open log » ❝ welcome to Exsilium ❞

[initiates]

Date & Time: Evening, 10th February 3312
Location: Transport Room
Characters: Open To All
Summary: Everyone is brought into the transport room at roughly the same time, in a great succession and flow of imported individuals. Everyone is being lead around in small bundles, or left to their own devices together inside the Initiative Hold.
Warnings: None.

Widespread and crowded, everyone is being transported into this unusually bright room with an efficiency that is almost horrifying. One after the other, new people are appearing -- being led, shown around and then ultimately abandoned with one final phrase; "Good luck."

The Initiative Hold is wide, like a small town in its depth and industry. You've received your weapon; you've got your keys, your netbook, and one of those robed strangers has shoved a small pouch full of what you can only assume is money into your open palm. You've been given an apartment, but where on earth -- are we on earth? -- is it? Your best opportunity right now is to mingle; at least, that's what everyone else appears to be doing. Those strangers in the robes have left. They're tending to the people who are arriving, one by one and in a quick procession. Energy bustles all around you, as you're strapped up with your sudden gifts and looking around.

Hey, maybe you'll even see some familiar faces.

Comments

[curepotion]

He threw a raised brow Jade's way at his prompt response. Riku supposed it was a sarcastic answer, and didn't ask deeper into it. At least, he wouldn't for the moment. He hadn't come to the side of the room to speak to others--he'd tried to get away from that--but he supposed he ensnared himself by speaking first. "No, not usually," he answered. "Am I wearing it wrong?"

[clinical]

Not a conversationalist by habit--sarcasm and insincerity were Jade's own special ways of managing social interaction when there was no purpose behind the conversation--Jade was a soldier. While none of his travelling companions had used the shield in combat, he was more than familiar with how it should be worn. "Not precisely. If I may?" He didn't really care whether Riku interpreted it as an offer to assist with the shield on his arm or if Riku thought Jade meant to demonstrate on his own. Jade just didn't care to see battle gear worn incorrectly on anyone but enemies.

[curepotion]

And Riku's sarcasm and cheekiness was his own way to hide his faults and push others away, to keep them as far as possible. Something people could easily see, but he didn't care as long as he stuck by doing it. He straightened and pushed himself off of the wall, legs long and stance straight as someone who had been trained to fight since childhood. "I guess." Seemingly passive, he strode to Jade's side and lifted his arm.

The dead nerves in his arm made it hard to maneuver much, and thus it was hard to not only adjust the shield himself, but to realize it was badly adjusted in the first place.

[clinical]

The movements had seemed off to Jade, and it was tempting to test for a confirmation of his hypothesis. With the efficacy of practice, he adjusted the shield to set as it should--and then tightened a strap too much. It should hurt. As if he hadn't just experimented on Riku for nerve damage, Jade said, "How does it sit? It should feel secure without pinching." In contrast to the insincerity, Jade's voice has dropped to the much more direct, pragmatic tone he uses for military conversation. Even his little experiment was not for Jade's amusement but to ascertain any weaknesses Riku might have that would be compromising.

[curepotion]

Where it should've hurt, it didn't. Riku's face was concentrated on the settings and how tight he should have the straps. The tone, however, was his first guess as to the fact that something had... gone wrong, or there was something different. He narrowed his eyes for a second, and glanced down at his arm. He wouldn't be able to tell if something was different.

"It feels fine." He chose to say, simply, and now kept his eyes trained even on Jade's. He'd like to know what had changed.

[clinical]

"It shouldn't." It was the same tone, complimented with blunt honesty. Jade loosened to what he thought would be appropriate, but there really was no certainty if Riku couldn't feel it. "You'll need extra training to compensate for the nerve damage, assuming no degree of recovery. This is the best I can make it without your input."

[curepotion]

Oh, that was what this was about.

For a moment, there was a startled, wide-eyed look encompassing his features. His stomach dropped--and it wasn't like he didn't already know his arm had been damaged by that fight, but he'd tried to avoid any solid news when he realized he couldn't just heal it back to health.

Once Jade finished, he brought his arm back quickly, feeling too exposed in an unfamiliar place to be comfortable. He wasn't sure if he appreciated Jade's analysis, having stubbornly run away from the possibility of actually being injured for so long. "That's not your decision to make," Rikku pointed out.

[clinical]

Quick as lightning, the voice changed back. "Indeed not. My apologies." His hands had returned to their home in his pocket. Riku was a fighter, Jade was certain of that much, even if he hadn't carried a shield before. "I wasn't aware that exposing allies to danger by refusing to acknowledge injury was common practice in your world. I'll be interested to hear how the battle strategies compensate. "

[curepotion]

"Pretty well." He brushed his long hair behind his shoulders. "I haven't lost a fight since it happened." Other than the battle where he'd gotten the injury--if that could even be considered a battle lost. Riku would admit that it was certainly a troubling injury, and irritating when he used to have full mobility in both arms, but he more than made up with it in his abilities and agility.

"Who are you, anyway?"

[clinical]

"Colonel Jade Curtiss." He didn't bother with the rest of it; he doubted the boy would have any idea where Malkuth was. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

[curepotion]

Riku wasn't sure if he shared the sentiment, and even though Jade had, in his opinion, lied by omission, he was honest enough to not say it back. "I'm Riku." His fingers brushed against the straps holding his shield in place, memorizing it as basically as he could. "Thanks." For what, he didn't say.

It was probably best to keep Jade at an arm's length. He turned away.