Sophia Lemane

She had lost track of the time that had passed since the morning she had awoken with that white streak on one side of her face. Leaning against the strangely transparent wall of the truck, she lifted her gaze from the floor to gaze outside at the dark landscape as it passed in a blur. Was it late at night, or already the early hours of the morning? She didn't know the answer, but what she did know was that she felt exhausted.

Her eyelids felt like there were heavy leaden weights attached to them, threatening to make her close her eyes. Once in a while her eyelids gave in to the weight but didn't stay closed for long. It would either be the image of her face with that white streak emblazoned on it swimming in front of her eyes or the motion of the truck as it rounded a curve that would make her eyes snap open once more. The people around her were thankfully silent, at least most of the time. Every now and then a voice would ring out, but she didn't pay attention to it.

Once again she began to doze off, but this time it wasn't an image or the swaying of the truck that woke her. No, it was the stopping of the truck. Eyes opened again, she watched as the scene unfolded. She recognized Sparrow and Prism, who wouldn't? As well as... Menagerie's creations? The atmosphere seemed to change and become tenser before a command was barked and the truck lurched forward once more.

---

Some time later, they were herded into a giant chamber by many armed guards.

"Welcome to USARILN East. I am Director Lina Zhang, and from now on I'll play the role of guardian and prison warden to all of you. Generally, welcoming parties at three in the morning are rescheduled for seven in the morning to allow everyone time to sleep. But as I understand it, your convoy ran into some trouble along the way. I'm here to make sure this potential mishap hasn't given any of you thoughts on escaping."

The director fit the description that Sophia had heard about her, and as Lina Zhang continued her speech, she could confirm that the director had a brutal and no-nonsense attitude. She listened as the other subnaturals around her spoke up with questions or comments, but didn't try to say anything. Then, another remark was voiced, but this time followed with a clink of chains. The girl near her had somehow managed to slip her hands free of the restraints.

The next few events happened so quickly that Sophia barely had time to comprehend them. She saw the gun aimed by a soldier straight at the partially freed girl, and as an instinct began to move away. But before she could travel any further two gunshots rang out, one after another. One from the director as she shot at the soldier, and the other from the soldier pulling the trigger just as he was shot.

Two loud echoing shots, and a pain.

Pain far worse than anything she had ever felt before blossomed in her right forearm. It was as if the air had been sucked out of her, and she could only gasp, not scream. As she crumpled to the ground, her left hand came around to grasp her right arm before quickly jerking away. Touching it only made it worse, and now her head was beginning to ring. Raising her left hand in front of her face, she discovered that it was covered in blood, and only then did the realization hit her. I've been shot. I've been shot. I've been sho- Darkness began to cloud her vision, and she sank into unconsciousness.

---

The first thing that hit her as she opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling was the smell. It was the smell of anesthetics that told her immediately where she was: in the hospital. She had always disliked that smell, hated it in fact, for it had a tendency to make her feel light headed. Being in the hospital would explain why she felt so groggy and her limbs so heavy. The next thing that she thought about was the events that had transpired very early in the morning. Slowly and hesitantly, a little afraid of what she might see, she turned her head to the right to take a look at her arm.

All there was to see where a bunch of bandages, and a sling. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to see, but she felt extremely relieved. But that relaxed feeling didn't last long as thoughts began to swarm her mind. She wondered how long it would take for her arm to recover. She wondered about how she would ever learn to adjust here. She wondered how her family was doing back home. Would her older sister still tell her all about what was happening at home, or would she cut off connections? The funny thing was, Sophia didn't feel different at all. Just don't think about it, she scolded herself.

To give herself something to do, she slowly eased herself into a sitting position, wincing whenever she accidentally moved her right arm. Eyes darting from place to place around the room, she took in the injured people, the books, the TV. Then she eyed the control with buttons by her bed. She supposed that she could try and press one of them and see if a nurse would come, but she didn't really feel like having a conversation. She didn't feel like reading or sitting in front of a screen either.

With a soft sigh, she pushed back the blankets with her good arm before swinging her legs off the edge of the bed. Maybe she would try and go somewhere, wherever that was. As she swung her legs, she caught sight of the ankle cuffs that were now on her. It gave her an uneasy feeling to think that she was probably being tracked right now and that if she did anything wrong the cuffs could be activated. With her feet now on the cool ground, she proceeded to head out of the room. Once out of the area that she had been sleeping in, she stopped to take a look around her. The place seemed to be rather blank and bare, one wall looking identical to the next and the next. Choosing a random direction she began to walk, soon coming to a staircase, heading down it, and walking down another corridor.

Then an alarm blared, coming from the ankle cuffs as well. She stopped in mid-step and paused to listen. As she listened, some color drained from her face. The people that she had arrived with yesterday were going out to fight those monsters? But they aren't trained! she thought, Is that what I would be doing too if I hadn't been injured? It was shocking, and suddenly she didn't feel like wandering around so much anymore. The only problem was that with her bad sense of direction, she wasn't entirely sure which way she should go in order to go back. Everything looked so similar.

Turning around, it took a few lefts and rights before she confirmed to herself that she had no idea where she was going. Turning left around another corner, she saw that someone else was walking up the corridor towards her. An older teenage boy or a young man, also injured. She had two options. Either walk past him and say nothing or stop and see if he knew his way around. Stopping in her tracks, she thought about her two options as she gazed at him. Something about his face looked familiar, and she finally realized that he had been part of the group that she had arrived with.

Looks like he got shot too. Since he arrived with me, that means he probably doesn't know his way around any better than I do. Maybe I should just keep walking, I'm sure to find the way soo-

No. At least he looks more confident than I feel. It won't hurt to ask if he knows his way around. Plus, since he arrived in the same group that I did, we'll probably be seeing each other more often. Maybe I should try and get acquainted.

But getting acquainted means talking, and I don't know if I can talk to him if I know I'm going to see more of him. He seems so much older too.

Unable to make up her mind, she just stood there and looked at him with her dark brown eyes. I'll let him decide if he wants to say hello or not.

---

@ERode

Once Chris exited the shower, he got dressed into his PJ's and immediately went to his bed, continuing to ignore his roommates. Despite still being in the afternoon, he tried to sleep off his worries. Later that evening, near sundown he got up from his bed and walked back to the bathroom. He was able to sleep, surprisingly, or nap rather, but despite that rest he was still plagued with unresolved demons in his head. He needed another hot shower. Once again he stripped from his clothes, which was only a pair of pajama bottoms as he was shirtless in bed, and stepped in turning on the shower faucet to the hottest it could go. The burning sensation of the hot water helped distract his mind and eventually soothed him once he adapted to the temperature. After an unusually long shower of cleaning and moping, the moment Chris turned off the shower the alarm buzzed and blasted in the bathroom. Startled, He jumped through the curtains, tripping and falling on his ass. "Nani The hell?!" He shouted though his confusion ended when the voice in the alarm instructed him and presumably the other subnaturals of the emergency. Apparently some dangerous targets were spotted. "Standby?" He muttered as he picked up a towel and wrapped it around his waist. Looking over to the sink he realized he forget to bring his clothes with him in the bathroom. "Shit." He muttered as he crept to the door, creeping it open to make sure the others wouldn't look his way. As silent as he could be, he began to walk towards his desk, the white towel draped around him from the waist to the knees. Halfway there though, the alarmed buzzed again startling Chris off his feet once more, his towel no longer wrapped around his waist as he once again fell on his ass. His eye twitched as he gave off a wide-eyed embarrassed and disgusted expression before quickly leaning over to pick up his bag and running back to the bathroom. Inside, He quickly began to get changed. In the rush of the moment, he forget to put on boxers, only wearing black sweatpants and a white t shirt with a pocket protector.

With the director's command on their mission and their groups, he sighed. His roommates, which he already figured he wouldn't be fond with, would be just a few of the partners in their assigned group. "They better have a good reason for keeping me paired with so many people." He muttered to himself with a distasteful frustration. At least she vaguely addressed his 'special preparations' anyhow. Not that he was looking to transform either way. He exited the dorm following the guards and got onto the transportation without much trouble.


Chris exited the transportation with his posture straight and arms folded across his white shirt. His silent scowled drifted into the distance where he instantly caught sight of bright lights that were the field commander. His attention was brought to someone who was thanking them for showing up, the man introduced himself as Eric Richardson. Chris was still silent, and a tad spiteful, keeping his arms crossed. He then watched a black haired girl named Myla begin to 'mark' them, to which he found out were literal light markers over the heads of the ensuing monstrosities.

He paid attention only to the green target, his target. What was first disbelief shifted into an annoyed expression. "Are you serious?" He said under his breathe, "Were supposed to fight a giant italian cuisine?" There was no time to question its absurdity, meatballs growing legs and teeth were already charging towards the group. Eric didn't need to announce preparations, Chris already began by taking off his shirt, he'd also start to move behind his group. Not only to avoid bringing attention to himself but to help keep him away from the monsters as the process of transforming leaves him vulnerable. "Don't know if you lot were told this but my transformation is a painful and long process." He said to his group as he folded his shirt and placed it on the ground. He didn't like speaking, especially to many who he could already assume would likely be idiots not very enticing to be around. Besides, it was dangerous to his sanity to make friends, only to loose them from some monster be it today or the next mission in the future. Teamwork, however, was necessary, now wasn't the time to push people away. "I also have to strip, I'd be grateful if you avoided looking at my direction, the transformation takes five minutes, until then I'll be vulnerable." He paused, not wanting to admit to needing assistance, especially to many of which he already could tell he wouldn't like to be around, but for the sake of the mission he continued. "I'd appreciate it if I was protected in some way until then." He looked down, hesitant to pull down his pants, waiting a minute or two in hopes they wouldn't look before sliding down his trousers. He was a bit embarrassed that he forget to wear his boxers but that was meaningless at this point. He folded his black sweatpants and placed it on top of his shirt before standing some paced away from his clothes, then got onto the ground.

He practically collapsed and his eyes shifted from his default, bored and scowl-like expression into a wide-eyed shock of pain. The corners of his eyes seemed to strain. The transformation was activated, there was no looking back at this point. His fingers curled and clenched the grass-covered earth beneath him as his teeth were grit tightly. His head and torso lowered with his backside facing the air as he tried to resist the urge to scream, which caused him to instead groan in pain. Sweat began to drip down his forehead, cheeks, and chest as he felt like vomiting. He let out a few dry gags before forcing his mouth shut again. His eyes closed as the pain intensified. He felt all matter of negative sensation at once. His skin felt like it was being peeled and stretched off like a potato, insides churning and burning up in a burning chemical, the back of his head having nails slowly forced into his skull. His body could barely keep up with the pressure, if he wasn't gripping the ground so tightly as his arms would become frantic and shake about violently from all the shock. After the first minute, his fingernails started to grow and sharpen, his teeth growing a pair of canines, and several lines of skin transforming into green, keeled scales along his arms, legs, and lower torso in a strange pattern. His eyes snapped open with another shocking wave of pain, finally letting out a shrill cry as his eyes were no longer mammalian. They were now yellow outlined with red near the eyelids, pupil now slit like a crocodiles and a crimson red oval-shaped iris around it.

The hallways were pretty bland, and, compared to the rooms, fairly empty at least. A few of the hospital staff rushed by him, and he was only able to get out a quick ‘hihowareyou’ out before they pushed into the doors and disappeared from sight. Their purpose and their frantic speed made him want to emulate them, really, and he stepped up his own pace, taking long, fast strides. There weren’t any floor maps yet, but a staircase should be easy to find, and he might as well warmup while he was at it.

Strange, really, how he didn’t even realize that ankle cuff was there. Well, it wasn’t like he wasn’t wholly unaccustomed to that. Compared to the chains he was in last time he was conscious, a cuff might as well just be jewelry. Maybe he should personalize it, really…

Hm…definitely something to consider. Wonder if that’d even be allowed.

Occupied by his musings, Brent almost walked past another individual in the hallway, only to stop just a couple steps away from her. Locking eyes with the young girl, he smiled at this auspicious encounter, before those same eyes flicked from one detail to the next. Dark hair, long, coarse. Comb? Yeah, comb. Large eyes. Innocence and naivety displayed. Nice, nice. Wide hips. Unexpectedly womanly there. Right arm in sling. Shot as well? Or no? Well, didn’t look like her insides were scrambled up, but perhaps she was on drugs. Well…a compliment never hurt anyone.

“Heyo, young lady,” he said, fingers running through his hair, “How's it going? Visiting a friend’s room? Getting a check up? Or would you like to join me on an evening's stroll to the gym?”

Hm…perhaps that sounded too much like he was hitting on her. A correction, perhaps.

“Oh, you can totally refuse if you're busy though. Name’s Brent Roless. You?”
@VampireOracle

A plate of food sat in front of Kusari, it's contents being prodded this way and that by a plastic fork. Lobster, steak, french fires, steamed vegetables, the plate was loaded. When she had entered the cafeteria she was surprised to see the vast amount of food on display. When she asked how much she'd need to pay, she was shocked to hear that it was all free. She'd lived for years eating very little, her mother couldn't afford to feed both herself and her daughter a healthy meal every day. When was the last time she'd had a decent meal, she'd wondered, piling food haphazardly on a plastic plate. It didn't take much to make her feel full, a feeling that was nostalgic in it's rarity. Now she was left with a bunch of food she couldn't force down.

She placed a hand on her side, feeling her ribs. She didn't want to think about it but she was close to starving before she was captured. She couldn't help but wonder what her mother was doing, was she eating well? Surely her mother was actually thinking of her daughter's best interests? At least she had food and a proper bed here... Kusari gritted her teeth, and threw the food into the trash. "Wouldn't that be nice..." She mumbled to herself, heading back to her room.

Before she could arrive, a loud siren blared throughout the school. A synthesized voice spoke from unseen speakers thrice, a silence in between each time. Students around her all at once began moving and yelling, Kusari wasn't sure what she should be doing. Were they really going to be fighting a Precursor? Why did she have to do this? The only fighting she'd ever done was getting into fist fights with idiots in the streets. Maybe she could just sit this one out, she doubted how useful her ability would be in combat anyway.

As if on cue the cuff on her ankle beeped, and the voice of the Director herself could be heard. Kusari stood still, listening with a stern expression. A red light appeared on her anklet, she stared at it as her heart began to pound. This was really happening, she would be forced to fight those terrible monsters created by a rogue Precursor. A soldier eventually had to come and guide her via the barrel of a gun. Her mind felt like a fishbowl tossed into a raging sea, she could almost hear the angry ocean swirling in her ears...

Soon enough the other members of her team and a familiar transparent truck came into view. Along with her two roommates, there was the boy that helped brief them when they first arrived, he had more coffee with him. Two familiar girls were also there, Kusari didn't bother talking and simply got into the truck as instructed.

---

---

Sander had come in with a quick wave and exited just as quickly while Christmas had been working on his placement exams. He had felt guilty for wishing that Sander wouldn’t come back any time soon, but had found it easy to distract himself from the thought by simply firing up his Vita and resuming a save file.

The games were his way of daydreaming. Anyone who cared to look for long periods of time would realize the screen often remained frozen on a line of dialogue while the arrow to proceed flashed slowly in the corner. Christmas played mindlessly easy games for the sense that he was doing something and to prevent himself from looking around as he withdrew into his mind.

In that mental landscape, the world had fixed itself. He could go to school normally. Friends would greet him in class. His parents would welcome him home and ask about his day—sincerely. He’d be allowed to tell them all the little things that bothered him from day to day: the girls cooing at how “cute” he was with the ribbon in his hair; the guys jeering about how “gay” it looked; and the crueler people spreading rumors that he was just an attention whore. And maybe his parents would tell him it was okay. That he didn’t need to worry about them. That the things he liked were all right.

---

---

He ended up daydreaming for hours, the Vita running out of batteries on his lap as he continued staring at the blank, black screen.

When he finally tuned back in to reality, he realized, with an alarmingly loud rumble of his stomach, that he was starving. A quick check of the map reconfirmed the dining hall’s location before Christmas made his tentative way towards the building, making sure to grab his ID card before he left.

Glassy, tall, and just as stylishly modern as Building A, Building D boasted three stories of floor-to-ceiling windows displaying buffet-style food bars complete with cozy tables, chairs, sofas, couches, and even an alcoholic beverages bar in the corner of each floor, no doubt for the older students and staff members.

