Blood Bound

[Phadia]

It was cold and damp. That was the first thing that Mae noticed as she awoke.


The heat must be out again...


Her thoughts were muddled as she tried to shake off the sleep. Without opening her eyes, Mae tried to roll over in an attempt to get back under the blankets. 


Huh? My body... it won't move!


The second thing she noticed, sent the sleepy feeling fleeing from her mind with its tail between its legs.


Her eyes flew open in an instant, and she found herself squinting up at a brightly lit white ceiling. In the moment it took for Mae to open her eyes, her brain had already registered several things. 


She was not in her own bed. 


She was not in the Meredith Home for Unwanted Children.


She was strapped to what she assumed was an operating table.


There were at least two other people in the room with her, dressed in white suits and hooded masks. Mae assumed they were doctors.


"Test was a success. Forty-two verified corpses. Three in critical. Zero escapes." The voice was cold, emotionless.


What? Is he talking to me? What's going on?! I don't remember being in a hospital... 


"Initiating procedure eighteen." Another voice. This time from behind Mae.


Startled, she tried to turn around and see what was going on, but found her body completely restrained. The only thing she could see was a gloved hand holding a syringe.


"What's going on?" she squeaked. "What...?" Mae trailed off, relieved as the syringe disappeared from view. The relief was short lived, however, as a sudden numb cold began creeping up her arm. 


An IV!


"What was that?! I'm not sick! Why-" Her words cut off abruptly, as the syringe's contents coursed her veins, the cold rapidly giving way to a burning sensation.


Then the burning intensified, growing into an all out pain.


"It's hurts! It's burning! Let me go!"


Her pleas were met with nothing, but one of the strange man's voices announcing, "Procedure number eighteen was a success. Initiating procedure number nineteen," as he picked up another syringe.


Then next thing she knew, Mae found herself lying on an earthen floor. 


Where...? She tried to piece her scattered thoughts together. Did I black out? 


She could feel that the restraints had been removed. Moaning, she tried to haul herself up off the floor, but failed miserably as her aching body refused to cooperate. 


Where am I now?


From her current position, she wasn't able to see much. The only two things that really stood out, were the iron bars stretching across the gap in front of her, and the number fifty-two, etched into the earthen walls just beyond the barred door.


A prison cell?


As she lay on the ground, Mae could hear distant screaming and crying. Confused murmurs filled the air, as well as the smell of vomit and stale air.


Why? Why am I here?! 


Mae could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to understand what was going on.


The last thing I remember was going to bed in the orphanage... What did I do to end up here?!

 

[(Member Left)]

Niyokas was on patrol, pacing slowly through the darkness of the gloomy cell blocks. His eyes swung from one cell to another like a pendulum, observing one prisoner after another. Most of them slept, curled in sheets stained in bile, urine and stale sweat. Now and then, he'd see one shivering in the corners of their cell, clutching their skulls in their hands.


It was often silent as he passed through...he'd taught them to value it. He'd trained them to understand the consequences, and ensured they'd remember his...Lessons. Fear would serve them well in his presence.


"I am..." He heard a voice rasping from within a cell ahead of him.


"I am...the devil's blood brother...and his blood does burn through my veins...I hear his call, and he whispers to me, singing songs in hushed tones that grow and grow, and...and..." There was a sound of wheezing breath, shivering in a sort of madness. "...a-and...RING in my ears! In the hollow halls of my skull! I just want him OUT! Get OUT!!"


That was enough...Niyokas unslung his weighty baton from his belt, gripping tightly, and homed in on the raving voice in its cell. He turned to see a young male, biting into his arm and squeezing the mangled flesh which oozed red. The stream was a thin line that splashed on the floor, and the boy exhaled in wonder as it released from his body. "The fire will not dwell in here any longer! It will not thunder through the tunnels that weave beneath my skin! It will not-"


"HEY!!" Niyokas barked, making the boy's head snap up with wild terror in his eyes. "I want it quiet on here! Keep your damn tongue in your mouth!!"


The guard felt the boom of his voice roar through the cell block and pound on the walls with a thunderous echo, but the young boy shook his head rapidly, sending his hair whipping around. 


"No...No! The devil sent you for me...The devil sends his hounds!" The teen rolled to the dirty floor and curled into a ball of brittle bones, quaking. A pool of urine formed beneath him, steaming and vile. Stretching out and darkening a circle on the floor. The smell hit Niyokas' nostrils, and forced the anger inside to burst from beyond the bars of his ribcage. 


"You disgusting pile of crap!" He snatched keys from his belt with a free hand, stabbed the key into the lock and twisted harshly with a clank. Then, yanked on a bar so hard, the caged door swung into the wall with a metallic crash. He charged into the dark toward the skeletal wretch, who clawed at the ground and scurried into the corner of the cell, holding up his hands over his face, arm dripping blood from his bite mark. "No! Please, I'm sorry, NO!" 


