Daycycle 110 [ October 2 - October 8]

[computerized]

daycycle 110

[Oct 2 - Oct 8]

Early, Early Morning [0400 - 0800]
Lydia Martin will be woken up at 0400 when a squad of Internal Security Gray Ops come to arrest Samantha Groves for treason. Root will be led away at gun point and Lydia will be immediately taken into IntSec for questioning. She will be grilled for the next four hours on Root's activites and her own loyalty. She will not be released until the Early Morning briefing.

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

It is announced that there will be a mandatory ceremony for all Troubleshooters this evening in the Commissary. Not attending is treason.

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 1200 explosives planted by the Frankenstien Destroyers will detonate in the Bot Processing division. The goal is to destroy as many bots as processing equipment as possible. These explosions will cause significant damage to the division and temporarily lock down part of R&D. Troubleshooters will be called to the scene to help clean up and assist citizens caught in the blast.

---

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 1800 in the Commissary and will be hosted by Internal Security. This ceremony is to recognize the hard work and dedication of the Troubleshooters who have gone above and beyond in their service to Alpha Complex. The following specials will be promoted a clearance level for their work: Jillian Holtzmann, promoted to ORANGE for her work in explosives, Lydia Martin, promoted to YELLOW for her work in hygeine, and Matt Murdock, promoted to GREEN for his work in Personal Legal Defensive Practices. A mandatory round of clapping will be held for three minutes for each promotion.

---

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.

Comments

open

[rouxgaroux]

Strangely enough, being held hostage by a crazy dictator of a laptop isn't the craziest thing Alcide has ever heard of or experienced. In fact, it's not even in the top ten. He might have had to watch the video a handful of times before he quit arguing with the people in the place where he woke up, but that's nothing new. And now he knows that he needs to bide his time until he can get a handle on this place and figure out what's to be done about his being here and not back at home.

To say he's a bit disoriented is an understatement. He'd just been in the woods, just discovered that Sookie had gone off with Bill (again), shots rang out, not he's here. Needless to say, his heart and his mind are reeling. He's furious and he has nowhere to direct that anger. On top of that, all the wolfy bits of him have been dug out to leave bits and pieces of him hollow on the inside. He feels off kilter, not right, like only half of him is here.

When he reports for Troublehooting duty it feels like being tossed into the deep end of a pool without knowing how to swim. That happened to him once when he was a kid. There's panic at first. Then you do what you have to do to make it to the top for air when the survival instinct kicks in. That's the point Alcide is at right now. With his red jumpsuit on, he arrives for Troubleshooting, doing what he's told... for now. He'll help out in cleaning up the explosion in the bot processing division.


* * *


Later, he finds his room, room 1104. Usually a lone wolf, Alcide is none too impressed that he has to share a room with others. He's never been a very good pack animal. He finds a bed that seems unused and empty and sits at the foot of it, elbows on his knees, head bowed in his hands as his fingers slightly pull on the long, dark locks. The slight sting that pulling on his hair brings makes this feel even more real. He's really here. Sookie really chose to go to Bill behind his back and Alcide is furious about that. They're really all being hunted by humans and sick Vampires back home. Now he's here and maybe that's for the best considering how he was feeling back home.Everything's shit and this is the story of his life, always making bad decisions over and over again.


* * *


In the evening, Alcide attends the Citizen Improvement seminar. He stands at the back, leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. He eyes each person celebrated for whatever the fuck they're being celebrated for with an intense scrutiny. So these are the people who are 'in' with the Computer? At least that's what it seems like to him.

After the first mandatory three minute round of clapping, Alcide escapes through the back and goes exploring. He can be found just about anywhere, snooping, learning his surroundings, looking for a way off of this crazy train.

[dorkify]

As one of the back row lurkers, Gracie can't help but notice Alcide (hello gorgeous) but also because he slips out of the ceremony. She catches him right outside the door.

"Not a big fan of organized celebration?"

[rouxgaroux]

Of course Alcide has noticed Gracie too. He may not be an active participant in cult-like activities but he does watch. He does notice things. Also, she kind of looks like that singer that's pretty much everywhere these days. Hard to ignore a person that's everywhere no matter how out of the loop you try to stay.

He stops in the hallway and smirks, shaking his head even as the sounds of the ceremonies in the next room can still be heard. "Not much for organized anything." He says. "You either, I guess."

[dorkify]

That'll probably help him here.

