The Genesis' Gift [IC]

[Aurelia Courville]

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/ranilove2616/tgg.png
Stereo Alchemy- The Rapture (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ghPQly33dg)

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-- Chapter One --
Genesis
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The sky above was a dim purple-gray haze that gave everyone on the streets the pallour of the dead. Even the buildings that had once seemed to glitter were now dulled. The clouds blended into the tops of the buildings, a full gray as if it were about to rain. For those citizens of Genesis who had lived before the war, memories of what they could no longer have haunted them, yet somehow they knew there was no going back. If you thought about it, it was like having more and less at the same time; like they had had to make a sacrifice somewhere along the line that they were only now vaguely aware of.

Lex could only imagine what life would have been like if the war hadn't come to their front door--could only dream about what it would be like if the war never happened at all. Thoughts like that weren't exactly doing anyone any good but today seemeed like a good day for remembering what you lost.

Lex stood in the middle of the small apartment's even smaller kitchen in her mother's old pajamas. Though she and her brother had been orphaned by the war, some essence of their old life still remained in material form. A good thing; since stores and good clothes were hard to come by in those early years before and during the building of Genesis, she'd at least been able to grow into her mothers things.

Hands clasped and warmed about the oversized ceramic mug she sighed and wiped the past from her mind.

She walked the length of the kitchen in no more than four steps and headed to Augustus’ room. "Hey. Hey you." She said softly sitting on the edge of his bed and shaking him a bit. "I’m not meant to be taking care of you big brother." He wasn’t asleep, she could tell, but for some reason he wouldn’t open his eyes. He did let out a muffled grunt that she figured was intended to be a laugh.

"I made you dinner last night, you aren’t allowed to complain" he answered. Lex was poking him while he talked and he tried to bat her hand away, lazily. She frowned.

"Yeah, and I washed the dishes." She stood up and headed for the door, licking her finger and using it to mark the air like a scoreboard, "You’re now one behind." Yes, she was keeping track. Why? Lex believed that Auggie, being the older of the two, was supposed to be the responsible one. Augustus believed that Lex, being of the fairer sex, should be the one taking care of him. They compromised by taking turns doing things for each other and Lex wasn’t backing down.

Lex made her way across the hall to her room. There wasn’t much to it, but it still found a way to feel cramped. She pulled out a dark blue wrap dress and a pale pink sweater from her closet. She changed quickly and went back to her brother’s room. She knocked on the door frame to get his attention. He was up now but sitting on the edge of his bed, with what looked like an important packet of papers in a blue folder. "I’m heading to the school now." She said raising her voice so he could hear over his own thoughts.

"If you wait, I can drive you." He offered looking up from his papers to see Lex now leaning on his door frame. Government workers had some pretty spiffy cars.

Lex shook her head, "No, I’ll take the bus."

"You sure? I’ll only be fifteen minutes tops."

"Mm," she hesitated only a moment. "No, it’s fine. You’d be taking an unnecessary detour to drop me off anyways." She smiled, stood up straight then turned to walk out of the house. "I’ll see you tonight." She didn't wait for a response, just picked up her backpack filled with ungraded tests and other various supplies and headed out the door.

The transportation system had been refitted but it found a way to look as grimy as the borderlands. Lex didn't know the ins-and-outs of it, but she could tell how ever they were working, the 'buses' were simmilar to the trams San Francisco used to have; connected to wires that connected to some magic place and ran on rails like old trains.

Like everything else, the school had been rebuilt but the system was different from when she was growing up. And it had to be. More Science and Math and less Art being pushed. The Council needed new ideas to help Genesis be better than the old society.

Lex couldn’t really complain though, she had no doubt they’d all be dead if it wasn’t for them. Or at least she would: Lex did not do out doors. She’d never been camping and didn’t ever plan out it either. Though she had been a Girl Scout, she’d skipped out on the camping trip they annually held.

Visit the OOC for more info and to join. (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7034)-Iris.

