exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

Date: November 1st
Location: The Observatory.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Observatory after their initial briefings. The zombie plot will not spill over into this area, this area is safe and unaffected! To face zombies, characters must leave the area, and please move to the event log with those threads.
Warnings: None.

Your arrival here has been very unceremonious. One second you were somewhere else, and now, very suddenly, your feet hit the glowing white of the Transporter pad, and you're here. You aren't alone, either. There's a crowd of others around you, each seeming just as bewildered, angry, or confused as you might feel. At the head of the group is a woman in purple robes, solemn and taciturn. She hurries over a quick overview of your intended purpose here, and gives direct answers when asked for them, but to most things she simply shows you how to access the tablet you've just been given, or tells you that the DITR's greeters will explain everything. On the tablet, you can find the history of this place and a record of what your new cohorts have experienced — although it won't have Network access for another 8 hours. Someone stands on hand to give you a weapon, and though the armory is now greatly reduced, you should be able to find something to suit you.

You're shepherded down a walkway tunnel and into the Observatory, where you will find screens mounted on three sides of the wide room. It's night outside the great wide windows, and the lunar landscape isn't much to look at right now; the only lighting comes from dull red emergency lights, but there are… noises. Listen carefully. Over the voices of your fellow Transports, now and then you might catch the sound of a scrape, or a low and muffled cry. It doesn't sound human. Are there animals up here?

You're free to explore the base, visit and use any of the VR rooms, or discover your new room and roommates, but try not to step out of any airlocks if oxygen is a requirement for your system.

Welcome to the moon base, and to the remains of Exsilium.

[[ ooc; As a note for players of current characters: please keep your root comments confined to the various groups and organizations that set up root comments to greet new characters! We highly encourage tagging around here, but since it's a log meant for new characters specifically, we ask that they be the ones to set up root threads to the entry. Thank you, and happy playing! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Disappointed?

[Roy is. A little. Not that mini-Dick isn't useful in a pinch. It's more that he's become accustomed to working with Nightwing, and from the looks of it, that's more than a few years down the line for the squirt.]

Of course it's me. Now that we both know who we are, you mind explaining what the hell is going on here? I mean, what's really going on here? Not the crap they're trying to sell.

No. No way. [ He's shaking his head already, and before he can really think it through any further he's leaping forward for a hug.

It's Roy. Even if he is old now; old and different like everyone else. It's something he should've been ready for, a contingency he's pretty sure Batman would have already thought of. ]

This is just- I mean it's weird. How did you get so old?

[He almost catches Roy off guard, but he catches Dick and hugs him back. It's only a little strange, since Dick is so young and small, and since the last thing Roy recalls from back home is the two of them wailing on each other until they were bloodied and bruised. As best friends do.]

It's a funny story, actually. Would you believe me if I told you that every time the earth goes around the sun, we get a year older?

Yeah, I think I had that one figured out already. [ He still sounds like Roy, and that makes it hard to keep the smile off his face. ]

I don't know if it's still in the welcome spiel, but the transporter doesn't know how to discriminate or anything. It just pulls people in from all over the timeline. You wouldn't believe how many times this has happened to me.

I don't wanna say that it's not very reassuring, but, well...

[He trails off, shaking his head. He's glad to see a familiar face, naturally, but then the whole idea that this place is real and he's stuck having to deal with it is very overwhelming.]

Where's everyone else?

They're around, I guess. [ And he offers a shrug that's just a little shy of being dismissive. As if wherever they only matters about as much as the proximity of the cookie table. ]

The big guy's not here. Ollie used to be, but I could never figure out if he was the right one.

It's- jeez. It's been almost a year and I've met one guy I actually knew before I got here. Can you believe that?

Ollie was here?

[For the first time since their embrace, Roy looks a little shaken. Not that he doesn't want to see Ollie, more that the last time he saw Ollie, Roy was in a hospital bed, riddled with bullets. Probably best not to tell Dick about that.]

You mean there's no one else here? It's just you and me?

[Because yeah, they make the most awesome team, but jfc no. No no no no no no no. It can't just be them. Where the hell are the other heroes? Roy can't deal with having a preteen sidekick!!!]

No... we have a bunch of people from home. You're just the first I actually knew ahead of time. Everybody else is way ahead of me. [ So is Roy, but that's... it's easy already to let that start to slip his mind. The first person, the first face in a year that's even a little bit familiar. Even if it took a minute to click.

But the shift in demeanor there is a little bit alarming. His brows draw closer together. ]

...Hey, I know it looks bad. But listen, I mapped out a lot of changes in a file if you want to read the cliff notes. [ And he unrolls his tablet so Roy can see. This thing is hella cool. ]

Did they pull you in without your costume? Cause we can probably fix that too. [ He's remade two Robin suits! ]

[He doesn't say much (strangely enough) as he watches Dick unroll the tablet, making note to try and take his apart later and see how the damn thing works.

He's about to ask something about the files when he has to take pause and look down at what he's got on. The red shit and black pants may seem boring and utilitarian, but they do the trick.]

What? This? This is my costume. [There's a sharp, amused chuckle to his voice.]

[ Well, that stops him cold. ]

...Really? [ Cause wow is that the last response in the world he'd been expecting. ] What happened to your mask?

I don't wear that anymore. [Which sounds pretty stupid, now that he says it aloud.]

You're not worried about your ID?

[ It's a mystifying idea, but still not totally foreign. At least not here, where he's spent months twisting himself into knots to keep the secret. Steph and Helena don't bother. Not anymore.

But that- that sure does sound like it's something that would predate showing up here today. ]

Sometimes I am. I worry about my daughter, but I--

[He stops short, realizing what he's said, looking a little sheepish.]

Yeah. Generally speaking, I'm not worried.

Your daughter? [ He's staring a little wide-eyed. ]

You have a kid now? When did you have a kid?

[On second thought, he totally could have eased into that big reveal. Oh well, here goes.]

She was born when I was twenty. She's almost six now.

...Wow. So that means you have to be- [ He's doing the math on his fingers, and when he gets to six he stops, tilting his head to look up at Roy again. His expression is just a little in awe. ]

I guess you really did grow up. [ Twenty-six is twice thirteen. He's lived a whole other life by now. A big, unfathomable, adult life. He ducks his head down sheepishly, because for some reason that makes him a little sad in a way he can't put into words. And Roy would probably think that's dumb.

But he's still Roy, isn't he? That's all that should matter now. ]

So you're an actual Dad now, huh? What's it like having a kid?

[Yes, he did grow up. They all grew up. And it's funny, looking at Dick now, like glimpsing into the past. The years don't seem so long. It was practically yesterday that they were thirteen and stupid and not afraid of anything. Roy almost wishes they could be like that again.]

It's like the best thing in the world. [His whole expression changes as he talks about Lian.] And also the craziest thing in the world. But mostly it's the best.