It was strange to see the pocket of coexistence here, like there was potential for a world where this microcosm of reality could expand into the bigger whole. The soldiers and staff members sat in their own sections of the massive dining hall, segregating themselves as best they could from where most of the subnaturals sat, but even in that they were still managing to sit and eat in the same room. Well, most of them. Christmas watched a few soldiers and staff members pack several carryout boxes with food before leaving. Not perfect. And not perfect was okay.

Walking inside was a battle between his fear of all the potential death and destruction gathered into one room and his growling stomach. Hunger won out in the end and Christmas took several deep breaths to steel himself before following a group of subnaturals through the double glass doors and into the lobby. No one gave him a second glance as he entered the building during the afternoon lunch rush, with soldiers, subnaturals, and regular staff members all busy picking through the day’s selection on their respective ceramic plates, tall, crystal glasses, and large, earthenware bowls.

One of the men sitting at the counter of the dining hall’s lobby ran Christmas's ID card through a quick scanner before waving the student through as the light on the machine flashed green. The receptionist repeated the process for everyone coming in, regardless of status. Christmas caught the name “Jason” on the man’s name tag and thanked the bespectacled worker out of habit. Jason raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond.

Inside the building proper, the selection of food was dizzying, from the meat and seafood section to the salad bar to the soup bar to the entirety of the daily rotation at the rest of the unnamed sections. Christmas twirled a bit of spaghetti and meatballs onto his plate, peeking around at others to see if it was all right to take more food. A fat man in a bulging suit waddled by with two plates piled with steak and lobster to confirm that gluttonous consumption was completely sanctioned here.

Reassured now, Christmas added one more large forkful of spaghetti to his plate.

One of the cushy sofas was empty and Christmas walked over to it cautiously, in case someone else wanted to grab the seat before he did. An older woman with long, brown hair tied in a ponytail was seated on another sofa across the glass table from Christmas. She was dressed in the business suit that seemed to signify all regular staff members, but the white mark on her face denoted otherwise. To her left and right were two soldiers each, though that didn’t stop her from giving Christmas a kind smile as he sat down. A weak smile wavered into existence on his face as he tried to return the greeting. The lapels on her suit were ironed hideously uneven, but Christmas didn't think it would be polite to point that out.

“You’re only going to eat spaghetti?” she asked incredulously, her voice a bit deeper than Christmas had been expecting for someone who was only a few inches taller than him.

“Y-yes?”

“N-no,” she mimicked back at him, taking his plate away before substituting it with her own, piled with mashed potatoes, a chunk of steak that was practically bleeding, and a hearty helping of romaine lettuce on the side. “Eat that, Blood Bag.”

“Wha—"

“Yes, I know about your power,” she interrupted, turning back to look at him. Glowing white lines now speared outward from her eyes, giving her the look of cyborgs from a typical sci-fi movie. “I knew about your power,” she corrected, “but having you right in front of me gives me a better look.”

Her wink was playful and a bit of the tension relaxed from Christmas’s shoulders as the woman leaned back cheerily.

“But I wasn’t kidding about eating, you know. You can’t regenerate your own wounds, much less your blood, so make sure you’re supplanting your body with steady nutrients to replenish lost blood.”

“Oh—okay…uh, thank you,” he awkwardly began poking at the huge plate of food in front of him, stuffing a piece of lettuce into his mouth after much deliberation on where to begin eating.

The woman in front of him sighed gently.

“Do you know how the effects of your power work?” she asked kindly as Christmas nibbled on some of the mashed potatoes.

He shook his head, one hand instinctively grabbing the ribbon to prevent it from straying towards the bit of mashed potato on the side of his mouth.

“About 50 mL of your blood is enough to close up most minor wounds over a short period. The more others drink, the faster those effects in a shorter time. Your blood over a wound can also repair it, but it’s weaker.”

As she spoke, she reached over with a napkin and wiped the small mess from his mouth.

“You’ll remember all that, right?”

Christmas nodded, eyes wide. She didn’t scare him per se, but having someone explain his own power to him when he barely understood it himself was surreal.

“Take care of yourself, sweetie. Your type is rare and getting rarer,” she patted his head and stood up, her entourage of guards following her. “Ribbon suits you, by the way. Thought I’d mention.”

He blinked after her as she left, realizing too late he had forgotten to ask for her name.

---

---

Taking a walk had never been one of those things Christmas ever planned for. If they happened, they happened, and this walk had certainly happened. After lunch, he had whiled away his hours exploring campus, enjoying—strangely enough—the freedom of walking around without needing to report to his parents where he was every few minutes. He had taken breaks on benches and decorative cement partitions where he had needed them, and simply let himself wander.

A quiet fear that he would get lost if he kept wandering like this instilled itself firmly in his mind the longer he walked, but Christmas took his deep breaths and kept moving instead. Things that he didn’t want to go to back to and situations that he wasn’t ready to face swam through his thoughts like titanic leviathans, unrelenting in their motions as they displaced his attempts at self-distraction one by one.

He hadn’t given himself the time to think too deeply about the current situation. There was only one end in sight there—“Bad End No. xx.” Christmas shuddered, thinking back to his last bout of panic in the suite, where he had curled up on the floor to steady himself, arms wrapped around his legs as if he was afraid to lose them. In this place, he probably would.

He had heard of subnaturals being sent to fight Dreamcatcher abominations back when he was “normal.” Kids in class would talk about the latest fight like they were talking about a TV show. How this subnatural was cooler than that one and how the latest monster was way better or way worse than the last round. This wasn’t what the world was supposed to be. People just played into it anyway for lack of choice. But then, it had always seemed like some distant problem for some other important folks to deal with. He was a civilian. No responsibilities in the problem. Not his concern. “Safe.”

And now he could potentially be one of those subnaturals the high schoolers would watch on TV and call “lame.”

The sudden blaring of the alarm from both the school speakers and the ankle cuff made him jump. He would have fallen over if a nearby soldier hadn’t caught him. Christmas muttered a quick apology as he righted himself and the soldier gave him a strained smile, the man’s blue eyes looking instead at Christmas’s ankle cuff where Director Zhang’s voice was detailing orders. Terrifying orders. A battle and a Precursor. “Kill on sight.”

It was the soldier’s hand on the grip of his pistol that prevented Christmas from falling apart right then and there.

As she finished, the same soldier grabbed Christmas’s arm and checked a map on his smartphone, leading the subnatural boy quickly to the trucks as Christmas bit the insides of his cheeks, struggling to remain calm and just barely succeeding as the others came into view.

Sophia Lemane

Standing there, she watched as the teenage boy continued to walk towards her without glancing in once in her direction. Thinking that he must be too occupied in whatever he was thinking about and that he was going to walk past her, she was prepared to begin wandering around again when he stopped a few steps away. She met his gaze, but only for a brief moment before her eyes widened and she looked somewhere else. He had amethyst eyes. That would make him the first person with violet or purple eyes that she had ever met.

Admittedly, she had a little bit of an obsession with eye colors. The colors that intrigued her the most were gray, purple, and black. A little distracted with her thoughts, her focus flew back to the boy when he spoke, though this time her eyes were fixated on a point a little way below his right eye. For she knew that if she made eye contact she would get distracted by examining his eyes, and that she would stare. That just wasn't polite.

"Heyo, young lady. How's it going? Visiting a friend’s room? Getting a check up? Or would you like to join me on an evening's stroll to the gym? Oh, you can totally refuse if you're busy though. Name’s Brent Roless. You?”

Five questions. In less than a minute. Maybe she should have kept walking. She raised her left arm with the intention of crossing her arms, before realizing that that was no longer possible with her other arm in a sling. As a compromise she wrapped it around her torso instead, just under the level of the sling. The gesture made her feel more secure, and more protected.

Right. So. How's it going? How am I supposed to respond to that? I don't think I even know myself. Maybe I just won't answer that part, except that would be rude. I guess it's going OK. I'm not visiting a friend's room or getting a check up. Now would be the time to ask him if he knows the way back. So how would I say that? How about this: I'm doing alright, thanks. I was actually wondering if you knew the way back to the... the... what's the name of the room I was in? Alright, that is not going to work. Maybe to simplify things I'll just take him up on his offer. And don't forget to introduce myself. Now let's see... how would I say that?

As she was thinking all of this, her gaze had lowered to the floor. A minute of silence passed without her paying any attention to him before she finally was ready to respond. Still not lifting her gaze, she opened her mouth... and closed it. Pathetic, she scolded herself. Just say it!

"Uh... I'm fine, thanks." The words came out soft and wispy, just passing for a whisper. Not at all like she had hoped. "Name's Sophia. Lemane. Sophia Lemane." This wasn't working out at all. After a few more seconds of silence, a tinge of red rose to her cheeks. "Would you like to..." She tilted her head towards the direction that Brent had been walking before.

Would you like to lead the way there?

---

@ERode

After Padma left, he was thinking about doing the exams. Just get up, sit down, and do them... Theeeen again, he also thought of just sleeping. And once that thought entered his mind, that’s exactly what he did, quickly drifting asleep. Wonderfully sound asleep, Grant laid, no bother in his mind, no bother around him. Just the peaceful rest as he laid in bed. He dreamed of... nothing. Just darkness. A peaceful dark sleep with nothing to- alarms. Sirens, blaring alarms. That was what he heard when he was blasted out of his sleep from the very thing. Grant had been asleep for hours, and to add to his rude awakening, not only was he awakened by the loud alarms, he also ended up on the floor with a thud. At that, he opened his eyes in shock, staring up at the ceiling of his dorm. He laid, dazed and confused on the floor, tangled up in his blanket. If that didn’t pull him from his sleepy state, the voice that spoke out from his cuff did. He only began focusing on what it was saying when it explained about the Threat level of... something. He wasn’t sure. The fact that he was JUST awakened by this wasn’t helping either.

The cuff went silent, leaving Grant some time to regain his bearings. He unravelled himself from the blanket wrapped around him, tossing it back up onto the bed, which he used to pull himself up. He stumbled, trying to regain his balance.
”The hell’s going on?” He’d mutter out, moving a hair out of his eyes lazily, not bothering with his bedhead, since by the time he did, his ankle cuff sounded once more. It first stated how the hostile target was unknown, yet the next second, it said how the target was Menagerie. ”Make up your mind...” He’d say out loud, wiping some drool that was trailing from his mouth. He yawned, trudging to the bathroom, wondering who were the unlucky saps who had to deal with the threat approaching. He turned the sink on, the water running, yet it was drowned out by the sound of the alarms blaring. As he began to splash water into his face, he once again heard a voice come from the cuff. The only thing was, it was Director Zhang’s voice instead of the mechanical voice from before. He raised an eyebrow on his dripping face as he listened to her announcement, though only parts of it stuck out to him. What he bothered to acknowledge from her announcement was that this was the combat assessment for the new students, as well as catching word of what color team he was on. Blue. There was only one name out of the 6 that he recognized aside from his own. Padma, his roommate.

He turned the sink off, using his white shirt to dry his face, leaving an obvious wet stain on it. He grumbled out as he remembered the words said by his roommate.
”’In a few days’ she says… Damn it…” When he lowered his shirt from his face, he noticed the color of the light on his cuff, which he let out an unamused chuckle at. ”Cute…” Came out of his mouth in a sarcastic tone. Nothing in this situation was remotely cute. He dragged himself to his bed, sitting down on its edge, waiting. He knew almost nothing could prepare him for what was coming up. Flung into combat on his first day here. This was too much, but it's not like he had much of a choice either way. After minutes of Grant sitting, looking down at his unprepared self, a guard came, bursting through the door.
”Out. You’re coming with me.” They’d declare, forcefully, almost a yell or shout. Grant just sighed, standing up from his bed.
”Yeah, yeah… just lead the way.” Was what he said before he walked up to them. There was no point in making a fuss of trying to resist going, so he just went along with it. The guard grabbed him by the arm, pulling him out of his room before pushing him ahead, pointing their gun at his back. Grant held the arm that the guard grabbed for a moment before looking ahead, beginning to step in the direction they wanted him to go. His steps were tired and sluggish, yet pokes at his back from the guard’s gun kept his steps from getting any slower than they already were. Eventually, at this pace, he made it to the trucks that all the teams were riding in. The guard grabbed his arm again, obviously annoyed by how slow he had been going for the whole walk, and pulled him over to his team's truck, shoving him into it.

Overload? Naw, no way. He didn’t say THAT much, did he? Or did she not expect to be addressed to begin with? Maybe she didn’t actually expect a friendly face in USARILN East? Yeah, definitely a new person then, who got a little TOO intimidated by East’s reputation and Zhang’s little speech. Running through his own thoughts during that awkward minute of silence, the arbiter watched her talk to the ground, words passing almost silently through her lips.

Woo, a real wallflower, huh? That was cute in its own way though, and he repressed the urge to poke the crown of her head. It’d surprise her, and not in a ‘break the ice and relax the tensions’ sort of way. Nevertheless, he bent down his own head to catch her words, before nodding once.

“Sophia Lemane, eh? Nice to meet you then!”

He waited a couple more seconds as her head raised up, face now adorably flushed. No doubt, she was working up the courage to continue on with her suggestion at this point. Would he like to go out on a date with her? Would he like to take a shower with her? Would he like to play video games with her? Would he like to have her instead of dinner?

Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty. Forty. A whole other minute.

…

Brent scratched the back of his head.

“Uh…sorry, but you’re not a telepath and I’m not a mind reader. What would you like me to do? Can’t really make guesses about what you want, since we’re strangers and all that.”
@VampireOracle

Sander was still in the computer lab when the alarm began to blare across campus. He was on his feet in an instant, knocking the paper cup of coffee over. The scalding beverage pooled at his feet, forgotten, while he stood in silence, listening intently for the message that was meant for them. He knew he should probably do something. They were being sent into a warzone; the least he could do was find a weapon or something. Then again, that was a moot point. The Director made her intentions clear; he would have to use his power in this fight by using the blood of his teammates. They didn’t even have the courtesy to provide him with blood bags. It was an emergency, but surely a facility of this size must have some medical equipment ready at all times. Or was this another test? For what reason? Why must they keep doing this again and again, keep testing the control that he did not have?

It was not long after that before guards started coming over and herded him toward his designated vehicle. He complied quietly, but his head was elsewhere at that moment. Looking at his red-tinted cuff, he pondered about his teammates. Two of those names he was already familiar with. Christmas and Kusari were his roommates after all, though the revelation regarding Christmas’ power did surprise him. Which meant that if he got injured…

Soft flesh gave beneath his fingers, precious red gushing out.

He let out a sharp breath, recalling other names from his group. There was Emma, Lawrence and Hazel. He thought he knew Lawrence from before. Indeed, there was someone introduced with that name at their welcome ‘ceremony’. The other two were unknown to him, but he figured they would meet soon enough. Not that he was looking forward to it. There was nothing wrong with meeting new people, as long as they didn’t test the limit of his self-restrain like a certain blond boy. What he had a problem with was their destination. He expected combat to be an integral part of his new life here in USARILN East; he just didn’t expect there would be teammates involved. Much like his issues with roommates, Sander feared he would lose control. And he definitely would. It was a crucial part of his power, making him a weapon to be unleashed upon monsters. No one else should be caught in the crossfire.

It was his fault. He played the part too well; they mistook him for something he was not. They thought too highly of his control.

All his fault.

The truck loomed over him. The scent of coffee was unmistakable. Sander grimaced and focused on his breathing, but the aroma remained.

This was going to be a long ride.

---

---

---

---

Zoe hadn't been doing too much all day beyond wandering around the school grounds, or rather stalking around - she moved quickly, purposefully, focusing on her stride rather than where she was going. The scowl on her face dissuaded most people from talking to her, not that she would've given them the time of day anyway. She wasn't having a good time of it, and walking around seemed like the simplest way to try and distract herself from the urge to lash out at anyone who came close.

That violent release zone thing was starting to seem like a much more attractive prospect. She hadn't filled in a form yet - although she'd taken the time to complete the tests, which had pretty much gone alright. While she wasn't any kind of genius, there were a few classes that she'd admit to being kind of good at. Science, mostly. Never really liked biology, but when her abilities turned up she'd done some reading in the hopes that she'd know where to avoid if she didn't want to kill anyone when she went off the handle. Which, she reflected, had backfired spectacularly. Maybe if I hadn't, I wouldn't have-

Interrupting her thoughts, the alarm startled her slightly when it went off, if only because of the sheer amount of irritating noises that were going on at once. The one that annoyed her the most was the Director's voice, a woman who Zoe had decided she'd probably never like. At least she was able to listen to the announcement well enough, sighing as she stopped in her tracks. She thought the statements over as the cuff spoke. Menagerie, huh? Nice to know. Not really my problem, but nice to know.

