forum Project: "Star" #2 (Closed OxO ||| Sci-Fi, Fantasy ||| Major Trigger Warning, read intro thoroughly)

Started August 24, 2023 by @Null-Gravity language

tune

Warning!!!

This roleplay will contain a bunch of mature and/or triggering themes. I suggest keeping well away if you are sensitive to: gore and graphic violence, vulgar language (i.e. lewd messages, cursing), mentions of sexual assault (though actual depictions of such won't happen); other triggering themes include stalking, death threats, mentions of abuse and/or mentions of suicide and/or self-harm.

---

@Davadio

Here we are.

Basic Info

Name:
Nicknames (Optional):
Age:
Gender (Biological):
Gender Identity:
Pronouns:

Appearance

Skin Tone:
Height:
Weight:
Eye Color:
Hair Color:
Hair Style:
Body Type:
Identifying Marks (tattoos, scars, birthmarks, etc.):
Usual Outfit:

Personality

Basic Personality (descriptive terms, such as "calm" and "kind" can work instead of a full personality description):
Sexuality:
Fears:
Hopes:
Motivations/Goals:
Hobbies:
Talents:
Physical Conditions:
Mental Conditions:
Backstory (optional; only write until they get captured, please):
Other:

Basic Info

Name: Franklyn Berg, but he doesn't know this. Only goes by Cygnus.
Nicknames: Cygnus or Cyggy (pronounced Siggy)
Age: Not sure but he thinks he's aomeqhere around 20.
Gender: Male. Will respond to 'it' but doesn't like it

Appearance

Skin Tone: Pale white
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 120lbs
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Light Brown
Hair Style: if he could, he'd grow it out and floof it, but the facility keeps it shaved
Body Type: Ectomorphic, often frail
Identifying Marks: burn marks across his chest, scarred-over needle marks on his arms from years of experimenting
Usual Outfit: the white outfit the facility hands out. Would love to wear bright colors one day

Personality

Basic Personality: nervous, introspective, gentle, protective
Sexuality: He has no clue. The Facility hasn't really been a place he could figure it out
Fears: losing his mind to star sickness, hurting people he cares about
Hopes: freedom, one day. Also to have a family instead of custodians
Motivations/Goals: His goal is to live, most days.
Hobbies: tinkering, building things
Talents: draws very well. He's also nigh on a genius, in some ways.
Physical Conditions: tends to get sick easy; likely has an autoimmune issue, but nobody will tell him
Mental Conditions: has fought off depression and what he thinks are some other generalized anxiety disorders
Backstory: Franklyn was born in a very small town in an area we would recognize as Western Europe. His parents were dirt poor, and he was a sickly baby, which made him expensive. When a shadowy man offered them money and help in exchange for their child, the Bergs took the deal. Franklyn was just coming up on his second birthday. He's been part of the project ever since.

Basic Info

Name: Patient 02-L, "Lyra" /// Bennette Fynn Bardot
Nicknames (Optional): Benny, Ben
Age: A lot older than she looks (about 20-ish); she's been a captive of the lab for a long, long time. . .
Gender (Biological): Female
Gender Identity: Female
Pronouns: She/her

Appearance

Skin Tone: Hex Color #1a1b4f
Height: 6 ft. 1 in. /// 185.42 cm.
Weight: ~123 lbs. /// ~55 kg.
Eye Color: Hex Color #a8b1b5
Hair Color: Hex Color #000000
Hair Style: Buzzed when she's in the lab; later on-

Body Type: Slim shoulders, narrow waist and hips, modest bust and buttocks
Face Shape: Slightly heart shaped, long lashes, upturned eyes
Identifying Marks (tattoos, scars, birthmarks, etc.): A light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks
Usual Outfit: In the lab, she's forced to wear white sweatpants and a white t-shirt. When she escapes, she'll generally wear black or dark blue sun dresses and skirts.

Personality

Basic Personality (descriptive terms, such as "calm" and "kind" can work instead of a full personality description): Very aloof and cold at first when you meet her, almost cruelly so. She doesn't let anyone get too close, ever, since nobody lasts too long in the labs. Not with star sickness. Once she starts to open up, though, she turns into the sweetest, most caring person in the world, so much so that the death of whomever she opened up to feels like the death of a part of her own heart, body, soul.
Sexuality: Bicurious
Fears: Losing her own sense of self in the midst of the cruel and harsh experiments of the lab; losing her memories of her friends and her life before the lab
Hopes: To eventually destroy the ones who tried to destroy her, and bring an end to the sitarite plague and star sickness; to find a new family to make up for all the family she's lost; to free herself of her burdens of her "gift."
Motivations/Goals: To finally be free of her shackles, binding her to her fate.
Hobbies: Singing and reading. That's all there is to really do in the lab. At least, for her.
Talents: Singing, writing
Physical Conditions:
Mental Conditions:
Backstory (optional; only write until they get captured, please): (Will reveal as time goes on)
Other:

Wake up.

