[IC] House of Powers (reboot)

[CyanideSweetie]

Caebyn -Bynie- Danvers

---

With a sigh Bynie got up and  asked some of the attendants for some sleepy time tea and honey. She cupped the warm mug in her hands, breathing in the prefumed air she hoped that this would help neutralize the copious amounts of caffeine in her system.  When she turned to head back to the table it was completely empty. Scrunching up her face she decided to head to her "Room". Something about an almost empty cafeteria, her only company the eerie anonymous figures in hazmat suits.

She took her tea and headed to her room,  shuffling down the halfway with their names listed on it, she passed quite a few before making it to the one labeled Danvers, Caebyn .  Blowing out a breath she opened to door and inspected the space designated for her.   It was nice and pristine and plain . Her actual room would never look like this, but what could you expect?

She drank her tea and laid down, staring at the ceiling.  She didn't even have any music to lull her sleep, but she was warm and comfortable so she couldn't complain too much.  She laid there for hours before she finally faded to black.

[Jinxer]

Arthur Seymour

The First Morning

@AnnieTimeNow@Aquanthe@HecateProxy@KimmiNinja@Utrax@CyanideSweetie@wolverbells

Arthur had been up for some time before his alarm began to ring, precisely at 08:00 as promised by the still-nameless researcher. It wasn't the most offensive alarm he had ever heard but it was most definitely one that you couldn't ignore, blaring out a toneless alarm at high volume without any apparent way to stop or acknowledge it; presumably a way to prevent any kind of snoozing. He couldn't hear any other alarms, the sound-proofing in the rooms being excellent, and he had yet to venture out from his room that morning.

Upon waking up he tried to instil some normality in this new, semi-imprisoned, life and used the kettle provided in his room to make a cup of tea. A small but well-stocked mini-fridge under the desk had some fresh milk in it as well as a variety of soft drinks and juices. There were no snacks in the room but he remembered seeing vending machines in the cafeteria so presumably they could always stock up and bring food back to their rooms if they wanted. Other than the basic facilities there was a large TV on one wall which he had discovered had a variety of streaming subscriptions to both film and music channels but with no direct internet access available.

Having freshened himself up with the beverage he investigated the bathroom properly, having only given it a cursory look for toothpaste the night before, and found the shower to be highly adjustable and had enough power to be decent. Everything so far in the facility had been top notch, luxurious without being so much so that he felt overwhelmed. It was like being in a four star hotel closing in on being a five star, the main thing being a lack of natural light although weird oblong wall heaters with mirrored surfaces gave an illusion of sunlight flooding the rooms.

He had been leafing through one of the few books, fairly standard fare, when the alarm starting going off and had decided that was his cue to go out and find some breakfast. It was especially late in the day for him, usually he breakfasted at about six o'clock in the morning, so he was bordering on ravenous as he made his way to the cafeteria. No one else had made it that far, or at least no one was currently there, so he pushed into the now open kitchen to look around. As he did so there was a buzz as the intercom fizzled into action and a cheery, but slightly sleepy sounding, researcher they would all remember from the day before spoke.

"Good morning all! I hope you slept well in your new quarters - if you have any requests then let us know, within reason of course! You can do it all through the TV and it'll come straight to Resourcing! More importantly, we have a new face joining us today. She's the last of our group and had to have some tests completed before we knew it was safe for her to join you. Oh, and we'll begin the first session at 09:00 so make sure you get something to eat before then, we've got a busy morning ahead of us!" There was a click and then silence followed. Now aware of the time pressure, Arthur quickened his searching of the kitchen for a viable breakfast.

Everything was chrome, like in a professional kitchen, easy to clean surfaces with high-end appliances on nearly every work surface. Two huge American-style fridges stood against one wall with some chest freezers beside them, all rammed full of fresh vegetables, meats, sauces and other foods. It didn't take him long to find bacon, sausages, eggs, bread, mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans and he set about creating a mammoth breakfast, chopping away and humming to himself, almost able to pretend that he wasn't in an unfamiliar facility while suffering a largely unknown and potentially fatal illness which, if he survived it, would turn him into some kind of superhuman.

[wolverbells]

Athena Wilson | "Dismissal Room" - Kitchen's Entrance

Mentions: @Jinxer

Having checked herself in voluntarily, Athena knew that she had done something right. Anything and everything that had been told to her prior to her check in had convinced her that she needed treatment. How else was she to gain a normal life? It was all she wanted, why couldn't she have it?

Her neck felt a little stiff as she suddenly began to regain feeling of her body. She remembered that a couple of hours after being checked in to an unknown building, she had been put under to be able to have sleep tests proctored on her. Yet, she didn't know how long they had lasted. By the soreness that she was now feeling in her muscles, she had been out for days. A small groan escaped her lips as she began to flex her muscles, her eyelids fluttering open, attempting to adjust to the florescent lighting.

'Where am I?'

Athena's eyes slowly but surely had adjusted, and it wasn't to a room she was familiar with. She managed to turn her head over to the side so she could get a glimpse of where she was, but all she saw was an office that looked like a doctor's visiting office. The room was completely white with a few cabinets and a chrome sink, with a stool not too far from it. The woman sighed as she looked back up to the ceiling before forcing her body to sit up. If her back were able to make noises, the room would have been filled with the sound of creaking from how stiff her muscles felt and how heavy her bones suddenly were. "Good God."

She slid off of the twin bed that she was on as she gave herself a once over. There were a few marks on her arms from where she had been poked around, but other than that, she seemed to be okay. She would further inspect herself later on once she figured out what she had missed.

