Welcome to Gaia! ::

Candace had been sitting quietly during all this, her thumb rubbing over one of the glowing purple rings she now wore. One was on her left ring finger, the other on her right. The gems resembled the jewel-like eyes on Atropos' boots. For the beginning of the session her eyes had been on Caelius, her gaze unwavering. He had called her inadequate, but it seemed she would continue to pine for him and was determined to prove to him she wasn't. Two more instructors? Well this was an interesting change of pace! Not that Candace would ever grow tired of Caelius' beautiful face but--

"Well, you may all refer to me as Dr. H."

She froze, finally looking away from Caelius to just stare at Dr. H. That voice...it..it'd been real?! That arrogant piece of--

Quit it, Candace. Focus. This lesson is very important. Atropos suddenly snapped to get her attention in time for Candace to watch as blood spurt out in a thick red spray right before her eyes. Candace's heart skipped several beats at the sight and her throat went dry, breath shallowing and fingers giving a twitch. She knew that sight well. The spray of blood, the slitting of someone's throat. Killing someone. She cleared her throat and sat more rigidly in her seat, hands trembling as she folded her arms on the table and clenched her hands into tightly balled fists. Candace? Is everything alright? You don't look too good... There was actual concern in her voice if only because these feelings were quite unsettling to even Atropos. Candace didn't even notice Jerry had fainted until Dr. H gave him his attention.

...Wow...he was certainly the best doctor ever. Candace finally relaxed if only so she could slap her hand against her face. That's right, Dr. H. This facepalm is for you.

Wait, his assistant was back? But he'd just killed her! She peeked between her fingers to look down at the corpse, noting the mud and water as Dr. H instructed them to do so and even explained what it was. Golems? Like, in the movies? And books? And D&D? She raised a brow at Dr. H's arrogance in regards to the differences between himself and the rest of them. Well now! Of course Cassandra was full of questions. Candace chuckled, cupping her chin in the palm of her hand with her elbow against the tabletop. Was Jerry okay? He looked a bit red in the face. "So are we going to be put in those pods again for this?" She just wanted to be sure...she didn't want to get put in that pod again if she didn't have to. To Candace it almost seemed like being put to death considering that was where they had woken up from their first 'test'.

Jerry stiffened in his seat, his mouth an uncharacteristic straight line as his fingers nervously drummed on the desk top. So.... these were definitely not the golems he had learned about in Hebrew School when he was a kid. Breasts? Tentacles? What... what were they talking about?

He had never seen James Cameron's Avatar- it probably would have done him some good for comprehension.

If you get stuck with tits. I will laugh. So hard, Came the helpful commentary from the whistle hanging from his neck.

"Er... I suppose breasts would be better than ah... Tentacles?" His mind tried to wrap around a combination of the two, and promptly shut down.

Bix wasn't sure he could be trusted with boobs.



He gulped.

"Nothing. No reason... .. for the look I mean." Bix rubbed his eyes a bit and looked back to Dr. H. He leaned over and whispered to Gale though.

"This Dr. H guy made us beat each other to death on the island pretty much. Fun tidbit." It helped distract him from the whole 'going back into the pod' thing that they were going to do again. He noticed quite a few people talking or whispering to themselves. Some were just spacing out.

Bix could only assume they'd all gotten their weapons and were dealing with mental passengers too.

Well aren't you the absolute genius.

Bix saved himself from the same spaced out look. He looked angry instead. He was ignoring her. IGNOREEEEEEE.

Candace cringed as Dr. H called her sweet Candy. Ugh. This place needed an HR department she could go to. Would she get in trouble for telling him to knock it off? He was making her very uncomfortable. And annoyed. So does that mean I can't call you Candy? Atropos whined in disappointment, giving a dramatic sigh. Fine, fine. Ruin all my fun. You're such a fuddy duddy. Yeah, yeah. Candace could care less that she was a 'fuddy duddy'. They were going into those pods again...fantastic. Just what Candace wanted. As long as he didn't forget about them though it'd be okay..

It sounded complicated, but Candace was willing to try anythi--species? They were going to be different species?

Before she could ask anything else Dr. H was leaving, muttering about plums and leaving the room. Oh! Someone else was here? Who was that..?

All that met Dr. H’s hooded eyes was a wide Cheshire grin set in a bemused face as he glared at her. Nothing was said as he passed; a simple shrug met his muttered words before he vanished. The woman did not conceal the skyward roll her eyes performed as her heels loudly clicked and clacked her way into the room, her hand reaching out to smack the back of Bix’s head as she passed, whispering a quick “No whispering.”

