{ THE DARK COVE } UPDATED SEE PAGE 1

[Nothing Yet]

A tense few seconds passed as Mimsy continued to do nothing but stare. She considered the option of just leaving the candidate there, as she had never witnessed what would happen if one was left inside and prevented from bonding, but (thankfully) concluded that it was not presently worth the hassle that would inevitably follow it.

Maybe some other time.

So she pressed the release and silently extended her hand, in case the candidate needed any assistance.

Zoobey

 

[kuropeco]

The last thing he remembered was the darkness.

He had never minded the darkness, not really. It was in the evenings and late at night that he'd felt most at ease, after all, and it was those moments where the silence had seemed almost overwhelming, nearly suffocating in its heaviness, that he had found, perhaps not peace, but at least some semblance of clarity. The stars were something he found almost soothing, even if he was numb to everything else.

When he opened his eyes, he saw, not stars, but a fuzzy outline of something clear in front of him. His vision was slightly blurred; he tried to lift a hand to rub at his eyes, but there wasn't much room in whatever place he was in, and his fingers hit cold metal. He fumbled around for a few moments before realizing he was in something tall and oval shaped, somewhat like a coffin (what a morbid thought), but larger, with a clear glass, square-shaped window just in front of where his face was.

He could have panicked, but there was no hysteria, no clambering to get out, only a quiet sort of musing curiosity.

Eventually there was a click; he heard a hiss and a gust of steam, and the door to his prison swung open as Chance fell forward.

He caught himself at the last second, gracefully readjusting his long legs so that he only stumbled a little bit and straightened carefully and easily. A hand lifted and ran through his head of curly black hair, and he glanced around, dark eyes scanning the room for some sign of intelligence, some indication of where he was. There were rows upon rows of the same "coffins" he'd just been in; only now, as Chance looked closer, he could see that they were some sort of pods.

He made no effort to call out; if there was someone else in the room with him, they would find him eventually.

medigel

 

[bipolar bee]

Paige

The sound of the door opening was what really roused her.

A second later, she pressed her fingers to her face, just as she always did when she first woke. Her features were unchanged, still hers. It was a recurring nightmare of hers, and sleep rarely came easy because of it. Even now, waking up from a long, long sleep, it was Paige's first instinct to touch her face, to take inventory on the things that made her her.

Nothing - nothing - would ever break this routine. It was so, so vital for Paige to check her face, to make sure her face was still her face.

The stale air hit her like a ton of bricks, crushing her lungs beneath the weight of it. It was like waking up after a long night of binge drinking, chain smoking and loud, loud ******** music. Music so loud it thrummed in your blood and synchronized your heart to its pounding bass. Paige felt no surge of fear, no choking hysteria - nothing more special than bleary vision and the strong, strong urge to take a really long, really hot shower.

Finally cracking open her eyes, it took Paige some time to realize she wasn't in her small, dingy, roach-infested apartment. There was no pounding music, no smell of weed from the neighbors downstairs, no dogs barking, no kids in the hallway. There was nothing but the low hum of electronics and the silent, hushed sound of her own breath.

Paige half-stumbled out of the coffee can she'd been sleeping in. Her legs felt weak, almost like jello, and she had to catch herself before she stumbled completely. Her mouth felt dry, stale, and Paige pressed her lips together as she straightened to her full height.

"'lo?"

She had no clue what to do, so Paige just kind of stood there doing her best to not look like an absolute ******** idiot.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Evan had stepped out of the pod room just long enough to take a leak, and so of course that would be when one of the sleepers decided to wake up. He had been surprised to find that, when he came back in, instead of rows of silent pods, there were rows of silent pods and a pretty, bewildered looking woman who looked as though she was about to fall down. Evan hustled to meet her, leading with a warm, friendly smile.

"Hey, hi, good morning," he said softly, comfortingly, trying to make her first impressions out of waking up good ones. "Good to see you on your feet. The first few minutes can be hard, so you might not want to try moving around just yet." He had put himself close enough to her that he could catch her if she fell, but his first encounter with Nora had taught him enough caution not to offer it uninvited. "My name's Evan. Do you remember your name?" All of her vital information was on the clipboard that was attached to her pod, but that was too impersonal. Besides, if she remembered her name, it was a pretty good indication that her time in the pods hadn't scrambled her brain any.

pinchmonster

was gonna have him greet her naked but nahhhhhhh

 

[bipolar bee]

Inle-roo

Well, s**t. Part of her wished he'd greeted her naked, at least that would have distracted her from the stupid questions he was asking.

