Futuristic Rise of the Alphas

[Samuel James Aran]

"So the new batch of test subjects have arrived?"


"Yes. They've been wiped as ordered and placed in the rooms as per protocol."


"Twins? Did you see this?"


"Yeah I was surprised as well should be interesting, neh?"


"Well, let's start the experiment..."


"Should I prep the serum now?"


"No today is all about observation. Let's see how these people act towards each other."


More Below

Everyone awakens to a faint buzzer that could be heard from all around. When you open your eyes you see a light blue tinted glass encircling you forming a sort of pill shape around your body. After a few seconds the glass opens and slides into plastic siding along the beds you all wake up in.


The buzzer seemed to be coming from the bed itself upon closer inspection. The bed itself was pill-shaped. It was white with white sheets and a single white pillow. You're dressed in a white and gray jumpsuit with your number sewn in black into the right shoulder area.


The room you are in is a small square room with white walls and two doors along the head of the bed. One of the doors leads to a small bathroom with a toilet and a shower. The other door leads to a closet that contains more jumpsuits with your number sewn in. Inside the bathroom, on top of the back of the toilet was a single rectangular object, it was wrapped in a gray wrapper with only the text FOOD on it in big black letters.


Whether you choose to eat it or not, when you return to your room a single tone could be heard from the white ceiling as a voice speaks out.


"Greetings," The female, robotic-like, voice says your number. "I am the Voice and I am here to guide you through your life here. As you noticed there is a bar of food in the bathroom, please make sure to eat. Once you finish eating you will be allowed into the Rec Room to interact with your other Numbers. I will not answer any questions. I must also warn you that you need to listen to what I say or severe consequences will ensue. This is your life, this has always been your life, and always will be your life."


Something about the Voice stirs feelings of calmness and obedience. You're unsure why you feel like the Voice is telling the truth about how this is all you've ever known. It just feels that way, something in your mind is telling you to obey and listen to this Voice*.


Upon eating a door opens on the wall at the foot of the bed leading you into a decagon room. The door you come out of has your number on it and closes after you leave your room. In the white room sat three tables with five chairs around each one. Sitting on one of the tables was a deck of cards and a slip of paper explaining what they are and various games that can be played with them. Also in the room stood two treadmills off to the side, closest to the doors with the numbers Two and Three. A piece of paper hung on the wall telling you how to operate the machinery.

Spoiler

*Means a power is influencing your character.


[Yes you still know how to read.]

 

[Clairvoyance]

7
_______




Ugh, so much white...and what's with this bitch tellin' me what to do? I don't remember her, or any of this for that matter... Despite having a near-total memory wipe, the snarky, rebellious spirit of subject 7 couldn't be crushed in any way, shape, or form. She was as razor-tongued as ever, but wasn't ready to cause trouble just yet.


Besides, this 'Voice' (THIS IS THE VOICE!) chick wasn't exactly telling 7 to do anything she didn't want to. That bit about 'severe consequences' rubbed her the wrong way though, so she decided to stay on the Voice's good side and do as she was told. Besides, if what she said was true, then this is what she'd always done.


The food most certainly wasn't supreme cuisine, but it got rid of her hunger well enough. After she ate, a door opened on the far side of her miniscule room that led to what seemed to be a common room of sorts. There were a couple weird machines diagonal from her room, and a few tables and chairs for lounging. Most noticeable, however, were the 10 doors in the decagonal room. Each were numbered -- 1 through 10 -- including her own room marked '7'.


"Well...isn't this homey." She tucked a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear, stepping into the empty rec-room and looking at each of the doors. It seemed like she was the only one home, and since her door had shut, she'd be rather lonely in there.


________


Tags:

@Samuel James Aran

@Byatis


(whoever else, idk)

(Opening posts aren't my thing, bleh.)

 

[Swindle]

Not one to enjoy being awoken by sudden alarms, Eight was less than pleased with the annoying buzzing noise emanating from her bed. Patting around in a vain attempt to try and make it stop, the girl quickly gave up upon realizing that nothing was happening no matter how hard she tried to find an "off" switch. After spending a great deal of time trying to not have to open her eyes and get up, Eight eventually succumbed to the sad inevitability of actually leaving the strangely shaped sleeping quarters. What she found however was something that inspired great disgust in her. Though she had nothing to go off of in her active memory, something deep down told her that this bed she found herself in was an absolute terror of design.


"Why does this thing just seem so...ugly?" Stuck on the thought for multiple minutes, Eight ultimately just shrugged her shoulders, unable to come to an accurate conclusion regarding why she felt that her bed was so awful looking.


"Ah, the room just seems so poorly designed too. This couldn't have possibly been made by someone with any sense of artistic ability." She paused, still confused about why she felt so angry just looking at the plain and boring make of the enclosure.


Crossing her arms in a disconcerted fashion, Eight shuffled into the restroom. Taking a short glance at the few things within, she immediately noticed the bar on the toilet. Picking the strange thing up gingerly, she stared at it quizzically. Opening the wrapper, Eight slowly and carefully places her tongue onto the object, almost instantaneously tossing it to the ground in revulsion. "Is everything here terrible? Ugh, surely whoever made that thing has tasted more than the sole of their boots." Once again bamboozled at why she felt such mean thoughts towards the helpless object, she simply walked back out of the restroom.


