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

[fujibayashi]

Then why do you keep running away? [She leans forward, expression tense and serious, trying to figure out what the hell is going on with him. She jabs a finger at his chest.] Tell me what happened or I'll beat it out of you.

[Sheena... that's not a good way to deal with relationship problems.]

[wilder]

[Seriously Sheena how the hell were you the most qualified person to be an Emissary of Peace to Sylvarant]

Wow Sheena, already violent threats? You don't ever change.

[But you know threats are easier to deal with than concern, so it actually makes him relax...a smidgeon. Especially when he doesn't see a way out of this]

Fine, fine. What's the last thing you remember back home?

[fujibayashi]

[Because you suggested it, smartass. She doesn't seem to care too much at the admonishment. In her mind, he deserves it for avoiding everything.

She's still worried, but trying not to be distracting with it.]

Well... I was on my way back to Tethe'alla to give my report on peace talks. [She says it in a kind of 'duh' way, considering that Zelos ought to know what she's up to. He did give her that position.]

... Why? [And /now/ she's starting to get a little bothered, because what if something happened back in Meltokio that she didn't know about? What if something happened to Lloyd and the others?]

[wilder]

[Peace talks? Definitely wasn't something that he recalled- which settled that she couldn't be earlier from his timeline.]

And I take it I'm still around?

[fujibayashi]

What-- [There's some coldness in the way he says it. She feels it in her blood--] What's that supposed to mean? Of course you're still around.

[She can hear the little echo of her voice on the alley walls, and the more it rings, the hollower her words become.]

Zelos.

[wilder]

[He sighs, choosing to act like it's a pain to explain this all, but not because it actually hurts. Always on the defense, this one]

Yeah well, this whole Initiative thing does more than just bring in people from different worlds. It brings in people from different versions of worlds. Alternate timelines or whatever.

And mine? Well, I sure didn't last to see any peace talks. I died back at the tower.

[Zelos forces a shrug] But don't worry, I'm sure your Zelos is safe and sound and all that.

1/3

[fujibayashi]

[She didn't expect him to lower his defenses. That's asking too much. She hardly has the right to ask for a straight answer, even though his flippancy is starting to piss her off. But she's frozen in place. She will remember everything about this conversation in the future-- what they were wearing, what the weather was, how cold she felt.]

You... died?

[Zelos can't die. It's just not something-- yes, there might've been a trap, but Zelos freed all of them. Unless he took the blow instead of pushing Colette...

For a second, her self control wavers. There's a trembling in her fingers until she balls her hands into fists.

And then she hits him.]

2/3

[fujibayashi]

You idiot! How can you say something like that?!

[Her bottom lip quivers until she bites down on it.]

You're still Zelos! If you honestly think you can get away with pretending you're an entirely different person just because of the way you died, you're a bigger idiot than I thought!

[fujibayashi]

[She pulls back into herself, trying not to lose it entirely.]

You journeyed with us. [Even if he had been playing all the sides, he still fought alongside them.] Nothing can change that.

[wilder]

[He flinches at the hit, but doesn't say his typical "ow" sound. He always said that to be melodramatic anyway. He watches her reaction, how it's so heated, partly out of surprise that quickly turned into denial. She's just thinking of her Zelos, the one that stayed on her side]

[So his tone is rather cold when he speak, cold as the walls he used to block her words to his heart]

I died because I sided with Cruxis. Not you guys. Does even that not change it?

[fujibayashi]

[Whatever expression he was gunning for, seeing Sheena sad is probably not it. It's so difficult to be this close to him and yet so far away.

That's how it always is.]

Even though we don't get along, I never thought that you were a bad person.

[She balls her fists, unclenches them again.]

I can't help thinking you had a reason.

[wilder]

[Yeah. It...definitely wasn't the expression he was gunning for. He was expecting outrage, anger- a demand for why. Cruxis was bad news, he knew that much. He did it because only he saw the writing on the wall, after all. That his time was up. That it was the only way he could make his life feel like it meant something by ensuring Seles would have a better life. ]

[None of which he's willing to share. Sure. He said it while he was dying, but hey you say a lot of things when you are dying and not going to have to deal with it later]

[At least, until some asshole Initiative brings you back from the dead]

[So when instead she doesn't go by prediction, and instead tells him that she doesn't think he's a bad person? That he has a reason? He lets out a frustrated noise as he turns away from her, dropping his arms to his side and hands balling into fists for a quick moment before unclenching. He has to stop himself from kicking the trash can near him ]

[Words that came too late. That's all they were]

Dammit Sheena! Seriously?!

What's it gonna take?! Just let me go- Lloyd's around here somewhere. Go be with him if it's about being in a strange world! He'll be happy to see you and you'd be better off!

1/2

[fujibayashi]

[Sheena stares at Zelos' back, still as confused as the first day they met. Why is he... angry? She just thought-- she thought being honest might make things a little easier, but apparently they didn't. She's confused and sad and a little hurt, but her own pain isn't important right now.]

Lloyd's here?

[And he's using their friendship as a weapon. That's not so good. She feels her temperature start to rise.]

That can wait. Are you seriously trying to make decisions for me? [She steps forward.] You think I'd be better off? That's what this is about, isn't it!? You don't want to talk to us because you think you're not worth--

[As soon as she says it, she realizes how harsh it sounds to her own ears. And she regrets saying it so openly, because that's probably not the best thing to say to him right now. She cuts herself off, upset that she can't get through to him, angry that he would DARE say something like that...]

[fujibayashi]

You're such an idiot.

[She turns away too.] If you want me to leave you alone, then fine. I'll go.

[And like that, she vanishes. She needs some time to deal with this.]

[wilder]

[He stands his ground, not looking back at her as she yells. It's easier not to look at her when this is going on after all. When she stops herself, he knows exactly what she was going to say and almost wonders why she cuts off]

[It was true after all]

[But suddenly? She's gone. Must have decided she had enough. Could it be Lloyd? Could it have sunk in that it was not worth the trouble? Or was she doing her own running away- it's hard to say. ]

[He feels he can't help but glance back the alley grows silent. As if some part of him was still hoping she'd still be- but no. She's gone off like ninjas do. He finally let's himself let out a shakey breath]

[It's better this way, he tells himself, consoling. It's better this way. He picks up the bag again and heads down the alley pathway as a bisque pace- anxious to get off these streets]