The layout of this training area is described here.

The team that starts here is:
- Sonya
- Kaz
- Hades
- Cyra
- Dream

Each team is responsible for figuring out their own posting rules. This should be good practice working together out of character as well as in.

(( OOC: With respect to posting rules, I'd like to suggest we leave this completely free-form and see what happens if we all just try to have fun and be considerate of one another. If we run into problems, say so, and we'll deal with it then. Anybody object? ))

Sonya is still somewhat disoriented by recent events, her mind buzzing with the ramifications of her arrival at the Labs and her introduction to the other Order members, including her anxiety about her real identity having been more broadly disseminated than she'd intended.

But she forces herself to think past all of that and concentrate on her sudden recruitment into this so-called "training" exercise. She's not entirely clear on what she's supposed to be training, or what the ostensible point of this exercise is... the organizers had said something about teamwork, and she'd gone along, figuring the rest of her team would have a better clue.

Except that she finds herself alone at the entrance of a hedge maze leading to some kind of medieval castle, with nobody to go along with. So am I just early? Or is finding the rest of the team part of the test? She really has no idea what they're supposed to be doing, an experience she's growing increasingly accustomed to.

Well, no use standing here. Ultimately she decides to make her way to the castle entrance... maybe that's where the rest of the team is, or maybe they're inside the hedge maze itself? Who knows.

Of course, navigating the labyrinth is itself likely to be a challenge, and she'd gotten the impression that time was important. So, instead of diving directly into the hedge-maze, she climbs up along the pile of debris accumulated where the stone wall has partially collapsed, hoping to get a bird's-eye view of the labyrinth before entering it.

OOC: No obejections from me. Hehehe let the games, er training, began!

IC:
Cyra walked out of the shadows observing her teammate attop the labyranth. "Hello, and you might be Teresa?" She smiled, her mind flashed back to just a few days ago when she arrived in New York, then had somehow managed to find the resistance hq soon after. She tilted her head slightly, "I have no idea if we are supposed to wait here for the rest of our team or wait at the enterance." She grinned, "That's part of the test I believe." As soon as Cyra had arrived she had been asked if she wanted to join a training excercise. She of course said yes and quickly at that.

(( OOC: Sorry all! I should be clearer about Sonya's always-confusing identity.

Sonya is in the Labs under a fake identity, "Teresa" (appearance), officially a self-healer. Thus far the only person who knows the name "Sonya" is Syn, and the only folks who know her real powers are whoever Syn told. (Vibe and Abyss, for now.)

I'm moving forward assuming Cyra actually said "Teresa"... correct me if I'm wrong.

Incidentally, does Cyra have her own profile anywhere?))

> "Hello, are you Teresa?"

"Yup, that's me. And you are...?"

Sonya knows the names of her team-mates, but the names don't tell her much... "Kaz" and "Cyra" are sufficiently foreign-sounding that they could be male, female, who-knows-what? And "Hades" is obviously a nickname or gang handle or something like that... she's gotten used to those.

Actually, she's not even sure how this girl knows who she is, but assumes she knows her other two team-mates and identified Sonya -- or, rather, "Teresa" -- by process of elimination. Great... that makes me the newbie.

> "I have no idea if we are supposed
> to wait here for the rest of our team or wait at the entrance.
> That's part of the test I believe."

"Yeah, me neither. But I figure it can't hurt to at least take a look at this labyrinth now, figure out what the best path is..."

Since he had set this up with the others, Kaz knew what was going on, though he had no clue where Katrina was hiding. After picking up the weights for his arms and legs, Kaz headed to his designated starting area. As soon as he arrived he saw two females already there, neither of them he knew. One was trying to get a look over the hedges, the other seemed to have just arrived as well.

Wearing a dark gray jumpsuit, and sporting very short spiked hair (he had cut it off before coming), he approached the two. "Hello there." He said, looking very much like he had just broken out of prison with the cuffs around his wrists and ankles. "The names Kaz, and who might you two be?" With his weight on one leg, he hooked his thumbs into his pockets.

Cyra looked behind her as another person came up behind them. She turned, "Hello Kaz, my name is Cyra." She tilted her head slightly, "Why all the weights? Like the spiked hair however, nice touch to your ears." She smiled, "Why are your ears pointed if you don't mind me asking?" She moved slightly as she noted that her balance was slightly off. Not a good thing for her, it made her look bad if others noticed it. And she was sure this Kaz fellow would. He seemed confident with his stature, hmm.

Sonya stumbles slightly on the crumbling rocks she's climbing, then catches herself and waves to the new arrival. "Teresa." Then she turns her attention to the maze, now that she can see it, paying only the vaguest attention to Cyra's questions.

Armed with a hopefully reliable route through the maze, she jumps carefully down to the floor and looks them both over more carefully. "So, I'm guessing the weights are to handicap superhuman strength? Man, that's gotta be uncomfortable. Good thing about healing, they don't have to do anything to neutralize it." She looks around for their fourth team-mate. "Guess we're still waiting for 'Hades', then? Maybe he -- or she -- will know something more about what we're supposed to be doing."

