here they talked of revolution, here it was they lit the flame

[initiates]

Date: October 1st
Location: The Observatory.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Observatory for the show of the year. Initial briefings are very brief this time around, and that Greeter just won't stop crying.
Warnings: new confused people and old sad people??

Your arrival here has been very unceremonious. One second you were somewhere else, and now, very suddenly, your feet hit the glowing white of the Transporter pad, and you're here. You aren't alone, either. There's a crowd of others around you, each seeming just as bewildered, angry, or confused as you might feel. At the head of the group is a woman in purple robes, with eyes red as if she'd just finished crying. She hurries over a quick overview of your intended purpose here, and gives direct answers when asked for them, but to most things she simply shows you how to access the tablet you've just been given. There, you can find the history of this place and a record of what your new cohorts have experienced — although it won't have Network access for another 8 hours. Someone stands on hand to give you a weapon, and though the armory is now greatly reduced, you should be able to find something to suit you.

You're shepherded down a walkway tunnel and into the Observatory, where you will find screens mounted on three sides of the wide room. The only lighting comes from dull red emergency lights, and the scenes of a dreary, rainy city from various cameras up on the screens; the largest of the screens opens up to a view of Earth from a good distance away -- this one isn't a screen at all, you might realize, but a window. As you watch, all screens in the room fill with light, impossibly bright. It consumes the buildings, the people, everything. There is no sound played, perhaps mercifully, only that white light -- and then nothing.

Through the large window, there's a pinprick of light over one of the landmasses on the blue planet. It grows to a tiny blossom and then dies away, but a cloud begins to mushroom outward in the same spot. It pushes the natural clouds out of the way, claiming that small portion of the world and wrapping it in a uniform gray.

Strings of numbers begin to fill the blanked out screens as the base's AI begins collecting data and calculations, but the show seems to be over. You're free to explore the base, visit and use any of the VR rooms, or discover your new room and roommates, but try not to step out of any airlocks if oxygen is a requirement for your system.

Welcome to the moon base, with front row seats to the grave of Exsilium.

[[ooc; reminder! The Network will be down for 8 hours after the wave of new Transports.]]

Comments

[hostage]

[Wait, is that real? It feels like Mike's really holding onto him. Jesse looks up at him with renewed surprise, allowing himself to be led. He even reaches out to grip at Mike's jacket for support.]

Where're we going?

[fullmeasure]

[That's a very real jacket underneath his fingers. Mike slows his steps so Jesse can keep up]

You're going to show me where you're staying, and then you're going to sleep over whatever the hell they're giving you while I go talk to Saul.

[hostage]

[Jesse glances around, then looks over his shoulder, like he's expecting to be followed. He doesn't see anyone after them, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. When he looks back to Mike, there's unmistakable fear in his eyes. He pleads like a little boy:]

Don't go.

[fullmeasure]

[Mike follows his glance, then looks back to Jesse, frowning]

Where am I gonna go, kid?

[hostage]

[He shakes his head. Hell if he knows. This is apparently where they go when they die. He just doesn't want Mike to disappear again.]

[fullmeasure]

[if it weren't for the plead, the look . . . Mike would've turned him down, maybe even told him to grow up.

Instead he just shakes his head, faintly]

I'm not going anywhere.

[hostage]

[He's going to have to believe Mike, because it's too exhausting to keep thinking about the alternative. Or alternatives, really, because there are so many things that could go wrong here.]

It's this way. My room. This place isn't that big...

[fullmeasure]

[Mike lets Jesse lead, all the while keeping a firm hold on his arm, and going slow enough that the kid doesn't stumble or lose his own grip]

You caught me before I had a chance to look around, so I'll take your word for it.

[hostage]

Didja see? We're on the moon.

[It's a statement that a slightly younger, less suicidal, less sedated Jesse Pinkman would have delivered with some more excitement. Instead it's quiet and bitter.]

[fullmeasure]

[another look, before Mike turns to look at where they're going again]

I saw. It's a little hard not to notice.

[hostage]

It's the real thing.

[He isn't sure if Mike needed the assurance, but there it is.]

