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Tweak says, "Rosebud Motel"

Dr. Spencer Reid (awkwardgenius) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-10-24 13:45:00

Entry tags:

active, day 28, experiment, location: bunker, spencer reid

Day 28 - The Bunker
Who: Spencer Reid, and anyone else who is trapped in the bunker.
What: The captives wake up.
Where: Possibly the carnival; undisclosed location.
When: Day twenty eight, time unknown.
Rating: PG-13, may change.
Status: Incomplete; group post; no real posting order. Feel free to start mini-threads between characters if that's easier than everyone chatting together!

His head ached.

It almost felt like he had overslept; his body was tense, his mind was throbbing, and his throat felt like there was something stuck in it. He rolled to the side, the ground hard and cold beneath his face and hands. A low groan pitched from the back of his mouth, echoing loudly around the room. The sound confused him as his brain began to awaken and sharpen, and he lifted his head wearily, looking around.

As his sleep-clouded eyes started to focus, he became aware of his surroundings, his mind taking it all in within a few seconds. He was in some kind of bunker, walls built from what appeared to be steel or some other kind of very strong metal compound, judging from the grain and shine. There was a single door to his left, multiple bolts and locks strapped across the opening, yet there was no handle or knob on the inside. There were shelves against the far wall with food and bottled water stacked neatly atop. Hung on the perpendicular wall to this was a dry wipe board with an eraser and pens on the lip beneath. The board was huge and looked clean, brand new. Next to this was a shelf with what looked like notepads and pens, and a large thick book Reid immediately recognized as a DSM-IV (mostly because it was identical to the one he had tucked away in his desk drawer back at Quantico).

Reid's thin body felt heavy, but he forced his stiff joints to cooperate with him, easing himself up into a crouched position, and then to his feet. His body was untrustworthy and weak as he stood, looking around himself in both surprise and horror. There were other bodies, all alive but unconscious, sprawled around him on the floor, all men with the exception of two women. His eyes ran across the floor to the wall, and his mouth dropped open. A series of monitors, TV screens, were cut into the wall, all blank and switched off.

He reached up shakily and ran a hand through his hair, scratching at the back of his head, before moving forward toward the door and running his hands over the bolts, hinges and rim. The seal of the door was tight, and it couldn't be pushed or pried by his thin fingers. He was trapped, and so were all of these people with him.

He paused for a moment and leaned his head against the door, his heart pounding in his chest at a mile a minute. He swallowed shakily and tried to control his thoughts, tried to keep his mind from panicking, because he was about ready to break down. Experiments. The word repeated itself over and over in his head, both on the paper of his journal and in Connor, Kimberly and the Cajun man's voice.

No, no. He had to focus. He had to stay calm. If there was some kind of human experiment about to occur around him, there was no doubt that there were overseers, and that, as sadists, they would thrive on reactions of fear, panic, shock, confusion and desperation. He turned back to the TV screens cut into the back wall, teeth grazing his lip with uncertainty and fear. He had a feeling that, if someone had taken the time to insert screens into the wall, they weren't going to remain blank forever.

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wyld_stallyn
2009-10-25 10:06 pm UTC (link)

Ted woke up to the sound of voices. Somehow, he had managed to roll underneath one of the bunks and so, when he tried to sit up, banged his head against the bottom. "Whoa." Muttered as he rubbed his head. "That was most unfortunate!" He rolled out from underneath the bunk and tried to sit up again, careful just in case there was something else that he wasn't ready for.

And that was when he was looking around and noticing all of the people gathered. Immediately, Ted was looking for his most excellent buddy, Dan. And frowned a little when he didn't see him yet. Still, ever the eternal optimist, Ted just knew that he was around here somewhere. He listened to the conversation going on around him, a curious tilt of his head when they mentioned the televisions.

"Maybe we can, like, totally turn them off!" What was that saying? Don't like what you're watching, then turn off the television. "That's a way large book, dude. Totally bigger than my history book." When he thought about how many people were out there, Ted shook his head. It took his whole torso with him. He didn't know.