As the thought crossed her mind, the bracelet started talking about new students. Which, if she wasn't wrong, included her. Something about it being a combat test, so the Director herself would be paying attention. Sure enough, it started naming teams, which made sense. Sending everyone new away in one group was probably overkill. Well then, I guess it is my problem. Wonder what we'll have to fight?

Zoe glanced at her cuff as the teams finished being rattled off. Sure enough, a small green light blinked there to indicate her group. While she vaguely recognised the names, she'd never really taken time to introduce herself to any of them, much as she'd been tempted. Some of them seemed decent enough people, so she'd decided it wasn't worth the risk of getting close to them. Not that it mattered too much now - and hey, maybe being sent off to kill things together was a great way to meet new people!

"Get moving."

Apparently she'd been standing there for a little too long, as one of the soldiers approached her, weapon raised. Just once, she'd love to go somewhere without the threat of being filled with bullets. Rolling her eyes, she sighed. "Yeah, sure, I'm coming. Don't want you to miss out on a pat on the head from your owner - I mean, your boss."

---

The soldier escorting Zoe apparently had enough self-control not to respond to any of her comments as they made their way to the trucks. As such, it hadn't taken too long for her to get there. She didn't know any of the people in her group too well, except that several of them had also been classed as the 'violent X' group, but that was fine with her. At the end of the day, who she was with wasn't the main issue for her. The idea of just being a weapon to the director and her buddies got under her skin, but despite that she still couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement. Whatever they had to fight, seemed like she'd be free to let loose on it. That was a hell of a lot better than going for other people, and maybe it'd shut down that compulsion for a while.

In keeping with her usual attitude, Zoe didn't look bothered by the situation. Of course she was pretty nervous seeing as they had no idea what kind of things they'd be fighting, but that was overridden by the anticipation of the fight. Although she didn't realise it herself, there was a glimmer in her eyes that could only really be described as bloodlust, making her expression seem almost predatory. It wasn't often that she and her Stigma were in agreement, but if she really did have to go and show her stuff... Well, why not try and have fun with it? All she had to do was keep it together for one little truck ride.

---

---

Lily made her way back to her room, figuring that most would probably prefer to sleep rather than talk to her. Her thoughts shifted to what had happened earlier. New faces. Gunshots. Dead bodies. She wasn't really in a learning institution they claimed to be. She was in a prison with wardens that didn't care if they lived or died. The people here would shoot first and ask questions later. She sighed and wondered for the nth time how she ended up here in the first place. All she could really remember was waking up in the infirmary with bandages swathed around her head. She remembered nothing. Not even her name. When they started calling her Lily, she thought they knew something of her past, of where she came from. Later on, she found out that Lilianna came from some sort of comical character the staff at the infirmary had been watching the day they brought her in. And her surname was the brand of a toilet cleaner. How special. And there I was thinking that this place would be home... the people would be family--- her thoughts were interrupted when she stumbled on the last step of the stairs leading to her floor. She went sprawling across the floor. Muttering a curse under her breath, she sat up, blinked and rubbed her elbow. She sat there for a few minutes, scratching her head and trying to figure out what the hell she was thinking about before she decided to take that dive.

Her train of thought lost, she got to her feet, brushed off herself and continued walking to her room. Faceless people loomed in her mind. Fragmented memories. A walk in the woods. Laughter in the rain. Dead people. A fork in the road. Voices whispering immortality. Her mood wavered and the initial excitement of finally having other people in the building fading into tiredness."Ouch! What the hell?" she looked at the blank wall she had walked into, confusion etched on her face. Then she turned her head towards the door to her room. It was still a foot away. She reached up and rubbed her forehead. Once again, muttering a curse under her breath, she walked over to her room and stepped into it.

Her eyes immediately fell on the piles of paper on her desk. Seeing all the effort she would need to exert to finish all the exams put her in a foul mood. What were the placement exams for? It's not as if they were training them to be doctors or lawyers or people who become important in society. Disembodied screams echoed through her head. Immediately forgetting that she was complaining mentally about the exams, she closed the door behind her, pulled out a chair and began working on them. She needed something to do to keep the disturbing thoughts and fragmented memories out of her head. And what would be more effective than exams that she has no way of passing.

Most of her answers to the exams were guesses. Particularly for subjects that had to do with numbers. Who needs that much numbers anyway? All she really needed to know was how to subtract, add, divide and multiply. Why make things complicated? Who in the world needed to know the limit of a function as x approaches a fixed constant? What does it even mean? Page after page, she ticked boxes and encircled letters.

Hours later, she looked up at the simple wall clock hanging on her wall and was surprised that it was already 8 in the morning. She yawned, tossed the unfinished exam back into the pile and then headed to bed.

She woke up way past lunch, feeling as though she had not slept at all. Her dreams were filled with more fragmented and disturbing memories. Faceless people reached out to her with clawed hands. That was what jolted her awake. She had wanted to go back to sleep, her tired body yearning for more rest. But sleeping meant seeing more disturbing dreams, more faceless people screaming a name she can't remember. She didn't want that so she dragged herself out of bed and into the common bathroom. She showered, brushed her teeth and put on her usual oversized t-shirt, a pair of shorts and soft boots. She placed her folded dirty clothes by the foot of her bed and headed towards the cafeteria to get something to eat.

---

---

Lily had fallen asleep again as soon as she returned from her lunch. As always, her dreams were disturbing and served to tire her out no matter how much sleep she got. The alarm sounding across the campus coupled with the continuous high pitched pinging sounds from the cuff she wore rouse her.

"WARNING: Hostiles located 11.6 miles north of designated city outskirts. Threat level: Significant. All personnel stand by for orders."

"Wha--?" Lily sat up, blinking the bleariness out of her eyes.

"Target designation: Unknown. Cannot confirm designation. Cannot confirm Dreamcatcher abnormalities."

Lily yawned.

"Updated target designation: Menagerie. Orders: Kill on sight. All personnel stand by for assignments."

They can't be thinking about sending us to fight those things, are they? We're new here and we're kids--- Lily's thoughts were interrupted by the Director's voice.

"My new students. Consider this your combat assessment come early."

"Oh, come on. You're sending us into a real battle for combat assessment? I'm not even good at combat," Lily grumbled. But despite her complaints, she found herself excited at the thought of being able to see Menagerie's monsters.

"Blue Team: Grant Rotem, Padma Majumdar, Callan Webb, Marcus Howell, Siena Santana, Lilianna Brandt."

Lily blinked. She can vaguely remember the names that were announced in the containment chamber earlier that day. But she can't place any of the names to a face at all. "Heck, I didn't even ask the names of those two girls earlier," she realized, making a mental note to pay better attention next time. Something that she won't do especially when she's in her depressive mood anyway. She looked down at her ankle cuff as it changed its color to blue. "Yay, blue team," she cheered sarcastically and then listened half heartedly to the rest of the instructions. She perked up when she heard her name again.

"Fourth. The only subnaturals in the three groups capable of altering damaged states are Lilianna Brandt and Christmas Halvost. Ms. Brandt can transfer an injury onto herself while Mr. Halvost can slowly regenerate any damage taken--provided you drink ample amounts of his blood. Keep in mind their locations during combat. Losing another batch of useful students at this point in time would be problematic."

"Ugh. Blood."

And then the soldiers came for her.

It had been...a long day even after arriving in his room with his new roommates.

After having made sure his things were there, his roommates seemed to branch off on their own, the edgy one headed to the shower and the other began to seemingly addressing them before unpacking her things and starting on the placement exams. Blinking for a moment as he watched her do that for a moment after she had spoken to them, Aaron had simply shrugged and grabbed a pencil from the desk and sat down to start on the placement tests as well. After all, he might as well get the school stuff out the way before he did a bit of gaming before bed. He was sure his 3DS was in the duffle bag he had inspected, so an hour or two of Pokemon Moon would probably help him veg out and not have to think too hard after the events of the day, if nothing else. Then again, pulling out a larger console and trying his hand at a a bit of that old Battlefield 1 game people still seemed to play online ever since it came out could be fun as well...as long as his team didn't run around like a bunch of morons this time around.

It was a couple of hours, one lunch break to get some food quickly from the cafeteria, and one nearly fully depleted wooden pencil later when he had finally finished the exams and had managed to get on his handheld for a short while. It had been somewhat soothing for him to just sit and stare into the screen, but even so at the time of turning on the game he had found he was currently in the middle of trying to beat the Akala Island Grand Trial with his Torracat to give himself more of a challenge. From there it had been a somewhat enjoyable, if not slightly irritating as well, fight before he had moved on to the next island and the next part of the game's story as such, though by the time he had made it to the Houkalani Observatory after a good deal of level grinding he had found himself feeling a good bit tired mentally. Perhaps it had been the day, the events...maybe everything combined together if he were to be frank to himself.

So too tired to play any more games, he had just decided to climb onto his bed and start to get some sleep a bit earlier than his roommates. In his mind, perhaps a good night's sleep would give him energy for the morning. What could go wrong?

---

---

As the alarm sounded and the ankle cuff on his leg began to beep, Aaron's eyes popped open at the sound of the voice of the cold Dr. Zhang, who seemed to begin to tell them what was going on without a pause. As he lazily began to rouse himself, getting out of his bed still in his clothes, Aaron stretched his arms and continued to listen to the cold woman eventually get to orders for himself and the new arrivals. Glancing down at his glowing green ankle cuff, and jokingly wondering in his head if the ankle cuffs could be any other color then the blasted primary colors, Aaron rolled his eyes at the situation before waiting for Chris to exit the bathroom after seemingly having been surprised and such by the alarm. It brought a smirk to Aaron's face and a light chuckle at what seemed to be happening with his very edgy looking roommate. Once his roommate was gone, Aaron quickly went into the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water before wiping it with the hand towel nearby, before a guard eventually poked his head into Aaron and his roommates' room and barked about needing to report to his group with the other newbies in "Green Team". Apparently Chris had left before he had, eliciting a sigh from Aaron.

"I get it, i'm coming," Aaron said, walking out after the somewhat frustrated looking and angry guard.

It was all a crazy situation to hear about, much less get thrown into especially since they were apparently being attacked by monsters.....ones made by a Precursor nonetheless. It was nothing to gawk at in his opinion, and could probably be deadly if they made the wrong moves. Already as he moved down to meet with the other and then get into the truck, his mind began to race over what they could be facing, the answer of which he felt to be "anything and everything". Facing a person who could make monsters similar to what the Dreamcatcher had done, well, it probably entailed a lot of variety that could be thrown out there. Perhaps even something interesting would be among the ranks of whatever the heck Menagerie himself was sending against them according to Zhang. At least if something interesting killed him and the others out there, he could put something funny on his headstone.

Lightly shaking his head at the thought of possibly dying, one thing he had wanted to avoid by coming here in a sense, the brown-haired boy clambered into the military truck with his other groupmates and the one nervous-looking guard who probably wanted to get away from them if he could. Despite his casual pose, Aaron for a moment felt like mulling over the thought of what he would be thinking if he were in the guy's position, but at the last second decided to avoid the awkward topic altogether. It wasn't worth the trouble. Rather, Aaron let his mind slip into thinking about the situation at hand. There was no use whining about anything that had happened so far, and there truly wasn't any use in thinking about the guard's perspective. After all, they were all the ones being thrown out there

---

---

---

It was safe to say that once they finally arrived on the battlefield...it looked like something out of a video game. Not in the good way, however. Lights being thrown, a dancing girl with a barrier, another girl using shapes to harm and kill a striking variety of monsters, it was all somewhat surreal, as if it was a dream, albeit not a good dream if it was one. Rapidly one of the back-line individuals of the group that was fighting the monsters seemed to jog over to them before noting they had been briefed about the new arrivals and calling back to his friends about backup having arrived. With the short briefing on things and apparently their welcome party done with his mission, Aaron looked to where his team's monsters would be located.

As much as he had spoke about dying back in the truck...this was now how he had imagined it possibly happening. Lo and behold, there were two -no, three- flying spaghetti monsters hovering in the air on large, white saucers. The fact that this creature which had solidified itself in internet memes and references had been a joke to him before, and now three of them were before him and his team in full, good-smelling, tasty, menacing details. For a moment the boy did not know whether to laugh, cry, or make a joke about needing a giant fork. As he listened to Chris talk about his power and the black-haired metal girl who had first spoken in the truck, and also watched the flying plates of spaghetti drop large, marinara-coated meatballs that had tiny legs and set of large, sharp teeth in their mouths, the southern boy lightly shook his head before looking over at Angélique once more and beginning the summoning process for his creatures.

"Mmm, i have some idea, but we have to act fast before these things get too close," Aaron said to the girl as the tiredness of starting the summoning of two creatures set in rapidly and began to make him sleepy again, before giving her a nod and looking back to the others in his group in general and also the grotesquely transforming Chris for a moment before looking back at her, muttering the last bit he said next under his breath, "Here's to hoping we don't wipe this..."

"Ok everyone, listen up!" the brown haired boy shouted at the others, after cracking his knuckles aloud and then turning to face the Green Team as a whole, a look of serious concentration and thought crossing his face as he spoke and made sure the others were listening to him "We're breaking into smaller group to handle this, because if we stick together these things will probably overwhelm us. Chris over there needs cover so he transforms into...whatever that things seems to be he's turning into. So: You, girl who can break things down. You, the girl who first spoke in the truck on the way here and said you can shout things to death. Both of you stick with Chris while he transforms, protect him from the meatballs, and then all three of you move towards the first Flying Spaghetti Monster while killing meatballs on the way. Stay together. Also tell Chris to keep the things' attention on him, whether its the meatballs or the stupid spaghetti. Don't care if he whines about it.l Once you get to the meatball, shouting girl, you try to save enough energy beforehand to try to stun it with your shouting while breaks-stuff-down girl and Chris try to break that that thing's body down and maybe pull it down while they are at it during the time the the arms are hopefully stunned by your voice. If you can get down that first plate, move to the next. If you get that one, move to the next."

Using his right arm and index finger to distinctly point at the people he mentioned in his orders, of course having pointed at Zoe and Angélique as he had mentioned them, Aaron then turned his attention to the rest of the group, not skipping a beat. He next pointed at Alexis, Savannah, and Allison before he addressed them next in a straightforward manner.

"You three, i need prep time as well, as i just started summoning. So keep me covered while i finish. After that, i'll support you and you with my creatures and we will kill as many of those stupid meatballs as we can to lighten the load on Chris and the two that are with him as they move from plate to plate and try to take these things down," Aaron shouted aloud to the three, pointing at Alexis and Allison as he noted those who would go out and fight with his creatures once they were summoned, before turning his finger to Savannah next before continuing to speak, "You stay back with me while i assist them with my creatures, to help protect me just in case i have to re-summon my creatures to help the two of them in the field. On top of that, if either we or Chris and company need backup, we could send you in as well to assist either party if need be."

Aaron sighed once more as he folded his arms like some kind of anime hero-protagonist and gave a light "huff" before continuing once more. He was trying to keep himself away as the summoning occurred, though once the control panels were up after his creatures were summoned it would likely help him stay awake a bit as well. It was like he had been hit by...bricks, late nights, and other things all at once. Even now he seems to visibly tire more facially and otherwise more as the summoning continued to move forward, the minutes ticking down until his creature would arrive since he had begun his preparations just after Chris had started. He wouldn't pass out or fall asleep again after this, since he had managed to actually get some good rest before all of this, but having just woken up not long ago did not make things easier regardless.

"Now i don't care if you whine at me about this damn stuff, but if you want to live and get these things taken down without dying then stick to the damn plan i just said and get moving!" the gamer said, a determined tone in his voice that did not seem to back down even an inch at the thought of others not wanting to cooperate as part of the plan, "And if one of the two groups is getting overwhelmed and needs help, then say something to us so ya' don't die before we can send anyone in to help!"

As Emma finished her exams she sat for a moment, contemplating them. She had thought that she had done a good job. Apparently Lawrence had thought so too, or at least she looked like she was, judging by his earlier remark. She had always been a good student but there was some degree of disquiet in her mind regarding the test- perhaps it was just the fact that they were tests to determine her place in what was effectively a prison?

She glanced around at her roommates. In truth she hadn’t really been paying attention to what they had been doing while she was finishing. Emma had the ability to focus if nothing else. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She had another plethora of messages from concerned friends and family. She had long since put her phone on silent to avoid the annoyance of the constant ringing and beeping. She scrolled through them quickly, looking for that one message in particular that she hoped to find.

