Rufus's Story

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The tiles in Dr. Barns' bathroom were brilliant white, and the light was almost harsh in the small room. The floors were white and cold beneath the man's bare feet, and the tiled walls shined spotlessly. In the mirror, his face held no expression. It rarely did; his intricate thoughts hidden beneath his steely glaze. The only sound other than his breathing was the rushing of the water in the sink as he washed his hands. Today, he was expecting the arrival of another set of twins. Two boys, by the reports. In the mirror, Dr. Barns' upper lip curled in disgust. Two little teenage boys. They were always the worst. Boys were disobedient, chaotic, loud creatures that ignored rules. But he needed them, just as he needed the others. Dr. Barns rose a hand and ran it through his thinning black hair, making it stand up on end. A small, emotionless smile twitched at the corners of his mouth as he regarded himself in the immaculate mirror, amusing himself with the appearance of his hair on end. He looked younger like this, much younger, and carefree. It was an image so unlike his actual personality it made him appear as an almost entirely different man.

Bored quickly with his appearance, Dr. Barns dropped a few strands of dislodged hair in the bin, and then washed his hands again before drying them on the soft, warm towel by the door. He could feel the day starting, and estimated the time to be around six thirty, and just as he thought it, the ringing of the morning alarm resonated through the still air. Six-thirty exactly. Crossing over to his wardrobe, Dr. Barns selected one of his many crisp white shirts, and walked to the window as he shrugged it on, and then carefully buttoned it up. Outside, the day was dawning darkly. Beyond the fencing of the camp, the forest loomed wickedly on the horizon that was blanketed with a fresh fall of snow. Dr. Barns hated the stuff, and turned his gaze upon a manual laborer who was busy sweeping paths into the knee high drifts. Lights appeared in the Blocks of the children as they were awoken by the staff and the bell, and at this point, Dr. Barns turned aside. He had no desire whatsoever to witness the waking of the children. However, just as he turned away, a light in the distance caught his eye. It flashed orange three times as the gates of the camp slid open, admitting a heavy black car. Dr. Barns nodded to himself. Everything was running to schedule, and the car heralded the arrival of their new camp member.

Having buttoned up his shirt, Dr. Barns selected a moody blue tie from the rack, which he tied tightly around his throat. He added a suit jacket to his ensemble, and then went back into his bathroom where he studied his appearance once more in the mirror. He looked smart, and professional, and after he pulled a comb through his hair so that not a strand was out of place, he looked immaculate, as he did every day. He put the comb back in it's place in the cupboard, and then washed his hands again. He had big plans for today. Overnight, he'd left an experiment ticking over, and he was eager to return to it. He had taken a set of twins, a boy and a girl, and separated them. Each had slept in a different room, and while one was made comfortable and warm, the other was put in a room no bigger than a closet with only a few rats to keep her company. Periodically during the night, she had been taken out by one of his scientists, and an irritant was applied to the back of her right hand. Dr. Barns was looking forward to seeing the state of the two children this morning, and seeing if the male had felt the discomfort of his sister.

A genuine smile formed on his lips as he turned and gathered up his briefcase. First, he would attend Roll Call, to check on the new arrival, and then he would make his way to Block Seventeen as usual. Dr. Barns turned from his room then, and left his Block. He had one to himself, and it was the more comfortable of all the Blocks in the camp. It was placed nearby the large courtyard where all the children congregated each morning in front of a raised platform where one of the senior staff members would call their name.

Outside, he made his way quickly over to that stage. It wasn't a long walk, but the morning was chilly and slightly uncomfortable. Dr. Barns scowled a little, not paying attention to the staff that he passed as they abruptly straightened up and saluted or bowed. It was a sign of respect that he paid no attention to, and yet he demanded it at the same time. As he approached the platform, one of the senior nannies as he liked to call them, was stood waiting for the children to arrive. The harsh looking woman had a long, hooked nose, and eyes of a cruel and icy blue. Her steel grey hair was put up in a bun out of the way, and the style was flawless. She was a woman that Dr. Barns knew well, as she was the one in charge of managing the Twins Accommodation Blocks. As Dr. Barns approached, she turned to look at him and nodded slowly in a gesture that was almost a bow of respect. She knew better than to speak to him though, and Dr. Barns simply nodded in reply before moving to stand at the back in his usual spot to watch his subjects straggle into their places.

