𝓫𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮

      “Sorry. I didn’t…” He didn’t mean to do a lot of things but that seemed to be the curse of this place. But he smile at his temporary basketball acquaintance, and nodded toward the empty space on the floor near him if she so wished to joined. “It’s real if you make it real. Maybe it should be a thing but sadly the member list is… short. Exclusive, even.” 

      At the question, his first instinct was to bring the picture close to him, hide it from revealing anything personal but after a second he loosened up and allowed it into view. “Bad dreams. It’s the only way I know how to get them out of my head.” A fully done sketch with the beginnings of paint, it was a cartoon-styled collection of enlarged faces with too big of mouths, beings with too many limbs or too many eyes fighting for the limelight of being in front. “Why are you up?”

“that must make it pretty rare for new members to join. i could use some exclusivity to tell you the truth. it’d be a lot better than the shit we’re going through right now.” she looked over the paintings, joining him at his side before letting a short sigh hit her. “holy shit, these are...some dark nightmares. they certainly evoke an emotion.” she looked over to him again, before adding a short, “couldn’t sleep. who can around here anyways? i’m going a bit stir crazy, thought that maybe a walk would help?”

“with how much they put into this town to make it look real, you’d think they’d be a little quicker on making it at least look presentable again. it’s going to look like we’re in some sort of post-apocalyptic hell before long…i guess that’s not far off with how this place feels already. see? might be crazy, but i’m a logical crazy.”

“or maybe they’re purposefully trying to make us miserable. could give them a reason to actually get rid of us, if that was their goal the whole time. we’re living in dark times colson. it’s not cute. i guess i’ll take your logical crazy over this whole government crazy right now.”

      “Lab rats are prisoners.” She had no misunderstanding of what she had gotten herself into, especially when the pile of papers were shoved into her face to sign. Still, that didn’t mean she was going to be idle and allow the drab atmosphere to bring her down. “And who said you can’t leave the building? That’s not what I was told. Besides, I’m stepping out for a smoke, and there’s safety in numbers and all that shit. You’d rather sit and drag on about what you can’t do instead of trying something you can?” The gusto and confidence in her words had faltered, her tone definitely took a hit but her insistence remained.

“yeah...well, then so are we. they’re just trying to paint it under a different light now.” dani shrugged carelessly, trying to let it the other go about her day, not sure what else she could say. “instead of trying what something i can. have fun going outside, seriously. there’s nothing out there. i’ve spent more than my fair share, and everything else is closed. i’m just trying to keep my head down for once.” a bold face lie if she ever told one, but she didn’t have to know that.

      “But I thought that was the whole exchange. We’re lab rats but we get food, lodging and free shit.” Free wasn’t the focus of her statement, nor was it the enticing part when the parameters of their stay were described to her. A town at their disposal for whatever these people wanted them for, and it had been closed down before she stepped foot into it. Her eyes rolled widely, a huff and shake of her head, and Remy was on her feet. “Can’t have that. Come on.”

“the whole...exchange? look, i don’t know what they told you to get you here, but this is definitely a lot worse than some lab rats situation. we’re basically prisoners, especially now that we can’t even leave this damn building. we’re also probably definitely being watched...in case you missed that part too.” she stared at the other with blank expression. “did you hear me, loca? i’m not risking shit to actually be put into cuffs.”

“uncomfortable, yes. but at least that’s easy to clean. i’m hoping to at least get a new window sometime soon and not have to worry about the wildlife sneaking its way in. can you read minds now? you wouldn’t be the first person to think i was crazy. might have to change my middle name one day.”

“sure...but super itchy when you don’t. it’s annoying to even just deal with this shit now. i’m gonna need a new window stat, or else somebody is gonna get seriously hurt. i might as well be able to, can’t do much else with moving shit right now. i don’t think i’ll be the last person to think you’re crazy either. but you could be onto something too now that i’ve had some time to digest your crazy ass ideas.”

      “So I take it that happened to everyone’s room? Mine was tossed but wasn’t hard to clean.” Looked like a tornado had gone through but thankfully she was still moving in and none of her belongings were thrown in the mix. And moving in, no matter how much she had brought with her, was tiring on its own. All Remy wanted to do was kick back, relax, and have a… “Wait, why is the bar closed?”

“yeah, pretty much. i think the higher floors got it worse. colson and i live on the fourth floor and we both had sand everywhere. it’s a nightmare.” dani could complain about it endlessly, but she needed something stronger than the sodas and waters the government provided on the first floor communal gathering shit. “it’s closed because they don’t want us wandering the grounds...or whatever. quite controlling around here if you ask me.”

“i thought getting sand in random places at the beach was bad, but this might be worse. yeah, well maybe i got a little too close to something.” colson chuckled, “ah, so you’re starting to come over to the dark side. and you thought i was crazy.”

“no, i think getting sand up your ass is still probably worse...but they aren’t even helping us clean up or anything. and that’s actually not a bad idea. maybe they didn’t want you to uncover anything real, so they got rid of all your work in the first place. i still think you’re crazy, but a good crazy.”

“glad my room wasn’t the only one on our floor to get trashed. not sure how to clean out sand in every crevice now, and my papers are everywhere.” colson nodded, “i’m not completely convinced that’s not the case anymore. they were limiting where we were allowed to go, yet somehow they’ve managed to make it even worse.”

“shit, don’t get me started about the sand being everywhere! sorry your little theory thing got trashed though...” dani shrugged back. “i really just don’t think we can trust this place anymore. it was all fun and games until shit got real.”

