Stasya’s sleep was dark and fitful. Her face was constricted in fear and pain, whimpering and muttering half-formed words. Every so often her entire body would flinch and shudder, and she would curl in on herself.

Finally, she jerked upright with a cry, arm outstretched. “Нет! (No!)” Panting hard, she stared at the far wall, letting her hand fall onto the covers. That was right, she wasn’t home. She was stuck here. Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she looked to the still slumbering girl beside her. It was… reassuring, waking up beside someone again. Like Natali used to do with her. Reaching out, she gently touched the girl’s shoulder, shaking her awake.

“Lyra? Есть? (Lyra? Eat?)” Stasya mimed bringing food to her mouth.

@Lillium

Lost in thought and picking at her now wet clothes, Lucie was slowly trudging towards room 12 for a change of clothes. It was decidedly uncomfortable to walk around with damp clothing sticking to her and she didn't need any more negative feelings on top of the earlier nervousness that had returned with a vengeance. Swarms of butterflies fluttered about in her stomach, beating their wings in a cacophonous dance. She was equal parts in dread and hopeful for the call with her aunt. On the plus side, her blush had subsided. The brief announcement over the intercoms had reminded her that she had yet to eat something since the Con, which had been more than quite a while ago. Lucie wondered if it was worth it to go over to the cafeteria and attempt to make something for herself in front of everyone. She wasn't the most physically coordinated or the best cook.

It was in this state of distraction that the boy from the pool - Arthur, as she would soon come to learn - nearly bumped into her and snapped her back to reality.

His attempt at her native language wrought out a genuine smile from the girl, lightening her mood just a tad. His comment that followed, however, was completely lost on her. She had never been a sports fan to begin with and so the remark went over head. From the context, she grasped that it had been meant to amuse.

"And here I had you pegged for a native Parisian and all." A teasing smile sneaked its way onto her lips. "I'm Lucie. Nice to meet you properly."

It seemed that Arthur had been making his way towards the kitchen area and extended her an invitation to join him in scouting out the situation. As far as plans went, there were definitely worse ones. Hanging out in her room by herself and shredding her nails due to worry was definitely one of the latter. Perhaps she could make herself a sandwich without gutting herself of anyone else.

"Oh? Dying to witness my culinary prowess already? Just remember though; if anything explodes or catches fire, this was your idea."

Just then, a petite and exceedingly beautiful girl who looked like she belonged on the set of a fantasy movie rather than real life walked up to the pair; and then proceeded to stare at them wordlessly. Before Lucie could ask if she had something on her face, the girl realized her faux pas and hurried away after a quick smile.

"Well that was interesting." Lucie blinked in surprise at the girl's abrupt departure. Unbidden, a thought popped up that the girl would be excellent for character inspiration. Was that her natural hair color?

"Would you mind if I changed into something dry before we make our way there? The room I'm assigned to is close by." The red head gestured towards her clothes, suddenly remembering her predicament. Thankfully, she had been dressed in dark clothes.

@Jinxer @HecateProxy

The girl awoke from her troubled sleep with a gasp, her frail body shuddering in surprise at having been woken up. Momentary panic blanketed her mind, thoughts screaming 'stranger' before the memories came flooding back. And with it came the realization of her current situation. Hopelessness seemed to weigh her slender frame down and threatened to drag her underneath a sea of despair. But she clung on to whatever hope she had left. She had Stasya now, her new friend. Perhaps her only friend in this place.

Putting on a weak smile, she shook her head from side to side in answer the foreign girl's question, sending loose strands of her hair flying. She didn't feel hungry at all just then and wanted to rest a bit more. She didn't want Stasya to wait on her behalf.

"Stasya go. Eat."

Lyra made a walking motion with her fingers, pointing away from herself. She then proceeded to mime the action of eating something, keeping eye contact with her friend. Hopefully, Stasya got the message. Almost as an afterthought, she placed a hand on her chest and said her name.

"Lyra," pale fingers reached up to the corners of her mouth and pulled them up in a smile. She hoped it conveyed that she was happy.

@Thundercrash

@Lillium@HecateProxy@wolverbells


Arthur laughed, rubbing the back of his head in mild embarrassment; or at least in the mannerism of it. "That bad, was it? I shall have to work harder." After her own introduction, she joked again but this time about her cooking. It seemed to Arthur that Lucie's apparently cool attitude was not aggressive or demeaning and merely just different from the usually accepted 'touchy-feely' relationships most seemed to prefer. For him, as someone who had difficulty feeling emotions and empathising with others, her manner was a breath of fresh air.

"Explodes? I wasn't expecting anything so... experimental." He couldn't help but smile, and in his usual manner, made an offer. "If there's that much danger to us all then I wouldn't mind preparing something. You know, so we don't all perish."

They were interrupted by one of the girls from earlier, one who had spoken out in the auditorium earlier as he recalled. She was like a fairy, gliding up to them and then, when the silence became awkward, glided away towards the cafeteria.

"Oh, so you saw that too? I'm glad I'm not losing the rest of my marbles just yet." Lucie indicated she wished to change and Arthur nodded, realising he himself hadn't yet change since arriving here, however long ago that was. "I'll do the same, although it irks me to use whatever clothing they've provided." He stopped at his door, number 15, and indicated that it was his own. "I'll meet you out here in a mo then?"

Arthur entered his room and crossed to the wardrobe he remembered being there from when he had awoken. Although he had been disoriented and even feeling a mild sense of terror at the situation, his subconscious had managed to take note of the room properly before he left. Inside were clothes of the same style he would wear when allowed to be in casual wear at Eton: relatively dark blue jeans and a variety of smart shirts, mostly short-sleeved and usually a pale blue colour.

He changed quickly into a new pair of jeans and one of the sky blue shirts from the wardrobe and double-checked the fitting in the mirror on the wardrobe. He was unsurprised to find that they were the right size; after all the world the people running the facility had put in he doubted they'd oversee even this small a detail. Ready for some food, he left his room and stopped for a moment as he realised the level of acceptance he had come to for their present situation.

