(no subject)

[initiates]

Date: June 1st
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings. Now with 200% more People-Seeking lists!
Warnings: None.

You've just been hustled and bustled through mazes of information and literal, wide corridors of the Initiative Hold and you've been equipped with your weapon—be it a gun, a sword, or even your existing powers. They've handed you this light netbook and a small pouch of coins (or a debit card, if you're more inclined), and there are several Transports before and after you going through the very same motions. You can hear the Greeter's voice as she walks alongside large groups, telling them all about the history of this place and sharing with you your purpose here in a hurried and urgent tone. "You're in luck that we have enough rooms for all of you; the housing building is getting awfully full. Please, let me show you into the courtyard."

You pass what looks like huge gymnasiums, all with dummies and targets strewn and splayed around the room. Training areas. There are even classrooms, and a few small offices. You're rushed past a large library while the Greeter informs you that you can find almost all your information there, if you've got the time to look—and trust her, you'll have time. You don't spend a lot of time in the bank, and it's a bit of a blur of exchanges with more and more of these strangely-accented and oddly polite-seeming members of the Initiative.

Soon enough, you're in a massive courtyard bustling with all the other Transports. It's not exactly what you'd expect, and it looks more like barracks than anything—huge walls of concrete and stone, separating you from all of the hallways you'd just passed through. It's raining heavily, and dark clouds loom in the air, though it hasn't turned to snow. It's a chill cold, and there are shelters—long cloth hangings that extend from the walls of concrete to house you from the rain, but not enough. Most notably, the courtyard is filled with a marketplace. Even in the cold and the rain, there are several citizens seated at their covered booths and tables, bundled up against the weather. They're selling all manner of their own handmade goods and foods, and citizens and Transports alike are traveling from one small covered shop to another in search of all manner of necessities. Now and then around you you might spot paper fluttering in the faint wind from somewhere relatively dry. It looks like a list.

The Greeter's voice has become so faint now, but you swear you can make it out in the back of the crowds as she tells you, "Good luck. Be safe!"

Her voice is drowned out by the busy marketplace, though even the transactions taking place are somewhat subdued. Nobody is overly happy, really, though most citizens can be found with smiles on their faces. It doesn't seem like they're that shocked to see you, either; even if you're not bound in tattered rags and wrapped in heavy shawls as they are. You're welcome to walk up to a shop, and find yourself something to eat—hey, maybe you'll even find something akin to a raincoat. Or, you can join the others under the coverings against the walls. Where am I? What war? She was talking so fast, and it didn't all make very much sense… did anyone else catch it all?

Welcome to the courtyard. Welcome to the Initiative Hold—and most importantly, welcome to Exsilium.

Comments

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[deadlybanker]

The assassin clutched at his chest as he made his way into the courtyard he had been directed towards. 'Thank you', the guide had said. Thank you for what? He had agreed to nothing. He had been brought here against his will and at a very critical time. That man, Borgia, he knew his name. With that information he could find the others, his lovely wife Maria, their children. Maybe that man was not evil enough to target his family... Federico, Ezio, Claudia, and Petruccio might still be safe, but he would not be there to make certain of it!

The doubts of a worried father filled his mind as he paused a moment to lean against the wall of one of the run down looking buildings, avoiding as much of the rain as possible. It had not been readily apparent before, but now the blood from his injury was beginning to seep from the wound and color his white assassin's robes. Borgia's blade had missed the vital organs but the bleeding would still need to be stopped. Before he could consider anything else he had to survive this. Then he could work on finding his way back to his family and working out what all of this talk about a war was.

He pushed away from the wall and continued on to the center of the market. There might be a doctor here among the crowd. But as he searched the faces none of them wore the trademarked mask of a Renaissance plague doctor. So much for that plan. He would have to try the direct approach, Giovanni walked up to the nearest person he saw and asked.

"Mi scusi, could you direct me to the establishment of a Doctor?"

cries into the sun

[mentore]

Another new group, again. Ezio, as the days passed, grew less faithful in the situation of United Earth. There was little faith, as it were, but so many recruits and soldiers to their cause? This is full-scale war to him, or the makings of it.

The question was not directed to him, as Ezio had been a little ways away, but the accent was unmistakable. Italian, like his.