But Niyokas didn't stop.


"NOOOOO!"


The boy screamed in ear piercing wails as Niyokas flung his baton into bone, multiple violent blows that beat terribly into flesh. He then reached in through the boys defences and seized the narrow throat, bridging it powerfully against the hard stone wall behind. The teen's face bulged and water ran from his bloodshot eyes as he choked and gargled.


"You only breathe," Niyokas spoke, grimacing. "If I choose to allow it..."


He hauled the beaten body into the pool on the floor, charged over and stuck his baton deep into the mouth of the boy.


"You only speak," He forced it down, hearing the gargles and gags of the boy below. "When spoken to!"  


He forced it down further, and the boy bit down hard in a vain attempt to halt it crushing into his throat any further.


"You make another sound...I mean ANY sound!!! Ever, again!!!" The man leered over, bringing his face close enough for the boy to feel droplets of spit in his bark. "And next time, I will make you swallow this!!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!!!?"  


The teenager nodded, hot tears streaming down his face as the large metal lump was pulled from his throat, sticky with saliva. He couldn't see much, having almost blacked out from the attacks raging on him...but he felt a lump of spit hit his face, shot cruelly from the mouth of his attacker. The door slammed hard, and footsteps pounded away into the distance...


He was alone, in a heap...Broken and stinking, shivering and shaking in the dark...The well of his emotions flooded deeply inside and spilled out of him in thick streams of tears...


He thought about his mom...and cried himself unconscious... 

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Quill sat in the corner of his cell. His hands were shaking. Pen, pen, pen he chanted in his head. They'd taken his pen away from him. He loved that pen. It kept his angry thoughts on him and not in him. But they'd taken it away, because they feared he'd get ink poisoning from the amount of writing he'd do on his skin. Quill had to stand up before he lost his mind. PEN! GET A PEN! Quill started pacing, his eyes were glued on his hands. They were twitching and spasming relentlessly. 


Quill ran up to the bars of his cell, gripping them tightly. He needed a pen. He'd go mad without the pen. Why had they done this to him. Quill felt his anger that he buried so well starting to boil up. His fear turned to pure terror. "Pen..." He whispered, trying to reach through the bars. "Pen!" Quill fell to his knees, quivering helplessly. His voice stayed soft and hoarse, as always, but he was using it and that was strange for him. Quill scrambled away from the bars when he heard a teenager near him get beaten up. That would be him in he wasn't careful. Small whines of terror left him, his hands were still shaking violently. "Pen..." Quill whispered, his eyes filled with utter terror. 


(Sorry my post is short, I really had no idea what to write)

 

[moka]

Screams and cries and repetitive mumbles filled the air. Just another ordinary night. The constant sounds used to bother Elsie – used to make her so angry that she would yell and yell for everyone to just be quiet. But as time passed, the young girl started to kind of like the sound of screaming. It was comforting to listen to, and she began to despise and fear silence of any kind.





Elsie was lying in bed and waiting to grow tired. “Cute girls need beauty sleep, after all!” she whispered to herself with a giggle. Everyone else in the facility was loud and disgusting, and most importantly completely crazy. Elsie prided herself – perhaps to the point of arrogance – in being the sanest one there. She’d been called crazy a few times, yes, but those were all just misunderstandings. One time a girl at mealtime called her a delusional brat, and that’s just way too mean, isn’t it, so she picked up a chair and smashed it into her head a bunch of times. The girl ended up going into a comatose state – but who cares, right? She wasn’t even cute, anyways. And maybe, just maybe, Elsie had gone overboard on teasing some of the more sensitive prisoners to the point where they acted out, but that wasn’t her fault, of course, nothing was ever her fault.





Elsie began to drift off to sleep with a soft smile, the sound of screams intertwining to make a lullaby.

 

[SilverNova]

The dark was a comfort to one of the facility's longer standing "members", a grey-haired girl named Nora. In the dark, in the cells, there was less pain. The men and women dressed in white didn't torment her here, at least so long as she stayed quiet and small. In the light, they pricked and prodded, they forced her through grueling trials, and beat her into submission, but in the dark she was safe and she liked it. Though she couldn't say the same for the cacophonous noise around her. It was always loud in the distance, screams of terror, pain, and death. In close proximity the noises were less, but sometimes worse, for the silence was a constant reminder of the world they lived in. Outcries were punished and sanity discarded once welcomed into the cell blocks.


Nora retreated further under putrid sheets at the sounds of a prisoner being flogged several rows down. She felt bad for the kid who had just been punished. Even if she couldn't see him, she could hear and smell his fear on baited breath. If she was lucky, she wouldn't be next... That's right... she couldn't concentrate on the punished, she had to concentrate on herself. Too many died in here everyday to spare her pity for them anyways. The only way they would all be at ease would be outside of the facility. She had to get out so they could get out. She. Had. To. Escape.


