Project Genesis

pistolmouth

pistolmouth

Member
(Naga Faith Eliza Cord CaterpilAli Nalakitty01 Sorry this took so long to get up and running! Finals have been killing me the last few weeks, but here it is, finally.)


Canned laughter resonated from the television mounted to the wall across from her, some sitcom Nova was not familiar with, nor did she really care about, but she wasn't exactly in the mood to play foosball with herself, and Benji seemed far too into his game of solitaire to really irritate into playing a game with her. Of course, there was always the option of asking one of the others in the group, though she doubted they would be up for anything, either.


Maybe Rinji. Nova was still trying to get an opinion of her, though. She was completely lost as to whether or not the girl irritated her to no end, or completely fascinated her. That seemed to be the case with just about everyone.


Sliding into a laying position on the couch, Nova let out a yawn, the fangs that now rested dormant against the roof of her mouth behind her front teeth extending with a strange tugging sensation. That was still something that she was getting used to. Sure, being a lab rat with the science departments was one thing; maybe every once in a while they'd hand her some weird thing attached to a wire that she needed to swallow, or assign her to do some weird eye-tracking task, but it wasn't like they had altered her physically. Now, she had snake fangs on the roof of her mouth, and was supposed to act like that was perfectly normal.


Whatever. She could play ball. It was just so damned boring in here.


(Kilburn will probably make an appearance in my next post)
 
((Do you have a preference between First and Third? I generally do First, but I can do Third if you like, with maybe only a few slip-ups here and there lol))


Canton was not generally a happy person. Being confined, even in an open-ish space, had him always on edge - and he was mostly on edge before he'd been kidnapped and put in this place. He ran his tongue over his teeth even though he'd grown used to their new shape, to the sharp points a few of them had and the differences in texture and size. It was annoying, being so aware of your own mouth all the time.


For maybe 45 minutes, he realized he'd simply been throwing a small, bouncing ball mindlessly against the wall across from him, leaned back against one wall and bouncing the ball off the floor and then the opposite wall so that it landed perfectly back in his hand. Over and over, hardly having to pay any attention and simply letting his mind wander. He caught a glimpse at the corner of his vision of bright red hair before Nova walked by, and fought the urge to bare his teeth when she simply caught the ball he'd been throwing.


"What the hell?" He blurted out, not very loudly but in a startled and irritated fashion, then just held out a hand, eyes narrowed. "Give that back. I was using it."


((Sorry about the minor god-mod. Wasn't sure how else to make Canton interact without irritating him somehow xD You can throw Vadim in with Kilburn if you'd like))
 
All Veronica wanted was to be left alone in her room, without anyone wondering in to harass her or further experiment on her or try to get her to participate in anything with the group. She had made it blatantly clear that she wanted to be alone, that she liked to be alone, that she had no interest in anything that involved NOT being alone. But as usual, her sister did not seem to get the message.


"Hi Nica!" Rinji said brightly as she flung herself onto her stomach on Veronica's bed, her legs sprawling over Veronica's and her body weight causing the bed to bounce up and down with her exuberant flopping. She rolled over onto her back, kicking her legs idly over the edge of the bed and knocking Veronica's in the process. "What's up?"


"Rinji," Veronica said slowly and deliberately, staring her sister straight in the eye; it was the only possible way for Rinji to maybe hear what she was trying to say, and even then it was a toss up. "I said I wanted to be alone."


"You are! It's just us in here," Rinji said, clearly having a different definition of "alone" than Rinji's understanding of it. Sitting up abruptly, she gave another bounce. "And anyway, being by yourself is antisocial and lonely and stuff...you should come out and play a game with me!"


Sometimes it was nearly impossible for Veronica to believe that her sister was 24 rather than four. It was harder still to believe that until their kidnapping almost a year ago, Rinji had been her legal guardian, as a result of the death of their parents. Clearly, to Veronica, Rinji was the one in need of someone looking out for her.


True, Rinji was only here because she had tried to protect Veronica and look out for her, when they had come for Veronica; but Rinji had adjusted so quickly to life here that Veronica sometimes felt that she didn't seem to remember or understand that it wasn't normal, that they were in fact prisoners, by virtue of their new animal freakdom if not literally. How could they rejoin the world as they were now? She had frigging WINGS!