[Miss Ember]

The Pain That I'm Used To. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxrSS0PT-pY)

The morning came over a mansion that was painted white and cream colored, spacious bedrooms that held five people, hardly enough for a house this big. Angel was sleeping beside her 'husband' but the alarm clock started to beep loudly, causing the man to adruptly wake with a snort. But the woman laid there still pretending to sleep for he never wanted to wake her and whenever she did there was a certain morning ritual he liked.. sex. Her husband, Timothy, got up from the bed with only a white shirt and boxers that could barely hold in his beer gut. Walking out of the room into their bathroom, Angel turned to her side and let the alarm keep beeping until it stopped after a minute, thinking of how hideous this man was, and about Destiny...

Oh Destiny... Beautiful blonde long locks that held such a petite gorgeous face of a woman with crystal grey eyes that lit up when content and darkened whenever saddened. Sighing, a small tear ran down from Angel's bright blue eyes and dropped onto the tan covers.

Timothy got out of the bathroom now done with his shower and got into a black suit before leaving once again to the kitchen. He knew Angel didn't love him, but he couldn't help thinking of not having her around. A trophy wife and something that made him wet in his dreams.

Eventually getting up from the majestic cream and tan colored bed, Angel sighed and got up from her sleeping place with only a skimpy black nightgown. She could never buy her own clothes as Timothy had all the money. Taking a shower that the man just came out of, the water seemed to wash all of the sins that she committed last night... intimacy. Shivering from the memories, Angel got out and wrapped herself in a white towel before going to the walk in closet to find what she was supposed to wear today. A simple dark green dress with a small black belt that went around the waist. Wrapping the towel around her hair and laid it on her head, she her undergarments on and then the dress.

Just in time to see her makeup artist to come in saying, "OMG, so cute." The man who was barely into his twenties and gay. Grabbing her arm, he started walking her to the booth swinging his hips like no other. Angel couldn't help but chuckle at this was the only highlight of her day. Sitting down and him sculpturing make-up on her face that would cause no oxygen to her pores and made her tanner which looked weird when someone looked at her bare arms.

Feeling like hours passed by Angel finally got up with a cat eye, a pound of foundation and her hair curled to perfection. "Thank you ever so much dear." Attempting to smile and hold his hand.

"Don't thank me hun, thank your genes!" The make-up artist countered, smiling widely before walking quickly away, moving his hips as always.

Losing her smile, Angel looked into the mirror at what she became. A rich housewife in a war, doing nothing but spoiling her children and being a play toy from her husband. Typical. Walking out of the room and down the hallway to go to her children's rooms, Becca first. Knocking on the door softly, a little girl's voice rang, "I'll be out! Jesus." But Angel came in to see her flesh and blood texting wildly, her little fingers hitting the keys, unknowing she will get arthritis in her hand.

"Be down in the kitchen in ten, Becca." Angel said sympathetically before closing the door and walking over to Jame's room, she could already hear moans coming from the room, obvious he was doing something or with someone else. Knocking on the door, Angel said, "Be down in the kitchen in ten, James, and please be more quiet." She than heard some rustling and than laughter before she heard the bed moving once again. Her children were concieved when she was in the mountains with the same man who paid for her 'love', and she couldn't believe they were doing sexual things with others when James was only fourteen and Becca nine.

Walking downstairs into the expensive kitchen to see Timothy, "Ah, your awake Angel." He smiled happily as he took a bite of his cereal.

"Yes, and I liked the outfit you chose for me today." Walking over to him with a fake smile plastered over her face and kissed him on his bald forehead before looking in the fridge. "You are going to work yes?" The man nodded at the answer and finished the cereal and gave it to Angel to put in the sink which she had no choice but to do. Putting the bowl in the sink, Timothy wrapped his arms around her waist and brought him to her, kissing her.

"Can you bring a lunch to my class?" Timothy asked as his 'hobbie' as teaching young students the way of Science and parts of history before the war began.

