The city had become a kingdom of ice, as yesterday's snow storm blew in. Layering tarmac with white, and frosting windows with ice cold fog. Mirage City may have not been any different from your average city, except it lacked the noise of traffic and the sound of busy crowds. Instead all you were left was the electric buzz and hum of modern conveniences around you.

An electric swarming, surrounding you, whining. A noise you were familiar with, only exasperated by the fact that you were alone in a comfy bed. A pamphlet on the nightstand, read Reflections Hotel, premier hotel of Mirage City. Your head throbbing with a cerebral earthquake.

You might slightly remember how you got here. Someone sent you a text message or a letter via email, maybe even a physical copy. Said they knew. Knew what? For all you knew they had nothing on you. Still you took the bait, curious and willing to play someone’s bluff. Some individual waited for you in a suit, their face hidden from your view. You were invited for coffee, maybe you were invited to a park, it didn’t matter.

All you knew was that you started to feel woozy. Vertigo. The world spinning. Your eyes fluttering shut. And now they gave you a comfortable bed. How nice of them. Turning on the TV as a habit of your morning routine ,or maybe you turned on the computer to browser the net, there is a message for you;



What the fuck did any of that mean? There are no other channels. Even when you try. There is no other way of browsing the net either. All of our comforts and you cannot get TV or the internet. Are you fucking kidding?

According to the message there were others. Others, clearly there was some kind of trick to all of this. You look around the luxurious looking room. Beige walls and several paintings, there is a restroom, and everything looks expensive despite probably coming from a thrift shop or some Goodwill. The chairs were wooden, with burgundy cushions with golden swirling designs. The curtains a deep red that complimented the beige walls, and the TV screen the latest model. Everything seemed normal though.

Who would want to kidnap you? Pleasant experience. Emotional trauma. You kidnap someone and you wish to not cause them emotional trauma. Fuck them, whoever they were. Should you go downstairs to meet the others?

You didn’t want to. At first flopping over onto the comforter of your bed. This all had to be a bad winter dream. There’s no one in the world who would want to kidnap you.

At least you don’t think so. Was the pizza man mad at you because you gave him tip in change? Could it have been the mailman? Gah this is so frustrating.



The Hotel Room had a surprisingly familiar feel to it. He had been in Lakeview for so long that this felt no different. The frost on the windows - looking out to a labyrinth of concrete. He placed his hands on the frost and watched as the heat of his hand created a phantom grasp fading slowly back as it froze over once again. Use to silence the buzzing hum. He felt robotic. Room vibrated with fuzzy sounds. He raised his hand to the sounds with curiosity. He could see them. Electricity in the air.

Suddenly a wash of anxiety interrupted his familiarity. Everything was similar. But there was no schedule. He woke up late. Normally you are up at seven in the morning. Have breakfast at eight. Then you talk to your word magician. No needle taker. No arm band that makes your arms hurt. A sudden sensation of panic came over him.

Remember Skye is good.

This is Skye’s vacation.

Skye deserved it.

It seemed settled then in the council of his mind. It eased his anxiety a bit. His head is all scrambled like eggs. Hard to focus right now on what he was doing. Picking at a scab on his lower lip to self sooth. He should go downstairs then? That’s where he was suppose to be. That’s where they were suppose to be.

He paced a bit from the door back to the window. Picking. Picking. An all too familiar taste of metal. His lip hurt. He was forgetting, forgetting something. He remembers the magic spell the word magicians gave him. Now he can go down where he was suppose per the paper that gave him instructions.

There were others here. To consider speaking to others had his heart race considerably. Faster. Faster. Biological drums. He didn’t know how to calm these sensations of fear. The word magicians would tell him things like deep breaths. So he did so, in a long, narrow hallway. Cut with golden lines. Like they were inside some urban brain.

He didn’t mind an urban brain it’s humming would become something soothing soon. It was what the urban brain hid. It’s lies and sins. That is what he minded.

"... w-what... what's goin' on here...?" Magdalene's voice stirred as she arose from the bed she found herself in, a bit on edge at the situation she was experiencing. A hand rushed up to her face, feeling it for any significant wounds. As per usual, the feeling of her scarred face brought her back into reality. She wasn't dreaming or having a nightmare, as her face would've felt perfect or it would've felt completely scarred in either event.

Standing up in the beige room, Magdalene gazed at the message in front of her. What sort of rehabilitation was this? A rehabilitation of what exactly? She had a ton of questions to ask, but she wasn't bound to get answers in the situation she was in. She needed to get out of this room and find out just what was going on here.

But first, she wanted to familiarize herself with her room. This meant a lot, but was mainly focused on the actual drawers and other storage areas of the room. The storage where the TV was located had been filled to the brim with pretty generic clothes, all clean and smelling rather oddly of detergent and hospitals. Upon further investigation, they were all Magdalene's perfect size, raising her suspicions even further. Though, she didn't actually shower last night, so maybe this was a blessing in disguise.

Bringing a generic set of clothes to the bathroom, Magdalene continued her investigation there as she checked everything. Unsurprisingly, it was just a normal bathroom, granted it was steamy because of the hot water of the shower. Everything checked out, and Magdalene didn't think much of it as she stripped down and took a very brisk shower.

The hair products were actually pretty high quality.