As "The Voice" turned on and began speaking to her, Eight first attempted to ignore the unwanted noise. However, as she felt compelled to pay attention to it, she merely tried her hardest to pay it no mind until it stopped talking. Something something guide here something something consequences if you disobey, as she recalled. A combination of hunger and poor health caused Eight to find herself being quite exhausted already, unfortunately. "Ah, do I really have to eat that horrible little thing?" Sitting back down on the bed, Eight sighed loudly. "I guess." Returning to the restroom to obtain the object - you couldn't call it food, really - off the floor, the girl quickly scoffed it down to try to avoid the horrid experience altogether.


Of course, she failed, gagging slightly before finishing it. Upon watching a door in her room suddenly open, Eight decided that the best course of action to escape the ugliness of her room was to go in to whatever the next room may have been. Walking lackadaisically into the next area, she was met with disappointment. Again. Not even taking a moment to pay attention to the details of the room, she simply sat down and laid her head down on the table nearest her enclosure, her bun swaying slightly with the rather quick motion of putting her head down. "This place sucks." She reflected, still unsure of why she felt so spiteful in regards to such mundane things.

 

[Byatis]

IX

​

Nine opened her large brown eyes and realized she was blinded. Well, she still had her sight, but it felt momentarily robbed from her. As her eyes adjusted to her conscious environment, she took note of how everything looked so similarly colored that it was difficult for her to accurately make out the various furniture that decorated the room. If you could call it decorated, at least. She shuffled into a standing position and walked around the small room to get a better sense of where she was.


She stepped toward the closet. Running her fingers along the wall, Nine slowly slid them atop the handle for the nearest door. With a gentle tug, she opened the tiny portal to reveal a series of jumpsuits not unlike the one she was wearing. She arranged the jumpsuits to be perfectly spaced away from each other before closing the closet door. Acting with a bit more purpose, she entered the bathroom.


Her color differentiation had always been weak. When Nine arrived inside the small bathroom, the only thing she could see without straining her eyes was a little gray package. She picked it up and spun it around a few times. The only word that could be found on its exterior was FOOD. She chuckled to herself and sarcastically reflected on how people would have been more inclined to eat it if there were any indication of what it was comprised of.


Nine opened the bar and sniffed it. She had expected either an appetizing aroma or a disgusting smell. Unfortunately for her, she received neither. The bar was as bland as its packaging. Taking it as a blessing in disguise, she hoped that the bar tasted in kind with its scent. Alas, a delicate hope does nothing to aide courage, so she opted to take the bar with her and sit on the decision.


Upon reentering the main room, she was addressed by an invisible speaker. Coincidentally, the voice she heard was named The Voice. Nine sat on the bed as the noise droned on.


"...noticed there...bar...the bath..."


She opened the bar a bit more and pondered about whether the voice was an actual person. If so, why couldn't they be bothered to send in an actual face with the voice.


"...allow...rec....ract...numbers..."





Nine took a tiny nibble at the corner of the food bar. After letting it sit in her mouth a bit, she swallowed with the newfound knowledge that the food bar was tolerable.


"...not answ...quest...listen...conse...ences..."





She took a few more ungenerous bites and wondered if this was enough to sustain her. She considered the fact that she wouldn't be here if she wasn't kept nourished, so the bar must have some weight to its nutrition. Nine looked at what was left of the bar. She had only eaten half. Afraid that this was the only food she would get for the day, she was hesitant to finish it so hastily.


"This is your life. This has always been your life."





Those words struck Nine in an interesting way. She couldn't remember it being her life. She slipped the rest of the bar up her sleeve and walked toward a now open door. On her way, she took another look around the incredibly shallow room and thought, "I don't remember. How do I know I'm not repeating the same actions and thoughts every single day. A looped nightmare. Every day. The same dream."





Trying to shake it off, she took a few strides forward and found herself in a room that seemed to be the center of all of the numbers rooms. Looking around, she saw a pale girl with freckles and a disgruntled looking woman with a bun. "Well," she smirked, "two's a company, but three's a party. We'll get some answers, but first..."





She strolled over to the machinery. She read the paper next to it and found that if you press the correct buttons, it will give you an endless path to follow. She turned it on and directed her attention to the other numbers, "Do either of you know what's going on?"

 

[NarutoDeathNote]

"Bz"


"Oh good heavens! What fowl sound hath placed itself betwixt me and my slumber?"


This isn't what he said.


3 jolts upwards in his bed, gripping fiercely to his sheets like a lion to a gazelle. Propelling himself sideways from the bed, he lands not so gracefully onto his foot and then painfully onto his hip. In a vain attempt to maintain his dignity, he forcefully rolls across the floor so as to assure anyone watching that he did not fall. Perfect.


3, now rising slowly to his feet, takes a good look at his new home. Or maybe his old home. Maybe it's been his home this entire time, but he can't quite seem to remember. He grabs his head, "Why isn't my brain working?!?" Anxiety tightens his esophagus, his breaths short and rapid. He he immediately drops back to the floor and begins to do Diamond Push Ups. "One, two, three, four, fi...", he trails off. "What am I doing" It's just a room." He returns to his feet, making a better effort to observe the room.


"Greetings"


"AH!" 3 spins towards the origin of the voice...but only finds air. The sounds seems to emanate from no place in particular. He shifts his weight lower and bends his knees, lifting his hands upwards into a stance strangely resembling a Greco-Roman Wrestler. "Maybe if I close my eyes, I can hear this invisible woman's footsteps," he thinks to himself, desperately fighting to maintain some sense of composure. He didn't understand why, but it felt so hard to think when he was so stressed. 3 closes his eyes and braces his body for contact, either willingly or unwillingly.


