wolverbells

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Testing Room to Gym

The examination was more verbal than Irina would have thought. Esmeralda had began with the basics such as full name and date of birth, and then they had ventured into Irina’s background. The first set of questions were very inoffensive. They held little to no importance in Irina’s eyes, but soon after, Esmeralda began touching deeper subjects such as her parent’s marriage and divorce, along with her relationship with both her dad and mom whether together or apart. Irina had hesitated on a few of them but decided that it would do no harm to tell the truth. If anything, it felt slightly relieving to be able to not carry the burden by herself. Esmeralda had been more than accepting of the stories that Irina told her, and soon enough the testing portion had turned into a psychology session for the young woman. No one had ever listened to her before or care about what kind of pain she was in. Even if this was for research to see how it would affect her mind, she did not care. She poured herself out just to be able to feel her chest lighten up and for her conscience to not feel as guilty.

”You’ve done an amazing job here, Irina. If I can be honest, I was worried that you would be not so forthcoming with the answers. Thank you.” Esmeralda gave Irina a warm smile and reached over to give her shoulder a small squeeze. Irina had merely nodded back to the older woman and looked over to the desk behind her, waiting for the more physical aspect of the session to take place.

”Now, I am not supposed to tell you this because I was told that this didn’t go as planned, but we are allowing a phone call home.” As the older woman spoke, her blue eyes became focused and weary, as if she was expecting a negative reaction from Irina. “What? Oh. What happened? Why aren’t you supposed to tell me that? Technical difficulties happen a lot where I am from.” Irina’s head tilted ever so slightly to the side as confusion made itself present not only in her mind but on her face as well. ”No, it has nothing to do with the technical stuff. It’s just that, we couldn’t get a hold of your mom.” Once again Esmeralda seemed a bit weary. For a second, Irina became even more confused, then quickly she realized what this meant and her green eyes filled with the disappointment and despair that she had felt earlier. “Oh-“ ”If you’d like we can try again here with you in the room?” Esmeralda had quickly interjected, probably trying to right the wrong that she thought they had made. One of many. “Um, no. No, it’s okay. I know where my mom is and she will not be answering. She never does.” Irina’s voice matched what her eyes portrayed as she shook her head ever so slightly. “May I go now?” Her gaze had fallen to the crook of her elbow where a band aide now covered the punctures of the needles. Esmeralda had hesitantly agreed and opened the door for her, speaking to Irina but nothing was heard. The emotions that ran through Irina’s head were far too strong to be ignored this time, and she let them flow freely through her.

Disappointment.

Anger.

Sadness.

Heart break.

Disillusionment.

Then anger, again.

Livid, actually, is how Irina felt. Tears sprang from her eyes and flowed down her cheeks as she thought how easily her mom must have given her up to these people. She probably sold her to them so she could get money and go waste it on alcohol and meth.

’This isn’t a research facility.. This is a mental institution’ Irina thought angrily as she made her way into her room. She sniffled a bit, trying to fix herself as she stepped in front of a mirror. She looked like a mess. A weak mess. Her eyes had become red as well as her cheeks from the anger. Strands of hair stuck to her wet face which caused her to remember the movie The Grudge. “Argh!” Irina quickly raised her hands to her face to wipe off the tears and pull her hair out of her face and up into a pony tail. She wanted to scream and throw everything that she found against glass just to hear the satisfying sound of something breaking. “How!!! The fuck!!! Did I!!! End up here!?!?!” Her voice was shrill as she screamed and walked away from the mirror, her hands balling up into fists as she went on her fit of rage.

Her eyes had caught sight of something that probably would have made her feel like a fool before. Her running shoes lay neatly by the side of her bed, which meant that she had been walking around in her socks the entire time. This didn’t pop into her head though. Irina quickly jumped into action and slid her shoes on before tying them tightly and storming out of the room.

’Esme said there was a gym in here.’

