Haizea Bolthausen's Story

"Harvey." Was the mostly blank response from ..., well, from Harvey. And then it was echoed by the too sweet girl at her side, a bright and chirpy repeat. Philo took a quick glance at Haizea, feeling actually sorta protective of the energetic and air headed girl. What was she thinking, going into a world like this while being so naive? But then again, the rich girl didn't really have a choice. None of them did. "And yes, I'd like that." Harvey, apparently at least, continued. "Nice meeting the both of you." The androgynous girl simply shrugged- not feeling anything in particular towards Harvey. He seemed okay, at least. That's what counted for now, right? That they didn't hate each other. They'd have years, anyways. Philo started running awkward situations through her head, potentially bad ones in which -

"It's nice to meet you too!" Haizea burst out. "I'm Haizea -" A pause; a blank stare. Philo raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Philo already said that. Oops."

The androgynous girl looked over at Haiea. Now that she's made a friend... she was actually scared. Friends were hard for her to make... and since it was impossible for her to really hide her sex - her being a female, not a male, a damn stupid wishy-washy selfish girl - but there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't even reveal it to the rich girl, she was too afraid of the rejection. If it was going to end with sore feelings, why not try to stretch it out? That wouldn't hurt, right?

“Hey, Philo…” It was almost as if Haizea could read minds, or something. Her voice was even, and it almost served to somewhat soothe Philo's mental struggle. Just maybe... “Did you know if you close your eyes and imagine the sky…. All your sadness will fly away!”

Did she somehow know? That Philo was hiding something that might ruin the friendship? Haizea gazed at Philo with a strange look - endearing and earnest. What was she to do? Philo was tempted to just spill the beans then and there, really... but it was hard. Really hard. What if she did get rejected? Could she really stand to be betrayed again, by another woman? Friends were meant to be forever. Long lasting. Permanent. Not some small thing. Not something that could end over a secret. Yet she was afraid to test out that theory, and merely looked away from Haizea, trying not to bite her teeth. Damnit.

"Ah, sorry..." Haizea giggled, blushing. "That must sound weird to you!"

That one line took away Philo's tension. What the hell was going on? Still, considering Philo's pack was pretty on the scant side, and that Haizea's were bigger; heavier... well, there was something. Maybe to almost prove that she really wanted to try being friends.

"The sky isn't the only thing that can do that." Philo said ponderingly, feeling rather light. She then more or less gently tugged whatever there was to tug from Haizea, taking on the burden of the weight - almost falling over because she herself was pretty tiny. It was awkward... but she felt like a man. And that was always a good thing. She felt like she was doing it right.

"I'll take it." She said, emulating cockiness and boldness. "Too heavy for a girl like you!"

Philo panted with the effort, hoping that being as nice as possible to Haizea would make up for the deception later. Because she really wanted to treasure this friendship - and this strange girl. The bright and yellow thing was seriously clashing with the generally dark colors of Philo, but hell is she going to look stupid in front of Haizea by dropping it. The physical exertion also helped keep her mind off of the troubling impending reveal, when it turns out she's roomed with the other girls.

Life never seems to go well, does it?

"I'll take it. Too heavy for a girl like you!" Philo said, backing up his words by grabbing Haizea's luggage. Haizea stood there for a moment, "Are you sure?" She asked, looking over at Philo. She smiled and nodded her head, "Thanks!"

"Sorry it's so heavy!" She started, "I tried to fit all the dresses I could in there! I wonder if I could get away with wearing them instead of the uniform?" She said, wondering aloud. It's not that she would refuse to wear the uniforms she just preferred to wear her own dresses.

She walked closely behind Philo as they continued their way down the hallways. Her eyes eagerly searched the area, observing the area she was to be familiar with from now on. It was much different from the place she lived at before this. There were no adults in uniforms dusting here and vacuuming there who never really acknowledged her existence. There was not any antique vases set up at every inch of the hallways that she would get in trouble for accidentally running into and breaking. There was no giant grandfather clock that made deep chiming noises that echoed throughout the building that Haizea could never seem to get used to. It was different. But in a way that Haizea wouldn't mind getting used to.

She glanced over at Philo, a smile on her face. She had already been lucky enough to make such a nice friend here. Her first real friend outside of the mansion and she would do all that is in her power to be loyal to her new friend.

