Waking up with a new guy

Helga sat up and her head was pounding. She hates these things and swears a little bit. She was about to ask Naveen&Punz what had happened when she saw an unknown man. Has she changed room? Helga stood up quickly and looked at him. "Hello?!"

Aladdin slowly woke up, feeling the familiar result of being gassed. He sat up, his head spinning.

Whaa? Where am I? Aladdin thought to himself.

"Ugh." he said aloud, "Damnit. Another room."

Suddenly Aladdin heard a girl from the other side of the room, a voice that was unfamiliar to him.
"Hello.. Who's there? I'm Aladdin."

"Aladdin, uh? I'm Helga" she said hesitantly and leaned against the wall, though she was too tired to stand up.

"Nice to meet you."

He could see that she was tired and couldn't stand, and hoped she was alright.

"You okay there?" he asked. "How long have you been here?"

"yeah, I'm just fine" she said, waving with one hand. "if you mean in this prison, not long, you?"

[OOC: Al has been here since the RP first started, if that tells you anything, haha.]

"I have no idea... quite a few months. I tried keeping track at first, but I lost count. So... What's your story?"

Aladdin always asked his new roommates or anyone he met what their background was and such, because he thought it was very important to get to know everyone.

Hopefully this new roommate will be okay to share, like everyone I've met besides Sinbad. It took me FOREVER to get him to talk to me. Aladdin thought.

Helga rolled her eyes and sighed. "yeah, of course, that question" she sat down and shrugged. "maybe you could tell first?" she smiled a bit

"Yeah. Well when you're always meeting new people in this hellhole, I guess it's good to get to know each other. My story is pretty simple, nothing super exciting. I grew up an orphan, I don't remember my childhood that well... My family was gone, I grew up with a friend, Jasmine. I found out she's a prisoner here. Anyway, I traveled from town to town, even sneaking on ships, going to other countries. I met this girl, Esmeralda. She's now my fiancee, I love her to death. She's a prisoner here too. Last thing I remember before being captured is that she saved me from drowning. Then everything went black and I woke up here. You?"

Aladdin leaned his back against the wall and looked in Helga's direction.

"that was quite much.." She was surprised at how much they had in common, kinda, except that she did not know if anyone she knew was here.
"well, I was an orphan and grew up as a hired assassin" Helga paused a bit and looked at him. "uhm.. yeah, that's sort of my story. I killed people everyday for money, until one day when I met the "evil one". I used to be one of the best, but I failed this time. And now I'm here" She sighed

"Assassin, huh?" Aladdin was a bit surprised, but really shouldn't have been. Many people here had killed someone at some point, and some of the other prisoners were killers. Aladdin himself almost killed Pheobus, but for good reason.

If Sinbad hadn't stepped in the way... Aladdin thought, remembering the basement.

"The evil one... you must be talking about John, the bastard running this place. Yeah... he's good at what he does. It's crazy here, and nobody can escape. One day we'll get out, you'll see." Aladdin said, closing his eyes and thinking about Esmeralda and his son, hoping they were both alright.

"yeah, one day" Helga leaned back against the wall and sighed while looking at him. "how many times have you met him? that John?"

"Only once, just when I woke up, I saw him at my door. Two rooms ago... this is my 4th room."

Aladdin paused, feeling that stab of heartbreaking pain again.

"That was when I was roomed with Esmeralda. We have a son, Aaron. Unfortunately he arrived in a horrible place like this. He was born very early... he would have died. Esmeralda asked for help from him, knowing there was no way he would survive. John pitied the child, knowing he was innocent, so he was willing to care for the child. I watched him take my son away..."

It burned in the back of his mind, the way he banged at the door, until his knuckles were bleeding and his voice shot from yelling. The pain on Esmeralda's face as she collapsed to the ground in tears. The feeling of part of him missing.

"I didn't know his name at the time, but I memorized the face. The last room I was in, I was with a girl named Anastasia. She described a man she knew named John... I realized it was him, the Villian."

"oh.. that was.. sad" Helga didn't know what to say, and that someone told a stranger that much about himself, was unusual for her.
"do you think you'll ever see him again? your son?

Aladdin realized she seemed surprised at how open he was, and he wasn't sure if she was uncomfortable with that or not.

"Sorry, they're just... they're always on my mind. They are my life. I have nothing else."

