(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

You made me picture little black lightning clouds over his eyes. 8|

[heirwithouthope]

[Yes. Clean-shaven compared to the dwarves. Even babies have more facial hair than the eldest hobbit, it seems.

He blows a short stream of air through his nose--there is a small laugh in there, if Frodo is listening for it.] All I know of hobbits--though it isn't much--you would never leave your borders without some great push.

[The narrowed concentration in his gaze answers his question before Thorin even speaks, staring down the hobbit.]

...What is your name?

[heartsink]

That was definitely something to keep in mind. Squatting, just by the principle of it, was never really something Ruka considered in her daily life back in the City (and had never occurred to her as a thing that existed when she still lived in her own world), but if it was the difference between 'living in misery because of people' or 'living in misery because of a lack of locks,' she was, sadly enough, inclined toward the latter.

"It's alright." While, on the one hand, the Kanaya that Ruka had known before probably hated Ruka on the principle of conflict between Ruka's boyfriend, Kanaya herself, and that girl that she usually seemed to be gossiping with, which frequently erupted in violence; on the other hand, the idiot that Ruka lived with (that wasn't the one that Ruka was sure was going to, at some point, try to kill her) seemed to think really highly of her, and while he admittedly had the poor enough taste to consider Ruka his friend, he otherwise wasn't godawful.

On the third point (which could no longer be a hand because Ruka only had the two), the Kanaya before her was not the Kanaya she had known, and who was to say that anything of their pasts, personalities, or futures were the same, other than the (even now only presumable) trolls from Alternia origin?

At any rate, she smiled, forcing one shoulder to shrug in something that looked like a natural gesture. "Humans are hardly the easiest to understand, even on a good day. And I really appreciate the offer."

[reassures]

[She doesn't know what to think of that shift in tone. It doesn't sound good, but then again, what she's seen of Gilbert's world was never good.]

That's great.

I don't think he would mind very much if you're here.

[reassures]

[She glances down at the tablet in her hands, tapping a button or two on the screen. The post function pops up, and she considers it for a moment. It felt strange, foreign. But she supposes that shouldn't be surprising, given that this whole place is very foreign to her. She switches back to the notepad program.]

I might do that. Thank you.

[redheadcarrier]

[Asuka shrugs and clasps her hands behind her head.]

It's just a robot. Anyway - well, we're misfits because we don't exactly all fit together. I mean, come on, have you seen some of the freaks we get here?

As long as they aren't given to rain at inopportune moments

[iorhael]

[Better than that a chia pet]

[Frodo catches it, it's a laugh that, while not bringing a smile to the dwarf's face, does make him feel, for a moment, a little less dour.]

I would have left on mine own, I think, given perhaps too much time to start, but you are right; a push is what happened in the end.

[Frodo bows a little at the hip]

Frodo Baggins, at your service and your family's.

[speakveryclearly]

A good day. There aren't many of those in Exsilium but certainly more than there were in anywhere else Earth-related she's ever been. There's a strong cognitive dissonance between her views of humans and her views of the Transport community.

She feels misunderstood and her mouth goes crooked as she blinks again. This goddamn green makeup is going to get in her ocular globe one of these days (but she knows for sure the other Kanaya never wore it, that girl who put her into such an inconvenient situation, and that has an immense appeal to her). "It's not--" an offer? What she should say next is a mystery. Haruka constitutes a mystery. She's already turned the tables on Kanaya by inducing the sort of omnidirectional friendliness that she somewhat disrespects as arbitrary in others.

She just hasn't seen a girl with an eyepatch for over a year. She hasn't interacted with her old emotional surrogate for months, and her new one - is a doll but gets worked up over being called that and doesn't have an eyepatch.

"Species aside, adolescents have to stick together. As Transports are supposed to anyway. That's all."

[concealingeyes]

[She kind of understands. And he's right, she needs to look around some more anyway.]

Yeah, I need to see if anyone I know is here, too. Take care of yourself, got it, Kariya?

[Kido pushes off the wall and tugs her hood over her eyes more.]

See you around. [She smiles at him but the next time he blinks, she's gone.

Of course, he can probably feel her walking away now but let a teenager be dramatic sometimes.]

[reassures]

[Just the expression is telling.]

And the Initiative?

[heartsink]

Kanaya seems flustered, which wasn't Ruka's intent at all, but she does hide her mouth behind her hand to shield the worst of the smile. It's strange, how easy it can be to slip into something so casually... congenial. But then, the lying helps.

"I suppose that's true... and is that what we're called? 'Transports?'"