Of course it wasn’t there. Emma chewed her lip, whether It was out of either concern or stress she couldn’t say. In truth it was likely a caustic combination of the two. She turned off her phone and placed it back in her pocket, turning herself towards Hazel. From what she had seen the girl was the odd sort- from her hairstyle to her stripping episode this morning to her odd manner of speaking. Most people don’t respond to an invitation by saying ‘I have no objections to that.’ Emma shook away those thoughts. Surely she was just overthinking things, Hazel was probably a normal person like everyone else and Emma would do her very best to be friends of her.

“Hazel, you ready to go?” She asked with a smile. She began collecting the papers that she had to turn into the office- whether Hazel was coming or not she was going to go drop them off before they inevitably got lost or forgotten.

Blinking, Hazel put away all the papers on her table in a neat pile, separating what she had been working on from the ones she had not touched. She had been working on those for quite a bit, though she knew not the answer for most of them. Of course, considering it was a test, she filled in what she knew, which was admittedly very little. Standing up, she turned to Emma.

"Yes. Please lead the way."

”Alright… we’ll be back soon, okay Lawrence?” She said to her other roommate. Emma lead her newfound follower out the door, closing it softly behind her. As they headed out the dorm building Emma tried to muster up all the small talk she could. ”Let’s stop by the office first so I can drop off all my paperwork… speaking of, how are you doing on the test? I saw you weren’t quite finished.” Emma said, trying her very best to sound polite and cheery.

"Yes. I am doing my best on the tests." That was all Hazel answered as she followed the girl out of the building. It was not because she was being unfriendly, or actively trying to avoid Emma, but simply Hazel answering what was asked, and only what was asked. For her to offer any more information beyond what was asked was unlikely.

”Uh-huh…” Maybe it was Emma’s fault for expecting something more? Maybe Hazel didn’t want to talk about the test? That must’ve been it, Emma decided. Maybe if I ask her something else…? Emma was putting her all into maintaining her smile. She had resolved to be friends with Hazel, and she wasn’t going to stop now. ”Sooooo… where are you from, Hazel?”

"I don't know." It was a simple answer, and correct in every way. Hazel did not know where she came from, for she had forgotten. She did not know where the facility was located, because she was not told its location. Even if she did know where it was, that question would require the person asking to at least have a Beta level clearance.

****

By the time they had arrived Emma had assaulted Hazel with a barrage of questions, receiving answers not dissimilar to what she had gotten so far: Simple, concise, non-conversational responses. Trying to get to know Hazel was like an interrogation so it seemed. This was partially Emma’s fault, as she didn’t once push Hazel for further explanation out of fear of rudeness. Emma was not sure if Hazel’s brevity of speech was due to a dislike of talking to her or something else. Although she generally felt that she was pretty decent at reading people Hazel seemed an enigma to her, although to Emma’s credit not once did she sigh in frustration or lose her amicable smile.

The store that they had arrived at could best be described as ‘run of the mill’. It was a simple budget department store that Emma found courtesy of her phone’s internet. She had resisted her first inclination to go for something more extravagant; her family was not exactly poor and she was used to fancy brand name clothing. Despite this she had the sensibility to not spend all of her money on one outfit. She would also need food and likely a number of other things, so she would have to be sensible when it came to shopping. Emma glanced at Hazel, ”So… Hazel, I’m assuming you need clothes too… where should we start?”

"..start?" Hazel tilted her head questioningly. If it was about clothes, she had enough, and she had certainly no real need for more clothes when the ones she had now suffices. If anything she was more interested in what was going on around her, though she remained as reserved as always. It seemed like the first time she had ever been to such a place, with so many people just walking about minding their own business. To at least not seem rude to Emma, she glanced over the clothings, and determined that there was no armor, airtight suits with gas masks, or the likes being sold. Only clothings that didn't offer anything else over what she had already. "Do I need clothes?"

Emma was a little taken aback by the question. The confusion on her face was evident, her smile turning into a downturned line. For several seconds the awkward silence hung. … does she? Does she… need clothes? Does she need clothes? Emma played the question over in her head several times. Did she mishear? No, she didn’t think she did at least. She knew that something wasn’t quite right was Hazel, even she was perceptive enough to pick up on that, even if she herself would deny her own observation as she found it incredibly rude to make such a presumption about another person. All the same even if she did except some degree of oddity the question did catch her off guard. ”Well… I had assumed that everyone was in the same position that I was in and didn’t have much… I guess that’s my fault… uh, well, what clothes do you have?” Emma said with no small degree of awkwardness, trying her best to maintain a small smile.

Memories of the scientists arguing over which clothes fit her better suddenly resurfaced, brought on as she tried to remember how much she had. "A bag packed with them. Count unknown. Should you feel that my wardrobe is lacking, then please tell me what I should add." Being the way she was, all she noticed from Emma was her discomfort, though the reasons for that discomfort escapes her.

Emma blinked at Hazel, trying to ferret some possible explanation for Hazel’s behavior in her brain.

Has she… she hasn’t been shopping before, has she?

Restrictive parents?

Or maybe she’s one of those kids that was raised in the wild by wolves?

Or… maybe she was in some weird cult that didn’t let her go outside?

The more she thought about it the stranger Emma’s explanations got. Emma resolved once again to help Hazel, as she clearly had some sort of deficiency when it came to independent behavior. Emma nodded, taking Hazel’s wont for command as an invitation to help her find clothes. She looked the girl up and down, trying to determine what kind of outfit would best suit her. Something… sensible, not too flashy… but it has to be cute… I should get a jacket for her too, it'll be winter soon... something timeless, not too complex... or maybe something bold and unusual for her… hmmm...

”Okay, okay, wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Emma soon returned with a small collection of clothes that would constitute one outfit: A blue cardigan with a plain yellow shirt to wear underneath, complemented by a pair of red leggings. Emma had a feeling Hazel's current clothing wasn't very colorful, so she was hoping that the vibrant mix would be a bit of a change-up for the girl. ”Here, Hazel, try these on.” Emma said cheerfully. She remembered her earlier stripping episode and amended, ”Go in one of the rooms over there to change… and, uh, lock the door behind you.” She said, pointing towards the fitting rooms.

Hazel already had her skirt open, before Emma suggested the changing rooms. Nodding, she took the clothes with her inside one of the open changing rooms. It was certainly different than what she was used to. The leggings alone took away the feeling of freedom she had, though the cardigan and shirt was comfortable. To her the clothing put together made little sense, for what purpose can these truly have? Warmth? If so, she would have substituted the legging for something else. Protection? These offered nothing over her usual clothes. But Emma did tell her to wear it, so wear it she shall. Fully dressed, she stepped out of the changing room. There was an odd gait to her movements, perhaps due to her unfamiliarity with the leggings. "Is this to your liking?"

Emma looked Hazel up and down as she emerged. She looked… cute, Emma supposed, albeit incredibly uncomfortable. When Hazel asked if it was ‘to your liking’ Emma shook her head slightly, not in respones to the outfit but to the question. She had by now accepted that Hazel wasn’t great at acting independently, although was still slightly taken aback by her odd mannerisms. ”No, no, Hazel… you shouldn’t worry about what someone else thinks of your clothes… do you like it?”

"I do not have any particular attachment to these." Came the answer readily. Pulling on the leggings to examine it, and exposing a bit of her underwear in the process, she continued. "It's hard to move in. If at all possible, I would have preferred a skirt. Did these have some sort of tactical advantage I do not know of?"

Emma nodded. ”A skirt… of course, I should’ve noticed… I’ll be right back…” Emma started to walk away but quickly stopped and turned around. ”Wait, tactical advantage? Uhhhhh… you should… uhhhh…” Emma paused. Okay… okay… she doesn’t… really get the point of clothing… alright… Emma’s smile returned. She had to be nice. She had to, she told herself. ”Have… have you considered… hmmmm… instead of looking at the, er, ‘tactical’ aspect of clothing… have you ever considered wearing what looks good on you? Like, something that people will think looks good…. Or something that you like wearing because you feel good wearing it?” Emma’s explanation came out awkwardly. She’d never had to explain the concept of fashion to someone before, and certainly had never prepared to. Despite this she was wearing her kindest possible smile. She really was doing the best she could.

"Wearing my usual clothes feel good." Hazel affirmed, nodding as she did so.

Emma nodded again. Okay, okay, I can do this. Emma turned around. She had been eyeing a skirt earlier, thinking that it might perhaps suit Hazel. She picked it off a rack and returned to Hazel, holding it up. It was blue, and notably shorter than Hazel’s usual skirt. Similar enough but also different, Emma had hoped. ”Do you like this, Hazel?”

"I don't have any particular like or dislike for it."

Emma felt like she was proverbially pulling teeth at this point. ”Well, uh, is there anything here that you do like? She said as nicely as humanly possible. She was still, by some great miracle, smiling.

Hazel looked around, but what her gaze lingered on was not one of the clothes inside the store, but one of the stores outside. It was brightly coloured, with cheerful looking people there. One of them, the one behind a counter, took out a colorful globe with a strange spoon and slapped it onto a disappointingly brown cone wrapped with tissues. Her curiosity piqued, but she turned back to Emma. "No. I do not think I have any particular interest in anything here."

Emma watched as Hazel looked around. She saw something catch her eye, but Emma realized she wasn’t looking in the store. Emma followed her gaze to find… Ice cream? Emma nodded to herself. ”Okay! That’s just fine. Head back into the changing room and put your regular clothes on, I’ll go and pay for my stuff while you’re doing that. Oh, and, uh, put that stuff back where it belongs, alright?” Emma said, gesturing to the clothes that she had given her. She spoke with a renewed vigor, her smile returning to her face in a much more genuine manner. I’m going to make sure Hazel has a good time! It’s clear she doesn’t hang out with people often. Emma resolved to herself once again. She nodded at her and turned to find the register.

Nodding at the command, Hazel disappeared once again into one of the changing rooms. She wasn't quite sure what Emma wanted to do with all those clothes, but she was never one to ask questions or probe. A single change of clothes would be quite enough for her, considering all she wore during her time in the facility was that thin white thing, which was more often than not discarded for some of the experiments and tests they ran on her. Wearing her own clothes once again, she went to find Emma at the register. "I have done as you asked."

As Emma arrived at the counter she greeted the cashier with a smile, and she returned in kind with… wide eyed astonishment? Emma was slightly confused as the clearly awed girl took her new clothes and began scanning them. Confusion turned to embarrassment as she spoke up, ”So, you’re, uh… you’re one of those subnaturals, right?! From the la- er, the school, yeah?! You’ve got the X and everything!” Emma’s eyes narrowed slightly. Of course, the people in this town must see subnaturals… well, fairly often, but not too often, I guess? People probably don’t leave the school too often because of this… Emma tried to maintain her smile as she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. ”Uhhhhhh… well, yeah, I am….”

Emma was not prepared.

”Oh! That’s so weird! Can I touch your mark?! What’s your power?! Can I get your autograph… you know, in case you become one of the famous ones!” Most people when asked for an autograph feel like the subject of admiration, but Emma felt more like a zoo animal. ”Also your total is 124 dollars and 46 cents…” The girl said awkwardly as a silence fell between them. Emma retrieved her card from her wallet and handed it to her. She was trying to think of something to say. Or maybe she didn’t want to see anything? Emma heard Hazel behind her, telling her she was done. ”Great! Great, great, great! Uhhhh… Hazel we have to hurry… we’re uh, running late!” She gave an apologetic glance to the cashier, who angrily handed Emma her bags. The awe in her eyes was replaced very quickly by… Emma wasn’t quite sure… scorn? Or disappointment? It was hard for her to say. Emma hurriedly ushered Hazel outside, knowing she wouldn’t question if asked to follow.

When they were once again outside Emma stopped Hazel. She knew she would have to clarify, ”We’re not actually late… I just wanted to get away from that cashier… anyways…” Emma pointed at the ice cream shop, ”Did you want to get some?”

Hazel did not resist when she was pulled away from the clothing store and towards the ice cream shop. It was all so colorful, looking like one of those nutrient paste she usually ate for dinner, but with firmer and more solid. As a result of her thinking to herself, she missed Emma's question about the ice cream. "Ah. Apologies, I did not hear what you said just now."

Emma pointed to the ice cream shop again. "Do... do you want to get some?" She repeated.

Hazel stayed silent for a moment, thinking, before she made a reply. "Yes, I would like to have some." She stepped forwards towards the counter, intending to get one for herself, but was almost instantly defeated by the sheer amount of choices they had.

Emma followed behind Hazel. Seeing her apparent confusion Emma elected to lead, hoping that Hazel would pick up the Emma’s cues. ”I’ll have… a cookie dough cone, please.” The shopkeeper complied, but he had the same look that the cashier at the clothing store had before. Emma did her best to ignore it,”What do you want Hazel?” she prompted.

What did she want? Hazel turned towards the counter, eyeing the various treats in front of her. The green one looks interesting, but the one in a shade of red seems very enticing. The purple one sitting at the far side looks mysterious and appealing. What was that about the cones? Cookie dough? Were they cookies? She didn't even know of any types of cookies besides just 'cookie'. Clouded her mind might be, but slight panic still arose at the prospect of having to make a decision by herself. Reaching an epiphany, she turned to Emma.

She gave a slight bow. "I will accept any that you pick for me."

Emma nodded. She was slightly more acclimated to the subservient behavior now, even if she didn’t approve of it. She took it as a large enough victory that Hazel seemed excited to get ice cream. ‘Excited’ being used relative to how she had been acting so far, getting her to actually seem to want to do something was ‘excited’ enough. Emma glanced over the choices… she was eyeing Hazel as she had looked over, who seemed to be particularly enticed by a purple ice cream. Purple? The sign said it was yam ice cream. Yam? Hmmmm… that sounds good… and Hazel looked like she wanted it… Plus Emma liked the color purple. By now Emma had been handed her own cone, she looked to the shopkeeper ”We’ll also have a yam cone.”

Hazel took the cone handed to her after they paid, looking blankly at it. It felt... it felt slightly wrong. She glanced around, almost expecting disapproving faces looking at her, but finding none of the sort. She was still there, ice cream cone in her hand, and no one seemed to disapprove, or even care that she was holding a cone in her hands. No one seems to care about her breaking her usual strict diet. Imitating what she saw the other people doing to their ice cream, she had a taste of the purple ice cream she held. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise at her first taste of ice cream outside the facilty. It was somehow frozen but soft, creamy but easy on the tongue, sweet but not overwhelmingly so. A taste she could have never imagined she could have tasted again. Indeed she had forgotten the taste of everything besides the paste and the other things they fed her in controlled amounts in that facility.

Emma paid the cashier, who thankfully held back whatever comments he had about their super-powered status. Emma turned to Hazel, taking a lick of her cone and then telling her, ”We should probably be heading back… how do you like it, by the way?” Emma had the odd suspicion that Hazel may have never had ice cream before.

"I don't have any particular like or dislike for it." Hazel continued eating away at the ice cream slowly. They had went here first to look for clothings, which she apparently lacks, and had instead went for the ice cream, with only Emma having bought any clothes. It was a rather large deviance from the original plan, but... it was not actually that bad.

"But I would not mind having more of these."

Well… I guess that’s the biggest victory I’ll get today. Hazel seems to have liked the ice cream, I think, so at least there’s that. Emma smiled at Hazel, turning back towards the school. The walk back was quiet, absent of Emma’s interrogation; Emma suspected that Hazel would perhaps prefer to enjoy her ice cream in silence.

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Lawrence's day had been surprisingly... typical after a morning that started with a nudist roommate. Classes, moody Aberrations interrupting his reading in the library, a cheap dinner from the cafeteria, and of course more coffee than could be considered healthy. Boring was the way he preferred life, and it looked as if the day was going to turn out to be a good one after all.

Then he got back to his dorm. Both of his roommates had returned for the day, and Lizzy was as ever present and hungry as she usually was. He took a sip from the same mug he had been using earlier- refilled with coffee from a different part of the Institution- before opening his mouth to greet the three.

Then everything went to shit.

The alarm, the briefing, his anklet changing, his dreams of a boring day shattered. To add to this Hazel quickly turned to him and started spouting nonsense.

"Then, I recognize you as my handler, access Alpha, ID 2EFD89. Please do not hesitate to give me any orders. Keep in mind, I will prioritize the handler's safety first, my survival second, and any other orders third. I cannot comply should any orders conflict with the first or the second. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask."

