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

[controlledvariable]

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.

[lazyinlove]

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...

[controlledvariable]

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.

[lazyinlove]

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."

[controlledvariable]

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.

[5055034455]

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."

[lazyinlove]

That...must mean his couple seconds are up. Okay. That's fine. Stanley doesn't waste the breath to reply, he just gets gingerly to his feet and starts to strip. He already knows what he's supposed to do now, Stephanie told him. Take a shower. Got it.

Stephanie's scars don't affect Stan. He's got some if his own these days too, it's easy to sympathize. And he doesn't want to answer any questions about his, so he's not planning to ask about hers. He doesn't even stare at the extra skin that's exposed, just drops all of his own clothing on the floor and slumps into one of the shower stalls, too.

The water is chilly and the jets are pressurized. It's like being bombarded with angry little needles of ice. But it's what he's been told to do, so alright. He'll do it.

[controlledvariable]

Five minutes isn't as long as she'd like, but Peace is little, and it's enough to get her sufficiently clean. She's just glad the girl is too tired to really make a fuss about being away from Stanley. With Saul back, she feels a bit self-conscious about singing, so she ends up just humminh quietly to keep Peace calm.

Once the water cuts out she picks Peace up again and heads back to the bench, ignoring how soaked she is in favour of wrapping Peace up in a towel. With the girl held against her chest, Steph finally looks at Saul.

She should say something, anything, but all she can do is look at him for a long moment, before turning her attention back to Peace.

[5055034455]

It's weird, how Stanley doesn't say anything and just does what he's told. Saul is left feeling a little uneasy, and for the few minutes when both Stan and Steph are occupied and he's alone, all he manages to do is chew his lip and shift his weight from foot to foot.

When Steph reappears and looks at him, he holds her gaze and waits for her to speak.

And then she doesn't.

So he fills the silence: "Stan's clothes are in that pile, and those shirts there are for Peace. They might be a little big, but it was the best I could do."

[lazyinlove]

Stanley appears to grab a towel -he doesn't really think anyone is going to be too scandalized, but then he's not really thinking anyway- and wrap up in it. The clothes can wait for a moment. He drops onto a bench instead and stares at the floor, waiting for the next command. Maybe no one will mind if he just closes his eyes and leans against the wall a little...

[controlledvariable]

"Thank you," Her gaze flicks back to Saul for a second, and now she just looks apologetic.

With him here, it's like the part of her has switched off, whatever it was that needed to be 100% focused in order to look after the two kids. It's not like she wasn't affected by seeing Exsilium destroyed, she's just kept it pushed down where it can't stop her from doing what needs to be done. And now that she's looking at Saul, all she wants is to ask for a hug.

But she can't, so she keeps her attention on Peace, and as soon as she's dry, Steph helps her into the smallest shirt there. She doesn't look at Stanley; the nudity itself doesn't bother her, but she figures it's only polite.

"Can you hold her for a second, Saul?"

She wants to get dry and put her clothes back on.

[5055034455]

Slight though it may be, he notices the shift in her demeanor, but he's all business right now — so while he'll offer her a look that he hopes comes off as warm, because it is, but otherwise his brain is running a mile a minute in an attempt to figure this all out.

And it shows.

"Yeah, sure."

He can't help the worried glance he shoots Stanley's way. He holds his arms out for Peace in spit of that, then says, "Hey, Stan. You should get dressed. Then you can go sleep, okay?"

[lazyinlove]

What...? Oh, right. Get dressed. Yeah. He should do that. Being naked is rude or something.

Stanley nods, or attempts a nod anyway. He makes a sort of bobbing movement with his head, and then reaches for the clothing, not actually standing up until after he's got it in hand. The jeans, anyway. He doesn't even bother trying to get the shirt on at the moment, but the jeans cover the important stuff. Good enough.

With those on and zipped, he slumps back down again. They hang off his hips a little more than usual, so it's a safe assumption that times were a little tough on the run down on the planet. His feet are a little bloodied and sore too, from the constant movement. He's never been much for hiking before. But mostly, the kid seems beat more than sick. They both do. Barely conscious, now that someone is there to watch out for whatever is going down.

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

[controlledvariable]

As soon as Peace is out of her arms, Steph makes quick work of getting dressed; she peels off the wet tank top, and pulls the rest of her clothes back on. She's not exactly dry, but it's a minor discomfort, and she figures she can easily just get changed again later. WIthout really thinking about it, she holds her arms to take Peace back.

"You gonna be able to make the walk to a bed, Stanley?" If she sounds skeptical, it's because she is, conisdering how exhausted he looks.

[5055034455]

Saul's in the middle of gently bouncing Peace and murmuring to her to make sure she keeps calm when Steph reaches back for her. A little reluctantly, he hands her back over. Right. Okay. Stan — that should be Saul's focus.

Before he can even answer, Saul walks over to him and offers his shoulder. He'll support Stan, if he needs it.

Honestly, he'd carry him, but he's not sure how well it'll go over if Saul just scoops him up.

[lazyinlove]

The nice thing about Stanley is that the usual issues of teenage bluster and pride aren't a big deal to him. He's come to grips with not being particularly cool long ago, so he doesn't try to act tough when Saul offers a shoulder. He just leans on it gratefully. And ignores the clothing he didn't decide to wear. It's free now, run along little shirt and stuff...

"Mm-hmm, bed." He agrees with Stephanie, reaching over and brushing some damp curls out of Peace's face clumsily, so she stops fussing again. He's still there, she's alright.

[controlledvariable]

Once Peace is settled again, and Stan's leaning against Saul, Steph starts towards the door out of the showers, planning to come back later and pick up the rest of their stuff after they've gotten Stan and Peace into a bed.

"Are you still with Jesse and Lisbeth?"

Most people seem to have kept their previous rooming arrangements, so she's assuming Stan will have, too.