Still curled inside the bed sheets, Nora inched her way along the wall till she came to a spot where the brick had been cracked. Here she took to digging. The wall itself had many scratch marks from years of Nora's attempted escapes, but only the spot in the wall with the fissure had ever showed any real promise. Unfortunately, the wall it was on bordered another prisoner's cell so that even if she did break the brick down, it wouldn't lead to freedom, just to a hole in the wall. Though in Nora's mind, any sort of escape was better than none.


Recently from her place beneath the blankets she had heard and felt another presence on the other side of the wall, a newcomer, an oddity. Maybe if Nora broke the brick down she would be able to see the stranger. It had been a long time since she had had company. However, the stone was hard and her hands weak. The brick refused to budge despite the fact that the girl's fingers bled and sweat poured down her face. Perhaps if she used a tool rather than her tapered nails she would have better luck, but to find one she would need to look around, she would need to come out from under the sheets, and she refused to do so. She refused to show anyone her face, to show them what had become of her after years of tortuous experimentation.


Thus she laid her aching back against the wall, pain searing into her skin, and thought about another way to make the brick dislodge from the dividing wall. Scraping the stone didn't work, but what if she punched at it? Facing the wall again, she began furiously pounding, dull thuds resonating around her cell. It was loud enough to irritate her sensitive ears, but luckily not noisy enough to attracted a guard yet. No one would notice unless they came over or unless whoever was on the other side of the wall decided to rat her out for tunneling a hole between them.

 

[Tori Bradley]

Logan Windsor
​

August 17, 1944
​

Block 4, Cell 2
​

6:15
​

 
​

Logan leaned his head back against the wall, his chest heaving as a myriad of thoughts rushed through his head. He didn't know how long he'd been here. He didn't know how long it had been since he'd seen his family and friends. He didn't remember what the sun felt like. He didn't remember any kind of natural light. He'd even forgotten what the earth looked like. But the one thing he did remember, the one thing that kept him going through all the pain and all the rage and all the torture. Freedom. It was the one light of hope in his otherwise dark, dark world.


"Get up, Windsor. It's time," came the cold, hard voice of a guard. Logan didn't move. He didn't flinch. He didn't respond in any way. He was used to this. It happened every day. It had been happening every single day for years now.


Logan heard the cell door open as the guard sighed, unlocked it, and stepped inside. Logan knew the man. He was....somewhat of a friend to him. He was the guard who was assigned to Logan. His name was Silas Granger. He got Logan food, water, and medicine. He tended his wounds and made sure he had a semi-clean cell, clean sheets, and an actual pillow. He escorted Logan to and from his daily experiments. And, he kept Logan sane. Silas was the only reason Logan wasn't just as deranged as all the other prisoners in this God forsaken facility.


"Come on, man. You know the drill," said Silas. He gently took Logan's arm and pulled the eighteen year old to his feet. Shock rushed through the guard at the sight of the large black-feathered wings on the boy's back. It wasn't as if he was oblivious to what went on in those labs but it still shocked him every time he saw it. He reached up to touch one, but Logan's voice stopped him.


"Silas, d-don't," he stuttered. "They told me not to let anyone touch my wings but them."


Silas nodded and the two began down the hall to the labs. When they reached Lab 3, one of the doctors was waiting for him at the door. She eyed Logan with a cold, cruel gaze as she spoke. "Inside, Logan," she snapped. Logan began to shuffle towards the door, but was stopped by Sila's hand on his arm. When Logan looked back, the guard's eyes were on the doctor. The woman looked back at him angrily. "That'll be all, Silas. You're dismissed," she said. Silas tightened his grip for a moment before he sighed and removed his hand. Slowly, Logan shuffled into the lab. The despair turned his blood to ice as he heard the door slam shut behind him.

 
​

 

[null111]

As it was with many others, Zacharie couldn't necessarily do much. He's two weeks new to the facility, but he quickly learned that this place was shut up, or be beaten to an inch of your life. He learned that the hard way, but luckily the guard was "generous" enough to only leave him with bruises. After that, he learned his lesson. Nothing had been done to him yet, but the isolation of his dirty cell is slowly driving him mad.


The ground beneath him was just that- ground. Dirt. There was no room for luxuries in this place. You slept in the dirt that you lived in. As he sat, back against the wall, he listened to the sounds of another prisoner being beaten down the hall. Sounds just like he did. Hearing the sounds of the baton against flesh was a reminder to stay quiet. He could hear mumbling somewhere, and could only expect what would come out of that.


What was there to do here besides wallow in self pity and fear? Sleep. So he curled up into a ball... and slept.

 

[Soul Stealer]

Jack sat. Waited. What else was there to hope for? He was doomed here forever, and he didn't know why. His family probably thought him to be dead. These people didn't care. He was done waiting. He was doomed here forever, and he didn't know why. Or... The secret should escape him no longer. When the time came for him to know, he would. So, maybe he could wait in this room. 


One more time.


Then..

