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Post by JW% on Feb 17, 2013 21:26:01 GMT -8
"She wasn't one of us?" Brian asked, managing to dig a shallow hole with his broken lid. "Then what was she? She didn't want this any more than the rest of us did. Nobody was kicking and screaming when we went into the pods. I never wanted to be here. I don't even know why I'm here. What good does any of this do? Making us bleed like this is part of some inoculation? How the hell is that supposed to work? And then we get dumped like some kind of medical waste out here?"
He was screaming now, and in a rage flung the lid across the desert, watching it sail for some fair distance. A few moments passed as he breathed heavily. "Maybe we all failed the process. Maybe we're just out here to die."
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 17, 2013 21:27:54 GMT -8
Lyra could sense the dissatisfaction Brian had with her name choice. "Look I'm sorry. I'm more than just a color, I'm Lyra Harrison. My name is one of the few things I have left, I don't want to get rid of it, and I don't think she'd want that for us. I wouldn't want that if it had been me instead of her... I... fine I'll call you 'White' but I wish I could know your real name. I wish I could know hers too, maybe if Oz comes back he'll tell us. He might no. It was just a suggestion. I'm sorry."
Lyra hated this feeling of discord, she had no idea how long they'd be out here the words about the recovery process were just blurry memories to her. She hated people getting mad at her, especially when it looked like she'd be stuck with them for awhile.
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Post by Penny Royals on Feb 17, 2013 21:30:48 GMT -8
Ryan gave a frustrated sigh at 'White's comment.
"Listen, calling ourselves our color for her sake isn't going to help anything. Giving her a name... any name, even if it's close, is the best thing we can do besides bury her." He watched the duo argue, and sighed, stepping between them, his features softening. "Guys... we need to stop it. Fighting eachother's not going to solve anything. We're all upset, I get it, now get over it. If we did fail..." He paused for several seconds, letting that sink in. What if they were the failures? What if they were dumped here? ...No, no. For his sanity, and the sanity of the others, that couldn't be true. Not now. "...We didn't. But even if we did, we're still alive and the only way we're going to get home is by working together, you got that? I don't like that she's dead any more than you do. I don't like that we're stuck here anymore than you do." He walked over to the hole that Brian had started, and stared down for a moment. "But I'm going to do something about it, and I trust that you guys will too. Because what choice do we have other than staying together?"
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lovely corte
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Post by lovely corte on Feb 17, 2013 21:36:16 GMT -8
"She wasn't one of us because there is no us!" Benjamin yelled, pointing to himself and then the others in a wide gesture, staring intently at Brian. "We step into fancy fucking colored coffins and now we're all brothers and sisters?"
"Fuck you." Benjamin said, "She's probably only as old as Lyra over here! She probably didn't even know what the world was like before!"
"And if you paid attention, he said he'd leave us out here." Benjamin said, his voice going quiet, clearing his throat. "I don't know for how long, or why, but he said we were going to be out here before we even got in the chambers. We ration our food, and our water, and we'll be here to either be reclaimed like the fucking animals we are, or we can walk our asses BACK to the place we came from."
"We are not colors, we are not lab experiments, we are not fucking 'It'. We have names, personalities - she had memories, a family - and if you dare even contemplate the fucking fact that she was anything but I will personally hope to see that you die in this fucking desert the same way she did!" Benjamin finished, before he stormed off to sit down at the black pod.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 17, 2013 21:42:31 GMT -8
The tears returned, "Please stop fighting..." Lyra mumbled, "I didn't... I don't want anyone else to..." she broke down into sobs again.
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lovely corte
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Lindsey Looseflaps
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Post by lovely corte on Feb 17, 2013 21:45:57 GMT -8
"L-Lyra," Benjamin started, and groaned a bit, scratching at his face. The small amount of facial hair he had been summoning throughout his time was all but gone, underneath scabbing pure flesh. "I-It's over. It's alright, please don't cry."
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 17, 2013 22:03:19 GMT -8
"I-I'm sorry," Lyra said rubbing her eyes, "You all are so strong, and I'm just... crying. How do you do it?"