"Rinji-" Veronica warned, but already her sister was pulling her to her feet and dragging her out the door towards the main room they generally gathered in together as a group. After a few moments Veronica just let her. Rinji was usually much more persistent than she was.


**


Anya had been leaned against the opposite wall, watching with eyes only half open as Nova slouched on the couch. She too was bored, and more than ready to start something....the only question was who her target would be. She had never imagined that signing up for a project like this, which was not only secretive in nature but also rather illegal, would mean frequent long stretches of boredom unless she created her own excitement.


Anya Dardanos was not one to cope well with a lack of activity or interest in her environment, and if it went on for too long, she was always happy to make her own entertainment.


The question of who she would use to entertain herself with was quickly answered as Nova intercepted Canton's ball, provoking his protest. Smirking, she slunk forward, deliberately swaying her hips from side to side as she wrapped her arm lazily around his waist, as if in a provocative embrace...then quickly twisted her body to thrust him aside from Nova, holding out her hand for her to throw.


"Catch! I'd say monkey in the middle, but this is more like loser on the sidelines."
 
Canton went straight and still, tense, when Anya put her arm around him. He hated that she touched him so much, but he didn't have time to snap his teeth at her before she'd given him a solid shove he wasn't expecting. It sent him stumbling a few feet away, and he turned to glare at her when she tried to start a game. Monkey in the middle? Loser on the sidelines?


He had to grind his teeth so hard it hurt, fingers curled tight into fists, before he could finally force his muscles to relax. "Forget it." He snapped, throwing his hands up and just turning to stalk out of the room. He'd entertained the notion of tripping Anya and shoving her to the ground, but it wasn't worth the consequences if any of the doctors caught him at it. If there was going to be confrontation here, he would just go elsewhere. He got himself into enough trouble trying to attack the doctors - he didn't need to get in trouble for attacking other prisoners too.
 
Eliade sat in on the couch, feeling virtually invisible. That was no surprise though. She was after all. She had managed to get her entire body to turn the colour of the sofa and was quite pleased with the result of her strain. She was just managing to hold the disguise when someone flopped directly onto her, making her gasp and lose her focus. 'What the hell!' She squeaked in surprise, returning to her usual state, pushing the red headed girl off of her and curling in a ball, holding her stomach. 'That really hurt you know!' She exclaimed, eyeing Nova very carefully. She calmed after a moment, sighing. 'I'm sorry, it wasn't your fault.. i was playing with my... ability.' She flashed a somewhat half smile, her eyes flicking towards the door, seeing the guards stationed and sighing. She wanted out, she didn't want to be their perfect little covert operative. Eliade shifted along the end of the couch and gestured for Nova to sit back down, running a hand through her dark hair and biting her lip. 'I'm.. I'm eliade..' Eli was a more recent addition to the group, and hadn't really spoken to the others much, preferring to stay on her own, to stay in silence and be unnoticed. That was how she'd originally discovered her ability. She'd been trying to all but press herself into the wall, not wanting to be spotted by those that could be a threat.


She wondered if this girl would reply, or if she would be caught up in the commotion of everything else around her.
 
Anya continued to grin as Canton stalked off, holding her body loosely and deliberately cocking a hip in his direction, lowering her chin in a faintly aggressive, faintly provocative manner as she watched him go. Canton was definitely a fun one to "play" with, as he often gave her more of a reaction faster than the rest. She let him get perhaps ten feet away before she broke into a fast stride and intercepted him, blocking him off in the hallway and "casually leaning against one wall as she stretched out an arm, waving it in front of him so he would have to push past or come to a halt.


"Hey, come on, YF, what's the rush? It's not like you have a hot date waiting for you back in your room...unless you want to count the stack of tissues beneath your bed..."


YF was her nickname for him; Anya enjoyed giving demeaning nicknames to everyone, and YF stood for Yellow Fang, because, as she explained, his teeth were much too yellow to be White Fang after the wolf dog from the book.


As Rinji pulled Veronica along with her down the other hallway and into the main room, she threw herself onto the couch beside Eli, giving her a careless wave and smile. "Hi! What's up?"


Veronica came more slowly, arms crossed over her chest, a look of displeasure over her face. She greeted no one.
 
