Altered - Week 1: Strangers in a strange place
 

Alex slowly gains consciousness as he feels the sun burning down on him and long blades of grass prickling him uncomfortably. A throbbing headache is something else he becomes aware of with his full return to consciousness. He opens his eyes and gets his first unpleasant surprise. In the place of the sky is a relatively smooth, rocky surface that is irregularly studded with some manner of light globe or panel that glow with a warm radiance. The ceiling is not quite regular enough to suggest that it is entirely constructed however. The ceiling is obviously a great distance above them and if he allows his eyes to follow its slope upwards to a point that presumably marks the center of this cavern (?), he can see a larger, much more brilliant orb. Aside from the increased diffusion of shadows, the orbs create an effect that seems to be virtually identical to a sunny day.

Wondering if maybe he is dreaming, Alex groggily sits up. The long grass beneath him partially springs back as he removes his weight from them. He appears to be in a smallish clearing filled with long grass that varies between knee and waist height. Around the edges are trees and moderately dense looking undergrowth. He doesn't know much about trees but they remind him of the sort you'd find on the kind of tropical (?) island that people get shipwrecked on. Alex doesn't appreciate the irony of that last thought. Just to be on the safe side, he pinches himself. Ow.

Evidently he's not dreaming then. Trying to avoid panicking, Alex tries to review the facts. He is in what appears to be an underground forest with absolutely no memory of how he got here. That hadn't taken very long. But something would have had to have left him here and wouldn't the grass be flattened where whatever had brought him here had been? He stands up unsteadily.

From all appearances, he's fallen from the sky but that thought is derailed by something far more surprising. Around him several other people are waking up, just like him. He founders awkwardly towards the closest person, feeling like his reflexes are all out of joint, and helps them to their feet. He has to wait a moment as his mouth seems unaccountably parched and then says, "I'm sorry if this is a bit abrupt but who are you and do you have any idea of where we are or how we got here?"

The woman stares at him for only a brief moment, trying to understand whatever it is he's saying, but she suddenly drops to her hands and knees and throws up on the grass. She barely resists the urge to pass out, mostly due to the fact that she'd fall onto her regurgitated meal if she did so. Instead, she crawls back and sits down, rubbing at her forehead. She didn't feel well, as though she was suffering a migraine or something. However, it wasn't any kind of sickness, considering how fast the pain and disorientation were dying out. The haze of vision cleared away and she got a look at her surroundings, deciding to ignore the man until she could figure out where she was.
No luck. She recognized certain things, though. A ceiling. Trees. Grass. Rocks. Slowly, her memory of such things was returning. It looked like some kind of forest...but a ceiling? Was this forest underground? She found within her the strength to stand up, brushing away the man's attempts to help her rise, and looks at the others.
She can't recognize them. They don't look familiar in the least. She slowly backs away from the man standing near her. "Don't...don't touch me! Just leave me alone, or I'll scream!" She was thankful that her voice wasn't shaking, but knew her paniced expression was easily giving away her fear. She was on the verge of hysterics and she raised her hands in an attempt to fend him off.

Trevor groaned and opened his eyes. Strangely, all he could see at ground level was grass. "What the...?" As he slowly climbed to his feet, he scanned the surrounding area. The tall grass was parted in various places where other people lay unconscious.
Apparently, Trevor wasn't the only one awake; he quickly noticed a man in a jumper and a girl in a tattered dress a few yards away and walked up to them. Looking from one to the other, he turned to the man in the jumper. "I think some of these people might need help," he pointed out. "Especially her," he added, indicating the girl, who seemed barely able to stand.

Thomas woke up with a moan. As he got up, his eyes remained closed as he rubbed his temples and muttered to himself.

"Damn it. Last time I let Adam choose the bar. I knew the drinks tasted funny. And cripes, my bed is horrible. I need to get a new mattress."

