Welcome to the Ground

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They were on the ground. It hardly seemed real. It should have been a dream come true, the entering of the Promised Land. But the falling station seemed to have shot right past heaven and landed in hell. Rey had never see violence like that. None of them had. It had all happened so fast. They had retreated back into the station, but not before taking major losses. Rey had a feeling no one would be getting much sleep tonight.

Ironically, it wasn’t the carnage that was hitting her hardest right now. It would eventually. Once her emotions finally flipped back on. But she had kept it together until they started lighting fires. Of course there had to be fires. It was below freezing outside and the station’s heating system had been damaged in the landing. So they had salvaged some of the wreckage and built fires in some of the larger areas for everyone to huddle around. It made sense. But the minute the flames started appearing, Rey’s mind had gone into overdrive. She had pulled back into the end of a hallway where she could get some distance while still maintaining the appearance of keeping an eye on things. It was cold though. Her arms were crossed tightly and she was starting to pace a little bit in an effort to keep warm. Anything to avoid going towards the fires. Just looking at the flickering lights left the screams of ghosts ringing in her ears.

The sound of footsteps made her look up. It was one of her fellow guards. Rey was vaguely familiar with Juliet, but she didn’t know her as well as the ones her own age. Although with the way things were going, she had a feeling the guards who had come down with farm station were about to become a pretty tight unit. “Hey.” She was proud that her voice sound perfectly normal. No indication at all that she was on the edge of terrified. “Hell of a first day, huh?”

Juliet Ross

[Juliet Ross]

THEY THINK YOU ARE MADE OF STONE
THAT JUST MEANS YOU AREN'T AFRAID OF MAKING THE TOUGH CHOICES
TAGGED @rey	Juliet wasn’t crying... Her expression was stone; stoic and gave away no emotion. She felt it, but it was the kind of useless emotion that slowed her down. She’d just helped strengthen the room where they were keeping the remaining children and the wounded—and there were so many. They found hard when the grounders attacked. Jules had her arm sliced open and her face hit with the end of a sword. She’d been cleaned up when she was with the severely wounded but she didn’t stay. The crying children and the despair in the room was too much, so instead she started looking for places where she could help. Sleep would not come... She could smell danger on the horizon and it was terrifying.... When she approached Rey, her teeth pressed together and her jaw tensed. Hell of a first day. She sat down close to the fire, grateful for the warmth and for a long moment she didn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say... When it came to these kinds of interactions, she could never understand sarcasm, irony, playfulness... Rey sounded... fine. Empathy was a learned ability and she’d been comforting others all evening... but Rey sounded fine. “Are you pretending to be okay, or are you really not fazed by this?” she asked after a painfully long moment of silence. “I need to know; because I don’t want to upset you...” She looked over at Rey for a moment before looking at her hands. This was a fragile situation. Bluntness could truly offend those who had lost.... anyone. Juliet hadn’t lost anyone... she didn’t have anyone. Again, she looked up at Rey expectantly as she adjusted the bandage around her arm. “They’re going to attack again. There... were so many of them.”

pyxis ★

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Juliet looked a little worse for the wear, which made sense after the day they’d had. Rey still had flecks of blood on her guard uniform. And maybe a few on her face, although she hadn’t really bothered to check. She’d gotten off pretty easy. Just a split lip and a bruised forehead and an arm that wasn’t happy about being crashed into by a giant man with a shield. Swords and shields. It was crazy to think about. Guns would have been more than a match from a distance, but the warriors had swarmed in so quickly… Fighting them off in close quarters had taken some serious work. But was she okay? Rey had to mull that one over for a minute. “I’m not okay,” she finally admitted with a touch of weariness. Although that was as much from the heat of the fire as it was the bloodshed she had witnessed. “But I’m not about to go to pieces either. I sort of turned it all off, I guess.” She risked a brief glance over her shoulder at people huddled around the other fires, many wounded or crying before averting her eyes. Instead, she looked down at Juliet on the floor. “What about you? How are you holding up?”

