Realistic or Modern Uhlrich Syndrome

[Mitheral]

Spoiler: Omit due to Member Inactivity

Lori Stevens - Random Stranger
(RS for short for all of you who want to save your fingers later)

Jun 20, 2021 0200 hrs Sunday early morning

Lori had been watching Emily for days through the eyes of the city. Of all the people on her shortlist Lori found Emily to be the most promising place to start. She felt like a kindred soul. And the vague rumors she had picked up on suggested a good reason for that. There was a list of Missing Person’s reports a mile long that all ended with the child being found at home. There was a report from Nursery School where she was found laying on top of her clothes during nap time. (At least she hadn’t sunk into the mat, but it was embarrassing and unexplainable.) The final story before the Clinic took her was an auto accident. The driver swerved to avoid hitting a girl matching Emily’s description in the middle of the night - and slammed into a large oak tree. He wasn’t killed, but a story was concocted about how he had been DUI. (He hadn’t been.) Lori had discovered the DUI report had been doctored. It was nothing but a cover up. Of course, the intoxication level had been just low enough to avoid an actal charge. The charge had been expunged and swept under the rug.

Lori suspected two powers at work - invisibility and insustantiality. It was a perfect combination that would suit her needs.

A homeless man watched as Emily King stepped out of her parents bar at about 0200 in the morning. She no doubt stank of alcohol - not that the man smelled much better. It had been a long night of work and her very long weekend shift was over. The woman senses, blunted by the very medication that kept her true self from emerging hardly noticed the homeless man. Men like him were invisible. Lori decided to make the man a bit more visible. He staggered as he approached, not even glancing at Emily until he got close. Then he looked up, his eyes sharp and intense. His voice rasped, “Stop taking the blue pills! They rob you -- of you. They say it is for your own good. But in truth it is because they are afraid. There are others like you who need your help.” Then the man’s face went slack and he went back to ambling along...

Duncan Moran and Diane Matthews

Duncan’s nose wrinkled at the smell of the contents of a bag of garbage as he opened it up. But even that didn’t gross him out as much as the maggots that squirmed in the foul ooze of rotting meat. He might have quit this job already if not for several things. First, the pay wasn’t bad. And it got him free vaccinations. Yay, he was resistant to Hepatitis and Tetnus! Second, it was way, WAY better than scooping ice cream for some annoying entitled brat who couldn’t make up his mind about what he wanted - while having to wear some silly hat and pay homage to the old adage that the customer was always right. The Hell they were! Third, this was where he had run into Diane Matthews.

Diane was his “sister”, a modern hippie tree hugger who thought this was the dream job, saving the world from waste. She considered the world heroic. They had talked and found they had a LOT in common. Most interesting was the fact that they had been born about 15 minutes apart in the same hospital in Reno. They started joking about being twins - fraternal, of course. He was slightly older, hence the big brother. They even LOOKED related.

“Oh look, protein!” Diane exclaimed, much to the annoyance of one of the others working there. She was way too cheerful for their taste.

Duncan grinned. “I don’t care what it smells like; jump in.”

Diane shook her head. “Shame on you. You’re the Star Wars fan. It goes: “Get in there, you big furry oaf! I don't care what you smell!” And I am not furry nor an oaf. I am more of a … Princess.” She grinned. “I am the Azure Princess!”

Only then did Diane’s smile fade. The Azure Princess was an idea she had had for a story. But she had never managed to get it on paper. She would try now and then, but she simply couldn’t stick with it for long. But she was sure if she could complete it, it would make for a great novel.

“You want to hit Comicon next weekend? (Jun 26 - 27, 2021)”

Diane shrugged. "I guess. Better than sitting around the apartment.”

Iacentis , nohbdy , @Sorley , Jessie_Ackerman , Selee-01 , @nightvision

 

[Iacentis]

Genesis Taylor King
Jun 20, 2021 0630 hrs Sunday morning

The burning crash of the alarm tore her from the sweet respite of the dream lands, reverberating throughout the minuscule set of rooms that made up apartment 713. With a groan and a wildly searching hand Genesis perused the contents of the shelf upon which her phone had been left. Grasping hold of the disturbing device, she offered only a half-aware glance at the time before fingering for the snooze button. Collapsing back unto the pillow as the phone fell to the side of the bed, she lingered staring towards the opposite side of the small room with the unwelcome presence of waking awareness slowly settling on.

She directed a mental insult at a certain Thomas, who'd skipped out and left her with the closing shift yesterday. Saturdays of all times, didn't he know she had to be up early on Sundays? A fact that certainly did not help the vague idea she'd conceived of gathering together a semblance of a social life. Considering it for a moment she reached the conclusion that he probably did not, since the two of them barely spoke. That fact didn't lessen the ass-holiness of the act in her mind.

Again, the sound of the alarm went of, reminding her of the instant of shuteye that had consumed another fifteen minutes of precious morning time. For a moment she just let it ring, considering just how much another push of the snooze button would hurt. Eventually the dread of being roused by that sound once more won out however, and she slowly crawled from the bed. Victorious, the alarm seemed fine with being silenced until it's next battle the following morning would arrive.

One bowl of cereal, a shower and another set of morning routines fumbled through in a slightly panicked and hastened manner later, Genesis slipped the door to her apartment open. Just stepping outside before she parted with an audible sigh and dove back in, a rapid set of steps carrying her over to the solitary locker that lay half-hidden in between two cookbooks. Slipping a tiny key from a nearby cupboard, she fiddled with the lock for a moment before reaching into the coffer of pills within. Running low, she made a mental note of, before staring at the small blue capsule in her hand.

Genesis hated the pills, for the near permanent state of light dizzy they bestowed upon her and the sense of exhaustion and weakness that seemed ever amplified once they took effect. But she'd been repeatedly reassured that the alternative was worse, way worse. She'd looked into it, of course, but there was only so many stories of those permanently interred in asylums or those involved in horrible accidents that one could consume in an afternoon before one wanted to push those thoughts aside.

Genesis swallowed the pill with the customary glass of water, placing the bottle of water back into the fridge just long enough to make a note of the packet of milk she knew was running out. With things finally coming towards some state of order, now certainly several minutes late to the planned bus she was supposed to take, she made for the door once more.

Slipping the phone from her pocket, she started searching up the next departure as she noted down the words 'Milk' on the tiny shopping list that hung next to the door. Locking the door to apartment 713 behind her as she offered another groan to whatever in the world was listening. A whole twenty-seven minutes until the next bus, a sigh passed through her lips as her shoulders sunk forwards to a still slightly drowsy walk.

