Welcome.

[trustharder]

You last remember feeling safe.

You don't know what caused that response, now that you think about it; you can't remember what you were doing before the warm, comfortable feeling came over you, a sensation somewhere between relief and the light contentment that comes with the knowledge that you're safe enough to sleep and god, are you ready to. It feels like you may have been sleeping for a while before this, even; your limbs are heavy in the memory, and you recall how difficult it was to open your eyes.

Turning your head is likewise difficult, it feels kind of like it's full of sand. Weighted-down by sleep. It's so much easier to remain still, and so you do, and before you haze out again you can vaguely hear a voice.

It's no one you recognize, and it sounds strange and vaguely distorted as you start to drift off again.

"Everything'll be fine."

There isn't an answer that you can hear; the voice speaks once more.

"...you ready?"

You don't remember what you wanted to say to that. Always, maybe. Or Ready for what? Or perhaps What's happened to me?

But none of it matters, because consciousness slips away from you too quickly for you to respond.

---

You wake up some time later; the comfortable, safe feeling from earlier certainly isn't dampened any by the bed you wake up in. Whether you like it soft as a cloud or firm enough to support the most finicky of spines, the bed you're in is nice, and it's pretty much exactly what you've been looking for in a mattress.

Shame the rest of the room is probably going to be a bit jarring when you wake up properly.

The room you're in is completely unfamiliar, all concrete and steel and almost nothing that makes it yours - but there's a trunk near the bed and there's what looks like a smartphone sitting on the trunk, and you might want to grab that before you leave the room. Trying to text or call out won't do anything for the time being, unfortunately, but it's something. A lifeline, maybe.

If you're looking to see if anyone is here with you, maybe you can find someone as you wander through the main corridor; after all, there are a few places to explore here, even if the bulk of the place is pretty much a straight shot down the center. If you're looking to gather, the dining hall is probably the best place for it, as it's large enough to accommodate all of you.

Wherever you choose to go, however, there are a set of rules posted in every room; the far wall of the dining hall, across from the entrances, also has a bulletin board with twenty-seven pictures, along with some...interesting information, posted on it. The board is large enough for all of you to look at it, but you might not want to try to get at anything posted there; just like the rules, there's glass in front of it, and it's looking to be extremely shatterproof.

Sorry about that.

There's one more thing you'll notice on your wanderings through the corridor – there are no windows, and there are no doors that can possibly lead outside.

Looks like you're trapped. Might as well get to know those that are here with you.

Comments

[penduli]

[ There are a number of startling things he realizes when he wakes up--he's alone, there's decidedly less fire and destruction here than he last (fuzzily) remembers, White isn't here, there's a... smartphone he's pocketing?, his parents aren't here, these clothes are definitely not what he was wearing before he's pretty sure, this room is incredible bare and quiet...

It unsettles him, honestly, and it takes him a good half hour to muster the courage to accept he's curious enough to leave his (?) room and investigate everything else. At least the room he's found himself in (24, he notes) is right by the entrance to, well, the rest of the place! There are small blessings in this world. ]


i. exploration!
[ Many stops today--there is the chance that somebody he knows is here and is just... in some other part of this weird place, maybe. The fact there are no windows to look out of is giving him the willies, so to speak, but that can't get him down. Not right now.

Not while he needs to find his sister.

He'll be making his rounds around all of the rooms save the diving room, stopping longer to inspect the the laundry room (seriously, who does that, even their old house had a washing machine), the elevator (or something that looks like it anyway; elevators have call buttons and a way to open up, and this decidedly does not), and the library.

Especially the library. He's tugging out fiction books and (the incredibly sparse) nonfiction books alike, scrutinizing their titles and their authors. Some of them are similar enough to those back home, but also distinctly... different. If they were food items they'd be the cheap off-brand versions.

........there's definitely hazardous piles of books growing around the room, sorry about that!!! ]



ii. the room where it happens dining hall
[ Like most people, Black eventually finds himself in the dining area. Black keeps away from any group of people he deems too big and waits until it's mostly cleared to check out the bulletin board, pursing his lips together when he finds his name close to the top instead of the bottom where he'd been looking. Black, huh.

Okay.

