exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You probably could, but I'm not sure how long they'd last. [Granted, it didn't look like this girl was in any condition to eat to begin with.]

[She swallows hard every time she looks over there, face a little more pale and expression just a bit more alarmed and miserable. It's almost a question of why she would put herself through such torture... But the determination...]

This can't last long, can it? A few hours?

Why did I never pay attention before...

Around that probably. [Now she's frowning. Gurl you look sick.] Before that though, why don't you get some rest? You don't look so good.

Maybe...

I can help show you to the apartments then. That's where everyone's assigned to live.

Ah... I guess something like that is necessary if this takes a while...

Yeah, there's really no telling how long you'll be here. Providing a place to live is the least they can do, really.

Right! A base of operations, anyway.

We'll get all this sorted out and then on our way.

Exactly! Even in a situation like this, or maybe especially, everyone needs somewhere they can rest for a bit, right?

[She pauses, barely daring to hope... Picturing curtains and flowers, plush carpet and polished hardwood...] Are they nice?

They're not so bad. [Definitely not what Rosette is picturing though...] Not the most luxurious things around, but they work well enough for apartments.

It would have been too good to be true.

Ah...

Sorry, I'm Rosette. [Belatedly, and almost a little sheepishly, she holds out a hand in greeting.]

[She shakes her hand firmly.] It's alright! I'm Shirley, and it's nice to meet you, Rosette.

Shirley! It's good to meet you too. And thanks for the help.

Er, you don't happen to know what general direction the apartments are in?

[The greeter might have, in fact, explained that. But the headache made paying attention really hard.]

No problem. And yeah, don't worry, I know how to get there from here.