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 wasn't expecting you to know the answer! But it's something worth thinking about!

The battles would have to be taking place on this island right now if this is considered normal here.

Not necessarily. They've probably told you about the nature of their war here.

[He tugs the scarf a little higher over his face, a nearly reflexive action.]

Like I said, I'm no mind reader, but it's one way to explain their behavior.

[He must have been busy pondering his existence during that part of the explanation. It really wasn't fair to explain everything right off the bat to someone who's trying to figure out why they're not dead after dying.]

I won't be convinced that there isn't something strange going on here. They've already proved they can accomplish impossible feats. Why is recruiting people without asking their best strategy? Or maybe they think that's the least cowardly method.

[He's one for facing your problems head-on, after all.]

[Welcome to the military, R.I.P. prohibited.

It's a good thing his scarf is all the way up; it's getting a little harder to suppress his smile.]

If this is anything like the wars of my time, cowardliness isn't much of a factor anymore. [He re-evaluates the boy's manner of dress; it is rather old-fashioned. Considering he stepped into this war out of one with time-traveling historical heroes, Kariya's a little more prepared to review the impossibilities.] The simplest explanation is that it wasn't a strategy.

[Because strategically sound doesn't include recruiting half-dead magi, probably.]

[Yeah, Elliot's good at doing that. Even though he never really tries. Huh.

He frowns at this explanation.]

Cowardliness is always a factor! And what was it if they aren't trying to plan something?

Wars have changed.

[It's a bald statement of fact -- he's not insistent, but it doesn't leave room for argument, either. Kariya's just not interested in arguing this point -- the only ones he knows personally who would argue for cowardliness and honor in the midst of war are all proud magi.

He's just not interested.]

A limitation. They don't have the means to ask before they take. They don't have the means to choose what they take.

[Yeeeah, Elliot's never been in an area in areal war, but he's heard about them.]

Isn't that too risky? Why would they try that at all when they can't guarantee they won't get criminals?

Desperation. Or confidence that they can deal with them.

[He hasn't passed judgment just yet -- the place is pretty run-down, obviously, but he doesn't know the full extent of what the Initiative can do. Being summoned across dimensions is certainly unexpected, but not novel; he's just not used to it from this end.

The other thing, the weapon, that's a little more complicated.]

It sounds more like stupidity to me! If it's this important, they should be more careful about it!

I'm sure they appreciate the thought.

[He doesn't mean to be sardonic about it -- can't quite help it. Kariya's usual response when put in a situation he can't help isn't to yell, so this is what comes out instead, sometimes.

His tone softens a little.]

We'll find out either way. It's a waste of energy to worry about it right away. [Or maybe he just doesn't have the energy for it personally right now, but it comes out to the same difference.]

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still me ~ new hat ~

new hats are fun~

hats in general are fun ~ 8D

this is true!

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