[fe_male]

[ well tbf if anyone can out-conscience tony acting as a conscience, it's steve

Well, he supposes that look was just as good an indication as to aptitude as anything else. Sigh. Also wow look he's just here in like, an undershirt. Tony's not even totally sure that Steve's skin counts as protection from the cold, he's so thin. ]

Yeah, and I owe you a coat in the future, so I'm gonna give you this one and then we'll be even, right? That totally counts. I'm counting on future you to remember that I'm paying you back in his past. [ it's basically cheating but Tony makes people do what he wants by talking until they don't have a choice, and in the meantime he's shrugged out of his own and basically tossed it over. ]

[reassures]

Siren's Port. It's a island city in Canada.

[It's easier than trying to explain that she doesn't know the name of the city she actually grew up in, she figures.]

[whatsupcroc]

Of course I'm right.

( She smiles. )

Time'll tell if you believe me or not.

[heirwithouthope]

[Both his tidbit of helpful information and his enthusiasm are lost on Thorin, who has one set reaction to seeing scales and a pair of horns--and that's drawing his sword and baring his teeth.]

Stay back, foul creature! [Even the fact that he isn't like any dragon Thorin has ever seen before (standing on two legs and wearing clothing) doesn't comfort him in the slightest. He will either fight or flee from him.]

[reassures]

[Just the question makes her expression fall the slightest bit. Nill is quick to shake her head, because no, she is most certainly not an angel. She unfolds her tablet and types something up on it, before holding it up for Himeno to see.]

No. I'm not.

/bow

[fe_male]

[ yeahhhhhh tony didn't even bother trying with his own ]

There's a few questionably moraled people here, but most of the quote-unquote 'bad guys' [ and oh yes, finger quotes ] are over on the mainland, as far as Big Brother is concerned.

[ last question gets peter a squint. that's all the question he needs to ask. ]

[concealingeyes]

[She shakes her head and pulls her iPod out. Remembering that not everyone knows what it is, though, she tries to describe it.]

It plays music. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to end up being a weapon but I guess it will somehow. I can usually take care of myself.

But I guess in a war... I don't know. [She's a teenager, does she look like she has much war experience?]

[speakveryclearly]

"Yes." Kanaya plants her feet a little more, feeling herself settle into the obligation to act as expositrix. She's torn between loving and hating the duty, but leans away from the former because at the moment it's an excuse to feel she managed to be a little productive, helpful to Haruka.

She points at herself with both fingers. "You and I are Transports." She extends her open hands forward, nowhere remotely near touching the other girl but implying the abstract connection between them. "We work for the Initiative." She spreads her hands apart to encompass some of their surroundings. "Our current location is Exsilium."

[masterofpuppets]

[He looks down at himself and then back up at her with a face that says "I'm not that wet".]

Nah, I wouldn't ruin a good ablution session with clothes. It's been raining in case you didn't notice. [He tilts his gaze up at the sky somewhat and casually points.] And what happened last time?

[concealingeyes]

...Tsubomi. But Kido is better. [She sounds almost embarrassed by it.] Come on. If they didn't get you anything I don't mind.

[She shrugs as she starts walking, looking at different vendors. She still doesn't know how currency works here but she can probably afford some clothes for this guy...]

Pretty inconsiderate of them to dump you here like this. Do you mind losing those clothes? I don't think they're salvageable.

[governorkang]

[Kang frowns, inwardly sighing, and takes a step back, his hands coming up to show that he means no harm.]

Peace, sir dwarf. I have no intention of starting any sort of trouble.

[concealingeyes]

I guess. I just never thought about it. [Now that she is, though, traveling might have been kind of nice...] What made you go from Germany to Canada?

[guntoyourhead]

[Well, that's a hard question to answer. He dances around the words as best he can.] We're close, yes.

It's hard to be in the middle of gun-fire and have no allies. Are there still people here that you know from home?

Nobody would take him srsly if that happened

[heirwithouthope]

[You mean your feet?

He continues to stare through Frodo as though he were trying to peel his skin back and get the answers that way. Though the name slowly takes the suspicion from his expression and replaces it with surprise.]

Baggins...any kin to Bilbo?

[heartsink]

Simple enough concepts; the nouns are different, but the script is essentially the same. At least, on the surface; it was a bad idea to assume more similarities than she found herself, and for now, the best way to learn that information was to pry that information out of those who had been here longer than she.

And hope she didn't make herself sound suspicious. (But then, even when suspecting her was the right choice, how often did it ever happen?)

Her expression grows more thoughtful. "And if we... don't work for the Initiative?"