WEEK 1

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 1

[Awaken.

Fifteen strangers have been gathered to the Depths.

When the strangers awaken, they will feel nauseous in their stomachs. No doubt confused. Maybe a little sick, Perhaps, even terrified. And certainly, there is a good reason for it - they are not where they were before. If they had powers back where they came from, they seem to be all gone. And it appears that someone has left...guidelines for them. All of them addressed to a specific Title.

Their Title. Somehow, each person knows, upon seeing this, this is their Title, even if it seems to make no sense whatsoever. And its clear that whoever wrote these things knew it as well. Who was it?

Its uncertain. So far, there seems to be no one else save for them, and those who dare to venture out of their rooms - save, for some reason, the individuals in rooms 1, 8 and 7 - in this hot and stuffy place. No...'intercessor' to be seen yet, certainly. No outward signs that there's anyone else aside from the people with 'Titles'.


So, Titled: welcome.

There are fifteen strangers in this place.]

Comments

Hallway

[carries_war]

[Since realizing his standard URTV powers are nullified, Rubedo has been trying and failing to call up the fire of the Red Dragon. Now that he's thoroughly convinced that even the Red Dragon Drive is nullified...he sees this. His surprise shows in his tone, if not his face.]

How did you do that?

[lightnen]

[ There's only a moment before Killua turned his attention to the other boy, a bit of an annoyed look written all over his face. It was one thing to somehow remove a fraction of his normal strength and limiting what he could do, but another to have the damn walls burn him like that. ]

...I tried seeing if I could put a hole in the wall. THAT happened all on it's own. Try it yourself if you don't believe me.

[ He's just kind of in a sour mood there, Rubedo. It's nothing you did or anything. ]

[carries_war]

[He turns to face the wall, tries once again to call up his fire, and punches the wall as hard as he can. This is a kid who very clearly knows how to throw a punch, but no fire.]

...That hurt.

[He sounds surprised by the fact that punching a stone wall hurt his hand...]

And it's just the same as the last dozen times I tried to make fire.

[lightnen]

[ WHAT? Did this guy seriously just do what he told him to?

On top of that, there was nothing that burned him but... maybe that was because this boy's punch didn't remotely damage the wall like his punch had. Not that it stopped him from being completely taken aback from what the other'd done to start with. ]

...You're saying you can actually make fire all on your own?

[ Wait that's not important here. ]

Of course it's going to hurt when you hit the wall, though. It's supposed to.

[carries_war]

[Never underestimate a URTV desperate to get his powers working again. He looks at his knuckles, a little scraped up and definitely going to be bruised.]

If I had my powers. But none of them are working here.

...I guess that's why punching the wall hurt, too. It doesn't, normally.

[lightnen]

[ Looks down to his own slightly burned knuckles and then over to the other boy's before his gaze casts over to the wall where he'd punched it. There was a couple small cracks in the cement but that felt entirely disappointing in the long run when he thought about it. ]

Yeah? They've done something to me, too. If I had my usual strength, I could have put a hole in the wall...

[ Priorities. Killua has them. ]

[carries_war]

So could I. I should be able to do lots of stuff that I can't. There's another guy who says they've messed with him, too.

[lightnen]

...I have no doubts it's all for the express purpose of keeping us locked up in here to play their game. We have to do it the way they want it to, and that kind of pisses me off.

[carries_war]

Probably. If my powers were working right, the rest of the URTV force would know exactly where I am. And dad would be mad if he found out someone stole the leader of his army.

[lightnen]

[ Halfway to responding to that, it finally hit him that the red-headed boy had just said he lead. an. army. Something which stopped him short and suddenly the stinging in his hand and everything else ceased to matter. ]

An army?? You're seriously that strong?!

[carries_war]

I'm the Red Dragon, the leader of the URTV force and the most powerful. A lot of people underestimate us because we're young, but the URTVs are an elite force of bioweapons that outclass combat Realians in all areas.

