IC: Clan House

[echoes]

-Dan-

Dan looked from the screen to Aron and Zerb.
"And THAT'S one of the reasons I love time, it can be cxhanged, easily." he said chuckling a little bit.

[TheTimeSweeper]

Evan and Nav-E

After Evan had finished with his laughfest, Nav-E asked him what they should do know.

“I have no idea, dude. You were the one who wanted to do some exploring; I just came along to get some exercise and stretch out my groin area after that massive hit from Dan.”

“Yeah, but after coming up here, I’m already bored. There’s nothing but hallways and a few doors, and I don’t even want to go back downstairs and get online.”

Evan furrowed his brow trying to think of something for them to do when a thought hit him.

“Hey, what do you think is going on with Boot? Do you think he was successful?”

“The robot? Geez, I can’t believe I forgot about him. Yeah, I hope he’s alright; sending him into the Universe using that method is not the most guaranteed way of entry.”

“We need to figure out a better way of getting in there if we don’t have access to the cars. The method we use has been proven to work, but it’s just too damn unpredictable,” replied Evan.

“Agreed. If only we could...what the hell?”

Nav-E had come across an odd photograph hanging on the wall of the hallway. It looked like it had been taken fairly recently too, as the subjects in the picture were wearing clothes that Nav-E easily recognized. That’s what didn’t catch his attention though. It was the fact that the subjects were all of the house members, including Evan and himself, and they were situated in the living room posing for the photograph!

“Uh, Evan…you might want to check this out…”

“Hmm?” Evan walked over to where Nav-E was standing and then gaped at the photograph. “Holy…”

“My thoughts exactly. Who…or what…took this picture?”

“I…have no idea… We haven’t met anyone else in this house besides the other members and the bots that keep showing up every now and then. Plus, we haven’t posed for any pictures since we’ve been here.”

“I know… This is so weird. And look, we’re right outside the meeting room where we were earlier for our first challenge.”

Sure enough, the door to said room was open and Evan could see the table, chairs, and monitor where their debriefing occurred.

“Doesn’t it seem a bit…odd…to you that we nor anyone else didn’t notice this photograph hanging on the wall here?” asked Nav-E.

“Yeah, and the fact that it’s in plain sight too. Hmm, let me check something.”

Evan then took the frame off the wall and carefully opened up the back to see if there was a date on the back of the photograph, signifying when it was taken. There was none; just a blank, white side. His breathing started to quicken and he handed the frame to Nav-E.

“What?”

“J-just check out the back. Tell me if you see anything.”

Nav-E turned the frame over and looked at the back of the photograph. “I see nothing.”

“Exactly. Photographs usually have a date on the back of them so people can know when they were taken. There’s nothing there, not even a seal of some kind displaying the company’s name and logo.”

“So what? The only thing that I can get out of this is that we have a photograph here that we never posed for.”

“Or maybe we don’t remember that we posed for it,” said Evan.

“…What are you saying? That everyone in the house got together one day in the living room, posed for a photograph, and then someone or something wiped our memories of it? Dude, we’ve only been here for a couple of hours; it hasn’t even been a day yet.”

“We don’t know that… We could have been here longer than we originally thought.”

“Well, what do you propose we do about this?” asked Nav-E, as he waved the frame at Evan.

“We have to show this to the others, see if they know anything about it or remember seeing it. Maybe someone will remember us all gathering in the living room and posing for it.”

“I guess it’s worth a shot…”

Nav-E then walked down the stairs carrying the frame with Evan right behind him and made his way over to where the guys were in front of the television.

“Hey, do any of you remember seeing this photograph? Evan and I found it hanging upstairs on the wall outside of the meeting room.”

[tomaszavenger]

Clan House Bot

Note night has now fallen, and sorry for any noise caused by the construction of the media center. We're providing earmuffs in the meeting room if one feels they may not be able to sleep. There is no lights-out time.

[charli]

-Eric-

The television screen rippled a few times, the face of the groom at Sara's wedding shifting erratically between AJ, himself, Dan, and another guy he didn't recognize. Extremely weirded out - and a bit afraid of how time travel laws covered this kind of phenomenon - Eric grabbed the remote from AJ and turned the TV off. "That was way too trippy for my tastes..." he muttered.

And then Evan and Nav-E came in. "Hey, do any of you remember seeing this photograph? Evan and I found it hanging upstairs on the wall outside of the meeting room," Nav-E asked.

Eric took the photograph and looked at it closely. It was... the house competitors? Posed? "The hell...?" Something was stirring in the back of his mind, but he didn't even have a fuzzy emotion to go with the feeling. "They wiped our memories? But why? Come to think of it, my magic's a lot stronger here than it was back home. Did they alter my capabilities and then wipe that memory as well?"