Eat.

Experiments.

Shower.

Sleep.

Over and over and over again, for years upon years, that is the routine Patient 02-L, "Lyra," formerly known as Bennette Fynn Bardot, had settled into.

Not by choice, of course. She'd been ripped from her house, her family, just because of what everyone called "star sickness." To her, it felt rather more like slowly being burned than being sick.

Her cells were just dying and regenerating that fast, like most other star sickness patients. She didn't look any older than 20, like some of the rarer - but not too rare - cases.

Her scars even faded way way too fast, leaving her with nothing but the sting of wounds long healed.

It pissed her off, all of it.

Every single bit, from how they treated the yound patients to the kinds of things she'd seen the scientists force them through.

One girl had the power to control microwaves. Not the devices, but the actual radiation. She'd been forced, over and over again, to test her powers on animals. Sick animals, sure, but animals all the same.

One boy could move an object from across the room, with a single thought. They had him using his ability until his nose was bleeding, trying to figure out what he could and couldn't move.

Another girl had the power to open wounds on any living animal, including humans. The things Bennette had seen the scientists force that girl to do. . . she didn't want to remember them.

They did their best to use her, as well. Her power to commune with souls and even manipulate them was something they dearly wanted, to see if they could use her power to brainwash the other test subjects - patients, the scientists called them, as though it was some sick, twisted game of doctor - but she refused.

Whenever she could, at least, which was rarely.

There was another that they wanted to use.

She didn't know his name, but they called him Cygnus.

Just like they designated her "Lyra."

That, too, pissed her off.

But here she stood, in the same white box with tubes and machines and constant gurgles and beeps and hisses and just-barely-muffled screams of pain and rage and sadness.

The same white box where she'd seen her own blood spilled, felt knives and needles piercing her as the scientists slowly tore her apart to see how much the body a victim of the star sickness could take.

They'd also tried to break her in. . . other ways.

Some people just wanted to take advantage of beautiful, youthful women. It disgusted Lyra as much as the other scientists did, who were just doing their jobs.

They'd succeeded in taking advantage of her, but not for long.

Not until she'd ripped their souls from their pleading, horrid mouths.

Anyways, they had her hooked up to heart monitors and other medical devices, and were setting up devices that would measure EM waves, radiation, etc.

The usual sci-fi schtick.

Lyra looks at the door as it opens, and blinks rapidly.

Why are they bringing another- she starts to think, until she sees who it is.

Oh. Oh.

The other Patient Zero.

Cygnus.

She curses under her breath.

What are these assholes thinking, putting us in the same room together? she wonders, watching as they hook the boy up to the same machines they had her hooked up to.

"Hey, up and at 'em. You're needed."

If he adjusted the power converter a little higher, there was a better chance of the flywheel developing enough momentum to become self-perpetuating.

"C'mon, kid, get up. Let's go. I'm not gonna say it again."

Of course, that would also make it harder to shut down without some kind of hard emergency stop, and there wasn't a mechanism for that just yet-

slap

Cygnus sprawled off his cot as the security officer smacked him out of his thoughts. He threw his hands up, expecting more blows, but the scientist next to the guard stepped between them.
"He's drugged, give him a moment."

He looked up at the scientist who'd spoken up for him, but his vision was blurry, both from the drugs and the blow to his head just now. Slowly getting up took about all of the energy Cygnus had, and he shuffled towards the door for only a few steps before the guard and the scientist both took an arm and half dragged, half carried him down the hall.

Same old, same old. He knew the drill. They'd take him into some sterilized, bland non-descript room, and try to get an old experiment to work with minor changes, or get him to try to combine powers with another person, or make him intimidate someone into cooperating. He hated that one the most, but after so long in the facility, he'd learned it was easier on everyone if he just arced lightning to all the walls and made himself look scary, so the person would cooperate. The last time he'd said no, there'd been an 'accident' where both he and the person they wanted him to intimidate had ended up in casts and bandages of all kinds. He'd learned his lesson.

Or maybe it would be something new and terrible. They'd had him semi-sedated since a failed experiment a couple of days ago. They'd wanted to see if he could control his lightning precisely enough to restart a heart. He could do small enough jolts not to damage machinery and small electronics, but could he get on the level of intricacy of the human heart?
The answer had been no, to his horror. He'd been deeply upset by that result, and hadn't realized he was throwing thick bolts of electricity through the walls until one of the security guards had run in and shot him with a tranquilizer. Several, as it turned out.
In fact… he turned his head to see that it was the same guard who was half-dragging him down the hall now. A glance at his hands revealed fresh burn marks.
No wonder the man had seemed so angry with him.
Cygnus had spent the last couple of days trying to distract his mind with puzzles and problems related to some of the machines he'd been building. His body was slow, and if he had to interact with people, he was hazy and slow, but by himself, in his head? Lightning fast.
Until he was slapped out of it, of course.

