exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

Date: May 1st
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings, while those Transports on the mission to Wollongong return.
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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

About three months of their calendar.

[Which is short as hell, but hey he's eighteen now, didn't see that one coming.]

Jade and Luke are here as well, but not for as long.

[Incoming happy Guy gushing at the thought of Luke being here and also not dead - he knows it's coming so might as well get it over with.]

That long?

[Give him a moment to process. Dead men are talking to him--dead men he wasn't on the greatest terms with before they died (maybe he can change that now). Not to mention... Luke. Is here. And I guess that Jade guy.]

[But Luke.]

[His fingers flex, and he smiles. Give him credit for some tact, at least. If only a little. There's a certain way to smile, easy, perfectly friendly, that is as closed and distant as a glare. At least it isn't a glare. He's gotten over that much of his past, or is trying to. Such things are always a work in progress.]

Where can I find them?

The months here are only half as long as ours.

[And the year only has twelve months, so his birthday isn't anywhere close to existing.

Take that smile and eat it, Guy, for all the effect it has on this redhead.]

They were on the mission as well, so they should be around the square somewhere.

You've been here ninety days?

[He's really trying here Asch, but the whole ripped through time and space and meeting dead people is a little bit disorienting.]

[He focuses, because it's easier to, on the information. Cold and distant as that is, he can try to sort himself out, make up for it later.]

I'll look for him. Where can I find you later?

About that, yes.

[He's actually been considering keeping a more careful calendar, because with the different arrival times and the dates they come from, this is just getting ridiculous.

Also hey, if you're paying attention, Guy, he's eighteen now.]

I'm living in unit 608 in the housing complex for now. He's in 609, so it shouldn't be hard to find either of us.

[And yes, he hates the housing people and their sense of humour.]

[Guy just looks at Asch a moment, not reacting to the information. Finally scratching the back of his neck and sighing.]

That sounds tough.

...Thanks.

[He has to wonder who assigned that, really.] I'll catch up with you later.

I've been worse.

[Since, you know, the last time he was drafted into a military, it was in near-complete isolation after being kidnapped, experimented on, and replaced. This time, home is safe, or at least as safe as it ever was.]

You're welcome.

[It's a little bit sarcastic, a little bit a growl.]

[Worse indeed. Guy doesn't turn to leave, looking Asch over at the sarcastic edge, his own smile not faltering until he just lets it fall. And as unbelievable as the words may sound, after everything, when he's looking serious instead of happy, he means them sincerely;]

It's really good to see you, Asch.

[If he'd still been smiling, Asch would've thought it another little lie, the required formality for their positions.

The sincerity throws him off.]

...You, too.

[It's the only thing he can think to say.]

[That's... Maybe not what Guy expected either. He hesitates, like he's going to say more... He has a lot to say, but maybe now isn't the time. And more than what he has to say, perhaps it's better to wait for Asch.]

[So he nods, after a moment, smiles again, subdued.]

Yeah. I'll catch up with you later.

[And turns to go.]

I'll be around.

[He'll let you go, Guy. No real reason to stick around, and besides, he's got a pillow wrapped in that tarp to get out of the damp.]

[As first encounters with the dead go, that could have definitely gone worse.]

[Maybe a hopeful start? I mean it's not like Asch is going to get himself killed in the near future or anything.]

(no subject)

shut up I'm a professional

Can I see your credentials young man

//whips out the certificates

I see your papers seem to be in order... :|a

So what's the problem, officer?

I'm going to have to check to make sure these aren't fakes!

like I have the money for a decent forgery

It's all about connections

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