Lucie arrived not long after and he greeted her with a nod and a patented smile. "I believe this is normally where the chap says something cliché like 'You look stunning' but I believe these circumstances might be a little inappropriate."

They walked the rest of the short corridor and into the cafeteria where the previously shuttered left hand wall was now open with a large counter revealed. The display cases were all empty and Arthur recalled that it was from tomorrow that they could order specific meals if they so wished. A door was set into the wall next to the counter, one of those double doors with no handle so that they could be pushed through even if one were holding something.

There were voices from inside and as the two pushed through they could see two girls. Arthur searched his memory and remembered Elisa using their names in the auditorium; Irina and Amara as he recalled. It wouldn't be well-mannered to use their names without their introduction and some people preferred to use nicknames rather than their given names so he chose to wait until they were properly acquainted. He smiled and waved in his calm, collected way.

"Hello again! It seems we weren't the only ones with an appetite." He made to walk to the bank of fridges he could see, big American-style ones with double doors while separate big chest freezers sat nearby, to check what was available but then noticed the girl from the hallway was running water over her hand. On reflex his eyebrows knitted together in concern and he crossed smoothly and quickly over to her.

"May I take a look?" He asked - in that manner one did when they weren't really asking, it was more of a statement of fact - and inspected her injury. "It doesn't look too deep but you should cover it up before you cook anything - especially raw meat." Here he glanced at the chicken breasts on the counter nearby to convey his meaning. "I'm a first aider, courtesy of my fledgling sporting career. If you're not opposed to it I can properly cover that up. It's in a bit of an awkward place for a plaster and I bet they've got a first aid kit in here somewhere."

Irina had waited patiently for the girl’s reaction of wanting to help cook. From the moment Irina had began to speak to the petite young lady, she could sense giant exclamation points and question marks form in her little white haired head. Irina had held her composer as she was somewhat able to understand the thoughts of the girl; they were amusing, to say the least. Irina found herself getting lost in the way the girl’s thoughts shot out as if going a million miles per hour. She didn’t mean to have taken her by surprise that much.

Finally the young woman had spoken and Irina’s undivided attention was back on her. A simple “uhh” before she began laughing without having any real reason behind it. Irina looked around and quickly saw her reflection on one of the stainless steel pans that was handing from a hook.

’Nothing’s on my face…. Why is she laughing?’

Although Irina did seem to be taken quite off guard, she couldn’t help but to let out a little laugh herself. A bit more nervous than the small girl’s laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. Luckily the laughing fit hadn’t lasted so long. Irina had never been the laughing type, and it was never easy to get a chuckle out of her, or a giggle.

“It’s okay, I understand. It’s not every day you get kidnapped and told you have ‘powers’,” Irina lifted her hands to make air quotations as she rolled her eyes. She looked back at the girl and smiled, listening once more to what she had to say and watching what she was doing. Irina had barely picked up her fork and began to eat while standing when the knife that the young woman was cutting with decided that it was out for blood.

Irina’s eyes widened as she watched the small teenager begin to run around quickly and shoot towards the sink. “Oh! Let me help.” Irina spoke with food still in her mouth as she looked around for something to wrap around the cut so that blood spillage wouldn’t be too big of an issue. She was sure that once they settled that they could go off and find a first aid kit. Surely there was one in the kitchen. There always were kits in kitchens.

As Irina made her way over to the girl, she once again heard the ongoing battle against herself in her own mind. Irina smirked as she sat a small towel down next to Mara, who had finally given up her name, and crossed her arms as she leaned on the counter, “That Jiminy Cricket you have in your head is very sarcastic, you know? Very funny to hear.” She had barely made her comment when she heard more voices and turned her head to see Arthur and the French girl arrive. Irina gave them both a small wave as she remained quiet for the rest of the time being. Arthur had stepped in and taken over the first aid, which Irina had no issues with. She merely waltzed back to her eggs and began eating them as if nothing had happened. Blood had never bugged Irina, so she decided to stay within a good distance from Mara and oversee what Arthur would do. She felt as if it would be too rude if she just up and left after all of that.

@Gonzo@banjoanjo@HellHoundWoof@Lillium@KahleenCuthald@Thundercrash@SheriffLlama@wolverbells@HecateProxy



One week later - breakfast period

As with all mornings in the facility, the first few hours were given over to private leisure time. The inmates would gather together, or go solo, and do any number of things. Some would continue to explore the facility and its various rooms, each top of the range and seemingly brand new. Some would eat breakfast immediately, others would stay in their rooms sleeping or merely relaxing. Still others would visit the gym or the pool for a morning workout and maybe visit the games room afterwards for more laid back leisure.

It was towards the end of this morning 'free' period, before the first of the bi-daily sessions the inmates had with their coaches, that the first non-standard announcement came. By now they had all become used to hearing Elisa's cheery voice blaring through the hallways of the facility to remind them of the time.

"Wakey wakey all! It's time to start a new day!" or "Your sessions are about begin so make sure you grab something to eat in the next couple of minutes!" and at the end of the day "Time for lights out, people! Remember which rooms are accessible overnight and start getting a shift on to them!"

This one, however, was different. The usual ding-dong announcing the beginning of an announcement sounded, and went largely unheeded. The adolescents all knew the system by now, after all. Then Elisa's voice sounded.

"Good morning all! To celebrate the successful completion of your first week in the facility we're going to start some group sessions! We'll be mingling this in with your individual ones to help you work alongside others with abilities. Please make your way to the auditorium instead of the coaching rooms for the morning session. I'll catch you all there!"

Ding-dong and the announcement was over.

"To celebrate the successful completion of your first week in the facility...."

