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

[fe_male]

[ Did you just call him Sarah. He just told you his name is Tony. That doesn't sound like Sarah at all. ]

Bar's right over here. That and training. And messing with people.

[ofthegrey]

There is a bar?

[Here he had just been optimistic. This is a much better development.]

It seems the people here are varied enough and skilled enough that the latter prospect could be a dangerous proposition. Some people will mess back.

[fe_male]

There's lots. Got a particular style in mind?

Messing back is the whole part that makes it fun though, otherwise you're just poking rocks or something.

[ofthegrey]

Simple. I don't like pretensions with my drinks.

[He snorts a sound that's likely amusement.]

As long as you know what you're in for, I'm no one to gainsay. I've been known to poke a few hornets' nests in my time.

[fe_male]

There's a bar for that. C'mon.

[ And we're walking, we're walking, hopefully Duncan is following, because otherwise Tony's about to go have a drink by himself in the middle of the day in a normal bar and wouldn't that just be depressing. ]

I totally know what I'm doing all the time, one hundred percent. Never make a mistake. Personally, I prefer poking politicians, and even more poking press agents, but hornets - I can see the entertainment factor there too.

[ofthegrey]

[Duncan would never countenance a man drinking alone when he could be a part of it. He's keeping pace with him as comfortably as anyone can who is soaking wet under an ugly soaking wet poncho.]

So you're saying you don't do much? [That may have been a grin somewhere under the beard.]

Let's back up a little. I know what a politician is, but press agent is new to me. Is that anything like a press gang? If you're saying you poke at press gangs, I might decide here and now you're a touch insane.

[fe_male]

[ Tony gives you a look that is all different kinds of shades of 'ha-fucking-hah', but playful. Ish. ]

Just the opposite, really. Weird how that happened.

Press agent is like... a story teller who sometimes talks about things that actually happened. Super important to the politicians, oddly. But press gangs are pirates, right? That's different.

[ofthegrey]

[He seems completely delighted in having earned that look, dark eyes shining.]

Ah, I see. They sound similar to town criers. [He nods then.] Close enough. Usually pirates and raiders, though not always. If they come your way, it's often a one way ticket to a short, brutish life at sea. Despite my heritage, it was something that never appealed to me.

[fe_male]

[ Yes Tony can see the start of a beautiful friendship here. ]

Ssss....oort of. Sure. Town criers.

Yeah, not a big fan of the ocean myself. I mean, I like looking at it, and the sound is nice, but being on, in, or close to it, eugh. No thanks. Up and down and up and down and drowning and the fact that it's kind of sticky? Give me a pool any day.

[ofthegrey]

That's a good way to put it. Add to that people who never bathe and don't really care if that's not your lifestyle, and it's a losing proposition all the way around. They talk a good talk about the drinking and the wenches. If it was that good, they wouldn't need the press gangs, now would they?

[For all of his offhandedness in speaking, he stays alert, both to Tony and any others around them. He's not a trusting sort.]

[fe_male]

See these are the things most people don't consider when they're all 'Yeah, rum, parrots, gold, a pirate's life for me, it'll be great'; they don't consider the nausea and the B.O. and the vitamin deficiencies and friends who don't mind literally stabbing you in the wherever.

[ Tony won't notice that immediately but likely by the time they've been in the bar for a drink or two it'll suddenly hit him that this guy is constantly ready for shit to go down. Not like he's particularly trusting either, just that his manifests differently. Probably because of the slight setting difference between them. ]

[ofthegrey]

Parrots are overrated, too. Putting an animal that can rip the nose off your face on your shoulder doesn't strike me as a good life choice.

[Yes, a couple of drinks are just the thing, enough to take the edge off without completely blunting it. And bullshitting for the sake of bullshitting is underrated. It's a preferable way to spend some time to freaking out while pretending not to.]

[fe_male]

Like people as a whole are known for making those on a consistent basis.

[ I'm calling magic on the walk there. They're there, this is the bar, woohoo, okay, more conversation to follow within. ] After you.

[ofthegrey]

[He seats himself at one of the stools. It's easier to manage than a chair with the daggers under the poncho. Soon enough he has rum in hand and turns toward Tony.]

Bottoms up.

[He clacks the shot to the bar, lifts it, and tosses it back. Immediately he feels warmer than before.]

Tell me something you wish someone had told you the day you arrived in this place.

[fe_male]

[ Aww, yeah, alcohol. He sets his empty glass back down on the bar just after Duncan and glances at him, trying to work out a reasonable answer to the request. ]

Don't get used to things. I honestly have no idea. Don't get used to people, is probably more apt. They come in and out and I can't predict it - it's maddening. Not a single algorithm fits. Appreciate the present, but don't plan. [ He shrugs, gestures for another. It's the best honest pieces of advice he has. ]

[ofthegrey]

If individuals are making the decision about who comes and goes, it's not likely there would be a pattern. We'd have to know their criteria. Do we?

[He doesn't think so judging from the mishmash of people he had seen outside.]

As for planning, no plan is complete without the nothing may go according to it clause.

[fe_male]

Nope. We don't know any of it. Nothing about how they pick people. Not anything even from reverse studying of the sample and working back to a template. It doesn't work.

The what clause? You want another drink?

[ofthegrey]

Frustrating. [He has been here less than two hours and already that's the conclusion he has drawn. He can't imagine how it will be after months, assuming he lasts that long in a foreign war.]

The nothing will go according to the plan clause. All of the best plans have them.

[He eyes the glass.]

One more. I don't want to lose my edge while I'm trying to get myself oriented. It's good rum. Maker knows I've had much worse.

[fe_male]

[ First comment just gets a 'you're telling me' eyebrow raise over the rim of his recently refilled glass. ]

I think it's shorter to refer to it as Plan B.

It's not too bad. Where you headed after this?

[ofthegrey]

Out to explore, I believe. I want to get more familiar with the territory. You've provided me with a decent introduction and distraction. For that you have my thanks.

[fe_male]

Yeah sure, no problem. I like to pass things on, you know. Benefactor.

[ofthegrey]

Among other things, I'm sure.

[He reaches to clap him on the shoulder as he stands.]

Sera Stark, it has been a true pleasure. I have no doubt we'll run into one another again. Probably sooner rather than later.

[fe_male]

[ did you just call him 'sarah'

he's pretty sure he told you his name is 'tony'

those don't have any of the same letters at all ]

Yeah, good meeting you too, pal. Shoot me a message whenever you feel like it.

[ofthegrey]

[With a final dip of his head, he pulls his poncho back on and makes his way back out into the rain, far more silently than anyone in armor ought to be able to move.]