"Okay dear." Angel still had that smile and patted his cheek with her hand before he let go and left. The smile faded once again and felt another tear almost escaping her eye but couldn't attempt to ruin her make-up and rushed to get a paper towel to wipe carefully. Sooner or later her children came down to demand food and she did so that, wishing them good luck at school and they scoffed and left in a hurry. Angel for the rest of the time until noon sat watching old shows while she felt hollow inside. Getting up Angel went to a stash she held in the kitchen... cocaine. Sniffing it, she felt better and went to make a lunch for her husband. Finishing it and putting it in a sack which he prefered that made him feel he was getting food from his mother. Going outside in the grey colored sky, she got into a Prius and drove to the place he was teaching.

[thesouleater]

Nick was just walking around outside, still trying to get used to living in Genesis. He knew he wouldn't be able to leave. The earth outside of Genesis was a living nightmare. Bodies, bombs, guns... there was nothing peaceful left outside. He headed back home and once there, grabbed the keys to the small, beat-up car he and James owned.

The young man drove around for a while, bored. He truthfully had nothing better to do and normally did this. He would drive around the streets he knew all to well and watch the people go about their everyday business. Sometimes he would stop at a coffee shop and have a cup of coffee or two. But nothing else.

After an hour of driving Nick started heading back home, but saw James nearly tripping over his own feet half-way there. He pulled over in concern and got out of the car. "Oi... James? Are you okay?"

"Okay? I'm fantastic!" He yelled. "Hows about chyu?" His words were slurred and sounded weird. Nick had a bit of difficulty understanding what he said and took a minute to figure it out.

"You better come with me." Nick said. He opened the door to the back seat of the car and pushed James in. He then started heading back home.

[Familiar]

A loud curse echoed down the hall, followed by the clank of metal.

That was Frank. Frank was a new guy. Frank sucked at his job. Shaking his head, Urien simply cursed the loss of good material. Metal was rare enough around here without some idiot using it to make 'modern art'. Still, he was getting close to finishing his current project, a new tram car for the transportation system. It wasn't anything particularly exciting, but it was important. Most of the one's in circulation were getting so worn that Urien was half surprised that nobody had fallen through a floorboard yet.

To tell the truth, despite the stupidly high standards the government had for making people into synthesizers (one of the main reasons that Frank's terrible performance was so noteworthy) the job was fairly routine. The furnace burned hot on the wall, ready to melt and reconstitute any scrap that Urien deemed necessary to feed it. There were all of the necessary molds and the like sitting next to that. A huge pile of various metallic junk sat in the corner, ready to be broken down and categorized. All of the intricate parts that he couldn't make with his own equipment were on a.... shit.

Staring with a growing sense of irritation, Urien stared at the empty space where all of his tech used to be. He needed that stuff for today. Having it go missing would not do. Tensely, he exited the room, down the hall. "Frank?"

[iamaninja]

Just another day at The Wall, the term coined by the other Public Security Enforcers, the cause of the name was obvious, he and some other Enforcers were guarding just another section of massive wall surrounding Genesis.

There was a slight weakness in this particular section, nothing too bad else there would've been more guards, but enough that if someone was determined they could probably get through.

Jack smiled to himself and adjusted his rifles sling, nothing had happened so far, not a single thing and the boredom was showing in the masked Enforcers, some having a game of cards and others standing around with masks off having a smoke. Not Jack.

No, he was simply enjoying the fact that he was alive and had a stable job, sure he was a bit bored but he had something to look forward to later in the day.
Mcneil watched as cars drove past the cordons, not one slowing, indeed the civilians seemed to have no interest in The Wall whatsoever, which was fine by him, the less interest they had in the Other-side the easier his job was.

He checked his watch and couldn't help but feel a bit of relief. "Oi, you sorry lot, our Shifts over!" That got everyone's attention, they perked right up and actually seemed to be enjoying their duty 'figures' He thought 'few minutes away from the end and their awake and alert'

Ah well, what could you do? About five minutes later the replacements arrived, much to the joy of the Second Shift, the others left, as did Jack, each heading off to their own private lives to relax or whatever. Himself, well he was headed home to have a long hot shower and maybe catch some Z's before he headed out later tonight.

