exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(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

[Hold please.

Gold stares. He blinks. He glances over to the side to make sure no one's paying too close attention. Glances to the other side. And then he steps closer, guard up, though he's hardly in attack mode. Strangers knowing him in an equally strange realm is disconcerting, but strangers being friendly about it is even more so, and there are too many people around to make a show of it.

Something is decidedly not right about this, however. A cooler head will have to prevail, regardless of his hackles being raised. He can't chance anything going wrong.]

About five minutes ago. It seems my gracious tour guide failed to inform me I was expected.

Edited 2013-11-02 23:36 (UTC)

[Jesse's face falls. He knows what that means. It's not Mr. Gold's fault, of course. This stuff happens all the time. But it's disappointing, anyway. Jesse tries valiantly to maintain his smile, even if he looks sadder now, and gives a dismissive little wave.]

Sorry, um - I'm Jesse. Jesse Pinkman. We used to know each other in another world, but that's - yeah, don't worry. It's cool.

[Gold looks, for just a moment like he might shrug that off with a "no harm meant," all cordial smiles, and leave the boy to it. But he doesn't actually leave. His smile remains, a bit tight, a bit suspicious, but he's just desperate enough to be interested, so he turns back.]

Well, if you know me, then you know that's not something I can simply let lie.

[He knows this realm not a bit and whatever realm this boy came from even less (he's a bit too old for Neverland, so he doubts it's some person from his future and that's as far as his own future reaches, as far as he plans), but the latter doesn't matter and the former is a place he's going to need to get his bearings in quickly.]

It's a bit unbalanced, isn't it? You know me, but I don't know you. Aside from a name.

[Which a name is generally all one needs.]

We used to work together.

[Better to put that out there. The truth is best, right? He doesn't have anything to hide from Mr. Gold, especially knowing that pissing the guy off is a really bad idea. There's a wide-eyed innocence to Jesse, though, that lends sincerity to everything he says. He isn't, after all, frequently compared to a loyal dog for no reason.

He's not stupid, though. Without being too suspicious about it, he lowers his voice when he elaborates:]

I helped you out at your pawn shop. We were, um, business partners. Arranged a lotta good deals. It was a good time, you know? No hard feelings if you forgot. I got amnesia for a little while, too.

Sounds about right. [It's a lot of talk is what it is. Gold has zero reason to trust a word of it and wouldn't be surprised if he was given a reason to later. Later implying that he's willing to do give him the benefit of the doubt now.

Well, what's the harm?]

Business partners. [He chuckles. The closest thing he's ever had to a business partner is Jefferson. He can see a bit of that in him. A bit of something else too- something he wouldn't want to put a name to, even if it was more than a half-formed idea.] That is fascinating. It's unfortunate I don't recall, but it would be inconvenient to dissolve a partnership on that alone.

[Something might jog his memory- assuming there's a memory to be jogged.] I am, after all, in a less than desirable position. [He waves a hand. He sure as hell doesn't want to owe anyone any favors this soon- especially not anyone who has some leverage on him, but he's betting on Jesse not being the type. He can carve his way here if he chooses. It would just help to have someone a bit more... knowledgeable.

It's not as if he's a real threat.]

[Jesse smiles again. Oh, good. Mr. Gold isn't mad at him. Or... Well, he's hiding it okay if he is, which means there probably won't be a fight or anything.]

Whatever you need, I got your back. You treated me right when nobody else did, so even though you always said I don't owe you, I still owe you. You know what I'm saying?

[Well, it probably sounds nonsensical to anyone eavesdropping, but Jesse treats it like an inside joke. Gold will get it. Probably.]

[That must have been some partnership. He does get it, even if it lacks context. There's been few people he's been willing to do anything for free for. Henry comes to mind. Henry, who...

He doesn't want to think about that right now. Circumstances being what they are (and were, in Jesse's case), it's not an unheard of concept. And there's an unfortunate ache in seeing someone that eager to please him, by all appearances. Someone who is or very close to the same age as Bae looked-

Ah. There it is.

He straightens to his full height, not letting the fact that such a thought slipped through.] I do, indeed. [And now the tables are turned. He's thankful either to some memory he doesn't have or some alternate self he's never met that this was made possible. He truly did plan for everything.

But there's no sense harping on any of that. Whatever it is, it will be as it will be.]

What can you tell me about all this? [He glances behind him, at the people milling about, and then turns back.] I have every fact I could ever want, but I'd say it's mostly regurgitated and biased information, provided by someone I sincerely doubt has actually been in the thick of things. Something with a little more firsthand experience behind it might be more palatable.

[Jesse nods. He's a goddamn expert when it comes to this place. He smacks his lips thoughtfully while he gives a glance around, wondering where to even start with this. There's a lot.]

I guess the first thing you oughta know is the Initiative wasn't lying to you about any of it. The war, the time travel, all the stuff the U.E. can do... One hundred percent true. I seen it with my own eyes. And if you're wondering why the Initiative don't just send us home, it's cause the U.E. can track us back to our worlds. They tried sending this one guy back and the U.E. destroyed his whole planet, so... We're stuck here. For now. Probably 'til we can get rid of the U.E. for good, is my guess.

And that's easier said than done, I take it?

[He can't help but sound a bit disgruntled. Though if there was a way of getting Henry out of Neverland before the U.E. could nuke it and then them deal with Pan and his Lost Ones, it would solve a hundred problems, but that wasn't much of a plan.

Something to consider if he gets desperate enough, he supposes.] It must be going terribly well, if they've been reduced to a base far out of reach of enemy attacks. [Hello, sarcasm.] But I do admire the creativity.

[He would just rather not be on the goddamned moon. Second star to the right was not supposed to be THIS CLOSE TO ACTUAL STARS.]

Most of 'em are dead now. The Initiative, I mean. The U.E. wiped 'em out a month ago. It's just us and a few survivors left, and we kinda suck at organizing without the Initiative telling us what to do, so... Here we are.

What this whole place needs is like a leader. Like strategic, you know? Somebody who's gonna work good with the Initiative but also get us lazy asses all invested in the fight. But mostly everybody sits around complaining about being here and not trying to think of a way to fix it, so... Yeah, it ain't going terribly well.

[Gold has to resist the urge to cringe visibly. He may have been a few months at the front, avoiding actual battle by sheer luck and numbers and one well-timed sledgehammer incident, but he knows the ins and outs of warfare enough to know that morale is the most dangerous thing to lose.] Then it's a war already lost until then.

[Never let it be said that Gold doesn't immediately get to business. He wants to leave, but leaving won't happen unless they're proactive.] I might have some experience in this.

[If he can turn the tides on an Ogre War and manipulate an entire realm to his whims all for the sake of getting his son back, he can surely do the same here to get back to his grandson.] The key is knowing what they want- besides the obvious of course. Desperation will drive a person to do nearly anything. After that, it's just a matter of knowing where to move them.

[Jesse smiles. If Gold has experience with this stuff, then Jesse has total faith in him to rally the people or whatever has to be done.]

That sounds right, yeah. Like... Like incentive.

Clearly getting home isn't enough. They need a higher form of reward. Something a bit more tangible.

[It's like rigging the election in Storybrooke all over again. That had been simple, in retrospect. This will be far more difficult, but he can't say he does't adore a challenge.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only