She hurried up her walk to where she was right beside Philo and looked over him, "Where do you think our rooms are? Do you think we'll be rooming near each other? Or maybe even in the same room?" Haizea asked, her voice on fast-mode as the different living arrangements that could be made here ran through her busy little mind. "Oh- wait! Boys and girls live at different ends of the buildings.." She said slowly, remembering the early talk she only caught bit and pieces of, sounding a tad bit disappointed.

"You play often?"

Rachel lifted her head up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, though her fingers continued to pick on the strings. An older girl walked through the doorway and shut the door behind her, letting her ponytail loose. A wave of pearlescent black hair dropped just above her waistline; the ends were frayed and strands were jutting out either from negligence or simply a hard day at work. A pair of emerald green eyes looked down at her. She looked to be around twenty years old, maybe a little older, but her face gave way to a much more mature expression that suggested that she's wiser than her years, perhaps as a result of taking on such a career.

After all, if she was twenty, she must have spent at least eight years here and a number like that - to spend in a place like this - was almost unfathomable to her. But here was living proof, right at her doorstep, looking calm and at ease like it was nobody's business. The girl had a hefty looking bag slung over her shoulder that she promptly packed into a locker by her own bed. Judging by the remaining nameplate other than her own, her name should be Paige Mayfield.

Rachel stopped playing the guitar and paused a moment, nearly having forgotten the question amidst her thoughts. The impact of the strings felt fuzzy on her fingertips as she thought up a quick response.

"N-Not really," Rachel said quietly. "I don't get a lot of chances to play, but I play when I can."

"Oh," the older girl said, clearly not interested in furthering the discussion. "It's not a lot, but whatever I've got's yours. I'm gonna go hit the showers." She stepped into the bathroom without another word, the sound of a water spray starting up audible from behind the closed door. Puzzled, Rachel put the guitar down and decided to lay down in her bed instead. Aren't roommates usually supposed to introduce each other? She supposed they'd already figured out each other's names by looking at the nameplates but that was no reason not to formally greet each other for the first time, especially since they'd be sharing a room for who knows how long. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, knowing she'd need every bit of energy when she wakes up the next morning.

Only, sleep didn't come so easily. She must've dozed off for a little while, but a sound awoke her. Rachel struggled to get her eyes open and she looked over to see Paige sitting on her bed, her head down and her mouth curved into a tight frown. Her arms were rested on her knees and her breathing was erratic. She was...crying? The girl said something inaudible under her breath and wiped away tears with one hand. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but she decided that it might be an insensitive time to do so and held her tongue instead, watching in silence. There was haziness in her eyes since she'd just woken up for a nap, but she noticed something in the girl's hand that she didn't recognize earlier. It took a few moments for her dazed mind to register what it was as Paige brought it up to her chin with steady hands.

A sudden burst of panic guided Rachel out of her bed and straight into Paige, tackling her with all of her weight. There was no resistance as the girl was laid flat on her back, her head turned away and the pistol still loosely gripped in her hand. The sound of their breaths filled the room and, despite the situation, there was no tension or awkwardness between them. Rachel gingerly took the gun from her hand and moved it away, pulling Paige back up so that she sat up straight on the bed. Their eyes briefly met but the older girl only moved her head away again, uneasy.

"Sorry," Paige said quietly, taking Rachel's hand off of hers. "That was insensitive of me. I should have done it in the bathroom where you couldn't see." She reached for the gun again, but her hand was quickly stopped and pinned to the mattress. She didn't fight back at all, her tall, imposing figure somehow entirely devoid of strength.

"Don't," Rachel said at length. "Please. It's not just about you. If it's...if it's really this bad, I might start having the same thoughts."

"Then you better get it over with quickly," she answered emptily, still avoiding eye contact. "Never mind."

"What happened?"

"I..." The older girl bit her lip, a tenseness in her muscles as she trailed off. "I made a mistake." She sighed and gestured for her to give her some space. Rachel obliged and inched away some. "This room was a full house a week ago," Paige said softly. "It was...it was me, Leah, Aura, and Jasmin. We've shared this room for eleven years. At least, if you count out Jasmin. She dropped in seven years ago, replacing Marianne. Poor girl fell down the stairs and broke her neck." She laughed a small, dry laugh. "Can you believe that? Y-You'd think she'd have died in service or something of the like, but..."

Paige shook her head. "Anyway, a week ago, it was a...we took part in a sting operation. At first, everything was going well, they took the bait, we have our backs covered, and then..." She sighed again and pressed her palm against her forehead. "And then I fucked up. They figured us out and opened fire. Aura died on the spot from a head wound. Jasmin was run over by one of the dealer's cars and Leah, she..." Her eyes grew wet and her voice began choking as she spoke, chest heaving as she recalled the painful memories. "She died in the hospital today. There were others there, too. N-Not a lot of us made it out and they...they were all so young...We got involved in something we shouldn't have. It didn't matter if it wasn't my fault. I was there and I ran away and I'll never forgive myself for that."

