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Daycycle 113 [ October 23 - October 29 ]

daycycle 113

[Oct 23 - Oct 29]

[OOC Plotting for this Dacycle can be found here.]

[Specials can see a Specials Supporters Anonymous chat leaked onto the network in the wee small hours of the morning, here.]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty

Allison Argent and Peggy Carter, have been selected for today’s mission. Details are below:

‘There have been multiple reports of sightings of unregistered mutants near the south sewer entrance. Go investigate with caution.’

Please debrief the computer on the status of your mission by the end of the Daycycle here.

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will be at 2000 in Warehouse 97 in the R&D Sector and will be hosted by the Alpha Fight Club. Martial Arts and Boxing are skills all Alpha Citizens should have. Join us as we demonstrate how to get started and how to fight properly.

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He has to wonder how she raided medical, as well guarded as it seems to be. Maybe it's less so at night. That's worth looking into. Maybe he'll use that gas mask Buffy got him and do that tonight. He'll do his own actual exploring. Unless, on the off chance, Buffy and Derek are telling the truth and really are exploring. Derek has said they go off every night. That's... a lot of exploring. Alcide's still just been here a couple of days. What's he supposed to think?

Honestly, Alcide is glad that Buffy is not that kind of girl. He's glad she's who she is. He just wishes those baser instincts that they body have deep inside of them hadn't been exploited the way they had. He does feel like he needs to apologize in spite of her saying he doesn't. Maybe he could have done more, fought harder, gotten away from her and everyone before things went haywire.

In the end, it doesn't change anything. What's done is done. He just has to accept his part in it and... apologize.

Wait. Did she just say that she's attracted to him? Alcide stares at her for a long moment. If that were the truth he would definitely feel better. "Yeah, maybe so. There's a rumor goin' around that it was the coffee... which is just plain wrong if you ask me." He smirks, trying to make the conversation, the situation in general, a little bit lighter. He made his apologies, whether she accepts them or not is up to her.

It's less guarded at night. They'd used distraction and stealth. A huge dose of paranoia had probably helped them do so successfully. It had also helped that they were going for one bandage, in and out. They really are exploring and they do go out most every night at least for a little while. In part, it's to explore and get a feel for the complex, but it's also a rebellion against going to bed when this place tells them they should. it's time when they don't feel quite so watched, despite knowing that they are still watched.

She really doesn't like that they were exploited. It's not the first time she's been manipulated and it probably won't be the last, but that doesn't mean she likes it or that she ever will. He can't take the responsibility for all of it. If they were able to fight against those instincts and the drug, then Buffy has to take responsibility for not fighting harder as well.

Exactly. She hasn't put much energy into 'I should haves', at least not today. She's just trying to cope with what happened and move forward with the least amount of awkwardness possible. He has absolutely nothing to apologize for. He wasn't in his right mind and it's something he wouldn't have done otherwise. Besides, she could have stopped him if she weren't drugged.

Yes, she did and why wouldn't she be? Has he seen him? Besides the way he looks, he seems like a nice guy, a good guy. "Yeah. I've heard that rumor. It's enough to make me swear off coffee." At least for today. She smiles a little at him then clears her throat, looking awkward for a moment. "Did you--did you do anyo--anything else yesterday? Becauseofthedrug," she says the last part quickly and suddenly she's not entirely sure she wants to know if he did anything else yesterday.

"I know someone who kissed a co-worker. Not me. Except for you. Because you're sort of a co-worker and there was the more than kissing. Not that that's important. Or un-important. It's just--time for Buffy to shut up."

"Mostly kept to myself after..." His hand waves back and forth between himself and Buffy. What happened between them, they both know and it goes without saying. They're both feeling the ramifications of that now. The aftermath isn't nearly as pretty or easy as the actual act had been, unfortunately. Buffy is pretty, of course. But what they did has made her feel bad and for that Alcide is sorry.