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Post by Penny Royals on Feb 17, 2013 22:09:18 GMT -8
"I try not to think about it," Ryan sighed, crossing his arms and turning back to her. "Crying isn't a weakness though- it shows you still have a good heart. There's a lot on our plates right now, anyway."
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Post by JW% on Feb 17, 2013 22:59:58 GMT -8
Brian glared at Benjamin. "Fuck you too." He said, and walked back to his pod, gathering up as best he could his supplies. He ripped open one of the packages and stuffed a cookie in his face, chewing on it as he got everything in the broken box and lifted it over his shoulder. He tried not to wince at the scraping it made, and a few of his scabs oozed a little, but didn't properly bleed.
With that he turned and started walking away from the group, along the base of the plateau they found themselves at. If there was no 'us', if they really were just a bunch of strangers who didn't want to care, fine. He was used to that. Nobody had to care about him, and he didn't have to care about anyone. He could leave them here easily enough. He ground his teeth, trying not to sob again. His eyes were starting to produce tears again. Just the salt. Had to be.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 17, 2013 23:06:27 GMT -8
"Wait come back!" Lyra yelled, "You don't have to leave! We can work this out... right?" she choked out the last word.
She turned back to Ryan, "I... I'm not a good person. I considered... I considered taking her bandages. Cause I needed them more than her, and they had no blood on them or anything. I mean it was only for a few moments, but I feel so awful for even thinking it."
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Post by Penny Royals on Feb 17, 2013 23:09:05 GMT -8
"Don't get down on yourself for that. It's a natural instinct." Ryan paused, and looked down at himself. "If you want, you can have my chest ones... they aren't bloody or anything, I think..."
He pulled them off, handing them to her- leaving him in just the ones protecting some shred of modesty- and then his hand flew to his temple at Brian leaving. "I'm going after him," he groaned, and set tramping off after the boy in white. "Come on, man! Don't be like this!..."
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Post by JW% on Feb 17, 2013 23:15:20 GMT -8
Brian hadn't made it far, and turned back when Lyra yelled at him. "Don't be like what?" He asked Ryan who had called after him. "If Blue over there is right, there's no us, we're no group, and there's no reason I need to stick around. I know there's a door somewhere on this plateau, we drove in it. All I have to do is walk there. Then I'll be able to get back in and talk to that Oz guy. Get some answers to questions I didn't even think of before I volunteered myself for this misery. Or at the very least I'll know where the road is heading back home."
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 17, 2013 23:15:37 GMT -8
Lyra quickly tied them around the areas that needed coverage. Before she could even thank Ryan, he was gone to try to get Brian back to them.
Lyra turned to Ben, "Was... was that really a good idea to say that to him. I mean I agreed with most of it... but I do think we should try to work together... theres no way we could survive by ourselves..."
She cringed as Brian yelled at her, "Not all of us think that!" she said, "I want there to be an "us"."
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Post by Penny Royals on Feb 17, 2013 23:23:59 GMT -8
Brian hadn't made it far, and turned back when Lyra yelled at him. "Don't be like what?" He asked. "If Blue over there is right, there's no us, we're no group, and there's no reason I need to stick around. I know there's a door somewhere on this plateau, we drove in it. All I have to do is walk there. Then I'll be able to get back in and talk to that Oz guy. Get some answers to questions I didn't even think of before I volunteered myself for this misery. Or at the very least I'll know where the road is heading back home." "His name is Ben." Ryan was rather stern when he said that, which surprised him. He didn't feel really confident in himself, not right now- but it came out sounding like he did, at least. "There may not be an 'us' in the sense you're trying to make us, but there IS an us and that is, at the very least, a group of fucking scared teens who need to stay together or we will fucking. die. Don't you understand? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S OUT THERE. You're trying to face it alone, with NO help, and with NOTHING. You're being stupid and-" He stopped himself, swallowing air and calming himself back down. "Please... just come back. We can't risk having any of us die... we've already lost one team member, even if there is no 'team.'"
