exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

Date: August 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

If anything, I think my luck's hit an all time low.

[Can't really blame her for feeling this way. Anyways, she looks over their setup and...]

Why the mask?

Aw, c'mon now, just cause the likes a' you guys are trapped here for a bit don't mean it's gotta be all bad, does it?

[He places a hand to one side of his mask.]

I got some awful disfigurement under here. Find it's easier movin' around in public if it ain't on display.

Oh... right.

[Did Alex actually believe him? Hard to really say at this point, but she wasn't particularly wanting to press the issue any further.]

So what's this all about?

[The fact he isn't disguising his voice says a lot about how much he cares to keep up the act - it's a little muffled but easy to understand despite the mask, so it wouldn't be difficult to put two and two together if they heard him speaking without it.]

Just a card game, is all! We flip over the top card, put it back into the deck, shuffle, then show the top card again.

If it's the card from before the shuffle, I win, if it ain't, you win! 15 marques for ya' if you win, 15 for me if ya' lose.

Interested?

[It all sounded simple enough, however, Alex was still somewhat hesitant.]

I'd like to, but... I don't really have that much money to spend right now.

[All she had was the allowance they had given her and even that was more money than Alex was used to seeing.]

I really want to make it last as long as I can.

[And finally getting some decent clothes.]

No worries! Honestly, it ain't for everyone.

[He isn't too bothered - there'd be others.]

Lemme guess - brand new?

Huh? Oh... Yeah, I just got here.

Is it that obvious?

[of course it is, Alex.]

Well, ya' don't gotta lotta money an' don't exactly look like yer' from around here either, so it wasn't too hard to guess.

Nothin' wrong with bein' cautious though; could be in for a long stay.

Do you really think I'll be here for that long?

[Could the months really turn into years?]

I wouldn't helping them with what I can, but...

[Alex doesn't want to die here.]

Well, I suppose it ain't the same for everyone or nothin' - but we got some longstandin' transports who mention bein' here for upwards of a year so far.

You could be here for who knows how long, girl. May as well make the most of it.

A whole year?

[Not the sort of news she was looking to hear, sadly.]

You're probably right, about putting my time here to good use. [Now all she needs is to find something to actually do.]

Oh, my name is Alex, by the way. Nice to... meet you.

Pleasure's all mine, I'm sure - name's Gin.

[No fucks given about concealing his identity - the disguise is mostly so people don't recognize his appearance and tell people he's untrustworthy and the game's probably rigged.]

If yer' lookin' to kill some time, ya' could always focus on managin' yer' weapon. Trainin' room's usually awful busy.

I don't really know how I feel about using it. [killing her dead pimp was one thing. but this... was on an entirely different level.]

What kind of weapon did you get...?