"Way to go Ginnie, showing the world you're on top and completely in control..." She muttered to herself.

The wait and the following journey went by in what seemed an empty drift across a void. The familiar dulling sensation of the blue capsule settling in somewhere within those twenty seven minutes. The slow rhythmic voice of a mathematician explaining a topic she tried her best to pay attention to played from the confines of her singular functioning earphone. It served as enough of an attention grabber to keep her from dosing of where she stood and later sat, but given how hard she found it to remember what the man had said just a few minutes ago, Genesis doubted she'd actually take most of it to heart. Still, perhaps some of it would stick to her by osmosis? All whilst the dreary New York streets swung by on the other side of the window.

 

[Selee-01]

Alex awoke with a sigh, shaking off another nightmare. They were always the same: the sound of screams and breaking bones, and his own fury. He slid out of bed and into the shower, letting icy water wake him up. After that, and brushing his teeth, he ate a boiled egg and popped a pill.

The pills were supposed to make him feel better. Mostly, he just felt tired and weak. After a round of exercises, he pulled on a hoodie and stalked out of his small apartment. Alex hopped onto a bus, and pulled out his outdated IPhone to kill some time. Today was a therapy day, and he didn’t want to miss it.

He felt like something was missing from his life. He had no idea what it was.

 

[nohbdy]

Bzzt. Bz- The alarm clock barely had a chance to buzz the second time before a hand smacked the button to turn it off. A sigh erupted from the already awake young man sitting on the floor, knees propped up, and back against the bed. Daniel laid his head back on his mattress and closed his eyes, praying the higher powers for a small reprieve. Some days were fine- he was almost a functional human being. While other days, he didn’t even know how he got up and went to work. Yesterday was one of the bad days. His head felt like it was constantly swimming in muddy water. During work, he had been reprimanded multiple times by the warehouse supervisor on the slowness of his performance. And despite trying all the tricks the therapist had given to him to help relieve a migraine, Daniel still felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head by how much his brain incessantly throbbed.

Gathering whatever wits he had left, Daniel finally got up. He trudged over to the small kitchenette in his studio apartment to make himself breakfast. As he waited for the water to boil, Daniel poured himself a bowl of cereal and absently shoved the food into his mouth. Once his kettle started whistling, Daniel made himself a cup of lemon ginger tea. Then he made his way back to his nightstand to grab his pill bottle.

I should probably tell the therapist about the headaches, he thought as he popped a pill. Daniel immediately shook his head to dispel the thought. He had told his therapist about the migraines multiple times, but every variation of the medicine that he took made it worst or left him feeling too fuzzy to do anything production. Once glance at the clock made Daniel move a little faster. Finishing his tea with one large gulp- ignoring the burning sensation down his throat- Daniel quickly changes clothes and made his way to the bus stop. At least he enjoyed his day job at the nursery more than he did his night job.

 

[Iacentis]

A slight bump in the road shook Genesis from her questionable state of consciousness. Lifting her gaze and attention from the dreary ramblings of an old man scribbling upon a blackboard in what was clearly meant to be a video that had long since been turned into podcast format. Idly her eyes wandered across the mostly empty seats of the bus that seemed in dear need of renovation until they landed upon a figure that provoked an expression of familiarity.

It took a moment before she seemed to have made a decision on a course of action. Slipping slowly from the seat she'd previously occupied and drifting down the short distance that separated her from Alex, she gently tapped on one of the bars close to his seat, a soft attempt to draw the fellow human being from their state of inattention.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, just thought I recognized you from, well..." She'd hummed, appearing to pause to formulate a more proper choice of words. Eventually, she settled on a rather direct approach as she threw herself down on the seat across the walkway from Alex "...having the same therapist?"

 

[Mitheral]

Duncan Moran and Diane Matthews
Jun 20, 2021 Sunday Morning

Sunday was their one day off a week. For Diane it meant trying in vain to get rid of the smell of work. A shower or even a scented bath wasn’t enough. There was still all the smelly clothes to wash - and Duncan was about as lazy as it got when it came to housework. More than once she had reminded him that they were NOT joined at the hip and she wasn’t his maid. At least she had managed to get him a little housebroken - enough to remember to put the toilet seat down.

Her day started out with the blue pill. The fact that it was blue was about the ONLY thing she liked about it. Her therapist kept adjusting the medication and had expressed concerns that she might need hospitalization and constant observation. She did NOT like that idea. However, she had been growing more paranoid lately. This morning was no different. She looked at her medication and was certain someone had messed with it. Duncan NEVER went through her stuff. But then they did have friends and not all of them were necessarily as trustworthy.

“Duncan,” she yelled, “have you been in my medicine cabinet?”

“No?” Duncan sounded confused. “Your stuff is too girly for me.”

She snorted. Duncan had no reason to mess with her meds. If anything she had to remind HIM to take his own. He was horrible about remembering little things.

Duncan had been out to check Diane’s pickup - Old Blue. (She named it.) He was planning to pick up groceries later. The battery or alternator had been on the fritz - or there was something wrong with the electrical system. Once more her pickup had shocked the hell out of him. Rather impressive arc of electricity it had been too.

“Blue was dead. I changed the battery again. You know, we can’t afford replacing the battery all the time. We need to take your truck to the shop.”

“Maybe you are right and my truck doesn’t like you …”

/////

Lori smiled in her control center. First symptoms had begun. She was a little dismayed that Diane had realized her pill bottle had moved. She had done her best to put it back exactly as it had been before. She double checked the loops she had placed on the surveillance put in place by the government. If they suspected that the suppressed powers were returning, Diane and Duncan would find themselves back in the asylum.

 

[nohbdy]

"And honey, will you grab that rose plant for me as well?" asked the old lady. Daniel held in a sigh. He had been helping the same person for the past hour now. While he was supposed to be restocking the nursery’s soil and fertilizers, an older woman came up to him asking for help. He would have pushed her onto one of the other associates who was working the floor today but when he turned around, everyone else was also tied up.

Geez. Is everyone trying to start a garden or something? It was rare for the nursery to get this busy, so he wondered why everyone decided to get a green thumb. He also wondered who was going to help this woman when she got home. After going around to the different sections of the store, she had bought two trees, a few shrubs, and some flowers. Sure he could help her load, but she’ll definitely need help once she got to her destination. “Alright ma’am. Please follow me to the checkout.”

