[training log] once you find your center

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: Station 72
WHEN: Day :153-155
SUMMARY: Get ready to sweat.
WARNINGS: None; will edit if necessary.

EARLY ON DAY 153 after you have had some time to rest, quiet your minds, get used to the feeling of other people in your head and start to know them better than you anticipated or possibly wished to, there is a call.

Unlike before, when you first awoke, it is not warm and sweet and coaxing. It is instead almost devoid of emotion. Nearly as impersonal as a phone call or a person speaking to you across the length of a desk. For those of you who have met him, it is instantly recognizable as Prince, the words fit themselves into whatever language is most comfortable to you, but his tone is the same, the deep, level sound of his voice almost the same as if it were in your ear.

What he says is this:

'New hosts are expected in the Training Wing within --' and here the voice doesn’t falter, but it seems less like words, more like a concept, tapping into the part of your mind with a far clearer understanding of time than you once had. It’s about an earth hour, either way, 'to begin training for your first assignment. Attendance is recommended.'

And with that his voice is gone, leaving behind only the clear impression of a place, how to get there, and your own thoughts. Well, your own and everybody else’s.




IF YOU CHOSE to heed his advice and go to the Training Wing, you will find upon your arrival Prince: taller than average, broad, with warm brown skin and a serious expression across his face. The cape he usually wears is elsewhere, for the moment, and beside him is a stack of dark grey jumpsuits that look very much like the ones both he and Cathaway wear.

If you’ve been to the Training Wing before it seems slightly changed, although it is difficult to say how. Certainly it was this large before, and certainly there were as many chambers. When you approach Prince won’t have much to say at first, but he will hand you your uniform and point you towards the single locker room, and if you ask for clarification he will only say that he will tell you more when you are dressed and the rest have gathered.

You can take this time to talk to your fellow hosts and get used to the slightly honeycomb textured space spandex that you will find fits you to a tee.

When the allotted time has passed, Prince will request you all gather in a single area, and will explain the situation. Your first assignment will be in three day’s time. It isn’t expected to be dangerous, however most of you are completely unprepared. You don’t know your own strength, you don’t know your own skill, and you haven’t had much time to learn.

What follows is a rudimentary explanation of Iota and Rho symbiotic types ((as outlined in the setting)) as well as an explanation of specialized skills. He doesn’t tell you what yours is, and most of his words are a warning- yes, you are stronger than you were before, but you’re not as strong as you could be. Yes, you are faster, but that doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know how to use it. Yes, you can see and hear better than you could before but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know how to look and you don’t know what you’re listening for. He suggests that you set yourself to learning, although he only teaches the willing.


And then the Training Wing is yours.

---

((OOC Notes: Welcome to the training log!

The Training Wing is large- bigger than the biggest gym, and it contains a number of specialized spaces for Host’s use. What follows is an (incomplete) list of amenities. Have an idea for another space? Drop us a line in the questions section of the OOC info post! The training wing itself is a central hub-type area with a number of hallways that branch out in a vaguely spiraling fashion spanning multiple levels. Below are a list of locations key to this log:

• Lockers - The aforementioned locker space. Features (open) cubbies, shower spaces, a bathroom, towels, and sets of shoes for those of you without proper footwear.

• Track - Centrally located there is a large track, multiple lanes wide, the ground coated in some sort of slightly rubbery, gripping substance. It’s big, it’s open, it’s white, and if you just want to go fast here’s your chance.

• Gym - Located not far from the lockers is an almost traditional gym space, with a number of pieces of exercise equipment, some of which is familiar and some of which is not. There are instructions that will read in a pleasant voice if you seem lost. You will find both strength and cardio equipment arranged in a somewhat sensible manner.

• Training Hall - A large open space with a number of pads on the floors and walls and a wide variety of dummies and protective gear. You’ll also find melee practice weapons ranging from swords and pikes to slightly more exotic weaponry here as well as room for a little good ol’ fashioned wrasslin’.

• Range - Lying closest to the Flight Hangar, this room features a number of targets and projectile training weapons. Here you will find everything from bows and arrows to laser guns. Nothing is capable of doing real damage, but it feels and reacts in a way that’s very real. Handy readouts will tell you exactly how accurate (or inaccurate) you are.

• Pool - It’s a pool, there are lanes, so swim free. Please don’t drown. There is no sauna.

If you have any questions drop us a line at the OOC post

Let's get physical!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[insurrectum]

( ONE. ) We hit a wall That we put on

[ The voice in his head makes him clench his teeth. If he keeps going like this, he will flatten them. He groans, angry sound from the back of his throat, and pushes a hand to his head. Shut up, shut up, shut up. Parker has only grown increasingly angrier as time goes. The supply of antivirus is limited, he has no friends here (he does not and refuses to make any and will continue to act as so until he dies, because he wants to have nothing to do with these people), he has no purpose and he does not want to help anyone in whatever fight they are supposed to fight. This is not his battle. His is back home. His responsibility, his purpose.

It is what destroys him the most. The loss of the self. Hits too close home with the infection within. The loss of the self is what scares him the most.

