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Daycycle 105 [ August 28 - September 03]

daycycle 105

[Aug 28 - Sept 3]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty
Felicity Smoak and Natasha Romanoff, have been selected for today’s mission. Details are below:

‘In order to help us improve our combat simulators, you will need to run through any combat situation you encounter at least three times. On the second pass through, engage the combat at a greater range than originally. On the third pass through, attempt it at a much closer range. You will provide tactical notes to our staff afterwards. If the simulators catch fire, or fail to respond to override commands... note that too. The eggheads were supposed to have fixed that.’

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 1700 in Hangar 15, Armed Forces Sector and will be hosted by the Alpha Complex Dogeball Association. Join us for a game of Alpha Dodgeball! All clearance levels above INFRARED welcome.

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

Despite being forced to sleep early, Buffy isn't a morning person and the stuff that passes for coffee on a RED level, isn't coffee. She attends the morning briefing, blurry eyed with 'coffee' in hand. She's got her hair pulled back in a knot and the black eye and bruising from yesterday's riots are still pretty livid. She's sore all over and not in the least bit happy. This being entirely human (she still isn't buying the glitches thing; those memories are too real. It's got to be a demon, or maybe another geek squad like Andrew and Jonathan.

After the briefing, she goes into her job, grateful that there's nothing major like yesterday going on.

In the evening, she's feeling a bit better and dodgeball sounds like fun, which is something she could use. It's also a chance to have a look at everyone else. It's amazing how something like dodgeball can reveal someone's character.

Barry has seen Buffy around and knows that she's one of the new Specials, but he hasn't actually had a chance to try to get to know her yet. When he spots her at the morning meeting, he makes his way over to her, matching coffee in hand. He isn't sure what it says about him or his caffeine dependency when he says he's beginning to get used to it.

"You're Buffy, right?" He says, as the other Troubleshooters mill about them. He takes in her black eye and winces in sympathy. "Hi, I'm Ouch." He pauses. "Barry. I'm Barry. That looks like ouch."

It does not say good things, Barry. It does not say good things. It probably doesn't say good things that Buffy is drinking the coffee regardless of how terrible it is.

She hesitates because from what she remembers it's not a good thing when strangers know her name. She hasn't been here long enough to have a reputation, has she? "Yup. That's me," she chirps, cheerier than she looks like she ought to be. "Hi Ouch," she smiles at him, softly though so she doesn't pull at her bruises. "It's not fun but it's nice to meet you, Barry."

"Yeah, it doesn't look like fun," he says giving a small shake of his head. "Unless you meant, meeting me in which case you're probably not the first to feel that way."

He smiles back at her, hopefully conveying that he's joking. "I'm one of the other Specials. I've been meaning to introduce myself, but things have been kind of crazy..." He shrugs. "Or you know, Tuesday around here."

"How are you? Are people giving you problems?"

Okay, it's cheesy, but it makes her laugh anyway, which hurts a little, but is worth it.

She got the joke part. "Yeah, I noticed the crazy. I also noticed that it seems to be never ending. At least we're not bored?" She's not entirely sure that makes up for all of the crazy, but they've got to look on the bright side here.

She shakes her head at his question. "I mean, not really. I got these during the whole thing yesterday. I'm on very special forces. We were elected to go help out." She glances around a little. "I think I'm getting used to things here. As used to them as you can get. It's all... a lot."

"Sometimes I miss bored," he confesses, lowering his voice so that those around them won't hear them and accuse them of treason. Not that he was that bored when he was at home. There were days though, when he wondered why he hadn't relished the ability to sit around marathoning Bar Rescue.

At least she wasn't being targeted. ASS had a history of trying to attack those Specials who were the most vulnerable. Then again, you didn't get put into Very Special Forces if you were that vulnerable. He took a sip of his drink.

"You must work with Steve."

Buffy laughs a little at that. "We are so same team there." Though, her life hasn't been boring enough in the last several years that she ever got more than a handful of America's Top Model marathons. She'd kind of relished those.

She's counting that as good luck as well. No, she's not vulnerable but she's so much more vulnerable than she used to be. She thinks and prepares before walking into the dark. She used to scare things that lived in the dark, or at least she did if her glitches can be relied on. There are days here that she wants to hide under her bed, days that she refuses to do just that.

She smirks at that. "I'm his favorite employee." Add a 'least' in there and it'd probably be closer to the truth. She likes Steve though. She's just not sure it goes both ways. "How do you know him?"

"Yeah?" The question is earnest. Barry hasn't had much interaction with Steve, but he's had enough to know that he wouldn't mind impressing him. It's not exactly a stretch of the imagination to see Steve as the hero that he says he is.

