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 Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:51 pm
It had been three months and thirteen days since Emmaline Grant had fallen asleep. Forced sleepers like her were not an uncommon occurrence: though the candidate process was created for the sole purpose of screening select behaviours, it did not mean that all errant trainees could be avoided. Many trainees never made it past their first mission and sealed their inevitable fate.
To sleep again, forever, until the plug was finally pulled.
The Life Hunter on duty glanced at the clipboard next to this particular sleeper. Emmaline Grant. Forced back to sleep three months and thirteen days prior due to failure adhere to trainee rules. It would only be another three months before the first elimination round for all the sleepers would be held, after all, room in the chamber was limited, and so were resources. Not all of them would continue on sleeping, and perhaps even then, the more permanent sleep was be the more merciful alternative than the fitful dreams and often nightmare relapses that all pod sleepers faced.
To relive a nightmare, their pasts, again and again and consistently be reminded of failure, to have almost but not quite have made it. A chrysalis half-formed never given the chance to metamorphose.
With a small sigh, as there was something always eerie, surreal about the sleeper chamber, the room with hundreds of aligned round pods, that reminded them of a graveyard, the Life Hunter on pod inspection duty moved to check on the status of the next sleeper. She actually hoped they would never wake up: what was really worse - a half-formed chrysalis or a butterfly with plucked wings? OOC Your character: Through the past three months, they have relived nothing but their nightmares. They might even remember the incident that lead to their forced sleep, how they had been dragged down by other Hunters, forced back into the pod on account of failure. That they would remain in this nightmare state, unable to wake up, indefinitely. But they went against all the odds. For some reason, as they were dreaming, something happened, and - They woke up. They woke up, staring at the closed cylinder of the pod, wondering groggily where they were and what exactly happened, everything dull, painful, their senses unclear. Was this simply another dream? Did they dare to close their eyes again?
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:22 pm
My fingers are sore. Her teeth still felt the ghost pain of being clenched, clenched so hard the sensation shot up her jaw and drove into her temples. Her hands opened and closed again, fingers curled around the shape of the object that had been there a moment ago-- or what seemed like a moment ago.
A gun...? Yes, she had been holding a gun, and there had been bandages involved...
She recalled running, and there had been a cave somewhere.
It seemed that she had been spending a great deal of time staring at the darkness under her eyelids as of late, a great deal of time waking up in a quiet place to the smell of antibiotics and torpor. She hurt all over, and in the back of her mind there was a great mass of something... painful to recall. No, whatever she had pushed to the back of her mind, it was probably better that it stay there. So she laid with her eyes closed and listened to the breathing.
The breathing in the room rose and fell like the hissing waves on a seashore-- When have I been to the seashore? It must have been a long time ago. She mulled over the memories churning in her consciousness, sifting through fleeting images. There was a feeling of deja-vu to this whole situation: Yes, I’ve woken up like this before. It was the sensation of waking from a nightmare, legs sore from running from nothing in particular, heart rate slightly quicker than normal, breath a little bit heavy. And the last time, she had lain here like this too, and it hadn’t helped. The nightmare she woke up to was just as bad as the one she had left.
The memory of her choked apologies came to the forefront now, her own weak tears and the accusing faces surrounding her on all sides. And then they had--
No. She had ended up here, and it mattered little how. She wouldn’t think about the vice-grip on her wrist or the--
Bile rose in her throat and she twisted her face to the side just in time for the bitter liquid coming out of her mouth to land on the floor. She cringed, and turned towards the sound of footsteps close by.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:09 pm
And then she heard it, the low hiss of the pod opening, and then a noise - choking, gagging. Someone was awake.
Expectantly, the Life Hunter turned towards the rows of fresh candidate sleepers. Then, a few seconds later, slowly, she turned to the few forced sleepers.
There lay Emmaline Grant, sleeper pod opened, the awakened clearly freed and conscious. No, that was impossible. Was this a malfunction or-
-"If you would leave us, Lauren."
Lauren jumped at the familiar voice, nodded curtly, and simply grabbed her clipboard and left, turning around to give the re-awakened trainee one more strange look, pitying next sentry who would have to do the inevitable clean up duty afterwards.