[echoes]

-Dan-
Dan leaned over Erc's shoulder to look at the photo and even though HE didn't remember it, his nanites DID.
"Makes sense, get a picture of us when we're not trying to kill each other." he said shrugging, and the TV thing, as he dubbed it, had not gone unnoticed to him either.

[TheTimeSweeper]

Evan and Nav-E

“Heh, I mentioned that someone or something had wiped our memories too, but I thought it was ridiculous,” said Nav-E. “As far as your capabilities go, your guess is as good as mine. Evan started to freak out when he didn’t find a date or a company seal or anything on the back of that photograph, but I just shrugged it off.”

“Guys…how long have we been here and away from our families?” asked Evan.

[charli]

-Eric-

"How long indeed...?"

Eric's hand was dangling down by his side, and as the enormity of the situation sunk into them, Sara shifted in her sleep, her bare foot sliding out from beneath the blanket and brushing against Eric's hand. Immediately, he was assaulted with a flurry of her erratically shifting memories and he recoiled. Clearly she couldn't control her new found power in her sleep.

Then an idea struck Eric. What if...? He tentatively touched his hand to her foot again, this time not letting himself get bowled over by the incomprehensible storm. If he could find a way to sift through the memories... He found her memory of meeting him and Dan in the living room - she though he was hot?! Score! - and it suddenly struck him what a violation of privacy this was. But he had to know.

He played the memory back until she woke up in her room here in the House. The going past that was rough, but it was there. A house bot had carried her - she was unconscious - to the room. They had willingly let their memories be wiped?! ...Because the show's producers had told them that they were getting these powers. But why couldn't they have remembered this?

"Can you see this?" Eric asked, taking Evan's hand. Would the memory transfer to more than one person?

[TheTimeSweeper]

Evan and Nav-E

“I…I can see it, yes…” Evan muttered. “Wow…” He could see the house bot carry the unconscious Sara back to her room, just as he assumed what was making Eric feel uneasy. “But I don’t understand it; why would it matter if we got the powers? We didn’t want to remember how we got them?”

“Huh…Evan and I have had our abilities all our lives, but they do seem to be a bit more…heightened…than usual,” said Nav-E. “Perhaps this is all just some weird-ass conspiracy by the government. Isn’t that who brought us all here in the first place?”

“I’m…not sure anymore. We need to find some more answers somehow. The house bots would probably be our best guess; we don’t want to keep probing through people’s memories, right?” Evan paused for a moment as his eyes turned purple in thought. “Eric, why does it seem that the girls are the only ones who are being strongly affected by whatever is going on in this house? First Leyla and then Sara…I’m afraid to ask who might be next.”

[TrickyLA]

Leyla

".......but what about Kat then?"

She stared at everyone, shifting slightly. Finally, she was able to get into a sitting position. She yawned once, surprised that she could move again. She was a little nervous though, as many of the people in the room turned to stare at her.

"...Kat came here after all of us. We saw it.......so how do you explain Kat?"

Oddly enough, she had been paying attention to all the idle chit-chat going on. She was a bit interested now, what exactly was going on. Her mind was a bit fuzzy, was she supposed to remember something?

I don't know.....I'm so tired.....but what is all this? Abductions? Memory wiping? What kind of crazy place has the future become?

The only good news she had come across so far was that she would somehow get home, at least, if the television program was anything to go by.

[Yetisarge]

Zerb looked at the two hanging around Sara. "Have you two no ethics or idea about people's privacy? I would suggest you stop looking into memories. Otherwise I think Aaron over here might have another say regardless of how the future might turn out." He said turning his head slightly in Aaron's direction.

Aaron just stood their and stared at the two. It had helped to have been part of ROTC, it helped with the look that you were going to kill someone. It really did.

[tomaszavenger]

Tom shot up, panting in fear...

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Luke had decided to take another stroll in his mind. More cells damaged by his mere presence.

At least he's gone... gone for now... that's sonovabitch! Oh wait... I just insulted myself.

He hated Luke, but for some reason, he couldn't get back to sleep. It was still late, but Tom decided he could sleep later.

It's these clothes. I'm not used to wearing them in bed.

Tom got up and put his armor on, with the exception of his helmet, which he decided to leave off so he could ventilate himself a bit better.

Tom strolled out of his room and sat down in the corridor.

The future hasn't made things better yet... I hope it will soon.

[echoes]

-Dan-

Dan started walking off back to his room.
"Well, i'm headed to bed, see you in the morning, or whenever we wake up here." he said grinning.

