exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

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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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[ Oh, right. He was supposed to be dead. He'd forgotten about that.

(He was never very good at remembering. Never.) ]

I… the machine here. It can bring you back.

[ His eyes squint, just a little. ]

[The machine is able to do that? Just bring people back? Of course, she's not terribly surprised to hear it. People come back from the dead all the time, except for the ones that people really want to see back.

Unfortunately, Kate is only too used to that factor.]

The machine ... got it. [She makes a note, then, to not be surprised.] Wow, though, I really didn't expect to run into you here.

It's the moon. [ ... ]

Who exactly didja expect to meet?

My team. We've been jumping around a bit.

[She'd explain more, but the Avengers haven't exactly been receptive to their plights lately. Not that they could see that, and if Bucky is dead, does he still count as an Avenger?

Complicated. Their lives are complicated, and Kate is barely questioning it.]

... You know how it goes. [It's lamely added with a shrug.]

Oh. Right. [ He'd never met her whole team, had he? ]

The moon is kinda above my pay grade. [ He's been saying that a lot. The truth is, he'd been short shortsing around aliens and robots since he was sixteen. But maybe he never felt like he fit in then, either. ]

Clint mentions that his bags of money apparently come from the Avengers, but I guess that's above my pay grade, too. [Not that Kate ever needed a pay grade, not until recently. She's learned to make do without in her own way, but she's not what she'd call "used to it" just yet.

She could also add that this moon experience isn't exactly sanctioned, what with her running around and dating a guy who got kicked out of the Avengers, but who ever does sanctioned stuff? Not them.

So she doesn't mention anything, just trying to be as casual as possible. It really has been a while since she last saw him, and her smile, already present, widens when she remembers Eli's reaction to her reaction to him. It feels like it was so long ago. Comparably, she's an adult, complete with questioning whether she belongs on a team like hers.]

Either way, any chance I can count on you to show me the ropes a little? I'm not expecting anyone else from my team. [If they were there, she'd have a message already. They're dependable that way.] I wouldn't mind the head start.

That guy also blew up my house. [ Bucky thinks Kate is smarter than Clint Barton. But— wow, it'd been a while since he thought about either of them. A while since he got stuck here, and a while in other prisons, other sorts of loneliness, before then.

Knocking on Barton came back easy. And comforting. It was comforting to have someone to hear it. ]

Sure. I mean… I can try. [ You really want Steve, for that kind of thing, Bucky thinks. But then, that's what he always thinks. ]

If it helps—[she doubts it does, but Clint Barton, love him though she may, is the very epitome of someone who is an expert in making a wreck out of his life]—he's done way worse to himself. And he can barely dress himself.

[Of course, that's by Kate's standards. There's some affection to her words, even if they're currently estranged in their partnership. They are both Hawkeye, after all.]

And thanks. I'll repay you in fun Hawkeye stories. [Ones that don't involve her, of course. And ones that are particularly lighthearted. She's certain she can find a few.]

No way. I wanna keep being mad at him about my house. [ Which was really Steve's house that Bucky decided was his. After Steve died. And, speaking of dressing: ] Your outfit's different.

[ He's not dead, of course, not really. But he wonders how isolated he's been. ]

So— [ Geez Louise is Steve better suited for this kind of thing ] You got any questions?

I put something new together again when I got back into heroing. [Not that she ever really stopped, but her previous thing was something that, while expensive, wasn't as well thought out. She kind of had to put it together quickly.]

Anyway ... is there any kind of organized superhero ... thing here? [Good phrasing. But she somehow doubts the Avengers would work in any kind of official capacity.]

You mean, like a team? No. [ And he's not sure if he'd join if there was. ]

People disappear too much for anything to stick.

[People disappear too much for anything to stick. The idea gives her some reason to worry, especially given the reason they're here at all. If they're supposed to be helping, holding on to people is important, as far as she's concerned.

Of course, she also doesn't like the idea of people just coming and going because they're people. There is that additional aspect that makes her uneasy with it all.]

How often do people disappear? ... Why do they disappear?

They don't control the machine that well.

[ He was skeptical of this, at first. In his experience people didn't disappear on accident. But after about a year here, he knew it made the most sense. ]

They don't choose who they bring in, either.

[The second point of clarification tells her that they can't just call in the bigger guns (the other Avengers) and set them loose on solving this problem.

Of course, Kate wouldn't mind her team hacking at it, either. She'd prefer it.]

Almost sounds like a recipe for "don't get too attached."

You must be used to it.

[ He is. ]

It's not that I want to be.

[But she is, in a way; her ability to not respond to things strongly is usually repressed under the weight of rarely spoken thoughts. It's how she functions these days.]

[ He smiles, a small thing. ]

We don't always get to be what we want. Just gotta try your best, anyhow.

[She smiles back, because—well, isn't that their model? The Young Avengers, anyway.]

Oh, at least we do try.

Yeah. [ He's glad to see her, in some twisted way, even though he knows he shouldn't be glad to see anybody. He likes Kate. ] I know you do.

[For her part, it's still surreal to see him again, but these things happen.

Still, she senses a winding down in conversation, and she's still got to have this place mapped out.]

Thanks. Comes with the gig, right? [She turns away from her former position.] I'm going to go have a look around, but keep in touch. If there are fewer of us, it's better to keep tabs. [At the least, they might have similar approaches to things. ... Sort of.]

It ain't like there's far to go.

[ He's very prepared to vanish. It's one thing he knows he is good at. ]

Yeah, but I'd rather avoid what might happen if that ever is untrue. [It's her tendency to hook everyone back in together, to keep tabs on people, and to take care of them. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but she tries.]

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