transport log » ❝ welcome to Exsilium ❞

[initiates]

Date & Time: Sept 23rd, 2012.
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports have all arrived and have been shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings.
Warnings: None.

You've just been hustled and bustled through mazes of information and literal, wide corridors of the Initiative Hold and you've been equipped with your weapon—be it a gun, a sword, or even your existing powers. They've handed you this light netbook and a small pouch of coins (or a debit card, if you're more inclined), and there are several Transports before and after you going through the very same motions. You can hear the Greeter's voice as she walks alongside large groups, telling them all about the history of this place and sharing with you your purpose here in a hurried and urgent tone. "This isn't standard," she's saying, walking perhaps faster than most of the people she's dragging around. "We don't normally have so many Transports at once. Please, let me show you into the courtyard."

You pass what looks like huge gymnasiums, all with dummies and targets strewn and splayed around the room. Training areas. There are even classrooms, and a few small offices. You're rushed past a large library while the Greeter informs you that you can find almost all your information there, if you've got the time to look—and trust her, you'll have time. You don't spend a lot of time in the bank, and it's a bit of a blur of exchanges with more and more of these strangely-accented and oddly polite-seeming members of the Initiative.

Soon enough, you're in a massive courtyard bustling with all the other Transports. It's not exactly what you'd expect, and it looks more like barracks than anything—huge walls of concrete and stone, separating you from all of the hallways you'd just passed through. It's raining heavily, and dark clouds loom in the air. It's a chill cold, and there are shelters—long cloth hangings that extend from the walls of concrete to house you from the rain, but not enough. Most notably, the courtyard is filled with a marketplace. Even in the cold and the rain, there are several citizens seated at their covered booths and tables. They're selling all manner of their own handmade goods and foods, and citizens and Transports alike are traveling from one small covered shop to another in search of all manner of necessities.

The Greeter's voice has become so faint now, but you swear you can make it out in the back of the crowds as she tells you, "Good luck. Be safe!"

Her voice is drowned out by the busy marketplace, though even the transactions taking place are somewhat subdued. Nobody is overly happy, really, though most citizens can be found with smiles on their faces. It doesn't seem like they're that shocked to see you, either; even if you're not bound in tattered rags and wrapped in heavy shawls as they are. You're welcome to walk up to a shop, and find yourself something to eat—hey, maybe you'll even find something akin to a raincoat. Or, you can join the others under the coverings against the walls. Where am I? What war? She was talking so fast, and it didn't all make very much sense… did anyone else catch it all?

Welcome to the courtyard. Welcome to the Initiative Hold—and most importantly, welcome to Exsilium.

Comments

Open

[livinuptothename]

[ Jason shuffles his way out, trying to stick more to the shadows of the buildings. Okay. Okay. Be cool. No big deal. He's got this.

Except for how he's in his Robin uniform, in a different dimension with now sign of Batman and also it's freaking raining. ]

Man, today is not my day.

[getwrenched]

[ Winry has shoved her not-storage container into her toolbox and made a run for the next bit of covered overhang. She's taken her apron off to protect her tools, but between her throbbing headache at the ridiculous explanations she's been handed and the persistent unease at being someplace so entirely wrong, she's not sure what to do with herself. Get to this room? Set things down? Ruthlessly hunt down answers until she's back in Resembool and not in whatever this place is called?

She liked that last option. ]

Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't see you --

[ She offers an apologetic smile with her words as she almost runs into someone hugging the shadows, which happened to be partly under an overhang helping keep some of the rain off their collective heads.

Only she trails off abruptly when she gets a good look at him, and closes her mouth. What... kind of circus act had she just run into? ]

... There. Are the apartments this way?

[ She points with her free hand, still trying to take in what he's wearing. He makes Edward look fashionable. ]

[getwrenched]

"Eh."

Winry didn't have half her tools with her, hadn't absorbed more than an impression that people thought they were here to fight and this was nowhere she recognized, and now she was in the middle of a group of strangers with people babbling about war and being ready and training and all sorts of nonsense she didn't have time for.

"Eh?" Looking at the strange, thin box they'd handed her, she was even more at a loss. Why were they handing out plastic containers they wanted people to talk with? Who talked with plastic containers?

