Sound FX - First .WAV [IC]

[Satheon]

OOC is here.



Life can be boring: the same jobs, routines, people, life... All is so mundane. There is no magic to our lives whether we choose to believe in the concept or not. The French Canadian have an expression: "Métro, Boulot, Dodo". Commute, Work, Sleep. It's the perfect expression of how fast paced and industrialized our lives have become. Production lines creating the next day in accordance to the mold we popped the current one out of. Where is the release, the solace, the salvation? How can we let our minds run free and pay no attention to the metaphorical box we are all physically trapped in? For the most of us media has been the answer. Movies, reading, video games and most commonly: music. Music has more power over the soul than "The Man" has over your existence. It will make you happy, sad, angry, compassionate... It will move you, inspire you and drive you to the most uncanny behavior. Who hasn't danced while waiting for a bus? Who hasn't been able to stop themselves from humming in public, concerned about whether or not it is loud enough to be heard? Since it first gifted the lives of our distant ancestors music has been making people feel and do amazing things.

... and it was about to change the lives of some even more...

---

"Shit! I'm late!"

Even alone in his apartment Scott Korbo spoke to himself. He had been doing so since he was pint-sized. "A sign of intelligence", his mother always said, "that is, until you start talking BACK to yourself. Then you need help." He hurried to get his bag together and rummaged to find his keys. His damn keys. They always hid from him when he needed them the most. It was so unlike him to be late for work, but he had gone to bed so uncommonly late the day before. It was the package's fault. Really. A free MP3 player and top-notch earphones for free in the mail and promotional downloadable content? Who WOULDN'T be excited? Only a couple of people world-wide had been given the opportunity to participate in the Finity Tech Enterprises' beta test for their new line of portable music devices and online store, and Scott Korbo was on that mailing list! He had spent too much time before bed carefully choosing the three songs he would put on the device for the trial period. Only three. Man that was tough. His old iPod had enough music to play continuously for eight days without ever repeating a track, and he was expected to use only THREE songs? Harsh...

He put on his brown leather bomber jacket and hurried to tie up his boots. Snow today. Grey skies, white "crap" on the sidewalks... not quite a winter wonderland when you live in Montreal. He barely had time to grab the MP3 player and lock his door if he expected to get to the bus stop on time. But he managed. "Score!", he thought, scanning his bus pass and going to settle down in a seat beside a window. He finished zipping up his coat and messenger bag, making sure his hair hadn't been too mucked up by the weather. He let out a small sigh, releasing some stress, and pulled out the music device. Oh dear lord the ecstasy of not having a tangled earphone wire. No one quite understood the annoyance Scott saw in having to undo knots every damn time he wanted to listen to a tune. He plopped the earbuds in and eagerly pressed Play.

"Now playing: Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah", said a robotic voice from the player.

The music started and Scott couldn't help but be taken aback from a sharp shocking/stinging sensation starting in the back of his head and going down his spine. He felt nauseous. He had to get up. He had to get out. He rang the bell just in time for a stop a few meters away and stumbled out of the bus. Some of the other passengers gasped loudly. Bent down on all four his head touching the sidewalk he cringed and finally the pain subsided. The there was the other issue. "What the fuck is this!?" His hands were covered in semi-holographic plated gauntlets, very intricately designed, and he could feel pauldrons and a cape too. "Holy shit!" He scurried up and stumbled into the street. A fast-approaching car honked loudly but did not have time to maneuver away. Scott screamed and raised his arms trying to protect himself - as if it would do any good against this SUV crossover. Suddenly, the cape moved on it's own: expanding and creating a wall between the man and the oncoming traffic. The car crashed loudly into the now oversized garment-barrier and many other vehicles could be heard breaking and crashing. It was a mess. A loud mess of screams, honking, clashing metal... And the music played on in Scott's ears.

Korbo panicked and looked around. There was a tall condo building right on the corner. Damn how he wished he could be on top of i- "HOLY CRAP!" He had only thought about being on top of that roof and suddenly the cape had flung over, stretched to it and pulled him up like a grappling hook. Scott screamed in the typical high-pitched panicking voice you would get in a movie. "What the fuck is going on!? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!!!" He patted his entire body, the gauntlets clinking, looking for some defect, tumor or alien parasite. "The player... it's the god damn player..." He pressed stop. The armor pieces and cape dissipated as the music stopped. "Oh my god... OH. MY. GOD. What the Hell is this thing!?" Scott tried to pull off the earbuds and toss them aside: "WHAT THE FUCK!?" - the words seemed to be the morning's theme - they weren't even in his ears anymore: they were... screwed into his skull right behind them!? He panicked and grabbed the player, tossing it away with all his might. It just came back, as if drawn to a powerful magnet. "This is some messed up shit... This is some MESSED UP SHIT!"