As Athena began to walk towards the door, one thing she had noticed was that she was barefoot. She had been placed in white pajamas which resembled the ones that one would typically see in the movies with the button down shirt and the slacked out pants. "Hm. I hope they don't expect me to live in these." As soon as she spoke, she saw something that she had not caught before. A white folder on the counter top by the door. Inside the folder was a letter addressed to her:

Dear Miss Wilson,

Good morning and hello! We hope you had a calm and smooth awakening. We know that this might be a bit disoriented, but do not panic, you are still in the vicinity that you checked in to. You are just in one of our dismissal rooms. You have been asleep for longer than we initially planned but everything is fine. Your room number is twelve; feel free to go and change and roam around, meet the others.

We look forward to sharing the results with you.

"The others?" She looked up from the letter as she placed it back on the counter, before opening the door. She was slow yet precise with her movements, her eyes wearily analyzing everything. Were the others like her? Would they understand?

Athena looked both ways before she made her way into the halls and went along with the flow. She remembered being shown around but couldn't quite remember through the hazy fog that clouded her head.

It had taken her a few minutes but she had found herself walking down a hall filled with doors that held numbers that labeled them. 'They must be the rooms,' she thought as she kept walking, the soft pitter patter of her bare feet hitting the floor lowly echoing through the hall. Not too far from the rooms she could hear noise. Someone was moving about in a room not too far, which had caused her to go towards it with her nerves on the edge. Her hair swayed back and forth as she got closer to the entrance of what began to look like a big kitchen and cafeteria area. Athena stayed by the edge of the entrance, holding onto it as her blue eyes scanned the area, stopping as she saw a young man moving about. She felt her blood freeze in her body as she wondered who he was, and if he was a part of the 'others' that the staff had written about.

[Utrax]

Marcus Bradley

^{Location: Bedroom // Vending Machine}

---

Marcus wondered what the surveillance capabilities of this place were. Had they been watching him in the night? Did they see him make several trips back and fourth to the vending machine? Did they notice just how many snacks and drinks he brought back? Were they monitoring the channels on the TV he turned through? As an infomercial played, an enthusiastic man pitching the latest and greatest in vacuum packing devices, Marcus found himself smirking at the thought. If they had been paying attention they probably found him odd. For hours he'd played music and sat cross legged on the ground. Sometime after that, he found himself waking up facedown on the carpet, a bit dazed but hungry, so began the first of many trips to the vending machine. The small trashcan in Marcus' room was piled high and nearly overflowing with chip bags, cookie wrappers, and emptied Dr. Pepper bottles.

He had his hand on the doorknob, ready to venture out for another vending trip, when an alarm started going off. Jolting sharply, he stared at the door, then wondered if he had set off a sensor of some sort. Had he got too many snacks? Was there a limit? The intercom crackled and Marcus tensed up, prepared for the worst-- oh.

Oh, that was just the wake up alarm.
OH. That was the wake up alarm.

Slamming a hand heavily into his face, Marcus grunted as he listened to the announcement, then cursed his inability to sleep. Already it was morning, which meant it was too late to try and sleep again. Notably, it was the carpet which had given him the most rest although, that was probably due to the series of exercises he had done to tire himself out. What a shame this lack of sleep was, but he hoped it wouldn't impair him too badly. Hopefully. With a weary sigh, Marcus walked into the bathroom, then turned the hot water on to let it heat up for-- wait a second...

Blinking at the steam, Marcus moved his hand into the stream of water. How had it heated up so fast?! He was quite astounded-- this was nothing like his house at all. He didn't travel much so Marcus had too little experience with water that heated almost instantly. Marcus couldn't help but make a soft grunt of awe before he started undressing. Soon he took a shower, dried himself off, then stared at his dirty clothes...

Did he have to wear them again?

Squinting, Marcus stared at his dirty boxers, reached down for them, then gave them a sniff-- A few coughs escaped him. He firmly concluded that it was probably best to search the room for clothes. They had provided basically everything else so Marcus figured it was worth a shot. He walked over to a closed door, to what he assumed was the closet, then opened it. Once again Marcus found himself stunned. Within the closet were clothes that were... were they his? He then went to a nearby dresser, found more clothes that were his-- his socks-- his shoes-- wait... Picking up one of the heavy black boots, Marcus noticed how new and clean it was. These people were certainly trying hard to please, weren't they? All of these clothes looked like things he would wear, but Marcus quickly figured out they were all newly purchased. Shaking his head, Marcus devoted his time to getting dressed, easing the strangeness of the clothing situation out of his mind-- how had they known what he liked to wear?

Eventually Marcus emerged from his room clad in jeans, workbooks, and a white t-shirt. Yawning slightly, Marcus made his way down the hall and toward the cafeteria again, figuring he didn't have much time before testing began-- his shower had been a bit of a long one, after all. More garbage from the snack machine would have to do.

[Sazama]

Location: Room -> Cafeteria/Kitchen

Eliza woke up annoyed to the sound of the alarm. As she would have guessed, 8:00 was a bit tad early for her taste. Nevertheless, she sprung off the bed and took another good look around the room. It was when she spotted a closet did curiosity get the best of her. She walks to the door expecting to see hospital gowns or prisoner outfits when opened. To her surprise, were clothing that was almost to her taste. Everything was off-season of course, she didn't expect the biohazard people to be up to date on the latest fashion trends. Eliza was confused on how they figured out the type of clothing she likes. Were they watching them live their daily lives? Or perhaps they already contacted love ones for the information? Whatever the reality was, Eliza was relieved she wasn't going to be stuck wearing the same outfit every day.

After spending a few minutes getting ready and contempt with her outfit, which was a nice simple dark purple/black floral romper, Eliza made her way to the cafeteria. On her way there she spotted the person who sat alone last night head to the vending machines. They were going to be doing activities, the last thing that was needed was junk food. She shrugged it off and continued to the cafeteria. That was when she sees the new face that the intercom lady was talking about. The new girl was standing at the entrance, seeming to only be peering in.