Canton was in the hall, thinking himself home free in just a few more feet, when Anya rushed after him. He caught her footsteps of course, at a quick but measured pace, but didn't expect her to just block his way like that, only to follow and tease. He skidded to a halt, a growl building low in his throat, and glared at her, but flinched and abruptly began turning red after her comments. No matter how many times she teased him, it still got under his skin and he hated it, hated how easily embarrassed he could get sometimes.


He snapped a hand out and caught her wrist, squeezing hard enough to hurt because if anyone was watching they wouldn't be able to prove he was actually doing anything, and snarled at her. "I do not!" He snapped, instinctively, hackles raised, then realized he was letting her goad him again and gave his head a shake to try and clear it. "Leave me alone, Anya." He bit out through a tight jaw, then tossed her arm roughly aside and slipped past her, heading for his room again.


He just wanted to be done with all of them. If he could lay down and try to sleep for a while, maybe he could forget them. The problem was that he couldnt forget them, or anything about this place. He was tuck here, poked and prodded and forced to do tests, and if he ever managed to come close to going out, they would take him down and drag him back. He'd ran once, when they were pulling him past what looked like an outer door, and he'd gotten himself tazed for his trouble. And perhaps the worst part was that the prodding didn't stop even when he was here - because of her. Because of Anya. He hated her almost more than he hated being here.
 
The commotion had disturbed him from his game of solitaire, triggering the roaring headache that had come after his training session that morning. Benji rubbed his temples and let out a breath before sitting back in his chair to watch Anya essentially terrorize Canton and let out a small groan. It was far too early in the day for this, and he doubted that it would be the appropriate time for much of anything just then, in Benji's opinion.


"Anya," he finally barked, voice coming out hoarse with fatigue, "Leave the kid alone, jesus. Am I going to have to separate you two or something?"


Rising to his feet, he stepped over Nova, who was still on the floor from where Eli had shoved her off and made his way over to the water fountain. He needed to stretch, to get some of the nervous energy out of his system, still recovering from his training session with Doctor Kilburn that morning, which had been the primary cause of his headache.


From behind, he heard Nova mumble her apology to Eliade and take her seat in the free space, heard Rinji's upbeat chatter and tried his best to just ignore Anya and Canton. Anya tended to bring the worst out in him, and even though he hardly had any right to complain about the others given the gross amount of damage the facilities has had to repair thanks to him, he was just tired of it. It seemed so childish to him.


Nova scratched carefully over the back of her neck and sat down, the feel of her new skin still sensitive after having shed her previous one the night before. Still holding Canton's ball, she tossed it back and forth between her hands before she drew in a breath and went after him.


"Yo, Canton!" She picked up the pace a little bit, bare feet smacking against the tile floor, "Wait up."


--------


Sharen stepped into the office, stripping her coat off and hanging it over the rack. "Sorry," She said to Vadim and sat down at her desk. "My lunch ran late."


Typing in her NetID and password to log onto her computer, Sharen paused with her fingers over the keyboard, eyes scanning the notes she'd taken on that morning's assessments with each of the patients. She wasn't necessarily interested in doing anything with them, training was getting boring, and she had grown tired with the attitude she'd received from a small handful of them. The results were there, of course, and she will be the first to take pride in the study once they're able to publish any of the results, but in the meantime... "Has anything interesting happened?"
 
He was hurting her wrist. He was f***ing hurting her wrist, and it took considerable self-control for Anya to reign in the automatic flare of rage that coursed through her in reaction to this and to keep herself smiling, as she knew would most annoy Canton. What she wanted was to take him by his shoulders and slam his head into the wall over and over until he started to bleed, but she knew her limitations. She knew very well that she lacked physical strength...and besides, direct violence wasn't her style, however satisfying it might seem at times.


She would rather annoy him until he beat his head against the wall himself.


"Touchy, touchy," she rolled her eyes, making a show of moving her wrist as though to stretch it and holding it up so the others could see. "Damn, grinding my bones to make your bread much?"


She bats her eyes towards Benji when he calls out to her, turning towards him deliberately slowly as she slides her uninjured wrist down her body, giving him a grin. "Come right on over and give a demo, Speedy, I'm sure we'd both enjoy."


Speedy, of course, was derived from Benji's heroin addiction.


Canton started to retreat again, so Anya flopped down on the couch beside Eli and Rinji, ignoring Rinji's smile turning towards her as she announced, "You all wouldn't know how to have fun if it smacked you upside the face, would you?"


