Torchwood [IC]

[JNAProductions]

OOC Thread

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You wake up in an unfamiliar room. There's a note on the bedside table.

Spoiler: The Note

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You have been in an accident. You encountered something you should not have. And so, you are faced with a choice.

Forget about it. Wake up tomorrow and go back to your life, ordinary as the day you were born.

Or help make sure that everyone else can keep living their ordinary lives, safe and happy.

You do not have to choose immediately. You will be able to learn more before you decide.

But be prepared.

-R.L.

You look around, and see plain grey walls. The bed is simple, but comfortable. The table at the bedside is a simple wooden affair, nothing fancy. The door is on the opposite side of the room.

As you try to get your bearings, there's a knock on the door.

Spoiler: Altair

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The door opens, and reveals a very tired-looking man. He gives you a smile, and says "Hey. I bet you've got a lot of questions-but you've probably got some answers too. My name's Zed-walk with me?"

Spoiler: Chelsea

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The door opens, and reveals a young woman in a loose, sleeveless shirt and jean shorts. "Sup," she says. "I'd call you by your name, but, well... now's a good time to pick a new one, hey?"

Spoiler: Liliana

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The door opens, and reveals a one-armed man. "Miss Ashemore? My name is William. I know you're looking to ask some questions-and I can answer some of them, I'm sure. But I'd also like to ask you a few in exchange."

[Illven]

Spoiler

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Um.....uh... Chelsea spills from her lips. Chelsea She repeats more firmly this time.

Um.... what's your name? What happened? She says a blush brightining her cheeks.

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: OOC For Everyone

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I might have subdivided the peeps into spoilers.
However! I trust everyone to be able to keep IC and OOC knowledge separate. So, feel free to read each others' spoilers.

And, while I do appreciate Illven spoilering the response, it's not needed. The initial spoilers were just to keep things a little neat, that's all. :)

"Chelsea. That's a cool name," she replies. "I'm Natalie-and you went through what's called a... Ah, dammit, I had it memorized and everything." She cusses a bit under her breath, then remembers. "An opp-something cogitative wave. Basically, there was some supernatural whig-wham that made whatever you were thinking about just, bam. Happen. This kind of crap happens more often than you might expect-but most people don't think that strongly. Worst is when it happens at a gym-like steroids to the brain. But yeah-apparently some folk where you were had some pretty nasty thoughts at that moment, which lead to you arriving here."

Natalie looks at your feet. "You, uh, got some grass growing."

[Illven]

Chelsea looks down, before realizing that grass and soil has started to root itself into the floor. Gah! She jumps high and back. "Um.... I don't know how that happened.

[Aleph Null]

Altair takes a moment to make sure his thought-translator is working properly, which results in a bit of a dyne for about half a second before his 'voice' becomes audible.
"I reckon I should have checked this thing sooner. Not being able to communicate would be rather catastrophic..." It sounds surprisingly natural.
"It turns out that I have lots of answers. Whether they're the ones you are looking for remains to be seen, of course, mister Zed. As for walking..."
He sort-of glides over the ground toward the door. The air feels slightly heavier around him -- as though the gravity is slightly stronger there.
"Will this suffice?" He gestures to clearly indicate his...unusual mode of movement.

[Greenflame133]

Lilliana sits on her bed, reading the note again and again. Not even managing to gather her thoughts to reply before the man invites himself. As he talks she folds the note, unfolding it, rotating 90 degrees and folding again. Repeating this motion thought the entire conversion. "Of corse I have questions. Like what kind of space force non-sens are you guys?" She speaks, barely holding back 5 more questions

[JNAProductions]

Chelsea looks down, before realizing that grass and soil has started to root itself into the floor. Gah! She jumps high and back. "Um.... I don't know how that happened.

"Don't worry," Natalie says. "We could use some more green around here. Walk with me?" she offers her arm.

Altair takes a moment to make sure his thought-translator is working properly, which results in a bit of a dyne for about half a second before his 'voice' becomes audible.
"I reckon I should have checked this thing sooner. Not being able to communicate would be rather catastrophic..." It sounds surprisingly natural.
"It turns out that I have lots of answers. Whether they're the ones you are looking for remains to be seen, of course, mister Zed. As for walking..."
He sort-of glides over the ground toward the door. The air feels slightly heavier around him -- as though the gravity is slightly stronger there.
"Will this suffice?" He gestures to clearly indicate his...unusual mode of movement.

