Damage & Dysfunction Academy

Cabin 13 - We Must Overreact Immediately

Moses had walked the desert for forty years, so Samson was not going to let a little dryness take him down anytime soon. Nor would scorpions be particularly effective against his empowered body.

The same, however, could not be said of his classmates, and so when Samson saw everyone covered in scorpions, including a boy in a wheelchair and even little Magpie... he saw red.

He stormed over to the bunk he'd claimed, swiping the scorpions off of his body, utterly crushing them as he did. He was practically a blur as he ripped Ben from the bed with one mighty arm, grabbing Ben by the scruff of his shirt and raising his other fist threateningly.

"Call them off. Now. Or I'll break you." Samson snarled.

Cabin 13

Ben continued glaring at them. "They aren't indian red scorpions, though those are way cool. They're a hybrid my uncle worked on. Their stings can't kill you, but are still extremely painful. As for that, Rule #4 does have exceptions if psychological problems or emergencies happen, however, I don't see any psychological breakdowns or emergencies. I see a bunch of edgy new kids who, unlike some of us, actually deserved to get sent here, being obnoxious jerks who think they're above the fucking rules."

The scorpions pointedly did not disappear. Ben pointedly ignored Samson. Rick had made similar threats. Ben hadn't folded then, and he wouldn't fold now. Samson was going to get a lot hotter and a lot drier real fast. Not that it would bother him much.

edited 28th Apr '18 3:37:12 PM by SomethingRandom113

Ryan promptly got up - not wanting to burn his bed - and deployed his energy in a quick but intense burst around him. The scorpions quickly oozed and fell off his person, either melting or combusting due to the sharp increase in heat and dangerous energy. It took Ryan a moment to totally settle his energy back down, but he suspected the point was readily made.

The bit of dryness involved didn't bother him - he'd dealt with greater heat than this.

Well, that's Ben - another fucking douche to add to the tally. Reacts to people waking him up by trying to freak em out and cause massive pain.

"Just cuz people don't immediately follow your rules doesn't give you the right to go ahead and try and traumatize em into following the line." Safe to say Ryan wasn't afraid of Ben. "I agree with Samson - you either take those things off, or we'll see how well you glow in the dark."

edited 28th Apr '18 3:37:27 PM by NickTheSwing

Magpie froze. She blinked several times and said, "Jeez everyone, calm down. Stop being grumpy. I really think everyone should turn in for the night, yeah?"

"With all these people it'll be really hard to keep quiet, and I think you should understand that."

All the scorpions suddenly lost purchase on her clothes and tumbled down. They were still alive, though.

The lights above Magpie flickered threateningly.

Michael - Cabin 13

Michael was silent for a moment, looking at Ryan in thought before chuckling and walking past him, putting a hand on his shoulder as he did so.

“As I said before - good head on your shoulders.”

Michael was halted in his walk by the appearance of the dehydrated looking guy his age and the sudden manifestation of high heat. He cracked his neck to cover up his discomfort, before using the same trick he had done earlier to even out his body temperature, except in reverse.

Daintily plucking a scorpion and holding it just far away enough that it couldn't sting him, he jerked a thumb over to Tatsu as he studied the flailing creature.

“Ditto.”

With a sickening crunch, the scorpion was crushed in his hand, repulsive veins popping prominently out along his arm as he calmly brushed the crustacean's blood off of his shirt before tossing its limp form into a dented trash bin in the corner.

Ben glared. "You're the ones that broke the rules in the first place." He muttered.

He dismissed the scorpions, somehow wriggled his way out of Samson's grasp, and went back to bed.

Magpie hummed contentedly.

"That's better."

Realizing that she still had to set up some things for the food smuggling operation, she lifted the sheets and opened the mattress. Looking in, there was a decent amount of space which she could wriggle through.

"Does anyone have anything they aren't allowed to eat?"

Samson let Ben drop from his hand, his fist stayed only by his classmates agreement. Especially Ryan - remembering what the nuclear man had done made him suddenly extremely conscious of how easily he could kill someone with his strength.

"At least you know when you're outnumbered." He shot Ben one last angry look.

Samson sighed and plopped down on his own bunk. Fortunate that he was the one underneath Ben. If the fucker tried anything with scorpions, Samson was probably the hardest to actually hurt. Still feeling a bit thirsty, Samson rifled around in his bag until he found a water bottle and took a swig. Then he heard Magpie's question.

"Well, I can only eat stuff that's kosher. So no shellfish, any animal product has gotta be prepared by a ritual slaughterer, and you can't mix meat and dairy." He paused. "So, uh, I'm probably not gonna eat a lot of meat here, since I doubt they care enough to prepare the animal properly."

Magpie nodded.

"Duly noted. I'll see if I can get you some tofu or chili to make up for that."

