Mission: The Shipper

[JustNicole]

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[SIZE=16.5pt]Tuesday, February 14th 2040[/SIZE]


[SIZE=10.5pt]Time: [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]9:00am[/SIZE]


[SIZE=10.5pt]Weather:[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] A warm front from the west has resulted in some warmer than average temperatures for this time of year. It is expected to reach the mid 60s today. It will be mostly sunny, and partly cloudy.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=16.5pt]Overview[/SIZE]


[SIZE=10.5pt]On Valentine's Day, the Shipper begins to wreak havoc across Baltimore, performing the most insidious thing possible: making people fall in love. As AEGIS sets their sights on taking down this public menace, some of them will invariably fall into the Shipper's gaze. What happens when you find yourself in love with someone else at a moment's notice? Can it be removed? Will players' ships be confirmed? (Note: Any "falling in love" will be discussed with both players and agreed to prior to it happening. There will be no forced shipping to prevent any feelings of godmoding characters to fall in love.)[/SIZE]

 

[JustNicole]

6:00 am


[SIZE=11pt]“Sir, you’re not supposed to be in here at this hour!”[/SIZE]


[SIZE=11pt]The man pulled down his spectacles, peering over them to look directly at the four uniformed security guards standing there, weapons and flashlights already pointed at him. It was amazing how emboldened someone feels when you place a weapon in their hands. The man, however, was not one to back down.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=11pt]“You know, I don’t think I like the tone of your voice,”[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] the man remarked as he slid his hands from out of his pants’ pockets.[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] “I think you all could use a little ‘love!’[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]” [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]He flicked his hands in the direction of the security guards, and the most incredible thing happened.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=11pt]The sound of four rifles hitting the floor echoed through the silent hallways of AEGIS as the two guards behind the metal scanner on the right, one a woman in her early thirties, the other a man who looked to be just out of high school, grabbed each other with lust in their eyes. In seconds, the two were engaged in a passionate display of kissing that would have put even Romeo and Juliet to shame. The other two guards behind the metal scanner on the left, both men of an indiscriminate age, also began to follow suit, oddly enough at more gentle but caring pace compared to the two on the right.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=11pt]“I’m sorry, did you still have any problem with my arrival at this hour?”[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] The man rhetorically asked the guards with a smile on his face. Of course, the guards seemed to have forgotten all about him. They’d be like this for hours, still in the same positions by the time the facility opened in the morning. Heck, it’d probably take quite a bit of force to pull that couple on the right apart. [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]“No? I thought not.”[/SIZE]


[SIZE=11pt]Stepping through the metal detectors which of course beeped from failure to remove metal, the man harmlessly walked through the security checkpoint unhindered into the rest of the facility. A simple visit to the security office to shut down the tapes from recording further was taken, ensuring the remainder of his visit would be unseen. Now, it was time to get to work.[/SIZE]




9:00 am


[SIZE=11pt]By the time the first cars started to arrive in the parking lot, the man was long gone. The only signs of his arrival were the security guards still engaged in affection, and a large heart-shaped box of chocolates with a horizontal 8x11 piece of paper over top that read: [/SIZE]



[SIZE=11pt]“Hope to see you see you soon! [/SIZE]


[SIZE=11pt]Love, the Shipper XOXO”[/SIZE]

 

[Malikai]

Spoiler

Jeremiah "JJ" Johnson
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Location: AEGIS Parking Lot
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Mentioned/Nearby: Nobody...
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Mood: Upbeat and Excited
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OOC: Well hopefully we don't spend too much time in this parking lot...
​

Fun Fact: St. Valentine was said to have restored the sight to a blind girl, who then promptly fell in love with him, could this have been the origin of the term "love at first sight"? 
​

Jeremiah opened his eyes with a sigh and stretched his arms out wide.  Yawning he stood upright and looked around his room... which wasn't a room and was in fact an alleyway.  Thankfully the one he was in today was cleaner then most usually are and he only had to move a few sharp items out of the way of his makeshift bed.  The sun hadn't risen yet, but it was important to get up this early so that Jeremiah could start off the day with a clean start.  Standing up and shrugging off a few of the trash that had seemed to collect on him overnight he rocked his shoulders back and forth and continued to stretch himself out.  Turning around he opened his mouth to wish his mom goodbye for the day but then closed it with a downcast look in his eyes.  Sighing again Jeremiah let his eyes drift over to the corner that he had slept in and he picked up a small chest that was laying there and opened it up to reveal his old schoolbag, Might as well bring a pencil and notebook to take notes.  Hopefully I won't need more than that.  He stuffed the small notebook in his jacket's pocket along with the pencil, the both of them fit nicely in the stretched out jacket.



Putting on a smile Jeremiah began to head down the street toward where the gym was located.  Turning to face the door he gave a quick few knocks and waited for an answer, when he didn't get one he took off down the sidewalk to go to the alley right next to the old building.  A quick glance around and Jeremiah spotted what he was looking for, an old rusty key left on top of a ripped piece of paper, I'm glad that you're still working Barry.  Surprised you haven't been caught though, you've never been the sneaky type,  Chuckling at his own joke Jeremiah stood up with the key in his hand, Did I really laugh at that?  I really need to go see Damien again.  Jeremiah walked up to the front of the building and unlocked it with his newly acquired key.  A quick glance at the sky revealed that the sun was just beginning to rise, meaning that Jeremiah would have to be faster this time.



After nearly ten minutes Jeremiah rushed out of the building and off down the sidewalk.  Just in time it turned out as a car pulled up into the gym's parking lot as soon as he did.  A smile spread on Jeremiah's face as a rush of adrenaline and relief poured into him and he let the key drop into it's usual spot.  Looking himself over he was glad to see that his skin was much cleaner than it had been previously.  There still seemed to be some dirt on some spots of his skin but nothing too noticeable.  Unfortunately his clothes were still dirty as he had only been able to give them a quick brush over on his way out.  Realizing that he still had quite a bit of time to waste he decided to take a walk across the city and then back.  All along the way he couldn't help but be interested with whatever AEGIS will be like.


After his walk across the city Jeremiah looked up at the sun which was at a much higher place in the sky and reasoned that now would be a good time to head to the school.  Another brisk walk was all it took for him to arrive at the school at around 9:10, and the sight he saw was certainly something.  Four security guards were currently coupled up and... making out?  One of Jeremiah's brows rose in confusion, Seems a bit odd, but perhaps they're acting this way since it's Valentine's Day.  Whatever the reason Jeremiah shrugged and meant to keep walking on when he noticed that there was a box of chocolates placed carefully in front of the security station.  Reaching down and bringing it up to eye-level, he read the note and only began to get more confused, The shipper?  So like... a captain then?  Seems strange they would leave the message here instead of putting it in the secretary's office.  Jeremiah gave a slight hum in confusion, "Hey, do any of you four know why-" He stopped talking after realizing that they were all too engrossed in there kissing to even hear him.  Scratching his head in confusion he focused again on the note, Who is the shipper?

 

[Necessity4Fun]

A lovely female voice announced the end of the trip and not longer afterwards, the airplane finally reached it's destination. The teenager who had been sleeping in one of the middle seats a minute ago, was now overtaken by excitement as she packed her leopard stamped travelling pillow and pink soft blanket. For Juliana's first time on a plane, this had gone pretty nicely! When the city 'started shrinking' at the take off~~~ THAT HAD BEEN AWESOME!!!


Hopping out of her seat, the Brazilian girl quickly grabbed her purse, travelling essentials, and rushed at once out of plane to give the marvelous flying machine a last look. It was so big! Can you imagine people built those? Really, really impressive! Following the crowd towards the exit of gate 4, Juliana could barely hold her amusement as everything made her go 'woa!' and 'ohhhh!!' since it was a new place... Even cooler, it was a whole new country!! SO.MUCH.HYPE.
Upon seeing the 'Welcome to Baltimore' sign that greeted her warmly, the teenager could no longer contain herself:

"HEEEELLOOOO BALTIMOOOORE!!!", she energetically let out, opening her arms wide like someone would do in a movie.


Behind her, a couple of the bystanders complained about her being so loud and also holding the traffic of the entire passage-way. Juliana hopped away of path and apologized, but they were all too focused in leaving and busy to even acknowledge her. But the girl wouldn't let that ruin her morning, no sir! Before moving on to get her luggage and dashing outside, the Brazilian teenager HAD to pass by the restroom. She had been sleeping in the plane, which meant she had the most awful bed-hair ever! And thus, just couldn't, COULDN'T, step in a public area without correcting it. But fear not! There's nothing her trusty comb can't fix!........ Oh! Cellphone is vibrating too!

--------

Three tweets and Five non-planned selfies in front of the mirror later, Juliana had retrieved all of her three bags and was extremely excited to set outside, letting the beautiful Baltimore sun hug her in all it's brilliance! Hindered by the weigh of her luggage, the hyper Brazilian walked towards the airport exit as fast as she could, but once she got there, to be honest, it was a little disappointing... It wasn't warm at all! It was actually suuuper cold in here!!!!!!
The teenager had walked to the corner and bent down to get a jacket, but a male voice suddenly called her name... Was this her uhhh... How do you say? Second grade cousin? The girl turned around to greet her caretaker, but that wasn't him and there were two of them. Actually, these guys looked like secret agents, like, completely cool men with sunglasses.

"Oh! Hello gentlemen~ Did a man named... Uhh... What is his name again?... Marcelo!! Did a Marcelo send you to pick me up?"


About an hour and half later, the Brazilian was inside a black vehicle, which sadly did not have anything fun inside... SOOO FUCKING BORIIING!


Turns out Marcelo wasn't around. Juliana had called his house a couple of times and he hadn't picked up, so she had decided to ask the extremely serious agent guys to take her there. Who were the agents? Oh! Baltimore works differently, they have this place called Commonwealth and that's were they register the super-powered people! Cool right? So, these man had been informed she was arriving somehow, and since she need to go through a power test they were nice enough to pick her up! America really was something else.


Back to the story, Marcelo had left a key with the neighbors, just in case. The man sounded exactly like her dad, overprotective and full of plan B's, which was great seeing as she wouldn't have to stay outside until he was back now. Thus, she had picked the key, taken her luggage in, changed into warmer clothes, and headed out again to go to the Commonwealth place and get tested. That had been so much fun and her new limiter was sooooooo cute! Juliana had totally taken a picture of it for her twitter followers, there were so many hearts already~!


Now, her destination was AEGIS. More specifically facility 108, the place she would be studying at for the next three years. The first thing that stood out was just HOW DISTANCED from the rest of the town it was. They had called it uhhh, Spérou point? What even was a Spérou?! She had tried 'googleing' that, but all the results were about some overshadowed cartoon character... Would they really name an entire part of the town after a cartoon character? If they did, USA would get another awesome point from her!


