Welcome.

[azumods]

AWAKENING. You're asleep, and the first thing you're aware of is the pulse. It comes quickly, flooding through your system and jolting you awake; the room you're in is dimly-lit but the bed you're in is soft, and while all of this is jarring you'll soon become rather aware that you aren't going through this alone. The room you're in is lined with beds not unlike the one you're in; you'll be able to hear other people stirring, coming awake as they respond to the pulse too, and... ...And it will soon become evident that whatever just happened, something is wrong. Whatever your response may be to waking up in a low-lit room full of people is going to be highly amplified, the emotion rubbing your nerves raw in a way that makes you feel like you're experiencing it for the first time, and whenever you manage to sit up, you'll feel something...strange on your head, tickling the sides of your face, and as you turn your head a little you'll catch a glimpse of an odd, synthetic-looking green. A wig...? Your clothes, too, are different from whatever you remember last (because whatever you remember last, it wasn't this room, it wasn't this place - ); they feel warm, designed to withstand cold weather, and if you throw the blankets off at any point (or even just pause to look beneath them) you'll be greeted with an outfit made of thick material that's alternating parts black and white and glossy silver, with an emblem inscribed on the chest - a G inscribed in gold and black. Whatever's happening here, you aren't given much time to dwell on it; everyone here seems about as confused as you are. There are twenty-four of you in the room altogether, and you're all going through the same thing; whatever you're experiencing, the door is closed, so at least you're experiencing it in relative privacy. For now. It isn't long before a voice can be heard, soft but agitated-sounding, as though trying very hard to not awaken everyone in the building; it sounds like a man, and you can hear his footfalls pause just outside your door as he speaks to someone else, voice soft and androgynous. "And you're sure they're gone?" "Yes, Commander." "And don't you think something should be done about that...?" "Right away, sir." With that, the man and whomever he was speaking to can be heard parting ways, one moving rapidly down a corridor and the other pausing, shifting a bit before eventually moving on himself. You have several options. I. You can sit here for a while and get to know each other, seeing as none of you know what happened. That might be a good idea, all things considered, and as long as the door remains closed there's no rush. It's the middle of the night, after all, and it isn't as though anyone is going to come looking - despite the urgent conversation outside, there isn't any alarm going off, nor is there any reason for most of the building to be on high alert. II. You can explore the building. Should you do that, you'll find several winding corridors leading to what look like dorms, with several rooms containing sleeping people and areas such as formal break rooms; exploring a little further will let you find conference rooms and other large, empty spaces that don't seem to have much of a purpose. There are signs and notices in several places referring to "Team Galactic" and its protocol, all adorned with the same emblem that's on your clothes. Some of these corridors also lead to doors that are, unfortunately, locked and staying that way; some of them lead to people dressed exactly like you, bizarre wig and all. They seem to be a little strange, however; they'll greet you, and they'll speak to you if spoken to, but they look odd and dead behind the eyes and there's not much to their answers, and asking them about preferences or any personal information will just net you a blank stare. It's going to be a long strange journey through the building, but at least you're traveling light; you don't seem to have any belongings with you - save for the outfit you woke up in and the red and white capsule attached to your belt... III. You can also pause to try to figure out what's going on with those capsules. They each contain something very important to you, after all - a creature that seems to have been assigned to you specifically. They don't seem to have anything on them indicating a name or another person that owns them, at any rate, so it's probably safe to assume it's yours. That said, something seems decidedly wrong with it - it seems alarmingly apathetic, the look in its eyes dull and resigned as opposed to alert and emotive, and while it's willing to follow you (it's almost a bit too willing to follow you, it will stay close by your side in the manner of a dog trained to heel if you try to walk away from it) it doesn't seem to be due to any sort of genuine affection. It's all very...sterile, for lack of a better term. Welcome to Sinnoh. Glory to Team Galactic. [OOC: Welcome to Azume! Feel free to use this log to get to know one another iCly; you can use the prompts given or come up with your own, though for now you're confined to the building. The Commanders are currently not present in the building (anywhere that you can find them, anyway). For now, have fun getting your bearings.]

Comments

[bloodspent]

II.

[Okay, so this is the worst fucking game of You Wake Up In A Room that Jake's ever seen. While he's about nine thousand percent not here for this stupid-ass outfit, at least it seems warm, and that's better than the previous few times he's played this game; the wig, however, can go straight to hell and it's staying on the floor where he left it. If anyone asks, he lost it somehow, who knows.

