DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Alternate Reality PHX: Phoenix Reform Academy Girls common room.

Peri

“Was just thinking that they didn’t look very comfortable or easy to move your fingers in. I’m in no place to give fashion advice. After all, I’m the loser who didn’t even bring shoes with her.”

Great. Her first day and already she’s managed to snap at the shy girl, depress the stand-offish one, and insult the fashion sense of the friendly one. Got to be a new record for alienating people...

She headed towards the kitchen area. ”Anyone hungry? I’m not a great cook, but I’m happy to grab cereal, make scrambled eggs and toast, or nuke some oatmeal.”

Cadence

Cadence shook her head for the girl who was offering to cook something. "No thanks."

Cadence walked from the kitchen area to the living area- a pretty short distance, around the sofa, and casually picked up the remote from the arm of the chair and turned it off. She really didn't need to see 'Breaking News' reports today. She was there, she knew what happened. She fell into an open seat with a *whoomf* sound as the chair absorbed her fall. Maybe it was a test of the comfort level.

With a look to the girl who was like a metaphor for 'Can't keep still' she asked 2nd question, "Does that hurt?" Obviously she was speaking to Dash, sitting across from her. Cadence drew her feet up onto the chair in a clutch position. "I mean, like, does the dampener cause you discomfort," she added with a circling gesture in the air.

Dash

‘Living causes pain. It like ... growing pains, all times. H... h...”

She closes her eyes and gathers herself.

“Difficult to think. Not bright, ya? Broke. With it on can pause and think. Talk. S... s...
“

Another long pause.

M”reduce my momentum and be unmoving.”

Cadence

"Yeah, that's gotta suck," she replied to Dash. It was true. Whatever the girl's gig was, either she wasn't right to begin with or the dampener was messing with her. Maybe both. "Whenever they pass out the comment and review cards for this hotel... maybe ask 'em to maybe try to tune the dampener field... maybe that'll help... But whatta' I know, right?"

What did she know? What did they know? She hadn't even told them her name yet. Which name was real? Did she even know anymore?

She then looked back over her shoulder to Anne and Peri. First to Anne, "On our next field trip to Nordstrom's... ask for Driving Gloves. Leather, breathable... I mean, rubber dish gloves certainly sends a message... no touchy... but it will ruin your skin, Sweetie."

It was clear, now that Cadence had spoken more than a couple words, that she had a twang in her voice, She wasn't from Halcyon City. She was from the South, maybe even a little west as well. She slipped a hand to the ankle cuff, absently trying to adjust the fit of it as though there was an itch that couldn't be scratched.

Her eyes drifted to Perri, "Bless your heart... I know every one of us has something worth cryin' ourselves to sleep at night... We wouldn't be as twisted up in a wad if we didn't have it rough."

"She's still wearing last night's clothes," Cadence said with a gesture toward Anne. "Sweet style though," she quickly offered to Anne. And then back to Perri, "I have no clothes either... Not a stitch. But that's just a thing, right? Here we are. You seem like you're decent people, so this place'll probably be good for you.... If you let it... right?"

Cadence did seem to have philosophical bent to her. One day she might make a great super-villain. She already had the monologue thing down.

Anne

She is surprised by the commentary but offers a smile. "There was no talk of going to get clothes. The only question was to The Hole or here. They elected here and I can't complain. It is better than home." She shrugged.

"I think most people will be safe around me especially when I am healed. Right now I just don't want to take a chance. The old guy that helped me from the rubble would have been in trouble if his body didn't protect him so well."

She nodded that nicer gloves would be appreciated. She continued to sip her tea.

Dash

“They get you clothing if you don’t h... you don’t pos... own any. Not been time yet. Got for me.”

Anne

"I am sure they will arrange for my clothing to be brought here at some point. They will get tired of me in one outfit over and over again, I am sure. I don't think this is an orange jumpsuit kind of a place."

Dash:

She jumps slightly.

“M s.... um ... need to go down to parlor. They’ll be s... s... talking and taking questions in bout forty minutes. Forgot.”

Anne

"Misewell get the lay of the land, and the rules that go along with it," she agrees. She drinks the last of her tea and goes over to wash her cup. She sets it on the side to drain so it is clean for the next person. It was an odd experience. She had servants do it for years but this wasn't that kind of a place, at least not at the moment. She wondered in her own mind how much service they would be entitled to. Probably not much, teaching sel reliance and such, she guessed.

She didn't have anything else to put on, so she just adjusted her top a bit which had shifted while she sat, and appeared read to go to whereever this parlor room was.

Peri

She nodded a bit, not really heaving much to add at this point. Just grabbing herself a big bowl of cereal to wolf down before the meeting.

