ARRIVAL/OKTOBERFEST

[ max can remember this kind of vague awareness, down to the medicinal scent and the guards dressed in black tact gear and the consistent, maddening beep of the monitor. she's already lived through this nightmare, relives it when she tries to sleep at her lowest points, and her immediate, panicked thought is that she's back in manticore, that she never actually left, and it lasts until she looks down. good news; what she's wearing is not a hospital gown or army fatigues, bad news; she's still restrained, being observed by guards that aren't manticore but might as well be, and she's not alone. and they're moving.

they come to a stop eventually, and one of the guards starts to undo the straps keeping those in her position tethered to the bench. max doesn't try moving as he goes down the rows, watching him carefully as he methodically releases the other prisoners. when he gets to her - feet first, then arms, then chest. once he gets to her, she's still as he undoes her restraints, until the last one is undone, and then she grabs at his forearm (too slow; the drugs are taking too long to leave her system), gripping as hard as she can manage while hissing through her teeth. ]

What did you do to me?

[ the guard doesn't react, just tells her to please let him go. which she has no intention of doing until she does, and then he guides her to the back of the van, instructing her to let the nurse check her over. she does, not even thinking to fight it, which just confirms for her that something is very wrong.

but then they let her out, into an alleyway, where the rest of the group has trailed away. she's alone. but at least she's fully conscious now, if still a little unsteady and uncomfortably aware that she's under the influence of some drug, something to make her compliant. she thinks back to her training, what to do in these situations; step one is 'find cover or shelter'. no one's in the immediate area, but she can hear people nearby. a lot of people. there's some sort of festival going on.

max turns the corner and sees a flood of people, all various stages of drunk and all loud and rowdy, none of which are paying her any mind. which means she'll be able to blend in, but it'll make finding shelter that much more difficult and the last thing she feels like doing is dealing with a bunch of drunks.

whatever. she'll still take this over the van, or wherever she was before that. ]

SAFEHOUSE (001) (CW: various stages of nudity)

[ max eventually finds her way to shelter, which turns out to be a safehouse set up for people in her exact situation. whatever they've done to her, she's not the first, and she doesn't know if that's better or worse. it does mean that there are people here to explain things to her, but in order to get the kind of in-depth answers she wants it seems that she's gonna have to wait.

fine. she can do that. it'll give her time to take stock of herself, see if she can figure out what's been done to her besides the compliance drugs.

her hair is shorter, for one thing, now skimming her shoulders instead of flowing down her back. similar to the haircut she'd had before getting recaptured, though much less curly now. she stands in front of the mirror in the bathroom, in various stages of undress as she looks over her body, checking for new scars.

later on she'll find a bed, and in spite of her desire to stay awake, both due to her inclination not to sleep and having no desire to sleep in this situation, she eventually drifts of for a few hours of fitful rest. before then she's staring into space, or at the ceiling, or at the people around her, either looking through the network or trying to determine what they all have in common, aside from being kidnapped and experimented on. ]

SAFEHOUSE (002)

[ after the first day or two, max is only slightly less on edge, not so much accepting her current situation as she is trying to learn from it. it won't do much good to escape when she has no idea what's out there, but the fact that they're told they can't leave for the next few days has her determined to learn that much faster. in order to do that, she starts helping with the tasks around the safehouse - cleaning, unloading supplies, whatever will keep her busy while giving her the opportunity to talk to others. about their situation, where they were before, anything. those who engage her might pick up on the fact that she doesn't offer up a whole lot of information about herself, but maybe it's just nice to have someone to listen. (she may or may not be banking on that.) ]

WILDCARD

[ feel free to come at me with another scenario, or let me know if you'd like a personalized starter! you can also find me at vdova if you've got any questions, or feel free to pm me. ]