 

[Soul Stealer]

Nec strides through the hallways, ignoring the whispers coming from the cellls.  She looks from side to side as she goes, slowing down. A hand touches the top of her foot, and in responce, she reaches for her belt. "Please," a voice murmurs. She draws her handgun and aims it for the person's head. "Sorry... Sorry... Forgive me, mistress..." the person, if you could call the shriveled mess that, withdraws his arm slowly. "Try it again and you will be ripped from this world at the speed of a bullet." she continues walking. These inhuman monsters deserved what they were getting.

 

[Soul Stealer]

(And here's the one Phadia's been waiting for lol)


Alistar slowly walks around the cells, looking at each of the prisoner's faces as he did. Every time he did, they shrank back into the shadows. They were all afraid of him. One way or the other. He hears another one of the guards threatening a prisoner. The said guard storms towards Aistar, but stops when she sees who it is. "Cool it." he says to her. She flinched and quickly walked in the other direction. 


They were ALL afraid of him.


He passes the man who tries to touch his foot and keeps looking for her. The prisoners look to him with disgust or for hope. Alistar rejects their disgust. He has no hope to give. Finally, he finds who he was looking for. He stares down at Mae, his face melting into something close to a smile. "Enjoying your stay so far?" he asks as she smile faces from his ace.

It was cold and damp. That was the first thing that Mae noticed as she awoke.


The heat must be out again...


Her thoughts were muddled as she tried to shake off the sleep. Without opening her eyes, Mae tried to roll over in an attempt to get back under the blankets. 


Huh? My body... it won't move!


The second thing she noticed, sent the sleepy feeling fleeing from her mind with its tail between its legs.


Her eyes flew open in an instant, and she found herself squinting up at a brightly lit white ceiling. In the moment it took for Mae to open her eyes, her brain had already registered several things. 


She was not in her own bed. 


She was not in the Meredith Home for Unwanted Children.


She was strapped to what she assumed was an operating table.


There were at least two other people in the room with her, dressed in white suits and hooded masks. Mae assumed they were doctors.


"Test was a success. Forty-two verified corpses. Three in critical. Zero escapes." The voice was cold, emotionless.


What? Is he talking to me? What's going on?! I don't remember being in a hospital... 


"Initiating procedure eighteen." Another voice. This time from behind Mae.


Startled, she tried to turn around and see what was going on, but found her body completely restrained. The only thing she could see was a gloved hand holding a syringe.


"What's going on?" she squeaked. "What...?" Mae trailed off, relieved as the syringe disappeared from view. The relief was short lived, however, as a sudden numb cold began creeping up her arm. 


An IV!


"What was that?! I'm not sick! Why-" Her words cut off abruptly, as the syringe's contents coursed her veins, the cold rapidly giving way to a burning sensation.


Then the burning intensified, growing into an all out pain.


"It's hurts! It's burning! Let me go!"


Her pleas were met with nothing, but one of the strange man's voices announcing, "Procedure number eighteen was a success. Initiating procedure number nineteen," as he picked up another syringe.


Then next thing she knew, Mae found herself lying on an earthen floor. 


Where...? She tried to piece her scattered thoughts together. Did I black out? 


She could feel that the restraints had been removed. Moaning, she tried to haul herself up off the floor, but failed miserably as her aching body refused to cooperate. 


Where am I now?


From her current position, she wasn't able to see much. The only two things that really stood out, were the iron bars stretching across the gap in front of her, and the number fifty-two, etched into the earthen walls just beyond the barred door.


A prison cell?


As she lay on the ground, Mae could hear distant screaming and crying. Confused murmurs filled the air, as well as the smell of vomit and stale air.


Why? Why am I here?! 


Mae could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to understand what was going on.


The last thing I remember was going to bed in the orphanage... What did I do to end up here?!

(Impossible to tag you any more :c)

 

[Rumble Fish]

Rue couldn't tell how long she had been here. Being so young, she didn't have the same concept of time that older individuals had. She sat at the corner of her cell, huddled in a tight ball, squeaking with fear and occasionally lifting her head to sniff around. Her vision was awful... like she was trying to see underwater. She watched people walk past, flinching each time. She didn't know who to trust and who was going to hurt her. But then again, most of them did. She squeaked worryingly and tried to grab the leg of a passing worker, only to have her arm kicked in response. She whimpered and pulled her arm back in, curling up into a tighter ball.  She looked around her cell, seeing how empty it was. All she had was four walls and a stuffed toy crocodile called Snappy, the only thing she had to give her any kind of comfort. But all she wanted was her mother... wherever she was. 


