welp (open as open can be)

[imperfect]

Date & Time: The evening of the 17th September, up until the actual rescue on the 19th
Location: Various bits of the UE compound
Characters: Anyone who may have gone along with Ed Elric's early bird rescue attempt, anyone in the compound who wants to run into them
Summary: A mingle log, so tag in and around or take this as a sign to horn in on the original kidnappee log as you please o/
Warnings: I'll edit as they come up.

[From one point of view, the most insulting part of this failure is that it wasn't even spectacular. Sure, the alarms went off, maybe stirring up a little confusion among whoever overheard them - who would have thought you could build machines to detect powers nobody was using at the time? Technology in this day and age is weird - but they didn't last long. Neither did the struggle between the trained guards on patrol and a few misfits worn out from two days of constant travel who were only attempting recon for the real break-in, heated as it was.

The facility workers' debate over what to do with the new arrivals was another story, but even they couldn't fret about proper protocol forever, and now here you are: probably tired, probably aching for one reason or another, possibly even a little worse off, but without a doubt booted unceremoniously into the communal lounge with nothing but the gown on your back and left to your own devices. You might wonder what's going to happen to you - or, if the UE employees thought you seemed inconveniently lively in either the initial brawl or the first round of testing, when all the cotton wool temporarily filling your universe is going to go away - but the only answer you'll get at first is the steady thrum of the bright, sterile lights overhead.

So, what now?]

Comments

[imperfect]

[He laughs hollowly.] Yeah, that about sums it up. [Not satisfied with faceplanting just once in the next few minutes, he's already pushing himself back up, although he has just enough pride left (which is to say, entirely too much) to refrain from asking for a hand.] But there's still a chance...

[highhealplz]

[ He doesn't wait for Ed — nor does he give him a chance to refuse help. He takes his forearm, steadying, ready to help Ed up at his own pace. When he speaks again, his voice is low. ]

What's the news?

[ And specifically, why were so few of them caught and thrown in just now? Shouldn't a rescue be larger? ]

[imperfect]

[Oh, he picks up on the implications all right, and they're enough to wipe any trace of even a bitter smile off his face as he finally looks up. If he'd spared any thought for how he was going to explain himself, he'd figured he could save it for the way back.]

There wasn't any when we left.

[highhealplz]

[ There's a second where he's surprised. No news means... no plan. This was an independent idea. He's quiet, and takes a moment to glance around them. There's a sparse couch not far back, and he takes a careful step toward it with Ed. ]

Come on, let's sit down a while, you can get your bearings and catch your breath.

[imperfect]

It's fine. I've had worse.

[He doesn't really have it in him to pull away for now, but far from relaxing at all, he's craning his neck, trying to get a better view of pretty much everything in here except the couch.]

Still... they must've rounded up more people than I thought.

[highhealplz]

[ Hey, as long as Ed sits, he's content with that. ]

There are a lot of us. Around forty , I'd guess. [ Not that the room shows much of said population. It's a large compound. He sinks carefully to a seat next to him on the couch. ] Mind if I ask what happened?

[imperfect]

[He shakes his head distractedly.] We got unlucky, that's all. Nothing else to it. [Part of it is the guilt, though there's also the fact that they were caught, it already happened - what's the sense in dwelling on it?

A more pressing issue is what to do now. He slumps a bit, staring at the ceiling. This room looks far too polished to ever have had that many people in it at once, but even under the watchful eyes of the UE that Ed suspects aren't far away, he can't think of a reason this stranger would lie about the number... and besides, it seems obvious in hindsight that anyone who needed the chaos of a couple of days ago as a cover would have a lot to hide. That could be a problem - while it's not impossible he could plan his own jailbreak given enough time, carting forty-something lab rats out the same way sounds like a really tall order...

...

Lab rats. The realisation takes a second to worm its way through all the fuzziness in Ed's mind brought on by the sedatives and lack of sleep, but the instant it does, he's out of his seat, bolt upright - or trying to be, until after a couple of steps one of his legs gives way underneath him again.]