Donovan watched the small group introduce themselves. There seemed to be some underlying tension that they were all aware of but trying to ignore. He wondered if it was simply the strain of being captives or if it was something else. He'd make a note of it for the psychologist to consider.

In the mean time, they should probably be fed. Donovan had been paying attention to what sort of food McFarland had been dishing out over the last two days, and it was enough to make even a soldier complain.

A quick set of instructions had a cook presenting him a trolley cart with four perfectly rationed breakfasts of a slice of dry toast, an orange, a banana, a cup of yogurt, and a little baggy full of plain granola. There were also four plastic cups, each with a prisoner's last name written on it in sharpie. In consideration of their complaints about dirty clothing, he also included clean scrubs in a variety of sizes, complete with pants and shirts without openings.

After quickly inspecting the trolley, Donovan walked with it down to A-block. He keyed the door opened and walked in after the guard, Hollis, with the trolley.

"At-ten-tion" Hollis advised the prisoners as Donovan stood just inside the room.

"Welcome to A Block," Donovan began, inspecting the prisoners he had selected. "I'm Commander Mathews. Over the next weeks, you will be given opportunities to learn about your new powers. You will be given space to exercise and get fresh air. The tap water in the bathroom is clean and safe to drink. The water to the shower will be turned on from 8am until 9am every day. You will be fed at 7:30, noon, and 6:00. Your clothing, if left folded neatly by the exit, will be laundered and returned to you. Good behavior will be rewarded. Failure to cooperate will get you sent back to the cages. Are there any questions?"

As he addressed the prisoners, Hollis was setting the table with the food and labeled cups. There were plastic utensils and paper napkins, for something resembling formality. There was even a pitcher of cold apple juice for a special treat.

For a moment, Heather hated herself for how much she wanted that apple juice. And a shower. But there was time for that later.

"Why us? I don't mean the whole kidnapping thing. I mean, why were we chosen to be in block A? Wouldn't it be easier to group us by similar forms or powers?"

Jacinta was about to respond to Caden’s query when suddenly, a guard came into the room with a cart, followed by an older man. Jacinta gave a mock salute as the younger guard called for attention. She listened to Matthews’ introduction with little interest until he mentioned the words ‘fresh air’ ‘shower’ and ‘clothing’. She tried to look nonchalant but ended up utterly failing, especially when she saw the food on the trolley. With a great mental force she tore her eyes away from the banana (her favourite fruit) and focused it onto Matthews. When ‘Commander Matthews’ had finished his introduction Jacinta opened her mouth to ask a question, unfortunately Heather beat her to it.

"Why us? I don't mean the whole kidnapping thing. I mean, why were we chosen to be in block A? Wouldn't it be easier to group us by similar forms or powers?" Jacinta had to agree. Before anyone else could ask their question Jacinta suddenly asked;

“When will we get to have this ‘fresh air’ and will it be outside?” Huh? That wasn’t the question she was going to ask. She was going to ask something about what they would wear when their clothes were getting laundered but that had popped out instead. What was with her?

((Written with Dante over PM))

The door slid open, and two men entered. Caleb’s hands stilled on the deck of cards.

"At-ten-tion!" said the first, and Caleb blinked at him before the other man began to talk.

"Welcome to A Block," began the other man, shorter and older than the first. Caleb studied him as he spoke. ‘Opportunities,’ he said. As if they had choices in the matter. And the ‘weeks’ part made Caleb frown… but, he supposed, at least it meant they weren’t going to be killed just yet.

-

Rache was the first to break the short silence. "Why us? I don't mean the whole kidnapping thing. I mean, why were we chosen to be in block A? Wouldn't it be easier to group us by similar forms or powers?"

Donovan considered the question carefully. Just what did he want them thinking this was all about? Before he could finish formulating his answer, Winchester asked “when will we get to have this ‘fresh air’ and will it be outside?”

Donovan directed his first response toward Rache. "There is a beaurocratic logic to grouping by similarities. I'm more interested in practicality. You are in block A because your powers are most likely to be useful."

He decided not to mention the possibility of recruitment quite yet. He wanted them to grow more comfortable in their new situation first.

He directed his second response at Winchester, making sure not to leave anyone else time to ask questions before he finished responding. "Yes," he began, "you will have some time outside." Of course, 'outside' was actually an open air courtyard, but they hadn't asked for details. "There will be a schedule posted at dinner tonight. Use today to settle in."