"I am the Voice and I--"


"I CAN'T HEAR THE FEET MOVING WITH THIS VOICE TALKING!" He yells into his hands. And then he takes a deep breath. "Calm down, man. Get a hold of yourself," he thinks. " You can't be the best if you crack under pressure." 3 rises in a calmer manner now and listens to the remainder of this voice. He doesn't understand why, but the voice felt so soothing and peaceful, simultaneously raising goosebumps and quelling the rising anxiety in his chest. With a calmer mind, he listens more intently now.


"...bar of food in the bathroom..."


That's all he needed to hear. A quick scan of the room reveals two doors somewhere near the bed, probably the head. He makes his way towards the door on the right for no particular reason. Jumpsuits. "I can't eat these!" He slams the door shut and moves quickly towards the left and finally finds the bathroom. His eyes falls, somewhat disappointingly, onto a plainly wrapped bar labeled "FOOD" in big letters. No fancy designs, no ingredients, no protein measurements. Nothing. 3 hunches his back slightly and releases a long sigh. He doesn't understand why, but he already feels let down by the feeble bar. "Pssh, I bet it tastes amazing. Can't judge a book by it's cover, like I always say," he thinks with his mouth verbally to an empty room, unwrapping the bar and taking a generous bite.


"Eh, this tastes like garbage!" He drops the bar to the ground and kicks it into the wall. "This place sucks already. With a deep frown, he walks from the bathroom and excitedly notices the open door. "I can leave now! Time to hit the gym!"


"Wait, what's a gym?" It just slipped from his lips but he had no recollection of what a gym even was. Weird. He didn't think too long on it, though, as leaving this room was his primary goal. His legs begin to move and carry his body in large strides outwards and into...


..."Another room." He sighs again, this time with a hint of frustration tinting his exhaled air. He just wanted to leave this room. Maybe the voice was telling him how to leave, he thought to himself. Maybe he should have paid attention, but the past is in the past and the present's now so he walks forward to the cards. 3 notices people around him but pays little attention as the cards were significantly more interesting. He then notes the slip of paper and begins to read, however with each sentence his eyebrows dropped further and slid closer together. This card game seems so complicated! The stars are levels? Attack points? Annoyed, he turned to the first person he sees, a short girl with skin like fresh pancakes. "How do you play this game?"

 

[Lost Echo]

With a soft grunt, the girl rolled over on the bed, trying to ignore the faint buzzer. She didn't make it completely over, hitting a smooth surface instead. Scowling in confusion, she turned her head to stare at the blue screen that was rising beside her. Returning to her back, she watched it lift completely. What is that? She felt detached, focusing on the glass as it rose. Maybe if she could understand that, everything else would make sense.


If it had a deeper meaning, the girl missed it. Once the blue was gone, she looked around at the monochrome room. It felt...it felt like nothing. Neither strange, nor familiar. Not hers or a temporary guest room. She jumped at the sound of a voice, looking around for someone even when she recognized it as a recording. Maybe she just wanted someone to be there. She didn't hesitate to focus on the voice, even if it disturbed her in it's flatness. She wanted to hear it. Maybe it was clear up this confusion?


Four? She looked down at the number sewn onto her clothes and nodded, yes, that was her. Of course. That felt true. She stayed seated, while the voice continued, frowning that questions wouldn't be answered. She had questions. She knew that much, but, well putting them into words wasn't working yet. Maybe they wouldn't be answered directly. It'd already helped clarify who she was. More than that was sure to happen. Maybe it understood she was too confused. As she pondered, Four's fingers tapped gently against her thigh, too quiet to actually be heard, but the movement centered her. Made her feel steady for the first time this morning. That thought surprised her, and she glanced around. Was it morning? Did it matter? She had time to figure it out.


She caught the last sentence, and frowned a little. Of course it was her life. Who else's life could it have been? She tried to brush it off, but the thought niggled at her, speeding up the tempo on her thigh. Four sat there for a minute, trying to decide what to do, then stood up and walked to the closest door. She breathed a sigh of relief. Bathroom. She knew what to do with that.


After relieving herself, she hesitated before the shower. She didn't feel unclean, though part of her hoped the shock of the water would clear her head. There was something in her that made her feel like she needed to hurry up. What had the voice said "interact with your other Numbers?" Maybe she'd understand when she was out there. She grabbed the bar of food, raising an eyebrow at the packaging before ripping it off. She grimaced after the first bite, but continued eating, food was food. Right? By the end of the bar, she doubted that principle. Surely cardboard and sawdust felt equally filling? She glanced around for a drink, something to wash the dry stuff down, before choosing the sink. As sterile as this place was, she doubted the water could be too bad for her. Cupping her hands beneath the water, she drank two handfuls, feeling better. Another two were splashed over her face, then spread throughout her hair.


That was when she noticed the lack of a mirror, but she knew her curls would be a mess from sleeping. Threading her fingers through, she was surprised at how orderly it felt. Whatever, whoever her other numbers are, would have to deal with it.


She went to the door beside the bathroom and hesitated once more. Why was it so quiet? Everything would be better with some...noise. Anything. She'd feel better with some noise. Her fingers sought the frame of the door, which she thrummed against. With a jerk, she threw it open, so it it hit the wall with a loud bang. It made her smile. Then break into laughter. A closet. Gods, girl, you need to just relax. This silence was driving her crazy already. Shaking her head, she shut the door more quietly, then turned to the remaining door. It made more sense as a door out to, the voice had called it a Rec Room. Which practically required noise right?


