(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

[grooves]

[ on the contrary, shiki's kind of eager to go in. she'd approached the door with his words in mind, wondering if there WAS any way to make their choice. what would happen if they defied the Initiative, if they refused missions, etc.

would they be erased?

but then his question comes, and she turns to him, thinking all over again. this feels like an important answer... which of course, is why she's so hesitant at first. ]

...Well, I think it's like you said. We don't really have a choice, do we?

[ no choice but to trust them. in the end, shiki's belief in people wins out, and she wills herself to stay positive. ]

I think they deserve a chance... y'know, at least for now. We can always work things out later, when we've got a better feel for how things are here.

[ together, they can do anything. ]

[cynics]

[ neku is still relatively new to the whole trust concept, all things considered, not to mention meaningful relationships, so he's not particularly enthusiastic on getting involved with these guys while lacking any clear direction if he should be or not, but it's true that they don't get much of a choice in this scenario. as long as neither of them get hurt in the process... it should be okay. and there were a lot of other people in their shoes, this time, so when he considers that the pressure sort of lessens. ]

... Yeah. [ a nod, followed by rubbing the back of his neck for a second. ] I guess...we can decide for ourselves. We've gotta clash in order to figure things out, right? And we've got time.

[ something they didn't really have before, but it still goes to say that standing around worrying won't get them anywhere. he finally takes to approaching the door himself, pausing when he catches up to shiki. ] Let's go.

[grooves]

[ it doesn't really take a genius to tell how difficult it is for him. but shiki's glad. she's glad, because this is already progress from the neku she knew before -- and she finally begins to realize how much he meant it when he told her he'd changed.

when she somehow... became the thing he valued the most.

she opens the door wider with that lingering thought, smiling as she steps aside for him. ]

After you.

[ ...and then she adds, after a pause during which his words sink in: ]

...Sometimes clashing isn't so bad.

[cynics]

[ -- huh?

naturally, the statement is something neku had been made to understand after... everything that happened, but it hadn't occurred to him that it was something shiki might not have hooked onto yet -- moments like these were always a reminder of just how much shiki was confused about things as he was. it's... nice, to be able to figure things out together again.

so he nods before passing the doorway, sort of half-smiling knowingly. ]

...Yeah.

1/2

[grooves]

[ -- a smile.

she's actually distracted for a moment; it's so rare to see him like that. it actually boosts her confidence a little. if she can manage to make him smile, even in a situation like this, maybe she can do it again after all.

he said it himself, right?

she was his entry fee... the most important thing. ]

[grooves]

[ ... heh.

well, even if she is, there's no doubt beat or rhyme could help do the same thing. so she walks in and starts to look around.

it's actually a bit quieter in here. so much easier to think. ]

It's huge...

[ she blurts it out without really meaning to, as an observation, though the shock in her voice fades quickly. ]

No surprise there. If we're supposed to train here, we'll need all the room.

[cynics]

Yeah... Guess they didn't pull any punches.

[ it's easier for him to contain his wonder, but there's no denying this initiative group had resources. neku's eyes scan the place -- it really didn't feel like they had stepped "indoors" so much as they had stepped past a gate. but thank you based god for the roof; fighting in rain was not something he was keen on trying anytime soon.

training, though... neku raises an eyebrow the more he looks around. normally, he'd train by crushing noise, but... sparring was the way to go here, he guesses. it'd probably be something like fighting the reapers except with a lot less murderous intent which would be pretty sweet, in his opinion. y'know, except for the part where it involved socializing. he will practically be socializing under duress as far as he is concerned -- definitely not how he expected his second chance at life and people to go, considering the last time he did this was in the game.

catching sight of the right hall, neku stalls. library, right? briefly tapping shiki with a loose-hanging hand and pointing with the other -- ]

Let's see what's up over that way.

[grooves]

[ sparring... it isn't something she imagined ever doing herself. the noise were enough, but someone like beat could get into the idea. she can just picture it. just where is he, anyway...?

shiki's not paying too much attention to neku -- just making her own observations as she walks, about all the equipment she sees, all the people. finally, she feels the tap on her shoulder and turns around.

...ah. ]

Sure. It's a lot less crowded...

[ which means it'll probably be quieter.

makes sense for a library. ]