(no subject)

[ferrokinetically]

[ Please give a warm welcome back to a walking representation of early 2000s Hot Topic. The woman that comes on the screen has strikingly green hair, a black studded jacket, and an unenthusiastic expression. ]

Soooo [ she folds her arms across her chest and heaves a sigh. Try to be polite, Polaris. Don't start of making enemies right away. ] I'm Polaris. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has more important things to be doing, so I'll spare you all a complaint filled introduction. [ She's that generous. She runs a hand through hair hair and sighs again. ]

I'll keep it short and sweet: what are the things I need to know about this prison? Rules, problems, problem people, and especially progress you've all made on getting out. That one first preferably. [ Surely someone's made progress, right? Please say someone's made progress. ]

And let me know when the group townhall kumbaya meetings are. We're all stuck here together, right? Guessing people meet occasionally to discuss the shit they've found out. [ A pause and then she awkwardly adds: ] Thanks.

Comments

Video | UN: SpeedofThought

[doubled_speed]

[Lorna. But... Not? She should know this stuff, some of it. Not his Lorna either, because she doesn't quite look like her. This? This sucks. Okay, no pressure, Tommy. Don't make her feel awkward.]

Hi. Uh, there's a lot to know. I suppose the first is that you've come in a bad month. The Sphere tends to, a few times a year, share our memories in a way where everyone can see them. You've hit us in one of those months. Sometimes there's nightmares too, but that was, like, two months ago so it probably won't be until next month.

[Yeah, the schedule's something he thinks he's starting to see.]

There's not real progress on getting out. There's no obvious way out from under the ocean, even if we could get through the domes. And we can't. The material it's made of seems impervious to just about anything, even my abilities, so it's pretty much tougher than vibranium or adamantium. So we're stuck here for the ride.

[ferrokinetically]

Predictable. [ And weird to hear. Why did things run on some sort of schedule here? ] Did someone create that schedule? [ She paused and her mouth twisted in a frown. ] Our memories? Seriously? There anyway to stop that? [ There were a lot of things she definitely wouldn't want a group of strangers to see. ]

Maybe there are less than obvious ways then? [ Though her dry tone said she wasn't really convinced that would be true. Always the pessimist. Something about what he said caught her attention though. ] Abilities?

[doubled_speed]

If there is an intentional schedule, then it's the Sphere that did it. And yeah, seriously. No way to stop it so far as I know. You just have to get lucky.

[Maybe there are less obvious ways. But it doesn't seem likely so far.]

I'm fast. Super fast.

[ferrokinetically]

Never really had the best luck. [ Kind of the opposite really. If this kid was right then this place was going to suck more than she'd initially thought. ] Is the Sphere dangerous to us? [ She's curious if the thing interacts with them or just sits back and messes with them for kicks. ] Hands on kind of jailor or hands off?

[ A bittersweet smile formed on her lips and she looked down for a second.]

I knew someone with that ability, it's a useful one.

[doubled_speed]

The Sphere is... complex. But not a person, it's not something that can be hands on, it has no hands.

[He sighs, shaking his head.]

Yeah. Peter Maximoff, right?

[ferrokinetically]

Do we know what it is specifically? [ Sounds...interesting.

Her eyebrows scrunch and she shakes her head. ]

No, can't say I recognize the name. Why do you ask?

[doubled_speed]

[Huh, did she only know him as Quicksilver? Weird.]

The Sphere is an AI I think. Or as near as I can guess it from how it acts.

[Tommy sighs and chews his lip. Would it be easier not to tell her? Probably.]

No reason. Just thought the name would ring a bell. Guess I'm wrong. Anyway, I'm Tommy. I usually go by Speed, though. Mutants gotta have cool names.

video; un: Gambit

[athiefalways]

[Lorna Dane, but one from another dimension. That's par for the course here, though, being that so many people from different worlds were pulled here. It's actually more surprising he and Tommy are from the same place, but that's not the important thing here.

The man on the other end of the video is handsome, sure, but his eyes are more telling. He's a mutant too, and he'll respect her wishes for the moment.]

Bonjour Polaris. [He'll wait to see if she recognizes at least a version of him before he launches into the full introductions.]

And I just got here myself, cher, but I wouldn't say I'm lookin' forward to any campfire songs, neither. Wouldn't mind 'smores, though, maybe some ghost stories.

