(no subject)

[initiates]

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.

Comments

[bumbles]

Yeah.

( No kidding, this was definitely the most he'd had to try and process for a while. It might even one-up your sister is a supervillain that invades dreams and ruins lives. Yikes. He'd never thought he'd see the day that happened. )

I g-got it. Are um, are y-you a-- are you one, t-too?

( A new one, a Transport. )

[medicating]

[For some reason, this kid reminds McCoy of Chekov. Not because of any similarities in personality -- Chekov is way more confident in himself -- but just because they look around the same age, and this stuttering is as hard to understand as the Russian's accent.]

I'm not with the Initiative. Got dragged here to fight in their war, same as you.

fun fact I almost used Anton Yelchin as Donny's pb at one point

[bumbles]

O-okay.

( He'd look more relieved, if he didn't look like a walking ball of stress anyway. Donny isn't-- he's not so good at talking to people. Usually conversation kind of dies out, but he really needs to try and find some information, even if he's got his arms hugged across his chest - more from nerves, than cold, but no one else has to know that.

In lieu of knowing what else to say, he attempt: ) I'm Donny.

ha, that would have been confusing

[medicating]

Leonard McCoy.

[He's a doctor, not a counselor, so he's not sure if he can actually do anything to make this kid feel any better about his situation, but he'll give it a go.]

You cold? They sell jackets all over the place here. That's what I went and bought, soon as I got here.

yes, it is perhaps for the best that I am too attached to Thomas Dekker's face

[bumbles]

( He's not, but most normal people would be, so he nods. If he wanted, he could keep dry without any need for coats, either, but that would not be the wisest course of action, and is usually a bit of a waste of energy, over long periods of time. )

N-nice t-to meet you.

( Circumstances aside. And the fact that Leonard is kind of intimidating aside, also. Never mind that Donny is 6'1" - he's closer to 5'11" with all his slouching. )

I'll um, look out. For j-jackets, I mean.

( A few long moments of silence, and he kind of just-- just blurts out: ) What d-do you d-do?

( He looks embarrassed for and by his own existence. ) To, um, to k-keep form going c-crazy.

[medicating]

[McCoy sticks his hands into his jacket pockets, looking casual where Donny looks high strung.]

I'm a doctor, and there's a Transport-run clinic, so I put in hours there everyday. Keeps most of the monotony at bay.

[bumbles]

( At that, Donny looks up. Alert, finally, a little less jittery. ) A c-clinic?

( He almost smiles. Almost. ) I v-volunteer. At a uh, a c-clinic, I mean. B-back home.

[medicating]

That a fact?

[He sounds interested in this.]

Well, you're welcome to come volunteer at this one too. We could always use the extra hands.

[bumbles]

O-okay.

( Good. That'd be good, he can-- he can work with that. It's a way to gather more info, maybe, and at least he can do something useful. )

Where d-do I um, find it? ( Someone has cheered up visibly. He's not exactly relaxed, but set him on sutures and he's the steadiest guy you could hope for. Never mind the... lack of actual qualifications. )

[medicating]

[He gives him directions from the courtyard, but then adds,]

Or I could show you now, if you're up for it.

[bumbles]

I--

( Hmm. He looks... nervous, for a moment, but nods. )

Y-yeah, okay. D-definitely.

( Could be that Donny's posture has improved just a little. ) Gotta, um, g-gotta m-make myself useful, right?

( And, you know. Connections and stuff. He can do this. )

[medicating]

Right, let's go.

[He feels the more hands at the clinic, the better. Even if he's just sending the kid around to get him things.]

So how old are you, kid?

[bumbles]

( Woah, okay, yep. He's on board, jogs a couple of steps if he has to in order to keep up. )

T-twenty-two. B-but, um, my b-birthday is in September. I've b-been helping at the-- at the c-clinic for uh, almost a year. Sutures, and stuff.

[medicating]

Huh.

[He'll have to have Donny show him some practice sutures first before he unleashes him on any patients.]

Were you going to school to work in medicine?

[bumbles]

Oh.

( And his gaze drops to his feet as they go. ) N-no. I'm undeclared.

( At least he remembers what Max said at Asteria's wedding, the spin they put on how he helped her out. )

I um, I have a friend who v-- volunteers, at a um, a w-women's shelter? A-and one of the ladies there w-works at the uh, at the uh, c-clinic, so-- she taught me stuff. So I c-could help.

[medicating]

We'll see what you can do here to help. A lot of the people working at the clinic use magic to heal people.

[The tone of his voice says what he thinks about that, but as long as the patient is healthy in the end, he can't knock it too much.]

[bumbles]

( Uh oh. He's heard people who don't think much of magic before, there's a whole lot of them back home. Magic is still hardly common, after all, and there are an awful lot of opinions. The look he passes the good doctor is a bit nervous. )

I'm more j-just the um, the basics.

[medicating]

Yeah, well I don't have any magic. I make do just fine without.

[bumbles]

No magic here, either.

( A lie. But necessary, at home as much as here. And it's true, unless he counts the time he turned his hands into icepacks in particular emergencies. )

D-do, um, do you j-just treat the t-transports, at the clinic?

[medicating]

Just transports, near as I can tell.