Looking down, the compartment in the mattress was about the size of a small closet. Magpie looked down and "hmm"ed.

"I'll put another passageway in the cafeteria so I can make snack runs. Oh, and by the way, all Cabin 13 members can make requests for free, so ask away!"

She closed up the mattress and sat on it.

Ryan remarked at Ben, "Good to know that you consider the right punishment for "breaking the rules" to be threatening people with your freaky scorpions, including a person in a wheelchair and a little girl."

Once this seemed dealt with though Ryan went back up to his bunk - and thought about how in the world he'd gotten into this ridiculous scenario.

Looked like Samson's powers - going by the Kosher reference - probably drew from Jewish mythology, possibly going as far as his name.

Cabin 13

"I have." Incidentally, D&D Academy was a place often discussed back at the lab. Supposedly some of the test subjects were sent there, or considered being sent there. Back then Dino thought the place could be the only safe haven for someone like her. "I sought it out, but I had higher hopes for it." She glowered at Tatsu. "Also, don't fucking call me that again. Dino is fine."

She had offered no commentary about Ryan's fate earlier, but that was mostly due to the distraction with people being assholes. "...I'm sorry. Losing someone dear... I know that feeling." She was not good with comforting people either, but here they were. "You sound like you really mean it. To be a hero, I mean. I hope you can do it."

And then everybody was covered in scorpions. For a moment, Dino panicked and searched frantically with her sight if this was some sick experiment conducted by the school staff, but no. No, it was just some fuckstick who was cranky about his beauty sleep being interrupted. "Oi. Are you breaking your own rules? That is looking like Rule 1 snapping in half." She snarled, eerily calm given the situation. About the only reason she was not gunning for the asshole was because the big boys had already beat her to it.

She could not deal with the scorpions in such a cool way like the others without carving herself up like Christmas ham, so instead she just grabbed one, bit it in half and spat its head a few inches over Ben's stupid head, letting it fall in the bin after the one that Michael disposed of. "Your reign here has ended, asshole. You behave like a good boy and we'll get along." Magpie was right though; it was time to give it a rest.

Slowly, as if not to damage the mattress - especially now that it was going to be used as a sweets storage - Dino climbed up on Magpie's bunk, idly shaking off her biker jacket and having a seat, her long clawfeet idly dangling off the bunk. "Uh, I'm not picky. Probably more into meat though." She hummed, thinking about the free request that the girl offered. "...oh! Can you get me, uh, a Kitkat? Dolly loved those a lot..." Dino said, not realizing she mentioned her now dead girlfriend.

Magpie smiled at Dino.

"Sure. I got one right here."

She pulled a Kitkat from her pocket and gave it to Dino. Then she laid down to rest.

Bunker 13

The situation resolved Tatsu's angry expression quickly slipped from her face. "I am sorry, Dino. I meant no offense. I simply did not know what to call you. However I should have been more considerate."

Lizzy got down from her bed "Again, I'm sorry about Ben. He normally is actually pretty nice. He doesn't really try to boss us around, except to follow the armistice. I'm pretty sure those scorpions appeared because three years of living with Rick gave him some bad habits."

She then turned to Magpie. "I don't think you really get it. No killing, no raping, follow the Armistice when dealing with other members of Cabin 13. That's it. There really isn't such a thing as contraband food, although some types of food are hard to come by. Thanks for offering to smuggle candy, but no thanks. I have my own stash." She grinned.

"Anyways, after sleepyhead over there wakes up, I'm sure he'll apologize to you all for the scorpions. If he doesn't, I'll light him on fire. Most of you guys seem like jerks, but that's to be excpected considering where we are, and you seem more Tim-level jerks, and less Rick-level jerks, so it's all good."

So one of the first things Leanna noticed was that she had a fuckton of copycats here—absorbers and shapeshifters galore. Blech, she hoped her flunkies could have better diversity. It looked like all the rest of these people lacked... maybe vision wasn't the right word. They only saw what was in front of them though. She went into hard processing mode as they walked in; she left small footprints in the floor as they walked, absorbing matter to armor up as soon as they entered the room. Thin, thin plates of ironlike stuff covered her body, a dense organic-looking armor she'd nakedly stolen from that Warframe videogame. She made the call to buckle down and tolerate some dumbass children because she was no leader or heroine and they needed to stick together.

"I think your go-to should be to reward good behavior." Leanna said, finally unsheathing herself. She'd completely missed the scorpions because the armor had no eyeholes or anything. She didn't care enough to ask about it. "I think that everyone here's not bad. I think you're underappreciated. If anyone wants to be Big King Original Gangster here I think real earnest niceness would really help. I'm Leanna. It's nice to meet you all."

Cabin.

