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Daycycle 104 [ August 21-27 ]

daycycle 104

[Aug 21 - Aug 27]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty
There is no Mission assigned to any Specials today.

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.

At approximately 1400 today all power within the Wagon Wheel will shut down as part of a Nameless Secret Society Demonstration. The backup generators will be disabled. All citizens within the Wagon Wheel at that time will be stuck. Locked doors will remain locked. Elevators will stop. Lights will go out. Many opportunists will use this to create pure chaos. This demonstration will go on for the next five hours.

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 Meeting Room B, Wagon Wheel Floor 25 and will be hosted by the Spontaneous Loyaly Demonstration Organizers. Learn how to put on a spontaneous demonstration in order to show your loyalty to the computer and Alpha Complex in an effective and memorable way.

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.

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4 days so far in Alpha Complex.

4 days so far without coffee.

The caffeine withdrawal was hitting and it strikes hard. Despite not being assigned any missions yet — and she crosses her fingers that nothing will be assigned to her today — Felicity stands next to the sludge dispenser and just stares at it longingly, holding up the line.

Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looks, even if the liquid seems a little ... curdled. Slowly, Felicity grabs a cup and slides it under the dispenser and pushes a button. Kkkhssst. Pssssttttttttt. Blub. Blub. Blub. The cup was warm when she holds it in her hands and heads towards the seating area. That must be a good sign right? She read somewhere that you don't taste things as well when they're hot. Or was that when they're cold? And it smells ... like ... tires? That can't be right—

She's not paying attention to where she's going as she thinks, and her eyes are focused on the little centimeter of rim space between her coffee and the edge of her cup, trying not to spill. It was almost like a slow motion disaster waiting to happen in front of Derek's eyes. An ORANGE troubleshooter in the row in front of Derek had just gotten up, his hand on the back of his chair like he was about to push it back in just a second so he could get out — and Felicity was just two to three feet away. If she doesn't look up soon, her peripheral vision isn't going to catch the movement and she's going to run herself and her hot coffee straight into that guy.

Derek looks up and around, mostly out of curiosity and partially out of sheer boredom, and he notices the woman carrying the precarious cup of "coffee" without watching where she's going. The room is crowded enough that that's a legitimate cause for concern and, sure enough, when he looks, she's about to walk right into an ORANGE.

"Miss? Hey, miss, you're…miss," he tries.

Fuck it, she can't hear him and call him stupid, but she's cute and he imagines that scalding a higher clearance level is probably some form of treason. There's kind of a shortage of eye candy around here, he might a well take the hit and keep this one out of prison...or wherever they hold the treasonous clones. If they hold them at all...

Derek gets to his feet quickly, muttering hasty apologies as he makes his way back to the aisle, just in time to stop directly between she and the man in ORANGE she's seconds from colliding with. So she collides with Derek instead and now he's wearing the coffee, hissing from the initial temperature of it as it soaks into his ill-fitted jumpsuit.

—surely if I just down this really quick, it won't taste so terrible—

What happens next happens so fast that Felicity that can barely understand the sequence of events. She remembers hearing a metal chair being pushed against the concrete floors, but she doesn't see it. Somewhere around her was a blur of ORANGE, until it's replaced by a blur of RED. Then her eyes are following the liquid goo as it splashes out of its mug and onto a stranger's jumpsuit. She hears the hiss of the heat and her eyes grow wide.

"Oh iiiiiiii am soooo sorry." She reaches to press two measly napkins on his jumpsuit — it might be able to absorb some of the coffee — before she pulls back at the last minute. If the coffee was hot, pressing his clothes into him might hurt more than help. Felicity glances behind him towards a clock on the wall. There's still eight minutes before the announcements begin.

"I- I can fix this," she says more to herself than Derek, before Felicity grabs his hand and starts pulling him out of the Commissary. Normally, she probably would have grabbed his arm or something, but coffee got on his sleeves too.

They were headed towards the restrooms. She can't provide him with a fresh suit, but the least she could do is use an endless supply of paper towels to help dry him off.

Derek was kind of already prepared to just...spend the morning soaked in coffee, although he supposes it's better if he tries to clean up a little, lest the hygiene officer turn him in for treason. So when the woman takes his hand and starts to pull him out of the Commissary, Derek follows with something of a laugh.

"You always walk with full cups of coffee and not pay attention to where you're going?" he asks. "You're welcome, by the way. Better me than an ORANGE," he adds with a little smirk. It's kind of cute how flustered she is, if he's honest, but he's not going to say that.

They reach the restrooms and Derek doesn't think much of going inside with her since they're all co-ed anyway, but as soon as they're inside, he's unzipping his jumpsuit and peeling down the top half of it while searching the room for the air dryers. He'll still smell like burnt-rubber-coffee, but he won't look as big of a mess, hopefully.

She ignores him when he talks. It's all she can do really, because regardless of what his intensions are, what Derek says hurts. He was right. She wasn't paying attention. She could have easily spilled coffee onto the ORANGE troubleshooter and she'd probably have to spend the night in the brig or something, if this was a ship.

But on top of all that, the guy who'd just taken a coffee to the chest for her was deciding to tease her about it. She was thankful and she probably would have told him that just now, but instead, no thank you, she doesn't have anything to say.

When they reach the restrooms, she lets go of him. There's an air dryer on the far side of the wall, but Felicity turns away from Derek and goes straight for the paper towel dispenser. Unless this guy planned on standing underneath a dryer and letting the wind blow off his body like a Baywatch lifeguard or something, he was going to need paper to soak things up.