First the girl Cyra answered, with an odd way of talking. She seemed self conscious, which became quite obvious to Kaz as the girl sways the slightest bit off balance. <She asks stupid childish questions to boot. She's not a child like Kat, nor does she do it in a fun, funny, or carefree/whatever way like the twins....What did I get myself into.> Sighing inwardly he decided not to answer her as 'Teresa' spoke.

<Great this one assumes things without much prior info....She be perfect as an Xmen candidate. They don't use their head's much.> Kaz thought to himself and chuckled as he remembered KP. "Actually no, I mean think about it, what would weights do to someone with superhuman strength? Just add more weight to their punches." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small round container. After opening it, he took the earplugs out and put them in their place. <Damn it, this sucks. First the cuffs, now the earplugs.> "Assuming is a bad idea."

Though he had the weights on, they didn't take away from his natural agility or remove his experience as a gymnast. What Teresa had seemed to have a bit of difficulty with, Kaz easily got to the top of the rocks and peered over the maze of hedges. The way the set up was, limited his sight as it was, so no hadicap had been deemed necessary.

Turning around, "Hades is a man, I can tell you that for sure. And he probably won't be able to tell you much more than I can. If you remember the letter...It was from me. Hades might have had a hand in some of the things further in. Maybe not. But, either way, we're trying to find Katrina. A 12 year old girl, who can become invisible. She's somewhere back there." He raised his arm, made a fist, and pointed to the castle with his thumb. "Our goal, is to find her and bring her back here. Simple right?"

Hopping down easily to the ground, "By the way, where did you two come from and how much do you know of the resistance? I haven't seen either of you here before, and y'all haven't been at any of the previous meetings we've had. As I'm in charge of the labs for the moment, I should have been notified of new arrivals. It's disconcerting to think new people are coming into the labs so easily." The last sentence was said in a lower tone of voice, but also carried a 'I don't believe that's the case' undertone.

''He has a lot of points and he looks annoyed,maybe with us.' "My apologies Kaz, I just arrived at the labs, literally. I just arrived an hour ago. Hunter sent me here." Cyra sighed inwardly as she tried to collect her thoughts. "I'm from Thailand. I don't know much about the resistance here. However, I was an integral part of the one there." She grinned vicously, "The humans didn't stand much of a chance there. The leaders of Thailand who supported mutant camps and all the other laws against mutants. Well, they were extermanited." She stopped and waited, if he wanted more information then she would give it. But she wanted info on this resistance. "What is the resistance here planning on doing?"

> "Actually no, I mean think about it, what would weights do
> to someone with superhuman strength? Just add more weight
> to their punches.

Sonya keeps a straight face at that. Right. Which explains why super-heavy wrist- and leg-weights are such a popular accessory among brawlers.

She's privately annoyed at his dismissive tone and the way he just ignores Cyra, but she sees no point in arguing about it... even on brief acquaintance, Kaz strikes her as the sort who likes to be right all the time, and in Sonya's experience the best thing to do with that sort is let them have their way until it actually matters. Otherwise you waste all your time in pointless arguments.

> "Assuming is a bad idea."

"That's a really good point, thanks for bringing it up. I can see I'm going to learn a lot on this exercise." It takes heroic efforts to keep a smirk off her face, but she manages to keep a neutral expression. So, the question is, is he serious? Or is he just trying to make the rest of us underestimate him by acting like a pretentious jackass?

The casualness with which he duplicates her scouting effort, without even bothering to coordinate results, leads her to conclude the latter... within less than a minute he'd managed to be pointlessly dismissive to his entire team, and that requires true skill. Jeez. If they're all like him, no wonder they need 'team-building' exercises... and no wonder they've gotten nothing done in months! They probably waste all their time infighting.

> "we're trying to find Katrina. A 12 year old girl, who can create illusions.
> She's somewhere back there. Our goal, is to find her and bring her back
> here. Simple right?"

"If you say so, Kaz. So, should we go in now, or wait for Hades to join us?" Not that anyone had declared Kaz in charge, but Sonya gets the impression that things will go more smoothly that way, and it's not like it actually matters. Privately, she wonders about the "simple" part, though... finding an illusionist in a strange building full of windy corridors and hidden alcoves sounds more or less impossible to her. But at least it's clear... and it's not like she cares about winning, anyway.

> "As I'm in charge of the labs for the moment, I should have been notified of new arrivals."

He's in charge? Yeesh. The wording is interesting, though... Sonya'd been told this Hunter fellow was in charge, which suggests that either there's been a change in leadership, or (more likely) Hunter was off somewhere and Kaz was one of his most trusted subordinates. And if that's true, it tells her a lot about Hunter and the kinds of people he likes to work with.