"You don't like the social aspect or is it the organized aspect?" She's curious because they're two different things. "It depends on the organized thing. I actually need to be within hearing distance. I'll end up reporting on it. I'm the girl that gives you your morning lead report along with any sort of news that actually happens."

[rouxgaroux]

Oh. She's like the newspaper. Is he in trouble for skipping out? Is he in trouble for something else? Alcide realizes that he needs to be careful what he says to her. At least, that's his presumption. Sure, she seems nice. But he has no idea how trustworthy she is and what will or won't end up in her reports.

"Little bit of both, I guess." Which is mostly true, even though it's more so the organized and mandatory aspect of it than the social. Alcide has always been better off as a lone wolf for a reason. But he's rarely had a problem with random social gatherings as long as there's no organization or demands about it.

He lifts his chin a bit, studying Gracie. "Sounds like you found your place here. Morning leads? I didn't get here in time to get today's I guess." Maybe if he sees some of the leads, he'll get more of a handle on the kind of person Gracie is.

[dorkify]

He's definitely not in trouble for skipping out and the only reason he'd have to watch what he says to her is because she's new enough that she's not sure what she should say and shouldn't say.

She nods a little. "It's all very Stepford which sort of makes sense with the whole clone theory." Which she's not entirely sure isn't treason to mention. Of course, as Lydia told her, even knowing the rules is treason.

"Not at all. I'm still figuring it out. Things have been crazy since I arrived." And even before that if everything she's read can be trusted. "You know, how much lead is in the water today. What the average temperature is, what the evening's improvement activity is. That sort of thing." She doesn't trust the computer, but she's not sure who she does trust here. She hasn't been here long enough to make that kind of decision.

[rouxgaroux]

Clones. Alcide hasn't heard that one yet. Is he a clone? Is everyone a clone? Fuck that theory. He feels like himself. He has all his memories, all his emotions, all his thoughts and affiliations. He's exactly as he remembers himself to be, except he's here with a bunch of strangers being held by a supposedly psycho computer.

"Has anyone thought that maybe this is a Wizard of Oz sort of deal? With the man behind the curtain, runnin' everything?" He asks, certain that someone somewhere has to have considered that. Otherwise, why can't a bunch of people with brains and thumbs stop a computer?

He listens to her explanation of what she does. How did she get a job like that? Can she say whatever she wants? It seems like Gracie is in a position of power, can reach a lot of people at once, whether she realizes that or not. And maybe it's best for her not to realize it if she has no idea what good she can do with that power if she wanted to. "So you're like the weather report. Just statin' statistical facts."

[dorkify]

Gracie hasn't made up her mind, but she knows the alphas think they're all clones. She feels like herself as well. She knows things that the computer doesn't, things that she remembers.

It's a relief to hear someone use a pop culture reference. It makes a smile burst over her face, despite the topic. "Oh, I'm not totally sold on it not being James Franco either, but most people's money is on HAL or VICKI." Alcide may regret giving Gracie a pass to use pop culture references.

She has no idea, except that she's got a degree in it from back home. She certainly can not say anything she wants. She has to be careful, maybe more careful than others. "Pretty much. Just the facts, no opinion pieces."

[rouxgaroux]

And here is where the age divide butts in. The Wizard of Oz Alcide remembers didn't have James Franco in it. Was James Franco even born yet? Judy Garland sure had a pretty voice though, like an angel. He says none of that though because she smiled like that and it's hard for Alcide to think of a good reason to ruin it.

"Who's HAL and VICKI?" He asks instead.

There is a relief that she can't go outside of the lines. At the same time, it kind of pisses him off. If she's the press, she's basically on puppet strings or in a cage, so to speak. That's not fair. Two sides to ever coin, and all that. Alcide has a mix of feelings on the matter. "Have you tried going outside the lines before?" He's wondering what those consequences are. "They tell you what to say?"

[whattingawhat]

Buffy reports to troubleshooting duty as per usual. She's gotten used to most of the faces around her; because of all the unrest lately, she's actually fought with most of them, so she notices when there's a new one. The confused and disoriented look on his face just confirms for her that he's new and not someone she just happened to miss (and how exactly could she have even missed him). She makes her way around the room until she gets to Alcide, smiling a little at him in greeting.

"Hey. It's a little crazy making in the beginning, isn't it? I'm afraid the craz-fying doesn't go away, but you get more used to it." She sticks her hand out to shake his. "I'm Buffy. I've been here for just over a week."