After twenty minutes of lying down and mindlessly scrolling through her twitter timeline, the car finally came to a halt, the sound of doors unlocking soon following. Springing to an upright and proper sitting position at once, Juliana gave the agents and energetic 'Bye! Hope to see you two again!!' and jumped out of the vehicle. The sight of the building put her in awe and almost instantly the Brazilian teenager had grabbed her phone, already with the intention to take picture of everything and everyone she encountered.
Starting her tour with, of course, a selfie with the building in the background, The girl set off to explore and was soon greeted with... a very peculiar sight? I mean, Juliana had just arrived, but several of her twitter followers had let her know Americans weren't as open and cheerful as she was, and perhaps they would seem a bit cold to her... But mother of god the security personnel - at least they seemed to be dressed in uniform- of this school were making out hot as fire! Damn~~!


With a not so kind giggle, the Brazilian set up the clingiest of the couples by the left and put herself in the front, more to the right, for a picture. Making the description something silly and cliché like 'Love is in the air', the photo was uploaded to twitter and fast as lighting, some of her followers reminded her it was International Valentine's day. Huh, so does this mean it's some kind of tradition then? Oh, but what about that boy in the horizon who was all alone? Wasn't he missing out? Well, perhaps she would go there and fix that~~


Walking closer to the loner blonde, Juliana hopped right in front of him and didn't waste time:

"Awwwww~~ Are you all sad because you don't have a girlfriend on this special day?", she gave off a sly smile and chuckled, "Want me to make you feel better~?"


Noticing he seemed to be focused at something else however, the girl turned around and there she saw... A box of chocolate! Reaching her right hand over to it almost instantly, the Brazilian teenager had to grab it with her other hand to stop. Thinking back on all the snacks she had eaten on the plane, the guilt of consuming even more calories out of her usual diet was too much for her to dare take another step forward and pick up a piece.


Looking back to the box with a desolate and troubled face, Juliana just stood there with her inner struggle, completely forgetting about the boy, the couples behind them and remaining oblivious to the existence of the note.

Spoiler

Interactions: @Kingmalikai


OOC: It's an intro to the RP too, that's why it's so big >w< Bear with me!

 

[Swoob]

At: Facility 108
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With: @Necessity4Fun @Kingmalikai
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OOC: wahoo
​

 
​

The inaudible breaking of crust and a small sigh heralded Eden Trammel's return to the earth. Not much later followed the warm sizzle of grease as little bubbles poked out from under beautifully curled slices of bacon and relinquished their gift to the apartment. The air was colorful with the swirling whispers of butter, eggs, and bacon, and they spread their comforting hands around Eden, wrapping him in a warm embrace as he cooked that reminded him, bittersweetly, of something he once laid claim to.


Not long after three individual plates were placed on the table, the omnipotent power of the home-cooked breakfast roused his mother back into consciousness, and as she floated to the table, the sun itself leaned into the room as if it were witnessing a holy miracle. "Well, this is something different!" she exclaimed. "What's the occasion?"


Eden grinned. "Dunno. I guess I just felt like doing this for once. Happy Valentine's Day, Mom."


"Oh, baby," she whispered, and the two locked arms around each other. His mother's long nightgown billowed with vigor and flapped around playfully, and to Eden, it seemed almost as if he was in an embrace with the wind. After holding on for a while, an unidentified crevasse in Eden's core released a small puff of something indescribably sad, and the puff travelled up through his throat and to the ridge of his eyeball. He turned away.


"Well, let's eat before it gets cold!" He smiled, but there was one more thing that wanted to be said. "Better eat it now while we still can."

—◊—
​

 
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The sun smiled brilliantly on the walls of Training Facility 108, which had been blessed with blankness, a refreshing sight after so many dark days. Holidays always had a special talent for purging hatred, and it seemed as though the anti-supers of Baltimore finally didn't care, at least for one glorious day, enough to interrupt their stories and spread their demons across the walls on Valentine's Day morning. Eden wondered upon the sight and stopped for a moment to reminisce on an old dream that he might not have had to bury.


But as he neared the walls, four frightening figures revealed themselves to him, and he soon realized that a bit too much love was in the air. The security guards in front of the facility were locked in two displays of uncontrollable passion, kissing each other with haste and without breath. Eden's first reaction was to point his finger toward the date, but quickly realized that this was more than a Valentine's Day celebration. The guards who had been rigorously trained and put on high alert in this dangerous time for the facility wouldn't be in such comfort by choice. Another hand was at play, and he may have just walked onto its game board.


Eden smiled. He loved a good game.


To the side, two students, a male and a female, were enveloped closely in a heart-shaped box. Shaking off the initial hesitation of impeding on a young couple's mating grounds, he walked over to them and said quietly, "Hey, guys. Sorry to interrupt, but are you seeing what's going on over there?"

 

[Malikai]

Spoiler

Jeremiah "JJ" Johnson
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Location: AEGIS Parking Lot
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Mentioned/Nearby: @Necessity4Fun(Juliana) @Swoob(Eden)
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Mood: Confused/Slight Embarrassment 
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OOC: I'm so short...
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Fun Fact: The X symbol associated with kissing likely came from Roman times when a person would sign their names in front of an x and then kiss it to show their sincerity.  Now how did O come to mean hugs?
​

Looking down at the box of chocolates in his hands he turned it over and around, Seems to be just chocolates inside,  he thought with a strange glint in his eye, only having now realized what he was truly holding, Well... I don't think it would be too nice to eat what may be someone else's chocolates... but they did leave them here as a gift...  Before Jeremiah could get too carried away in these thoughts he was interrupted as someone hopped into Jeremiah, causing him to jump and nearly drop the box of chocolates, "GAH!"  Breathing heavily Jeremiah calmed himself down and focused on the girl that was now in front of him, I'm never going to get used to the people at AEGIS scaring me, Looking at the girl he couldn't tell if she was a student of AEGIS or just someone passing by, but what he did notice was that she had a certain style about her, with her green tie and shirt matching her eyes quite nicely.  Most notably was the fact that the girl seemed to stand at about a foot above Jeremiah, causing him to look up at her if he wanted to look at her in the eyes.  After just a few seconds of more heavy breathing Jeremiah focused on what the girl was actually saying, Wait, girlfriend?  What is she talking about?  Jeremiah gave the girl a very confused look and gave a laugh out of slight nervousness and embarrassment, "W-what?  Maybe we should just give each other our names before we go on talking about that.  My name's Jeremiah, what's yours?" Giving a smile Jeremiah looked at the girl who was now completely engrossed in the box of chocolates he was holding.  Looking down at it, then back at the way she was looking at the box Jeremiah quickly reasoned what she may be thinking now.  After a few seconds of reasoning he gave a mental shrug, I don't think it would be too harmful, plus she looks like she wants them anyways.  The smile still on Jeremiah's face, he held out and opened the chocolate box towards her, but not before taking the note that was on top of it and putting it in his pocket, "You can have some, I think it was a gift for the school anyways and you look like you might want a snack."  


Not too long after he did this somebody walked up behind them and spoke up quietly, but loud enough that Jeremiah heard and turned slightly to look at the newcomer.  This time it was a thin boy who had bright pink hair, which was the most immediately noticeable part about him.  What was next noticeable was how much taller he was then Jeremiah as well, he also stood a good foot above Jeremiah, possibly even a little taller.  Thinking for a second Jeremiah looked back over at the security guards, turned back to him and nodded, "Yeah, it's kind of hard to miss honestly.  What was a little more difficult to see was this box of chocolates,"  Jeremiah shook the box in his hand, "With the note that was attached to it."  He held up the note for him to read and as he did he also decided to figure out some more names of people, "So, what's your name?  I'm kind of new here so I'm trying to learn the names of everybody here."  The smile disappeared from Jeremiah's face as he began to realize that learning names might be essential considering how long it seems that he'll be staying at the school, but he covered this up with a bit of a forced smirk.

 

[DamagedGlasses]

MAINFRAME




Location: Facility 108 Entrance Security 


Nearby:  @Necessity4Fun @Kingmalikai @Swoob


Mood: School. Boredom. Valentines! Excitement! Biking. Biking. Arrival. Excitement. Relief. Shock. Interest. Curious. Hungry. Chocolate.


OOC: Early bird catches the piece of chocolate!


MAINFRAME wondered if other people ever experienced exhaustion like it did. Amy and Todd had both gotten very good 8 hour rests, even if Amy tossed and turned out of excitement over Valentines, but Lewis, Jeremy, and Steven were all suffering from various degrees of sleep deprivation. No one could tell of course, since the telltale signs were hidden behind their goggles, but still, MAINFRAME was truly curious if anyone has been both fully rested and dead tired at the same time.

 


With that in mind, MAINFRAME carefully guided Jeremy, Amy, Todd, Lewis, and Steven through the streets of Baltimore, a V-Formation of bicycles wheeling from alleyway to alleyway, crossing busy highways after checking left and right with 5 different sets of eyes. AEGIS had quickly impressed upon MAINFRAME the need for all of it’s bodies being present during classes, and while it was quite affronted by such clear lack of efficiency, it understood that rules were rules, and while it was under their roof, it would not burn the backyard.

 


That did not stop it from thinking about it though. Leaving a body behind, that is. Burning the backyard of the old dock that is Facility 108 would be quite difficult for five 13 year olds, no matter how in sync they were due to MAINFRAME. Though, MAINFRAME could think of maybe 2-3 different associates from it’s past as Bell’s Finest that would be up to the job. Although, two of them were most likely dead, so once again, that backyard plan was quite implausible.

 


Reaching the front of Facility 108, MAINFRAME began to observe the grounds, it’s 5 bodies riding around parked cars and up the ramps of sidewalks to get to the scattered bike racks positioned around the building.

 


Amy reached the bike rack first, MAINFRAME deciding she’d be the most excited, and with a happy breath of fresh air, she looked to her slower companions and smiled, “Can you believe it’s that time already? I can’t remember a time Valentine Day seemed so exciting!”

 


Todd rolled up alongside her, his face flushed from the long ride over. He wasn’t totally out of shape, mind you, but he was carrying a bit more luggage around than his short, boney friends. Silently saying thanks to the universe for finally ending the ride from their house to the school, Todd looked over to the excited lone female member of the group and raised an eyebrow, “Weren’t you the one that ran away from that one kid who gave you a teddy bear in front of the class?”

 


Amy looked away, her smile never stopping as she casually denied Todd’s question an answer.

 


Honestly, MAINFRAME couldn’t really say if Amy had been the one to get the teddy bear or not. Some minor tidbits about it’s progenitors went unsorted for a long time. Yet, the memory fit well with MAINFRAME’s Amy, so it had decided to give it to her.

 


As the rest of the group put their bikes away and headed towards the main entrance, they made sure they kept close by each other. Even when Amy would go off and run up a bit or look at something that interested her, or Todd had to tie his shoe, the group kept tempo and never left some behind or got left behind by one of their own. MAINFRAME would love to say that it had been the cause of such group oriented instinct, but it had to give credit where credit was due.