Eliza quietly walks up behind the girl to see what she was looking at. Alas, it was the Arthur gentleman, from the UK. He appeared to be already cooking, which reminded Eliza that they had to prep their own meals from here on out. Eliza wasn't much of a cook, but the man looked as if he knew what he was doing. Trying best not to startle her but also alert her that Eliza was right behind her, she puts a hand on the shoulder of the girl.
"Hey new girl I'm starving, let's not gawk here any longer and see if he needs any help." Eliza yawns and lets go of the girl's shoulder, making her way towards the kitchen.
"I can't cook, but I guess I can start setting a table for everyone." Eliza gives Arthur a smile and starts searching the place for plates, utensils, and cups.

----
@wolverbells@Jinxer

[AnnieTimeNow]

Rachel Jones

Location: Bedroom-->Vending Machine
Interacting With: @Utrax

A man wearing a surgical mask stood above Rachel, her heart was thudding in her ears as he brought the obnoxiously huge needle closer to her restrained arm. The more you struggle, the more painful this will be for you. So I reccomend you calm down. The man had an accent though Rachel couldn't put her mind to recognizing its origin. Beads of sweat that had gathered on her forehead began trickling down the sides of her face. Panic soared through her body as she fought against the metal restraints which only resulted in bruising and rubbing her skin. Please, Rachel begged with a sob, Please stop! You can't do this to me! I'm a human being, you can't do this! I'll scream! The man in the mask nodded to two other men in biohazard suits who immediately were at Rachel's side. Somehow she was filled with more panic as they forcefully held her writhing body down. One suited man's gloved hand covered her mouth. A loud buzzer type ringing filled Rachel's ears as more words came from behind the mask, Ah but darling if you screamed there'd be no one to hear you. Though she couldn't see his mouth, Rachel was positive behind the mask he wore a sinister grin. A piercing scream escaped her lungs as the the man brought down the syringe.

Rachel bolted upright in her bed still screaming. Just as suddenly she clasped her own hands over her mouth to silence herself. Her body was drenched in sweat causing the starchy sheets to stick uncomfortably to her legs. It was just a dream, you're okay. It was only a dream. Rachel spoke trying to calm her racing heart. Just as the thudding began to die down she realized that the buzzer noise from her dream was real. The alarm on the bedside clock was going off, announcing that it was 8am and time to get up. Rachel somehow mananged to silence the annoying alarm as the intercom came to life giving instructions and bringing Rachel back to reality. Taking a deep breath and sighing deeply, Rachel shakily made her way out of bed and to the bathroom to shower and get ready.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that they had all of her daily products available in the bathroom. After showering she quickly tied the towel around her body while she dried her hair and put on traces of natural looking makeup. No amount of concealer could fully hide the bags under her huge blue-green eyes. Satisfied with her appearance Rachel headed back out to look for clothes, they couldn't be expected to keep living in the same clothing...right? Opening the dresser she gasped as she was greeted by clothing in her style, and all of it new by the looks of it. Rachel internally scolded herself for her extreme dreams. Look at this place, with everything that they had provided for their guests, how could they want to hurt them?

Rachel decided on a cute and bouncy boho patterned dress that fit just perfectly on her frame along with a pair of strapy sandals. Dressed and presentable Rachel left her room to try to find something to eat before she ran out of time. Down the hall she could smell something coming from the kitchens, but a protest from her stomach indicated that she wouldn't be able to hold down a full meal. Still, hunger was present.

Down the hall a bit Rachel's eyes fell on a vending machine, with the loner boy from last night lurking nearby it. Might as well start to try to make friends, Rachel thought to herself as she began walking down the hall to the vending machine and the boy. As she approached, Rachel didn't look at the boy, instead she propped her forearm up against the glass as she closely examined the machine's contents. Anything good in there? Rachel asked the stranger, hoping to spark up a conversation and to distract herself from the lurking remenants of the dream that still played through her mind.

[ProxyInc]

Bailey Collins

Location
Room 11 - Cafeteria

Interacting with
@jinxer
@wolverbells
@kimmininja
@Utrax

---

BLEEEEEE

"Wha-"

EEEEEEEE

Bailey sleepily thrust his arm out from beneath the covers and blindly smacked at the nightstand, seeking to silence the irritating alarm but managed to knock off his glasses to the floor instead. 'Shit.' he moaned internally before sitting up. The room around him swam as his eyes began to adjust. Confusion and sleep pulled at his senses. Nothing around him made sense, this wasn't his room. Using the palms of his hand he wiped away the the last tendrils of sleep in his eyes as memories flooded back. 'Oh.' Now everything made sense again, more or less.

He didn't want to get up, Bailey wanted to crawl back under the covers and surrender himself to the bliss of dreaming. Instead he was given another announcement, done in the same metallic drone as the night before. Frowning he slid out of the bed, careful to not step on his glasses. "Should I make the bed?" he questioned out loud before shrugging than worry off. Surely if they minded they'd let him know. For now he had more important things to worry about like breakfast.

Spying a open door in his room, Bailey found his bathroom and rushed through his morning ritual. He left his clothes in a like as he stepped into the shower, scrubbing away whatever tiredness that still lingered in his limbs.

"Clothes?" he kicked at his worn ones before looking around. Surely they didn't expect them to wear the same things over and over. What if they had them wear uniforms? His mind wandered as he opened up the closet to find a fully stocked wardrobe similar to the fashion he and come in. "Huh." it shouldn't of surprised him but still he was set a little on edge.

His stomach growled as it urged him to hurry and Bailey once more pushed down his uneasiness and changed into fresh clothes. "Man, I bet they don't allow smoking down here." He complained, his mood now set on irritation. Bailey liked to think of himself as a social smoker but in truth he had been steadily upping the amount of cigarettes he had each day and right now his body hummed with the need for nicotine. Slamming the closet door shut he sulked over to the bed, managing to bump into foot rest along the way. "Fuck me." Bailey growled before snatching the glasses off the floor.