[WordsofWisdom]

When Eli awoke to a depressing looking sky, the smell of burnt rubber, and grime sticking to his overcoat, he initially thought, for some inane reason, of marshmellows.

Whatever happened to them? It's not like they were in huge supply anymore, this was true, but they weren't exactly sparse, either. He's sure that if he walked down to a still-standing grocery store (rarer than he initially realized, true) he would find a bag of the small white tasties. Hell, maybe even a case! Maybe somebody - one of those rich folk, perhaps - had a few they weren't sharing. Maybe even chocolate and graham crackers for s'mores.

It was strange, thinking about the pre-war flavours, little things that the general population didn't have anymore. They had so much, and were lucky. He knew that, having tread in the wastelands of what was once a great nation. He had seen first hand the hordes of zombified humans, who only wanted to take their rage and depression out on those who were weaker than themselves. He knew all about the world outside of these walls, and he would gladly tell anyone who listened, if they only stopped for a tick.

Marshmellows were driven from his mind as he heard the tram car approach, and he stretched his legs against the roughly paved streets, leaning against an apartment building that sat near the gate to the school. He paused for a moment to adjust his cardboard sign, and tightened his coat around him, shivering from an imagined cold. He had a sandwich left over, still, and that would keep him fueled up until dinner, he supposed. A homeless woman, Kathy, started tuning her violin, while Richard, a black kid who had just turned sixteen, warmed up his vocal chords.

The Homey Corner, they called it. A place near the school, where they gave all the kids a bit of a show before class. Musical, dramatic, and occasionally someone would perform some acrobatics, just to let the little ones know that even those who had nothing were having just a grand ole' time.

Eli was a little depressed at the thought. Genesis, in some ways, was built on dreams and sustained on lies. Lies about fertile lands in the east, about possibility of farming in the future, about trade routes with other establishments. And they were all part of it, part of playing an elaborate game with themselves.

Genesis was the city that everyone - including the homeless - pretended to be happy. The city where, consequently, nobody was.

The car pulled into the stop, and he plastered a smile on his face, adjusting the sign once more. 'INFORMATION, STORIES, AND OTHER SERVICES' it read, in messy black paint. He smiled, winked, and awaited the flood of people who would - hopefully - provide him with dinner money.

[Aurelia Courville]

Staff was low and the days were long at the Genesis school building. Her class alone was almost fifty kids of varying ages between eleven to sixteen. It was hard and sometimes confusing, but it was something, and they got through.

Lex sat on the crowded tram stack of mismatched remade papers in the form of tests she'd started grading on the way to the school (test that she should have graded the night before), surrounded by kids (some of which were her students) and other early workers who didn't have there own cars. It wasn't a luxury people who didn't have Council jobs or resort to the black market had and few still had old models that worked. It didn't bother Lex so much anymore, she'd resigned herself that there wasn't much else she could do about it.

The tram hit a stop not to far from the school in front of a familiar group. As soon as the noise from the bus had quieted a bit, she was hit with a wave of violin music and a sweet voice singing an old tune. It always baffled Lex how there could still be homeless in Genesis. She'd thought this was meant to be a safe haven for survivors. Maybe there were more survivors than the Council originally intended and there wasn't enough livable spaces available. Either way, it was too sad a realization for this early in the morning.

“Good-morning Eli.” she'd said with a smile, stopping to greet them all as she stepped from the tram. “How's everything going?” she listened to his response and nodded appropriately. She'd talked to him a few times (how could you not when you see the same people every day) and he was kind enough though scared by the war just like they all were. Sometimes even she wished she could forget...which reminded her...

“My brother told me the Council was finishing up some sort of pill . He wouldn't tell me much, but he said it was supposed to help. What do you make of that?” It hadn't occurred to her that she'd just started a sentence off a topic that had only been going on in her head and Eli might have no idea what it was supposed to mean, sometimes she did that. It was okay when she did it with her brother, but he seemed to be the only one on the same wavelength as her.