A man stepped out from the door leading into the building's stairway. He looked about in his fifties: salt and pepper goatee, small round glasses, wearing a long black coat, hair cut short. "I guess you're finding it all hard to accept eh?" he said to Korbo. Scott just didn't answer. His brain had just decided to flip him off and stopped processing the information, nothing made sense anyway. The man continued: "Call me DJ. I know this is a lot to take in in just two minutes, so I won't even start explaining. Here, take this.", he tossed a small package to the confused pastry chef. "There are plane tickets and hotel reservations and enough money on the prepaid credit card to get whatever you need. I'm gathering the lot of you in New York in three days. Don't miss it. It's important." DJ left. "What the Hell..." Scott thought. There are others in this situation? It was just so surreal he decided not to fight it. He walked slowly towards the building stairway.

"I'm probably still dreaming... yeah." He grinned as he made his way down.

[Pestolance]

Jesses eyes shot open at the sound of his alarm beeping, yelling at him to wake the hell up. Jesse quickly stumbled out of the top bunk of his bed, his roommate mumbling something about destroying his alarm clock one of these days. Jesse smirked at his roommates mumbling as he hit the off button, stopping the screaming alarm. Jesse ruffled through his drawers picking out his usual outfit. After dressing himself He walked over to his computer, it wasn't the greatest, but it worked for what he needed it for. Smiling like a mad man he picked up the mp3 player he had gotten the day prior. It was a Finity Tech Enterprise beta test, even though Jesse hadn't heard of that company, he was still pumped for free music. The Mp3 player came with bitchin headphones, and three free songs. The three songs weren't too difficult for him to pick, he picked his three favorites. Up until now he had only used Spotify to listen to music, but now his music was mobile!

Jesse picked up his mp3 player and shoved it in his jacket pocket and booked out the door. Stopping on a dime he quickly went back into his room and grabbed his backpack 'Shit almost forgot this!' he thought running back out the door. Walking down the hall way he took out his Aviators. With a flick of his wrist the sides popped out. He put the aviators on smoothly grinning wildly as he did so. Walking on he slammed the front door open and walked on to English class.

Jesse walked down the sidewalk towards his first class of the day. Jesse pulled out the mp3 player 'time to listen to my favorite songs!' He thought sticking the headphones on. Looking down at the mp3 player he selected one of his favorite songs 'Tomorrow's Money' by My Chemical Romance. A strange robotic voice spoke through the head phones "Now Playing: Tomorrow's Money - My Chemical Romance." A grin spread across Jesses face as the song started up. His smile slowly started to fade as a mixture of blunt and sharp pain ran through his hands. He shook his hands hoping to get rid of the pain, but it didn't stop.

As he shook his hands to try and free them of pain, a strange car pulled up besides him on the street and stayed in pace with him. He looked over at the car "Holy shit! that's a 1979 Trans AM! The paint job looks like white steel plates! The fire bird on the front is sick!" Jesse ran his eyes slowly down the car smiling wildly. Shaking his head he looked up at the driver "Sorry about the ogling for your car D..." His eyes widened in shock. "There's no Driver....There's NO Driver... aha! the driver must've left the car there." He said to himself turning back to the direction of his class. Walking on he could see the car following him, he stopped in his tracks and turned back to the car. "Aha you got me, now show yourself." He said walking over to the car. He stepped back, eyes the widest they've ever been "There's no one in the car!...." He raised his hands and quickly tried to rub his eyes. He jerked his head back as he hit himself in the face with two holographic gauntlets. "WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!" He yelled looking at the massive line honking behind the Trans AM.

In his absence of mind he turned and booked it for class. He made it to the front doors as the song ended. He pulled out the mp3 player and stopped the music from continuing. He reached up and tried to pull out the headphones, but they wouldn't come out. He tugged on them as hard as he could, causing himself pain. He looked left and right and walked into class ignoring everything that had just happened to him. He sat down and tapped his foot nervously. The teacher walked into class and wrote on the board the board read 'Welcome to class Jesse' Jesse shot back in his chair his eyes as wide as they can get. The man that turned around wasn't his teacher but a strange man with a goatee, short hair, and small round glasses "Hello Jesse, I'm DJ. I know this is strange to you, but the car that was following you, was yours." Jesse looked the man in the eyes "How was the car driving with no driver!" He yelled. DJ chuckled "Because you had summoned it. Now, here's a package, with several plane tickets, a credit card, and hotel reservations. Make your way to new york, i'm gathering a group of you there." With that DJ left the room, leaving Jesse pondering about what the fuck just happened.

