(no subject)

[initiates]

Date: July 1st
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings. Now with 200% more People-Seeking lists!
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. Now and then around you you might spot paper fluttering in the faint wind from somewhere relatively dry. It looks like a list.

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

[wolfskin]

Aye, I do. [ Men to lead, a home to reclaim. ]

It is a pleasure to meet you, I ask you forgive me if I am discourteous, I was riding for some days before being brought here.

[shelkethetransparent]

Yes. Although most people just call it the Planet.

[She frowns faintly at that.]

Magic was heavily regulated there? What is an apostate?

[She could ask just as many questions as Merrill, really.]

g o s h

[wolfskin]

[ Robb, on the other hand, is aware of the weapons she has strapped to her back and it earns the attention of both wolf and king. ]

Not at all, my lady. [ The wolf makes no move save to sniff the air, golden eyes watching and judging. ] You cannot tame a direwolf.

/highfive

[controlledvariable]

[It's not much of a surprise, that Babs doesn't let her get away with that, but her shoulders still sink a little when she calls her out on the attempt. Steph doesn't say anything, though, because listening to Babs is more important.

She looks up when Babs leans forward, meeting her gaze instead of shying away, trying not to be a coward about this. At the end of the day, she stands by her choices; she's just worried how other people are going to accept them.

So it's a relief, everything Babs says, and that relief is clear on her face.]

Thank you. [For not condeming her, and her mouth twists in a rueful sort of smile.] I stoppe wearing it for a while - the suit - but it was more important to be at the top of my game.

[Having the suit, the symbol, and using it to protect people was more important than respecting that Bats don't kill.]

now we need a bruce

[bodilesswarrior]

Good. [Barbara will always value practicality over sentiment. Besides, as far as she's considered, Stephanie is being loyal to the spirit of the symbol.

Her hand falls, curling back around her coffee cup.]

And if Bruce ends up here and gives you trouble, I will personally tell him to sit his self-righteous ass down. [He hasn't given her any crap about her methods, but she's pretty sure that's just because he knows damn well how it would end up.]

I'm sure Helena will, too. [And her lips quirk at the thought. She never agreed with how Huntress did things - she was too quick to go for the kill, it was too easy for her. But she's reigned herself in at home, earned Barbara's respect several times over, and the rules are different here. If it ever comes down to it, she knows who she's siding with.]

[khajidont]

[When Jaime hears a girl's voice stumble on an apology and turns to see someone around his age crouched on the ground, he can't help but crouch beside her to give her a hand.]

Hey, don't freak out, [he says lightly, friendly smile playing across his face as he holds out a handful of toothbrushes to her.] They're just toothbrushes. No harm done.

[concealingeyes]

[Talk about deja vu. The voice, the way she bumped into her and in the same way it disturbs Kido's eyes again, making her visible. All of it's the same, so when she gets a good look at the girl, she isn't all the surprised.

In fact, she gives her a real smile.] Oi, Ahiru! Still pretty careless, huh?

i am trying to enable roy

[controlledvariable]

I alreay promised to hit him if he isn't good to Dick.

[Dick had been so worried, after the failure in Elmer's world, as if Bruce might hold it against him personally. And if he does show up, if he does make Dick feel guilty for anything that's happened in Exsilium, she will hit Bruce.]

All we need is Selina and he won't even try to start anything.

[Her grin is a little more steady, with that.]

[grooves]

[ that is such a guy thing to say, shiki can't even. ]

Well, it means I'm getting to meet you sooner than I normally would. So... isn't that a good thing?

[ sure seems like something eri would say... and honestly, she needs her perkiness right about now in this effed up situation. but in the end, she swore to be less of eri and more of herself, didn't she...?

...hopefully neku can forgive her, just this once. ]

[grooves]

[Shiki's eyes go wide. For a moment she can only stare; but when she notices the girl picking up the toothbrushes, she recovers and resumes picking them up as well. Between the two of them, it doesn't take long.]

Th- That's... That's awful.

[It also may have been mentioned at some point by the Greeter. But in all honesty, there was so much of that she hadn't absorbed yet...

It looks like Shiki might have something else to say after that -- but, prompted by a glare from the person running that booth, she simply clamps her mouth shut and puts the basket she knocked over back where it belongs.

...Yeah... she's thinking they should probably not stick around.]

[limitstorm]

Oh.

[ she raises a good point. but...

thinking back on the multiple time shenanigans he's experienced, both back home and here, make him wince little. well.

if she retained any of her memories upon going back home, maybe she wouldn't want to hand him over to young master xehanort. then again, would that mess up everything...? ]

You know, I wanna believe that it's for the better. Since I've come here and learned about time and how it's effected by changes... I don't really know.