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Post by JW% on Feb 17, 2013 23:45:27 GMT -8
"Fine. His name's Ben. Whatever." Brian said to Ryan. "And I'm not scared." His voice cracked a little, since he was crying again. "I'm hurt. I hurt all over, inside and out. I'm frustrated. I'm mad. And somebody who I should have thought to even ask her name is laying over there dead, and you all can't figure out if you should dig a grave or leave her in that damned pod. But I'm not scared!"
"What could possibly be out there? By the sun it's just a little past noon. We can see for miles, and there is nothing. It's the salt flats, there's nothing to face. What's going to hurt me, aside from the fact that I'm almost naked, walking through the salt flats? And how are you going to fix either of those? How is staying here going to be any safer? If there's no team, then you didn't lose any team members. That should make Ben feel better, shouldn't it?"
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lovely corte
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Lindsey Looseflaps
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Post by lovely corte on Feb 17, 2013 23:52:19 GMT -8
"Fuck off, cunt." Benjamin called out after the retreating man, standing up to accentuate the point and make sure the man really left, before Ryan actually followed afterwards.
"Go play Power Ranger somewhere else," Benjamin started. His yell quickly turned into a reluctant, cracking voice. "This is reality, you jaded fuck. Get used to it."
He sat back down on a rock, hanging his head as the two went out of view. He hung his head and recoiled from Lyra's scolding, probably feeling a lot more insulted than the girl even attended.
"L-Look, Lyra." Benjamin said, looking at the girl square in the eyes, stepping up and picking his box of supplies back up and placing them at his feet, and picking up a cookie, and feasting upon it. "This... process, has changed him. He's changed. He's not what he was before. He's referring to us by colors, not by our names. He's seeing this as a new leaf, seeming himself as something different. I don't think his name is White, Lyra. And I'm certainly not Blue, and you're certainly not Yellow. And that girl is not Pink."
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Post by Alastor on Feb 17, 2013 23:56:29 GMT -8
Austin sighed as he watched Brian storm off and Ryan follow, not even managing to shake Ben's hand as what he figured was going to be the first of many arguments the group shared. Always with the teenagers with attitude problems.
He knelt down to the bandage-less girl, trying to look somewhat comforting while trying to ignore the pain of the salt (and rather failing, if another wince was any sign). "Hey, it's gonna be okay." He told Lyra, putting on his best 'calming' voice as he could, looking in the girl's eyes. He was rather used to having to do something "We're gonna be fine. Just gotta stick together, maybe try and find shelter for the night."
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 17, 2013 23:59:55 GMT -8
Lyra looked at the two boys comforting her, "I-I... I don't..." she turned away from them
Lyra ran after Ryan and heard their conversation as she approached, " We can't dig a grave for her. We have nothing to do it with. We're just being practical." she said.
"And the desert gets cold at night. You're gonna freeze to death possibly if you leave." she said, " At least the pods might have some sort of warmth... maybe... I don't know, but I know its probably bad to leave."
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lovely corte
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Lindsey Looseflaps
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Post by lovely corte on Feb 18, 2013 0:05:16 GMT -8
Benjamin leaned on his elbows over his knees, legs braced wide, not even caring about his modesty.
"I-I think in this moment of reprieve, I'm going to.. go bury Rose." Benjamin said, and walked off for a moment to drag his Blue lid over to the shade of the plateau, and begun to dig through the hard rock and ground, digging a shallow grave.
What would of normally of taken a hour of hard digging, took only minutes with the added strength and a large spade improvised from his Blue Pod's Lid. He placed his lid down next to the ground, and took Rose over to it, followed by digging the Pink lid into the ground above it, before refilling it.
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Post by JW% on Feb 18, 2013 0:20:24 GMT -8
"I was trying to dig something when you all gave up." Brian said, referring to the shallow hole he'd scooped out of the ground with the lid to his cylinder. "I don't think those pods are going to be all that useful if it gets really cold. But if I find the door I can go back inside and... do you guys know what that is?" He asked frowning and pointing.
Coming around the side of the plateau, staggering, looked like a snowman made of brass. It waddled on two thick round feet that didn't bend at the knees but instead were heavy industrial springs that let it shift forward one tiny step at a time. The head was round, and details were hard to make out, though a flat 'hat brim' could be seen.