[tomaszavenger]

Tom walked outdoors and threw himself onto the grass. The bright shields illuminated the gardens slightly, but Tom felt refreshed.

It was one of the odd things about Tom. He loved to sleep for 10 minutes and wake up, then repeat. It kept him refreshed far longer.

Tom eventually returned indoors, the cold gnawing at the skin on his face.

He could still hear people talking.

Why are they not asleep? They won't be able to wake up in the morning!

He silently laughed at his own statement, one of his personal jokes.

He was about to enter the room before he stopped. He instinctively hid around the corner before freezing.

No... not again... not fear.

Tom ran back towards the shared bathrooms. He'd need to wash his face. That was what he always did when he was scared, and he didn't know how the habit came about. Cold water always calmed him down, no matter what the situation.

Finishing up, he dried himself off, before finally pushing himself mentally into the room.

"Hi..." he said nervously, before sitting down.

[TrickyLA]

Leyla

Drowsily, the brunette turned to look at the newcomer. She blinked once, then rubbed her eyes.

"I'm too tired....."

She opened them again, and stared.

"......."

She said he was here....they all did...but to actually see him up close....I can't even believe it....

Her next point caught dead in her throat, which still burned slightly. She winced, then smiled hesitantly and sweetly.

"Hello there...Tom?"

Nervously, she self-consciously pushed back some hair behind her ear. Then, as was her habit, she let it fall gently in front of her face again. Obviously, she wasn't the only one nervous here.

He looks positively terrified.....why?

She winced, wiggling out of Kat's loose hold on her. She bit back a groan of pain, and straightened herself completely. Then, she stared right into Tom's eyes, leaning a bit closer in concern.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

[tomaszavenger]

Tom saw Leyla come up to him, and noticing the proximity and stance she was in, blushed a little.

He kept his eyes on her though, slowly uttering: "Luke" with almost a look of disgust while saying the name. He knew she knew what he was referring to. He wouldn't have to say anymore. In fact, he didn't feel he could say anymore. Tom restrained himself from shivering. He always shivered when afraid.

But Luke was beyond him. He could be a figment of his imagination, but he was a dangerous and destructive one at that. And it was either the creation of Luke, or lack of 'complete' future happiness.

The unexpected is never easy to face...

[TrickyLA]

Leyla froze, then shook her head.

"Oh......"

Though he said only a name, Leyla knew exactly what Tom was talking about. He was the son of his dreams, his executioner.

"...what......what happened?"

She was hesitant to ask, Tom looked so scared. In fact, he looked rather tense, like he was holding all the fear in at once.

Doesn't he know not to bottle up feelings....

The thought faintly danced across her mind, almost absentmindedly. Without really thinking, she pulled Tom into a hug. She liked being hugged when she was scared, so she figured he might need a hug. She winced a bit, the armor wasn't exactly helping her soreness. Still, a friend in need was more important than her own health.

"...don't be scared Tom."

[tomaszavenger]

The hug took Tom by suprise. He had always wondered what an embrace from Leyla had felt like, but now he knew. He wished that he had removed his armor now, he could feel the obstruction by it. Leyla seemed to be in a little pain, but her words of sincerity overcame it.

"Okay..." he said in acknowledgement, savouring the moment. "You should probably let go if you're in pain, it's not good for you..." he said, concerned about Leyla. Making sure she wasn't in pain, he released the hug slowly.

"Thank you" he said, with a smile. He wished the moment would have lasted longer than it actually did. Luke seemed to have faded for a brief moment, powerless to overcome a small act of friendship.

He switched his field of vision around the room, as he sometimes did, his eyes acting like sentinels, looking for a minor detail, which he had no idea about. People might have been watching him, he couldn't tell, but he wasn't going to look like a complete coward in front of them.

He then turned his eyes back to Leyla, before heaving himself off the couch, the metal in his suit making small scraping sounds. The plates shook slightly, and Tom felt like the ground was wobbling underneath him. He desperately stablilized himself, realising he had picked up too much speed when lifting himself.

"Well... how is everybody?" he asked in general, although his eyes did not even leave Leyla.

[TrickyLA]

"No problem....."

It felt nice to hug someone again and a small smile instantly tugged itself onto her face. She blinked once, staring at Tom. She realized that he had dodged the question, but she wouldn't push it if he didn't want to go into detail. Briefly, she questioned why she was even in pain in the first place.

"...why am I even hurt in the first place..."

She mumbled this, searching her clouded thoughts for the answer. She didn't realize how frustrating it could be to not remember something. She brought her eyes up once again, realizing that Tom was still staring at her. She let out a nervous giggle, instantly hiding her face with her long brown hair.