"...We'll deal with it sooner or later. Trying to fight against something we barely know anything about is like escaping without a plan...if there's no method of transportation we can...borrow...well, dying from frostbite, hypothermia or a really bad cold isn't exactly...ideal." Jo remarked when it came to discussing the Wendigo and potential escape plans.

Still, it was reassuring that at least one person felt how he did. He was here to control his powers and curb that temper of his as he gave a small nod of agreement to Dino as 'The Man' had to go and run his mouth and sound...smug? Calling the rest of them unlucky sods when he was probably just as guilty as everyone else just made Jo mentally add Daniel to his 'Hypocrite' list as he leaned back in his wheelchair.

And with Ryan speaking up about how he'd ended up here with the rest of them

"...Defending someone important and unintentionally letting those powers of yours bubble out of control, huh...yeah. Whether it's either doing the right thing or even simply defending yourself, if someone gets hurt or worse...people tend to take the side of the victims, even if THEY were trying to kill YOU."

It was clear that such injustices like these were making Jo's blood boil, especially to the point when the scorpions appeared on his body and people voicing their concern that all of the scorpions seemed to suddenly vanish...or rather...were crushed into tiny specks of dust. ...What was it with people being headaches, hypocrites or just plain...creepy here?...And people had to be concerned about him again. ...Irritating.

"...listen, we're new here. You're in no position to be enforcing the rules anyway unless you're a toady for the people in charge or some 'goody-goody' who thinks anyone who looks like they'll even step an inch out of line is a trouble-maker." He quietly remarked at Ben as he nodded in agreement with Leanna.

Dan the Man - Cabin 13

As the introductions continued, Daniel felt more and more out of place. Sure, a couple were in on misdemeanours like he was but then there was the walking nuke and others of his ilk. If he knew much of anything, he would do his best to steer clear of the types that are fond of justification.

While Benjamin and his gang of scorpion friends threatened damn near everyone in the room, the colossal dinosaur lady included, Daniel closed his eyes and tried to keep his composure. Even if he got let out in the next two (2) days, some idiot here was gonna get him killed.

Which meant it was time to seek an alliance. Of the people who had introduced themselves, he fond almost all of them fit into the 'I'll kill anyone for a good enough reason' camp or the 'I am more or less useless when it comes to a proper fight' camp. Not the best. But there was at least one (1) person who seemed to fit into neither.

"Leanna is right," Daniel said, keeping his voice hushed to avoid a second round of scorpion threats. "Whether we like it or not, we're all stuck here, right? Let's maybe keep the student on student violence to a minimum, yeah? Hell, as a sign of goodwill," Daniel turns to face the still very much frightening Dino. "I'm sorry I called y'all whackjobs. I won't call ya that again as it was an uncool move."

Michael - Cabin 13

“The thing is my friends, we're all clearly in here for a reason. Now that's not to say some of those reasons are as petty as *cough*Ben*cough* but nonetheless this is a rehabilitation school,” drifted Michael's voice from his bunk once more. “If we're pissing each other off, it's probably just the fault of yourself than the others.”

He paused. “...As such... I'll be making an effort to lower myself down a tad as well. I doubt we'll get anywhere otherwise,” he admitted in a tone that sounded rather reluctant, before falling silent again.

Sheesh, this wreck of a school was getting to him.

And another girl joined the club - Ryan was starting to wonder if the cabins were just not sex segregated - he doubted they cared enough about the implications. The new girl did not say very much, but what she did say gave him the indication she had a certain sarcastic element to her - though he did appreciate her sentiment regarding the people here not being bad. Telling people they were evil just led to a self fulfilling prophecy of those very people deciding to be evil because everyone expected it anyway.

Jo then spoke and basically said a harsh truth. Ryan replied, "...yeah, much as those guys were jackasses, picking on people weaker than them, acting like they ran the place...the moment they got hurt, in an accident outside my control, all of a sudden..." Ryan breathed sharply, and calmed himself down.

Simmer down, simmer down, don't want to end your first day making a crater.

"Yeah, yeah Leanna is right. If we want to get outta here, we need to keep violence and...and threats of such committed on one another down. I'll control myself - don't want another detonation."

And that meant less threats, less temper, he told himself. Wasn't easy with his brain wired toward aggression, but he'd try.

Damien watched in mostly cold interested, choosing to shift back to a more male form for his own sake. While the feminine form was largely better for seduction breasts ended up being more trouble then they were worth. Most organs tended to that thread but his attempts at a more comfortable form often ended with people screaming and covering their eyes. This was better in the end for all parties.

The scorpion summoning didn't bother him much, as poison didn't tend to be effective on him, his blood could process dirt, grime, and bacteria at hyper advanced rates. Heat, cold, extreme conditions were about the only thing that could potential offer him any real harm. Certain chemicals as well in large enough doses. The doctors had run enough tests on him to understand his body and he had learned well.