Hurriedly he slammed the door to his room behind him and marched down to the cafeteria. "Great." he complained out loud as a few others came into sight. His bad mood poured out from him as he pushed past everyone and went to raid the kitchen- largely ignoring the rest of them as he started a pot of coffee. If he couldn't have nicotine, he was going to flood his body with caffeine. In the meantime he started poking around the fridge. Bailey shoved an apple onto his mouth as he grabbed some coffee cream. Kicking the door shut he set about making his first cup, visibly relaxing as the scent of coffee flooded the kitchen.

It was only after his first sip that he realized he had rudely pushed himself around the others. Blinking he looked around and muttered, "Sorry, nicotine withdraw." Bailey apologized sheepishly before taking another bite of his apple. 'Wait.' his mind clicked. Something was different, well someone was different. He vaguely remembered the mention of a new person over the intercom. Bailey looked her over once before heading out to sit down at the tables. 'Cute.' He noted.

[Jinxer]

Arthur Seymour

@AnnieTimeNow@Aquanthe@HecateProxy@KimmiNinja@Utrax@CyanideSweetie@wolverbells

Arthur had barely begun preparing food when he noticed others starting to arrive. A couple of them went to the vending machines, apparently foregoing a cooked or more substantial breakfast, while a woman he didn't recognise from the day before was standing near the corner, with no apparent motivation to approach closer. His first instinct was to wave to her and call her over but he thought better of it, considering how anxious most people would feel in their situation. He himself, after all, was heavily suppressing his own feelings of fear by being active and making observations on their surroundings on the facility; as if it would help should the facility managers proved to be less than trustworthy.

Another woman, the one he remembered identifying herself as Eliza the previous day, was the first to actually enter the kitchen proper with a declarative statement regarding her cooking skills but an offer to aid in setting up. This gave Arthur an idea and he stopped what he was doing, hurrying back to the fridge and unloading a lot more of the food stuffs from before and returning to his preparatory area.

"That'd be helpful, thank you. I'll make a large batch then - it's good to start the day with a proper breakfast. At least, that's what we do in Britain." He smiled back at Eliza and hurried his actions, shoving bacon and sausages under the grill in bulk and slicing the rest of the food at speed. While not a great chef he had lived alone ever since he turned eighteen and had gotten used to making food for himself as well as hosting dinner parties for friends and colleagues.

Bailey busted into the kitchen with a dark look on his face, heading straight for the fridge and ignoring everyone else, grabbing an apple and making himself a coffee before his expression relaxed a little. He apologised for his actions, explaining his withdrawal symptoms, Arthur raising an eyebrow in question but saying nothing, turning his focus back to chopping so that he didn't cut himself by not looking.

"I think I saw some dishes in that cupboard. Not that one, the one to your left. That's it. Can you pop them in the oven to heat up a little?" He was directing with nods of his head, hands busy loading up saucepans with mushrooms, beans, bread and oil and plum tomatoes while intermittently turning the food over as they began to fry. Turning away for a second he grabbed a manual cafetiere and filled it with some ground coffee and boiling water, returning to tend to the food, and then filling a pot of tea up as well.

He was in his element, rushing about and occasionally requesting assistance from anyone nearby to fetch things, as if preparing a breakfast for multiple party goers who had crashed at his house the night before and were still recovering. Soon the food was ready and he began to divvy it up into various warm serving dishes and ferrying them out to the cafeteria before taking his own seat and rubbing his hands.

"Food for anyone who wants it, I feel like we've got a day ahead of us and it's good to be prepped."

[CyanideSweetie]

Caebyn -Bynie- Danvers

---

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Bynies conscious stirred.

"Nu. Fif mer min", she drooled onto her pillow. Thrashing her arm around she managed to turn the alarm off. With a snore she comfortably slipped back into sleep. The buzz of the intercom and the purr of the voice had her bolting upright in bed. She was not home. Yet she could not coax her eyes to stay open. She sat there, with her head tilted back, eyes closed, and mouth hanging open for God knows how long. Then a thought filled her mind, and it wouldn't go away no matter how many times she tried to dismiss it.

Coffee

No. I can't. Too tired.

Coooooffffffeeeeeee

Shuddup

She rolled out of bed and pulled herself into a semi upright position. Not even bothering to smooth out her ruffly dress that she never changed out of she cracked open her eyes wide enough to see the door and shuffled out. Following the delicious aroma she slowly made her way to the kitchen. Oh thank the caffeine gods there was already creamer, she grabbed a mug and poured a heaping cup of deliciousness and made her way to a chair. Chugging half the contents she sighed contently and laid her head on the table. Waiting for the magical bean juice to give her life.

I think it was safe to say that mornings were not her thing.

[wolverbells]

Athena Wilson | Kitchen

Mentions: @Jinxer @HecateProxy

It must have been morning, since more people were beginning to appear. As the sun rose, the building came to life and it made Athena feel somewhat uncomfortable. She wished that she could have at least gotten some time to become acclimated to the vicinity before being introduced to so many people all at once. She knew that the others wouldn't be able to tell what she was feeling, for she never truly showed her emotions easily. Instead of making any kind of movement, Athena kept watching everyone as they appeared, only then moving when she was startled by a hand that was placed on her shoulder. "Oh..." Her voice came out in a higher octave than usual as she turned quickly to see who had touched her. An unhappy look found its way on her face as she pulled away quickly from the girl's touch. She seemed to be more friendly than anyone that she had ever met, which took her Athena by surprise.