"You okay...? That sounded a little weird...."

[tomaszavenger]

Tom heard the word wierd and almost freaked out.

She called me wierd? She called... oh... wait... she said that sounded wierd... phew... why am I so paranoid about these things?

Tom noticed the way she hid her face with her hair. For some reason, he liked the way she did it, not truly sure he knew the reason why.

"Oh... sorry. I'm just... a little shaken up from Luke. It was another of those wierd dreams. What if he's real? If it's true, why doesn't he kill me?" Tom wondered, saying it in a whisper. He looked down for a little moment, pondering, before he looked back at everyone else.

The reason for that was he didn't want to look like he was staring at Leyla, although that's precisely what he wanted to do.

[TrickyLA]

Leyla pondered this a bit, playing with her hair nervously.

"Hmmm...well.....this is the future right? Is he....here now?"

She didn't know everything about Luke, or Tom's dreams, but she thought she might get it out in the open anyway. If he really existed, shouldn't they be able to locate him somehow? She stared at him, worried. Nobody should be worrying about their own demise so soon, and seeing Tom so scared made her heart twist a bit.

Poor Tom....

Raising her hand a bit, she gently patted Tom's shoulder.

"Kill you? Don't be scared Tom....we're all here for you now. Remember what I said I'd do to Luke if I had the chance?"

Her smile widened a bit at the thought.

[TheTimeSweeper]

Evan and Nav-E

Evan and Nav-E observed Tom and Leyla talking to one another and thought it best not to interfere.

“Tom looks so shaken up by something,” Evan whispered to Nav-E. “He doesn’t need to know about the photograph until he calms down.”

“I agree, but who is this Luke he keeps mentioning? Someone he knows from the past?” replied Nav-E.

“I’m not sure. Maybe he knows him from school or something. Whoever he is though, he’s causing Tom to feel very uncomfortable.”

“I just can’t get my mind off of that photograph. Why are we all here anyway? What is our purpose? It seems to me that this whole competition thing is just a front for something else.”

Evan stared back at his brother with wide eyes.

“…What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m starting to think that there is something more to this whole thing than meets the eye. Why else would we all agree to forget how we got our powers? Maybe we were brainwashed or something, I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m not waiting around for the truth to come out; I want to find it out myself.”

“I agree with you 100% dude, but going at it alone is ridiculous,” said Evan. “We should all go and stick together. I don’t trust this place and who or what is running it.”

“And neither do I. Alright, we’ll all do it together.”

Evan then grinned back at Nav-E and patted his back.

"Good."

[tomaszavenger]

"Yeah... thanks Leyla!" Tom said with a smile. Leyla always knew how to make him feel better. The brief touchof her arm against his back made him tense a little.

"I think that's why I was given this armor. Everything has been done to keep me safe. This complex, with all the cameras... maybe this all a hidden plot... no, it took some other cause, otherwise we wouldn't all be relocated to here, with some random other characters." Tom said. He was annoyed when things didn't make perfect sense, and this was one of those things.

And to add to that, it scared him too. Luke was a significantly dangerous character. Likely to be created, but if not, he was in a lot of trouble.

[TrickyLA]

Leyla was silent for a moment, thinking. She felt Tom stiffen, and unconsciously took a step back. Looking up, she stared at Tom for a moment, still a bit shocked that he was really here. Her hair remain over her face while she thought.

"You think its a plot? And Luke has something to do with it.....? Hmmmmmm. I still don't see why you just don't have kids or something. If its that big a deal. "

She frowned a but, feeling slightly dazed.

[tomaszavenger]

"You okay Leyla? You don't look alright..." Tom said, noticing her state. She looked like she was about to faint, or she had seen a ghost.

"And... that's just not the problem. If my interpretation of time is what I think it is, ie. a 4th dimension, and not just the scalar quantity everyone think it is, then no matter WHAT I do, I cannot change it. Luke will happen... whether on purpose or by accident, and he WILL kill me, in one way or another, but I'm safe until he's born." Tom said. He looked up into the cieling, and pictured a sky there, red with burning fire. That was what the universe would look like if Luke came, only he wouldn't be there to see it.

"Or maybe... this is all a ploy, and I can relax." Tom said, a brief sigh of relief escaping his mouth. He had realised the relatively unresponsive crowd. Were they staring at him?

"I bet some of you want me to explain right?" he said, sweeping a foot against the floor and lowering his head.

[TrickyLA]

Leyla stared for a second, then violently shook her head once. What was she doing again?

Right

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm fine...."

She paused for a moment, realizing that she may be fudging the truth a bit. Still, she didn't want to worry anybody else. She decided that she could just go back to her room and sleep for a really long time later.