Oh, and a couple apples, a few granola bars, and a couple cans of soda to keep in her room. Just in case.

Cadence

Cadence didn't even know these girls names. She hadn't said her own either. Did she miss the name sharing part of the jamboree? Probably both good and bad. Knowing their names made her connection to other people real... more real... whatever. Sharing her name opened her up to other questions, invariably 'What do you do?' being at the top of the list. She had turned off the TV because sooner or later the news would run the breaking story thing about the cloaked person that attacked Alchemy and killed innocents. They wouldn't know that was her, not yet anyway, but she would hen have to listen and absorb their commentary on what they were watching and she was sure she wouldn't like it. Hell, she didn't like it herself.

So, it was a pickle... A part of her didn't want the connections and another part needed them. She didn't know how to sort it out so she did nothing.

Then the girl with the glitch 'suddenly' remembered the group had a meeting to go to, like now... or real soon... hard to tell with her. But what was important was watching the purple-black effects in the fringes of her... glitch. She had seen that before, and she was beginning to understand what that meant.

"Okay then," Candace said with an facial expression that she had just been spun in a whirlwind, "If you're going to be in charge of our social event planning... then you need to ask them for calendar."

Even as she finished her reply her eyes were drawn to watching Perri grab food to take to her room. She let out a sigh. It was not something she could truly understand or even relate to. What could she say to that girl that would make her feel comfortable that there would still be food here when they got back from the meeting.

Her eyes were drawn to the girl in the dirtied up clothing, the expensive designer rags at that. She had already commented on the clothes but now it was her face. Familiar. And that wasn't good. She looked away and kicked her legs off the edge of the sofa and stood with a litle hop at the end as though she stuck the landing. And the cuff was there, just tight enough to remind her that it would always be there.

Anne

She grabbed an apple. It occurred to her that she hadn't eaten for anything other than pleasure for a very long time. What did that say about her? She didn't know what that meant, and didn't know what she should think about it. Evidently mom and rubbed off on her in that sense. Utility over other things for food. Yet other things, only the best of the best. Life was just strange and it was only getting stranger.

Look at who she had come to meet. She hadn't really made friends when she was younger, more of a project for mom than actually just going to school kind of a kid. Yet a contrast with Peri who seemed to be suffering from moment to moment. Dash, she didn't know what to think. And the other girl seemed less forthcoming than some could be. That made Anne wonder just a bit. Given the ankle monitor she obviously had something in her past that the new controllers were watching her for. Anne thought about that, how close she came to that moment herself. Well she assumed the reason for the ankle unit. Mom certainly had tried to get her to kill time and time again. That might have been enough to take her to the other place, not here.

She shook her head. Things would be learned in their own time. For now, keep her hands in her pockets and relax.

"Where is this parlor room?" Almost as an after thought she rescued her cup out of the sink and made a second cup of tea, allowing it to start steeping before she went to the meeting place. A drink to sip might allow her to distract herself which seemed like a good idea for the moment.

Peri

And now that she’d managed to store away the food, she offered Cadence a little smile.

“Thank you. Yeah, I hope it will be a good thing for all of us. Change can be good, right?”

Optimism was a bit of a novel experience, really. Normally when things changed, it meant that they were getting worse. Still, she wondered where her father was - what he was doing. In lockup he wouldn’t be drinking.

He probably has a killer hangover this morning. Heh. Killer.

With no hair of the dog to take the edge off, the mixed up stomach would be kicking in soon, and the sweats. After that, well, after that it would get ugly. She’d seen her father go through the DTs a couple of times, when he was either making a brief attempt at sobriety or was too broke for booze. He wasn’t a pretty sight, sitting on the floor in the kitchen with the fridge door open to cool himself off, scratching away at the worms that were crawling through his skin and yelling at ghosts only he could see.

Not my job anymore.

She grabbed herself a banana and a muffin, taking them into the parlor with her.

Dash:

“ oh, down the s... down on the next floor. Not h... Easy to get to. S... s... apology for remembering late, difficult to think at times. One thought in front of the wrong thought and behind the next. Not best of thinker.”

She frowns, looks down for a moment before standing up.

“I might own some extra s...”

She pauses a long time.

“Blouses that might fit you, bit large on me, and that one” she indicates Peri. “Is about my s... build if you want clean.”

Cadence


Cadence shook her head at the offer of clothes from the Girl Who Glitched. "They get me as the see me..."

As the girls gathered to follow Dash to this Parlor, Cadence asked a question.

"Anything else we need to know before we walk in there?"

Dash:

“‘Kay.”

The shoulders slump just slightly.

She looks over at the other two on the clothing offer.