Had it really been a week though? Irina had scrunched up her nose in disgust as she hear Elisa's voice once again on the intercom. The week had dragged for her. She had very little sleep and the dark circles under her eyes were only getting more prominent as the days passed. She had taken to sleeping in the game room on an oversized couch due to the fact that everyone's dreams were very 'loud' and the girl in the room next to her had nightmares every single night. Irina didn't want to get upset with her. From what she had seen, it wasn't the girl's fault for the horrific scenes that went on in her head, but Irina couldn't help but feel some resentment towards the fact that she had to suffer through them as well. At least until she walked as far away from the dormitory corridor and her mind would go quiet.

Through out the week, Esme had tried to help as much as possible. It wasn't until the day prior that Irina had actually tuned Esme out for a whole five minutes. She had tried it again during the night, and from her sheer exhaustion, Irina had managed to block everyone out and fall asleep within seconds of doing so. She hadn't woken up at all until about five hours later when the voices practically shouted at her.

Still, the week had dragged and now she had found herself sitting on her bed, staring at nothing as she tried to find the motivation to move. Having woken up so early, Irina had already gone into the cafeteria and grabbed a granola bar and a glass of chocolate milk, then came back to her room. Eating had also become something that Irina did little of. Upon her arrival, she had ate well, but after the first two nights it seemed as though her motivation to do anything had died.

Voices began to echo down the hall as others began to not only wake up, but leave their rooms. Taking a sip from her chocolate milk, Irina supposed that she should began moving towards where the scientists were herding the teenagers.

'But why should I? Why can't I just sleep?'

Although the voice inside her head went against what Elisa said, Irina's body seemed to be compliant. Without hesitating, the teenager stood up and walked out into the hall as if she was a zombie. Her body felt numb and her brain thought of nothing as she moved. It was purely on muscle memory at this point.

If anyone had been in the hallway with Irina, she hadn't noticed. She had made it her goal to make it to the auditorium from her room, and fortunately for the scientists, she had made it. How she got here? Irina couldn't recall. She remembered sitting on her bed and trying to finish her granola bar but that's about it. Now she had found herself sitting in the first chair that she had seen, and waited for the others to come.

Nikolai dreamed of odd things while in the facility, he dreamed of what it would've been like to have a family. He imagined his father being a large man, with the same eyes and stark black hair as Nikolai. Though his father grew a full beard, and seemed a little dirty. The man stood tall but it was easy to see that his back hurt him, his broad chest stayed up longer when he stretched out. His dream mother had beautiful golden curls, she kept them short and wore a simple set of clothes. It was easy to see that his family wasnt well off, maybe even a little on the poorer side but he was happy. The family was sitting around a dinner table and the door opened, Nikolai's sister walked in. He didnt know anything about her but he knew from seeing her she was related to him. She was short though, like his mother. She looked pretty like their mother too, but had the stark black hair of their father. Her eyes were a vibrant emerald green surrounded by thick, long lashes. Nikolai saw himself, but it wasnt him. Not the him he knew, this version of him was clean cut. No radical mohawk on his head, no tattoos adorning his body. He watched as he hugged his sister and and spun her around, it was as if he hadnt seen her in a long time. The entire family now sat around the table and after their dinner had been served his father put his hands on his sons shoulder.

"Good morning all! To celebrate the successful completion of your first week in the facility we're going to start some group sessions! We'll be mingling this in with your individual ones to help you work alongside others with abilities." His father's mouth moved but the voice of a woman came out. Nikolai was startled awake just in time to catch the ending of the announcement, same womans voice. He grumpily pushed himself out of bed and went to the bathroom. He found himself 5 feet into the bathroom within a second, he put a hand on a wall and focused on being still. In the past week Dr. Tompkins had managed to understand his power somewhat, but she was still baffled by how he moved so instantaneously. After he'd told her about the events around his discovery of his powers, she told him that if he teleported he should try to grab something to keep himself from teleporting rapidly. He hadnt had an event of rapid teleporting since but he was afraid of it happening again. It was scary to move around without any idea of where you are, see glimpses of things then be elsewhere. He pushed the thought from his mind and threw the toothbrush in the sink. He walked to his dresser and grabbed a pair of jeans, grabbing a pair with significant tearing around the knees. He pulled them on and grabbed his leather vest. He walked outside and remembered that his hair was down. He went back inside and grabbed a hair tie. Hair gel would take too much time, this group session sounded fun. He jogged down the hall and found himself in the auditorium faster than he expected. He opened the door and pulled on his vest, he let it hang open and proudly showed off his stomach. Since he'd been here Dr. Tompkins had him on a strict diet and had him exercising while she ran her tests. He saw Irina and sitting down near the door, she looked exhausted. Nikolai sat down next to her and flashed a smirk. He was used to getting up early, he saw a way to have some fun by messing with Irina.

"Look tired," He said leaning next to her and raising his voice, "Come on, today going be fun!"

@wolverbells

@wolverbells@HellHoundWoof


Looks like they've got a schedule.

Arthur was, as was his custom every morning, in the pool. He had already spent an hour in the gym well before the normal morning announcement to get moving. After that he would shower and warm down by swimming a few dozen lengths. Only then would he feel ready and awake for the day. For as long as he could remember he'd had a similar routine, although it had become considerably more intensive in recent years when working out properly would no longer stunt his growth.

When the announcement was made he finished his final cycle before heaving himself out of the pool, enjoying the heated sensation of his muscles calming after their exertion. His regulated breath slowed down as his body calmed and so he showered again, washing away the sweat and chlorine water clinging to him, and then changed into the new set of clothes he had brought.

Over the past week he had grown accustomed to the daily schedule of the facility; repetitive and not particularly taxing. Clothes that he had discarded in the appropriate laundry basket in his room were always returned freshly washed and pressed by the afternoon of the following day although he had never seen who went about doing all these chores.

I suppose there'll be time for some breakfast.

Arthur made his way back through to the cafeteria where his breakfast (ordered the day before) sat on a plate in the heated glass display cabinets. A small card, upon which was written his name, was set alongside it to denote it as his own. Wolfing down his traditional English breakfast (bacon, scrambled eggs, baked beans, fried bread, sausages, mushrooms, tomato and black pudding), he left his plate on the counter and headed back to his room.

