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

[it doesn't, at first - not until Artie turns on the video mode of his own tablet]

There, you see? ... But yes, it's ... somewhat like chemistry in the way that conversion is involved. But there's also electricity, which is its own ball of wax to explain. And I don't know how much of your time you want me to take up going on and on and on about how these sort of things work ...

[hint: you'd be here at least all day, because this is Artie]

[ The sight of Artie's face on his tablet while the man is right there just deepens his frown. It seems like a topsy turvy mirror of sorts and even mirrors are never so clear. ]

Do you see my face there?

I do. [he slides his over so Cesar can see. and he'll even hear their voices in stereo... gasp!] Whatever is in front of one screen can be seen and heard by the person on the other end.

[he picks his up and holds it out at arm's length to show off the milling crowd of people behind Cesar] See? ... So, if you get lost, you can contact someone, and say "this is what I see, do you know where I am?".

Of course, there are also maps, which are a lot more useful for that sort of thing, but ... I'm just showing you ways to think outside the box. Er. Tablet, as it were.

[ He looks at the man as if he needs someone to magic away these tablets before his head explodes, but then he tries a hesitant laugh instead. ]

Alright. What else can it do but show images and sounds?

It's surprising, I know. [Artie gives him a sympathetic look. he can only imagine how bizarre all of this must be for someone from centuries in his relative past ... or a world similar to it]

It holds information - several books' worth, called a database. You can access that by touching this point, here, and use certain words to search for the information you want. It will mostly tell you about this world, what's available to us, and the missions that everyone else has run in the past.

[ He presses the indicated point too hard, as if pressing a physical button instead of just touching the screen. How else would the mechanics work otherwise? ]

And how do I write words onto the tablet?

This icon, here, brings up the keyboard, and you touch the letters you want to use. Also, its very sensitive.... You actually don't have to press very hard at all. Just a little tap.

[ He tries it as indicated, pleasantly surprised to see that the alphabet, at least, is familiar to him. He tries typing his own name to start, C E S A R E, typing more gently this time. He shows it to the man for his approval. ]

And yours?

Edited 2013-08-15 11:23 (UTC)