( open ) our ag wing's back and you're gonna be in trouble (hey now! hey now! our ag wing's back)

[initiates]

Date & Time: October 31st, 3313, 11:59PM - November 3rd, 3313, ????
Location: Agriculture Wing, Moon Base to start. Cafeteria, warehouse, docking bay, VR rooms, Transport Pad, or Observatory later on.
Characters: Any & all!
Summary: Space Zombies are allowed out of the Agriculture Wing, slowly revving up their systems to try and infect and absorb as many of the Transports (or 12 Initiative Members) as possible.
Warnings: Log will be locked for potentially graphic violence. Please warn in threads should the violence or gore become graphic.
Notes: Specify a date and location in your top comment. You may specify multiple dates/locations. Specify a time if you wish as well.

Everything is a success at first, from the cool rush of air out of the Agriculture Wing once the doors are fully unlocked, to the heady sense of accomplishment for finally moving forward on something good for the long-term usability of the Moon Base. It's intended to remain a resource, after all, but not be a permanent home. Fraying tempers and the sense of cabin fever descending on Transports continues to showcase how important it is to get back down on Earth to regain some breathing room.

There's little enough dust between all the unmoving, unlit structures, many even supporting the barest dried husks of what once grew there. Upon the lightest touch, they disintegrate, turning into a dust that falls to the ground. The silent rows will be reclaimed and turned into functioning units, based on Transport efforts, and Transport time invested in the project.

There's just one problem. Something stirs in the reclaimed wing, among tangles of hosing and wiring. Skitterings and movements that make no sense for a long abandoned Moon Base. The further in Transports go, relying on magic or technology to generate light past the bare minimum maintained by the base, the more disturbing sights they may run into.

Of course, the most disturbing of all might be lying just around the far corner -- but don't worry, it's only a flesh wound. Try not to get surprised in the machinery, caught suffering from not looking up or caught making out with anything unsavory this holiday season, Transports. We need all of you to stay alive!

We can't bring you back right now!

Comments

[alittlesweptup]

[The tug at this sleeve makes Charlie start, jerking around and away from the general direction of where it was pulled. He takes a full, long step back: shoulders up, proverbial hackles bristling.]

You bloody invisible or something, are you? [God this doesn't make him feel or sound like less of a nutter. Invisibility. That's just silly.]

[lazyinlove]

Yeah.

[The kid sighs, sounding a bit sheepish.]

I'm supposed to be able to turn it off, but it's stuck. I think it's nerves.

She's not. I-if I set her down. But she's little, so don't hurt her. Alright?

[alittlesweptup]

[Nerves. Of course. What was he thinking? Nerves are keeping some kid invisible. Naturally.]

I haven't the slightest idea what you're on about, mate, but I try not to make a habit of stamping on kittens or anything of the sort. [Because he's learned not to say 'Do I look like the sort of person to go about hurting someones?' because the answer is usually 'Yes, actually. You kind of do.' And he's made a damn good living at it too, thank you very much.]

[lazyinlove]

Oh, goddamn it. The kitten...

[You always forget something when you're in a hurry, don't you? Best of luck, Allergies. Try not to get eaten.]

I mean, no. She's not a kitten. She's a little girl.

[alittlesweptup]

Oh fantastic-- and here this day was sorely lacking in invisible children of varying age and size.

[It's sarcasm, but mild enough. Charlie briefly pinches the bridge of his nose, rubs his eyes.] Just put her down and we'll work on getting you sorted.

[lazyinlove]

It's just me.

[Invisible dude corrects, apparently not having the opinion that he happens to be a child. It's tricky, when they hit that in-between stage. He does set the little girl down, though. She's small, just a toddler, and petite for her age. But solid. A tiny powerhouse with thick, carefully groomed curls. There are scars along one side of her face and head, and one of her ears is deformed. She's dark skinned, dark eyed, and silent. Which probably means she doesn't actually belong to the kid she came with.

As evidenced when he hiccoughs, and for the briefest of moments when all the muscles contract, a flash of teenage boy is visible. He's tall and blond, white as the girl is black. Pale enough to see veins in his arms, and blue-eyed. Even the circles under his eyes are blue. He looks like he'd blow over in a strong gust of wind. Thin and wispy and half asleep. He hasn't bothered to comb his own long, -sort of pretty- hair.]

[alittlesweptup]

[He's been in Exsilium a long time - over a year now - and over the course of that time he's seen a whole range of people getting pulled through the transporter, very few of them really capable of what the Initiative has planned for them. Most of these people aren't resistance fighters; some of them don't know which is the right end of a gun. Some of them are kids.

But this is the youngest person he's seen among Transports and the utter silence of the girl, underpinned by the scars on her face make Charlie go abruptly quiet and sharp, the compressed lines of his face going blank.]

Who's she belong to? [The urge to take the girl's hand is itching at the back of his neck, but Charlie crosses his arms tightly across his chest instead.]

[lazyinlove]

Nobody. She's a free spirit.

[Though, even as he says so, the little girl wraps her arms around his leg, approximately where his knee must be. She stares up at Charlie with her big, dark eyes, and a definite mistrust. Adults, she doesn't like adults. They're always doing rotten things to you.]