Once again, he dug his nails into his hand to cause physical pain, so that he wouldn't focus on the emotional pain. It had become a habit of his, and the only time he didn't do it is when he was with them.

"You know, I've told myself every day that my son is strong, and I believe that. Just like his mother... I feel really dumb saying this. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I WON'T see him again. I just pray he's alive and well, that's all that matters... And I'm afraid for Esmeralda. I saw her very briefly before going to my last room. I saw her standing in the door way, and she saw me. She said my name and collapsed. Then I was gassed before I could react and I woke up in my last room. Ever since she was pregnant with Aaron, she's been sicker with every passing day. I'm terrified. I need to be with her, with my son..." Aladdin couldn't help but become absorbed in his worries and thoughts, and he dug his nails deeper until his hand bled.

Finally, he realized how taken back she must feel. He had always been a very open, caring person.
"Eh, sorry bout that, I know we just met and all, I just... just..." Aladdin didn't know how to finish that, so he left it at that.

He had always been the optimistic one between everyone he had met, the one with all of the faith and hope. But now he had hit an all-time low. He was broken.

Helga was quiet for a while, it's not like she could talk about her life, about killing people when he wanted all to stay alive. But after all, she didn't want to talk about her old life at all.
But to hear him tell her about a family made her uncomfortable, just in that way that she didn''t have one, and she didn't know if she will ever have a family.
She cursed quiet, she had promised herself not to think about that, and the fact that she liked a guy, made it all worse.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I hope that you will meet him again, and Esme"

Aladdin could see a certain look on her face, but he couldn't quite place it. Something sad, or bothersome... He wasn't sure if it was because of him, or her own personal thoughts, or both. Either way, he figured she could talk about it if she wanted to.

"Thanks, I hope so too." Aladdin said, and gave a very weak smile.

Helga smiled back a litte and looked down. "so.. what are you?"she asked and hold up her hand with a F on it to show him

Aladdin looked up at her hand, seeing an F burned into it. He was pretty sure Anastasia had had that one as well, which he thought was a good thing.

Aladdin raised his own hand to show a PS burned into his own hand, and shrugged.
"Apparently John and I aren't at the buddy level I thought we were", Aladdin said jokingly.
"He doesn't seem to mind you though."

" I don't know" Helga shrugged and looked at her own hand and moved her fingers around the mark. "were you awake when he did it?"

"Technically I was awake, but everything was in such a blur that I hardly remember anything. For the most part, all I remember is the burning pain in my hand, and then everything went dark again. I was gassed several times within a few days, and I got sick from it... I think that's why I was so out of it."

Aladdin had been gassed so many times that he was actually getting used to it. Sad.

"What about yourself?"

"I woke up with it, but I guess it was new becuase it hurt like hell" she tried to laugh at it, but she couln't. "this was the first time I've been gassed, and I hope that it will not happen again for a while , I gets such a headache" She smiled at him and put down her hand, she had looked at it too much.

"Oh I know the headache feeling... All too well. I try sleeping it off, seems to work best.."

He was suddenly very aware of the mark on his hand, and he looked at it. He also noticed the band of lighter-colored skin around his finger where he had once had his one personal possession that he had always worn; his green ring. The same ring that was currently on Esmeralda's ring finger, when he had proposed to her just a month or so ago.

"So... Who have you met since you've been here?"

"uhm.." Helga smiled to herself when she started to think about Naveen, and she noticed that she kinda missed him. "I've only met two, Rapunzel & Naveen. And I guess you've met quite a few?"

Aladdin thought about it, and he had only met a handful of people in the flesh.

"Well, I've met in person Sinbad, Anastasia, Eric, Dimitri, Pheobus-" he shuddered at the thought of his name. "John I suppose... Odette.. And Esme of course. Some people I've seen during deadly games, but I haven't had the chance to talk to. Other people I've met by talking through the wall, like Jane, Wendy, Thrax, Ariel. I guess I've met quite a few. But when you're in here for getting on half a year, I guess that makes sense."

Aladdin sighed and lay down on the ground, looking up at the ceiling.

[OOC: I have class in an hour, from 9:30-2:30. Then I have a dentist appt at 3.. Ugh, I hate the dentist. And I have some homework afterwards, so I'll probably be on this evening!]

"wow.. " she laughed a bit, but then she sighed deeply. "Don't you miss to be.. I don't know.. free?"

