Today is the first day of the rest of your lives [ opening post ]

[resetbutton]

WHO: EVERYONE. NPCs will be around to actively engage if you so desire.
WHAT: Sleepers wake and begin to figure out just what, exactly, they are supposed to do with themselves. tl;dr: REACTION POST for new characters to get out and mingle.
WHERE: Everywhere. Mostly the living quarters, but really: anywhere you want.
WHEN: The first week, April 1st through April 7th.
WARNINGS: Travis Touchdown (Ryan LeCourt) has quite a mouth on him.
NOTES: This is a serious game, guys. WE’RE SUPER SRS HERE. This may be a lie.

Shimmering blue blanketed the underground city as the light reflected off the sapphires in the ceiling. It cast its eerie glow, almost mimicking the effect of light on water without the sort of freeing peace one might feel with the soft ocean waves. Figuring out how deep down the city was located was near impossible when the air was obviously heated to something approaching comfortable, and nothing seemed to echo too far past the quiet hum of the city.

Workers made their way down the street, every one with a Sleeper in tow. Something that would have been unheard of only a few days ago, now more likely than one would think. They intended to start slow, but considering how many others were still in cryo, this was a laidback pace.

| SUNDAY | Elena: Wandering | Gabriel: Looking | Pollution: Recreation | Izaya: Entrance | Jonas: Quarters

| MONDAY | Snow: Diner | Malcolm: Entrance | | |

| TUESDAY | Gabriel: Watching | Malcolm: Library | | |

| WEDNESDAY | Jonas: Recreation | | | |

| THURSDAY | Liam + Ken: Bar | | | |

| FRIDAY | Shepard: Recreation | Salvatore: Bar | | |

| SATURDAY | Gabriel: Bakery | Malcolm: HQ | | |

Comments

1st, Sunday

[resetbutton]

The guard force kept on top of things today, setting up rooms, issuing identities and assigning workplaces for the Sleepers that were to be woken up. Many would be left in their rooms to mull over the minimal information dump they had just received, free to leave and explore if they wished or to just stay inside and process. There was nothing to stop them from doing either or finding a third option.

No matter what anyone chose, a bulletin message soon forced its way onto all the terminals in the Cave. Dead screens hummed to life, making sure anyone who was anywhere had the chance to see it:

Good morning, Sleepers! Have a nice nap? I hope so, because there are a few things we need to go over now that you’re conscious. Seriously, take the time to read this and save all of us a few headaches.

1. Murder is still against the law. Whatever twisted reasoning you’ve got going on in your head, you might think that only counted in your dreams. It doesn’t. Don’t even dare try it. We will catch you and you will be punished.
2. Pay attention to curfew. If the lights dim and go all kind of amber-like? You’re out too late. Only authorized personnel are allowed out After Hours. If you are caught, you will be escorted back to your quarters and given a warning.
3. Your dreams are not real. This one is hard for a lot of people. Trust me. I know. That doesn’t mean you should act on anything you think you might know from them. Chances are only the most common of sense still holds true here (which doesn’t include your names). If you insist that your dreams are real and try to force this opinion on others, the guard force will act.
4. Don’t forget your ID. If you haven’t found it yet, it should be next to your bed inside your quarters. These are necessary to get into many major establishments around here, including your own rooms. Try not to lock yourselves out.

That said, we’re all in this thing together and I’m here to help you. If you have questions or need clarification on any point, reply to this bulletin and I’ll get back to you at my earliest convenience.
- Rep. Anselmo, Guard Force

[ Note: Any in-person reactions to this message should go in this comment. Questions to Thomas Anselmo should go on the post in the network comm. Thanks! ]

[hisprecious]

A dream. Just a dream. It sounded like something right out of a horror movie, where the ending was that the protagonist was just dreaming everything. And when he woke up, everything was normal and he lived happily ever after. Instead, Elena got this. From vampirism and Salvatores to some post-apocalyptic world with a life that she didn't even remember.

She looked down at the diary in her hands; the one she'd been reading through for a good part of the last hour, and still wasn't done. It was her handwriting, and the pictures in it were of her, but she had no memory of writing any of it and she didn't live that life either. She never survived past sixteen, and she sure as hell wasn't an only child. But facts were facts. And facts were, Elena could stand in the sun without being burned. She was human again, pure and simple.