After brushing his teeth and freshening up a little, he went straight to the auditorium. Others were beginning to get ready as well although few got up as early as he did. Although difficult to tell the time of day in this place, he got up at the equivalent of 05:00 every morning to start his exercise routine. He nodded to the others he saw, greeting those by name when he saw them. There were fewer of them now, but the last few days most people had remained in the facility.

The auditorium was empty, Elisa and her fellow scientists always choosing to arrive once the majority of inmates had sat down. This alone had convinced him they had cameras in every room of the facility although there was little suspicious activity to be done, so full proof was the security.

The only other people in the room were Irina, who sat in a daze, and Nikolai, one of the Russian contingent. Some of the others hadn't acclimated well to the place and it was difficult to blame them. While their physical needs were very well catered to, the mental and emotional strain was significant and it would be surprising for anyone to cope well. Thankfully, the scientists had put his resistance to the change down to his healing ability, calling it part of a preemptive healing process. Arthur wanted to keep his nearly sociopathic nature a secret for now, it was the only weapon he really had.

"Good morning, Irina." He said slipping into a seat next to her. He had wanted to ask whether she slept well or how she was but the vacant look on her face showed him enough of the strain she was feeling. Arthur tried to keep his mental state as empty as possible now, especially when near her as he doubted having half a dozen other voices in one's head would help with the coping with the situation. "Mornin', Nikolai." He nodded to the Russian, one of the few he saw before breakfast as they were both early risers. "So, I hear we're starting group sessions today. This is probably where we have to all come up with a presentation about how it feels to have powers and present to the rest of the class. That or we're going to play Quidditch. Personally, I'm down for the latter."

"Good morning all! To celebrate the successful completion of your first week in the facility we're going to start some group sessions! We'll be mingling this in with your individual ones to help you work alongside others with abilities. Please make your way to the auditorium instead of the coaching rooms for the morning session. I'll catch you all there!"

Mara's eyes fluttered open in annoyance as the bubbly-sweet voice permeated her silence. She wasn't asleep, no, Mara had woken up awhile ago but her body had decided it needed to lay there and adjust to the tedious day ahead of her. 'A week, huh?' The days melted together. Only the drone of announcements had given her any sense of time or regularity since she had woken up here.

Life here was; calm? Was that the word?
Yes, it seemed apt enough. Especially since life at home was always so hectic. Her early mornings would meld into a throng of chaos as she prepped breakfast and gathered scattered school supplies. Then she'd rush to stir awake the mini army from their slumbers all while still trying to get herself ready. Though Mara didn't mind the crazy. She was greeted by sleepy smiles and sly giggles as toast and jam would occasionally fly through the air. Mara welcomed the mess, the noise and the thrill. It was just part of her life.

But here? Here, there was calm.
There was no rushing.
No urgency.

The rooms didn't echo with the chorus of laughter. There was no petty squabbles over who got what color lunch box or who's turn it was with the television. Instead it was filled with silence. Sure things were lively when Uriel was around. His sarcastic nature was relaxing and his quips often brought Mara to tears as she tried to hide her fit of giggles. Everyone here seemed rather nice despite the reason why they were brought here. Though she still blushed with a fury every time she came across Irina. After the girl had revealed that she was privy to her internal monologs Mara had tried to keep her thoughts calm around her but her subconscious was more or less of a prick.

With a groan Mara rolled out of bed and shimmied out of her night gown. She had wanted to go to the pool after an hour or so of laying there but she supposed that wasn't in the cards today. 'You just want to see Arthur.' The demon voice quipped sleepily bringing an angry blush to her cheeks. Mara gazed at her still healing wound. He had been a god send in the kitchen that day. Mara would've just simply thrown some gauze and taped it up but Arthur made sure everything was clean and properly dressed. All with the same nonchalant attitude she had noticed that first time in the hallway.

By this point she wasn't sure if anything actually ever phased him and while it wasn't entirely unpleasant to run into him in the pool area she didn't go out if her way to find him. Or anyone actually. Mara enjoyed quietly sitting near or around the group of teens. Listening to them engage with one another and quietly laughing at jokes that would fly.

Mara nabbed a soft black dress from her closet and stepped into the bathroom. She was going to at least get a decent shower in before their first group session. Plus, the water pressure here was excellent and there was no fight for the hot water.

There was something about being in water she found freeing. The warmth felt good on her skin as it burned away the latent traces of lethargy that still clung to her body. Just the sense of scrubbing away the day before offered a small bubble of freedom.

Mara hurried through the rest of her morning ritual. Her ivory locks still dripping as she hastily dressed herself and stepped into the hall. Once again she refused to wear any shoes. It wasn't like she was going outside anytime soon, so she didn't see the point.

Plodding down the hall Mara didn't even bother to look at the signs anymore. She had been to every room they had opened to the teens and even tried to open a few of the locked rooms to no avail. She preferred to stick to the game room or the pool area when not in her training though. Her pool game had even improved some.

Her session with Felix hadn't proven to be very fruitful with how they were going to train her. Every time she had pried he just shifted the conversation which she found odd. From their first session she pegged him to be blunt, almost painfully so, but she had put it down to the fact they probably didn't know what to do either. It's not like she knew how to activate it herself. In fact most of their sessions was just her talking and there was that one time where she had to run on the treadmill. Now that wasn't a pretty sight.

She had run out of breath rather quickly as sweat poured down her face causing her clothes to stick to her form. Mara might look the picture of health with her slender body but fit she was not. She remembered how her legs ached for the rest of the day and had made a silent pact to work on her muscle strength. A promise she had no intention of actually keeping.

As she arrived she noted she wasn't the first. Stepping in she noticed Irina, Arthur and Nikolai. Her usual flush faltered as Irina's pale complexion and over all weariness caught her eye. Concern riddled her face as she stepped towards her, "Hey, are you okay?" Mara's voice was soft like she would use for a sick child. It looked like Irina hadn't slept at all since she had arrived there and it seemed to be taking its toll.

