(no subject)

[initiates]

Date: August 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

because blonde

[clario]

Try this one. [ sweet pea holds out a black coat, thick and warm. ] It'll do you better.

heeeeeeeeyyyy there lady

[cesar]

[ A pretty blonde offering him a coat? But how can he resist.

Cesare puts the old cloak down and moves around the table to take that coat from her, though it isn't the coat that catches his eye, but can you blame him? At least he can be subtle enough to cut that stare short and drop his gaze to what she suggests. ]

I had wished someone would say the weather will not last and so this is unnecessary.

[clario]

[ her smile is a lopsided thing with no real traces of amusement. the days are miserable and so is her mood. but he's not to blame and it wasn't so long ago she was the one lost. ]

So did I. I learned quick. Sometimes it will only be a drizzle. Sometimes you won't see your hand in front of you. It never quite goes away.

[cesar]

[ A sad smile to see on one so young, but who is he to talk. He holds up that coat to figure out how it should be worn before trying to slip his arms into it, awkwardly too, apparently unused to putting on his own clothes. ]

And never a sunny day?

[clario]

Only when we're sent out like good little puppets to do as they say.

[ an idea she hates. to be pulled in forcefully and have all her wants disregarded and her concerns ignored. to be separated from her sister and not know when or if she will see her again. and then to be expected to do as the initiative says and take them at their word. ]

Here. [ she fixes the coat on him, smoothing out the shoulders and the lapels. ] Not a fan of these?

[cesar]

[ He may be more used to having his life planned out for him. It's been so since he was born and it's only now that he's started stepping off the road to make his own... and then this. He shrugs and moves his arms about to check the coat's fit. It fits well. ]

No. Only unfamiliar. Yet still you would fight for their cause?

[clario]

[ she quirks an eyebrow at him. ]

Girl's gotta eat.

[cesar]

[ He gestures at the stalls and the sad Exile sitting in a corner, waiting for a purchase to be made. ]

Do these people fight? We could join them instead.

[clario]

[ she's not paying. her help ends there. ]

The Initiative is the fighting part. And the banker and the importer and the reason this city still exists. And they don't like us. The amount of idiots gathered don't give them a reason to either.

[cesar]

[ A guy can hope. He walks over to start counting out what money the Initiative handed him earlier, still unaccustomed to the currency. ]

So they rely on us to survive but hate us for it. Sounds like parenthood.

[clario]

You wouldn't be wrong.

[cesar]

[ He pockets the change in a pouch tied to his hip, tugging at his new coat to adjust it to his comfort some more. ]

Do you hate them in return?

[clario]

I hate only a few. Frightened people aren't really the sort to hate.

[cesar]

And I thought fear turns to hate. Are you frightened?

[clario]

[ she looks him in the eye. ]

Never.

[cesar]

[ He smiles a little. ]

But you hate?

[clario]

Is prying how you greet people where you're from?

[cesar]

Prying? Never.

We were only getting acquainted, are we not?

[clario]

Shouldn't you start by giving your name then?

[cesar]

I must.

[ He ambles closer to her, stopping a polite distance away to place a hand over his heart and bow so slightly it might not be called such. ]

Cesare.

[clario]

[ when do men ever. sweet pea's mouth quirks in quiet amusement. ]

Better. I'm Sweet Pea.

[cesar]

[ Sweet Pea... He smirks but doesn't laugh. ]

Your parents have a good imagination?

[clario]

My little sister. She liked the flower; she liked me.

[cesar]

[ If he could, he would wish to be named by his little sister, too. ]

Sweet Pea it is. A pleasure, surely.

[clario]

That remains to be seen. Good luck out there.

[ she makes to leave. ]