As much as Elena would've loved to take this new life and hold it to herself and maybe somehow she would mold into it, a part of herself just couldn't accept it. Because she had been less than (or more than, depending on who you asked) human, and she couldn't shake off that now-present feeling of being smaller than she felt. It just didn't... feel right.

It was like someone offering her water in the middle of miles of desert all around; just a mirage.

Elena stood up from the bed and brushed herself off. It was highly unlikely that she was going to find answers to any of her questions here. Maybe if she found some more people in the same situation as her, they could bond or... something.

She wandered out into the hallways, only just remembering to bring her ID with her. If she walked around, she was bound to find someone who was just as confused. Or better yet, maybe she would bump into someone that Chloe had written about in her diary that could shed some light on things. Though the chances of them also having survived seemed dismal.

is this okay? (besides the poor quality--good lord it's late)

[herocycle]

Snow, meanwhile, had spent half of the morning pacing his condo (distractedly enough that he still couldn't even tell you what color the walls were) and the other half on the couch with his forehead in his palms in a valiant but ultimately doomed attempt to clear his head.

When he'd headed out into the halls, he'd had no set destination in mind. Just get out of that condo. Honestly, it a half bad place to live--it was better than what he'd had back home, that was for sure--but he couldn't shake that 'prison cell' vibe. You can put a dress on a monkey but it's still going to be a monkey, no matter what you try to call it. And this had 'prisoner' written all over it.

In theory, the more ground he covered, the less confined he'd feel. Not that it would help clear his head too much. In fact, he was lost enough in thought that he wasn't exactly watching where he was going, and narrowly dodged bumping straight into Elena.

"Hey, sorry about that." He flashed a sheepish grin, despite that grinning was kind of one of the last things he was in the mood for at that point. It wasn't not her fault he was stuck there (he was pretty sure, anyway), so she wasn't going to have to deal with his less-than-spectacular mood.

it's fine! c:

[hisprecious]

At one time, it would've been near impossible for anyone to nearly bump into Elena like that. She would've made sure of it. But this... it only made her realize again how tiny she felt. She'd been capable of throwing someone halfway across the room, and now, back to being a normal, defenseless sixteen year old girl.

A year ago she would've been delighted at the fact, but now all she could muster up was some strain at being in this kind of weird situation without the ability to at least protect herself. Though admittedly, she sure wasn't missing the blood lust.

"It's fine," Elena said, pulling up a smile. As far as she was concerned, she couldn't trust anyone she met here. Not yet. "No harm done, right?"

She looked him over with careful scrutiny. At first glance, he seemed like your every day sort of guy, but experience showed that appearances could be deceiving. For all she knew, he could be a serial killer. Or... dreamed that he was one, if she was going to go by what they were all told.

"Hey- you wouldn't happened to have just woken up too, would you?" she asked, putting just the slightest bit of emphasis on 'woken up' to show her doubts about the whole thing. After that announcement, Elena wasn't about to test what the guard force would do to people who insisted on their dreams. Better safe than sorry.

[herocycle]

That was quite possibly one of Snow's biggest flaws: Just because you could more-or-less take him at face value meant that he tended to assume the same of other people. And for him, this seemed pretty black and white. There were the people like him, the 'sleepers', and then there were the people trying to tell them their lives were just a dream. Two opposing sides, and if she was confused like him, that put them on the same side, right?

'No harm done, right?' He nodded, grin shifting from sheepish to something more confident. "Right."

And then came the loaded question.

It was a pretty simple question, actually, but what kind of answer he gave theoretically depended on a lot of things that he didn't quite know. How did she feel about this whole mess? Did she believe in what she knew, or what she was hearing now? By her tone, he could figure that one out easily enough.

Now the question became, were the guards listening in?

At that point Snow realized he'd been silent a little too long, and he shook his head a little, pulling himself out of his thoughts. "Uh, yeah," came his answer, and he reached up with one hand to scratch at the back of his neck. "My name's Sn-..." Whoops, watch yourself Snow. "Well, I mean, I think you're supposed to call me Shiloh." While her doubt was expressed in a subtle shifting of tones, his was slightly less subtle. But to be fair, it was less trying to break the rules and more just trying to adjust.

[perpend]

Cabanela wasn't quite ready to agree with the "everything had been a dream" thing. Sure, it would explain a whole lot, but he didn't believe it for one second. Sure, he was going to pretend he did. It was for the best, after all. And, hey, that photograph was pretty damning proof. He didn't recognize any of the people in the photograph, but there was a twinge of something that he felt seeing them all standing there with him. Maybe it was remembering his own group from the real world. Or, the dream world. That was going to be a bit confusing.

