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 Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 12:15 pm
Even without power, the cafeteria still tended to be populated at all hours of day and night, even if it was only a few people. The quality of the food was down, but everyone still had to eat. Jordan preferred not to linger. He preferred to get his food, eat quickly, and leave. It was depressing.
On the way out, his eye was caught by a guy sitting by himself, wearing one of the more unusual outfits that Jordan had seen. He'd seen some sartorial choices that struck him as impractical, but a sari and flashy jewelry were way up there. The guy was new; maybe he hadn't been on many missions yet. Either that or he was just really good at moving around in the - costume? Outfit?
He wasn't due for his patrol for another twenty-five minutes. That wasn't really long enough to do anything particularly involved, and his curiosity had been piqued. He changed course, first getting himself a fresh cup of awful coffee, then looping back to approach the guy's table. "Settling in okay?" he asked as a conversational opening.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:11 pm
Lawr had been making his way excruciatingly slowly through a MRE at his table when Jordan approached. He hadn't really been eating much at all, the lurking hunger for very rare steak twisting his stomach and making it difficult to enjoy anything else. As such, simply sitting down for a meal was a long and drawn out affair at best.
His expression lit up amicably however at the potential conversation, and with a clash of bangles on the tabletop he clasped his hands. "Hello! And certainly. Settling in well but perhaps not keeping up as well as I should like." He extended a hand in greeting. "Name's Jan. Spirits guide you."
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:43 pm
"I'm Jordan," Jordan answered, accepting the handshake with a firm, friendly grip. His eyebrows jumped a little at the unusual greeting, but he didn't comment on it. "There's always a bit of an adjustment period," he said instead. "A lot to learn in less time than you wish you had. How long have you been awake?" he asked, and pulled out a chair to sit down.
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:51 am
Lawr gave Jordan a concerned look at the question of how long he'd been awake. "Hmm. I couldn't say how long I have been awake, time is hazy here and it is difficult to pin down a timescale. The last thing I remember was the events which in a strange twist of fate, and will of the mystical spirits brought me here in the first place. I found myself at the Wonder Park incident in May." he paused before clarifying just in case, "Twenty thirteen."
He absently picked up what looked like a cracker and nibbled it, his very pale blue eyed glazed and far away, everything about his movements and gestures distant and detached. "I haven't managed to learn a great deal about this place, or even how I ended up here. I know that I am in some sub group called Death and that this island is strange, but I am not even sure if this is reality or some manner of purgatory at this point."
He returned his attention to Jordan and smiled nervously. "I have mostly kept my head down."
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:21 am
Jordan blinked at the relayed information. Someone, or a number of someones, had failed spectacularly on getting this guy any kind of basic orientation or training. "It's October of 2013 now. I can't say how long you spent in a pod, but I'm guessing not more than a few months. Uh - do you remember, at any point, dreaming about being in a full-body suit and gasmask?" He didn't think there'd been a trial set between May and October; unusual.
"This is reality," he confirmed. "The group you've joined is called Deus Ex Machina, and we're Hunters. We protect humans from Fear creatures. Death division specializes in information gathering. You were placed there according to preliminary personality analysis; if you find that your talents lie in a different area later, you can request a transfer. Do you have any particular questions you need answered?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:36 am
So it was October, he had only been trapped there a few months rather than the years and years it had felt like with the insomnia that had beset him since he'd first acquired Butch. Jordan got a very odd look though for his question about dreams, a genuine crack in the façade that he wasn't quite quick enough to mask. "No, I don't think I dreamed about anything. One moment I was on a boat full of people in white coats with gold trees." He'd come to realise the tree seemed to be associated with the scientific group on the island since he'd arrived. "The next I was waking up in one of those mythic pods and being told I lived here now."
He wasn't sure if he was glad or disappointed to hear that he was indeed still bound to reality, it meant that the monsters he'd come up against thus far had indeed been more than capable of killing him. Fear creatures, he assumed were creatures like the ones that went on a rampage at the park, creatures which by all accounts should not be real at all. "Can we leave? Is there a way to get rid of the voices in our head?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:47 am
No trial, then. Very unusual. Jordan had heard only a vague outline of the Wonder Park incident; now he regretted that he didn't know more. Maybe he could ask around and find out. Jan got a concerned look and a headshake to his questions. "You're legally dead," Jordan said bluntly. If Jan was thinking about leaving, he'd better know that now. "Your weapon is permanently bonded to you; when the facility has full power, your weapon can be temporarily placed into a golem, an artificial body, but they can't stay in those for long or too often. I take it from that question that you're having some trouble getting along with them," he said, not quite a question. "It sounds like you weren't exactly recruited the same way most of us were."
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Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:29 am
Legally dead. He'd never really considered that the moment he'd woken up on this island that he might have been declared dead everywhere else. That meant - well it meant a lot of things - his cats were probably in some shelter somewhere, unloved and forgotten. He didn't doubt that Jennifer, his secretary had already made off with his hard-earned money.
The thought made his stomach twist, he wasn't sure which of the two he was most upset about.
Probably the money.
He tried not to so much as crack on the surface, but the flicker of panic in his eyes was too quick to clamp down upon. He pressed on anyway. "I see~" he said with what he hoped was a sage nod and a resigned smile. After all bloody mysticism and all that nonsense. Fate and damn and blast and bloody bastarding terrible loss of his damn money. He'd suffered through loss before when the fraud squad got on his back, he'd survive again.
Unfortunately Butch had apparently latched onto the spike of cold anger that had surged to the fore in him for just a second and was now snarling like someone chainsawing a pig.
<tracked.>>
"Well that's a real pity that we are chained, so to speak to the voices. And indeed, it sounds like I might well have been tricked or kidnapped rather than recruited. I suppose because everyone else died -" and there was a strange and unfamiliar twinge of real sadness as he thought of the boy with more enthusiasm than a camera could ever hold - "that my continued existence was taken as consent. Will of the spirits and all that, I assume. I guess I have more to teach others."
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 12:41 pm
There was a flash of something in Jan's eyes, some quickly and expertly hidden distress. The man refused to allow it to show, but the news that he couldn't go back had upset him. Everyone else died - that went some way towards explaining why Jan was here. Jordan paused for a moment to organize his thoughts, sipping his coffee thoughtfully.
"From the little I know of the incident," he said, "it sounds like you were exposed to high levels of ambient Fear, which probably triggered a latent sensitivity. Once that sensitivity was active, you would have been at risk from other Fear creatures if not bonded to a weapon. You wouldn't have been able to return to a normal life afterwards." The corners of his mouth pulled back in a grim expression. "I'm sure that's not much of a comfort, but it's a consideration."
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