Irina’s eyes darted from sign to sign as she walked quickly down the hall until she found the room she was looking for. In the back of her mind, she had made a mental note that this gym was different from her gym back home. No actual gymnastics materials. It didn’t matter. Irina had bee-lined straight to a single punching bag in the back corner of the room. It didn’t matter to her whether she had gloves or tape on, Irina went ahead and threw the first few punches with everything she had, even a couple of kicks. She needed to not only release the anger that she felt but also feel something else. Anything. As long as it helped her momentarily forget her troubles at home and her current situation.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Auditorium to Testing Room

After the question phase of the presentation had turned for the worst (with a young woman being take out in a frenzy), Irina had merely sat back in her chair and folded her arms on her torso. The teenager wanted to smirk at the lady named Elisa. She wanted to show her that not every body here was going to be as compliant.

Her satisfaction lasted very little though, as Elisa once again began speaking and focused the majority of her passive aggressiveness towards Irina. The anger in Irina once again began to rise incredibly as the woman walked over to her and got within arms reach. The teenager could feel the blood boiling under her skin, making her cheeks hot and red, and bringing up a strong urge to stand up and spit in the woman’s face. Elisa had a point, but Irina was by far too proud to admit it. At the moment, Irina just wanted to grab the lady and smash her head onto one of the many flat surfaces that surrounded them. Why didn’t she though?

’It will only take a few seconds. Just a few and she’ll be taken care of.. but what if the same thing happens to me like that one girl. It probably will’

Irina had been so lost in thought, that by the time she snapped back to reality, there were people already moving about. Abel was walking out of the door with a man that looked like he could eat the teenaged boy. Another boy had already been taken away. Irina looked around until her eyes found the screen that showed a picture of her with a number next to it. She acknowledged her room number but her eyes lingered on her picture. Her eyes. In the picture, her eyes were a vibrant green and full of life. It was when she had cut her hair into a shorter A-line cut and it had been straightened. ’My passport picture’ she thought as she remembered her mom pressuring her to look pretty. She had worn a bit of eyeliner and mascara, and pinched her cheeks prior to taking the picture so they could take on a natural blush. Her freckles splayed out for the world to see, and her mouth had been transformed into a grin which she hardly ever saw on a day to day basis.

”Irina Ivanov?” A warm and gentle voice reached out to Irina to bring her back to the present. The girl turned quickly and looked up to see a tall woman standing in front of her. She was of a good build, which surprised Irina. Not many women were taller than five foot eight inches, but this woman seemed to be nearly six feet. She wasn’t thin either, nor was she fat. She was thick and seemed to have features that if Irina had bumped into her on the street, they would have made her apologize immediately. Even her dark hair that she had in an intricate braided bun was intimidating. ”I will be your coach, dear.” Her voice did not match her appearance. The lady seemed to be in her late thirties, early forties yet her voice was much older, wiser in a way. Irina’s mouth fell slightly agape. No way had she just heard that oxymoron. Yet she had, and there were clues on the woman’s face that showed that she could be kind and gentle like her voice. At the edges of her bright blue eyes there were tiny wrinkles and she had laugh lines. Small things that made her face seem approachable.

“Who… Who are you? I mean. What’s your name?” The teenager finally answered after taking in every single little detail. "I am Esmeralda, but you may call me Esme. Will you come, please? This shouldn’t take too long.” The smile that quickly formed on Esmeralda’s face nearly knocked Irina off of her seat. How could someone look so nice. It was almost inviting. Irina had no other choice but to agree.

As Irina got up, she turned to look at Nikolai. Not with frightened eyes but with worry. What would happen to her? What would happen to him?

“Take care.” Her voice was low and fervent as she tried to somewhat assure him and give him a reminder to remain alert. She turned back to face Esmeralda and gave her a nod, which prompted the lady to smile once again and walk out of the room. Irina followed suit, slightly hesitant at first, and alert the entire way to the empty room. Irina had noted each twist and turn that they had walked through to get to the room, just in case.