She stalked to that door, opening it more quietly. It was a relief to see people there. Even if they were still quiet. Likely they had just woken up too. They had numbers on their clothes too. Did that mean they were her other numbers? Why didn't she recognize them? She leaned against the door frame, surprised that her door had shut without her noticing. Her fingers started to tap out a rhythm, kept slow with her nervousness. There were three girls and one big guy. The fact that he seemed to look confusedly at the cards kept him from being too scary, but Four was stuck on big. She knew she was supposed to interact with them, but she decided to wait first, letting the beat of her fingers pick up into something more comforting. It wasn't like she had any answers to give.

 

[Eldarkon]

10 was vary upset to be awoken so suddenly. The buzzer made him angry, for he loathed loud and annoying noises, but he was awake now. giving an angry sigh and grunt he jumped out of bed, not bothering to make it afterwads. doing things like that was unnecessary to him, although he didnt even know who "Him" was. when he looked around the room it made him even more angry, seeing that he did not recognize his surroundings.


It disturbed him, all these questions. Who am I? Where am I? How did I get here? Whats going to happen to me?.He thought about this for a few minutes, banging his fist on the wall. It was solid white brick, no use smashing his way out. His long black messy hair was in his face, he needed a shower. he then realized that he was in a back and grey jump suit jump suit. it was vary tight on him, showing off his athletic build quite well. A voice then spoke out from the ceiling, finally some answers.


The voice only gave him more questions, and what did she mean my numbers? looking at his door he saw the number 10 in black futuristic text, labeling his room. 10 huh, that was his name. At least for now. Looking to his bathroom he saw the package of food the voice talked about. 10 was not hungry, but he did need a shower. entering the bathroom he looked at himself in the mirror. his face was somehow familiar to him, and it caused him to calm down a little. he realized that although his memories were gone, he still had his personality, for the moment at least.


taking off his jumpsuit he turned on the shower. he felt the hot water on his skin, which made him feel more relaxed. if he was going to stay here, was going to at least enjoy himself. jumping into the shower, his muscles loosed up, causing him to relax. at the side of the shower, he noticed two white bottles labled "Soap" and "Shampoo" Somehow he knew what they were. it seems that they left the memories of what things were and how they worked, but not his past events or the people he knew before.


He quickly cleaned himself, putting on the shampoo and body wash and rinsing it out. Stepping out of the shower a warm but strong breeze came from all directions of the room, drying him off in an instant. Putting his jumpsuit back on he decided that it would be a good idea to join the others in the rec room that the voice spoke of. when he came close to the door that exited his room, it rose to his presence. He walked out into the rec room, his hands in his pockets, his eyes closed and a calm look on his face. he wanted to know how many more numbers there were. surely there were ten, but were there more?

 

[Swindle]

"Ah, how lovely. There's other people here too. Joy..." Slowly raising her head up to address the voices in the room, the first thing that was brought to Eight's attention was the exceptionally tall man with a tiny book in his hands, requesting that she explain how to play some game whose existence she was not aware of until now. Gently patting her hand around the back of her hair to ensure that her bun was still stable and in proper form, this process taking several minutes before the girl eventually determined that there was nothing wrong with her precious hair. She wasn't terribly certain of why she felt compelled to do this ritual, but she wasn't in the mood to reflect on the fact, either.


Standing up in a manner that would end up pushing her chair out from under her with her lower legs, she then shuffled over to the man, taking the miniature book delicately and placing it in the palm of her hand. Eight then slowly turned the pages, attempting to figure out the details of the game. Squinting ever harder as she continued to try and read, to her, what was impossibly tiny print, she eventually closed the book about two-thirds of the way through it. Looking up at Three to create eye contact in an effort to help someone who seemed like such a simpleton to understand, Eight spoke. "It looks like there's quite a few details that you have to understand to play this game. It also mentions something about using various merchandise to increase the size and power of your "deck", which I take it is just a way to get you to waste your time on hoping that you get the right cards." She puffs out a breath of air, indicating already a feeling of exhaustion in talking about the subject. "It's basically straightforward, though. You summon these brown cards to fight one another and use these green and purple cards to support the act of subtracting numbers from each-other's 'life points.' There's also advanced rules, but I got bored by around the time I made it to those topics. Really, the art seems too poor for me to consider wanting to collect them, so I can't say I'd have even read this book if you had not addressed me. I didn't appreciate your rather rude disturbance, but I can't help myself when it comes to explaining things to people for some reason, so there you go."


Placing the book on the nearest table, she then addressed the person on the treadmill. "Well, seeing as how this other one is having difficulty understanding a very short and straightforward book, I suppose I'll answer for you." Taking a breath, she continued, her eyelids sagging somewhat from boredom. "...I don't know, really. It feels like nothing new, though. Despite the fact that, you know, I don't remember a thing about this place." She nodded her head a little in agreement with herself, now satisfied with her explanation. Eight glanced at a couple of the others who were also in the room, but as she now found herself mentally fatigued from just speaking to Three and Nine, she simply sat back down in the same seat as before, placing her head back on the desk in the same motion.

 

[Clairvoyance]

7
_______




"Mm, other people. Wonderful." The girl mumbled, resting her bright, teal-colored eyes on each individual as they entered the room. 8, a woman, 3, a man, 10, another man, 4, another woman, and 9, a girl her age.