Following her startle, Athena found herself being slightly pushed out of the way by a young man who looked like he could kill anyone who spoke to him. Athena's eyebrow arched as she tried to fathom who the young man thought he was. She quickly turned his way and watched him rummage through the kitchen, trying to find something to probably ease his morning.

"Excuse you."

After being quiet for so long, Athena had spoken up with an icy cold tone in her voice. Her words were dripping with sarcasm as she began to walk in, keeping her eyes locked on the nicotine guy. She watched him clearly look her up and down which filled her with a rage that she knew so well. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." As she spoke, her accent came out, causing her to become a bit self conscious and she could feel a bit of nausea coming on. It typically only happened when her disorder kicked in.

Her eyes traveled back over to the young man who was now moving about the kitchen with surprising grace and speed. The starving female that had touched her shoulder was now moving about too, grabbing what would be needed to serve the food and setting things up.

'Do they know each other already? Are they all.. friends?'

The thought of everyone already knowing each other made Athena feel a weird emotion. It felt as if she was homesick, but she should have not felt anything since she never needed anyone. Regardless, she kept walking over to where the graceful cooking man was and she looked around at what he was making, with curious eyes.

While everything did look good, the scent of the food found it's way into Athena and made her stomach protest. She was never a heavy eater in the morning. Food had always been a passion but to eat so early, and after she had just woken up from an unknown amount of hours, it just wasn't happening. Instead, Athena found herself opting for some coffee like the creep who had just checked her out. She looked up at the graceful cooking man and offered him a small smile, something that was often not found gracing her face, before walking over to the pot of coffee.

"Now, Miss Wilson, after having undergone these studies, you will be eventually joining others. Just not as soon as you might think. What you sign today and hear after today, should be kept confidential. We trust that you will agree with these terms; after all, we are helping you."

Her flashback was quick and brief, but it reminded her to remember what her agreed upon terms were so that she wouldn't slip up around these strangers.

Athena slowly poured her coffee in a mug that she had found, she looked up and kept studying the faces of those around the area before finishing up and heading over to where sir nicotine had gone and sat. With a small pep in her step, she turned on her heel and sat in front of him, her icy blue eyes starting deep into his. "I'm here if you'd like to either push me or look at me more." It was clear that she was being an asshole to him, but she needed to make sure that he got the message that just because he was under some withdrawal, it didn't give him the right to be a jerk. After some silence, Athena smirked, asking for his name, before taking a sip of her coffee.

[Utrax]

Marcus Bradley

^{Location: Bedroom // Vending Machine - Interaction: @AnnieTimeNow}

---

"Anything good in here?"

Marcus was wholly intent on ignoring the presence of the other person until they asked that. Rather mechanically, he turned his head toward her and stared-- looked to the vending machine-- looked back to her-- squinted heavily. What kind of dumb question was that? See, Marcus hadn't met many blind people in his life, but he had this one aut with glaucoma that had trouble seeing things. Now, this Aunt wore super thick glasses to compensate for her bad vision and Marcus didn't see this person wearing glasses of any sort, so she couldn't have been blind. How was he supposed to know if anything in the machine would qualify as 'good' for her or not? How the hell-- Marcus frowned heavily then shrugged. For good measure, he rolled his eyes at her, then moved toward the machine's number pad, despite her apparent need to press her face nearly into the glass. He wanted to tell her to figure it out herself but, well, that would have prolonged the interaction between them.

He certainly didn't tell her to move out of the way, but his rather bullheaded desire to start ordering snacks implied it quite a lot. Punching a few numbers on the machine, Marcus ordered a small feast from the vending machine-- cheese-its, sour cream and onion potato chips, Twizzlers, and a packet of chips ahoy cookies. The haste with which he selected the items was fueled by his need to, you know, not be around whoever this was anymore. Inwardly he scolded himself for his grumpiness, but also blamed his lack of proper sleep for it. Then again, perhaps being grumpy was the key to killing off any further interaction with him-- hopefully forever. Marcus picked up the last of his snacks, then stared toward the bedrooms. Now that he knew he had access to a private area, why would he stay out here with the others? Then again... he stood there long enough to witness the food being prepared and felt a little-- nope. He shook his head at it, then turned to take a seat near where he'd sat the night before.

Marcus then admitted he was out of sorts-- staring about, not actually moving, it was probably weird to watch.

[Carlyle]

Sienna Morris
^{Current Location: Bedrooms -> Cafeteria}

Awake long before the alarm had rung, Sienna mindlessly flipped through the streaming channels while sipping some warm tea that she had brewed upon waking up a few hours ago. Military service had conditioned the pilot to be an early riser, and Sienna felt it would have been bad conduct to continue to sleep. It was long before something could become a bad habit, and if the scientists intended on releasing them after the illness was no longer harmless, Sienna hadn't the need to be reprimanded by her superiors for becoming a lazy slouch. Cleaning the latrine with a toothbrush or some other form of punishment was hardly appealing to Sienna, and her life would turn to hell by letting the facility get the best of her.

The alarm had finally decided to ring once Sienna was in the middle of watching a tank joust between a M4 Sherman and a Tiger I. War movies were a favorite genre of Sienna's, mainly because of the thrill of explosions and gun fire, but as a serving member of the armed forces, she enjoyed hearing regaled tales of heroics and courage from veterans and active duty soldiers. Pausing her place in the middle of the movie, Sienna reached for her leather jacket resting on a chair, and proceeded to walk to the cafeteria as she pulled it over her body. The hallway itself was eerily silent, as if the rest of the patients were still sleeping or already awake and down in the cafeteria, but whatever the case was, home-cooked smells seeped from the cafeteria kitchens.