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ballerinadreams
2009-10-25 10:33 pm UTC (link)

The sound of Sarah Jane's voice caught Shannon's attention and she turned around, looking relieved. "Oh, thank God," she breathed. Sarah Jane was good at keeping Shannon calm, even in the most tense situations. Somehow, when the zombies were roaming about, Sarah Jane had been the one to calm Shannon down enough that she'd even been able to catch a few Zs. It took a lot of effort for Shannon to keep herself from throwing her arms around the other woman and hugging her just for being there. "Sarah Jane, uh...can I talk to you? In private for a second?" she asked, raising her eyebrows significantly. She wanted to know whether Sarah Jane had been aware of the way Jack had been acting and that Ianto had last been known to be in a cage. ...and she wanted to know if Sarah Jane had any idea where Rose or either of the Doctors were, most especially the one Shannon considered her Doctor.

The guy Shannon didn't know who had the longer hair asked how many people were out there and Shannon looked back at him with a frown. "Ten? Thirty? We never know, because every day, seems like, new people show up...and practically every day, some of us wind up dead or missing. There's no way to know without a head count and I haven't done one in ages. That Elliot chick did one, I think, but I don't think it was quite as successful as the ones I used to do. The original crowd was really good about letting everyone know that they were okay. This group...not so much, it would seem," she replied.

A new voice pulled Shannon's attention and she looked over at the guy rubbing his head as he rolled out from under the bunk. He didn't look to be any older than Domeki had been. Maybe a year or two, give or take, tops. For the first time in a while, Shannon was likely no longer the youngest person in the room. She winced for him sympathetically. "I doubt it works that way," Shannon said slowly, nodding toward the TVs. "If there's no on switch, there's probably no off switch...and it's gonna get ugly," she warned, furrowing her brow. She looked back over at the guy with the longer hair - the older one - when Ted mentioned the book. She hadn't quite seen it. "Hey, yeah, what the hell is that...?" she wondered aloud.

It occurred to her that maybe now would be a good time to get something to eat; maybe Sarah Jane wasn't wrong. "Uh, you know what? She's right. We should eat before those things turn on, because it's not often we get real food as an option and I'd bet my inheritance that we won't want to munch while we're watching," she replied, making no such mention of the fact that there was no inheritance left. It was the principal of the statement, really.

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awkwardgenius
2009-10-25 11:01 pm UTC (link)

Reid nodded, albeit sadly. Ten, thirty... there was a broad difference between those two numbers, so obviously she had no idea of the numbers. Either way, that question would probably be answered once the monitors switched on. Reid's teeth grazed his lip again.

He was pulled out of his morbid daydreaming when the man who had just woken up and Shannon both commented on the large volume laying on the shelf beside the whiteboard. "Oh, this? This, uh, this is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, more commonly referred to as the DSM." He reached out to pick up the book. Much like his own copy, it was thick and heavy, and he held it in his hands along with the marker before opening the front page. It was the most recent volume, and it looked unused, untouched. He flipped through the pages even as he continued to talk.

"It's a widely referenced media published by the American Psychiatric Association, it provides a diagnostic criteria for a range of mental disorders, both severe and commonplace. This particular volume, the fourth revision, was published in 1994, though there is one currently under construction and scheduled for release some time in 2012."

He was babbling. One of his coworkers - most likely Morgan - had commented once that he sounded like a walking encyclopedia or a robot permanently chanelling Wikipedia. They'd asked what it was, but he had a feeling they actually were asking what it was for. He headed toward Shannon, holding it out so that she could see the pages as he flipped through them, and looked up at the other man who had just woken up as he spoke.

"A majority of hospitals, clinics, psychiatrists, insurance companies, you name it, will apply this book to their patients and clients in order to establish and diagnose them post-evaluation. In short, it contains criteria to diagnose pretty much any mental disorder you can think of. It also helps you catagorize them as mild, moderate or severe forms of said disorder."