As she spoke she suddenly swung her hand towards Rinji, as though she were about to slap her, and when Rinji blinked and reared back, she laughed, removing her hand without touching her. "Think fast....oh yeah, this is Rinji, not an option."


"Shut the hell up, Anya," Veronica snapped from her corner. It was one thing for Veronica to snap at Rinji; Rinji was her sister, and she had prerogative. But for Anya, who Veronica despised, to do so was more than she could take in silence.
 
Vadim gave one final spin around in his chair, something he'd been doing for perhaps ten minutes before she'd arrived, practicing how to not get dizzy while doing so. "Nothing much!" He chirped, shaking his head at the disorientation, and just made the video feed pop up on her computer screen. "I think they're playing again." Or, Anya was.


The people here had a tendency to clash, when they were left in the same spec without interruption for too long. Canton a particularly volatile, because of his own tendencies and because of the new canine DNA in his body, and Anya always liked to try and get a rise out of him and the others. She even tried to do it to Vadim, sometimes, but for the most part all he wanted to do was take notes on her different approaches and it seemed to irritate her that he wouldn't play her game back, or react the way she wanted.


"She's a very interesting study, that girl," He said, grinning a little. "Psychologically and physically." But then, all of their physical mutations were interesting, scientifically and otherwise. Canton's jaw was actually much stronger than a normal person's now. Vadim had firsthand experience with that and it had put his wrist in a cast for a week or so - he still bore the scars to prove it and often could be found looking at them with a thoughtful, sometimes amused, expression. God he loved science.


************


There was the slightest tightening in her expression when he squeezed too hard that made Canton feel sickly satisfied. He ignored her last comments and just kept walking because she was letting him get away free. He let someone else have her attention because it wasn't him, resolutely ignored Nova's call after him - because he was irritated still and didn't want to get angry over a toy for god's sake - and just went to his room where he flopped down on his bed with his back to the door, facing the wall, and put his hands over his ears to try and stop hearing.


The worst part of being here wasn't quite just being stuck and prodded at. The worst part was what they'd done to him. Everything had change. The way he saw things was different, not quite worse or better but it just felt different, and his ears were too sensitive - he had to bury his head under a pillow to get the rest of the sounds from everyone else to go away long enough to sleep at night. Even his sense of taste was different, and he wasn't even going to think about all the different scents, scents that shouldn't be real - fear, shame, anger, desire. He just pressed his hands hard over his ears, turned his face into the bed that smelled only of himself and soap, and tried not to think about anything at all.
 
((Sorry I wasn't here))


Galvo sat in the board meeting of Genesis Enterprises. This was the company that controlled most animal/human D.N.A tests in the world, and Galvo was the CEO of it. That meant he was the head of every branch of Genesis: Enterprises, which was the parent company and where all the executives worked: Inc., which was where the D.N.A transfers and study took place: Industries, where the technology for the work at Inc. was built; and finally Co., the storage company. Running one of the richest companies in the world was hard work, even for an efficient and intelligent man like Galvo. But it also made him the most powerful and richest man on the planet in terms of business. If the stock market took a crash, Galvo wouldn't suffer, and the same was for most of his workers.


"...and that's why we should reform the way we do things here. 18% of the subjects we tested have died! There must be a more... useful way to get our company to thrive." one Executive said.


Galvo put his hands up, signaling that it was his turn to speak. Silence washed over the room almost instantly and then the CEO cleared his throat.


"My fellow Executives. The Directors at Genesis Industries are working on a plan to reduce that 18% to 10%. And think about how successful we are! The billions of dollars we have made of this company, combined with all of the other companies we own that work with us will soon bring in 2.5 trillion dollars. Just imagine that. That was an excellent discussion. I'm calling the meeting for today. Thank you for attending." Galvo finished. The other Executives smiled and filed out of the meeting room, with Galvo in their midst. He left for his Lamborghini, which was in shiny black. After telling the driver to take him to Genesis Inc., Galvo took a sip of his water. They had made a lot of progress and plans in the meeting, and that made the CEO happy. He finished his water and looked to see that they arrived at the Inc. branch of his company.


Galvo walked in showing his I.D. card to the Secretary who nodded, realizing that it was the CEO of the company Enterprise. "Hello, Galvo, how did the meeting go?" she asked.


