I chose... Rapture. [Faith/ Dream]

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Welcome to Rapture. A city where the artist can roam freely, the scientist can create with the sky as the limit, and the power is with the people. Such a place could never exist on land therefore it was literally built on the bottom of the ocean, as far away from the governing powers as possible. Out of every jurisdiction. The extreme of extremes. It is a massive place with buildings that tower over head and long walkways that link different areas of the city together.
Everything you could ever want you can find in Rapture. There are stores, restaurants, hotels, spas, housing units, art galleries, markets, sports centers and for those who enjoy a little bit of nighttime excitement there are bars and love-houses. Everyone is welcome in Rapture! There are no minorities. Everyone is equal. Everyone gets a fair share.
All of this is thanks to to the hard work and dedication of our founder Andrew Ryan!

At least..that's how things used to be. Before the revolution. On New Year's Eve, at 12:00 on the dot, just as the clocks were ticking down and the champagne bottles were about to be popped, explosions rang through the entire city. The whole foundation of Rapture was shaken to its very core. Those explosions marked the beginning of what would be a long battle throughout the streets between those who supported Andrew Ryan and those who supported a man named Frank Fontaine. Soon blood coated every wall on every corner of the city. The year 1959 was off to a great start.

Hundreds died and those that didn't die..were left to slowly go insane. Driven only further to insanity by their addiction to Adam; the genetical stimulant that once kept the wheels of Rapture turning.
The side-effect of this drug was both an overwhelming addiction to it and a range of horrible disfigurations due to the way the drug affected the human body. Those addicted where named Splicers and those Splicers are all that are left in this city. They do whatever they can to get their hands on Adam..even if it means killing each other. Many have banded together in order to overpower those who are weak, making them even more dangerous.

The revolution was two years ago. There are now those who are merely trying to get by and those who are trying to escape. But to escape means going through hell and back again...straight through the center of the city. Can you make it out?
Let's see, shall we?

"Morning." I purred quite contentedly in response to Mira's drowsy words as she moved to reply to my kiss with one of her own. I loved the way she would do that. As if a single kiss wasn't enough. It made a warm sensation move through my whole body and brought a tinge of color to my cheeks. The smile on my lips was as close to blissful as one could get without having a bluebird on their shoulder. I suppose in a way I was glad to see that she had gotten some sleep as well, albeit there were still dark lines beneath her eyes. That was probably the case for the both of us though so I didn't let it bother me too much. We had both rested as much as time allowed us.
Any longer here and it was going to be difficult for me to leave.

She did not seem to be in much of a hurry to get out of bed though. The way she cuddled closer was more than enough to show me that. Quite honestly I didn't mind one bit. I was quite content with simply laying in bed with her for a while. It was probably the last bed we were going to find that was both comfortable and safe. Not until we got to the surface in any case. Between here and our destination there were only office buildings, a now worn-out industry, a movie theater, and the place we were headed to once we left the facility; the abandoned railway station. Where intact train cars could still be found and used so long as one had the key, which we did.

"I can't wait to get out of here." I murmured quietly as I rested my forehead against hers, reveling in the warmth of her soft skin against my own. As much as I was going to miss my fellow sisters.. I was ready to let them live their lives as they had before we arrived. We had brought them nothing but trouble and the least we could do would be to draw the trouble away with our departure.
At this point I was sure I was leaving. Nothing any of the others could say was going to get me to stay. No matter what.
I was going to stay with Mira until the very end whether it meant getting to the surface or finally escaping from this hell-hole in the darkness of death.

"The rest of our journey will be made much easier with the railway. I'm quite excited." I added with a grin before I pressed another small kiss to her lips. I wanted to get all of my affection out of my system. Once we got outside.. it would be back to focusing on survival. I could not let my impulses get the better of me.
My arms wrapped tighter around her body and drew her into a warm embrace, reveling in the way our bodies seemed to melt together. Albeit the difference in curves between us was made quite clear.
I didn't mind. Mira was beautiful through and through. Nothing was going to convince me otherwise.