It becomes obvious pretty early on that no one's going to ask.

The first time he runs into one of the blank-eyed weirdos is in one of the break rooms - or at least, he finds out it's one of the break rooms after he kicks the door in like an absolute savage, sending the thing banging loudly against the wall as it opens and revealing someone who's way too apathetic about this turn of events for his own good. Jake stops for a moment when he sees the guy, just staring at the dead-eyed abyss while said abyss stares back over a cup of coffee, and he's way too calm about all of this and the whole thing just screams of "I don't like it" being the only sane response, and after a moment the guy moves to put the coffee down and manages to send it crashing to the floor as he does it while trying to not take those damn eyes off of Jake.

The noise it causes is loud. Jake's reaction is purely spinal, firing off before his brain has any say.

...Those of you that hear the crash that ensues can find Jake with a Galactic grunt on the floor, pinned down by Jake's knee planted on his chest, and he looks like he's about to punch the shit out of the guy with the sole thing stopping him being the fact that the damn grunt hasn't changed expression. He's just...looking at him, and all that his face is providing is "this might as well happen", and it's weirding Jake out on such a fundamental level that he can't even bring himself to hit him.]

What the fuck is your problem?

[It's loud and weirdly kind of desperate; come on, man, react or something...]



III.

[You know what, okay. Okay, there's an open area over here and no one seems to be swarming the place yet, weird though that is, and as such Jake is taking a minute to crouch down with his back against the wall, toying with that capsule between his fingers for a moment before pressing the button and deploying it.

Thankfully, it's not an explosive? That would have been bad.

What it does end up giving him, though, is a lizard with a thousand-yard stare, which is creepy as hell - or at least, it would be, were it not for the- ]

...Pants?

[Of...of all things.]

You've got pants.

[Maybe if he just...keeps repeating it something'll happen.]

II

[takestheblame]

Stop. They're too addled to respond.

[There's Kiryu, approaching. He was trying to get a different grunt to say something, and then there's this noise. When he turns around another grunt is pinned to the floor, about to be beaten up by some madman. This can't be let allowed to happen]

They must be the same than the rest of us -- disoriented and trying to make sense of all this. I doubt getting his face punched's going to be of much help.

[...at least he hopes they're just confused and in a daze instead of something more sinister. He really doesn't like their lack of reactions]

[bloodspent]

No, this- No. No, see, look.

[He's not backing off the guy, though he doesn't move to punch him, either.]

You look at your eyes, and you look at mine, and you tell me that that's the same thing. There's shit there, with some of us. Not with these guys.

[takestheblame]

[Welp, this guy had noticed too. Guess there's no beating around the bush. Kiryu had hoped he could leave it at that, but this guy is proving to be a bit more observant than he expected]

Then there are more reasons to leave them alone than to beat the crap out of them. Come on, stand up.

[That said...]

It's obviously abnormal, though. My guess is that whatever happened to them hasn't happened to us -- some sort of...lobotomy, I'd say. I have heard botching one would cause something like this.

[Spoken like someone who knows anything about neurology]

[bloodspent]

Some sort of - ohhh, Jesus.

[He's still incredibly tense and not wanting to let this guy up, though he'll look back down at him for a moment before immediately finding that to be not the greatest idea he's ever had.]

So you think somebody just took a fucking icepick or something and- ...fuck.

[takestheblame]

It's just a possibility. [The thought is unnerving, that's for sure] Right now the priority is make sure nothing like this happens to us. Clearly they plan to do the same, since we all had the same wigs and uniform.

[He's already expecting the worst from the situation, yeah]

[bloodspent]

[...Huh.]

You'd think they'd do that before all that. That's usually how it works, they do shit to you so you don't escape and then they put you in the dumb clothes.

III

[fatalstrikes]

[Ah, a man of culture who just parks it on the floor. Yuri's just passing by, but he overhears Jake speaking and turns to look at the creature in question.

...Yep, those are definitely pants.]

Huh. Never seen anything like that before. Most of the monsters I'm familiar with don't wear pants.

[bloodspent]

Oh, yeah? Some of the ones I've seen do, but they're kind of a special case.

[jake, no.]

You deal with monsters a lot?

[fatalstrikes]

Yeah. All the time. They're everywhere.

[The fact that this guy has to ask is kind of wigging him out a bit, but Yuri shrugs it off.]

So what kind of pants-wearing monsters have you fought before? Sounds like an interesting story.

[And you know what, talking like this is kind of weird, so he'll just move to sit on the floor across from Jake. Roc joins him, still looking blank.]

