The minute the lights flickered, her heart leapt from its cage, and when they went out completely, the throbbing mass collided with the roof of her throat.  The once spacious room shrank in that instant, wrapping her in a cloak of darkness, and uncomfortable memories of That Time Before.  Not again.  Thunderous thuds were both a noise and a feeling in her ears.  She teetered on the edge of her bed with both knees locked, her feet suspended an inch off the floor, and arms spread out behind her like a buttress.  The tension in her muscles had frozen her form so that she looked like a petrified flesh statue.  Not again.  Fear and indignation took root in her gut and speared its black branches into her chest, snatching at every breath that staggered through her clenched teeth.  Anger began to bubble up from the one thought that rang loud in her mind:<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">“Not again.”</span></span><br/><br/>If the blackout indeed summoned the coming of another test, another round of dread, then at least she wasn’t going through it alone.  Hearing the quickened movements around the room - the shuffling, the groaning springs, the twisting - eased some of her worries, letting her mind entertain other, more casual exercises, like wonder what they were doing.  In the distance, she could hear a murmur, its tempo and rhythm sounding repetitive, like it had been practiced before.  A chant, maybe?  Sure-footed treads trailed an echo through the room, but the source was approaching from somewhere outside it.  When the surroundings were finally unmasked, so, too, were their mysteries.  Dani rubbed at her eyes until they no longer protested against the light.  She didn’t put much thought into who the voice belonged to, but the footsteps were too peculiar for her casual lines of thought to brush aside.  As she scanned the room for evidence of the latter, she instead found it for the former.  Lara was the girl’s name.<br/><br/>Her senses fell back into place quickly, but that didn’t mean she was ready to use them just yet.  Leaning into her elbows, which were propped upon her knees, she hunched forward and almost couldn’t stop herself.  Perhaps it was the luxury of putting her feet up on something soft that made them hard to put down again, but she felt ten times heavier than she did before.  Her half-up pony had sagged, spilling strands of hair over her slumped shoulders, and her eyelashes almost touched the peaks of her cheeks.  Like Lara, she needed food.  And possibly a good drink, if any of those were around.  At Tabby’s naming-game, she picked her vacant eyes up off the floor to associate with each subject.  They first found the only other person testing their bed - Lance.  His blue eyes - according to Tabby - were as curious as they were pretty.  At that statement, Dani’s eyes narrowed a warning he probably wouldn’t see.  Alexei, the jolly giant, had a grin and hearty charm that rubbed off on anyone near, and not terrified of his bulk.  Kol was an interesting specimen, his weathered exterior made him look tough, and his features made him look… what was the word they used on her?... ‘exotic’.  She nodded her head at the both them, appreciating the things they each had in common.<br/><br/>She rose.  It was then that she saw Malika, and noted the luck in having a few beds between them.  Anyone can become a cleaner, but those who have that natural inclination for neatness are the ones that can make a living off it.  Dani’ never had that, she didn't feel the<span style="font-style: italic">need</span>to clean; to scrub and polish and fold.  She was the<span style="font-style: italic">reason</span>to clean.  Lacing her fingers together, and above her head, she leaned a knee on the unclaimed bed opposite her and looked around, at those that contributed to the chatter, and those that observed it.  These people weren’t a bad bunch, though time will ebb away at the nervousness and politeness, uncovering the gritty stuff that lies beneath.  That is what interested Dani the most.  To her, that ‘essence’ would reveal who she can count on, and for what, who can take the heat, and who needs to be coddled.  Suddenly, she is reminded to look at her watch, but before she can read out the time, Tabby begins her game anew.  Their attentions are guided towards a young boy in the doorway, it is clear in his expression that he had reached the end of the same harsh journey they all took to get here; like them, he is human, and intends to fight for the right to be.<br/><br/>“The footsteps in the hallway,” she commented quietly with a smile.