-

As Mathews answered Heather and Jacinta's questions, Caleb looked down at the table. The original officer had set it around him, complete with apple juice and paper napkins. ‘Real’ food would be nice, but the whole set-up felt like he was in kindergarten again. It annoyed him how happy he was at the thought of getting something more into his stomach than a protein bar and an orange. Still, though, it wasn’t exactly a feast. More than they had be given thus far, yes, and Caleb was a little annoyed at how good yogurt and granola looked after spending a week in the woods and the last two days as a prisoner.

Given his answer to Heather, Caleb assumed her form had nothing to do with his. Which meant she probably wasn’t a bird. But then, the other two were both cheetahs, so maybe… Caleb wished he’d paid more attention to the other prisoners in the cell room. His attention had been so focused on Abel--and, by extension, the girl in the cage between--them that he couldn’t really remember a whole lot about the others.

“ ‘Useful.’ ” Caleb absently fiddled with the deck of cards, thinking about that a moment.

“So who else is joining us?” he asked, looking up from the cards in his hand to Mathews. “I saw six rooms,” he added by way of explanation, shrugging.

"For now, you four will be the only ones in A block," replied Mathews. "Though that may change over the coming weeks."

Caleb made a noncommittal noise, determined not to seem too eager to get information on the prisoners that had been left behind.

"There is a beaurocratic logic to grouping by similarities. I'm more interested in practicality. You are in block A because your powers are most likely to be useful."


Useful, huh. Then this isn't run by scientists just trying to see what they can do, there's an objective. And just what are we useful for. Telepathy, darkness. She didn't know what powers the other two had, but if they were anything similar, these guys may be putting together an infiltration team.

The promise of fresh air made her skeptical though. It seemed too big an escape risk and was probably just a lie to placate them.

Before the dark-haired girl could answer his question, the door opened again, letting two men with a cart of some sorts enter. The first said (almost yelled) "At-ten-tion," in Caden's ear, as he hadn't yet moved far away from the entrance to the living area. As the second man - "Commander" Matthews, apparently - was explaining the situation, Caden noticed the cart had food on it, and his stomach gave a light growl. It looked more like a "meal" fit for a preschool classroom, but he certainly wasn't arguing at this point.
Matthews' explanation of the schedule didn't quite placate Caden - they could still be fabricating the whole thing, for all he knew, as without access to the sky they could set any "time" they wanted. The commander did promise some outdoor time, but Caden remained skeptical.
When he finished, both girls asked questions in quick succession, almost on top of each other. Had it not been in such a sobering context, Caden would have chuckled. Instead, he just listened as Matthews answered both, his mind instantly mulling over the tidbits given. "Interested in practicality"? "Most likely to be useful"? What [b]are[b] these guys about...?
Finally, the man asked a question as he sat in front of the food, the table in the room apparently having been set by the first guard. It seemed as though they four of them currently selected for this "team" weren't going to be getting any buddies any time soon.
Caden sighed quietly and walked over to the table, sitting down by the cup with his name on it, and started peeling his orange silently. Maybe once the commander and guard were gone he might start talking to the others again.

When no one else asked any questions, Donovan gave them a brief nod and left the room with Hollis hot on his heels. He quickly assigned Hollis to monitor the security cameras and report anything odd. While Donovan was curious how they would all get along, it was ultimately not important. He had a base to run, after all.

((OOC: Edit, sorry don't know how I missed that Caden had already started,

After the Commander left, there was a moment of hesitation, though all of them were eyeing the table.

Maybe no one wants to be the one to show weakness first. Heather surmised. It wasn't a stretch to believe they craved the food as much as she did, or that they felt just as bad about it as her. Well, I'm going for young act. Might as well start now. Before she could, though, Caden started peeling an orange. Oh Well.... She plopped down in front of the cup with her name on it and tore into her yogurt.

The military men exited, and the room descended into semi-awkward silence. Caden came and sat at the table, beginning to peel his orange, and Heather was quick to follow suit. Caleb frowned to himself, thinking over Mathews’ words as he set down the cards and reached for his cup and the pitcher of juice.

He poured himself a portion, and then, figuring that since it was the only thing to drink on the table, began to pour juice for his new roommates as well.

“My name’s Caleb, by the way,” he said for the benefit of Caden and Heather, who had both come in after he’d introduced himself to Jacinta.

“So.” He smiled wryly, opening his baggie of granola and dumping some of it onto his yogurt. I hate small-talk. “Where you guys from?”

"I was born in Vermont, but most recently out of Washington State." Heather answered. She tucked the orange in the Granola bag, just in case the promise of later food was a lie, or the Commander felt a need to withhold food. She looked for a pocket or something to stick the food in but, realising she didn't have one, plopped the bag in her lap.

