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

Entry tags:

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

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.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Steph straightens up as well, watching Stanley carefully to make sure he's capable of carrying Peace, but once she's confident he's got a hold of her, she starts towards the showers.]

Your room's on the way, Stan, do you wanna stop by to grab a change of clothes?

[For him, at least, Steph might just wrap Peace up in her own sweater once they get her clean. It'll be way too big on her, of course, but it'll keep her warm until they can get clean clothes, which might be a bit of a task.

Maybe Ella can make something.]

My room?

[His brows crease slightly. He left his room on earth, and it hasn't occurred to him that he might have one waiting here too, until just now. Even so, there's no reason to think any of his stuff ended up here. He glances over at Steph.]

I didn't pack anything. My stuff won't be here.

[And then there's Saul.

He's on his way elsewhere when he runs into this unexpected trio, and then he kind of just stops and stares at them for a second before Stan's last few words register.]

Yeah, seems like no one in 409 packed their stuff. I brought a few of your things up with me — they're over in my room. Who's the kid, Stan?

[She (barely) manages to swallow down the sarcastic response, or the annoyed questions, because she knows there's no point to them.

She is about to say something about borrowing clothes from Jesse, but then Saul's there and it's more of a relief than she'd care to admit. She's silent, leaving the question for Stanley to answer, since it was directed at him, but the look she casts Saul is so very grateful.

It was going to be tricky to wrangle the both of them on her own, but hopefully Saul will stick with them and help out.]

Man. You don't get paid enough.

[Stan notices that annoyance, but he's pretty sure Stephanie's default is lemon sucking all the time. It must be weird to get her to smile. Not that he'd know.

It doesn't concern him anyway, but the casual question about Peace does. He subtly tightens his hold on her. And ignores the question. Back off, dude. The munchkin stays.]

[Of course Saul will stick with them, if not out of the kindness of his heart then at least to find out what the hell is going on.

The look Steph gives him goes unacknowledged on the outside, for the most part; he's too busy trying to focus on Stan and the kid and he might not have that much experience with being legitimately paternal or even familial in that way, but he sees the way Stan is holding that little girl, and he's a little freaked out.

So on second thought, no. He doesn't need to stick around to find out what's going on. He'd bet $20 he already knows what's happening here.

He reaches out a hand to the girl, movements slow and cautious, and offers her a warm little smile.]

Hey, sweetheart. What's your name?

[She doesn't miss the protective shift in the way Stanley is holding Peace.]

It's okay, Stanley.

[Not that she thinks her reassurances will mean much, considering how their past interactions have been, but maybe it's better than nothing. Saul won't try to take the girl.]

Saul, this is Peace. We're heading to the showers to get cleaned up.

[There's a question in the way she says it, asking for his help.]

[Stanley doesn't relax just yet. He's not even sure he's capable of relaxing, with everything that's going on. But it's nice to hear that these two probably don't have any ill intent.

Peace hides her face in Stan's hair, apparently not interested in having a conversation with Saul. She's wary of strangers, and tired too. They both look pretty tired, actually.]

[Peace.

Saul's eyes widen. He knows that name; Stanley put it down in his "will," directing Peace to get half his cash.

Shit.

He swallows hard, then assumes as neutral an expression as he can and nods.]

That sounds like a good idea. What can I do?

[There's a question in the way Steph looks at Saul, but it's not pressing; obviously he knows more of what's going on than she does, but he can tell her about it later.]

We can swing by Jesse's room and grab a change of clothes for Stanley, if his stuff's there? [She knows they all ended up together, and she's just assuming Saul would've dropped his stuff off there.] Might be an idea for you to go in and grab it if Jesse's there, he's still pretty upset with me.

[He's probably upset with Saul, too, but she thinks Saul would have better luck dealing with him than she would.]

We'll need a couple extra towels, too.

[There's a linen closet... somewhere. It's not one of the details she's memorized yet.]

[For his part, Stanley is back to looking dazed. He's not much help. Ordinarily he'd be interested in seeing Jesse and horsing around a little, but all he can focus on at the moment is putting one foot in front of the other. Everything else makes him feel sick and broken and detached. Saul and Steph will just have to figure it out for themselves.]

Yeah, um — I'll get his stuff. And I'll find the towels. Meet you back at the showers?

[Where the hell is he going to find clothes for a kid? That's what he wants to know.

Another glance at Stanley, and he sets a hand down on his shoulder for a brief moment, squeezing. Saul's trying to be reassuring, but he doesn't know if it's going to work.]

If you can't find anything for Peace, I'll just wrap her up in my shirt.

[Like a little kid playing dress up, but she doesn't think there's anyone on base small enough for Peace to borrow clothes from, and anything is better than the dirty clothes she's in.]

