Realistic or Modern We aren't all Monsters

[Shog]

"Isaac Allan," he said. "Marine biologist. Guess my specialty. My gift is nothing surprising." He took decently long pauses between statements (at least for typical conversations). He also held onto the second "r" in surprising. That would be by far the worst part of living with these people. Maybe he should see about getting one of Corgi's voice modules...

"As you can see, Isaac's change caused him to gain a bit of a speech deficit," Professor Niantic said. "Now, who want's a tour of your living quarters?"

 

[Shroom Junkie]

Monika listened half-mindedly, distracted by her thoughts. Seemed like a good way to cope with the turtle pace of her world. This was an awfully strange place after all. How big was it? What would her life be like now? She wondered what her family was doing. Last time she'd seen her parent's house it was flooded with police. She wondered if the same would happen here. How safe was it *really*? She was energetic and appeared immature for it, but she wasn't stupid. She'd been told it was safe, but, could she really trust she wasn't being lured into a trap? After all, Niantic was also the one who invited her here in the first place. She decided to hold out for now. Anything anyone needed to know was rather obvious, she could reveal more details if she trusted them. She lifted herself off of her leaning position on the wall, ready to follow, her answers - hopefully - soon to be answered.

 

[NofaceFell]

Darcy doesn't pay much attention to those who leave, focusing on learning all her can from the body language of the others. Monika, he's pretty sure that's her name but he could be wrong, she doesn't trust it. Wants to, but doesn't. He imagines she been betrayed before, somehow. The Rock is hard, but he also seems very straight forward. No surprise there.

Rex, as Darcy can't help calling him, seems genuine, maybe a bit thrown off by all of this happening so fast, but he doesn't seem like anyone to worry about. It's suprisingly easy to see how awkward Isaac is around others, and Darcy is willing to bet he hasn't had much human interaction since turing into shark week. He also seems mildly creeped out by yours truly. It intrigues him. The others in the room are read and categorized accordingly. It's the professor he doesn't know about the most. Other than a desperate need to squish his adorable face, Darcy knows that anyone so excited by knowledge can flip to either side. He's seen it happen, so he knows he needs to keep an eye on that.

"A tour would be nice, and some time to let some people know what's going on, for me anyway. "

 

[Shog]

"Excellent!" the professor said, accidentally yipping with excitement. "Please follow me! I'll start with the common area."

=====================================================================================================================================================================

Three days later, Corgi believed everyone was settling in nicely. During the tour, he pointed out a couple different common areas, converted bedrooms,, the kitchen, the relatively small gym, and the rooms he anticipated their trials to take place in. He gave them the run of the place, telling them to ask Abigail if they ever get lost, though some areas were restricted. This was his lab, after all, and he didn't want them wandering in during some possibly delicate experiments. He of course gave them time to arrange everything with the world outside. He hoped to begin trials soon.

=====================================================================================================================================================================

Isaac was more than pleased with the pool. It was thirty feet deep at it's lowest point and had some stone structures built in to help make it feel more natural. There was a pillar in the center with a shallow cut-out on top, allowing him to sit with his head above the water should he so choose. The bottom of the pillar had a small alcove as well, which he used to sleep in. He was also warming up to the others. He was never a social butterfly to begin with and his current body didn't help, but everyone else here was also enhanced. They didn't seem to mind.

At the current moment, he was digging around a refrigerator stocked with raw fish. He didn't know if anyone else had any special arrangements made for their dietary needs, but wouldn't bee surprised. It was decently early in the morning, just past 7:00. He had only recently exited the pool, still dripping dry.

 

[NofaceFell]

It's quite when Darcy arrives that morning. He'd left as soon as the tour was over, vanishing with only word to the holographic woman. She hadn't asked if he would be back, hadn't asked what or where he was going and doing. He finds some comfort in that, not having to always explain himself. He stops by his room, dropping off the few bags he now has with him, clothes, reminders of home and other tools he always likes having.

Darcy distantly feels the gnawing of hunger and remembers the breakfast he skipped out on at Lenore's in order to get back. He shudders at the idea of toast covered in ketchup and frosted flakes in strawberry milk. The woman has odd taste. He pauses in the doorway of the kitchen, watching Isaac for a moment before moving to a fridge he really hopes holds more than tuna. He's pleased to find regular human food, not that there's anything wrong with sharp people food. He pulls eggs, bacon and hash browns from the fridge and sets about making his own breakfast. "Good morning Issac. How's it going?" He doesn't expect much of an answer but he tries the friendly approach anyway.