"The usual, got a lot of things done. Since Industries developed a plan to decrease the deaths, tell everyone in all the branches that their salary is going up by 50 K, even you Ms. George." Galvo replied. The Secretary smiled as the CEO walked passed and turned back to her computer. Galvo walked up to section B, where most of the scientists and supervisors worked. He noticed Vadim and Sharon watching their computers, and Galvo smiled.


"Vadim, Sharon! Its me Galvo! How are you?" the CEO asked politely.
 
Benji's eyes rolled at Anya's attempt at goading him. At first, he'd been annoyed at her nickname, not just because of the fact that she had boiled down his entire identity to his addiction, but also because there had been nothing speedy about heroin. He'd tried to clarify that to her once, but she hadn't seemed to care and it hardly seemed worth it to even bother trying to explain.


"Thanks," He said flatly in response to her, "But I'd rather put my d**k in a garbage disposal."


He watched Nova follow after Canton and sat back down, gathering up his cards to shuffle them quietly. Project Genesis had given him an out, he had to admit it. Especially considering the fact that while Benji had been unconscious, after they'd done whatever it was that they'd done with him, his withdrawal had been, at most, some sort of mild discomfort while he slept. But just because he'd been able to sweat it out did not mean that he wasn't climbing the walls wanting to go out and find the closest dealer in the area.


He'd considered trying to break into one of the supply rooms, but after seeing the kind of security that they had for the place, well, that idea was out pretty fast.


--------


Quietly, Nova followed Canton into his room. She'd opened her mouth to say something, but before she'd even gotten in a breath to do so, his ears were covered and he'd rolled away from her. Of course. She tries to fix something and it all goes to hell. Whatever.


Stepping forward, trying not to disturb him in case he snapped and went after her, Nova placed the ball on the mattress beside him and stepped out of the room. Licking her lips briefly, she could practically taste the antiseptic in the air. The place was just way too clean and bright for her to be completely comfortable.


The thought of going back to the rec room, knowing that there would at least be some sort of bickering among the group, was at rock bottom of the list of things she wanted to do, but if she was seen wandering the halls by herself, someone would likely catch her and lead her back anyway, so, heaving a breath, she made her way back to the room. Smiling weakly, she caught Benji's eye and managed a small wave before sitting down on one of the chairs and grabbed a magazine, flipping through it idly.


--------


Sharen stood and walked over to Vadim to peer over at the video footage with him. Interesting was one way to put it, for sure. With the different ways the experiments had begun to effect the subjects, Sharen even wondered if, much like with Canton, they would see other changes in personality. It may not be unlikely, however, there personality traits were already fairly set. At least bodies continue to change on a normal basis.


"I'm going to need you or someone to start taking samples of venom from Nova and Anya at some point. I'd like to see how that's developing." She told him, still watching the rec room footage.


Glancing up when Galvo stepped in, her eyebrows raised briefly before her lips twitched upward into a polite smile. "Afternoon, Galvo. I'm well, and yourself?"
 
Canton felt the gentle tap against his back when the dip of the mattress made the ball roll into him. He didn't move at first, then carefully rolled over and reached under his back to reach for whatever it was. He frowned when he pulled the ball out, turning onto his side again to roll it repeatedly to the wall. The motion and sound of it was soothing and for a while he just got lost in it as he tried to calm down. It wasn't easy, but it worked eventually, and he breathed steadily again.


He hated this place - the captivity and the changes and the people. He had never been good around people, even before this. He had too much of a temper, not enough patience, and not enough sympathy. People had never done anything good for him. But then again, he'd never done much good for people either.


***************


Vadim looked up and grinned when Galvo walked into the room. "Hiya, boss man!" He turned back to the screen and then to Sharen when he realized what she'd said. "Oooo, venom. Ill do it. I want samples, too." It would be interesting to see what it was made of, and just how toxic it could be, if it was toxic at all. If it wasn't toxic, that would be a twist as well. He would just have to avoid getting bit in the process. He was sure Nova wouldn't be too difficult, and Anya wasn't necessarily violent. She just wanted to play, that was all. She did enjoy playing with people's heads. He wondered if that had something to do with the spider in her.
 
Eli is not giving Anya nearly enough notice, so she turns away towards Benji, who at least had acknowledged her existence, however caustically. At his remark about the garbage disposal, her eyebrows shot up, and she laughed aloud, genuinely approving of his bite.