Flipping it open only produced further irritation and confusion. How were they going to keep anything in this? What kind of radio was it meant to be? She'd never seen dials like that! Where was the antennae?

"Will someone explain what the hell is really going on?!"

Asking in the middle of a group of people in the same situation wasn't going to get answers. Everyone here looked lost, confused, or like a refugee. She'd come out of that whirlpool of despair and pain, she knew it.

So where the heck was this?

[payback]

[Screaming attracts at least one person! Rin has her sword slung over her back, and is wrapped up in a raggedy wool coat, but her face is clean and she looks calm.]

You just got here, huh?

[payback]

[Outsiders and newcomers stand out here. They aren't always weirdly dressed, fresh-faced, cleaner-cut and healthier-looking than the newcomers, though they certainly can be. It's the aura of confusion around them that stands out.

Rin never really puts her sword down here, a just-in-case paranoid self-check. But at least her face is friendly, as she happens to have just been passing through, and spotted some of the glut of new faces. She remembers arriving new to places and needing help. Those memories spur her to sidle up to new arrivals, just to check in and help where she can. Standing on the fringe of their personal space without quite looking them in the eye.]

Are you all right?

[livinuptothename]

[ Well. This is weird. And the kid in the green short shorts tries to smile his very best Robin smile at the weird (but still pretty cute) girl with the big sword. ]

Uh.

Yeah. Just swell.

[ Was there even a right answer to that? ]

[devils_shoestring]

[Bela has this whole world-hopping thing pretty well-down by now so although the details are a little fuzzy and had been pretty hurried over, but that hardly mattered. At least this time her soul wasn't be ripped out of her in the form of an animal and she was being given money. (She had never missed something so much before in her life.)

Although the sweetest part, if Bela was to be honest, was the freedom she felt. Lilith couldn't reach her here. She had never really noticed the near-physical weight her contract had placed on her until she set foot in this place. The only downside? The rain.]

And no umbrella. Of course.

[whatsupcroc]

If you wanted an extra, I can lend you a collapsible one. It's got a broken part, but perfection's overrated, and it'll keep you drier than you are now.

[ It's the crowd that drew Collette's attention, leaving the young girl wheeling herself carefully through the crowd. People make room for the umbrella before they fully realize what's attached to it, a big, patchwork black affair. She's glad to have figured out proper mechanics to hands free coverage from the rain, considering her hands get cold enough even through the gloves with all her manual automotion in her wheelchair. ]

Do you want it?

[onblackwings]

[ So, here's a lady in a white bathrobe, a necklace made of tiny swords and a small glowing orb, and nothing else, looking just a little bit out of place among other... fully-dressed people. She doesn't even have shoes on, what a loser. She hadn't paid much attention to the greeting spiel (part shock, part unfamiliarity with basically every term being used), but she does seem interested in this bag of coins they've handed over.

First things first, actually. Before she gets out of the middle of the courtyard, or out of the rain, or into proper clothing, or anything, she's gonna paw through this bag and see exactly how shiny these coins are. Dragon's gotta have her hoard, man. ]

[whatsupcroc]

It all adds up to five hundred!

[ There's a kid in a rolling chair with a weird contraption (gotta love umbrellas) attached to it somehow. She sounds pretty cheery, lips curled up into a smile. ]

We haven't had any new guys show up for a while. Are you just in that bathrobe? Man, that's worse than how I was when I showed up! I'm Collette by the way. What's your name?

open!

[demonbloodblade]

[This one's got a hood covering her head, good solid clothes, walking-boots, a backpack and a huge sword over one shoulder, one who came in with the batch but doesn't look too inconvenienced by the rain. She's looking around, eyes mostly hidden by the hood unless you can see through the darkness, one hand firmly on the bag she was given. She knows one firm rule of gatherings like this: keep your hands on your money or someone will take it from you. The other thing they gave her had been slipped into one of the small pockets on the side of the backpack.]

[devils_shoestring]

[Well, it's hard not to notice someone like this. Bela has a very loose and seemingly casual hold of the money given to her. But she knows the consequence of stealing from her, so she doesn't stress over it.]