 


MAINFRAME’s progenitors had felt it quite necessary not let anyone among them be left alone in the halls of Bell High School for any significant lengths of time.

 


Walking up to the doors, MAINFRAME let it’s bodies begin to watch what was going on. A few fellow Blue Card hopefuls had arrived, some with family, others decidedly alone. Very few details around MAINFRAME actually mattered, but as the group formerly known as Bell’s Finest pulled up to the safety section of the entrance to Facility 108, it had to pause.

 


Two couples wearing the garments of the security officers were locking lips like there was no tomorrow. So involved in their...physical romance, they had ignored three students attempting to get inside. Wait...no, it seemed that the students were involved with something as well. A box of some kind? A heart shaped box.

 


And yet, it was the security guards that drew the most attention from MAINFRAME. It’s bodies had seen health films in their history, so it knew the bare bone basics, but to see it in action, well, it was an experience. It had never tried anything between any of it’s own bodies, though there were tentative plans in place for when they got older and...their changes began.

 


MAINFRAME’s bodies had stood emotionless as it made the needed observations, and dealt with the momentary shock, but Amy was the first to suddenly perk up, as though someone had suddenly animated a mannequin. Brushing off her clothes, she didn’t hesitate any longer to joining the 3 students crowded around the box of chocolates.

 


MAINFRAME’s other bodies watched from afar, Todd ready provide backup incase there was some sort of social emergency, while Jeremy and Steven were kept firmly in place in case of legitimate physical threats. Lewis was just watching.

 


Walking up to the three students, Amy casually slipped up to them looking at the chocolates as well, her interested eyes hidden by her pink goggles. They looked like regular chocolates to her, with the usual designs she had seen on the internet while doing her pre-Valentine Day research. A young lady had to know the right ceremonies for any kind of culture, of course.

 


Still though, with the box out in the open, the, admittedly, delicious scent of chocolate in the air and the older student holding them out for the girl across from him to take her pick, Amy couldn’t help herself. With a quick snatch of her hand, Amy opened the box and grabbed one of the delicious peices out for herself. She held the piece of chocolate right up to her nose.

 


She sighed at the smell, “Aw, this is what Valentine’s Day is all about. Truly a novel experience.”

 


And with those words, along with the blessings of an equally interested MAINFRAME backing her, Amy popped the chocolate piece into her mouth and began to chew.

 

[lazee]

Minah Saotome
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Streets of Baltimore, heading for 108
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Mood: Calm and-Oooh, chocolate!
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@Necessity4Fun @Kingmalikai @Swoob @DamagedGlasses
​

Wow, Ibu wasn't wrong when she said it was a nice morning to be up and about. It was such pleasant weather to start the day, the Valentine's Day! Sunny skies dotted with clouds made for a warm ambience that would without a doubt make this day a good one for all those starstruck lovers. Minah, arguably one such starstruck lover, could definitely get used to this weather. Growing up in an equatorial environment, she never had much love for the cold, so this was a magnificently welcome change of pace. And judging from what she was hearing, the birds enjoyed the weather just as much as she was. A couple of pigeons, normally uncooperative and rebellious birds, had actually began to follow her, their Queen, flying right behind her step. Minah didn't even have to control them, this was something they did on their own volition. There was a word she recently learned about, a word to fit this particular feeling. That feel when something or several things make you feel inexplicably...happy. What was it again?


Endearing.


Right now, the Japanese-blooded girl was heading for Facility 108, having already stopped by at a coffeeshop for breakfast along the way. She brought with her a plastic bag filled with scrambled eggs to go and two cups of hot chocolate, one for her and one for...a significant other person. Minah Saotome looked princess-like as she walked down the street with her simple brown sling bag, contrasting well with her tastefully professional (and patriotic) red-and-white outfit that was practically radiant in femininity. It belonged to her foster mother, a woman far more confident and beautiful than she was and it seemed that simply wearing her clothes made Minah walk that much more assuredly. Almost like magic. 


A walk to 108 typically took give or take twenty five minutes. Since Minah usually woke up at eight o'clock at worst, this usually gave her more than enough time to herself and still be present at the Facility completely on time. Once she did arrive at the Facility and ending the refreshing morning walk, she checked her phone for the time. 9:10 AM. Indeed, more than enough time. And apparently, she wasn't the first student to arrive here as she was met with quite a large company of eight, gathering round the entrance. Strange to see this many people this early. Stranger still was what these early birds (hehe) were looking at. AEGIS security guards, kissing it out like no tomorrow. While Minah couldn't deny the importance of love in Valentine's Day, these men were Facility 108's defensive line. Take them out and the facility was no better than a kissing duck. There could be some vile intent at work here, but the girl was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Taking off her sunglasses and clearing her throat, she greeted her fellow young Supers.


"Good morning, everyone, and happy Valentine's Day!" Minah chirped out, bright as a canary. "I see that some of us are getting into the spirit of it already." Her gaze gestured towards the smooching guards and then turned towards the box of chocolates and ergo, the girl holding the box of chocolates. "Um, may I?" To say that Minah smile to her was anything but glowing in charm would be a distasteful falsehood. Bird girl herself might not know, realize or even admit it, but she is quite beautiful. No one could deny that. The added flavor of sunlight pouring through the doors, the conveniently placed birds that followed her in and fluttered behind her just exemplified that Disney princess-like beauty. Only thing missing was a conveniently placed angelic choir and wind billowing her hair just so. Then it'd be perfect.


Comically so.

 

[The J]

Hadrian Alburn


Housing -> Facility 108


Hadrian awoke, energetic and ready to face the day as usual. After having a shower, getting dressed, and quickly devouring his breakfast, he set off at a jog for Facility 108. He didn't need to run, what with how his body naturally kept itself supremely fit, but he found that he could wake up later if he did, not to mention that it felt better anyway. He'd spent most of his life before his powers' activation malnourished, and it felt good to relish in how honed his body was now.


The accommodation wasn't far from the facility, and at his quick pace, Hadrian made it there in no time at all.


He found it odd, however, to see the security guards engaging in each other sp passionately. It made him uncomfortable, to say the least, and he blushed as he ran past and tried to act as if he hadn't seen it. Affection and everything that entailed from it wasn't something he was intimately familiar with, and he'd never met more than a handful of people his age, let alone fancied one of them. He didn't really know how much of an incredibly odd thing to do such "engagement" was, weird him out though it did. There was little to do other than trying to put it out of his mind as he walked inside.


A few moments later and he came across several of his fellow students, and one seemed to be holding a box of chocolates that were some point of contention. Christ, how rarely he'd eaten chocolate... it was so delicious, and he'd certainly see if he could get his hands on any. Luckily someone else had asked before he could, so he could see if was probably to share.


"Oh, hey..." he said, momentarily not sure what to say. He should've planned this out beforehand, but that just wasn't how he worked.


"Could I have one as well? I love chocolate."


@Kingmalikai @Necessity4Fun @Lazy Rocktime @DamagedGlasses @Swoob

 

[JustNicole]

Holly Kane


Bike->Facility 108


The song for later in this post:







As Holly Kane drove down the Baltimore streets on her way to her third full day on the job, she couldn’t help but think of her new position.


Training Facility 108 was a bad, in fact, as the reports had suggested. They had not been exaggerating. The school lacked any sort of discipline, authority, or strong oversight both at the student and faculty level. As far as Holly was concerned the director, Jason Swan, was far to loose with everyone, and a suitable replacement ought to be found.


Her thoughts on the facility were interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone, as the display on her car lit up to signal an incoming call. “Call from: Blocked Number,” spoke the onboard car computer, the soft voice of a woman likely in her early 20s. Leaning over to the display, Holly pressed the green button to accept the call, connecting her earpiece through to the number.


“Vy idete na krasnyy kod.” the voice spoke. There was a strong accent to the man’s voice, certainly not American in nature, but a fluent speaker of Russian nonetheless. The line went dead shortly after, with a click indicating the sound of the receiver being hit.


To Holly, hearing Russian was no different than hearing English or any other language she was fluent in. In fact, it was often difficult for her to refrain from not slipping into foreign languages, considering how droll American English was. Suffice to say, she more than understood the message.


_____


Arriving at the parking lot, Holly exited her vehicle. She un-holstered her sidearm, a M9A1, taking it into both hands. Approaching the building as her training had dictated to her, she was relieved to see that there was only some students and staff inside of the main entrance. Still, she did not holster her pistol, preferring to have easy access to her firearm in case something was up.


Entering the main lobby, Holly kept her pistol aimed towards the floor as she surveyed the situation. Students were the bulk of the occupants so far, and of course, Holly couldn’t miss the security guards preoccupied on the floor. What caught her eye the most was the note that one of the students was holding.


Navigating her way to the student, she forcefully grabbed the note out of his hand, not caring to have the manners to ask to read it. Looking at the brevity of a note, Holly muttered a simple swear, “Joder.”


No sooner had Holly read the note than loud music began to play from the TVs in the lobby. “How can it be permissible...”


Doing her best to ignore the intrusion, Holly’s earpiece began to ring. Tapping the earpiece, Holly accepted the call.


“Ms. Kane?”


“Yes?” Holly spoke up, putting her hand to her ear over the others and the music.


“I have two messages for you. One from the Commonwealth which reads as follows: ‘AEGIS has priority. Good hunting.’ The second is from an unknown, ‘Reminding you of your reservation for a table for two at Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge at 2pm.’ No other messages. Have a good day.”


“Thank you,” Holly replied as she hung up the phone, as the song continued: “She's a craze you'd endorse, she's a powerful force...You're obliged to conform when there's no other course”


Then, the TVs around the walls of the lobby which previously had been on a black background sprung to life, throwing surveillance images of Holly overseas in Middle-Eastern attire standing over someone with a gun pointed at them, barking out orders, and sitting a restaurant as the song continued. “She used to look good to me, but now I find her...Simply irresistible”


Holly could only scowl at the spectacle as the song and images continued. The Shipper would get everything that’s coming to him. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

 

[Necessity4Fun]

"Those cookies from earlier...The serving was 7 equals 140 calories, but we're talking about chocolate here, so there is a lot of sugar in those... Ahhh, what even was the calorie count of the last sweet thing I eated??!!"

Not paying attention to what the blonde boy was saying, Juliana tried a makeshift calorie calculation in her mind, to decided whether or not the damage would be too big. There was no denying it, after all the bag of cookies and chips she had bought in the airport store, and then eaten during the flight, the Brazilian had already decided to attend the gym double time in a next session...That was before she realized there was no next session because it wouldn't be her gym, or her city, or her country. When people told her 'travelling to another place was like starting from zero', she hadn't thought it was THAT literal! The new personal trainer better be a cute one too...


Unexpectedly the boy from before startled her, offering the teenager girl the box of sugar and struggle -AKA: Chocolate-. Juliana's eyes went wide in both surprise and something akin to terror as she stared at him in disbelief, then the box of temptation, and back at him.

