-Avi-

The cafeteria was not silent. Not today. And what was weirder was that many of the experiments had gathered around one of the tables, buzzing with excitement. Avi was fairly sure what they were talking about. There was nothing new, so what else would there be? Escape. 

Avi stood up, pushing his tray away from him, only half finished. He walked over to the table where they were gathered. Suddenly, all the experiments fell silent. Avi pushed his way into the crowded circle and stared at them.

&Leskie&

Asher squints at the object in front of us, which resembles a rock---or perhaps a mineral or geode.

"It's...lustrous?" they say in a questioning tone. "And...what's the word. Uh, shiney?"

"Mineral is lustrous and dense, possibly filled with air pockets something," I mumble, quiet enough so Asher can't hear, jotting it down in my observations. Asher peers over my shoulder and writes it down as well. 

"It's weird. It seems...hollow, almost as if it has air pockets. Could it be a geode?" I inquire.

"A geode," he says. "One of those crystalline things? Yeah, I guess. Could we crack it open and find out?"

"Probably," I muse, grabbing a chisel and beginning to chip away at the rock.

I soon gets to the center, and like we guessed, it's a geode, which gives off a blue-gold reflection as the sunlight hits it.

"It's blue," Asher says. "Wait--could it be a choya geode? I read somewhere that choya geodes are 35-65 million years old. They come in colours like these. I think they're also called coconut geodes." He writes in their notebook, then looks at me expectantly.

"I would assume so. The geode seems to be made up of quartz, agate, and amethyst," I reply. I write down my observations. I gently run my fingers against the edges of the geode. It's slightly rough, but not super sharp.

I wait for Asher to finish writing before saying, "We could weigh it on the scale." I gently take the geode and set it on the scale on the lab.

"700 grams," he says, reading the scale. "Moderate weight."

I write it down in my observations, and Asher does as well. "Maybe we can start experimenting now. We could shine it with UV light to see if it has fluorescence," I suggest after we finish. "Or test its water sensitivity...or use a microscope on it. Which do you think you want to do first?" I ask, turning to fully face Asher.

i'm so sorry i haven't been very active on Kyngdom lately - i wasn't able to come onto the CB because of schoolwork, and then i saw that there were a ton of new posts, so i got kind of overwhelmed, and...yeah. well, we just had midterms, so hopefully there'll be less schoolwork now?? one can hope...

but there being a lot of new posts is a good thing!! viva la Kyngdom!! 

anyway, here's Nayr's pov :]

~Nayr~

On some days, Nayr thought he would rather starve than eat the sorry-excuse-for-food that the BIG labs cafeteria spat out. It was an artifical mush of chemicals, and it made his stomach churn unpleasantly. Of course, that was all it was: a thought. As much as the food repulsed him, Nayr would never actually skip a meal. He was already so weak. He needed what little sustenance he could get.

Still, no matter how awful the food was (today, it was a lumpy mound of something yellowish (mashed potatoes?) and a cup of soup that seemed more plasmatic than anything else - though, of course, without any spoons; the scientists were careful not to supply the experiments with anything that could be used as a weapon, and that included flimsy plastic cutlery), Nayr looked forward to mealtimes, because it meant he could see Zinnia and Avi. 

Today, a group of experiments were crowded around his usual table, where he typically sat with Zinnie. Nayr made his way over to the table. 

"I have a plan to get us out of here," Zinnie was saying. Their gaze flicked briefly to Nayr as he set his tray down next to Avi, and then they continued. "But if anyone says anything to the authorities, we're all dead. So are we a team or not? 'Cause if we're not, you're gonna want to back out now. And I should be clear, if you threaten my or her ability to escape," they added, a protective arm around Via, "I... Well, I'll do what's necessary."

Nayr hesitated, pushing around his mashed potatoes (because that was indeed what the yellowish lump turned out to be). Of course he wanted to escape. There was nothing he wanted more than to escape - to escape, and to make sure that the BIG scientists got what they deserved for doing such horrible things to him, and to Zinnie, and Avi, and innocent little Via, and all the other experiments. 

But he'd been experimented on here for ten years now, and he was terrified that there was no way out, and the sooner he came to terms with that, the better. 

But then...Zinnie seemed so determined, like they actually believed they could escape. And there was no one Nayr trusted as much as he trusted Zinnie, so...