[FlameFury]

Waking up to the incessant buzzing on his alarm clock, Marshall thumped the off button and struggled to get out of bed due to the massive hangover from the night before. Tossing his clothes on, he went to the kitchen and took a couple of asprin for his headache.

Quickly grabbing his keys, wallet and cigarettes he locked the door behind him and started to walk the two blocks to his work.

Arriving to work after about a twenty minute walk, Marshall unlocked the front door, turned the alarm off and headed towards the back room. Near the back of the workshop was a bench covered in a thick green tarpaulin. He lifted the tarp off carefully, as to not disturb what was lying there.

Taking a seat, with his back to the workshop, he started to tinker with one of the little devices that he had found lying in what he thought was a scrap heap.

[WordsofWisdom]

Eli had just about finished with diddling with his sign when an obviously feminine and very pretty voice rose above the violin and singing. He jerked his head upwards, beard swinging as he did so, and showed off his pearly white teeth to the young girl in a genuine grin of pleasure.

Lex. A sight for sore eyes, she was. A beautiful young woman who was determined to make Genesis a better place, one youth at a time. Eli and the others of Homey Corner had nothing but pure undulated respect for the lass, some of the younger males even had a little bit of lust tinged in there, as well. Eli nodded at her greeting.

"Well, h'llo there, lass. Going allrigh', but not cold enough ta start tha barrel fire, yet. Real crappy mornin', ain't it?"

His smile grew slightly when she rapidly changed the subject, obviously having not heard his response to her greeting. Lex was a bit of a space case, from what little he had gained from her talks with his fellows at the Corner, but still a genuine person, from his standpoint.

"Er... A pill, you say?" He said, his eyebrows rising in amusement. "Wha, like a pill tha' helps wit sleepin or summin? I could use a pill like that, I could. Help me with the shoutin' goin' on down tha road, it could."

He was slightly intrigued as to why she would ask him about this nameless pill. It must be weighing on her mind somewhat, but the council was always working on this or that to make it 'help'. Most of the council officials who came Eli's way were yelled at, in true crazy-man fashion. They were always grabbing the street walkers off of the Corner to 'test' upon, and he didn't think too highly of it.

"Though, maybe it helps wit appetite. I heard that Miss James, down tha' road, died of starvation. Righ' in the middle o' her kitchen, she was. Poor lass. Couldn' eat 'cause o' her husband leavin' and all. I don' rightly know, though, lass."

[thesouleater]

Once home, Nick layed James down on a bed and told him to sleep. There wasn't much else you could do with a drunk man. He then looked at the time and swore. He was going to be late for work.

Nick ran into his room, quickly changed into his shorts and t-shirt for lifeguarding and ran back out. He shoved his water bottle under the tap and left the water running while he found his runners and sandles. He wrote a brief note to James and grabbed his water bottle before running out.

Once outside, he darted to his car and was speeding down the street in to time. He got to work just on time luckily and was out on the deck, watching the few people there swimming.

[Aurelia Courville]

"Though, maybe it helps wit appetite. I heard that Miss James, down tha' road, died of starvation. Righ' in the middle o' her kitchen, she was. Poor lass. Couldn' eat 'cause o' her husband leavin' and all. I don' rightly know, though, lass."

"Oh that's horrible." her voice came out genuinely distraught. "But I doubt it's for either of those. I think Augustus called it Bliss" the name emphasized as if she were testing it's 'helpfulness' just by saying it. "Of course that's the street name for it, I forget that number thing scientist usually tag everything with." She sighed and turned to see most of the kids heading into the school building. "Drats, I'm late. It was lovely catching up with you again Eli." she turned to leave, then turned back to whisper to him. "And if any of you ever need food while schools in session, find my classroom and I'll get you lunch." she winked and turned and followed the mass of bodies into the building.