She shrugs in response to the actual comment. "Well, if I were the sort to make assumptions, I might assume that whoever's responsible for notifying you of new arrivals is slacking off on the job." Which wouldn't be too surprising... from what she's seen so far of Kaz' leadership skills, she suspects he's not getting much support from his boss' other underlings. "But since I'm not, I haven't a clue why you weren't informed when I got here. Whoever is running this little exercise knew enough to assign me to this team, so clearly I'm in somebody's database."

> "The leaders of Thailand who supported mutant camps and all the other laws
> against mutants. Well, they were exterminated."

Say what? Sonya can't decide whether the girl is bluffing or not... she seems perfectly serious and matter-of-fact about it. Sure, she was no fan of the Registration Act or the Camps, but slaughtering the government as an act of political protest? That's... extreme. All of a sudden, Sonya isn't sure she minds how ineffectual the local Resistance has been, if large-scale assassination is the sort of thing they are planning on. What have I gotten myself into here?

> "What is the resistance here planning on doing?"

Sonya nods agreement with the question and looks back to Kaz attentively. Mostly, she expects him to dodge the question, but who knows how much information he might give away in the process?

Actually, Kaz only knows that Katrina can turn invisible, he never asked her what else she can do. All she will be using during this thread is invisibility and helping Pluto to be invisible along with her. She's not experienced enough yet to be able to manage a bunch of illusions and invisibility all at once, so she'll be sticking with the simpler stuff so she won't get worn out.

The "illusions" you will come up against are actually holograms.'

For now, I'd appreciate it if you modified a bit to say that Katrina can turn invisible instead of create illusions.

A slight movement from the corner ahead and then Hades moved smoothly and silently around the corner scaling the rocks with ease. So silent was his approach that unless one had very acute hearing or saw him nobody would have any clue that he was there until he appeared in front of their eyes. He was wearing a camo costume, looking a lot younger that he had previously had in the Laboratory. He looked in his early 30s. His movements were smooth, lithe, flowing. It brought to one’s mind the image of a predator, one who is always alert. His build was slim and wiry.

When he spoke it was with a deep-ish voice.
“Hi, my name is Hades. Thought I would do a bit of scouting. Anyway as I was coming back I over heard someone asking about the resistance? I did not hear the question. I am an inventor here in the Labs, but I am also involved in some planning.”

> “Hi, my name is Hades. Thought I would do a bit of scouting.
> Anyway as I was coming back I over heard someone asking
> about the resistance? I did not hear the question. I am an inventor
> here in the Labs, but I am also involved in some planning.”

Sonya startles a bit as the middle-aged man in camo appears, then recovers.

"Um... cool. I guess that's our team, then. Nice to meet you, Hades... I'm Teresa, this here is Cyra, and I gather you already know Kaz... and, yeah, Kaz was just about to tell us newbies what the Resistance has been up to for the last couple of months."

As she talks, she picks up a handful of pebbles from the ground and, without warning, starts throwing them in seemingly arbitrary directions, nowhere near any of the people she sees. They travel down corridors and collide with walls, to no noticable effect, and she starts picking up more of them.

Once assured that the Northern Section players were on their way, Crystal looked in on the Southern side. The first person she saw was Kaz. She hadn’t realized he was playing as well; Katrina must have pulled him into it somehow. The twelve-year-old had an uncanny knack for swaying people, especially considering she was not a psychic. Humans tended to have soft spots for animal and children; apparently the same could be said of many mutants. Yet another similarity to add to her list, and another reason to wonder why all of the fuss between humans and mutants?

Another team of five, yet Crystal only recognized Kaz, Hades, and Dream. She had a fair idea of Kaz’s mutation, though not fully assured of its accuracy. The rest were a mystery for now.

She smiled slightly as she listened to the conversation for a brief moment. They hadn’t even started, and already there was a bit of tension. Wonderful. That could be very easily turned to her advantage.

Since they hadn’t yet started into the arena, she decided to pop over and check on the last group in the Western Section, before coming back to see what else developed.

(OOC: Crystal will only be popping in now and then, so please ignore her in your posting order. No need to wait at all.)

(( OOC: So, I know it's a little weird to post twice in a row, but nobody else seems to be posting on this thread so I figured I'd move it along.))

Sonya isn't entirely sure how she ended up at the front of this crowd, once they'd finished up their general chit-chat and started moving, and she isn't entirely comfortable with it: there's probably traps and things that she'll end up springing this way. She has to keep reminding herself over and over that it's only a game and she's not actually going to get hurt... well, not permanently hurt, anyway.

Traversing the hedge-maze isn't too difficult, since she's seen the pattern from atop the ruined wall, so she devotes most of her attention to looking for hidden passages or other surprises. From time to time she picks up a handful of pebbles and twigs from the ground, which she scatters randomly in front of her as she walks... probably pointless, but when facing invisible opponents it can't really hurt.

It doesn't take long, even at a relatively slow walking pace, to reach the gates of the building, and she turns around at that point. "So, what do folks think... go through the obvious entrance, or look for a sneakier path?"