(no subject)

[initiates]

Date: September 1st
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings.
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

[reassures]

[THAT IS a good question to ask, and Nill just. Says nothing. In regard to it. Because honestly she's not that comfortable with it, but there hasn't been anyone she would want to live with instead, so it didn't make a difference.]

What about you? Have you been to your room yet?

[bloodthirsts]

Not yet. I was taking some time, trying to get my head around things.

[Meeting old enemies, violence, that sort of thing.]

Goodness knows what sort of roommates I might have. Hopefully open minded one's.

Um... what is the general sort of attitude to vampires around here? Are there any others you know of?

[reassures]

[Seras.... how have you had so much trouble with being back for just a few hours. Nill's wings flutter slightly, and she's grateful for the opportunity to mostly think about what's going on with Seras.]

I spoke to one a little while ago that called himself Spike. I haven't spoken to him since, but it didn't seem like anyone was upset to have him here.

[bloodthirsts]

[If you ever talk to Jan, Nill, you'll probably understand.]

It'd be nice to be somewhere again I can be open about it. There's probably stranger than me here.

[If past experiences are anything to go by.]

[reassures]

[PROBABLY. People from Seras's world tend to be worrying to begin with.]

I'm not sure vampires are very strange anymore.

[Not for Nill, anyway. They were sort of normal. But it might not be that way for everyone else.]

[bloodthirsts]

[She chuckles a little at that then looks more serious.]

So how has this place treated you? Have you been alright?

[Have you been safe eating properly, getting exercise, have the other kids played nice]

[reassures]

I've been fine. The natives here aren't happy with us right now, but they were kind when I arrived.

[So not the total shit that was life with natives in the Port. A small blessing. Something occurs to Nill though, and after a pause she adds,]

I tell most people here that I'm from Canada.