Calvin hadn’t slept last night. His first thought had been to return to the forge, continue his work, but the thought of seeing Alexandria or any other carnage sister made him feel sick. Instead, he had spent the night locked in his room, sobbing over Shona’s damaged blade, an indication of his failure. By the time the morning announcement played, his eyes were red and bloodshot. At some point in his grief, a letter had been slipped under the door. He hadn’t bothered to look at it, and had almost forgotten it, until he noticed a flicker of movement by his door once more. A second letter had been slid under. Calvin stood slowly, and walked over, picking up the first. He immediately recognized Alexandria’s handwriting. HI HI ^-^ I think we need to talk about last night. I made you waffles with ice cream for breakfast. Come to my room. Hurry before it melts! XOXOXOXO, Alexandria Bile rose in his throat. Cursing loudly, he tore the letter in half, and paced around his room. It took him about 20 minutes to muster the courage to check the second letter, which he knew came from the same robot. Ohz Nohz! 0-o When the icecream started to melt, I was worried that it would get the waffle all soggy, so I set the waffle in the furnace. It melted the ice cream and burned the waffle up! Q-Q Until I learn your schedule, you'll have to make due with a breakfast sandwich. It's almost as good though! XOXOXOXO, Alexandria It was like nothing had happened. Calvin had appreciated Alexandria’s ultimately fruitless attempts to protect him the night previous. Almost had felt a hint of respect for the robot, even though she creeped the hell out of him. But now, all he could see was Shona’s corpse, smiling as blood oozed out of it. All he wanted to do was get out of this game, get away from the robots and other Infinites. There was only one way to do that though. And Calvin wasn't sure if he was ready. ------------------------------------------------ Stepping out of his room, Calvin looked around. The group had made an agreement to meet every morning, and for a moment, Calvin had half a mind to ignore it. He wasn’t in the mood to talk with people, but then again, he wanted answers. And he knew people would have questions of him. He began to walk to the break room, when he saw Daimyon crouched in front of one of the elevators. He began to walk, when he saw a woman laying down in front of the Infinite Poet. Rushing over, Calvin examined the girl. There were no outward signs of injury, and he did his best to calm his rapidly-beating heart. He looked at Daimyon. “Did you find her like this?” He asked. His first instinct was that she was another infinite, but new ones had already been rotated in last night. Why was she late? Pulling out his e-handbook (he had left Alexandria’s in his room), he opened the list of patients. In addition to Lucas Carsen, Bliss Buckly and Noel Hawthorne, who had all wisely given Calvin space in the aftermath of last night, there was a new face and name added to the list. “Marianne? Hel-“ Calvin had knelt next to Daimyon, and saw on the girl’s hand a small coat of what appeared to be dried blood. He looked up, and saw that it lined the walls of the room. “Jesus.” Was all he muster, as he looked in open-mouthed awe. It didn’t scare him, for some part of him knew the girl was alright, but he suddenly became aware of the scent, which was cloying and overwhelming in this moment. He took a step back, looking at Daimyon, curious if he was involved in this in some way. [@MyCatGinger] [@Mateotis]