Daniel rubbed his temples as he pushed the cart to checkout. His headache had been getting worse throughout the day but he was unsure if it was from the medication or him staying up all night.

 

[Mitheral]

Spoiler: ”Diane’s Pickup - Old Blue”

http://d254andzyoxz3f.cloudfront.net/vintagetrucksunder12k_dodgebseriespilothouse_art.jpg

Dark blue vintage 1946 Dodge pickup. A temporary sticker is proudly displayed in the rear window - low enough that it won’t block her view - that simply says Go Green. Recycle. (You will have to imagine the dark blue. This one is greener than hers, but she does have the dump truck mod.)

Diane had wanted to run by the Nursery to pick up some gardening supplies. Truth was she could have done everything herself. But they also needed to pick up some materials to make costumes for cosplay for Comicon. Plus they needed groceries. And Duncan’s car was dead - possibly for the final time. It was a 14 year old hatchback worth no more than a few hundred dollars - if that. She was his way of getting around if he didn’t want to use public transportation - which they usually did if they were expecting to shop for more than Duncan could carry.

They had run Duncan’s errands first, largely because handling dirt - potting soil - was going to possibly get Duncan dirty. They had taken care of their other business first and dropped off groceries and supplies at their tiny apartment. (They really needed a better place.)

Duncan wore his usual blue jeans and a black T-shirt, Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses (or cheap imitations), and fingerless gloves. He also wore industrial ear plugs - the conical ones that squished and fit into one’s ears before expanding to provide good protection. Diane wore much darker sunglasses, the same sort of earplugs, and a blue jean outfit. As much as every guy there would have loved to help her she had her 6’9” giant of a “boyfriend” with her. At least that was everyone’s assumption. And who would have thought otherwise given the way he did everything he was told?

She finished her shopping far quicker than most customers. Clearly she knew what she needed. In fact, she could be overheard explaining the differences between some of the plants and how they would compliment each other botanically. Once she had finished checking out she sent Duncan along with the purchases. Then she approached Daniel and asked if the store was taking applications.

nohbdy

 

[nohbdy]

Daniel turned as a woman came up to him to ask if the store was taking applications. He had just finished helping another customer select some plants (his manager told him not to worry about restocking after seeing how busy the store was) and was hiding off to the side for a quick break. "Ummm... I am sure we are?" He honestly never paid attention to things like that once he was hired. "Let me go grab the manager for you, miss." They recently got a walkie talkie system, but since Daniel wasn't planning on working the floor today, he wasn't given one. Usually he would just radio his manager over on questions like this for him to deal with.

He started walking towards the customer service desk. Matt typically lived there on days like this when it was busy, trying to sort through the more disgruntled customers. If he wasn't there, at least he knew that he could use the CS radio to radio him.

Mitheral

 

[Mitheral]

Duncan tried to wait patiently out at the truck, but the simple truth was, he simply had no patience. His eyes remained glued to the entrance to the Nursery wondering what was keeping her. While he waited he suffered a brief distraction while some guy (Daniel or some other) helped some woman out to her pickup to get her trees and shrubs loaded up. While her helper struggled to lift everything into her truck, she eyed Duncan and played with her hair a little.

Duncan hardly seemed to notice. Instead his attention fell on the purchases. He had a brief look of annoyance and limped over. While her help was in the truck arranging things to ride safely, he stooped down and lifted a tree with one hand, steadying it slightly with his left hand. But it did save having to hop in and out of the truck to get it loaded.

When they were done, Duncan grumbled. “I wonder what’s keeping her? You see a girl in there? Blue. She’s hard to miss or forget. Blue.” Then he had a moment of clarity. “Oh wait! Application. I bet she’s filling one out. I should do that.” He looked at the help. “We both work at a Temp job. Recycling plant. It’s work. But … smelly. Is the nursery even hiring?”

His head was clearer than usual. He hated the blue pills. Of course, the down side of that was that his clear head meant he might have to up his dosage.

///

Inside the store Diane had decided to fill out her application. She had thought to grab one for Duncan. She was pretty practiced at filling apps and was a fast writer anyways. Matt had paid attention to her - for other reasons. She was, well, healthy was the polite way of describing her. But she had more knowledge than most of his employees and had experience in gardening - though more for food than decoration.

She gave her application one last look. She had learned not to fill out an application in calligraphy. There WAS such a thing as overkill. But it was neat and very, very readable. She smirked inwardly, amused that by comparison Duncan’s writing was chicken scratch. And he would take much longer to fill out his app.

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

Their therapist had always set appointments with stop / start times separated by 30 minutes. That had not stopped a few of her patients from showing up early. The idea had been to keep them from associating with one another. Yet somehow some of them had begun to pair up. Duncan and Diane had discovered their similarities quite by accident at a Comicon. That was another thing she frowned on. But comic books had a therapeutic value - so long as her patients didn’t get it into their heads that THEY could fly or something. Today both of her patients were high on the list of being dangerous, especially Genesis. Both had required considerable “brainwashing”. Crude term, but it had been necessary. Unrestrained they were deadly. Their medication was the only thing that kept them “safe.” And there were those who argued that allowing her patients into the mainstream public was a bad idea. But it had always been her goal to re-integrate them into society to lead normal lives. She was their doctor.

As expected she had increased the dosage to two pills a day. She already knew how many pills they should have left and asked to make sure they hadn’t been skipping doses. She could read lies. But both patients assured her they were taking their medicine as instructed.

What neither patient knew - and there couldn’t lie about - was that their medication had been swapped out with fake medication. Their last dose had been about 30 hours ago. Lori knew she was working with borrowed time now, that she needed to make contact. The problem was that most of the people she could possess during the day either lacked money to take a bus, or weren’t along the bus route.

However, luck took a turn for the better when the pair sat across from one another. Then an elderly woman sat down near them. Her eyes were practically glazed over with a lack of cognizance of her surroundings. She was practically running on autopilot, having taken the route so many times she knew it by heart. Good, that would give Lori a few minutes.

The elderly woman’s eyes suddenly widened with a gleam of intelligence. She turned to the pair. Her voice was hushed but serious. “Stop taking the blue pills. Discover the real you. You are alike; we are alike. And there are others. There is no such thing as Uhlrich’s Syndrome.” Just as suddenly the light went out of the elderly woman’s eyes and she blinked confused. The change was so obvious it was a little frightening.

