Deathmyster

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

/Grant Rotem\

Grant watched as the grand man that wore armor was hit with his attack. Well.. more like, blocked, but even so, after the deformed man had blocked, he came towering down and was pinned to the ground by the rubble. A feeling of relief spread through his mind, though he did not bother emoting it, as he put his focus on trying to prepare himself for the next rock. It all seemed to be going pretty well. But he underestimated one thing. He massively underestimated how fast the squirrels had closed in on him and the others. He let out a swear, “Shit!..” before stumbling back as he saw a squirrel bounding toward him. He shut his eyes tightly as he fell back, literally onto his ass... But no harm came to him. Instead something different came.

A scream. A shout. A yell. Whatever you would call it. He knew whose voice that scream belonged to. “Pad...” He opened his eyes, watching her knife clatter to the ground, and he looked up at the bearer of the knife, whose blood flew. Her screams. Grant watched with wide eyes as Padma dropped to the ground in front of him, his mouth agape with shock. Just as suddenly it had started, her screams ceased, but the squirrels that maimed her blood-spewing body continued. His mouth was open, but there were no words. No sound. Silently, he got up from the ground. He stepped closer to the squirrels, no thoughts. No definite plan. He didn’t even notice the strange black thread that tied itself around one of the squirrel’s wrists. He just walked until those damn squirrels were in range.

Once they were, he pulled the earth at his side out from below with a touch of his chain, and after it slid out from the earth, it steadily formed into a kind of weapon. A club. He could feel his nails digging into his palm from how hard he was clenching his fists. Not only that, his body lowered a bit, feeling that same exact heavy feeling against him... His breaths turned heavy, as if he were panting. He struggled to keep his footing, and yet, he reeled his chain back and swung the club quickly, low and horizontally, at the squirrels.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

/Grant Rotem\

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

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

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

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

/Grant Rotem\

Grant watched as some of the other subnaturals that he rode here with spoke their piece of mind, his tired eyes wandering from one speaker to the next. That is, before one of them decided to slip their wrist cuffs off. Along with a few people, he almost stumbled away, letting out a panicked, yet hushed, “Shit!” After that brief moment of fear and panic, he was glad that he managed to stumble away from the girl who had her hands raised in the air in surrender. It took a bit for Grant to realize that his ears were ringing. It took a bit for him to realize that some of the other subnaturals that rode on the truck with him had been shot. And they just laid on the floor, sprawled out, bleeding. Dying. Or even just dead. His ajar mouth felt dry, which forced him to gulp, the sound of his heart pounding straight in his ears, overtaking the sound of the ringing, as he looked back up at the Director. He didn’t even notice that the soldier who actually shot the students was dead on the floor as well. He said nothing focusing back on the Director for the rest of her spiel, and soon enough, he found his wrists free, but his ankle bound to the supposed “Suppression cuffs.” They didn’t feel too constricting, but he could still tell that they were there. A gift of saying, “You’re not getting out of here.” Despite that, he was just glad that he was still alive in the first place, standing amongst the most likely dead students laying on the floor. The announcing of roommates flew by Grant, though he instantly focused when he heard his name called from the commander.

"Grant Rotem, Padma Majumdar. Suite 330. Building A."

Apparently, while all the other Arbiters and exceptions got the luck of drawing two other people, he only had one. He looked at all the faces around him, hoping to guess who he had been paired with, comparing the name to any of the faces, but he failed to do so before he saw them being escorted to him. Reluctantly, Grant let himself be lead, alongside his new roommate, to his dorm, a gun pointed at the back of both of their heads.

The building he was being lead to didn’t fit his expectations, which were pretty low to begin with. He expected something akin to a prison, or a rundown building, made with barely any polish or care. Instead, his eyes were greeted by the sight of a modern, marble building that towered about five stories. His head tilted up a bit to let his gaze run along the entire building, Needless to say, Grant was glad that this was his living quarters rather than what he was imagining. He counted the floors needed to go up, and he kept his eye on the numbers of the doors, but he only noted the one that they had actually stopped in front of. His room. Rudely, his body was forced forward by the ‘escort’ behind him, a tad bit of pain going through his back as his legs carried him into the room. He glanced back at them as they explained the curfew briefly with command before they left, slamming the door shut. And he and his roommate were alone.

