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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! ]]

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I guess you could say that.

[He'd rather do without the lesson, but that's the way things are.]

It's definitely a reason to keep fighting.

Not much, I admit, except the foreign technology and missions.

But would your friends know you're special?!

[Eren is, probably, the worst person in Exsilum to break this news to and not expect a fight. Humanity's fate lies close to his heart, and he'll fight to the last to defend it and then some. So yeah, he's having a hell of a hard time accepting that there's nothing left. Not without seeing it for himself. It's a worst-case scenario he's dedicated his life to preventing, even thinking about it sets his chest to constrict and his blood to boil. He's obviously upset about this. It's not even "his" humanity and he's upset about this.

But he's still plenty wiped out from shifting in the forest, and all this yelling is taking a toll on him. He's drawn himself up tall and taut and angry, and the expenditure of energy he doesn't have catches up to him at last. He pushes himself away from the wall he'd been braced on- probably to get himself in Shinji's face, possibly to steel himself for a fistfight- but he doesn't make it that far. He spits a curse and drops to a knee when something in him spasms painfully, leaves him doubled over and gasping and a little pathetic on the ground. Breathing heavily for a few seconds, but it still doesn't shut him up.

He's not entirely unrealistic. Dead is dead but-]

If you can't change it then what are we even doing here?

[Fighting a war with the United Earth through time travel. Isn't that what they'd tried so hard to impress on him in the debriefing? He doesn't get how it's supposed to work exactly, but he gets the gist. That they've got a way to go back and change things that have already happened. As ridiculous as it seems, in light of universe-hopping and space travel he's willing to grab onto that hope.]

If they can do all this-

[There's a way. There has to be.]

[ He's fifteen cut him a break :(

He'll take it and make a show of tapping on different sections of the screen to open up different menus. ]

As far as anyone can tell? To try to replicate their powers. The people of this world don't seem capable of any artes, and don't have any of the gifts that some of the people from other worlds have, so they needed them close to study how their abilities worked.

... Magic healing powers? Say what now?

[ Oh look, he's breaking it already so that he can have his hands free to drag his hands down his face. ]

You have got to be kidding me.

[ Oh well, that's acceptable perhaps. ]

Oof!

[ Jake sure wasn't expecting that one though! Gonna try to keep it together as best as he can. ]

You don't say?

[ He doesn't believe her, not even for a second. Everyone is afraid of him. He's come to expect that. If she doesn't show it, well, she's just better at hiding it than others. ]

Yes. [ He hedges on whether to elaborate, and how much. ] I can't see it or anything. It's just a feeling.

[Continue acting like you're the freakiest one here, Nico. She's a low-class citizen who killed a good chunk of her village.]

Well, it's definitely not as weird as some of the things I've seen.

[Sprout wings and then we'll talk.]

I hope you're not so scared you're plannin' on runnin' away on us.

If it helps Hitsugaya ain't all that scary, an' I'd never consider messin' with a pal of mine, so that's two you don't gotta worry about.

[Ha ha.]

Well, yeah! Some people have those here. Different worlds, and all.

[Hands on her hips, she stops for a moment, considering that question. Hmm, hmm... Fire... And underwater?

Cheerfully, she answers,] I don't know! I haven't tried those yet.

I've gotta find some fire and a lake or... or something now to try!

It's fortunate for Armin, then, that the Initiative had gotten to her first before she had run into him on the streets of Stohess. This whole situation might feel a little more familiar, and that would be enough to make her even more alarmed. Still, she can sense the looming danger of refusing his 'friendly offer,' so she has very little choice than to reply with a (very slightly terse), "Just let me know, then." He would most likely have to find her in the station, considering she doesn't understand the tablet any better even after his very brief demonstration.

All at once. That did seem to be how things tended to happen. It had certainly been that way back home as well, with lulls spanning years between the attacks on the walls. Of course, that had been planned, but Annie wouldn't know of any correlation with that here.

She isn't so willing to go jumping at the opportunity to go on some foraging mission for the Initiative (especially if she had to go with someone else), but the virtual reality thing sticks out to her. Someone had mentioned it to her earlier, but not provided a very good answer as to what it was. "The virtual reality, what is it? Some kind of training?"

[That name rings familiar.]

Hitsugaya? Ahh, he wouldn't be that grumpy guy, would he? We switched bodies, once! It was a preeetty interesting experience.

[He can't hide the flinch he gives when Eren pushes towards him, the stuttering step he almost takes. Even then his fists were clenched, his eyes narrowed. He grit his teeth.

He hated being told how to feel, even after all this time. If Eren wanted to push it, Shinji would bite back. If he chose to give up, what was the point in telling him to have hope? Time travel can fix this timeline, they told them. But even if they went back and "fixed" his world...

Could they even do that? Erase the Angels, the Evas...

(Erase Kaworu again--)

Where Eren had swelled in his anger Shinji shrinks, condensing on himself, hunching his shoulders and curling every bit of feeling into a tight ball. Which is why, when he falls, Shinji doesn't move to help him at first. He stares before a tiredness creases its way into him, the ball of anger dissipating into an ugly aftertaste. He slumps.]

... you're hurt, aren't you. [A statement, not a question.]

Right, right... is there any power that isn't represented in one of the people here already? Because I'm getting the feeling we've basically got the whole spectrum covered.

Um...

I don't think we have any zombies?

[It would be inaccurate to say the fight's gone out of him, but it's lost quite a bit of its momentum. Trying to stand again too soon lands him back on the floor. So as Shinji considers him, he sits, draws his knees up, leans into the wall and knocks his head back against it in his frustration. Breathing shallow and fast. Pointedly not-looking-up, he sets his jaw, exhales sharply through his nose.]

Fuck you.

[Meant to be spit out with force, but it comes away as more sullen than venomous.]

[Now the look he gives her is sharp. He's encountered only a few humans who thought that way, and even a smaller percentage of them were from the planet below.]

What world are you from?

I'm from Terca Lumireis. Like the rest of my friends, if any are here as well. Why? I didn't say anything wrong, did I?

[Because um. He seems kind of confused or something? Estelle isn't sure, tilting her head slightly.]

"Yes. It's hard to explain, but they are able to actually simulate real situations and equipment. An upgrade of titan standees and training drills." Armin's almost grateful he's running into people he needs to explain these things to, attempting to simplify them so others from his world will understand is actually helping process their use better too. He is glad, too, that he can show his worth to one of his class's tops soldiers.

His brains do have a lot of use in this context.

"I've put together some training materials that give a basic overview of different kind of weapons and technology the UE uses, and have used in past missions. Most missions are covert but it can't help to have the basics down. I can send you that information too, and if you want, help you set up a training program."

[That answer hits him like a dull slap--acknowledged, but without any force. Shinji regrets letting a scene like this play out. He hadn't wanted any attention drawn to either of them.]

Do you know where the infirmary is?

[He doesn't answer that. (He doesn't have a clue.) He's not too proud to ever accept help when he needs it, though he's exceedingly stubborn about it. But he's certainly too proud to accept anything he views as pity. Especially not from this guy. He lifts a hand to his eyes, as if he can physically knuckle the exhaustion (and the emotion) out of them.]

I don't need your help.

[He doesn't even really need the infirmary- his wounds heal quickly enough on their own. He just needs time to sleep off the aftereffects of shifting. With all this on top of what just happened in the forest, it'll be a long time before he can bring himself to settle down. (He might fall flat on his face, first. But Armin will manage to rein him in, in time.)]

Not the person you wanted to see?

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