"You do that, Benny boy, and I'll gladly take pics. Might wanna be careful though, my guess is there isn't a hell of a lot you can afford to lose."


She leaned on one elbow "casually" against Rinji's thigh. The older woman looked down at her, as though surprised, but didn't push her away.


"Your elbow is sharp, Anya," was her only remark, but Veronica, her sister, seemed to mind even if Rinji didn't. Looking at her with narrowed eyes, she snapped, "Anya, get off of her."


"Why? Rainbow Not-So-Brite here doesn't seem to mind it, so why should you?" she gestured a limp hand towards Rinji, who said to Veronica, "It doesn't really hurt that much, Nica. I don't mind. You should-"


"I said get the hell off her," Veronica snapped, her voice raising, and she reached out to snatch hold of Anya's elbow, forcefully yanking it off of Rinji. This caused Anya to jerk sideways, almost falling off the couch, and as she grabbed the arm to right herself, she straightened so she was looking Veronica right in the eye, very close, almost touching. Veronica didn't back down, as Rinji said somewhat nervously between them, "Um, why don't we all, like, play with each other's hair or something? You guys are being so touchy right now!"


"Soooo protective, Ronnie Rigid Ass," Anya said finally, and though she withdrew, standing and stretching theatrically, she was eyeing her, knowing how much the name pissed her off. "Don't worry. If I wanted to deflower her innocence I'd go for something a lot more interesting than a knee."


Walking a few steps away, she scanned the room for someone else to annoy.
 
"I'm good. Just had a meeting with the Executives, got lots of things done. Our secretary should be sending this out to everyone, but I'd just like to tell you that since Genesis Industries is making a plan to reduce the deaths to 10%, you salaries will go up by 5o K. Anyway, how are the subjects? Feel free to tell me everything." Galvo said. He hoped that they would hide any information from him, because that would be bad news.


They better be successful. If they aren't, demotion, the CEO thought to himself. Everyone else around the three were working furiously at the computers, most likely running software tests.


[Lazy post, sorry.]
 
Vadim considered the question, thinking in his mind what was important and what wasn't because tedious, normal things would just bore the boss and would take too much time to explain. "Well, Anya's terrorizing everyone, like usual. And Canton's retreated into his room again." The boy usually did that, but Vadim suspected he just went there to hide. He wasn't very social, and they hadn't put cameras in the small sleeping rooms or bathrooms, for propriety's sake. Vadim thought modesty was a strange concept.


Anya, of course, always terrorized people, and usually in public places where Vadim and the others could see. She wasn't secretive about her manipulations. She had derogatory nicknames for everyone, after all. Vadim wondered what his was. He couldnt' remember.
 
Nova groaned quietly as the bickering continued and grabbed a chair to stand on in order to reach the volume on the television. Why they hadn't bothered just giving them a remote was beyond her, but it drove her crazy, especially when she desperately wanted something to focus on and no one seemed to be interested in allowing her that. She climbed onto the chair and, lifting herself onto her toes, was able to reach the button to adjust the volume.


"Careful, Nova." Benji warned quietly, his eyes now watching her carefully in case she fell. He might be able to realign the chair with his ability if it knocked itself off balance, but there was absolutely no way he would be able to catch Nova with it, or even get across the room to catch her in time, if she fell over and bashed her head on the corner of the foosball table.


"I've got it," her soft reply came. She turned it up a little louder and hopped off of the chair, leaving it in place in case things either got louder, or got quieter, requiring her to turn it down. She wished they would just let them go outside. Nova was almost always cold now, and wanted very badly to just get a little exposure to the sun to warm her up. However, that probably wouldn't happen for a while.


Still standing, she let herself fall into a back bend, the joints cracking loudly as she somehow managed to keep her balance. "God, this is so f**king boring. I want to tear my face off."


--------


"Oh, really? That big of a raise?" Sharen's lips twitched briefly, though the idea of lowering the deaths to 10% was, in itself, kind of daunting. Especially since it was her name on the project, and her ass on the line.


"The subjects are showing great development," Sharen answered him as she took a seat back at her own computer, crossing her legs. "Vadim will, at some point, be going to take samples of venom from Nova and Anya. Benjamin's telekinetic abilities are improving, though he still suffers headaches after training, the Fogden sisters are showing considerable improvements."


