Video || Lydia Martin || 01

[preytosociety]

Hi. My name is Lydia Martin, and I'd just like to take this time to remind everyone, including my housemate, that this isn't a vacation. I know some of you would probably rather stay in this hell hole than go back to your uninteresting and unimportant lives, but frankly? I've had enough of this place. We should be working on a solution and sharing information. There's no point in keeping secrets and being wary of each other when there are cameras everywhere.

We should all be working together.

[She takes a moment to fix her hair and plasters a seemingly sweet smile on her face]

If anyone would like to help me, I'll be in the library. Alternatively, if anyone knows how to make a decent latte, I'll be at whichever shack you're holed up in and then at the library.

Comments

[goodluckkobra]

Lighten up, Lyd. It's not the end of the world here. [Unlike where he's from. He pauses.] I guess I could go for some coffee myself, though. I'll bring you one.

[preytosociety]

You don't know that. We've all been bagged and tagged like cattle and this could very well be the slaughter house!

[Oh... that-- ... catches her off guard.] I'll be here. Two sugars, please.

[Ugh. She said please. Total mistake.]

[goodluckkobra]

This place has running water, coffee and cigarettes. If they wanted to kill us, they'd probably take away two of those. All three if they wanted me to be extra miserable.

[He's at least thankful that the coffee maker is a simple piece of crap, because he could never figure out the fancy ones, anyway.]

[preytosociety]

We still don't know what happened to the people here before us. Literally all we know about them is that they had terrible taste in interior design and a few salvageable outfits.

[goodluckkobra]

Whoever was in my room had awesome taste. Yo Gabba Gabba is the best.

[He's making coffee, but he doesn't bother to switch the video off, so enjoy that.]

[preytosociety]

[It's like he's trying to give her motion sickness on purpose. She looks away, turning her attention back to the shelves.]

Whoever was in your room was a child. I guess you two would have gotten along really well.

[goodluckkobra]

I actually really like kids. We probably would have. Back home, we had a kid with us for a while and she was totally awesome. I taught her how to hack vending machines.

[He leans against the counter, waiting for the coffee to brew and the milk to... heat up? He hopes she's not expecting an actual latte. They don't have an espresso machine and he has no clue how to steam milk.]

[could_be_dangerous]

[Audio, Private]

So share.

[preytosociety]

I've barely begun my research, so there isn't much to share. I'm not the one with ties to government agencies . Empty town, cameras in every room in every house, food still sitting on the table when we got here. Obviously we were not the first. I don't think the person or organization behind this is anyone that any of us thinks it is.

This isn't personal. It's some kind of faceless experiment. When I actually know something worth sharing, I'll let you know.

[There's an acidity to her voice under the pleasant-sounding tones of sass that seems to say 'take your negative attitude elsewhere or start helping']

Nothing about me is a secret anymore, but we're not here because of me. It's irrelevant.

[could_be_dangerous]

Mm. Yes.

[He sounds thoroughly unimpressed.]

Well, that's exactly the point. You are entirely irrelevant. If you want people to work with you, be otherwise. Offer something.

[preytosociety]

I'm offering a potential way out based on the possibility of there being clues in this ridiculously pathetic excuse for a library. If that isn't incentive enough, there are other ways of convincing people.

[Sexy ways. Ways that probably won't work on this guy.]

All I need is something to go off of. The cameras are a dead end, there was nothing at the fountain, and without the proper equipment, I can't do much more than read books and come up with ideas. Why didn't the medical personnel test our blood after we woke up to try and find out what we were drugged with? That could have been a clue.

[could_be_dangerous]

The possibility? Inevitability. There are always clues. Whether or not they're useful is another matter.

[He falls silent and then sighs heavily, as though he's just come to a decision.]

The cameras are far from a dead end. We can't take them apart, we don't know to whom they're transmitting their feed but we do know that it's important enough to watch us that they are quite literally everywhere, and more than that: if they're destroyed, they'll be repaired. That takes time, money, effort -- especially as whoever is keeping us here seems to be able to accomplish it without our noticing. An impressive feat, you must admit.

Then there's us. The variety of us. If we were deliberately taken then our variety alone speaks to a significant amount of time and expense undertaken to bring us here. I was in Berlin last I recall before awakening here. You said faceless experiment. Alright, perhaps, maybe, but if so then why us? Why not a random selection from the local population?