[Occ: aw, the dentist -.-' okay, see you later ;D ]

[OOC: Soc lab got done early because our prof is sick and was struggling the entire hour... so I have a little bit of time to reply before my dentist appt.]

Aladdin sighed and remembered his life beforehand, living freely, doing as he pleased. Just him and Esmeralda... even Abu.

I wonder where Abu is by now...

Aladdin had always felt better knowing he wasn't the only one who was abandoned and on the run constantly; That's how he came to meet Abu.

"You know, I really miss it. I miss the warm sun... Growing up with no home, I'm used to spending almost all of my time outside. So this... This is definitely hard on me." Aladdin remembered the brief time that John had let a handful of prisoners be outside, how nice it was. Although it was still gated so they couldn't escape, and although he got a minor sunburn, he remembered the warm sun on his skin, the nice wind going across his face as he lay underneath the shade of the tree.

"There is a garden here; John let some of us out once a while back, but the time out there was so brief. I hope some day he will allow me to be out there again. It helps a lot, it really does."

For once, Helga actually listened to him. She usally didn't care about other people, but Aladdin talked with such a feeling. She couldn't describe it, but it was something about him.
Helga has always been on her own, kind of. But now she startet to think. Was I really free? With a life when you have to kill, or be killed. A life when your past always finds you again. Well, that doesn't sound like being free.

"do you know anyone who have tried to escape from here?" she asked

"I don't... But I can't imagine you can. There are a lot of people in here who probably could escape from anywhere else, people with the skills. But not this place. You'll just be killed if you try. There have been escape plans between the prisoners throughout the months, but no one has ever gone through with them... That would just be foolish."

Aladdin had thought about all of the times he was desperate enough to actually try escaping, but he knew he'd never risk it. Not with Esmeralda and Aaron in his life... They gave him the only reason he had in the world to stay alive.

"hm.." Helga sighed and hugged her knees. "but perhaps it's better to try, than to stay here and be tortured or killed for his entertainment?"
She knew very well that there was difficult, and maybe that it was hopeless to even think about it. But she didn't want to be one of those who had lost faith, so she did everything to convince herself that it is possible

"True... I'd rather keep my pride and die trying than surrender or lower myself to him."

Aladdin had fought against everything his entire life, whether it be from guards kicking him out of abandoned buildings that he would try to spend the night in for shelter, or fighting off the castle guards when he tried to rescue Jasmine after she was taken. He had never backed down.

"I like the way you think, Helga. If anyone is going to successfully escape, it'll be you." Aladdin said, really confident in her personality and abilities.

"Thanks, Al" Helga smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. "do you know what happend to your parents?" she asked to change the subject

[occ: aah, the Earthquakes have start now I think x) ]

"Well, I'm not entirely-"

Aladdin stopped mid-sentence as he stumbled over. He had been standing, just pacing slowly back and forth, walking around the room. At first he just thought that he was being clumsy, until a few seconds later, the ground shook again.

"What the-" Again, Al was caught off when the floor shook once more.

"What the hell is going on? Is there an earthquake?!" He said, as he tried to keep his balance.

Helga who sat down just lay her hands on the floor so that she didn't fall over, but she felt how strong it was. "oh, that was scary" she laughed when it suddenly stopped. "are you okay? has this happened before?"

"No, nothing like this..." Aladdin was surprised when it had just suddenly stopped, and he was really confused.

"Maybe John is up to something... You never know with him. One minute you're outside in the warm sun eating at a picnic, the next you're in the basement about to possibly shoot yourself dead, next you get a pet, then suddenly you're about to kill someone with a bat. This place is unpredictable."

"But he can't make earthquakes, can he?" Helga looked confused, This was just wierd. "He is mentally ill, but a genius" Helga laughed a bit, not with purpose, more because of this crazy stuff that was going on around her.

"Hah, tell me about it. Crazy but genius. Horrible horrible combination. Dangerous times 12."

Aladdin stopped and thought about how the earthquake could have happened, because they usually didn't have earthquakes around these parts whatsoever.

In fact... Where are we? Aladdin wondered, realizing they could be anywhere in the world.

"I'm not sure... let's see who we can communicate with through the wall. maybe it will be someone we know! And we can ask them about the earthquake."

[OOC: Woohoo, new topic. I love TTW! Looks like we can only hear room 8. I'll strike up conversation in their room, join me! ^.^ hehe.]

[occ: Of course ;D ]