”Go ahead and take a seat. I have a few questions on my clipboard over there,” Esmeralda explained as she placed her hand on Irina’s back and prompted her to move forward. Irina complied and sat down, an eyebrow arching as she became slightly suspicious (more than she already was) of what was going on. ”I was placed with you for three reasons. I am from Spain. I speak Spanish along with many other languages. I am a well renowned psychologist in several states on the west coast in the United States, and I have also taught Psychology in Universities. I can help you understand and even decipher those thoughts, feelings, and memories that you see and hear in your mind. Sometimes things like these can get very overwhelming, overpowering even. It will be easy to get lost in them and feel as if that is what you are feeling. The third reason is that I requested you. Every one else here is young and honestly some what rude. I saw how you reacted and how you stood up to Elisa. You do not need someone with a bad attitude with you. You need someone who will understand and listen with an open mind.”

Irina stared. That’s it. She just stared at Esmeralda with amazement and shock. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that she finally reacted. The girl sat up in her seat and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she cleared her throat. “Um, okay? I understand.”

Esmeralda simply smiled at Irina and nodded before looking back down at her clipboard, ”Let’s get started then, shall we?”

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Auditorium

Secretly, Irina had been thankful that Nikolai had chosen to sit near by. He would be of great help if danger arose. Although it seemed highly unlikely to happen.

As other teenagers began to fill in the seats, Irina had winced and cringed little by little, every single time they sat down. Fortunately, nothing flooded her mind. Not even when the strangers in lab coats came in.

'Thank god', she thought as she listened carefully. They had nullified all of their abilities, and for a fraction of a second, Irina actually felt some gratitude for these strangers in lab coats. That was until the woman began to explain what had happened and what was going to happen. She had gotten over her initial fear, now that the impending threat of the voices was gone. Irina's green eyes bored into 'Elisa's' as she became slightly flabbergasted at what she was asking the teenagers to do. Irina's mouth fell slightly agape as she tried to wrap her head around the fact that this woman wanted them to go off and be tested by their kidnappers.

Once Elisa was finished, Irina finally decided to speak up. She had granted the woman the decency and respect of finishing her absurd speech in exchange for them turning off the voices in her head.

"So what you are saying is that we, the ones who were taken involuntarily, have to go with you all, the kidnappers..." Her Spanish accent only became 'thicker' as she let her anger and frustration get to her. "Kidnapping is a big offense, no? Keeping us hostage and sticking needles in us, much more of an offense, right?" Her sarcasm was now a bit more difficult to pick out from her real questions as she continued, her hands balling up on her lap. By now she had little to no fear and had far forgotten the voices that threatened to come back at any minute if they allowed. "I call bullshit," Irina spat the word at Elisa and her companion as if it were venom, "i am not going with any of your "coaches" and I am not going to get any of these 'preliminary' tests."

Irina was sure that the others probably thought she was outright crazy for questioning the authority of their captors. She was also sure that both Abel and Nikolai probably thought she was insane after they had witnessed her meltdown and she had shown weakness. For now, she couldn't care less. Her true colors had to be shown some day and since she didn't plan on staying here for long, she went ahead and showed them to everyone while they were all still together.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Lounge to Auditorium - Nikolai

Irina did nothing to stop Abel from leaving. She had heard the urgency in his voice and had simply stood aside so that he would leave the room. He had a point: people's homes were invaded. Even hers. The only difference was that her mother didn't matter as much to her. She had became a drunk in a matter of years and the roles had switched to where Irina was the parent and her mother was the child.

Although Irina did desperately want to get out of the facility, she wasn't in a hurry to go back home. This was her chance to leave and start fresh somewhere different, even if it meant having a rough start.

Her attention had now been drawn to Nikolai who remained in the room with her. She had gotten a bit of a feel of how he felt through out the entire time that Abel was throwing his fit. She was able to catch glimpses or phrases of what he had thought. She heard what he had asked her but she had now become more interested in the random thoughts she would hear that her answer had become a few seconds delayed. "I'll have you know I'm very smart," she smirked as she referred to one of his previous thoughts and returned to answering his question, "it's kind of like when you go to a crowded room and everyone is speaking at once, but thinking is very random so everything you hear makes no sense." She but her lip as she thought of a way to explain her curse. "It's sometimes loud, and some times soft. What is hard is when people talk and I can hear their thoughts. Conversations and thoughts are two different things and it hurts."