But, [ he shrugs ] I don't think knowing you earlier'll be too bad.

[ ... he sharply knocks on the wood counter. >>; juuuust to be safe. ]

[grooves]

[ she may be a klutz, but at least she's not a jerk!!

actually, no, she doesn't really care -- she's actually super relieved to see this jerk. mainly because she knows he's a lot less of a jerk now, so her face lights up when she sees him running. with her head turned, her attention is completely gone from the fallen toothbrushes for now... so the person running the stall will just have to wait. ]

Neku!!

[ ah... yeah, he's super wet and dripping. S'OKAY THOUGH she's really not all that much better. nor is mr. mew. sob, poor kitty. ]

I- I can't believe it -- they got you, too?

[grooves]

[ yeah, don't mind her, she's just going to be avoiding eye contact with that lady. because auuugh yeah okay she may have screwed up but it's not like she can't fix it okay...? with the way she's looking at her, you would've thought she'd done something a lot more serious.

...

so she's making good first impressions already. awesome.

but that's okay. look, it's her knight in shining armor. ]

Y- Yeah, totally fine! [ she'd been looking up at him -- but then quickly remembers what she was doing and picks up the rest. she's standing up in no time flat, with the basket back where it belongs. ] Thanks... um, for the help. It was my fault anyway.

[grooves]

[Oh man, total life saver over here. The lady running the booth is still giving her death glares but that's okay. Sob, she will just take the toothbrushes he offers -- her face just a little brighter at the kind gesture.]

Th- Thanks! I'm... I guess I'm still a little nervous.

[Ha ha ha. Right, she will just stand up then -- no need to make Miss Cranky Pants wait any longer than necessary. Once all the toothbrushes are back in, she places the basket back where it belongs...]

[concealingeyes]

Come on.

[Kido motions for her to follow with a jerk of her head. They can talk somewhere else.]

I'm Kido. I've been here for a few months. If you have any questions, I can probably answer them.

[loveagain]

You'd think that'd be common sense, right? But, well... To put it mildly, they're not the nicest of kidnappers. [If there can even be nice kidnappers to start with.]

Pretty much, yeah.

[bumbles]

N-no, it's okay.

( It landed face down on a sketch, and he's trying not to look too crestfallen because that's childish, and it's pathetic, but the sketch of the woman looks a little wrecked. )

It d-doesn't matter. ( He'll just... do a better drawing later. )

[velveteened]

Do you remember the spaceship Collette and Caesar and Ellie - and everyone else - brought back? They used to make some demands of the Initiative. One thing was that they would try to send us home, or at least those of us who'd want to. So they worked on it, and came up with a technology to try to do so. Someone volunteered to be the test subject, and there was a team to go with him to be safe. The Initiative wasn't confident that it would be safe or even go well.

But they succeeded. He and the team of people really did get to his world.

( it should be good news, but his voice is grim )

[limitstorm]

Just last year... I haven't been using it that much.

[ his complentative state is interrupted by sudden realization. ]

--wait, you knew about it?

[interspace]

Well... I wouldn't say often. [ Her brow furrows, expression muting somewhat as she tries to figure out how to field this. Mentioning her proclivity for ending up in other realities is not something she often does, nor so quickly after meeting someone. ] Gist of it's not so hard to come across, though. It's the part where they want you to time travel and live here and all that stuff that's a little weirder than what I usually come across.

Never said I wasn't going to help. Just, you know, we're all on greyscale here.

[clario]

[ she holds her hands up in an to the wolf—dire? she'd have imagined meeting a normal wolf would be dire enough—in an "easy, boy" gesture. sweet pea leans back. ]

Why is it here? It's not— You cannot mean that's your pet?

[clario]

Sorry. [ she says because she is sorry. ] It's...it's really good.

[chore_boy]

[Coby, standing in the courtyard after some time spent training, looked right at Usopp as the young man stepped out. He was on his way to go to the training hall not at all far from the both of them, but he couldn't help but wonder about the hat he was wearing. The problem with Coby at that time? He was clearly wearing the signature baseball cap that said 'MARINE' on it, cementing his lot in life.]

Sir? [He called out to Usopp, rushing to talk to him. In all honesty, he needed a better cap that would likely take less damage over time in the rain and Usopp's hat looked better, but the sniper would likely be quick to misunderstand. The two, having never met, could only go uphill.]

[soul_sister]

My irresponsibility is your responsibility because I cannot be responsible for it!

[overclocking]

[... He could be mature and defuse this. He could take the higher ground. He could.

But truth be told, they both need this more.

Which is why he wordlessly tosses the roll at her face.]