"I mean, there was Derek." Let's just pause here. Because it takes Alcide a moment to realize that leaving it there makes it sound like he and Derek had done the same thing him and Buffy had. Once he catches on to that, his eyes briefly go wide and he shakes his head, quickly adding more. "We didn't. I mean we fought. Or I fought. I kinda got in his face, is what I mean. Pretty sure I ruined any chance of our bein' friendly with one another."

Okay, that's less scandalous now. Really, Alcide has had enough scandal for just being here a few days. Back home, he likes to live scandal free as hard as that is to believe at this point. He's kind of thankful that no one knows him well enough yet for him to have been a part of that network log everyone is privy to now. Maybe he can keep staying under that radar.

"Are you sayin' we weren't the only ones?" He asks, and then it occurs to him to flop the question around. Did she do any...thing with someone else? "Did you...?"

She nods, cheeks flushing at that memory. Is it warm in here? She thinks it's warm in here. Her hand slides to the curve of her neck to cover a scar that isn't there, but she knows should be. She can't help but let her eyes drift to Alcide's neck where there's a fairly clear bite mark from her teeth. She nods again, feeling like she ought to say something, but hadn't she just sworn to shut up? She's pretty sure she had.

Then he's talking about Derek and she can't help the jealousy that streaks through her. He had sex with Derek? After having sex with her? She's pretty sure that's crossing a line and fury creeps over her before he clarifies, which just leaves her a little shameful of that flash of fury, that streak of jealousy. "Oh," she finally manages to respond. "I wouldn't count on it. He knows things were weird yesterday. He and I didn't start off very well either. Now, he's probably my best friend here."

Much less scandalous. Sometimes scandals just find you. At least that's been Buffy's experience. Or maybe she just doesn't want to admit that she's not good at avoiding scandals. Either way, she's happy enough to stay under the radar and by the way, she's pretty sure he's one of the tall, dark and stubbled that had been talked about. She hopes that whatever security footage was shot yesterday will end up buried.

"Me? No," she responds emphatically. "No. Not me. I just--with you. We weren't the only ones that were affected."

It is definitely warm in here. Of course, Alcide usually runs hot. But without his wolf-ness, not so much. Maybe that's the reason the warmth feels good. Maybe it just feels good to know that a girl like Buffy is attracted to him, even if she's taken. And even if she isn't, he still assumes she is. He'd be lying if he said he was perfectly okay with that. He's seen Buffy stripped down to those inside bits she wishes people didn't see. And she's seen him in the same way. That has to stand for something.

As for Derek, Alcide feels horrible about sleeping with his girlfriend. He doesn't necessarily regret it on Derek's behalf. He regrets it on Buffy's. What he feels the most horrible about is that he'd gotten in Derek's face, almost gone completely Alpha on him, before Derek had a chance to decide he liked him. It sucks. Because Alcide is new. He has no one but these two people he shares this room with and Zee, natve Gracie.

"You think there's a chance he doesn't hate me? I'm not so sure about that." He shakes his head. "Probably just... keep my distance for awhile. Not get in between you and him... explorin'."

They weren't the only ones infected. Maybe if Alcide had spent more time in the main parts of the Complex he would have seen more people acting as he and Buffy did. Not that he'd want to see that, but it sure as hell would make him feel better about his own actions. "Good." He says with a slow, thoughtful nod before he looks back at her. "I mean not that it's any of my business, I just... I don't know why that's good... nevermind."

They really need to clear up that whole taken thing. She's definitely not taken. That he's seen her vulnerable and stripped down does count for something. She's pretty sure that whatever happens they're going to be friends. She thinks they both kind of need to be friends.

Oh Alcide...Derek will be just fine and she thinks they'll end up getting along just fine. Alcide is right about one thing though: friends are important in this place.

Something in the way he ends that sentence makes her tilt her head at him, befuddled. "What? Why would you need to keep your distance? You've got a mask. You could join us."

Exploring.

Buffy has only heard about the others. She hadn't actually seen it and she's glad for that. She tilts her head at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I'm pretty pleased about that myself. I didn't exactly want to slut it up."

