transport log » ❝ welcome to Exsilium ❞

[initiates]

Date: January 3rd
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports have all arrived and have been led to a banquet room within the Hold.
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.

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

/NEVER LETS GOOO

[ganking]

[ there's a wry smile tugging at his lips, eyes cast away from sam for the briefest second as he shrugs. ]

Like I said, man, long story. [ sam's own differences are clearer now, too. he's young-- as in, really young, still a kid, really. hair shorter, and just-- this is the sam he remembers picking up for a hunting trip all those years ago. the one the yellow-eyed demon had poisoned, the one he had searched for dad with.

and dean had thought handling a sam from dicks with wings era had been difficult. ]

Guess I don't look like the me you just saw back home, huh? [ isn't that how it usually goes? yanked so fast from something familiar and thrust into this. ]

/wins at life B-)

[bikininspector]

Not really.

[He's too anxious for sarcasm even. They've been through a lot of weird crap together - but they've always gone through it together. Now he stands before someone who sort of looks like Dean and kind of sounds like him but isn't quite the brother he knows and for the first time he doesn't know where to even begin searching for an answer.]

Guess you've got an explanation for that?

if you say so 8| /WONT LISTEN TO COMPLAINTS

[ganking]

[ dean holds back a sigh, the tension rolling off his brother screaming at him for attention. ]

Sure, yeah. It's just- [ he looks around for a second. ] Come on, let's ditch this joint, 'kay? I'll explain everything back at the apartment.

[ not everybody needs to bear witness to their conversation, let alone everything dean has to say. ]

/has no complaints!

[bikininspector]

[Go back to an apartment he's never been in with someone he's not sure is even his brother. It looks like the start of a terrible horror movie, the kind Dean used to watch when they were teenagers. This is the part where he'd yell at the screen the hell are you doing you moron?!

So what the hell is he doing? This goes against everything he's been trained for. And while he didn't listen to their dad on a lot of things, survival tips did stick around in his head.]

No offence but uh - how do I know I can trust you?

*^* excellent

[ganking]

[ dean knows what sam must be thinking, and he can't fault his brother for any of it. in fact, he should be proud. of course, at the same time he wishes sam would just believe him. it's been forever and a day since he's last had to prove himself to be who he says he is wit all sorts of supernatural creature-proof tests and whatnot. ]

You can't. But if it'll make you feel better, we can do the whole silver, holy water and salt thing. That, and the network-- I'm in the records, months and months of living in this place, Sam. You can go through them if you want-- you're in there, too.

[bikininspector]

[Silver, holy water and salt. Works on most things he knows. But if this place drags people from different worlds? He could be offering it because he knows it won't work. He'll drive himself nuts thinking like that though so he tries to focus on what else his brother is saying.]

I...am?

[He frowns, this makes no sense. He's one hundred percent sure he's never been here before.] Show me.

[ganking]

Yeah, man. A couple months or so ago, you were here for a hot minute before bein' zapped back to fight the good fight. [ good fight. the last time he'd seen sam, they'd fought. and now this he's back, in the smack middle of a war.

it's always about fighting, isn't it?

dean steps closer, pulling out his tablet and opening the network. from there it's a couple seconds before he's pulling up data from the previous sam. ]

Here, look. [ he hands his tablet over. ]

[bikininspector]

[He takes the tablet and his eyes just double in size. That's him - or at least - it looks like him. Like Dean, he seems older, wearier. He stares at the screen, riveted, before looking up at the man who might be his brother again.]

What the hell, man? [It's quiet, and mostly freaked out. The rug's been pulled from under him and he has no idea how to deal with this.

Fuck it, he's scared. And he just wants the brother he knows back - one familiar solid thing to hold on to in the world.]

[ganking]

Hey- [ worry flashes over his face at the look on sam's. yeah, it's a lot to take in and maybe he'd just forgotten that, right then. waking up in another world with someone who is almost familiar but not? and then seeing yourself do things you don't remember-- freaked out probably doesn't even cover it.

time for damage control!! ]

It's a lot to take, I know. Not exactly the type of freaky we're used to dealin' with, right? But just-- it's not that bad, you'll see. [ yeah fucking right. ] And the sooner you get on board with trusting me, the sooner we can figure out a way off this war zone.

[bikininspector]

[A way off this war zone. That gets his attention. It may be dumb, but something inside him, the same thing that told him the shifter wasn't Dean, tells him to trust him. He can't quite tell if it's an instinct or something to do with his powers, but it's there and it's right and it makes him nod.]

Ok. Lead the way.

[If this is really Dean, then maybe, just maybe, it'll be ok after all. Either way he's gotta find a way off this island and back to finding dad.]

Wait -- [he stops again half a step later] Dean? How old are you? [It feels ridiculous to ask - he knows how old his brother is - he just turned 27 last month! And still. He should be used to ridiculous by now.]

[ganking]

[ the trust, no matter how frail, is enough to make him smirk. it's better than nothing, after all. ]

Awesome, let's go.