She sniffed, wiping her small pink nose. The horrible stale odour surrounding them made her eyes water and hurt her sinuses. She crawled around the floor, feeling in front of her before moving each time. She prayed that there was some leftover food lying around. But she couldn't find anything. She went back to the bars, just as she got the scent of food in her nose. Instantly, she pushed herself against the bars, desperately trying to reach out towards the person giving food to some of the other prisoners. She wanted her milk, and it had been at least two days since her last bottle. But, predictably, the person just walked past her. Rue squealed and grabbed the person's shoe, only to get kicked in the face for it. Rue retreated to her corner and grabbed Snappy, hugging him tightly and curling back up into a ball. What else was there to do? She let out the occasional cry, hoping someone would respond, though it wasnt likely.

 

[Soul Stealer]

Nec sighs, pausing in the halls. What am I even doing any more? She looks at the prisoners around her in disgust, then sees....


It was just a little girl. Very little. Holding a stuffed animal, an alligator or something like it as far as she could tell.


It was perhaps the least mind-boggling thing she'd ever seen here, yet it made her heart stop.


This makes no sense.


..Was I wrong this whole time?


It was just an innocent little girl, everything in her body screamed. What have you been thinking, they yelled.


She stands still numbly, a battle of her own sanity working out inside of her. Was she the one who had been wrong? Or the prisoners? Of course, she had had every reason to blame the prisoners, but now...


Well.


Suck it up, you're being weak, she tells herself, wiping her emotions and memory of the girl from her mind. Like erasing a blackboard.


And then walks away.


@Rumble Fish

 

[Phadia]

Mae lay on the dirt for what seemed like an eternity before even trying to move again. Every bone in her body was aching, and she could feel her arm swelling from where the IV had been inserted.


What was that, anyway? she wondered, trying to make sense of what had happened. The last thing I remember... she tried to think back, but her mind felt like it was wading through molasses. It's no use. I remember going to sleep in the orphanage, but... 


Groaning, she tried to sit up and get a better look around. 


She seemed to be in a prison cell of some kind. The ground was nothing more than compacted dirt, framed by three brick walls. A gap, bridged by thick iron bars and a door in the center, appeared to be the only was in or out. People were screaming in the distance. From somewhere close by, Mae could hear what sounded like someone taking a beating. 


Mae could also hear something scraping at the brick from the other side of the wall. For a brief moment, she wondered if there was a rat infestation. Then the scraping turned into a dull thumping noise. A person! Maybe I can ask them what's going on.


"Is someone there?" she asked weakly. Immediately, she regretted trying to talk. As soon as the question left her mouth, the room started spinning. Mae moaned and closed her eyes, leaning back against the cool brick. 


Ugh... what's wrong with me? 


Then she heard a voice. 


"Enjoying your stay so far?"


A male's voice. It was unfamiliar. 


Is someone talking to me...? The dizzy feeling gradually faded, and Mae slowly opened her eyes. There was a man standing on the other side of the closed cell door, looking inward with a semblance of a smile on his face.


"Hey! You gotta let me out. There's been some sort of misunderstanding!" she pleaded, forcing the words out, while trying to hide a grimace. 

 

[Phadia]

((Sorry to everyone who isn't being interacted with at the moment. That will change within a few posts hopefully. ^^ Good thing pretty much everyone has two characters, am I right?))

 

[(Member Left)]

Blackness had embraced him, and the nothingness of the void had been a comfort. He only realized as much as the horror of reality began to slide into focus, and his eyes were opening to the sight of that wretched cell. He ached deeply, and felt his heart thumping in his ears as sleep wore away. 


But by far, the most unpleasant throb his body could produce was felt at the base of his spine... Curiously, he moved his shivering hand behind his back to check how badly he'd been hurt, only for his fingers to meet with flesh that should not be there...like a bony extension to his spine, it'd torn through the skin and outward. He turned his head over his shoulder and was horrified at the sight...he'd grown something resembling a tail of flesh and bone, with a sharp spear resting on the end...


"Pen!" He heard a desperate voice rasp. "Pen....Pen!"


Turning away from the mutation locked to him, James noticed a man in distress in the opposite cell. He Heaved his leaden limbs and struggled to pick himself up from the cold floor. As soon as he was upright, James limped toward the rusted bars between the hallway and his pit. 


"Pen!!"


James waved to gain the man's attention.


(Interaction with @Alexander Hamilton)

 

[Soul Stealer]

Mae lay on the dirt for what seemed like an eternity before even trying to move again. Every bone in her body was aching, and she could feel her arm swelling from where the IV had been inserted.


What was that, anyway? she wondered, trying to make sense of what had happened. The last thing I remember... she tried to think back, but her mind felt like it was wading through molasses. It's no use. I remember going to sleep in the orphanage, but... 


Groaning, she tried to sit up and get a better look around. 


She seemed to be in a prison cell of some kind. The ground was nothing more than compacted dirt, framed by three brick walls. A gap, bridged by thick iron bars and a door in the center, appeared to be the only was in or out. People were screaming in the distance. From somewhere close by, Mae could hear what sounded like someone taking a beating. 


Mae could also hear something scraping at the brick from the other side of the wall. For a brief moment, she wondered if there was a rat infestation. Then the scraping turned into a dull thumping noise. A person! Maybe I can ask them what's going on.


