MarinaNova Asylum

( He needed to change his plan to distance himself )</>

This was weird, right? This place was so odd and Laurel had been trying to keep it together since her outburst with Jack, but when she was alone, she couldn't. Her mind was racing, her heart was racing, she got up from the bed and started to pace, trying to just wrap her head around everything.

She moved to the pictures from the day before, her eyes glancing them over, her hand on the one with Ollie in front of her grace, a memory he doesn't even remember. She sighed softly, rubbed her face and moved away from the pictures.

Her body flop back on the bed, but than there was knock, she sat up as she heard one again. Laurel noticed someone was at the door, so she went to it and open it. She looked shocked, "Ollie? Are you alright?"

I guess this seems only fitting given...everything.

This place was definitely stranger than Smallville. Even if the strangeness here had nothing to do with meteor rocks and everything to do with the wardens messing with their heads. In a way, that made it better because she felt like it was a controlled type of weirdness, but on the other hand, it made her feel like she was stuck in one of Lex’s experiments. And that worried her.

Chloe didn’t worry about herself being stuck there. She still believed she deserved to be in a prison for everything she’d done. Even if the place didn’t feel or look like a prison, the fact that they were being watched and that they couldn’t leave were certainly becoming harder to ignore. Still, the fact that there were innocent people there and that the experiments could be so extremely intrusive like the one that made her spill her secrets to a complete stranger after eating some brownies made her want to investigate the place further and hopefully find a way to break some people out and back to their lives.

She still planned on hacking the warden’s system like Bart had kind of suggested but on her first day there, someone had mentioned something about Sector 6 and the need of clearing it up. The woman had made it sound like it was a dangerous place and while Chloe had no intentions of getting herself hurt or in trouble, she wanted to have some idea of what was in there. She had never really seen anyone coming in or out of the place but she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the warnings about this ector were just urban legends of some sort to keep people away because it was the easiest sector to escape from.

That was probably just wishful thinking and she knew it, so as Chloe approached the door for Sector 6, she did it with no intentions of going very far into the place. But she had to at least know what it looked like inside and what kind of threats it could pose, especially for people who were innocent and didn’t belong there in the first place.

open action / sector three.

[ the drone of the wardens announcing a new day isn’t jarring to elena in the least. it’s the day’s number, through her fog of sleep, that snags her attention. the repetition of her list of crimes. she awakes slowly and all at once, her eyes on the ceiling of a quiet apartment, in a familiar room. she seats up with a start.

she ignores her welcome basket with a burst of disquiet in her gut, her mind already adding this up despite her reluctance to believe it. she gets up out of her old bed, devoid of sheets. moving into the hall, into the living room and adjoining kitchen doesn’t help. it’s empty. she made sandwiches with damon in that kitchen that first day here. curled up on that couch with caroline countless times.

it’s the thought of caroline, damon, everyone she’s left and who isn’t here -- that prompts her to abandon the emptiness of the apartment and recheck the morning messages for one thing.

day 245. she’s been -- where? lost in the stabilizer? -- for three days. her jaw tightens around the belated fear, anger, and frustration towards this place clawing her throat. the devastation of knowing she’s returned or even that she hasn’t gone anywhere. she squeezes the communicator in her hands, nearly hard enough to break, but she doesn’t. can’t. wouldn’t.

she slips it onto her ear instead and heads for the building’s exit. ]

( { private voice to caroline forbes, bonnie bennett. } )

( { private voice to stefan salvatore. } )

( { private voice to damon salvatore. } )

-

open video.

[ it’s after she’s back at her apartment and talked to everyone she needs to that elena curls her feet under herself on her bed and makes a network-wide video. her eyes are glassy from all the reunions, but her smile is as reassuring as she can make it. ] Hey. It turns out I’m back. I guess the wardens weren’t done with me yet. [ there’s some weak wryness to lighten the mood. ] I thought everyone should know. [ and considering it’s newbie day: ] For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Elena.