"I suppose I should make something clear, since some weren't here earlier. Any attempt to harm other people will result in negative repercussions up to and including absorption. To clarify that includes everyone, other students, the teachers here, even whatever creature keeps us here." he tilted his head. "I would rather get along with everyone here through, so in the interest of fairness please do not threaten our classmates again just out of personal spite. Its rather petty."

The orders of the doctors trumped everything, to ensure that they were happy was all that he had ever been taught. When they were happy with him he got candy and easy experiments. When they were mad they would perform painful experiments like burning parts of him or freezing bits of him to death. All for his sake, it was what was right. "I suppose I am here to make friends with everyone in an attempt to make myself more well rounded. I look forward to getting along with all of you in the future. Oh yes." a rather unnatural smile graced his otherwise blank face. "Lets all be friends shall we?"

Cabin 13

"Oh." Well, that was fast. "Uh, thanks." A little uncertainly, Dino unwrapped the chocolate bar, regarding it curiously. Tatsu spoke up and she turned to face her, shaking her head. "It's fine. I should have said so earlier, you're good. Raptor and Deino are fine too." She added with a crooked smile before focusing back on the Kit Kat in question.

She bit a piece off and then her expression lightened up. "S-so yeah... uh, I'm Dino. Nice to meet you, guys." She said, a little surprised by how good the bar was. As such, Leanna's announcement went one ear and left the other as she scarfed it down. She did however get Dan the Man's apology. "There you go. Wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No matter why we're here for or what powers we have, we're all equals and should treat each other like such." She looked over to Michael with a grouse. "Though I wouldn't call this hellhole a "rehabiliation school"." But hey, another guy agreed to pipe down some for the mutual benefit of everyone. They were getting somewhere. That Damien guy was still creepy as fuck though; she'd rather not make friends with him yet.

"Well anyway, I don't know about you guys, but some sleep's in order..." To be fair, she was exhausted. Dino had doubts if she'd be able to sleep well here - sharing a bunk with another person aside, the place was really stuffy - but she couldn't be a complainer. With a shuffle she lied down, mindful of Magpie and of her legs accidentally tearing a hole in their mattress/food storage, and tried to drift off to sleep, idly covering herself with the biker jacket.

Then, after a moment of thought, she decided to put it on Magpie instead; she'd probably need it more than herself, regardless of whether she was a weird kid or a personification of hatred of authority.

Cabin.

Well, at least Micheal was sort of right and spoke up what Jo had thought about Dan's 'excuse'. Although he wasn't exactly going to buy him wanting to 'lower himself' just yet, considering the first impression he'd left and trying to sound mature was a little late. Not that he was going to actually say it out loud as the young man glanced over at Ryan.

"...You'd be surprised how much that sort of thing happens, really. A lot of news articles of people like us finding out about their powers and them getting a bit out of control happens more often than you'd think. One case got lucky and went to a proper Academy since they only temporarily blinded someone with...sparkles." Jo gave a weak and wry smile at that remark as he nodded. "...But, whatever. considering you're keeping your cool so far, you'll be fine, I suppose."

It was obvious Jo wasn't exactly great at trying to give out compliments, let alone being nice, but considering he was here for similar reasons Ryan was...it was a little easier to say...and despite Damien changing back to what they were before, he didn't really seem too phazed anymore.

"...Right..."

Michael - Cabin 13

Michael shrugged. “I'll take up that suggestion of sleep myself. Lord knows when I last slept on a mattress... although I suppose even that is a gracious description...”

Shifting slightly onto his back, he stared up at the ceiling, a contemplative expression on his face. He raised his arm up as if reaching out to the sky, staring at the back of his hand.

It peeled in twain like a banana, an abundance of bloodshot eyes dropping out of the spurting wound like potatoes from a torn sack-

He blinked.

His hand was as immaculate as it always was.

This place was seriously, seriously getting to him.

Rolling onto his side, he shut his eyes and attempted to drift off to sleep, blocking the image from his mind.

edited 29th Apr '18 3:23:52 PM by Enirboreh

Cabin 13 - Time Skip from Morning to Lunchtime

A few hours passed. Some people took quick naps. Everyone got unpacked, made themselves as at home as possible, and got to know each other better. Ben woke up, apologized profusely for his actions earlier, and actually proved to be a pretty nice guy. Lizzy was energetic and cheerful, and Tim was, well, a passive-aggressive jerk, but he kept eating their negative emotions, so they didn't mind that much and actually became a tiny bit optimistic about their cabinmates, if not the rest of this hellhole.

Then, suddenly, every realized they were a bit hungry, checked the clock, and realized it was lunchtime. After lunch, they might do some exploring or something...

Let's Have Lunch

Magpie woke up and blearily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She yawned.

"Ughhhh...Looks like it's time for lunch. I say we sit together so nobody bothers us. Banding together and all that."