The age catches him off-guard, as does... pretty much half the information there, actually. Caster? Reflective surfaces? He's only 18, guys, he doesn't have a job and he doesn't have anything against mirrors-- ]

...Enforcing? [ What the heck kind of title is that.

Back to the important thing there though: Those dislikes. He's leaving juuuust long enough to go find a roll of duct-tape from storage to rip (holy crap that's loud) and put over the not very true ones (which is everything but bullies and apocalypse fiction, in his eyes). ...yep. Right on the glass there. Noooo problem.

Mmmmmaybe he should do it to the rest of his thing too? He is considering this seriously. (He probably won't do it, that's a lot of time and effort and he isn't strong enough to like, just keep tearing pieces of tape willy-nilly.) ]



iii. vending machine
[ You know what, actually, he has another thing to check out, and that's the really high-tech vending machine here.

Why this, of all things??? They couldn't have gotten their laundry room properly suited up instead? He's prrrobably not in the position to judge but he's gonna do it anyway.

...and then jump if anyone's near by and stammer out: ] Do--err--do you have any money or something? I'm just... I'm wondering what sort of stuff's in here.

[ (also for the record "bummed" is the understatement of the year re: no one he knows being here.) ]

iii

[captainobnoxious]

[What a nervous kid. Like a kitten.]

Not a single krone. But I'll bet I can get something out of there anyway if you're curious.

[Leave it to the giant Norwegian. Do it. She looks capable and confident enough to do it, already sizing up the machine.]

[penduli]

[ Krone--she's either Norwegian or Danish then, right? ...that's strange, he's definitely never learned either of those languages, has he-- ]

Please do. [ Because he is really curious! That wasn't a lie.

...and she looks like she's gonna do it no matter what he says anyway, so uh. Go for it, lady. ]

[captainobnoxious]

[Yeah this thing is gonna get tipped the hell over if she has any say in it.

Sigrun rolls her shoulder as she does a half-circle back and forth around it, pushing Black to the side gently, and ramming into it with her shoulder.

Machine 1, Sigrun 0.]

Wow, that is a tough box. [Ouch. It didn't even move, did it.] Guess it's not all just for show, but every thing's got its weak point.

[So she'll rinse and repeat, trying it from different angles and using different techniques. This would be over so fast if she had her gun.

... She doesn't seem the be stopping either.]

[penduli]

[ One of two things is going to happen:

1. She's going to break her shoulder or
2. She's going to have a really, really sore shoulder.

...OR BOTH... HE GUESSES IT COULD BE BOTH. After a few more... obviously fruitless attempts, Black hunches his shoulders and steps away from her and the machine. (Yep.) ]

It's fine. I'm sure it's nothing interesting... It can't be food or drink, after all. [ That's in the kitchen. ] It might not even be stocked.

ii

[amygdalae]

[The loud rip of duct-tape is what startles Bruce more than anything else, really--he jerks a little from where he had been engrossed in one of the books he had taken out from the library, and it takes a moment from there to see where the sound is coming from.

Huh.

Bruce watches for a moment at the person currently trying to... tape the bulletin board? He's pretty sure he's in no position to stop him, but still.

What an odd reaction.]

[penduli]

[ ...maybe he shouldn't cover everything. He's not really sure he could actually rip enough pieces--it was sort of hard to rip the first like, two. Well, that's good enough for now, he guesses...

oh, he's being watched. Of course he is, duct-tape is loud. ...doesn't stop him from being embarrassed and trying to shove the duct-tape into a pocket that isn't... there...

so it clatters onto the floor instead and Black jumps like, half a foot back. And over his own feet. And--THE GROUND IS PRETTY FRICKIN' HARD, THAT'S WHAT I'M GONNA SAY. ]

Ow.

[amygdalae]

[That, uh, didn't look very pleasant.

Bruce quickly makes his way over to the other, bending down so that he can extend a hand to help him up should he need it.]

Are you alright? [He asks once the other is on his feet again.]

[penduli]

[ Oh, he'll take that hand, thank you, you're very kind-- ]

I've had worse. [ ...AND HE HAS... ] I forgot I didn't have any pockets, so it was sort of a shock to drop the tape instead of putting it away.