There was too much information hitting Lawrence at once to process all of it. Instead he took only the important bits and began to move. Mission: That was important. Menagerie: Slightly important, knowing the opponent wouldn't change things right now. However it did mean that monsters should be expected. Lawrence being deployed: IMPORTANT. Hazel's handler: Important, but could be sorted out later. Team designation: Not important. He'd deal with what he was given because he had to.

"Lizzy! Jacket!"

He didn't have much time to waste before his door would be assaulted by the Institution's guards. First priority was to secure morale: his coffee. He hastily set his cup on the desk, spilling some of the precious liquid within, and ran to the kitchen. Throwing open one of the cupboards, he removed an impressively large thermos and began filling it with the remains of that morning's brew. A thump in the livingroom indicated Lizzy had done her job, and he met her half way towards his bed, snatching up the jacket and slipping it on as he knelt beside it.

Pounding began to echo in the room then, accompanied by shouting:

"You guys need to MOVE, this is an emergency!"

"One of you open the door!"

Emma, apparently, was the first to move, quickly complying with his request. He would have given her a "Thank you." but now wasn't exactly the time for politeness.

After barking his order, Lawrence reached under his bed and pulled out a footlocker that was nearly as wide as the bed was long, throwing it open to reveal an assortment of small arms. Lawrence was never deployed for his combat capabilities, it was always in support. Keep the injured calm, keep the soldiers from losing their nerve. To think he had been safe this entire past year was completely absurd though. No. He had scars to accompany his tattoos, and had taken liberal use of the requisition forms in his time since arriving.

Still he had no time to hunt for the best equipment. Monsters. That meant a shotgun. Might be at range, so a shotgun that was passable at a distance. A knife. Utility.

"HURRY UP!"

No time. He yanked the lid shut after pulling out a third item and slid it haphazardly back under the bed. Now that he had roommates he should start locking it, but he could deal with that later. In front of him lay exactly:

A breech-loaded 12-gauge shotgun.

A box of 12-gauge slugs, shoved into the pocket of his coat.

A switchblade, stuffed into the pocket of his jeans.

Finally, a flare gun with a single flare, tucked into an inner pocket of his jacket, over his chest.

As satisfied as he could be under the circumstances, Lawrence stood up with shotgun in one hand and thermos in the other. He both gave a nod to the guard and motioned his roommates to follow him. Lizzy, for her part, knew better than to try to follow him, and instead contented herself with licking some of the coffee he spilled off of the floor. It was abundantly clear that her master's safety was not the first thing on her mind.

Lawrence wished he could say the same.

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Discomfort wasn't really the right word for what Christmas felt, bundled into the back of a military truck with five other subnaturals, three of them black X's. "Fear for his life" was more accurate. He found himself wedged as far as he could go into the corner, sandwiched between Sander and the guy he recognized from the containment chamber as "Lawrence." Both were intimidating in the same way the weather stilling into calm before an approaching storm was.

But for all his terror, he had been raised--coerced, really--into a good boy.

"And good boys know how to help others, Christmas! Isn't that right?" his mother's honey-drenched words were fire pokers in his mind. Compelling in the most fearsome ways.

"Sander...?" he turned to the boy beside him, Director Zhang's information about Sander still parsing in his mind. "Do you--" he gulped, wondering if he could really offer what was on the tip of his tongue "--n-need blood?"

Lawrence stopped reading mid sentence as Christmas' words reached his ears. He tried to let his flash of annoyance slide- it was after all the first combat they'd seen- but he found it harder than usual to let go of. Perhaps the stress of the day was starting to have an affect on him. Slowly, he slipped the book into his free pocket and gripped the boy's shoulder, in a non-magical attempt to calm him down. With an effort to keep sarcasm out of his voice, he answered before Sander could.

"Your blood is the single most valuable commodity here. You need to value yourself like gold, because we may need every drop of it here shortly. Be stingy, evaluate who needs it with a level head, and don't get yourself killed. We might just need you tomorrow too." He took a sip of his coffee, as if for emphasis, before continuing.

"If he needs blood I'll volunteer some of mine first, but I need a level head to do my job properly. He'll need to look elsewhere to get the whole gallon."

His eyes flicked meaningfully to the guard, before flashing the man a reassuring smile. Truth be told using them as living bloodsacks was a smart, if cold, move. No need to give Subnaturals a worse name than they already had though.

Christmas saw the gaze, but didn't follow Lawrence's look. There was only one person sitting in that direction anyway, keeping as far a distance as possible from everyone with an assault rifle at the ready.

The more pressing matter (in more ways than one) was the insistent hand on his shoulder, a gesture he was more than familiar with every time one of his parents bent down to speak with him. He had long been conditioned to understand that gesture as a response to a mistake.

Looking down at his feet instead, Christmas nodded soundlessly.

Kusari looked on silently as Christmas offered to give his blood to Sander. He seemed a little too ready to give it up, almost as if he felt he had to. Thankfully Lawrence explained to him exactly why that was a bad idea. Kusari leaned towards Christmas and glared at him with her crimson eyes. "When you first tried to help those students that were shot, I assumed you were perhaps more courageous than you appeared. But you're really just kind of stupid, aren't you? How about using your head before you try so desperately to act like a hero? You shouldn't be giving more than two pints of blood anyway, unless you have a death wish. You keep trying to rush in to help at your own detriment and we'll be the ones to suffer, got it?" She said. Her arms crossed, and she looked to Sander as Christmas shrank even further into his corner seat in response to her sharp commentary.

"I'll give you all the blood you need. My body is basically immortal. The blood will regenerate soon after, at least it should." Kusari had never explained her ability to people her own age before, it felt odd, like she was flipping up her skirt or something. "All that you NEED, no more..." She added, suddenly remembering Sander's behavior since she'd met him. The boy seemed to have a strong fixation on blood, just like a real vampire.

Sander lifted his gaze, if only just, to give Christmas a puzzled stare, his reeling mind still hadn’t finished processing what the blond boy said. When it finally did though, someone else, an older boy with messy blond hair, had spoken up and refused in his stead.

“He’s right.”-Sander gave a shrug that was barely there, his gaze dropped again – “It does not matter to me where it comes from.”

The words barely left his mouth before his second roommate, Kusari, spoke up. Her words were abrasive, as usual, but it was her revelation that surprised him. – “I see…”-He looked up from the floor once more, arching an eyebrow- “So your accommodation assignment makes sense. But…”-He glanced sideways at Christmas, hesitated to finish his sentence. He didn’t, in the end.

“I will do what I can”-Instead, he just gave Kusari a tight-lipped smile, something akin to hunger gleamed in his blue eyes.

"That perverted smile does not engender any confidence in your self control, Sander... Kusari groaned, noticing the disturbing look on her roommate's face.

Emma had been mostly quiet up until now, offering up little more to the conversation than a nod in agreement with Lawrence’s assessment and a glare of disapproval at Kusari’s admonishment of Christmas’ willingness to help. She suppressed any comments she had; she wasn’t in the mood for an argument, which owed largely to her silence. In truth Emma was living more in her head than in the current moment. She never dreamed she’d ever describe what she was doing as ‘riding into battle’.

Despite her urge to keep quiet she looked at the others. She felt the need to say… something. She was used to being people’s emotional support, even if this group didn’t see her as such. She knew they were going into a dangerous situation… after all, the voice said that Menagerie, a precursor, was out there and that he was the enemy. “Let’s just… let’s all do our best, okay! Things are going to be dangerous but… if we work together we’ll all be fine, yeah?” She gave an encouraging look to the others, hoping that they could all get along.

Christmas continued staring at his feet, afraid to make any more mistakes in polite company.

Kusari looked over to Emma, who appeared to be trying to cheer them on as if this were a football game. She let out an audible scoff. "Platitudes aren't going to do anything to help us. We need actual plans if we're going to survive." Kusari looked the girl up and down. She didn't appear particularly strong, but then again neither did many of them. "We don't even know what ability you have, you can fight, right? Or is your ability cheerleading?"

Emma’s smile was slowly replaced by a slight frown as Kusari turned her apparent scorn towards her. She felt Kusari’s eyes examining her, trying to determine her worth- Emma estimated that the girl’s assessment wasn’t a positive one. Emma was slow to respond, “Well… I’ve never really been in a fight before, but I do have powers like everyone else…” the sentence felt strange as it came out of Emma’s mouth. She wasn’t used to telling people that she had ‘powers’, and her awkwardness was only amplified by the fact that she just made her uselessness evident.

”I’m able to summon creatures powered by my emotions… they all have do different things based on what emotion I use to make them… but I’m not really good at using them to fight…” Emma trailed off. It was clear that she wasn’t confident in battle, and it felt odd describing her power to someone else- something she had never really done. It was like telling someone what color panties you were wearing; It simply felt like an oddly private piece of information.

”But either way we all need to do our best, right? I will too… if we all work together we’ll make it through this!” Emma did her best to seem confident, but she quickly realized she was merely echoing the same sentiment that Kusari had already disapproved of. She almost wanted to take her statement back, for she was sure that it would only serve to further Kusari’s mistrust of her.

Kusari let out a sigh, and veered her gaze away from Emma. The girl didn't fully understand how to control her power, that wasn't her fault. She herself had only recently learned that her body was nearly immortal, before she simply assumed her ability was limited to accelerated healing. It wouldn't make sense to continue berating Emma, if anything the fact that she was able to be positive and not break down was a good thing. "That's it? Fine, just... Try not to die when we get there, I'd rather not see that again." Kusari ruffled her white hair in irritation, She wasn't accustomed to working together like this. "If you get into trouble just stand behind me. I can take a hit, you can't."

Emma gave Kusari a slight smile, nodding. "Thanks... I'm Emma by the way." She said cheerfully, encouraged that they might actually be able to get along.

Kusari's eyes glanced at Emma for a moment, then went back to staring out at the passing scenery. "I'm Kusari, Kusari Bloodworth."

Lawrence was content to ignore the back and forth bickering as long as it didn't evolve into anything further. Instead he focused on his weapons, those being his shotgun and Hazel. Trying to think of the best way to phrase his question, he set his coffee in his lap for a moment and removed a shell from the box in his pocket. Breaking the action on his gun, he set the shell in and let it rest, bent, in the crook of his arm, ready to fire the moment he snapped the barrel back into place. Satisfied, he finally looked up at his ward, question ready:

"So, can you explain to me exactly what your power is? And more importantly what I can expect if I remove your collar? I don't want to do something without know what I'm getting myself- and everyone else- into."

He paused for a moment to take a sip of his coffee, before adding:

"I suppose it's a bit rude to ask without returning the favor. I guess you could say I have a bit of mind influence going on. If I'm calm I can make people calm, if I'm angry I can make people angry, and everything in between. I mostly help Aberrations stay sane when their stigmas are going off the charts."

Christmas leaned away from the shotgun as Lawrence prepped it, shoving himself against Sander without thinking, before quickly backing off and realizing he actually had no way of existing any less between an effective vampire and a guy with a shotgun. Despairing quietly, he settled for a fearful stare at the gun on Lawrence's lap.

The simple motion knocked Sander out of whatever train of thoughts he was entertaining at the moment. He leveled a curious glance at the blond boy, trying to decipher the cause behind his actions. After a few seconds though, he dropped his glance and tried to move away from Christmas, giving the boy the space he clearly wanted. Noticing the new elbow room, Christmas breathed a bit easier, hoping it would remain that comfortable for the rest of the ride.

Hazel opened her eyes, having been addressed for the first time since she got on the truck. "It has been called, Void Impact. Range, 15 meters. It has been classed as a variant of telepathy, using one's limbs to focus the ability. Effects, material displacement of anything within range, and powerful impact towards living beings." She paused, before continuing. "To visualize the effect and how it works, it would be akin to a larger version of the affected limb being used to attack."

Blinking, she tilted her head slightly. "Would you like to know more?"

Once again, Sander lifted his gaze, but this time he directed it at Hazel. He regarded her quietly, eyebrows crunched up in concentration as his nostrils flared. A look of realization dawned, then his eyes dropped to her collar. His frown deepened momentarily before turning away.

Christmas's lips parted in a grimace of fear as Hazel described her powers. He kept his eyes on the floor, but couldn't help the mounting sense of dread.

Lawrence paused. 15 meters? He could, at max, stay about 50 yards away from the enemy if he was required to keep her under the affect of his powers. Not ideal, but it was room to work with.

"What about non living things? They work like your limbs, so can you catch objects out of the air or block magic with them? Essentially, does it have practical defensive applications?"

"Any objects would be destroyed should I use my ability on them." As for that last part, she did not know. Perhaps the people back in that facility knew, but she certainly did not. "I have not tried my ability on magic."

"And that collar, how exactly do I remove it, and what can I expect to happen after?"

She froze but for a moment upon hearing that, barely noticeable, but there. Holding the collar by the logo on its front, she rotated it to display the hinge on the side, and then again, to display the simple lock mechanism on the other. "Simply depress the button here, and pull. It would stop suppressing my ability and everything that it brings."

He sighed in reply, running a hand through his hair. She was either being dodgy or didn't know herself. Either one was problematic for him. He would just have to hopefully keep the device on, or deal with the consequences of remove it when the time came. Perhaps he could take her to Ground Zero after the mission to get a relatively "safe" idea of what exactly he was dealing with. Provided they survived.

"Thanks for the info Hazel, we'll try to keep it on unless it's a last resort then."

As far as he could tell, only two or three of them could do much damage in combat, magic wise anyway. His own "conventional" firepower was enough to take down most animals on earth without much of a fuss, especially at 50 yards, but monsters weren't exactly in the same class as wildlife. Still, he could only do what he could do, and he fished out his copy of "Meditations" from his pocket and began reading from it. A final comfort to take the edge off his stress now that the conversation had finished.

Christmas tugged on the sleeve of his jacket repeatedly, chewing on his lower lip and wondering how and when to bring up potentially important information without interrupting the other important conversations. And now Lawrence was reading. Was that important, too? He squinted at the book, trying to discern if Meditations and Lawrence were two things he could safely step between for a moment. Lawrence had mentioned needing to be calm to use his powers, so perhaps interrupting here would destroy any hope of that.

Still trying to figure out when best to open his mouth, Christmas unconsciously leaned a bit towards the book, staring at it intently.

Tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and...

The narrative in front of Lawrence crumbled as an intrusion made itself known. A curious glance, burning holes into the cover of his book. Christmas. Lawrence dog-eared the passage, an act that obviously common staring at the corners of the pages, and closed it. It was not as if he was completely engrossed in the book at the moment- after all he nearly had it committed to memory by that point.He offered it to the boy, adding:

"Interested? I've read it a hundred times by now. I can find another copy."

"O-oh..." Christmas automatically took the proffered book, uncertain if refusal would be rude or expected in the situation. He fumbled with it in his hands for a bit before looking back up at Lawrence. "Uh, thank you," he mumbled, eyes skittering left and right for a moment as he tried to put together the information he had been told earlier by the staff member.

"Someone told me it just takes fifty milliliters of my blood to heal small wounds," he blurted out in one breath. Another big breath into his lungs and his mouth ran through the rest of the information like he had wanted to get it off his chest for a while, "And, uh, more blood helps things heal faster and I can--um--put my blood on things? To make them heal that way, too, but it's not as good and I--that's all she said and I thought you should know because it seemed important but I didn't want to say anything because you were talking to the others and--and I didn't know if I could interrupt, but then I was looking at your book, uh--and I can't heal myself and--" Christmas paused to breathe properly, taking several deep breaths this time "--sorry."

Lawrence nodded slowly, partly in exasperation. If he had the jitters this bad before the battle even started... Well, it wasn't a good sign. Still, the information was useful. He wished that he had a piece of paper to write it down on, but there were a lot of things he wished he had at that moment. Thankfully, coffee was one of the lucky few possessions. After a sip of appreciation, he answered Christmas once more.

"I appreciate the info, it'll come in handy. Try not to get too worked up about what other people are doing though, especially if it's important. Somehow I think that book would do a lot more for you than me at this point, give it a read sometime."

"O-okay," Christmas nodded quickly in response, tucking the book into a loose hug around his stomach, looking to all the world like he was cradling some precious treasure. "But--um--I can't read in cars," he looked up at Lawrence again, sheepishly. "I get carsick. S-sorry, I'm sorry. I, uh, promise I'll read it later instead of playing my video games," he blurted out before quickly falling silent.