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"Sir! We have a problem! Everything down in Block 17 Is frozen, nothing seems to be working right." A staff member named Sue came rushing into Rufu's room, panting as if she ran the whole way without stopping. In the middle of putting his shirt on after wrapping some spots with fresh bandages. "Oh God forgive me Sir!" She blushed and turned her back towards him.

"God has nothing to do with it." Putting on his shirt and then his white lab coat, along with another coat, he faces Sue after he was done. "Just do what you can to get it fixed. I will tell Richard about the situation. So don't worry about it. Just turn on the generators and get everything warmed up. Also is the main frame working?"

"Ah...no Sir...it wont turn on, at all. The wires are frozen and the frame is cracked." Sue started to sound a bit more relaxed when she realized that Rufus wasn't yelling at her like she thought. Slowly turning around she looked over at him. "The back door as been left open, and now everything is ruined."

"Look just try to unfreeze everything and I will take care of the rest." He smiled slightly and touched her shoulder leading her out of his room.

"Ah..Yes Sir!" She nodded and quickly left with blushing cheeks the moment he touched her.

He narrowed his eyes as he grabbed his over blanket, wrapping his body up in it, just before leaving his room and walking out into the sunlight. He didn't plan on making it to the get together with the new arrivals, but it seems he would have to. And try grabbing Richards attention in the process.

Instead of attracting unnecessary attention by walking up next to him he stood in the back, were he was able to rest himself in the shadows against a pillar. It was soon after that Rufu's took noticed of Richard walking his way, it got him wondering why he was coming over here. But in honest truth he just wished for his to be over with so he can get out of the light and inside. Shifting his weight to his other foot, the sound of the snow crunching was heard very well as Richard got closer. "Good morning Rufus. How went the experiment last night? Did we achieve the desired results?"

Tilting his head down at Rufu's hood waved a little with the motion. Whenever he was outside he would always cover himself with a huge blanket that blocked out the sunlight from hitting his skin directly. Depending on how he was, sometimes he wouldn't have to cover himself. Other times were different. When he finally spoke up after a long pause of silence. His voice was low, almost a whisper, yet it had his deep tone within it, his words were even slow and someone steady as if he was out of breath. "We have problems with the cold. It froze half the lab, someone forgot to close the back door all the way and now we won't be able to continue unless..." A sudden pain stabbed through his whole right arm, clenching his teeth tightly he grunted in struggled to suppress a scream, but thankfully it wasn't loud enough for the others to hear or notice anything. He took a hold of his arm and collect himself once again. "Unless everything thaws out. If it doesn't, we will not be able to get anymore data. It seems that the main frame, Erm, the main data board is corrupted do to the cold, so now we can't get it to work. We might have to replace it." He took a breath and stood up properly once again.

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Richard turned back to Rufus, just as Rufus as about to leave dissapointed. "In addition, as Block Seventeen was your responsibility last night, you will also attend my Block when you have fixed what you have made wrong. I expect you and whoever left the door open at my Block at...midday. Sharp."

With this being said he took noticed of Richards hand that bleed a little and the tone in his voice getting even more angered. The dissapointment in Rufu's mind at went away. He felt pleased in a way seeing Richard's angered side. It was entertaining watching him struggle while trying to keep his cool. Rufus tilted his head and made a slight smile that quickly faded once he spoke in a low voice. "Everything is already in motion...Richard." He spoke his name almost in a seducing tone. Saying the mans name always pleased him, because of his reactions. "You're a little late on ordering this. I already believe I know who it is. So once you are done here. We can continue our...pleasant little chat." By now he was mocking the Dr in a nearly playful way. Ruffling him up was just too tempting.

Rufu's breathed a slight chuckle and started to walk off towards Block 17 without a rush in the world. He was being way too carefree under the circumstances. Sue on the other hand had a frightened look on her face as if she saw a ghost, she even looked pale, like she hasn't had the best of mornings. He stopped once he walked up to her.

"Seems everything is fine now, all but the main frame. The twins were not harmed and they are being taken care of." Sue said all this under one breath and very fast.

