Day One: Awakening

[14_cun4]

Who: EVERYONE!
What: Awaking up and Orientation to the Cooler
When: Day 1 (September 1st & 2nd)
Where: The Cryopod hall and Residential Area
Warnings: Mostly nudity and language, please label individual threads if need be

Arrival:

Your last memories are a haze as consciousness drifts back into your mind. You awaken on something hard, but lined, an uncomfortably upholstered bed of some kind, and a hiss of escaped air accompanies a door before you opening and raising slowly upward and out of the field of your slowly focusing vision. The entire surface on which you’re reclined rocks forward and places you on solid ground on shaky limbs and the chill of your surroundings sends gooseflesh swelling across every inch of your entirely bare form.

Naked, confused, and disoriented as you try to assess the situation (like the echoing click so loud in the otherwise silent chamber), a spotlight glares to life before you, washing out your vision momentarily. You’re vaguely aware of others, other cries or gasps of shock, other shafts of light directed at other strange bed chambers much like the one in which you so recently awoke.

Before you’re able to shrug off the initial disorientation, a disembodied female voice chimes through the darkness.Despite its slightly cheery tone, something may seem a bit...off about it, but that may just be nerves…

Residential Area:

When the blast doors open, you can see into an area that resembles…. A rundown college dormitory, complete with kitchen and living areas? Well, thankfully, it’s coed, or the boys would just have to sleep in their pods, right? There are many rooms in a corridor, with names flashing on the displays near the door. Maybe you should try and find your own? How far this corridor goes is hard to tell, as everyone’s rooms seem to be near the top of the hall.

However, should you decide to go further down, there’s no lighting and the temperature will drop steadily. Maybe LACUNA doesn’t want you to go down there.

In the kitchen areas, there appear to be other blast doors that might be able to open, but there’s no indication that they have in a very long time. Where they open out to is impossible to see, since windows seem to have been conveniently forgotten.

[OOC : For more information about what to do and see, click here. Please feel free to make your own top-levels or continue action threads from the test drive here. Or start new ones! Whatever your heart desires is pretty much up for grabs here. Just know that LACUNA is watching and listening to everything you do and say.]

Comments

Questions for LACUNA

[14_cun4]

"Welcome, Initiates, to The Cooler. I am 14-Charlie-Uniform-November-4. You may call me LACUNA."

Off to one side, another spotlight, this one allowing you to see into a slightly curved corridor turning into darkness, flicks on.

"Please follow the lights along the corridor as they are activated. Failure to comply will be considered Deviant and will be noted in your Initiate File."

The message will repeat periodically, but once the indicated path is followed, another message will join the chorus. Perhaps this isn’t a recording after all…

"Questions are inevitable and will be answered only once. Please ask them in an orderly fashion. Thank you."

[OOC: If you would care to thread with LACUNA, please reply here! We’re not promising she’ll be very helpful or forthcoming with information, but it’ll make you feel better, right? Right??]

[hadthehighground]

This whole ordeal is startling to say the least.

Obi-Wan’s senses were foggy as he stepped out of the pod, but he stumbled towards the light anyway. His arms wrapped around himself in attempt to fight off the chill since he literally had nothing else. He could tell there were others around him, but didn’t pay much attention at first.

The strange voice prompting questions was what got him to perk up.

“Aside from the obvious, where are we and why are we here, I would also like to know if you intend to keep us unclothed like this?”

Some clothes would be very much appreciated! Unless this so called LACUNA is truly the deviant here.

[14_cun4]

A mounted terminal screen near the blast door flickers to life. A faint, pleasant-looking female face flashes briefly before going blank again.

"You are here at the Cooler because you have agreed to help with—" Her response is cut off by a great deal of white noise. "As for clothing, you will find rooms set aside for each of you, equipped with coverings for your convenience. After your immediate questions are answered."

[hadthehighground]

Well at least they will have clothing available to them, but Obi-Wan can’t say he’s completely satisfied with the answer.

“I don’t recall agreeing to anything, let alone this.”

He gestures to their surroundings.

“Though it seems your answer was partly cut out. Is there someone controlling you? Why hide it if we supposedly agreed to this?”

Re: Questions for LACUNA

[movesahead]

[Darius, of course, had not followed like a good little sheep. He'd lingered and poked at the edges of the dark, peering in to see what he could (which, sadly, had been nothing). Eventually, he made his way far enough to hear LACUNA's next comment.