[ though.... now that he's patting his puffy vest... he has pockets, doesn't he. they're zipped up, but they're pockets.

...let's just not mention this at all, stranger, he didn't notice. ]

laundry room

[lackinginfaith]

...They've never heard of washing machines, I see.

[Caren sighs and shakes her head.]

We've got bigger problems. Are you the one in charge?

[penduli]

If I was, there'd be washing machines.

[ ...wait does she mean in charge of everyone here--the back of his neck heats up, ahaha, um. ]

Uh--n-no, I'm not. [ he honestly doesn't really think he could be in charge of anyone. ] What sort of "bigger problems"? ...aside from, well, everything, I guess. [ because this place is one big problem. ]

[lackinginfaith]

Over twenty strangers in one place with someone who clearly knew who we were and how to get to us. I had things I needed to get to and it isn't like I can trust anyone back home to do any of it for me.

[penduli]

[ Yep that's the "everything". ]

That is a problem. [ ...he doesn't want to be the bearer of bad news but-- ] It doesn't look like there's any way out either--no windows, no doors, nothing. There's an elevator on the far side of the hall, I think, but I haven't checked it out. [ (yet.) ]

I don't know that there's a way to get back "home." [ for those lucky enough to still have one :') ] Unless someone finds a secret exit or something, but what're the chances of that?

III

[cherryblooded]

I'm all out, I'm afraid. It doesn't look like anyone brought anything but the clothes on their back.

[Cherryblod's pretty bummed about that too! Maybe they can be friends.]

It does make you wonder what the point of putting something like this in here is when they can't afford a washing machine.

[penduli]

[ Too bad... Maybe there's some change lying around somewhere. ]

That's exactly what I was thinking. [ and what he'll fight for the rights of soon enough ] I'd think that a washing machine--and a dishwasher, I guess, though I'm not as bothered by that--would be more important than a vending machine.

[cherryblooded]

[Must be. Otherwise it'd be totally useless.]

What does this even dispense? Seems impractical to have a vending machine that doesn't tell you that much.

ii

[wokeupdead]

[The problem with trying to tape over the words when glass is in the way is that Lynne can still kind of read half a word if she bends at a really weird angle. Which she is doing right next to Black. Right now. There is nothing subtle about what she is trying to see.

The more effort you go to hide something the juicer the details.]

[penduli]

[ THAT'S SO RUDE AND UNSUBTLE it reminds him of his sister. ]

There's--really nothing to see, miss. [ ...like really, there isn't anything to see. He's just being kind of dumb about this.

All it's hiding is "Casters" and "reflective surfaces," after all. ]

[wokeupdead]

[It's just her detective intuition thirsting for knowledge. Don't mind her.]

Then you wouldn't cover them up! [bending, looking, straining.] What do you have against blasters anyway? That sounds cool to me.

iii

[goodforsomething]

Nah. Let's break into it!

[This is a far fancier vending machine than the ones Stan used to steal from, but it can't be too hard, right? Stan enters the room to circle the machine, at least as far as he can, inspecting it.]

You got a screwdriver, kid?

[penduli]

[ He's not a kid!! ]

No, sorry. [ Who'd just carry one of those around... ] There might be one in the storage room, though. It had a lot of junk in it.

[goodforsomething]

Nah, I was already in there. Nothin' that helpful.

[Stan presses his shoulder against the vending machine for a moment.] Geez, is this thing bolted down?

Library

[bloodisthicker]

[...it's really tempting to say something caustic about the various piles of books everywhere, but he'll try to hold his tongue until if he actually trips over something.]

...so all evidence would point to there being not very much to your liking in here, then.

[penduli]

[ thanks man. ]

That'd be the safe assumption to make, yeah. [ WELL-- ] It's not that I don't like these, but I was hoping I'd find something a little more... helpful? There's not many nonfiction books [ if any at all; he hasn't found any himself, but he's here to persevere! ...for the moment! ] and all the fiction ones are like cheap knock-off counterparts of real ones. It's unsettling, too.

[bloodisthicker]

...oh, of course. It's not like whoever's responsible for this can actually give us decent reading material that would give us a good idea of where we are or what our situation is. That would just be too easy.

[...that's probably the reason tbh, but it doesn't mean he's not annoyed.]