"Kept the separated right?" He continued walking towards block 17 without a care.

"Hm, yes Sir, just like you stated last night that they can't be together." She breathed and hugged her note pad.

"Very well, one more thing Sue, get me Bradley, the man who we were working with last night." Rufu's went through the steps of opening the door to block 17 walking inside and closing the door after Sue rushed in right after.

"Yes Sir." She quickly walkaway and left the room in search for him.

Once Rufus was left alone he took in sight of the view that the cold did damage on. It didn't look to bad, but the main frame looked as if it wasn't cracked because of the cold. He chuckled and shook his head. "Looks like we have another one of them on our hands." Rufus spoke to himself out loud. Bye time he was use to people trying to destroy their systems. It was nothing new to him. In fact he was so use to it that he had already had backs for the back ups. No surprise to him one bit. There is alot of people who dislike what we are doing with the twins so alot of people try squeezing their way inside the business and destroy it. None have really done anything to big, most of them just go after the main frame like idiots. "They need to do something new. How tedious."

Nagisa's smile quickly faded as she saw Dr. Barnes and she placed a hand on Travis's sleeve, gently squeezing it. The sight of him always made her a little uneasy. It wasn't necessarily that she didn't like him, she was just scared of him; almost terrified even. Just the sound of his voice made her tremble and sweat with fright. She watched him quietly as he scanned the crowd and their eyes met for a moment as he scanned the croud. Quickly, she dropped her hand from Travis's arm and look down and to the right blushing nervously. She never liked yelling, but when she heard him yell it was almost as if it caused an earthquake. She had only gotten in trouble with him once, which she was very upset at herself for doing, and it was enough to never make her look at him again. Anger always frightened her, but there was something about Dr. Barnes's anger that was...different.

Ayame felt her heart-rate quicken. She put a hand to her chest and was a bit confused at the time, until she noticed her sister looking away from Dr. Barnes. Good 'ole Dr. Barnes. He scared the pants off of most of the kids here. There was a rumor that, if you looked directly into his eyes for more than five seconds, he would steal your soul. Whether that was true or not was up in the air, though Ayame wouldn't be surprised if it were. There was something about him that was...off. She knew how much Nagisa was afraid of him, especially after the one time he yelled at her. From what Ayame could recall her sister was holding a boy's hand, probably Travis's, and he just blew up like a volcanic eruption. He never did like seeing romantic affections among the kids. But what could he expect from them? They all grew up together so there was bound to be some hanky-panky going on. Even though they were in a camp didn't mean the kids didn't have needs. Especially the boys...

As the roll call commenced, the voices of the other twins sounded melancholy and unenthusiastic. This was a normal thing. Not only was it early in the morning, but the roll call took quite a long time and was ungodly boring. The woman who took roll always spoke in a monotone voice and said all the names slowly. She had a cold stare, almost as cold as Dr. Barnes himself, and if you didn't answer right away, she would give you this glare that would nearly freeze your blood. And there it came:
"Ayame Ichigawa."
"Here..." Ayame replies with a sigh in her voice. The woman gives her a slight glare and Ayame clears her voice slightly, looking away.
"Nagisa Ichigawa."
"Present!" Nagisa pipes up, making sure she can be heard. Once she has stated her presence, she goes back to staring at the ground. She moves her hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm herself. As she breathes out, a white mist swirls from her mouth and Nagisa begins to shiver. Ayame, knowing the feelings of her sister, walks to Nagisa and puts her arms around her, moving them rapidly up and down, creating friction needed to warm Nagisa's cold arms.
"Regretting not bringing a jacket like I told you to?" Ayame asks in a whisper. Nagisa nods, teeth chattering. Ayame chuckles slightly.
"This is why you should listen to me more often."

Roll call stops briefly as Dr. Rufus appears to speak with Dr. Barnes. Ayame smiles suddenly at his presence. There was something about him that intrigued her. Nagisa always told her it was gross and that he was weird, but Ayame found it easy to ignore her. He was a dark individual and very flirtatious with the women around. Ayame figured that, even though she disliked the thought of love and romance, it was a little teenage crush. She did wonder what would happen once she was 18, though she figured once she and Nagisa was a legal adult, they would finally leave the camp and become functioning human beings in the elusive and seemingly fantasy-ridden outside world.