By noon the mornings talk had all but left her mind as she went over the ins-and-outs of Photosynthesis to her students. This was about as technical as her job would get. Anything more complicated and she'd be just as clueless as the bright eyes looking back up at her.

It was about time they all took a break, so she dismissed them for their lunch of canned vegetables and fruits and imitation meat. "The Council should really be more worried about the food and housing than whether or not people were 'blissful'." She'd sighed into her hands when she was finally alone in her classroom.


A sharp tap on the metal door frame startled her from her thoughts as she looked up to see a graying man looking straight faced and holding a few blue files--the same kind her brother had in his hands this morning--in his pudgy fingers that were obvious against the bright white of his lab coat. He cleared his throat and stepped in the room. "Ms. Tarasov." It wasn't a question. "My name is Dr. F--"

"Dr. Faust." She interrupted, standing to greet him with a raised hand for him to shake. "I know who you are. One of seven High Council members, Chief of scholastics." she was trying to nonchalantly pass off his achievements as if it wasn't something to fawn over.

Dr. Faust smiled a bit. "I see my reputation precedes me."

Lex shrugged halfheartedly. "My brother works on the council..." She trailed off and he picked up on his que to change the subject.

"Ah, yes. Augustus. I should have known. Well, then we can skip the pleasantries. How are your classes coming along?" He asked, sitting in one of the children's desks leaving Lex standing still trying to figure out what exactly he was doing here.

"Fairly well, I suppose. It'd be easier if we had more staff. But I'm sure you're already aware of that." Faust nodded and flipped through his files absentmindedly.

Lex took a few steps so that she was now in front of her desk, half sitting on the edge of it so she could have a better view of what was in those folders without bringing too much attention to herself. When she looked at the file he'd paused on, she saw the name of one of the teachers here at the school. There was a red X beside the name and Faust flipped past that one as well. He paused again at Lex's own name.

"I only ask because, well, the council is considering a change in curriculum soon, and we were doing a--sort of survey, if you will-- to figure out which changes would be beneficial to the students."

The way he was saying certain words made Lex think he was speaking in some sort of code that she wasn't privy to knowing and it bugged her. And why were the names of some of those files crossed out? "I see." She said slowly. Lex figured it was best to be careful of what she was saying. Something about red X's didn't seem like the best thing to have by your name.

That's when she noticed his hand holding a red marker hovering next to her own name. She put a smile on her face and looked the Doctor in the eye. "Well, I'm sure the council knows what's best." She picked up one of the test papers on her desk and looked at it. "And I'm sure the kids would love to have a break from the reproduction of plants." She forced herself a giggle and sighed inwardly when his pen moved away from her name leaving only a check-mark next to it and a small smile on his lips as he stood up from the desk.

"Well, I'm sure we'll all be happier when the change comes." He'd then said his goodbye and left. But lex couldn't help but feel the lingering traces of a chill going up and down her spin from the last thing that man had said.

[iamaninja]

On his way back home to his apartment Jack decided to stop by a certain mechanics shop, it was fairly close to his apartment block and he hadn't seen Marshall in a while.
He arrived and stood out the front for a moment before entering, he needn't worry about making too much sound either, seemed that Marsh was busy fiddling with something; he spotted the mechanic hunched over a workbench.

Whats this, something military? Marhsal probably had conveniently 'forgotten' that anything military was to be turned in immediately, well Jack could either report him now, or take matters into his own hands.

He stepped forward, coming up behind the mechanic, he spoke his voice rasping from the vox in his mask.

"That does not look legal, Citizen"

[FlameFury]

As Marshall was pulling the small device apart with a screw-driver and a hammer, he heard one of the guards come up behind him say "That does not look legal, Citizen"

Dropping everything, he spun around on the stool and had to crane his neck to look up at the gigantic figure standing within poking distance of him. Thoughts were flying through his mind at the speed of light about what'll happen to him, that he'll loose his job were amongst some of them.

Stammering some piss-poor excuse, he slumped down on the stool to stop himself from having a heart attack.