Welcome to Gaia! ::

It's difficult to tell whether this is a dream or reality. A deep, chilling numbness has taken over your entire body. You feel stiff. Are your eyes open? Closed? There's no difference; it's black either way.

That is, until a low rumble sounds out. You think you feel vibrations, something bumping you until --

"Hey! Get up!"

A bright light forces your eyes shut as the rumbling grows louder, followed by a sudden stop with your feet slamming against something hard.

You feel something warm touch your arm and shake you. "Oi. Wake up, you're not dead yet. And be careful sittin' up, we don't want a certain albino to turn into a tomato, yeah? And you -- no peeking. Ah! Careful, careful, take it easy. That's the ticket."

The voice is rough, unfamiliar. When you open your eyes, you realize there's a man sitting nearby. "Rise and shine!" He greets, offering a wave. "Lance, Mist assistant. You've been medically dead for over a week now. Also, you're wearing a sheet."

It was so quiet.

The ringing in her ears wa sound sure, but just its presence was enough to signal to her sluggish mind that it was entirely quiet.

It was so cold.

It poured through her, from her toes to the tip of her ears she would shiver in random intervals. Though was she really? How long had she really been wherever here was? It was growing to a point she did not really remember.

Was her body turned to ice? She thought so, her mind was running so sluggishly that her body just did not seem able to keep up. The most concentration she could muster only made just a single finger twitch. Were her eyes even open? It was black no matter open or closed, the darkness only adding to the chilling feeling.

It was a good thing she was sluggishly moving... her mind not able to catch up to the fact she was inside something small, something tight. Really small and boxy.

Even as the feeling of movement started, of shaking and a brief feeling of weightlessness... she still felt sluggish.

"Hey! Get up!"

The voice out of no where caused her body to tense for the briefest moment, the other would have seen the reaction and known that someone was indeed home. A groan even sounded from her lips at the sudden light, finding it difficult to move a arm to cover the light she managed to turn her head towards the individual. Effectively away from the light as well.

"Oi. Wake up, you're not dead yet. And be careful sittin' up, we don't want a certain albino to turn into a tomato, yeah? And you -- no peeking. Ah! Careful, careful, take it easy. That's the ticket."

"Wh-who..?" She managed to croak out, her throat, mouth, and lips dry from the lack of moisture causing her to cough a moment later.

"Rise and shine! Lance, Mist assistant. You've been medically dead for over a week now. Also, you're wearing a sheet."

Wait... Mist assistant? Lance?

...Dead?

Her brain was waking up more and more, as if instintually she managed to sit up rather abruptly, not even realizing as her sheet fell and pooled at her hips. Thankfully, she was aware enough and grabbed at the sheet to cover herself.

"Dead?" She whispered her previous thought, still sounding s bit creaky as her eyes went towards the man in the wheel chair, focusing in on him before half lidded eyes with huge bags under them turned to the white male nearby. "Bix?... ded too?"

Oh poor lance, apparently being dead for a week meant horrible language and comprehension problems.

Yes Lance, you are a true gentleman. Even in his current state Bix had side-boob radar and his eyes had started to drag over as Ceres sat up. The faintest blush hit his pale cheeks as he realized what was going on.

The albino could manage a nod as Lance spoke of Life labs. Thoughts, acknowledgements. Blood was pumping again and his body and mind slowly responded. He felt slightly better by the second.

Wiggle toes. Wiggle toes. "Kill Bill.." He grunted with a smirk. Beatrix Kiddo and her amazing wiggling toes. Wiggle toes.

He was doing it. It wasn't so difficult. Bix cast another glance at Ceres, concerned momentarily if this was also working for her, and then back to his own body.

Swing knees.

Bix had forgotten suddenly about his own sheet. As his knees dragged to the side, the sheet came with it. The albino was slow on the uptake and as he flashed himself for the small private audience, it FINALLY clicked.

He yelped, groped for the sheet, and promptly tumbled face first to the floor on top of the crumpled fabric. It was now time for the rear view! The young man's burned scarred back led down to his pasty white butt and he was a frigid lump at Lance's feet.

Bix's legs felt like jelly but all he could do was attempt to cover his pale naked a** with gropes and pulls to the sheet. "S'cold!" He mumbled in defense of himself into the tile.

After a few struggling moment's he'd rolled over (thankfully wrapped and covered) and managed to at least sit up straight. Standing may have to wait a moment.

The grunt wasn't missed. "Hey, it was a good flick," Lance protested. "Some of the scenes were outlandish, but all in all it was a good movie. Some hunters even tried to replicate that weapon of her's with... mixed success." Ah, useless trivia! Or perhaps he was talking to fill in the awkward situation; both trainees had nothing between themselves and the world around them except for the sheets.