After a moment left in his own thoughts, he pocketed the photograph carefully. If this was a mix-up with some sort of doppelganger, he was interested in preserving the memory of these folks who adored Dillon Hays. 150 years was a long time. Unless they had survived as sleepers, too, they had probably...

But he was brought out of his thoughts when he saw the young girl. She and Lynne were probably around the same age. "Hey," he said in a fatherly voice. "You need some company?"

[hisprecious]

"I wouldn't mind that," Elena responded easily with a smile that came surprisingly naturally. Maybe it was the sense of genuine want to help coming from the man, even if it he did look old enough to be her father. "It's been... a pretty weird day."

Her lips twist up into a curved smile of amusement at the extreme understatement of her statement. Though to be frank, Elena really wasn't sure how high this ranked on her list of weird events, taking into consideration the day she became a vampire. And the realization that she was identical to an extremely old vampire. Her entire life was pretty weird.

"I'm... Chloe," Elena said, hesitating slightly as she tested out the feel of her 'real name' on her tongue for the first time.

[perpend]

"Call me Dillon," Cabanela said cheerfully. He didn't seem to have much issue using his false name, but he was so used to leaving out details for the safety of things that had happened in that "dream" that it didn't matter much to him. He would do what he could to help. He'd done it before, of course. He'd do it again.

"You remind me of Lynne," he said in a proud voice. Lynne, the rookie detective. It was probably just the age, probably just him trying to hold onto memories that he had been told weren't even real, but he couldn't help it. His tone was one of a man talking about a relative. He and Lynne weren't blood related, but he still cared about the girl. "Don't you worry. I'll figure things out," he said, strangely cheerful given the situation at hand.

[trickntreats]

The whole way to his quarters, Gabriel had stared at the back of the mook's head, eyes narrowed, and snapped his fingers. Once every thirty seconds, exactly. Except when he made it on the minute every five (or seven) snaps. He was fairly certain the man had developed a twitch before he was left alone, which was about the only kind of satisfaction Gabriel could currently get. Especially given the photograph the mook pointed out before he left.

Once alone, the archangel looked skywards and shouted at the ceiling: "Is there a point to this? Because if this is meant to be some reward for finally sticking up for humanity, I can think of better things! Like maybe those seventy-two virgins!"

There was no answer, of course. It would have been nice, but Gabriel couldn't really say he was surprised. Dad hadn't talked to anyone except Joshua and, indirectly, Castiel and the Winchesters, in at least a century.

The room was too small. He was so much less than he should have been--he'd felt disorientated on waking up. Disorientated! An archangel!--and yet the room felt tiny. He prowled once around the edges before deciding no, he wasn't going to stay, and left. Obviously the first thing to do was to look for metaphysical cracks in reality. There wouldn't be any if this really was Dad's work, of course, but maybe it was Lucifer's, in which case there might possibly be something.

Which was why, not five minutes later, people would walk down the street to see a brown-haired man poking at locked doorways, prodding far too hard at the terminal screens, snapping his fingers (then scowling when nothing happened) and, on occasion, looking up at the ceiling to shout, "This isn't funny, you know!"

[tactical_alert]

The whole room had been searched, top the bottom. There seemed nothing particularly out of the ordinary (well, aside from everything else) or suspicious, nor did there seem to be anything of particular use--aside from the video he'd found ready to play, which had unsettled him.

Which meant that if he was going to find anything else out today, it would be outside his assigned living quarters. Malcolm was by no means thrilled by this place, even if it did have a touch of pleasing aesthetic. In a way, it was heartening just to know that he was hardly the only one wandering aimlessly amidst the confusion.

He'd yet to resort to yelling at the ceiling in frustration.

"I think you'll find there aren't many people around who find this particularly funny," he remarked to the fellow.

[trickntreats]

"Oh, they're up there all right," Gabriel said without turning around or shifting his gaze from where he was scowling at the ceiling. "Having a good chuckle at my expense. So!"

Abruptly he spun around with a clap of his hands and first laid eyes on his unexpected companion. He wasn't aware of it, but he squinted as if near-sighted and Malcolm was just too far away. Not being able to see souls--it was like being blind. "What are they calling you?"

[littlealienguy]

"What's not funny?"

Jonas had been doing about the same as the other man, exploring the new world he'd found himself in. It was a relief really, to be able to explore this place in a way he'd never been allowed to at the SGC, even after joining SG-1.