Zed chuckles. "You're ambulatory, so that's enough for me. Think you need a bite to eat? We're not entirely sure what sort of sustenance you'll need, but if you can taste it, we've got some pretty good food here."

Lilliana sits on her bed, reading the note again and again. Not even managing to gather her thoughts to reply before the man invites himself. As he talks she folds the note, unfolding it, rotating 90 degrees and folding again. Repeating this motion thought the entire conversion. "Of corse I have questions. Like what kind of space force non-sens are you guys?" She speaks, barely holding back 5 more questions

"We generally don't go to space," William replies. "But you know as well as I do that there's more to the world than most people would believe. We're the people who make sure the things that go bump in the night don't cause issues. We're the people who make sure that the myths and stories stay that way, instead of drowning the world or unleashing a thousand-year storm. We're called Torchwood. And, in exchange, a question for you. Hungry?"

[Greenflame133]

"Oh, I'm always hunger, and from the sounds of this Touchwood organization seems to be basically shadow government, so you must have some good snacks." Lilliana eyes wonder to the note, folded and unfolded a few too many times, slowly tearing from the strain. "The note mentioned it as well. What kind of forbidden arcane knowledge do I posses?"

[JNAProductions]

"At the moment? Not too much," William replies, leading you through an ordinary-looking hall. "You've got potential, but lots of people do. Normally, you would've gone on about your life, drawing your pictures, studying your books, and working your job. But, your bosses made some decisions that got them wrapped up in something they shouldn't've. You were just caught in the crossfire."

He opens a door, an reveals a cafeteria. There's a bunch of snacks, all made freshly, lined against the wall, and a few people munching and talking. "Not a meal time, so just snacks. Take your pick."

[Aleph Null]

Zed chuckles. "You're ambulatory, so that's enough for me. Think you need a bite to eat? We're not entirely sure what sort of sustenance you'll need, but if you can taste it, we've got some pretty good food here."

"I retain all of the senses of the human body — including taste — but I can derive sustenance from any form of matter, including air, and only need to do so infrequently. I would still enjoy some good food, though, as a means to take the edge off the rather stressful situation..."

The obvious question of how he would eat is pointedly ignored, but perhaps that isn't important.

"I am actually curious how much you were able to figure out without actually asking me...where I'm from, the technology was insufficient to examine much about me until the outsider tech came."

[JNAProductions]

He shrugs. "Honestly, we're not sure how accurate a lot of what we've got is. But we're used to working with incomplete information, much as the Director hates leaving things to chance. At least you're friendly."

Zed leads you through a hall, opening it to a cafeteria. You see, just coming in from another door, a one-armed man and a woman dressed much, much more casually than Zed and the other people eating snacking.

[Illven]

Chelsea takes the offered arm eager to see where she is lead.

[JNAProductions]

Natalie leads Chelsea to the cafeteria. When she enters and spies Zed and William, she gives a wave. "Hey, you guys got the other newbies?"

[Illven]

Oh is that all for us? Chelsea asks eagerly.

[Greenflame133]

Lillian is quick to make her way to one of the tables, taking three thumbprints cookies. Then she finds wall to lean against.

Here eyes wondered around the room. William and two strangers mentioned noobies. They probably don't have much either, but perhaps she can listen in of whatever conversation they are having.

[Aleph Null]

”I will concede that my appearance is unnerving, so I am glad you have the patience to allow me to prove my nonhostile intent. I’ve been told I look like what would happen if someone who knew human language but not scientific terms were asked to envision the term 'celestial body' and draw their idea.”
The voice-projector does manage to capture the dry humor in that sentence, though there’s still a bit of an unearthly echo to his voice it still sounds otherwise natural. He follows Zed into the room and, for the moment, quietly observes the others.

[JNAProductions]

"Yeah, go nuts," Natalie tells Chelsea.

William stays near Liliana, taking a single cookie for himself. "It might be easier if you take a seat-we can all do some explaining if you sit with the other new folk."

