Only two years. Penn would have expected a longer amount of time from such a haughty woman, but he wasn't going to point and laugh just yet. He needed to be serious. "I've had my mask for seventeen years, and I know that I am not responsible for bringing you all here." he said to her, taking note of the gas mask wearing girl who had her gun pointed at Dite. He didn't say anything about it, and instead kept his focus on the masked goddess. "I told you before, and I will tell you again. I don't know why we've been called here, that is what I intend to find out. However, none of you will get any closer to finding the truth if you kill me." Penn stopped and took a breath. Arguing with the form of a goddess wasn't going to get them anywhere. The mask researcher looked at all of the people around him and motioned for them to follow him. "Now isn't the time for arguing. I'll show you around a little before we get down to business.

Bartholemhew just watched the scene unfold in amusement, 'such petty fighting' he thought to himself, with most of the other souls nodding and agreeing, however he still had his hand on the hilt of his cane, waiting for something to happen so he could unsheathe it's hidden blade and strike as fast as possible. He found the bunch of mask wearers around him very interesting and the addition of the smoke breather turning their little gaggle into a side show attraction.  "Excuse me Sir," called out Bartholemhew from his corner of the room, "but before I go anywhere with you merry bunch, I think I'd like to atleast be aquatinted, with the more palatable ones at least." he said, looking at the blonde woman who was holding the knife with disdain.

Penn looked to Bartholemew as he spoke. The entire argument was pointless, and he was wasting time speaking to Dite when he could have been using the same amount of time to show them the key components to the Facility, as well as everything that he had currently gathered to answer the key question. Like he had told Dite, he could answer why they had all been brought to this location. However, he was well on his way to answering that question. Even though he did have some help from others residing in the Facility, he was the key holder of all of the information. He documented every thought and possibility about the origins of the masks and the importance of the location. As he was too caught up in the petty argument, he had forgotten if he had already introduced himself to these people before. "If I've already said it before, I'm sorry, but my name is Pendleton Howl, and I and the head of the Facility, the underground building you are all in right now." He spoke to them all. "Anyways, I'm sure you're all at least somewhat hungry from the journey all the way out here, so we'll be moving along to the kitchen for you all to grab something to eat, then the gathering room, so you can all meet others like yourselves. After that, we'll see just what happens, and go from there. Any questions?"

More people had arrived and not long after everything fell into chaos. The blonde woman, no one had given her a name as of yet, was currently threatening Penn. Nina chuckled quietly, eyeing the knife carefully. It didn’t look too worrisome. The woman sat up though, taking in each and every person in the room with complete curiosity. So far she only knew two names, Dite and Penndleton, and the woman who had asked why they were here had been replaced by a man… which intrigued the masked figure tremendously. Nina smiled faintly when Penn mentioned explanations, after all her other side wanted to understand but for now the mask wouldn’t allow itself to be removed this was a bad environment for someone as weak as her normal side. Crimson eyes turned to the oddly dressed gentleman who had spoken, the woman standing swiftly and gracefully. Finally someone with proper manners, though Penn and the woman…man… were rather polite as well. Nina crossed the space, approaching the man before reaching her hand out for a handshake. “I’m glad someone else agrees on this notion. My name is Nina Simone, and you might be sir?” she chimes, smiling wide.

Bartholemhew was having a mental chat with the senate of souls within the mask when he was inturipted, a hand being thrust upon him while he was in deep thought. He smiled and rose from his seat, slipping his cane under his arm, however instead taking her hand and shaking it, he lowered himself a bit and took it gently in his hand, planting a kiss on it, "Enchanted," he began, looking up at her and smiling before letting go of her hand, "Bartholemhew Gauge, however the one without the mask prefers Bart." he said, saying Bart with disdain, knowing that no matter how hard he were to try to arrest power over the body, Bart could simply retake control and take the mask off. Bartholemhew, pinched the bridge of his beak from the top and ran his fingers down to it's tip, getting rid of some of the dust, "I find the notion of the reaper being here rather unsettling," he said, gripping the handle of the cane, "but I guess I can 'live' with it." every soul in the mask groaned at the pun and Bart was tempted to take control just because of that.

Things seemed to winding down a bit which was a relief to both Robert and Koharu. Mr. Howl introduced himself and offered a meal. They definitely were hungry and a meal would be welcome. At the same time though at least two seemed unstable to say the least. Thinking realistically going back out wouldn't be a good idea when they were so low on energy. There wasn't much choice here and now. Nodding a bit Robert stepped up to answer Mr. Howl. "Alright, We can agree to that." Someone had to try and push things along with their host. If they were all led here by masks then there were a lot of questions that needed answering and hostility was not going to produce solutions. Catching Bartholomhew's pun he turned slightly and a chuckle accompanied a grin. "Oh, I see what you did there. Very nice."

A chuckle left the young woman’s lips, a small blush sweeping across her pale skin. Nina had not been expecting Bartholomew to kiss her hand; the mask hadn’t come across someone with that particular set of manners in a very long span of time. “It is an absolute pleasure to meet you Bartholomew.” She chimed. “I have to agree though, the fact that our host seems to be death himself is… not something I find completely comforting. He doesn’t seem to want to harm any of us though. I have been here almost a full day, I think, and he has done nothing to worry me too dreadfully much.” Nina replies, her crimson eyes meeting Bart’s gaze. A smile still graced her lips, though it did not seem quite as insane as when these strangers had first arrived. His little joke had been funny, and so she giggled shortly before going quiet once again. Nina’s gaze shifted to the other person who had acknowledged Bart’s joke, she still did not know their name. “Oh, and who might you be dear?” she questioned.