She allowed herself to recline a little more in her chair, "Would you like to meet them, perhaps? They've been a little more restless today than most, maybe some company would do them good."
 
Unfortunately for Anya, it seemed there was no one left to annoy but the two sisters. Veronica was easy enough to wind up, but she was of a sturdier build than Anya and more likely to use physical violence. Although Anya, with her venom, could best her and even kill her if she chose, it was more her style to try to provoke other into violence than to use it herself, and she was not interested in playing the victim to Veronica today, even if it did get Veronica in trouble. Which could, of course, be interesting all on its own.


Hm, maybe she'd rethink the victim idea.


Rinji wasn't easy to hurt her feelings or to annoy, but she was definitely to manipulate. However with little big sis Veronica watching like the falcon she was, there wasn't much Anya would get away with.


Sighing with exaggeration, Anya flopped onto the ground into a split. A side effect of her treatment was that she had become very flexible, which she had not expected, not having thought of a black widow as being very "bendy." She slowly stretched from side to side, twisting her torso in a vaguely provocative manner and letting her hair hang over her face. Frequently she glanced up to see if anyone was paying attention, and noticed that Rinji was indeed watching.


"I can do that too, look!" Rinji announced; as a person with cat characteristics, this was certainly true. She sat on the ground and immediately folded herself into a pretzel. "I can lick my ear too if I twist right, or anywhere I want. I've tried before."


"Rah team twisty," was Veronica's sarcastic reply, but she was still watching Anya.
 
(sorry, life got in the way, I'll try to be more active now :/ )


Eli didn't hear Rinji at first, she was so used to being ignored, preferred it that way, that she had just kind of zoned out again after being sat on. When she finally snapped back into it, she was surprised to see that most of the others had gone and that only Anya, Rinji and Veronica were left. 'Oh.. Uh.. I'm sorry, I just kind of... well..' SHe trailed off, blushing a little and looking down at her hands, her long hair falling down over her face. All the others seemed to be so used to each other, so comfortable with each other. Sure they argued, but they were screwed up kids with someone toying with their entire genetic make up, of course they were bound to be testy. She wondered of all their abilities. She wasn't much good for anything in her mind, nothing but a circus freak really. Roll up roll up, come see the incredibly invisible girl! It was a depressing and slightly bitter thought. She sighed, scratched the nail polish off her thumb, left over from the night of her kidnapping, and decided enough was enough. She looked up, looking directly at all three girls. 'Do you always fight like this?' She asked finally, mustering the courage to speak.
 
"We're not fighting!" Rinji says brightly, still folded into her pretzel, as Veronica simultaneously says "Yes." She rolls her eyes towards her sister, who is still trying to explain, as Anya ignores Eli entirely, continuing to stretch, her long blonde hair dusting the floor lightly.


"We aren't fighting at all. We're just talking like usual. Nica is usually kind of grumpy so it sounds like she's mad all the time, but she's really not. She just SOUNDS like it."


"Actually, Rinji, when I sound mad, that generally means I am mad," Veronica corrected her, as Rinji's eyes widened with apparent shock at this information. She unfolded herself as she turned to face her.


"But you sound mad all the time!"


"Annnnd Rainbow Not So Brite inches towards a stunning conclusion!" Anya drawled from the floor before standing up and looking around herself dramatically, shielding her eyes as though searching in the distance. "Wait, did something speak? Someone, somewhere? Is it voices in my head, helloooo...oh wait, no, it's just Ghost Girl." She moved forward and jutted her hand out towards Eli, giving a fake surprised noise when she poked her. "Oh, I figured my hand would go straight through...weird."
 
Vadim nodded along with Sharren when she spoke of his retrieving the venom, and when she suggested Galvo go and see the participants. "They haven't seen you yet, only the people here, and we've been here since the beginning. I think it would be beneficial to see what their reactions might be." The participants could be gathered, via sound system or a personal visit, into the common room, or they could send them to their bedrooms and visit them one by one. They were mostly calm for now, so it might be safe to see them all at once, if Galvo wanted to take the risk.


Vadim blinked, finally, and looked up at Galvo. "We're getting a raise?" He'd noticed something 'important' late again, hadn't he? Sharren had that look on her face that said he had. He was so bad at that.
 