In fact, it looked like an only slightly modified version of Tick Tock, the Mechanical Army of Oz. Not that Brian had seen that movie or read those books to get the reference.
Whatever it was, it was moving slowly towards the group, but at a steady pace, and was still a good long distance away.
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Post by Penny Royals on Feb 18, 2013 11:39:22 GMT -8
((Yissss, Tick Tock))
"I..." Ryan turned to stare as well. "...I have no idea what that is."
He was genuinely dumbfounded at that moment. Robots had never really been something he actually GOT, after all. Leastwise... whatever this thing is... He turned back to Brian.
"We didn't give up. Maybe instead of just... just... rushing into something without asking or telling any of us about it, you should, I dunno, try to keep a level head and TELL US these things! Because you can't do all this stuff by yourself, we need to help you... but you can't just... you can't just choose what we do and expect everyone to go along with it. You need everyone."
...This is a democracy. He added in his head, a bit incredulously.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 18, 2013 14:46:59 GMT -8
Lyra clutched at Ryan, " You think it's gonna hurt us?". She thought back to all e science fiction books she read, involving killer robots.
"yeah I... I know I'd be dead without you guys. And I don't want you to die White"
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Post by JW% on Feb 18, 2013 15:12:38 GMT -8
"I think we could take it in a fight." Brian said, studying the slow moving brass snowman as it waddled forward. Of course the moment he said that he expected it to split open it's chest and start shooting them with machine guns or something.
It didn't, it just waddled forward, and seemed to notice they were looking at it, so it raised one spindly arm and waved. It also waved the other arm, though that one didn't seem to want to bend right so it couldn't raise. As the robot got closer... or as the childrens eyes adjusted to their new long range clarity, they could make out multiple dents in the boiler plate sphere of the chest and head. This mechanical man had been through hell it seemed.
"What makes you think I'll be dead?" Brian asked, managing an even tone despite needing to wipe his face to clear the tears. The back of his hand scrapped away several scabs that hadn't been ready to come off yet, and he oozed blood again. At this rate he figured he'd look like some kind of burn victim by the time they all healed. "I'll be fine alone. " Barely audible he added. "Wouldn't be the first time." Then Brian turned to face Ryan. "And if you think any of us need anyone us, why don't you try telling that to Ben? Mister 'there is no us', over there?"
Despite all this he waited for the robot to join them. And given how far it had to travel, and it's slow pace, they still had a bit to wait before it made it anywhere near them.
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Post by Penny Royals on Feb 18, 2013 17:02:33 GMT -8
Ryan absentmindedly put a hand on Lyra, putting her in closer as he stared at the robot, and then turned to Brian as he spoke.
"I'm going to talk to him, but you're the one who's about to leave us, so you're kinda the primary objective right now."
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 18, 2013 21:04:49 GMT -8
Lyra realized something"I see you're using names now," she said, "You just called him Ben"
She allowed Ryan to get closer to her as she stared at the robot nervously.
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Post by JW% on Feb 18, 2013 22:10:51 GMT -8
"Because I was told to." Brian told Lyra, putting down his box and opening it to get another bottle. He was a little hesitant to take out a bottle, but managed it. Trying to take off the twist top he crushed it again, but at least he didn't break the whole bottle, so he had a drink. "Since you think names are so important."
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mekasoundwave
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Post by mekasoundwave on Feb 19, 2013 0:29:50 GMT -8
Z, Black, whatever she was being called by the others was not having any of this squabbling bullshit. She could barely get a few words out as is. She wouldn't be wasting them on petty arguments. So she made herself busy by trying to get used to her new strength...and trying to get something to drink so she could actually talk.
A few...fumbles later, Zeph was able to get a bottle to her lips and started drinking. She'd tasted this before. It was cherry...but not quite normal. Not that it mattered to her. Flavored water wasn't exactly something she had a wealth of knowledge or experience in.
She hadn't been saying anything...but she'd certainly been listening. Listening enough to know their current situation and get a grasp of mostly everyone's name. No guarantee she'd remember them, though. Supposedly, someone...or something was coming to them. Zephyrine walked away from her pod and toward Ryan and Lyra to get a better look at the metal man approaching them.