Lawrence was content to leave things at that, grateful for some peace before their ride was completely over. The trip had been bothersome, but productive. He couldn't say that he was amazed at the selection of powers in the vehicle, especially compared to Ethan Sonnino, but he had to work with what he was given. Perhaps if the "basically immortal" one of them survived the mission wouldn't be considered a total failure. He didn't have time to contemplate further though before the truck finally came to a stop.

He was about to be thrown onto the battlefield again. What a pain in the ass.

---

---

---

---

"Just try not to be shown up by the newbies!"

Lawrence called out to Eric as the, well, brief briefing concluded. He wasn't quite friends with the other mages that were deployed, but a year at the Institution had bred a certain sense of familiarity with most people that were there. After all, they were expected to fight for their lives together, that tended to forge a bond no matter how unlikely it would be under other circumstances.

Still, there was no time to waste catching up. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew his switchblade and tossed it to Kusari. Nodding towards Sander afterwards.

"You agreed to donate first right? I'll take second rotation."

Lawrence tried to take note of what they were fighting before engaging. However, as with most monsters, there was no precedent for the situation in front of him. Fight only dragons and you could at least learn how to kill them pretty effectively, such as with nukes. These though? Fuck if he'd ever seen anything like them. In particular, that eye seemed like a dangerous threat. Life could hardly be called fair, but magic at least had a weird sort of logic to it. If something took time to power up, it was usually more powerful than something that could be cast instantly. Also-

“Um… Do you… think he needs help?”

The bastion of cowering uncertainty from the truck broke him away from his thoughts. Lawrence, of course, had taken note of the screaming, and their naked comrade lying on the ground. It hadn't, however, registered as unusual to him. He had seen a lot over this past year, much of which he'd rather forget, but a shapeshifter was one of the more tame oddities.

"He'll be fine, he's just readying his magic. Some of us are luckier than others in that department."

Speaking of magic, Lawrence and Christmas began to be surrounded in a visible white glow. It was the telltale sign Lawrence had flicked his own power on. The others, are far as he could tell, were at least stable while being faced with the battlefield. Christmas on the other hand had been obviously on edge since the truck ride over. Influencing him without his permission wasn't the most polite thing to do under the circumstances, but risks were not something he wanted to be taking right now.

"Try to relax, all right? Stick close to me and I'll try to keep us both alive."

After those words, he turned to the others in the group once more.

"I mentioned my power on the ride over? This glow means my magic is being used. Normally I'd ask you guys ahead of time before screwing with your heads, but this is a life or death situation. You can bitch at me afterwards if we live."

As the younger boy grabbed his Jacket, he focused his attention once more on the eye-leg-thing, now fully upright and glowing once more. Lawrence dropped to one knee and closed the action on his shotgun, aiming high on the eyeball to at least try and topple it over again if the slug didn't penetrate. His only warning was a quick:

"Cover your ears!"

Before firing. Instantly he regretted his lack of ear protection, an unfortunate side affect of being rushed into the battle. He opened the action once more, waiting for the ringing in his ears to subside, ejecting the spent casing automatically. As he fumbled for a new shell in his pocket, he spoke a final time.

"I suggest whatever we do we start doing it quickly."

---

---

What information they had gathered on each other in the truck was mostly jumbled in Christmas’s mind as the battlefield and the beacon of light that was their field commander came into view. Somewhere in the back of his thoughts, Christmas was glad there was sufficient light on the field, but he hadn’t wanted to be on the field in the first place.

Lawrence’s words about being careful with his blood were still ringing in his mind, just as loudly as the memories of his mother’s commands about being a “good boy no matter what.” Breathing deeply, Christmas remained pressed against the back of the truck for a moment longer before putting Meditations down on the seat and finally filing outside with everyone else just in time to see someone run over to give them general commands. It wasn’t Ethan, but that made sense considering how much work Ethan was putting in, holding back all those creatures while outnumbered 10-to-1.

Christmas blanched at the mention that other subnaturals had been lost to the extent that sending out completely new students was considered a good thing. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be anywhere, really.

As the battle raged on a safe distance away, several meatball monsters were making their clumsy way towards the group Director Zhang had designated as the “green team,” and this would have been surprisingly frightening enough but for the guy suddenly stripping down and curling up on the ground. Completely naked.

Stuck between crippling fear and complete bewilderment, Christmas turned away with a cry of dismay, making sure to avoid any glances in that general direction as his hands instinctively curled up against his collar bone, fingers rigidly arched into a gesture of cringing that matched the bemused grimace on his face. He had certainly seen provocative content over the years, but there was something significantly wrong about watching someone abandon clothing the way anyone else would abandon hope and curling up on the ground to scream.

“Um…” Christmas looked at Lawrence before pointing a hesitant finger in the general direction of the screams, still not looking. “Do you…think he needs help?” he asked quietly, hoping Lawrence would have an explanation for something so bizarre.

"He'll be fine, he's just readying his magic. Some of us are luckier than others in that department."

Lawrence’s easy answer was a quiet relief to Christmas, who directed his focus fearfully to the group of monsters until a sudden sense of stillness washed over him accompanied by a gentle white glow. To Christmas, it wasn’t “calm” like someone was enjoying or truly relaxing, but a sort of forced acceptance. He blinked in confusion, glad to be able to assess the situation without panicking, but also completely out of his depth now that his reflexive emotional responses were no longer available to him.

"Try to relax, all right? Stick close to me and I'll try to keep us both alive."

He nodded dumbly in response to Lawrence’s command and carefully grabbed the hem of the taller student’s jacket between his thumb and index finger, his grip light enough to let go should Lawrence need to move quickly away, but steady enough to keep him following and close in the face of the battlefield’s distractions.

"I mentioned my power on the ride over? This glow means my magic is being used. Normally I'd ask you guys ahead of time before screwing with your heads, but this is a life or death situation. You can bitch at me afterwards if we live."

Even through the magic, Lawrence’s qualification on the statement made Christmas’s grip tremble ever so slightly.

He let go when Lawrence prepped to fire the shotgun and covered his ears as commanded. Able to maintain his presence of mind courtesy of Lawrence’s magic, Christmas didn’t bolt for the hills as he normally would have, though the thunderous clap of the firing gun still made him reflexively flinch.

It was, in more ways than one, the signal to begin.

Sophia Lemane

Of course he didn't know what she was trying to say, how would he? It wasn't really fair to expect him to know. But being such an anti-social person, it had been so long since she had actually interacted with people outside her family that she had somewhat forgotten that the rest of the world couldn't tell what she was thinking. She would have to finish her sentence. Except that she really felt like turning around now. She had no idea what he thought of her now, and she didn't want to know. As for his remark, well, she actually really wished she were telepathic. Why couldn't she have been given that as a power instead?

Here goes try number two.

She took a deep breath.

It's not like he's going to, well I don't know, do something drastic if I agree to take a walk down the hall with him. He was the one who invited me in the first place anyway.

This time she raised her head, and looked directly at him for a change. Her face had become strangely impassive and calm, especially in her eyes, though a trace of redness still remained on her cheeks and her eyebrows were drawn together. "I'd like to go with you... to the gym. If that's alright? You'll have to lead the way, though, since I don't know my way around. If that's okay with you." This time round her voice was louder than before, albeit a little forced sounding. It actually passed for a proper whisper this time, perhaps in the volume that someone would speak in if they were in a room with sleeping children.

After finishing her little speech, there was a noticeable change in her demeanor. While she waited for an approval or disapproval she shifted her weight onto her left leg so her hip jutted out slightly, lifting just her right heel so it remained an inch or two off the floor. Though her left arm still remained around her torso, her muscles seemed to relax, her shoulders became a little less stiff, and she tilted her head slightly to one side.

---

@ERode

---

---

"We're baack!" Donovan chirped as he entered the warehouse. Internally, he cringed at his overly peppy tone. Was it too obvious?

The three of them entered the makeshift base with all three duffel bags and the stupidly hefty hairdressing set in tow. To say the arrivals looked disheveled would be an understatement. Vanessa's hair had gone frizzy again after using her powers, while Seiji was still picking wood splinters and bits of crusted blood from his jacket. Donovan himself had a crude patchwork of bandaids plastering his cheek, with some blood still lingering on the tips of his fingers. The kids went over to the other members to sort through their latest haul while Donovan walked to Whiz and Nico's little area. Whisper was busy piling some more stolen blankets onto Nico, who was wheezing his way through another coughing fit.

"Plenty of medicine for you," Donovan smiled as he handed packet after packet of tablets to Whisper. He'd made sure to wear something with deep pockets just for this occasion.

Whisper took the packets, then pointed to Donovan's cheek, concern on his face. Nico, seeing the gesture and the worried expression, struggled out from beneath the blankets, sitting up to look at Donovan. His eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and anger when he took in the state of all three arrivals.

"You're hurt," he looked at Donovan's face like the world was ending. Whisper walked over to where Garrett was sleeping on a stack of three moth-eaten mattresses and shook their healer awake, pointing towards Donovan.

A mumbling groan from the tall, toned man signaled his return from sleep and he cast an exasperated glance at the ginger-haired Aussie.

"This is what you interrupted my beauty sleep for?" he sighed, shooing Whisper away from his 'bed' so he could sit up and tend to Donovan's wounds. "Over here, big boy, into my lap." He patted his muscular thighs for emphasis, wearing nothing but a leather vest and leather booty shorts. The younger man's eyes widened in fear.

"Fuck the hell off, Garrett," Donovan said nervously, desperately racking his brains for a way to deter their resident medic, "Uh, I got you some stuff! Orange bag. You too, Whisper, you asshat."

"You're hurt," Nico repeated, harder this time.

"You heard the man, big boy," Garrett patted his lap again.

Donovan sent Nico a pleading look.

"Please don't make me..." he begged.

Nico returned a scathing glare. Garrett examined his nails in the meantime. With a reluctant nod, Donovan trudged over to the leather bound man.

"I'm not touching your goddamn lap. Make it quick, okay?" he muttered.

"It's like everyone thinks I have cooties or something! What is this, fifth grade?" Garrett rolled his eyes and stood up, peeling off the Band-Aids on Donovan's face to reveal a throbbing, red gash. As Donovan cringed, Garrett licked the wound repeatedly, taking his sweet time with the process. By the fourth lick, the wound was completely gone, light smears of blood and Garrett's saliva the only indicators that a wound had been there at all. "I need to deal with the others, too?"

Donovan jumped away from the healer as soon as the ordeal was finished.

"Nope, nope! All good here!"

"I meant Seiji and Vanessa, sweet thing, unless you want me taking even more care of you?" Garrett raised an eyebrow at Donovan coquettishly, sitting back down on the mattresses.

Donovan winced at the gesture, but felt a mischievous smirk creep up at the mention of his companions.

"I think Seiji got a bit of a cut too. On his ribs. You see how dirty his jacket is?"

"No, I fucking don't!" Seiji shouted back, running out of the room. Donovan cackled at the boy's panic and turned back to Garrett, having seemingly recovered from his earlier distress.

"I was serious about the stuff, you know. I think you'll like what we found."

"Honey, don't think I don't notice how far you go to make us all happy," Garrett leaned back on his hands, crossing his legs as he spoke, "but you might want to be careful about risking your life for beauty products." He raised an eyebrow at something behind Donovan.

That something was Nico, glaring daggers at Donovan.

"What happened?" he asked quietly. Calmly. Despite the cold thickening his voice with congestion. Donovan hated it when Nico talked like this.

"Just had a little run-in is all," Donovan tried to act nonchalant, "Seiji and Vanessa got rid of the bad guys in a snap."

'Little run-in' wasn't the most accurate term for it. It was supposed to be quick and easy. And it was, at the start at least. The day had begun with Donovan grabbing the two newbies and announcing that he was going to have some 'bonding time' with them. At the sudden outburst, Nico's expression melded into a curious mixture of exasperation, amusement, and fear.

"Come back safely," Nico had managed to cough out through his cold as Whisper tended to him.

Donovan had whooped as he left their makeshift base, dragging the whining kids along with him.

"It was supposed to just be a quick grab. How did you guys even get into a fight? Why did you stay long enough for that?" Nico's voice hadn't budged a notch from its calm cadence. But his breathing was a bit harsher. A quick bout of coughing broke the stillness of his demeanor, but he recovered, refusing the bottle of cold medication Whisper offered tentatively to him.

Donovan checked his Rolex watch, stolen of course. Noon already? Bloody local law enforcement holding them up for so long. Why did they give a crap whether or not some rich prick's house got trashed? Wasn't that the point of being rich in the first place, to be able to replace trashable stuff? It really shouldn't have taken so long. Today's heist had the quickest entry Donovan had ever performed. With just an index finger Vanessa had melted the door lock within seconds. A completely silent and discreet break-in, save for the noticeable brick-sized hole in the door. Then Seiji had to go and have his creepy-ass pet Maaya bust through the wall.

"It was a big place, okay?" Donovan snatched the bottle from Whisper with the intention to force feed Nico with it. He continued through grit teeth, trying to wrench the bottle open, "There was a lot of stuff to grab. Stuff that everyone is really enjoying, I should add."

He made a quick nodding gesture at the group behind him. Jon was silently flipping through the magazines and graphic novels while Erica, Rhian, and Cece fawned over the expensive makeup and clothing. Seiji was already sitting crosslegged in the corner, playing his new games after he had snuck back in once Garrett was no longer focused on licking people.

"You should've seen the place, Nico. This is the biggest haul we've gotten since... since ever!"

He wasn't exaggerating there. Yarn for Nico, laptop for Whisper. Seiji's dumb games. Books for Jon. Thermos stuffed with fancy teabags for Rhian. Top brand cosmetics and clothing for all of them, but mostly Erica and Garrett. A big-ass hairdressing set for Cece. It really was the best haul he'd ever made. Simple, material goods to distract their group from the shittiness life threw at the team. It was the simple things that did the trick. He remembered not caring how many red lights he ran. He wasn't going to waste any time seeing everyone's smiles when he returned.

"What's the point of any of that if you're not safe?" Nico answered after a period of silence. His voice broke a little on the last word and it was clear what was on his mind. Despite Nico's genuine concern, Donovan scoffed.

"Safe?" Donovan laughed incredulously as if Nico had just announced that he did a fifty metre sprint, "Have you been paying attention at all recently? We're criminals, Nico! What part of any of this is safe?"

"The part where you don't risk your life for a box of makeup!" Nico shouted back, finally unable to hold it in anymore. "The part where we run if there's any danger! The part where I'd rather sleep on the ground in the middle of nowhere than locked up somewhere for them to kill us one by one! Donovan--" he coughed again as the exertion of shouting irritated his sore throat "--you matter more than this." He gestured weakly to the stuff in everyone's hands.

The rest of the group was busying themselves with the items, intentionally not stepping into the argument. Even Whisper was standing by quietly, making no move to interfere.

Donovan finally managed to force the bottle open and hand it to Nico.

"The team matters too," he countered angrily, "I know how to pick my battles. I know I was careless today but it won't happen again."

Nico took the bottle like a peace offering, holding it in his hand instead of taking any pills from it.

"I don't think I'd be able to stand it if you hadn't come back," he said quietly, sniffling from a combination of clogged sinuses and almost-tears.

There was a point where Donovan didn't think he'd make it back either. As soon as he had sensed the men in the trucks, he kicked open the back entrance Vanessa had broken earlier. He'd barely taken a step out when a sudden flash had grazed his cheek. Instinctively, he had scrambled and crouched by the wall, out of the door's line of vision. He remembered tentatively feeling his face bleed steadily, and the sharp, stinging pain that started to kick in. He'd gotten sloppy in his excitement.

The sight of Nico looking so hurt made Donovan's heart ache. Gently, he took Nico by the shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"There's no need to worry," he said quietly, mustering the trademark confidence into his smile, "There's always going to be some kinda crisis we're up against. I know me and Whisper swore to look out for you, and I'm glad that you're looking out for all of us too. But trust me on this one. I'm not that easy to get rid of. You'd know that better than anyone else."

Nico still didn't look convinced. Donovan frowned again, already feeling the guilt for what he had to say next.

"Right, Nicobutt?"

He gave Nico a friendly muss of the head to send the message home.

The familiar nickname and familiar gesture pulled Nico's lips into a sad smile. His older brother, Elliot, had always used that name with him. Now Donovan had taken up the job. That was saddening in another way, for all that Nico was grateful.

A decisive blow. Donovan smiled sadly, sensing the pang in Nico's heart that indicated his resignation from the argument. It was an absolute dick move, to use something so important to Nico in such a manipulative manner, but Donovan couldn't have his friend in his business like this. That nickname was a necessary evil. Donovan wondered how many times he'd tell that to himself in the future.