 

[Shroom Junkie]

Monika had half-followed the tour group, mostly just letting them lead her down the halls while she took sneak peeks at every room around. To everyone else, she probably blinked out of existence for only a couple seconds, followed by some air currents being blown around, but to Monika, she was exploring every nook and cranny of the place. Occasionally a door would be locked, and she could faintly hear the AI - Abigail - scolding her. "This is a restricted area" bla bla bla. She'd tried to find various ways in the rooms over the last few days whenever she'd think of a new possibility. She'd even tried to shake herself to get through- oh, give her a break, she saw it in a T.V. show once. One of those American 'superheroes'. How she wished her speed didn't come with all the disadvantages, like them. All the perks and none of the cons. So ist das Leben. (Such is life.)

She spent the new few days accommodating herself, preferring to stick to the gym. And that's exactly where she was now, running in place on the specialized treadmill, an earbud in her left ear. Even going at the maximum speed that would knock a normal person off their feet, she was barely in a jog. Not that she minded, that's what she always did anyhow. Turning off the machine, she stepped off and checked her phone. Five minutes. She had been running for five minutes. It felt like near an hour. She pushed past it. Sometimes she'd felt indignant at her abilities, wished they'd never existed. So ist das Leben. (Such is life.)

She rushed to the kitchen, ready for breakfast after her run. Isaac and Darcy were there. She opened the fridge door, careful to keep hold of it and open it lightly - even for her - so as to not fling it off it's hinges. The pure momentum could set it off-centre, the hinges pulled into contorted positions. Scanning it's contents, she pulled some things out to look around the back. Still the same as the other days. She wondered when they bought groceries. She was still amazed at the fact she could buy them herself. Even after the whole fiasco of the Incident, her bank cards remained open. She figured there were just too many people like her to account for. ATM's were a godsend, in her line of work, there was no way she was getting anything but cash, and besides her being a fugitive, even if no one recognized her, just waltzing in to a teller with the kind of cash she brought in would be awfully suspicious, especially with her abilities. Even worse is that so many people just didn't trust Enhanced in the first place. She'd probably be picked out by someone noticing her obvious enhancements and simply looking up her name. The same thing went with grocery stores. Self-checkouts were the only thing keeping her from just grabbing the food and leaving.

She slowed down a bit with the eggs in her hand, three to be precise, - great source of protein, which she most definitely needed, - and walked them to a counter, pulled a bowl, and cracked them each, mixing them with a fork. "Guten Morgen." She said to them both, looking at her bowl, rather than them. At Isaac, for fear of staring and making him feel awkward, at Darcy for fear of his abilities. She still didn't quite know the extent, but wasn't fond of the idea of finding out the hard way. It was still interesting, anyway. How the white seemed to sway in slow motion, crawling up the sides of the bowl and only slowly inching its way down. She wondered where he'd been. It had been a couple of days now, she thought. He'd came back before, but not for any extended period. He just brought bags in and then left soon after.

She hadn't the need to bring any more bags. Her small backpack was all she had anymore, really. She stayed in a cheap, falling down apartment with a landlord who doesn't ask questions, she washed her few changes of clothes at a local laundromat. She'd go to fast food, but it was just too much filler, she tried for awhile and felt increasingly hungry and tired, so she made do with the crappy stove she managed to buy from a garage sale. It was better than McDonald's anyway, that's for damn sure. Her few dishes and utensils were left at the apartment, as well as her few furniture items, - her mattress, pillows, blankets, - but otherwise it was all with her. Laptop, phone - or what is left of it, Niantic said he might fix it or just make her a new one, - , about four changes of clothes, her goggles, and a hairband. And of course, her iPod. Currently it was all in her room, except for the iPod and hairband, which she used both of at the moment, her hair still in a ponytail from her morning running.

 

[Shog]

"Morning," Isaac said, giving a slight wave to Darcy. Some water flew off his hand as a result. He made a mental note to dry more thoroughly before entering the common areas next time. He was still a bit leery of him, but was getting better. It was probably just the nature of his ability. "Pretty good. You?"

No sooner had he finished had Monika entered the room. She seemed nice enough, though nothing seemed to keep her busy or interested for too long. Given the nature of her powers, he couldn't blame her. "Morning," he said again. He finished his meal, wiped a bit of its remains off his face, and sat down. He was actually missing having to hunt for his food. There was just something satisfying about it, like he truly earned the right to eat. Oh well. He'd just have to make due and maybe request a couple off days to spend in the open water. He was already given his own pool. He'd feel guilty asking for more.