Though the week had dragged for Irina, she had still managed to make some new friends despite the situation. Nikolai and Abel had been her preferred two thus far. If she ever needed to get away from her thoughts or from the intense psychological training, Irina would just go over to either two and hang out with them to relax her. She had gotten used to their thought process by now, making it easy to pick them out if they were in a group of people.

The young woman heard Nikolai before he even managed to walk in the auditorium. She never moved though. Not even when he sat down next to her did she turn to look at him as she stared ahead. It wasn’t until he practically shouted in her ear that Irina turned with a half smile on her face. If it were anyone else, she would have not thought twice about swinging at them, but it was Nikolai. For some strange reason, Irina felt a bit less tense around him. There was a more familiar aura around him that made Irina relax and truly be herself. Not her loathing self where she wanted to burn the place with everybody in it, but her laid back and joking self.

Irina reached up and shoved Nikolai without putting much effort into it. She laughed a bit but it felt as if that only took more energy out of her.

Yet another voice spoke out, which caught Irina by surprise because she hadn’t heard any thoughts. ’Oh. It’s Arthur.’ Irina once again attempted to give him a smile, but failed as it turned a bit into a pout. She couldn’t keep up the charades. She was a terrible liar.

“Morning. You’re getting really good with your Jiminy Cricket,” She placed a fingertip on her temple as she meant Arthur’s inside voice. She had grown used to calling everyone’s conscience, or inside voice, Jiminy Cricket due to the fact that she couldn’t pronounce conscience. It was a strange word for Irina and by now almost everyone knew what she meant, “I did not hear you come in.”

Irina had chosen to during, and even after Arthur had spoken. She had wanted to agree with what he had said but instead she simply stared at one spot on the wall as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Struggled until she sat bare feet, that is. Irina’s eyes blinked several times before she looked up to see who was walking around barefoot. It didn’t surprise her that it was Mara. That girl belonged in a fairytale of some sort, with her being a tiny pixie. She wanted to smile at the petite female but couldn’t, due to the thoughts that were now being picked up by Irina.

Her mouth fell agape, slightly, before she closed it and bit her bottom lip. She wanted to cry just by seeing the person that the others seemed to be looking at. It was her, but it wasn’t her at the same time. Irina’s skin had gone from being a fair and peachy tone to this pale and nearly pasty color. It was ghostly. She had seen herself in the mirror but she thought it might be the lighting in there. The dark circles under her eyes were even worse than she had imagined. Hollowed out. The green in her eyes had become dull. There was no way that she couldn’t see this in her own mirror. Even her freckles had gotten darker. The rounded cheeks had slimmed a bit, only by the slightest, but she could tell. Her hair had been thrown up in a messy bun which did her no justice at all and only made her seem more daunting.

“I’m fine.” Irina finally spoke in a shaky voice, seeming as if she was about to cry. The vision replayed three times as she saw it go through each of their heads. Three blows to her self esteem. She needed to eat, and she needed to sleep. She had begged and asked politely if there was any way that the ability nullifier could be turned on at night, at least. It’s not like anybody was practicing, right? No, they weren’t, but each night she just heard the same thing over and over again.

With a sigh, Irina closed her eyes and began counting down from ten, clearing her mind out and soon enough clearing the voices and the pictures. It was such a relief. Once she had regained control of herself, she quickly reached up and cleaned her face by tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears and making sure she wasn’t actually crying, then cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry. I had a rough night,” ’More like rough nights,’ “how’s your hand doing?”

URIEL ATTICUS - LOCATION: ROOM 8 (URIEL'S ROOM) TO AUDITORIUM

Uriel barely glanced up from the scientific journal he was skimming as Elisa’s cheery voice rang through the facility. Not that he was absorbing much of it anyway. Too many big words. Maybe if he took biology he would have understood more. Plus the upbeat jam he was listening to thanks to the Bluetooth speaker in his room wasn’t helping with his concentration. For now, he’d have to rely on the medical encyclopedias he’d gotten from Julia and slowly make his way through those. It would take some time but if he was going to be honest, he probably had all the time in the world. The encyclopedias and science journals rested in a bookshelf in the corner of his room, already taking up a third of the allocated space. Uriel wondered if this was some sort of compensation for having all the mirrors and anything vaguely resembling glassware removed from his quarters.

The brown haired teen stuffed the remaining three-quarters of the blueberry muffin he was eating into his mouth before flipping the magazine upside down and shaking off the crumbs that had fallen onto it… and then brushing the crumbs off his bed and onto the carpeted floor. Meh, someone would come in and vacuum it later. Uriel had still yet to spot the mysterious people who would perform his house-cleaning duties, but he’d catch them someday! Spending a week in this facility didn’t remove any of the mysteries surrounding it. At least his powers got cleared up a bit. Julia didn’t divulge much information throughout the week about the training methods they would use but Uriel had his suspicions. In the mean time, he did his own training using his fellow prisoners.

The sensory part of his abilities was usually honed in the gym, trying to sense muscle exertion from a reasonable distance. He worked out that his maximum sense distance was around five metres so the boy could often be spotted on one of the exercise bikes near either the punching bags or the weight bench, almost always reading a science journal in an attempt to appear nonchalant in the presence of sweaty, sculpted teenagers. Of course, this meant that his legs were almost always incredibly sore but it was a small price to pay for the knowledge he was gaining.

Uriel arrived at the auditorium, taking a deep breath to belt out a hearty “Goooooood mooooorniiiiiiiing”, but catching himself in time to see that the Irina girl had already arrived. Phew, that was a close one. He wouldn’t be making that careless mistake again, if what he’d heard about her abilities were true. Mara was conversing with her, looking concerned. Huh, Mara. She could be useful with his power training. She was quite the klutz, which meant plenty of sensations for Uriel to observe. Plus, it was always nice to have more pals.

“I’m sorry. I had a rough night, how’s your hand doing?”