Nico grabbed Donovan's wrist with a resigned sigh.

"Right," he answered, letting go almost immediately to cover his mouth for another round of coughing. Whisper was quick to grab the bottle from Nico's hands before anything could spill out of it and he retrieved two pills and a bottle of water just as Nico recovered.

Garrett made a dramatic "Oof" noise in the background. "So sad I can't just lick your cold away, Nico-Nico!" he mused. Whisper shot him a glare that could kill.

Donovan chuckled with a mixture of amusement and disgust, thankful for the timely distraction. Garrett was an absolute creep but the bloke had his moments.

"Just focus on getting better, alright?" the Aussie grinned, "Can't do much without our glorious leader."

He got up to his feet to check on the others, registering the quiet affirmation from his friend as Nico allowed Whisper to shove him back under the sheets. As he sorted through the clothes with Vanessa, he thought back on the conversation. Many things were better left unsaid, the most important of them being that during the whole encounter with the USARILN officers Donovan had not even for a second considered dropping their bags to ensure a quick escape. Not when Vanessa crouched by him with glowing hands, ready to destroy the incoming vehicles. Not even when Seiji had screamed it at him, doing his best with Maaya folded into a rough wall to consume the bullets. The worst part was that Donovan would do it again in a heartbeat, even for just half of what they brought back today.

Nico could connect with people. It was Donovan who read them well enough to subdued them but it was Nico who really turned them over. He could catch those little things that made up a person's heart and talk about them without stepping on toes. But he couldn't read them like Donovan did. Even in the most mundane of moments, Donovan tracked their emotional states, gauging their loyalty and restlessness at all times. He was the one who administered the morale boosts, who distracted the team from the wretchedness of their situation. All these trips were to keep the team in top shape. To make sure they wouldn't defy Nico if worse came to worst.

Donovan chuckled at the seriousness of it all.

Was he lying to himself now? No, he needed to admit it. He was a people person. He liked making stupid jokes, playing pranks, bringing back useless presents that they'd usually have to leave behind every time they jumped through one of Jon's portals. They needed to travel light. From a logical viewpoint, the impermanence of his gifts made his 'shopping trips' look fucking ridiculous. But their smiles made him happy. That's all there was to it. The disturbing, hooty laugh that Garrett did whenever he got a new pair of boots. The reluctant and snooty thanks he got from Seiji and Erica. That weird restrained smile Nico did whenever he was secretly ecstatic. Donovan lived for it. But now that he really looked back on it, now that he had experienced one of the closest calls he'd ever gone through, he felt like a fucking idiot.

He made Nico worry. Then he toyed with Nico's emotions so he could escape one of their rare confrontations. Fucking coward. Was all this done for him to feel some sense of 'family'? His family was gone. Nico and Whisper were the only ones he had left. To try and project that sort of attachment onto these criminals he barely knew was nothing but insanity. Maybe it could happen somewhere far into the future. He'd be able to regard them as his steadfast companions, as people he would give his life for. But not at the moment. Definitely not now.

Donovan was dumb, but he wasn't a complete idiot. He'd learn his lesson from today. He recalled the thoughts that had run through his mind during that brief siege. He wasn't going to let Nico down for some looting spree. The only ending he'd accept was one by his brothers' sides. He loved this group, sure, but his life belonged to Nico and Whisper.

He got up and stretched, satisfied with his self-imposed ultimatum.

Whisper dropped a hand on his shoulder right after that, index finger tapping against Donovan's collar bone in the usual indicator that he had something to "say." Donovan looked back at him and gave him a quizzical smile.

"What's up, Whiz?" he asked casually.

The tallest of the orphaned brothers handed Donovan a friendship bracelet with a slight scowl of jealousy, jabbing a thumb at a now-dozing Nico to indicate where it had come from. Donovan flashed his companion a smug, knowing look, noting his rampant envy.

Nico made three types of friendship bracelets on a consistent basis: ones for happier moments when they had the time to spare, ones for special occasions, and ones he threw away--having made them purely for the sake of calming down or distracting himself. The one Whisper was offering had clearly been meant for some particular occasion, but for reasons Donovan could likely guess, Nico had decided to add one more token of appreciation to Donovan's collection. The bracelet sported an intricate fishbone pattern with an orange gradient making up the ribs while silver and gold accents alternated a striking frame around the edges. It almost looked like it physically hurt for Whisper to hand it over. Donovan's cocky smirk turned into a look of pure happiness upon receiving the gift.

Only Nico could make Donovan smile like this. That cinched it. He gave Whisper an understanding pat on the shoulder and left to watch the group by Nico's side. He wouldn't be leaving that spot for a long while. Whisper joined him there soon afterwards.

---

"Hmm...that's not quite right..."

Siena was up bright and early, her attention focused on the exams that had been graciously left for their perusal. Had it been a normal school, Siena was certain that she would have procrastinated until after she'd explored a bit, but after the events of the previous night, being along was the least comforting idea. If she disregarded the fact that Callan and Marcus were both still sleeping, it was almost like she was home. Well...no, not really. The room wasn't as luxurious as her house, and though Callan and Marcus were friendly, they were certainly not Maya and Gerwulf, two people employed by the Santana family shortly after Siena's birth. Though her parents never openly admit it, Siena was aware that they had hired them for her. Another pang of longing for the soft, rich tones of Maya's lullabies and the calloused-but-gentle feel of Gerwulf's hands over hers as she handled a knife to cut vegetables into even slices--they were almost as strong as the ones Siena had felt for her parents. For an instant, the child's vision misted over, blurring her view of the questions she'd been answering. Before the tears could form, Siena shook her head to clear the thoughts. She'd picked this herself. This was her decision.

She wouldn't let herself regret it.

Scribbling her work onto a small section of blank paper, Siena was eager to finish off the last of the mathematics. The questions were, for the most part, easy enough to comprehend with her educational background. Then again, Siena had once gone through her father's old college textbooks once simply to see what she could expect in her future education. That might have had something to do with it. After filling in the last of her answers for the mathematics exam, Siena pushed the papers to the side. With her least favorite subject out of the way, the girl figured that she was allowed a break from the tedium of schoolwork. With that, she reached for the laptop that she had painstakingly removed from her duffel bag after completing her morning rituals. It had been difficult to stay quiet with it--well, it had felt difficult. The zipper had seemed so much louder when stealth was a necessity rather than a bonus.

Flicking the screen back to life, the girl flipped straight to her browser and, with a sense of hope, loaded up the page to Cursory Examination. It had started as a way to pass the time, but the blog, primarily a place to hold her fanfiction, had become popular after a few chapters. Evidently there were a number of people in the world that liked to read about the Precursors and, on occasion, members of Cat's Cradle. Her last post had been to inform the 7,468 followers (7,523 now) that she'd be "moving" and incapable of updating anything for a time, and she wouldn't until settling into routine at USARILN, but there was something else she was hoping for.

2 New Messages!

That was it. Clicking the icon to bring up her DMs, Siena felt a spark of recognition as a faint smile crossed her lips. SongofFlight101 was, without a doubt, Siena's biggest fan. Though Siena had turned off direct messaging from the masses, SongofFlight101 had been the exception. DMs soon became a fast friendship, even if it was only online.



At least there was something familiar to fall back on in her new situation.

An malcontented groan from Marcus's bed heralded his awakening, and it was not long after that he sat up and blinked groggily. There was an inward moment of surprise as he looked around, clearly perplexed by his surroundings, before his lucid mind caught up to the rest of him. Unfortunately, he was still in the lovely room that had been supplied to them, which meant that everything up until now had not been a fever dream. It was a shame, really.

After a few stretches, a yawn, and some more rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he had graduated from sitting up to sitting on the edge of his bed. He wasn't sure what time he had finally managed to pass out last night, but he was certainly feeling it today. His head swirled uneasily, and he sat for a few more moments staring at the wall before he managed to stand up.

The first order of business this morning would be the duffel bag. Having been freshly recruited from the refugee camp, he honestly hadn't expected to have anything. The actual contents of the bag were pretty close to that; three small bottles, a towel, and a book. The bottles were travel sized: one of shampoo, one of some sort of scented shower-gel thing, and one of mouthwash. They were the types of things that one would steal from an apartment complex, and they, along with the plain white towel, indicated that someone had done just that. This had to be the work of his nurse; a motherly lady who had looked after him when he was in the makeshift medical tent. It was nice of her to throw some freshly scavenged supplies his way, but she was probably the reason he was in this mess. They cancelled each other out, he concluded. The book was more interesting: Of Mice and Men. It was a book he'd read in his school, but this copy did not appear to be his. Wherever this came from, someone had the best wishes for him, or they were trying to make sure he wouldn't be bored after they called the government to imprison him.

Yes, he was slightly bitter towards whoever the tattle-tale was.

Having emptied the bag, Marcus stuffed it underneath his bed. At some point, he'd probably store it somewhere else, but that would suffice for now. The book he threw on the desk, but something caught his eye as he did so. The requisition form sat there, and he looked it over for a brief moment; this would probably be a form he filled out and submitted today. His mind raced with the outlandish possibilities of things he would request, along with the actual things that he needed. Clothes were a big one, right next to toiletries, and some sort of communication device. The quiet sense of utter nothingness tickled the back of his mind; he hadn't really thought about how much he had lost up to this point, but the mental grocery list he was compiling helped to hammer that point home. Hell, this 'school' was probably a blessing in disguise; were he left to his own devices, Marcus would probably have ended up a street vagrant.

These were the thoughts that crossed his mind as the warm water poured over him. It had been far too long since he'd had an actual, relaxing shower. It was the first time that he'd actually stopped and appreciated the luxuries that they were being provided at the complex. His muscles lacked the stiffness he'd grown accustomed to waking up with, and despite the sleepiness that still lingered, he felt pretty good. Perhaps he'd thank the Director, after the next round of scathing commentary.

He stepped out of the bathroom, already dressed, drying his hair into the morning mess he was used to, and smelling slightly fruitier than he had when he entered. The shower had done an excellent job of rousing him from his groggy state, and he felt a little more energetic and slightly more willing to face the day.

The large mass of blankets on Cal's bed rustled and an arm slid out of the top. The hand tensed as the rest of the mass arched in a long stretch.

"Hrmmmgghhhh," Cal's voice, muffled by the blankets, sounded like she was gargling gravel. She started to turn over a little-- then a little more-- before BANG! She flopped onto the floor, evidently hitting her head-- hard. The noise was concerning and the fact that the mass of blankets had yet to so much as twitch wasn't much of a comfort. Before anyone could check to ensure she was still alive, Cal began to turn again-- just enough so that her face was visible in the heap of blanket. Blurrily, her eyes focused on the open door to the bathroom. Like a creature emerging from the deep, she crawled out of her cocoon and gradually managed to stand, leaving the blanket in a trail behind her. The bathroom door creaked, long and slow, before finally closing. The sound of the sink immediately followed.

"Erm, good morning...?" Marcus said, watching incredulously as the Cal-Beast stumbled out of its blanket imprisonment, past him and towards the bathroom. "Not much of a morning person, I take it?" he shouted after her, not really expecting an answer. He shook his head and grinned slightly to himself; he'd have to greet her as enthusiastically and as annoyingly as possible when she stepped out.

"Morning, Siena." he continued, throwing his wet towel beside his bed and stretching. "You're the early bird of the group, huh?"

No sooner had Siena sent out her DMs than did the sounds of rustling and a yawn alert her to a roommates' awakening. Feeling her heart leap into her chest, the girl snapped her laptop shut, hiding her blog from the common eye before catching sight of Marcus (hopefully too groggy to have noticed her laptop) tossing a book onto his desk before he moved over to the bathroom. Taking advantage of the inevitable grogginess of her male roommate, Siena swapped her laptop with the last of the exams. English--enjoyable and relaxing as a subject, even if it was a test. She'd hoped that there'd be more time to see if SongofFlight101 was awake for a longer conversation, but she supposed she did have to get her tests done. A few questions into the test, the bathroom door opened, followed by a groan and--

'Oh my god! I-Is...is she okay?' The thought cut through the usual mess in Siena's head as she got halfway to her feet. Movement ensured that Cal was alive, apparently deciding to shed her blanket skin (mostly) before going to the bathroom. The brunette blinked a few times and slowly settled herself back in her chair while Marcus was calling after their third roommate. O...kay...

"Good...um...Good morning." Confusion still trailed at the end of the greeting, though it soon faded away. "I guess I am. Hehe...I've never been the first to get up before." With a small grin, the girl turned in her chair to face the blonde. "Which book did you bring with you, by the way?"

"Of Mice and Men, apparently!" Marcus said, looking over to his desk and grabbing the novel. It was well worn, but not heavily damaged; it would probably suffice at keeping him entertained until requisitions were delivered.

"Wouldn't have been what I picked out for myself, but beggers can't be choosers! It'll tide me over until I can milk one of those fancy e-books from the higher-ups. What's the damage on this stack of papers?" he said, leaning his hand on the pile of quizzes. "I wasn't exactly a straight-A student before this whole shebang, so they're gonna be super disappointed if they're expecting me to do better now."

"Oh, that's a great book! Though...I always feel bad for Lennie." A sense of nostalgic guilt and remorse punched Siena in the gut, her smile faltering by a faint amount. "Then again, Steinback didn't make it such a happy book. Maybe I feel bad for everyone." Everyone was lonely, the world at large was predatory, and nobody ever made it to paradise. If she were a cynical type, Siena would have said it was a good match for reality.

"They're assessment worksheets, mostly. They're not very hard though. I don't think they care much about how well we do," Siena claimed while glancing at the half finished sheet in front of her. "I think they aren't due for a few days, so you can take your time with them too. I didn't know if I wanted to go out yet though, so..." Shrugging her shoulders and gesturing at the stack of completed subjects on the side of her desk, Siena let Marcus finish the rest of the thought however he would.

"Yeah, those older authors never were the most upbeat of fellows, were they?" Marcus said. "Always with the death and depression and overthought metaphors. Bleck!" He sighed, and sat down at the desk, looking over the few things that were not assessment forms. "I'll probably be heading out to explore at some point; I need to grab some things, and it looks like they've got enough shops for me to get what I need. Plus, I want to get that Requisition Form turned in as soon as I can, and that'll probably be an hour of wandering around trying to figure out where it goes."

"But hey!" he said, voice shifting from business back to enthusiasm. "You're welcome to join if you get sick of homework. Hell, I'll even turn in your req sheet if you've got it done, but only because I'm such a nice guy!" he said, smirking. His eyes shifted to the bathroom, where their missing roommate loomed in the doorway. "You hear that, sleepyhead?"

Cal leaned over the sink, splashing cold water over her face until the world suddenly seemed a little more worth facing. She issued one final yawn as she ran her fingertip under her lower lashes, catching all the excess mascara she hadn't washed off from the day before. After one more palm-full of water, she reached out to her left to grab the hand towel, but there was only the smooth, plain bathroom wallpaper. She opened her gray-amethyst eyes and looked around the bathroom. This wasn't her house. Of course this wasn't her house. She locked eyes with herself in the mirror and sighed. Was it just a few hours ago that she'd witnessed someone dying for the first time? It felt like a dream. Or a memory of some movie she once saw. It didn't seem real. It didn't feel real. If it did, she wouldn't have slept as well as she did... right?

As she went to work letting her hair out and lightly brushing and fluffing with her fingers, Cal overheard the muted voices of her roommates. She rinsed the morning "blugh" from her mouth and wiped her face on the inside of her sweatshirt. She'd have to remember to get a towel later.

The bathroom door creaked once again as Cal appeared.

"Uh... yeah," Cal answered, pausing in the doorway. Her voice was mostly normal now that she was nearly awake. She glanced over at the stack of papers on her desk. "Gimme a sec to fill it out," she shrugged, "I'd go with you, but there's some stuff I want to take care of first...."

Next to her desk, she took note of Siena sitting at hers and couldn't help but release a quick, but hearty guffaw. "I haven't even thought about any of that stuff and you're already halfway through it!" She didn't mean it as a jeer, but rather an awed observation.