[Nost]

Ethan was already awake when his alarm clock sounded.

"I won again!" He thought. He was painting, as usual. He really didn't have anything else to do.
He was thinking about that strange package that was sent to him the previous day.

"How curious. A free media player, with three free downloads." The attached letter said he was one of the lucky individuals selected from all over the world to try the beta of this new product from Finity Tech Enterprise.

He had made an investigation of that company, with no results.

"Pirating music won't work, since you can't add archives from your computer." He said to himself, with a face expressing disappointment.

"Oh well, free stuff is free stuff." He stopped his painting session, he took a quick bath, got dressed, had his breakfast, and went out, with his MP3 player in his pocket.

That day, he would not go to his usual class, but to a conference in his local university.

"Those guys from the university said I should apply now, but before I could I had to assist to the conference and pass an exam." He thought in his way to the institution.

There was a break in the middle of the conference, so he used this time to try the player.

He chose a song, Demo 2, from this new band he found in the Internet.

The played then said "Now playing: Demo 2"

The song started to play, and then, from all of the sudden, everything seemed calmed, and... groovy. Colors everywere, like if every problem he had just... disappeared.

But he was not the only one that seemed to be hallucinating. Every single person in the conference room seemed distant. When he realized something was happened, he looked at himself. He was wearing a long, dyed robe. It was like a rainbow, but the colors in the robe weren't steady. They changed as time passed.
There was also this staff, carved with ancient runes. It resembled to an oak branch. Colored sunglasses also appeared in the scene.

He was amazed. He didn't know how, or why this happened, but he liked it.
When the song was over, he tried to take off the earplugs, but they were attached to his skin. He stopped the playlist. He realized the MP3, was not only that.

Engrossed in his thoughts, he heard someone was calling his name.

"Delightful, isn't it?" The mysterious individual said. He was sitting next to him. "You can call me DJ. You can have this". DJ gave Ethan a plane ticket to New York, an hotel reservation, and some cash. Before he could even try to ask, the mysterious figure disappeared.

He knew he had to do something about it. But, what?

[AoStar]

The alarm clock laying on the dresser next to April's bed rang once, twice, then stopped. April stared at it for a moment, hands on her hips. "You piece of junk," she said to it, shaking her head. Of course, when you buy an alarm clock from some random guy on the street in New York, you can't expect it to work perfectly. Then again, unemployed high-school students usually don't have enough money to buy things from actual stores. Not when they spend all of their money on things new paints, cameras, clothes, and other crap they didn't really need. And April was one to spend her money on tons of useless junk.

Wearing an off-the-shoulder baggy white t-shirt and skinny jeans, April's hair was pulled back from her forehead into a messy bun. She was up early this morning, hoping to get some painting done, but her piece of crap alarm clock had gone off way too soon, and she wasn't able to get a single thing done. Which was why she was now standing over it, giving it an bone-crushing glare.

After a moment of more glaring, April figured that she should be off to school. She grabbed her multi-colored Hollister bag, her bus money, and (as an after-thought) her new mp3 player. After her ipod got ran over by some monkey who didn't understand the concept of driving on the street NOT the sidewalk, April had been looking for something else she could use to play music with. Then this little jewel fell into her hands the night before. It was made by a company she'd never heard of, and they said something about a test and some other crap, but all she cared about was that it was an mp3 player. It didn't take long for her to get her three favorite songs on it, so now it was ready to listen to while she was on her way to school.

Her hand was reaching for her doorknob, when she suddenly stopped. Dark eyes looked to the alarm clock, then back to the mp3 player in her hand. "Let's hope this isn't another piece of junk," she mumbled with a sigh. She didn't doubt it. Anything that was free was bound to be a piece of junk. She plugged in her neon pink earbuds, and turned the device on. It could atleast do that much, so maybe it could play something. Absentmindedly, she leaned against her closed door, as she clicked the first song. "Now Playing: Lights - Ellie Goulding" As the first verse began, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes with a smile on her face, losing herself to the music.

Riing... Riing...

April's eyes shot open, and she sought out the source of the ringing. That stupid alarm clock. Dropping her bag, she growled with fire in her eyes and stepped up to it, the song still pounding in her ears. Grabbing the faulty thing off of her dresser, she threw it at the wall with all of her might, when along with the alarm clock came a long string of water. Like a whip, it flung itself from her fingertips and knocked over the lamp on her dresser. The teen froze, eyes widened in shock. A wide smile spread over her face, and as the song reached the second chorus, she tried it again. Swinging right arm to her left, the whip formed again, this time carving a straight line into her highly decorated wall. She giggled with excitement. "What the heck is going on here? Am I a superhero now or something?!"