 

[Iacentis]

With little to do for an answer, Genesis had skittered back to the confines of her prior seat to lounge in the awkwardness of an unresponsive greeting. Arms enfolded around the handbag that'd seen repeated patching and repair in a sense not dissimilar to that of a protective blanket or the likes. Great Job, Ginnie, can't even start a conversation proper, well adjusted for sure.

Thankfully, her savior from drifting thoughts arrived to the sight of a bus stop. It was, after all, easier to put some thoughts at rest when one had to prepare for that old visibly gentle but strict berating at ones tardiness that awaited one within the office in the oldest known house in her life but a few paces away. Once inside she offered but a nervous smile towards the receptionist that recognized her before heading on up. The door stood ajar as usual, waiting and calling all at ones. Genesis steps slowed from what had previously been a small jog as she took the last few to the door, peeking inside only to utter "I'm so sorry I'm late.. I overslept."

The rest of the session, brief as it was for it came to be cut short, went about as predicted. The usual check-in questions about taking her pills and the likes being prioritized, leaving her little time to consider any other topic she'd much rather talk about, like how Thomas was being such an asshole and it was tripping her up. And of course, she was reminded that her tardiness to these sessions should be dealt with, lest they start to lead her further down a dark spiral.

Having hurried out of the place she called the oldest house before letting go of the breath she'd held throughout her visitation therein. She'd let her shoulders sink as she quietly started wandering down the street, the calm of morning finally arriving to the company of a slow stroll down a set of storefronts constituting a street. She knew most of them by heart, and knew equally well how few of them actually held anything she'd reasonably be able to afford. That didn't stop her front window-shopping in passing. Especially since she was mostly bereft of the hurry that occupied the early part of the day, the bus home would arrive in another half an hour after all.

Go home, get something to eat, then prepare for the afternoon shift at the store. That was the plan on her mind as she passed by a local bespoke store, eyes lingering on the beautiful suits that stood presented in the windows for but a dreaming moment. Yet as she turned her head back to the street, she nearly tripped over her own feet as her gaze seemed to linger there, on that marine blue suit. In a sudden panic she lashed out her hand to grasp for something, anything to hold onto at the sudden detachment from her own sense of sight.

The strange occurrence faded as quickly as it'd arrived, accompanying a painful meeting of body and concrete as Genesis fell to the ground with a groan. For a moment she just lingered there, in confusion and pain until she took note of the stares she was getting. Scrapping back to her feet, she chuckled awkwardly and brushed some dust from her jacket "Sorry, I tripped on something, I'm fine.. I'm fine..."

Right, home and maybe a nap before work, I definitely need it. What in the world was that?

The rest of the wait for the bus was, thankfully, relatively normal. Although she couldn't quite shake the thought of what had just happened. The arrival of the bus offered a brief reprieve, a promise of a return to the boring but non-weird rest of her day. It had offered it, and then just as quickly snapped it away when the old woman had moved up besides her and uttered those words.

"What in the world!? What are you on?" Genesis had garbled out before she really had a chance to consider the words she'd chosen to speak. Withdrawing even further into the confines of her seat as she stared toward the venerable lady, only then taking note of the change and confusion that had overtaken them. "Shit.. I'm sorry ma'am, I... Please forget I said that." she'd hummed, withdrawing back into her own world and mind as the bus briefly stopped to thankfully cut the potential conversation with an insulted senior citizen short.

Still, the words lingered in her mind. What had just been said obviously had no bearing on any reality she knew, was she hallucinating it? She'd read somewhere that it wasn't an impossible side effect of Uhlrich. Would she need her dosage increased again to counteract this? The idea terrified her further, to become even more sedate and dampened by those damned blue capsules. Perhaps this was just a one time thing, a bad day, if it didn't happen again, it didn't need mentioning right? No, it definitely did not need to come up next Sunday unless it happened again before she arrived.

Still, what if it's real? The thought repeated and repeated in her head, across ever turn that the vehicle swiveled through and across every future bump. She tried to push it away of course, to entertain delusions was to risk loosing yourself in them as she'd always been told. Yet it had sunk it's claws deep, and throwing sensibilities and reason towards that annoying little thought only seemed to reinforce it's metaphorical grip on her mind. Lingering as she approached the journeys end, as she made to return to the home that was safe and most of all, was not weird. There is no such thing as Uhlrich's Syndrome.

 

[Selee-01]

Mitheral

After Alex’s appointment, which revealed nothing new, he decided to grab lunch at the local fast food place. Sure, he had a schedule to keep up, but he deserved a little treat every now and then, right? Besides, ice cream was delicious.

He soon walked into the restaurant, and stepped up to the counter. There were remarkably few people at the tables, but that didn’t mean anything. That was paranoid thinking.

“Hi, I’d like a plain burger and fries, with a vanilla cone,” he said to the cashier.

 

[nohbdy]

Daniel appreciated the help. He was getting tired after not sleeping through the night and having to lift older customer’s purchases into their car because he felt bad that they had to do it themselves. “Uh yeah..” he answered Duncan after recently finding out that they were hiring because the other girl had asked earlier. “Your friend is still filling out an application at the customer service desk if you need to find her.”

He wiped the sweat off his head before moving onto the next customer that needed help loading their items. It was a rather warm day and he had told the girls inside he would help out here while they serviced everyone inside knowing that some of them had a harder time lifting heavy objects. Silently, he was thought it was weird that would just willing walk up to the nursery to ask for a job. They held open interviews all the time and no one seemed to show up on those days.

Mitheral

 

[Mitheral]

Diane and Duncan with Daniel nohbdy

Duncan followed Daniel back into the store. As soon as he entered he spotted the splotch of blue that was Diane instantly. He heaved a sigh and gave a “really?” gesture. Diane just smiled and waved an application. He walked over and took the one she offered. He sighed. Then he got to work filling it out. By now he had filled out so many applications he knew all his information by heart. Still it took him a lot longer to fill in than Diane. Diane simply wrote that much faster.

Of course, Matt wasn’t going to read it right then save for a brief glance. The store was simply too busy. Neither was he going to do an interview. But he did ask them to jot down good times for interviews and available work hours. They explained briefly that they worked a temp job, plus a part time job. That always told a manager that the prospective employees needed the work, not just some kids who would show up when it was convenient.

While Duncan finished filling out his application Diane poked around the store some more. For her working in a place like this would be a vacation.

(OOC: FYI, Daniel has also been off his meds for 30-36 hours. (Last dose Saturday morning. This was Sunday.)