As a girl that had never especially revered Steinbeck's word, Siena couldn't help but give a soft chuckle at Marcus's response to her claim of the morbidity of the novel. Glancing over towards the bathroom door as Marcus directed a question to Cal, Siena soon found herself giving a sheepish smile at the girl's observation. "I um...I like doing busy work sometimes." Which was true enough. Tests were simply another way to feed into the bottomless gullet for knowledge that Siena housed--when she didn't know the answer to something, it meant there was more reading to be done. Curling a lock of hair around her finger, she glanced at the request forms on another empty corner of her desk. She had filled a few out--simple requests, really. A Squishable Nessie, a few stamps and extra pens for writing home, and a dog. Nothing too unreasonable, she hoped.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to take your offer too. If we have combat assessment soon, I might need to organize some things from my luggage..." Primarily the failsafe books that she knew she could take names from. "If you need anything quick, I can order it off Amazon for us. I don't know how long these requests will take to fill." That said, she realized that she had an account with money in it. Not much money, but it was still currency.

"Oh god, Siena; I was good with taking one extra form, but TWO? I don't know if I can handle that extensive of a task." Marcus said, rolling his eyes at her, a slight smile on his face. "Yeah, I can take those for you guys." he said, scribbling some things down on his own form. "Hopefully I won't drop these or something; that'd be REAL unfortunate!" His grin grew wider, before he stood up at his desk and straightened his shirt. "I'll probably explore the town a little bit while I'm out, so don't worry about me too much. If I'm not back by midnight, assume they're doing weird experiments, and come save me."

He meant it as a joke, but it didn't occur to him that such a situation was actually possible. Who knew what these people would do to find out more about their powers. He hoped that everything would follow the very business-like methodology that had been presented to them. It would be very nice to wander around without having to worry about getting jumped by scientists.

"If that is all for the two ladies, I shall take the packages, and deliver them post-haste!" he said, adopting a very formal tone of voice and holding out his hand equally formally.

Callan hastily jotted down a few things on the paper before handing it over to Marcus. "Uh, thanks. I owe you one," she chuckled timidly. She felt a little bad for not going with him, but she did have some things she wanted to take care of before it got too late. If Marcus were to snoop a peek at her list, he'd find the following written in hand writing that was barely passable as 'good':

--a phone
--more pillows

She couldn't think of anything else she really needed on such short notice. After seeing the amount of money the government gave them each month in addition to meal cards, she felt she'd rather buy the majority of things she wanted on her own. She'd need a few new outfits, that was for sure. Her leggings were going on day three-- they didn't stink or anything, but she felt dirty and definitely overdue for a shower.

The world as she knew it might have been falling apart, but she couldn't help but give a restrained laugh, though it sounded more like a sneeze than anything else. "Oh no, hopefully we won't get lost trying to find you if that happens." A sense of urgency rose in the back of Siena's head, as if chiding her for trying to make light of the situation. It took most of her self control to shove the feeling back down--it probably wasn't how she actually wanted to react either way, right? Handing her paper over, Siena did her best to give a smile. "Thanks for braving the great outdoors for us."

Next up on her list, hopefully getting some of her books reorganized. Maybe charging her Kindles too.

---

---

---

The soldiers didn't waste any time shoving the subnaturals into the regular trucks with heavy armoring and standard military tarp stretched across the back. The first one on was the messy black haired boy followed by the aquamarine haired girl. The small golden haired girl was lifted up and unceremoniously dumped beside the first two. The Indo-Persian girl was shoved in, then the boy with the scars on his face and finally a brown haired girl. A sour looking guard climbed in after all the blue team students were seated. His eyes darted back and forth between the young men and women as if expecting one of them to attack him. "Go," he called out and the truck began moving.

Given the situation at hand, there were plenty of reasons for Siena to be squeamish as her fingers traced the outline of her lifelines. Her secondary Kindle (one of the Fires--it was both easier to fix and easier to pull up additional sources onto) in one pocket and the third volume of Overlord neatly tucked away in the deepest inner pocket of her coat. Part of her felt temptation--she wanted to draw a character's name, mostly to calm herself down before this so-called combat assessment--oh god, she wasn't ready for a real fight--for the sake of both her sanity and safety. The brunette took a deep breath, held it in for about three seconds, then softly let it out to quiet her nerves. It didn't work, but she certainly could pretend that it did. For all the ferocity of the storm that brewed in the back of her head, Siena forced her logical side to cut out priorities.

First off, introductions. That was important. Names to faces, faces to powers--they would probably need that information if they wanted to pass ('You mean survive, right?') their next USARILN East experience. Another breath, this time held in only to steel her voice, and Siena forced herself to break the silence, her eyes darting surreptitiously to the guards briefly before she spoke.

"We should probably figure out who's who and who can do what while we have the chance." Internally, Siena congratulated herself for a job well done. No stutters, no place holders, and no stupid wavering this time. That was better than most of her conversations with her roommates already. "I'm Siena. I...hm..." Unable to formulate the words to explain her abilities properly, the girl had to give a thoughtful pause. "I borrow names from characters in boo--well, no. That's not quite right. Printed media. I borrow names from printed media and I sort of borrow things from the character. Sometimes it's a power, but not...not always." Though Siena could predict what she would be taking from whichever character she adopted the name of, it was harder to explain that aspect of her abilities in terms that were satisfactory. Trying would have been a headache.

Instead of dwelling, Siena tried to gloss over the less-than-stellar explanation. "I might be able to fill in spots we're missing, but I would probably need to know what we need then..." Eager to throw the spotlight off herself, Siena looked towards her roommates. "Er...Callan? Marcus? Maybe you guys can go first?"

Enamored by the idea of so many unique abilities-- especially the vast ocean of possibilty that was her roommate Siena's power, Callan almost didn't realize it was her turn to share.

"I'm strong?" Cal winced, instantly feeling stupid. Better elaborate. "I'm really strong. Fast, too. And pretty durable. I haven't had a whole lot of time to figure out exactly how strong or fast or anything, but I was easily able pick up a pickup truck during testing. Bullets don't go through my skin very easily, either." She paused for a moment. She knew she should mention the shadow, but she didn't want to scare anyone. More accurately, she didn't want to acknowledge what might happen if it came out at all. Before she could make up her mind to tell everyone, the next person started. Crisis averted, she sighed, ...for now.

"Okay, so all of us hide behind you then." Marcus said, smirking her direction. "Mine's not quite as impressive, and a bit hard to explain, honestly. I can jump back in time a little bit, effectively like a personal rewind. Not super helpful, unless I'm about to be run over by a truck or something; then it's good for getting me out of the way." he said, looking to everybody else in the truck. "It's not very far, there's quite a delay, and I can't really help you guys if you're about to be destroyed but meh, beggers can't be choosers."

When Marcus finished speaking, Lily decided that she would. She had the most useless power in battle anyway. At least that's what she thought. She can't even figure out why they sent her out in the first place. What was she to do? Heal people and then die? That was a depressing thought. "I'm useless in battle combat-wise. I'd probably best serve as a bait or something. My power... well, I can heal any wounds... in a matter of speaking. I can take any damage any of you incur and well, transfer it to myself. But naturally, taking on damages from you guys would make me vulnerable and easy to kill off. If the pain is too much for me to handle or the injuries too many, I'd have to transfer them back," she shrugged. "Yeah, like I said. Useless." Thoughts of why she had this power and who she really was began collecting in her head again. Faceless people. Fragmented memories. She shook her head to clear it.

Padma looked to the sullen girl, holding a tentative hand out as if to give her a supportive pat on the shoulder. In the end she decided against it. She wasn't sure what the rules for physical contact were for the more unstable Aberrations. So she retreated and straightened up further in her seat. With the girl, 'Lilianna' if process of elimination was anything to go by, having spoken her part, that meant only Padma and her roommate were left to introduce themselves. Seeing Grant make no move to start, Padma began.

"I'm Padma, as you may have guessed. My powers allow me to move about in 'shadow space'. That's the simplest way to put it, though I suppose that's not very descriptive. I can turn into a shadow and move around in shadow space. It's... more complicated than that and I'm not sure how to understand it myself either. I guess the most important thing to keep in mind is that I have great mobility with this power."

Satisfied with her explanation, she turned expectantly to Grant.

Grant sat with his back slouched, with his chin laying on the palm of his hand. He stared with lidded eyes before he realized no one else was talking. Must be his turn.

"Hmm... I'm Grant." He sat up against the truck's wall, letting his arm fall flat against his lap. "My power is... how should I put it... matter manipulation. Or something like that. They gave it some name, like... 'Feigned Dominance.'" He went silent for a moment. That moment seemed to drag on before seemingly out of nowhere, a chain extended out, swaying around just above him. The chain seemed to lead from behind him, but with his back to the wall, it was hard to make out. "Anything this thing," He pointed just in case anyone wasn't following along, "Touches, I'll be able to manipulate it, throw it, and all that stuff, as long as it's in my range. Anything physical and nonliving. Anything else is a no go. So... I guess, leave it to me to throw chunks of the ground at the enemies?" He shrugged before slouching again, planting his chin right back down where it laid before, on his palm. The chain that just swayed above him lowered back down behind his back before it vanished from sight.

Lily looked at each person, trying to remember their names and what they said their powers were. And it was that exact time that she remembered that she had once again forgotten to introduce herself. "I'm Lily, by the way. I always seem to forget to introduce myself," she said and then promptly fell silent, her mind once again plagued by thoughts that made no real sense.

It didn't take long before they arrived at their destination. The soldier in the truck barked his orders and ushered the students out with a threatening wave of his rifle. The battlefield was an open expanse of grass and dirt conveniently situated far outside town.

Emma returned to find a dorm bereft of Lawrence. She was not too surprised, after all she had no doubt he had classes to attend and any number of other things to do than hang out in a room by himself (Not accounting for, of course, the ever so important company of Lizzy). For the next couple of hours she worried over her phone in sulken silence, hoping against hope that Val would respond to her text which had now become texts.

Of course no response came. Emma's head by now was spinning a number of stories that were helped along by her stigma- Maybe Val hated her because of her powers, or maybe she was hurt when Emma was captured, or any number of potential scenarios. It was hard to separate her actual worries from those that stemmed from her stigma.

Her stomach rumbled. All she had today was ice cream.

Emma glanced over at Hazel, considering that she could perhaps invite her to lunch, but decided against it. No doubt this morning's antics had been enough of a system shock to the girl who Emma viewed as sheltered. Emma left with no announcement- she had a severe lack of mirth, and she doubted that Hazel would mind either way.

---

Emma had been nigh constantly surprised by the luxury that USARILN afforded its students. It was a prison all the same, albeit a very comfortable prison. Emma had been feeling somewhat encouraged by now- the food looked surprisingly good with an ample selection to boot, and all of the stimulation was calming her stigma. She may have only recently received her power but she was learning the ropes- the stigma may always be there, but it becomes more bearable if she kept active. To this end she resolved to begin introducing herself around; Emma, after all, was a social creature so going around and talking to new people wasn't overly difficult for her. No doubt the cafeteria was full of potential friends, or so Emma had thought.

Her selection of food was modest- most would be tempted to gorge the first time they saw the enticing buffet, but Emma was a teenage girl which lent to the fact that she was to no small degree image obsessed. Her appearance was one of the few things she could take pride in- even when she was down she was still able to recognize that she was fabulous. Gorging herself on food, of course, would detract from this and the morning's ice cream already felt like enough of a splurge for her.

Emma would spend the next hour wandering from person to person, trying to make friends, collecting contacts, and learning more of the world of USARILN. She succeed more often than not in getting along with the groups she met, as was completely natural to her. No doubt she would soon become well known among the students and staff of USARILN.

---

Emma's return to the dorms was unceremonious. She gave Hazel a greeting than sat back down. She heard some interesting tidbits regarding USARILN that she wished to learn more about- and that led back to Death and Taxes, of course. It was a name she had heard in conversation, a secretive forum for subnaturals- Mages. Emma corrected, realizing the term subnaturals was in poor taste among her new community. She set in with her phone, resolving to learn as much of her new existence as she could. She poured over the stickied topics, and there was one term that she came upon that particularly interested her.

Animus? An Aberration with no Stigma?

Emma blinked.

Of course she wanted to get right of her stigma. It had been everything that had been holding her back, was it not? But hurting people was out of the question, of course.

---

The alarm was scary and the beeping from the anklets of everyone in the dorm certainly did not help. She listened to the mechanical voice, almost not believing what she was hearing.

Menagerie? So it's true, a Precursor is rebelling...

The next bit of news, of course, was much scarier. Emma froze. There was no way, absolutely no conceivable way that what she was hearing was accurate. They were going to send new students to fight a Precursor, a mage of incredible strength with a fount of experience when it came to fighting... and she was one of those students?

She glanced at Lawrence and Hazel. It did not appear that this was a bad dream. It was, in fact, reality. A reality that absolutely terrified her.

I'm scared... I don't want to... I could die...

Her self-pity was interrupted by Lawrence, who was now barking orders, to Lizzy and to her. The door. She had to open the door.

She complied, now moving out of instinct rather than intent. She didn't even realize she moved, in fact, still feeling frozen in place. How could she possibly fight someone, let alone a Precursor? She was a high school girl, what did they expect?

She was on the truck before she knew it.

---

Emma sat, wallowing. She perceived the arguments, she nodded along, she shook her head in disagreement, but she wasn't really present. It wasn't until and argument broke out that she suddenly snapped back to reality and she realized she had to fight. There was no choice. No arguing it, either fight or die. She spoke up but wished she hadn't.

---

She was standing on the battlefield. She realized where she was and the thought felt strange in her head- standing on the battlefield? It didn't feel like the right thing to think, there must have been a mistake, but in reality that was in fact where she was. She didn't have time to think about the naked man on the ground screaming.

Wait, naked man on the ground screaming?

Apparently she did have time to think about that, because she gave a curious glance and then quickly averted her eyes. He really was naked. Why was he naked? What was wrong with him? Was he some kind of pervert?

The loud bang of a shotgun brought her back to reality. She realized that the fight was beginning- she was really in battle. She hesitated- Lawrence was fighting and the others wouldn't be far behind. She had to do something, didn't she? She couldn't let everyone down, could she? She didn't really make the conscious decision to start fighting, but she was getting ready to before she knew it.

She didn't quite 'get' her powers yet, but she did have a vague idea. Emotions created the creatures, and she could tell them would to do. They all had different abilities. She ran it over in her head:

Force pull... suicide bomber... quicksand... strong guy... and... energy drain?

She was uncertain, but felt like she had got it right. There was an innate feeling in her about what she could and couldn't create and what they were tied to. Only two had responded when she called on them... was she unable to really feel the emotions of the others?

Determination and Devotion rose from the ground. They were creatures of churning shadow collapsing against itself, seeming to be fluid but with a definite shape. They were about the same size as her, almost seeming to mirror her proportions... and Emma now had to fight with them, she realized. Her eyes locked on the dog-like creatures. Lawrence had shot the eye-boot thing, and she would follow up by attacking them.

"A-a-attack the dogs..." She said unceremoniously.

They did not move. Devotion seemed to look back and give her a glance of curiosity, tilting its head. At least Emma registered it as curiosity- it was hard to apply emotion to the shadow creatures. She would have to be louder.

"Attack the dogs!" Her voice was shaky but louder. The creatures complied, Devotion first and then Determination after a small delay. The latter seemingly needed to think about the action. Notably Devotion did not use its ability- they both ran blindly at the nearest dog, with the intent to simply hit it as commanded.

Hazel Baker

With the 'shopping' done, Hazel went back to finish all the papers she was given. It was slow work, and she had to consult the books she was given, but she filled out everything to the best of her abilities. Without any commands given, she defaulted to the regime imposed upon her in that facility, not out of any obligations, but out of simple habit. She did some light cleaning to the apartment room before going to lunch. Having learned a lesson during the event with Emma, she simply picked out some vegetables and fish randomly, deciding she should research the food to balance her diet better. By evening, she had already finished her usual exercises in the field, and returned to the apartment room.

Beeping, her anklet blared out an announcement before she could take a shower. This was something she was familiar with, a familiarity that made her feel slightly more assured. Downing two more pills from that featureless white bottle, she followed Lawrence towards the truck, and towards battle.



There wasn't much to be said in the truck, just answers to Lawrence's questions. Once they were out in the field, their targets was conveniently marked for them with brightly coloured shapes.

"I suggest whatever we do we start doing it quickly."

Was that the command? Did he want her to attack those things over there? She glanced over to the boy, the one who was supposed to be her handler, her commander, the one who held her leash. Perhaps she should take a swing at the monsters and see if he reacts or not. Stepping into range, her arms turned transparent, almost disappearing from sight.

She took an experimental swing at one of those large things' leg to topple them.