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

[ofthegrey]

[He pauses his step. As soon as he's sure that she's waving to him and not someone else, he changes direction and comes in closer. He stands back far enough that any of the rain striking his shoulders doesn't splash under the cover she has managed to find and hit her, too.]

Yes? Is there something I can help you with?

[devils_shoestring]

I don't suppose you could tell me which vendor you got that from, could you?

[She gestures to the poncho he's wearing. Though she would certainly pick out a better color than that.]

[ofthegrey]

Easily done. My favorite sort of favor. [His mouth holds a wry curve just visible beneath the thick mustache and beard.]

The second to last stall across the courtyard. [He turns and points. The raise of his arm reveals a flash of bright metal beneath the loose drape of the thick plastic.]

I don't know if I was given a good deal or not. The currency here is unfamiliar to me. They do haggle, so perhaps.

[devils_shoestring]

[It's hard not to notice the metal underneath the poncho. Now that would likely bring her a pretty penny. Or marque as it were. But detaching a man from armor he's wearing is not an easy task nor one that Bela wants to undertake right now when she's just arrived. She does catalog it for later.]

Oh, I'm sure I can get a decent price for it. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's money. Where are my manners? My name is Bela.

[ofthegrey]

Any lapse in manners would be excusable on a day like this, even if we hadn't been brought here under dubious circumstances. I'm Duncan.

[He glances around the dismal grouping of stalls and back to her again.]

You'll likely find that monetary skill is one of the few things that can be called universal.

[devils_shoestring]

I'm hoping so. The last world I was in, there really wasn't any currency to be spoken of.

[Which was somewhat of a disappointment and point of frustration for Bela.]

[ofthegrey]

No currency at all? Was it a barter system?

[Such things worked on a small scale but never a large that he had seen. Something else about the way she phrases that catches his attention.]

You make it sound as though this isn't the first time you've found yourself elsewhere.

[devils_shoestring]

You could say that.

[Rather unfair barter system if you asked her. It wasn't as though the Company gifted her with anything. Everything she took that the Company didn't want or need, she got. She hated table scraps.]

[She smiles.] Normally, I would say you wouldn't believe me or think me mad, but yes. I have. Bit different from this one though. No war, but your soul did get ripped from your body and turned into an animal. [She glanced down at Faust. An Arctic Fox that cannot be seen by anyone who hadn't been taken to that world before.] You can't see him, but my own is here right now.

[ofthegrey]

Normally, I would think you mad were I to hear that under any other circumstances. My credulity has been expanded, shall we say, by recent events.

[He glances down when she does, seeing nothing just as she had said. That part he's not quite so sure he believes. There's no reason to be confrontational about it.]

What were you doing before you arrived here, if you don't mind answering?

[devils_shoestring]

I worked for the Company in the world I was originally whisked away to as a field agent. [Judging by the metal, she's not certain he knows what that means.] I basically assessed whether or not worlds had any useful resources for the Company. But some things came up and I had to flee.

[ofthegrey]

Interesting. So this company of yours operated on the scale of worlds, rather than just one world?

[He supposes that if one group, such as the Initiative, can do such a thing it stands to reason that others can. It's a little daunting to think about given the scale he's used to but not mind blowing. He has been to the Fade, after all.]

Do you think they have anything to do with you being here?

[devils_shoestring]

Not this time. [Bela shakes her head.] The transportation was quite different.

[ofthegrey]

I'm afraid I have nothing to compare it to. [There's a brief hesitation as he says it, a thought coming to mind. Perhaps there's one comparison, but it would likely sound as strange to her as the idea of a soul made animal did to him.]

Nothing that would be easy to explain, rather. For now I suppose we have little choice but to hear them out and see what comes of it. It's difficult to fight when you've no idea of the proper target.

[devils_shoestring]

Admittedly, I'm not one for fighting. [She folds her arms a little.] So, I can't say I know exactly why they would pick me with the rest of you lot.

[ofthegrey]

It is a puzzle, isn't it? I'm not sure everyone we see around us is a fighter. If I had to wager money on it, I'd bet not.

[Not all of them moved that way or possessed a certain demeanor he has come to associate with warriors.]

I suppose that's something we'll discover in time, yes? Until then, watch yourself. You may want to purchase one of these soon. [He shakes an edge of the poncho.] With the way it's coming down it wouldn't surprise me if they sell out.

[He bows slightly at the waist.] I'm going to continue looking around while we have light. Well met.

[devils_shoestring]

You as well. [Bela nods.] Thank you for the help. Take care and watch out for pickpockets. No doubt the rain only encourages them.