Lori with Genesis Iacentis

Genesis walk home from the bus stop was far from normal. Every now and then she would notice some homeless person watching her. They would wave briefly, smile and nod. Then their expression would glaze over as they returned to their ambling walk.

Then came the real weird - what would you call it? - visitation? Some guy from an alley carrying one of those Help signs to beg for money. The man’s gaze was intense. “Check to see what the tooth fairy left you under your pillow. You are not crazy.” Then the man backed up right THROUGH a solid wall as if he was a ghost.

Lori with Alex Selee-01

Spoiler: Forgot to Wait for Damon

They were everywhere it seemed. Random people turned to watch him. One bag lady pushing a cart stopped and did the “got my eyes on you” gesture with her fingers. Then her expression went dull and she continued on. It was freaky weird. What was weirder was the one who walked THROUGH a sign post as if they were a ghost. But things really got spooky when he got home and checked his mail - on a Sunday. There was a small package addressed to him, but with no postage and no return address. As soon as he made it to his apartment the package vibrated briefly like a cell phone receiving a text message.)

(The message reads: “There is no such thing as Uhlrich’s Syndrome. If you want to find out who you really are, stop taking the blue pills. You have every reason to be paranoid. Let anyone know and you will end up in an asylum like the rest.” There was no return number.

 

[Jessie_Ackerman]

Alan bought blue long Camel at one of the news stands. He liked the feel of nicotine entering his lungs, after he chugs the blue pill down his throat. He lit one up immediately, sucking in the smoke and filling his lungs yet again. It gave him a tingling sensation and it employed his hands for the time being. It was his day off and as such, he'd put on his headphones, turn the volume all the way up and listen to Queen. Al would walk for hours and sit on benches visit new places, at least one day a week, leaving his sister alone, so she could have the house for herself; she'd invite friends over and have her own day off without her brother sitting in front of his console and playing games.

His stomach growled as he was finishing his cigarette. Stomping it with his foot, Al turned in circles - his eye caught a restaurant that he didn't try out yet. Alan felt his lips were dry and his throat was aching for some kind of liquid. Taking off his earphones, Alan entered the unknown place slowly, looking around as if he was a child in an amusement park. Each step calculated, the time was his and Alan was in no rush. He spied a blond haired man ordering something. "Burger, fries...and an ice-cream. Strange combination.", he said to himself with an inner chuckle. Al approached the cashier standing next to Alex. He looked over the menu for some time with wide eyes, watching the price tag and ultimately figuring out that his hunger was greater than the price itself.

"Can I have a king sized burger please, with a lot of fries and perhaps a big soda. Coke yeah. The biggest you have. I can't smoke in here can I?", he wasn't sure, but his voice oozed confidence. It was a bit raspy, yet it felt like it slid on honey. He could have been a voice actor, because his voice wasn't just plain deep, it was charming in a strange and unnerving sense. As if it yearned for something. Alan planned to take a break and sit down, munch on something and relax with Freddie singing in his ear.

He turned to the blonde haired man and squinted, trying to tackle social communication, since it was on his list of to-do things. "Strange combination. Been here before?", Al put on a soft, friendly smile. It was hard for him to make friends and even harder to be the first one to engage in a conversation, but he wasn't a child anymore. Even his sister implored him to make more friends; or at least the ones that counted.

Selee-01

 

[Selee-01]

Alan bought blue long Camel at one of the news stands. He liked the feel of nicotine entering his lungs, after he chugs the blue pill down his throat. He lit one up immediately, sucking in the smoke and filling his lungs yet again. It gave him a tingling sensation and it employed his hands for the time being. It was his day off and as such, he'd put on his headphones, turn the volume all the way up and listen to Queen. Al would walk for hours and sit on benches visit new places, at least one day a week, leaving his sister alone, so she could have the house for herself; she'd invite friends over and have her own day off without her brother sitting in front of his console and playing games.

His stomach growled as he was finishing his cigarette. Stomping it with his foot, Al turned in circles - his eye caught a restaurant that he didn't try out yet. Alan felt his lips were dry and his throat was aching for some kind of liquid. Taking off his earphones, Alan entered the unknown place slowly, looking around as if he was a child in an amusement park. Each step calculated, the time was his and Alan was in no rush. He spied a blond haired man ordering something. "Burger, fries...and an ice-cream. Strange combination.", he said to himself with an inner chuckle. Al approached the cashier standing next to Alex. He looked over the menu for some time with wide eyes, watching the price tag and ultimately figuring out that his hunger was greater than the price itself.

"Can I have a king sized burger please, with a lot of fries and perhaps a big soda. Coke yeah. The biggest you have. I can't smoke in here can I?", he wasn't sure, but his voice oozed confidence. It was a bit raspy, yet it felt like it slid on honey. He could have been a voice actor, because his voice wasn't just plain deep, it was charming in a strange and unnerving sense. As if it yearned for something. Alan planned to take a break and sit down, munch on something and relax with Freddie singing in his ear.

He turned to the blonde haired man and squinted, trying to tackle social communication, since it was on his list of to-do things. "Strange combination. Been here before?", Al put on a soft, friendly smile. It was hard for him to make friends and even harder to be the first one to engage in a conversation, but he wasn't a child anymore. Even his sister implored him to make more friends; or at least the ones that counted.

Selee-01

Alex turned to face the stranger, silvery eyes narrowing briefly. Had he seen this guy before? Perhaps, but he doubted it. He put on a reasonable facsimile of a smile. His therapist had suggested he should try to overcome his shyness.

"Normally I don't eat here- I'm on a fitness kick lately. But I thought, what the hell- I deserve a cheat day every now and then," Alex said. He extended a hand, and added, "I'm Alex. You are?"

Alex prided himself on his ability to read people, and took the time to look over this man. He looked fit, and the way he carried himself suggested that he knew how to fight, but he didn't convey much of a threat. And he was tall, Alex noted sourly. Overall, worth talking to for a while.

 

[Jessie_Ackerman]

While their orders were being prepared, Alan found this new found interaction quite exhilarating. Apart from his usual and monotonous routine, this was a breath of fresh air. The man himself was quite timid, much like him and he thought if they have more things in common. Could this be someone he can actually get together with now and again, to drown apathy.

Al shook his hand firmly with vigor. "Alan. A pleasure to meet you Alex. I agree, you need a cheat day to reward yourself sometimes. It's good to keep in shape. Wish I could do more instead of walking. I've never really been that motivated to train. Maybe I should get a gym membership. But also this might drag me down.", Alan flashed the box of Camel alluding to his smoking addiction.
"Crazy thing...but gives me something to do at night.", Al thought that all of those books he read on salesmen and persuasion can finally be developed.