There was a sudden two knocks at her door.

Sighing in frustration, April ripped the mp3 player out of her pocket and tried to shut it off, still not realizing she was wearing strange armor. Groaning in frustration at the fact that the device would not turn off. "I knew it was a piece of crap!" She jogged to the door, yanking it open. "Listen, mom. I-" Her voice cut off. It wasn't her mother at the door. It was a man she had never seen before.

"Hello there, April. My name is DJ. You must be pretty shocked now, huh? Having fun?" He continued, holding out a piece of paper to her, "Here is the address you'll be going to. I expect that a smart girl like you, will not have any problem following these directions." He waited for her to take the paper, then turned and walked down the stairs, leaving the house.

[ProfessorNemo]

It was a day like any other,the birds were singing the sun was shining and Marcus....was running late...again. We find Marcus running through the busy city streets as he desperately tries to reach his destination. "I can't believe I'm late !!! Stupid Alarm Clock !!! Out of all the days to die it chooses today !!! " Marcus thinks to himself as his destination is in sight. Sliding to a stop Marcus arrives at the scene of the crime,a three story apartment building with a perfect view of the crime scene. Just outside of the apartment complex lays...a dark,red,sports car with key markings on both sides. As Marcus arrives there stand his boss as he finishes interrogating a little old lady. "Thank you for you time,we'll be sure to contact you with anything we find." The Detective says with a smile as the poor old lady walks back to her apartment. "Your not harassing random people on the street again are you Mr. David " Jason asks wondering what kind of trouble might already be brewing. "First off your late,anyway I was just getting the statement of the owner. " Mr.David says as he finishes writing out the report. Marcus's face pales at the fact that Mr.David noticed his tardiness and the fact that a lady in her seventies was driving a sports car. Marcus's thoughts are interrupted as Mr.David shoves a digital camera into his hands as he heads for the apartment building. "Take care of photographing the crime scene while I check the security footage. I want every angle of this car covered. Understand ?" Mr.David says with a loud,commanding,tone. Without even stopping to reply,Marcus quickly turns on the camera as Mr.David leaves with a slight grin on his face. "Man can't believe I got stuck with camera duty again. I want to be doing something important not playing cameraman.... Oh well,at least this gives me some time to try out my new MP 3 Player. Quickly putting the wireless headphones into his ears,Marcus hits the power button as he continues his job. Suddenly a female like voice fills his head " Now Beginning Installation". "Wait a sec...I already downloaded my three.." Marcus's thoughts are interrupted as a surging pain now fills his head. The camera falls to the and breaks as the pain forces Marcus to his knees. The pain slowly shifts from his head to the back of his neck as his mind is pushed to the limit. Suddenly as soon as the pain starts its gone as a cooling sensation now covers his entire body. Marcus slowly begins to get back on his feet as he uses the sports car for support. " Dear God...huff...huff...what was that ?? I thought...I was gonna die for a second...huff...there..." Marcus mumbles to himself as the whole ordeal leaves him physically drained. Suddenly the first song on his playlist kicks on as he looks around for anyone who could help him. As a few people walk by on the other side of the street only one person catches his eye. A little girl,no more than ten years old standing in the middle of the road as she stares right back at him. Suddenly, a screeching sound fills the air as further down the road a van can be seen speeding towards the girl. Without stopping to think Marcus summons all of his remaining strength as he sprints towards the middle of the road. The speeding van is now a few feet away as Marcus quickly scoops the little girl into his arms. The world begins to crawl to a stop as Marcus can feel the van's headlights only a few inches away. He keeps his vision focused on the sidewalk in front of him as a single thought crosses his mind. "God...if you can hear me..please,please just give me the power...to save this person's life." Marcus prays as he closes his eyes and waits for their untimely deaths. "Nothing....no pain,no impact,no white light at the end of the tunnel. Is this what it feels like to die ?!?!?" Marcus thinks to himself as he slowly opens his eyes. With his vision returning he quickly looks around as he and the little girl are back on the sidewalk. Letting go of the little girl the mother comes and picks her up as a small crowd begins to form around him. As the crowd begins to grow,their whispers begin to grow. "Hey,who are you ? We're you rehearsing for a show just now ? What's with that get-up ? Isn't it hot to be wearing that black armor in this heat ? " the crowd ask as each person wants their question answered first. Ignoring the crowds curiosity Marcus decides to answer his question first and that was to find out what they were talking about. Taking a quick glance at himself he finds his answer,all over his body a strange,black,holographic,metal armor covers his body. The crowd closes in on Marcus as he tries to comprehend just what had happened. The crowd pulls and tugs on Marcus's armor as the either try to get his attention or just feel the armor. "This crowd....of I don't get out of here soon... I'll die of suffocation !!!! " Marcus thinks to himself as he begins to look for a way out. Suddenly,without warning,Marcus disappears into thin air as a gasp emerges from the crowd. To them it was like he simply vanished without a trace. To Marcus,one minute he was on the sidewalk and next he's on the roof of the apartment building. "This....is....AWESOME !!!! What just happened ? How'd I get this cool armor ? This is the best !!!! " Marcus says to himself. Just as he was getting used to the armor,the song ends as the armor disappears. That's when Marcus made the connection. It was the MP3 player,whether it was magic or some kind of advance science he didn't care. All he knew was that his prayers had finally been answered !!!! "Nice show down there,honestly I didn't think you were going to make it at first but where are my manners ? My name is DJ,pleased to make your acquaintance. " Marcus quickly turns around as he sees a middle aged man with a black coat and a salt and pepper goatee. "Anyway,I'm here to invite you to a gathering of individuals like yourself. No need to worry about transportation or a place to stay,I've already got that covered. All I ask is that you come. Now here's everything you'll need and I'll be waiting for you there." DJ says as he hands Marcus a sealed package. Cautiously taking the package Marcus opens it up to find a plane ticket with instructions on the meeting place. With an adventure staring him in the face and the mysterious DJ nowhere to be found,Marcus looks up at the sky and smiles as a new chapter in his life is about to take place.