And speaking of, Bix demonstrated that fragility quite nicely. Lance coughed as he maneuvered his weapon up and above Bix in a sort of attempt to block the Moon hunter from being mooned. He didn't hide the smirk on his face, but at least he had enough self-control to avoid giving the poor boy a wolf whistle of appreciation.

"Don't thank me," Lance addressed Ceres, giving her a shrug. "Aria's the one who pulled you outta there and smuggled you both in here. It was only a matter of time before you two came around. Things have been a bit... chaotic since you guys last went on a mission." He gestured around, moving his weapon out of the way as Bix sat up again. He held out his hand towards the downed Sun hunter, offering to help him back up.

"Things have changed a bit around here. And before you ask, I don't know where your clothes or weapons are. Your best bet, I think, would be to toga party back to your rooms first for some clothes then to track down your... weapons." He shifted uneasily in his seat, adding, "They may have undergone a slight change, by the way. I dunno how much you remember, but from what's been going around the rumor mill they might have taxed themselves a bit. They're probably sleeping or resting -- that's why you can't hear them right now, if you're wondering."

Even though her own flush had significantly toned down, she too was becoming more aware. "Geez Archer, cover yourself up." She muttered low, giving a signal to both herself, and probably Bix, that she was indeed waking up. Apparently halfway dead had turned her into a blushing schoolgirl momentarily. Even at Lances attempt to cover Bix up, he had not been fast enough, and she had gotten just as much of a peek as the assistant had. Bix had a nice butt ok.

Not that she would say that out loud right now that is.

"Still though its good to know we are waking up in tact and not with like... a 5th arm or something." Life labs in general gave her the heeby geebies, she liked not being a lab rat and wanted to keep it that way.

Clearing her throat she too, more carefully than Bix, managed to scoot herself around to sit on the edge of her 'first class' accommodations. She even kept herself mostly covered, flashing a bit of thigh in turn. She really was not super prude, so a little thigh was not cause for her to freak and cover it immediately. "Being mostly dead would...explain why we are in a morgue." Which was something she was TRYING not to think about at the moment, surrounded by dead bodies of other hunters probably.

While Bix was talking Ceres took that time to gather her own thoughts, and questions. Having a sluggish brain kind of sucks. "So... do you think people will shoot us for walking to our room? Would people freak the hell out if they thought we were dead?"

"Takeru is usually quiet unless he has something to snip at... so i was not really thinking much about him at the moment." Though now that Lance pointed it out, she did not sense him at all. It was weird being the only one in her mind after having a constant companion for so long. "What... else has changed? Besides not knowing whats going on with our weapons that is." Lance had subtly suggested that more has happened, she thought, so better to be safe than sorry.

Bix listened, though he did see that bit of thigh Ceres... OH YEAH HE DID. Council was dead. Weapons asleep. Halloween. Ghosts. Sheets.

Bix nodded, almost numbly, "I'm sort of powering through this right now." Thinking too much was difficult. Hard to grasp that he'd been dead. Avoiding thinking about the fact that he'd laid in a morgue for a week. Completely ignoring that his friends probably think he's dead and he would have to deal with that. He knew as soon as he sat down in his room, got a shower and some clothes, that it might be a while before he could really absorb any of this. He hadn't even bothered to retrace the memories that led him up to this point.

"Lots of dead people." He muttered. "Anyone else dead that we should know about? Anyone else gonna just... jesus their way back to us?" Would the council show up as insanity monsters or demons or something? He paused then and squinted. "We're not back in pods or anything, are we?"

It was a valid question. You could never tell.

If that was it, then Bix supposed it was time to go. Help Ceres back to her room and then head to his own. Deal with issues later.

Don't think too much.

"Nah, just you two. You two are either incredibly special snowflakes, or incredibly unlucky." Lance shook his head, adding, "Pods would've probably kept you in a sort of stasis. No offense, but I don't think we're looking to permanently get rid of any hunters just yet."

"Go outta here and hang a right. Climb up those stairs and you'll be in the Infirmary," Lance explained, "You might run into some Life or Moons, but they shouldn't hassle you too much. After that you just need to walk halfway across campus into your dorm rooms and you're all set. Easy, isn't it?"

Lance snapped his fingers. "Listen, I won't take up any more of your guys' time, since you have a bit of a ways to walk. Don't shine your moons too right, all right? Lance, out!"

The assistant grabbed the wheels on his wheelchair and began to roll backwards, striking a snazzy pose... only to roll to a stop less than halfway across the floor. The assistant frowned, then sheepishly continued to wheel backwards until he was out the door and out of sight.

When the two approached the door and looked out, Lance was nowhere to be found. They were on their own from here.