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 Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:15 pm
Moved on. Wilson frowned as he thought of Delta Six—Emmaline. The connection hadn’t dawned on him at first, but the voice had clearly been hers. Had she woken up as well, or was she still asleep? Speaking of Deltas, no one else in the room was a Delta. His frown deepened at the realization. A couple of them started taking at betas, and he figured it was safe to ask about his own teammates. “Did any Deltas wake up? Um, like maybe Delta Six…” His eyes widened as another Delta came to mind. “Delta Seven! Delta Seven, too. Did he wake up?”
He heard a small thump and looked over at Ryan, his forehead pressed against the desk’s surface. Wilson stifled a laugh. “I never really met any Betas or Epsilons either, it’s okay.” As he thought over the last of the younger boy’s words, he added, “Did you go through a different test…?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:20 pm
Deryk didn't recall anyone by the nicknames Bix was tossing around. It sounded like a lot of these people were somewhat acquainted with one another, but he was pretty certain he didn't know any of them. When one of the guys spoke up with a similar feeling, he felt slightly relieved that he wasn't the only one that wasn't in that particular trial.
"Uh.. what horses? There were horses in your trial? You didn't have to shoot them did you? Or were they mounts? That'd be kinda cool actually, though I don't really know how useful horseback riding would be for this sort of deal. Coudl be wrong." he mused at the mention of horses. He was thinking about normal horses, not being as aware that there could be fifty foot tall hell ponies around the island at some point in the past.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:20 pm
Vanessa listened, an eyebrow raising slightly at the albino's words. She noticed Eva look toward her, then nodded to the other woman's statement and spoke up again to Bix. "Indeed. We were of Epsilon, the...pink team. The horse killed me." After your team practically stabbed me to death, Vanessa resisted adding that last bit, but instead managed to look rather unflustered about the whole ordeal. Apparently her death hadn't been that upsetting, in retrospect. This may have been because it'd happened three times, but dying kind of lost it's impact after a while.
She glanced around the room again, before fully processing this Bix's words. "Months?" She asked, her eyebrows raising slightly. "We've been asleep for that long? Is there any particular reason we have been chosen to awaken now?"
Not that Vanessa was complaining about getting to wake up, but she was curious as to what being second-best to the first picks meant, and why now of all times they'd been brought out of their seemingly-endless slumber. It was a strange thing though, to awaken out of the blue like this. Had something happened to those of Bix's awakening, or something?
Her attention was diverted slightly as she heard some of the others speaking of a different test, listening to the conversation of those behind her. There had been more trials like their own?
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:28 pm
Ryan nodded at the other man--or nodded as best as he could with his face pressed against the desk.
"Yeah... I don't recognize any of these names, colours, or... horses." Maybe they were the special group that got a special trial? Nevertheless, it didn't sound very pleasant. His own hadn't been either and he didn't like thinking about it. The memories still made him shiver.
"Might have been something similar---but definitely not the same one as that everyone is talking about. I'm Ryan by the way." He offered his hand to Wilson, but continued to keep his face down. He didn't want to brave the light again just yet.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:29 pm
Aleister looked towards Vanessa, "We were pink?" He paused for some reason, oh right. They were pink.... He remembered those dreadful capes.
"Man I was sorta was hoping we were a little more purple than pink." He wrinkled his nose. "The horse.... was kinda demanding. It had a pendant thing if I remember right. I also think those were important... something about determining who lived?" He looked at Bix wondering if he remembered about that.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:40 pm
Vanessa's proximity was comforting in a way and was proving to be quite promising! Her questions were current, firm, one point even catching Minnie's full attention, a finger rising up to her lips to be chewed on.
"Wow, really? Months?" No wonder they were so weak and, initially, without recollection! Forget sleep, they had all been in a coma. "How long do you keep people in those things?" She was afraid to ask if they were the lucky ones, having only slept for the time that they had...what if some of those people were out for YEARS?! Decades?! It seemed like such an odd way to go about training potential fighters.
Then the conversation between Ryan and Wilson prompted Minerva to turn slightly in her seat, interjecting when there was a moment to do so. "I guess we all went through something a little different.I don't know anything about those R2D2 names or whatever, either." Changing hands, Minnie continued to nibble on her fingers.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:41 pm
Wilson chuckled at the mention of pink. “Pink, huh? I’m pretty sure my team wore green.”
Ah, that was right. Horses. Wilson vaguely regarded meeting a horse, but it definitely wasn’t the same one most of them were talking about. He recalled fighting with a different group. The lad’s predicament sounded interesting. From what Wilson could tell, most of the other sleepers were from the same trial he had partaken in. “Well, I’m pretty sure you’re not the only one. I think another person said stuff like that,” he reassured Ryan as he looked around the room. “Can’t find him at the moment, though.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ryan. I’m Wilson.” He curiously eyed Ryan, who stubbornly kept his head face down, but Wilson took the outstretched hand anyways.
