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

[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?

[devils_shoestring]

[Well, this is certainly a surprise. Faust by her heels gives a small wag of his tail because whether Bela would admit to it or not, it's nice to have a familiar face. Even if it isn't one she particularly cares too strongly for.]

And just how exactly did you manage to end up here?

[whatsupcroc]

[ If that isn't an amusing question, Collette doesn't know what is. She quirks up an eyebrow. ]

My guess is I rolled in on wheels, but in the grand scheme of things, the same way pretty much everyone here has. One moment in one place, then suddenly on a round pad getting told I'm welcome to someone else's war!

[devils_shoestring]

[That gives Bela pause.]

Very funny, Collette. Seriously. I thought you went home.

[whatsupcroc]

[ She looks startled, shoulders going back as she straightens infinitesimally. This is another lady she doesn't know acting like she -- ]

Do you know Vanadi?

[devils_shoestring]

Of course...

[Now Bela's really confused.]

Have I grown a second head in the last few seconds that I'm unaware of?

[whatsupcroc]

Vanadi will be able to explain, but, uh.

[ Now she really shoves the spare collapsible umbrella at Bela. ]

Here. I'm not who you think I am. I'm Collette, but I don't know you, and I don't know anything about Cittàgazze outside of what Vanadi's said. I don't have Flash, and -- yeah. He's probably around here somewhere. He likes big groups of people.

[devils_shoestring]

[Bela's far more perturbed about getting the umbrella shoved at her than what Collette is telling her.]

Well. My apologies then. [She smiles wryly.] My name is Bela, by the way.

[whatsupcroc]

Mm, nice to meet you! I'll probably see you around. I've gotta catch up with Barnaby right now, but I'd love to get to know you later!

[ Collette honestly doesn't feel up to dealing with things tangentally related to Vanadi or the Cittàgazze situation, so for probably one of the few times ever in the existence of Collette interactions does she actively try to get away right after starting a conversation.

With a smile and a small salute, she......................... gets rolling. ]