#mutationstart

『➟        BLACK SMOKE FLOODED THE KITCHEN. it billowed out of the oven door and into liam's airways as he frantically tried to retrieve the food inside. stupid fucking thing, he cursed in his head, because this was clearly the oven's fault. it had nothing at all to do with the fact he hadn't been able to read the manual, or that he'd never been taught the difference between celsius and fahrenheit. this was just bad luck; the same damnation that had followed him for the last half a decade it seemed. he gave the oven a kick with the end of his boot. it spat another bout of smoke at his face in retaliation. he grunted. on the cooktop, a pan of potatoes were boiling into mush.

Bitterness was Rushi’s bread and butter from the day she was born, and it only continued to grow through the years as disappointment clouded her every motion. Though she excelled at physical combat, in her youth she existed in an age where it was frowned upon for women to be such; she was quick as a whip but considered a bitch for it also; she was too old by the time she reached the program to undergo any sort of transformation and was left, instead, training agents who she felt (perhaps a bit naively) were not as skilled or half as clever as she, but it rarely came out in anger and instead in a fiercer form of training.

          ↗            The trees that surrounded the empty graveyard were filled with an ominous, brittle silence that gave no illusion to being virtually simulated. Binary has no seasons, yet the scene at hand gave the impression of late fall where no flowers grew; no greeness to give pleasant contrast against the gravestones. Out of the thousands of generated teeth buried in the soil beneath his feet, not a one would identify as anyone Wyatt knew. Nobody had ever known them, since ‘they’ were never existent. All 0s and 1s. He found this comforting somehow. The training simulation had ended an hour prior with the required target item sought and found, though the tall brunet saw no harm in enjoying the tranquil - even if he knew it not to be real. Then, he blinked and in that nanosecond, the simulation was shut off from around him and Wyatt was left to slowly turn and offer a slight half-smile at the somewhat familiar face now greeting him in the empty room. “Guess times up, mm?” 

“-- I promise my vitals are the same as they were this morning...” Eevee exhaled agitatedly as they gently rubbed at their temple; they’d had this pounding headache for days now. With one thing after the other-- between Colorado, the Wal-mart, the collapse... they could physically FEEL their lifespan decreasing with each new added level of stress. This medical service Faith agent had had their eyes on them for quite some time now, remotely checking up on Eevee any time they stopped by the medical ward to read to Eva or to talk to Celeste when she’d still been there-- they’d always heard that it was good for coma patients to have someone talk to them.

Dash could feel the surge in energy all around them, it felt like an avalanche against her skin, every single invisible wave of disturbance hitting her with full force. She looked around at her colleagues, some she was familiar with and some were mere acquaintances. But in this moment, they all seemed similar, shaken, some even scared. Although no one would admit it if asked about it later. 

“Not to be a needy bitch or anything, but I’m going to be a needy bitch.” Theo gestured up at a book perched on the highest shelf in the library. Unfortunately, he happened to need this book on one of the days his exhaustion had left him bound to his wheelchair...again. “I don’t suppose you could reach that for me, could you? Just leave it, if it’s a bother, or if you’re busy, or...please?”