So she had been programmed to answer questions. Answers that were dictated by her programmer's whims in regards to her programming. Which mean probably nothing useful. It was partially a psychological experiment after all. At least that's what he was surmising from the tactics that had already been manifesting.]

Alright LACUNA, where are we?

[14_cun4]

Initiate Tanz, you have ventured too far from your predetermined path. Please turn back now.

[LACUNA is nice enough to repeat that twice for him specifically while herding the rest of the group to the large blast doors. While exploration isn't deviant, it is a bit strange considering they are all naked at this point in time.

Humans are strange.

At his questions, she notates that he moves closer to the group and is satisfied to answer his question, despite his tone.]

We are in the Cooler. Currently, you are in the cryopod chamber. Should you join the others, I will open the door to the residential area. :)

[movesahead]

[If she had expressed that sentiment out loud, Darius would have fully agreed with her. Not that he could really say much about that subject himself. He was, after all, wandering around completely naked and worrying far more about the facility than the fact that he was naked and cold.]

And where is 'The Cooler'?

[floweroftheslums]

[Being bossed around by a machine is new and she isn't really pleased about it, considering the alternative wasn't so bad, if she's honest.] I know you've already answered why we're here and where we are, but can you please answer what you mean when our needs will be met? I doubt that all of us have the same needs.

[14_cun4]

[If the question at all annoys the AI, her voice doesn't reflect as much.]

The needs of all Initiates will be met adequately. Do you have a specific request, Initiate?

[floweroftheslums]

[That is so vague as to not be an answer at all.] Well, what about our emotional needs? Physical and mental needs are all well and good, but if you ignore our emotional desires and needs, then you risk a lot of trouble.

[whereishe]

[She's listened to the other's questions and the accompanying answers but there is still something that worries her.]

LACUNA. [Her voice betrays her uncertainty.] How did we get here?

[She doesn't remember and while she doesn't doubt that she might have signed something putting her here... for some reason or another, Yuna wonders what it's truly for. Tests or so she's over heard but for what reason.

What is the end goal of all of this?

Question after question buzzes through Yuna's head as uncertainty slips like ice into her stomach.]

[14_cun4]

You were brought here through the cryopods.

[If there is a way that an AI could be annoyed by stupid questions, yep, this is LACUNA's tone.]

[overstepping]

Grace is a lady of a certain privilege, and more than that, she's a woman who is quite used to being in a position of power. Especially after what she's been dealing with for the last few months. So, she's going to pull that card, even if she is naked as the day she was born and freezing besides. Her voice is authoritative and she is used to having it listened to by powerful people. Grace Barrows is officially going white, suburban mom asking for a manager on this AI and she doesn't give a damn about it. "I demand to speak to whoever is in charge of this experiment and be provided proof of my agreeing to be here when there's so much going on back home. I would never leave my daughter and my planet." Not even with the threat of nukes in the air above the sealed bunker she had been shut in.

[14_cun4]

"Your demand is denied."

You're not getting your way by making demands, sorry Grace.

"If you do not have an actual question, I would suggest that you and your group move into the residential area that has opened up as of late, Initiate Barrows."

OTA

[actualhumandisaster]

Anakin’s irritation abut the situation is comparably short lived. Of course he is confused when he first stumbled out of his pod. And for a moment he certainly feels cold. The blinding light has him squint for a moment, his cybernetic arm coming up in an attempt to shield his eyes, but the voice...

He barely hears it at all.

“You will pay for this!” the young man all but growls while suddenly charging forward, launching himself at the very first thing he sees. Which can be another person or just a stray chair. Though in case of him attacking random furniture, Anakin at least will quickly resolve to either kicking or throwing it across the room angrily, knowing precisely who to blame: “Obi -Wan!”

Because who else could be responsible for this.

[hadthehighground]

It’s hard not to notice the commotion, especially when its so loud and and very... familiar.

Obi-Wan turns just in time to duck from a airborne chair. Glancing behind him as it hits a wall with a loud clang. He then looksback and stares, completely dumbfounded by what he sees.

“Anakin?!”

So shocked is he that he freezes for a moment, memories coming rushing back all at once? How is it possible? Anakin is here, alive and whole. Not to mention just as naked as they all were, but that wasn’t important.