“Well, s..”. Another long pause. “Well, the boys aren’t too nice with me, but I think that won’t be a problem with you. Don’t think Mr. kemp going to make it formal. Told me it was just tell and take questions. Gave me that week ago when I got h... when I arrived.”

Cadence

Once the girls were gathered again, it seemed they were ready to head to this parlor room. Cadence fell in behind 'Girl with the Glitch' since she knew where she was going. Hoody sweatshirt, knee length gym shorts, and ankle socks. Her was hair still a bit of a mess but she seemed unconcerned with that.

There was nothing she could say about the clothing that would explain her reasoning. It wasn't personal and maybe that was all she needed to say, but telling someone something was personal usually wanted to know why things were personal. Cadence spent the last 8 months wearing clothes that weren't hers, bought for her yes, made for her yes, but not hers. She didn't choose them.

"Boys are jerks until you put them in their place... Any of them say anything, you just give'em the finger... I got your back."

Yeah, all 5'5" of her!

Anne

She was quiet and waited. She seemed to be thinking a lot to herself, though it wasn't clear what she felt about what she was considering. In her own mind she just wanted to get on with whatever was going to happen. She didn't know what to think, and really it didn't matter what she thought. Being with her mother she had learned to just accept the mercurial changes that happened from moment to moment. Easier than trying to plan for the sudden explosion.

Time stamps: after orientation day one.

Dash seems to have already made her way back in, and is again sitting, fidgeting. Looking oddly like she is flitting around while sitting still, almost vibrating.

Day 1- After Orientation
Cadence

Of course was the first one back in their common room. But every time she used her power, and every time it used her, there was some kind of discomfort or pain. She was out of balance. Cadence could sense it well enough just watching her. Maybe there was something passive about it. That particular power. There was no way she was born with this gift, somebody did something to her to make her this way, or alter her.

"Are the Pads here, or will they be delivered later?"

There was a brief flicker and a breeze ... and she was sitting there holding out a pad towards her.

“If you s... if you turn it on, you can give it a code.”

The ‘glitch’ flickers across her like static.

“If I could figure it out, know you can’

She gives a bit of a wan smile.

“You’re s ... you’re”

She taps her head.

“Clever. You think.”

Cadence

Cadence issued a soundless chuckle. She shook her head, "Maybe I am... clever," she said as she flopped down beside Dash. "But you are too... like, how you use other words when you can't say the first one in your thoughts. Whatever was done to you... Well, that's why you can't keep focused. You weren't born with this," she asked with a gesture at the moment a glitch swept through Hadadsha. "Did you have speed before? And then someone changed you?"

Dash

“Been fast all my life. ‘Kidu ...”

She screwed up her face.

“‘Kidu ... made it more. Only I’m broken so it didn’t all the way work. Bad effort, wanted to make gods, not me. Let me be carrier. Take things from one to other. Get food, cot. Better than being wanted. Being wanted, would get more of attention, more needles, more hands, more burning. Fire in the brain. Being broken enough that st... that didn’t try to fix me anymore, good. Fixing hurts.”

Cadence

Peri and Anne would be here soon enough, if they didn't get sidetracked exploring the place. Cadence set the pad in her lap. There would be time enough to figure that thing out later.

"Yeah... I bet this Kidu guy did make you faster... like lightspeed fast... but that part's not really running is it? No. It's in that 'glitch', as you call it, that you can go from one place to another. But you can't stay there in that... zone... you can't control it. The more he did to 'fix' you, the more it hurt... the more he... unbalanced you."

Cadence remembered how Alchemy and Nyx tortured her to get her to 'erupt' as a mutant. Not only was the torture bad, and so calcultated with the will-breaking efforts, but the actual 'evolution' into becoming a Deity was like being on fire, inside and out, until she found a balance. Screaming until she couldn't hear herself and her own screams sounded as if they came from someone else, somewhere else. Yeah, Nyx was a complete whackjob. But her... her mother... was pure unadulterated sociopathic evil.

Dash:


Her eyes unfocus for a second and another glitch runs across her.

"When I move extra quick here to there, like that, world around is grey and purple, and cold and hot together. Burning ice. Don't like it much."

She tugs at her hair, winding a long strand around her fingers.

"Oh, I'm only one of 'Kidu's broken parts. Are lotta them. Even 'nother one in this place too. Only you won't put eyes on Blake usually, if she doesn't try to be visible. Usually doesn't want to be. Grew up quicker'n Blake too. Blake is about your h... your tall, I think. I was, oh, little kid 'bout this big"

She holds her hand maybe a bit over three feet off the floor.

".. when she was 'bout this big."

She held her hand up perhaps a little bit less than five feet off the ground.

"Am 'Bout as big as her now. Was awkward. Leastways where I am now most others don't know I'm bigger'n I should be. Not as odd."