Among Us

Day 1. My mission is one of the boldest ever to be executed and anticipated to be revolutionary. My bred-for-curiosity scientific peers watch as my human form is finalized - skin colorizing, to replace the soft purple blue tones with white and pink, contacts - and congratulate me yet again for being chosen. I can’t stop looking at myself in the mirror.

SR (Study-Release) missions usually involve low-risk subjects (older subjects from rural areas) but science now demands younger and more mentally fluid subjects. It took a lot of deliberation for my mission to be set forward, because I will be the first to attempt to blend in among the subjects. I’m the first to undergo physical changes - as far as T7167 is concerned anyways. This isn’t our first rodeo. The deliberation was due to the fact that I am very young and relatively unqualified to assimilate with T7167 culture. But this time, it had to be a younger scientist because we grow taller in age, reaching heights just slightly too tall to fit in among T7167 subjects. I will be tall, for a subject, but not outlandishly so, because of my youth.

I review my profile before stepping into the dematerializer. My title Siievin, unfortunately, has to be changed. I am to be called ‘Seth’. It has been decided that I will go to the place where my possible subjects collectively learn, something they call ‘university’ and simultaneously ‘college’. An eviiq has never been sent to a place so populated with potential subjects before. From this place, I am to collect six diverse samples to further our T7167 studies. I swallow my nervousness and step into the dematerializer.

Other planets have been harder to infiltrate. Because of a huge discovery, we were able to connect to T7167 from afar. Subjects - excuse me, humans - call it the ‘internet’. I rematerialize inside of an unoccupied apartment that we selected through the internet. The first thing I have to do is find a human to partially rewire, in order to allow me to stay with them. I have programs prepared for several family and roommate dynamics. I take in a breath of T7… ‘Earth’...

~~~

Day 8. I’ve successfully injected a human with the understanding that I am her college age son. She lives on campus but is very near what is called a ‘hermit’ yet she is very outwardly compassionate, unlike the stereotypical T7167 subject. She was a golden discovery. Her name is Tabitha.

The classes of this institution began yesterday, but I was complicated with the priority of finding Tabitha and so I missed the first day. However as I understand it, missing classes is not particularly unusual and so I have not yet jeopardized my mission with accidental outlandishness. My eyes have been extremely pained by carrying these heavy contacts but I would be a freak here without them. They are hardly normal as is, most people have brown eyes. The blonde hair blue eyed estimation was incorrect for this locale. Most subjects have brown hair and brown eyes. I am sitting on a bench in a public place, and I have been here for five hours now collecting data. My task suddenly seems so daunting.

~~

Siievin taps away at his tablet until he is satisfied, as he does at least once a day. Headquarters has been beyond pleasantly surprised with his frequent and lengthy updates, but they aren’t really to please anybody. They are to keep him sane. Never before in his life has he been so grateful for education as he is for the training sessions that allowed him to understand these marvelous creatures. However he can see now that the complexity of these subjects has been entirely underestimated. Estimations of consciousness run based on existing technology, but in the case of Earth the graph is not linear.

Siievin catches something out of the corner of his eye and is careful to move slow, like a human would, to lift his head and feed his vision with the vibrant orange color. It is hair. Seth’s breath catches in his throat and it takes him a few seconds before he remembers his equipment. He blinks seven times in quick succession and the contacts begin to send a livestream to headquarters. At headquarters they scramble to set up a recording.

The girl walks confidently, her masses of hair bouncing and flowing in an incredibly mesmerizing way. Her complexion is also strikingly different from the majority, as she appears to have brown spots across her face. Siievin quickly notes his intention to discuss this with the scientists later. Is she diseased? He quickly decides that she would be a perfect case study and collects his belongings - frowning, as human materials seem clumsy and extraneous - to follow this human.

(I’m sorry this is short! D: My replies should get longer as the roleplay progresses, I think. They usually do, so long as I don’t run into writer’s blocks.)

There was a time when Henrietta had thought that she’d had a chance at having a normal life. Normal was subjective, though - and, perhaps this was her normal. A few classes a day at the local university and then a walk home. Home, where a father had been absent since before her younger brother’s birth. Home, where her alcoholic mother cared more about buying bourbon and scotch than her children. Home, where her only solace was found in taking care of her younger brother, Tyler, and making sure that he knew that he wasn’t forgotten.

Earbuds in her ears, she made the walk home, aware she’d make it home in time to change and head to Tyler’s school to pick him up from his Kindergarten class. She’d taken early classes specifically to make sure that Tyler didn’t have to walk home alone or ride the bus - and so that she’d be there when he needed her, to cook food for him and to give him company so he didn’t feel forgotten. Hands in her sweater pockets, she breathed out a sigh as she walked, ignoring those around her because she had more to worry about than the company of the strangers on the street.

Seth attempted to keep a normal pace, but his body naturally moved so much faster than a human body. Walking in line with the rest of them had become less awkward over the week that he had been on this planet, but it still required concentration. Seth watched as the strange girl entered her personal habitat.

That was something different about T1.. "Earth", that Seth had already noted and sent to headquarters, but still caught his attention as it was unusual to him. Each individual subject - Seth scoffed at his own inability to use the correct terms, as it prevented him from properly assimilating - had an equally individual dwelling place. The outsides were personalized, as were the insides, which was expected of a creative species. However the fact that they each seemed to desire their own separate dwelling was fairly uncommon.

Seth noted his coordinates and was about to return to his own dwelling for the day when the girl emerged again. He decided to follow her, taking extra precautions to be sure that she did not notice him. She retrieved a small boy, of similar complexion, from the building Seth knew was for the purpose of educating younger children. He began to type away, because this type of interaction wasn't something that much was known about.

~~

Day 8, cont. Located possible specimen. Observing a Sibling Relationship. Specimen walks with young genetic sibling from his place of education to their personal dwelling.

~~

Seth looked up from his tablet to see the small red-headed boy looking over his small shoulder. The boy held his sisters hand and walked alongside her, but stared directly into Seth's eyes. Seth froze. He felt almost as if he'd been discovered, forgetting the extreme measures that had been taken for his form to blend in properly.