{ THE DARK COVE } UPDATED SEE PAGE 1

[Zoobey]

"Ferdinand, you are on pod duty. That includes responding to questions from incompetents." There was Caelius's charm as per usual. From Bix's angle, the Death Hunter still looked worse for wear, heavily leaning against the wall instead of standing up to his usual confident aura even a full week after the incident. The door behind them was half-open, as if waiting for one more guest to appear.

A pause, and Caelius scowled at the trainee. "Say something to them: please don't tell me you're mute as well."

IloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Ah s**t! He was supposed to answer questions.

"Yes sir. Umm Bix please." He'd ask to be called by the nickname until it was used or he died, whichever came first. The albino hunter stepped forward a bit, no longer hiding in Caelius' shadow. He was fair, clearly albino, with snowy hair and eyelashes and bright red eyes. Both he and his superior were wearing the standard uniform, a white coat and a mandatory scarf. He appeared to be in his early 20's.

"You are all in the Deus Ex facilities. You have been asleep." He tried to remember what he was told when he woke up. "You may not remember it but at some point in your life you agreed to come here. You are most likely having a difficulty remembering things but that sensation should clear soon enough."

He looped his long white braid around his neck and watched them all adjust.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Slowly becoming more aware of his surroundings, Deryk could see that there were a number of others around him. A lot of them, appeared to be very much in a similar position as himself. However, there were two figures further away. One of them said something about pod duty.

"Shaddup? Duntellme to shaddup," he groaned in response to the guy who spoke up after himself. Rubbing his head, he clutched at his blonde hair briefly, and added a little wince, "My head huuuurtsss..."

The light in the room wasn't really help too as far as he was concerned. He closed his eyes for a little while, before looking back around at the people around. The others had very similar questions, so hopefully they'd be getting some real answers pretty soon.

And answers they received, from the white haired dude.

"Deus Ex... " he started, "Not really ringin'abell. Wasn't there like two games called that.. really old games. Ion Storm. Something like that. Uhhghg head.."  

[Bittiface]

Otto looked around him as others stirred as well. He wasn't alone, that was glaringly obvious. Then another guy came out of the shadows. Woah, what was with him? He looked like some kind of ghost with that hair and those eyes. Maybe an albino? Yeah, that was what those were... Well, at least he seemed to be there to fill them in.

So, they were at some facility they agreed to come to? His memory was still fuzzy, but something about it seemed to click as truth.

Otto's glare turned toward Deryk, a light scoff escaping the young man's mouth. "Nerrrrrd..." He muttered, returning to rubbing his head.  

[Trira]

Vanessa's eyebrow rose slightly at the pale, white-haired young man when he told her just to breath. While it wasn't the answer she was looking for, it was better than nothing. Getting her bearings would be a good idea, she supposed. She glanced to her clothing, taking in the boots, cargo pants, shirt, the like. They looked like things she would wear normally, at least.

The man next to the who'd spoken to her said something, and all she caught was 'pod duty'. So these really were called pods, then.

Finally, the actual explanation came. She nodded, taking in everything around her. "Deus Ex..." she murmured, contemplating what the apparently-an-albino had said. She nodded, although her memory was still foggy. "I can't really remember, but that does sound like something I might do..." And it really did sound like something she might do.

The one who had spoken first spoke up again. Video game? Vanessa hadn't really played many of those, but it seemed plausible... However, another of those who had come from the pods, the one with a bandana(?), didn't have such a open reaction to the blonde young man's words. Vanessa's eyebrow rose. "At least he can remember something of the past." She said quietly, connecting that if the blonde was remembering games, then they would all be able to remember at least some things soon, right?  

[Shia bean]

It was difficult to say whether or not the woman was awake. She stirred, shuffled, groaned, but otherwise her eyes were sealed and hardly shifting. Her face had taken on several unusual looks, the skin of her forehead wrinkling, her lips puckering and frowning and smiling in quick succession...

She might have been having a dream! Then again, it could be her way of trying to fully gain attentiveness; fighting an inner battle with fatigue. The ladder seemed more likely to be the case.

"uuuugh." At last the woman's throat did groan, settling onto her back within the unit. She was breathless, finally gaining control over her eyes well enough to open and withstand the blinding light that blurred all things around her. But she was not in the least calmed now, as a voice alerted her of another's presence. Who is there?

Her memories were in a heaping pile of blackness at the back of her mind, too far out of her reach for a spur of the moment attempt at recognization. Was the voice familiar to her? Who had spoken, as now several faces seemed to form within the room.

And...what was that smell? What were those things? Bodies, some of which still sleeping, were within the pods in front of her. Or, at least they had been, some of the doors hanging open.