Caelius did not move from his spot by the door, though his voice audibly echoed over the hum of the machines. "Emmaline Grant. I have been informed that there was a mistake, of sorts, regarding your early retirement." Though his figure may have still seemed blurry, his voice distant through Emmaline's weakened senses, she could vaguely hear footsteps approaching. "However, even with your conditions, it still does not make you useful. And so, we reach a crossroads again." The footsteps stopped.
There was no warning as she was suddenly grabbed by the arm and flung out of her sleeper cradle, her body slamming heavily against the ground. The jolt of reality, of the cold floor, of being awake was a pain of its own.
"So what will it be: will you fight or give up? Even with a second chance there are no second mistakes."
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:25 pm
She was still wiping the bile from her chapped, cracked, bleeding lips with cold fingers when the voice came from the periphery. Emmaline froze as the source of the voice approached, a shadowy figure that towered above her supine position.
And then she found herself on the ground, coughing and every pain in her body intensified from the impact.
A crossroads? As experience served, there was usually only one right choice at a crossroads, however equal the two paths might seem. And she had a bad habit of choosing the wrong one.
With what seemed like a gargantuan effort, she cleared her throat to reply-- and her own voice sounded strange in her ears, echoing through the cavernous chamber--
“I-I’ll fight.”
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:02 am
And once again, Emmaline had made the wrong choice. It would have been simply easier for her to give up.
"You will fight." The tone was mocking, at best. "Then I look forward to it."
All the blurs, the strange echoes and whispers of old dreams seemed to finally be wearing away. Emmaline could see properly now, she could hear, and most of all, she could fully feel how tired her body was, how sluggishly her muscles moved and ached with every step. It would take almost all her effort to continue to stay awake.
Caelius did not bother turning around as the door hissed open, revealing a dank hallway on the other side. "Follow me." He did not wait as he pressed onwards.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:23 am
At the expression on the man's face, her heart sank and goosebumps rose on her arms. His sneering tone seemed to confirm her fears that, yes, she was doomed to make the wrong choice again and again. Would she have fared better giving up? It seemed that either way, the end would lie in failure-- or maybe returning to the cold state of slumber from which she had just woken.
But right now eternal sleep didn't seem like such a bad fate, as she rose and every part of her body screamed with aching pain, with apprehension, with the instinct that she should not follow the figure now silhouetted against the opened door. Should I follow...? With a jolt she realized that she had been talking out loud, as the sound of her own voice reverberated back to her, barely audible above the background noise that the machines generated. All around were duplicates of the bed from which she had just risen, encased in some sort of covering and an unconscious figure within. The room was filled with the miasma of death, yet the steady breathing whispering all around indicated otherwise.
If the only other choice was to remain here, then she would obey the man's orders and follow. Gritting her teeth to ignore the soreness in her limbs, she stumbled off the pallet and walked slowly towards the door and into the looming hallway.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:50 pm
The walk through and down the metaphorical rabbit hole was uneventful, save for the dank, cavernous appearance of the hallway itself. Two pairs of footsteps clattered in syncopation through the silence.
"When a candidate wakes up, for the first time, there are two requirements. The first is the promise, for them to regain their memories and put into perspective their decisions." He continued to talk as they walked in somewhat unison. "The second is the reason you are on this Island, to find something."
And suddenly, the Death Hunter stopped, white jacket shifting just slightly, betraying their location: outside. In front of them was what seemed like a larger cavernous entrance, several misshapen glowing rocks decorating the stairway that lead downwards.
"I am sure you are familiar with the facility quarters, which you will visit after fulfilling the second requirement." Caelius gave Emmaline a flat look. "Perhaps this time you will not fail in finding that something."
He waited for her to take the first two steps forward before he turned around and left. OOC - Emmaline can now go post in the weapons cove here to find her weapon - Afterwards, your character is ready to join in all the rps!
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:32 pm
She had expected to be led to some chamber where maybe she would be forced to fight to the death, or thrown outside into some terrible, monstrous world, or put to sleep again. But here was a larger room, lit with an ambience that seemed to emanate from the rocks littered along the walls and the stairwell ahead. So she would have to find something-- it didn't seem unreasonable, given all that she had already suffered here. At the very least, it gave a purpose to her presence here. She made her way hesitantly down the steps, mulling the dark-haired man's last words before he had turned and walked away so coldly.
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