The letters 'ER' were scratched on the silver zippo he held in his palm. Al looked it over as if subconsciously trying to lift it, just a bit. He felt a drowsy feeling wash over him, melancholy taking its hold.

 

[Iacentis]

With any hope of normalcy long since abandoned, Genesis steps had taken on ever further hurry with each passing interaction that was so outside her normative day that it threatened to throw her into a state of mild panic just on it's own. At first she pretended to ignore them, each strange smile and nod that seemed to single her out among the crowd of people she walked among, telling herself that such events were mere figments of her imagination. Such a lie could only be perpetrated for so long, however.

Then it came to pass that one of these strange people that acted like she was known to them had spoken words about leaving something below her pillow, then it came to pass that one of these strange people had passed through a wall right before her eyes. She'd wanted to yell at them until that very moment, to give way to the possibility that she wasn't hallucinating just long enough to tell the world to shut up. Instead she'd just stopped there, mouth faintly agape as she watched the position that the speaking person had occupied, the point at which they'd passed through a wall, and shook her head.

Think, Ginnie, think, is there anything that could make sense of this? Either you're hallucinating so vividly that you're probably lost in the wilderness at this point, or what just happened was real. Let's say I entertain the possibility that people can spontaneously disparate into a concrete wall for a second. What do I do with that information, and how do I keep myself out of an asylum if I acknowledge it as true?

Worry carried her up the dingy stairs that led to apartment 713, with a hand set in an uncertain tremble providing a troublesome fumbling for executing the basic motor skills of unlocking a door. She slammed it perhaps a little loudly behind her as she slipped inside, finally risking a long deep breath. Another such inhalation followed shortly, the only sound echoing across an otherwise quiet small apartment.

For a time she just stood, altering between deeper breaths meant to calm her and vivid stares that wandered between the bottle of pills and the bed set in a state she couldn't quite remember if it was her doing or not. Eventually, that time came to an end with a few steps in the direction of the bed. Pushing the pillow aside in search of whatever for whatever this 'fairy' had left there beneath.

Do I want there to be nothing there? I don't know what is worse...

 

[Mitheral]

It was easy enough to watch Genesis walk home to her apartment. But once there was noone in direct line of sight Lori could no longer track her. She could borrow the senses of others, but only those whose minds were blank could she possess and alter their perspective. Without that all she had was peripheral vision. Watching Duncan and Diane was pretty easy as they were attractive and tended to draw attention. Genesis was also attractive enough to warrant sneak peaks by those she passed by.

Lori knew the instant Genesis entered her apartment though - or rather the instant the electricity use increased slightly. Judging by how long it had taken she hadn’t interacted with anyone. Now all Lori could do was wait.

///

(OOC: This is NOT a normal phone.)

There was a small burner cell phone under the pillow. It was already turned on. Even as Genesis watched the phone vibrated with an incoming text. The message read: “There is no such thing as Uhlrich’s Syndrome. If you want to find out who you really are, stop taking the blue pills. You have every reason to be paranoid. Let anyone know and you will end up in an asylum like the rest. -Random Stranger.” There was no return number.

The cell phone buzzed again. “When you are ready - and others - I will arrange for you to meet at a secure location. Until then be careful. Be not afraid. As a child you could not control yourself. As an adult you will.”

From her control center Lori smiled hopefully, though with a sense of worry. What if this plan somehow backfired. She had made plans for that possibility. But Genesis King was listed as one of the most dangerous patients.

Iacentis

 

[Iacentis]

Genesis had stared for at least a minute or two after the final message had arrived. Hand clasping the strange burner phone with a wide-eyed stare, repeatedly blinking as if expecting it to fade and pretend to never have existed any moment now. But that moment did not come, the phone was still there, that strange message plastered on the screen. Eventually she had to admit she was actually holding a phone, a phone that had declared in no uncertain terms the same message the old woman had paraphrased earlier on the bus.

Be not afraid, right... no need to be afraid of someone obviously having broken into your home, or that can organize a bloody spy network of homeless people or whatever is going on. Or walk through walls. Yes, Ginnie, be not afraid like the phone says. I'll continue being god damned terrified of this situation you've thrown me into, thank you very much random phone from 'Random Stranger'!

She glared over towards the small bottle of pills that still stood upon the cupboard among the meager collection of books. If they wanted me to stop taking the damn things, why not just take them while they were at it with the home invasion and all? She furrowed her brows, still gripping the burner phone in hand as another hand reached to pick up the set of pills. Another moment of silent staring, contemplation.

Eventually she dropped both pill bottle and phone into the interior of the cupboard, a frustrated groan escaping her lips as she shook her head. Silently staggering over to the refrigerator to prepare the reheating of some leftovers from some days prior. Lunch and work, that was the plan, lord knows that a nap was out of the question with how stressed out of her mind she felt.

I don't know what in the world is going on, but this is to much to drop on someone who's had to little sleep on a bloody Sunday!

Some meager presentation and consumption of food later, she'd half managed to return to a state of relative calm. Whatever truth there was to the statements of the mysterious stranger, there was little that could be found out about the validity of them right now anyway. She'd already taken the blue pills today, at least she remembered doing so, so she had at least the chance to sleep on it before making any potentially lethal decisions that could ruin her scraps of a life forever.

For now, however, work called. Not literally, but the time of her shift was approaching. Before she left for such however, she took the time to withdraw some old tape from one of the box, placing it upon the outside of the door after locking it to give a possible indication if she were to receive more unexpected visitors when she was gone. Well in place, at least to the meager subtlety she could scruff up, she turned to head out into the wild world once more. To an afternoon of, hopefully, normal work.

I bloody well hope whoever's behind this little show has the courtesy to let a girl earn her bread in peace, at least...

 

[nohbdy]

Daniel cursed as he brushed against one of the metal shelves and shocked himself again for the fiftieth time today. He was starting to get annoyed as he had no idea why it kept happening. It's not like the weather was ideal for static to accumulate. In fact it was the completely opposite, it was a hot and humid day. Daniel was glad that his work uniform for the nursery consisted of just an apron though. If he was in his warehouse uniform, he would probably be boiling; the place required him to wear long sleeves, gloves, and a safety cap.