No wonder he looks constantly tired, either, with his constant struggle of keeping an instinct that he refuses to acknowledged as his to become part of the rest. He doesn't want to belong. It is a battle that he doesn't back down from. He's persistent. He's a fucking cockroach. He has survived something nobody else has back home. Parker is stubborn enough to believe that he will get through this obstacle too.

So while everyone heads to the gym, he pushes in the opposite direction. He goes upstream the river. Bumps someone hard enough to push past them - not necessary, but he does it for his own selfish benefit. Like pinching yourself; he goes upstream to avoid the flow. ]

( TWO. ) And the seeds I sow will grow up prisoners too

[ He only barely looks at the gym when he passes by it once again. Judging look, a sneer, eyes up and down the figure in the center and trying to shut his own mind down. Wants to become silent, even if he has no idea how to start. Somewhere. He has never been one to back down from a challenge, anyway.

He walks down the corridors of the Station. An uneasy feeling of crushing loneliness washes over him, sudden, like being hit by a train. He stops dead in his track, breathing through clenched teeth. This is not his own feeling. He feels it, the pull to go back to the room. To go there. To participate. He fights it. Closes his eyes, curls his fingers into the palm of his hand, hard enough to push his nails into skin. This is not his own.

He stops by the chamber where the rooms connect and stands in the middle. Looks up, trying to understand this place, this prison. There is a way out somewhere and he is going to find it.

There is a creaking behind him and he turns, slowly, hand on where his gun usually is but isn't there. He sneers. ]

What are you doing here?

[ Because the reason why he is is clearly nobody else's business. ]

( THREE. ) A lot of hope in a one man tent

[ Parker is not in the training arena to train at all. It certainly looks like he is just there as if he had gotten lost. Not that he gives off the feeling, but he isn't running. He isn't practising. He is just standing there, looking around. To the walls. The ceiling.

It does not matter to him if he is an inconvenience to the others using the tracks. He stops dead in the middle of it, mapping out the place with detailed attention. Has a pen, scribbling something in his old, tattered notebook. Taking notes, doodling things. Learning, mapping, detailing the Station. Trying to find a weak spot. Many weak spots. He hasn't had much luck - yet. He's patient enough to study every damn corner of this hellhole until he finds one. And once he does, he is going to exploit it.

He does not belong here.

He pushes himself up the higher place of the shooting range, to inspect the weapons. None cause real damage, so that's useless to him. Picks one up and sits down with it on his lap, scribbling something on the notepad and clearly uninterested in using any of the available facilities. He doesn't care for when there is a gathering down there, doesn't care for the briefing and very purposefully hums a song inside his head, as loud as he can. It is the only way so far he has found to push out thoughts. Some preteen act of rebellion. ]

TWO

[erbier]

[ She tilts her head at him slowly, expression motionless and blank aside from a faint coldness. ]

Returning to my work.

[ Her garden. It was what she cared about far above and beyond this training... If she needed to fight, she would fight, she did not care much for playing at it in this controlled environment with friendly faces. ]

Does that satisfy you?

[ Her tone is subtly scornful, letting him known that she did not particularly appreciate the way he had addressed her. ]

[insurrectum]

[ If he was not so actively trying to block everything from his mind, maybe he would have picked up on this garden image of hers. As it is, however, Parker doesn't really see it (doesn't want to either), but he does lower the gun. ]

No. But whatever. [ Simple, curt, abrupt. Meeting her tone with his own; the fact that she doesn't appreciate how he treats her is kind of obvious, but at the same time it is a sign that this woman is not insane. Nobody likes to be treated the way Parker talks to people. But that's because he's an idiot. He stares at her for a while longer. ]

Go back to your work then.

[erbier]

[ Her irritation blossoms like a fucking flower, ice queen cold. ]

Was I awaiting your permission. Or was there some call to threaten me.

[insurrectum]

[ He feels that. The irritation. And not by instinct but over the goddamn link that he keeps trying to block - a mere disraction and it's impossible to push it away. He'll eventually get the hang of it.

He gives her a flat stare and then heads over to the room he has claimed as his. ]

I don't care, do whatever. Enjoy your stay. [ Definitely a jab. ]

[erbier]

What a sad sullen creature.

[ Her tone is the most disdainful thing you have ever heard. She's quite a master of her cruel judgments, she learned it well from her King, and her utter lack of emotion for him makes it all the piercing. No one should have ever given her empathic power. ]

Slink back to your room then, outsider, we will not miss the theatrics of your martyrdom. We will dispose of you when your corpse becomes too rotten to bear the stink.

[insurrectum]

[ That makes him stop. His back turned to her, his shoulders line up straight. He tongues the inside of his cheek. She has no idea what she's talking about, obviously, but it still crawls at him. As a corpse, he will very much carry himself out.

He doesn't think about it. ]

I see you're at the "we" level already. I've always wondered what it'd be like to be a complete moron.

[erbier]

[ She doesn't bat an eyelash at him, her expression only growing colder. ]

You were brought here upon a bargain and now you bemoan its consequences. Which of us is the fool?