The voice was unmistakable too, an old tone from far off in his memory and his past, but really? Could it be? What if it had been another tactic from United Earth or the opposition?

Ezio steeled himself. When he turned to look properly, there he was: a man in white and red, hooded, like himself, like the clothing he wore once, many, many years ago.

"Father?" he asked, tentatively, as if maybe, just maybe it couldn't be true, that it was a mistake or a hallucination.

Aww Ezio!

[deadlybanker]

At the question Giovanni looked back over his shoulder. It was not so unusual for some one to call him father, he had several children after all... but, all he saw was this man staring at him so expectantly. A complete stranger.

"I am sorry. You must have me..."

But, there was something about the eyes. Giovanni felt a kind of strange familiarity like maybe this should be some one he knew?

"Who are you?"

[mentore]

Ezio stands transfixed, eyes slightly widened in shock.

There's no mistake.

This is Giovanni Auditore.

This is his father.

Maybe, in retrospect, it wasn't so smart to call out after him with "father" instead of his name. Time had a way of making things complicated in this place. But he's past that, and with all those of the Brotherhood arriving, there remained little time or space for tests.

"Ezio Auditore."

[deadlybanker]

...

That was not funny. Ezio was his son, some one he loved very deeply, to have this man claim to be Ezio! It was difficult to put that feeling into words but his disbelief clearly showed in the frown that appeared on his face.

"Ezio is a young boy, not a man. You heard his name from those who brought me here."

[mentore]

He shouldn't have expected otherwise, but there is an equal amount of disbelief in Ezio's expression as well. The dead did not stay dead long in this place, but he hadn't bargained for the dead of another time to be alive here.

Ezio's eyes drift to the wound. "We must find someone to heal your wound, messere." Before he began with the questions of where and when he was last, before he began with asking what he remembered before arriving.

And to give him a little time for this to actually sink in.

[ninjamanager]

Charles looked up from perusing his tablet, and gave the man a quick look over. It was hard to miss the bloodstain, or its location. A wound in a place like that? Not good. He spoke back in passable, if accented Italian.

"I can find you one. Just a moment."

And with that, he turned back to his tablet, pulling up a map of the city. It hadn't taken him long at all to get his bearings with the device, after all.

[deadlybanker]

"Grazie."

[Thank you.]
One could really use these devices for information like that? Sure the guide had mentioned something about that but it had sounded so implausible and there had been so much other information she had been trying to tell him.
Giovanni leaned a bit closer to get a better angle on just what the other man was doing to make that small paperweight give him the information he was searching for.

"That thing can really tell you where the physicians are?"

[ninjamanager]

Charles turned so that the other man could see the tablet as he worked. "I'm hoping so. There's a map, at any rate. If this place is even worth half its salt, it'll have emergency facilities marked --"

He pinch-zoomed a few sections of the map, dragging it around until he found what he was looking for - a little "H" icon.

"-- like that. Now it's just a matter of seeing how far it is from where we are."

[deadlybanker]

Even if he was beginning to feel a bit lightheaded, Giovanni still marveled over this kind of advancement. How much easier things would be if you could just look them up on a map like this. It was so much easier than looking for street vendors.

"Impressive." He took his free hand to point at some numbers along the screen. "That is the distance?"

[ninjamanager]

"In blocks, it'd seem, yes." He nodded, then put the tablet back in his pocket and offered the other man his arm. "Can you walk?"

[iniquitas]

The drug they'd given him was finally wearing off and Haytham had taken to the rooftops, peering down from his perch on the edge of a building at the crowd milling about in the courtyard. The newer arrivals, such as himself, were fairly easy to spot--the dazed and confused, the aimless, the ones asking questions. He'd bothered to eavesdrop on a few of their conversations, gathering the gist of things such as the tablet (now tucked safely in his waistcoat) that he'd been too enraged--or tranquilized--to remember from the initial briefing in the Hold.

And now... now he had to find a way out, didn't he?

He scanned the crowd, making note of those who looked as if they'd be worth a damn in a fight, when a flash of white caught his eye.

Assassin.