He handed the book to Shannon for her to read, scratching the back of his head. "I remember reading this version when it was published. It's actually really helpful because it lists causes, statistics, and even prognosis as well as some research, so it goes a little deeper than just the diagnosis itself."

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got2haveasmith
2009-10-25 11:32 pm UTC (link)

One of the young men asked how many people were "out there," which Sarah Jane took to mean "not in this bunker," and did a mental run-through. "More than a dozen?" was her best guess, which wasn't much better than Shannon's. There had been a head count recently, but Sarah couldn't remember how many names had been on it. There hadn't been a list, just various written responses. "More than are in here, at the least, and I would imagine at least two for each monitor." Given the number of monitors, and the number of people she knew were missing, there had to be.

Sarah Jane had been about to tell the other young man, who looked not too much older than Luke, that it was unlikely they could just turn the tellies off, but Shannon beat her to it.

She glanced at the book, which the same young man was offering to Shannon. "So, they want us to diagnose our friends?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at it. That would fit with what she knew of their captors. "Lovely."

She turned to Shannon, nodding at her in response to the request to speak "privately." She took a few steps closer to the other woman. "What's wrong?" she asked, lowering her voice so, hopefully, only Shannon would hear her. She could tell the younger woman was troubled, and not just about their current situation. She was probably worried about the Doctor and the others, which, Sarah had to admit, she was as well.

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wyld_stallyn
2009-10-25 11:34 pm UTC (link)

Ted was watching everyone, looking more than a bit bewildered at all of this. But that seemed to be Ted's default setting, so it was never particularly telling of how he really felt. Luckily, he was quite open with sharing it. "Most heinous! It's totally like that one movie with the dude and his eyes kept open!" Clockwork Orange, though Ted would never have remembered that. Or the thoughts behind that movie. He just remembered the famous scene..and that most excellent table with naked chicks as the legs.

Growing boy and all, he was grinning at the thought of food. Though, the grin slid off easily for a brief frown. If they were going to eat, and then be forced to watch gross stuff on the television..."We should totally put up some places for yakking." Because yakking would most likely occur. Amicable nod given at that thought, though it wasn't the most pleasant of ones. Suddenly, Ted returned his fickle attention to the dude with the big book.

"We can throw it at someone if they totally get too close." Stated simply, then he grinned again and gave a small little air guitar. "You'd totally throw the book at 'em!" Most of what the smart dude said was hitting the dude with the surfer talk, but it was sticking that took a little bit. "You're totally from the future." Mused to himself. And he was totally one of those nerds that other people would have made fun of at school. They had nerds in the future. That was interesting.

He listened again, befuddled look as he tried to process everything. "Let's diagnose them instead! They're the ones totally riding Ozzy's Crazy Train."

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bleedinghart
2009-10-26 12:27 am UTC (link)

Stephen somewhat hung back, listening and observing as others woke up and the nature of their being stuck in the apparent bunker was discussed. The younger woman's familiarity with the monitors and the talk of a prior incident in particular drew his attention. So, they were going to be forced to watch the others being tortured while they were given relative safety and food? Though they were really all going to end up tortured in one way or another, weren't they? At least if what was being suggested was correct.

For a few minutes he didn't involve himself in the conversation. Instead he moved along the edges of the room, checking for any weak points or possible dangers they hadn't noticed yet. There were no switches they could toy with for the monitors, which meant they were being controlled from elsewhere. His gaze shifted upwards, to the corners of the room in particular, looking for any sign of surveillance cameras. He didn't see any, but he didn't doubt they were being watched. It wouldn't make sense for them not to be. He also made note of the air vent up near the ceiling, high enough it couldn't be reached. That was something that would be worth keeping an eye on. Who was to say their air supply wasn't being controlled as well, or possibly tampered with? The heavy door came under scrutiny next, fingers run along the edges and over the locks. Stephen leaned in to try and pick up scent or sound from the other side, but it appeared to have a tight enough seal that nothing could get through.

