(no subject)

[initiates]

Date: December 1st
Location: The Observatory.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Observatory after their initial briefings.
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. 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; they show multiple variations of satellite images, focused on... somewhere snowy. It's difficult to say more than that, but those that record heat readings seem to suggest there are people there, where ever "there" is. It's night outside the great wide windows, and the lunar landscape isn't much to look at right now. But, hey, at least all the lights are on, right? No more creepy red emergency lighting upon arrival — not that you'd know anything about that.

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! ]]

Comments

[velveteened]

( luckily for kougyoku he doesn't overly question that she seems to be counting 'two people' as 'so many friends' because frankly he knows the feeling. )

See, you're already off to a great start here!

omg i swear i don't usually fail quite this much

[velveteened]

Oz doesn't laugh, but he does grin. He is, in fact, another one of those bizarre humans who really get off on verbal punishment for some reason (and in fact the person most important to him sometimes pushes him down staircases so, you know, what standards?), but that's not necessarily something he's self-aware enough to admit. Instead, he starts counting off on his fingers.

"You answered me when I spoke to you; you're still here talking to me; you've answered my questions, too; you haven't threatened me at all, even as a joke; and it's hard to say for sure, of course, but I don't think you've lied to me even once either."

[velveteened]

"A machine!"

He repeats it cheerfully, but not without understanding. The technology for it isn't something he'd pretend to grasp, and it certainly doesn't exist anywhere in his world. It's more a testament to the amount of time he's spent here than anything else that devices like these are something he can talk about like they're commonplace. As for her question —

"There's an announcement. Though, that's only for missions they need everyone or a lot of people to go on. You can always go on smaller missions by yourself or with only a few other people if you want."

it's fine it's fine!! i am like, molasses half the time

[crab]

Oz's list renders Karkat momentarily speechless, which is an achievement in itself. His logic is actually reasonably sound, when put like that, and Karkat actually struggles to find a way -- any way -- to refute it.

Shit. Maybe he has been friendly. Or something approaching friendly. Karkat's version of friendly.

"That's not called being friendly, dumbass, that's called not being a total douche for no apparent reason, but if you want me to threaten you, I can come up with any number of ways to do so. We can start with how I'm about to shove your head so far up your own wastechute you'll discover the pocket dimension where you must be keeping the vast quantities of bullshit you seem to be full of."

sob okay

[velveteened]

"Isn't that the same thing?"

He asks it with an air of far too much innocence and then laughs. He's teasing, though to him the two are fairly close anyway. As for the "threat," it only feeds his laughter in a way that isn't unkind but probably really, really irritating.

[exconned]

When she first hears his voice, she retreats within herself, wondering if it's one of the staff calling her to return. However, once the cadence of his tone registers, she freezes. She'd know that voice anywhere.

Her eyes widen, as she turns her head, her brow furrows in shock and relief. Without a second thought, she straightens, taking a few steps to close the distance between them and wrap her arms around her husband.

Wayne. She's not alone, after all.

He's here.

[mallarkey]

It's easy to take her into his arms, like breathing or maybe even easier than that; a month isn't that long, really, given that just a few months ago it had been two years since last they'd seen each other.

Still, it's different. He hasn't had time to stop and think about much yet, hasn't really allowed himself because he knows if he lets himself he's apt to lose his mind without her there. She is here. Real.

"Thank God," he mutters, pulling back to look at her. "Dahlia-- baby, how are you?"

[exconned]

The familiar warmth of his embrace alleviates some of her distress. When he lets go, Dahlia exhales softly to focus on his question.

"Confused as hell," she responds, and her remark would almost seem comical if it wasn't so genuine. "They took you too?"

[mallarkey]

"Yeah," he says with a halfway nod, in a voice that's nearly just an exhale of breath. "Just the two of us, so far. But the kids are-- what do you know about all this so far?"

He doesn't move his hands off her shoulders, staying close as long as she'll allow. Relieved, too, that maybe her confusion is what's staving off the anger he expected to be met with if ever he saw her here.

[exconned]

"I know we're on the damn moon." Incredulity quickly fades into indignation.

The anger that Wayne's expecting appears; only, it's not directed at him.

Dahlia pauses, as his words catch her attention. "What about the kids?"

[redsea]

Yeah. [ She's still crying, but she's smiling a little. ] Thank you, Oz... I'm so happy. I'll be a good friend.