Man, that was a bummer. Uriel sat himself next to Mara but spoke to Irina. He could sense that Mara’s finger still stung a little but chose not to say anything about it.

“Yeah, sounds like it’s been rough. Maybe we could all sleep in the cafeteria or something, put some distance between you and the thoughts. Or you could ask our ever-so-accommodating captors to dope you hard enough to shut down your brain activity for a few hours,” Uriel chimed good-naturedly.

Yikes, that went very dark, very quickly.

“Uhh… I mean, sorry to hear about your problem,” he said in a genuinely remorseful tone.

@wolverbells @HellHoundWoof @Jinxer @HecateProxy

Blinking, Stasya tilted her head. It seemed as if Lyra wanted her to go on without her. Something that Stasya was reluctant to do; she didn’t want the other girl to be alone. “Lyra, конечно? Хорошо? (Lyra, sure? Okay?)” The other girl nodded vigorously, even giving her a gentle push towards the door. Stasya smiled, bending to place a small kiss on her forehead. “Stasya, назад, в ближайшее время, (Stasya, back, soon,)” she said, patting the bed and tapping her wrist.

Slipping out of the room, Stasya quietly padded through the empty hallway until she found a room that looked like a kitchen or cafeteria of some kind. A few of the other teens were already seated at one of the tables, though none of them seemed to notice her. Perhaps it was because of the quiet manner in which she entered the room, perhaps they were just that absorbed in their conversation (which, of course, she couldn’t understand), or it could be a combination of the two. Whatever the case, it suited her just fine.

Making something simple for herself, Stasya sat down at a table not far from the other group, far enough that her presence wouldn’t disturb them, but close enough that she could still keep an eye on them. She knew that if she was ever going to get out of here, and back home, that she would likely need the help of the others. She couldn’t ask for help, not just yet, but she could still observe the others, try to get a read on them and see who would be most likely to help her.

---

One week later



To say that Stasya was miserable this morning would be an understatement. Even if they hadn’t kidnapped her and were keeping her from her sister, she would have hated this place on principle.

Sure, it was nice enough. The beds and rooms were lovingly furnished and comfortable. The food was good. If she had known how to swim, then she figured that she would have enjoyed the pool (the hot tub, at least, was borderline heavenly, though there had been a bit of an incident involving one of the jets, a ridge of scales running over her spine, and a shredded bathing suit bottom). Even the other teens seemed nice enough for the most part, though the Russian boy still scared her, and the other Russian girl seemed angry all the time. And her English lessons with Kara, while going slowly, were still progressing.

All in all, though, she was miserable. Comfortable beds were worthless when she kept waking up in the middle of night screaming her sister’s name, and having pretty bars doesn’t make a cage any less of a cage. With only a week of lessons, she still couldn’t communicate with others very well, despite the attempts of one or two, and she still didn’t feel comfortable speaking to the aforementioned Russians. Furthermore, not being able to communicate meant that she hadn’t learned very much at all about them. And Kara, oh how she was starting to dislike that woman. It wasn’t anything that she had done, in fact, other than Lyra, Kara had probably been the nicest person to her yet. But she was still one of them, one of the people keeping her from going home. Thus far, the only bright point of being there at all was Lyra, who had patiently been with her in her attempts to learn English and keep her company. She had even graciously allowed Stasya to sleep with her after a couple of particularly bad nightmares, which had helped a little. She still didn’t get a lot of sleep though, and it was starting to show around her eyes..

Most of all, however, she hated the voices that came over the intercom. First was the woman’s, unable to be understood but still conveying a tone that suggested everything was fine, that this was just a normal day when it was anything but. Then came the man to translate everything. He at least had the decency to not sound so cheerful, though she still loathed hearing him speak. Just another reminder of her circumstances, and her need to get out.

This morning, however, was somewhat different. Stasya was rather surprised to learn that, instead the normal session in the morning, they would all be together again in the auditorium. That in itself made her wonder if perhaps more kids were being brought, or if something else was going to happen. Something about “working alongside others with abilities”? Stasya and Kara hadn’t done very much work towards her own “ability”; their sessions had mostly been dedicated towards her English lessons, though a couple of times Kara would take another blood sample, hair and nail clippings, and other things that Stasya didn’t want to think about.

Unfortunately, this was going to be something she couldn’t avoid, and it might give her a chance to find out what the others could do. So, she finished up her cereal, waited for Lyra to finish, and stood up. “Готов идти? (Ready, go?)” she asked, and when her dark friend nodded she began pushing her wheelchair towards the auditorium. When they arrived, she took a position in the back, where she would be able to see everyone, and once again began watching quietly.

@wolverbells@HecateProxy@banjoanjo@HellHoundWoof@Jinxer@Lillium@Gonzo@KahleenCuthald@SheriffLlama

Nikolai chuckled as Irina pushed him back and watched as others flooded in. So many people, some looked like they could give him trouble. But some had more control over their abilities, but he was happy to go against them even without control of his. He knew he was probably the most experienced fighter here. Nikolai heard Arthur speak, Nikolai liked Arthur. He got up early and seemed good enough. Arthur said something about the group session. Nikolai smiled and balled his hands into fists.

"Fuck presentations, Fuck quiditch, I want start fighting!" Nikolai though to himself, "Has been too long since last one..."

Nikolai stopped himself, he knew Irina could hear him. He looked at her, and scratched the side of his head. But his attention was taken off of her, he heard a large announcement of presence. Nikolai's eyes darted to the flamboyant young man named Uriel. The guy was agitating to someone like Nikolai, someone so loud to Nikolai seemed to have something off about them. Nikolai started down his target, but his animal like stare could easily have been noticed if anyone were looking. The guy suggested that Irina asked to be drugged up. Nikolai was liking him less and less by the second. But before Nikolai could make a rude comment the young Russian girl he'd insulted on the first day here walked into the room, Stasya. Nikolai watched her carefully. Not that he cared too much but to upset the only other person who spoke your language didnt help.