The question makes him pause, even though there's an easy answer. He's not sure how much Steve's favorite employee might know about the Specials network and headquarters. "We were assigned on a mission together. It was kind of a bonding experience."

"And by that, I mean it was terrifying."

In some ways, Buffy had felt the same way, but she'd wanted to impress him her way rather than by pretending to be something she's not. When he'd finally begun to be impressed by her the day of the riot, it had felt good. She smiles a little and shakes her head. "Probably not really. I'm not much of a ticky-tacky soldier. He's nice though, a good boss."

Buffy gives him a dubious look. "What happened?" She hasn't been assigned a mission yet, not unless the riots count.

"Well, some cockroaches got into a drug they were testing in Technical Services and suddenly we found ourselves assigned to fighting giant cockroaches." He pauses. "It's pretty much as disgusting as it sounds."

"He was great though. The army background definitely helped out. Also the whole saving the world part." He grinned at her. "You should ask him about that if you don't know about it. It's a pretty good story."

"Wow...that's...why are they producing drugs to make things giant?" Because she thinks that's the real concern here.Giant anything could do some real damage.

Buffy hesitates because she does know that story, actually, but she knows it as a fictional story. She'd like to know how it varies from the real one. "I'll do that sometime." Probably when he doesn't want to wring her neck. Oh, who are we kidding? She'll ask about the story when they're in the middle of something and she feels like distraction is just the thing they need.

"That's a very good question. One that I'm not sure we want to know the answer to." Alpha felt claustrophobic enough without giant cockroaches or anything else rampaging through it. Not to mention the fact that a lot of damage could be done by say a giant person. Steve in particular had seemed concerned about that idea.

"If it helps any, the lab got destroyed in the destruction. So they'll have to start from scratch."

No one wants giant cockroaches and Buffy has had some experience with giant people and the damage done. She'd rather not have a giant anything here.

"That definitely helps. The cockroach is kaput?" Because that's important too.

Stiles had been eliminated earlier in the evening, letting the more competitive players continue on to the later rounds, with him and some of the other players hanging around the water dispensers that were set at one end of the midline.

Other than the occasional ducking that happened given the nature of the sport, and yes - dodge ball is a real sport - the group gathered there have the best view of the ongoing game. The referee's whistle goes off, the shrill sound announcing the end of the game.

Stiles watches as the two current teams step off, others stepping on to take their place. As he recognizes Buffy among the people milling around, he waves. He's not sure if she's still playing, or if she's finished for the night, but it'll be easier talking here, rather than at the back of the room during a puppet show.

He waits till she's close enough so that he's not shouting over the rest of the crowd: "What happened to your face?"

Sometimes, Buffy likes to pretend that she isn't competitive. She likes to pretend that it doesn't matter to her how she does. It never lasts long. She goes into the game of dodgeball thinking that she'll play casually. It's something to do with her evening. It doesn't last long.

Her team is finished for the night. She has a feeling she ought to apologize to a few people because she's gotten a little carried away. She catches sight of Stiles as she's going over to get a drink of water. She waves at him, grabs some water and walks over to him. "Work. Think I'll get hazardous pay?"

Yeah, little miss 5'4 and blonde is on the very specials teams.

From how members of the other team are acting as they walk off, they're definitely feeling their hits. Remind him to never be on opposite teams from Buffy. Unless it's a pie eating contest - in which case, everybody wins. (As long as they enjoy pie).

This close, Stiles can make out more of Buffy's injuries, the dark eye hard to miss with the vivid colors, and fainter traces of other injuries. Not fun, not cool, had to hurt. He steps sideways - if that cuts off some of the people trying to line up for water, that's not his problem.

Behind them, another game starts up, the teams made up mostly of other red suited players, but other higher ranking people can be found among them, other people shuffling their way to the benches at the sidelines.

"I don't think the concept of insurance or compensation is really all that big here," he says, expression darkening, though he finishes sarcastically. "But on the bright side, no forms!"

"You at least got a chance to ice it, right?"

She's very human right now, but she still knows how and where to hit with a dodgeball. She might have been particularly enthusiastic nailing some of the higher levels and the alphas. Buffy will gladly accept Stiles on her team. She likes him.

Definitely hurt, but more as an after the fact thing. In the moment, after the black eye, she'd been pumped on adrenaline and sheer force of will. She appreciates that he's concerned about her. it's nice to have friends here.

She laughs a little at that. "Filing all those forms are killer. You're right. It's a fair trade off." Honestly, yesterday had tapped into a side of herself that she's not entirely comfortable with. Even now, there's a part of her that enjoys the violence and she has a few 'glitches' that tell her that was an issue she wasn't comfortable with even when she had super powers.