You seem...prepared.

open

[lastisocorn]

[Quorra's first thought, after all is said and done and she's left to her own devices, is that this place is most definitely not Los Angeles. She almost concludes that she's entered another system, somehow, because the Greeter's spiel made her feel like she was being prepared to fight in the games. However, this is undeniably a world of Users, a real world.

It's just not the world she expected, not in the slightest. Even the dreary weather reminds her of the Grid--where is the sun? Where are the trees?

Quorra wanders the courtyard in a daze, her pale circuitry humming softly, bright against the gloom. She asks a few of the shopkeepers about the best vantage point to see the sunrise, and receives puzzled or bemused looks in return.

That's all right. She can keep trying.]

[onblackwings]

[ She's not paying much attention to where she's going, or how she's getting there. She's content just to wander, tightly gripping that bag of coins and comforted by the weight of a dagger in the pocket of her... fuzzy white bathrobe. Her by now sort of damp fuzzy white bathrobe. So it is that she backs straight into Quorra, backing up to try and see the full height of some building nearby. She turns quickly, golden eyes already narrowed suspiciously, and stares.

Apologize, what's that?? ]

Open

[strategic_guile]

Blaine's found himself a corner to stand in out of the rain, wishing he had been more of a hat person so he'd have something to shield his face with. He's wearing jeans, a button down and a light jacket that hides the gun tucked in his shoulder holster. After taking a few minutes to digest his surroundings he's off to go look closer and meet some of his fellow Transports.

[ofthegrey]

Duncan is browsing a - to be honest, he has no idea what he's looking at in this booth, hard black sheaths that seem close to the size of the strange little tablet he has been given.

As the stranger passes close by, he shoots him a quick look. "I don't suppose you have any idea what these are? The shopkeeper seems to have stepped away." Earlier in his life, that would have been an invitation to help himself. He knows if things get bad or desperate enough, it may be a chapter he revisits without much qualm. Survival has its own set of rules.

OPEN

[kneecaptain]

[He's used to being rushed through hallways without explanation, used to lonely corridors that are still full of people. But he's not used to not knowing what's going on, even a sliver of it, and that shakes him up good. He's not gonna show it, though. He's not gonna show it.

Instead he stands off to a corner, like instinct's drilled into him, crossing his arms, trying to ignore the rain as best he can though its sticking his hair to his forehead.

He watches, and Bucky tries to figure things out.]

[ofthegrey]

[Duncan has made his rounds of the stalls to take in what sort of place this might be. A lot of what's in the offering isn't so dissimilar to what he'd find at home that it's off-putting, not nearly as off-putting as the circumstances surrounding their presence here.

He notices the man in the defensible position and defensive posture while he's still looking over some scarves that are too brightly colored for his taste and as soggy as he feels under his armor. The slick, olive drab poncho he's wearing conceals how differently he's dressed from the others. A pity he didn't find it before he got soaked to the bone.

He approaches at an angle rather than head on so that he can find some wall to the side of the man without giving the impression of being confrontational. Rain drips from the end of his ponytail and the edges of his beard.]

The rain gear is serviceable. If I knew the exchange rate, I might say I haggled a good deal. It's just as likely they ripped me off. [In another life, it's the sort of thing he would have done.]

OPEN

[ofthegrey]

[Cold and wet. Two of his least favorite sensations that don't also involve stabbing pain or running for his life. In that context it isn't so bad, just inconvenient. And uncomfortable.

He has nodded and hmmed his way through the whirlwind tour without accepting a single thing at face value. Now he's in a grubby compound market that he can't help but to compare to an alienage. One for outsiders rather than any particular race. People like him.

He accepts that he's going to get very wet before he can locate something suitable to keep him dryer. He also accepts that for the moment there seems no way to slip away and that if he managed it, he has no idea where he might go. The rest? For all he knows this could be the Fade, except that darkspawn aren't demons and had no way to send him here.

Unless you're dead.

He grimaces and gets a move on. No thank you. No thinking like that right now. He has never been the sort to hoard money in favor of depriving himself of useful things. Money is a means, not an end. After a conversation with one who stood out to him, he's engaged in shopping and haggling. He steps away from one of the stalls with a deep olive colored poncho. He tugs it over his head absently and stays on the move, alert and openly curious. He's not at all shy about eye contact.]