Stepping out of the bathroom in the new clothes, Magdalene looked over at her bag. It didn't seem like it was picked through, as it still seemed like it had the same contents as before, but Magdalene was still very skeptical of it. Still, she placed it on her bed so she could put on her shoes and hoodie. After everything was back together, Magdalene grabbed her bag and stepped outside, following the only path available to her as she made her way to breakfast.

Hopefully there her answers would be found.

Marcus woke up in a nice soft and most importantly clean bed. This wouldn't have been strange if there was a super hot chick laying next to him but there wasn't. "Shit what the heck happened?" He muttered as he wiped the crust from his eyes, his vision was still a little hazy but he could see well enough to stand and start snooping around this incredibly fancy room. The fuzziness in his vision cleared up as he stumbled into the main lounge area.

"Man that must have been a wicked trip..." Marcus breathed onto his hand and held it up to his nose, "What the?" he said confused that his breath didn't smell like ass. He hadn't gotten here while drunk, come to think of it he didn't know where here was. He looked at the frosted windows and rubbed his forehead, "Well I ain't in Kansas anymore." he chuckled under his breath and turned to face a massive television.

He'd then flick on the TV and be greeted with the message, he squint as he reads it to himself not really getting what the heck was going on. "Is this some kind of a fucking prank? Painless? Comforting? Traumatizing? This is fifty different kinds of fucked, and none of them are the good kinds." Marcus picked up the remote and flicked of the TV and rub the bridge of his nose as he let out a long sigh. This has got to be a fucking joke or something. Fuck... this was nuts, he couldn't actually be on a TV show. Mainly because drugging them and kidnapping them would be highly illegal. He shook his head and headed into the kitchen, he splashed his face with water from the sink before taking a deep breath.

Then it hit him, if he'd been kidnapped then where the fuck was his car. "Fuck!" Marcus yelled as he ran to the window and look out to see if his car was there, he realized it was probably useless but that didn't stop him checking twice. "Gah fucking hell! What is this shit!?..." Marcus cursed before getting himself a cup of water, he had no idea where he was or why he got there, but if the message on the television wasn't a lie, then he wasn't the only one.

Marcus looked down at himself, he was still in some of his regular clothes so whoever abducted him obviously knew what they were doing, so maybe there being several other people here might not be so far fetched. "Ah stuff it, heading down there couldn't make this worse could it?" He hoped he wouldn't eat his words. Marcus' preparation consisted of a quick dust off and a change of underwear and honestly he still looked fine. He didn't look like a fancy gentlemen, but he wasn't, he was just going to casually meet up with other captured people. Maybe.

And so Marcus headed out of his room making sure to remember his room number, whoever this mystery kidnapper was they were a fucking weird one. They out their captive in a real nice hotel place in the middle of some snow covered city, and they probably had done this to many people. What was their plan? Rehabilitate. The word rang in his mind as he mind, what did that even mean? How could this scenario rehabilitate someone in any way what so ever?

It seemed like just yesterday she was working at the shop when she received a message on her phone. She thought nothing of it, she got text message all the time notifying her of clients who had scheduled her in. Taking a peak she saw she had received a message from a blocked number;

Unknown: Do you have time to talk? Meet me at the Big City Java shop.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: Someone who knows who you really are.

Me: Hahaha. What a funny little troll you are. You have no idea what it means to mess with me.

Unknown: I have every idea of what it means to mess with you. Come or don’t. There are other ways of doing this, with or without your compliance.

Me: I hope you are entertained by this. I’m not.

Who did they think they were? Messaging her like that. These kids with their fancy technology these days learning to exploit it and trouble people like her trying to make a living. She huffs and places down the phone onto a counter. Her receptionist Jodie looked at her.

“Boy trouble?” she ask her.

“Some internet troll thinking he’s being funny,” Morgana told her fixing her hair, “Wants me to meet them at the Big City Java. Probably part of this whole elaborate prank or no one shows while they watch from a distance to laugh at how stupid I was to show up there.”

Jodie clicks her long nails on her keyboard, “These pranks are really getting elaborate and out of hand, someone should do something about it.”

“I agree,” Morgana told her nodding her head.

Grabbing her phone off the counter Morgana stared at empty chairs in her waiting room. It wasn’t always this slow, they had a few good days on the island of nice weather. It teased you to go out and play in the sun, near the beach or on the port. Most people didn’t come in when the days almost tempted you to go out and play in them. Still it should pick up after lunch. Morgana smiled at Jodie.

“Want anything?” Morgana asked.

“I brought lunch from home today,” Jodie told her, “A drink would be nice.”

Morgana laughs.

“You’re funny,” Morgana tells her, “I’ll see what I can do.”

“And Morgana, don’t feed the trolls,” Jodie tells her with a wink.

“Riiight,” Morgana winks at her, before grabbing her purse and walking out the small clinic she managed to buy with the money her ex husband had left her.

To think that she could have had a child running around in the park on a warm, sunny day here on Del Rosa Island made her a bit melancholic. Sometimes it felt like she had lost everything that day. She didn’t like thinking about that though, and it was only ever a thought when she passed the school park. Tempting fate she walked into the coffeeshop she had been directed to come. Looking around the busy coffee shop she smiled and laughed, “I’m here.” she says to no one in particular.

Walking to the counter, next to order, someone in a black trench coat cut in front of her. She would have said something, it was hard to make out the details of their face.

“I’m glad you have come to talk with me,” even their voice was distorted a little.

Okay now this was getting weird.

“I am not here for you,” she tells them.

