Are you, are you, coming to the tree?

[etcircenses]

Who| All those on the liberation mission and all those being made to fight against them.
What| The liberation of District 9.
Where| District 9
When| This week.
Warnings/Notes| War, violence, death. Please warn for more in headers.

By now, even the most remote and isolated Districts are well aware of the chaos ravaging Panem. District Nine, golden with wheat and blinding with its expansive blue horizon, is quiet, and yet nothing about it feels safe; the stillness is less like a serene oasis than like tall grass that cannot help but contain lions prowling. An air raid siren was going off an hour ago at the sight of hovercrafts, driving everyone inside. No one is outside working the fields or traveling the dirt roads to the hub of the District, which sits in the center like a spider in its web or the axel of a wheel. Displaced Capitolite and Districter both are hunkered down within the corrugated-metal buildings.

The air is hot, and once outside the hovercrafts one finds that what was previously mistaken for silence is in fact the monotonous hum and whine of insects, too continuous and amorphous to really qualify as actual sound but certainly not the absence of it. The sun glares down from a cloudless sky. The earth was tilled until an hour ago, and many of the fields are only partially plowed. Some still have farm equipment left out. Mills and water towers sit awkwardly at the edge of the fields like sentinels or oversized dominos.

The crops stretch out to the horizon, ranging from waist-height to taller than the average full-grown man, depending on the breed. The sheer variety is astonishing, the quality even moreso; ears of corn are as large as toddlers and the wheat is a flawless golden color, thanks to Capitol technology and genetic modification. There are no pests, as most of the plants have a natural pesticide that is fatal upon ingestion and only removable with sprays available to importers to the Capitol, to prevent theft by the hungry employees.

There are crop circles, many in the Capitol’s logo and a few stamped with the insignias of local Capitol-run businesses. It does not reflect the sentiments of the natives but rather an attempt by those clinging to their echelons to enforce a mindset in vain. The propaganda has largely been repelled from the souls of the people here like bugs to a windshield. Only the rarest bit of graffiti may be spotted saying "All is not lost" and "you are weak" both of which have clear attempts to be scrubbed away.

The war continues, and in the back of everyone's mind is a familiar phrase; may the odds be ever in your favor.

Comments

[didnothing]

Luna shakes her head quickly as soon as she realizes what Firo means. That's one of the reasons she was allowed here instead of staying in the field hospital as usual: metal and plastic doesn't need to breathe. "The smoke won't affect me. You worry about yourself, I'll be fine."

She doesn't sound fine, with the edge of hysteria still present in her voice, and it's quickly evident why. "We should keep going. There's--there's somebody dangerous around, and somebody was killed a while out from here. There are still children deeper inside. We have to find them."

Luna doesn't wait for an answer, instead pushing on ahead as she shields her face with one arm. Focus on the children. She can't fail again. She does glance back after a moment to see how Firo's doing, though, because of course she doesn't want him to get hurt either.

[foundafamily]

He follows, more desperate not to be left behind than he'd like to admit. He tells himself it's just because he's worried about her.

"Dangerous?" This is a war, so he realizes he shouldn't get stuck on one person who went down and the one person who took them down. The smart thing to do would be to listen to her warning and move on, but Firo's never prided himself on his intelligence. And, besides, she doesn't sound quite right...

Still muffled by his sleeve, he asks, "Who bit it?"

[didnothing]

Luna has to turn back around and continue forward before she can answer. It's nothing against Firo; she just feels like she needs to keep moving right now, as if that will bring her farther from what's happened. "It was my creator," she tells him once she feels brave enough. It's harder to hear in the roar of the fire but still clearly distinguishable, as is the undercurrent of heartbreak in her answer. "He's been in the Capitol for much longer than I have. He came after me when he realized I was in danger, and...he was killed."

She doesn't dare look behind her, if nothing else because any sympathy Firo can offer will sting as much as it soothes right now. Everything seems unreal and too real all of a sudden, with the last of the closest thing she has to family dead. And so, she tries to focus back on what's in front of her now. "The person responsible is still out there. We should hurry in case they come this way."

[foundafamily]

"Your creator?" Could it be one of those people who let her think that she was more of a tool than a human? In that case, Firo thinks good fucking riddance. But plainly Luna's not feeling the same way, given how concerned she seems.