But when she turns towards him again, a clump of paper towels in her hand, Felicity's eyes barely have time to process Derek's abs before she immediately spins herself back around. Cheeks flushed, the filter between her brain and her mouth disappears for a moment, and she says what she's thinking out loud.

"Oh my god what did the Computer do. Chisel you out of marble or something?"

The fact that she's so quiet suggests to Derek that he's touched a nerve, so he leaves it alone. Instead of trying to engage her again, Derek just starts to wet down the front of his jumpsuit with water before making his way toward the air dryer. He'll be late to the debriefing, probably, but if he's going to get arrested for treason, at least it'll be because he was tardy and not because he's covered in coffee.

He doesn't see her turn toward him or swing right back around because he's paying more attention to what he's doing, but when she speaks, it surprises a bark of laughter out of him and Derek looks over at her, lifting an eyebrow.

"'Chisel [me] out of marble?'" he repeats, grinning with amusement. "I don't think so, but I mean...I could be wrong. I didn't take the whole thing off, you know, it's all right. You don't have to turn your back or anything..." he says, still sounding amused — because he is — but looking back at the jumpsuit he's drying so that the focus isn't all on her, which he assumes is half the reason she's been quiet since they started walking.

"Oh no, no don't take the whole thing off," she says, incredulous that he didn't, honestly. Felicity's been in this position before. With Oliver and with Ray. Two people she really couldn't bear to think about right now, unless she had plans to turn into a complete mess.

So she stares down at the paper towels in her hands. They were wrinkled by now. She'd put so much pressure on them before she'd barely noticed.

"I would just um, really prefer to-" Quickly, she does glance back towards him, just once to confirm that no, no jumpsuits have been put back on. "... do you even want any paper towels?"

"I didn't say I was going to take the whole thing off," he replies slowly, eyebrows still lifted. "...I said I didn't take it off. And I'm not planning to..." He can't decide if he wants to laugh or roll his eyes, but a little part of him thinks maybe just a little bit of both. At least she's not obnoxious, he'll give her that.

That time, he does notice her turn her head and then turn back away again and he smirks, shaking his head. "No, I'm good with the air dryer here, but thank you."

The sound of concentrated air blowing out of a powerful machine fills the room. Felicity's hugging the paper towels to her chest now, unsure of what to do. She doesn't want to leave him here, even if she can't help.

He did take a coffee to the chest for her, after all.

"I'm Felicity." A beat. "And thank you. If I'd ran into that ORANGE troubleshooter, I'd probably be dead by now. Figuratively." Though, in this place, maybe it was literally.

When she speaks again, Derek looks back over at her. He'll give credit where its due to the machine; his jumpsuit might be dry in time for the debriefing after all, so he's significantly less stressed with that thought in mind.

"I'm Derek," he responds with a smile that's a lot less shit-eating grin and a lot more nice-to-meet-you. "And you're welcome, because there's entirely the possibility in this place that it might actually have been literally," he replies.

A few moments later, his jumpsuit is finally dry and it's a little discolored where the coffee spilled, but it's not the worst stain he's ever seen. Derek slips his arms back into the sleeves and shrugs the jumpsuit on, zipping it back up. "We should probably get back before they start. If you want another coffee, can I suggest that I carry it for you?" he asks, only half joking, but he's giving her an amused little smile all the same to let her know he doesn't really mean anything by it.

He's probably right. It probably would have been literally. The thought is pretty disturbing.

But soon, she can hear him zipping the jumpsuit back up and Felicity's body language relaxes a little. She turns back to him as he talks, and when he brings up getting another coffee, she smiles and rubs her temple. It's the first real smile he's gotten out of her.

"I think I'm good for today. You ... probably saved me from needing to taste something awful, anyways."

Felicity digs out her PDC to check the time. 1 minute left. "C'mon. I don't want you to get labeled as a traitor on my behalf."

"Ah, there we go, she can smile," he teases playfully. "I gotta be honest, it smells like I saved you from needing to taste something awful. Is it just me or does it smell like burned rubber or something?" he asks as he nods toward the door at her announcement of how much time they have left.

Derek pulls the bathroom door open and holds it for her before following her out. "There are worse things considered treasonous. I'd probably get off pretty light for this one, but if I can avoid it, yeah, that would be preferable."

Ugh and now she feels like a jerk for ignoring him earlier. Derek was kinda nice. And his abs were definitely nice. When he teases her this time, she rolls her eyes, but it's playful in return. Her smile even gets wider.

"I thought I was imagining it before, but yeah. Even in the cup it smelled like ... car tires? To me."

When he opens the door for her, she steps out, but he's being too polite and slow. So this time, she grabs his hand again, a little more on purpose, and starts running back to the Commissary. "Me too."

Derek lifts his eyebrows, shaking his head. "No, definitely not in your imagination," he assures her, because yeah. That's kind of a hard smell to miss and that's not a good thing. Especially when one is wearing it.

She takes his hand and starts running and well, he guesses that is that. It's more important to be on time than it is to flirt. He'll just have to catch up with her later, he guesses. For now, they've just made it back under the wire and Derek settles into another empty chair. Day one...

Here goes nothing.

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Daycycle 104 [ August 21-27 ]

daycycle 104

[Aug 21 - Aug 27]

Morning Briefing

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