alphalogs | Daycycle Day 23 [ FEB 29-MAR 5]

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Daycycle Day 23 [ FEB 29-MAR 5]

DAYCYCLE 23
[ FEB 29 - MAR 5 ]

MORNING

This morning even the most vehement of those Special haters seem to be preoccupied at the briefing. The whispers aren’t about the new arrivals but the opportunity to go to the surface. The Briefing Officer doesn’t waste any time in announcing those that were chosen. Out of the twelve Troubleshooters selected three specials, Tony Stark, Ray Palmer and Barry Allen, are named as part of the expedition. Some Troubleshooters seem disappointed while others look extremely relieved at not being named as part of the group. The expedition will set out at noon with a projected return time of 48 hours.

Troubleshooter Team: D. Grayson and R. Lynch
This particular mission is considered a high-clearance level despite being assigned to RED troubleshooters. Dick and Ronan will be selected for the mission and immediately led out of the Commissary in order to be told in private. They are to travel to Bingham’s Arms Emporium located on the outskirts of the Armed Forces sector. There they are to render the supervisor, Victor Bingham, unconscious and take him to one of the scrub bots located at Internal Security headquarters. They will be required to wear masks provided when obtaining the traitor in order to protect their identity from retaliation.

All other Troubleshooters: You are to report to your Service Firm positions for the day, until called on for Troubleshooter duty.

Intel: The word glitch has begun appearing on confession booths in the Technical Services sector.

AFTERNOON

At approximately 1400 a small explosion will occur in the R&D sector, causing it to be evacuated for the rest of the day. It is unknown what caused the explosion, but rumor has it that anyone introduced to the invisible gas in the area will begin to go into convulsions before losing consciousness. That will not stop some people from getting masks and searching the abandoned warehouses for products that will gain money on the black market.

EVENING

At 2000 the Genuine Credit Opportunity Club will hold a special presentation in the Commissary for those interested in earning astonishing amounts of credits for minimal work. THIS IS NOT A TRIANGLE SCHEME. Sleeping gas will be expelled at 2100.

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Admittedly, Lydia likes the sound of that. Being part of a team has been important to her the past couple of years and she's learned that it's safer and, overall, generally more fun to be a part of a team. She'd like it if she could find some common ground and work well with her roommates. It makes her think she should probably actually talk to Dick once in a while, instead of just silently sharing space with him the way she has been. "I'm sure that we will," she replies amicably, another little smile gracing her lips.

"More useful now, even, than it was when I first got here," Lydia says. She pauses. "...have you heard about the hate groups?" She feels like that's a thing Matt should know, especially since his disability sort of puts him at a pretty big disadvantage, much the way her petite size had. He would be just an easy a target for them as she had been, in his own way, she thinks.

A soft laugh escapes her and Lydia shakes her head. "No, not so much. I've seen snow, but...it's rare. You guys get it all the time, though, right?"

There is comfort in being part of a team. Despite the fact that Matt does his vigilante gig back home alone, there was a huge comfort in letting Karen and Foggy just know about it. It lifted a burden off his shoulders. Perhaps Lydia is experiencing the same sort of feeling. In general, common ground, communication and teamwork do help people live together, but sometimes it's hard to establish that for one reason or another.

Matt's brow furrow when she mentions the hate groups. It's pretty clear by his expression that he hasn't heard about them. "No, but I don't like the sound of that." Once he gets his feet under him, he can actually take care of himself pretty well. He's a master at hand to hand combat and acrobats (even if he doesn't look it) but he's used to doing those things with super sensitive senses that allow him to anticipate what a person is going to do before they do it. It'll be a little while before he gets sure of himself.

He nods a little. "Yeah. Every winter. It doesn't usually shut the city down, but it can make things pretty miserable." He grins a little. "You know, living in California, that's just taking things on easy mode. New Yorkers don't generally do that," he jokes.

Lydia's expression falls when Matt says he hasn't heard. He's new, so of course he hasn't, but Lydia doesn't like the idea of being the bearer of bad news all that much. She rolls onto her back and stares up at nothing in particular. "There's an Anti-Specials group. They don't want us here," she starts. "They think that we're stepping on their toes and we don't belong. And they're violent," she says, the last part coming out more softly than she means it to.