Looking around as Sienna stepped through the cafeteria doors, she noticed that the group from last night were already prowling the kitchen and vending machines. The silent man and Rachel were toying with the vending machines, while everyone else were prepping a meal and drinking coffee and tea. "Good morning, everyone." Sienna said with a wave to those she had met the night before. However, by then, she had noticed an unfamiliar woman within the ranks. She had an asshole atmosphere lingering around herself, clear from her choice of words and an obvious smirk hidden behind a mug of coffee. From experience, Sienna knew people like her didn't last long with others, but regardless, she still approached the newcomer. Dealing with the illness was one thing, but Sienna didn't wish to deal with annoying little brat prattling her every movement. "First Lieute- Just call me Sienna. Who might you be?" Sienna asked, extending a hand as a greeting as she made a mental note to stop introducing herself with her military credentials.

---

@wolverbells@CyanideSweetie@Jinxer@HecateProxy@AnnieTimeNow@KimmiNinja@Utrax

[Sazama]

Location: Kitchen

Eliza busied herself hopping around the kitchen helping with the plates that she didn't even notice another person bustling and pushing around in the kitchen. The smell of food being prepared had her feel regret for skipping out on dinner last night. Some of the others started to make their way into the kitchens as well and gathered at the tables. Few downing caffeine like there was no tomorrow. Eliza mentally stuck her tongue out at the scent of coffee, she was more of a tea person. Though she did understand the need for the kick that caffeine offered, she'd rather suffer from exhaustion than to experience the bitter taste of coffee.
"Morning there." Eliza responded back to the woman who had just walked in and greeted everyone. Eliza watched for a moment as the woman made her way to the table to started engaging in introductions with the new face.

As Arthur was finishing up the food, Eliza finished heating up the plates as instructed and the pair was ready to bring it out to the others. As Eliza helped Arthur set down the rest of the plates and grab herself a seat, she finally takes a detailed notice of the new face from earlier. The way that the girl talked towards the man that was in a rush to get coffee, and the way she postured herself behind a smirk and a cup, it rubbed Eliza the wrong way. It reminded her of how she acted back in New York when she was competing against her sister. And the kind of vibe that this girl was throwing around annoyed Eliza in a way that it might influence her to act the same. They were just starting out, but Eliza planned on acting polite and patient as possible in order to hide the fact that she came from a life where acting like a brat was a contest.

Eliza stopped and turned away from her when she caught herself accidentally glaring at the girl. Her focus turned to the food as she thanked Arthur for his hard work and started to eat. The food wasn't the best she's ever had, especially when it was 5-star chefs cooking for her, but it was good enough.

---
@Aquanthe@wolverbells@CyanideSweetie@Jinxer@HecateProxy

[AnnieTimeNow]

Rachel Jones

Location: Vending Marching/Cafeteria

Rachel felt her heart sinking further and further into her stomach for every second of awkward and very hostile silence that occurred between her and the unknown silent guy. She had seen him roll his eyes at her, though she couldn't understand why. Hadn't she only asked a simple question? Rachel looked at the boy and clenthced her hands into a fist. Nothing irritated her more than being treated as if she were stupid. Especially for no apparent reason. Quickly and silently the unnamed guy reached out and began pressing buttons on the vending machine, leaving Rachel only to gawk and watch as snack after snack tumbled down. No Name/No Words grabbed his breakfast and without speaking once, he was gone. But after that oh-so-smooth interaction what else could she expect, that he would stay? Well it was nice talking to you too. Rachel mumbled to his back as she hugged herself, she suddenly felt very small as she stood there in a shocked silence.

Part of Rachel wanted to follow him and figure out what his problem was. She had done nothing to him, yet he treated her like garbage. However, the other, larger, part of Rachel felt more empty somehow. Her whole life she had been used to being left out and discarded. She never really had made friends, her father had disappeared the second he found out about her, and none of her biological family had wanted to take her in after her mother passed. She never really got used to being alone, but maybe that's just how her life was supposed to be.

She stared at a spot on the hallway floor realizing that this encounter had taken away any trace of hunger and will to interact with the others that she had within her before. Between her nightmare and this kid, today was already shaping up to be testing. And that was before whatever actual tests they were supposed to endure today. Inside of the cafeteria she could smell food of some sort and she could hear the chatter of the others. I should join them. Rachel thought to herself as she slid down the wall of the hallway until she was sitting down, long legs stretching in front of her. Maybe she should, but not yet. She wasn't ready for the possibility of another rejection like that.

[ProxyInc]

Bailey Collins

Location
Cafeteria

Interacting with
@wolverbells

---

Bailey choked on a sip of his coffee as the young woman slid into the seat before him. He quickly covered his mouth as he attempted to save some face as the drink dribbled from his mouth but she didn't seem taken back by his sudden nervousness. Instead the young woman began to speak, her words clipped with a cold anger, but that wasn't what caught Bailey's attention. Her voice, it was there, smooth as silk as it lilted with an accent but there was something else. As if there was an echo to each word.

"Mary?" he mumbled as his head seemed to fill up with the fog of distant memories. It couldn't be Mary, Mary was dead. He shook his head as he tried to clear his confusion. It was impossible. This girl didn't even look anything like Mary, yet he was so sure that he had heard her voice. 'Maybe, I'm more tired than I thought?' He sighed, brushing back a few wet strands of hair from his face before looking back at the girl. 'Crap, she's still staring at me.' Bailey subverted his gaze to his half empty cup of coffee, surely she was waiting on him to respond. Maybe even defend himself but his mouth felt dry. His thoughts swimming with the confusion as Mary's voice still rang across his mind.

Had she said something similar? No. It wasn't likely. Mary was soft and sweet where this girl was bold and full of an icey anger. "My apologies." he managed to choke out as he tried to shove the uncomfortable feeling that was tightening around his chest. "I was rude." he tacked on as he picked up his half eaten apple, feeling the smoothness of its skin beneath his fingertips. Bailey didn't dare look back up at the woman, his expression had clouded with darkness and his face had turned a dark red from embarrassment but more so he didn't want her to see the faint tears that had begun to sting his eyes. 'Mary...'