Zed looks to William, and calls over. "Heard that. No need to make her sit-we can all just meet by the wall."

Soon, you're all assembled by the spot Liliana chose-two men, one with one arm; three women (or at least femme-presenting) people, two dressed casually and one dressed in ill-fitting clothes; and the nebula humanoid. Natalie is the first one to talk again. "Damn. You got the interesting person, didn't you, Zed?"

[Illven]

So uh....what's going on? Chelsea says in-between mouthfuls of food, slowly turning the floor beneath her into grass and flowers.

[JNAProductions]

William, the one-armed man, elucidates the matter. "To keep it relatively brief, you're currently in one of Torchwood's outpost. Torchwood, as I explained to Miss Ashemore earlier, is a global organization dedicated to keeping the world safe from things that your average person would have trouble comprehending, or at least have trouble reconciling with their life. I believe the Director left you all a note, giving... Well, not much of an explanation, but an offer."

He pauses a moment to munch on his cookie, then continues. "You could, with training, become skilled and powerful agents that help us. Chelsea, you can already see your own powers manifesting. Altair... Well, you'd have trouble going back, no matter what. And Liliana, you could be trained to do magic, we suspect, quite well. Training won't be easy, and the missions you'll be going on will not be safe. We do our utmost to keep people healthy and alive, ours and others, but we don't always succeed. If you don't wish to, you'll forget all about us. Liliana, you'll wake up in a hospital with some minor burns-your company's office has, by now, been burned down by the people you saw coming in. You'll be healthy enough to be released in a day, maybe less, and you'll have to find a new job, of course."

Natalie looks to Chelsea. "If you decline, it'll take a little more work on our end. We'll suppress the more overtly supernatural abilities you have, and do some work to make sure people believe the transition's been happening for longer. Well... I mean, you want to keep your body, right? We looked into your medical history and saw a lot of visits to a gender clinic, and you seem pretty happy with the new looks."

Zed looks to Altair. "And you... Well, Altair, I don't think you can leave and go back to your old life. If you don't want to be an agent, would you be willing to work with some of our research teams? You don't need to answer now, of course, but your situation is quite unique."

[Greenflame133]

Lillian goes to take a seat, but not without swapping a few more snacks on her way. She sits in the chair. More specific she sits cross legged feat dangling from the sides.

She waits for William to finish speaking. Listing altho she might appear more distracted frigging with and nibbling on the snacks. When he finishes l, she waits a half a second and the speaks. "In other words, I can either go thought the recurrent hell with a tight deadline or become a wizard for the shadow government. Sounds like a bad deal either way."

[Aleph Null]

Altair shakes his head.

"If you know my situation, then you might know why I would want to help protect people from supernatural threats. This world...it does not appear to have anything like the Worldly Veil that was present in mine originally. That means this organization is probably the only thing standing between this world and the Sundering that shattered my own...and I know very well the consequences should such a defense mechanism fail. We tried to contain the Tipping, and we actually succeeded for a while...but the statistics speak for themselves. The vast majority of worlds that Tip eventually are Sundered."

He takes a drink of water, lifting the glass and tipping it toward the spot you'd normally expect to see a mouth and letting it flow into seemingly nothing. The eye-pips under his hood briefly phase from the off-white color they normally have to a vivid shade of sky blue before returning to normal.

"I may be new to this world, but I'm used to danger. Perhaps a little too used to it, if my friends back home had anything to say about it."

The celestial being pauses for a moment, as though lost in thought.

"I guess losing one's parents in a plane crash would preclude becoming a pilot, let alone an astronaut, unless one had at least a couple of screws loose in the 'ability to feel fear' department," he adds nonchalantly, not seeming to pay much mind to the skipped context.

[Illven]

I....I want to help....but um... maybe you could not out me in the future? Chelsea offers hopefully.

[JNAProductions]

I....I want to help....but um... maybe you could not out me in the future? Chelsea offers hopefully.

Natalie looks away a moment. "Sorry... Given the kind of stuff we work with, something as mundane as just being trans isn't really a big deal. I mean, even among you three, you've got the guy literally made of space. But, uh... Yeah, still shouldn't've done that. Sorry again."