His jaw tightened and he shifted his weight on the edge of the rooftop. He would recognize those robes anywhere--the Assassins were nothing if not predictable in that regard. Haytham waited for an opening in the crowd below and dropped to the ground, moving instantly to blend in with the flow of people.

"Mi scusi, could you direct me to the establishment of a Doctor?"

Ah, he could see it now--the bloom of scarlet against the white of the robes. The Assassin was injured.

Haytham shadowed another man passing near the Assassin, releasing the blade from his left cuff as he drew near. It would be so easy--the man was already wounded, no one here would know if another wound were to be added to the first--

And then he flicked his wrist and the blade retracted. Where there was one Assassin, there were always bound to be more. Like rats. Instead he simply placed a hand on the man's sleeve.

"You look as if you could use some help, friend."

[deadlybanker]

Really it was dangerous to touch even a wounded assassin without his knowing you were around, but while Giovanni reached for the hilt of his short sword the words the man spoke stayed his hand. This gentleman was unlike the others. He was more polished, wore a... very odd looking hat, and the accent instantly marked him as some one who was not a native to this land. No one else spoke with an intonation that distinct. It was decided that he must be one of the people who had been brought here.

There had been several others, who like himself, suddenly found themselves pulled into this prison-like world. Unfortunately in his condition he was not paying as much attention to them as he should have been. He would still fight if he had to, but the loss of blood was becoming an issue. Giovanni felt a touch woozy and the people of the crowd were beginning to blend into one another, making it difficult to distinguish each of them from the others. All in the same situation, it was a hope he had that they might be able to rely on each other even if the people in power might not be ones to be trusted.

And so far it seemed he had been fortunate enough to run into helpful, like-minded people. He had no reason to think otherwise.

"I could, grazie, but if you are also new here you may not be familiar enough with the area to direct me to a physician?"

[iniquitas]

"A situation easily remedied."

Whereas the Assassin had attempted to garner knowledge through politeness, Haytham took the more direct approach. Unceremoniously, he reached out to grab the arm of the nearest passerby and demanded of the man the location of--what had they called it?--the Transport clinic. After a moment of indignant sputtering the man (possibly a native, though Haytham had little to base the assumption on) pointed them in a direction and gave a few terse instructions.

"And now we have our heading," said Haytham, returning to the Assassin's side. He was about to suggest they begin the walk, but a look at the Assassin's face suggested that it wouldn't be long before the loss of blood hampered even that task.

"A bit presumptive of me--"

Haytham reached for the man's arm and slid it over his own shoulders, helping to prop the other up.

"But you'll get over it, I imagine. Now then, shall we?"




((ooc: if this is not ok please let me know and I'll revise it!))

[deadlybanker]

Had his mouth dropped open from the surprise of witnessing this man's briskness with that fellow? He was certain it had but supported by the man's shoulder as he was there was little room for him to register a complaint. Why speak to some one in such a way? Clearly this was a man used to getting what he demanded. That impatience was a touch worrying but again, in this moment there was little other choice but to go along with this and accept his help. Giovanni knew he did need to make his way to the clinic and, however rudely done, they had discovered the way there.

Haytham might have been able to make an observation of his own when he grabbed Giovanni's arm and slid it over his shoulder. The assassin wore a bracer on his wrist. That in itself was no great surprise since assassins often did, but while there was a metallic housing for a hidden blade the weapon itself was gone. Giovanni's hidden blade was broken.

"You are a man used to giving orders, Messer?"

While he was being half-carried to the clinic he saw little reason not to engage in some small talk. Maybe he could discover more about his new companion.


[OOC: No need for revisions, it's completely fine! ^_^]

[iniquitas]

He had not failed to notice the absent blade. An Assassin without his claws. Interesting. His own blade was hidden safely beneath the sleeve of his coat and the lace of his cuff, and the Templar ring he so rarely wore openly was tucked into one of the inner pockets of his clothing. There should be nothing to give him away.

Not that he expected the man to suddenly put up a fight in his current condition, of course. At this point Haytham might be able to take the man with one arm tied behind his back. He cast a sideways glance at the blood on the man's robes.

Scratch the might.

"...something like that. Haytham Kenway, at your service."