"I don't remember my name at all," Paige said, doing her best at looking completely bewildered. She wasn't sure if it was working or not. It felt good to stretch her legs, and it felt even better to test her sense of humor, as dry as it might be.

"It's morning? How perfect is that? When did Sleeping Beauty wake up, what time of day, you remember?"

Damn, dude had more muscles than he probably knew what to do with. She tested his strength and leaned up against him, lifting one hand to rub at a dark eye.

"I'm ******** with you. I know my name, so don't go.. yell for whoever it is you yell for when that s**t happens. I'm Paige," she grunted, grinning wryly at Evan, "and I really have to piss."  

[Inle-roo]

Evan's smile froze and slowly wilted into something akin to panic as the hatchling claimed not to remember her name and then started asking questions about Sleeping ******** Beauty, of all things.

"Uhhh," he said, looking towards the door. This had never happened before. The other people he had woken up before had been relatively aware of at least who they were. Maybe this one wasn't a morning person or something. "I, uh. I can't say I do, sorry," he replied, a hand reflexively settling on her waist to steady her as she leaned against him.

His shoulders sagged in relief as she admitted that she wasn't serious. He shook his head and sighed, though his smile made a triumphant return. "You never can tell with some people," he said. He helped her step away from the pod, wrapping an arm around her waist to help her down the hall to the door. "You might have to hold it a little while," he said. "There's a whole spiel I have to give you, and--okay, I'll try to make this quick. Do you know where you are? What's the last thing you remember before waking up?"

pinchmonster

 

[bipolar bee]

Inle-roo

It was kinda cute how his entire face changed, and Paige might've been more interested in shameless flirting if she hadn't had to pee so bad. And the lights were pretty bright.

"Last thing I remember..."

There were disjointed memories. She knew what had happened leading up to her arrival here. She knew where she was now. Everything felt kind of cloudy, and it took Paige a second to answer.

"The trials," she shot Evan a glance. "And I know where I am. When do I get to kill s**t?"

Paige paused.

"Pee first, then kill s**t. Maybe a shower. And some food, but definitely peeing first."

She glanced up at the big red block letters at the top of the door just before they approached it.

"And what the ******** 'All new personnel should proceed to the Cove to retrieve their weapons' mean?"  

[Inle-roo]

Her first real, actual question and it was the exactly perfect one. Evan had a feeling that he and Paige were going to be great friends. "Your weapon is your partner," he explained. "With them, you can kill all the s**t you want--once you learn how to use it," he clarified. He didn't want any green, overeager trainees going out and getting hurt or worse because he had told them to.

"I'm in the Sun division, which specializes in killing s**t. The techs will assign you a division of your own," please be Sun, please be Sun, "and then they'll show you to the Cove. Fair warning, it's kind of a ********, but it'll all be worth it in the end."

He led them through the door and looked up and down the hall. He didn't see anyone else, so he led her towards the bathrooms. "Technically I'm supposed to take you to the Life techs now, but I understand pressing needs. Go answer the call of nature, and then I'll take you where you need to go."

pinchmonster

 

[bipolar bee]

Inle-roo

Your weapon is your partner.

Paige squinted at Evan, but didn't press for more answers. They would come in time, and there was no sense in wasting any more of his time, either.

"Would be killer to get into Sun," Paige mumbled. "I can handle a ********, believe me." As she pulled away from him and moved into the restroom, she paused for a long, long time in front of the mirror. Her face, her face was her face. This was her. Those freckles, that blonde hair, her dark eyes. She was safe. This was her. The tattoos, the piercings. Her. Nobody else.

It didn't take her long to come out of the bathroom once she'd taken care of business and dashed cold water on her face. Evan was where she'd left him, and she approached him with a broad smile.

"Lead on."  

[Seussi]

Normally Finn despised pod duty. There was no other work on the island that he found more boring or demeaning, even compared to tasks such as shovelling minipet s**t. It was b***h work, but unfortunately, completely necessary b***h work. Somebody had to be around to guide the new recruits through their first steps upon awakening. And who knew? Maybe he'd get lucky this time and end up with some gorgeous woman sporting skimpy clothes and magnificent tits.

A guy could dream.

After the whole mission dealing with the infected, however, Finn found himself accepting pod duty with little complaint. Some quiet time alone (well, as alone as one could get while surrounded by comatose people) would be nice. It gave him a chance to think. To reassess himself again. He was taking one of his infamous breaks away from peopling, because people were ******** stupid and he was tired of them.

A couple hours into his shift, and Finn was poring over a book about gross anatomy, an alarm set on his phone to alert him for when it was time to make another walk around the pods.