I had to remind myself that I was still alive sometimes. These moments right here were the moments that made if feel like I had finally gotten my wish and that I was living a different life. The small kisses, the warmth and the woman lying here beside me made everything seem different. I took in a deep breath as I listened to the sound of her talking. Was it true? Was she really going to come with me? I can feel the smile grow on my lips. Every moment that I thought about it the smile grew until I pulled myself out of her warm embrace, watching her only a moment.

“I’m so ready to get topside with you” I giggle, far too excited. I lean in, letting my lips press firmly to hers. The smile made the kiss somewhat awkward, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep this happiness in. So, I let it out with a kiss. I’m still giggling like a foolish school girl once I’ve gotten myself pulled away from her. As much as I want to jump on top of her and shower her with kissed, I know that it’s probably not the best thing to do right now, especially if we wanted to get out of here any time soon. Instead, I opt for pulling away from her completely so I can stretch.

Pulling my hands above my head, I listen as my back pops. I stretch until I can go no further without hurting my side. Then I stop, and begin to twist myself. This felt good, I needed a good stretch. Then, I do the same to my legs, and arms, hearing them pop quietly under the pressure. I smile before shaking out the last bit of grogginess.

“You think it’ll be that easy?” I question her quietly, taking in a deep breath before searching her face. “We’ve still got to make it there and make it from there to the bathysphere…” I hadn’t taken what she wanted out of what she had said. I knew that it would make our journey easier, but I wanted to see how easy she thought it would be now that we had this miraculous key of hers. It was all a very simply answered question, but really the answer and the action of doing where two separate things. I didn’t matter what she thought because really, there would always be a place where that constant and variable that made easy as easy as it was changed and easy would no longer be that but something else entirely.

The more I thought about it, the more it made my head hurt. I giggle quietly at the idea. I wasn't educated enough for such thoughts. Such crazy thoughts indeed!

My eyes widened slightly at her words only moments before she had pressed her lips against my own. The smile never left her lips though so the kiss was a very strange one indeed albeit just as pleasant as every one before that. I could feel the happiness in the kiss and when she pulled away giggling I could not help but giggle myself at how giddy she was acting. I could not recall ever really seeing her so joyous. I'd seen her happy but not quite to this degree! It was contagious too as within moments there was a bright smile plastered upon my face along with the faint traces of a blush.
"I am too, Mira." I murmured shyly.

My eyes followed her closely as she pulled away from me completely which, quite honestly, made me want to reach out and draw her right back down with me. I knew better than to do that though. I hadn't woken her up so I could smother her with kisses and cuddle with her for a few hours. I woke her up so we could begin the process of leaving the facility. So I let her stretch herself out while mentally preparing myself to do the same. Right now though the warmth beneath the covers and Mira's presence made the idea of getting out of bed very unappealing.
Her question drew me out of my contented little daze.

"Easy? Probably not.. but compared to the long journey we'd have without the railway, it's easy. The tracks take us around a few of the more Splicer populated areas between us and where we're headed. By foot we would have needed to be even more careful and it would have added maybe a week to reaching even the end terminal." I took a moment to think over the route the trainway was going to go. It certainly did take us past the more worrying areas. The movie theater was one such area. The pure size of the place meant there was more than enough space for a whole horde of Splicers.
"I know we can do it though." I purred quietly as I sat up and began to stretch a little bit myself.

Compared to two days ago I felt monumentally better. My body barely gave me any strain when I stretched my legs and back. A part of me worried about how Mira's side was doing but I knew that there was nothing I could do or say to convince her to stay any longer. Nor was I really willing to stay any longer myself.
So in the end I decided all I could do was watch over her closely and make sure she didn't strain herself too much lest her side worsen while on the road.
With a yawn I pulled myself out of bed and stretched a little bit more before glancing towards my new suit of armor. I was excited to see it in action. If it could protect me from bullets then there was little I had to worry about other than Plasmids.
"We should both get a little bite to eat before we go." I thought aloud as my gaze shifted back towards my gorgeous companion.

It wouldn’t really take me long to get ready to leave. All that wasn’t on my body was my shoes, and my pack which sat on the floor next to the bed. I was probably more anxious to get out of here than I should have been. This was a safe place to sleep and to eat, and we probably wouldn’t be safe from this point on. Maybe it wouldn’t take us very long to get to the surface, it wouldn’t be until then we would be safe.

