exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He sees what she's getting at with the doubts now, and his expression falls. ]

Mm... If they can't send us home now, they might not be able to even after their war is over.

[ Shit. ]

[She feels terrible that she's the one causing these expressions.

She nods slowly.]

Yeah... It's possible. [She tries to smile despite it.] But maybe the United Earth has something like that? So if we win the war, maybe the Initiative will have better technology to work with! It's not completely hopeless.

[ If it wasn't her it'd be someone else. This information would get to him no matter who delivered it. At least she's as nice as she can be in giving it to him.

And she says that, but he's not looking any happier at the idea here. ]

That's a pretty big "if" though, isn't it?

...Probably.

[There's a quiet sigh, but she shakes her head.] It's not good to lose all hope, though. I'm sure we'll find a way home somehow!

[ Good or not good doesn't change how easy it is to keep optimistic in a situation like this though. ]

I hope you're right about that.

Honestly? I do too.

[She forces a smile again.] Anyway, you should get out of the rain and dried off. Have you had a chance to find your housing yet?

[ Not the most reassuring thing she could say, but at least it's honest. He can't fault her for that.

The crestfallen look disappears at the mention of housing. ]

Ah, no. I just stepped out of their building a few minutes before I saw you.