(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

Open/Video/Action

[timehalt]

[Miranda is used to the hustle and bustle of headquarters, even more so now that that so much has happened in the months since...well, since everything began to fall apart. Still, it's uncomfortable to be in a new place all on her own; no fellow at her side who can tell her where to go next and no real direction to go in

She clutches her new items to her chest, against the rain and hurries to some cover before she examines them in any great detail. Her fingers are wet and shaking when she fumbles through them, nervous and unsure.

It's only a pouch of coins and a strange flat device, but they feel heavy in her hands, strange and odd in her gloved hands. She startles a bit as the screen flicks on when she touches it. An open screen greets her with a small square showing her own, bedraggled fare, and she peers into it, half curious and half afraid of what it's doing.

Miranda bites her lip and tries not to lose what little calm she has.]

Hello? [She asks, tentative, before feeling foolish and looking around her for any sign of help; a person or street sign, it won't matter what it is.] Can--can someone help me?

[recorden]

[ Fear not, Miranda! Your savior is here. One (1) very tiny savior.

It's by chance that Lavi hears Miranda's plea for help from where he's standing by a stall in his newly acquired (ridiculously yellow) raincoat and he wastes no time cutting through the crowd to get to her. Honestly, the Initiative sure has it out for exorcists it seems.

So quite suddenly, he appears by her side with a loud exclamation to soothe the nerves: ]

Miranda!

[timehalt]

[Miranda is not sure what she's expecting to happen; maybe to wake up from this, or to have some miraculous epiphany about what to do next, but she definitely isn't expecting a loud child's voice to interrupt her rabbit-quick, circling thoughts.

Unfortunately, her automatic response (built over years of dodging unpleasant objects lobbed in her direction) is to jerk away from the source in the quickest way possible as she lets out a a terrified shriek and fumble the items in her hands. The coins in her pouch spill onto the ground, but her fingers catch on the tablet, saving it from the muddy puddle in front of her. With something saved, she lets out a quick sigh of relief.]

[recorden]

[ Oops.

That kind of reaction is to be expected from Miranda, but all the same Lavi cringes a little at the shriek as he watches the coins scatter on the ground. Really, he should have known better than to pull the sudden appearance trick on her, but oh well. ]

Sorry, sorry. [ Here, he'll at least pick up the coins for her as he only has to bend down a little to do so. With those gathered, he holds them up to her as he continues on, casually. ]

Y'know, you should have taken the card. It's a lot more handier than coins.

[timehalt]

[She's not used to children helping her--honestly, some part of her expects him to throw mud in her face and run off with her money, but she's grateful for help all the same. She bends down to help him pick the coins up, hoping her smile isn't too off-putting--and finally gets a look at his face.]

Ah, thank...

--Lavi?

[debtor]

[She looks different. The last time he saw her, back in the Rewinding Town, she'd had yet to put on an Exorcist's uniform. She'd looked so haggard and harried, with sunken cheeks and dark-ringed eyes, so much more pronounced...

But he still recognizes her, even from yards away. And even if her appearance is heartening, for what feels like the nth time today, his stomach sinks, his heart drops. Miranda Lotto. Another Exorcist. The Initiative is stealing them all away.

(And he looks slightly different himself: six months younger (six months shorter) than she last saw him, with chin-length hair and a garish yellow rain slicker, and quite healthy.)

He comes rushing, calling her name.]

Miss Miranda!

[timehalt]

[She'd recognize that voice anywhere. Miranda's head jerks up from her futile efforts with the deciphering her tablet; startled and wide-eyed. Months of searching, of having to fight with herself over the desire to find him and know he's safe and knowing the Order would much rather she find him dead, and he calls to her the moment she arrives here? Is this a dream?

She searches the crowd around her for a familiar face; heart in her throat and blood pounding in her ears. Whether it's with hope or dread, she can't say.]

Allen?

[debtor]

[Her face--

He comes to a stop in front of her, eyebrows knit with concern. She must be terribly shaken up; he can't blame her. Arriving in a place like this, without warning...]

It's me... [He tries to keep his expression light - reassuring, but his smile doesn't reach his eyes.] I'm sorry, you've just arrived, haven't you?

[timehalt]

Allen you're...

[She can only stare at him, disbelieving and trembling a little, because somehow seeing him makes it real and she can't handle that thought yet. That despite everything he's okay, he's well, he looks better than she remembers. It's like she's seeing Tapp's sister for the first time again, and the tears begin to spill before she can think to stop them.]

You're here! You're-you're okayy!

[The last word unfurls into blubbering sobs. She's just so glad, so happy to him whole and well, that she can't help it.]

[outliving]

[ He's passing by when he hears the distant . . . well, plea. It wasn't the actual call for help that makes him toss his glance towards that direction, as much as the familiar voice that speaks it.

When he swears under his breath, and clenches his jaw, it's because this place was infuriating. What was it with the Initiative and its evident obsession with the exorcists?