He pauses, wrestling down the urge to ask her just why it's such a big deal. Instead, he suggests. "We can try to get the jump on 'em. If you're worried about what they might try to do to the kids." It comes down to what's more dangerous to the kids--this attacker or the fire. ...And how important revenge may be to Luna, which Firo isn't too sure about.

[didnothing]

"No." Luna's answer is quick, but pleading. She most definitely is not the revenge type, and frankly she's been tired of seeing people die since before she even arrived in Panem. "I'm not even sure they're coming this way. It's possible the attack was targeted. Sigma is...he was a target." Her voice breaks a little on the past tense, because she's scared it will be permanent. "He's dead. The children may still be alive."

And she pushes forward again, trying to bury her fears in the moment. She can still do some good if they find anyone, and she can't just let that go. Something good coming out of this mission might make all this a little more bearable.

[foundafamily]

Firo figures he'd rather shake the murderer's hand anyway, probably, but what convinces him most is the sound in her voice. He doesn't want to have a hand in upsetting her if he can help it. And she's right, anyway.

He smiles through the smoke. "At least you've still got your priorities straight."

More seriously, he continues, "I haven't found any bodies yet, but I haven't found anybody yet either. I guess either they're all out or they're farther in."

[didnothing]

"Wait." Firo's suggestion makes Luna stop moving for a moment - she's forgotten for a moment that she does have a way to find the children, or at least figure out their general direction, but she has to concentrate to use the powers that have been given to her. It takes a moment for her to calm the anxiety still plaguing her nerves, but it does work. Once she's in the right state of mind she can feel them, like distant warm spots in her mind (though maybe that isn't such a good analogy given where they are).

"There are still some left inside here," she reports to Firo. "North of us, and a little to the east. I can sense them." She points in the direction they need to go. It's not quite where the next door leads, though, so they'll need some time to navigate through the building.

[foundafamily]

He stops a moment after her, turning to see what she's going to do. His only plan would've been to proceed in a random direction, so he's definitely open to something better.

To catch a clear picture of where she's pointing, he blinks his stinging eyes a few times. He moves in that direction when he has it, staring at her in amazement and a hint of admiration. "How'd you do that?"

It doesn't occur to him to question that she's right, because she's Luna. He hasn't seen her be anything but kind, so of course she wouldn't lie or make up something.

[didnothing]

It's a sensible question to ask. Luna can barely explain it herself, but she tries for Firo's sake. "Do you remember when the city had those troubles with the Peacekeepers, and people started to gain new powers? Well...I was one of them, and this is part of what I can do." How it works for a robot Luna will never know, but she's not going to argue that it's effective. "Even if it's weaker than it used to be, I can still sense where their minds are. We'll have to look around to find the exact path..."

She pushes onward again, glancing back every so often to make sure Firo's close behind, but thoughts of Sigma are still plaguing the back of her mind. The night Luna had gotten her powers was the night she'd gotten as honest a talk with Sigma as they could both manage with her current conditions, and she hadn't quite expected that reminder to gnaw at her barely-covered grief as much as it does.

[foundafamily]

Ah, the Peacekeeper trouble. Firo's smile freezes as he thinks about the particular trouble he got involved in with that... But he relaxes a second later, looking her in the eyes with appreciation. This, at least, makes things easier right now. "That's amazing."

As he follows, he wonders about her silence; it seems like something's on her mind. To most people, the fact that they're trying to rescue kids in a burning building would be enough, but he's not quite sure that's it. He, at least, doesn't get less chatty simply because of things like that. "What's eatin' you?"

Scoffing, he continues, "It's not about what happened to that guy, is it?"

Why should she care? From what he's heard about the things her creator taught her, she should be tap-dancing on his grave.

[didnothing]

The scoff gets her attention, and in her current state of mind it's enough to fray Luna's nerves to their limit. "Of course it is!" she snaps, and regrets it almost immediately. It's not Firo's fault, she knows. It was the killer at fault, and the Capitol at large for doing all this.

Her shoulders are stiffer as she glances behind at Firo again. Although her tone of voice is properly apologetic, she still can't look at him for long and focuses on figuring out which doors ahead might get them closer to the children even as she speaks. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. I know Sigma must not mean much to you. But I...he's all I had left, and he came out here for me." Because that's the other part that hurts - Sigma had ventured into the battlefield because he was worried for Luna's safety, and he'd died for that concern.