[lightnen]

[ He lets off an impressed whistle at that, his attention definitely caught by the fact that this boy who looks about his age was not only the leader of some army force but he wasn't even human. Looking over Rubedo once more, his demeanor seemed to shift more towards his proper age with showing interest in someone who was not only strong but appeared to look around his age.

Something which was quite rare here. ]

I'm assuming you mean humans when you say 'Realians', or am I wrong?

[carries_war]

[He doesn't know about Realians? Well, that points toward the pink and blue haired guy's theory...]

Nuh-uh. Realians are artificial life-forms built stronger and tougher than humans, with a neural network that acts like a biological computer with an advanced Artificial Intelligence. They have different personalities just like real people, but they're sort of like...I guess you could call 'em living robots.

URTVs are biologically more similar to humans, but we're stronger because our powers work different.

[lightnen]

...Living robots and beings similar to humans but much stronger. Your world sounds quite interesting.

[ That's something he means, for what it's worth. He thinks this other boy's world sounds quite interesting and he kinda wants to know more about it. ]

My name's Killua, by the way.

[carries_war]

I'm URTV Unit #666, but a lot of people seem to think it's too long, so you can call me Rubedo if it's easier.

[lightnen]

Rubedo's definitely easier to remember, but your actual name sounds kinda cool, though.

[ Even if it is essentially just a number and a kind of title of sorts. ]

[carries_war]

Really? All of the URTV units have numbers, but only me and the other two Variants have names, so I thought the name was cooler.

[lightnen]

Yeah I could see how that'd make you stand out from the others, but i still stand by what I said.

[ He flashes a grin at this. ]

At least you've done something cool like lead an army. I just ran away from home to get away from what my family wants me to do and I'm planning to take the Hunter Exam... or I would have before I woke up here.

[carries_war]

Yeah, but you get to go wherever you want, and see places that aren't in the middle of wars. I never get to leave the Institute except when someone wants to use us in a conflict...

[lightnen]

Really?? That sounds pretty awful.

[ He's not even being remotely sarcastic about this for once. ]

I can kinda relate, you know. My mom only used to let me leave the house when it was to do a "job". [ A bit of an eyeroll at this. There's a reason he ran away from home, after all. ] So I ran away. What's stopping you from seeing the rest of the world?

[carries_war]

A leader can't just run off and leave his men behind. If I did that, I'd let them down and be marked as a failure. And failed units get disposed of.

Besides, even if I did run away, what would be the point? I'm just a weapon, it's not like I have any real purpose outside of fighting.

[lightnen]

[ There's a bit of a pause at that, realizing how similar Rubedo's situation and mindset was to his own. He can't really give this whole uplifting speech about how there's more in the world than all that at least not yet but for now, there IS something he can say about that. ]

Whoever drilled that into your head is an idiot.

[ Short, blunt and simple. ]

You have a mind of your own and you want to see new places, right? Would a true 'weapon' have desires like that? [ He's honestly trying his best with this whole thing. ] Do whatever you want to. Don't let people tell you what you can and can't do.

[carries_war]

[He shuffles his feet a bit, for a brief moment looking very much like a normal child remembering a lecture.]

Dad...always says we were created as tools, and that we're not supposed to have our own opinions. It'd mess up our missions if we had feelings about the conflict and didn't like which side we were on.

[lightnen]

I know that feeling. Dad always told me that emotions and having relationships with other people weren't needed for what I was going to be doing, cause it'd affect how I completed my jobs.

[ A huff and he then put his hands on his hips and stood up straight, feeling a bit petulant at remembering the whole reason he ran away from home to start with. ]

I don't like having my whole life planned out for me and people telling me what I can and can't do. I think while you're here, you should do the same, and forget about what your dad said and live your own life.

[ A nod follows this and he soon then smiles with very relative ease. ]

Besides. He's not here to tell you what you can and can't think or do around here, right?

[carries_war]

He's not, but...

[It's kind of embarrassing, but this guy's his own age and not someone who looks to him as a leader, so maybe it's okay?]

I don't really know how to be anything else. The only time I've ever been out of the Institute before this is to fight in wars.