Alcide does need them to be friends, mostly because of what happened between them, partly because he just doesn't want to be completely alone in this weird-ass place. He'd rather the one person in this place who has seen all the less than savory bits of him be his friend, or at least be some kind of ally than the alternative.

Although, join them? Her and Derek? The three of them together? It isn't that Alcide is against threesomes. In fact, he's had a few when he was Pack Master. The rest of the pack is always so ready to please the Pack Master, without his even having to ask for things. Anyway, that's happened. But the idea of being with Buffy and Derek, who Alcide thinks he's insulted in some way, is just surprising.

His mouth opens around unspoken words several times as he accepts what she's said and wrap his mind around the idea of a threesome with...

"Yeah, no. It's better not to... what you said." Slut it up.

But Alcide can only divert so far. "You want me to join you and Derek?" In the... exploring.

At least they're in agreement there.

Oh Alcide. No. Just...no.

She's not sure what she's said to strike him so speechless. From the little she knows of Alcide, it doesn't seem as if he'd be put off by the words 'slut it up'.

Right. She wonders briefly if it's possible that he actually likes here and it makes her grin, but then he's asking a question and she's focusing on that.

"Yeah. Why not?"

Clearly.

Alcide's mind is reeling. He's mentally trying to piece together the idea that Derek might want a threesome at all with him and Buffy, much less with Alcide at all after the way they first met.

"I'm... not gettin' that vibe off of him." He shakes his head. Of course, he could be talking about the way he'd gotten up in Derek's face with no real reason to do so aside from the drugs. But really, he's talking about how Derek had only had thoughts for Buffy after that had happened.

Tell Buffy to wake me up, Derek had said. We go out every night, he'd said. Exploring.

"I mean, not about me, at least. About you, yeah. Yeah I think he's cool with... explorin' with you." He adds. "Just you."

If Buffy knew what he was thinking about, her mind would be reeling as well. She'd also be completely shocked at how he came to that conclusion.

"He's grumpy at first. You just have to give him some time." They're good friends. Buffy can't speak for Derek, but he's probably her best friend here in the complex.

She's still not seeing how that's leading to what Alcide is thinking.

"Seriously, we don't mind you joining. It's not a big deal. We just have to be careful not to get caught, you know?"

"Well he wasn't. I was the grumpy one. Then it just got... he shut off. Which is probably good for him cause I was ready to engage. I mean you saw how I was that day." Alcide shakes his head again and pushes a hand back through his hair.

For a moment he paces the room. "If you and him weren't..." He pauses, decides to redirect that statement before he tells her he wouldn't mind being with her again if she weren't with someone else. "To him it seemed like just a you and him thing."

He stops pacing and looks over to her to see her reaction to that. She doesn't seem to be the type to step out on her man, but who knows? He's been wrong about people before. "The bots are against... explorin'?" Sex. He means sex. Cause no bots were rushing in to stop him and Buffy when they were going at it in the hallways.

Her brow furrows at that and she gives him the most confused look. "You hit on Derek?" She decides that's better than saying 'you tried to have sex with Derek'.

She shrugs a little at that. "I don't think it is. I mean, we've never invited anyone else, but that's because we've only been doing this for a little while." She hasn't talked to Derek about bringing someone else along with them, but she really doesn't think he'll mind.

She isn't. "After curfew, absolutely." Exploring isn't code, Alcide. It just isn't and she hasn't actually asked the computer's opinion of sex. She hasn't had reason to.

"What? No! I didn't..." Alcide looks so freaking confused. Probably because he is very freaking confused and it's his own fault and the drug's fault and his own stupid jealousy's fault. He's known Buffy less than a handful of days. There's no call for jealousy. Right?

"He's your boyfriend. Not mine. If you think he's into that kind of stuff, then..." He shrugs, plopping down on the side of his own bed and leaning forward, elbows on his knees and his head bowed as he pushes his fingers back through his hair.

"They even police sex?" He asks. "The bots."