[foundafamily]

He laughs (a second later gagging on smoke as a reward for that). There’s something absurd about her saying she’s sorry for yelling when many people he knows would’ve tried to snap his neck. Besides, she has as much a right to her anger as anyone else. “Don’t apologize for that.”

He knows that it was inconsiderate if she really cares for this guy. But he doesn’t regret it. To him, it seems like she cares too much, and if she won’t give her creator contempt, then he’ll pick up the slack.

“You mean he went out to help you?” That… actually makes him pause. The concrete action challenges the picture he’s built in his mind of this man more than any of her judgments about his character.

[didnothing]

Luna turns around for real when she hears Firo gag, to make sure he's all right. He is, but it's only once she's made sure that she takes the time to answer. "Yes." She tries to ignore how her voice cracks. "He was supposed to stay behind. He said he was going to when I left. But he must have gotten worried, or he saw something, and...I was so focused on coming here, I didn't hear him until too late."

They need to keep going, because the smoke isn't disappearing anytime soon and she doesn't want Firo or the kids to suffer any more from it than is already happening - especially not on her account. Going faster might help, but she doesn't want to lose Firo either. Luna offers him her hand instead. "It might be a little faster if I lead you."

[foundafamily]

Firo considers her account of the events. "Not your job to look after him. It sounds like he came after you because he wanted to, and there wasn't much you could do to stop him." At least, that's what Firo'd think given how the man told her he wouldn't come and then came anyway.

He balks at the offered hand, but takes it. He's just wasting time like this, and he can't slow her down if it means the kids' lives. "Um, okay. I-if you don't mind."

He'll hold on and hustle along as quickly as he can.

[didnothing]

She knows Firo might be right about Sigma's intentions, but that doesn't make what happened easier to accept. Luna's been afraid for Sigma since learning of his close call with the law and hearing the Initiate's worries before that. It's not guaranteed that he'll come back, and if he doesn't she already feels like she's failed. But she can't tell Firo any of that, both because it will put others in danger and because she has to focus on the things she can change. Like finding those kids.

So she doesn't say any more about it, and with a quick "of course not" she leads Firo forward with as quick a pace as she thinks he can manage (or she, herself; Luna was never built for endurance). If it means she's giving less attention to the environmental hazards inherent to a burning building - well, it's a stressful time and they're running on a time limit.

[foundafamily]

Firo's not heartened by the lack of response, and he wonders how much of a jerk he'd be for pressing the issue. Should he just leave well enough alone? It simply doesn't feel right if she's that upset about it.

All the same, maybe it can wait until they find the kids, he decides grudgingly.

"Can you tell if we're getting any clos--"

A beam overhead finally gives out and makes its cacaphonic descent to the ground, landing about a meter away from them if they don't move.

Startled, Firo jumps to the side and tries to tug Luna with him.

[didnothing]

Unfortunately Luna's already trying to go forward while trying to get a feel for where the children are, and that doesn't leave as much room for environmental awareness as she needs. Firo's tug unbalances her, and she starts to fall in the direction of his pull but her arm flails around for balance in an automatic attempt to right herself again.

That reaction is enough of a mistake: Luna does almost manage to fix her balance, but as she does the beam glances off a spot just under her shoulder, heat from the fire searing artificial skin and melting the metal underneath. Luna cries out as she loses her balance and starts tipping towards Firo again, although she has the presence of mind to keep her injured arm away from him. The fire hasn't transferred to her arm, but the heat remains and Luna's arm is something of a mess now.

[foundafamily]

It happens far too fast for him to do anything but watch the chain of events, cursing himself as he does. "Fuck!"

Metal or bone, it seems analogous enough to him, and he winces just seeing it out in the open like that. Damn it. This can't be good, not good at all.

When he sees her falling, he reaches out with both arms to catch her if she needs it or to steady her if she manages to keep herself upright.

"Are you--?" He grits his teeth, feeling an awful lot like punching himself in the face right now. "Of course you're not okay, huh?"

He'd apologize, but what good is that? It's not going to heal her arm.

