(no subject)

[initiates]

Date: July 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

Re: chrono | courtyard | otaaaa come at me bro

[acemedium]

That's right! There has to be! [..Pipes up a scrawny and weirdly dressed teenage girl from close by, clenching her first in a dramatic fashion!!!]

[Then she blinks]

... wait, what are you talking about? And why are you dressed like that? Did you get kicked off a boat or something?

Re: chrono | courtyard | otaaaa come at me bro

[overclocking]

[Turns-- stop. Blinks.

This conversation hasn't even begun yet and he's lost control of it.]

Of course I didn't get kicked off a boat! Do I look like a sailor to y--

[overclocking]

[. . .]

Actually, please don't answer that.

[acemedium]

[Opens mouth...!]

[... Closes it]

Well, okay. But you're the one dressed like that.

[overclocking]

I'm not normally dressed like this-!

[NORMALLY IT'S WORSE.]

This was an accident.

[acemedium]

If you say so. [Shrugs! If he's got some kind of sailor cosplay fetish then that's his deal]

So what are you looking for, anyway?

[overclocking]

[Scream no]

... Clothing.

Anything, really.

[acemedium]

[Maya pauses in Great Thought.]

[...Then she takes off her raincoat and holds it up (who is going to get soaked this genius is going to get soaked)]

Like this?

[overclocking]

Yes, but-- [BUT NO]

Put that back on, you're going to get soaking wet!

[acemedium]

[It's light purple, Chrono, can your ego take it]

You need it more than I do! Especially if you don't know how to swim and dressed like a sailor.

[What is her logic here? Who knows.]

[overclocking]

[What ego.]

No, I couldn't possibly-- It's alright, I intend to buy something! I just need to find it first, and...

You're getting wet, you'll catch a cold!

[acemedium]

[Exactly]

[Chrono why are you fussing you are like 12]

So you can wear this until we find it! Do you want to drown or not?

[overclocking]

I'm not going to drown--

[Actually you know what HOW ABOUT THIS

He takes the coat and then bundles them both under it.]

There, honestly...

[acemedium]

[Luckily they're both tiny enough to fit. There's actually a very brief flash of embarrassment - but hey, he's just a kid, so it's not a big deal.]

Alright, matey, let's go! [Where are they going? ...She has no idea]

[overclocking]

[His usual fluster and bluster is currently being steamrolled by the need to keep this very strange person dry and not ill. It's like no one has any common sense in the future . . .

Which is why he focuses his energy on keeping them bundled under the coat, and beginning this very strange two-person raincoat waddle.]

Pick a direction for me, since I don't seem to be having much luck.

[acemedium]

[Chrono: Unwilling caretaker to weirdo teenage girls.]

[In any case, Maya seems to roll along with this without much issue, trying to waddle in pace with him. He wanted clothes, right? Oh, and he'd want food too, right? He had to eat]

Leave it to me! I won't let you down... [And a slightly too dramatic pause:] ...Your name!

[overclocking]

[But can they successfully waddle their way through this crowd without knocking anyone over or falling into any mud puddles? Stay tuned.

Some of his huff melts and he can't help smiling a bit at her antics, though. Her Maya-ness is infectious.]

Chrono.

Your turn?

[acemedium]

[No guarantees Maya won't want to jump in a puddle, but hopefully they'd avoid the mud ones. Hopefully.]

[She is waddling pretty intensely, though. Despite looks they must have been getting, Maya was on a Mission. ... Apparently]

Chrono? [Well, that was kind of a weird name. Like a video game character or something. At least his hair isn't that ridiculous.]

I'm Maya! I'm an expert at this kind of thing, you know. [Is she referring to waddling with a complete stranger under a raincoat? Possibly]

[overclocking]

[NO MUD PUDDLES. No one's getting tench foot on his watch.

He quirks an eyebrow, and it's hard to say whether he's being facetious or is genuinely impressed. With this girl it seems entirely possible she is an expert at two-person raincoat waddling....]

You do this often, then?

[acemedium]

[Chrono, valiant defender of sandaled girl feet. Maya doesn't seem concerned]

You mean rescue lost newcomers from rain and stuff? [Clearly, that's what she's doing, and clearly that's what she's referring to] All the time! So you're in good hands.

[overclocking]

[A rescuer of the rain-soaked, who sacrifices her own, tenuous dry-ness for their health and happiness? Truly a savior unto us all.]

Thank goodness you found me in time. [He guesses...] You're going to need more coats and umbrellas to really reach the next level, though.

[acemedium]

[Indeed, this is the HERO OF EXSILIUM, the girl they call Maya. She'll stand in rain so you don't have to. How noble.]

I know, right? Imagine what could have happened if I wasn't here to save you?

[Then she considers this point carefully, and:] You're right! That should be our next stop, after clothing and food!

[overclocking]

I almost certainly would have melted. [Witches, demons... same difference as far as most people are concerned.]

Though speaking of clothing and food... [He pauses to jerk them out of the way of oncoming foot traffic, dodging around a puddle in the process.] Do you know where those are?

[acemedium]

Exactly. [There might have been a light pat on the shoulder if they hadn't had to veer off-course, Maya nearly loses her footing with an ungraceful-]

A-Ack!!

[Before flailing slightly as she gets back into step with him] Y-Yeah, of course...!

[overclocking]

[There is definitely a hand curling in her sleeve as she flails, keeping her upright. If one half of the waddle train falls, the whole train is going off the tracks.]

That's good, because I don't. [He slows down some, falling into step a half-step behind her.] You can lead.

[There's a fleeting thought, there and gone, that this might be a mistake. He lets it flit away without actually dwelling on it, because that's scary to consider.]