The mist hunter carefully stepped over the decaying golem corpse, giving Caelius a respectful nod before turning to face the class. “Trainees,” she began, “You all may call me Aria. I am in charge of the Mist faction of Hunters. Please listen closely, I will not repeat this mission debriefing.”

“Now, show of hands: how many of you have played a video game? Played a table-top game? Or have, at some point, ever played make-believe?” The tone of her voice and expression indicated that she was serious. She waited for hands to rise (or to not) before nodding. “Good enough. Even if some of you do not wish to admit it, it is a skill that will determine whether or not you live or die in this mission.”

A black, gloved hand gestured to the golem at her feet. “What Dr. H failed to mention that what sort of body you will be temporarily inhabiting will be not human. Think of all the games you’ve played, the videos you’ve watched and monsters that have crept into your dreams.”

“All of you will be infiltrating a parallel world known as Halloween. Each of you will become the shadow in the moon at night, filling you dreams to the brim with fright; try not to make a scene or die of fright while you’re there. The residents of Halloween can and will tell that you are an outsider, a fraud.”

Her voice dropped into a low growl. “And they will kill you. Do you wish to die twice? Yes? No?”

Aria held up a hand for silence. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. Whether or not you’re suicidal is none of my concern. What is my concern is that none of you blow your covers so hard that the rest of us are revealed at the same time.”

“Halloween, as the residents call it, is just like our holiday. But that’s how it is every day. Many things will be similar here as they are there, but they will have a... horror-spin to them, if you will. An iPod is an eye-pod, a television is a skelevision, et cetera. Some of you may have realized the horror puns. Before you report to the mission, I want all of you to list ten common items and try to figure out the Halloween equivalent.”

She paused, taking a deep breath. “Personalities are as varied from creature to creature there as they are from person to person here. Some are brave, some are cowards, some are unable to sit still in their seat and others have the inability to pay attention!” She rose her voice at the end, crossing her arms as her glare swept from Jerry to Cass to Candace, Bix, and Gale.

“While in the golems, you will be able to communicate with your weapons. Try not to look too vapid while conversing with them. You all look quite ridiculous when you do so.”

“Now. Questions? I hope at least one of you was taking notes, be it trainee or your weapon.”

Cass's hand had gone up when the Mist Hunter-leader-lady (Another woman! This was a girl squad! Woo woo!) had inquired as to who had played video games. She'd played quite a few. Like Amnesia. Mmmm, Amnesia.

Were they going to play more video games while they were there? Like..ha ha..training simulations?

None the less, Cass took a moment to think about what task the woman... Aria Nicodemus reminded, sounding quite annoyed with having to constantly herd Cass in the direction he wanted her to go in.. well, either way, Cass made a face and began to think. 10 items?

Her nose crinkled..well if an iPod was an..'eye'pod, did that mean Ice Cream.. 'Eye Scream'? That seemed like a given. Nicodemus wasn't exactly leaping to volunteer her solutions to the task she'd been given. Cass sighed, her brain running off into the first task it had been given instead of continuing to pay attention.

Fortunately, the chain around her waist was paying attention and would be yelling at her to pay attention again soon enough.

CASSANDRA. NORRIS.

The more he yelled at her, the less his voice shocked her. Delightful. Sarcastically delightful.

Cassandra. Ask her...

Cass sighed.

"Do you want us to verbally tell you the items or should we be writing them down?" she asked, seeming very much like a child who's mother was nagging their child to do something.

Notes? They were supposed to be taking notes?? Frantically, Jerry scrambled for something to write with, finding the small notebook he had shoved in his pocket and completely forgotten about, what with the murder and mayhem that had unfurled.

Fear is Alive
Halloween
Golems -> Not the words-in-the-head sort
Ten.... Things...

He started to write, but it all seemed... somewhat ridiculous to him. But it shouldn't have... after all, hadn't he just befriended an odd talking weapon that now hung at his neck, scoffing him every few moments?

If you'd stop giving me things to 'scoff' maybe I would stop. Let's just hope you get a form that's a bit more respectable than 'Dweeb'.

"Under cover agents!" He hissed, excitement brewing. He wasn't sure about his own acting skills but... well... these golems sounded a lot safer to study the enemy up close than going there in person! It was.. fairly fascinating, really.

"Er... Miss? How soon does this Mission take place? How long do we have to prepare? Will we be able to ah... research our ah... Cover at all?" His knowledge of Monsters and the like was rather limited, unfortunately. He usually avoided those types of things... for various reasons. Movie theaters were rather dark places, after all. Not his favorite haunts.