[rouxgaroux]

For the most part, Alcide has been going through his new troubleshooting duties in a daze. How could he not? He's been thrown out of the furnace in Louisianna into the frying pan wherever this is. But he's also been told to forget those memories. He could never forget them. On top of that, he's only half of who he was. He's tried to shift. It didn't work. You'd think he'd be happy about that. But for now, it's just left him feeling hollowed out and uncomfortable.

When the blonde girl approaches him, he sees her coming. Mostly because she's the only one heading for him and Alcide is almost a head taller than most people so he has a good vantage point. She's also pretty, so there's that. It's a relief to meet someone else who's only been here a short amount of time.

"Alcide Herveaux." He takes her hand to firmly shake it. "I keep thinkin' there's been some mistake, or that I'm asleep and about to wake up. This can't be it. You know?"

[whattingawhat]

Oh, Buffy doesn't blame him. She'd spent a good deal of her first day in a daze as well. She feels the same way about the glitches and she understands that feeling of only being half yourself. She's still adjusting to not being fully 'herself'.

She thought it might be, which is why she told him how long she'd been there.

She smiles slightly at that. "Should I pinch you?"

[rouxgaroux]

Her calm also adds a certain amount of levity to an otherwise jarring situation. He instinctively draws in a deep breath through his nose, trying to secretly smell her and see if she smells like wolf, vamp or other, but that sense is gone too. Everything, all the positives, all the things that could alert him to danger back home, has been stripped away from him. He feels raw and not at all like himself.

"Probably not." He says with a slight shake of his head. If she offered to pinch him, that means it probably wouldn't work to shake him out of this if it's a nightmare.

Alcide realizes he's still holding onto her hand, his large one making her small hand disappear in his, long after the expiration date of any decent handshake. Is he still overly warm? Probably not. He thinks he can feel a slight chill, as a matter of fact. Alcide has never been cold so he can't be sure, not really.

He smirks and makes himself let go. "Sorry. I'm not thinkin' straight. So what do you think of this place?"

[whattingawhat]

See, that's good. At least she can help that way. The smelling thing, always weird, but in an odd way, Buffy would find it comforting as well. At least it's familiar. She still feels the same way, incomplete and (at times) helpless. She fights against that last feeling in particular. She never wants to feel helpless and her experience has taught her that she never is, even when she feels it.

If this is a nightmare, it's the most in depth one she's ever had. Everything about it has a realistic, gritty feel. She's long decided that this is real, but so are her memories.She had another life before this, a better one.

It's okay. She doesn't mind having him hold her hand. He's gorgeous, for one, and if it comforts him, a little hand holding hasn't hurt anyone as far as she knows. He feels like a normal human temperature.

She shakes her head a little, dismissing his apology then sobers a bit at his question. "It's a bad dream? It contradicts itself. The other specials are nice though. For the most part."

[rouxgaroux]

He doesn't miss that 'for the most part' bit. And he'll take that to heart. Alcide is always a little cautious in his approach to people. Now, if someone is approaching him, he'll deal with it on a case by case basis. But very much like a wolf, he likes to watch and observe before approaching strangers, get a feel for what and who he's dealing with.

"How do you tell who's Special or not?" It may seem like a stupid question, but Alcide missed whatever orientation he was supposed to have. Something happened in his processing that dumped him right into the mix without any of that. He doesn't even know he's supposedly a clone. "Am I a Special?"

Alcide doesn't like having to ask all these questions. But so far Buffy seems nice enough and he has so many of them that he can't help himself. He can't help himself to the point of spilling the most pertinent question on his mind. "You ever hear of anybody comin' here and... and they ain't like they was before? Like... a part of 'em's missin'."

[whattingawhat]

Honestly, everyone she's met has been pretty nice, a little wary in some cases, but who could blame them. She just doesn't want to give a new guy a blanket 'everyone is nice' and then it turn out some people aren't. Case by case basis is a good way to deal with anyone, particularly here where you're not sure of loyalties and the like.

"Just looking at them, you can't know. It's the people that didn't grow up here. The people that have 'glitches'." He can probably hear the air quotes around the word glitches. She smiles at his question and nods. "I'm assuming so. I haven't seen you here until now. You just woke up in this place this morning?" She's not going to tell him the clone stuff, because she doesn't believe it, though it would make it easier. If she were a clone that would mean 'real' her is still back home.