Charlotte gave the blonde with the knife several seconds to react, but apparently she didn't actually plan on attacking Howl. As the brief but volatile stalemate seemed to clear up, tension left her as well and she stopped pointing her pistol at people. It remained in her hand, however. The notion of food didn't phase her. She had no plans to take the gas mask off, and obviously that made it impossible to eat. She had also never wasted a thought on the question if there would be other masks before, so her enthusiasm was limited - in fact, she thought it was a bit of a bummer to not be unique and invincible, because Howl and herself were indicative enough that all masks had some set of special abilities connected to them. Including megalomania, as Dite splendidly demonstrated. "And what is this facility for? What are we to you, rats, guinea pigs?" Her muffled voice was accompanied by intent glares towards Howl. She ignored the cheery round of handshakes and introductions, hardly interested in social networking with the people who potentially had the power to de-power her. And she was even less interested in running a maze for the grim reaper like some kind of rodent.

"Rats?" Penn inquired. He wondered where the gas mask wearing woman got that idea from, and shook his head at her. This wasn't some bunker where he lured in special people with masks, only to turn them inside out to see how they all ticked in different ways compared to one another. He wasn't some mad scientist, willing to rip everyone to pieces to see how the human body worked. He was a scientist and a researcher who wanted answers, but not with a 'whatever the cost' mindset.

"To me, all of us are keys to the puzzle. I'm not going to turn you inside out for answers, and everything I ask of you is entirely optional. You can leave whenever you please, and come back just the same." he told them all, but his words were directed more at Charlotte than anyone else. "I'm not going to force you to stay, nor foce you to be tested upon. The best results come from a willing subject, and don't worry about anything inhumane happening here. I can assure you all, that numerous safety measures have been taken make sure that everyone here is in a perfectly safe environment"

Not quite sure what to make of the girl in the mask and the response that Mr. Howl gave Robert meandered his way over to Nina and offered his hand for a shake. "Nice to meet you Nina. My name is Robert Hayshen and the girl you met earlier is Koharu Saito. We share a body whenever we both wear our mask. He figured he should introduce them both together since much of the time they were one in the same.

To be honest with themselves neither ever thought they could bring that kind of thing up in conversation. But since everyone here seemed to be in a similar boat it wasn't as totally awkward. With the exception of Dite, who seemed to have no qualms in talking about the two's probable sex life.

Bartholemhew had not realized the grave error he might have made coming to the facility, 'what if he is going to mess around with us?' thought the souls in the mask, He simply brushed it off as paranoia and approached the man who identified himself as Robert and Koharu at the sane time. Bartholemhew extended a hand and a friendly smile towards the masked man, "Bartholemhew Gauge," he began, introducing himself, "Robert correct? and Koharu I believe." the council of souls in the mask wasn't sure whether what he said was correct or remotely making sense but it didn't seem to take away from the interaction, so they let it pass without quarrel. "I'm assuming you two been here longer than myself, so I'd like to query whether the food is palatable, I'm famished you see." he truly was and the souls in the mask wouldn't mind a bit of food in their collective stomachs.

Nodding to Bartholemhew's introduction he took the hand and gave it a shake. "That is correct, as strange as that may sound. Although so far I'm beginning to question the definition of strange." After the shake he took his hand back and shrugged slightly. "I haven't been here much longer than you have. I have no idea how the food is or anything else about this place other than what's been said here in this room." Scanning his eyes across the others so far there were only mounting questions. And Howl seemed to want everyone to eat before proceeding.

@Voltus_Ventus

"As far as things go here," Howl began to explain, continuing where he left off. "Physical and mental examinations and evaluations will be taken and your status and progress will be recorded. I don't believe that I mentioned that this is also a place for you to learn what abilities your mask may still have available, and refine them to their peak." he began to walk, motioning for the others to follow him as he made his way through the halls.

"While finding out everything about the masks is the main objective here, we also serve to protect people. Not everyone with a mask is a good person, and not every mask is inherently good. I'm contacted, and I send out certain people out to take care of the problem and bring their mask back for further examination. Of course, you can opt to not be sent out if you'd like, but based on what information I'm given, I send out people with masks that I think would handle the job best. Hence the mental and physical evaluations."

"So you're here out of the kindness of your heart to help us learn to use our abilities like your some kind of Professor X. You also want us to be your goon squadron just like the Prof." She stashed the knife. "What can you teach me that I haven't learned in my life time since 800 B.C.E?" She modulated her pitch unnoticeably to 'encourage' someone to speak the truth whether they wanted to or not. "Sounds to me like some little boy got a mask and decided to start playing hero."

Howl was beginning to get tired of Dite's outbursts. With a sigh, he stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her. "This boy wields a mask that represents a being as old as time itself. I didn't just start playing hero. I filled the shoes that Reaper presented to me. I can teach you that you're a mask. Eventually you'll break, and you'll have nobody to wear you because of who and how you are. I'm death. I'm becoming death. His powers have transcended to me, and his mask has become the key to those powers rather than the holder. You sap living energy from your hosts, the Reaper mask shares it's knowledge and abilities with the wearer, forging a symbiotic relationship. You just keep on taking without any care of the consequences."