[ferrokinetically]

Does it bring new people here in groups or just a coincidence for a few people to show up at similar time?

[ Sorry, Gambit, she shows no signs of recognizing you at all. Her expression does soften when she talks to him though, he's not human. That much is clear from his eyes alone. ]

Songs are an important part of the bonding experience. [ Her tone is dry and a smirk is barely visible. ] Can't skip it just to get to the best parts.

[athiefalways]

Your guess is as good as mine, cher. [He takes note both of her lack of recognition and her change in demeanor.] The name's Gambit, by the way. Enchante.

[And he laughs at that.] Tell you what, Polaris. You bring the guitar and I'll get us some nice songs. We'll hold hands, maybe pitch a tent.

[ferrokinetically]

Guess I can't expect too many answers from someone that also just got a prison sentence. [ She chuckles. ] Nice to meet you Gambit, I suppose. [ Shit circumstances aside. ]

Ah, damn. Left my guitar in my other world.

[athiefalways]

Naw, but I'll be straight with you. I seen some pretty high tech prisons, and this one tops 'em all. Also gonna go out on a limb here and say discussin' escape usin' what our warden shoved in our brains ain't the wised move.

[He grins.] I reckon you'll just have to hum somethin', then.

[ferrokinetically]

[ A dark cloud poured over her at his words and she looked away from the camera. Her first thought was maybe she could figure out how to get it out. ] Guess there's no point asking the questions I'm thinking about. Or discussing things. [ Which is really put her in an even more sour mood. ]

You're gonna be real disappointed in that. Can't say my humming is that impressive.

Video - un: detwatts

[gadaboutdetective]

Your hair is quite... a verdant shade.

[It’s a bit blunt, but it’s a fact stated. If it helps, he’s wearing a very loud green checker plaid suit in the video feed. So... He thinks green is a good colour, okay?]

Uh— I mean, hello. I’m not sure I have many answers that you’ll want to hear, but I’ll try to help?

Starting with ‘progress made on getting out.’ [Llewellyn paused... He wasn’t sure she would want to hear what he knew, but she was pretty straightforward about asking about it. So he gestured a bit vaguely as he continued,] I’m not sure you could say that we’ve made any. It seems we’re here until we either no longer have anything to offer as important data for the sphere’s experiment, or until it achieves its goal. Which is... um... figuring out how to bring back its own kind that died.

[ferrokinetically]

Thanks. [ In all honesty, she's not sure if that's meant to be a compliment or not. It was not more often then not and Lorna's tone took on an edge of defensiveness. ] Lucked out and was born this way, I like to think it makes me unique. [ Which was actually the truth. Despite all the shit that came with it, Lorna liked being a mutant and wouldn't have it any other way. ]

Getting a few answers that aren't giving me much hope. [ Not his fault though, so she tries to soften his tone a bit. ] None of that last bit is helping either. The sphere's experiment...[ she shakes her head and bites down on her lip, thoughtfully. ] So, it's not a prison, it's a test facility? [ That's like ten thousand times worse than a prison. ]

[gadaboutdetective]

You’re welcome! [He offered a clumsy smile. Yes, it was probably a compliment. He’s just not good at it sometimes.] It’s very unique, at least compared to where I’m from.

[His expression shifted to something more than a little apologetic, giving bad news was never fun. Llewellyn offered an awkward shrug, wishing he had something better to tell her about all this.]

I’m afraid so, but uh— as far as being trapped goes... It’s not all bad? The people who’ve ended up here tend to be more inclined to help one another. [He hummed a little, he’s also not particularly good at painting things in a positive light.] Especially as during months where the memory shares or nightmares happen— I’m guessing someone would have mentioned those already?

[In his experience those were the first things people brought up, but he’d go over it if she hadn’t been told... Not that it was particularly cheery either. He waved a hand as he moved on,]

But! The um... point is, the community tends to be more helpful and accepting than one might be used to. Some people aren’t even here for that long before they’re sent home, so not everyone is trapped for more than a month or two at most by my observations.

[ferrokinetically]

It's pretty unique where I'm from too, or at the very least most wouldn't be stupid enough to keep it. [ But that was Lorna in a nutshell. Stupid enough to be eternally defiant.