They give a small chuckle, “Maybe not. But I am an opportunist, and I’ll take it.”

She pretends to not hear them, they order a drink for her. She wraps her arms around her chest and glares at them.

“Who are you anyway?” she asked, “This is really elaborate for a prank. And how can you hide in such plain sight?”

They give a small, heh, before giving an answer, “I supposed there’s no point in lying to you. I’m an agent, but that’s as far as I can tell you.”

“What does an agent want from me?” she asked, she was about to grab the cup of coffee ordered for her, but they took it for her and handed it to her. She glared. She was no pretty doll to be toyed with. If this was this agent’s way of asking her out she would not have it.

“The truth,” he told her.

The truth? What the hell did that mean? She really wanted to hit him. He had no right to toy with her like this. Against her own instincts she took a sip of coffee.

But all of that seemed like a hazy dream as she slowly peeled her eyes open, finding herself in a beige bedroom. There were pictures on the wall, all of them seemed explicitly there to invoke some sense of familiarity. Except that none of this was familiar to her. Quickly getting out of the bed she started to look around, it’s winterous outside compared to where she lived.

A city encased in a sheet of ghostly ice. No cars. No sound of traffic or people walking. Only the funny whine and hum of machines people were very much use to when they sat in “silence”. Quickly flipping open the laptop in the room in hopes to message someone, she found herself staring at a message when she opened the web browser.

Don’t want to cause distress? Or harm? What did any of that mean? They saw the irony, right? This is already distressing to wake up in some strange luxurious hotel. Being drugged and taken against her will. They did see that they already made her a victim? And when she figured all of this out she would sue whomever did this to her.

For emotional distress. The message said something about other people. Well then she guess she’d just have to work her charm on them to get them to leave with her. There was no way she was going to stay here and deal with all of this nonsense. There was no way this should be legal.

Leaving the hotel room in a huff she headed towards where the message had directed her next. To meet these so called others.

---

Anya rolled out of bed, taking a moment to stretch and work out the stiffness in her joints. She glanced outside, noticing the snow, before realizing she wasn't in the South anymore.

"Should've known I was gonna get drugged..." she muttered, looking over her body for signs of damage, mildly surprised to find none. "Well, that's a fine start," she giggled before flipping the TV on to... Apparently read a message.

"I'm not a moron, ya fucks." She was irritated now, and quickly got dressed to stop downstairs for food.

Taking the stairs, she entered the dining area. At least, she figured it was with the giant ass table with several chairs.

Taking the seat on the end, she kicked her feet up on the table and pulled some gum from her pocket to start popping.

"Let's get this show on the road, yo!" she said to the nothing around her with a smirk.

The hotel was fancy, but she wasn't staying for fancy. No, she stayed and played this game for the thrill. The relief it would bring. For the chance to....

She let the thoughts die as she waited, listening to the hum of electronics and the deafening silence between.

A pale hand ran through platinum blonde hair only to stop and rest at the nape of her neck while a frustrated sigh left the rosy lips of their owner. The stormy blue eyes of the young woman locked on to the simple note taped to her front door which caused the sigh in the first place. ’We are at the park.’, how fast that simple phrase could exhaust her after an already long day. Liv had thought they mutually agreed that Casey would just text or call if they went out somewhere, that way she would meet them there and could enjoy more time with Aaron. They both didn’t need to waste gas with the back and forth driving plus she didn’t want to wait alone at home having to deal with a panic attack by overthinking different scenarios of what horrible thing could happen. The last time the two had gone to the park without her knowledge, it had been a nightmare of worry, not only her worry for her son but for Casey as well since no calls were answered and it was growing increasingly dark for comfort. Liv had thought they had been in trouble and had no idea where to even tell anyone to look for them but it turned out to be a dead phone, a hungry boy, and a mess of an accident on the highway which meant waiting in dead stop traffic without a charging cord.

Liv would never forgive herself if either one of them were to fall into harms way and she could have been there to help. It is why they agreed that they needed better communication. Casey was a sweet girl and savior for helping out with Aaron. She would pick him up from pre-school and help out before Liv arrived home. It had been a nerve racking event to find a sitter and to trust someone she barely knew when they first met but now she couldn’t see Casey not in their lives. She had been some of the support Liv needed and was amazing with Aaron. She could be a bit forgetful but her heart was always in the right place. Liv could tell she was a good one and felt she like family now.

She pulled the note from the door and stepped inside, planning to at least change into something comfy before going back out. Liv couldn’t be completely upset by the note, at least she knew where the two were but they would need to talk more about what kind of communication she was asking for as clearly they had missed some crucial elements during their talk. Yes, this was a good neighborhood but really, no where was safe. She wasn’t naive enough to not know that anything could happen in an instant. One instant had changed everything for her and it could happen again. She quickly brushed that thought away, focusing on what was at hand.

The wood creaked lightly under her footstep as she headed upstairs to the bedroom, the age of the home starting to revealing itself a bit but the place had character still. Once she reached the top, she passed Aaron’s room, the color Dinos that painted the bright green walls bringing a smile onto her features as she continued to her own room. Liv quickly shrugged out of her jacket and unbuttoned her lavender blouse on the way to the dresser, letting it flutter to the ground without care. It was her bad habit but easy to toss in the hamper later. Liv let her slacks drop from her waist, stepping out of them and kicking of her high heels as she dug for something soft and easy to run around in. It was no doubt that Aaron would want to continue to play even when she arrived and she was more then happy to join in.