As Minerva joined in, Wilson smiled. "Yeah, it seems so." He watched her nibble her fingers. "Er, do you do that often...?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:43 pm
Bix didn't seem to find any of his own team mates in the mix but apparently he found those he'd fought against. This didn't bother him at all since he was pretty over the whole thing by this point.
"Good news is .. no more horses on the island!" Bix gave a thumbs up. He neglected to inform them that the death ponies were alive and well and that they would meet again. A girl with black hair asked specifically about his good friend. "Boss? Yes Ariane. She's here." He gave a grin. "We go by our names now you know, like real people do." Except for Bix. He liked Bix better than Ferdinand.
"I'm going to assume even if you weren't in the same trial, that you were in something similar. Murdering people, weird experimental trials.." He waved his hand. "For all intents and purposes that stuff was just a video game for you." It all seemed real. "You were in those pods the whole time."
He held up his finger and glanced at some of the girls who now stayed silent, but had been a bit vocal about families. "I know some of you asked about family but you signed on for this knowing that your past life would be gone." He frowned but nodded solemnly. "We all made the choice, yeah?" So hopefully there wouldn't be complaints.
"Oh yeah and pretty much every room looks like this." He motioned to the stark walls and the presence of blinding white. "You'll get use to these sorts of meetings. But umm no.. I don't know exactly why we woke up at different times."
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:45 pm
Vanessa looked back to her other team-mate, E7, Aleister(?), and nodded. "At least I thought we were pink. It might've been a sort of...violet color, maybe. Those gas-mask lens may have been throwing our color perceptions out of sorts, in any case." After all, they had been looking out of those...pinkish-purple lens. Perhaps it had been a bit more manly of a color than just that...interesting shade of pink? She looked over Eva, as if the other girl might be able to confirm that her memory of their color was correct.
Vanessa then looked to the young man who'd placed his face on the desk and the one speaking with him, and then to the blonde who'd been arguing with Otto eariler. "Yes, there was a very large, fire-spewing, telepathic horse in one of our first battlefields. They were a common enemy, if our fight was anything to go by." She said, hoping to fill the others in about the murderous horses her trial had run into. "Ours had been particularly haunty creature, demanding we all kneel before him before we could get a chance at a pendant. At least I believe that's what he'd been saying." She'd heard the horse's monologuing as she'd died, but she wasn't completely positive of what she'd heard.
Minerva had added onto a few of Vanessa's questions, which simply made the combat-booted young woman further wonder if an alliance would be in order after this meeting. After all, the other woman had shown much promise so far through her questioning, and Vanessa didn't want to miss out on increasing their overall chances for survival. She gave Minerva a little nod and slight smile, acknowleding her addition to the conversation.
Bix had then answered most of their questions, and Vanessa gave him a nod. At least he was telling him things, to the best of his ability. Overall, Vanessa was satisfied for the moment with the information she'd been given. The fact that she'd never see her family again was an unpleasant thought, but she'd known it would be like that when she'd signed up. After all, they were the reason she had signed up. She had people back home to protect, and if never seeing them again was the cost of their protection, she could handle that.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:58 pm
Sherry listened to the conversation and questions fly. She knew she'd been in the same trial as many of the others. She remembered a horse, she remembered a few of the team names they'd said, she remembered the room with the walls...
"You were in those pods the whole time."
Her head snapped back to attention. She almost breathed a sigh of relief. But really, it didn't help. She had still felt everything. It was interesting though. The technology they must have here. To keep people asleep. To have simulators that felt so real. Just wow. Sherry was actually a little amazed.
Sherry looked at Bix. "So, just how many others, people who went through the trials," she gestured to include everyone, "are there? How big is this place?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:58 pm
"Must have..." Ryan agreed with the one girl, Minerva. Maybe that was a good thing though. He wouldn't want to come across anyone holding a grudge against him for past events and from what he could see, none of these people were from the trial he had taken part in.
"Ditto." He said, this time to Wilson. "...Though in this particular case, I think I'm happy to not have any ah... reunions with anyone."
He groaned slightly when Bix mentioned the rooms. He wasn't happy find out they'd all be looking something like this. Or at least, right now he wasn't. He was sure that in time, his eyes wouldn't die at the sight of the blinding white. But right now, it was like painful torture.
"You mean... That was all some sort of simulation...? Felt real to me..." Geez. Technology was growing every day. Still, even that bit of knowledge did little to ease the cold feeling.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 10:07 pm
Information overload.