Please don't kill her for the flashy magic Giovanni what is asking first

[nevertells]

Raine had been wandering around fascinated by the architecture of the city. It may have been a far cry from a prized jewel, but she couldn't take her eyes off it all. The various materials used for construction, the different techniques evident between older and newer buildings...! She was about to have a full-blown maniacal fit when her observations were interrupted.

"A doctor? I couldn't say-" Turning Raine was more than prepared to brush off this interloper between her and this amazing scenery. The color red caught her attention first though before anything else. Blood. The reason he must be looking for a doctor, clearly. "I see. Don't move."

A ring of white appeared beneath Raine as she raised her staff. "First aid!" It was a low level spell, something quick and simple to cast. But as a shower of green light fell over Giovanni it would be enough to stop the blood and while not close the wound itself, at least begin the healing process. Maybe even ease the pain a little if it wasn't too grievous. "How do you feel?"

But, it's magic! He's never seen anything like it!

[deadlybanker]

Don't move? What did the signora have in mind?

Giovanni stood still as the lady had requested... at least until there was the flash of light and color, then reflexively he did stumbled a step backward. Fortunately the unconscious action did not move him far enough away to avoid the healing magic. The bleeding did stop and the pain eased.

But, for a moment after the spell had taken affect he found himself at a loss for words. His hand moved from the wound as Giovanni gaped in amazement at the injury that suddenly seemed less serious than it had been. It did not begin bleeding again even when the pressure was removed? What kind of marvel was this?

After a moment's stunned shock he found his voice again.

"Grazie, signora. I do not know what you did but it does seem to have helped."

[nevertells]

Grazie. Signora. Words from a language she didn't know. Now her scholarly curiosity was truly piqued.

"It was a low grade healing spell. Being examined by a doctor would still be in your best interest." Unless he wanted her to doctor him. She wasn't the most personable healer, but she did live by a code to help those in need. Ones who hadn't crossed her at least. "...I'm Raine Sage. What language were you speaking just now?"

[deadlybanker]

"A spell?"

Yes he heard but... um... He still touched the wound again just to double check the results of that 'spell'. It was amazing. Though seeing a doctor after that seemed a bit unnecessary.

"I have never seen anything like that."

When the surprise began to fade he could answer her questions.

"Giovanni Auditore. I was speaking Italian. Is it a language you are not familiar with?"

[lazyinlove]

Oh, Jesus.

[A skinny teenager with something stowed under his shirt has been standing nearby, completely drenched rather than just a bit damp. The voice makes him turn of course, and now that he has he seems to regret it. By the way his mildly traumatized expression goes blank and his skin blanches, he probably doesn't see many serious injuries during his day to day life.]

[deadlybanker]

[His Father's instincts kicking in, Giovanni instantly felt sorry for having approached the young man. It was obvious from his reaction that he had never seen any kind of injury so severe. ]

It will be fine if you do not, I will just keep looking.

[And so he did, moving past the young man to find one of the natives who might know more about the layout of this city. ]

[lazyinlove]

What? ...No, hold up!

[Stanley shakes his head, trying to clear it, and darts after the man. For someone who spends the better part of his days dozing off in class, he's quick when he needs to be. Maybe even quicker than usual. And there's nothing usual about a stranger bleeding in the streets asking for help and then dismissing him, admittedly probably because he looks a bit like he wants to throw up on both of their shoes at the moment.

But that can wait until someone qualified is bandaging this dude up.]

Hey, what's the UK number for 9-1-1? Is it all 9's?

[deadlybanker]

[Before the boy looked like he might have become ill, still did in fact, but now he was rambling nonsensical things... The sight of his injury must have driven the young man towards some kind of temporary insanity.]

What do numbers have to do with this?

[Giovanni was from a time long before telephones, so the question completely confused him.]

Perhaps you should sit down... Just until you come to your senses again.

[lazyinlove]

Uh...uuuuh. No. I'm good. We should...

[Do what, exactly? If only he'd paid more attention in PE when they took first aid segments. Apply pressure to it maybe? That makes sense. But can they do that and look for a medical center at the same time?

OH. A map! There has to be a map on the stupid tablet. Stanley whips his out and scans through it intently. Yes! There it is. Directions.]

Right, up at the street corner, then two buildings over. There's a hospital.