( { private video to zatanna zatara. } )

[video + action]
[Bart's curiosity about the new home good samples had gotten the best of him. When the video feed clicks on, he's standing in Mahr, off to one of the sides of the aisles.]

Y'all saw those "samples" this morning, right? I was kind of curious, so I dropped by, and well... [He moves the device so that everyone can better see the chandelier on the ceiling.] I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather eat all the calamari in the world. Don't we have enough reminders that we're under the sea? ["Down isn't better, take it from me."]

[For those fortunate to run into him today, he's either at Mahr or Bullseye, grabbing snacks and extra coffee mugs for his crash course with M'gann. Plus, he might be scouting for basics that Chloe and Oliver might've missed while they were settling in. A guy's gotta look out for his friends, after all!]

[video/action - closed to M'gann]
[Bart had joked about an "Earth pop culture" crash course for a while, but the more he talked about it, the more he actually wanted it to happen. After half an hour of preparation (buying movies & grabbing snacks), he sent her a quick message to her comm device.]

Remember when I said I'd show you a bunch of classic Earth movies? Today's the day - if you're free, anyhow. I'm in Apartment [number] in Sector 2, so drop by whenever.

[Whenever she gets there, Bart's finished his errands - a speedster never needs that much time - and is already setting up for their first film. While he doesn't have much memories of his own childhood, even he knows that the films he's showing M'gann are total classics. Even if they're prisoners, pop culture education is a necessity in his eyes.]

Chloe could barely wrap her head around the fact that Bart of all people was trapped in a prison. Everything he had told her, or not told her also didn’t make a whole lot of sense just yet. The fact that he seemed to be okay with her and willing to talk to her after everything she’d done alone was a lot for her to understand.

So she figured she’d try to clear her mind by going for a walk. A long walk. She had been through most of the sectors already and when she entered sector 5, she hadn’t really been expecting to run into a memorial garden of all things. But it felt right that she would end up there. Even as she looked around at the plaques, she couldn’t help but think about the people back home and wonder which of them might be gone because of her.

Bart hadn’t really given her too much information. From what he said, she could guess that Oliver was alive in the future where he was from but not much beyond that. She couldn’t stop herself from wondering about Clark, who she had been trying so hard to protect. Maybe it had all been for nothing and Davis had gone after him? Or maybe another kryptonian they hadn’t heard about…

( And then there was Jimmy. )

[Well this is new. Not that he didn't deserve to be in prison considering the amount of crimes he's committed over the years, even if they'd been in the name of pursuing truth and justice. Illegal was illegal, right?]

[He's not sure what to do right now, but he needs to figure it out, so he takes a deep breath and turns on the camera. An image of an attractive, late twenty-something year old man with light blonde hair and brown eyes appears. He's not smiling, and mostly he just looks very tired. There's a long red gash across his right cheek that looks fresh.]

Hey. I'm new here. [Now he hesitates. He doesn't know what to expect, or what to say next. A first for him, really. He always seemed to say whatever people wanted to hear. Or needed to hear.]

I'm Oliver Queen.

Hello, everyone, oldbies and newbies alike! My name is Aradia, for those of you that don't know me, and I have a proposition for you all.

I've found that the vast beauty of Sector 6 seems to be neglected, unless used for unsavory purposes, and I'd like to fix that! It would really be a shame to let such an interesting environment go unappreciated.

My solution is -- I'd like to set up an exploration team! Anyone and everyone is welcome, though I must stress that cruel and deliberate harm done to any living creature within will not be tolerated. This will be for adventure, not for you to work off violent tendencies.

I'll do my best to round up suitable gear for everyone interested, though any help would be appreciated. Right now, I'm just aiming to get a general idea of interest.

[ aradia sees absolutely no harm in this idea. honestly. sector 6 might be dangerous, but she, personally, is used to that kind of danger, and it doesn't phase her that she is essentially inviting in newbies with very little grasp on marina in general into somewhere like that -- they're capable of handling themselves, right? she's just being friendly. ]