Once the door closed, and the escorts had left along with the danger of being shot, Grant placed his hand on the back of his neck. He could still subtly feel the cuffs that surrounded his wrists before. His eyes scanned across the room for a few seconds, taking in what was in front of him. The simple necessities of a simple bedroom for two. After having a look around, he made the obvious decision, for him, and he dragged his feet across the floor, over to the bed, passing the duffel bag, and he sat down on the edge of the mattress. He was tired after this morning's events, and he couldn't wait to get to sleep. He even nearly forgot that he had a roommate before he heard their voice.
"Some morning, eh? I'm Padma. Padma Majumdar." He looked up with tired, lidded eyes, but that was normal. He looked her up and down. An arbiter girl with darkly tanned skin and a fit body. Practically the polar opposite of him. Was this some kind of joke? He was too tired to offer a facial expression back to her small smile that she had given him.
"...Yeah." He replied simply, in a voice that matched his face. "Grant Rotem." That's all he said before reaching to his duffle bag and opened it up, checking inside, though he took nothing out. It was obvious that he was not one for words. He hadn't even glance or look at the papers that were mentioned before. He kicked his dirty shoes off, letting them tumble next to his duffle bag before getting up. His body felt heavy, and the fact that it was 3 in the morning only decreased his drive to talk. Once his roommate, who had gone into the bathroom, returned, he was ready to just crash against his bed. But her voice pulled him back.
”You can leave the light on as long as you need it, but I'm done with today. Goodnight.” He sat for just a moment longer before letting out a quick sigh and pushing himself off his bed. He was going to room with her for a while, so as he walked toward to the lightswitch, he said one thing to her.
"...I hope we can get along...." His tone didn't change from his previous tired state, and he even let out a yawn right after. Even if they were practically opposites from how it looks like, he might as well try and get along with her. Not a good idea to be awkward with someone you’ll be spending quite a bit of time with. He flicked the light off, made his way to his bed, let his legs get caught by the frame, and fell forward onto the mattress, not bothering with his blanket. It was softer than he imagined it to be. "..Mmnight." Was the last thing he mumbled out before drifting to sleep.

Padma Majumdar

Padma woke at seven AM. It had not been a long sleep, but her usual circadian rhythm had her up at this time, and her well honed discipline had her rising from bed immediately, regardless of fatigue.

In fifteen minutes she had visited the bathroom to perform her hygiene and skin care. She would shower later, after exercise, and contented herself with brushing her hair out thoroughly.

Grant still slept, or seemed to. She hadn't made much noise, so she assumed it was possible he hadn't been roused. Padma let him, and went to the papers on the desk. She finished half of the exams before taking a study break. Absorbed in her studies, Padma looked around to see if Grant had awoken yet.

When Padma looked over at Grant, who she assumed to be sleeping, she'd find him moving around the bed, until eventually just rolling onto his front, his cheek laying against his pillow. As is usual for a person having just woken up, his hair was a mess and his eyes blinked open only slightly, but he was awake. His eyes focused on what was in front of him, which was Padma, who was in a much more awake state than him.

"Good morning," Padma said to him. She stood up and reached into her duffel bag, shuffling around for a second, until she retrieved a pair of shoes. "I was about to go for a run, if you wanted to go with me. Apparently we have, er, a combat examination in a few days. It might do to make sure we're fit."

Grant stared at her when she offered him the opportunity to run with her, and it took a long moment, maybe half a minute, for his mind to process what she said. The fact that there was a combat exam coming… but he really didn’t want to run so early in the morning. In fact, he really didn’t want to run much at all. He moved his face back into the pillow and answered, muffled by the pillow, ”Mmmmm… I’ll pass..” He wasn’t planning to stay in bed all day, since there were those exams on the desks, as much as he didn’t want to do those.

Padma closed her eyes, expressionless for a moment, then continued tying up her laces. In truth, she was relieved. There would be time to get on with Grant later, but right now she didn't want him slowing her down. She had managed to stay busy since the events of last night, and she didn't want to lose her momentum, and risk dwelling on the deaths she had witnessed, or her own disenchantment with the nature of this facility.

She walked out the door.

Her routine today was brutal. There was probably a gym in campus, but Padma didn't look for one, instead opting for the classic body weight exercises. Endurance over strength for her this morning. Nearly an hour later, her body sore and tired, she started her run.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

<Snipped quote by Deathmyster>

Yeah, how do you want to do it? PM, or like a google doc or something?

@Gisk

Let's try pirate pad. I'm curious about it, and it looks easy to navigate. I'll send you the link.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

@Gisk
Well, we're room mates, sooo, do you want to collab?

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

/Grant Rotem\

Grant stood amongst the group of chained subnaturals that appeared to be around his age, glancing at them for only seconds at a time from beneath his lazy, lidded eyes. His hands were hot and sweaty within his pockets, feeling a certain nervousness that wouldn't leave, but the only indication of it were his own two hands that he hid. As his eyes wandered randomly now through the transparent walls around him, he would watch the scenery go by, if you can call it a scenery. The only thought that crossed his mind was simple. How long until we get there? He was already getting sick of the tense atmosphere, which only grew once the fighting began. He dared not to move with the guards, and he just kept still, though he was curious enough to keep his eye on the fight that he could see. Once the truck got moving again, it wasn't long before he and the others reached the destination.

When ordered out of the truck, he complied, as if he even had a choice. He trudged out and walked with the line... Once they were herded into the blank chamber, he gazed around, and yet nothing caught his eye, aside from the other subnaturals that he was brought here with. After a few more long, drawn-out minutes, a woman finally came to give her speech. First few sentences out of her mouth, and he already knew that he wasn't going to particularly like her, but he was too focused on listening that he didn't react on that light hatred growing in his mind. No questions popped up in his mind, and he didn't really put much effort into thinking of any anyway, after she was done speaking, so he remained silent, waiting for anyone else to speak up, which someone did.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

@Chasers115 Meeeeeeeeee. You're Welcome.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

There's always some room in our own magical hell filled with unstable teenagers!

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

I don't know why, but the deer head symbol caught my attention the most, and I just think it's cute interesting.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Grant too lazy to actively go search for friends. He'll just take what flows to him.