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

[inline]

[It's definitely both! Well, the close part's relative, but he does know her a little better than the other Transports. Judal may notice some confusion flickering in Kazu's expression—it's pretty clear he doesn't know what a Conqueror is, much less in relation to Kougyoku. They've talked quite a bit, but were always interrupted before he could get around to asking more about her world.

He takes another step back but not further, eyeing Judal's expression from under the brim of his beanie.]

Been seeing her around. [ A shrug. ] Dunno if we're talking 'bout the same person though.

[He actually does mean the last part, considering the whole multi-verse thing.]

[incendiarism]

Oh, really? You think there's more than one girl like that here?

[That gets a laugh out of him. What's the harm in teasing this kid a little? As long as he lives and isn't maimed, Kougyoku won't care, right? He'll still be useful, even if Judal can't tell just yet why Kougyoku would want him around.]

Long hair with a gold hairpin. Yells a lot. Sheltered and naive, but strong. That sound like the one you know?

[He raises an eyebrow, curious to see Kazu's reaction.]

[inline]

[Oh, that's her all right, and Judal will see Kazu's brows lift in tell-tale affirmation before he even gets around to answering. Something else's clicking too—he's remembered why 'Kou Empire' sounds so familiar now; it's something he caught it in passing while scrolling through Kougyoku's post to reply to her. Although the remark about Conquerors had thrown him off—could always be a case of shared names—it seems they do know the same girl after all.

Which leads to his primary concern.]

—c'mon, no way everyone dresses like this where you guys're from!

['Like this' meaning 'oddly revealing', as he's already seen on Kougyoku in her djinn equip form and, to a lesser extent, Aladdin. ANCIENT ALTERNATE FANTASY REALITY OR NOT.]

[incendiarism]

[Kougyoku clearly needs to pick better friends, because Judal is pretty affronted at the dig about his clothes. He lives in fantasy!China and is often in the fantasy!Middle East, okay!? It's hot there!]

Are you stupid? Of course nobody else dresses like I do! I'm the holy oracle of the empire!

[Not that Kazu is really going to understand what that kind of status actually entails, being from a different world and all. Or why it lets him get away with wearing weird clothes when he definitely does have more normal and appropriate clothes back home he never wears. But it definitely makes Judal a special snowflake who can do what he wants.]

[inline]

[That's weird, if only because Kazu would've thought him to be a prince or something. The jewellery's pretty flashy! And hadn't he called the empire his which it might as well be, but Kazu doesn't know that? Either way, Judal's attitude leads him to surmise that he is, at the very least, used to being treated like a big-shot, and this isn't something Kazu's unused to.]

Yeah, yeah, you're gonna wanna layer up some. The weather here's pretty shitty all the time.

[He waves a hand at the clothing stalls, then at the day brimming with gloom outside.]

Been here a month and it hasn't stopped raining once.

[incendiarism]

[Everything about him is flashy because Judal is a shallow human being who's obsessed with looks. Besides, the wet look is very dramatic and cool-looking!]

How is more clothing going to help? I'm just going to get wet again if the rain doesn't stop.

[He stares at Kazu like he's grown a second head. What kind of logic is this?]

[inline]

[Kazu probably looks something like this next to him. Though the stare chafes, he makes a game attempt to roll with it on account of Judal being new and also Kougyoku's friend(?).]

Yeah, but the cold never lets up either! They messed up the environment pretty good. This place's the closest to the apartments where you can buy stuff.

[incendiarism]

[That wet puppy look is just pathetic enough to amuse Judal into some patience with the whole thing.]

I don't even know what to buy to help with that! And I don't know how this money system works, either.

[Whether it's because he's a bully or he genuinely doesn't know what he's doing here, the outcome is the same. "You'll help, won't you, Kazu?" says his face, complete with a (fake) kind smile.]

[inline]

[Whichever it is, Judal will get what he wants! He may be kind of a dick, but Kazu's seen how the guide basically left the new arrivals here to fend for themselves. It's a far cry from the welcome his batch had gotten last month, and if there's some way he can help, he'll try.]

A jacket'll be a good start.

[He points out a few clothing stalls as he talks. The styles are probably too dreary for Judal's tastes, but at least they look warm.]

We get money called 'marques' in coins or a card—if you're careful it oughta last the month. People at the market'll only take coins, though. You got any?