She arches one eyebrow skeptically at his further elaboration. Even her own team had barely gotten along, she couldn't imagine so many different people managing it. ] Yeah, someone mentioned the memory shit and nightmares. Didn't really elaborate much on nightmares though. Not really fond of the idea of people seeing into my head, I've had some nasty experiences with it. [ Her tone is dry and her expression tight, it's definitely not a topic she wants to talk about for too long. ]

Doesn't take much to be more accepting than what I'm used to. [ Each word is dripping with a sardonic tone. She let out a little bitter scoff before moving on. ] So, did you get elected as the facility optimist? [ Because he sure seemed to be trying to make it sound not that bad. ]

[gadaboutdetective]

[The comment gets a rather curious expression from Llewellyn, the ‘facility optimist?’ His brows rise rather high at that, people didn’t generally call him an optimist. He was trying a lot harder over the last few months, so if she was being sarcastic he missed it (as he often did) with a little shake of his head.]

Mm... No? It’s something new I’m trying, and uh— I suppose it helps that despite some of the bad things... I’ve found a lot of good here as well. [And if she came from a world that wasn’t particularly accepting of her, for whatever reason, he certainly hoped she found it different here as he had.] And I assure you, I’m honest about the subject of acceptance. Some people are just a little... grumpy sometimes. Harder to know where you stand with them till you get to know them better.

[Nightmares... They varied so much that he wasn’t surprised that no one had elaborated on them yet.]

Nightmares are harder to describe. One month, domes were randomly infected in a way that caused us to feel like we needed to confess things we felt we’d done wrong or were keeping a secret. [He gestured a little, frowning a bit at the memory.] We had one during December where these... strange little elf dolls would follow us, and I’ve worked out that any that were treated poorly would take something away from us as punishment. Those who were treated well bestowed a gift on the subject.

Both memory shares and nightmares are an unfortunate side effect to the device implanted in our heads, the technology er... not meshing properly with our biology or something like that.

[ferrokinetically]

Sounds like you elected yourself. [ Something akin to a smirk could almost be made out in her expression for just a second. ] Grumpy I can deal with, trust me. [ That actually got a very brief chuckle from her. There was also no denying that she fit the description in that last sentence. Maybe the grumpy part too, but she wouldn't so readily admit to that.

Her eyes widened and she quickly tried to look away to avoid showing any sign that she was bothered by what he had described. ]

Infected ...with a desire to confess and...elf dolls? [ She said each word carefully and with a borderline incredulous tone. ] This place has a real fetish for getting people's personal memories and secrets, huh? [ That made her skin crawl, there were so many things she didn't want to talk about with her own team, let alone people she didn't know. ] So they kidnap us for testing but can't even get things right? [ Sounded like most scientists she knew actually. Wait...another question popped into her head. ]

Were the elves like those elf no the shelf things? [ Because that's terrifying. Those things are creepy. ]

audio un:pnwsalex

[11calls]

[Well, this is disappointing. Alex had been friends with Lorna, and she really hates it when it feels like they need to end up starting over from scratch with such things. But Alex is hopeful if nothing else, so she's definitely going to try again.]

Hello Lorna. Welcome, I'm Alex. Alex Reagan.

[ferrokinetically]

Thank you for the welcome, I think. [ She tries to hide the suspicion in her tone, but it creeps in ever so slightly. ]

[11calls]

Sorry, I know this is horrible and shitty and frightening considering everything [both here and what Lorna has told Alex about back home too.] it's just that you were here before, and we were friends. Which I know sounds completely insane, but it's true.

[ferrokinetically]

[ Well, that was definitely unexpected to hear. There's a slight look of surprise in both her tone and her facial expression. Surprise and a bit of skepticism. ] You'd think I'd remember this. [ Then again, they had shit shoved in their brains, didn't they? And from the sound of the nightmares and the memory things this place seemed especially interested in messing with their memories.

She frowned and ran a hand through her hair. ]

Considering everything that's happened in the last few hours? That doesn't sound that insane. Sorry I don't remember you. [ she rubs the back of her neck ] What exactly do you know about me?

[11calls]

It’s okay. I’d be the same way too considering this place.

Would you like to come over for coffee? Talk about it someplace not the network?

[ferrokinetically]

[ Is she a bit suspicious of the offer? Yes. At the same time she knows she can take care of herself and she's curious. Very curious. Besides, if this place was what everyone was saying, what would someone gain from setting a trap? Nothing. ]

Sure. When should I come by?