Begin Again||M!A: None

   she FEELS it, that intuitive sense of knowing when one is being watched. slowly, she  pulls the straps of the backpack over her shoulders. crisp autumn air refreshes her spirit, and her tousled hair frames her face. ah, there he is. chapped lips slant into a tender smile. it softens her hardened features, although her black coal eyes remain just as piercing as ever. she notices him. with an arm stretched overhead, she waves it in his direction before making her way over in a half-walk, half-jog gait.  ❝ hey, you finished with homework for the day? ❞ she catches her breath, smiling all the while, although it’s coyly devised as though to maintain her usual hard-to-read facade.   ❝ i was just about to go get lunch. ❞

She’d seen him, in turn. It doesn’t register until she’s upon him and asking him questions, of course. His eyes take a moment to move from where he’d been staring to get to her own, and it takes a bit longer to put together what she’d asked.

She was going to lunch. Wanted to know if he wanted to come to? Probably. His eyes turn down to half finished equations and frustrated scribbles and decides he could do with a better distraction. “As close to finished as I’m going to get, I guess.” William offers up as he shuts the notebook and crams it into his bag, hastily capping the pen and tossing it in as well.

The young test subject took moments to breathe and recover. Muscles were aching and he could have sworn he somewhat blacked out while the elevator was brought up. Fluttering his eyes and squinting them to observe what’s in front of him, his eyes widened in astonishment and he couldn’t help but drop his jaw at the recognizable person in front of him.

This… This person had wings. He blinked twice and pinched his arm. Hard. Yup, he wasn’t hallucinating. This was an actual thing that was going on. In all the test chambers he’s been through, he had never seen anything or anybody like this. They were the only human beings here, after all… Or maybe that was what Ulrich believed.

The harsh, cold remark he heard from the other only made him narrow his eyes coldly and sneer. He didn’t say anything in return. He stepped out of the elevator. His stomach felt twisted. After such a risky chamber, he was brought to another one. It was a routine but every single time he felt dread. Staggering breaths stuttered out of him but he kept himself still. He wasn’t going to let this darn AI get the better of him.

For the first time in what appears to be forever, he spoke. Guess he wasn’t entirely mute after all. “Sometimes, I wish I was.” He expected some sort of remark from the speaker above. Of course, there was going to be a jab at his speech or his intelligence. Yeah, he heard all the insults and jokes before. Nothing new.

The further the young teen glanced at the other, the more his head throbbed, starting to form memories. They were vague, fuzzy, and he couldn’t make any sense of them. A wave of nausea and dizziness hit him, making him sway a little on the heels of his feet. That was right. This guy and him… They didn’t get along, now didn’t they? His memories faded after he heard the voice of the one thing he hated.

“Oh, goody, you can actually talk. I would have thought I’d be stuck testing a quiet idiot this whole entire time,” the AI emotionlessly joked.

Ulrich snorted at the voice. Of course, laugh it up. Yeah, he didn’t care. When he pass these tests, he’ll be more than ready to eliminate this thing who tested him like an animal.

“Don’t we all?”

Once, he’d tried to just lay on a perch for a day. The AI in control of the whole place tried to kill him. He tried to keep moving after that. Not that it was easy, with most of the tests he went through needing more flight than he had available now.

Wings opened as he turned, trotting back to the ledge that dipped into a deep fall only broken by a platform halfway across. He’d been thinking for a while on how to get to it, given without flight he couldn’t propel himself upward halfway there so he landed on it.. Now though, he had an idea.

That though was distracted as the speakers come to life with derogatory commentary toward the other individual in the room. Amazing. Seems the AI still talked, on occasion.

“Do you think you can help me? I can see a button on the other side of the room, but I can’t get to the midway point.”

🍰 - What is their favorite type of dessert or sweet?

“Yogurt, and Ice cream, particularly Blue Moon. Chocolate is nice too.”

👙 - Is your character trendy or do they just not give a damn?

“I’m usually concerned with covering my scars first and foremost, but If it looks nice, I’m glad. I’m usually told my outfits look nice?”

🎠 - Your character is at the carnival. What kinds of rides or games do they check out to entertain themselves? “Swinging boat ride. I fuckin’ love it. Beyond that, I’ll try any games that look fun, but I’m really no good at any. Anything Dop or C wanna go on I’ll go on too.”

🎃 - What is your character’s favorite holiday?

“Halloween is nice. So’s Christmas.”

🌞🌜 - Is your character an early bird or night owl? What makes them that way?

“Yes.” Insomnia, and night terrors. Either he’s staying up all night, or he wakes up very, very early.

📚 - Does your character read?

“Yeah. Not like.. Extensively. If it looks like a good book and I’ve got the spoons for it, I will. If one of the gang like it and recommend it, I’m more likely to read it.”

💢 - What frustrates your character more than anything?

“XANA.”

🍴 - What is the absolute worst meal your character has ever eaten? Were they verbal about it or did they just not say anything?

“Electricity. That’s it. XANA pumps your body with the stuff in place of food. Dumbass.”

“Tastes like Lemon.”

😄 - What has ever made your character laugh so hard that they almost passed out?

“Doppel and C had a conversation in Binary and sometimes I recognized bits. Usually ‘XANA was a bitch about it, really.’ and ‘I just don’t know what went wrong…’ Fun times.”

😈 - What’s your character’s favorite cuss word?

“Fuck? Shit? Maybe Damn.”

💡 - What is the best idea your character ever had?

“uh.” He can’t think of any.

💍 - Does your character wear any type of jewelry?

“I don’t usually, but I do have some. I wear a bracelet, usually. Not that you can tell with my long sleeves.”

📺 - What would your character’s favorite TV show be? What’s their favorite genre?

“The Walking Dead. We even managed to ring C into watching it with us. I love horror.”

🍀 - Does your character carry a good luck charm? Do they believe in luck?