Everyone began to spread out in the room, 3 picking up the cards and 9 going to the machines in the corner. It seemed like 7 wasn't the only one who didn't recognize this place -- despite what the woman's voice told her -- and it was apparent from the peoples' expressions.


3 asked 8 how the deck of cards worked, and the older woman seemed to boredly express that an idiot could understand it. "Well, aren't you little miss high and mighty." 7 mumbled, throwing 8 a grin. She took a seat at one of the other tables, watching everyone as they moved around and interacted with the few objects in the room.


"Am I the only one who doesn't recognize anything in this place despite what Voicy told us? 'This is your life, and this has always been your life'. Something like that." She doubted anyone knew more than she did, but a little banter had never hurt anyone. Besides, she hated awkward silences, and it seemed like she was the only chatty one in the room. Or, maybe she was just the only loud one.

 

[NarutoDeathNote]

3 stared at the cards. He wasn't particularly fond of the attitude this tiny pale girl gave him, but his mind was preoccupied with the games' rules. Brown cards, blue cards, purple cards? This is too complicated, he decides, and then he slides the cards onto the ground. His right foot delivers a kick of well deserved justice to the piled cards, which scatter wildly into the direction of the nearest wall. "This game sucks." 3 takes note of the people which reside in this boring room. After deciding that these people are of no interest, he stands unnecessarily erect, his hands on his hips and his eyes to the roof. Slowly, his hands raise and connect above his head, his body resembling a capital "A". 3 closes his eyes, takes a deep breath...


...and begins a series of jumps in which his legs close first and then spread on the second. His hands drop in a wide arc to his hips and then raise back above his head. There seemed to be some connection to the motion of his hands and feet, but 3 could not possibly understand why. He just knew that he wanted to do this and it felt...right.

 

[Lost Echo]

Noise. It divided the silence. Not evenly, not yet, but enough that Four felt more...normal? Herself? Eight’s words were pointless to her. It was the natural cadence of a human being; not the tonelessness of the recording from earlier. Perhaps if she could see the colors of the cards, but it didn’t sound very interesting. Admittedly the older woman’s tone might have influenced it, but she was talking. Boring could be excused. Especially as her attention shifted to the mover...runner? Though she’d missed that question as well, this time what Eight said made sense. Nothing new. But nothing old either. Just nothing?


Four jumped badly when the 3 kicked the cards. Suddenly his bigness was too much to ignore again. Without the confusion, he was slipping toward scary. She inched down the wall away from him, watching as he...danced? How could he dance without...noise. Without music? If it was a dance it was boring. A steady rhythm, but still, too repetitive.


She decided to sit at 7’s chosen table, reassured by her grin as much as her muttered comment. She sat tucking her legs under her, curled in her chair, an action without thought. She wanted to talk, worried the silence would return otherwise. “I don’t remember...anything. But I’m...me. I’ve always been me. And this is my life.” Four bit her lip. She could barely understand what she was feeling, how could she say it. “The Voice said I would interact with my other Numbers. And that’s you.” None of them looked familiar, but the numbers on their clothes felt right. Just like Four felt right. Her hands idly matched the 1-2 rhythm of 3’s “dance” against her thighs.

 

[Byatis]

IX



​

The seemingly dissatisfied woman offered no substantial information for Nine. Shifting her eyes to the woman's right shoulder, she spotted an easily discernable number eight. "Eight? Doesn't that mean you're in the room next to me? I don't particularly like my number," she explained with a growing grin. "What do you think? Do you hate the eight?" She finished, making sure to form the number eight with her fingers when saying hate.


She looked down at the digits on the treadmill. Pressed a few buttons and upped the speed to a brisk walk. She wanted to go faster, but figured that it would be best to save her energy just in case they weren't given any more "food".


While waiting for a response, if there were any coming her way, Nine scanned the room. A few new arrivals brought one man that stood out more than the others to her. This hulking gentleman jumping up and down. She stared for a bit, wondering how he would recover if the cards managed to find their way under his footing. She took a few moments to imagine him falling.


Those internal humorous moments were broken by the sound of the freckled girls voice.


"...something like that?"


Nine's brain trailed back to her final thoughts as she left her personal chamber. Thats right, she didn't remember. She lowered the speed on the treadmill, eventually letting it come to a full stop. She thought of how the treadmill was a path made from an endless loop. Nine looked at her feet and the now halted moveable trail. There was a strange, yet pleasant feeling in knowing that the machinery had stopped. Bringing her gaze back to the tealy eyed girl, she stated, "I recognize nothing. Not even myself."

 

[Eldarkon]

10 walked around the rec room, noticing a group of people by the tables. He was not vary social, unless someone wanted to talk To him directly he would not talk to them. He scanned the room, saving notes in his mind about the people he saw. 10 was vary good at making personal profiles about people in his head, using any information about that person he could get.


He leaned against the wall at the corner of the room with his arms crossed in silence, his long thick black hair covering one side of his face (his hair turns white after the experiments). He waited for someone to talk to him, but he was mostly observing the people around him. If he was going to be trapped with these people, he wanted to wait for all of them to be in the room before he made any moves.

 

[Swindle]

The feeling of normalcy as the goliath of a man that she confronted about the card game threw somewhat of a tantrum over his conclusion that the game was mediocre struck Eight as quite odd. "Considering how my body feels when I just have to do the great labor of walking around, that man could easily break me in half. Why am I not frightened? Worse yet...why does it feel entirely regular?" Greatly bewildered by this finding of her subconscious feelings, she was ripped from her rare moment of self-reflection by Seven and Nine's vaguely heckling statements.