[ladyspitfire]

[Bloody cold and wet. The only thing good about it is that it reminds her of Ferelden and the muddy walks she'd take with one group or another, out through the forests and into towns, huddling up close by the fire with close comrades. She can remember those long treks so fondly now when she doesn't need to resort to them, of course. Walking through the city streets, all made of pavement and stone, is a blessing in comparison, despite the rain. Her jacket is thin and dark, just enough to keep the chill out, and her hood does little to keep all of her red hair tucked away. She'll need to have it cut, she supposes; long hair is a luxury afforded to nobles and not to warriors, not when it's so easy to get blood tangled in it, not when enemies can grab it.

Her Mabari trots dutifully beside her in the rain, long tongue lolling out of his mouth as he goes. He doesn't seem to mind the cold and even sees fit to bump her calf from time to time and get the side of her pants wet just to irritate her.]

You lush. You're doing that on purpose.

[He trots ahead playfully, urging her to follow, though he leaves off as a group of new arrivals pass them. Elissa pauses, frowning. She hadn't heard anything about new recruits...though it'd been some time, hadn't it? Too long. It was suspicious.

The dog's ears suddenly perk upwards, his head tilting and a low whine rumbling in his throat. He barks at his mistress and then goes bounding down one of the side streets, Elissa following close behind. He doesn't stop until he nearly runs into Duncan, his muscular body comically twisting as he skids to a halt. He bounces up once, stops, then wags his little tail so hard that his entire backside shakes.

Elissa arrives close behind him, walking the last length of street.]

Leave off, you. People don't actually like it when you go bouncing up to them. [She turns to him.] He won't hurt you, I promise. He's just overly--

[Elissa stops, eyes widening as she recognizes just who she's seeing.]

Duncan?

.open.

[paracosmic]

[babydoll had taken her time to look around the courtyard, mostly in hopes of finding her friends, but also making sure there was no immediate danger. sure, the woman had been clear, but some parts of what she'd said was vague. in fact, babydoll was pretty sure she was making a point to be vague. it wasn't fair.

she lets out a sigh, obviously downtrodden. this wasn't what she meant when she said she wanted to get out. where was the Old Man when she needed him?

after wandering around for a few more minutes, she makes her way to one of the food booths, picking up an apple to examine it.]

[implying]

[ Whoa, hello. How can Vanadi not just sort of saunter up, so he's examining an orange at the same food booth? This lady is just way too pretty to be a local, which means she'll automatically be interesting to talk to. Vanadi is immediately game.

He speaks without glancing over, still watching his own fruit choice. ]

They're quite good from this stand, you know. One would think the owners found the only patch of non-poisoned soil in Exsilium!

Open

[inafadingcrown]

[The cold and wet suit Galadriel's mood. She pauses for a moment under the coverings, strapping sheath and sword around her waist- a feeling both foreign and oddly familiar, taking her back to the days of the First Age....

The thought did not brighten her spirits. She was not accustomed to being whisked away without either notice or even giving her consent. She did not have the time nor the inclination to fight another's war, not with the fight looming so close to her Golden Woods. But for once in her life, it seemed the choice was not hers to make; not at the moment, at least. She would find a way to change that.

Right now, however, there was little to be done but gather herself and make her way through the market, hoping she might chance upon someone selling a cloak. Attractive as it is, her gown was not as warm as she wished it.

Her gaze is heavy as she winds her way through the crowd, concentrating as much on observing her surroundings as on actually shopping. She stands out terribly, she knows; it's rather inevitable for her. But millennia of politics have taught her to feign confidence, even when she does not feel it. It would take a well practiced eye to tell just how ill at ease she really is.]

[payback]

[Although she's walking around openly armed, Rin doesn't feel secure enough to simply NOT feel massively intimidated by Galadriel. When she spots Galadriel's lanky figure Rin stares quite openly for a long moment.

There's definitely a newcomer in. But she looks like she knows what she's doing.

Maybe Rin will just... slip... away...]

~open.

[allures]

Fuck.

