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

[firesneeze]

[ Instinctively he lights a flame in the palm of his hand. It's barely the size of his fist and wavers above his skin. No sun at all? This can't be good. ]

That can't be good.

[ Mako closes his fist to extinguish the flame. ]

I can't believe it rains every single day here.

[galactically]

Well, you'll need to—

[Sheryl is about to finish speaking, but the surprise at seeing Mako conjure a flame interrupts her, and she gasps out loud in disbelief. Did she just...?]

Oh, wow! I've... never seen that before!

[She did. A guy making fire out of nowhere. Is this a magic trick?]

[firesneeze]

Sorry, I was just-- [ Mako looks at her. ] It's called firebending. I wasn't sure if the lack of sun would affect it.

[galactically]

Firebending...?

[She headtilts, blinking rapidly in confusion. Okay, so she technically saw someone else make something similar weeks ago, and she just remembered it, but the surprise caught her off-guard and screwed up her thought process.

Anyway, she chuckles sheepishly.]

I've never heard of the term before, really. Do you really need the sun for the fire to appear?

[firesneeze]

I didn't think it would be something anyone knows here. [ Another glance out from under the shelter and up to the sky. Mako frowns. ] It's not what makes the fire appear, but having the sun around does help.

[galactically]

To make the fire stronger, I'm guessing.

[At the first statement, she nods in confirmation.]

I learned that we all come from different worlds here, so not everyone is born at the same timeline or knows the same locations.

[firesneeze]

In a sense, yes. It's kind of where a firebender draw their element from. Waterbenders draw from bodies of water, snow, ice, anything that contains water, earthbenders draw from the earth, sand and mud, and airbenders from the air.

Where are you from? What's your world like.

[galactically]

My, I've never heard of such a world before. Being able to make water or air appear sounds very convenient when you're thirsty or hot! Those powers sound amazing...

[Also appealing to Sheryl. She perks up at his question and looks thoughtful for a moment as she explains, sounding excited.]

To put it simply, I come from space! Or rather, I live in the space fleets, which are cities built inside an individual ship that travels across the galaxy. You can see the stars when you travel in a shuttle, but when you're inside the fleet itself, the sky is all simulated thanks to technology... but it looks real all the same.

[firesneeze]

I guess it's pretty convenient, but there needs to be water in something for them to draw from. If the soil is moist, they can easily draw the water out. Not really sure how good that would taste...

You live in space...? Huh. That's a new one. What's that like?

[galactically]

... I don't think water coming from the soil would taste that good.

[In fact, she thinks it'd taste gross.]

It's a lot different from a planet! The weather seems stronger here than back in the fleets, and the gravity feels different, too. A bit lighter back there than in Exsilium. Aside from that, Frontier is the most beautiful fleet I've lived in for some time.