The young woman had found herself peering around the door again, her anxiety only growing more as she thought of people coming out of no where and hurting them while they were alone. "Come. We must go to the auditorium." She gestured for him to follow her as she stepped out into the hall. In an attempt to get him to follow, she brought up one of the few thoughts she had caught on from him, her green eyes looking at bit more sad as she remembered the emotion that was attached to the memory. "You lived in an orphanage in Russia, no? Things are never easy in Russia."

She had turned to walk down the hall. If Nikolai wanted to keep talking to her, he'd had to follow, and she'd be happy to speak to him about anything regarding what she had brought up or the thoughts she had heard. It made her feel horrible to have heard such a deep thought though. No one wanted their intimate thoughts heard.

Irina had found herself standing at the side of the auditorium before she knew it, her feet hesitant to move forward.

'Wait.... It's quiet.

Her body slumped down slightly in relief as the muscles relaxed from being so tense. She took a few steps into the door and scanned the room, slightly bracing for the shock of when the voices suddenly came. Nothing.

'Okay. I can do this. As long as everyone doesn't talk at once or start internally screaming.

Irina pressed forward to the nearest seat by the door in case she needed to leave. She had seen Abel but chose not to sit near him. If Nikolai decided to go over there then that was fine. Being alone in this room was for the best. She'd sprint out of there the second things got too hectic. Yes. That was the plan. All she needed to do now was to focus on one thing in the room to block out even her own thoughts.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Still at the Lounge - Abel/NIkolai

After speaking with Nikolai, Irina had kept quiet while waiting for his response. It was then when things became a little worrisome for the teenager. Abel had once again began to lose it, and Irina began to freak out, fearing that she would hear and see what Abel was experiencing as well. Fortunately, it did not seem to happen again as she thought.

"Abe..."

With wide, and some what fear filled eyes, Irina watched as Abel began to shout at ‘cameras’ that must have been around them. She could not see any thing except for the solid walls and what ever decor was placed on them. She had turned quickly to Nikolai for some type of reassurance, or sign. Had she missed something? Was she not told something? Nikolai didn’t give Irina the response she had been hoping for, so she turned her attention back on Abel. Her full lips pouted out a bit as she frowned, wishing she could help him or understand what he was seeing. Were they really being watched?

Almost as if one cue, a voice came on the intercom which interrupted everything that was going on through Irina’s head. The young woman looked up to face the ceiling like an idiot as she tried to find the source of the voice, but to no avail. It was attempting to appease them, so it seemed. Trying to calm them in the most reasonable manner and then instructed them to head to an auditorium.

“Auditorium?” Irina’s voice was a bit more high pitched, having gone up an octave as the panic began to fill her again. If she couldn’t handle being in the cafeteria with some people, then how could she handle being in an auditorium with everyone?

’I guess I have no choice’, she thought as she pushed herself off of the couch and began making her way to the doorway, slowing to a stop at the edge of the doorway and peering into the hall. She could hear the indistinct chatter of everyone that had probably already began to make their way into their meeting place. “I can’t go in there. I can already hear them with my ears. If i hear them in my head, I don’t think I’d be able to take it.”

Irina looked down at her hands, letting her soft, black curls cover her face as she pondered the situation if she were to choose to join everyone. She had to though. She didn’t want to be alone in her room. What if something bad happened to her and no one was there to help?

’If they go, I go.'

It was decided. She refused to stay alone, so she would take the risk. Secretly, she wished that they’d say no to the meeting, but she knew that their curiosity would win.

@SheriffLlama @HellHoundWoof

The House of Powers

Hey guys just letting y'all know that I don't think my skype is working properly

The House of Powers

Voices go away. Please.