"We moved around a lot. Also for the purpose of getting to know each other's capabilities: I turn into a Liger with the ability to make a cloud of darkness." Maybe if the knew what everyone did, she could figure out what Mathew's wanted them for.

((No one else wants to jump in? Ok… :/ I apologize for shortness.))

"I was born in Vermont, but most recently out of Washington State," said the younger-looking girl as she tucked her orange into the bag of granola. "We moved around a lot. Also for the purpose of getting to know each other's capabilities: I turn into a Liger with the ability to make a cloud of darkness."

“Washington State? Huh, go figure... Where in Washington?” Caleb asked between bites of yogurt. Talk about a small world, he thought as he waited for a response. It would be interesting to see if she’d lived near his neck of the woods. But then, it would also be interesting to see if the other two had similar origins. The odds were strongly against it, he knew, but this place was so bizarre in general that coincidence seemed more likely than out in the ‘real world.’

"We lived in Port Orchid, on the other side of the Puget Sound from Seattle. Kevin worked -" Heather cut herself off. "I don't think I'm supposed to say. Assume it's classified until told otherwise and all that." She blinked. "You know, it never even occurred to me that this might be related to Kevin's work. Should have been obvious.

I mean, no one I've seen seems exactly government, not even the guards honestly. If spouses and children of people - But if that were the case, why do all the testing. If we were all somehow connected to the military, that would just make the proper authorities track us down faster. It would make no sense since they'd want as much time as possible to evaluate us. Plus they would have at least asked me about Kevin's work if that was the objective." Heather didn't seem to be entirely aware she was saying this out loud. She then turned her attention back to Caleb.

"We'd only moved in about a month ago, though, so I don't know the area too well. I take it you've lived in that state?"

((yeah, Cy basically summarised that up. Labour weekend’s coming up though so I should have some time to organise some of my school work, thus allowing myself more time for this. I hate term 4))

When the commander had left Jacinta seated herself at her spot, gulping down the juice in one go. Once that was polished off Jacinta began peeling her banana. Seeing no knife to cut it she sighed and ripped it apart as finely as she could then began placing the ripped pieces on her toast. Once her banana toast was ready for consumption, Jacinta took a big mouthful, just in time to hear Heather say;
…But if that were the case, why do all the testing. If we were all somehow connected to the military, that would just make the proper authorities track us down faster. It would make no sense since they'd want as much time as possible to evaluate us. Plus they would have at least asked me about Kevin's work if that was the objective." Jacinta decided to make a comment, she opened her mouth but found it still full of banana-toast goodness. She set off to work it down her throat, mentally hitting herself for gulling down her juice. She was still swallowing when Heather continued on; "We'd only moved in about a month ago, though, so I don't know the area too well. I take it you've lived in that state?" She had finally finished her mouthful but the conversation had turned to where it had come from, probably when Jacinta was getting her toast ready.

Setting the toast back down on the plate Jacinta turned her attention to cheetah-guy... Caleb.
“Hey, you look pissed. They take something off you? You don’t look like you’ve been beaten up but more like you’re missing something. I’m Jacinta by the way.”

((also she was able to recognise Caden’s voice because cheetah’s apparently have very distinct voices and scientists think that they might be able to identify others this way. I swear I explained this before, if I have and overlooked it I’ll be sad))

((Lol Cy, I knew all that… I guess it just didn’t occur to me that with only four characters, I would be able to post again so soon, yaknow? Also, Caleb re-introduced himself for Heather and Caden’s benefit before asking where people were from.))

Port Orchard, eh? Caleb nodded at the girl. He knew exactly where that was. He’d grown up in and around the Seattle area; one of his friends in college had needed to take the Fauntleroy ferry to and from Port Orchard in order to commute to Bremerton. But the girl had kept talking, something about governments and military and Caleb found himself frowning slightly. Something else to file away for later, he supposed; maybe there was more logic to the other test subjects being here than he’d first assumed.

After all, just because he had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time did not mean such was true for everyone.

The other man in the room sat eating his orange in silence. Perversely enough, it amused him that the guy--Caden--didn’t seem interested in conversation. Go figure. Caleb grinned into his juice as he took a drink.

"We'd only moved in about a month ago, though, so I don't know the area too well. I take it you've lived in that state?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but Jacinta beat him to it, speaking to the younger, quiet man who had been eating his orange. “Hey, you look pissed. They take something off you? You don’t look like you’ve been beaten up but more like you’re missing something. I’m Jacinta by the way.”

