exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm not interested in getting used to it!

[Why? Why are people like this? Why is it always 'that's just the way it is'?

Nanami narrows her eyes, hand on her hip.]

I'm just going to get an umbrella or something. Then I'm going inside, anyway.

[Inside where? The thought stalls her.]

[ Eyebrow raise. ]

We're all stuck here for a while, kiddo. Until the guys in charge say otherwise, you're gonna have to get used to it.

[ It's said gently, but firmly. Even if she's just a kid, that doesn't change reality any... but at the same time, he's well aware of how difficult their situation really is. He doesn't know who she is, what she's left behind; given the people he's spoken to already, it could be any number of things.

Taking a few steps to the side, he talks for a moment with a different shopkeeper — seconds later, the handle of an umbrella taps against her shoulder. ]

Here.

You're not my type, [she says immediately. It's natural, isn't it, to expect that any boy or young man approaching her wants something of the sort?

Still, this umbrella isn't be offered by her mortal enemy, and without people to do things for her she would be...just as ordinary and meaningless as they said she was. Nanami accepts the umbrella after a moment of awkward silence, shaking it out before opening it.]

It'll do.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I wasn't...

[ He trails off, sounding embarrassed about the mere idea. Even if he wasn't engaged, she's awfully young, and besides — all he did was give her an umbrella.

After a moment, he laughs awkwardly, realizing it might have been a joke. ]

You'll wanna keep that on you, though. It's almost always raining here.

[Nanami narrows her eyes at Snow even more when he laughs, unable to figure out what's so funny.]

Just great. [The rain makes her uncomfortable.

She had thought he wasn't a particularly smart or useful person, but even as Nanami is still squinting at Snow and his fashion sense, she says the nicest thing she has said to anyone since arriving here.] Thanks. I guess you know how you should treat a young girl after all.

[ He scratches his chin, looking sheepish at the comment. At the very least, he's pleased that she seems to be in a better mood, but everything else is lost on him. ]

Hey, it's no big deal. Anyone else would have done the same. [ From the way he talks, it's clear he genuinely believes it. He can't imagine just walking past and leaving anyone alone in the cold and rain, let alone a kid. ] It might be hard at first, but everyone here's pretty nice. You'll be fine.