The more I thought about that idea however, the more I realized that it was false in every sense. Our journey wasn’t over when we got to the surface. From there we would have to find some way to get back to the mainland, which could end up killing us anyway. Really, our chance of survival once we got out of Rapture seemed to slim even further. We had no plans; this was just another grand attempt to make it to a better place. Were there any boats up top that would get us home free? And even when we got to the main land, what would we do? I doubted that we had any money, and if we did, would it still work up top? Would it be enough to get us a place to sleep? We would have to find jobs and work…It wasn’t going to be easy. Like might have been easier up top, but that was only because people weren’t trying to kill you anymore. If life up there was still like it was when I left it. I didn’t remember much of it. We would just have to jump and hope that we landed softly.

I sighed quietly as I watched her stretch herself. My mind still whirled with different ideas and feelings. Each one had come to me before, but I was realizing so much more now and yet I wondered if she saw the things in our future that I did? She was naïve about the world, hell she hadn’t been living in it for very long. I wondered if she saw the harsh realities that being up top would bring us? Would she be willing to work for her life? Of course, I wasn’t sure what kind of work there was for a woman. Maybe waitin’ tables, but that didn’t always bring in the money.

I look up to her quietly. I had been thinking through much of what she had been doing and saying. I watch her a moment, taking the time to think over the words that had come from her lips. She wanted me to eat, but I wasn’t hungry. It was a strange feeling to not have the appetite for food especially when you had been starving yourself for quite some time simply because you weren’t sure when you would find food again. Of course, the energy that I got from it is what I needed, and I knew that, but I couldn’t bring myself to waste food when I didn’t feel like I needed it.

“You eat, I’m not hungry” I smile at her, giving my head a light shake. I wanted her to eat. She did need the energy and I knew she hadn’t eaten the night before. Hell, the Pep bar was probably still in the bed with us or on the floor somewhere. She had dropped it when… I sigh quietly, that’s not something I was going to think about again. I smile at her, leaning forward to give her a kiss on the cheek. Her skin was warm as always, I liked being able to feel the warmth of someone for once.

I turn around quietly, pulling the pack up onto the bed with me. I catch sight of the book we had found, still open on the page I had finished reading from. My curiosity draws me towards it, but I ignore it. That book had caused more than enough problems. For now, I would worry myself with straightening up my back pack. It would be good to have something to fiddle with while she ate.

Was I thinking about the future? Was I thinking about what we'd do once we reached the surface? Of course I was. However at the same time I was forcing myself to think of other things solely because I knew we had to get there before we could carry out whatever plans we had made in the back of our minds. I had the feeling life wasn't going to be perfect up there from the get-go. We were going to have to find a way to settle down and make a living. That was not something I'd ever experienced though. Hell, there was little I had experienced in this world. My whole life had been spent in an Adam induced stupor that left my memory as little more than a fogged mass of pain and hunger.
I shuddered at the thought.
No, I was going to truly give my plans thought when we got there. Until then my focus was going to be on getting us both to the surface alive. Or at the very least getting her there alive.

I was a little bit surprised when Mira turned down the idea of having anything to eat. As well as a little bit worried by it. She knew just as well as I did that keeping up her strength was almost as important as getting her a proper weapon. However I was not about to force the food upon her so I simply gave her a bit of a worried glance before I moved to get some food for myself. I vaguely remembered a pep bar from the night before so I began to search for that. Underneath the bed is where I found the half-eaten bar and so I just decided to finish that instead of taking something else from within my pack.
We were going to need those supplies while we were out on the move.

A quiet sigh passed my lips as my gaze once again settled upon my armor in the corner. As much as I wanted to leave the memories of the facility behind me, I didn't want to go back into my suit. I knew I had to but at the same time with every time I put my suit on, my head sealed within the metal sphere, the memories came back to me. My mind took me back to the moments I could remember from my time as a real Big Sister. I hated those memories.
Yet without my suit I was little more than a helpless girl. Without it I would have been nothing but a liability to Mira.
I quickly shook the thought out of my head though as I started to slide my armor on.