Liv pulled on a simple pair of black leggings with a black shirt that had splatters of neon colors that were made to look like spray paint, the name “Twilight Noise” etched in the design. It was just some college band that never took off to become something more but she remembered the music had been decent, the parties were rockin and the T-Shirt had dazzled her at the time since it glowed in the dark plus the material it was made of was super soft to the touch. After tossing on a pair of sock and some sneakers, her outfit was ready and so was she. Liv practically skipped down the stair well before grabbing her keys, cell phone and wallet, leaving her purse behind since their was no reason to carry the bulk item at the park. She opened the door, almost ready to go when she remembered she had no pockets to place her stuff and snagged a simple dark gray zip up hoodie from the hook, jamming everything in her pockets after she locked the door.

It was lucky for her that the traffic wasn’t too bad even though people were driving home for the evening and was able to arrive in no time at all. Liv hopped out and clicked her remote, a familiar beep alerting her that the car was indeed locked as she headed off to the playground area of the park. The park was always so relaxing and quiet with the only interruptions of noise from laughing children, barking dogs and the singing of birds. She took a slow pace down the cement walk way, only stepping off the path and onto the grass as she saw the twisted castle of metal that made up a play ground full of slides, monkey bars, platforms and all the other things that made kids jump for joy. She stopped at the edge of the bark covered ground, confusion furrowing her brow as she gazed over the area in search of Casey or Aaron. It seemed like barely any kids were there and she didn’t see either of the two. Did she have the wrong park?

Liv placed her hand in her pocket, about to pull out her phone to give the other woman a call but something made her freeze. A man’s voice speaking out from behind her, causing her to spin on her feet. “Good evening, Miss Cole. Please, have a seat.” He stated, his stance stiff even as he held a paper cup holder with two foam cups inside. The stranger’s deep voice seemed to claim authority as he was making it clear that denying him wasn’t an option. That didn’t stop her from showing that she would not let this stranger or anyone push her around as she crossed her arms, her body moving into a natural defying stance. ”I’m sorry, do I know you?”, she asked with a raised brow, trying not to be nervous that a possible stranger had been stalking her. “Hardly but I would not be doing my job if you did. Please have a seat so I can explain.” He said, his voice seeming calm and not giving up anything.”While I would love to indulge some complete stranger and have a conversation, I have somewhere I need to be.” she answered in a smooth tone that didn’t show what was happening to her inside as her panic button was being hit by this man and her hand gripped her phone tightly in her pocket incase she needed to call for help. “Miss Cole, you are exactly where you need to be. We wouldn’t have given that note to you otherwise. We don’t want....accidents to happen. Give me minute of your time and it will all be worth it.”He said, moving to sit down on the bench just nearby.

Liv bit the inside of her cheek lightly, easily recognizing a threat when she saw it. She could call the cops right now, settle this whole mess but the man said we and it didn’t seem like it was a him and her kind of ‘we’. Who knew how many people this creep had with him? She slowly moved over the bench taking a seat as he passed her a drink. It was not something she was planning on drinking. ”I am listening. What do you want?” Liv said, wanting to get straight to the bottom of things. He took a sip of his drink, leaning back on the bench and arm stretched in a relaxed fashion. He was going at his own pace, she could tell. “The truth.” He replied, adding to her growing confusion. ”The truth? The truth about what? You are making no sense.” she frowned and glared lightly at the man next to her, her fingers gripping tightly on the cup. “The truth you have forgotten.” He said, glancing sideways to look over at her. ”You are insane and this conversation is over.” Liv hissed, tired of these riddles and subtle threats. She quickly stood up, ready to sprint back to her car when a strong arm wrapped around her middle and pinned her arms. She tried to struggle when she felt pain in her neck, causing her to gasp and drop the drink in her hand while a dizzy feeling washed over her. Her muscles felt weak, her eyes were starting to droop and Liv could feel her legs starting to give out before she was greeted with darkness.

---

Liv groaned, rolling over and curling around the other pillow in bed. She was tempted to call in sick as her head was pounding and her alarm hadn’t even gone off yet. She slowly blinked her eyes open to check her alarm clock for the time, only to jolt up second later when she noticed this was not her room. She instantly regretted the swift movement as her headache screamed at full force and she felt weaker then a newborn. What had happened? She never had drank enough to feel like this the next morning or wake up in some strange hotel room. Liv threw back the covers to find herself completely dressed in her own clothing which meant maybe this wasn’t what she thought. What did she do yesterday? She went to work, she went home and then....eyes widened as she remembered that guy! What had he done?! What about her son?!

Liv jumped out of bed, catching herself on the edge of bed and nightstand as her legs buckled and the room spun. She carefully slide herself to the floor, her hands digging in her pockets and relief flooding her when her delicate fingers wrapped around the smartphone. She punched in Casey’s number, begging for the woman to answer but it didn’t even ring. Instead of a dial tone, a message started playing and it caused her to shake. Mirage City? Trauma? Distress? Others? These twisted people had kidnapped more then just herself and wanted them to what? This all made no sense! It was like a nightmare or a bad joke that wouldn’t end.