He cocked his head as he looked around, trying to find the source of the man's frustration, besides the obvious general confusion of course. "Is something wrong?"

[trickntreats]

"This!" Gabriel turned and gestured expansively to everything around him with a sweep of his arms, and then lifted a finger. "Oh, it's a fantastic construct, I'll give you that. Maybe even a completely new reality, even, though there aren't exactly many who can pull that off with aplomb. It's the fact I've been dumped here without travel instructions that I object to."

Then he stopped and actually took a proper look at the man with a squint, the finger pointing. "Sleeper, right? 'Cos if you're a Worker let's just pretend that I'm still adjusting from coming out of stasis."

He wasn't in the mood to be lectured.

[oilyhands]

White watched the recording he was given about a dozen times, at first trying to make sense of why someone would claim he was actually an artist who had imagined being Pollution, and then focusing on what he could see of this Neil Mathis' work. At least his false self had good taste.

That could only provide so much distraction, though, so he clipped on his ID badge and started to wander, no clear destination in mind. He stopped at one of the first terminals he came across, frowning as he read the message, but quickly moving on.

Eventually, he ended up at the rec hall. The pool held no interest at all (yes, the smell of chlorine was refreshing, but the idea of willingly entering a body of water right now was revolting), so he headed upstairs, finding a touch screen in the games room and attempting to see if it could do anything more interesting than re-rack the billiard table.

mind if I slide in here?

[herocycle]

"Good luck with that," came a voice from a chair nearby. Snow'd been looking around the place all morning, but while he really didn't want to go back to the condo, it hit the point where he didn't really have much of anywhere else to be. So he'd parked in the comfiest chair in his visual range, and that just so happened to be within speaking distance of the boy poking at the touch-screen.

He'd meant it genuinely, too, his good-luck wishes. But then it kind of hit him that it might not have come off that way, so he tacked on, "Couldn't get it to do anything when I tried, but I'm not so good at computers anyway."

not at all! hi!

[oilyhands]

White poked at the screen a few more times before turning a curious look in the speaker's direction. "What did you want it to do?" To be honest, White himself didn't actually have a concrete goal in mind with it, just knowing that trying seemed a better answer than further aimless wandering.

So late, and this sucks a bit, but here we are!

[knifedances]

He'd allowed himself to be led to his designated condo with uncharacteristic - and entirely false - docility; he may have felt disorientated and confused, but he had never been the kind of person to panic in the face of an unknown situation, he hadn't survived as long as he had, moving within the circles he did, by letting his emotions get the better of him.

At least, he remembered never being that kind of person, regardless of the Worker's assertion that he was - in fact - someone else.

He was feeling a little unsettled certainly, but he kept it tightly under control, presenting a relaxed and casual demeanor to the Worker who'd offered him their paltry explanation before showing him to his living quarters. Once there, he'd examined the rooms he'd been accorded carefully for any clues they could offer him, of which there were - unsurprisingly - very few. He'd located the degree certificate and it's accompanying photograph, a photograph which very clearly depicted him, and yet he couldn't bring himself to believe that what he'd been told was true. Some elaborate hoax perhaps, though why anyone would go to such lengths to make him believe something like this was - for the moment - beyond him.

It hadn't taken him long to become restless, for the desire to leave the condo and to more thoroughly acquaint himself with his 'new' surroundings to set in; he needed more answers than those he had been given, and he wasn't going to receive them sitting around doing nothing. And so he'd slipped out into the underground city and it's unpleasant sense of stillness - he was accustomed to the constant throb and bustle of Tokyo, as far as he could recall - carefully familiarising himself with his surroundings and with any places of note.

And now he was standing not so very far from the cave's exit-point, idly contemplating what he might find where he to attempt to slip out of here unnoticed.

Hope you don't mind an NPC...

[resetbutton]

Ryan was not excited for today. Sure, the Sleepers were the whole point of the Workers staying in the Cave to make sure everyone was prepared for eventually heading to the City, but that didn't mean he had to like the part where there were actually Sleepers wandering around!

It meant he had to pull extra shifts at the entrance to the Cave, too, which just sucked complete ass.

"Hey!" he called, climbing out from the his little alcove nearby. There were plenty of those the further one got from the general smoothness of the underground city. The katana at his side almost got caught on a stalagmite, but practice kept him from making a total fool of himself... for once. "You going somewhere?"