Eight raised her head up, resting it upon her left hand, which itself was supported by her elbow on the table. Shifting her view over to Seven, her eyebrows nearing each-other to present a look of distaste towards the girl. "I don't believe I'm high or mighty, you speckled wraith thing. I'm merely stating things as the matters of fact that they are." With her free hand, she pointed one short and slightly pudgy finger at the speckled wraith thing. "Don't go accusing people of being things which they are not, that's simply, exceptionally, rude." Bringing her arm back down, she then looked over at the notably tall, and also somewhat androgynous female which addressed her shortly after speckled wraith thing did.


Clearing her throat, as whether or not she hated the eight or not was very much a serious matter to Eight, she thought for a moment. "I can't accurately say if I hate it or not, lanky girlboy. Unless you'd rather me undress myself so as to take a look at the visual design of what appear to be our uniforms, of course." Another oddity appeared to Eight as a strange, carnally charged smile crept onto her face, accompanied by a bizarre shiver that struck its way down her back and through her legs. Very outwardly embarrassed by what she was thinking in that statement, she quickly righted her expression. "So...my answer is to be determined, I suppose. If I were going off the way your and everyone else's clothes look, however, I'd say it's just as disgusting and crass as the rest of this place we're in."


Looking down at the stand before her, Eight pressed her finger against the table and began making circles on it, now feeling very awkward due to what just transpired.

 

[Clairvoyance]

7
_______




"Well, I guess it's the same all around. None of us seem to know who we are, where we are, or why we're hear -- voice chick be damned." 7 sighed, stretching and popping whatever bones she could. It felt like she'd been still, laying in the same position for an extended period of time. Her body was stiff, her hair was a mess, and it felt like she needed a shower. Too bad she didn't take one before getting locked in the common room.


7 threw a glance at 3 as he began to jump around in an odd, repetitive fashion after kicking the deck of cards away. As she watched them flutter through the air, 8's retort caught her off guard.


What...what did she just call me? Bitch! 7 jumped up, her highly flammable temper sparking to life as she slammed her hands down on the table. "Excuse me? 'Speckled wraith thing'? Who the fuck do you think you are?" 7 paused, tilting her head in faux thought before returning her piercing gaze to 8. "Oh, I know! Mega-bitch sounds about right, don't you think? And to think, you called me rude." With an acidic smile, 7 flipped the older woman off and walked to the far side of the room. She wasn't sure what the gesture meant, but something told her that she'd done it many times, and it meant something obscene.


Making friends already, aren't you, 7? The young woman sighed, rubbing her eyes and leaning on the wall. So far, the only ones she liked were 4 and 9. She doubted, of course, that anyone -- including them -- appreciated her attitude. Then again, she didn't really care whether or not anyone liked her. She wasn't there to make friends, after all.

 

[Byatis]

IX



​

Nine noticed a slow movement in the corner of her eye. It was the other male. His arms were crossed like a small elongated "x" and it seemed rather off-putting to her. Yet, there it was, like a wall of flesh trying to keep another from reaching him. Too much effort, she thought, For someone to slink around like that, I might as well leave him be.


She walked toward the set of chairs and floated right by them, sitting on the table next to where the short, snarky lady was tracing circles. Lifting her feet, she placed them on the chair in front of her and leaned backwards, laying down on the table. Turning her head to face the indelicate female, she lifted her eyebrows and responded with, "Lanky Girlboy...? I like it." It was the first time she could remember being addressed as something other than "Nine" and it felt positively fitting. "But, what would we call you..?"


Her search for a title for Eight was disrupted by the loud slam of fists hitting a surface. Jumping a bit, Nine continued to look at the woman who had placed her label on her. No, not label, it felt like something more. An alternative name to be addressed as. Girlboy. Nine didn't take the time to look for the source of the abrasive noise, mostly because by the time she had finished her thoughts, the source had already followed it up with a string of grievances and insults. A small string, but a string nonetheless.


Unexpectedly, there was a feeling bubbling up in her core. She felt it rise towards her face and be released in a wave of laughter. She meant no offense toward the parties involved, but the situation escalated so quickly. Surely, Seven was over-reacting, but Eight didn't exactly choose mild words. Personally, she thought Eight's irreverent personality to be comical and filled with wit. When Nine finally stopped, she inhaled deeply before addressing the middle-aged woman again. "I think Mega Bitch is a bit much."


Facing frontwards, she mumbled under her breath, "But what would we call you...?" Before she let herself fall too deeply into her subconscious, she turned back and proclaimed, "Wouldn't something like Disgruntled Dwarf suit you better?" She looked at the woman with obvious genuine intent. Finally closing with, "I apologize if it's dull or bland. I believe I may be pretty new to this."

 

[Samuel James Aran]

5a and 5b

​

The door to Number Five opened and two people stepped out. Looking almost identical, even more so by their jumpsuits, were two twin boys. One was slightly hiding behind his brother while the other was looking around the room with an expression of surprise and judging.


His eyes wandered to each person. One at a time he slowly took in the appearance of each person. While his brother looked at each person with a frantic look in his eyes. 5a would like nothing more to go back to his room and hide. He quickly turned around and ran right into the closed door. He rubbed his nose with a faint. "Ouch..." He put a hand on the door with a look of dread as he realized he was locked in this room with other people.


