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 Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:25 pm
She was unaware. Unaware of the war that had just been fought outside her pod, the bloodshed and betrayal, she had no idea of the viruses and monsters out there, and not just the tentacled freaks. She was fresh, untouched. Everything would be hazy for a while, she would struggle to learn the ropes, she would be a burden from time to time. The pod with her number beeped, and Cassandra Stephanie Gordon took in a great gasp, her first breath from the womb of rebirth.
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:21 pm
A catastrophe had been narrowly thwarted, but life went on at Deus. She swept the floor of her apartment, fed Tink, did her rounds, and tried to sleep without finding something to help nudge her towards dreamland. Dependency was a common issue; she already had enough of those without inviting more.
Today's shift was pod duty, and Stormy brought her Grimm book of fairytales to pass the time. Looking out at the sleeping candidates, she wondered if they too had been caught in a nightmare as some were reporting, or if their forced sleep had been more peaceful. She both envied the idea and sincerely hoped they were free still of the job's influences.
When one of the pods lit up and began to hiss, Stormy jerked to attention, took a breath, and slid a bookmark to keep her place. With barely a sound made (a keepsake of her past training in stealth), she moved into the narrow corridors of the podroom. "Hello there," she called ahead, turning the corner and spying the newly awakened candidate. "Deep breaths for me please."
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:17 pm
Her breaths are choppy at first, like a trouble ocean. Where is she? Who is that? Why is there so much noise, why is this girl talking? She says to breathe deeply, but Cassie is starved for real air - even if this air smells sterile, too much like bleach, not enough like pine and old growth fir. She chokes, coughing for a few moments, before her vision returns to her.
The woman in front of her is small, about as small as she is. Her name is Cassie. This is... a room, full of things that look like a science fiction movie.
Her breathing becomes more steady, she sways on the balls of her feet but catches herself.
It is still a haze, but the fog is bearable. She is Cassie, and this is... a place. Damn it, why can't she remember what this place is?
Gas masks, blood, exploding heads. Heavy breathing, a sudden darkness-
"Wh-who are you?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 9:58 pm
"Stormy," she replied gently, getting to her knees. Sometimes it helped not to stand above them, she found; literally and metaphorically get down to their level. It would probably help more if she didn't have visible scars. "You can close your eyes if you want, it's a lot to take in. I'll count your breaths, they really do help. And in-two-three-four, out-two-three-four-five..." She was reminded of the few times she had to coax Jack through his spells, on the rare occasions he miscalculated how much he had drank.
After a few cycles, Stormy asked, "Can you tell me your name?" She of course had read it off the monitor, but she wanted to walk the candidate one step at a time.
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 9:38 pm
The breathing helps, the rhythmic counting slowing her lungs and heart down. Stormy's scars went unnoticed, Cassie's eyes closed. She stopped hyperventilating, sucking in a calming breath through her nose and exhaling with an audible relief.
Then she blushed. This little episode was not something that anyone should have seen, but yet here they were. "Cassie." The girl breathed, eyes fluttering open to see Stormy and her scars. They didn't bug her so much as the beeping and flashing around her. The sterile, lab like ambiance was unsettling.
"Stormy. That's a nice name. Where are we, Stormy?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:05 am
She quirked a little smile. (Cassie was so young, so unblemished. It almost hurt to look.) "I do, too. That's why I picked it."
Settling back against her legs, she continued, "Hello, Cassie. This place is called Deus Ex, or just Deus. It's a place for people like you and me who used to see shadows when nobody else did. We're like a paramilitary organization. You might not remember now since you've been in the pod for some time, but eventually you'll get back some memories about how you signed up." Stormy gestured around them. "This room is where we keep the pods; this's where candidates sleep after they take a test."
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:37 am
Deus Ex. That sounded familiar, at least. Vague, splotchy memories came to mind of a white hooded person saying something similar to what Stormy was saying now, offering her a reprieve from a life of nannying and a hardware store clerk. Something different.