[Base Four]

[Julia Castor | Seattle, Washington]
Julia Castor did not sleep the night before. On any other day it would be safe to assume that she was working on homework, composing, or trying to kickstart one more of her random projects. This time, though. the case is simply that she was trying to catch up with some webcomic she discovered a few days ago.

She slammed her palm onto the alarm clock when its programmed ring meaninglessly made the satement that someone who was already awake was supposed to wake up now. The clock went silent, its ring replaced by a much more subtle sound of wooden chair legs scratching against the floor, and subsequently, muffled footsteps.

She was pretty confident of her memory, but she walked up to the red ink-covered calender to make sure. Yup, no classes today. She took a few pointless steps around her room, trying to decide wheter to just fall back into bed or finish the last fifty pages; and then something caught her sight and made her decide that it is neither. She walked up to the door of her room and picked up the parcel.

Finity Technology. She's heard of the company before, but she didn't order anything from them as far as she remembered. Hmm. She impatiently flipped the paper-wrapped box around in her hands repeatedly trying to search for any evidence that it was incorrectly addressed and delivered, or that someone just randomly left it there and forgot-perhaps her father or someone else in the family. But no further information was available from the exterior of the package except the little sticker that had the Finity Tech logo on it with a "Beta" marking on the corner, and her home address, and...her name?

"Alright then." She really didn't want to have to explain anything when the rightful owner of this parcel comes to get it back, but since her name was on this it was apparent that even if it was a mistake she would have an excuse. She proceeded to tear open the parcel and retrieve the contents. Fitted into a chuck of carved styrofoam was a thin elongated square of shimerring metal with buttons on it, apparently and elegant electronic device. It became clear that it was an MP3 when a set of wireless earphones were stuffed into a plastic bag that was also in the package. Also enclosed was a manual of sorts, the kind of stuff you get when they deliver any electronics to people even though they know they never read it. Julia picked it up.

"...three songs? huh." She flipped the block of metal around in her palm for many more times, and only moments later found herself scrolling through the bulk of beta content that was available for download, with the wireless earphones tucked beneath her hair, which-after she was attacked by dozens of promps and confirm messages after accidentally clicking on a random button-announced, in a calm, monotonous synthetic femal voice: Now Playing: Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.1: Prelude

The so familiar notes filled her ears, and so did an excruciating pain creeped down her spine.

"What on earth-" She dropped the MP3 player as she collapsed onto the ground with her palms covering the back of her ears, touching the earphone that were now screwed into the back of her head. Alright, this is going to take extra effort to explain...she thought as she felt something else solidifying in her hand: a...bearded battle axe? She raised it up in front of her eyes. The pain stopped.

She inspected the pair of weapons a bit closer. Wooden shafts, slightly curved with the ends protected with metal pieces, and the tips ending in greyish metallic glimmer that was slightly dimmed by stains of a dark red liquid...blood?

She swung the axes around in her palm, amazed at how smoothly she completed the action as if muscle memory took over even if she had never done anything like that before. The extensive tremolos at the second part of the song sounded, and she swung the weapon around again. And again. Before she knew it, she was hurling the heavy metal blades around, spinning on her feet and giggling.