Now. Blood tests. Ah. You're correct; they should've been performed and normally I'd have done so myself as soon as I could, but unless you're hiding a fully-stocked lab in your library somewhere, the number of substances for which I could test is... virtually non-existant. A shame, but perhaps we could've kept samples. True. An oversight. Not a terribly damaging one.

How about the houses? The age of the food on the plates upon our arrival and the state in which the houses were left suggests that whoever lived here before us left in a hurry, but the houses are otherwise neat, no broken windows, no forced locks, which suggests forced eviction by some governmental or military force. Perhaps a corporation, if wealthy enough, but that's rather less likely.

The houses have televisions but the televisions are old, the range of their reception is limited and, as you've likely noticed, they don't receive anything. We lack radios. We lack telephones. The communication devices on our wrists are on a closed network. Whoever's keeping us not only doesn't want us to be able to transmit to the outside world, they don't want us to be able to see it, either.

So there are your questions, the essential questions: why us, why are we so worth watching, and what's going on in here or out there that they'll go to such lengths to keep secret?

[preytosociety]

[So many details. So much information in such a short amount of time. Lydia had only come up with her theories after calming down and processing facts the day after. This person must have been calm and collected from day one, taking in everything, memorizing, and formulating.

Yes, she feels kind of stupid, but only in comparison. A slightly-traumatized teen girl could still manage to be more intelligent than a great number of the people stuck here. There was no shame in feeling stupid compared to someone that could hold it together in a situation like this.]

... Who are you?

[saltline]

Wanna hold hands and sing Kumbaya while we're at it, Princess Peach?

[ Dean isn't exactly comforted by the fact there's cameras everywhere. But he knows a thing or two about weird crap. Somehow finding the solution doesn't put neon lights to library for him. ] I don't think the solution to all our problems is going to be in a book.

[preytosociety]

I wouldn't hold your hand if my life depended on it.

[She said it with a smile, she can't possibly be insulting him, right? Wrong.]

Of course it isn't, but there might be something here. A clue, something to point us in the right direction. And it's all the help I can personally offer right now, so I'm not going to sit on my perfectly sculpted behind and do nothing. Unlike some people.

[saltline]

Oh yeah, boys still have cooties at your age, right?

[ He said it with a smile as well. He's not insulting her either. Nope. ]

And a clue is in a book. Yep, sounds legit. Tell me how that goes. [ He's not sitting on his perfectly sculpted ass, he's watching over his friend. ]

[preytosociety]

I'm 18, and that was a pathetic attempt at a burn. Try harder.

[Oooooh, you are totally passing Kobra on the annoyance scale.]

How about I just never speak to you again and leave you to rot when I find a way home?

[saltline]

Nah...takes too much effort. And you probably ain't even worth it.

[ Dean might have not slept since they got their. ]

When you ride through this place on a unicorn that farts out rainbows, I'll know the mistake I made. Cry a little. Maybe even hug a teddy bear. Until then...enjoy your stay wasting your time in the library.

[preytosociety]

Alright, you impossible neanderthal, why don't you tell me what you think I should be doing to help? Because I'd really love to hear your pathetic and likely unfounded opinion on the matter. Go ahead. Hit me with it. I'm dying to know.

[flatasgodmademe.livejournal.com]

But I just picked out a bikini.

[She makes an exaggerated face as she pretends to reconsider what she just said.]

And I'll be in the library in ten.

[preytosociety]

Great. The more people helping, the less time I have to spend listening to Kobra.

[Another female! Another female her age. Not exactly the type of girl she usually hangs out with, but it's better than nothing!]

[flatasgodmademe.livejournal.com]

Kobra with a K, doesn't like wearing shirts, loves flirting and talking about the end of the world in a post-nuclear apocalypse?

[Maybe Veronica will opt out of this after all...]

What are we doing in the library? Reading Jane Austen to each other or forming "I want to get out of here right now" club? Because I can totally be treasurer of that club.

[preytosociety]

Oh good, so you've met. Just be glad you don't live with him.

[How the hell did she even agree to that? ... Okay, so he's not all bad, but clearly she had a severe lapse in judgement in the midst of freaking out on arrival.]

The second option. In which we attempt to help find a way out without actually putting ourselves in immediate danger.

[flatasgodmademe.livejournal.com]

I do like not putting myself in immediate danger. See you soon.

[Several minutes later, Veronica pushes open the door of the library and peers inside.]

Ghostbusters, anybody?

[preytosociety]

What? What are you talking about?

[ ... Someone has never seen Ghostbusters. What a tragedy.]