Welcome to Gaia! ::

Samantha staggered slightly passing through the door to the exercise yard. Immediately it seemed, a pair of CRONUS guards were at her side, steadying her to keep her from falling. Instead, they led her over to one of the many benches scattered throughout the yard, helping her take a seat before returning to their posts.

Still too weak from her surgery to put up an argument, Samantha merely sighed, leaning back and staring up at the sky. At least it was nice to be outside again...and not hooked up to life support. It had been months since she'd been able to go anywhere without being accompanied by at least three machines, beeping and clicking in order to keep her alive. It seems that if nothing else, her uncle had managed to save her life afterall. Here she was, alive and well, if still a little weak, when in any other case, she'd have probably been dead by now.

She shook her head slightly, closing her eyes. She owed him her life, it seemed, as much as she hated the thought. The situation didn't exactly make her happy, though perhaps she should have been. Not that she didn't appreciate it, of course. She just hated the idea of owing anyone anything. Especially for something this major.

Ah well, she'd deal with that problem later. For now, she needed to focus on getting better, rebuilding her strength, and getting the heck out of this creepy, depressing place as soon as possible. Something about CRONUS gave her a bad feeling, even if she hadn't exactly seen anything to give her that impression, she felt it anyway.

She lifted her head once more, watching the only other person in the yard with the exception of all the CRONUS guards. Passively, she wondered why the other girl would be here. Was she another like herself? Desperate enough to end up here as a last resort for survival? And, now that she thought about it, why WERE there so many guards out here...?

Samantha frowned, catching the other girl staring back at her. Okay, it was fine for her to stare in curiosity, but not to be stared back at. Not while she was still staring at least. She realized that didn't make any sense, but she didn't care. Apparently, she still had a little lingering hostility from way too much time in hospital beds being told she was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.

Mis-directed rage was always fun, wasn't it?

She crossed her arm angrily, glaring across the yard at the other girl. She'd thought about just stalking right on over there and saying something, but in her current state, she wasn't sure she could walk that far on her own without collapsing just yet. She didn't want to push herself at least. Instead, she settled for just yelling across the yard.

"So...get a good look yet, or ya' wanna' stare at me some more?" She smirked cheekily, trying not to sound quite as hostile as she felt. "Now we could stare at each other all day or we could try talking to one another. Which is it gonna' be? I'd come say 'hello' and all that, but I'm afraid I'd end up with my face in the grass before I could get halfway over there." She chuckled softly, shooting a grin across the yard. For some reason, she felt a little better about the situation. Her initial temper surge fading, she softened her look. Afterall, this was someone NOT working for CRONUS to talk to. She could really use a "normal" person to talk to after all this time. In fact...when WAS the last time she'd had someone NOT a doctor or family member to have a conversation with? It worried her for a moment that she honestly couldn't remember.

Samantha sighed deeply. It wasn't any fun being snarky if no one was going to be snarky back. Or if they were going to cry, and this girl looked dangerously close. She shook her head slightly, uncrossing her arms to wave a hand dismissively.

"Eh, forget it. Don't worry about it. Guess I was just looking for a fight with someone. Sorry 'bout that." She leaned back again, one arm propped up on the bench as she looked around the yard. It was really odd being the only two people in such a large, open space. Well, other than the guards...everywhere.

She looked back at the girl with blue hair, tilting her head. "Kinda' hard to hear ya' over there, ya' know. Guess I could give this a try..." She gathered her energy, struggling to a standing position and taking a couple hesitant steps forward. She managed to stay on her feet, but a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Immediately she seemed to growl, whirling about and nearly losing her balance as she shouted, "Keep your damn posts! I can walk by myself!"

The guards seemed to hesitate in mid-step before resuming their posts for now, frowning and glaring back at the young girl. Samantha merely snorted dismissively, turning away. "That's more like it," she muttered, resuming the challenge of crossing the yard on her own strength. Each step was a singular effort and she tried to control every movement, breathing deeply. Strangely, each step seemed easier than the last, though perhaps that wasn't all that unusual when she thought about it. It made sense, right?

