[Meanwhile... After a gruelling session of having her memories downloaded and recorded, Keiko was taken to a cell, where she most likely promptly fell asleep, seeing as how she barely slept yesterday. But she only got about two hours worth before a loud buzzing woke her up.] * Keiko starts from her sleep quickly, sitting up on her cot or bed or just floor. She looks around, rubbing her face and making a low 'nnh' noise. [A guard comes by, banging on the bars. "Get up kids. Time to eat. Or don't, and starve. Up to you." The doors open as he walks by each cell. It's about now that Keiko realizes she's not alone there.] (Can I feel their minds already?) (Or are they not close enough for the always-on?) ( Some of them. ) (Then how're they feelin'?) ( Tired, dispaired, resigned, etc.] ) * Keiko 's eyes widen as she gets the first people feedback in a while, and then she groans before pulling herself to her feet and looking around at them. She walks towards the bars as she reaches out with her active telepathy, to try to feel people. (Are they all in her cell too?) (Or many cells?) ( Many cells. ) * Keiko is still looking around and feeling around mentally, wrapping her arms around herself. It's always good to figure out what the people around you and the cages you're in look like. [A bunch of girls pass Keiko's cell, following the guard. They're all dressed in threadbare shirts and jogging pants, and all around Keiko's age. That's about where the similarities end. Many are caucasian, but there are a few blacks, Asians and Indians, and at least two Arabs among them.] (What's on the surfaces? Just more tired/sad/weak?) [One of them looks directly at Keiko. Glares, in fact. She screams in Russian, "] [A guard comes up behind her and hits her in the back of her head with the butt of his gun. He calls to one of his associates, "" The other guard just mutters.] (I assume the guards are all wearing SuperTinHats?) ( Yep ) ( Only they look more sophisticated than tinfoil. ) * Keiko winces and draws back, before putting her hand to her forehead. She glances to a guard for a moment and then licks her lips. Are the doors actually open? ( They are! There's also four armed guards at the end opposite of where everyone is going, and only two in the direction they're headed. There looks to be about 14 girls in all. 15 counting Keiko.] ) * Keiko purses her lips a moment, and then slowly steps out of the cell, into the line, arms still around herself. Her eyes flick from girl to girl, trying to be a light touch as she tries to look at the surface of the other girls' minds. [They head into a large room. A cafeteria, probably although all the tables are set against the wall except for one. They start to sit down there. Keiko picks up a few stray thoughts. Most of them are afraid of what the day might bring, but a few have something more interesting going on.] * Keiko can walk and scan at the same time! She's a pro. Well, a pro rookie. She will try to get a bead on the more interesting ones as she filters in with the rest and thunks down. [One of the Indians is counting. ~Five-hundred-ninety-one one-thousand. Five-hundred-ninety-two one thousand. Um, excuse me? Could you get out of my head? My thoughts are the only private things I have left.~] * Keiko smiles a little to herself, sadly, and then closes her eyes and thinks back, "I... know the feeling." She lets the girl be, well, unless the girl wants to talk back, and thinks at another 'interesting' one. [And another is thinking ~Okay, four guards in here, plus six more in the hallway. I go for that one first, then... No, no, the further one is the best shot. But the middle one is just itching to shoot someone...~] * Keiko blinks and then licks her lips before looking down at the table and thinking back, ~How'd you know that?~ [She looks up wildly. She's red-haired, looks to be Russian. Or maybe she's from one of the formerly-Russian countries. There's a lot of those. ~Who's that?! Are you making fun of me again? Just because my telepathy's not as strong as yours doesn't mean I can't take you in a fight.~ She glares at the girl across from her. ~Is it you, Natalia? You wanna fight? I'll take you on right now.~] * Keiko thinks back, ~No, I--~ She interrupts her thought-stream and finishes, ~I'm new. And I'm... not very happy with sticking around.~ [She keeps looking around. ~Who's new? Like I know any of you. I swear, if you're making fun of me...~] * Keiko frowns and thinks back, ~I'm not making fun of you. Why did you know the one guard had an itchy finger?~ She rubs her head. [~That's what I do. I notice things about people.~] * Keiko sucks in her lip and then thinks back, ~I don't know what all of you can do. But there's a lot of us here.~ * Keiko continues, ~I... two's better than one here.~ [~I'll say. How many of these guys can you take?~] * Keiko thinks back, ~Depends. How much better does it get for everyone if I can take off their hats?~ [~You can't. They're attached to their collars. Don't you think that's been tried before?~] * Keiko frowns and replies, ~I don't know what you all can do. But I can get a handful myself if they're not shielded.~ ~Controlled, I mean.~ [~Well, they are, so unless you've got something else, it's not going to work.~] [At some point you also get served some water and some grey gruel. Yum.] (Are they just flat unbreakable shields?) ( Pretty much. You won't be able to just force them off. ) (No, I mean that I can't even try to mind control them.) (Beyond Mind Shield. ^^;) ( Oh. Yeah, the helmets protect against that, too ) [One of the girls stands up suddenly. The others look at her as she staggers out of her seat, and makes it a few feet away before falling onto her hands and knees, vomitting.] [The guards are quick to react. Three of them rush towards the girl, while a fourth gestures at the rest of the girls with his gun. ""] * Keiko frowns and replies mentally, ~I can shield myself from the bullets for a bit, but...~ she looks over at the girl and finishes, ~... but that's not gonna be enough on my own. We need more of us.~ * Keiko may be tired, but she didn't eat or drink. She doesn't trust them enough for that. [The girls get up and are herded out of the room. Redhead responds with one more thought. ~Yeah, good luck with that.~] * Keiko exhales upwards and grips her head as she stands, slowly, before also walking. ~I'm getting that feeling.~ ( I got nothing else for here ) (Nod.) [Everyone's put back in a cell. Exciting!] (Just have to try to get as many people ready to fight when the time comes.) [And also End]