Mostly she chooses to haunt me. So...so I'm hers. Her person. Unless her m-o-m comes back someday.

[An invisible hand comes down to rest on the girl's curls, and she goes invisible again herself for a moment. A breath of quiet cursing from the boy brings her visibility back, however, and even causes him to flash in and then out again.]

She's not gonna be any trouble, okay? She's good. A really good girl.

[alittlesweptup]

Hold on. [He shoots a look toward the-- the empty space where the kid's standing.] Are you saying she's a native from downstairs? [Because there's something about that idea that makes his blood run cold and sets his nerves on edge.

It's like looking at a ghost.]

[lazyinlove]

That wouldn't be allowed, dude.

[Shut the fuck up, dude, is what he means. The little girl disappears again, whether by accident or because he picked her up is hard to tell.]

[alittlesweptup]

[He bristles: sharp and sudden and immediate, lowering his voice to a calculated growl clearly meant to go no farther than between them.] Do I look like a bloody snitch to you?

Look-- [He wrinkles his nose, lip curling as he turns to dig through the stack of supplies. A moment later he turns up with some kind of fruit and nut bar, holding it out to the empty space.] Tell me, don't tell me. I don't really give a sh-- don't really care. You had best keep well within where it's safe if you've got a little girl with you though.

[lazyinlove]

[That gets the girl visible again. She runs forward and snatches the food away like a prize, then runs off to hide -maybe a bit ineffectively- behind the boy again.

His invisibility doesn't seem to bother her at all. She knows exactly where he is, and easily adjusts for the fact he's sitting down now. She climbs into his lap, trying to hand him the treat to unwrap for her. Which, the invisible kid does, though he doesn't let her have the whole thing at once. He breaks off a bite sized piece for her instead, and groans quietly.

Charlie couldn't know, of course, but he has this conversation almost daily. And it's exhausting.]

I'm not neglecting her.

[alittlesweptup]

I didn't say you were. [The response is immediate, defensive even. He knows a thing or two about being too young, being largely considered good for nothing. But he also remembers being a stupid little irresponsible git too.] It's dangerous for everyone right now, especially for a child. You had best be sticking back here in housing, yeah? Have someone to pick up the slack for you if something goes sideways?

[lazyinlove]

What, you volunteering?

[Better to try and diffuse the situation, because this dude seems way too interested in a fight. And Stanley wants nothing to do with one. He just wants to rest for a minute, and feed the baby some granola. Or whatever this thing is.]

Trust me, we're not looking for a fight.

[You know, in either sense of the word. A nap, on the other hand...that would be pretty great. If they could just find a safe place to curl up in for a few hours.]

[alittlesweptup]

[God no. But it's exactly the kind of question to get Charlie off his toes and rocking back onto his proverbial heels. He pauses long enough to remind himself to stop being a complete asshole, though his arms end up crossing tightly back over his chest again in the interim.]

Yeah, alright. What are you looking for then?

[lazyinlove]

She was hungry.

[Though, as soon as he says it, his stomach growls loudly. So he has to correct the statement.]

We were hungry.

Miao [Agrees some other unknown entity, from the sounds of it, tucked away inside a pocket. Does your head hurt yet, Charlie?]

[alittlesweptup]

[Yes. Yes it does. He's not even going to try to make sense of that last one. Invisible teenagers and their smuggled native children are enough for right now.]

When was the last time you had something to drink?

[lazyinlove]

Like, water?

[Because if you mean tequila, it's been two days. Promise. But water, not as long as that. Though he doesn't seem able to come up with a proper answer, either.]

Uh. Not that long ago. I guess.

[alittlesweptup]

[Yes like water. Christ on a bike.

The answer clearly isn't something Charlie finds particularly satisfactory as he promptly sets about digging something up. When he finds one, he sets the water bottle down in front of the girl and-- he must be there as well, given the way she's currently comfortably floating a few inches off the ground.]

Hold on to that then.

[lazyinlove]

Thanks.

[A small black paw appears, batting at the bottle for somewhere unseen. It doesn't bother the little girl, or, apparently, the croaky teenager. Who opens the bottle, ignoring the little claws that scrape along the side, and takes a swig from it.]

[alittlesweptup]

[Okay, paws are where he's drawing the line.]

So, have you got a plan for becoming less-- [Charlie makes a vague hand gesture clearly meant to encompass the whole...invisibility situation.]

[lazyinlove]

Uh...yeah, sort of. I mean. I could control it before. It just...got stuck. I think it's nerves, you know?

Maybe it's like the hiccups. Hey, scare me.

[alittlesweptup]

At any point a space zombie might cause a hull breach and vent all the oxygen out of the base. [Which is deadpan as anything, underpinned by a vague hand gesture of punching through something. Suffocating in space scary enough for you, kid?

Because it's sure as hell near the top of Charlie's list.]

[lazyinlove]

[Nope, that just gets a blank look. Not that Charlie can see it. Apparenty oxygen is not a major concern for Stanley.]

Bummer.

[alittlesweptup]

[Which is alright; he didn't really expect it to do much. God knows no one else really seems worried about it.]

Yeah. Bummer.