"W-what...going on?" Minerva managed to stutter before her throat closed, pushing off the pod with both elbows to stand. She tried to sound demanding...but could only muster curiosity. Draping a hand across her chest while the other reached out for stability, Minnie stared out at all the activity with wide-eyed bewilderment.

She didn't have to say anything else after that, not yet at least. The others were asking many of the questions she was wondering about as well. For the moment, Minerva could adjust appropriately.  

[Kaiyumi]

Deus Ex? And...they had agreed to come here? "Where is 'here' exactly? I mean...what are we doing here?" Even with one of her questions answered, a floor of new ones filled Eva's mind. She was still having trouble recalling her memories.

She turned her attention towards two of the young men who had woken up--Deryk and Otto--and sighed a little at their exchange. The frown on her face immediately deepened as she emitted an exasperated groan. "Really, guys. I don't think this is the time..." Her head hurt enough as it was without having to listen to two guys bicker amongst themselves. Besides, she was trying pretty damn hard to recall what had happened before this point, and they weren't helping.

"Deus Ex. Deus Ex..." Eva murmured this name softly to herself, over and over again. It wasn't ringing any bells, but when she thought about it, she felt as if the albino man had had some truth to his words. She had agreed to...something, she knew. She couldn't remember the specifics, but she just had this feeling that she had signed herself up for something important.

Or maybe she was just starting to make things up so that she could grasp onto something. That was very much plausible as well.  

[Syusaki]

Wilson crinkled his eyebrows. Had the spectacled man just called them incompetents? That…That was really pleasant to wake up to: being called incompetent. He hadn’t realized that another person was standing by Caelius until Bix stepped out from the shadows. His eyes widened a bit at the shock of long, white hair and red eyes. His first thought was albino, but then he frowned and rejected the idea. Albinos had startlingly white skin, but this guy was notably tan.

“Deus Ex?” The others were just as confused by the name. Nothing came to mind, although one of the men appeared to have connected it to a video game. “A video game? Are we in a game or something?” Wilson quickly dismissed it. That didn’t sound right.

“I agreed to come here? Really?” He scratched his head as he pondered it over. His mind still drew a blank, but his guts told Wilson that he probably had agreed to this. A thought suddenly occurred to him. “How long have I been asleep? Does my family know and stuff?” His eyes flickered with worry. He didn’t want to give his mom a panic attack if he disappeared for too long.  

[Shia bean]

It did make sense now that some questions were being answered. Someone had approached her at some point and vaguely, Minerva recalled willingly signing up for something. Obviously this place was the something...Deductive reasoning, what a wonderful thing.

An ease of tension brought her hands to her sides and stability to her posture, closing the gap between herself and the others steadily. Minnie never signed anything without reading and re-reading; she trusted herself. She must have been certain of her decision, in her right mind, at the time the paperwork had been dealt with. It was a little unnerving that she couldn't recall the details...but...at least she was alive.

That being said, the women wanted some answers. The components of her memories were by no means in a state of clarity. Images blurred in her head as she tried to focus; tried to remember. ..The commotion and bickering going on no help at all, but even without it she figured she wouldn't be able to grasp the immediate past anyway.

The man with long, braided white hair and brilliant (if not terrifying!) red eyes peaked her interests, as he seemed to be the one addressing most of everyone's concerns. When there was a moment to speak up, Minerva did.

"So we signed up for this, okay...but what's next? Do we get to contact our families? I don't remember reading a clause stating otherwise..." Then again, she couldn't remember what the hell she had read that was ON the contract...or, whatever it was she had signed. Her hazel gaze kept to the man at the front, head tilting ever so slightly. "What do you plan on doing with us?"  

[Blade Kuroda]

"Who ya callin' a nerd, punk? Besides, what's wrong with being a nerd? Got a problem? Or you just trying to start something up? Huh?" Deryk said a little indignantly before rubbing his head again. It was clearing up a bit, but he was still struggling somewhat here. That didn't seem to be affecting his mouth too much from going off, however.

Hearing some of the girls talk, he looked over towards them and shrugged. He wasn't the one who started it! At least, not that he was aware of. No, he couldn't have been the one. The other guy was just being a big grumpy jerk.

His attention then shifted over towards the guy who seemed to be in charge of them at the moment.

"So uh.. what exactly did we sign up for? I can't really remember that right now. This isn't for some weird experimental stuff is it? Please tell me there won't be probing involved. I kinda want my dignity to be left.. or at least what's left of it."  

[Trira]

Vanessa's eyes immediately darted to two of the newer awakened as they asked about families. How could she not have wondered sooner? Her family...Vivian. Would Vivian know that her older sister had left? How long had her family gone without any contact with her?