"Don't you have any parents?" Rachel finally said. "What'll happen to them?"

"Y-Yeah," she muttered, though her tone suggested that she was either lying or that she didn't care anymore at this point. "Yeah, that was...stupid of me. I shouldn't upset my folks like that. You're right." Paige lifted her head up and tried her hardest to form a smile, extending a hand. "I haven't really introduced myself yet. I'm Paige." She took the older girl's hand and nodded, giving it a gentle shake.

"Rachel."

"I hope we get along," she said, still holding that pained smile.

Footsteps echoed throughout the somewhat quiet hall as Jason Tetrick lugged his suitcase, roller bag, and backpack around. His short black hair bobbed slightly with his movements, black eyes scanned right and left, taking in as much as they could. Unlike most of the new recruits who went straight to their rooms, Jason had decided to explore the grounds first, his curiosity leading him every step of the way. As he wandered from hallway to hallway, and room to room, his thoughts were more focused on his whole experience so far.

Like many children, he was surprised about his Marigold Machine results. His dreams of becoming a surgeon was dashed, and his parents had a hard time letting him go. He knew that the Marigold Machine was always right, 100% accuracy, so fighting it was pointless. He instead focused his efforts to become a medic instead, due to his knowledge of human biology. This way, he believed that his skills could still be used. He was nervous at the bus stop and the ride here, but he noticed plenty of interesting people.

The rich and charismatic looking blond girl with her... guardian? Best friend? Boyfriend? It seemed that someone that protective over someone else would be close in some way, but Jason couldn't tell. What did he know? He couldn't even tell if it was actually a boy or not from his position on the back of the bus. He also remembered the white haired boy and how he was examining a brunette's arm. He noted that she had a cybernetic limb, and the white haired one may have had some adjustments himself, but he wasn't sure if it was cybernetic, or genetics. As someone who studied human biology since he was young, he could tell cybernetic limbs apart from normal limbs, but Jason felt kind of weird when it came to the subject. He believed cybernetics and other adjustments really weren't necessary, that the human body is capable of repairing itself unless the limb is blown clean off. It was a mean to replace, not fix. Was the white haired boy interested in becoming a medic too, or just interested in cybernetics? He would be sure to ask him if he bumped into him again.

Jason pulled himself out of his thoughts when his feet brought him to the infirmary. He took a mental note on where to find this place; he knew he would be interested in exploring it more later. A bit of anxiety built in the pit of his stomach thinking about how bad an infirmary could look when its filled with injured people. It reminded him of when his father had brought him to the hospital to show him where he worked when he was younger, then injured civilians started flooding in from a subway bombing. It wasn't a very pretty sight, and his father told him to wait in his office as he tended to the patients. The sounds of groans and screams of pain throughout the building raked on his ears until he started to cry, and a nurse had to comfort him.

The boy shook it from his thoughts. That was the past, he needed to focus on now and the future. He was going to be a medic, and a damn good one. Speaking of the now, Jason felt it was time to stop exploring and get to his room so he could stop dragging his stuff around with him. He reached into his pocket to retrieve his room card and remind himself where he needed to go.

A small noise of confusion escaped his lips as he checked all his pockets and didn't find it. He quickly put down all his bags and opened them, hoping that he absentmindedly put it in one of his bags when he received it.

"Come on... where are you?" He whispered to himself as he rummaged through his belongings. He couldn't have lost it. It had to be here somewhere. After three more minutes of searching, he ran his hands through his hair with frustration and fear, his eyes widening at the results of his search. He had lost his room key, and he didn't even know what room he was assigned to.

Fuck.

He took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.

"Okay, just relax Jason. Just... backtrack and see if you dropped it along the way." He thought. He spun around to begin, when he realized he had idly walked around with no direction while he was exploring.

Fuck!

He started to panic slightly. He couldn't go request for a new one, could he? This was the military. Don't they punish such carelessness with push-ups or laps or something? What if they don't even allow him to have a room to teach him better responsibility? All these thoughts put him on edge, and he quickly grabbed his things and sprinted down the hallway, almost bumping into someone. He had to find that card. Why did he have to lose it?!

"FUCK!" Is the only word that occupied his thoughts.