[timehalt]

[ ...nO. ]

That won't solve the problem!

[inafadingcrown]

[He really is too wonderful; somehow, he always seems to know what she needs. She pulls back when he speaks, breaking the embrace with a light kiss to his cheek.]

She will be greeting the other new arrivals, I imagine. I came as soon as I felt your presence; I thought it best that we spoke first.

[inafadingcrown]

Very little surprises me these days. [An little enigmatic smile at that.] But mayhaps you are right.

[changeitroundsome]

After all, even the man who's seen everything can be surprised once in a while. There's always the chance of something new being around the bend.

[blondtactician]

"Yes, but it is said we cannot simply be sent home at our request with those machines," Armin replies carefully. He figures that will make his opinion clear enough: they do not really understand how any of it works, actually, and they cannot trust they are being told the whole story. "During the attempted coup they tried to take the controls of that thing." Not a bad idea on its face, but doomed to fail so long as fellow Transports also opposed it. Armin himself views the conflict with detachment, he wants to do what's right but he'd rather be home, fighting, waiting for his life to pick up and end up whatever horrible way it's apparently destined to.

"I haven't time-traveled yet, aside from coming here, so I'm afraid I can't describe it to you," Armin admits. He made plans with Eren that didn't happen, but he's not about to admit that to Annie. She wouldn't be any comfort to that hurt. "If you have any wish to, I can send you over a copy of the notes I've made about the network activity on the tablets, what people have said about prior missions. Or you can read up for yourself."

Not that Annie's not much one for those academic pursuits.

[reassures]

[Thankfully Nill has a lot of experience with people who are less than friendly, so she doesn't seem bothered in the least.]

What do your friends look like?

[manifestum]

[ Lee envies that. You have no idea how much he wishes he could do that sometimes. ]

Couldn't say, I don't know them. But hey, always worth trying. You know, when you're somewhere other than the moon.

[manifestum]

[ He does take a quick glance around the room, and there is a pretty wide range of costumes around here, but... ]

I see weirder every day at school.

[ He's not necessarily exaggerating in some ways. That's the sad thing. ]

But wait a minute...

[ He's pulling some weird chunk of golden metal out of his backpack and holding it in front of him. ]

When you say their weapons are sentient, which I'm pretty sure I heard the lady drop that term too, what exactly do you mean by that? I mean, I had them mess around with this key, [ you know, the chunk of metal in his hand that doesn't look remotely like a key? ] but it's about as inanimate as it's always been.

[manifestum]

[ Never!! Well, eventually, but not right now! ]

Say what now? What's that about endangering our own worlds?

[iphigeneia]

"Levy, then." It was a bit familiar, but in this remarkable situation, Felicity could move past all of that. She could benefit from having some friends, and perhaps in tempering her own dour humor. "You may call me Fee, if you wish."

[cradlerobbed]

[ He doesn't agree! He's meet people here he gets along with, but in a lot of ways he's felt alone. He definitely doesn't have anyone he can rely on the way he can rely on most of his friends from home.

He holds on his hand. ]

It might be easier to show you that. As for what changed... when I first showed up here, I actually arrived on the planet itself. Several of the people like us, brought from other worlds, were kidnapped by the United Earth. We staged a rescue mission, which was a success... except shortly after someone figured out that the United Earth had decided to get rid of the people of Exsilium once and for all. The Initiative brought the Transports up here, but the civilians of Exsilium weren't so lucky.

[ Well... they hadn't been, but... He looks over at the snow filled scene on the screens nearby. ]

[vocalizer]

[ Well, it'll at least get a smile in return from Aoba. He's a little uneasy still, since that's a strange question to ask, but he's been a new kid before. He knows what a startling situation this is to find yourself in. ]

I'm glad. I hope you get answer to the rest of your questions.

[astion]

A shimmering wall? Okay....

[She is not quite sure what to make of that but surely she will figure it out for herself eventually!]

[astion]

Well...they wouldn't bring us here if they didn't need our help. And in this situation...if I can help anyone who gets hurt, then I'd be glad that my healing can help and be useful. It doesn't matter what world it is, if people need help, I won't just sit by and ignore that.

[The question almost seems a strange one to Estelle, given how natural helping others is to her. But she doesn't know anything of this man and his circumstances to really judge.]