Thomas opened his eyes, and saw that he wasn't in his room. He saw other people walking around. He looked over to his side and saw a stick lying on the ground. He grabbed the stick, and stood up.

It would be one thing to be left here alone. He could handle that. But now there were others here. And he didn't trust people he didn't know.

The woman jumped back as the second guy came over, waving her hands rapidly to ward off the men. "Please, just...I don't know anything...I...I..."
And then she turned and ran, her movements awkward from her stiff muscles.

OOC: sorry, I'll post up my bio later, but my parents have cut off cable (as in literally taken the modem for cable AWAY) and left me stranded for the weekend.

IC:
The woman who was named Cathy blinked open a dark, wild eye and looked upwards. Then she screamed and flipped around onto her belly, before proceeding to attempt to dig into the ground.
"LET ME IN! LET ME IN! THE SUNLIGHT'S KILLING ME!" she shrieked in genuine hysterics, and, when failing to find a miraculous door that led into the earth deep benath her fingers, she curled up into a fetal position and wailed loudly into her knees, who knocked her head in sympathy. Or attempted to knock her out in annoyance. Her knees really hated a heliophobic owner.

It was a bit later that she became conscious of others present in her field of vision - which wasn't much, considering the fact that her knees took up most of it. She scrabbled to a crouched position, eyes staring at the others in what was deemed as an obviously insane person. The wind ruffled her hair. She frowned, confused, before breaking out in a shriek of horror.
"MY HAT! MY HAT! THE ALIENS HAVE TAKEN MY HAT!" She patted her head violently, before turning to the others, fearful eyes open, "YOU TOOK MY HAAAAAT!" She wailed.

Hareton was woken by the screech of " YOU TOOK MY HAAAAAT!" In his half-asleep stupor, he grumbled, "I didn't take anything of yours." He then realized that he had no idea who he was talking to. Never one to give up on sleep easily, Harry turned over and curled up, convinced that the voice was only part of his dream. He found that he couldn't quite fall asleep again, and, in his gradually returning awareness, decided that the voices were indeed real. He grumbled again. "Why are there people in my room?" Harry opened his eyes and saw that his blue sheets were now green and grass-shaped. Pushing to his feet, he mumbled "tha hell?" and looked around. There were about ten-ish people around him. He was on the far side of the group. Two guys, one about his age and one a little older, probably in college, were watching a right attractive young woman flee from the group. She wasn't the screaming one. A bit closer to Harry, an obviously insane woman was wailing about aliens and a hat, screaming and pointing at the people waking up. Across the group, a blonde-haired and very threatening-looking man was standing up with a stick in his hand. Hareton decided that whatever was happening, he was going to get outta that guy's line of sight until he'd measured the guy's personality more. Harry looked for some way to hide, but even if he ducked back into the grass, he'd be seen. With no way to hide and no interest in drawing attention to himself by either running or talking, he stood where he was and watched the crazy woman scream.

Ray rolled over and slightly opened his eyes.

"MY HAT! MY HAT! THE ALIENS HAVE TAKEN MY HAT!" he heard a lady screaming.

He rolls over onto his stomach and puts his arms on the ground. He extends them and pushes himself up to his knees, then from there he steps up onto his feet.

"SHUT UP! NO-ONE TOOK YOUR HAT. NOW CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHERE THE HELL I AM?!" he screams, first at the lady yelling about her hat, then at everyone else around him.

He was staring into the ground with simple thoughts rolling through before he tried to get up. Well this is certainly very interesting I wonder where I am. I was just walking up in Mt. Rainier and bam I was out. This position is beging to feel slightly uncomfortable. He stood up. "Hullo all how are we doing on this fine day. I am feeling odd but good as there is a good breeze in this dark place."

Trevor winced at all the shouting. "We're going to become a band of raving lunatics if we don't find a way to organize ourselves." He turned to the man with the jumper again. "Fortunately, I think I have an idea, but I'll need your help. What's your name? I'm Trevor," he said, and smiled in an attempt to be friendly.