"Is someone there?" she asked weakly. Immediately, she regretted trying to talk. As soon as the question left her mouth, the room started spinning. Mae moaned and closed her eyes, leaning back against the cool brick. 


Ugh... what's wrong with me? 


Then she heard a voice. 


"Enjoying your stay so far?"


A male's voice. It was unfamiliar. 


Is someone talking to me...? The dizzy feeling gradually faded, and Mae slowly opened her eyes. There was a man standing on the other side of the closed cell door, looking inward with a semblance of a smile on his face.


"Hey! You gotta let me out. There's been some sort of misunderstanding!" she pleaded, forcing the words out, while trying to hide a grimace. 

Alistar sighs.


It was always like this with new 'people'. Almost.


"No, there hasn't," he says, "if you remember why you're here." He figured she didn't, but it was hardly her that he was talking to. It was the other thing in the cell. "You're going to be here a while, if you know what I mean. You know what you did." He turns on his heel to walk away.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Blackness had embraced him, and the nothingness of the void had been a comfort. He only realized as much as the horror of reality began to slide into focus, and his eyes were opening to the sight of that wretched cell. He ached deeply, and felt his heart thumping in his ears as sleep wore away. 


But by far, the most unpleasant throb his body could produce was felt at the base of his spine... Curiously, he moved his shivering hand behind his back to check how badly he'd been hurt, only for his fingers to meet with flesh that should not be there...like a bony extension to his spine, it'd torn through the skin and outward. He turned his head over his shoulder and was horrified at the sight...he'd grown something resembling a tail of flesh and bone, with a sharp spear resting on the end...


"Pen!" He heard a desperate voice rasp. "Pen....Pen!"


Turning away from the mutation locked to him, James noticed a man in distress in the opposite cell. He Heaved his leaden limbs and struggled to pick himself up from the cold floor. As soon as he was upright, James limped toward the rusted bars between the hallway and his pit. 


"Pen!!"


James waved to gain the man's attention.


(Interaction with @Alexander Hamilton)

Quill was shaking, nearly in tears. He needed his pen. He'd go mad without his pen. Where is his pen?! Quill looked up to see a boy with what looked like a tail waving at him and Quill crawled over to the bars. "Pen?" Quill asked softly, struggling to form the rest of the question. "You have... pen?" Quill wanted to reach through the bars, to search for his beloved pen, but he wouldn't do that. That would get him in trouble. Quill could feel the bottled up anger starting to attempt escape, but Quill wouldn't let it. He needed that pen soon, though. That pen kept his demons in a little jar in his brain.

 

[Rumble Fish]

Rue hugged her tail in another attempt to comfort herself. The memories of being painfully and brutally mutated were still fresh in her young mind, though she couldnt remember how long ago it happened. She hated being what was essentially a anthropomorphic skunk. Being covered in fur, having a tail and losing most of her eyesight, she hated everything about it. She wanted to be normal again, she wanted to go home... she wanted to be with her mum and dad... where were they? The last thing she could remember about them was the fact that they tucked her into bed and... she woke up strapped to a table. Rue whimpered as she went to the bars again, poking her head out between two of them. She figured that if she just did what they said.... they'd let her go home. 


Rue blinked and she looked up, noticing a woman standing in front of her cell. She squeaked and reached her hand out towards her, hoping to get her attention. But that seemed to fail as she just walked past. Unable to cope with the idea of being alone again, Rue squealed and tried to push her arm out further to grab her leg but, because of the force she was pushing at, she ended up pushing her head and shulders through the bar along with her arm, leaving her stuck half out Rue tried to push herself back in but it really hurt her sides, making her cry out. But she was totally stuck. She looked around rapidly, crying in the hope that someone would either confort her or (more likely) just kick her back inside the cell, either would be good right now.


( Mentions @The Departure )

 

[Soul Stealer]

Nec turns around at the small girl crying out, seeing that she was stuck between the bars. She walks back over and pushes her back to her side of the bars, and only with a little bit of malice, somehow. Maybe it was the hair. The, um........ hair. "Don't do it again," she mutters, not even sure if the girl could hear her, and turns to walk away, but turns back. She sighs angrily, ignoring as something brushes against the back of her pants leg. She had no idea how she was going to go on in this place like this. She'd go mad. All the creatures, for one, looked straight out of a horror movie, especially after some time in captivity. For another, the lower authority workers like herself didn't get great treatment. Also, the pay was... rather small at the moment. She looks back as she feels something brush her pants leg again, to see a boy, looking rather skinny and frail, pushing on the bars. "What are you doing?"