[ he's about to curse when sam stops again, but the question stops him short...if only because it is kind of ridiculous. ] Dude, what the hell that does matter? [ but a beat later, and a little more seriously; ] Pretty sure I'm rollin' 'round the thirty-three these days. [ oh right ew, and it's january now, too.

sam why do you ask these things...... ]

[bikininspector]

[Thirty three. Six years. There's no fucking way they've been failing for six whole years. No way.]

Were you here this whole time?

[There's an urgency in his voice now, a question he's leading up to. The thing that killed Jess - is it dead.]

[ganking]

Hell no. [ just the idea of it is bad enough. ] No, I've been 'round for...say some six-ish months, now? I don't know, time flies when you're not havin' fun. [ 8| ] And before that...

A bit before that I was home, still doin' what we do. [ hunting. or rather...trying to stop his best friend from destroying the world with the king of hell. good times. ]

[bikininspector]

[A bit before that - he files that under the things to grill him over when they reach said apartment. But right now he's got a more burning question to ask.]

And back home - did we - the thing that killed Jess and mom - did we get it?

[He can't help getting emotional by the end of it, his hands clenching into fists as her face appears before him. None of this makes sense but if he can get out of it that somehow, somewhere, at some point - she'll have the peace she deserves - it'll somehow make things a little easier to bear.]

[ganking]

[ the thing that killed their mom and jess? at least there's some good news, he guesses. ]

Yeah, Sammy, we did. [ even if they'd lost their dad along the way. and sam technically. ] Made the sucker pay good, too.

[ that's all there is to know, isn't it? the rest can be left in vague details. ]

[bikininspector]

[Air rushes back into his lungs suddenly, his head spinning. Gone. The creature haunting his nightmares and waking moments, the thing that took away his mother, his normal life, the woman he loves.

It doesn't feel real, won't feel real until he'll see it dead himself. But he still needs to crouch down and lay his head low for a moment to keep from keeling over.

He presses his fingers tightly against the bridge of his nose and just tries to breathe through the tears already threatening to fall. Nothing else matters if this is true. Nothing. Because this is what his life has been centered around for all these months; avenging Jess. He's thought a lot about what life after it might be like, if he'll get to have it. This is definitely not what he had in mind but hell - he'll take anything if that thing is dead.]

8( aw sam

[ganking]

[ the moment sam crouches down, dean's at his side, one hand going to squeeze sam's shoulder. distrust or not -- different timelines or not -- this is his brother, and dean wants to be there for him. ]

...Hey, hey, easy there. You okay, Sammy? [ he's hoping this is a positive reaction, seriously. it's been so long since he's seen this sam, years and years. ]

look this is a huge deal ;;

[bikininspector]

[And that right there is something he knows - and knows well even. His brother being by his side, catching him when he falls.

A bark of humorless laughter escapes him as he wipes at his eyes and nods]

Okay - yeah - yeah - I'm - just - fucking perfect - [he chuckles into his hands, uncertain if it's madness or an attempt to stop from crying or relief or maybe just everything all together.

He stops to take a deep breath before trying to pull himself back up.]

it is ;;;;

[ganking]

[ back home, when they'd finally gotten the yellow-eyed demon, there had been a whole other set of issues to deal with. and maybe that had been part of why sam hadn't had much of a chance to bask in the knowledge that jess had been avenged.

it's good to see this though, even if the worry doesn't lessen at the sound of his brother's laugh. ]

Guess-- I mean, must be even more to take, huh? Hearing that. [ beat. ] What's the last thing you remember from home?

[bikininspector]

[A hand is still pressed against the bridge of his nose, trying to hide his eyes, his tears, as he tries to create some order in the chaos that is his mind right now.

Dean's asking him something. Right. It was a short time ago yet somehow it feels as if years have passed.

In a way, they have.]

Max. We were. Just leaving. Packing up to move on. [Will Dean even remember Max, six years after? He feels like he'll never forget but who even knows what his brother's been through since.] He was this kid...like me. With powers and the worst family... [his voice breaks thinking about him.]

[ganking]

Max, right. [ one of azazel's kids. that had been a messy case. ]

That was- [ his words fall away though, the reality of how long ago hitting him hard. god, the amount of shit they'd been through since there was indescribable. ]

Okay, look, let's get you inside and we can talk some more. [ he needs to gather his thoughts, and sam doesn't look all too hot, so let's go, let's go. ]

[bikininspector]

[He nods and picks up his pace this time; he's got a million questions running through his head but Dean's right - they can't talk about it out in the open.]

Is it far?

[ganking]

No, just a bit further. [ and that reminds him; ] Did they assign you a room yet?

[bikininspector]

Yeah.

[He tries to think back, through all the many things he's been told today.]

It was uh...104, I think. Don't suppose that's where you're staying?

[ganking]

No, I'm hauled up in 210, with two other people. [ one is some kind of grade a freak, the other cas. and oh god, sam doesn't even know who cas is. great. ] This place has some weird thing for roommates. [ he goes for a smirk, the look sent sam's way. ] Here's to hopin' yours ain't complete nut jobs.