"The train station is a few streets away but there is quite a large obstacle between us and it; the old Fontaine Futuristics building. It's less dangerous than the building he moved to when he became more successful but the size of the building makes it like a beacon for Splicers." I explained as I pulled the straps on my leg plates tight and moved on to my hips and chest plate.
"We'll need to be very careful we don't attract attention to ourselves going into the railway station. If we're spotted, we'll find ourselves in a very bad way." I continued with a quiet grunt as the constricting hug of my new armor reminded me of what was to come.
Soon I was left with nothing but my helmet to put on and I held that in my hand, glancing towards my companion with a smile.
"You know, the usual." I joked quietly

ooc- Sorry, family came for easter almost two hours earlier than expected. They're still here so I'm not sure how long I'll be. :S Happy Easter by the way.

bic
The worried look she gave me was very obvious. She wanted me to eat, and that was expected. She didn’t push the subject. She simply nodded and went looking around. For a moment I wonder what she’s looking for, and then I realize that she’s looking from the Pep bar from the night before. I watch her as she returns with the half bar. My hunger was still away from me and I wondered if it was because I was anxious to leave. There could be so many things that led me to not be hungry. All of them, however, seemed very plausible.

It takes her less than five minutes to finish what little but if pep bar she had left. She seemed as if her mind was caught in thought, so instead of bothering her with something stupid, I just let her think and went to put on my shoes. I took my time, knowing that soon enough I would be forced to go out into Rapture and fight for my life. I just hoped that we wouldn’t have to fight another character like Finn Wood again. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take another beating like the last one. I take in a sharp breath. I wouldn’t see Echo like she had been. When I got upset, it was very obvious that I had self-destructive tendencies. It was hard to cope sometimes; I was kinda nuts.

I pull myself up after I finish. Looking around the room I take in a deep breath, letting myself stretch again. I watch as Echo begins strapping on the last bits of her armor. As she speaks I sigh. Fontain Futuristics, old or new, usually meant strong splicers. That would be something that we weren’t particularly prepared with. I didn’t particularly have very good plasmids and my weapons were gone. It would be hard I knew that.

“What’s new?” I chuckle quietly as I run a hand through my hair. “That means the splicers that are there will be stronger. They’ve probably found the plasmids” I sigh. That wasn’t good for us, but for some reason, I knew that we could make it through. Unscathed? Probably not. I laugh quietly, taking in a sharp breath as I pull my pack on my back. I walk quickly around the bed to sit beside the newly armored Sister. I smile at her, tilting my head to look at her.

“You know…When I first came upon you, I didn’t think that…this would happen” I laugh quietly, leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek before leaning back and looking at the doorway. It wouldn’t be soon now. Our trek seemed to back on track now.

I nodded my head in agreement with her words. She was right. Fontaine Futuristics had always spelled trouble even before the war. Even before it had been a dark place where shady deals went down but now.. now god only knew what kinds of terrible things went on in the halls of that place. A building filled with powerfully spliced up lunatics just waiting to be unleashed upon any poor soul who made their presence known.
I planned on making sure that poor soul wasn't Mira or myself. The last thing we needed to do was fight someone with just as many Plasmids as I had.
Once again her voice drew me out of my thoughts with something that made my heart sink and flutter at the same time.

"When we first met, I thought you were going to kill me. I'm sure the thought crossed your mind too, didn't it?" I spoke quietly with a small smile on my lips despite the darkness behind my words. I knew it was the truth though and if she denied it she was going to be lying to me. There was simply no way that anyone in Rapture, no matter how different from the others or sane, would have considered anything other than trying to kill me. I could not fault her for that nor did I feel any kind of ill-will towards her for it either.
She, like anyone, was just trying to survive.

I stood from the bed with a roll of my neck before making my way over to the corner where I'd set down my new weapon. It was somewhat heavier than my previous one but at the same time the heft brought a better sense of security. Much like the armor as a whole. The weight difference, while slight, made all the difference and in the future was going to decide whether I lived or died at the hands of an enemy.
"I'm surprised you haven't gone after me after what Finn told you. About all that Adam inside me.." I said this while adjusting the clamps just to be sure.
Now I truly was ready to leave.

