Chapter 2: (Ab)Normal Days

Jaden made a cursory scan of the fitness center. "Well, it's definitely not as big as the one we had at the Disney studios, but it'll do for now." He made for a treadmill, deciding he could use some cardio.

"Right. Exploring is a must." Martin nodded, then scratched his head, "But after the Billiards Room, I'm going to explore over to the Fitness Room. I, well, used to have a routine."

Jokingly, he flexed, "Can't you tell?"

Jason couldn't suppress the squeak of joy he had when he followed in after Cobalt, seeing the clothes lined up against the wall.

"I can finally change!" He said, happy that he could stop wearing his dress clothing. He made a beeline for the biggest rack of shirts he could find, trying to find something that would suit him.

Miranda opened the door to the botanical gardens, hoping for a blast of humidity. She was still rather cold in this building, but hadn't shown it.

Lisa nodded at Martin.

"That's fine! So then, Billiards Room it is to start, and then we do what we gotta do!" she exclaimed, following after Jason.

Cobalt stepped into the room, looking about to get his bearings. After a moment he began to scour the racks. He carefully gathered an armful of clothing, grabbing shoes and socks and adding them precariously to the pile. With a heavy sigh, he exited the room, disregarding anybody he passed on his way back to the elevator.

Jordan looked at the map again, noticed the three sitting rooms and laughed, "I don't know, I really don't trust the sitting room on the left. That one seems suspicious."

"And the spa looks especially torturous," Jordan shook her head.

Jason looked over at Martin and slouched a bit. "No, that's not fair, both of you guys are buff? Where does that leave me at, jeez? It's not even like I don't exercise!"

"Oh well," He sighed dramatically and turned around, opening the door to the Billiards Room.

Claire nodded in agreement. "No, definitely not the left one. Left is my unlucky relative direction." She looked up at her friend. "Let's skip the sitting rooms altogether for now and head to the spa like you said. Care to lead the way?"

Cobalt stepped into the elevator alone and pressed the button for the fifth floor.

"I don't know, the spa is left of here..." She smiled, "I think we'll have to risk it." Jordan walked over to the spa, opening the door eagerly.

Upon hearing Claire and Jordan's decision to visit the spa, Ruby ran over to catch up to them.

"Hey!" she panted. "Hope it's all right if I hang with ya. Haven't relaxed since we got here."

Miranda clapped her hands when she saw the room, closing the door behind her. "How nice." She said, walking around slowly.

After a while, she went to one of the flower bushes, plucking a flower and putting it in her hair, right above her right ear. "Haven't done that since I was a kid." She muttered, making her way to the door so she could check the closet out. Idly, she wondered if it had clothes.

Claire shrugged. "If it's fine with Jordan I suppose three isn't too much of a crowd." She followed her friend into the Spa. "Wow, a mud bath! I could almost forget that we're prisoners being forced to turn on one another!"

Cobalt exited the elevator and entered his room. He dropped the clothes onto his bed and collapsed on it next to them. He raised the hand with the bracelet up towards the ceiling and began to pull at the glove with all of his might. When it finally popped off he felt a stinging pain beneath the strap on his bracelet. Rubbing the spot as best as he could, he stood up and slowly disrobed, laying the clothes carefully on his bed.

Martin looked into the Billiards Room, impressed.

"I could get used to thi- Darts." He walked over to the Dart set, "You don't know how good I am with darts." Picking one up, his enthusiasm was briefly interrupted, "Geez these things are sharp, looks like they could..." Martin held in his comment, "What's in the fridge?"

Jaden had his treadmill set to 6.5 miles per hour. Fast enough to get a good workout, but not quite excessive. The fact that running kept him out of breath and unable to talk to Aris if she tried to start anything was an added bonus. Jaden grabbed the treadmill, closing his eyes and letting his mind take him to another place.

Lisa rolled in after the two, moving to the fridge.

"I could go for a Capri Sun right about now, not gonna lie." She moved herself back enough to get the door open and peer inside.

Jason was rather happy with what he managed to find. Though he couldn't help but frown when he saw Cobalt put his choices in a pile. Jason's was a stack, much like one you'd find in a clothing store, everything perfectly folded. Two pairs of loose jeans that were about his size (but not tailored to fit, to his chagrin). And then he had five shirts that had rather nice designs: two purple with black designs, one white with dark blue designs, and a black one with neon purple designs.

He opened the door, happy to have his own loot, but was startled by Miranda being so close to him. "H-hello M-Mi-Miranda." he stuttered, before getting well out of her way.

Halfway down the hall he remembered where he wanted to go, so he ran straight into the fitness center, clothes in his hands. "Hello?" he said, probably a bit too excited, but he had new stuff.

Finally at the Media Room, Caleb knocked twice before pushing the door open and peering inside.

Jaden heard Jason's voice and opened his eyes. He gave a slight wave to his friend, then slowed down his treadmill to a pace more manageable to hold a conversation at. "Hey, watcha got there?" he asked, noticing the pile of clothes in the other boy's arms. "You been shopping or what?"

With the bloodied clothes removed, Cobalt let out another sigh. He ruffled his heavily gelled hair back to its natural, unsuspended state, and then quickly dressed himself in the clothes he had just collected.