After a few seconds they both moved to a table with no one sitting at it and kept quiet listening to the fight between Eight and Seven. A bit of a smile on 5b's face.





Their jumpsuits had the Number 5a and 5b to show them apart. Other then that their dirty blond hair was a mess from sleeping.

 

[Lost Echo]

Had Four only felt right because she wanted a connection? Because the voice had sounded sure? She thought back. No, the voice hadn't sounded real. She'd known that at the time. It had just broken the confusing silence. She had felt...like she had to listen. Had to? Or wanted to? Fo-she wasn't sure. She knew she liked the comfort the belief in the voice had given her, but that comfort was gone now. These Numbers, no these people taken that. Was she four? What was four? A number. She silently counted. There were enough doors for 1-10, but some were missing.


She flinched at 7's outburst, regretting choosing this table. She did not follow when the woman left. She could not go far anyway. She seemed disjunct. Like her melody skipped and jumped around. Still, she didn't seem bad. Those songs were just as fun to play. Usually. A bit perkier.


She turned at the new noise, taking a moment to place the sounds coming from Ni-Girlboy's lips as laughter. She'd said she hadn't even recognized herself. 'Had I?' She opened her hands against the table. They were rough: callouses matching the bone beneath and following the length of her fingers. Were they her hands? How had these formed? Flipping the hand, she rapped the table, hitting where the callus had developed the most, just below her index and ring finger. The sound, with its accompanying echo through her arm was pleasant. She did it again, twice in succession. One-and. She formed a fist, knocking a knuckle against the table. Two. Then she reversed it. Two knocks on her knuckles. Three-and. Followed by her palm. Four. After a repeat, she hit the heel of her palm instead, keeping her fist closed.





This. This was right. Numbers didn't matter. Names didn't matter. This came from her. She was the beats. Even these people couldn't take that away from her. She frowned a little. Hearing what N-Girlboy said. She didn't want to take it. She was giving Eight, a, a name? Something new. Disgruntled Dwarf. That seemed oddly fitting. D.D? Double Ds? Were letters worse than numbers?


The girl jumped a little when two people came out of room 5. They had letters too. Maybe letters were the same as numbers. Still. "You two," the words came out before she could stop them, but she needed to know this. "You're...alike...matches...tw..twins?" Her voice took on a hopeful note. "Do you know each other?" They seemed to, but she'd taken comfort in the nearest name given, maybe the one hiding had just clung to the first safe thing.

 

[Swindle]

Although Seven's anger would have caused Eight to giggle in a normal situation, she was far too preoccupied with the electric feeling coursing through her body to pay any close attention to it. The pacing of her finger sped up as the lanky girlboy placed her body entirely on the table Eight was sitting at. A deep blush had developed on almost her entire face, the circle the girl was making now only being about as wide around as a quarter.


She caught herself drooling a bit before Nine posed her question about what her own name should be. "W-what? Ehm... I'm not so good at coming up with titles for myself but ah... I guess. I'm not dwarfish, though..." Pausing in thought to try to figure out a response, she found that her mind was somewhat cloudy at this point. "I'll think about it." Afterwards, she went back to focusing on her circle tracing, Eight's face now at full blush, unable to help herself in the moment.

 

[Alecto]

SIX


Location: Own Room >>> Rec Room


Interaction: Everyone I guess?

Six started with a jolt when a buzzer began, limbs flailing enough that he fell off the bed. When the buzzer faded off to give way to a voice over the speakers, Six finally pushed himself off the ground and looked around, momentarily blinded by the stark whiteness of the room.


Once the shock of his surroundings faded, he sat, tucking his legs underneath him, and listened to the monotone voice. "... in the bathroom, please..." As soon as the word bathroom was said, his gaze moved to one of the doors. Something told him that that was the room, so he got to his feet and entered the room - which was, once again, white enough to make him stagger in his steps. True to the Voice's words, there was a rectangular bar labeled FOOD.


Like clockwork, he picked it up and moved back to his room, carefully eating it. The blandness of the food made him wish he had chocolate pudding. The thought made him pause. What the hell is chocolate pudding?


"I will not answer any questions." Shame, he wanted to know what chocolate pudding was. Also what the hell was he eating? What did it mean by his other numbers? How many numbers were there? What severe consequences will ensue if he didn't follow? Why is it so damn bright in his room? What is the Rec Room? So many questions, no one to answer them!


"This is your life, this has always been your life, and always will be your life." Six's nose scrunched up in distaste. That sounded rather ominous.


He finished off the food with no amount of pleasure. When the door slid open, Six merely stared at the space visible to him. Well, that answered some of his questions. The room currently visible to him had to be the Rec Room. The numbers... The numbers on the doors he could see, made the phrase "...your other Numbers..." jumped at him. That means he has to be one of them too, right?


He glanced down on his jumpsuit and hey, he had a number himself. "Six." The word rolled off his tongue easily as if he had always known that. Six. He had to be Six. He was Six. Why Six, though? He glanced up at the number of the door in front of his. One, the number came easily to him, was in between Ten and Two. As he mulled over that fact, he picked up on chatter from the room, as well as something slamming on something solid, making him jump slightly.


Then it occurred to him. Didn't the Voice tell him to interact with the others? It totally did. Not wanting to know what the Voice meant with severe consequences, Six briskly walked out of his room, the door closing behind him.


As he stood there, he observed the different numbers - people, he corrected himself rather automatically without any clue as to why he did that. The corners of his mouth twitched downwards as he took in his surroundings - and not just the people in it - before his next thought spilled right out of his lips as it popped into his mind, voice carrying over in the entire room, "What is up with all the white?"