Rey shifted her weight so she could lean her good shoulder against the wall. Standing sideways let her block some of the firelight with her other shoulder, although it was a little awkward talking to someone at a sideways angle. But facing the fire head-on wouldn’t end well. Even just being close enough to feel the warmth was making Rey tense. Given the situation, even the thought of preparing for another attack made for a welcome distraction. Her grandfather, God rest his soul, would have told her to keep a cool head. Break the problem into parts and focus on what could be solved. “Good thing is their weapons are pretty rudimentary. Chances of them getting inside here are slim to none.” She looked up at the ceiling, her eyes following a pipe running above their heads. “I explored this whole station as a kid. I’ve get a few ideas that could help fortify it. The problem’s going to be when we have to leave. We’re short on food. Bullets. God only knows where the other stations are.” If they had even made it down. Rey reached up to rub wearily at her forehead. At this point, the choices were starve to death inside the station or face the warriors outside. Neither was a good option.

Juliet Ross

[Juliet Ross]

THEY THINK YOU ARE MADE OF STONE
THAT JUST MEANS YOU AREN'T AFRAID OF MAKING THE TOUGH CHOICES
TAGGED @rey	Turning it off was a skill not many people had. It was easy to become overwhelmed with emotions when you felt them... she’d seen it first hand. She never understood it though... She rarely got overwhelmed and right now she felt more for the wounded and children than she did fear of the grounders. More than anything though she was hungry... and that was all she could focus on. When she was asked, she didn’t hesitate. “I... really need something to eat,” she said after a moment as she looked at the flames. “My arm hurts,” she added, knowing it wasn’t the same as emotional devastation. The physical pains were more prevalent than the fear that she knew she should have felt. She looked around and hoped that Rey didn’t really have as much faith in the barricades as it sounded like she did. Maybe she was trying to help ease anxiety, but Jules knew that there had to be hundreds of them. “I don’t think the other stations made it,” she said after a long moment of thought. “Our landing was rough and we’re nowhere near the delinquents... There is so much water around us... the stations likely hit the ground too hard or landed in the lakes. Or worse, the ocean... The math was off. I don’t even see Mount Weather,” her grim outlook wasn’t spoken with harshness it was just.... fact. “We have no idea how many of those grounders are around here... I feel like... if we don’t leave they’re going to surround us.”

pyxis ★

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Food. Rey hadn’t even realized she was hungry until Juliet brought it up. “We could probably find something to eat.” This was farm station, after all. But that required movement, and quite frankly, Rey wasn’t sure she had that in her right now. Medical care was another issue. How many of the medical staff had come down on this station? There was at least one nurse that Rey recognized, but hopefully she wasn’t the only one. Or this just might be an incredibly short stay. Then again, if the distant sounds of crying were any indication, emotional pain might hit just as hard. Rey looked down at the floor for a second before asking, “You lose anyone today?” Given the situation, it was crucial that everyone keep a level head. Loss could screw with that better than anything.

When Juliet put it like that, things definitely sounded hopeless. Rey let herself slide down the wall so she was sitting near Juliet, although still at an angle looking away from the fire. “Probably. But where are we going to go?” They had no idea where they were. And without that knowledge, even if the other stations had made it, they had no idea which direction to go in. And no way of contacting them. They could end up walking in the completely opposite direction. And with these temperatures, lack of shelter could kill just as easily as the enemy warriors.

The fuel they had used for the fire chose that moment to emit a popping noise and a small shower of sparks. The sound made Rey jump. “Son of a…” She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, pinching the bridge of her nose to create an anchor, but the low crackling sound was still there. Deep breath. In and out. Now she probably looked like some kind of freak jumping at shadows. “I hate fire.” The brief explanation was forced out between clenched teeth. Hate wasn’t really the word. Fire was the demon that had haunted her nightmares for years. Still did. It was the one thing that could reduce Rey to a pitiful trembling ball. But down here it was too cold to stray any further from one. So for now, at least, she was stuck here with her hands clenched painfully tight and her gaze locked rigidly in the other direction. It was going to be a long night.

Juliet Ross