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Date: November 1st
Location: The Observatory.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Observatory after their initial briefings. The zombie plot will not spill over into this area, this area is safe and unaffected! To face zombies, characters must leave the area, and please move to the event log with those threads.
Warnings: None.

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, solemn and taciturn. 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, or tells you that the DITR's greeters will explain everything. On the tablet, 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. It's night outside the great wide windows, and the lunar landscape isn't much to look at right now; the only lighting comes from dull red emergency lights, but there are… noises. Listen carefully. Over the voices of your fellow Transports, now and then you might catch the sound of a scrape, or a low and muffled cry. It doesn't sound human. Are there animals up here?

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, and to the remains of Exsilium.

[[ ooc; As a note for players of current characters: please keep your root comments confined to the various groups and organizations that set up root comments to greet new characters! We highly encourage tagging around here, but since it's a log meant for new characters specifically, we ask that they be the ones to set up root threads to the entry. Thank you, and happy playing! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Huh...well. That is unexpected.

There's some strange emotional charge in the air that Walter can't read or comprehend.

So, he doesn't try. What's important here is that Jesse agrees with him, and has learned from his mistake.

That horrible, horrible mistake...though Walt might have learned more from it than Jesse has. He's not just awake these days. He's alive.

Not everyone is so fortunate.]

I handled it. I guess you know, being from the- from my future.

Yeah. I know. You got us out of it. I remember thinking it was like magic. Like movie stuff. I couldn't believe it. Never thought you had it in you.

[And he's such an idiot for that. Jesse smiles ruefully and picks his shoulders up.]

Mr. White, there's gonna be a lotta stuff that don't make sense to you here. I don't want you to freak out about it. Whatever happens, I got your back. That's something you gotta know first thing. I know it's weird asking, 'cause you remember me as like a total dumbass, but you think you could trust me?

You? Have my back?

[That's laughable. He almost does laugh. Would have, if it weren't for how very sincere Jesse appears at the moment. So, he chokes it back, and considers the situation.

Jesse knows what the future holds for him personally, and also seems to be more acquainted with the moon base. Has Jesse been here longer? Did they bring him sooner, to make the transition easier for Walt when he arrived? Hmm.

Everything seems to point to a sort of agreement. An apprenticeship, perhaps. Walter considers for a long moment, and then slowly, he nods.]

This is your second strike, Jesse. I'm willing to give you three, but you're going to have to learn to play by my rules, do you understand? I can't keep cleaning up your messes like that. We're both in it deep, here. We can't afford to make those kind of mistakes again.

Edited 2013-11-04 09:39 (UTC)

[It's funny how that condescension is so welcome now. It used to bother Jesse so much that he'd physically flinch and bristle when he heard that tone. But it's the truth, and god, is it refreshing after so many months of false praise and manipulation. Jesse doesn't need Mr. White's approval anymore, anyway. He's surpassed the old man in almost every way: he's a genius in the lab, he's so powerful it's absurd, and somehow he's managed to amass dozens of people who love him and would stand to protect him. The only thing Jesse can't match is Heisenberg's brutality.

And Heisenberg isn't here.

There's just this sad, desperate, dying old man who doesn't even know how many people are waiting in the shadows to finish him off. Just one call away, but it's a call Jesse refuses to make. The group's going to have to have another meeting, find another way to handle this. See, Jesse's the real king here. And he's a better one than Walter White.]

I swear it won't happen again, Mr. White.

No. It won't.

[The words are a little cold, but Jesse gets another shoulder pat, anyway. On the way toward the door. Because Walt has decided this meeting is over. It's been a long day, and anyway, there's some sort of big to-do about an agricultural wing. That sounds interesting.

He pauses, though, hand on the doorknob.]

Is there anything else I need to know?

[Jesse gets to his feet. Walt's not going anywhere by himself now that Jesse's found him. Not yet, at least.]

Mrs. White is here.

Skyler?

[The tension melts out of Walt, for a moment. Skyler is safe. Safe on the moon, but still, safe. The way he says her name, it's clear that he's a man who truly loves his wife.]

The baby? Has she...?

Edited (grunt) 2013-11-04 10:31 (UTC)

She's, um... I mean, she's okay, yeah. But she might act a little, you know, rattled. She's from even further in the future than me, so I dunno the whole story. But you might wanna... I mean, I'll take you to her. You'll see.

Rattled?

[Oh, there's the tension again.]

Rattled about what? What happens to my wife in the future? Why would she be rattled?

[You happen.]

Yo, that's between you and her. You wanna see her or not?

[There's something very weird about that answer. It doesn't sit right. Something is going on, here.

Trusting Jesse? Maybe not. The kid is clearly withholding information.]

Of course I want to see her. And my son.

Your kids ain't here.

[That stops his heart cold, for a moment. It's any parent's worst nightmare.]

Just Skyler, then. I'll see my wife.

[God, but Jesse knows that feeling and there's no one who deserves his sympathy less than Walt but here he has it.

What kind of cosmic joke is this?

Anyway, he nods, and it's his turn to pat Mr. White on the back as he moves for the door to lead the way.]

[And Walter, of course, follows. He doesn't have a clue where he's going yet, nor where to find Skyler at in this place. Jesse will have to be his guide dog for the afternoon.]

[Jesse doesn't say much along the way, which is just another sign of how he's changed in the past two or so years. It's wiser to keep quiet, and he's already said more than he should have, he's realizing. Oh well. That's what happens when he improvises instead of following the plan.

Whatever. He's got this. It's sad and it's painful but the only person who's hurting is Jesse - and maybe Skyler, in a minute. Or maybe she'll be happy. This Walt's more like the man she married, right? Well, Jesse can't hide him from her. Or her from him. The best he can do is be there to oversee the reunion. Eventually they'll all be okay. And hopefully nobody will die.]