"I should probably thank you for that." I finally added with a smile as I made my way back towards the bed, offering her a hand so she could get up as well. As much as I wanted to stick around so I could kiss and cuddle her some more, I was equally ready to get out of the facility once and for all. So maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to leave all of my memories behind on my way to make new ones. Beautiful ones with the gorgeous woman before me.
"Thank you." I whispered.


ooc: That's alright! Happy Easter yourself!
I've had a rough day though so if anything it's good you spent the day with your family. My health seems to be failing me as of late. Haha

I knew that I would have to worry about myself in Fontaine Futuristics. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how vulnerable I was. No matter what Echo could do to protect me, there was always that chance that my unarmored, helpless body would be crushed under someone much stronger than I was. I didn’t believe in over splicing, and maybe that’s why I wasn’t completely crazy, but those who took the plasmids and went overboard with them…Well those people…they were strong enough to end me easily. I didn’t like the idea of it, but what could I do?

Really, it annoyed me that I was so weak. It aggravated me that there was nothing I could do to stop anyone that had any sort of physical gene tonic in them. I had rules when I spliced, and I saw no real need back then to take a gene tonic. It was hard to resist, especially when Ryan and Fontain were both offering free plasmids to anyone that would join the cause. I just wasn’t one that would join such a stupid cause so easily. A power struggle had thrown Rapture into turmoil and it fueled it now.

She was surprised that I hadn’t tried to kill her yet. The idea pulls on my heart a little bit. After everything we had sort of been through, she thought I would kill her over her Adam? Yes I needed it and craved it, but I felt our partnership was much more than that. I take in a deep breath, letting out a slow sigh. I didn’t want to say anything, and I wasn’t going to. I take her hand, using it to pick myself up. Taking a moment to look her over, I walk quietly to the doorway. As I pass her I hear the quiet thank you come from her lips. I stop at the doorway, leaning against it. There was no reason to lie to her.

“You think that I didn’t know about the Adam the moment I laid eyes on you?” I sigh quietly, rubbing my temples. “I was going to kill you to get your Adam, but there was something different about you. Something just told me not to kill you…to let you go.” I laugh quietly, looking out into the hallway. “But you didn’t go...You followed me.” I smile, looking back into the room. It was hard to see how much had really happened until you thought back to the beginning. We had been through a lot and it was very obvious that soon enough, we would have more memories to look back on. “Don’t thank me for not killin’ you. If it had been any other day, things might have gone down a little differently, Dollface”

She seemed ready now. She had all of her armor on except for her helmet. I assumed that she was waiting for this conversation to end before putting it on. I didn’t want her to feel obligated to say anything else to me; there was really nothing to say. Instead, I turned and started out of the door. I would be waiting outside whenever she was ready, but I didn’t want her to wait to put her helmet on my account. The more time we took before she put that on, the more chance there was for her to get hurt. Even though we were in the safety of the building, you never knew what could happen.

Mira's words shocked me a little bit. Not because of what she said, because what she said made sense, but rather the way in which she said it. There seemed to be a little bit of hurt in her tone of voice. As if she were hurt by the fact that I would consider the fact that she would want to kill me for Adam even though it was the truth. At the last of her words I felt my gaze lower and I nodded my head slightly in understanding. She was right. It just so happened that she didn't kill me. A pure moment of luck on both of our accounts seeing as I would not have let her kill me.. at least not without a fight.
That was not a thought I wanted to even consider at this point though. Things went the way they did for a reason and I would not change that for all the money in the world.

I saw that she was heading towards the front entrance but I knew she would wait for me. There was a sense of understanding between us. She knew I would want to say goodbye to the others and I couldn't blame her for not wanting to be there. After all, these girls were still relative strangers as opposed to being childhood friends.
So with a bit of a deep breath I made my own way towards the common room where I knew the rest of the group would be. As soon as I got there all three heads moved in my direction. They were all stood by a table in the middle of the room. I approached the table only to find a small notebook was set there as if it were being presented to me.
No words were spoken beyond small wishes of luck. Even Focus, who'd I'd expected to attempt at least one shot at convincing me to stay, didn't say a word. She merely smiled at me with that secretive smile of hers that meant a thousand words. I didn't need to hear her say it to know that she was wishing me all the luck in the world.
Once I'd retrieved the notebook I noticed there was something scrawled on the front of it. 'Echo's Diary! Hands off!' A smile came to my lips as I turned my gaze towards the others one last time before I turned and walked back out into the hallway.