That makes two of them. Confused seems to be the emotion of the day. As for jealousy, Buffy is pretty sure there aren't rules on it, though he shouldn't be jealous. There's nothing to be jealous about. Neither of them are dating anyone, including each other. Not that Buffy is opposed to getting to know him less biblically before there's more acquainting biblically...sometimes she thinks she should stop thinking too. At least she's not saying words right now.

That look? That look that he's getting right now is one of absolute shock and what the fuck. "He's what?" And did Alcide just agree to a threesome? "What is even going on here?" The question is mostly rhetorical because it's very clear that neither of them know. Oh, and right, she has a few things to clear up. "Derek is not my boyfriend. Derek is my best friend. There's no boyfriendness. There's no possible boyfriendness. I'm pretty sure he's got no desire to be my boyfriend. I'm not interested in being his girlfriend. There's no girlfriendness, in case that wasn't obvious, which it wasn't. Obviously. Oh...God. You thought--" she's going to go bright red and face palm. Give her a second.

"Exploring...we're just going out after curfew and snooping around. We're not--boyfriending." There's a code word for you, Alcide.

More what the fuck looks. Really, her face is going to get stuck that way. "I...don't know? I haven't noticed? I haven't noticed condoms in the commissary. Because I haven't been having sex. With anyone. Except for...obviously. Oh God...what if...we didn't use a condom."

Face palming forever. On second thought, her face might get stuck this way.

Ever so slowly, Alcide slides his hands down his face, eyes peeking at her between his fingers as she explains without question that she and Derek are not boyfriend and girlfriend. Exploring really means exploring. They're not... boyfriending... or girlfriending. They're... well, shit.

For a weighty moment Alcide feels relief. He didn't sleep with his roommates girlfriend. He didn't step over that line and he's not that kind of asshole. Also, Buffy was just his that day. The wolfy parts of him, the possessive parts of him, likes that. Then he has to rethink every-damn-thing they've said just now. And... well, shit.

"If you're not boyfriendin' then why was he so keen on you and him gettin' together that night?" Please remember that his perception was skewed that day. He was drugged. He might have taken things differently than he should have.

Then they're on the condom conversation and Alcide gets a sick, roiling nervousness in his stomach. Wolves make wolves, not through biting like in the movies, but through bloodline. But Buffy really looks worried about it and his instinct is to make it better. "Look, if... I mean we'll deal with it, together."

Boy howdy this conversation took a weird turn. Even before he's realized the weird turn there were weird turns.

"You and Derek aren't...?" He has to ask one more time. Sorry not sorry.

She's been trying to tell him that they've been exploring.

That's a good thing. She can't imagine how awkward things would be if she were Derek's girlfriend and she'd slept with Alcide. It would have been far more awkward than it is right now, which is saying something because she's pretty sure they're drowning in awkward.

She lifts one shoulder in a half shrug. "He drank a lot of coffee. I think he was just restless and paranoid." He probably took things wrong. She can't say for sure that Derek was super keen on going out, but she doubts it was that big a deal.

Yeah, she's experience the same sick, roiling nervousness. She pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath. She hasn't actually seen anyone pregnant here and she knows the alphas are clones, but she's not sure what that means for the specials. She's convinced they aren't clones. They're brought here. Somehow. "Hopefully it won't be an issue," she says quietly.

Weird turn for sure. Not a turn she's used to discussing. Granted, she usually has sex with vampires so it's unsurprising that she didn't think of a condom until just now. Yes, her sex life is weird. Shut up.

"No. Not unless you were going to finish that sentence with snooping around after curfew and then yes, but that's all."

Okay then. Buffy and Derek really have been exploring the complex at night. Derek and Buffy are not dating or sleeping together or anything like that. Alcide did not sleep with his roommate's girlfriend. This is not as much of a soap opera as Alcide has assumed. Still a soap opera, just... tamer. He can work with that.

Also, maybe Derek really wasn't as put off by him as Alcide assumes he might have been. He can hope that that's the case, anyway. Alcide would like to be on good terms with both roommates. They have to live together, after all.