[She stays busy because she has to. It's what has kept her head on her shoulders the past month. It's easier now. Maybe Steph was right about adjusting here. This is hard still, but she's found her little niche here, and it's not perfect and it's home-- but maybe that's why it's good. There's no lies or manipulation. Part of her is free, and that is a godsend in itself.

She's come to the new arrival greeting a little earlier, but by now she's managed her way back to show some new people what they have at the clinic. No one is injured, she just likes this feeling of helping.

Sky's heading back toward the observatory when she spots Jesse first. It's strange she doesn't even notice her husband, but she's about to ask what he's doing away from the cookies when the person next to him dawns on her.

And she stops cold in her tracks. That's not Walt. That can't be.]

No. No no no no no. [It's not even registering as a possibility. This is too surreal and her head is spinning. Sky steps back and she puts out her hands.

This is not Walt.]

[Jesse steps forward immediately, reaching out to take Skyler's arms gently as a support, because he knows exactly how he feels and he could have really used that a few minutes ago. At the same time, he leans in to whisper while Walt's out of earshot:]

It's okay, I'm here.

[And what he doesn't say, what his eyes alone say, is that he'll kill Mr. White if anything happens. If that's what needs to happen or if that's what she wants. But he doesn't think that's what she really wants. It's a shock, but she loves Mr. White, doesn't she?]

[Walter has been gone a long time. He must have been, because the last he'd known, Skyler and Jesse had never even heard of one another. It was strange enough for Jesse to tell him that Skyler was here, but...the familiarity there. The intimacy, make his head spin.

"No no no nono" isn't the greeting anyone wants to hear from their significant other. And even worse, to see their idiot former student leaning in close. Allowed. Invited.

His spine tenses, and so does his jaw. This is a cruel and unexpected development. Far worse than a nuclear apocalypse. Everything is always worse on the micro scale, where it's personal.

Walter steps forward, and clears his throat.]

Thank you, Jesse. That'll be all.

[Her eyes look from Jesse to Walt, hands grabbing at the younger man. Her husband is younger. There isn't a hardness, a roughness to him. He isn't trying to play some game. Is this a game? Is he tricking her? How is this even possible.

When Walt tells Jesse he can leave, she shakes her head again.]

Don't leave. [It's decisive. She doesn't know what Walt wants, and even the option of being alone with him isn't something she wants to think about.]

What do you want? [She exhales slowly, lifting her chin up. For as much as she wants to run away and not confront him, no matter what version of Walt this is, she knows she has to stand up. She has to get through this somehow.]

[Jesse had no intention of leaving, anyway. For as long as Skyler wants to hold onto him, he isn't letting go.]

He just got here.

He's from before everything.

[That is not just unexpected, it's insane. Skyler, his loving, beautiful wife Skyler, is...is...Walter grits his teeth. He can't manage to tear his eyes away from Skyler, but his words are directed at Jesse.]

What I want is to comfort my wife in the face of this lunacy.

[That, however, is clearly not going to happen. Has Skyler stopped loving him so suddenly? In two years? Has she forgotten every beautiful memory they have together?

Has she replaced him with this imbecile? Has she lost her goddamn mind?]

Is there something you forgot to tell me, Jesse? Something that just, oh, I don't know, slipped your mind? Now would be a very good time to speak up.

[What the hell is he getting at? All fucking riled up and shit. Jesse squeezes Skyler's arm lightly in reassurance, but his eyes are on Walt now.]

Chill out, old man. There's a lot I ain't told you, but me and Skyler are gonna fill you in if you can shut up for like ten seconds. You think you can handle that?

[There's a look of absolute confusion on her face at what Walt was trying to imply here. This last month has been nothing but chaotic, and having Jesse around was something stabilizing. Her first emotion is anger. There's been too much of Walt trying to through her affair around that this is just too perfect.]

You have no right to say who I can and can't be friends with. [Her voice shakes, trying to keep herself steady. She comes across as calm, but her blood is boiling.]

You don't get to say anything about who I spend my time with. Tell me, Walt. How many lies have you told me, yet? [This may be the Walt before he gave his whole 'I am the one who knocks' speech, but he was still fucking people over long before that.]

Or how about the hospital visit? Or your other phone?

[Jesse Pinkman has never had a good attitude. From him, the rudeness is not a big concern. Jesse still doesn't warrant so much as a glance from him. This is a family matter, regardless of who Skyler make have sought comfort from without him. He can deal with that later. Right now, he doesn't give a shit about Jesse Pinkman.

Skyler, on the other hand, he very much gives a shit about. Unfortunately, at the moment she isn't making any sense at all. By lies she can't mean about the drugs. If she knew about that, she certainly wouldn't want anything to do with Jesse, either.

The words "hospital visit" are unnerving. His eyes go automatically to her abdomen, where the baby bump should be, but isn't. He tries to put the pieces together here, but she isn't acting the way he expects. He can't imagine a world in which Skyler would give a meth head the time of day. He doesn't like this situation. Something is very wrong, here.

Did he die? Is that why they all look like they've seen a ghost? It was inevitable anyway, but this isn't the kind of reunion that a dead man expects. Moreover, he has no idea what she's talking about. For a moment, he just gapes stupidly.

How exactly does he diffuse a situation that he doesn't understand? He falls back on an old teaching standby. Get the students to describe the situation back to you. Make them "teach" you what you need to know to balance the equation.]

Let's try going back to the beginning. Some of the pieces seem to be missing. Let's talk about the phone, and the hospital. Tell me about those things.