Buffy doesn't mind the questions. She asked them all at one point too. She steps closer at his question, voice dropping a little. "only all the time. It seems to be an epidemic. Count me in as one of them." She tilts her head a little at him. "Any idea what parts you're missing?"

[rouxgaroux]

"Yeah, just woke up, got sent to work." He didn't get the treatment and explanation that most people get. He was just thrown into the deep end. From one frying pan back home into this new frying pan. Sookie had just lied to him and run off with Bill (again). Alcide's heart is in knots over that betrayal. And now... now he's lost half of himself, the wolf half. He's decided to focus on the latter.

Her admission that she has a part of herself missing too makes exhale a breath he'd been holding. He's not the only one that feels as if his insides have been carved out. "The wolf parts." He whispers to her, hoping that she won't be afraid of him. After all, he's effectively been separated from that even if he isn't a violent wolf unless he has to be. "You?"

[satnalahcsauoyekil]

Zatanna hates it here. She doesn't hide that fact and she doesn't care if "Friend" Computer knows it. She wants her magic; she wants her team back. So when she's forced to attend a mandatory "pat these strangers on the back for bowing to The Man" ceremony, Zee stays about as long as it takes her to find a way to slip out unseen.

She's been doing a lot of exploring in her downtime. It's not like there's anything else to do anyway. The Citizen Improvement stuff is stupid and she might as well get to know her surroundings the best she can. One never knows when it'll come in handy. Like, for example, today when she'd had to go help clean up the mess left behind in a terrorist attack — at least that's what it seemed like to her — and she couldn't help thinking bitterly how many more lives could've been spared and how much faster she could've gotten the R&D sector back in order all by herself if her spells worked worth a damn. All the same, having explored around the area a little, she'd been able to get there quickly and do what she could to aid the effort. She hopes there weren't any Specials caught in the blast. From what she can gather, the Specials are the only real people here and the rest are mindless drones. She worried a little, but she'd put it out of her mind.

She's been wandering outside the Wheel Wagon for a while now and she notices movement in the corner of her eye, catching her attention. First of all, hello, unfairly hot guy way out of her age range. Second, he looks lost and she wonders if that's because he's new or because he's wandered outside his area of comfort to explore and has just now realized he doesn't know how to get back. Zee doesn't know if he's a Special, but she's kind of hard-wired to help people, so she moves to him anyway. "Hey...you look kinda lost, you okay?"

[rouxgaroux]

They're going to get along well, if this is the case. Alcide already wants out and really doesn't give a shit who he pisses off by voicing that opinion. He also wants his wolf back, and maybe that's a part of the reason he needs to get out and explore his surroundings. He needs to know how they made his wolf, and all the things that being a wolf gives him, dormant. It should be impossible. Although sadly, he also knows that impossible isn't really a thing like people like to think it is.

There are a lot of reasons for that lost look he has. Right now he's just going to claim it's the lack of wolfiness, that hollowed out feeling he has because of it. He pauses when he realizes someone is speaking directly to him, blinking, coming out of that haze. She seems young, he thinks. But then again, at the mandatory meeting, lots of people had seemed young to him.

"As alright as I can be. Tryin' to figure this place out." He says, words clipped at the ends and drawled in a way only Cajun Southerners can do. He then lifts his chin a bit in greeting. "Alcide Herveaux."

[satnalahcsauoyekil]

He seems to snap out of a train of thought when he hears her and Zatanna offers him an apologetic smile for having interrupted him. Oh, come on with that accent, this is so unfair. Why can't I be like ten years older? she finds herself thinking with an inward pout. The Southern drawl isn't just a Southern drawl, she realizes and while she's not familiar with its regional specificity, she still thinks it sounds nice.

"Good luck with that. Every time I think I've figured it out, some other crazy thing happens and I pretty much have to start all over again," she says. "Zatanna Zatara," she replies back to his introduction. "You can call me Zee, if you want."

She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, looking curiously back at him. "How long have you been here?"

[rouxgaroux]

"Zee then." He says with a nod and even if his lips don't smile, his eyes briefly do. Of course he's going to pick the easiest way to say a word, even a name. So far she seems nice enough. She doesn't seem like a threat and that helps him to relax a little. So far, no one but the bots and those people being celebrated tonight seem like a threat. Maybe that's unfair to those being celebrated, but Alcide doesn't know that. It's just the impression he got.

He can't help but breathe deep in through his nose to try to catch her scent, see if she smells human. He hates that that part of him is gone. He doesn't have that extra sensory power right now. He aims to get that back by whatever means possible. The problem with that is that he'll have to do some research to find out what means there are available.