"...What is that even...?" She muttered, very confused. It was waving at them so she decided to raise an arm and wave back...which hurt more than she'd expected. Her arm went back down not to long afterward.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Feb 19, 2013 7:13:18 GMT -8
" Names are important," Lyra argued, " it's a part of who you are. It's what makes you a unique person. Rose might not of been her name, but she was just as much of a person as we are, and she deserves to be called something more than Pink"
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Post by Penny Royals on Feb 19, 2013 11:16:52 GMT -8
Ryan was relatively quiet, having gone right back to staring at the waving machine, and as Zephyrine came up, gave a light wave as well. It was a few moments of a rather awkward silence before he turned back to Brian.
"It's... more symbolic than that," he conceded, "It's... if we don't have our names, then what do we have? What's there left? He said we'd be... less than human. And right now, I'm pretty sure we all feel like that's true. At least give us this one scrap of the past left."
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Post by JW% on Feb 19, 2013 16:06:05 GMT -8
"Names aren't that important." Brian said, considering his own. All in all he preferred 'White' to 'Junior'. It was swapping one title for another, and at least he could say he had a hand in choosing 'White' instead of being stuck with a title that said he would always be the lesser. "And if they were, why start calling her the wrong name? You don't know she's named Rose. Rose is another word for Pink anyway."
Brain did however consider the 'less than human' statement. They didn't have anything left. His face didn't even seem the same, with all these scabs. This was like the worst sunburn ever.
Brian glanced at everyone who had come up to him. Only the green and blue bandaged boys were still back at their landing site, and Ben was busy finishing up the grave. Brian couldn't help but notice that Ben had avoided furthering the hole Brian had started, but instead had started his own.
"I can't believe all of you. We want to know what's going on, we need to go check it out." Brian said, putting down the box. "Look, just don't take my snacks, go get your own." And with that he set off at a run to catch up with the brass robot, taking off almost amazingly quickly, his strides almost bounding over the landscape.
In fact, Brian made it almost up to the robot before he paused and looked back as though startled by how quickly he moved. Then he turned to the robot that had stopped and lowered itself into a braced position, holding up it's arm defensively.
"Please do not further damage this body." The robot said, in a voice that was a much less booming version of the floating head. It seemed to be generated from recordings of words by that voice, and had an artificial sound, both choppy and as though there was no proper emotional tone to it. It also didn't carry very well, and over the wind that blew little bits of gritty sand and salt it might have been impossible for the other kids to hear what the robot was saying at this distance.
Brian studied the robot for a moment, registering that the dents covering it... they seemed to have been made with bare hands. In boiler plate. There was even a bit of dried black smears, as though the hands had been bleeding when they had delivered the blows. He looked down at his hand and the scabs on them, making a fist and wondering if he could cause such damage in what he had assumed was hard and thick metal.
"Uh... okay. I won't hit you." Brian told it, and the robot looked up, focusing the one good eye that hadn't been damaged by a blow that had caved a part of it's head in. It didn't really seem to have a mouth so much as a stylized mustache that twitched as it talked.
"That is good. I apologize for being late. I was released when your pods were, but this damaged body can not travel at suitable speeds to meet you on awakening." The robot stood up straight and gave a little bow, followed by turning it's head slightly. "I trust you awakened suitably and are doing well?"
"I feel like I have the worst sunburn in existence." Brian admitted. "And all my muscles hurt. And a lot of other stuff too."
"Unfortunate side effects, but necessary." The robot said. "You will find that once your skin fully recovers during the next day or so, it will be capable of absorbing and metabolizing radiation. No where on the planet short of heavily ozone depleted areas will be able to do more than tan your skin."
Brian gave the robot a look. "Great, so I'll have natural sunblock in a day. Right now I hurt all over."
"Besides my sympathies and advice, I can not help that." The robot told him with what Brian could have sworn was a sad expression, despite the fact that there wasn't much the robot could express with.
"And what advice could you give?"
"Don't pick at your scabs. Let them recover naturally." The robot said.
Brian wondered again if he could make another dent like the one that had disabled the robots arm.
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