Taking a deep breath and sighing, she lolls her head to the side on the pillow so that she can look over at Matt. "Just be careful, okay? They don't like picking on someone their own size," she says, frowning, feeling a bit on the guilty side for implying a direct comparison between Matt's disability and Lydia's stature, but in this particular instance, she thinks it might actually be merited.

At Matt's playful jab, Lydia lets out an incredulous laugh. "Yeah, right," she says back. "I'll trade you snow for psychotic werewolves and homicidal lizards any day."

No, she's right. He needs to know about the dangers here. There's no chance he can defend himself if he doesn't know. He presses his lips together, taking in everything she's saying and considering it. It doesn't take a genius to realize by the way that she says they're violent that she or someone she cares about have been hurt by this group. "And I suppose it doesn't matter that we didn't have much choice in being here," he grumbles.

He doesn't fault her for making the comparison. He is at a disadvantage without his abilities and until he learns to cope without them, he'll continue to be at a disadvantage. "Thank you for the warning. I will be careful," he tells her sincerely.

His brow furrows a little. Really, after aliens invaded New York City and the avengers vanquished them while destroying half of the city, nothing should surprise him and yet her words do surprise him a little. Of course, he did get wind of the whole lizard thing that Spider-man took care of a few years ago, but he hadn't paid much attention it it at the time. "Well, it sounds as if you come from an interesting place. We've only got aliens and inhumans in my world. Oh...and a god or two." Can't forget Thor and Loki after all.

"No," Lydia replies, taking a deep breath and sighing it out her nostrils. "It doesn't. I don't think they care that we're here so much as they care that we didn't have to work our way up to RED, which is the stupidest thing, like if we had a choice, we'd have picked RED. Fucking morons," she muttered the last bit bitterly, rolling her eyes.

Her eyes shift back to Matt's face and she turns into her side again to look at him. "You're welcome," she says just as sincerely.

"Sounds to me like we're both from interesting places, in that case, sweetie," she replies, her eyebrows arched in both surprise and interest. She wonders, honestly, what he means when he says "inhumans," but she doesn't ask.

Matt considers that. He'd gotten a rundown on the various levels from Ray so he knew what she was talking about. His brow furrows and he shakes his head. "Seriously. I think I'd choose a level with better food." Because that's what bothers him more than anything: not the jumpsuits or the roommates, but the food.

He appears to be staring up at the ceiling, but his eyes are unfocused and he's got no real idea that she's looking at him, only the knowledge that most people do look at the person they're speaking to. Either way, he's not uncomfortable being looked at.

He can't help but smile at the word 'sweetie' and the comment that goes along with it. He won't mind explaining what he means by inhumans if she asks, but if she doesn't, he'll assume that she knows. "I can't argue with that. Hell's Kitchen is definitely interesting."

"At the very least," Lydia agrees with a frown. Honestly, did the rest of the Alphas think that the Specials chose RED over literally any other level, if they were as powerful in the grand scheme as the other Alphas seemed to think they were? That didn't make any sense and it only leads Lydia to believe that the hate group aren't just violent and angry, but stupid as well; not a very safe combination of traits for someone who hates her to have.

Lydia huffs a soft laugh. "Well, to be fair, it is called Hell's Kitchen, so...I suppose you really should've seen that coming," she teases playfully.

Stupid, violent and angry is a very dangerous combination. It doesn't leave much room for negotiation or rehabilitation.

He grins at that, tilting his head toward her laugh. "I suppose so, but I've grown up there my entire life." He hesitates. "You've got a nice laugh. I don't mean that as some creepy come on, I promise. It's just really nice to hear in a place like this."

A place where everything is so screwed up he means.

"Yeah, I guess growing up in a place does kind of numb a person to their surroundings to a degree," Lydia agrees, because until she was in high school and she became a part of everything, Lydia had no idea that the town was a beacon of the supernatural. Most people in the town still don't know.

Matt's compliment and the clarification that he tacks on only earns him another little laugh in response. "I didn't think it sounded creepy," she said with a smile. "Anyway, thank you." She says it warmly because she appreciates the compliment, even if it's a little unusual a thing to be complimented on. Lydia supposes she can't expect Matt to tell her she's pretty, after all, which are the kinds of compliments she's used to hearing. She'll take it.