He also thought his little bathroom incident in the morning had been a bit weird. When Daniel went to use the employee bathroom during break, the light sparked and blew the moment he touched the light switch. On top of that, he was asked by two random people if the nursery was hiring. Maybe it was because he looked like a nice guy or maybe it was because he looked like a manager (he sincerely hoped it was the former and not the later. He definitely did not want to be a manager), but he just thought it was weird someone would randomly ask him those questions. But he certainly didn't mind the help the one guy had given him when he was trying to load too many saplings into a truck bed.

Daniel looked at the time, wondering when if his day was ending soon. The reason why he liked his day job was because it was a casual job that didn't require too much effort. He definitely did not expect to be hauling items into cars all day.

 

[Mitheral]

Lori sighed and waited. No replies to her text were forthcoming. That was a little disappointing, but not completely unexpected. Her subjects were people who had been brainwashed for years - most for over a decade.

Her next targets were Duncan and Diane - who would be heading home next. Then Alex. Then Daniel. She had already placed the cell phones under their pillows. The next step was telling them to look - without being spotted. The real problem was going to be Alan - who lived with his sister. She couldn’t just leave a cell phone hidden under a pillow with a chance of being discovered by the wrong person. Alan would have to wait until night.

Of all of her subjects Diane seemed to be the most well adjusted. She seemed to be the most resistant to the medication. Her life was more organized. Duncan seemed to have developed the highest tolerance to the meds and was already showing the development of powers. He and Genesis were a lot alike in the education department. Both were almost obsessed with learning. The meds had robbed them of the drive to finish what they started though.

///

Duncan had two more stops to make. Materials to make their cosplay garb. And auto parts - including another couple batteries. Finally they arrived at their apartment. Lori watched as they unloaded the pickup. Then she got around to texting them. This time she turned the phone’s sound up to maximum.

It was Diane who first thought to respond.

"Who are you?" Diane texted a reply hoping the phone knew where to send the response.

Lori responded instantly. "Call me Random Stranger - or RS. The pills have suppressed your power and ability to focus. It has sapped your ambitions. I suspect the medication is, in fact, a sort of antipsychotic. As children you lacked restraint in the use of your abilities. I do not know the specific histories. But odds are that people we harmed. But now as adults you have developed restraint over your anger. You are no longer given to childish tantrums. However, understand that your abiities will set you apart. If it is discovered that you have failed to take your medication, Zebra teams wll be sent to subdue or eliminate you."

"Are you like us?"

"Yes and no. My abilities are not so obvious. So I was never discovered by the Uhlrich Institute. But I have troubles of my own, hence the secured communications and security measures."

"Do you know what our abilities are?"

"No. But I can make educated guesses as to their natures. Electronic sensors were used while you were at the asylum?"

"Asylum?"

"Yes, asylum. You were not treated at a hospital, but an asylum, a prison for you and others like you. The facility is extremely secure and offers BL4 biohazard measures and security beyond supermax with specialized restraint."

“So … what now?” Diane asked.

“Once I have contacted others I will try to arrange for you to all meet. This is very dangerous. I will send routes to follow - in pieces - and make certain you are not followed.”

 

[ArchAngelLexi]

Day light sun peered through the cheap blinds with an annoying persistence onto the apartment floor. Despite it's persistence the hungover woman had managed to ignore it for quite awhile but as it went on sleep and alcohol could no longer fight it off. With a groan the the red headed woman rolled off her couch and onto the floor with a 'thud!' Kira gave a low, quiet "ow" as she pushed herself up from the hard floor. She managed to make out the time on the clock through the foggy haze of exhaustion. Miraculously she wasn't late for work, but if she wasted any more time she would be.
"Got to take your pills," she said to herself in a tone mocking her therapist. With one finally push off the floor she made her way to the kitchenette. She unceremoniously pulled the cabinet open to retrieve her pills and a plastic cup out.
"It's dangerous if you don't take it," she again mocked as she threw one of the pills into her mouth and washed it down with tap water. She then chucked the container back into the cabinet and slammed it shut. Finishing her routine by brushing her hair and teeth before pulling on some fresh clothes before stumbling out of her tiny apartment. As she reached the street she flagged down a cab, giving him the address for the call center. During the car ride she absent-mindedly stared out the window. She couldn't help but imagine a world where she didn't live a mundane life of taking pills and working a dead end job. Maybe she could be a chef, but she could barely even manage to hold a job as is. She was snapped back to reality as the cab came to a stop outside the call center. She reluctantly stepped out of the cab after paying and made her way into the building.
It was another boring day of just going through the motions. Same prompts that she could recite without even really listening to whoever was on the other side of the phone. Meanwhile she just struggled to stay awake and idly fidgeted with a pen, twirling it around her fingers.

 

[Mitheral]

http://photos.cinematreasures.org/production/photos/44802/1337392964/large.jpg?1337392964
Loew’s 46th Street Theater in Brooklyn (Abandoned) Loew's 46th Street Theatre in Brooklyn, NY - Cinema Treasures
(OOC: See the link on the location’s history. I love using real locations. In real life this place began conversions into apartments in 2016 after the last business moved away. For our RP, the development project will not have gone through as planned and the place sits abandoned.)

Jun 23, 2021 2345 hrs Wednesday night
Three and a half days since last dose

Duncan had already begun to realize something was happening to him. For starters, his mind was a hell of a lot clearer than in the past. His behavior had begun to alter - as had Diane’s. They found their own apartment a mess - admittedly of their own making. They had begun spending more time cleaning and organizing, neither able to stand the disorder. Duncan had begun to realize that the problems with their car batteries had been his doing as well. He found he could sense the electricity coursing through the walls of their apartment. He had almost attempted to draw an arc of electricity as an experiment, but decided against it - at least in their own home. But he had sought out a place he felt certain not to be observed by surveillance - and successfully drawn a large arc. He hadn’t been harmed - much. Sure, it left him tingling. But he had created a small sphere of - something. He had no idea what it was. It was like a giant soap bubble made of energy. He could see the color patterns, but had no idea what they meant. He did, however, discover that the edge of the bubble could slice through solid rock or steel like they were tissue paper.

Diane had begun to experience poltergeist activity. However, she could SEE what she was doing. She was creating ghostly energies that moved everything around her. To her eyes it resembled the electrical energy from the Emperor in Star Wars, but more ghostly. She had discovered she could pick up small objects and move them about. Jokingly she had begun to call her ability the Force.

Lori, as Random Stranger, had texted the location for their meeting to each member of their group, with specific instructions on how to avoid being followed or tracked through surveillance. She sent something she called a local shadow map - a map that showed where surveillance video did not cover. But she also warned that any cell phone, computer, newer car, could be used to detect people. She stressed not to use powers anywhere near home or vicinity of meeting spots.