[didnothing]

Luna manages to steady herself with Firo's help this time, but when she tries to straighten herself she realizes that something is off. Her arm hangs limply at her side instead of moving around as she expects, and it's sparking and smoking around the impact area - she quickly steps away from Firo to avoid any potential injury from the sparks. When she gets a closer look, she sees that some of the wires in her arm have been crushed and burnt as well. Not pleasant to look at, and even worse the utter lack of movement is a bad sign.

"I can't use my arm." She sounds dazed as she reports it, the whole experience suddenly seeming surreal. Sigma dead. Arm wrecked. Fires burning, children in danger. Is she of any use, with one arm out of order? She'll have to try for the children's sake, she decides. "I can still walk. I may not be able to carry anyone, but I can still lead you."

[foundafamily]

Not realizing what she's avoiding, he steps right back up. He wants to inspect her arm--though he'd hardly know what's going on there--as well as her face for any signs of pain. For a moment he nearly forgets the kids in favor of what's in front of him; only the fact that she reminds him that she was leading somewhere keeps him from suggesting they immediately get her help.

"Does it hurt? Do we need to wrap it up, so it doesn't..?" Well, he's not sure what her arm would do. Probably not bleed, but maybe it would or there's something similar. Either way, he wants to do something for his hurting friend.

[didnothing]

Luna shakes her head. "Not yet. Just wait a moment." It's an ugly sight, wires exposed and the white liquid underneath her artificial tissue smudged around the edges like blood, and later on the liquid's flow will need to be stopped. But it's still not the worst that could happen. "We don't have much to wrap it in, and even if we did it won't be safe until we're sure the sparking has stopped. Wrapping it in anything might just cause another fire." And of course, more fire is one of the last things they need right now.

The sparks are dying down, luckily for Firo. Luna hasn't been built for sturdiness, but her lower-level processes are still capable of recognizing the fact that the arm isn't really responding anymore and react accordingly. She moves to angle her arm away from him again anyway, just to be safe, and tries not to grimace. The pain she feels is different in a way she can't quite describe from what she felt in the less mechanical body the Capitol had made for her, but either way it feels unpleasant.

[foundafamily]

Definitely don't need more fire. He nods hesitantly, "We'll find something and bandage it when you're ready." He's already feeling around the seam of his own sleeve to see if he can tear off enough to bandage her up. He stops when he's confident it'll work, though he leaves it untorn for now.

Not one to be dissuaded, he tries to reach for her uninjured shoulder. He wants to meet her eyes so that she can't evade him. "If you're not gonna be okay to go on, you need to tell me. How much does it hurt?" He can't tell if she really gave him a clear answer for that--at least not verbally. Her face says part of it.

[didnothing]

"It..." Luna's at a loss for words for a moment, and she leans backward away from Firo's hand. She's never been physically injured in this form so it's hard to dissect how strong her pain is, and in her current state Firo's crowding is just more distracting. "It hurts," she says finally. "Um...it's noticeable, but not as bad as before. My systems are...adjusting."

Technically speaking the alarm signals related to her lack of a working arm are decreasing in frequency and urgency as the rest of Luna's processes catch up with her predicament, although there are a few at the very lowest levels of operation that won't ever stop until she's fixed. Luna's never experienced anything remotely like this in the Rhizome, but she thinks back to the times she's died and her lowest times at home and nods. "Yes. It still hurts, but that's unavoidable. And it's becoming duller. Just give me a minute, all right?"

[foundafamily]

He lets his hand drop and nods. “Okay. Just tell me what I can do for you.”

He hates not being able to figure stuff like this out by himself, but her continued retreats from his advance make him wonder if he’s just making things worse. Stuck for anything to say or do, he offers, hesitantly, “I’m sorry, by the way. You don’t need to forgive me or anything, but I thought I should say so.”

Just in case she wasn’t entirely clear on the fact that he didn’t get her in that situation on purpose.

[didnothing]

"What?" Luna hadn't considered it Firo's fault at all, so the apology comes as a surprise. "No, don't apologize. You had nothing to do with it. I was just...slow, and I wasn't paying attention." Which is true enough. Thinking back, Luna had barely been paying any mind to their surroundings at the time. Clearly that had cost her.

She waits for a moment as the sparking around her arm stops and the pain dulls down to something less distracting, even if it hasn't vanished. Less distracting will have to do with time ticking down and the fire still around them. She nods to Firo when she's ready and turns so that her dead arm is angled toward him. "I think I'm ready. Could you bandage my arm, please?"