[SheriffLlama]

Cassius "Cas" Williams | Auditorium/Hallway/Cafeteria

Interacting: Anyone in the Cafeteria

---

Cassius' orientation had been far less formal than his fellow residents. Unlike them, he'd only just arrived that morning and he'd come to his senses in an empty auditorium with none but himself. Cas found himself sitting in a chair, looking up towards a massive whiteboard, almost leading him to think he was back in Chicago Fire's meeting room where Coach Klopas would draw their formations. He tried to clear his head, but he felt a constant weight on his mind, likely from being sedated before he'd been escorted from his hospital in Chicago. His sense of familiarity was obliterated when a woman in a stark white lab coat walked through a door in the wall, her heels clicking obnoxiously against the floor. "Good morning, Cassius." She said, with a posh tone that bugged Cas to no end.

"Where the hell am I?" He muttered in his groggy baritone. He tried to stand up but his tired body decided that moving was not going to happen. Instead he sat defeatedly back in his chair, turning his gaze back to the newcomer.

"You're in our state-of-the-art research facility." She answered. "You should really move at a slower pace, the sedatives require time to fade. Anyways, welcome to the facility." She flipped an electronic tablet around to show a white slide. "Let me explain some things." She began to slide through a presentation, detailing the fact of his suspected, "illness," the reason he was currently missing matches and sitting out one of the best seasons of his professional careers, was not actually anything that had existed before. It was supposedly a new strain of sickness that she claimed would give him special abilities impossible for other humans.

"That's honestly the most dumbest thing I've ever heard." He said, shaking his head. "I don't have su- superpower or whatever. I'm just a footballer who needs help not getting sick so I can do what I do." He shook his head, crossing his hands. His right thumb caressed the knob of the golden rolex watch on his right wrist, as he often did when he was nervous.

"That's not an uncommon reaction, Mr. Williams. Allow me to demonstrate." She said, laying her tablet on the table beside her. She looked back at him and her body began to shimmer and vibrate until a second copy of herself flashed into existence. This sight was more than enough to shake Cas out of his dazed state.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped and out of pure instinct her jumped out of his chair, backpedaling into the aisle behind him. Between heaving breaths, Cas said, "Okay, what kind of LSD's did you inject me with?!" That was the only explanation his brain could give him. Cassius was no stranger to drugs, being a bit of a partier, but he'd never taken anything that caused him to see crazy hallucinations.

"Only a sleeping agent, Cassius. Your mind is working at near full level, despite your mild sedation." She said, then began to detail the rest of why this illness was truly going to give him powers. She then showed him a display of all the facilities and directed him to go through the back door and join the other patients. "I'll see you again soon, Cas." She said, then left through the same door she'd entered.

"Hey! Come back! I don't have super powers!" He shouted, but the door shut with no more word from anyone. Cassius sighed and shook his head, turning to look at the door at the back of the facility, which slid open almost as if it knew he was looking at it. He walked to the back of the room and through the door, stepping into a white hallway that reminded him of a hospital (naturally). He walked past a series of closed doors, calling out for someone to answer.

When no one answered he turned down another hallway, also receiving no contact with intelligent life. He reached a third hallway, the doors labeled with what looked like room numbers, and at the end of it was an open doorway. Inside the doors looked to be a cafeteria of some sort, and he could see people within. He jogged to the doorway and came to a halt as he stepped inside. "Hey!" He shouted as he entered the room. "Does anyone know what's going on?! I think I was drugged, 'cause I swear to God I just saw some lady in a lab coat clone herself!"

[wolverbells]

Athena Wilson | Kitchen/Cafeteria

Mentions: @HecateProxy @Aquanthe @SheriffLlama

The young man had seemed to have lost the words to respond to her sudden approach, which made Athena feel a bit bad for coming on so strong. In regards to making friends, the woman had little to no experience. She was a fish out of water and most likely had come off as a bitch to the others, which she did not really care for at the moment.

While Bailey began to register that Athena was speaking to him, she turned her head to look up at someone who had approached them. It was yet another unknown face that seemed as if she had self disciple for days. Athena reached out, a bit hesitant at first, to shake the young woman’s hand. “Military previously?” Her voice was a bit less cold than before, being genuinely curious about Sienna’s reasons for having a rank. “My name is Athena,” she carried on as she pulled her hand back and sat it on the table, “I have been here for a while… just in another side of the building. They barely let me come to this side.” Her explanation was brief and vague, but it was better to answer some questions that were not voiced so that she could be left alone. She did not want to break the terms that she had agreed upon before checking herself in.

Giving Sienna a respectful nod of acknowledgement, Athena’s attention went back to the man across from her who still had not responded. He had mumbled something before but Athena had not caught on to what he said, which caused her to lean in a bit to listen better to what else he would say. “Hey, are you okay?” Her faced dawned a look of concern as she began to recognize the look that man had. It was one that she was familiar with, all too well. It wasn’t until a bit more of awkward silence passed, until he spoke up and apologized. Her heart felt as if it had shattered because she knew the truth behind his confusion, and quite frankly a look of grief.

“I’m.. I am so sorry. I did not mean for that to happen”, her voice was quiet as she began to get up, “I must go now.” She frowned as she looked at the young man, and avoided making eye contact with Sienna. ’It happened again. How could I let it happen again?! I can not speak to anybody else until I get my results.’

It was as she began to back away from the table that she was sitting at that a voice came booming in from the kitchen entrance. Athena turned to see another face that she had not seen yet, but something told her that he was not a part of the group of people that were already here. He shown every sign of being disoriented and distraught, which made her worry about what kind of actions he would decide to take if pushed more to the edge. Not knowing anything herself, just yet, Athena remained quiet and began to walk towards the man. She had no intentions of engaging in conversation with him, but instead she wanted to get as far from him. She needed to get to her room before the others began to question her and her motives.