"I guess I could...No but I shouldn't... But they're calling me, but I shouldn't... J-just a piece... I'll hate myself next morning for this though..."

Before the Brazilian girl could make her move towards the evil sugary treat, a little girl jumped out of nowhere, snatched a piece to herself and ate it. Juliana took advantage of that to step back and sigh in relief, 'That settles it then', apparently to no one, before taking her gaze out of the stupidly enticing vision of the chocolate on the brown haired girl's hand. That's when she realized that someone else, besides the girl, had joined them! In awe from the sight, the teenager quickly opened her purse and pulled her cellphone out of it:

"OH.MY.GOD. DUDE! I simply A-DO-RE your hair!!!!!", her eyes sparkled with excitement as she invaded the pink-haired boy's private space and stood veeery close, almost face-face, their green eyes meeting, "Can I please take a picture of you and then can we take a selfie together?? PLEEEEEEEASE~", the 'please' had shifted to high pitch by the end. Finally she took a step back, "Oh. But you should know, It's not for me only, it's for my twitter followers too~", she smiled, "I'm sharing ALL of my travelling experiences with them, like a Journal! It's been so exciting~!", the tone of her voice had ended on a high pitch again.


Then hopping back to the blonde boy, she grabbed his sleeve with both hands and attempted to pull him along, "Hey, you can join us too! If a group picture doesn't make you feel better, then IDK what will!!! Come on, it will be fun~", she had announced, still convinced that he needed to cheer up as Juliana hadn't listened to any of the words he had said so far today.


In the process of dragging the blonde boy along, a beautiful girl with back hair greeted them all cheerfully, and the Brazilian stopped in the stop, though still holding the boy's sleeve. 'Woa' she let out with thinking how stylish the Americans were. Ahh!! Was she even looking presentable herself after that car ride all around town?! Upon that thought, Juliana instantly let go off the sleeve with her right hand, to pass it along her hair, making sure it wasn't too messy and still somewhat tamed. What was she even thinking with the hopping around? She had gotten too excited and made terrible first impressions.
A bit ashamed, the girl watched as a brown haired boy, with green eyes just like her -So many green eyed people here!- joined them and asked for the chocolate... Ugh, everyone was storming around the heart shaped box, reminding her it existed and in the process, making room for the temptation again. Finally letting go of the blonde's sleeve, the Brazilian teenager took another step back and out of the way of everyone else. There, now she was too far from the box to want to have anything with it! It's the perfect solution!!


At the same time Juliana had taken a step back, a red haired woman had appeared and taken a piece of paper from the blonde boy's hands. The girl seemed lost at the crazy amount of people popping out of nowhere. Really, keeping track of them was becoming such a very hard task! And then, also out of nowhere, there was music. A cheerful rock song had started playing and at first, thinking it was all part of the Valentine's Day tradition, the Brazilian had started bobbing her head in sync:

"Yeah! This is a great jam! Woo...hoo...?", but no one else seemed to be dancing and then the televisions sprang to life. Juliana stopped, her intuition was telling her that something a bit more eerie was going on... Uhh, maybe the lady in the video knew what?, "Hey uhh, moça ruiva, I mean, red-haired lady...?", she slowly approached the mysterious woman who she knew nothing about, "Why are they playing a video of you? T-that's...you right?", the girl asked unnerved but also with a hint of curiosity.

Spoiler

Interactions: @SweetNicole, @Swoob, @Kingmalikai

 

[Swoob]

At: Facility 108
​

With: @Kingmalikai @Necessity4Fun @DamagedGlasses @Lazy Rocktime @The J @SweetNicole
​

OOC: when will my good writing return from the war
​

 
​

"Hmm, the Shipper," Eden wondered aloud as his eyes dissected the note. "So, like, a captain, then?" He grinned crookedly and looked at the two, but only silence followed. "That was a joke. Anyway, I don't know what this has to do with those four over there, but this is weird as fuck and we don't know where it's from, so don't eat any of the—"


His sentence was finished comically by a tiny hand that slithered between the three and crunched its fingers around a chocolate. “Aw, this is what Valentine’s Day is all about. Truly a novel experience.” The hand retracted and flung it into the depths of a young brown-haired girl. Eden raised his eyebrows.


"Well, that was a dumbass thing to do," he muttered to himself, shifting slightly away from her. "But I guess it solves one of our problems." Leaning down, he said, "Hey, no taking candy from other people, alright? That could've been meant for someone else, and you might've just hurt their feelings. Next time, only take candy that someone gives to you. And, uh, tell us if you start feeling weird at all, alright?" He smiled, but shifted away further.


However, a different problem unbeknownst to him had arisen, for he made the fatal mistake of putting his head in the scope of a set of green eyes separate from his. The girl of the supposed couple raced up to Eden and stopped lethally close to him. "OH. MY. GOD," she yelled, but it was warped by a rather intriguing accent. "DUDE! I simply A-DO-RE your hair!" Her voice was squeaky and foreign to his ears, and they recoiled from the volume, but it left a sweetness that dripped into his brain, and he was staring into her eyes and he could feel her body heat was radiating and clashing into his.


It was one of the first compliments he ever received on his hair.


"Th-thanks," he stuttered, and took a leap back in recoil. In his time of weakness, another beautiful girl strode into the germinating group of new students as if she had walked directly from the wild fantasies of the boy next to Eden. She consumed both his and the other girl's attention, and lit up with a smile that dripped with a light more powerful than the sun that kissed the land.


"Good morning, everyone, and happy Valentine's Day! I see that some of us are getting into the spirit of it already." Her mention of the guards pulled Eden and his jungle below out of the savage darkness. He blinked a couple times, and normal Eden's feet landed again on the ground. The girl gestured to the chocolates. "Um, may I?"


"Oh, hey... Could I have one as well?" called a brown-haired boy, slightly shorter than him, who had wandered towards the last bastion of sanity outside the gate. "I love chocolate."


Finally, gifted with the time to speak, Eden sighed and said, "You guys probably shouldn't have that." He pointed to the blonde-haired boy. "This guy found it on the ground with that note." However, the boy was no longer holding the note. Instead, the enigmatic card found itself in the grasp of Holly Kane, the new security chief. Scrutinizing it with fury in her eyes, she spit out an incomprehensible word, and the moment it left her lips, the lobby had come to life with music that ran outward into the air. "Yeah! This is a great jam!" the foreign girl said. "Woo... hoo...?" The music continued and sent a small shiver down Eden's spine. Picking up her phone, the chief answered with a few short remarks and put it away again as the harmonious chaos swept and rose. Suddenly, all the TVs sprung into existence, flashing through various footage of Holly Kane herself. It was then that his mind snapped into focus with the lyrics of the song. “She used to look good to me, but now I find her...Simply irresistible!”


Immediately, Eden's mind jumped from the contents of the note to Holly Kane, her visible rage, and the music and footage that seemingly rose from oblivion. Another shiver plagued Eden, but it was born of a different purpose. Once more, his face cracked with a wide smile. His eyes could see it clearly. The game board has been set. And he wasn't about to be a piece in it.


Eden Trammel is, now and forever, a player of the game.


"Hey uhh, moça ruiva, I mean, red-haired lady...?" the foreign girl asked shakily. "Why are they playing a video of you? T-that's...you right?"


"Yea, that's her. And it's 'cause she has something to do with that Shipper guy." He turned to the group of new students around him. "Well, welcome to Hell, guys. Or as we like to call it, Training Facility 108." He stretched out his hand toward the blonde boy. "My name's Eden. So, are you guys ready?"

 

[Malikai]

Spoiler

Jeremiah "JJ" Johnson
​

Location: AEGIS Parking Lot
​

Mentioned/Nearby: @Necessity4Fun(Juliana) @Swoob(Eden) @DamagedGlasses(Mainframe) @Lazy Rocktime(Minah) @The J(Hadrian) @SweetNicole(Holly)
​

Mood:  Interested and Curious
​

OOC: My chocolate brings everyone around... it's not mine though.
​

Fun Fact:  "Simply Irresistible" by Robert Palmer reached second on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, only behind Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child o' Mine."  The song would also nab Robert Palmer his second Grammy.
​

Jeremiah kept the open box outstretched towards the girl, laughed at the pink-haired boy's joke, and then heard the sound of a few more people approaching.  Turning his head to the side to look over at the newcomers, Jeremiah noticed that all of them seemed to walk together, up until the point that they got within suitable viewing distance in which the girl of the group rushed forward over to the three people looking at the box of chocolates.  The other four members all were boys and they all seemed to be around the age of 12 or so.  Some of them seemed to be shorter than Jeremiah, but three of them were in fact taller him.  Much to his disappointment.  Giving a quick glance towards the girl Jeremiah found himself interested in the group she had come with who was simply just looking at them.  A shiver ran down his neck, A little creepy how they're staring.  He thought with a slight grimace but covered this up on his face before anyone could see.  The girl walked up and looked in the box at the chocolates, then quickly snatched her hand and picked up a chocolate to eat.  Jeremiah blinked twice before his head snapped back and forth between the girl and the chocolates, and giving a shrug he could only say, "Free pickings I suppose."  Truly he did not care about who took the chocolates to eat, Though it seemed a little rude for her to snatch them up without asking.  


Moving his head away from the girl and her group he watched as somebody else walked up.  This person was in contrast to the group that had recently joined them as she was much older, or at least she had the appearance of someone much older.  She had immediately noticeable pure black hair that trailed behind her, and of course Jeremiah noticed her height was also taller than him as well.  At this point Jeremiah realized that most people at the school would likely be taller than him.  Following the tradition, the woman looked over at the guards commented on it, then looked at the chocolate and asked if she could have some.  Jeremiah shrugged again, "Yeah sure.  I don't have a problem with it."  Looking down at the chocolates he wondered if there would be any left over for him to possibly have, Even if there isn't at least I'll know that I fed everyone else.  Somebody else walked up to the group and Jeremiah could guess the pattern of events.  The boy rose above a foot above him and had brown hair and green eyes.  It also seemed as if he was quite well-built, and the only way Jeremiah noticed this was because of the hints of scars that showed close to his hands.  While they had already been embarrassed by the guards they did also ask for some chocolate and Jeremiah put on his parroted response he had given before, "Yeah sure."  A little less effort was put into varying the words he used as he was getting tired of saying the same yes words over and over.  So focused was he on giving his "responses" that he didn't even notice the other woman come up behind him and take the note out of his hands.


Turning to face the person who had taken the note from his hand he was greeted with the sight of a woman with completely red hair.  She also had a prosthetic for her left arm and leg.  Although he wanted to call her out about taking the piece of paper he had been dragged away by the girl who he had first offered chocolates, much to his annoyance.  Thankfully she also seemed to have been caught off-guard when the woman went past, allowing Jeremiah the chance to escape her grasp and walk up behind the woman to see her staring at the screen as a song began to play.  Soon afterward the screen turned on and displayed the same woman in a different gear in what seemed to be the Middle East.  Now beginning to get slightly confused he listened to the words of both the foreign(possibly Brazillian) girl at his side and then at the boy who's name was apparently Eden.  Chiming in at the end of his sentence Jeremiah walked up closer to where Holly was standing, "I'm not sure what I'm intended to be ready for. Furthermore I'm curious, what is this,"Jeremiah motioned to the screens, "about?"  While the first part of his sentence had been directed towards Eden he switched to looking at the red-haired woman partway through as he asked her the question.