"I sort of remember." The girl nodded, staying on her knees for the time being. Her head was throbbing still, about as worse as that one hangover she'd had after drinking a whole bottle of champagne. "The test... was that where everyone was in gas masks, killing each other?"
She shuddered, the visage of an exploding head clear in her mind now. It wasn't her head, thankfully, but it was imprinted.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 11:59 pm
"Mm." She gave Cassie a sympathetic look and folded her hands in her lap. "Not the best memories to remember first, but yeah. It's not pleasant, but the test helps make you more receptive. More on that a little later. How do you feel right now?" Stormy asked. "Think you can stand?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:24 am
"Yes...I think so." Cassie nods in reply, getting to her feet with a breath, wobbling for a few seconds, then stable. A small breath left her lips.
So this was Deus Ex. They told her this would be a new life, and it already certainly felt like an entirely different world than Washington. "You said this was paramilitary, Stormy?" Cassie's eyes flitted to the girl, taking in her scars and the new context of them. Would she end up like that? There was always make up, if she did... "Is there a, um, a boot camp?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 12:11 am
She stood with Cassie and stretched her arms back, popping her shoulder. At least she was mindful to wear long sleeves when on pod duty; no candidate needed to see her arms or what they bore.
"Yeah," Stormy said with a nod. "A little. I have to take you to a place first, and then you'll get a crash course in a classroom before they send you on your way. Most of what you need to know is learned on the job, though, like sparring and duties. Most of that's gonna be based on where they put you. We have divisions here," she explained, putting on a little smile. "So they'll sort you Hogwarts style based on your capabilities."
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2015 1:43 pm
A...place? Cassie wasn't very keen on the vagueness of this whole ordeal, the mystery and the intentional shroud that was pulled over her eyes. Why couldn't this all just be a straightforward process?
This certainly wasn't how she imagined joining the military would be, though spars and duties sounded somewhat close. Maybe it was a military akin to the world of Pacific Rim? Maybe... there would be Jaegers?!
Probably not.
"Oh, Hogwarts!" Cassie chirped, face suddenly brighter. Finally, Stormy was speaking her language. "There's not -- there's no sorting hat, right?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2015 6:40 pm
She chuckled and said, "No, sadly not. It's more a few techs reviewing your sheets before leaving a coat in your room. Each division has a little symbol on the uniform: scythes for Death, a crescent for Moon, a sun for, well, Sun, a tree for Life, and swirls for Mist." Stormy tugged her coat ends and allowed Cassie a look. "That's me. We do all sorts of work around the other divisions.
"For right now, though, let's focus on getting you your weapon." Motioning for her to follow, Stormy began to navigate through the rows of pods.
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2015 9:09 pm
Cassie's face took on a play crestfallen look, as though she were actually distressed about some sentient hat weaseling its way into her head and digging through what made her the girl she was. The brief explanation of divisions had her blinking in slight confusion, but she sort of understood. "So you're like, um, the jack of all trades of the organization?"
...
"What do you mean my 'weapon?' Why would I be getting a rifle before basic training?"
This place was so backwards.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 12:05 am
Stormy nodded to both questions. "You're here to fight shadows. Things made of something called Fear," she explained. "To do that, we have to use something special: things that used to be Fear creatures, turned into living weapons that we can bond with. It's what makes us Hunters, actually, instead of just weird humans." She would have shown Cassie Thane, but he was...a little much for a first view.
"Sorry I'm throwing a lot at you at once! I promise it gets easier." Stormy held the door open for her that led out to a white hallway. "These weapons have names and can talk. You'll sync minds with them and they help you out. It's not as scary as it sounds."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:28 pm
Cassie remembered the shadows; the lurking little bundles of malevolence that appeared everywhere after she'd buried her parents. The grocery store, parking lots, the chair in her living room. "Oh...makes sense, in the way that nothing is making sense but it's sort of clicking..." Cassie trailed off, trying her best to absorb everything Stormy was telling her.
"Are -- do they act like monsters?"
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