“Remember, Miss Wilson, everything we are doing here is for your own good. We will protect you, you just have to trust us. Do not trust anyone else.”

Her heart began to race as she pushed past the shouting man so that she could carry on towards her room. She needed just a bit of time to adjust to the fact that there were others with different personalities and attitudes, as well as disorders. She knew what they needed, and she knew what she needed, and that was to comply with whatever the staff members said.

[Utrax]

Marcus Bradley

^{Location: Bedroom // Vending Machine}

---

With a heavy sigh, Marcus settled down at the table he'd sat at the night before. He pressed his face into his palm then closed his eyes briefly. They stung and burned, a sure sign that they had been open for too long. While he still knew he was tired, at this point in insomnia, his body had fooled his brain into thinking he was awake enough to function. Marcus looked up at the wall across the room and arched a thoughtful brow. It hadn't occurred to him until now but there didn't seem to be any windows. Idly he began opening his bag of potato chips when someone crossed his line of sight-- wait, who was that?

Squinting at the woman in the white pajamas, he shook his head, then stared into his bag of chips. From his vantage point last night, he swore he could have seen-- "Hey!" Shouted the newcomer, "Does anyone know what's going on?!" And at that point Marcus stopped listening. Rolling his eyes again, sighed heavily, then dug into his potato chips more aggressively. Just as aggressively, he tore open his Twizzlers, then shoved a piece into his mouth, combining the flavors. Marcus didn't care to answer the dude's question, he didn't care to ask that other new person where they came from, and he certainly didn't care for all this waiting around. Why was the hour taking forever to come?

Marcus only wanted to call his family at this point. He was worried about how they were getting on without him-- his absence had to have been a burden upon them. Hopefully they hadn't had a mind to hire help-- god no, he hoped they didn't. The last helper out in that part of town had burned down someone's barn out of spite. What if that happened to his family? What if they couldn't haul the harvest well enough to make bank? What if they were evicted while he was here? What if he had to stay here for years? What if-- What if-- The thoughts ping-ponged around his mind, causing him to somehow become more stressed then he already was. He needed sleep. Man, did he need sleep. More and more complaints mounted within Marcus' mind, causing him to stare across the cafeteria with a look of outright distress-- wait, was he also running a fever? Putting a hand to his head, Marcus immediately felt sweat, then let out a heavy breath. This wasn't good. Nothing was good. He just... he wanted to go home. That was all.

[CyanideSweetie]

Bynie sat up suddenly inhaling, "Im awake!." She grumbled looking around. noticing that there was no one talking to her in any way she settled back into her seat, embarrassed. She sighedjh, glancing around, she was still tired but she was alert at least. she sipped her coffee and glanced around. i ready to get today over wit,

[Jinxer]

Arthur Seymour

@AnnieTimeNow@Aquanthe@HecateProxy@KimmiNinja@Utrax@CyanideSweetie@wolverbells@SheriffLlama

Under more normal circumstances, Arthur might have tried to foster some cohesion in their group. That was certainly something which they were missing with brittle conversation being exchanged and some residents flat out refusing to communicate or giving up shortly after doing so. He put it down to the alien nature of their situation, something not one of them would have had to deal with before, but it was still early morning and he doubted any of them had slept properly the previous night. For his part, he had woken once or twice which was unusual for him, and Arthur prided himself on his stoic nature.

Instead, he focused on the meal in front of him. A few partook but there was little enough trust going about as it was, so perhaps the gesture in and of itself would serve its purpose for now, although he disliked the idea of food going to waste. After a particularly healthy portion, during the eating of which he studiously stayed quiet, he drank his tea slowly, all the while listening to everyone around him. They were disorganised with contrasting natures, not to mention emotions were running high.

"Hello hello! We're nearing nine o'clock now so could you all head to the auditorium for the first session? I hope you've all got properly acquainted with one another now, although the first sessions will just be quick individual ones with plenty of free time in between. I'll see you there."

The intercom buzzed into life and then crackled out quickly, the researcher having delivered her rapid message. Arthur pushed himself up, gathering dirty plates and rapidly stacking them, scraping uneaten food onto a separate plate, before carrying them to the kitchen and loading up the dishwasher. At the primary school he had been teaching in he often helped out with the breakfast club provided for the more disadvantaged students, sitting with them and chatting in the morning; something of underestimated importance lest they feel abandoned by parents. Subconsciously he was doing something similar here, compartmentalising his feelings of anxiety and fear to better deal with them while providing the little support he could to those around him.

Leftover food that hadn't been served he put in containers and shoved in the fridge, unwilling to waste anything further, before emerging from the kitchen into the cafeteria.

"Let's go. There's no point in causing them problems." He didn't wait to see if anyone was going to argue against him, which would be understandable enough, or if anyone agreed and followed. As he left the cafeteria he passed the man who had joined them this morning and nodded to him in passing. "I'm Arthur, nice to meet you. For now we should follow their instructions, we can find out more as we go." He continued on, passing the quite man who had yet to really speak with anything, and he said nothing, respecting his isolation.

Finally he caught up with the newest woman of their group who seemed flustered, having left the group rapidly after speaking with Bailey. At last Arthur could no longer do nothing, seeing someone who was actually in need of direction or at least some show of comfort, so he approached her.

"We should head to the auditorium. Your name was... Athena, right? I heard you speak to Sienna earlier. I'm Arthur, professor of history and teacher of little children." He smiled, gesturing round the corner to where signs pointed towards the auditorium. "That's the way there, the others will follow soon but I think staying together as a group's a good idea. We're all in the same boat here and, as far as I can tell, we'll be here a little while so we should probably try to get along some."