"Now just imagine the difference we could all make if we weren't oblivious," Matt says in a soft voice. He pauses for a moment before sighing. "Or maybe everyone would just end up dead and it's that numbness that keeps most people alive." He's not really sure. At least in his world, the whole idea of super heroes, villains and aliens have been blown wide open. No one can deny their existence anymore, but those aren't the real dangers, the ones that erode away lives and cities. The real danger consists of the horrors that people visit upon each other and those people are numb to. Those are the things that people turn away from.

That's the ideal response, but he hadn't been sure that she'd take it so well. He smiles and nods a little. "You're welcome and I'm glad." With his senses, Foggy says that Matt is scary good at knowing when a woman is beautiful, but without them, he's less confident of it. However, if he were asked, he'd guess that Lydia is beautiful.

Lydia looks thoughtful for a moment. "Or maybe it's a little bit of both," she suggests, because she thinks that might be the most accurate of the options. Some people are better when they're numb, because they don't go running into the fray unprepared and too emotional to focus properly. Others are worse, because they have the ability to focus through their pain, but without any pain, they have no drive. It seems to make sense to Lydia, anyway.

"You're very sweet, Matt. I'm sorry you're stuck in this hell hole with us," she says sincerely. Especially since she thinks that his blindness means proof that they're not clones at all; they've just been made to feel that way.

He considers that for a long moment. He takes a deep breath then nods. "Maybe you're right." He purses his lips as he continues to consider her suggestion. He certainly doesn't need people rushing into the fray that aren't unprepared. "You have a lot of experience in this sort of thing," he says with a smile.

He shakes his head at that. "I'm sorry anyone is stuck here, but maybe we can make it a little better." If they can't find a way outright.

The smile that creeps onto Lydia's face at that observation doesn't reach her eyes and she sure as hell doesn't feel it. Instead, she takes a deep breath and sighs softly before answering. "...you could say that, yeah," she replies. "Probably too much."

Hope was a painful thing to cling to and a dangerous thing to lose, Lydia thought, before answering. She wished that it was something they could manage, but she had little faith in it, at this point. The odds were very much stacked against them all. "Here's hoping."

Even if Matt could see that smile, he'd realize it was hollow because it didn't reach into her voice or her breathing. He inclines his head in a sort of nod. "If you don't mind me asking, Lydia...how old are you?" Because her voice, her experience, everything about her seems mature and without his super senses to help out, he can't really gauge her age, not without touching her skin and that's an invasion of personal space he's not ready to make right now. "I only ask because you seem...like you've been through a lot."

It was painful and dangerous, but also necessary. Without hope, people give up and then they truly were lost. "And if I had a beer, I'd toast to that."

Looking back up and over at Matt, Lydia's brow creases a little at the question, but when he goes on, she understands the reason for it. With another small frown, she shrugs. "I just turned eighteen," she says. "...and yeah. I've been through a lot. Oddly enough, all of it in the past two years. Before that, life was normal. I was normal."

"Hear, hear," she agrees even without the beer in question.

Eighteen. He would have guessed her at least in her early twenties, probably mid twenties, but he won't say that to her. In his experience, women don't like it when you guess their age higher than it is, even if he can't see how they look to base it on. "Do you mind me asking what changed? You are one hundred percent within your rights to say 'yes' and I'll drop it."

He likes her already.

Lydia huffs a soft laugh laced with incredulity. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't share because it sounds too crazy. But how much crazier can anything sound, really, in this place?

"I was bitten by a werewolf," she says honestly. "...and I'm immune." She pauses and huffs another soft, humorless laugh, shaking her head. "Immune, like it didn't change me. Inaccurate would be putting it lightly. I'm not a werewolf...but I feel like that would be so much easier to be than what I am now."

She lays back and stares up at the bunk above her. "I think the most fucked up part is that since I've been here, it's been so...quiet. In my head. ...I can't hear them anymore and..." She sniffs once and clears her throat, a sad smile on her face and tears that she's relieved to know he can't see swimming in her eyes. "It's better. All things considered, it probably makes me awful for feeling that way but it's so quiet...it's so, so quiet. I missed the silence. I don't have a lot here to be thankful for and I don't think any of us do, but...that?" She takes a deep breath and sighs. "I'm thankful for that."

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Daycycle Day 23 [ FEB 29-MAR 5]

DAYCYCLE 23

[ FEB 29 - MAR 5 ]

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