She took a few deep breaths, not caring how nice the room was or what all could be in here. A cage was a cage no matter how pretty it looked. She could only hope the others had a better idea then she did. Liv slowly pushes herself up, using the walls for balance as she headed down the hall, leaving the door open so she could find her way back if need be. She stumbled slowly to the elevator, pressing the down button repeatedly even though Liv know it wouldn’t make it arrive sooner but it helped with her frustration of feeling so weak and this whole situation. The elevator binged, the doors sliding open and allowing her entrance. She carefully made her way inside, pressing the base floor button as most had the dining room in the base level of hotels. When the doors slide back open, Liv looked around and tried to follow the signs as best she could. It was a wonder she was even able to get to the dinning room as her legs just didn’t want to function yet and she would literally kill for pain meds right now as she felt so dizzy from the massive headache. If she had felt better then she would have taken in the appearance of the dinning room and her hotel room a little bit more but for now she was on a mission to see the others as unfortunate as herself.

The round white linen table only sat two people at the moment, a male that reminded her of a raven or crow at this moment. The dark frazzled hair almost looking like feathers on the wing of a bird, pale skin that made hers like she had somewhat of a tan and the narrow curve of his face held soft facial features but not enough so to really call him feminine.
The other, a woman, that was already making her cringe as her feet were placed up on the table. It wasn’t as if her boots might not be clean but it was a matter of manners. She had no problem with it if there wasn’t a spread of breakfast foods laid out on said table. Anything could be cleaned but not when it was like this plus feet and food were not a combo, ever. Liv made a mental note that if she was willing to even eat that she would not be eating anything from the side of the table that the other blonde was on. She took a seat at the table, sitting by the window and looking to the other two. What do you say to strangers in a situation like this? Hey, I’m Olivia but everyone calls me Liv for short so anyway, how did you get kidnapped? It even sounded stupid in her head.

Magdalene stepped into the dining room of the hotel to see that three of the guests had already arrived onto the scene, and it seemed like a surprisingly uncommon group of people at best. At least, they seemed like the people that wouldn't hang out normally, indicating this must've been some form of control group that was taken. Interesting.

The man that was present looked and acted more like a deranged druggie than a man, but no signs of frequent drug use were present on his figure, at least none of which you'd be able to see off the bat. There was also his hair being more akin to feathers, but that could just be bad care of the individual's hair. That's sad. He probably needs some good shampoo and conditioner so his hair can become healthy again.

There was the lady who- oh for God's sake, people eat there, you know! She looked like she'd been in less desirable situations than Magdalene, but made it through every single one of them with... less-than-fortunate results. Still, she had that punk-rock 'I don't care' vibe to her, so that was something she had going for her. She pulled it off well, too. Maybe she'd open up to the group as they figured out what the hell is going on.

Then there was the platinum blonde woman. Damn her legs were long, and it made Magdalene just a hair jealous. Man, did she wish she had legs like that. It'd be a lot better than this scar that riddled her face and the eyepatch she was wearing. Then again, anything would be better than that except death, she guessed. Anyway, she was definitely attractive, but completely out of Magdalene's league, so there wasn't gonna be anything there probably.

The doctor walked over to a chair beside the platinum blonde as she sat down, raising her hand to cover her scar as she waited patiently for the remaining group. She didn't know what to say right now... what could you say right now, anyway? 'Oh hey, I'm Magdalene, how's life been, aside from the, y'know, kidnapping and shit?' Seemed kind of awkward to do something like that, to be completely honest.

@Akayaofthemoon@Gardevoiran@Old Amsterdam



Everything here was different from the faces he remembers. The faces he remembers were much kinder than these faces. These faces remind him of something. But he cannot quite remember what that is. The blonde lady reminds him of gates. They are suppose to keep you in so you don’t get hurt out there. What is out there that could hurt? The electric humming is a comfort to him. The rest of it is like a wash of anxiety. A sense of panic staring at stranger’s faces. He was use to a smile too. And a sweet voice from the faces he remembers.

The other blonde lady reminded him of something bittersweet. He didn’t know why, it was something etched in her face. It didn’t match her. He didn’t know how to say that. If he asked if she swapped her face with someone who looked like her, he was sure she wouldn’t understand him. He rocked back and forth and began to mumble under his breath.

Why don’t you say hi?

“You do it,” addressing no one.

They just ignore me.

He bit the bottom of his lip. Agitating the scab he had caused to bleed earlier to squeeze more blood out. Before he had time to say anything another stranger walked in. Her face seemed the strangest. One side of hers was taken from someone else. Lumpy and scarred. The other was a face of someone else. Two faces.

She stole someone’s face.

“No,” replying to no one, or maybe he was talking to the chair beside him.

Well something happened.

“Maybe the nightstalkers,” he yet again replied to no one.

Skye continued to rock back and forth a little. Just as soothing as the humming whine of the electricity. Just as soothing as big rooms with lots of space. Where things sleep and then they wake up elsewhere. Waking up.

“Strangers in strange place,” Skye addressed them finally, his head fidgeted doing so, “We should exchange our identities. So we know who is who. So we can stop calling each other strangers. So strange faces become familiar faces with your identification.”

Skye continued to rock back and forth. He began to humm at first to himself, but mostly was coming out of his mouth was a low mumble.

“Mmmm,” Skye groaned to himself.

”You do it.”
That was the first set of words to ring out into the room and they made no sense to her. Did she miss something from before she entered? It didn’t seem like it. The man looked as though he was going to have a nervous breakdown at the table as he bit his lip so hard it ended up bleeding. Liv worried he was actually hurt and was about to offer her cloth napkin when she notice the others eyes were focused now on the door way. Her own eyes moved to see what he was looking at and notice they had been graced by a new member to this strange situation group.

