Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alpha Squad - α

• Prolixity shall be known only as α I
  
• Sosiqui shall be known only as α II
  
• Sephiros Immortalis shall be known only as α III
  
• lizbot shall be known only as α IV
  
• Manda shall be known only as α V
  
• Kaze Taco shall be known only as α VI
  
• Nio Love shall be known only as α VII
  
• Moving Pictures shall be known only as α VIII
  
• Frigoris shall be known only as α IX
  
• Danse-hexe shall be known only as α X
  
• GrnGriff shall be known only as α XI
  
• Random Artist shall be known only as α XII
  

Please note that this roster does NOT indicate whatsoever that you must RP with these people. While it is encouraged that squads stick together, players are free to wander off and do their own thing... or forge alliances with other squads and other members. Providing that the other squads don't shoot you on site first, that is.

[α VI is ENTERING the Alpha Squad Home Base]

"Six," was the first word that came out of his mouth. Gasmask? Oh, right, gasmasks. The boy ran a couple of gloved fingers over the warm surface, wondering if it really was so dangerous to take it off.

Of course it was, he was warned about it. That man, whoever he was, said that the boy was there of his own free will. But could that man be trusted? Probably not, but he wasn't dead yet. Yet.

That was probably when the boy noticed that he was lying down. It felt strange to move in such clunky material, but after a moment of feet over head and a few helicopter waves with his arms, the boy rose.

"α VI ..." he looked down at his new name. For some reason, he was disappointed that he wasn't named Alpha-5. However, he couldn't quite remember why... some TV show or something. It didn't matter, there were more important things at stake than silly cultural references. The boy picked up his first aid kit before he could even tell what it was. It took him a moment to process the symbol on it before he held it tight. He was going to need this. People were going to die. People were going to attack each other. Something seemed fundamentally wrong about all this. Something bigger was going on, but what?

With a resigned shaking of his head (and a clunk-clunk of the gas mask), the boy looked at the numbered bags.

"I might as well take the one with my number on it..." he said to no-one in particular.

He grabbed the bag and stuffed his hand inside without even looking first. What was this, a stick? Two sticks? The boy pulled out a pair of nunchucks, red like the little color on his suit.

"How am I supposed to use this?" he wondered aloud. "It looks dangerous... couldn't I use pepper spray instead or something?"

Though, that probably wouldn't do much damage against gasmask-covered foes.

"Well, α VI, I guess it's time to get started."

[ α I is ENTERING the Alpha Base Tent.]

He wasn't a morning person. α I grumbled his way muzzily to his feet and shook his head, trying to clear the fog; briefly, he was confused by the tug and clunk at his face, before knowledge reasserted itself. Gas mask. Right. Don't take it off, explosive, dead, blah blah, check.

Vibration at his waist. He checked it. Cell phone. Message. "Three days? Nice nap," he mumbled. The rest of the message was predictably depressing. It figured. He snapped the phone shut and shoved it back into its holster, fully intending to ignore the thing unless absolutely necessary.

Maybe he could go back to sleep for a few minutes. No, probably not a good idea. Instead, he looked around the tent, taking a mental tally of the contents. Three tables: first aid kits, backpacks, map. Eleven other people, all kitted out in the same anonymous armor and mask, and bright-effin-red vests or gloves, depending on the apparent gender of the person underneath. Group identification? Also made them nice targets. He tugged thoughtfully at the buckle of the vest strapped onto his body; nope. Stuck, jammed, glued, whatever. It wasn't coming off easily, which probably meant he'd better leave it where it was.

Numbers two through twelve were visible on everyone else's gear, which meant - he looked himself over quickly - yeah, he was α I. Great. He hoped that didn't mean he was expected to be some kind of leader. Jesus christ.

Don't take the name of the Lord in vain, a prim, vaguely remembered voice scolded him.

"Whatever, sister," he muttered back, and went to pick up a first aid kit and the backpack marked with his - name? call sign? designation? - he was gonna call it his name for now, because not having a name just sounded depressing. Numbered and masked, practically inhuman. A thought tickled at the back of his mind: makes it easier to kill someone if you don't think of him as a human being. When he glanced into the backpack, his eyebrows went up in disbelief - nunchuks? "You gotta be kidding me." He wasn't a ninja turtle or something. Couldn't he at least have gotten a gun? Or a knife? He went to rub his hand over his face, but the gas mask got in the way.

There were two other figures up and moving around. One male, one female. He noted their numbers - VI and X. Okay. Might be random chance, might just mean they'd shaken off whatever had put them all to sleep first. "Welcome to the Hilton," he said in their general direction. "We hope your stay has been enjoyable. Complimentary mints on your pillow not included."

[ α XI is ENTERING the Alpha Base Tent ]

As α XI came to her senses the first thing she noticed was that she had something on her face. As she reached up to remove whatever it was, she noticed her hand was gloved...in fact, everything she was wearing seemed unfamiliar. Then she remembered the classroom. It had felt like a dream, but as her gloved hand explored the mask on her face, she realized it must not have been. Really? Had she really sighed up for...whatever this was? Why?

Oh well. It didn't matter. She was here now. Might as well see what it was she signed up to do. As she sat up, she noticed the phone at her belt. Might as well see if any--Oh. She'd been out for three days?! Furthermore...thirteen survivors, or all would die? What exactly did that mean? How many people would they start with? And how exactly would they be eliminated? α XI gulped nervously. She didn't like where this was going.