 

[DamagedGlasses]

Maximilian Shulze (Or Max)




Location: Facility 108 Entrance Security 


Nearby:  @Necessity4Fun @Kingmalikai @Swoob @The J @SweetNicole @Lazy Rocktime @DamagedGlasses (Woh, MAINFRAME is here too.)


Mood: Drive Fugue. Reminiscing. Contemplating. Grateful. Curious. Slightly Shocked. Observant. Filled In Slightly. Authorative. Questioning.


OOC: And so, Max finally arrives after I somehow struggle with an ending only a paragraph long! Oh how I wish I knew how my creativity worked sometimes! Also, @Syrenrei, I've set the scene for Luther's reveal! o vo



Maximilian, or Max to his friends, yawned as he got out of his car, stretching his legs one at a time to make sure they kept limber for the coming day. Maximilian made sure his teal suit hadn’t been too ruffled by the drive over to Facility 108 and, after coming to the conclusion that it had certainly not been, he began to walk to the front of the building with no hesitation. Someone with Max’s history might question his unerring confidence as he walked towards the reason he had went underground in South America for years, but honestly, Max had forgiven and forgotten those bad years.








Right now he was repaying a debt he felt he owed some of the people on the higher end of the political scale, so after hearing about some issues with Facility 108 and available positions, well, there was no way he could pass up the chance! So, after getting the proper registration and clearance into the system, Max had quickly become the Physical Discipline Teacher of the AEGIS sponsored facility. Max gave credence where credence was due, so he could see that it was most likely his power that persuaded the clerks to speed him on through the process. He was no ignorant as to it’s worth among a pack of developing youngsters.


Speaking of youngsters, Max noticed a bunch of them around the security section of the building, along with...a bunch of kissing guards. Well, Max had heard stories about Facility 108, but none of the had went beyond PG-13. Some of these guards were...testing that. One guard, who he recognized as the Chief Security Officer Holly Kane (Not that her casual wear would make you inclined to believe that), seemed to be exempt from whatever lust had compelled the others to break off into couples. She, along with some of the students, stared off at the monitors surrounding them. Max suddenly wished he had brought Mister Hoots along with for the first day. That crazy guy was great with kids.


All in all, it seemed like a pretty strange mornin-were those chocolates? Valentine's Day chocolates, how appropriate and yet, so out of place. As Max walked up close enough to hear and see better, passing a group of 4 loitering goggle-wearing kids, he heard the warning issued out by one of the students, hearing the tail end of the conversation. Apparently, whatever was going on, it was decidedly above the responsibility of whatever these kids perceived it to be.


Silently walking up to the distracted kids, absently making eye contact with the few who actually paid attention to his approach, Max went up to the small kid who actually held the box of chocolates in his hands. Tapping him on the shoulder, Max motioned for him to hand over the box of chocolates, taking them from his hand as he smiled, “Sorry students, but unfortunately whatever is happening here is outside your realm of concern at the moment. I can see some of you are interested in actually eating this strange chocolate, but let’s just figure the situation out a bit more before we make any hasty decisions. I’m going to have to ask anyone who ate any chocolate before I got here to come with me to the Nurse’s Office...and show me the way to the Nurse’s Office.”


For some of the students, Max guessed it was understandable that the younger kids would eat the chocolate on a whim, but man, there had to be a certain kind of quality in someone for them to just eat chocolate out in the open in the hands of a stranger who has no idea where it came from. How was he going to deal with all of these students, though? Was class in session yet? He was pretty sure Physical Discipline hadn’t started yet, but he was only sure of that because he was the one running that little corner of class time.


Where was his assistant? He was promised an assistant. He had even gotten their file, but beyond their name, he hadn’t really looked into it much. In Max’s opinion, knowing too much about someone without ever talking to them made first meetings extremely more awkward. Not that he had that kind of experience before. Max absently looked around for any sign the man assigned to his assistant teacher position.



Luther was definitely a guy’s name, right?

 

[The J]

Hadrian Alburn


Facility 108


Somehow, Hadrian had missed a full understanding of what was going on. The Shipper? He wasn't sure what it was, as he'd never come across the word. A title? A name? There wasn't really any way for him to know. Now what was this woman on about, and why was she on the TV screens? He wasn't sure, but he noticed that the boy carrying the chocolates moved away. He was talking to that same red-haired woman, asking her about the TV screens it seemed. He wanted to know as well, so he moved with them, waiting for her response.


At that moment, yet another person walked up to them, speaking in an authoritative voice. He wasn't much of a fan of the man's slightly patronising tone - he'd never been a particular fan of authority like that anyway. Especially when they were telling them not to eat chocolates. It wasn't that he would go through with it just to spite him... he had been going to eat one anyway... heck, maybe just a little to spite him.


"It's fine," he said to the apparently new teacher, "I can't get poisoned or ill. Nothing wrong with me having one."


Feeling sufficiently excused, he reached over to grab one of the chocolates from the box, popping it in his mouth before any complaint could be heard or the man could stop him.

 

[Syrenrei]

Luther Rousseau
Location: Facility 108 (Parking Lot, Entrance)
Nearby: A bunch of kids, some dude, and a chick that means business
@Kingmalikai @Necessity4Fun @DamagedGlasses @The J @DamagedGlasses @Swoob @SweetNicole
​

It was an exciting first day of a new assignment- being a teaching assistant for a Physical Discipline class at Facility 108 under some guy she'd never heard of. For years her employment had been in the private security sector, usually accompanying the military in their endeavors. The men and women she worked alongside had no real definitive dress code; you were expected to wear something reasonable for the circumstances and identify yourself if needed, but those were the only requirements. As she had stood in front of the mirror that morning Luther had contemplated if it was really appropriate to wear a shirt that ended a few inches above her navel, a shrug jacket, and shorts that did not reach her fingertips. It was quite a bit of skin that was showing. There was a purpose to her madness, of course, in that the exposed flesh was more convenient for the usage of her powers. Still... it had been too immodest.

When Luther arrived at the parking lot of Facility 108 it was on a bright red motorcycle. Instead of typical riding gear, she had elected to wear only her super suit, the alleged solution to the issue of modesty, and a sleek black helmet to match. The super suit did conceal more than other options and allowed more extensive use of her ability, but it was also skin tight and a lustrous black. It left so little to the imagination more than a few men (and a woman or two) did a double-take on their morning commute as she had woven in and out of traffic. Luther carefully parked her precious bike in a spot, pulled the keys out of the ignition, and casually tossed them towards her arm where they vanished into the shiny black sleeve. She then took off her helmet, shook her tousled hair free, and held it down below her shoulders and roughly parallel to her chest. As she strode towards the entrance to Facility 108 she stepped into the helmet and it disappeared into her best, tucked away safely in the pocket dimension.

A survey of the people gathered at the entrance netted her three young ladies, seven young men of similarly varying ages, an older gentleman in a teal suit, and a redhead with cybernetic arms. Interesting. Wait, were those four guards making out? Luther jogged a little closer and chortled out loud to herself at the sight. It was understandable to get into the spirit of Valentine's Day certainly but this was a bit excessive even for her. It was irresponsible to shit where you eat so to speak. It was unlikely the two couples were married or willing to risk their careers over this little stint. Luther had considered flings with a few of the lookers in her company but it was just so damn ill-fated and they were nice guys. Tomorrow was going to be a hot mess once they got a hold of their senses. Or maybe next week. She was immediately grateful she hadn't taken on a management role at the facility.

As she pulled her attention from them she noticed the screens were playing a video of the redhead who was piquing her curiosity more and more by the moment. Why was there this bizarre clip playing? Was it a prank? Who the hell would do one on Valentine's Day at Facility 108? It wasn't what she'd consider flattering so it hardly seemed a love note. Given the woman's disposition she wasn't particularly certain she wanted to question the relevance.

The kids were talking to each other and the tall, handsome, and absurdly dressed staff. Given he wasn't sucking on anyone's face or wearing a uniform she suspected he wasn't security. Staff of some sort, though, or an older student? Would a student have worn a suit? Looking down at herself she surmised she wasn't in a place to make assumptions. Most teacher's assistants wouldn't dress themselves in such a sultry super suit as she now adorned. Hopefully it wouldn't be too large of a distraction for the small male populace gathered as she had no intentions of a relationship with a student, especially one that wasn't old enough to consume alcohol. Judging by their appearances at least four of them hadn't hit their stride in puberty yet. This might be interesting.

"What's that you have there?" Luther inquired. She hadn't heard what Hadrian had said when she approached, but she had glimpsed him stealing a chocolate from a box held by Max. It might be rude to simply take one herself, but Luther wasn't a role model when it came to self control. Why start now? Seeing as the lid had been slid off and several others had already partaken in the sweets, Luther plucked one indiscriminately from those left and popped it into her mouth. With the little sheet of paper from the "Shipper" nearby she couldn't help but wonder if this fellow was assisting the "Shipper" or if he had been the recipient of the treat and was proffering it to others generously. "And here I didn't think Facility 108 would celebrate Single's Awareness Day."

 

[lazee]

Theodora Martin (and Adrian Grady)
​

Some American motorway -> Facility One Hundred and Fucking Eight
​

Mood: Thoroughly pissed to high heaven. Adrian's pretty chill, tho. Always is.
​

@Kingmalikai @Necessity4Fun  @DamagedGlasses  @The J  @DamagedGlasses  @Swoob  @SweetNicole @Syrenrei
​

How the hell could this have happened to her?


No, really. Just yesterday, Teddy Martin was on top of the world, fronting the most successful British youth band (according to Kerrang!, anyway) and touring America with the boys. Now what? She turned out to be a 'Super', just like Daddy dearest, a girl with special capabilities beyond the scope of a normal human's. In her own case, she turned out to possess the characteristics of a wolf. Sharp teeth, sharp nails, fluffy ears and the potential to go 'wild', lose her sanity and return to her primordial instincts. This...phenomenon could happen at any time and there was no telling what she'd do then, but it surely resulted in chaos and property damage. To minimize destruction and chances of going wild, twats from the Commonwealth put a collar on her person.


Oh, sorry, limiters.


"Adrian, is this really fuckin' necessary?!" the young Martin practically shouted at the man driving her Lamborghini through the relatively empty motorway. "Are you just gonna let them put this thing on me? I feel like some...mutt in a pound." Indeed, the limiter given to her was special. It was a circular brace sort of thing that rounded her neck and it looked absolutely unappealing. Granted, so was she right now since she had no time to pretty up herself, but still. The least they could've done was make it look like a sexy choker to go with her low-maintenance punk outfit of an unzipped black hoodie over a ToFu shirt and ripped black chinos, but no, Yanks evidently didn't have that kind of consideration. With Adrian being the sole exception.