And more importantly, would she get to contact them ever again?

Vanessa looked to the one who had asked this question. She was asking all the right questions, at least from Vanessa's perspective. The combat-booted young woman made a note that she would have to talk with this other girl at some point in time, if only since she had gathered enough from the situation to be able to come up with good questions.

In any case, Vanessa gave a nod to the other woman's questioning and spoke up again to back the other woman up, "Yes, will we be able to contact our families? Or did we give up that right when we signed up for Deus Ex?" She asked, pushing some of her long hair from her face as she looked to the probably-albino young man. "And was there an intinerary provided upon signing, or did we sign up for this adventure without any plans?" Vanessa liked having a plan, knowing what she needed to do and where she needed to be to do it.

The two men who'd come out before her seemed to be arguing again. She gave a little shake of her head and then looked past them to see if the white-coated figure could give them any real answers.  

[LP]

Vibrent Violet eyes twitched as Aleister slowly stirred. "Owww...." Was the first words to escape his lips. He'd felt like he'd been hit by a train and an anvil dropped on him. To add insult to injury there were faint words of others around him.

It took him a while to get moving finally hearing the words you signed up for this, and Deus Ex. The shadows were playing with his eyes, he blinked a few times. "If we.... signed up for......" There was a long pause before he figured there was a better question to ask, "Why do I... feel like I've been hit by a train?"

He was aching all over he'd worry about why he agreed to come to where ever they were later. The more important thing here was if he was actually all in one piece. Granted there was something floating in the back of his mind, sorta murky, like pea soup... or was it fog?  

[Bittiface]

Otto snorted as the others tried to sedate the small argument between himself and Deryk, his hands lifting to mimic the motion of yapping away in an attempt to make fun of their nagging. His gaze flicked back to the fellow blond, his eyes rolling in annoyance. "Quit yer whinin', will ya?" Otto, despite feeling like s**t, apparently could not sedate that mouth of his. The air was so stale and hot it just made him want to be a brat even more.

Everyone's barrage of questions made the young man groan, followed by another juvenile eye roll. Why the concern for family anyway? Otto didn't get it at all. He barely remembered his own as it was, other than a lingering feeling that they were probably super boring. "Good lord." He snorted in disgust. "Ya'll gonna piss and moan all day that you can't phone daddy?"

Deryk's suggestion that maybe they were to be experimented on sounded ridiculous to Otto. He scoffed, smirking at the other boy with a belittling tone that dripped of sarcasm as he spoke up again. "Gee bub, maybe they're aliens~!" To emphasize his point, he may have used jazz hands.  

[Shia bean]

Minerva returned the other woman's nod with one of her own, smiling briefly before letting her lips slip into a loose, but straight line. All good questions! It would be wise of her to stick to that one...

Another hiss, another opened pod. The groan made the hairs on the back of Minnie's neck stand on end as another man came out of slumber just as disoriented as the rest of them. She turned sharply, eyes meeting with his staggering form before the rest of her followed in suit, taking Minerva toward the violet eyed arrival. "It sucks, doesn't it?" Her voice was soft, understanding despite the seemingly lack of sensitivity. A tanned hand extended outward towards the guy in question, her lips again trying to force a smirk of some sort. "Do you need any help?"

Otto's comment did not go unheard, although for the moment she did not swivel around to snap at him. Beneath her breath a whisper was murmured, which for the man directly in front of her may have sounded something like,

"Quite the ignorant son of a..." The room was stuffy. The whole ordeal was messing with her usual temper.  

[Manda]

Fiver became aware of the world again in a series of highly confusing sounds and sensations. There were ... voices, but they were distant, like he was hearing them from inside of a jar or something. Soft hisses and the sounds of footsteps clanging upon metal. Where was he ..? What was going on?

Please for the love of ******** not another test or something.

Speaking of which, though, shouldn't he be ... dead? He remembered dying very clearly. A little too clearly, in fact. And all that he really wanted to do right now was go back to sleep ... just rest a while longer.

But. Dead people didn't hear, didn't breathe and taste the staleness of the air, or feel stiff muscles protesting. So he was alive. That was ... good to know.

Then was all of that stuff with the tests ... real? Gods, he didn't even know anymore. And probably the only way to find more answers was to wake up for real .....

Another hiss, closer to him than any of the others. Light. It stabbed into his eyes and Fiver ... no, Tedan ... groaned and raised a hand sluggishly to try and block it out. "Five more minutes," he mumbled in a half-asleep slur. No, didn't he just figure out that he had to wake up? Dammit.

Forcing eyes open past the brightness, Tedan saw the rest of the pods then, and the few people walking about. "Where the ******** am I?" he asked then, words only slightly more understandable.