The woman that stood in the door way was of a petite frame and had the most dazzling red hair she had ever seen, not even frizzy or full of tweaked curls like she had seen in most red heads. A soft heart shaped was sprinkled with freckles and though one of her eyes was blocked by patch, the other was a warm whiskey brown. A scar showed from under the patched eye side of her face and was probably one of the reasons for it in the first place and made the soft features more beautiful. It proved that she had been through great suffering and had had the strength to live on. It spoke a lot for her character that she had not tried to fix it or hide it with make up as it was not needed. It was a battle scar of life that proved that if you can get through this then you could get through anything.

It seemed that the red headed woman didn’t seem to have the same thoughts as she did though since the second she sat down next to her was when her hand raised up to cover the scarred half of her face. It irked her for some reason. How could she was to hide a beautiful face? Didn’t she know that the outside didn’t even matter? It was actions that defined who a person was and how beautiful they really were. A pretty face could hold an ugly personality that was for sure. Liv felt her hand twitch, debating on if it would be rude to do what she wanted and then decided that it needed to be done.

She grabbed the other woman’s raised hand, gently pulling it away from her face and gave a soft smile. “There is really no need to hide such a strong and pretty face. It would also feel a little weird to talk to a hand. We don’t need to be nervous of each other after all since we are all in the same position.”
Liv would have probably said more but the man’s voice picked back up and he made a good point. They were all strangers and they would continue to be that way and fearful or even nervous of each other till they got use to each other. She gave a soft nod and smiled, ”I think that is a great idea! We don’t need to be strangers and do any of this alone. My name is Olivia Cole but everyone can just call me Liv. I prefer it that way as Olivia just sounds a little old fashioned. It is nice to meet you guys though I wish it could have been under better circumstances. What are your names?”

Magdalene's face frowned as she heard the ramblings of the boy at the table. The way he talked and spoke about the group was interesting, but the way he looked at her as he said something about nightstalkers... it made Magdalene feel sad. Why was she put with these people if they all believed that she was a freak? Something that was mauled by a creature of the ni-... well... that's sort of true, but rottweilers aren't night creatures! She had met some very well-behaved when she was 12, and while she wanted to run away from them at first, she was overwhelmed by their kindness later. Why did he have to treat her like a--

"Wha?" Magdalene put up a small bit of resistance to her hand being grabbed at first, but the resistance was lost when she heard the platinum blonde's soft voice speak to her. Frankly, the way that the woman had talked about her face was something she hadn't heard from someone other than her parents in a long time. It was a definite surprise, but it was one that was very much welcome indeed. Maybe... maybe some people actually liked the scar she wore underneath the eyepatch.

The strange boy mentioned something about identities. Yeah... maybe that was a good idea. Magdalene nodded slowly in agreement just before the platinum blonde began to introduce herself. Her name was Olivia, going by Liv, it seemed. Good. Now Magdalene could follow up with her own nickname and it wouldn't be weird or unique.

"Magdalene Camiron, or rather just Mags. My dad gave me that nickname a while ago. I-I..." Magdalene stuttered before continuing to speak, instinctively fumbling with her hair as she finally continued. "I don't know what else t'say..." Oh for God's sake, are you blushing Magdalene? How embarrassing.

Marcus wasn't in a rush. He stalled the journey to the lobby so he could have some more time to think about everything, unfortunately no matter how much he thought about it, it still made no sense. So this freaky fuck gets him and stuck him in this hotel, with other people. And this was going to rehabilitate him?... Yeah. No fucking sense, whoever this psycho was they had more than a few screws loose. Marcus looked up only to realize he'd gone the wrong way. "Go this place is a fucking maze!" he yell out, his frustration finally surfacing. He took a deep breath and headed the other way having picked up the pace. Whoever did this didn't matter at the moment, Marcus was hungry, Marcus was angry, Marcus was scared.

Who used the elevator ride to cool himself off, he couldn't have himself looking like an emotional wreck in front of whoever these other captives were. He took a deep breath as the elevator hit the final floor, it was time to see these other people, if they were even actually there that is. Finally the elevator opened and Marcus made his way towards the dining room, brushing a few stray hairs out of his face. He entered through one of the doors, and there they were, they did exist they weren't some lie cooked up by the captor. That or they were working for the captor, who fucking knows at this point.

Women, they were all women. Well except for this one spindly dude but that didn't matter too much, it also sucked because they were all pretty attractive. He stood in the doorway awkwardly for a moment before speaking up, "Well, this is a surprise. I thought that note was going to lead me into some murder dungeon. Guess not." Marcus then rolled his shoulders and walked out of the doorway checking everyone out as he did, god this is fucking crazy... Marcus the took a seat at the table again looking everyone over. This was super messed up.

---

Ahhhh, so this was the others? She rolled her eyes at the looks towards her feet, letting get chair slam down into the ground as the chatter died for a moment with the last appearance. The straggler.

"Anya," she announced as stood up, plucking a roll from center of the table. "You all seem confused about why you're here. Don't blame you. I am as well, I guess. Three beautiful women and two lovely men."

She stopped near the poor nervous wreck, smirking lightly, gently laying a hand on his shoulder and ruffling his hair lightly. "Would you like to share your name, lovelies? So we can finish not being strangers?"

