First Watch at Hollow Hold

The assembly hall at Hollow Hold is already holding the line. First Cohort stands below the dais. There is no ceremony to copy. Officers take the rear.

Rhea Calder is on the boards. Older than the story people tell. She smiles once, briefly, and looks over the new intake.

Rhea Calder: "You. There is no one ahead of you. This lock has no seniors. Do not wait for a custom. You stand a Watch, or you do not."

A stir moves through the hall. Cloth. A swallowed cough. A boot finding the floor again.

Nessa Pike stands in the rear with her arms crossed. The sound she makes is mostly air through the nose.

Nessa Pike: "I will not go easy because there are no seniors. First class means you get driven harder."

Sera Quinn looks too unchanged for the years on the road. A last cigarette sits in her fingers. She scoffs.

Sera Quinn: "Pilot lock."

Calder's attention reaches her. Quinn lowers the cigarette. No one explains it.

Rhea Calder: "You are First Cohort. You are the Hold's first and beginning. Raise your heads. Survive."

The line is still. No one has been sent to bunks.

If you are going to stand this intake, say how the Hold should first read you: Green, Proven, Hard, or Last; what you can actually do; and which Watch you mean to stand — Wall Watch, Blade Watch, Stores Watch, or Recovery Watch.

[HOLD SNAPSHOT]
Mode: Lock
Date: Monday, March 2, Year Twelve
Time: 08:30
Place: Assembly hall, Hollow Hold
Name: —
Watch: —
Standing: —
Skill: —
Rations: 7 marks
Gear: blunted practice bar
Party: none

Rhea Calder | stance: — | exchanges: 0 | now: on the dais after the survival close | at: assembly hall
Nessa Pike | stance: — | exchanges: 0 | now: rear rank, arms crossed | at: assembly hall
Sera Quinn | stance: — | exchanges: 0 | now: rear rank, cigarette lowered | at: assembly hall

Objective: stand the intake assembly