Jack had been sitting some more, watching the small and rather abnormal girl in the cell across him get stuck. A guard came back around and pushed her back in. Jack stands up unsteadily, and feels a burst of panic and terror. I've got to get out of here, he thinks, a huge contrast from the patient anger he'd felt earlier. He walked over, the terror almost gone from him by the time he got to the bars. He would have considered it odd if he had been in his right mind. But he gives the bar a testing push. Seemed sturdy... too sturdy. He tries again, and the bar seemed even more tough than the first time. The guard notices what he's doing, and turns around, asking, "What are you doing?" In an accusative tone. Jack sits down where he is, looking down. "I just want to go home," he mutters, barely keeping the tears from his eyes. So this is how he'd felt about his captivity this whole time. He stands up and pushes again. "Those bars aren't going to bend," the guard says with a tinge of sympathy. He takes a step back and clenches a fist, his former anger recovering at full strength. The guard begins to look a little nervous. Jack takes the bar in his hand and bends the whole thing to the side, the guard immediately drawing a handgun, pointing it at his head and shouting something. Two more guards arrive, which somehow fazes him slightly. He removes his hand from the bar and reaches to the other. Just bend the last bar and get out of here. All three of the guards are talking, almost yelling, at him. But his anger vanishes. He'd just get into more trouble by escaping. Three more important looking guards arrive, entering the cell with large guns aimed at him. They tell him not to move, so he doesn't move. They lead him out of the cell and up a floor, on and on until they reach a new, slightly cleaner section of the building. He suddenly is hit with a terrible smell, and he feels scared of what might happen. He's shoved into an empty room, with no windows, metal walls. Completely empty. Solitary confinement.


@Rumble Fish

 

[Phadia]

"... what I did?" Mae echoed, then shook her head.


"I didn't do anything!" she protested, crawling to the edge of the cell. "I went to sleep and woke up here! There has to be some sort of misunderstanding..." She let her words trail off as the man turned to leave. 


"I didn't..." Do anything? You mean, you don't remember? 


A voice suddenly intruded on Mae's thoughts, finishing her sentence.


"Huh?" she squeaked, surprised by the voice. "Who...?"


She turned to look behind her, but there was nobody else in the cell. Who said that...? 


Heh. This is just rich. You don't even remember killi-


"Shut up!" Mae shook her head again, yelling towards the back of cell. The voice just kept laughing as she leaned against the wall again. The room was spinning once more, and Mae felt like she was going to faint. 


What's wrong? Feeling a little under the weather? Why don't you just sit back? I can take care of this.


Mae could barely hear the voice now. As darkness crept into the edge of her vision, so did something else. She was vaguely aware of something wrapping around her. 


Wings...? What...?


Shh. Just sleep now. I've got this. 


In the next few moments, a hideous transformation took place. Mae's fingers became elongated, tapering to a fine point, and two crow-like wings sprouted from her back. When she raised her head again, her green eyes were gone, replaced with wide black pupils. A grin was stretched across her face.


Like a bullet, she thrust her arm through the bars of the cell, grabbing the man's shirt with her claws.


"Where do you think you're going?"


@The Departure

 

[Rumble Fish]

Rue squealed as the woman forced her back inside the cell. Shaking her head, she got over the initial shock before looking at the woman who helped her. Her fearful squeaks were quickly replaced with affectionate chirps as she put her hand out to try and  touch the woman, wanting to thank her. But she was quickly deflated as the woman walked away. Rue sighed and continued hugging her teddy (AN. changed it to a bear btw) and trying to remind herself of her parents, the warm and fuzzy memories were they only thing that seemed to keep the tiny girl from having a total breakdown. The sounds and smells still frightened her... and she didnt know why she was here. Or did she want to know. Why couldn't she just go home?


Rue appeared to black out for a while as was suddenly brought back into reality as she suddenly heard a commotion on the other side of the bars. Grabbing the bars, Rue's eyes widened at the (blurry) sight of a woman, who appeared to have wings, grabbing a passing man with her claws. Everything about it scared Rue. The small girl screamed and rattled the bars of her cell, desperately hoping someone would protect her or the man. What was that?!


@The Departure @Phadia

 

[Soul Stealer]

Alistar grins. "There you are," he says. "I've been waiting for you longer than you think." He tears his shirt off in the section where the creature was holding on to, which was made easier because their claws had punctured it, and turns to face it. "I would prefer it if you didn't grab onto me, you worthless beast," he says casually.


Nec turns at a horrifying sound, and sees the monster taking hold of Alistar. At her terror, he just takes the monster's hand off of him, perfectly calm. "Are you f*cking daft?!"  she shouts at him. He looks over at her and shakes his head. But this only terrifies her more, along with just making her angry. "Do you have a mental disorder? Get over here!!" Her yelling gets the attention of nearby guards, who draw their weapons and slowly approach.


(@Rumble Fish You're going to be involved soon I expect, being in the cell across)


@Phadia

 

[(Member Left)]

He tried to open his mouth, to speak, but like a rusted cell door it strained and would not budge. Those dark eyes were imprinted in his minds eye, carved into the back of his skull. Words were replayed in violent echoes...