"I think that is a great idea! We don’t need to be strangers and do any of this alone. My name is Olivia Cole but everyone can just call me Liv. I prefer it that way as Olivia just sounds a little old fashioned. It is nice to meet you guys though I wish it could have been under better circumstances. What are your names?”

She’s friendly

She seems wise

Olivia like Olive Garden

Is there any relationship?

“Sssssssh,” Skye said to no one, but himself.

"Magdalene Camiron, or rather just Mags. My dad gave me that nickname a while ago. I-I..."

Poor dear.

She seems sad.

Let’s be her friend.

“We do have the same affliction,” Skye mentions, again to no one in the room could see.

He’s finally arrived.

He looks greasy.

I don’t like him.

He looks dirty.

“That’s not nice,” Skye says to himself, “You’re suppose to give people the benefit of the doubt.”

Were these people worth it though? He wondered. They all wondered. Listening to the electric hum that he began to repeat, rocking back and forth. It was soothing. The whine and moan of electropathy. A mechanical physiology.

Two things happened. The slamming of the chair took away the trance. The electric security had fizzled. White noise now shattered with discord of the sound of the chair. He tried to focus back on the thing he liked the most about this place.

Then a hand. Sensations of touch. An unfamiliar. Unwanted thing. Violating. A chill running through his body. He squirmed and flung her hand off him.



He began to rock back and forth, slowly groaning to himself.

“Mmmmmm, No!” he muttered to himself, “No! No! No!”

Mags....yes, that definitely was an appropriate nickname and probably the one she would have naturally gone with. She seemed so shy that it was oddly adorable. Liv hadn’t really notice the blush but her attention had been drawn to the doorway by the masculine voice that had announced their arrival.
”Well,this is a surprise. I thought the note was going to lead me into some murderous dungeon. Guess not.” he said before joining them at the table and she almost chuckled at the mental image he just presented.
”I didn’t quite imagine that but I was still heavily feeling whatever drug they decided to hit me with. We were just getting some intros out of the way, making away with being strangers. I’m Liv and the woman next to me is Mags.”
”Anya,” was the name that was suddenly announced as the other blonde stood up, snagging a roll from the table as she did before continuing to speak. You all seem confused about why you’re here. Don’t blame you. I am as well, I guess. Three beautiful women and two lovely men.”

The statement didn’t make her feel completely warm and fuzzy as the other blon...Anya, seemed too relaxed about this whole situation. At least she seemed friendly though and was trying to get to the honest truth of it all. This was confusing and weird. She moved over to the man that had been rocking lightly which was probably to calm their nerves. She innocently touched his shoulder before ruffling his hair like one would a child and something she herself had done to her son here and there. ”Would you like to share your name, lovelies? So we can finish not being strangers?
Liv would have never guess that those small gestures would have lead to such a turn of events.

Liv saw the look on his face, that glimpse of horror before he squirmed and hand flung to get Anya away or maybe just the touch. This was followed by a clear statement that made it impossible to read into it differently.

”DON’T!” - “YOU CAN’T”

This all followed by extreme rocking and muttering ‘no’ to himself repeatedly. Liv stood, making sure not to touch him as she moved his chair a bit so she had enough room and moved so she was in his view by crouching down but keeping a good distance so she was not too much in his space.”Shhhhh, it’s okay little bird. Deep, slow breaths. Can you do that? You are not hurt. You can look to her face and see she didn’t mean to upset you. Just relax. It is okay. Breathe.” Liv said in a soft even tone of voice. She didn’t want this poor guy to panic or be upset over a misunderstanding. It seemed something must have happened in his past and she wanted to try to help.

---

Anya stepped back quickly, a thoroughly shocked expression on her face at the sudden outburst. It had been obvious how unstable he seemed, but she hadn't expected...that kind of reaction. As one of the other women, Liv she thought the same was, began trying to comfort him from a distance Anya backed up more, moving towards her original position at the table.

"Eck, that was an amazing way to introduce myself..." she muttered, picking up a knife from the table. "I guess I'll test the food for being blatantly poisoned or something, then."

Surprising the food tasted great, especially considering she hadn't seen any other humans around besides this room full of.... Amnesiacs and weirdoes.

They seriously couldn’t get away with this legally, could they? There are literally a ton of laws that should prevent anyone from kidnapping people. Especially if it was some kind of agency. She honestly didn’t care, her plan was not to involve herself in these children games. She was a busy and important woman running a good business back at home. She didn’t appreciate being wrongfully placed in a place she obviously didn’t belong. Jesus fucking christ this place was huge, you’d think their map would be more useful. If you’re going to kidnap people make sure you provide them a better god damn fucking map for the building you built.

Fixing her hair and her bra. She stepped inside the banquet hall with a powerful strut and a sway of her hips. She had a powerful stride, as the powerful woman she was.

”DON’T!” - “YOU CAN’T”

She covers her ears briefly. What the serious fuck was that? She's scanning around the room. An easy looking man she could use for later, he might even be a bit yummy for a while. A boring woman. A boring blonde trying to look tough. Hunchback of Notre Dame, but female. And a man rocking bath and forth muttering, no, she could only then logically include he was crazy and of no use to her. She didn't babysit.

She put on a pleasant smile, and look at them with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I feel like I have walked into something privately," she says sweetly fluttering her eyelashes and give them all a smile, nervously laughing she covers her lips up anxiously, "I guess I found the right place. Anyone else had a crazy day so far? Hehehehe." she giggles like a sweet girl a little younger than her age would have you believe.