There's a minute here when Alcide thinks of how long he's been here. He hasn't slept yet. It's been a long time since he's slept. "Today." Yes, he's very, very new. He steps closer, lowering his voice a bit. "You got any idea how this place changes people comin' in?"

[satnalahcsauoyekil]

With a little nod when Alcide decides on Zee, Zatanna smiles. She can't really blame him for choosing the easier nickname; she would in his shoes. He's lucky she hasn't just decided ask on her own to shorten his name to Al and call it done, really.

His response and the question in the heels of it give Zatanna pause. If he's just arrived today and he's RED, then he's a special, right? Isn't that the way it goes? He must be if he's asking about how this place changes people, because she's never heard the other Alphas talk about it.

So, after a moment of consideration, Zatanna decides he's safe or, if not, that she doesn't care if she's arrested. What's the worst that can happen? She shakes her head, frowning. "No idea, I just know that it does. I was starting to think I was the only one, for a while, but then someone else I was talking to was experiencing the exact same thing as me. And someone else still didn't seem phased by my talking about it, so I'm guessing they know the feeling. So, sadly, you're in good company, Al."

Okay, so, she did it anyway. She'd apologize but she isn't actually sorry.

[rouxgaroux]

The way she hesitates and studies him, Alcide wonders if he should have asked the question so outright. He's never been any good at mincing words or engaging in small talk when something is on his mind. That can be a good thing for the way Alcide is always exactly what people see. He doesn't try to hide his feelings or his opinions when he thinks something needs to be said. At the same time, his opinions aren't always popular.

Still, he waits her out and is just a little bit relieved to know that everyone is on the same playing field. If his wolf has been suppressed, so have Vampers' fangs? Good. He still doesn't like being without his wolf though. It still feels like he's only half of himself.

No one has ever called him Al before and he isn't sure he likes it since it brings Al Bundy to mind and he would like to think he's not quite Al Bundy yet. But there's also no correction because so far, Zee's been both nice and informative. Alcide's needed both of those things all day. He can handle the name Al.

"How do we set that to rights?" He has a feeling he isn't going to like the answer to that, but he's also willing to do a little recon on his own and find some answers. "That somethin' that happens back where I first woke up?" He thinks he can find his way back to that building.

[satnalahcsauoyekil]

That's the million dollar question, isn't it, Zee thinks to herself when Alicide asks how to fix it. If she knew that, she'd have found a way home by now, or at least she likes to think so. If nothing else, she could use her magic to make this place a heck of a lot better pretty quickly, but she's still at a loss. She's never been that good at computers, that was always Robin's thing. This place is run by a computer so...without him and without her magic, she's got nothing.

So Zatanna gives him a sympathetic look and shrugs her shoulders before frowning. "I wish I knew," she replies. "I imagine it happens there, but if I knew how to fix it, we wouldn't all still be stuck here. I'm pretty sure my magic could overthrow this whole dumb system and get us all back where we belong pretty quick, but without it, I can't even begin to try."

She sighs before she goes on. "I had a teammate back home who was really good with computers and he probably could've helped, but I haven't seen him around, so I don't think he's here. But this whole place is run by that thing, so until we figure it out, I don't think we're going to be able to figure ourselves out, unfortunately..."

[rouxgaroux]

Just as expected, Alcide isn't too fond of the answer, but he'd anticipated that. He doesn't much care for feeling helpless though, and he refuses to give in to the idea that nothing can be done. It's a fucking computer, right? One thing at a time. He's less about getting out of here just yet. More about getting the wolf parts of himself back.

"Somebody's gotta be runnin' the computer." Or at least doing maintenance on it. Right? "Unplug it. Take control of it. Figure out what's undone those parts of us and destroy that part."

Deep down he knows that all of these things have to have been thought of before. Alcide is ready to go at it again though, since it seems from Zee's point of view that she's given up. "Where's the... hub? The main computer? I don't even know what to call it." Alcide knows how computers work as far as electrical and programming in houses and such, but that's it. Beyond that, he isn't computer savvy. But he knows how to unplug things, mess with wires, or wield a heavy object to destroy something.

Alcide is fresh out of home and he's willing to fight with whoever or whatever took those pieces of him that make him a complete version of himself. He knows Zee is young, but he doesn't want her to feel helpless either. "We can't give up. Right?"