"Доброе утро," Nikolai said to the girl.
(Good Morning)

Abel had been in the gym for nearly an hour by the time everyone got to it. He presently stood in front of the mirror wall, watching his posture as he lowered his body into the twenty-seventh rep of squats. He stopped when his knees were at a ninety-degree angle and hefted the 310 pound set upwards as he returned to an upright posture. He repeated the motion twice more before he heard telltale ding-ding that always preceded an announcement. He waited for a moment, sweat dripping from his hair and down to his black tank top, on which was forming a ring of sweat. He listened to the instructions given by Elisa with minor annoyance, and sighed when the mysterious PSA ended. Not only were they being subjected to daily evaluations, but now they were going to do it in front of everyone.

After taking a deep breath, Abel hit the thirtieth rep, the dropped the weight set behind him, the heavy weights hitting the ground with a loud thud against the mat behind him. He was sweating, not because of the squats, but rather the effort of all the combined work of the morning. He could squatted about fifty pounds more than what he'd just had, but he'd found that his sporadic and sudden flashes made lifting higher amounts a little more dangerous for him. He wiped his sweaty palms on his fitting black sweatpants and moved for the doors, leaving the weights on the floor for the mysterious facility crew to clean up.

Since he had no real way to actual protest his captivity, as Ezra had plainly demonstrated earlier this week, Abel had found little ways to show his displeasure. He left his weights laying around, he "accidentally" spilled stuff during eating periods and left it sitting, and other things he thought of in the moment. To his minor frustration, however, he would always return to the cafeteria or gym to see his protest had been cleaned up and returned to its former pristine condition.

Presently, he made his way to the auditorium where the others had begun to arrive. He spotted Nikolai speaking to Stasya, and Irina speaking to Arthur. He opted to sit behind Irina and Arthur, placing tennis shoe on his knee and leaning back against his chair. It seemed that the moment he got comfortable, it worst torn away. The familiar throbbing of his temples preceded a violent flash of codes. At the beginning, the codes had been in binary. However, he'd begun to notice coding that he recognized as JavaScript, C++, and even basic HTML. This time it came in a combination of C, and C#. Abel didn't personally know how to program in those two languages, but he somehow recognized them. He did, however, know that the two languages were often used to code Operating Systems for most computers and laptops. The codes shifted and revealed a generic screen saver, and Abel guessed that the vision was coming from the computer at the bottom of the room.

As the pain subsided, Abel managed to keep his swearing in his head, a volume that only Irina might hear. On the outside, however, the young man remained in his calm, laid back posture that he was normally seen in, waiting for Elisa, or Ezra, or... Someone to fill them in further.

@HellHoundWoof @Wolverbells @Jinxer

Captivity often gave off the illusion that time flowed differently, for even a gilded cage no matter how lovely and comfortable was still a cage in the end.

The days seemed to crawl by at a mockingly slow pace until finally, an entire week had passed. It felt strange for Lucie to think of a week as a long time; since back home, a week seemed to pass her by in so little time as a blink. Their keepers required precious little of their time, asking only for an hourly session with their mentors each day.

As such, Lucie had been given far too much time to dwell on - or rather, wallow in - less than pleasant thoughts. The others, her fellow inmates, appeared to be doing alright, some of them even having adopted regular routines. Or perhaps like her, they too had put on a façade of normalcy. The red head couldn't know for certain. She didn't interact with them overmuch and hadn't really made any friends or enemies during that time. The most she had done was to make an effort to learn their names and the powers associated with them. Not someone to be overly social even in regular circumstances, the French girl preferred the silent company of a sketchbook provided by Ms. White.

The hope that she had been so desperately clinging to - her only hope, as it were - was the fact that she had yet to show any signs of possessing powers.

In no particular hurry to rush to the auditorium as required by Elisa’s announcement, Lucie dressed at a comfortable pace and stared into her own, unhappy grey eyes reflected in the mirror.

The conversation with her aunt hadn't gone at all how the spoiled teenager had expected. For once in her young life, she had been refused something by her guardian. Though her tears - which always worked in the past - had obviously affected her, the woman remained resolute in the fact that Lucie had to stay at the institute for her own good. Using a different tack, Lucie had turned to hurling cruel accusations at the woman, attempting to guilt and emotionally blackmail her guardian. That too, had failed. With nothing left to say - nothing pleasant, at least - and convinced that she was being horribly wronged, the sullen red head had ended the call even as her aunt pleaded with her not to.

Shaking her head to free herself of the unpleasant thoughts, Lucie set her jaw and put on her poker face before heading out.

Most of the others had gathered and were making small talk by the time she managed to walk into the auditorium. Opting to sit at Abel’s left side, one chair between them for personal space, Lucie muttered a quiet greeting and waited for whatever it was to happen.

Once everyone had been gathered in the spacious auditorium, a door at the far wall smoothly slid open to reveal a young woman who had yet to be introduced to the group. Tall and exceedingly beautiful, she looked better suited to having her face plastered on billboards and television screens than she did to be teaching a bunch of teenagers. The door then slid closed behind her the moment she stepped through, before anyone could get a better look as to where it led. She wordlessly walked towards her audience, her slender figure and the deceptive grace of her movements belying the fact that she was highly trained for combat. Expression inscrutable, the woman stopped a polite distance away from those that had been gathered and swept her glacial blue eyes over them in an assessing gaze. Of course, she didn't particularly need to. Nilin had made it a point to read up on those she would be mentoring, carefully going over each one's file that had been so kindly provided for her. The institute was nothing if not efficient.

“Good morning, everyone.” A brief, professional smile flitted across her face as she greeted them.

“As you've already heard from Elisa, you will be starting group sessions to help with your abilities. I'm going to be your mentor in this regard, starting from today. You may call me Nilin.”

Little more than twenty one years of age, the young woman wasn't more than a few years older than those she was to teach. She too had been in their place not too long ago, though it felt to her like an eternity had passed since then.