Reaching the bench where the other girl sat after what seemed like an eternity, she practically collapsed into the seat, panting slightly. What a pathetic workout. Considering the athletic lifestyle she used to lead, her current existence nearly disgusted her. After catching her breath a bit, she turned back to her new companion. "So...name's Samantha. Mind if I ask how you ended up here?"

Samantha frowned at Raena's word choice. "Wait...you say you were 'forced' here? But you don't know how you got here exactly? I'm confused..." She shook her head, fingers massaging her temples. Fighting a minor headache, she wondered if it was from all the 'excitement' of the day so far or some side effect of all the drugs she was on for recovery from her surgery. It wasn't nearly enough to mean anything to her, however, so she continued trying to ignore it. It took a rather substantial amount of discomfort to catch Samantha's attention and she often prided herself on her high pain tolerance. it certainly came in handy sometimes, what with all the activities she used to take part in. How soon would she be able to do that again, she wondered?

Turning back to the matter at hand, she asked, "Could you clarify that perhaps? First of all, what do you mean you were 'forced' here?"

Okay, this was a rather disturbing discovery. Raena's story sounded NOTHING like Samantha's. She had thought perhaps she wasn't the only one here for experimental life-saving surgery, but this sounded more like...

She shuddered slightly. She didn't like how it sounded at all. Maybe there was another explanation though. There had to be. "Maybe...maybe that had nothing to do with CRONUS though? Maybe they just found you and treated your wounds or something, right? Couldn't that be what happened?" She sounded desperate and she knew it. Samantha was reaching for any possibility at this point, trying to fight the suspicions she'd already been forming in her own mind. Something wasn't quite right about this place, but she'd tried to chalk it up to that whole general feeling of hospitals and medical research labs that she'd grown accustomed to over the years.

Because after all, the other explanation didn't sit well with her. That would mean she was being tricked, manipulated into cooperating with some group of people whom she probably wouldn't have otherwise. She was being used. That definitely didn't sit well in her mind. Unconsciously, she began popping her knuckles, a habit she'd picked up over the years that signaled to those that knew her that she was struggling to keep her legendary temper in check.

Samantha was growing more and more uncomfortable by the moment. Perhaps this conversation hadn't been the best idea. She was starting to think she'd liked this girl better when she was quiet and about to cry. Increasingly glad that she hadn't given her last name, Samantha gulped, rubbing her neck nervously.

"Err, well, as I understand it, there's a lot of top secret research going on around here, so I assumed it was to prevent spies or thieves from stealing any of the experimental technology or anything." Though, it was still strange considering the number of guards that were typically watching over her. Far too many for just one young woman. I mean, what sort of threat did they take her for? Sure, she used to be pretty athletic, but come on! And she certainly wasn't here to steal any top secret research or anything silly like that. She just wanted to live, dammit. As soon as she was able, she planned to get the heck out of this place and back to her old life.

"As for the rooms, I get the feeling that this place is used much for actual patients and such. More for the pure research portion of the experimentation." She realized it sounded like she was making excuses, and she didn't mean to, but she really didn't like the other possibility. She'd have to have a little 'talk' with Uncle Carl the next time she saw him. See if she couldn't straighten some of this out.

Samantha rolled her eyes dismissively with a chuckle. "I've put up with worse than you before and I could use someone to talk to, so how about sitting back down and keeping me company, eh?" She smirked, patting the bench and leaning back casually. Not much else to do out here anyway. What was she supposed to do? Talk to the guards? Plot an exercise routine? Yeah, right. Not in her current condition.

"So..." she started, honestly not sure what to say anymore. "What should we talk about?" She laughed at herself, realizing she'd never been good at this sort of thing. Social matters weren't her forte.