[that was the first word that effy murmured as soon as she set foot in the courtyard. her weapon, a mini uzi, was sitting comfortably inside its holster which was attached to a belt around her waist. she didn't touch it after she picked it out. she hated weapons, she hated fighting. she made a point not to touch it even as she wandered through the courtyard, stopping at a booth every so often, arms wrapped around herself. perhaps it was comfort, or she was cold. either way, she needed a rain coat.

whatever positivity that she had had when she was speaking to pandora was long gone. she was lost once more, and the woman who had 'explained' the few things that needed explaining hadn't done a great job.

she ends up asking one of the sellers if anyone had ever really escaped from here. sadly, there wasn't a clear answer for her.]

[peaceinchaos]

[ Wanda is in search of something more closely resembling a peach than... whatever it was she had bought last time, which was definitely not an peach. She's distracted from her quest by the young girl, sans both rain coat and umbrella, speaking to the man who ran the probably-fruit stall.

She moves closer to tip her umbrella accommodatingly over the girl, shielding her from the rain. ]

I'm afraid this gentleman doesn't quite have the answers you're looking for.

open.

[obfuskate]

[ The dreary night and torrential downpour hides a mystery in its wake.

Only the most observant of people will notice him during the first half an hour, a silhouette skulking through the night with a surprising amount of silence. Shadow is like a wild-eyed panther; on-guard, hyper-aware, and disconcerted. He does not like being here. He does not want to be here. He wants to be back on Earth, back to the planet his late friend loved so much, back to Sonic and his friends to ensure their well-being... yet here he is in this sopping wet excuse for a marketplace.

He grunts, crabbier than usual. That first half an hour is gone, and in that time, he makes the decision to step out from the shadows. In his hand is a hefty gatling gun, carried with ease, finger on the trigger, just in case. He scans the area around him closely, looking for anyone authoritative to talk to, someone other than the woman he was greeted with.

Needless to say, he did not plan on staying very long. ]

[mach_n_roll]

[Sonic is naturally a laid-back sort of hedgehog. in fact there was really only one person that could reliably and without fail get under his fur.]

[And now... there he is. In the marketplace. With a large gun and an even bigger scowl. He mentally facepalms and then puts on his biggest possible grin.]

HEY, Shadow!

[OPEN]

[lessismore]

[The weather isn't a concern for Alex. It's cold, yes, but it's nothing he can't endure, so that's why he's out perusing the various stalls. He's not about to purchase anything, but he's curious as to what the vendors are selling, if only so he can gain a better understanding of this futuristic world.

He's familiar with technology, considering his previous career, but what he's seen so far? He can't say he isn't impressed. People are capable of some truly remarkable things, sometimes.]

[paracosmic]

[babydoll had spotted a few things around the market that caught her eye, mainly the food, but she didn't trust it just yet. judging from some of the expressions others had made when tasting it, she was going to wait until she explored the rest of the city.

when she ends up at yet another vendor, simply because there wasn't much else to do besides wander and try to figure out what was actually going to happen to all of them, she peers up at the man next to her.]

I think we'll be able to get out of here. Don't you?

open

[f_u_wesker]

[Oh yeah, Alice had chosen a weapon easily. A handgun that she had used in Umbrella Prime. It held plenty of ammo and it was easy to reload in tough situations. Even if it wasn't normally, Alice was quick enough on her feet to find a way to reload and still fight.

During the Intro to Everything Exsilium, Alice had made sure she got the debit card for her transactions. Cards didn't jingle like a bag of coins, didn't weight her down and wasn't as easy to cut off a belt. No, the card could be tucked neatly into her suit, right against her chest. And she was already going to spend something. The netbook she had been given couldn't possibly be waterproof and the rain never bothered her. But like hell was she going to let her only method of contacting others or being contacted get ruined right after she arrived, so she picked up the cheapest case she could find among the shops.]

[whatsupcroc]

[ Collette, picking her way through the crowds with more care than she really liked, wasn't concentrating on as much of the shopping that could be had in the inner courtyard. The other smaller shops nearby were interesting and fun, if she was in a mood for them. ]

I didn't know they made waterproof cases for these kinds of things. Was that one waterproof?