"I'm in," said Nayr, and the confidence in his voice surprised himself. "What's the plan?"  

~~~

okay, that was actually kind of long, sorry! i'll post Elaide's pov later today to be a bit easier on the admins and everyone reading this thread :/

but, um, i have another question, and idk if this has already been brought up, but anyway - what's the roommate situation at BCAftV? i think having roommates would create some interesting dynamics and plot points (and be realistic for a boarding school). if we are doing that, does anyone want their charrie to be roommates with Elaide? I was thinking someone more outgoing and adventurous who would be able to drag Elaide into things - i don't really think she'd enter the conflict on her own.

hmm, @Moon Wolf, what do you think about Aly and Elaide roommates (totally fine if not :])? 

*Zinnie*

Zinnia paused, waiting for a response from the large crowd. Finally, Nayr spoke, and Zinnie almost smiled. They were happy to see Nayr and Avi, the closest thing they had to friends other than Via, who was more like a little sister. I'm in," said Nayr. "What's the plan?"

"I'm sure you're all familiar with the window to the yard," Zinnie said slowly, voice low. "It happens to be near my room."

That window was always locked from the outside. Too bad that during outdoors time, Zinnie could turn off those locks. They weren't supposed to be able to do this, of course - the locks required a scientist ID card. Which is why yesterday Via, poor, sweet little Via, whose eyesight was worse as a result of experiments (Zinnie feared she was going blind in her left eye -- they'd have to find a doctor when they got out), had "accidentally" ran into one of the scientists, knocking off her card, during yard time. While the scientist was busy barking at a six-year-old girl, Zinnie had switched the card with a fake one, unlocked the window, and switched them back before anyone could notice.

Zinnie had checked this morning. The window was still unlocked. Hopefully nobody had noticed and locked it again by now, or all of this would fail. 

"Well, I got the window unlocked," said Zinnie. "We can climb out of it. There's usually a field of electricity so those of us with wings don't fly away, but it's turned off at night to save energy. I can fly us over the fence, one by one. Then we'll escape into the woods and decide where to go from there. Cool?"

***

Roomates sounds like a good idea! Anyone's charrie want to room with Cress? 

@pangolin I was wondering if Cress and Elaide could partner in chemistry? I'm kind of enjoying rping with them but I don't want to be pushy; it's fine if not.

-Avi-

"It's never going to work". They stared at him. "I don't mean to be the pessimist in this situation but there are many more things we need to think about. That would be far too easy."

Zinnie was looking at him, warning him not to crush little Via's hope with his harsh words. Hope was fragile. And for most of the experiments, beaten and battered as they were, this was the first bit of hope they had had in a long while. 

"What I mean is...." He met Zinnie's and Nayr's eyes, carefully contemplating what the right thing to say would be. "We should add to it. It's great that you got the window unlocked, we need to keep it that way. We also need to figure out a way to get all of us to the fence and over it in time without them noticing. That will be the hard part."

Nayr's face relaxed a little bit, and all the experiments started chattering, coming up with ideas for the problems he had exposed. 

I'm sorry, he mouthed to Zinnie.  

.+aenys+.

I sit down next to my fellow experiment (a homo catus named Avi) and twitch my ears, listening carefully to what they're planning. I tremble slightly, hearing their words about escape. Escape? We've been here so long...even those of us who weren't born here can hardly remember our lives before. I was just a kitten when they took me, I think, stopping myself from digging my claws into the bench.

Then, Avi speaks up, interrupting Zinnie and Nayr's careful planning. "It's never going to work."

I give him an incredulous look, but he continues. "What I mean is..." he looks towards Zinnie and Nayr, probably wondering what the right thing to say is. "We should add to it. It's great that you got the window unlocked, we need to keep it that way. We also need to figure out a way to get all of us to the fence and over it in time without them noticing. That will be the hard part."

"I have an idea," I meow, shocking myself by speaking up. My tail swishes agitatedly. "Maybe it's not a great one, but it's something. I overheard one of the guards mentioning something about the students' parents coming, for...a parent-teacher conference, or something? I'm not sure what that is, but I do know that it usually lasts until midnight, or at least until 2-3am. My room--more like a cell, actually--has a window that looks in on their conference room, so it kept me up until around 3am." I shoot a nervous glance at the other experiments, but they're all listening. I can't tell if they like my plan so far, but they're definitely listening.

I continue; "I know the conference is in about a week. That may be not enough time for us to escape, but it's possible. I'm thinking we wait until the middle of the conference--around when the students eat supper and the parents and teachers are doing...whatever it is that they do...in full force. Then, maybe we can escape, while the guards are busy." I dig my claws into the bench, my slim, calico figure quivering with excitement. My paws tremble slightly, whether out of nervousness or excitement I'll never know.

Hey!