[Stan glances down at Saul's hand on his shoulder, but he doesn't comment on it. That's weird. Isn't it weird? What does it mean? The gesture doesn't connect properly in his head. But it doesn't matter. There's something going on. Showers. Right. Because he's dirty. They both are. He stares for a moment at his filthy clothes, and shifts Peace's weight against his hip. She's heavy, but he's not going to set her down. She's scared. He understands that. He's scared too. Or he was, before everything shut off. Now he's just foggy.

He hears Stephanie's comment about the shirt, and can't help glancing at her. Isn't she going to need a shirt? She doesn't seem like an exhibitionist. Whatever. She's beautiful. No one will complain. And she's mean, so if people harass her they'll be sorry.

Or maybe...maybe she owns more than one shirt. It's making his head spin, which is crazy. This conversation isn't complicated, he's sure of it. But he just can't keep up. It feels like being underwater. He presses a hand to his face and leans against the wall, careful of Peace.]

Maybe we should hurry. I think she's tired. I'm...I'm tired too.

Edited (autocorrect yo ho) 2013-10-11 10:34 (UTC)

[Tired. Saul can't tell if Stan is just exhausted, or in shock, or high, or some combination of all three.

He gives Steph a serious look, all business. He knows she'll know what to do, and she knows he's going to get exactly what they need. It might take him a few minutes, but he'll do it.]

I'll be right back.

[And off he goes.]

[Layers, Stanley.

She responds to Saul's look with a brief nod, before turning her full attention to Stanley. She doesn't offer to take Peace, as much as she thinks that would be the smart option, because she knows it's likely to just scare the girl more.

Instead, she puts a hand on Stanley's back.]

It's not much farther.

[She's going to keep that hand on Stanley's back to guide him, as they walk the rest of the way to the showers, since she's worried about him toppling over and hurting himself and Peace.]

[Where Saul's hand on his shoulder had simply confused Stanley, Stephanie putting a hand on his back gets a startle response out of him. He jumps in surprise, and holds Peace a little closer instinctively. It's a long moment before he realizes this is meant to be a supportive gesture, not a threat.

And that...that really is weird. Stephanie doesn't like him. Maybe, though, she likes Saul enough to help out anyway. And Jesse likes Stanley, he's pretty sure. Which means that Saul likes him, because that's how those two seem to work. So maybe it almost makes sense somehow. It doesn't stop him from staring awkwardly for a long moment, though. He apparently still has nothing much to say.]

Edited (autocorrect ffs) 2013-10-13 18:01 (UTC)

I'm not going to hurt you. Either of you.

[It's a quiet reassurance, the same way she talked to Collette when she was holding her, and not really how she's ever spoken to Stanley.

But there's a little kid, and Stanley is clearly in shock, so it doesn't matter how she might feel personally about him; this is more important than that.]

Come on.

[If he'll let her, she's going to gently nudge him into one of the shower rooms. Technically it's the one that's been hastily marked "women", but she doubts there are going to be many other people using the showers right now.]

It doesn't bother Stanley that the door is marked Women, the facilities are the same. Not as smelly as guys' showers usually are, either. Except that as soon as he thinks that, he's thinking about gym class. Gym class, sweaty socks, lockers, that echoing squeak that your shoes make on the basketball court... All of those things that don't exist anymore. Things kids won't ever know about now. Things a thousand years in the past, so far dead and gone that there isn't even dust or playground foam left of them. And even if there had been, by now someone's blown it up.

"Wait."

He's not sure what he thinks is about to happen here, but he feels like it will be taxing. A shower seems like so much work. Impossible. Panic and horror light his insides up, suddenly and intensely, like striking road flares and feeling the heat curl the hair on the back of your hand. He leans forward and swallows convulsively, not sure if he's going to throw up, or pass out, or just start leaking scrambled brains out of his ears. Something's got to come out, though. The things that are trying to fit inside of him are too big. There's no room. He'll explode if he doesn't get the situation back under control.

"Wait, I'm sick. O-or crazy. I just..."

Can't handle the situation. Just like everyone guessed.

Edited (punctuation ) 2013-10-20 19:10 (UTC)

Oh boy.

She stops instantly, turning to fully face Stanley and putting a hand on his shoulder to help him keep upright, in part because there's a little girl in his arms and neither of them need to go toppling over, right now.

"You're not crazy, you're in shock, just take a slow breath, Stanley, it's okay, you're both safe now," Her voice is calm, gentle, and she moves to ease Peace out of Stanley's arms, "It's okay, sweetheart, we're not going anywhere, Stan's right here."

She presses a kiss to Peace's hair and makes quiet shushing sounds, trying to get her to calm down so Steph can turn her focus back to Stanley.

Peace fusses and whines and cries softly, though she's too tired to scream her head off at the moment. Stanley glances up when he hears her distress and gives her a slightly shaky hand to hold, which seems to calm her down for Stephanie.

He's relieved, actually. He's been carrying that child around for a month now, and there hasn't been time for anything. He just needs a moment to explode all over the floor, or something. He closes his eyes and leans against the wall, weakly, though he's loathe to do it in front of Steph. She hasn't made as good a secret as she probably meant to about how irritating his weakness is. To her, he must seem pathetic. There's no way to explain to her that he's been holding it together by threads for so long that having a moment to stand idly is dangerous. It'd be so easy to let the waves rush over him instead of fighting to keep his head above water.

