(no subject)

[initiates]

Date: February 1st
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports have all arrived and have been shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings, while older Transports are returning from the mission to Uruguay.
Warnings: None.

While those who have been guests of Exsilium since at least the last wave of Transports return from their desperate mission and are pressed out of the Transporter room and into the Courtyard, the Initiative prepares to receive a second wave at the same time. And if you're in that second wave, the fresh meat, then 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

[reassures]

[There's an awkward moment where Nill just stands there, her wings fluttering once before settling against her back. However, the question she needs to ask him is more important than this meeting is.]

Can you tell me where Gilbert is? I really need to see him.

[hostage]

What do you think they're paying us for? Yeah they send us on missions. I been to Uruguay, Russia... the Wild West. It's a sweet deal. And wait 'til you see the crib they set you up in.

1/2

[velveteened]

( she might notice him making this face at the person a lot )

[velveteened]

( before he hurries back cheerfully )

Don't worry, it's not that far away. And look what I got!

( it's a little red worn wagon for the shield )

[reassures]

You, too.

[As nice as it can be when she just slapped him, anyway. She kind of suspects he's being too kind about that, but it's not surprising. Different timeline or not, Jesse was Jesse.

Instead of responding, Nill reaches over (with the hand she didn't shake Jesse's with) and picks up a cookie, biting into it.

...As she does, it occurs to her that, while she had just slapped Jesse a minute ago for disappearing on Lisbeth, Nill had done the same. Lisbeth was back in the Port, with probably only Yosuke for company. She'd never wanted to do that to Lisbeth. Being essentially alone (Nill suspected Yosuke understood her a bit better than Lisbeth) was the worst thing that could happen to a person, and Nill had allowed herself to become the cause of that for someone else.

Nill has been here for about an hour, and she already desperately wants to leave.]

Thank you.

[motioned]

[nope too busy stewing in her own embarrassment]

Oh, wow! That was nice of them, they really gave it to you? I'll have to come back and thank them later.

1/3

[velveteened]

( he - stops, really looking at her, really genuinely caught completely off-guard. he remembers, of course, that gilbert spent ten years without him; ten years living in another household with a new brother, had new associates, knew all kinds of people and did all kinds of things. had brothers. even now, oz doesn't know everything, because i don't see what was so important that you lost yourself, he said it himself.

it's only now that he notices the wings, white and slender and unlike anything he's ever seen before or anything human at all, in fact. is there really someone like this from their kingdom? )

[velveteened]

( can you tell me where gilbert is?

it's a seal he can't feel anymore, a certain reassurance gone; a presence he'd gotten back used to, has been used to for such a long time now; we're connected forever and forever didn't become a lie and now - )

[velveteened]

( he breathes, in and out. )

I'm sorry, but I don't know, either.

[skennen]

[He raises his free hand up in a open-palmed, 'that's okay' kind of gesture.]

This way.

[And off in the direction of the apartments he heads.]

[velveteened]

Yup! They're letting us borrow it for today.

[ex_havenofear960]

Huh.

[ Thinking about it, give him a second. ]

That's kind of cool. It shouldn't be cool, should it? Being kidnapped and enlisted in a crazy time army? Do you get to bring back, like, souvenirs?

[motioned]

[She trails along behind him, occasionally looking to the side to take in her surroundings. It's harder to make them out with the rain falling as hard as it is, but still she peers into the distance as they walk.]

Have you been here long, Connor?

[motioned]

Okay! Um, can you help me lift this into it, then?

[Gesturing to the shield.]

1/2

[reassures]

[She sees the way his demeanor changes; it isn't a difficult thing to tell when she's asked a question that she, perhaps, should not have asked. She thinks that maybe Gilbert has been hurt, or he died and hasn't been brought back yet. Nill thinks of a dozen different awful scenarios, but not a single one ends with Gilbert not being there. Not until Oz says that he doesn't know where he is, and if Gilbert wasn't with Oz, then Nill knows he simply isn't here.

It hadn't crossed her mind that he might not be here. For the past two and a half years, Gilbert had always been there. Even if they spent much of the time preoccupied with their own lives, she knew he was there, she knew he was (relatively) okay. Gilbert had been a strange sort of constant to fall back on. He'd understood things that many other people never understood, didn't even try to understand. He was a good friend, had always been a good friend.]

[velveteened]

( NOODLE ARM 2X COMBO!!! )

[reassures]

[Gilbert isn't here, and suddenly, despite all the people in this courtyard, it feels very empty. A solemn sort of expression overtakes her features, and for a moment Nill looks like she might cry. Tears cling to her eyelashes, and she's quick to wipe them away before they ever have the chance to fall. This wasn't the time for tears.]

I see. Thank you.

[ex_havenofear960]

[ Oh, yeah, that's more familiar. Vaguely. ] X-men? Like, the X-men? I thought that was kind of like how Elvis was still alive, you know, just people talking.

[ He's thrown off by the famous comment, too, though it doesn't take him long to sort out some logic for it. ] Was it the Lizard thing? I bet it was the Lizard thing. National Enquirer, right?

[motioned]

[VICTORY]

Whew! Okay, now which way did they say it was? [Grabbing the handles!

[hostage]

[Jesse returns his overturned box-chair to its upright position and settles back onto it. It has a little bit of a wobble now; a section splintered off in the fall.]

So are you, uh...

[He looks up, noticing her expression.]

Hey, are you okay?

[velveteened]

This way!

( directs her to take a left down a nearby street )

[motioned]

[the crowd parts for the two teenagers and their wagon]

So, did you just get here, too? Are you sure there's nothing you needed back in the marketplace? Nobody you were looking for?

[hostage]

Uh, yeah. A lotta people do. It really ain't that bad, you know. It's not like they force you to fight. You just gotta go.

[skennen]

Compared to many, no. I have only been imprisoned here for two months.

[He looks ahead to the massive building at the end of the one city block they have to cover.]

I must say, you seem to be taking your arrival very well.

[velveteened]

( unexpected, unexpected, unexpected: everything about this conversation and this girl, right down to her reaction. it makes him feel off-balance and some part of him hates it, the feeling and the situation and the urge to just run and leave it behind, a claustrophobic sense of being on the spot.

(maybe for the briefest second as she wipes her eyes, there's almost a flash of red lurking in his own. but he blinks, and it's gone faster than it came.)

he moves his arms in a fidgety motion before gesturing at her to recapture some of that easy cheer. )

Gil must've mentioned me to you. ( he shakes his head a little, fondly. ) He really never changes. You know! Since you know my name, can I ask for yours?