"You make another sound...I mean ANY sound!!! Ever, again!!!"

It was futile, but still the desire to help was burning bright. It was something to hold onto...the only thing. How such small lights in dark places seem to shine greater than they should...


"I can assissst you with that..." Something whispered, somewhere...


James' newly formed limb twirled and swung before him, poised in front of his eyes. He could've sworn the sharp pinnacle of his tail bore a demonic face of some sort.


"Hold out yourr arm, Jamesss..." It rasped somewhere in his head. "Ev-e-ry pennn requiresss....InK..."


Somewhat bewildered, he obeyed and lifted the narrow bone before him. The tail span in a flourish and sliced through skin, coming back down to flatten against the well of blood, oozing from the cut. It flipped over to wetten both sides of itself in red, and snapped toward the nearest wall.


"Youuu have ssseen it before, James. I will help you to rrremember..."


The tail spear hastily scribbled in blood upon the cell wall, the stick image of a man. He held a key in one hand, and a pen in the other. The tail then drew two sets of prison bars, a feather behind one, and in the opposite, a face with an 'X' for a mouth...James noticed the face of the stick man was angry, so it had to be the guard who'd attacked him...


Nodding his head silently, he turned to the other prisoner and pointed to the wall, barely lit but visible enough to be seen through a squinted eye. The voice was right! He had seen it before, but at the time he'd been too terrified to notice. The voice had pulled it from the deeper parts of his memory somehow...He smiled at the fellow prisoner, pointing excitedly. 


"Making friends, I see..." A familiar voice called from the walkway between their cells.


Niyokas stepped into view...


"I thought I was your friend, huh?" He said mockingly. "I thought I was your best buddy..."


James felt the wave come over him...the tsunami of terror again. He bolted beneath the rusted frame of his bed for cover, rolled to the very edge against the wall, and pushed in the vain hope it would somehow collapse. Of course, it pushed back hard and harsh, not moving for him at all. He heard the scrambling of metal as keys were rammed into a lock...but not his own...


"You...get up!!"


There was the sound of a struggle, and eventually...inevitably...his own cell door was opened. He turned his head awkwardly in the cramped space, seeing a a pair of boots walk in front, and stop there for a dread-filled moment.


Then the bed was hauled over, crashing metal against the wall. One boot landed heavily and painfully on his tail, and he yelped.


"Wow..." The coarse voice remarked.  "What kinda freaky crap have you got growin' out of your ass, freak!?" 


James kept his sight low, away from the monster of a man pinning him down.


"Look at me, freak..." The voice demanded angrily. "LOOK!!   AT!!   ME!! "


He obeyed reluctantly out of fear, to see those dark eyes again, the face smiling venomously. The other prisoner was there, and the guard turned away from James to speak to him. From his belt, he pulled something out...


"I have something that you want..." Jeered the guard as he teased quill with the pen he longed for. "But you'll have to earn it...So...let me tell you what you can do to get your precious pen back..." Niyokas forced the man in front of James by the shoulder.


"I want you to kick him...I want you to kick the soul out of him...and I want you to keep kicking until I see red leaking out of him...I want you to kick your 'friend' until he cries every tear he's got in him... and then I want you to kick him some more, so he will always remember it...and if you do that, for me...if you do that...you can have your treasured pen back..."


Interaction with: @Alexander Hamilton

 

[Phadia]

Maerwyn smiled, turning her attention to the woman and approaching guards. 


"What? You going to kill me?"


She laughed, then pulled her arm back into the cell.


"I know how things work around here. You aren't allowed to kill me. She's too valuable."


Maerwyn spat the last few words out like they left a bad taste in her mouth. 


"And, unfortunately, I can't kill you, being locked in here and all. So, we're at a stalemate."


Maerwyn paused, turning her black eyes towards a terrified looking little girl in the adjacent cell. Then, before anyone could react, she shot her claws towards the girl, hovering them dangerously close to her throat. 


"One little slice. That's all it takes, and all your work is down the drain. Get me the keys, or I kill little skunk girl here."


Suddenly, there was a crackling noise from up above as a static filled voice announced,


"All staff please report to the second floor. All staff please report to the second floor."

 

[(Member Left)]

"All staff please report to the second floor. All staff please report to the second floor."

"God damn it!" Niyokas barked, dragging Quill out of the cell and locking him back into his own. "Looks like I'll be holding onto your pen a little longer..." 


What Niyokas didn't realize as he stormed away, was the pen being quietly snatched from his belt by James, with the help of his tail. 


He waited silently for the thunder of footsteps to die in the distance...and then snaked his tail through the bars of Quill's cell, and planted the pen before his feet. He didn't know what Quill would've done without the alert to save him, but he would've understood either way...and forgiven. Perhaps that was his problem. Perhaps such choices led him to this dreadful place...


But no amount of pain could change who he was deep inside. It was worth it.


(Interaction with @Alexander Hamilton)