"Yup. It was pretty much the first thing I did." She tilts her head at Stiles. "How did yesterday go for you? Were you okay?"

If she offers, Stiles will take her up on it, even if he's better at some sports over others. The only sport he really cares enough to be competitive at is lacrosse.

In his opinion, having more of them around here will go better. They won't have to be like the bestest buddies, just be willing to help each other out a bit. Of course, Buffy gets bonus points for the references.

If they existed, those forms would have to be electronic anyway - like everything else the Computer oversees. That Buffy's able to laugh it off is good, probably. He wouldn't begin to guess at just how much of that humor is a coping mechanism. You'll need them, in this place.

He nods, it would have been ice, or the medics. And the latter would have been overkill. "Depends on how you view getting locked in a crowded elevator for hours." He shrugs. It had been tense and uncomfortable. Some guy he had never talked to before had ended up in tears while the elevator car got hotter and stuffier - but having enough air hadn't been an issue.

"We got off easy compared to other people, we just had to play sardines to sounds that filtered out through the doors." They'd all gotten off at the first floor the doors opened onto though, when the power had come back. If the stairs had been an option for all of them, they would have kept to those after.

Well, she'd rather have people she likes and can trust on her team than people she doesn't know. Stiles is quickly joining the circle of people she likes and trusts here.

No, but she does genuinely hope that Stiles will become a friend.

True enough and that's kind of weird. She still remembers when Giles was complaining about everything going digital. Now it's common place even in her world. Humor is a major coping mechanism for Buffy. She thinks maybe it is for Stiles as well, but that could simply be because she's used to humor as a coping mechanism.

Hospitals of any kind have never been high on her list of places to go. She winces a little. "You had it way worse than I did." She's claustrophobic and she knows that despite realizing (hoping) that reason she's claustrophobic is an actual glitch. No one wants to wake up in their own coffin buried six feet under only to have to claw their way out of their own grave.

The elevators might be Buffy's least favorite thing here. They're pretty high on the list in any case. In fact, all of the confined places here make her a little itchy.

Buffy makes a good point there - in terms of people Stiles would actually seek out in the City, she's one of them.

It had felt like paper office work would never really go away, and though digitization existed, there were times when a both versions would be required in order to satisfy all the different groups and workers involved. And yeah, humor and sarcasm - his only defense. He can't remember a time when he hadn't used it.

Stiles gives her an assessing look. "Matter of perspective?" he offers. He's not going to guess at which part of being trapped in a dark, powerless elevator is making her uncomfortable - there's only so many to choose from.

"I wasn't exactly in a position to get hurt, so it worked out well enough."

At least they've got that squared away.

He reminds her of Xander in all of the best ways. She thinks she'll keep him.

That gets a shrug. "Probably?" And doesn't that speak for itself? That there are so many things about elevators that could make someone uncomfortable? Elevators are evil! Or maybe it's just dark, enclosed spaces.

"I"m glad," she say sand she means it even if she wouldn't take his experience over hers.

He nods, dropping the subject. Elevators do tend to get the shaft, when it comes down to it.

"Today's been making up for yesterday," he says lightly. In some ways, anyway. He's never going to be satisfied with how the City works, or with what they're expected to do here. That script they'd gotten a copy of? Just made it all the more disturbing.

"Are you going to be called on to play another round?" He gives her a shit-eating grin. "Because I'm not sure the other players can take it."

Haha

She smiles ever so slightly and nods. "Yeah. Today is good. I mean, so far." She's definitely not satisfied with how this place works, that doesn't mean she can't appreciate a good day.

That grin makes her laugh a little. "Yeah. Our team plays the winner of this team. I expect to hear cheering."

"You can see everything coming." For once, he thinks to himself. And he's not going to tempt fate by wondering what's the worst that could happen - that's just asking yourself to see when the next shoe will fall. "Taking this day by day seems to be working so far," he adds, dubiously.

"Got a team name I can shout? Since the arts and crafts are right out, and I'll probably end up elbowing someone in the face if I tried cheer leading."

She nods a little, afraid to tempt fate as well simply by admitting that. After yesterday, she could use a day of boring. "Even if we made plans, I have a feeling wrenches would be thrown." She agrees though: taking this place day by day is the best way to deal with it. "Glad you're settling okay though."

She laughs a little and shakes her head. "I'll have to discuss it with my team mates. Team 'Ooooh that had to hurt' is a little long and a lot trash talk-y."

Daycycle 105 [ August 28 - September 03]

daycycle 105

[Aug 28 - Sept 3]

Buffy Summers OPEN throughout the day

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Evening

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