They stepped through a doorway into exactly the kind of bland room Cygnus had known was coming. He was still having trouble standing on his own, so they strapped him to one of the restraint boards, which kept him upright. His head lolled forward as they stuck needles and IV's in his arms and hooked him up to this monitor and that monitor. The usual procedure went on, until the scientist stuck a small syringe into one of the ports on his arm and injected something. It felt very cold, and suddenly, Cygnus could feel his heart rate skyrocket. The cold feeling spread, and he couldn't shake the impression of ice in his veins. It woke him up, bringing him quickly out his drugged stupor as his breathing increased. He'd felt numb, but now his skin was alive, the rough restraints feeling painful against his wrists. The band around his chest was too tight, he couldn't breathe, and his heart was trying to beat right out of his chest. The room was too bright, and the occasional beep of a machine was a loud, high-pitched lance right to his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned as the feeling persisted for a few seconds, and then it was over.
His heart rate slowly relaxed, his breathing returned to his control, the room turned back to another boring, bland room, and Cygnus relaxed against the restrained board.

He opened his eyes and immediately made eye contact with another specimen- no, a patient. They were people.
A beautiful patient at that. He'd seen her around, and somewhere in his mind, still clearing all of the fog and the panic, he thought her name was Lyra.

But none of that explained why they were here now. He glanced at the guard and the scientist, knowing they'd speak when they were ready to. At least this scientist had woken him up before going ahead with whatever they were about to do. Though he might not be so grateful once he knew what it was.

Bennette watches as they restrain Cygnus and hook up to machines, the same way they had for her.

She looks absolutely disgusted at this.

Of course. . . the other Patient Zero. The "newer" one. He's well known after the incident with the. . . heart. she thinks, watching the scientists carefully.

Most of them were focused on their instruments and readings, except one.

The head scientist.

A short, pudgy, balding man who smelled a little too much like patchouli for Lyra to like him. His name was Dr. Terrance Crawford, a scientist born in what used to be the UK.

Of course, she already didn't like him. He was the one who had brought her here, after all. Years and years ago of course, but when a man shows up to your family home with half the military on his side and proceeds to slaughter your family in front of you, well. . . you tend to hold a grudge about that.

Suffice to say at this point that the bindings on both Lyra and Cygnus were bade of asterite, a highly refined form of sitarite that had the ability to keep the afflicted, such as Lyra and Cygnus, from using their powers to their fullest beyond 5 feet, and kept them from being used at all beyond 7.

Lyra looks at Dr. Terrance as he begins to explain what was happening here.

Four test subjects.

2 young men and women. Children, really.

She watches as one of the expendable scientists walks up to Cygnus and injects him with something to counteract his sedation.

She listens as Terrance explains that they'd have Lyra take the soul out of one, and see if the subject's heart stopped. If yes, they'd have Cygnus try and restart the heart. That fails, put soul back and try again that way.

Second test, take soul after subject is dead. Put it back and see if that "fixes it." As though a human being were just a pig carcass.

Third test, seeing if they could simultaneously jumpstart a person's heart back to life and take their soul, rendering them immobile but alive.

Fourth test was to see how long after dying Lyra could take a soul.

Cygnus looked at the two who'd brought him in, expecting them to say something, until several more scientists walked in. He recognized Dr. Crawford from several past experiments. There was something… just a general greasy sense to the man, though he'd never done anything to Cygnus specifically, other than experiments.

He glanced at Lyra, and noted her expression. He couldn't read it super well, but on anyone else he'd have called it hatred.
The explanation of the coming experiment was not comforting.

4 kids, for whom he was about to be responsible. Lyra was known to be fairly powerful, though the exact nature of her powers was unknown to him. All he knew was that he was expected to do something he'd already demonstrated he was bad at.
Many years ago, he might have fought about it. Just a few years ago, he might have argued. But not today. Not anymore.
Today, he did what they told him.

They brought in the first test subject, and Cygnus could feel the fugue coming on. This had begun happening more and more often when he was faced with something he didn't want to do. The state of mind where his body just kinda existed for a minute, and he whisked himself away to his machines. It was a way for him to mechanically obey orders, but not let his mind register absolutely everything. It didn't really work, not entirely anyway, but he couldn't stop it from coming on. His heart rate elevated, naturally this time, and the adrenaline flowed quickly as he thought about how this was going to go.
First, Lyra would do whatever it was they had her doing. If that killed the subject, he'd be expected to jump the heart.
That part was both the worst and the best bit. Being responsible for someone's life wasn't something he wanted, especially when he knew there wasn't much he could really do.

But the feeling of lightning in his veins? There was nothing like it.