[Greenflame133]

"That reminds me, you keep saying a saw something I shouldn't have. But really, I can't recall anything close to nebula man over there. Care to elaborate on what exactly did I see?" Lillians voice shows a hint of importance. Surely it was not the complaint forms or any other document she was handling at work.

[Aleph Null]

"If you want to be technical, because the majority of atoms heavier than Helium have large gaps between electron energy levels, we are all mostly made of space. But I suppose my body is rather unique in its appearance. If I were to turn off the photon capture field that is the reason the surface of my body is so dark, you'd all be dead in less than a second, so with the assumption that being alive is more important than seeing the true appearance of my body, I leave it on," he clarifies, a bit of a matter-of-fact tone masking the seriousness of his statement.

"My body is also bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, for the exact same purpose of being able to walk around among people without instantly incinerating them. All the energy that is required for upkeep of these mechanisms would be radiated out into space anyway, and that isn't very useful. Incidentally, I was not always one body or being. I was initially two, one a human and the other a star, much like the one this planet orbits...though a lot bigger and a lot bluer. I became what I am in a sort of random-chance anomaly not unlike the one that miss Chelsea here experienced according to the record you gave."

If his body really is that of a star, it might explain the slight gravity increase near him, but there is probably more going on under the hood that is allowing him to be here in a way that isn't as disruptive as just putting the sun in the middle of your dining hall.

"I did mention that I came from another world, and that perspective may affect my interpretations of what you describe. Though the superhuman existed there as well, nothing says any of it followed the same rules, and it's already clear — from the lack of a Worldly Veil here, at a minimum — that there must be differences."

The tone at the end of that sentence shifts in the direction of intellectual curiosity, almost as though he hopes someone will jump in and begin explaining things.

[JNAProductions]

"That reminds me, you keep saying a saw something I shouldn't have. But really, I can't recall anything close to nebula man over there. Care to elaborate on what exactly did I see?" Lillians voice shows a hint of importance. Surely it was not the complaint forms or any other document she was handling at work.

"Well, the organization that came to shut your company down wasn't us-not sure if that was made clear," William says. "Chances are, if we hadn't intervened, you'd be dead by now."

Zed answers Altair's open question. "We actually don't have much information on your reality. One of our research teams spotted some anomalies, went to investigate, and found a spatial distortion. While they were trying to set up their gear, whole thing collapsed leaving you behind."

[Greenflame133]

"Second organization? The plot thickens, but would kill you to give a full answer. I might be knowlagble on thier wibbly wobbly, timey wimey physicks, but Altair's explanation sounded rather indepth. Really, for people controlling global flow of information, you don't seem super organized. Just gather new people in a room and hope they join without poking too deep. Well, I don't make habbit of signing a contract I didn't read, so I want to know what I'm getting myself into." Lillian's starts ranting, for a moment forgetting the snacks, as her gaze wonders from the table to just above William's heads.

[Illven]

Chelsea actually nods outloud. Yeah....like how much money do we get. We have bills to pay.

[JNAProductions]

Natalie laughs at Liliana's rant. "Yeah, trust me-much as the brass likes to pretend they've got everything down to a t, holy hell can things get messy!"

Zed and William glare at her, and she just stares right back. "Tell me I'm wrong, huh?" she says. "But... Ultimately things are gonna come down to what the Director wants. Might as well just take you to her now."

The two men look at one another, nod, and William says "Point taken. I've a few other things I need to address, and I believe you are late," he tells Natalie. "Zed, take them to see her?"

"Sounds like a plan," he replies, and stands up. "Follow me, please."

You depart the cafeteria, and are lead to a stairwell. It goes down for what feels like much too long, and then you reach a small hall, with a single door at the end. Zed approaches it and knocks. "Madame Director? The potential new recruits are here."

"Door is unlocked," a woman's strong alto comes from behind it. "Enter."

Zed, a gentleman, opens the door and holds it for you all. Inside, you see a large and well-appointed office-there's a desk, many filing cabinets and drawers, and three chairs against the wall. "Take a seat, please," the Director tells you. She's a woman of a little above average height, with a short cut of blonde hair. On her ears are simple emerald studs, and she's in a practical deep-purple suit. She is writing with a feather quill.

[Illven]

Chelsea takes a seat. Um.....hello.