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

[lessismore]

[Somebody that naive can't be anything more than a kid. Or an absolute idiot. Alex hopes neither of those are present here.]

So we're expendable. Lives they can toss aside. [The thought stirs up some measure of anger within him, the only outward sign of which being the narrowing of his eyes and the tightening of his jaw.] What's stopping the Transports from striking back at them?

[A bold question, but at times, anger begets courage.]

[neveraskedforthis]

I wouldn't say they're tossing us aside. More like recycling. Given the -

[ GESTURES VAGUELY. The last time he told someone PEOPLE DON'T TEND TO STAY DEAD they didn't take it well. ]

I think they know they've got limited capacities. I'll say that I've seen people come back from the dead, but please, don't ask me how that works. I don't know.

[ There's also this weirdass priest guy just resurrecting people on a whim. Fun. ]

As for your other question, they've got the technology to send everyone back, and they're keeping it away from us. Would you like to see it damaged? [ A beat. ] Aside from that, they mentioned that it's not just this world that's at stake, but ours as well. There was some talk about how the very government they're fighting has started invading each individual's world by using similar technology. But again - it's all just talk. Haven't seen any hard proof.

[lessismore]

[Okay, that is actually surprising. He's generally used to being the only one who has a hard time staying dead, so this is new, and perhaps not all that unwelcome. Alex will just accept it in a contemplative silence though. If Adam says he doesn't know, he's not going to bother wasting time to press the issue.]

That just sounds like another convenient story for them to tell us.

[neveraskedforthis]

Who knows.

[ Adam just shrugs, letting a few moments pass during which he takes a deep drag on his cigarette, inhaling and exhaling. Smoking does nothing for him as his internal systems immediately counteract any damage done to his lungs, no matter how minuscule. ]

Just take everything they're telling you with a grain of salt. Between their stories bordering on propaganda and general incompetence regularly endangering people, I'm having a hard time remaining optimistic.

[lessismore]

[Endangering people? That's rather interesting. Alex takes a moment to actually give Adam a closer look, now that he feels he's less of a threat than initially presumed to be. That's how he actually comes to notice the sunglasses are actually attached to his face, and his gaze lingers on them a moment longer than necessary.]

What happened in the past that was such a danger?

[neveraskedforthis]

[ It's okay, Adam's sort of used to the stares he's getting by this point. He never asked for awesome shades mounted to his face but at least they're unique to him and very memorable. ]

Riots. VR simulations gone wrong. Kids going on a killing spree because they're lacking their medication.

[ Need I go on? There will be more proof of incompetence tomorrow, anyway. ]

If you know how to use a computer, you can browse the network archives. Might take a while, but you'll end up with more information that way than asking people directly.

[ Then again Adam might only know as much as he does because he easily hacked all the private things on the network too oops. ]

[lessismore]

[Adam, are you ever going to ask for anything? With a light snort, Alex files that piece of information away into his mind. Those events are quite remarkable; it's no wonder people are skeptical.]

I'll keep that in mind.

[There's a noticeable delay here, and his next word is almost ground out. It's something he definitely isn't used to saying.]

Thanks.

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Hahaha are you kidding.

Adam grunts, acknowledging. ]

Not a problem.

[ Well isn't he being helpful today. He's getting the feeling the other guy's about to leave soon, so let him snag some information before that happens. Though it doesn't tell him anything he hadn't already suspected. Now a name to go along with that would be pretty awesome. ]

Got a name?

[lessismore]

[Oh Adam, what will we do with you?

Again, there's a delay before he finally relents.]

Alex Mercer. [There's a codename that goes along with that, but nobody needs to know it. It isn't relevant here.] And you?

[Because Adam is someone he'd like to keep on his radar since, at the very least, he seems to know what he's talking about.]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ He's tempted to say Alex J Murphy aka RoboCop but the self-deprecating humor would probably be lost on Alex, so let's play it straight. ]

Adam Jensen.

[ Or just the guy with the sunglasses glued to his face, that's fine too. ]

You can reach me on the network once you've made yourself familiar with it.

[lessismore]

[That does work, but unfortunately it doesn't roll off the tongue nearly as easily.]

Right.

[And with a final nod at Adam, Alex takes his leave.]