Marcus smiled at Olivia as she responded revealing her name as "Liv" and the girl next to her as "Mags", she seemed nice and honest, Marcus didn't know how to take that. Any of these people could be the kidnapper, or they all could be the kidnappers. Now that was a thought, but it wasn't a good one. He shook it from his mind and focused back on Olivia. "Well if we're doing introductions. I'm Marcus, feel free to call me Mark if it's easier." Marcus took another moment to look around "This is a mighty fine place to store your captives, ain't it." This place was indeed a very expensive place.

Marcus was going to get himself something to eat off the table when he heard Skye shout. "Jesus Christ!" Skye's outburst caught Marcus of guard and he dropped the roll he was grabbing, he managed to catch it again but he had to look over to see what the hell happened. All he saw was the freaky looking dude rocking back and forth while Liv tried to calm him down, Marcus just shook his head lightly and tucked into his food, Marcus wasn't the kind of person to deal with theses kinds of situations.

The Marcus watched as another woman entered, and boy, what a woman it was. She seemed a little dainty but that didn't make her body any less attractive, Marcus mentally slapped himself. Now was not the time for these kinds of thoughts, first you figure out what is going on, then you can have sexy time with hotness over there. He let out a quick sigh before he replied to her question "Well if being kidnapped and stuck in a hotel with a bunch of random people counts as crazy? Then yeah, today has been a fucking roller coaster." He didn't say this with a sarcastic tone, he actually used a much more happy tone. Joking and trying to make this fucked up situation a little easier to deal with.

Wow. The situation just got... extreme. Not only did the hair-ruffling of the boy from Anya set him off, it seemed like everyone there was accounted for. What a glorious day to start off to with these people. Magdalene made a mental note to not touch the boy unless it was necessary, not that she would under most circumstances.

Mags was about to get down to comfort the boy when Liv had already stepped up to the task. She seemed really motherly to the "little bird" and it caused Mags to scream internally. It was oddly incredibly adorable to watch Liv calm down the little bird, and it just made Mags happy on the inside to see the woman handle him. Hopefully it would work well, because Mags really didn't want to have to give it a shot. The first comment about the nightstalkers caused her a bit of reluctance to work with the bird.

Mark mentioned something about it being a nice place to store captives, and Mags began to think out loud while pacing around the room. "I dun' think we're really captives. I'm thinkin' what they said about rehabilitation was true to some extent, at least in their eyes it was. Pro'lem is, we gotta figure out what we all have in common that would put us all in this s-"

Mags' attention was diverted at the rather boastfully curvy woman who just entered the room, with her ass full of sass. Holy heck. Mags had seen curvier girls before but this woman had to have had some implants or something. She asked a question about how everyone's day had been going. "I've stayed up fer twenty-six hours straight before with nonstop surgeries, this rivals the sleep-deprived day after that." Mags stopped pacing as she looked at the new girl. "Who're you, miss?"

Her voice is so soothing.

Little bird?

But she

Little bird

He continued to rock for a second. He looked at Anya. He’d forgive her this time. Getting up from hugging his knees he fixed his hair.

“The smallest bird is the bee hummingbird,” he told Liv, “But even still. My name is the one that holds the the sun and the moon. But I am not holding anything because I am on the ground. Because that’s where they put me.”

His attention is disrupted when another walks in. She scares him. She is scary. Her words are sweet. A venus flytrap. He looks at Liv and Anya, and sort of slides behind them in hopes she won’t see him.

“Another comes - voice as sweet as poison,” he whispers to himself.

She

Uh huh

Don’t let her see us

“There’s so many little webs now, “ Skye mutters again to no one in the room.

Liv smiled gently, glad that he seemed to be calming down and it was a positive indication that he wasn't mumbling 'no' on repeat anymore. She had actually known this little piece of information about bee hummingbirds but it was cute that he took her nickname for him since she had no real name to go by and popped out what was a little-known fact about birds. It would seem that either he liked birds or it was just one of those random facts that people know sometimes. It was followed by what most would think was a riddle that had no rhyme or reason but it was very clear to Liv what he was saying."It is good to meet you, Skye."she said, before standing up from her somewhat crouched position. She turned her attention to the door, a curvaceous woman standing at the entrance and talked as though she was sweet as pie. It was usually people with something to hide or some who were a snake in the grass that talked like that but she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know anyone here and actions spoke louder than words. The new woman as at least trying to make the situation a little lighter by joking. It just made her not sure what to say and brought up what had happened to all of them. Why were they all even here? She would say innocent until proven guilty and go from there. Mags had already asked for her name so at least they could all introduce themselves again once the new stranger spoke up.

It did make her wonder though...how many others were there? More just kept trickling in and that meant that whatever group had taken them was large or had a lot of influence to not get caught. It wasn't like she had heard of a string of kidnappings on the news but maybe they were all from completely different areas. Did any of them have anything in common? So far she didn't see it so maybe there wasn't any real pattern to it. As it was there were four women, including herself and two men which meant maybe there were two more men coming or maybe she was trying to look for things that weren't there. These kidnappers knew about Casey and her son....they knew where she would go which meant he son still was out there and possibly in danger. She knew that leaving here couldn't be so easy with everything they had done so far. Liv shook off her thoughts, not wanting to continue on that path as she would just end up panicking. It seemed like Skye was afraid of this new woman so she would just let him hide behind her and she would stand up for him.