A lot of trouble had been made to ensure they couldn't go anywhere and that they felt utterly cut off from everyone else. He wondered if the same was true for those that weren't trapped in there. His eyes drifted to the blank screens again and he tried not to wonder at what might end up being shown on them.

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ballerinadreams
2009-10-29 01:04 am UTC (link)

Shannon watched as the older guy with the longer hair - had to be Spencer, based on the rambling that came soon thereafter - picked up the book and went on to explain it and everything she never wanted to know about it. She was pretty sure she'd unintentionally zoned out and stopped listening after he'd told her what the name of the book was, but when he'd mentioned that he thought maybe they were meant to diagonose one another or else their fellow captives, Shannon's attention was grabbed again.

The response Sarah Jane came out with pretty much summed up how Shannon felt. She didn't like the idea of trying to diagnose anyone and she sure as hell didn't want anyone diagnosing her. "Yeah, really," she agreed with the other woman.

"That's okay, thanks, she declined when the man - Spencer. Spencer - offered her the book. "That thing probably weighs more than I do these days," she murmured, mostly to herself. As the others went on talking, Shannon looked back at Sarah Jane and nodded toward an empty corner of the room. "Have you seen what's going on with the people outside the cages?" she asked in a low voice. "Or heard? There's guards, but they're us. Jack's one. I thought he was going to kill me, he was so horrible when I was trying to spring Ianto," she whispered frantically. "Have you talked to or seen Rose? Or the Doctor...?"

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got2haveasmith
2009-10-31 12:58 pm UTC (link)

Sarah Jane followed Shannon to the corner, ignoring the gentlemen in the room for the time being. They seemed far too interested in playing with that book for her liking. She raised an eyebrow as Shannon described Jack, of all people, guarding a cage.

"I hadn't seen, just read over the journals. Jack? Guarding Ianto?" She too kept her voice low. "Something's forcing him, obviously. Mind-control, or blackmail, or something. If it is Jack." She thought back to when she'd first arrived, and people had been writing that there were doppelgangers walking about. "What if it wasn't Jack - some sort of android?" Of course her mind would go to androids first - she had first-hand experience with android doubles. If she had her journal, she could ask the Doctor.

At Shannon's mention of their friends, she shook her head. "No. Not either Doctor, nor Rose." At first, it hadn't bothered her too much - the Doctors were always working on something or another, and while she and Rose were friendly, they hadn't yet "bonded" the way they had in Sarah Jane's timeline. Rose didn't have those experiences yet. But the way Shannon was talking.... "Have you?"

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ballerinadreams
2009-11-02 12:43 am UTC (link)

Gravely, Shannon nodded. "Guarding Ianto and a bunch of people I didn't know. There was another woman there guarding, too, but Jack did a lot more of the work. She pulled me away once and he didn't say a word. And then when she backed off, he took up where she left off," she whispered. "Mind control, yeah, I think. That's what one of the guys in the cage suggested. He'd never treat me like that, never mind the way he was treating Ianto, you know? No way."

Pausing as Sarah Jane suggested maybe it was something or someone other than Jack. "Or a clone," she said with a frown. "I don't remember when you came...it might've been after that. It wouldn't be the first time they cloned Jack and they got it wrong the first time, so I wouldn't be surprised if they got it wrong but on the other end of the spectrum this time," she replied. "Last time Jack's clone was a fucking spaz, but this one was like a soldier. Or something. It was like he was one of them," she finished conspiratorily.

It disappointed Shannon to know that Sarah Jane hadn't seen either the Doctor or Rose, but she tried not to let on. Just because Sarah Jane had met the Doctor, she supposed, didn't necessarily mean she was close with him or knew Rose very well given whatever time line the Doctor or, for that matter, Sarah Jane had come from. The whole time thing was confusing and Shannon didn't want to think about it too much; it made her head hurt. "No," she said with a frown. "I'm sure we'll find out for ourselves, soon enough," she muttered mostly to herself, but just loud enough for Sarah Jane to hear as she heard the discussion the men were having seem to falter just slightly.

(continued below)

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