      He supposed the sandstorm caused everyone problems in their own way: a messy apartment, closed bar and diner. For Asher it meant his drawings and paintings were strewn about the apartment (but were somehow collected into chaotic piles), half of his art supplies were diminished to reseal any light from coming in the boarded windows, and his lamps were broken. The last was less of a problem and more of an inconvenience– the lamps were usually off anyway but for the sake of emptying his mind into art he still needed them… he still needed to see color.

      With paints and pencils scattered around him, he settled himself on the communal area floor and buried his focus into his work with one lamp on to guide him. Despite being past midnight, he was wide awake and despite being engulfed in his sketch, he heard the footsteps near him with clarity.

      “Joining the night owls’ club,” he asked as he grabbed a paint tube beside him.

“oh...shit.” dani hadn’t expected anybody to be down in the living room communal area at that hour, but with things seemingly being a bit more insane lately, then maybe it shouldn’t have surprised her as much. “i...yeah...you scared me. but...the night owls’ club...seems like a real thing, so if it is...count me in. what are you painting?” 

Your Result: Polar Bear

they shrug, flashing a half-smile if only for a brief second. zig would have held it longer, but the sand drifting in the breeze makes him tense up a bit. “sounds like a plan,” they say, perhaps considering if they should go inside if only because the weather seems not to be getting any better. “guess they could always have me fuse with a hot dog or some shit.” it’s a bad joke that probably makes no sense, but it makes them laugh at least. but as what seems to be a sandstorm whips up before them, zig quickly takes to their feet. “okay, we gotta get inside, stat.”

as wind whipped past them, the particles of debris was getting rougher. “shit...” she murmured, before nodding along with their plan. “i’m gonna pretend i didn’t just hear you say you’re gonna fuse with a hot dog. though, maybe that’d be a lot less risky than merging with another person...” dani looked to zig, before stepping back over to the door. “where the hell is all of this even coming from?”

      “That’s up for debate,” he mused back, and stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, Asher doubled back around with a jokingly apologetic look smeared across his features. “I forgot my bag,” he added, with a short shrug, but stopped once more. Did she? Had he felt the tug of unseen force or had he imagined it?

      “Is that you… or that is my lack of sleep getting to me?”

trying to keep her keen focus on the ball still, her lopsided smirk faded, an more intense glare beamed onto him, following with every step he took. at his pause, she became frustrated with his attempts to take this away from her, and felt the ferocity build into a pressure against her forehead. sheer willpower wasn’t enough, but the telekinetic force she exerted quivered the ball in a short tremble. “i...i can’t.” she trailed, words faint before she grit her teeth. “give...it...to...me!” she exhausted with a strain.

“Si, es mi primer idioma.” India’s disposition visibly brightened in return upon being met with some familiarity. “A veces se me hace mas facil que el Ingles.” But just as easily she reverted to English, having a tendency to flip until she was left grasping for a specific word which forced her to flop back. The accent, however, remained ever present in her speech. “Right, it could be. Either that or they really didn’t think this secret little project of theirs through.” She didn’t seriously believe that to be the case when they were dealing with subjects that could turn dangerous at the flick a switch, but she had to admit the lack of knowing was beginning to grind on her patience. “I doubt they went through all this trouble just to send any of us home at first trial and error but I’ll be ready to yell “Kobe” if you do manage to get it moving.”

“ah...también.” she relished in the moment, realization hitting her that perhaps the language wasn’t known by all in the town, including perhaps the officers, and could be used to their advantage. “My mom thought it would be important to learn...and my tio and tia continued that tradition.” English remained a staple though, as she went through all her schooling and passed it off as her first over the years. Chuckling at her reference, Dani appreciated the moment, before adding, “I guess only practice makes perfect. But...don’t get your hopes up too high just yet. I have a lot of practicing to do.”

“i mean i can’t do anything crazy when i’m bored, and usually it takes forever and i use a lot of energy. but i have managed to revive a dead plant so far. that’s pretty fun. growing something though, that takes a lot of work. the easiest part so far was getting our power apparently. everything else is going to take time.”

“that’s...actually pretty sustainable if you ask me. you’re like...giving new life to things. that’s remarkable actually. i’m sure in due time we’ll all get to some control, but for now, it’s just a waiting game i guess.”

“alright, guess i’m the one with the short end of the stick. i can’t even shake someone’s hand without them passing out. it wouldn’t be so bad if they just told us what they wanted instead of making it feel like we’re trapped.”

“what, you’re power is to make people pass out. kind of lame, but...probably pretty handy when it comes to getting away from people you don’t want to be around. this place definitely gives off hella prison vibes, but at least we’ve got each other...” she paused before chuckling back. “strike that. i definitely didn’t mean that. good luck showing off your passing out power though.”

that… that was not the response they were expecting. a look of apathy and indifference was practically trigger-ready on their face - and, yet, here zig is, eyes fully wide and eyebrows raised as they give dani their full attention. “dope. hella dope. that always seemed like a cool thing to do,” they say as they offer what is half-grin, half-still-processing. “i suppose i could help you out with that. if you want to see what you’re capable of.”

“i’d be down for that...not right now, but...at some point. let me...get some hang of what i’m doing before we go all rogue on this place, okay? but seriously...you’ve got a cool power too. guess every power is kind of cool when compared to the normal. maybe i’ll see you inside later? not sure how you’re gonna train yours without somebody else, but if i’m around...maybe we can try it out.”