He pulled over a table that had been resting on the table, opening a Sudoku app. He'd gotten much better at gauging his strength over the months, but was still leery of picking up easily breakable objects. On his first trip to his old lab, he accidentally broke a door off. Dr. Collins came up with some excuse, but he wasn't allowed to operate pretty much anything in his old lab after that. He started with an easy puzzle for a warm up before opening a much harder puzzle.

 

[NofaceFell]

He notices. He always does, the way people who know about his ability avoid looking at him. He sighs a bit and pointedly slides his dark sunglasses over his eyes. It usually helps people feel at ease and it does seem to help with the whole automatically connecting thing his brain does. He wonders is Corgi can figure that out, or if it's just something he will have to work on himself. "Pretty well. Do you know when the trials are starting?"

He looks around, slowly eating as he sits on the counter. "Where's the Rex guy? Did anyone else run away while I was away?" He likes casual conversation. He's a social creature, odd since he disliked humans so damn much sometimes.

 

[fuil]

Grov walked in to the kitchen to find three of the others there. "Well good morning to you all." He said as he walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a box full of soapstone chunks and leaned on a counter making it groan under the stress. "So what you all think about the place so far?" He said as he dumped a few chunks into his mouth and chewed. "I think it's okay but I wish there was more to do."

 

[Shog]

"Don't know," Isaac said in response to Darcy's question. He hadn't kept track of everyone over the past couple days, spending most of his time either swimming, eating, or working on his cure. He wasn't messing with any chemicals or any real experimentation, just some additional research. And he supposed Grov was probably right. This entire compound was built to suit a genius workaholic, not to entertain guests. Then again, they should probably be starting testing soon, so that would eat up a fair portion of their time.

fuil NofaceFell Totorokoro Yahhah

 

[Shroom Junkie]

Monika poured the eggs into a buttered pan as Grov entered the room, eggs slightly hissing as she stirred them around. "Well, we've been here a few days already," She said to Darcy, "so likely either soon, or a long while from now." She too, was getting impatient. The sooner the testing, the sooner we understand it all. The sooner a potential cure is made. Would she even want it, though? It was something she thought about often. It had been less than a year, and she was already getting used to the world as it was now. If nothing else, she was getting used to ways to pass the time. Say, where did the Rex guy go?

"This place suits my needs just fine." She said to Grov, as he crushed a few boulders in his mouth. "Don't suppose you like running though, huh?" He didn't seem much the type. He'd probably crush the treadmill under his weight alone. How heavy was he, anyhow? Or strong. He crushed the boulders in his mouth like candy. She stifled a chuckle thinking of steel taffy. Sitting down on a stool, she started to slowly eat her food. She didn't rush, it was one of those good ways to pass the time. Looking up, she looked around the room. Grov. Issac... Darcy. She dared to look at his eyes. He was wearing glasses, which she assumed was made to block whatever abilities he did have, or at least keep other's eyes from locking on to his own.. She still wasn't quite sure. Something about looking at his eyes. What's the worst that could happen? It wouldn't kill her... would it? She dared, holding his eyes.

 

[Yahhah]

Ben stretched wholeheartedly. He was a late riser by nature, and being a little reptilian that bed had just been so..warm. He walked into the room where the others had accumulated. “Good morning” he said. Not really bothering to eat much. The forms only needed energy after they’d been in use, and he hadn’t gotten around to practicing yet. He was still a little blissfully drunk from the heat.

 

[NofaceFell]

Darcy feels the moment someone begins staring at him, despite his attention being on eating and his eyes focusing on his feet. He shouldn't look, but he does. The glasses make the connection slower but he feels it in every part of his body when it finally forms. It's the only timr he can feel as clearly as he use to. The only time his nerves aren't half dead of whatever. Weird since he can't feel anything done to his body.

He raises a brow and very carefully uses his fork to prod his hand. No pain, just the pressure, enough to be felt on the skin. He feels nothing, the sensation transferring to Monika the moment the metal touches his skin. "Are you testing something?" He asks with honest curiosity, she's the first one to actually look at him. Sitting back he keeps the connection, now she can't look away till he does.

Darcy slides his glasses down and proceeds with various actions, all of which the sensations travel to her. He tugs his own hair, pinches his thigh and bites his wrist. "The glasses don't stop it, just slows it down." He flicks his gaze away, breaking the connection. Missing the alive sensation the connection brings. "I've gotten better. Careful. I know how it feels to be connected now, the first time..." He pauses and hums. The first time he killed someone. Do they need to know that? That his ability can kill? Probably. "Well, it didn't end so great." He smiles grimly obviously bothered by the memory and finishes eating. He perks up quickly, however. "I have a question. Does the world run in slow motion to you?"