"You know I don't have the authority to do anything against it, Teddy," her agent replied. "They're practically government and now that you're on their ground, you gotta play by their rules. Hence, the limiter." Adrian tapped the neck brace thing for emphasis, prompting the girl to swipe his hand away. The drive from DC to Baltimore was only, what, an hour? Traffic was minimal at this time of day, so they should be there in no time. Teddy, however, had not the patience to wait.


"Just shut up and drive, prick. I'm gonna go to sleep, wake me up when we reach that hellhole." She closed her eyes and leaned against the window, the fabric of the hoodie she was wearing acting as a not too shabby cushion. Teddy Martin eventually did fall asleep, lulled by the sound of the Lamborghini engine, folk ballad on the radio and the blare of the air conditioner.


Worst Valentine's Day ever.   




This had to be a joke. The Facility was a total dump! Whoever thought that founding a school in an abandoned dock was a sound idea? Did these people have, like, such a  limited budget that they were forced to build over the cheapest building they could find? Getting out of her Murciélago, Teddy stared incredulously at this miserable excuse for a building. This was ridiculous. And she was supposed to spend God knows how long studying here? ToFu's integrity and future was being held on the line or even sacrificed for this? Someone should just kill her now. 'Teddy Martin Slaughtered on V-Day'. Good headline, good way to go.


"Stop evil-eyeing the building, Teddy, and follow me," Adrian said, already wearing his 'business' aviators. He led the temperamental wolf girl into the Facility, keeping an eye and a hand on her. For the latter, literally; Teddy's hand was being death gripped by a 29-year-old Yank as if she was a child or something. Granted, he was a hot Yank so she didn't mind all that much, but imagine if the cutthroat paparazzi got a hold of this moment. 'ToFu Frontwoman Caught on V-Day Date with Agent'. Not a good headline, bad way to go.


"Adrian, why the fuck are you holding my hand?" she asked through gritted teeth. She deeply hoped that he didn't notice her cheeks starting to flush red ever so slightly. There was a small smile on his face, he probably noticed already. Shit.


"So you don't run away," he replied casually, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. What a horrendous accusation that was. She was resigned to this fate, what use was there in running away? He loosened his grip just a bit. "If you're not comfortable, I can let go any time. Just say the word." Teddy normally would've ordered him to do so with or without that statement, but...she felt comfortable with her hand on his. Though she'll obviously be the last to admit it, she was actually scared. It had been four years since she was in a classroom environment proper and though she had grown much since her secondary school days, she still remembered the terror of the first day. The process of adaptation and making new friends from scratch was horrendous and pain-staking. Teddy wasn't so eager to relive it once more, and with Yanks this time.  She sighed dejectedly at the fact that she had to find comfort with him.


"Just don't grip so tight, knobhead. You were practically strangling my hand just then." The (ugh) couple walked into the Facility together. Even in these early hours, Teddy saw the lobby filled with activity. Guess the early birds wanted the proverbial worm, then. A group of kids were gathered around someone or something; not even kids, mind you. A couple of them looked college age. Oh, god, was this going to be like one of those public colleges where you could share a class with crotchety old men that smelled of death? Peeking about, she saw what they were gathering round: chocolate and grown men snogging in public.


The depravity of Americans.


It took all but a few moments to notice that Adrian had wandered off somewhere. To settle her paperwork, no doubt. He was her agent, after all, that was his bloody job. Leaving Theodora Martin to her own devices usually translated to a recipe for disaster, but assuming that that was always the case? Pure foolishness. Even she knew self-control. Especially if she felt lowkey scared underneath her visage of being pissed off at the world.


And also suspicious. Something was definitely up this Valentine's Day and it wasn't just pertaining to these guards. These guys were....well, guards. You don't just abandon your post for some loving between colleagues. Something or someone made them like that. A moment ago hungering for chocolate treats, Teddy decided to forgo them and focused her attention on listening to the music filling the lobby. A cheesy oldies rock song. God, it was horrible. Mum and Dad might have liked it, but it just didn't sound right to her ears. Not enough effects, too simple lyrics. Ugh.


"This is some shite music you got playing," Teddy said to no one in particular, hands in her pockets. Her voice was lilting, thick in a West Country accent and most of all, sounded grumpy. It was distinctly...hers. Theodora Martin's. "Way too soft for the morning. Don't you Yanks want to get pumped up for the day? This tune's for sleeping old blokes!"

 

[DamagedGlasses]

Maximilian Shulze (Or Max)




Location: Facility 108 Entrance Security 


Nearby:  @Necessity4Fun @Kingmalikai @Swoob @The J @SweetNicole @Lazy Rocktime @Syrenrei @DamagedGlasses (Woh, MAINFRAME is here too.)


Mood: Surprised. Resigned. Determined. Aware. Reliev-Nope, Surprised Again. Frustr-Nah, Not Dire Enough. Noticing. Musically Aware. Musically Flexible.


OOC: Max has touched the Luther! @Syrenrei


Max stared at the unfamiliar kid, wishing he had a name to put to that face. It looked so happy to go against the closest authority. It didn’t really bother Max for the most part, he had simply wanted to make sure he lessened the amount of people who ate the chocolate. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to drag every single kid who ate a piece down to the Nurse’s office after this, even if Mister Polite said he was immune to getting poisoned or ill. Max wondered if he was aware that problems usually reflected their surroundings.

 


If you went to the circus, you’d find problems with elephants and disorderly makeup kits. If you trained in Germany, you encountered problems with guns and knives. If you were anywhere within the confines of Baltimore, and Max only thought this due to reports he had actually read, you were inclined to find problems of a Super nature. Yet, it was fine. Max understood that there was a reason the kid in front of him didn’t have his Blue Card, yet. It would be up to him and his Teacher Assistant to knock some sense into him and his peers.

 


"What's that you have there?" Max turned to older sounding, female voice. For a second, MAx was relieved as the alluring girl came into sight, her idea of clothing a matter for another time, but then he noticed the last little bit of visible chocolate falling into her mouth and she popped one of the familiar looking candies like it had been Max giving them away. He looked at her, his eyes wider in alarm, but he didn’t shake himself until the woman continued, talking over the remnants of the chocolate in her mouth, "And here I didn't think Facility 108 would celebrate Single's Awareness Day."

 


“Haha, they actually don’t,” Max let himself enjoy the humor of the situation for about a second before he whipped his hand out, grabbing the woman’s hand, and holding it aloft between the two of them, “Did you just eat a piece of chocolate!? Right out of the blue!? People...really don’t waste with pleasantries in this country...or many others, I guess.” Max felt himself lose the bit of steam he tried to work up to deal with this situation. He definitely needed to make sure the kids were safe, as well as this woman, but really, he couldn’t blame any of them. Given the choice and the lack of context, even he would have been hard pressed not to eat a piece.

 


Still, with a sigh, Max let go of the woman’s hand and let her do with it as she pleased, using his now free appendage to replace the top on the box of chocolates. Something about them made him really uneasy, but that was probably the propensity for them to be laced with something. Turning back to the woman, he smiled and extended his hand, less intense, “I’m sorry for grabbing you all of sudden. We’re in quite the situation right now, if you can believe it. Are you a Teacher? I might need some help escorting some of these kids and yourself to the Nurse’s Office for a quick check up.”

 


As Max stared at the woman, he noticed another newcomer, a rather...homely looking girl who had probably been in many better moods than the one she was in right now. Max listened to the music running through the lobby, paying it some attention, and decided it wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t up his alley all the way. The girl certainly had some strong opinions about music, though. And strong language to back it up amazingly well.

 

[Nidelia]

Spoiler

Location:  Facility 108


Mood:  Nervous and scared

@DamagedGlasses @Lazy Rocktime @Necessity4Fun @Syrenrei @The J @Malikai @Swoob @SweetNicole
​

 
​

Valentine's Day, not one of the most celebrated days for Thomasina, after all, she lived quite a sheltered life, up until that bombing.  She sighed as she squirmed in the plane seat.  She was supposed to be sleeping, but she was too antsy.  Having to leave home and come to Baltimore seemed just as bad as Thomas had made it out to be.  She pouted in her seat as her mind went back to home.  She had moved out of her parents as soon as she started college, but they provided her money to own her own place and so she had lived on her own for a few years.  She didn't understand the point of coming to Facility 108, she had control of her powers, obviously, since she hadn't been caught using her powers before the bombing.  She smoothed out her jeans as a voice announced over the planes communications system:  "Attention passengers, we will be landing in Baltimore momentarily, please put on your seat belts and prepare for descent," and she groaned.  She quickly put her seat belt on and looked out the window.  She'd never left her home before, especially by plane, and she didn't like this experience.


As she felt the plane begin to descend down through the sky she swallowed harshly as she felt the contents of her stomach, what little there was since she'd had no appetite on the plane, try to come up.  She shook her head and willed herself not to puke as she held tightly onto the arms of the seat, her knuckles white.  The sound of landing and the feel of solid ground was a huge relief to her and she let out a long exasperated sigh as she unbuckled and grabbed her suit case from above her head and headed out of the plan as fast as possible.


Once she was off of the plane she walked into the airport and looked around, she'd have no one waiting for her, so she pulled out her cell phone and looked up a Taxi company and called for a Taxi.  She checked the time and it was seven o'clock in the morning.  She had time to go home and change first.  Using the money her parents provided for her she had gotten herself an apartment before coming to Baltimore.  She didn't want to live on campus or the streets while attending this school.  She walked outside and it was actually quite warm, especially given the heavy jacket she was wearing from the cold climate she'd left back in her home.  She took off the coat while she waited for the taxi.


About fifteen minutes later a taxi pulled up and she got in, gave the driver the address, and sat back, watching the streets of Baltimore as they left the airport.  The city seemed strange to her, after all, she didn't really like cities to begin with, but something just seemed off about it, maybe it was the community?  She sighed softly as she reached into the front pocket of her suit case and pulled out a purple laptop and logged in on it.  She smiled seeing her desktop, a picture of her and her brother Thomas hanging out before she went off to college three years ago.  She actually hadn't seen him since then, and when she tried to contact him, he only sent her messages telling her that he was fine, just busy, and things like that, but he'd never tell her what with.


A tear rolled down her cheek as she plugged her phone into her laptop and activated to use her mobile data as the internet for the laptop.  She pulled up the news for Baltimore and read up on everything that was going on and frowned.  She wound up nearly slamming her laptop shut when she was done and she detached her phone from the laptop and put it away again.  Why did she wanted to come a city that was so hateful towards Supers?  Why did they have this school in such was place was a better question.