"I can't make it stop," she practically whined as they began to walk away from the growing group.

As they began to leave the mass of teenagers, the voices began to die down in her head. Unfortunately she seemed to not be able to catch a break, because as soon as they both made their way into the room, something seemed to hit Abel like a brick wall. Irina's green eyes widened as she watched him fall to the ground in pain.

"Abel? Are you okay?!"

Irina quickly ran over to Abel, frantically trying to help him with whatever was going on. The situation couldn't have lasted for than a couple minutes, but as soon as Irina placed her hands on Abel's bare shoulders, the girl's mind was filled with a ridiculous amount of sound that she couldn't help but let go of Abel and backpedal away from him as fast as possible. It wasn't until Abel had gotten himself up and broken some screen that the noises subsided and Irina was left standing while trying to catch her breath.

"Too much. This is too much." She somewhat understood what Abel meant, about the binary. "You can hear technology ...?" She didn't get to finish her question when Nikolai walked in, after the ordeal was over with. Irina lifted her hands to where her fingers were rubbing her temples, trying to soothe out the headache from the sensory overload.

"I hear voices, and I think they belong to everyone here," her tone was a bit more serious than what it had been before. She walked back over to Abel who was now sitting down. She say next to him and place a hand on his back hesitatingly, trying to offer him some type of comfort although she was horrible at it. "I heard what you heard," she spoke softly to Abel before looking back at Nikolai. "You come from Russia, no? My dad is from Moscow. I lived there for some years. I understand you but I can not speak it. I was mostly raised in Spain."

What people needed here was a sort of familiarity. Something they could deem trustworthy and could latch on for reassurance. Irina hoped that she could offer some to both Abel and Nikolai. Maybe becoming best friends wasn't something that she, or they, would be interested, but if anything were to happen it would be nice to know someone has your back.

@SheriffLlama@HellHoundWoof

The House of Powers

'Where. The hell. Did he go?'

Irina's thoughts were now jammed in with the rest of the voices in her head as she tried asking herself the same question over and over again. The one called Nikolai had just vanished again, as if he never even existed. Just a figment of her imagination, probably a delusion from the voices. Stunned, Irina turned to Abel, whom now she somewhat confided in. She could feel a sort of vibe coming off from him, and going towards her. It felt like trust but on a very minimal level. She couldn't identify what the feeling really was though, or how she was able to feel such a thing. Her wide, green eyes made contact with his own and it was clear to see that he was just as confused as she was.

Asking questions would have to come later, apparently, as Abel took off towards the cafeteria and Irina followed suit. She didn't want to be alone in such an establishment. There were others in the hall, some crying and completely freaked out. She could hear other cries as well but they were in her head.

'Screw them. There's not time to cry. I have to get home.

As she slower to a stop next to Abel, Irina made an effort to push out the voices in her head.

Too many. Too many.

There were now more people clustered in one room which made a pulsing sensation in her head form, feeling more like someone had stabbed her through the temple. In a knee jerk reaction, Irina reached up and grabbed Abel's arm, squeezing it tightly as she shut her eyes and winced.

"Everyone needs to shut up," she said through gritted teeth, her Spanish only adding to the anger and frustration in her tone of voice.

It was becoming clear to her that she was just like everyone else here. These weren't just 'voices' that were inside of her head. They were they voices and feelings over everyone else around her. Not just one or two voices. Everyone's all at once. The girl finally opened her eyes and looked up as someone bellowed a loud introduction; as loud as the voices in her head. She turned back to Abel and pressed a finger up against her temple, "I can hear everyone. I can hear them talking and thinking. I can't take it." Her eyes went back to looking at everyone as they continued to speak, her stomach beginning to turn and threaten to throw up anything that it had inside due to the immense pain in her head.

@SheriffLlama

The House of Powers

@sakurasan I've got some amazing gelato in the freezer!

The House of Powers

@xAsunaWolfx What did I do?