Shroom Junkie

 

[Shroom Junkie]

Monika keeps her eyes focused as he raises his head. Creepy. She felt something on her hand, and attempted to look down but failed. Her head moved to position, but her eyes felt locked in her skull. She could feel her hair slowly tugging out as he so obviously pulled his own, and she stood quickly, and violently, her chair knocking back. A pain in her leg, a bite on her wrist as he bit his own. She struggled, shaking her head violently in any direction she could, always kept in place by how far her eyes would allow her to go, her shoulders turning respectively to her head. It probably looked like a spasm or seizure to him. When he finally let go, she stopped herself from spinning from momentum, and rubbed her neck, twisting it to get out the kinks. "Never do that again." She said, jutting her finger out toward Darcy, looking away. "Schlampe."(Bitch) She muttered under her breath, not bothering to slow it down. It didn't sound high pitched, as some people had noted before, which she thought was weird. Every time she heard something sped up, it raised in pitch. It was probably editing sounds that affected it that way, she figured.

She almost looked back up to his eyes when he questioned her, but moved her vision to his mouth. She rarely got asked that question, never by someone she wanted to answer to. But, this Darcy, he was... different. Somehow. She took a moment to ponder. Not that it would seem that long to him.

"Yes." She said simply, sitting back in her chair across from him and resuming her meal.

 

[Shog]

Isaac didn't pay much attention to the others, but they had his attention when Monika toppled her chair by standing up so quickly. He couldn't figure out exactly what was going on, but determined that Darcy must have some psychological ability. Definitely not something he wanted to mess with. Then again, he didn't want to mess with any of these people. Still, he couldn't help but be infatuated with their abilities. He was just as interested in their test as Professor Niantic. Speak of the devil...

=====================================================================================================================================================================

"Good morning, everyone!" Professor Niantic said as he entered the room. He was just as energetic as always. "If you're ready, we can start tests today. I can't work personally with each of you at all times, so if you'll allow it I'll have some of my assistants help out. They won't know anything more than what they need to. I'll explain your individual tasks once you are ready. Other than that, any questions?"

 

[Yahhah]

Ben shook his head, and snapped out of his heat trip. "Well I guess I don't really have any" he said. He noticed the angry, fast, German woman. Well voodoo dude wasn't a guy he wanted to mess with, and he was a little glad he didn't speak German. Of course he could speak lizard, which was like the most useless second language to know anyway. He just hoped he wouldn't have to change too much for the testing. Eating grass, and having to nom squirrels wasn't really something he liked to do very often so he used his ability sparingly.

 

[NofaceFell]

Darcy hums in acknowledgement as the professor speaks. It makes sense that he can't personally work with each of them and Darcy suspects he really just wants the data anyway, no actual interaction with him required. He never did understand those types of people but to each his own.

Sliding off the counter the empath washes his plate quickly and looks at the hovering canine. "Can we get a move on then? I'm ready to begin as soon as possible, and I'm willing to bet everyone else is too. We all got a lot to figure out Professor."

 

[Shroom Junkie]

Monika shovels the last bit of food into her mouth, and dashes away in a blur, blowing wind as she ran, reappearing after 15 or so seconds, now wearing her goggles and a scuffed brown leather jacket with scars streaking from the front to the sides, her hair undone and hanging behind her, knotted into an almost-cone shaped streamline past her head. Her running suit. She was excited, something interesting was finally happening. Three days and nothing but treadmill running and lazing around, bored for what could have been a week for all she knew. T.V. was a chore, it was just too slow, so that was out of the question. Games were just too easy, she could out-think and react to almost anyone. For every second someone had to think, she had five more. Reading was best, but she got restless after awhile of that. Running was the best, but it was unproductive. She probably snooped around for real hours, checking every corner of the building she could, and trying to get into where she couldn't.

"I'm ready." She said bluntly, with a grin on her face.

 

[Shog]

"Excelent!" Niantic said. "Please follow me. To start with, I'd like preliminary blood samples from each of you. Well, most of you. This device will quickly draw the desired amount. It should be less painful than normal blood drawings, but a needle is still a needle. I will also have various sensors attached while you preform. Monika, It should come as no surprise that I want you to run. Give it your all. Isaac, Grov, you will each test your strength. I have worked overtime working on sensors that will work for you, Grov, but they are perhaps a bit more invasive than desirable. Ben, or Rex (whichever you prefer), I will have you start by shifting into different forms. I will also want blood samples after each shift. Darcy, I will have you test your abilities on a volunteer. The goal is to monitor each of your brain patterns."

