randomizing | [ Opening Mingle ]

[Everyone will wake up suddenly, as if having drifted off -- while sitting upright in an uncomfortable office chair. In one hand they're holding the communicator, and in their lap is propped a clipboard with a job application (standard, looking something like this; it requests up to ten years of job history, ) and a pen. The waiting room is also fairly standard, except for being empty.]

[The communicator's lock screen reads, Complete the job application. Time limit, twenty-four hours.]

[There are magazines, fake plants, and computers. There's a staff lounge with food -- tupperware that might have belonged to some of these nonexistent workers, popcorn and cocoa packets, vending machines -- and restrooms. There are exits, but characters will be unable to use them... or make their own, or escape in any way.]

[So the characters are stuck here, until tomorrow morning. Set up a comment telling everyone what your character is doing, and thinking, whether they're obeying the task or not, at any time during the day. Then tag other people! Be sure to check back later in the week, when people are encouraged make threads for the evening as well as the day! Characters that have been claimed are also welcome at this point to join the community, and will be able to make their own posts, which can be tagged by anyone taking part in the event.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm not sure if I have any better idea what's happening here than you, but... [he is habitually compelled to do good deeds, so this exceptionally weird-looking, scarred, white haired, monster-armed kid dressed like a Dickens novel is hovering nearby uncertainly]

Maybe we are at a hospital after all. [Rude, Simon. As is the staring, though it's of a very clinical nature. That arm is a medical anomaly if he's ever seen one.]

[Maybe the simplest explanation for what's happening is that he's still hallucinating. That might be right.] I think what's happening is I'm having some sort of a mental breakdown, or a dissociative episode. Maybe just too much to drink.

What do you think? [He tilts his head at Allen in an implied 'are you real?']

[ehe, well] Aside from the fact that it would be my mental breakdown, or -- that other thing you said, it seems distressingly likely.

[but Allen does know that he feels all right at the moment, against all the odds]

I can't imagine what would reassure you, but it's just as disorienting for everyone else, at least. I haven't seen anyone here who actually seems to belong here and understand what's happening.

[Simon's quiet for a second, frown on his face.] That's the exact opposite of reassuring. [He sighs.] This is the strangest prison I've ever been in.

Sorry. [he scratches his jaw with gloved fingers, still sheepish]

You think it might be a... a prison? Why? [it doesn't look like any prison Allen's ever been in! but that's not a reassuring comment either, right?]

I doubt there's anything you can do. So there's very little to be sorry for. [He does appreciate hearing it, nonetheless]

[And now it's time for clever antics, because he's reluctant to admit his Most Wanted status.]

Why do you think it... wouldn't be a prison? [Okay so deception is not his strong suit.]

[you're like a deception ninja] [but Allen doesn't judge] Well, as far as I know, I wasn't headed for one. And it seems a little unguarded for a prison, don't you think? Why just -- leave us in a building with a lot of fragile machinery and no idea why we're here? I'd think if we were being arrested, they'd want to make sure we knew it, and why.

I know why. There's really only one possible reason.

[Way to go Simon. That didn't sound sketchy at all.]

[And now his attention goes back to Allen's arm.]

I'm sorry, but I have a question and no idea how to make it not sound rude. If there is one. Which is unlikely.

[suddenly, a topic change. he blinks, and then smiles sheepishly] Go right ahead. I'm sure I've heard worse.

That arm... well, [He supposes he'll just charge on ahead with the questions.] How did it happen?

To be perfectly honest, I was born with it -- more or less like this. [he shifts, flexing the fingers] I couldn't move it at all until I was ten, so it was quite a bit of trouble for me. But, thankfully, it didn't stay that way. [smiling]

A genetic mutation? Not something anyone installed? [Yeah, he's started prying. Might as well go all out.]

I-- [a brief pause here because he's not as sure of the answer as he once was] No... I mean, it is a weapon, but it's my weapon.

It's not -- it doesn't look natural.

If it was some kind of Alliance project, don't... [he sighs and takes a brief but not very discreet look around to make sure no one's watching before leaning in] you can trust me. They did something to my sister, too. Something that's purpose was even less clear.

[he softens a tiny bit. a sister... family is something of a weak spot of Allen's] [all right, it doesn't hurt to say this much]

I'd like to tell you. I'd like to know, really. I was always told that I was -- simply deformed, as a child. Later, when I was discovered by the Order, they said I was simply born with a weapon that was always meant to be mine, as Innocence weapons only have one compatible user. I'd only just begun seeking what it might... really mean, when I woke up here.

But I'm not familiar with an "Alliance". That's what you said, right?

They're the government. They govern. [Okay so his tone may have shifted again into sounding like he's talking to a two year old, but seriously, who hasn't heard of the Alliance? This has to be some kind of very unfunny joke.]

A government. [repeating, just as if he is a two-year-old and might need even more clarification, before he follows it up with] The name doesn't give me many clues, so you'll have to pardon my curiosity, but they sound quite dangerous. How could they get away with making "projects" of people?

[muttering] This is why the democratic process is so important. If we didn't have the House of Commons things would be even more out of control.

The House of -- [well that's a shocker alright] you're from Britain? On Earth-That-Was.

[ Opening Mingle ]

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