[fullmeasure]

Yeah? [he may as well humor him, for now] Went out to check it yourself?

[hostage]

[Jesse lets out a short laugh. Of course, no, his babysitters wouldn't let him really explore. But considering the rest of this shit...

Well, anyway, they've reached his room now. See? It wasn't very far. Jesse comes to a stop.]

This is it.

[fullmeasure]

[Mike waits.

Then gestures]

Well? In you go.

[hostage]

[Jesse lets go of Mike and reaches for the door handle, about to go in. He hesitates there, his hand resting on it for a moment before he turns to face Mike again. He looks like he wants to say something, like, "Sorry for getting you killed," maybe. That's a bit complicated for him at the moment, however, so he settles for a slight nod.]

[fullmeasure]

[even though Jesse has let go of him, Mike hasn't released him yet. At least the kid was still with him, in a matter of speaking.

Mike nods to the door]

Do you want me to stay?

[hostage]

[Well, yeah, of course he does. They've drugged 75% of the emotion out of him and he's still terrified that Mr. White is lurking around the corner, waiting to do it again the moment Jesse turns his back. Something will go wrong, because it always does, but Jesse wants to be there this time when it goes down. That is, if this whole thing isn't a dream anyway. Like a child dealing with monsters hiding under the bed, Jesse isn't fully convinced. And he kind of does need his dad to reassure him.

So he nods.]

[fullmeasure]

Then I'll stay.

[it was as simple as that. It was easy to shift his priorities to keeping an eye on the kid instead; it was something he was familiar with, and in a way, familiarity was nice, after everything that's been going on, both back home and since he got here. And even if he didn't need it, Jesse sure as hell looked like he did]

and now for Jesse → Saul → Mike

[hostage]

[Jesse nods again, this time in thanks, and the corner of his mouth twitches into a wan smile. He turns to the door and opens it this time, leading Mike in.]

[5055034455]

[It's been a long forty-five minutes.

Saul's running his mouth as soon as he hears the handle turn, but his gaze isn't on the door. Instead, his attention drifts upwards, toward the ceiling, as he springs to his feet and stretches.]

I know you're pissed at me, but if you thought you could avoid me forever —

[He breaks off there, huffing out a laugh like that's the most ridiculous notion in the world. Then, twisting to one side, he continues:] Look. You have every right to be mad, but the fact remains that I did what I did because I love you and all this recklessness is just — it's getting old, Jesse. Real old. And —

[Oh, hey.

Speaking of old.

Is that Mike?

Saul straightens immediately, tweaks something in his back in the process, and is left staring at Mike with an expression that's half shocked and half pained.]

[fullmeasure]

[Mike just raises an eyebrow at Saul going off; makes no move to acknowledge is presence before Saul notices him, either.

With Saul here, it meant he didn't have to track the idiot down at a later time. Good. He looks at Saul with that Look - he knows the one, because Saul has been at the other end of it before]

And? Don't let me interrupt you.

[hostage]

[Jesse raises his hand to his face and slowly drags it down. He probably should have expected this. He just wishes Saul had picked another time. It was bad enough when he was just pissed off. Now he's mortified.]

Oh my god, just leave me alone.

[5055034455]

[Saul's throat goes dry as the desert. He has no idea what he was going to add after that and — all he can do is look from Jesse to Mike and then back, as though searching for some kind of explanation that he knows isn't going to just reveal itself out of the blue.

But he does it anyway.

When his eyes finally stop following that invisible tennis ball, his attention is settled on Mike.

For the most part.

And then he dusts himself off, brushing away all the anxiety and surprise and awkwardness, and fixes a smile in their place. See? Everything's fine. He just needed a moment.]

Hey, Mike. A hundred thousand welcomes, as my ancestors would say.

[fullmeasure]

[he's already exasperated. Mike rolls his eyes, because he knows nothing is fine. It never is when it comes to either him or Jesse - or god forbid, the two of them together]

Yeah, yeah.

[hostage]

[Jesse casts an apologetic glance back to Mike, but that look is gone by the time he turns back to Saul, replaced with cool defiance. Yeah, he's tired, but he's never too tired to glare.]

You here to dope me up again or what?