"...this is FUN!"

She laughed, continuing the fluid slashing movements to the rythm of the last part of the song. And then her right hand lost grip and the axe was sent flying towards the window.

"eh-" she exclaimed, not finishing the complete syllable when the song ended, and the weapon dissipated into a harmless cloud of mist-as well as the one in her hand-just inches before it would have went straight into the face of the man standing outside.

He pushed open her window from outside. Julia wondered how he got there, it was the fourth floor and as far as she knew no exterior stairs led to her balcony. The man nonchalantly squeezed his tall, cloaked self through the window, and ended up standing upright in Julia's room, facing her.

"Having fun, miss Castor?" he said, smiling, "Call me DJ."

[Nocardia]

The day looks as sad and depressing as usual, Mary lamented as she brought out her umbrella. It had begun to rain right when she step foot out of the house. Was mother nature going against her today as well? Same old, same old. She clenched the handle of her umbrella and began her walk to the daycare. She checked her watch, 5:30am, meaning she had thirty minutes to spare on her journey. When the owner had heard of her waking hours, Mary was immediately charged with the tasks of opening and preparing the daycare. She didn't really mind, and actually found it as a good time killer. Waking up before five had become a habit to her, one she, for some weird reason, could never break... Hah. Maybe her body's sleeping pattern was mocking her - not having her up at a later hour like every other person. Maybe it was to spare everyone her presence, seeing as how she was always alone the streets so early in the morning. Even her own physiologic functions wanted her to be forever alone.

Mary tensed when she heard a car. She instinctively moved her umbrella to her side to shield herself from the splash the whizzing vehicle made. It was obvious that it happened to her on a daily basis. As she continued on her journey, she shielded herself three more times from speeding cars that whizzed by puddles, narrowly dodged a clothesline that fell from a three-story building because of the wind, and successfully crossed the street unscathed or terrified. Despite the gloomy weather, things seemed to be going well today. When she arrived in front of the daycare's front gate, she brought out her pouch where the keys were- "Hey, miss!" A voice suddenly called from behind her. Mary turned around, wondering who could be calling her attention. A motorcycle suddenly passed by, the helmeted driver held out his hand and grabbed onto her pouch. Before the event could register in her mind, the motorcycle had already turned a corner and was out of sight.

Mary blinked. Did someone just steal...? She let out a deep sigh, honestly not surprised. Of course, dodging the calamities early would mean something had to happen sooner or later. She had been thieved from before and luckily, she kept her money in her pockets. But the pouch had her small belongings, like her keys, a few pieces of candy for the kids and the new MP3 player she had just gotten yesterday. The stereo in the daycare was also of the Finity brand, so she had hoped that it would be able to play the children songs she had downloaded onto it. It was much more convenient than using a CD, but now... Gone. Receiving the package was a rare occurrence of good luck. Well, everything good she was to receive would be taken back anyway. It was how her world worked.

"Ow!" A metal object suddenly slammed to her forehead. She frowned and quickly grabbed it before it fell to the ground, her eyes widening when she saw it was the very item she was lamenting over. Soon, the wireless earphones were whizzing to her. She quickly grabbed it before they could hit her in the face. She looked forward, but the thief was no where in sight. She looked down at the pieces of the suddenly mysterious technology in her hand. No sane person would use this after what happened. To test her theory, Mary raised up her hand and dropped the MP3 to the ground, only to yelp in surprise when it sprang back up, hitting her in the chin and making her drop her umbrella. It then landed back on her hand. She glared down at it, not caring if she was getting wet from the rain.

First, nature. Then, her own body. But now even technology was hating on her?! "Fine, fine. I'll use you, you possessed pile of shi-... metal," she muttered as she put on the wireless earphones and pressed play. A female voice suddenly said, "Now Playing: Rain, Rain, Go Away". An ache suddenly soared through her head. It hurt... but she wasn't surprised - the MP3 player seemed to be a bit of a sadist. What she was shocked at though was how a pink and white frilly dress manifested over her clothes. Stockings suddenly covered her legs, a pink and frilly headband appeared on her hair, and a shepherd's crook suddenly appeared in her hand. It all clashed greatly with her dark hair and pale skin. She stood there for a good five seconds, dumbfounded.

"Have I finally snapped...?" she muttered in bewilderment, looking down at her clothes that seemed to have an odd texture, almost like a hologram. "I've finally lost it... I knew this day would come. But why a stupid dress? I wanted to go mad looking cool..." But alas, even her insanity hated her. She looked up to the heavens that was still bringing down rain. "Even my personified insane self is depressing..." She spread out her arms, the crook still being clenched tightly in her grasp. "Come on, karma! Is this the best my messed up mind can do?!" The normal drizzle soon turned into a heavy shower within the span of a second. Wow. Did the heavens actually hear her?