Standing, she took survey of their tent. Twelve people in the tent, all wearing red. It seemed like a few of them were already stirring. She noticed the bags and the first aid kits. The others seemed to be grabbing things. Maybe she should, too? Could be useful.

First Aid kits are always good to have around, she thought as she grabbed one. Next she grabbed a pack, and opened it, hoping for something helpful. She found...a handgun? α XI swallowed. This was not a good sign. The first aid kit, a weapon...this was not going to be a picnic, was it? She put the gun back into the pack and hoped she would not have a need for it, even though the bullets seemed to be rubber. She hasn't even sure if she knew how to use a gun. Had she really signed up to be here?

She turned towards the others that were awake. It was too early to discern anything about them, other than they were all wearing the same thing. One of them mentioned teammates. That would mean other teams, and that would mean that...she thought about the phone message and the gun in her pack.

"At least," wow, her voice seemed strange to her, "we're not alone?" Having a team was a good thing, right? She certainly hoped so.

[α II is ENTERING the Alpha Squad Home Base!]

She woke up with a start, automatically reaching up to wipe sleep away from her eyes. When her hands hit the gas mask, she paused, then tried again, gloved fingers only thudding against the protective gear each time.

Sooooooooo not cool.

She examined her own hands, stretching them out in front of her, automatically paying particular attention to the tips of her fingers... though she couldn't remember why she would do such a thing. But it was Important, said her lizard brain, so she did it anyway, studying the gloves with a confused intensity before automatically reaching for... cell phone! Yes! That was there, right as it should be. She relaxed a little bit at that faint touch of familiarity, even as she wondered why it was familiar... and as she read the instructions. She frowned under her mask as she realized she couldn't send texts or call, only receive. That wasn't fair at all.

The dream was right. There were other people here. She gave them sidelong glances, mentally sizing them up - but vaguely at a loss as how to deal with apparently identical figures. The only distinguishing features seemed to be...

Numbers! That would work. That was a clearly marked hierarchy. And her number was... two? Two was okay, but One would have been better. Much better. It was inherently unfair for her to be Two.

Grumbling a little at this, though not so loudly that anyone else could hear her, she walked over to the table and picked up her first aid kits and her pack, giving the weapon within another confused look. She had no idea what to do with something like this.

That done, she turned to her... her team, she guessed? They were all wearing red. Ugh. "Sooooo, it looks like I'm Number Two?" she said, her own voice startling her. It was so bright, with a cadence that felt both familiar and deeply strange at the same time. "Like, what do we do now? I'm not gonna, like, die, either," she added, lifting her chin. "So if any of you know how to work this thing, like, show me?" She dangled the weird-a** weapon off the tips of her fingers.

[α XII is ENTERING the Alpha Squad Home Base]

"That's assuming everybody in Alpha gets along splendidly, isn't it?" α XII referred to α I's words about thirteen survivors. Her nervous voice chimed into the conversation, hanging slightly back. XII had woken up sometime after this crowd, from the way her hand lifted to adjust non-existent hair (probably under the mask.)

She took slow and cautious steps around the other gas masked members, her hands lowering to link with each other timidly. She followed other's suit, packing what seemed availible. Of course, one each. XII could never be so inconsiderate as to even think about depriving anyone else. Speaking of items .. XII stared at the handclub in her grip.

Perhaps she got lucky. The other weapons looked rather complicated, if one could use that term, towards a set of ironically simple weapons. But perhaps, XII's weapon rivaled being the most simple of all. She gripped the handclub by the handle .. and waved it around in front of her like a rattler.

No sounds came forth, to XII's disappointment. But nevertheless, it was an .. unique turn of events. Until XII accidentally hit herself in the shoulder with the handclub. Even with the protective gear on, it hurt. Ouch.

More of them were waking up now, and - jumping jesus christ on an effin pogo stick, was this the Idiot Squad? And what did that say about him? A1 groaned softly, staring at the girl who held a nunchuk like it was a poisonous snake. "You swing it at stuff that's dangerous and try not to hit yourself. On second thought, don't. Swing it, that is. Unless nobody's with you and you have to take care of yourself."

A7 had a club and looked like he might actually be able to use it. All right, score one. Maybe. "Watch out with that thing. It's crowded in here," A1 said towards the other man. Hopefully A7 was capable of getting the point and not being a moron about it. A1 could really use some help here.

Once again, he was grateful for the mask's concealing presence as he swung around to face A12. "Assuming everyone gets along?" he repeated. "It's likely safer to treat this as a survival exercise, and that means people working together are more likely to make it through. If you don't work with a team, you've got no help and nobody to watch your back. But if you want to go off solo and Rambo it out - " Rambo? he wondered, then dismissed the thought for later, " - or go hook up with another team, you're welcome to try it. I'm not your boss. You've got free will and all that. But I wouldn't count on any other colors not to attack on sight, because they've probably done the basic addition for themselves."

And then she hit herself with her club. A1 gave in to the growing urge to facepalm, unsatisfying as the gesture was in a mask.

... He could agree with A3's sly comment about A2. Probably a miracle; he didn't like the guy already. "We all got dumped in here," he shot back. "Makes as good a reason to band together as any other, given that we don't know anyone here." Probably. He didn't like knowing absolutely nothing about himself. More stuff to worry about later, when he had a free moment. "Like I said, I'm assuming anyone who's not Alpha is more likely to attack than help, so that leaves the red team here as potential allies. I'll do what I can to put aside our myriad differences and help you guys out. Unless, of course, you'd rather stab me in the back, in which case you can be very sure I'll be remembering your number."