The location that Lori had chosen was the abandoned Loew’s 46 Street Theater in Brooklyn. She was last to arrive, of course. But it wasn’t just paranoia. She had to be last as she needed to make certain that none of those she had invited were followed. To do that she needed to be in a secure location so she could tap into the senses of the city. Only once she had made certain her new associates were followed would she transform into Random Stranger and join them. If the meeting was compromised she could always warn them.

Seats had been prepared for them complete with labels - not their name but rather codenames suggestive of their powers. For example one was labelled Mr Bubbles. Another was Karma (Diane). Yet another was Ms Bubbles (Genesis). One was Chewie (Alex). One was Tesla (Alan). Sparkplug (Daniel). And Smokin’ (Kira).

<< Insert Scene for character intros>>
Duncan spotted his seat and laughed. He shook his head and said. “I am NOT calling myself Mr Bubbles.” But he took his seat anyway.

Diane studied the seat called Karma in silence. It wasn’t as if she went around advertising her hacker ID. “Whoever our mysterious RS is, he or she, has done their research on us. They know more about us than my therapist. I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that we all have the same therapist - or at least go to the same clinic. Blue pills?”
<< End Insert >>

Random Stranger wore a costume that consisted of a purple morphsuit / 2nd skin and a mask that resembled a cross between DC’s character Question and the Watchmen character Rorshach. She looked like she was straight out of a comic book. (Note: her hair is kept inside the suit. The morphsuit covers her hands and feet. This is a counter forensics measure.) She entered the room through the ceiling, floating down to the floor to stand center stage.

“I am Random Stranger. Like you I have powers.

 

[Iacentis]

Jun 20, 2021 1400 hrs Sunday Afternoon.

Thankfully, Genesis work began and progressed with the same old normalcy that seemed a near comfort in comparison to the weirdness that'd occurred only a few hours prior. One customer after another, faces flowing into faces into an endless mass of averages that could only be vaguely reminisced as people. Work progressed as such, at least until she'd ventured out to restock a set of jackets. She'd been in the midst of it when she'd first noticed Thomas, a faint frown forming coming and going in an instant as she placated her expression with the polite neutrality.

He'd been walking towards her, expression unresponsive to whatever had flashed across her own, when she'd realized that she was still looking ahead at the jackets in front of her. The image of Thomas still lingered, clearly visible with every step as he approached behind her in the distance. For an instant she froze, blinked and tried to move her head. And as she did the image faded, back to only two eyes as she turned to face the current target of her annoyance at the world properly. "Ah, Thomas. Hi! Did you have fun yesterday...?"

That evening she arrived home on heavy feet. Thankfully, the strange incident had not repeated itself during working hours. Not until she'd been walking the path home had it snuck up on her again. It felt a lot like seeing double, of having your vision fall out of your head but remaining there simultaneously. She felt like it should have made her nauseous, so it was even stranger that it did, that these episodes of stranger sights felt almost natural.

She'd picked up that burner phone again that evening, stared at it for what seemed like half an eternity before she'd pressed those words and sent them away. "I reserve the right to be freaked out.", quickly appending it with another message afterwards "Where?"

Jun 23, 2021 2345 hrs Wednesday Night

The three days before the meeting had passed both in continued normalcy and in weird stranger way. Genesis had continued to show up to work as normal, each shift seeming longer than the next in waiting for what came afterwards. A mostly empty park on the way home had served as a momentary place of testing each day, for she learned quite quickly that whenever her sight shifted there was no visible effect on the world around her. Perhaps the evenings were what felt the strangest, for she'd found a strange kind of energy ever since she'd temporarily deprived herself of those agonizing blue capsules. With a mind that felt less weighed down upon, with a sensation of seeing more, paying more attention to detail than before. An expansion of understanding, quite simply.

The first discovered she managed to make was simply but very convenient, a sensation similar to the movement of a muscle. Although it felt completely underused, weak and withered, drawing upon it seemed to be what caused her sight to move. It took some practiced, but by her arrival at work on Tuesday morning she felt like she had a decent grasp of how to control it's location.

Wednesday mornings walk in the park served as the backdrop for the next discovery, or perhaps extension of the prior one. It was convenient and relatively easy to, for the lack of a better word, anchor the movements of the unseen muscle to that of a real one. To trail that extrasensory vision along the back of her hand became the obvious choice, easy to masquerade a peek around as any other movement.

Come Wednesday evening, the first sign of discomforts made themselves known. It had been just another test, extending senses further along what she still could best describe as a single imaginary muscle. It was at it's metaphorical end that she'd come to realize another existed, and in a quite corner of the park where none lingered she'd let her sight drift out to it's apparent reach. She hadn't had the time to measure the distance yet, but it wasn't that far. Once there, she'd tried to flex that other muscle.

The resulting boom of sound as the wind around her sight had accelerated what felt close to a thousandfold had sent Genesis running for fear of someone coming to check on what had caused that sound. Since then she'd not really dared touch that other muscle, even as she'd approached that old theater through the designated path. It lingered there still as she passed her vision through the door, glancing inside before she opened the door to ensure that all of this wasn't some elaborate trap or the likes. Seeing only a few people inside that looked about as uncertain as she felt, she drew a deep breath and entered.

Genesis skittered quietly down the stairs, eyes both real and imaginary scanning the others present with an uncertain gaze and a following weaker smile. It'd taken her a moment once she'd reached 'her' chair, a short elevated eyebrow at the presented name "Ms... Bubbles?" she'd muttered with a sigh. Taking her seat, she continued glancing around silently and nervously until Diane had spoken.

"I'd.. be bound to agree, quite sure they know more about me than, well, me... which I'm going to say no more about. But as far as I can tell, that is the case, yes. Same therapist, clinic, pills and.. Syndrome?" Her voice muttered, a bit jumpier than she'd perhaps intended. Her other sight wandering the space behind her as she spoke, vigilant.

Her reaction to Random Stranger entering the room had been a mixture of surprise, fear at the evident reminder of the unnatural and recognition. For another moment she'd just stared whilst her other eyes studied the reactions of the others, but eventually Genesis spoke up. "Powers? I don't suppose that you could offer something slightly more specific, or is that to much to ask? I apologies, but I still am half expecting to wake up in an asylum tomorrow and learn I had a relapse and imagined all of this..."