 

[Byatis]

IX



​

Nine was oddly satisfied by Disgruntled's response. Her name for Eight wasn't fully accepted, but it wasn't completely rejected either. For some reason, deep down, it felt like progress. She lifted herself into a sitting position and leaned closer to the woman. "If you come up with anything else, let me know," Nine mentioned as she stood up to relocate. After a few steps, she turned back to Eight and added, "Oh, and you're dwarfish to me. It's not a bad thing." She looked around the room. It was only then that she realized that she was decently taller than all of the other females. In fact, she was almost as tall as the males. Girlboy. I see now.


A decently short distance from Disgruntled, was the rather large, brutish looking man who threw the cards earlier. Nine reached down and picked up a few of the cards. Next to them was the instructions on how to play with them properly. She glanced it over and came to the conclusion that she might have more enjoyment with them if she didn't follow the paper.


She placed one of the cards in her hand. Her pointer finger lined up with the longer edge of the small rectangular item. With it firmly secured between her thumb and middle finger, Nine flung the card at the jumping man's foot. She missed her target by quite a margin. Shrugging her shoulders, she inhaled deeply. She reloaded her hand with a card and cast it at his feet again. Missed again. It was closer, but not close enough to draw any attention to herself. She would keep trying. She wanted a resolution to her earlier daydreams.


As she lowered herself to restock on cards, she heard a new person enter the room. It appeared to her that he also didn't know what was going on. After gathering a much larger group paper ammunition, she answered his question with, "Well, the walls are blank. It's eerily fitting because just like the walls, our recollection of this place...also blank." She held up a card in his direction. "If you want a break from it, there's a lot of color on these."


She lowered the card, went back to her original throwing distance, and proceeded to try land the cards under hulking man's foot.

 

[NarutoDeathNote]

"Oh god, my legs..."


The pain of his lengthy session of...whatever it was...finally catches up to his godly legs. With one last jump, he lands and then falls to his hands and knees, grunting from the pain of his extended workout. It was only then he realized the bed of cards around his foots. "Who's throwing these monster cards at me?" He stands...slowly...and waves a blue card. "I could've fallen! That would've ruined my...whatever it was that I was doing." His eye (and the other eye) notice a strange figure against the wall. It was tall, sure, but this person looked as though they wanted nothing more than to melt into the white paint and vanish. Curious, 3 approached the male. Maybe he's leaning against the wall because he has some answers. At least, that's how 3 rationalized this incoming interaction. He stopped abruptly at a distance most people would find mildly uncomfortable. That is, he halted in place about a foot from this other person.


3 peered down at the man. Compared to his large and finely toned body, this man looked tiny and innocent. "I bet he's never seen a gym in his life," he thought. 3 crosses his arms and flexes his triceps


1


2


3 times. "I bet he's impressed now," thought 3. "With arms like these, he's sure to give me answers."


"Hey, whataya doin' on the wall? Do you know what's going on?"

 

[Eldarkon]

10 noticed a large muscular man walking towards him, stopping about a foot away from him. the giant peered down at him, crossing his arms and flexing them. 10 did not move at all, but not out of fear. he didn't fear anything it seemed like, and he was not impressed by the man at all. 10 admired skill and intelligence over strength and speed. he giggled at the man.and looked up at him with fearless eyes "I have as many questions as you.....3." he noticed the number on his jumpsuit "but what i do know is that we are here together to fulfill some kind of purpose" he uncrossed his arms "That is what i have deduced from what ive seen and heard"

 

[NarutoDeathNote]

"Oh? So what have you seen and heard?" It struck 3 to be an interesting sentence. It would imply that this person knows more about the facility they were being held in than anyone else. 3 turns to the room and shouts, "Hey guys! This guy knows some stuff about why we're here!" 3 felt proud. Usually he wasn't good at reading people but it seems he hit the jackpot now. "It must be the triceps," he thought proudly. "That must be why he told me." Suddenly, an overwhelming urge overwhelmed him. He clapped his hands together once and hopped straight up once before crouching. He then placed his hands onto the ground and kicked his legs straight behind him, landing on his toes in a manner that would suggest repetition and precision. His body was rigid and straight, held steady by his bulging muscular arms. Suddenly, he dropped once and only once, falling short of hitting the ground before launching himself to his feet and leaping into the air once more.


"I don't know why I do these things, but it feels good," thought 3. Maybe this was something he used to do. He couldn't remember now, of course, but there just might be a connection.

 

[Swindle]

Eight was jolted out of her self-induced trance by the sound of the hulking idiot shouting across the room. "Ah..." Pulling her finger slowly from the table, the girl's hands shaking and sweaty from earlier. She took a short breath and placed her hands between her legs, shuffling somewhat in her seat. After finishing this little post-enjoyment ritual, Eight got up and walked over to the athletic, if much smaller man, staring him directly in the eyes. She began speaking, in a soft, almost sweet tone. "Yes, what have you seen and heard, broody wallflower? I wouldn't dare come to the conclusion that you might know more than any of us - because if you did, that would make you a drooping, flowery target for questions and suspicion." Placing her hands on her hips as she cocked them slightly to the side, her fingers squishing slightly into the plush padding of her curves, she continued. "Did that raving robot thing tell you something that it hasn't told any of us?"


She squinted at the very young looking boy, awaiting whatever his answer may be.