There's also an ease of the tension that has settled inside of him since waking up this morning. There's no reason for him to have been jealous of Derek and Buffy, even if they were more than friends. And yet... Now that's a non issue.

He looks over to Buffy and stares for a moment. He's having to try really hard not to think about how she looked in white and how she felt when he was inside of her and how the entire world had narrowed down just to the two of them. They were fire hot together. Buffy had wanted Alcide every bit as much as he wanted her. Alcide isn't used to two-way streets as far as the opposite sex goes.

"Look I don't like the way it happened either. But..." He shrugs a bit. "It was good, right? We were good together." He pauses again and then tilts his head. "Are you and me gonna be okay? I'd really prefer to get along with my roommates is all. Right now I know it's awkward but..."

She's glad that he's finally getting that. She's pretty sure that soap operas aren't quite that racy. She'd really like to not be on a Alpha Complex soap opera again.

Buffy doesn't think he was. Of course, she can't really speak for him, but she thinks it's worth giving him a second chance.

Buffy is refusing to think about yesterday. She doesn't want it to be a factor in her friendship with Alcide. She's not terribly successful in not thinking about it when he looks at her like that though. Yes, they were hot together and she had wanted him as much as he wanted her, but she never would have jumped the gun like that without knowing him better if it weren't for the coffee. She's been drugged before and she hates it.

She presses her lips together when he mentions it, stomach plummeting. Her cheeks flush as she nods. Yes, it was good. They were good together. She still feels fire in her belly when she does let herself linger on it a moment. Finally, she looks up at Alcide, cheeks still red. "Yeah, we're going to be okay. I mean--we are okay. Awkward is a form of okay. It can be, I mean. And we don't always have to be awkward. We can get over that hump--the awkward hump." She squeezes her eyes shut, wincing at her own words. "You know what I mean."

It's hard for Alcide not to think about yesterday when he looks at Buffy. That could be because it's still so fresh on his mind as well as entirely out of character for the both of them. Or it could be for other reasons that he's not letting himself get too involved in just yet. They just met. Alcide does have a habit of falling hard and fast for someone. But this right here is ridiculous even on that front.

Maybe Alcide shouldn't have brought it up again. But he's not the kind of guy to sweep things under the rug. He'd rather confront it and be done with it instead of letting it linger in the air between them without being acknowledged so that they can move forward.

He nods at her in agreement. "Yeah, I get what you mean."

Alcide gestures to the foot of her bed and waits for her to say it's okay for him to have a seat before doing so. She's at the head of her bed. He's at the foot. There's plenty of space between them. "So why don't we become less strangers and more... the opposite of that. Tell me somethin' about yourself."

Buffy is having a hard time not thinking about it either. Of course, when she does the awkwardness returns. She ends up blushing and wanting to crawl under a blanket. It is out of character for her and she'd acted out of character because she'd been drugged. While Alcide falls hard and fast, Buffy takes her time. Her past romantic relationships have been rocky so she's hesitant to jump in. Besides, back home she'd been in a good thing with Spike.

No, he's right. It has to be dealt with. It's good that he brings it up, that they don't let it fester and rot.

She looks through her fingers when he says he gets what she means and lets her hands fall.

When he gestures, she nods. "Yeah. Please." Having a seat is good. He's tall and she doesn't need a crick from looking up. She smiles at his offer. "In my glitches, I'm a barista. I have a younger sister named Dawn. She's going to Berkeley. " She tilts her head at Alcide, smiling a little. "What about you?"

"They aren't glitches. They're real." Alcide is quick to say, if just because he needs to believe that and maybe Buffy needs to believe that too. Her sister Dawn is as real as they are, as real as this is, as real as anything is real, just like Alcide's life back home is. For all the indoctrination of this place, Alcide will never buy that his life back home is a glitch.