Benji snorted quietly to himself as he listened to the girls... they didn't fight. Of course they didn't. Anya and Veronica bickered, maybe, but it was mostly just Anya taunting Rinji and everyone else. It seemed like he and Veronica were the only ones unwilling to put up with her shit.


"Yes," he said flatly in response to Eliade. "Those two, especially, always fight like that. You'll get used to it eventually, or at least, it's easier to ignore."


"Speak for yourself," Nova called over from her spot on the couch, legs crossed at the ankle, hair spilling over the arm of it. "Why the hell did they opt to make so many of us bendy, anyway? What are they manufacturing, some sort of super-yogis, or super-whores, or what? I mean, Benji, do that thing with your head."


He rolled his eyes and sat up, allowing his head to turn. The owl DNA not only turned him into someone who was predominantly nocturnal and hardly ever needed to blink, he was able to turn his head 180 degrees. It had stopped hurting after a few days, though still really give him the creeps. Ever so slowly, Benji's head began to turn until he would have been able to look down at the back of the chair if he'd wanted to, but his eyes stayed trained on the wall only for a few seconds before he turned it back into place and drew and Ace, sticking it among the others on the table.


"That good for you?"


"Sure," Nova answered and shook her head. "Sorry again about sitting on you, Eli. Not used to having to keep my eyes out for camo all the time."


((I'm waiting for Galvo to reply with Sharen))
 
((Its cool. I'm just trying to figure out how to bring Canton back into the room, logically speaking xD since he's just hiding out lol))
 
"Super whore, huh?" Anya raised an eyebrow at Nova's comment, twisting her torso to face her. She then turned around entirely, pulling her legs up to her knees and arching her back so her knees touched the ground , her hair hanging back to brush the floor as she stretched her spine, then squatted still facing her. "You'd know a lot about that one, huh, Gingivitis?"


"I'm bendy too," Rinji announced brightly, even though she's already shared this information and demonstrated. "But I'm not a super whore or a super yogi...I thought he was a bear anyway and I'm not. I'm a cat."


"Rinji," Veronica rolled her eyes, exhaling loudly from where she returned to slump on the couch, not even bothering to glance in her sister's direction. "A yogi is someone who does yoga. Not a cartoon."


"And about the protest against being a super whore-" Anya started, but Veronica's head immediately snapped in her direction, and she got to her feet with surprising speed, taking a threatening step towards Anya.


"I don't care if you do have venom, I could kick your ass any time I wanted to and if you don't shut up right now, I'll solve your boredom issue right here, right now."


"Ohhh no, Double R Single A is looking like she wants to get with the violence...maybe I labeled the wrong one the whore? She does seem to have a kinky S& M side to her," Anya smirked, raising her eyebrows right back at her and wiggling them slightly.
 
Nova's nostrils flared in a snort at the idea of her knowing anything about being a super whore. Because she was such a seductive creature, right? What a laugh. She'd decided to just not dignify that with a response, and sat up fully, half-tempted to join the contortion rally that had apparently opened up in the room, then decided against it.


As much as Nova may dislike the nickname Anya had given her... it wasn't the worst of the ones she'd been given. At least it wasn't "Firecrotch", anyway.


"Guys, this is boring. What the hell are we going to do?"


"Could always see if they'll put a movie on for us or something." Benji said, not looking up from his cards. "Of course, that would mean we'd have to agree on something, which I don't really see happening. Nova, check to see what's on TV, I'm going to go see if Canton'll come out of hiding."


As he got up to leave, Nova returned to the chair and switched it over to the TV guide channel, watching as the list of suggestions moved up the screen. It was really too early for anything super interesting to be on, but at least it gave her something to do for the time being, even if that included killing her eyes by standing mere inches away from a television screen.


--------


Benji rose to his feet and walked out, deciding that at the very least, someone should do some sort of damage control with him, since, if it were up to Canton, he'd probably never come out of his room. He didn't really mind the guy. Didn't have a lot to say to him, or anyone, really, but Canton was one of the more long-term tolerable people in the group simply because they seemed to live under the same pretense of just staying out of everyone's way.


As he approached the door, he paused for a moment and listened, hearing only quiet inside of the room. Peeking his head in, he knocked lightly on the door.


"Canton? Hey, it's me, Benji. You okay, man?"
 
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