He doesn't want to be someone's stand in mother right now, he wants his own mom. She'd find him a bed and yell at him for how dirty he is and for stealing a kid, then she'd make them all grilled cheese while his father wasn't around to see. And she wouldn't ground him when she saw his teeth were missing and his back was scarred and life was out of control. She'd probably even hug him, and do that thing where she pushes back his hair.

But he needs to stop thinking like that. It's making a lump in his throat. He can't even say anything in response to what Stephanie just said, he can only nod. Okay, yeah. It's fine. Sort of. It's as fine as it can be. They're mostly probably safe for a moment. That's what she said. Safe...

If she knew what he was thinking, she'd tell him that he's wrong, because for all that she thinks he's made some stupid decisions, she doesn't think it's weak to break down after so much.

It's not like she hasn't locked herself up somewhere to cry, in the past few days.

But all she does is watch him carefully, murmuring nonsense things to Peace in a soothing voice, just trying to keep her calm while Stanley takes a moment to breathe or freak out or whatever it is he needs to do. After a few long moments, she addresses him again.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" And she means it; she might still be annoyed over how he handled finding Collette, and she might think he's kind of an idiot, but he's just a kid. He needs help, right now, and that's what Batgirl is meant to do, no matter her personal feelings.

That's...a new one. Not just from Stephanie, mind blowing as that is. From anyone. Aside from the first day he was here, when Jesse took him in, that is. There's been a lot of times he needed help, yeah. There's even been times he tried to ask, but somehow it fell flat. He never seemed to be able to get it across. And here, finally, was an offer.

An offer from someone who doesn't even like him. How pathetic does he look right now, for Stephanie Brown to be asking how she can help? He gives Peace's hand a reassuring squeeze and let's go, sliding down the wall, finally off his feet. But the worst part is he doesn't know what he needs help with anymore. There had been dinner, which Saul was going to let him crash occasionally, but then the war had gotten in the way again. There were other things. Emotional things, existential things. But those were delicate and terrifying, like the orbs people hang on Christmas trees. If he picked one up to examine it and squeezed too tightly, the results would be disastrous.

There was laundry. But you just can't ask Batgirl for help getting the clay stains out of your boxers. There were injuries, but they've mostly healed, bloody feet and sore body aside. At this exact moment, there's nothing at all he can think of. As uncomfortably full as his body feels with everything, his mind feels stuffed with cotton. Or molasses. It just feels cloudy and difficult to navigate. He rubs his face, tired and confused and frustrated and tired again.

"She's dirty. Can you...? Don't want her to get sick."

She drops into a couch, beside Stanley, easily settling Peace on her knee, just to keep the little girl on the same level as Stan, to ease the transition between the inevitable moment when Steph has to move her away to shower. That was the plan, even before Stanley asked.

"'Course," Since - yes, "You should shower too, but take a couple seconds to rest, first."

They don't have towels or clean clothes, yet, but she's expecting Saul to return soon. She straightens up, moving over to a nearby bench so she can sit. There's no way she's going to manage to get Peace clean without getting wet herself, and that's fine, it just means her first move is to take off most of her own clothes, until she's left in her underwear and a tank top, before starting on getting Peace undressed, talking to her the whole time.

(She'd normally be a bit more modest about clothing, but she doubts Stanley will notice, let alone care, about the mess of scars now visible.)

Once Peace is undressed, Steph scoops her up again, grabs a bar of soap, and heads into the closest shower stall, leaving the door open so that Peace can see still see Stan where he's sitting on the floor. She's run out of things to say to keep the little girl calm, so she starts singing, instead, random lullabies that she remembers from her babysitting days.

She's not the best singer, but it seems to keep Peace happy enough while Steph sets her down under the spray of the water, kneeling beside her and working on getting her as clean as possible. At least the water is warm, it makes the process a little easier.

So.

About that stuff.

Saul returns with a bundle of fabric in his arms: towels and clothes, a mix of Stanley's and some he grabbed from his own room. Peace will have to do with wearing a t-shirt that's way too big for her, but he figures it'll do for now.

He pauses when he hears the water running and Steph singing, and that's when his eyes fall on Stan.

Christ.

"Steph, I'm back," he calls, setting the towels down on the bench. "The towels and clothes are on the bench right here."

And that's really all he has to say, because he feels the sudden need to focus on Stanley. The truth of it is that he's sick to death of taking care of kids; Jesse's one thing, but the rest of the human disasters he's encountered here are an entirely different matter. This isn't his job.

It sure feels like it, though.

"This," he says, feigning a smile for the sake of trying to lighten the mood, "Isn't a very good spot for a nap, Stan."

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

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casually threadjacks

do you even go here

Yo pops

hello son

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welp I'm sure I remember typing a reply to this. i guess not

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