He sits back against the foot of the bed and regards Buffy. "I got an older sister, Janice. She's... always all up in my business and protective of me the way older siblings are. She owns a hair salon and will probably be pissed at me when I don't come in for a haircut on time."

It's almost a subconscious move to push his hand back through his dark locks just then.

"Let's see... somethin' about myself. I owned my own construction company. Herveaux Contracting." He says. "My pops ran it into the ground, was in dept up to his ears when he handed it over to me. I got it out of debt and we're doin' pretty good now... or we were."

Buffy nods and casts her eyes to the ceiling where the cameras are. She knows they're real. She's believed they're real from the moment she woke. She's also learned that you shouldn't talk too much about 'home' or about the glitches being real. Those are things the computer will catch onto. "They feel real."

"Yeah, I think that's an older sibling thing. I'm over protective and Dawn. I prod into her life and her business." Her attention goes to Alcide's hair. She remembers tangling her fingers in it and her gaze goes right back down to the space between them on the bed. "It's probably nice though. I would think anyway, having someone that worried about you and was protective of you." She'd lost her mom several years ago and she still misses her every day.

"One of my best friends did construction," she comments. She vaguely remembers there being some conversation about construction and Alcide's tan. It's all a blur though. "Is that always what you wanted to do?"

Both Buffy and Derek do that. They look at the cameras anytime he says what he thinks to them. For having been here a few days, the both of them, they're hyper aware of the cameras. Alcide forgets they're there a lot of the time. He wonders what's been done to the both of them that they both seem scared of speaking in front of them.

In any case, Alcide could give a fuck. He knows what he knows. "They are." He assures her, albeit a bit quieter than before, but no less certain.

"I bet your sister's just as protective of you, even if she don't show it." Alcide says. "I know I am of Janice." He grins a bit. "I still tell her to go away and mind her own business a lot of the time."

He considers her last question, but waits for her to look back up at him from the bed before answering. "Wanted to do, I don't know about that. It's what I know though. Shreveport ain't swimmin' with opportunities. Plus I never did college. Barely finished high school. Just did what I know how to do, you know?" Alcide is definitely an ordinary joe from a lower class drunken household. Nothing spectacular about him.

"Guess I'm pretty underwhelming in the light of day, huh?" He only half-jokes. He couldn't be impressive if he tried. And with Buffy, he really wishes he could impress, that he had more to work with.

Funny enough, Buffy has simply heard what happens. She knows that sometimes people get arrested for treason and are never seen again. She can't do anything if they drug her or if they lock her up somewhere she can't be found, or worse. She's learned from others to be careful.

She nods a little, not willing to argue with Alcide for the sake of making a point that she doesn't even believe. It'll be even more conspicuous than Alcide's words.

"She is." She's seen Dawn defend her in the same breath that she gives her hell. She knows that Dawn loves her, that she's protective of her. "I think Dawnie does the same thing."

Buffy smiles a little at that. "I was in college for a year. I dropped out when my mom got sick. After she died, there was Dawn and I never went back." She takes a short, sharp breath. "When I was little, I wanted to be a super hero. I just never realized what being a super hero meant during the spaces you weren't saving people."

She shakes her head at that, looking at him a moment. "I'm still pretty whelmed." She likes Alcide and nothing he's told her has changed that. In fact, this conversation, the way he approached her, has only made her like him more.

To be honest, Alcide is still having trouble being afraid of a computer and whatever a computer might have its minions do to him. After seeing the horrible, terrible things that Vampires, Shifters, Fae and Humans can do to each other, he's pretty sure that anything else is a walk in the park. Add to that that Alcide has a hard time play acting anything, well... there ya go.

"Sorry about your mom." He says. "Was your dad in the picture?"

In the end, he thinks college is overrated and overpriced. He's done just fine with the company his dad tried to run into the ground without a college education, thanks very much. It might not be a glamorous job, but he's good at it.

When she says she's still whelmed, Alcide grins and ducks his head with a nod. "Me too." Everything. All of it. Right back at her.

daycycle 113

[Oct 23 - Oct 29]

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