[bloodspent]

[See, you get him, though. Party on the floor.]

The kind that used to be people.

[...Okay, it's not a really fun party.]

You know. Somebody gives you a vial full of stuff, says it'll help boost your performance. Next thing you know, everybody but you's going all melty.

That kind of monster.

[fatalstrikes]

[Uh. Okay, sure, that kind of monster.]

Never heard of people turning into monsters. That's new.

[It's a little alarming, actually?? Yikes.]

I guess I can see why they'd be wearing pants though, if they were human to begin with. It'd be pretty weird if they didn't have pants.

[And just like that he settles, like okay sure, we're talking about this now, this is fine.]

II.

[heritrix]

Probably the way you're gearing up to break his nose? To start.

[The jib comes from the doorway, but from the way Rin is eyeing the grunt on the ground, she seriously doubts that's it. She knows she should be telling this guy to get off of him—if Shirou was here, that's what he'd do—but the non-reaction is so unnerving. It's not normal.]

[bloodspent]

He was like this before the nose-breaking was even on the table, kid.

[Well, I mean, fortunately for everybody, Shirou's not here and Jake can threaten this guy to his heart's content, because he's not getting up.]

[heritrix]

[I MEAN. She should probably step in anyways, but it's really freaky? Honestly, some part of her hesitates stopping him in the hope something he does will provoke a reaction, but she shakes her head. No; if it was going to, it would have happened already.]

No, I get that. [She looks over her shoulder as two people in the same uniform pass through the hallway, their motions as simultaneously limp as they are mechanical.] He's not the only one. I've seen a few others. They make eye contact with you, but it's like they're not even there.

[Pulling the wig off her head she speaks loudly, like she's trying to get attention of the pair behind her. But they just continue on without pause, so so much for that.]

[bloodspent]

Creepy as shit.

[...Thanks, Jake, that was astute of you.]

So I'm guessing you haven't gotten any of them to do anything worthwhile.

[heritrix]

Not unless you count telling me where the bathroom is. [...Ah.] It's the last door at the end of the hall incidentally.

[That's half a joke, half hey man, you might actually need to know, bodily functions are a thing. Not terribly relevant at the moment, though. Rin points a finger to goon-man's side.]

I wonder if they'd react differently when it comes to those capsules they all wear on their belts. Some wear more than others.

II

[hyruglyphics]

-- Please stop! Such violence is not necessary!

[ Said the teenage girl coming into the scene here. Honestly, she's really worried about the state of the other people around here?? But to see this... fight...? break out is - well, the whole thing is really alarming. Still, she's the sort to actually step over and try to put a hand on Jake's shoulder because I guess she's like this. ]

[bloodspent]

[Okay, that goes a long way toward getting him to...not get up but instead just tense up to an insane extent, but thankfully he's not going to just turn and deck her or anything without giving her fair warning. Because she's trying to fucking help, and something in her damn touch is conveying that despite the fact that her words are stupid, probably because that's the sort of thing Sherry does. The whole...touch and stupid words combo. Yeah.]

...Lady, I will tell you one time and one time only. Get your damn hand off of me.

[hyruglyphics]

[ She keeps her green eyed gaze on him evenly, though she admittedly does flinch a little bit at the threat of danger in his words. She takes her hand back easily, but keeps the same tone as she apologies, but reiterates, ]

I apologize. But do not unnecessarily resort to violence, please.

[bloodspent]

[You know, some part of him did not expect that to work.]

...Yeah, fine.

[He doesn't get off the guy, but at least he lowers his hand like he's considering not punching him in the head a couple dozen times.]

As long as they don't start shit.

[hyruglyphics]

[ I mean.

Okay, she's going to crouch down to the pinned guy here and address him now!! ]

Excuse me, can you tell me how this altercation started? I'm sure we can resolve matters better than this.

II

[ventulus]

[ Ventus walks in on the tail end of that.

He looks between the both of them, looking kind of confused. Well, okay.

Hopefully him asking questions can stop this from getting worse? ]

What's going on? Why were you guys fighting?

[bloodspent]

[...Ah, hell, kid, why - ]

Because I want to get out of here in one piece, kid. If you want to do the same, I'd suggest keeping out of the fighting unless you know how.

[ventulus]

[ Because his timing is great. ]

I know how to fight too. So, I can help out if worse comes to worse.

[ He looks back at the fallen grunt and then back at the other man. ]

...Maybe we should move on though since he's already been taken care of?