I don't mind at all~

[knifedances]

He turned only slightly in response to the exclamation, hands remaining pushed deep into his pockets, posture loose and relaxed as it had been from the start despite the potential for violence that seemed to edge the other man's voice and the gleam of the katana in his hand. He wasn't concerned, and not only because - regardless of what he'd been told - he still believed himself to be the person 'in his dreams', and therefore remained confident in his own abilities to extricate himself from adverse situations should need be. He hadn't done anything wrong after all. Not yet.


His lips curved into a smile that could easily pass for friendly as the guy approached, and he gave a dismissive little shrug by way of response. "I'm just looking. There's no need for concern."

Living Quarters

[littlealienguy]

The accommodations weren't so bad in Jonas' opinion but then, he'd spent a good amount of time in the last year in a room much like this one. And well, a mountain wasn't much different then a cave now was it? At least this time, Jonas knew he'd eventually be allowed to go outside and explore this new world. He had an ID and everything. That was definitely an improvement.

Yes, he'd rather be back at the SGC, stuck in a mountain and all, but this wasn't the worst thing he could imagine.

While a voice that sounded suspiciously like Jack kept reminding him in that back of his brain that this very well could be a goa'ould or replicator plot, Jonas was willing to at least explore the place and give the dream theory a shot before completely shutting it down. He honestly didn't know what to make of the recorder he'd found in his room with his own voice, but in a different accent.

After exploring his room and making an effort to get used to the new surroundings, Jonas pocked his head out the door before stepping out to see if he could meet any of his new neighbors. Worst came to worst, he could go start exploring the cave.

[whowillsaveyou]

It was difficult to believe that everything he remembered, everything he'd gone through, everything he'd done, had all been a dream. So difficult, in fact, that he simply couldn't believe it. The Doctor sat on the bed as he examined the notes that were supposed to be his, brow furrowing, eyes squinting through his wire-framed glasses. At least the man he was supposed to be was intelligent. And a scientist! If he was expected to live this man's life, that was the most likely profession - which only added to the idea that this was all fake. Even the photo did little to deter him of this conclusion - photos could be altered, after all.

If he was going to get any closer to understanding, he needed to explore. The Cave had many things to see, he was sure, and so he made his way to the door, pausing to turn back for his ID. It would just be his luck that he'd find himself locked out after this imposed curfew because he'd forgotten his ID.

Toying with the thing, he exited the room and looked up and down the hall, curiosity much too great for him to sit still any longer. With no idea what he was looking for, he started walking, tucking the ID into his pocket.

Spotting another in the hall, the Doctor approached with a casualness that might have lent one to believe he'd simply walk right past. He didn't, though, stopping and giving the man an inquisitive look.

"You're another... What was it they called us? Sleeper, isn't it? What do you make of all this?" His hand waved about, indicating everything.

[littlealienguy]

Jonas was still gathering himself to set off but it was easy for him to smile at the man who stopped to speak with him. The smile got a little brighter when he realized the man had the same accent that Jonas seemed to have on the voice recorder.

"Yes, I'm another Sleeper. And I'm afraid I don't quite know yet. I was hoping to do a little looking around to settle my mind a little." He held out a hand to introduce himself...then realized he wasn't quite sure which name to use. "I'm John, or so I'm told. I'm much more familiar with Jonas thought."

[oilyhands]

Having done as much wandering as he could tolerate at the moment (it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that his eyes and legs were starting to feel suspiciously heavy, or that the idea of sitting down somewhere was sounding better and better), White headed back for the condo that had been designated as "his". Or, well, Neil Mathis', which was close enough for now.

[nouvellestyle]

And "Neil Mathis" would run into "David Mathis", who was standing in front of the door and just looking at it, like perhaps staring would make it open up to a room with answers instead of a condo that held nothing he cared to deal with.

He didn't even turn when he heard the other approach - he was too used to not being noticed if he felt like it (and he certainly felt like it now) and it hadn't quite sunken in yet that that wouldn't work here. Of course, he assumed whoever was behind him wasn't anyone important, anyone recognizable. Oh well.

Maybe he should go inside. ... Or, no, maybe he'll just stand there a bit longer.

[oilyhands]

White fully stopped as soon as he was close enough to realize who the other was, watching "David" for a few, long moments before finally forcing himself to continue walking until he was just behind him.

"Sable." There was no question in that. In many other things, yes, but who was standing outside of where White had been told to stay — that was certain.