[raisedbybirds]

[This isn't standard...

Of course it wouldn't be.

Quick and dirty mission briefings weren't uncommon to Samus and no less frustrating, especially something of this caliber. So she's doing what comes naturally--exploring on her own; finding her own answers, and knowing they won't come quickly.

There's something of a tall robot person that strays from the crowd and keeps to the edges of the markets or the walls of the courtyard, regardless if they're covered or not. Largely, the robot person seems content to silently observe and people watch, in between the occasional fiddling with the netbook. The visor of the helmet is opaque green and faintly glowing, leaving everything beneath to the imagination. Heavy boot steps taken are slow, careful, but fearless.

After all, the rain (or much of anything, really) is of no consequence when you're wearing 6' 3'' worth of bright orange armor.]

[ex_symbioses706]

[ Ranka, a very intimidating girl of all of about five feet, moves through the rain at a run because even though it rains here often, she'd managed to forget her umbrella. Maybe she wouldn't get so wet if she runs is her logic, and that might've helped if her shoe didn't hit a puddle at the wrong angle - making her slip and go down with a high-pitched yelp. ]

I'm all wet now...

[ She heaves a big sigh from the ground, shaking out her hair in big movements - one of which brings the, yeah, giant orange armor into her vision; she stops and stares. ]

open

[treasurehunter]

[Drake is, in one succinct word, annoyed. Annoyed at being picked up out of nowhere and being dropped into some place like he was some kind of rag doll. Annoyed that he was taken from Elena. Annoyed that in a blink of an eye everything changed that fast. Again.

He's got the netbook, he's got the key, and he's got his trusty gun, the one he's used since who knows when. Yeah, sure, he'll believe the evolution of the weapon when he sees it.

Not that he's not expecting it to not happen at this rate, really.

Drake's on his way to his assigned room, stopping every so often to gawk at the scenery and just barely skirting around people.]

[totallytrustworthy]

[One pack absolutely full of gold coins, carried through the wilds into the city is one hell of a heavy load. True, Chloe's managed far worse without a complaint, but the past few days have been a trial in and of themselves, and before she heads straight for home she decides there's enough time for a quick sit-down.

And really, who could-- wait.

Wait is that--?

No. No way. No way in hell is that...]

Nate?

open like the day is long

[defineshinky]

[This isn't exactly new for her, except that it totally is. Wendy has facts and terms swimming around in her head and not one of them make a lick of sense. Aware that she sticks out in her green vest, black tie, white button-down, and black trousers, she doesn't even know where to begin.

Diving headfirst into the deep end seems just as viable as any other option. So Wendy pulls her coat over her head with one hand, Bo staff in the other, and walks into the marketplace. Step one: find a place that sells an umbrella. She has to resort to rubbernecking to see what the stands are offering.]

Tap-dancing Christ on a cracker.

[Her mother would have scolded her, had she been around to hear her use the Lord's name like that. The severity of the swear only alludes to the seriousness of the situation.]

aww yis

[freezerburned]

Creative.

[Isaac, coincidentally, is just looking for something he can use as food until the cooking class takes off. While he normally doesn't offer up conversation to strangers, her quip was at least a little amusing.

He glances over to her after that, eyes flickering to the staff before finding her face. Isaac is a teenager, somewhat lanky, but ultimately, he seems rather harmless.]

What's up with the stick?

OPEN

[hostage]

[Jesse doesn't care about the rain or the cold, even though he's dressed for a warm and sunny day in New Mexico. His t-shirt's almost immediately soaked through but it isn't a bother. His mind is somewhere else. Or rather, he's still high. Whatever the Greeter just said to him went in one ear and out the other. He shuts his eyes for a second and stands there, feeling very far away from the rest of the crowd and absorbed in the sensation of the raindrops on skin.

He sniffs, finally, and those bloodshot eyes take in the surroundings as best they can. The entire thing is dreamy to him. Later, maybe, it'll feel more real. Right now, he's experiencing it on a different level. Spiritual, maybe. Because he must be dead. There's no other explanation.

To anyone else, he probably looks hopeless and lost.]

[payback]

[He looks like the human equivalent of a lost kitten mewing in the rushes at the edge of a fast river. Of course it's compelling to her.