[ So quiet though.....

Blinking, she nodded at what Tom was trying to explain to her. Still, it didn't seem to make sense unless...

"Luke has to be born no matter what? If you didn't have sex ever, then shouldn't it solve things? Or was Luke created? Couldn't we look it up somewhere......see if its really a ploy or not?"

She blinked once, wondering why nobody had said anything yet. It seemed like she had been talking a whole lot lately. Her throat was beginning to burn again, but that was okay. Her friends needed her right now, so she'd just have to deal with it.

"And look......everyone is here. I'm sure....that nobody...."

She paused to cough once, then cleared her throat.

"...sorry....that nobody here would let you get hurt Tom."

Swallowing, she decided that maybe talking so much wasn't such a great idea.

But why shouldn't I talk?

[TheTimeSweeper]

Evan and Nav-E

Evan and Nav-E kept quiet as they listened to what Tom and Leyla were talking about.

“So, Luke is going to be Tom’s future son or something?” wondered Evan. “And he’s going to KILL Tom when he’s born? What is going on here?”

“Do you think Luke is responsible for the photograph, Evan?” asked Nav-E.

“I’m…not sure. If he is, then why would he leave it in plain sight for us to find?”

“Maybe he wanted us to find it to kinda give us a heads up as to what’s going on around here.”

“Even with the photograph in our possession though, it doesn’t really tell us much, Nav-E. And why would he do such a thing if he’s planning to kill Tom sometime in the future?”

“I don’t know… Gah, I’m sick of all these questions that we don’t have answers to!”

[tomaszavenger]

"Even if I didn't have sex, Luke would somehow be able to manifest himself... I'm sure he'll be born one way or another, if it means I do it freely or while forced." Tom said, he sighed. "And the way I see it, I'm probably not going to do it freely, or he might even manifest himself in some way I can't even imagine." Tom paused for a second, his eyes moving along the ground, until they shot straight at Nav-E.

"Wait... what photograph?" Tom looked at Nav-E, with some confusion. Tom looked back at Leyla while waiting for a reply.

"Leyla, you look really sick... want me to fetch you a glass of water?" he asked with a tone of benevolence. Worry had overcome him, but he managed to seal it within him, as he was used to doing.

If I seal everything in myself, I wonder when I'll explode... Tom thought, the pessimistic thought not helping his mood.

[TheTimeSweeper]

Evan and Nav-E

Nav-E eyes opened wide as Tom stared at him. It was obvious that he had heard him mention the photograph.

“Aw, shit… Should I tell him, Evan?”

“I was hoping that he wouldn’t have heard you; give him one less thing to worry about. You might as well now.”

Nav-E then walked over to Eric and asked him for the photograph back. After Eric gave it to him, he then handed it to Tom.

“Evan and I found it upstairs hanging on the wall outside of the meeting room where we all were earlier today. It’s a photo of every house member all assembled in this room and posing for a camera that none of us ever remember doing. Do you remember seeing this photo outside of the meeting room at all? It was hanging in a place where anyone could have easily seen it.”

[tomaszavenger]

Tom gave the photo back to Nav-E immediately, before using his beam and scanning the photo. He then shot a hologram into his hands, and viewed it.

"Hmm... remarkable... either our memories were tampered... or..." Tom thought, examining it, until he had an idea.

"Well, we're in the future. There are loads of cameras everywhere, and they probably have a complete 360 degree view in all directions of us. They could have just photoshopped us together, and put this on the cover of a magazine. We are on a TV show after all. And then some doughnut left the picture here! Does that sound like a feasible explanation?" he asked everybody

[TrickyLA]

Leyla shook her head slowly at Tom.

"No, I don't...need anything...."

She thought for a moment about everything he had told her. Still, it didn't seem right to her. He can manifest himself no matter what? The thought made her frown slightly, she wasn't buying it.

"I don't think that would happen though.....he doesn't exist yet, so how can he make himself exist. I think in the future, you must have decided that having Luke was worth dying. I don't see how that could be though."

And she would never know what really happens with Tom, she can't get inside his head and see it herself. She can't question Luke, and she most certainly can't just ask future Tom. Sighing, she shook her head, now turning to face Nav-E and Evan.

"But, like I said before.......Kat wasn't here before....how do you explain her new....gifts...?"

She started coughing again, cursing herself for being so damn talkative. While coughing, she noticed Tom looking at her in worry for a brief moment.

Shit....

It was gone as soon as she had seen it though, and she blinked once. Maybe she imagined it.

No, I didn't

She groaned, wanting to lecture Tom on bottling things up. Given the circumstances however, she decided that that talk would have to wait.