She sighed shaking her head and as she did the Taxi came to a stop.  She paid the driver and got out and walked into the apartment building, going to the third floor and to her own apartment.  Upon entering she smiled as a familiar meow greeted her ears.  "Sorsha!" she called as her cat leaped down off of the bar counter and leaped into Thomasina's arms.  Sorsha was a main coon cat and fluffy as all get out.  She snuggled Sorsha before setting her down as her phone went off with an alarm telling her it was forty-five minutes to nine.  She nodded and went to her bedroom and got into the suit case.


Half an hour later she had showered and changed into a long flowing white dress, which she decorated with a nice red torso band and a necklace her brother had sent her, telling her it was pure ruby.  She looked at herself in the mirror debating on whether to wear her hair down or up when her phone alerted her than she had fifteen minutes to get to school.  Down it was.  She quickly brushed it out and went out the door, and down to where she had a car waiting, it was a car she'd ordered before coming and had made sure it was brought to the apartment.  She got into the driver's seat and took off.  She reached the school at 9:13 AM, seeing several students standing outside already as she pulled into a parking spot.


She got out and looked around, her eyes landed on the security guards and she gasped in disgust at the sight.  She was all for Valentine's Day, but that was too much.  She looked to the other's standing there and approached them.  "Um, excuse me?" she asked in a really soft and quiet voice.  While she enjoyed hanging out with people, she wasn't going to interrupt a conversation already going.  But she flashed a smile at everyone.

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Right after her question, the cool dude with pink hair had called their attention and made a movie worth introduction to the situation, well, kinda. Upon having her question answered, Juliana's expression had gone from a troubled and confused mix to one filled with mischief, akin to a child, as she stared back to the red haired lady:

"Ohhhhh, someone has a secret cruuuuuuush~~", she had sing-songed, ignoring both the context of the messages and the woman's current mood, "Well...Not so secret anymore, but still! Lucky you~!", the girl completed with giving the lady a teasingly punch in the shoulder as if the two of them were long date friends, what they were clearly not.


Then turning back to Eden -Isn't that like, Paradise? What an interesting name!- in a more contained posture the Brazilian asked the expected 'Ready for what?', but with a unfitting excitement and curiosity, a need to know what was happening, for the sake of pondering whether or not it was fun enough to take full part into. On a complete contrasting note, the blonde boy had also stepped up asked for answers, pointing to the displays and being very dramatic. Woa, this short dude needs a chill pill!


And then a new person showed up, finally taking away those dreadful temptations away from the hands of the teenagers. Judging by his stylish teal suit this man was either a teacher, or some performer... Maybe both... No one would wear something like that in the bright daylight unless they wanted to stand out somehow, and performers certainly LOVED being noticed. Really, the teenager bet he could be seem from meters and meters away while STANDING in the middle of crowd. It was that flashy of a clothing.


Unluckily for the teacher/performer guy, his action to demand the box of sugar had backfired and a stubborn student had still eaten it. Juliana wasn't aware of of the risks of the consumption of that chocolate, other than calories, and getting your finger and clothes dirty as it melts. Thus, she couldn't understand why there was such a ruckus about it. Nurse office? Woa woa, that is overreacting! Pretty sure candy is harmless... To add to the drama, a woman, that certainly did not have shame in showing herself, appeared too. Commenting about how she didn't think 108 celebrated Single's Awareness Day -what a way to kill the mood-, she grabbed a piece of the chocolate giving the suited man no attention, which obviously, made him freak out more...


Amused by the interactions of the two, Juliana had taken her cellphone to her face, and snapped a couple shots discreetly. Laughing to herself at the interesting pictures, that totally couldn't be taken of context, nope, the girl had stepped a little farther from the group to upload them to twitter when she saw another girl standing a bit farther away. Wait, was that? No it couldn't... But it was! Really? YESS!!
With an incredibly high pitched squeal the Brazilian girl sprinted towards the figure of the, could-be because of the oreo hair but not really sure if, idol:

"Oh my god, what is reality?!!!! Are you... Are you...!", she let out excitedly, bouncing with energy and barely able to stay in a single spot, "Are you Teddy, Torn Future's vocalist??!!!...omg...I can't believe it!!", the surge of emotions was so much and there were so much things going through her head, that the teenager entered machine-gun mode and started endlessly talking, unconsciously leaning closer each few sentences:


"What are you doing here? Ohmygod. I need to let the girls know, they're going to be sooo jealous~", she squealed again, "Look look!!", Juliana gestured repeatedly to her phone's charm. It had a light blue rope and on it's end was a oval gel bag with some metallic green and blue band logo inside it, "It's from the pre-order of 'Do You Fear the Flood', I had to convince my dad to pay more for a cd than usual, but all that talking and concession making was worth it since It was sooo gooood!! To be honest I was worried first time because, it was such a different style from what I was used to hearing, but TO-FU got recommended by a couple of friends and they were right!!! I was so amazed!!! Oh-Oh!! Track 8 of DYFtF, it's simply MAJESTIC, OKAY?!", then she stopped, remembering something, "Oh! Cellphone, right! Uhh, may I please please please please get a picture?", the girl held her hands together with puppy pledging eyes, "Pretty please with a cherry on top? It doesn't even have to be a selfie with me, just, your brilliant, inspiring self in the frame is more than enough!", she laughed softly to herself, before reinforcing the request, "Pleeeeease?"


From beyond the two, surprisingly still noticeable amidst Juliana's high pitched statements, a new voice, belonging to a timid long-haired girl called the Brazilian's attention. Wanting to acknowledge her in some way, the teenager had throw in a common 'Hello there!' and a wave before her full attention went back to Teddy, whose replies she was eagerly waiting for.

Spoiler

Interactions: @SweetNicole, @Lazy Rocktime and @Nidelia

 

[Malikai]

Spoiler

Jeremiah "JJ" Johnson
​

Location: AEGIS Lobby
​

Mentioned/Nearby: @DamagedGlasses(Max), @The J(Hadrian), @Syrenrei(Luther), @Lazy Rocktime(Theodora), @Nidelia(Thomasina), @Necessity4Fun(Juliana) / @Swoob(Eden), @SweetNicole(Holly), @DamagedGlasses and @Lazy Rocktime(Again because MAINFRAME and Minah)
​

Mood: Feeling Quite Relaxed
​

OOC: Well hopefully there's some more interaction rather than reaction in this post.
​

Fun Fact: Valentine's Day is the second most popular day of the year for sending cards.
​

This time Jeremiah didn't hear the person that walked up behind him.  It was only when he was tapped on the shoulder that Jeremiah turned around to see a pastel tuxedo, Well that doesn't seem right,  Moving his eyes up he saw the person that the tuxedo was actually on, Ah, that makes more sense.  The person that the suit belonged to was a, likely six foot, man who had light chestnut brown hair and bright blue eyes.  Before Jeremiah had the chance to say hello the man motioned for the box of chocolates in Jeremiah's hand and then just took them before he could even hand it over.  Giving a furrowed brow he looked up at the man with a tilted head but shook it off and returned to a normal smile with a small chuckle, "Nice to meet you as well.  My name's Jeremiah Johnson.  You can call me JJ.  I wouldn't worry too much about the chocolate, I'm willing to bet that it's fine otherwise I'll... well... I don't have anything to bet but I'll give you this,"  Jeremiah took off one of his wristbands and held it up for the man to see, "Yeah, this!  Because I'm willing to bet that the chocolate is fine."  Jeremiah gave only a slight smile this time, sure that he was correct.


It seemed as though while he was talking to the man one of the boys who had walked up earlier claimed he would be fine from any potential poison or illness.  Then he reached in and took a chocolate anyways.  Jeremiah pointed at him as if it proved his point before realizing that it didn't really prove anything at all.  The hand Jeremiah was pointing with slowly fell back to his side.  It was right then that he also quickly put back on his wristband.  Of course it wasn't too much of a surprise to Jeremiah when even more people began to arrive, but the people themselves were definitely getting more and more different.  Jeremiah watched as an older woman dressed in a... interesting superhero outfit came riding up and walked up to the man who he assumed was probably a teacher.  She also grabbed a piece of chocolate and took it similar to the other student.  Jeremiah gave a glance to the teacher, one that had a slight smugness to it, "Hello miss!  It's nice to meet you, my name is Jeremiah Johnson, but you can call me JJ.  If you want, I can't really force you to."  Jeremiah gave a shrug and a smile before considering what she said next, Single's Awareness Day?  I thought today was Valentine's Day.  Maybe I should invest in a calendar.  Maybe I should get some money before that though.


The next people seemed to show up soon afterward, and it was two people.  One of them was an older(to him at least) girl that stood nearly a foot taller than him.  Her hair was a nice black color that covered her ears completely.  Beneath the hair that seemed to cover parts of her forehead he could see dark blue eyes staring out.  She was currently being escorted by an older but not OLD man that was holding her hand.  As she walked up she proclaimed out loud that the choice of music was apparently, 'too soft for the morning.'  Jeremiah grew confused by this, "What do you mean too soft for the morning?  Wouldn't too soft be no music at all?"  The idea that Jeremiah was actually talking about listening to music in the morning was also strange, Who listens to music when they wake up?  Is that a common thing?  Rubbing the back of his hand Jeremiah suddenly felt a little further left out of the group.


This embarrassment that he temporarily felt made him ignore some of the events happening around him(such as how Juliana freaked out about somebody he assumed was just a normal student) until he saw and heard somebody else approach the group, I wonder how much taller this person is than me.  Even with the joke he made there was a bit of hope from Jeremiah that the person would actually end up being smaller than him.  After he turned around he was disappointed to find this was not the case.  It was instead a girl who stood a little bit less than a foot above Jeremiah.  She had black hair, grey eyes, and from the way she carried herself: was quite shy.  Jeremiah walked a little more forward to where she was and gave a warm smile back at her, "Hello there, my name's Jeremiah Johnson.  Some people call me JJ but some people... don't,"  The sentence ended awkwardly as Jeremiah had attempted to add some variety in with the greeting he almost always did, "And your name would be..."  Jeremiah trailed off giving her the perfect opportunity to give her name.

 

[Syrenrei]

Luther Rousseau
Location: Facility 108 (Parking Lot, Entrance)
Nearby: A bunch of kids, some dude, and a chick that means business
@Kingmalikai @Necessity4Fun @DamagedGlasses @The J @DamagedGlasses @Swoob @SweetNicole @Lazy Rocktime @Nidelia
​

The chocolate was divine. After popping it into her mouth, Luther had bit it once before allowing it to melt on her tongue. As the decadent flavor of sweetened cocoa started to distract her, Max blasted her back to reality as he grabbed her hand. It wasn't by any means an aggressive gesture and she wasn't unused to being touched, but it was unexpected to say the least. Men in bars weren't polite enough to go for a hand (at least not the ones Luther pursued) and Luther's prior co-workers were soldiers, ex-soldiers, and mercenaries that might manhandle her out of the line of fire. The older gentleman in a suit before her was a foreign sight with just his attire; the etiquette faux pas made him even more odd.