"Excuse me, miss."

Mary sighed and gave the stranger a sideways glance. "I have nothing, good sir. Just a poor, drenched soul here whose soon to lose her mind and fall into the abyss of eternal despair and agony." She held up her MP3 player, "I guess you can steal this though."

She was unable to see the man clearly, the heavy rain falling on her face shrouded her vision because she didn't bother to wipe her eyes. But based on his outline, he was an adult in black with an umbrella and something brown in his hand. He walked towards her and pressed stop on the MP3 player that was being offered to him. Her clothes suddenly returned to normal and her shepherd's crook disappeared. He then placed the package on her free hand. "My name is DJ, Ms. Parker. You are not losing your mind. More information will be given once you head to New York. We have included tickets as well as covered any expenses." He gave a tip of his hat. "That is all. I will be taking my leave... and please find shelter from the rain soon." She merely nodded as she watched the man walk away. She stood there, the earphones practically implanted onto the back of her ears, still locked out of the daycare, and her body drenched to the bone.

The rain was still pouring down.

[Satheon]

Scott boarded the plane not quite realizing what was happening. The situation was just so surreal he was going along with it as if in a dream, not asking questions and accepting occurences as they came. He had dreamed of having powers as a child, pretending to slay invisible foes in the backyard while waiting for supper, but the holographic cloak with Spawn-like powers was a whole other level of make-believe. He had crashed cars and grappled to the top of a twenty-stories building. By thinking. Were there others like him? What was DJ up to and who was he really? There were two other songs on the device... what would THEY do? Would he get more? Oh, not to mention the wireless ear buds that had screwed into his skull. No big deal. It was all just too much to intellectualize, so he didn't try. They were. That was all.

On the plus side, it would afford him a trip to New York. He hadn't been in years, not since high school. Going by plane beat the seven hour bus ride straight out of the water. Only thirty minutes and they had landed. The credit even included some spending money! Well, to be fair, Scott wondered if there was a limit on it at all. It was prepaid, so there must have been, but when he tried to call for more information on the card, the customer service simply said: "Oh, don't worry Mr Korbo, you won't run out of funds.", and hung up. "Oh well", he thought, tossing the entire issue in the pile of "no-more-questions-shall-be-asked" elements. Might as well have some fun then. Scott raided some of his favourite fashion stores, even treating himself to a one-of-a-kind tie from Ted Baker, and ate in the fanciest of restaurants. He really let himself live a pampered existance until the meeting. It was all part of the daydream, really.

Scott loafed around the hotel room until around five thirty, when a call from the receptionist summoned him down to the lobby. Upon his arrival the doorman approached him: "Your car has arrived sir." "Car? I didn't hail a cab..." A red Cadillac waited for him just outside. He hopped in and the driver drove off smoothly. "Enjoying your stay so far, Mr Korbo?" They swung around a few streets, eventually coming to a stop in an alleyway. The driver let Scott out and guided him up through an old delivery lift to a very fancy loft. "Please wait here sir for the others to arrive. mr DJ is in back preparing himself a drink, if you would like one. I don't expect to see you again sir. All the best."

Scott walked through the loft slowly, looking around and getting comfortable with the environment. Apparently he was the first to arrive, which meant he wouldn't be the last. Other people had powers too? What did this all mean? He made his way to the back of the loft to a bar area, where he found DJ, white pinch, black glasses and formal suit and tie. "What will you have, young man? I trust you brought you player?" Scott advanced slowly, almost imagining himself in a James Bond movie. "Gin tonic please, with a splash of Honey Jack. And yeah, I brought it." The mysterious man mixed the drink and handed it to the young pastry chef. "Good, good... Don't play it. Not yet. I will explain more when the others arrive. I don't like repeating myself. But in the mean time here is something to munch on: I used to work for Finity Tech and even developped the player partially. Together we will fetch some answers. You can head to the lounge while we wait."

Scott looked at DJ sideways, apprehensively. Should he believe him? No matter. Just another file for the surreal box. He sipped the drink and walked towards the window. Other people were arriving.

[Pestolance]

Jesse sat down next to an old man sleeping in his chair, he was waiting for his plane to be ready to take off. His flight was supposed to leave at two in the fucking morning but apparently the pilots didn't get the memo, Because the flight had been delayed for two fucking hours! Jesse sat there watching the time tick away, literally watching the second hand tick away the time. He really started craving his music, but the damn headphones were drilled into his head, and spawning metal gloves and a car might be frowned upon in the middle of the airport. Jesse sighed heavily and slumped down in his chair, this was going to be a long day.