Beejoux

 

[medigel]

He was reading the chapter on Elizabeth Bathory in Dark History of the Kings & Queens of Europe: From Medieval Tyrants to Mad Monarchies and quietly buried in the exploits of "The Bloody Countess" as he had been for the past hour. Jack hadn't been big on reading for pleasure before, but he supposed it was a combination of never finding the right things and always having a full schedule thanks to school and extracurricular activities. And apparently the right things meant violent, cruelty, and other grisly spectacles documented throughout human history.

It made him feel just a little more vindicated, remembering that it was all part of human nature. Not an outlier, but an uncommon and often rejected segment of the soul.

(Therefore, he did have a soul, if just a small piece of it.)

His morbid indulgences, however, was interrupted by the incessant beeping of the monitor by his propped up feet. Sighing, Jack pulled his legs back down, winced as his joints popped and old scars stretched, scooted his chair back in (as it had needed to be pushed quite a ways back to accommodate him) and scanned the screen.

Just the one, and right when his shift was about to end? Damn it. He still was not ready to people. But at least he had a special instrument just to help him out with that.

Rolling the chair over a little, Jack grabbed the converted megaphone, turned it on, and turned it towards the hallway of pods.

"Chance Bones, this is your attending tech speaking. You have been cryogenically frozen in your pod for a period of no less than one month, and so you may experience one of the following symptoms upon awakening: headache, dizziness, nausea, disorientation, short-term memory loss, and numbness of the extremities. These are all temporary and will not last longer than several days.

"Your first exercise will be to keep your legs straight and touch your toes."

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

The rows of pods were vaguely alien-like, in the way that he thought it wouldn't have been unusual to have been abducted; but there were human faces behind some of the glass screens on the front, and Chance gave them a vaguely curious look before continuing down the hall.

He had only taken a few steps when he thought he heard something; the faintest thump, and a little squeak of wheels across the floor.

Chance slid his hands into the pockets of his worn jeans, which were the same jeans he remembered putting on the day before (Had it been the day before? It seemed strangely longer, or maybe less, or maybe time had just not passed at all and he was just floating in space). A few stray curls slid into his line of vision, but he didn't bother to move them out of the way.

He heard his name, scratchy and loud, echoing down the line of pods. Slowly he turned, expression slightly amused, because the voice was unfamiliar, flat, and even; someone who was clearly used to being professional, or maybe he was just reading from a script.

Chance gave a small laugh as he rounded the next corner, still out of view of whoever it was that was speaking.

"And what does that prove, exactly?" he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "What, no good morning?"

medigel

 

[Seussi]

It was proving to be a fairly quiet afternoon, the minutes ticking by without interruption save for when his phone chimed at him at those annoying intervals where taking a peek around was necessary. It was at one of those moments, his hand coming down to tap on the alarm's off button, just as he was about to mark his page and stand up from his seat, that he heard it. An alarm that went off only a moment before the telltale hiss of a pod door opening. It seemed that this one wasn't far off, and Finn knew it took the newly awakened a few moments to shake off their disorientation, so he took his time getting out of his chair, stretching, closing his book, and grabbing the clipboard off of the wall as he made his way through a row of pods, coming to a stop at the sight of tall man (why were they always tall?) standing inside of his opened pod.

He strode closer, lifted his eyes to the tag on the pod, and then checked his clipboard.

"Ezekiel Young." He intoned, without waiting for the man to open his eyes, his voice almost bored sounding. "Age twenty-two." He glanced up from his page, narrowing his eye, looking the man up and down with a flicker of his gaze.

And then he smirked. "Well, okay. If you insist......"

Apparently had had caught what the other man had said as he was approaching.

".....Maybe."

Beejoux

 

[medigel]

Not listening to order: an unimpressive start.

"It is currently 4:14 PM," Jack informed him. "What it proves, Bones, is that your nerves and spinal cord were not compromised during your sleep. Had they, you would have been terminated. However," he added in a drawl as he traced the moving silhouette through the tinted window, "as you are already walking, I see it is a moot point." He was very clear that the possibility of getting to do so was a missed opportunity, though.

"Let's skip ahead, then." Papers rustled. Jack had written a script for these encounters, if only to get to the key points quickly and send them on their way and out of his hair as fast as possible. "You may or may not recall yet that you were approached by a recruiter for seeing things other humans could not. The facility you are in is a laboratory of the Life Division, one of five that comprises your new company, Deus Ex Machina. When you are ready, you will be taken to the cove to find your weapon, whereupon you will then be directed to your dorm room, given your uniform, and sorted into a division that best fits your talents."

And then given a pat on the back and a half-hearted good luck.

kuroopu