Rin probably only adds to the surreality of everything as she sidles near to him, sword swung over her back but expression mildly concerned.]

Hey... are you okay?

[The answer is probably "no" but cut her some slack, it's an icebreaker.]

open

[mentore]

[Ezio memorized everything the attendants had told him. The woman's words swam in his head over and over as he weaved through the crowd. The rain didn't bother him much and his robes provided enough protection from the downpour.

What does bother him, though, is the distinct lack of information. The words in what he could tell is a marketplace are indistinct, so he takes to listening to the people. Over and over they repeat things of an oncoming war. Panic. Fear. Determination.

He continues on to the housing area now. He'd rather find the place he was given to stay in and then come back for supplies. It doesn't stop him from exploring the area a little bit though.]

[whatsupcroc]

[ Burr! Collette had conceded defeat when it felt too cold to stay outside, for all it was exciting to finally have new people arriving again. Exciting and scary all at once, seeing the evidence that the Initiative was pulling more into their efforts not just to fill in empty spaces left by those who... went back home.

Still, she shakes those thoughts off once she's in through the doors, bringing her wheelchair to a stop off to the side of the entrance-way to fiddle with collapsing the umbrella attached to her back handlebar. ]

There's got to be a better way of handling this.

[ She pauses to pull a glove off her hand with her teeth, still twisted around trying to untwist the bolt that held everything in place. ]

Just a little more -- ah!

[ Her umbrella clattered down the ground, flinging droplets of water outward as it fell. ]

Not exactly as planned.

opennn

[flagrate]

[ ace is... dazed, to say the least. the last thing he remembers is pain as he choked out his last words to his little brother. and now he's standing in the middle of the courtyard as it rains.

the important things he was given have been shoved into the pockets of his tattered shorts. in one hand is a long metal pipe that looks a bit old. his free hand traces a large scar on his chest. the way he's looking at it, you'd think he's never seen it before.

(he hasn't.)

not really caring about the people around him, he sits down on the ground hard and puts his pipe across his lap. he stretches his arms out as if to catch the rain and laughs quietly. steam wisps off of his shoulders and arms as he elevates his body temperature to ward off the chill. this is wholly unexpected and a little mind-breaking. he's completely and utterly bewildered, and it shows on his face.

come be bewildered with him? ]

[getwrenched]

[ Apartment located? Check. Toolbox stashed? Check. Apron back in place? Check, since it was the closet thing to practical layers she had. Umbrella to defend against inclement weather?

Winry had a fifth of the coins she'd been provided with carefully wrapped in her pocket, setting out back into the crowd of people in the courtyard with a specific goal in mind. If she was going to treat this as reality for now, she was going to do what she could to make it make sense.

Hence her current goal. If rain was as constant here as she'd heard, then an umbrella was going to be a necessity if she didn't plan to end up soaked when she went outside.

Moving through the crowd, she almost didn't see the man sitting down on the ground. It took coming up short due to someone else cursing and stopping themselves from walking into him for her to see what was going on, and even then, it didn't tell her much. The look on his face was a different matter. ]

Are you all right?

[ Is the obvious, unnecessary question. She blinks, seeing something around his shoulders, certain nothing could have been there. ]

Can you stand? This isn't the best place to sit around at a time like this.

[loyalism]

[Fox is not dressed for this weather. His fatigues are soaked, wet hair kept out of his eyes by a red bandanna. Combined with the rain, the cold is biting. If he's in any discomfort, however, it doesn't show. Wouldn't be a soldier if bad weather was enough to keep him down.

He slips through the crowd like a ghost, making his way from stall to stall. Though he takes the opportunity to buy a small amount of food, he's really only feigning interest in the goods on sale. The people here are far more intriguing. Sharp eyes scan the crowds, lingering briefly on the more unusual individuals, obviously "Transports" like himself. He listens in on conversations, collecting whatever scraps of information he can find to add to what he had already learned from the Greeter. There's not much to be found.