Jesse meandered through the add-on hallway leading to the plane, shuffling his feet as he went. He wasn't a fan of planes, he preferred to not be in the air where one can fall to their death, planes were flying metal death traps. He staggered onto the plane and damn near crawled into his seat buckling himself up nice and tight, making sure he's safe if things go south. He adjusted everything on him making sure he wasn't missing anything, made one last check on his belt and took a deep breath while he waited to take off.

The plane landed rather roughly, Jesse had slept through the plane ride happy he didn't have to suffer through the flying metal death trap. He got off of the plane with his luggage stretching his muscles as he moved,trying to not be in any ones way. He walked out of the hallway only to spot a man standing there in a rather fancy suit holding a sign that read his name on it. Walking over to the man with a questioning look on his face and speaking in a somewhat uncivilized manner "Hey, you here for me?" The man smiled and waved his towards the doors "Yes sir I am. Right this way if you will Mr. Williams." Jesse loaded into the pure black Cadillac CTS and grin spreading across his face, cars were definitely more his speed.

Jesse relaxed in the back of the car as he was driven around, the man in the front spoke over his shoulder as they drove "Would you like to go pick up some food sir? I do believe you have some money given to you from Master DJ correct?" Jesse was looking out the window as the driver spoke to him, without turning his head away from the sights he replied rather energetically "Sure why don't we hit up a fast food place?" Jesse was taken to one of the many new york food places for food, after he was taken around the city for some shopping. He picked up some clothes, a few pieces of jewelry he found down right bad ass and a couple other things here and there.

By the time he had finished it was time to meet up at the meeting place, his driver so courteously wouldn't let him forget even if he had wanted to. Jesse's driver arrived at the destination not long after leaving the last store they had been at. Jesse got out of the car leaving his new items in the vehicle for the driver to take to the hotel. He walked into the room and looked around, there was a man with dark blonde hair spiked up in a fohawk and wearing aviators, he waved his hand towards him "Hey, whatsup? You here to meet with DJ too?" He asked his attention completely turned away from looking around the room.

[Nost]

Ethan ran towards home. How in hell would he convince his mother to let him go to New York, alone?
While he was in his way, he noticed he still had plugged his earphones.

"Ugh, I have to take them off" He thought. Yet, he noticed something peculiar. The earplugs where now attached to his skin, like some hearing device. He didn't panic. After all that was, in fact, the less strange thing the MP3 player could do.
He kept running until he arrived home. He took his keys from his pouch, inserted them in the keyhole, and then opened the door.

"Mom..." He said afterwards.
"Yes honeybunny?" That's how she called him. It was kind of a problem, since she did the same in public.
"I received a package from... from... a university!" He then said. "Yes, a university, in New York. They said they were interested in me, and they wanted to test my skills. I have a plane ticket, and enough money for living there for a while. I would have to go now".

That's the best excuse he could think of. He had a history of educational offers he rejected because of... reasons... and it would be perfectly credible if he said he finally accepted one of them.

"Well, that's nice honey. Let's prepare your baggage then. We don't have much time!"

They left to the AICM as soon as they could. Ethan said goodbye to his mother in the airport terminal, and addressed the flight.

When it finally arrived, he was tired and he had a head ache.
"Well, this is quite a nice opportunity to practice my English" He said to himself.

He tried to leave the terminal, but then he heard his name called from a megaphone.

"Mr. Ethan Solis, please present yourself to the security control room".

"Eek!" He thought "Wha... what if they think I'm a drug dealer?! Damned racists..." He then, left to the indicated room.

It was a small room, but it inspired certain feeling of authority. In it, there were many screens, that showed the behavior of the people inside the airport, with some security guards, watching them.

"Do not worry sir, we won't cause any trouble. You were called here so we can take you to your destination" Said a police officer. He, and his partner escorted Ethan to the exit, where there was a police vehicle waiting for them. They drove to his final destination. He thanked the policemen, and walked inside the building.

It was a well adorned edifice. When he was in there, he saw three men, of which he knew one.

"Well, the youngest fellow just arrived." DJ said, with a cynical tone. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Ababa..." He was petrified, he didn't know what to answer. "Can I have some juice sir?" He finally said, with the best accent he could play.

"Of course you can!" The man said, while he handed the drink to the kid.

"Thank you" He said, and then drank his juice.

He ignored the other men in the room. He was too shy to say anything to them, and he could not find any reason to do it.

"We shall wait for the others" DJ said. And Ethan obeyed.