As hard as it was to leave them behind, I had to continue my journey. There was no way around it. I'd promised Mira that I would fight with her to get to the surface and that was exactly what I planned on doing. There was simply no way I was going to abandon her. Not now or ever. I was with her until the end no matter what that entailed.
So when I slipped out into the street just beyond the door, where she was waiting for me, I knew exactly what I was going to tell her.

"When I first saw you.. I knew you were different. If only because you didn't try to kill me the way everyone before you tried. I've been hit, shot, shocked and burned more times than I can count. More times than I care to count.. I'm thanking you for not adding to that number." My voice trailed off as I let my gaze remain fixed upon her face before I closed my eyes and sighed, bringing my helmet up over my head. With a soft hiss and a few clicks the large metal dome was secured in place and the soft red glow began to emanate from the front visor.
It was time for us to leave and I was more than ready to let us get on our way.

So without another word, not that I could have said anything to her anyway, I began picking my way through the debris left from the battle days before. The bodies were gone but the blood and scorch marks still remained from all of the fighting.
I tried to keep my eyes away from the spot I knew the worst of the fighting had happened. The spot where the Finn and I had faced off, where I had lost. While I was glad that whole ordeal was over a part of me was terrified that it would happen again in the future. Yes it would not be the same person but still, there were many lunatics left roaming the streets of Rapture. I was sure we'd come across some other at some point.

I had fully intended on just staying out in the hallway waiting for her. Once I got moving, however, my legs had carried me much farther than I intended. The new movement was welcome and I ended up right outside of the hallway, surveying the room that now seemed to pretty much be in shambles. It had changed quite a bit since I had seen it the first time. All of the chairs were broken and the desk was covered with dark stains that I could only assume to be blood. I sighed as I looked around the room. This was Rapture trying to keep us from making it to the surface. She wanted to keep us in this hell until we became just another death at the bottom of the sea.

In the time that it took Echo to finish up her business inside, I had taken my place, leaning against the wall just outside of the doors. I wanted to see how much activity was outside. Any splicers that were outside and not dead were surely just scavengers. They were like roaches or rats really. They weren’t hard to dispatch but there was always hundreds more of them somewhere nearby.

Luckily, nothing seemed to be moving outside, and I took the time to blend. I wouldn’t have to kill anything yet, which could be a good sign or a bad sign. It showed you that you would have to fight more later on, but all the same, the battle wasn’t here yet. So I kept myself quiet, thinking until the tall girl walked out of the building.

I straighten up as I see her, pulling myself off the wall. She hadn’t put her helmet on yet but that seemed almost expected now. I simply gave her a soft smile as she spoke. I nodded to her words. She didn’t give me any time to respond to her and even if she had I wouldn’t have said anything. I would have just kept with my silent nod.

Now, there was silence once more. I was alone again with nothing but the sounds of Rapture in my ears. Now I could have something to look forward to. It would be awhile until I could hear Echo again, which meant we needed to get somewhere safe. Maybe that’s what might keep me going. I sighed quietly, knowing that I was free to do so. Of course some scavengers could be listening in from above, but they wouldn’t fight us. They would wait for us to move on and then come down to pick for whatever they were looking for.

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be leading or following at this point. I wasn’t very familiar with the area, but I could probably get us to Fontain Futuristics without too much hassle. I knew though that she knew her way much better simply because she had roamed these streets before. I only came on this part of the Drop once in my life.

The first and only time Momma came looking for a job I traveled along with her. Nearby I could remember a few more shops and businesses that were looking for workers. Of course, she was laughed out of almost every single business by its owner. Women didn’t try to find work; it was an absurd idea, but money was tight. Papa never found out. Oh, what a disgrace it would have been to him, knowing that she had gone out to find work! The idea makes me sigh again and I take a few occupied steps forward, too lost in my thoughts to particularly notice whether I was leading or following. I just went.