It seemed as good a segue as any, Caleb supposed, and he turned his attention to the younger man as well. He wondered what might have been taken, if Jacinta was right about the reason for the man’s expression to begin with. Theft was something he hadn’t much considered. But then, beyond the clothes on their backs, he and Abel hadn’t had much by way of possessions anyway.

((Oh yeah.... sorry, I totally missed Caleb saying that)) ^.^'''
((btw Tok, I think that's a bit of mind-reading there. Even if I had said Caden's frustration was visible, I think it's quite a stretch to be able to deduce why someone looks upset just from looking their expression. Caden also doesn't have extreme enough emotions to look "pissed" even if he was upset.))
((Oh well. I guess he has to join to conversation now.)) =-]
((Has Jacinta heard his cheetah-voice before?))

Caden was drawn in when he heard the girl who had asked him about being a cheetah before speak to him again. "Hey, you look pissed. They take something off you? You don’t look like you’ve been beaten up but more like you’re missing something. I’m Jacinta by the way.”
She once again managed to catch him completely off-guard. He looked at her quizzically for a moment before getting his mind back on track and answering "Um, well, I don't know if they took it, but my necklace is missing.
"And I'm definitely 'beat up', or at least still sore from two days ago.
"I'm Caden."
He looked around to the other two and hoped that their half of the conversation would regain control of the room. He just wanted to eat right now.

Heather nodded understandingly. "They took my wallet too, though they deny it. I hope you get your necklace back." Caden looked kind of like she did her first lunch period at a new school. Everyone trying to scope out the 'New Kid' when she really wanted to be left alone.

She had finished what parts of her breakfast she hadn't saved for later.The orange and granola looked a lot better than they would have ordinarily, but she forced herself not to eat it. If lunch came as scheduled, then she'd see.

Caleb listened to the others talk, eating his breakfast in silence for the moment. He felt bad that they were missing possessions, but at the same time he was somewhat relieved not to be in that situation himself. He hadn’t had much to be stolen from him to begin with, so he supposed he was lucky. It was obvious they wouldn’t give him back his knife; that wouldn’t surprise him. But he had his clothes. And assumably, what was left of his and Rook’s camp was still out in the woods. Unless these people had found it and dismantled it.

He finished his yogurt, drinking more juice as the room subsided into a bit of silence after Heather’s statement. Caleb noted, yet again, how much he hated small talk. This is going to be a long day.

And Caden didn’t look as if he was particularly interested in talking, anyway. Go figure.

Caleb coughed quietly, self-conscious about taking over the conversation but not seeing that the other man was interested in being forthcoming. Someone had to talk, right?

“Yeah,” he said, looking at Heather and going back to the earlier discussion. “I grew up in Bothell.”

Heather nodded. "Wish I could say I knew where that was, but as I said, we had moved recently." She wanted to talk about escape plans and get ideas, but knew they were probably being listened in on. Noticing the others were beginning to finish their meals, she glanced towards the bathroom.

"Who wants the shower first? It probably shouldn't be me since I don't know how much hot water we have and these -" Heather indicated her now extremely ratty braids "- are probably going to take a while." Then a horrible thought struck her. "It's probably a given they're watching us. I don't suppose any us us has a power that would let us tell if there was a camera in the bathroom..." She shuddered.

Caden went back to munching on his toast as Heather explained that her wallet was missing as well. Caleb then steered the conversation back to where it was before bringing up where he was from. Caden took the opportunity to mix the granola into his yogurt as the discussion about whereabouts in Washington state people were from wrapped up.
There was a moment or two of silence before Heather picked up again with "Who wants the shower first? It probably shouldn't be me since I don't know how much hot water we have and these are probably going to take a while," she finished, indicating her braids, which Caden mentally agreed were looking a bit old. The girl shuddered as she added "It's probably a given they're watching us. I don't suppose any us us has a power that would let us tell if there was a camera in the bathroom..."
"Mine has something to do with electricity, though what exactly I have no clue, so I don't know if I can help there. But I think we'll just have to assume we have no privacy here," he added, thinking of the "window" he had caught a glance of in one of the rooms with its door open. "It's not like they haven't stripped us before anyway, what with those hospital gowns we were all in earlier."
It wasn't a fun conversation, but at least it wasn't the meaningless small talk from earlier. "Anyway, if we now know our daily schedule, I'd like the shower after lunch."

((*So considering Dante's post below, I apparently completely forgot Matthew's given shower schedule. I will pretend that I in fact didn't forget and that Caden just wasn't paying attention enough. Anyone feel free to correct him. More conversation! ^.^))