Was it because its mindset seemed to mirror the Order's? Dumped out into a war and told to fight.

An exhale, as he turns to stride towards her, stiff-backed and tense, frown twisting his mouth. The stare he gives her in his approach is hard and sharp. As it always is.

The uniform he notes, is lined with red. Which puts her at yet another time period. He wonders which one, in particular. ] Oi. So they dragged you here too.

[ Because that's right, that's a proper greeting! ]

[timehalt]

[There's...there's not much Miranda can do when Kanda calls out to her. Her first instinct is to run or hide--Kanda terrified her before he disappeared and now's no different, but-but he's also an exorcist, or was, at least.

She'd only heard of his death from those who were there, and she'd mourned, because there was little else to do, but she thought it was over. She had accepted it, like so many other things she'd had to after she'd joined the Order. But to see him again, in the flesh and scowling as he always did...

Well, it's terrifying in an entirely different way.

So she stands there, frozen and staring at him as if he's come back from the dead because to her, he has.]

[outliving]

What? [ It slips out in half irritation as she stares.

Stares as if she's seen a ghost and he could vaguely recognize that look. Lenalee had the same one on her face when he showed up again, back home. Though he supposed it was different, here. All their timelines, skewed and unfitting, made his head hurt.

But he didn't want to be mourned; didn't even expect it, and seeing that look now only left a bitter taste in his mouth. Because he didn't need to be mourned, anyway. It was stupid. ]

[timehalt]

[She flinches at his tone, startled and on-edge. She's caught between two instincts, fight or flight, and she can't quite decide which to follow. He could be an akuma--but-but she'd know, wouldn't she? And it's Kanda. Would he really be brought back as an akuma? Who'd want to--?]

I'm sorry!

[anklets]

[Miranda has always been delicate, a skittish sort, and Lenalee has already become so downtrodden by the day's work that she has no sharp tones left in her, not even those reserved for dismay.

Her fears now confirmed (they're stealing away everyone), she weaves through the knots of people, of strangers, the tablet where Miranda's face had served as announcement cradled to her chest.]

Miranda!

[timehalt]

[Miranda's used to communications coming from the Order's golems (it only took her a few dozen times to not jump at the sound) but sounds coming from the tablet are still unexpected; she isn't sure where exactly it's coming from. She's frayed enough she's not quite sure she heard anything at all.

Still, she looks around for the source of the voice, and taps on the tablet's surface to see if that will help at all.]

Lenalee?

[anklets]

[ the tablet provides little direction, but Lenalee has quick feet, and she pinches herself through the gaps and spaces to where Miranda is in record time (ha), heart thick in her throat ]

There you are.

[timehalt]

Lenalee!

[She's so relieved and it's clear on her face, brightening her features even in the midst of this downpour.]

It's such a relief to know you're real.

[Because you never know. She might actually be losing her mind.]

[substitutable]

Um, are you-- choo! [Someone behind Miranda sneezes right as she's talking to her camera. apparently trying to talk to her. There's a moment, where Shintaro tries to un-gross-ify himself before he moves around her, pulling a cold mask over his face.]

Uh, sorry. Um, are you okay?

[timehalt]

Oh!

[Miranda startles; surprised that someone responded (despite her plea for help, she still doesn't expect it). She turns to get a look at the source, and tries to smile.]

Oh, um, I, ah. [Her cheeks heat, embarrassed despite herself.] I'm not sure what to do next.

[substitutable]

... For the tablet? Are you trying to talk on the network?

[He perks up a little. He can help this person! He knows technology!]

I can show you.

[fraternize]

[...she seems really, really nervous, skittish little thing who's no sure it seems, and oswald's quick to try and help even if it's just on the tablet, friendly face on the screen.]

...certainly, [he says, low but gentle.] what's wrong, miss—?

[timehalt]

[Oh! There's a face! She squeaks and almost drops the tablet again, scrambling to save it from a watery demise. Once it's saved, she straightens and peers into the screen again; helplessly curious.]

Ah, hello? [A face! There's a face!] Are-are you really there?

[deducta]

[Joan has her own tablet out now that she's found a place to shelter from the rain for the time being. She's trying to get her own bearings, and doing what she can do calm down, but it still remains to be seen as to whether or not she'll be able to follow through on that.

She looks up at the voice and after taking a look around, notices that with no one else moving to help the young woman, she may as well do her best even though she most likely knows as much as her.]

I'm not sure I'll be able to help much, but I'll do what I can. Did you just arrive here too?

[timehalt]

Ah! [Miranda lets out a squeak of surprise, clutching her tablet and pouch of coins to her chest as she wildly looks about for whoever spoke. As much as she asked for it, she's still surprised when it's offered so readily (or even offered at all).]

Oh! Oh, ah, yes. Yes, I did.

[deducta]

I think we all share the same dazed and confused look. [Joan is at first taken a little aback by how jumpy the woman is, but she lets it pass as something to do with the new environment. She gives her another kind smile instead.] What did you need help with?