It was cold outside. Very cold. There was snow on the ground, and they were not dressed for snow. Though, to be fair, they were never told where they were going and they were taken in the middle of the night. Both of them appeared to be getting extremely cold and groggy. Maybe just plain irritated. But notably, their irritations seemed identical. Same shiver, same warming techniques, same everything. Alex and Adam seemed identical in every way.

They thought they heard something about block 17, about going there. At least they think they did. They tended to have really good hearing sometimes. It seemed weird, random even. That is when they both yelped in pain. From what it looked like, something shocked them both.

"You shocked me!"

"No, you shocked me!"

"Nu uh! You shocked me!"

One of the guards interrupted them, and motioned to take their place in line. It couldn't be helped but to be noticed they even seemed to walk the same. It was like they were totally in sync with each other. Which was supported by the fact they often completed each other's sentences. Don't let their sibling bickering fool you, they are about as close as twins can get, and then some.

As they took their places among the other twins, Alex and Adam started thinking about why they were moved to this new camp. They hoped that maybe here, someone might answer their questions. In their files, it would probably be pointed out that they tended to be "overly curious, observant, and suspicious of all the staff". They glanced back over at that doctor.

"Definently creepy"

(Oops, accidentally tagged a few too many lol)

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Mark noticed that Travis smiled a bit when one of the female twins, Nagisa, stepped away from him and went on to hug his brother. Was that affection? Her voice when she greeted him, too... Mark narrowed his eyes and pushed Travis back a bit when the girl dropped her hands. They had done this before, shown affection towards each other. Were they crazy? It was obvious that Dr. Barns wasn't very fond of seeing such actions, displaying them in front of him was like asking for a punishment.
"Hey Ayame, hi Nagisa." Mark said, casting a glance at Nagisa as he spoke her name. She was going to get his brother in to trouble, he knew it.
It was better to try and keep them separate.
To keep them at safe distances.
"Hello, ladies!" Was Travis's greeting, he sounding much more welcoming towards the two girls than Mark did. "I was thinking that when roll call was done, we could-"
"Present!" Mark called out when his name was said, interrupting his brother, "And don't even think about it, Travis."
Travis frowned at him, "I was going to say 'sit together for breakfast', but if you say so. Nevermind, ladies." he muttered, turning his attention back to where Dr. Barns stood when his name was called, "Present!"
He turned back to Mark, "Stop being such a grump."
"Stop acting like such an idiot, then."
Travis scowled "Excuse me?" he snapped, raising an eyebrow. It was always unexpected when Travis and Mark, the two inseparable brothers, actually fought about something. He looked over at Ayame and Nagisa, feeling a bit embarrassed about the argument, and decided to put their disagreement aside until another time, "Actually nevermind. Does it really matter, Mark?" the words came out as sounding sharp, as if they were trying to deflate whatever thing that Mark was trying to do.
His shoulders fell, "No, I guess not."
It worked.

Travis, ignoring the nagging sense of drop in attitude from Mark, noticed Nagisa's shivering and tugged off his jacket, "If I were you, I'd listen to Ayame more often." he said cheerfully as he offered over the piece of clothing. The sudden cold bothered him a little bit, but he was sure that he had a spare coat back in his Block. Besides, it wasn't as if he was going to anguish without it.
On the stage, the roll call went silent without a warning. Dr. Rufus and Dr. Barns then began speaking, but Travis was too far away to hear what they were saying.
"Hey, Mark, do you know what's going on?" He asked, nudging his brothers arm.
Mark shook his head, "Not a clue."

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"Yeah, I am Alex Reed"

"And I am Adam Reed".

They even sounded nearly the same. Alex and Adam both also looked somewhat groggy, or annoyed. "You know where we are? Or why they decided to move us in the middle of the night? Damnit I am tired".

"You probably got us in trouble, again"

"Nu uh, you did!

Adam gave Alex a look. "We both know it's you who get us into trouble"

Alex had a slight smile, then turned to the others around. "So, who are you?"

(Meh, minor writers block. >.>)