[actualhumandisaster]

Not caring whether or not either of them is wearing any clothes, Anakin is quick to have his attention draw to Obi-Wan.

Whatever trick this is the other is using on him, they aren't done yet.

"You believe you can stop me with THIS?!" Anakin barks and moves towards the Jedi Master with determined steps, his hand coming up towards the other as Anakin reaches into the Force and though it aims to grab Obi-Wan by his throat. He doesn't need his lightsaber to kill.

OTA

[hadthehighground]

After the fight, and after Anakin gets carried off by drones, Obi-Wan found his room and thankfully something to wear. He had no particular desire to return to that pod he woke up in. It wasn’t much, but it was something, and that was good enough for him.

By the time he got his suit on and emerged, his face was swelling and already turning interesting colors. The man heading for the bathrooms he had caught a glimpse of earlier. With every intent to clean up the blood that was still oozing from his wounds.

Re: OTA

[movesahead]

[Obi-Wan's injuries are not exactly something that Darius is expecting to see on what is apparently day 1 of their luxury cruise through the test facility that is The Cooler (as LACUNA has graciously told him the name is), so the sight of such angry wounds gives him pause.

Frowning, he decides that, perhaps, this person can enlighten him a bit more on how the facility works, at least in regards to injuries.]

Did LACUNA do that?

[It's entirely possible that she could have, and determining just what constitutes a good thrashing from the AI is important.]

[hadthehighground]

[Obi-Wan is honestly a bit surprised by the question and pauses to look at this man through puffy eyes.]

One might expect that, but no.

[His voice sounds a bit off due to that nice swollen cheek there too. And he will keep heading towards the men’s bathroom as he speaks.]

I thought everyone would have seen what happened.

[floweroftheslums]

Aerith had seen the fight between the two men. Honestly, it had been impossible to miss. What with the fact that they'd yet been dressed. It's not the first time she's seen a fight like that. They were hard to avoid living in the slums. However, she has to admit that even the poor of Midgar waited until they were partially covered before fighting to the death.

Or near-death, since the shorter haired man ended it rather abruptly. Almost as abruptly as it had begun.

If she hadn't been concerned about getting dressed, she would have rushed over to offer to heal him right away. It's moot now that she is, so she doesn't wait to walk over to him.

"I see that you didn't take LACUNA up on her offer of going back to the pod. If you don't mind, I might be able to heal that up so you don't have to worry about staining up your clothes."

[hadthehighground]

He hadn’t gotten a good look at most of the other captives when they arrived. After all, it would have been rather rude considering the circumstances. But this girl had been a bit hard to miss, even if he only had glanced at her a couple times. The fact that she approached him and offered healing brought him pause.

“You can do that?”

Healers were not an uncommon thing among the Jedi, as various Force techniques could speed up the process. But he was fairly certain she was no Jedi.

Yuna OTA

[whereishe]

[After arriving, Yuna finds herself wandering around the small residential area that's available to them. She doesn't know what she's looking for but it feels more comfortable than sitting still waiting for something more to happen. The clothing is appreciated but odd and a little uncomfortable compared to the lack of clothing that Yuna is used to wearing.

She finds her room and tries to find who might be staying next to her before continuing her way down the hall towards the darken corridor. Her breath curls in white tendrils as the temperature continues to drop.

Yuna pauses but she doesn't move away from the corridor and return to the others, she's searching that darkness for something... a clue? Anything.]

[actualhumandisaster]

[ After having spent an hour in the Penalty Box, Anakin has resurfaced nearly frozen and in an even worse mood than before. His following search for Kenobi's whereabouts have, however, resulted in him finding a room with his name on it. Which fortunately has been followed by the overdue acquisition of clothes.

So by the time he wanders across Yuna, this former Jedi Knight is at the very least not naked anymore.

And yet he's still scowling at her as he makes a rather grim observation: ]

You are no Jedi.

[ And she's wearing the same odd clothes he has found for himself. Oh well. ]

[whereishe]

[Yuna turns towards Anakin, her palms resting lightly on her hips as she tries to figure out what he's talking about. After a long thoughtful pause, she decides that she has no idea what a Jedi is or what it's supposed to mean to her.

She has her magic, she's the High Summoner but... Jedi? That's a strange word.]

I don't know what that is.