They're coming to take me away, ha-ha...

[Brian]

This room contains a half of a ping-pong table, and what looks like a tiny ping-pong ball gun.  Dr. Peterson asks you to put on a bracelet on your right wrist to monitor your heartbeat, and then checks your reflexes on trying to hit a ball back across the room after it's launched.  He seems pleased with the result, but says it's not supernatural.

Apparently, you've got good reflexes.  The test for superhuman strength is less than spectacular, since, as far as you can tell, the 'one ton' and '300 kilo' weights don't plan on moving any time soon.  After that, trying to juggle.

Then, the treadmill, for endurance.  The results check out, and you're apparently not very superhuman in this regard.

After it's over, you're a bit tired, as you haven't eaten in ... a few days? A while, anyway ... and you know you could really use a shower.  Dr. Richmond seems to agree, and you're escorted back to the playroom.  Megan is already back there, assembling a small glass snowman.  Mikey is currently speaking with the old man again.  The woman with the radio has assembled the pieces into something ... else.  What, is questionable, but it looks more like art than anything functional.  Jonas is aparently sleeping near his flower, head resting on his folded arms.

Megan isn't immediately in sight, but you do catch the trio of signers.

And about the time the doors close behind you, the cafeteria bell rings.

[Bjorn]

Well.  In the choice between food and hygiene, given the food, I'll choose hygiene.

Bjorn makes his way quickly back to his apartment, with the intention of taking a fast, scrub-and-a-promise shower, and changing into a clean jumpsuit, and, with luck, getting back to the cafeteria in time.

In the shower, though, he again studies the bracelet contemplatively as he lathers.  Hm.  Got some sort of reaction when I was thinking about setting Peterson on fire.  I wonder... is fire the key?

[Brian]

Thinking of fire reminds you briefly of the encounter with Ashnod on the highway outside of Totonto.  That causes the bracelet to begin glowing gently again, though it doesn't seem to be doing anything but glowing.  At least the shower is reasonably warm.

Now actually taking time to survey the washroom, you notice something you missed before -- the mirror on the wall facing the shower (which is also the same wall the washroom shares with the main room).  It sticks out a bit, but isn't actually a medicine cabinet.  The sink is beneath that, oriented correctly to face the mirror, and tiles line the floor.  Though, some of the tiles look a little beaten up.

Regardless, someone left an empty styrofoam cup and various toiletries (tooth brush, paste, floss, electric razor) on the back of the sink, beneath the mirror.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn goes out to his dresser, grabs one of his spare jumpsuits, brings it back into the bathroom, hangs it over the mirror, brushes his teeth, quickly scrapes his face (one of the joys of having limited facial hair is not needing to bother with shaving cream), and then heads back out towards the cafeteria -- after having gotten dressed in a clean jumpsuit, of course.

[Brian]

The ledge atop the mirror isn't well suited to hanging things from, and your jumpsuit slips to the floor twice before you get it to stick properly.  It also doesn't completely cover the mirror, but if there's a camera behind it, there's a good chance it's obscured now.

Code Select Expand

Perception check:
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Bjorn ... : 3d6 -->{10}

While you retrieved the jumpsuit the second time, you notice once of those beat-up tiles on the floor is cracked, and doesn't quite seem to have any grout sealing it to the side of the wall.  It's about 9 cm wide, and 11 high.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn hesitates.  Goddamnit, I'm really hungry, but... damnit.  Okay.

With that, he gets down, and pokes at the tile, trying to see if he can pull it loose.

[Brian]

The tile isn't even held in, once you slide it upwards.

Hey, someone put a little secret compartment in here!  It's wider and deeper inside, and you probably don't want to think about how they smashed out the concrete, but there it is.  And if there is a camera in the mirror, it's below it, too.

Not a bad place for a hidden compartment, all told.  A bit small, though.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn ponders for a second.  Then he goes back out to the bedroom and roots around in the dresser to grab a clean pair of underwear, which he wraps around the figurine and takes back into the bathroom.  Then he puts the figurine in the secret compartment, closes it up, changes underwear, rips a hole in the crotch of the old pair, and then heads towards the door of his apartment again, tossing the ruined underwear on the bed.

Okay.  Now I can go eat.

[Brian]

Hole in the crotch.  That'll make 'em come up with a whole new spectrum of 'bio' tests....  Maybe not.

When you get to the cafeteria, it's with a woeful sense of deja vu.  The menu is almost identical ... but this time they have some relatively innofensive looking scalloped potatoes, and pieces of (apparently) unprocessed chicken.

[Bjorn]

I hate potatoes. Mental whine finished with, Bjorn takes the chicken and the potatoes, and looks around to see who else is in the cafeteria.

[Brian]

It tastes edible, which is probably about the best compliment you could give the cook.  Or maybe, "It doesn't bounce as well as most basketballs."

The signers are here, though on their way out.  There's only two other people all told, one of which is the woman who was tinkering with radio parts.  The other is a moody looking fellow with short, greasy hair, and a sallow complexion.

[Bjorn]

Okay.  Socializing sucks at the best of times, and eating this crap is farthest from.

With that, Bjorn sets his mind on cleaning up his plate as fast as he can manage, and then heading back out to the Playground.

[Brian]

You're hungry enough it doesn't take too long.  Once finished, you find that the playground is about half full.  Megan and Bridgette are at the spots where you met them originally, Megan still brooding into the river, Bridgett eyeing her crude glass snowman dubiously.

Mikey and Lazarus are still talking, though the conversation appears to (still) be Mikey talking, and the old man just listening.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn does his best to catch Bridgett's eye, and (if he succeeds) then does his best to sign, "Good job," if he remembers how.  Failing that, though, he moves to take up the same place he was in last time (yesterday?), squatting by the base of the bridge, facing Megan, waiting patiently to attract her attention, thinking in run-on sentences.

[Brian]

Bridgett nods at you, and offers a small smile.  It takes Megan a while to notice you, however.  She shakes her head as though she had dozed off.  "Sorry," she says apologetically.  "How are you doing today?"