As she was trying to make sense of Max's gesture feelings abruptly rose from her chest. On any given day she found the vast majority of the male population over the age of twenty physically attractive. Max had fallen into this sizable populace as well as the three guards present. It was just another day in the life of Luther really. The emotional reaction she suddenly felt blooming within, however, was a rare creature she had taken great care in locking away deep in her psyche. The last time she had felt an attraction to a man that was not limited to things she wanted to do to her body was when she and Thomas were parting in the parking lot after having their divorce mediation. He had given her a sad smile, firm handshake, hug, and whispered in her ear that he hoped she found her happiness. It was a bittersweet ending to their marriage. Luther had by no means been traumatized- people get divorced every day- but she had known she wouldn't be ready to jump back into the deep end of affection for a long time. As months in her apartment passed by it was easier to bang some young buck than it was to date people, seriously connect to them about something with meaning, and be vulnerable to a rejection that could result in heartache. No, Luther would not tolerate a Thomas 2.0 anytime soon.

And yet as she watched Max talking (without listening to what he was saying) that rush filled her. She wanted Max to like her, to know about her, she wanted to know about him, and it wasn't because she wanted a friend. Hell, she even wanted to be cuddled which almost made her turn tail and run right then and there. All the chocolate dissolving in her mouth seemed to have made her tongue stay firmly glued to the bottom of her mouth as she recoiled from Max in minor panic. Years of military training and poker games meant that her face hadn't faltered when her heart stumbled, but he no doubt noticed she took a step back from his person. Luther had no idea what was causing this disconcerting, overwhelming sense of desires she was experiencing. With any hope tiny amounts of distance might help snap sense back into her. Would it be rude to ask someone to slap her? Should she slap herself?

Max had extended his hand and was greeting her, inquiring if she was a teacher. A young woman had wandered up looking like she was reviving the grunge look of a few decades ago- she was mildly familiar. A pretty girl in a white dress approached the group timidly. A brunette with more energy than everyone else combined was excitedly fawning over the former of the new arrivals and rattling off something about music that Luther didn't quite follow. A blonde teenage boy who was quite short was introducing himself as 'JJ.' Taking a deep breath Luther composed herself. For whatever reason JJ didn't inspire another wild ride of tumultuous emotions so she turned between him and Max as she spoke. Was it because JJ was so young that there wasn't a pull? Luther wondered why Max was so special. "It's nice to meet ya, JJ. I'm not a teacher, just a teacher's assistant. Name's Luther Rousseau, and yes, that's my real name." She gave a lopsided mischievous smile that started to wane when she realized Max's hand was still there hanging mid-air for her to shake.

"Here, let me take care of that for you," she offered as she dodged the offering, snagged the box, and tossed it towards herself. Assuming it was not intercepted by anyone, the love-inducing candy and their container would disappear as they were flung into the pocket dimension by way of her torso. After her effort succeeded (or failed) she put her hand to her navel and pulled out a mug of hot black coffee. Caffeine might give her the jolt she needed. Luther gulped down a third of the contents before she came up for air. "And what about you?" she asked Max trying to be more bold than her schoolgirl crush was making her.

 

[DamagedGlasses]

Maximilian Shulze
Location: Facility 108 (Parking Lot, Entrance)
Nearby: @Kingmalikai @Necessity4Fun @DamagedGlasses @The J @DamagedGlasses @Swoob @SweetNicole @Lazy Rocktime Nidelia
OOC: Calling all students and surrounding faculty. Max has made his announcement.

Max blinked once. Then once more. He looked over this “Luther” in front of him, absently lowering his hands when he noticed she didn’t seem to enthused about shaking it, although she did seem quite grabby. Inwardly, Max cursed himself for not having read more than the name of his Teacher Assistant. She seemed athletic, a good fit for any sort of role in a PD classroom. There was also something very familiar about her that Max couldn’t put his finger on. He had never seen this woman in his life, but something about her made him consider the idea of having met before. Or at least, more familiar than he should be.

Taking a glance at his other hand, the appendage being free of any sort of dangerous chocolates, he let his gaze go with the momentum of interest, looking at the swiftly increasing number of students coming in. Regardless of what happened here, they would probably need to move soon. He had only taken his eye off the woman in front of him for a second, but now, instead of his box of chocolates, she was downing a mug of coffee with gusto that Max could respect. It reminded him of one of his circus buddies. That man’s ability to ignore his own body screaming bloody murder at him had to have been a power of some kind, and yet, he was as mundane as your common milkman, genetics wise.

This girl seemed to be the same way, holding out an olive branch in the form of a question. She seemed nervous, maybe. Had Max already offended his assistant? He hoped not. He’d apologise, truly would, but he couldn’t even begin to know what she might have felt uncomfortable about. Maybe she was against germs or even further along that line of thought, she had a cultural thing against shaking hands. As possible as anything else, really. Max realized he had forgone actually answering the girl, in lieu of trying to understand her, for a few seconds too long. He eased into gear, smiling as he got himself back into order.

“My name is Maximilian Shulze, Miss Rousseau. I’m the head teacher for Physical Discipline. It’s good to finally meet you! You certainly fit the bill for someone I’d like helping me get the future generation into shape. Unfortunately, right now we have an issue. Those chocolates haven’t been claimed by anyone here, and I fear that ‘Stranger Danger’ is a tad more dangerous when you mix powers into the stew,” He planted his cane to the ground with seriousness, before continuing, “I was hoping you could help me wrangle up the students here and bring them to one of the empty classrooms.”

Max stopped for a moment and turned around, his back facing Luther as he addressed the students around with the loud and clipped tone he had developed back in his time during his days as an announcer, “Students of Facility 108, please turn your attention to me. It has come to my attention that there is a bit of a situation here involving some surprise chocolate, and I think it best we head further inside and see if we can start figuring this situation out. For those who have eaten chocolate, please tell me if you feel anything strange, I will be contacting one of the faculty nurses once they arrive. For those who haven't, or have just arrived, please proceed to the classroom as well. We can't say you aren't a part of the situation without knowing the situation, yet.”

He turned around and winked at Luther, feeling confident like he always did when announcing a field goal or tough win, “Now, we begin the wrangling! I have faith any assistant of mine could handle a few unruly students if they are so inclined to resist proper procedure.”

He knew of at least one kid who would resist if he felt pressured not too.

 

[JustNicole]

Malikai Necessity4Fun DamagedGlasses The J Swoob lazee Nidelia Syrenrei Sorry for the delays in your regularly scheduled programming. There is a small time jump in this post, jumping to all of our characters situating in the classroom. Some housekeeping, please fill out this form regarding how long you'd ideally like this mission to run for in real world time. Thanks! Also, I've been getting a lot of questions regarding specifics of Holly, the Shipper, and other such things. While I will try to answer, these questions are best asked in character. This post should give you an opportunity to ask questions before we move onto the good stuff.

As the students and faculty situated themselves in the classroom, Holly took up her position at the front of the classroom. This was becoming more familiar that Holly wanted it to be. She had recently spent the recent part of her life giving talks like this in front of more impersonal people than this crowd about a far more serious subject than the Shipper. Coming to AEGIS was supposed to be her chance to get away from all of it, but if today was proving anything, it’s that sooner or later, the day comes when you can’t hide from the things that you’ve done anymore.

Clearing her throat, Holly’s gaze scanned the room, taking in the students and faculty whom she had only first met days ago. Were these people really worth all this? Would they even be up to the task? Did they understand what they were getting themselves into? Holly suspected not.

With a strong, authoritative tone, Holly began her briefing, speaking to the room as she did when she provided briefings for her fellow team members on multiple occasions. “For those you who haven’t met me yet, I’m Holly Kane, the new security chief here at Training Facility 108.” It was similar to the opening she gave at every briefing, just with a new title. She half paused expecting the shouts of “The Iron Bitch!” from her team members before membering of course, they were dead.

“As you’ve no doubt surmised by now, this morning AEGIS was attacked. The person responsible for this attack is Marcus Antonio Flores, a Spaniard from Madrid, Spain better known by his handler codename: the Shipper. If you’re wondering why he’s called the Shipper, you need look no further than those security guards who were outside.

“Simply put, Marcus has the powers of love. There’s a lot of science mumbo-jumbo that scientists could tell you to explain it, but it all boils down to the fact that he makes people fall in love, regardless of if they want to or not. For this reason, his powers, while not lethal, are potent and dangerous.

“By a show of hands, how many people ate the chocolate here?” Holly paused for a moment for hands to be raised. Nodding, she continued, “I’m guessing all of you have likely been contaminated by Marcus. He can infuse other objects with his power, generally granting a one way attraction to the consuming person which bonds them with the next person they touch. It's a nasty trick, one I've personally been the victim of in the past.”

As some murmurs broke out among the room, Holly raised her voice slightly to kill them. “Now, this isn’t necessarily bad, as long as you are conscious of it. It’s been shown that as long as you are pointed out by someone else that you are affected by it, the human mind can often keep itself in check. As for long term effects, simply going to sleep tonight by yourself should be a long enough time for the attraction to wear off.

“The reason I am speaking on this is not merely to inform you all about our attacker. Marcus, ever the one for a show, has made his location known to me, and the Commonwealth, given that Marcus is not a violent villain, has agreed that jurisdiction for this case will be granted to AEGIS, provided I head up the team to bring him in. I am hoping I am looking at my team for this task right now. There is a lot more that I could say, but I can see you all have questions already in mind, so I will go ahead and take whatever questions you have at this time.” With that, she stepped back slightly, yielding the metaphorical floor to the room for the inevitable barrage of questions that would be coming.

 

[Nidelia]

Mood: Nervous
Location: Outside Facility 108
Speaking to: JJ Malikai

Thomasina was used to being ignored, given that she wasn't really a loud boisterous person, so when she spoke around other people, she usually was not heard. She was about to go ahead and move on when a slightly younger boy spoke to her, introducing himself as JJ. She smiled brightly at him, despite her obvious timidness.

"Hello JJ! My name is Thomasina Johnson!" she says happily, but with an obvious distant sound to it, as though she was nervous while speaking to him, it would seem like an odd combination. The man was actually cute, she liked it, he didn't look like some body builder either, he was slender, like she was. Maybe she would manage to make her first friend at Facility 108. She noted everything everyone was doing and talking about while she focused on JJ. She noted the woman who snagged a chocolate to eat it, even after the teacher had taken them away, and then even proceeded to take the box of chocolates back from the teacher.

She actually frowned in disappointment at the woman, she even overheard her say she was supposed to be a student teacher. The woman should be ashamed of herself. She was then guided into the classroom by the teacher, but she stuck pretty close to JJ, since he was the first one to introduce himself to her and pay her any attention.

She stood next to him as the new teacher, Kane, Holly Kane introduced herself to them, and then began to explain what was going on. She tilted her head as she listened. "The Shipper?" she asks no one in particular. She just paid attention to what the teacher had to say at that point.