Otto grabbed the sides of his head and groaned, trying to process all that was being spoken about. Okay, so he'd been in a coma for months? Okay, okay, processed. That trial was like a game they played while asleep in pods? Uh huh, okay, processed. No more giant killer horses on Island? Super duper. Old life gone forever? Peachy keen.
More names were dropped, friendships being formed. All the sort of things that made Otto feel like an alien. It suited him fine. He'd work with them when he had to, but that didn't mean he had to play nice.
Besides, he barely remembered anyone's 'names' from the test anyway. Fiver was hard to forget, it just kind of had a ring to it. Zeta 2 he remembered as that cling on brat. Zeta.. 4? There was a Zeta 4 that seemed really eager at first then seemed to lose it around the Horse of Fire.
What did it matter anyway, right? Even if he met any of them, they wouldn't remember Otto. He'd ditched them early on.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 10:07 pm
Minerva's face became a light shade of red as Wilson spoke. "What? This? Oh..." Her hand dropped slowly into her lap, fingers playing with one another as she forced a smile. It looked just plain awkward on her slightly flustered face. "Yeah. Bad habits die hard." ...probably not the best phrase to use, but hey; She had said it. Foot in mouth or not. "I'm Minerva, in case you guys didn't catch it earlier in the pod room." Since what else would she call it? The nest...no...The Hive!
Bix's voice turned Minerva's head, locking eyes with Vanessa to smirk in return before clenching her jaw with every word the man spoke.
The pod situation was...odd. On the one hand Minnie felt a surge of relief. Whatever deaths were caused had not been real, at least according to Bix. But everything HAD felt so real, her thoughts chiming in to what Ryan said. Everything had felt so real...was this actually some kind of game?
Then the contract surfaced. Ahh yes, the contract. The woman could see glimpses of print and fine print flash before her eyes, family being in the mixture of it all; apparently under the 'forget them' section. Which honestly, now that her head was on right and her mind had all of its memories in place; didn't bother her in the least. She could remember the days spent with her mother, the good days and the horrible ones...and in being able to do so Minnie knew that there would be no desire to ever turn back. As for his mentioning of the rooms, she took a moment to look things over before shrugging both shoulders. Suitable, she supposed. No distractions to get in the way of education.
((SORRY FOR TYPOS, if any. So tired. ;3; ))
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 10:11 pm
She turned to look at Aleister as he spoke, and then laughed. "I, uh...I think I had the same opinion as Vanessa," She admitted, scrunching up her nose at the memory, "It wasn't a very manly color, if I recall correctly." But when she thought about it now...despite how eye-searing the color was, it was kind of nice. That color was what initially tied them together as a team--the pinks had stuck together.
Eva shuddered slightly as her fellow Epsilon recounted what their fight with the giant horse had been like. "Yeah, I...I definitely remember that really clearly. The kneeling, and..." A pause, "I actually got that pendant, but I ended up losing it when I was--um--blown up by a mine." ...Too much information?
She smiled faintly upon hearing that the Beta girl--Ariane?--had woken up. She must have been with the earlier group, then. "Glad to hear that. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see her again." Whether the other girl remembered her or not, she didn't know, but she supposed that that could wait until later. They still needed to get through this class first.
Noting that a certain sulky boy still hadn't said anything, Eva reached out and grabbed his hat, turning it around and pushing the brim down in front of his eyes. "Why so silent?" She was a little ashamed for snapping at him in the other room. She had been confused and disoriented, but that really wasn't an excuse.
Okay, he was a little rude, but that didn't mean that she couldn't be nice to him, right?
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 10:21 pm
Hold up. The entire thing had been fake? All in his mind. Wilson stared at Bix long and hard for a few moments, his expression blank with disbelief. Processing…Processing…”Oh, okay, that makes sense. Sorta explains how I was dead and now I’m not,” he said slowly as he looked away, scratching his head as he continued to absorb the information.
As the woman’s face flushed red he began to panic slightly. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean it was a bad habit,” he reassured Minerva. “I was just uh, wondering. I’ve got some bad habits too. Like, uh…uh…I walk backwards a lot!” This was true. “I don’t know why, but I like walking backwards.” He shrugged, smiling sheepishly.
“Happy with no reunions? Really?” Wilson appeared to be genuinely curious at Ryan’s remark. “I like reunions—as long as they’re not hostile and stuff, at least.”
He would never see his family again? Wilson furrowed his eyebrows as he drudged up information about the contract. The contents slowly trickled in and he began to remember that he had accepted the terms, every last one of them. “Never seeing them again, huh? Guess that’s what I have to do if I want to protect people,” he mumbled.
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