“Before any of you raise the question as to why I'm better suited to this task than your counselors, it's because I too have powers. This institute is where I was taught to control my powers so that I wouldn't endanger myself or those around me.”

“If you have any questions pertaining to our session, I would be happy to answer them before we begin.”

URIEL ATTICUS - LOCATION: AUDITORIUM

Uriel’s head snapped to the front of the auditorium, thankful for something that would distract him from his earlier faux pas or the mohawk dude shooting daggers and other figurative weaponry at him. The beautiful woman at the front was a welcome sight. She looked young, too young to be at the PhD level that the other mentors were.

And powers. She had them too. That made sense. He guessed that it would be a little too presumptuous to assume that this cohort of teens were the only ones in all of history. This revelation sparked a myriad of thoughts in his head. She lived in here too. Did she get kidnapped? Did she have a group too? Where the heck were those guys then?

He wouldn’t let this opportunity go wasted like last time. He wanted answers and this lady, this girl who probably went through the same thing that this group was now, would have them. She seemed comfortable with this environment, and she was obviously appointed by Elisa and the mentors.

Uriel raised his hand. There was no point asking about her powers. She would probably reveal them later on, or someone else would ask that stupidly obvious question. Same went for the group exercise. Hopefully it would be something as harmless as trust falls or a friendly game of handball. Colouring books would be nice too. A facility-wide game of hide and seek maybe? Uriel stopped his thoughts from wandering too far and asked his question.

“Yeah, uh, so you got kidnapped and all that too, yeah? How long did it take before you were allowed to go outside? Do you even get to go out into the real world? Or do they lock you up in some other part of the facility?”

@wolverbells@HecateProxy@banjoanjo@HellHoundWoof@Jinxer@Lillium@Gonzo@KahleenCuthald@SheriffLlama



One by one everyone filtered into the room and one by one Arthur greeted them with a nod or a brief verbal communication. Over the past week he had made a point of learning everyone's name and a little about them, mostly to try and work out who might be trusted if this scenario ever spun into the horror show it was so close to, and partly because there had been a lot of time to speak to people.

Sure, the facility had masses of entertainment opportunities and Arthur loved a good, long swim but it was easy to lose oneself in those chances and forget what was going on around them; where they were and why they were here. The young Brit somewhat suspected that was probably the aim of the organisation running the facility and his stubborn stream had him trying to resist that at every corner, without bringing undue attention to himself.

Now, with the arrival of this beautiful young woman and her alleged history aligning herself as 'one of them', the story so far was taking a predictable turn.

So we get accustomed to the place we're in, begin to acknowledge that we're not leaving any time soon and that maybe, just maybe, it's better for us to be in here. Then they present a potential ally, say 'Look, it's one of you!' and promise there is light at the end of the tunnel. It all sounds a bit orchestrated to me.

Arthur glanced over at Irina with a quiet smile, catching her tired gaze.

Right, Irina?

Uriel was speaking now. Chipper, slightly over the top but so very charming Uriel. Bombarding her with questions in his usual manner, making Arthur smile. If nothing, he was very consistent which was hard to keep up in this place.

"If you don't mind, I too have a question." Arthur said, raising his hand as well. It was difficult to work out a question that might yield useful information without clearly revealing that he was angling for something he might use. He considered his words carefully and then spoke smoothly.

"I understand that having group sessions might help us understand our powers through observing others' but surely certain types of powers might not benefit from this? For example, my power appears to be passive and I have no control over it so I'm not sure how much we'd all learn from my being present."

One by one the others filed inside the auditorium. Mara wasn't fully satisfied with Irina's dismissal as the exhaustion was plain to see across her face but she also didn't want to push the young girl further. She opened her mouth to respond but Uriel had already cut her off and Mara chose to sit back with a small polite smile as she tried to mask the incredulous surprise that no doubt crossed her face at Uriel's brashness.

It's not to be unexpected though. A lot of the time it seemed to come from a good place but some things Uriel didn't seem to think through before saying. Sighing softly Mara shifted uncomfortably. Why were they here? What's going on with this group training? It's not like this past week had yielded any decent results in her case. She wondered idly if anyone else had made any sort of progress. 'Certainly not Irina ' her subconscious chipped in to which Mara responded with another internal shushing as she idly wondered of there was a way to silence her inner monolog forever.

The doors slid open and a woman whose face would easily grace the tallest billboard stepped into the room. 'Where do they find these people?' she wondered stunned. Though the more she took her in the less she looked like a normal scientist. Beauty aside, youth still clung to her form though she still held that critical detached air that Elisa tried to hide but was blatantly apparent.

“Before any of you raise the question as to why I'm better suited to this task than your counselors, it's because I too have powers. This institute is where I was taught to control my powers so that I wouldn't endanger myself or those around me.”

No way.
Mara's eyes darkened as she looked harder at the woman. She had been here before them. She had been taken into the hell hole and forced through their training and here she stood today. The whole thing inspired a wash of awe and nausea. Would that be them one day? Standing in front of the next batch of frightened teenagers?

Mara didn't like the idea of it at all. Her arms folded across her chest as she waited for the woman to go on.

“If you have any questions pertaining to our session, I would be happy to answer them before we begin."

Professional and vauge. Though there wasn't much silent in between before Uriel opened his mouth and Mara send up a silent prayer for his presence. She had been overly emotional the last time they were here and Elisa's easily dismissed her outburst before berating Irina. This time she indented to watch and listen. Looking for fact hidden between the lines. If there were any at that is.

As Uriel quieted down Arthur spoke up. Mara swiveled her head towards him in surprised, she hadn't really expected him to say anything either though his questions remained in typical Arthur fashion. Quick and narrow.

Mara had a million. Things she wanted to know. The words bubbled and died on her tongue. Some Uriel had already asked. Others she'd just have to wait to find out. Either way she was ready for them to move on and get to this training. Maybe if she became strong enough she could get everyone out of here. That rare flicker of hope that still simmered deeply.