Stopping for a moment at the edge of a shelter, he takes the opportunity to light himself a cigarette. He's not quite sure what to make of all this, and yet in a way it's uncomfortably familiar. A community of exiles kidnapping people to build their ragtag army in defiance of those who tried to control the world. If he wasn't careful, he might actually start feeling at home.]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Why did they have to bring in so many people at once, anyway? It'd be much easier to just keep track of two or three at a time. Same for checking them out and getting a first impression, but nooo, now that Adam's here anyway, he's not just going to leave while his curiosity isn't adequately sated yet. Lots of colorful, interesting, potentially dangerous people.

It's a mystery to him how this island hasn't been completely wrecked yet, really, given the state of things.

Anyway. Fox is another one of those types Adam primarily notices because of the way he moves--very smoothly, quietly, carefully controlled without doing so consciously; something that hints at years of training. Seems like they brought in a number of professionally trained combatants this time, and not people with seemingly useless professions like... prosecutors. Though he supposes those are needed as well, considering events.

Smoker too. Oh well, then there's an easy way to strike up conversation and gather some data. Adam fishes for a cigarette himself while casually approaching Fox, asking bluntly--]

Excuse me. Got a light?

[ ALWAYS WORKS. ]

OPENNNNN

[polar]

[Korra's standing in the middle of the courtyard with a really big dog thing sitting next to her. Both of them appear slightly on edge with the whole situation as they glance around. It's not her first time being kidnapped, but this is certainly the weirdest, especially since Naga's with her and she seems to have freedom of sorts.

After a few moments of looking around, she scowls, getting annoyed by the rain. She's trying to think, darnit! One arm bent at the elbow, and she raises her hand to the height of her chin. She twirls her wrist idly, and the rain around her and Naga stops, seemingly falling on an invisible half sphere as her hand moves. This calms her a little, and with a sharp whistle, she and her friend begin to walk, the "sphere" going with them, keeping them at the center.]

Come on, girl. Let's see what we can find.

/SLAMS IN, thankfully w/o plant grossness yet

[fitful]

[ Satero spots Korra approaching out of the corner of his eye. Distracted and absent-minded, he starts to move, stepping out of Korra's path to let her -- and her entire sphere -- pass by undisturbed. But wait, HEY, NOT SO FAST. As he begins to turn away, Naga comes into his line of sight.

He freezes in place. He forgets whatever it was that had his attention before. There's more important matters to attend to now. ]

Hey!

[ Satero breaks through into the sphere. He slides into Naga's path, planting his feet firmly apart to squint upwards. ]

He's... he's a dog. He's a bear? [ He whirls around to face Korra. ] What in hell is he?

Open.

[alittlesweptup]

[Well at least the weather's not terribly out of order. You know, if he ignores the toxic look of the sky. Making his way under the eaves of buildings, even less than structurally sound ones, isn't exactly unfamiliar territory. Surreal maybe, given that the last thing Charlie remembers is taking a long drop with the promise of a short stop at the end. That's probably one hell of a tip off actually. One second he's about to be a smear on some 11th Century paving stones, the next he's in some sci-fi, mid-apocalypse future war. Charlie's pretty sure he's seen this movie, and that the plot twist is that he's been dead all along.

Dead or not (if this is a coma, he's impressed with his own creativity), he might as well get himself acquainted with the territory. Best way to catch gossip is over the edge of glass and he could use a hot drink - or a stiff one. Surely there's someone brewing something in that market.

Turning his collar up against the rain, he makes his way through the market stalls and the mill of bodies, old hands and newcomers alike by the looks of it.]

[totallytrustworthy]

[At this point Chloe's given up on getting her haul back to the flat any time soon. It's fairly obvious that a new pile of initiates are getting their first taste of the initi-natives, and hey, when you've just managed to score yourself a pile of gold too big to hold in both hands, it can't really hurt to go ahead and give yourself a break and watch the parade.

So an iced coffee is snagged from a nearby vendor (Even if she's telling herself she ought to be getting something more hydrating after a hike that long. Screw you, logic, nobody wants you here.) and with her spirits thoroughly lifted despite the dreary weather, she turns to find herself a comfortable place to settle when she finds herself spotting a very, very familiar silhouette no more than a few steps away.]

No way.

[Nate and Charlie in one day? World, you have got an awful sense of humor.]