he can't just say that now. It's more embarrassing now.

So he keeps his eyes down and continues eating crackers. Best meal he's had in days, actually.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ He'd felt something inside him, so tightly bound, unwind during that trip on the spaceship. And not only that...

He leaves off building box towers and flops down, next to Gilbert, on his bottom bunk. ]

It's not such a bad thing. Letting someone look after you.

[ It has occurred to him how much more effectively he can torment Gilbert by being nice to him. ]

[retraced]

[Honestly, he's starting to sort of wish that Break would make fun of him for enjoying the hell out of these crackers.]

It's terrible. [He grumbles between bites.] The only thing that would make it worse is if Oz were here to see it...

[maddeninghatter]

Don't say tha~at~!

[ Is that a pleasant, encouraging pat pat pat on your shoulder, Gilbert? Why yes. Yes, it is. ]

I think Oz would like nothing better, than to see you looked after. Or look after you, himself.

[retraced]

I can't...let myself be a burden to him like that.

[He tenses up at the pat to the shoulder. When he was a child he didn't realize that it was mostly just Break being condescending to him when he'd give him shoulder and head pats, but now he's fully aware of it.]

[maddeninghatter]

[ Yes, condescending. And not, for example, awkward attempts at behaving like an actual human. ]

Tch! How egotistical~!