'Simple enough,' Isaac thought. He allowed his blood to be drawn. The device looked kind of like a gun, but with a large opening. It pressed against his flesh and when the "trigger" was pulled the needle dug in and extracted some blood. A small dot of blood forced its way out after it was removed, but he healed fast. His sensors were different patches which were, thankfully, wireless. His first weight was 100 pounds. He truthfully had no clue how much he could lift, but this probably wouldn't be much of problem. Correction, no problem. He lifted it clear above his head in an instant. One of the Professor's assistants had him lift it a couple times before increasing the weight to 110 and repeating. He could be here a while.

 

[Yahhah]

Ben shrugged. “Alright then”. He got a bit of blood drawn then began the shift into an ankylosaur. Shaking his side back and forth, his armored skin barely felt the needle. Then he switched again into a carnotaurus. Giving out a loud roar. His blood was drawn again. Ben could no longer keep up the shape. He reverted to his human self. “Sorry two changes back to back is more than I’ve ever done” he said. Sitting down to catch his breath. Testing was apparently a work out.

 

[fuil]

Grov looked to the Doc and asked "Lifting stuff ain't a surprise but how invasive we talking here?" He was curious what invasive towards something like him meant. "I'm just curious but you shouldn't worry I can heal most any damage as long as I got me some snacks on standby. Also if your worried about pain don't be, I don't really feel pain just an annoying pressure." He said as he waited for the doc to get his sensors.

 

[Shroom Junkie]

Monika, after Rex, or 'Ben' as his name seemed to be, got his blood drawn thrice, having been watching intently as he watched every little part of him shift from one species to the other, allowed Niantic and his gun-like needle to extract some of her own. "I hope this thing doesn't spread diseases." She joked. Well, she hoped she was joking. She was sure someone like Niantic wouldn't be so careless.

"No, no. Nothing of the sort." He said, smiling in his canine body. "Your tests will be conducted in the north-east wing. Abigail will highlight the path. Hopefully the treadmill will be of sufficient speed, it is much faster than the gym treadmill."

She nodded, and made her way down the hall, following the lit path, faintly hearing Abigail on a speaker near her start telling her to 'Please follow the highlighted route'. Sounded like a GPS. She reached it in about 10 seconds. It was actually rather far in the facility, much further than her room or the gym. Niantic must have figured it would be the best way to use the far-away territory. She waited as the automatic door opened. Actually rather quickly, even for her. "Please step on the treadmill." The A.I. conducted, another lit path leading from the doorway to a treadmill seated in the middle of the room, with several large wires tied together leading out of the front, up the wall, and sideways into the wall on her left, where a large window was stationed. Presumably an observation platform, though as of current nobody was there. She followed the instructions and stepped up onto the treadmill.

"We will slowly increase the speed in increments." The voice said in a speaker, "Prepare yourself to start." She said, the machine turning on a second later. At first it was so slow it was awkward, making her step very slowly and let it carry her back. Then it slowly increased, little by little.

 

[Shog]

"Perfectly alright," an assistant said to Ben. "I will go get these samples ready for testing. Is there anything I can get you? Food, perhaps? Water bottles are kept over there."

=====================================================================================================================================================================

"Undetermined," Professor Niantic said to Grov. He held up a tiny device about the size of a small drill bit. In fact, it even had the drill end to go with it. "I do not know how deep these will need to go. You are possibly the biggest mystery here. I have some ideas, of course, but I do not know how much of you is human any more. Perhaps you are still mostly human underneath all this rock, though I doubt that. What I do know is that your brain patterns have remained the same and you have some sort of nervous system. Perhaps there is still a chamber with your brain in there and a functioning spinal column. Or maybe your body makes use of conductors and semi-conductors to replicate a nervous system. To help determine this, we will drill these into you in various locations and depths. We will have you do various actions from simple stretches, to a brief jog, to lifting some weights."

 

[fuil]

Grov nodded before he let the doc get to work drilling in the sensors a around 4 inches deep before he was satisfied. "Ok so you said I should do a few basic stretches first right?" He asked as he looked towards one of th Doc's assistants. "Yes, that should be a good start." He said as he looked at a tablet like device that seemed to be linked with his sensors. The assistant asked him to do a few stretches befor he handed him a weight of 100 pounds as they put him through the same strength test as Isaac, slowly increasing the weights as they went.

 

[Yahhah]

"Food would be good" said Ben taking one of the water bottles, and guzzling it. He took a few deep breathes. "Whew". He took the opportunity to sit down, and regain a bit of stamina. A lot of changing could feel like he'd just run the Boston Marathon.