𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖘

“zig, zigmund, z - take your pick,” they say, and would offer a hand if their arms weren’t currently occupied with all the goldfish they’re hoarding. still, they can’t help but grin at the talk of some kind of revolt, at the stir of trouble. “we’ll show them who’s really running ninguna parte, who’s the ones in control here. guess i’ll see you then, kit,” they say, heading up the stairs… before tripping up the stairs and dropping every last carton of goldfish they were planning to hoard. 

“jesus christ.” kit chuckled. he couldn’t even hold it back any longer as he watched the other with bright eyes. “i’d offer to help, but my god, that’s the funniest thing i’ve seen since we’ve gotten here. i don’t think i’ve laughed that hard in a while.” he brokered back, climbing up behind them before finally offering a helping hand for them to get up. “here, let me help you, maybe we can forge our own little revolt while we snack on goldfish together. we’re the ones with superpower anyways.”

he shrugged before realizing that kit probably couldn’t see the movement well. “making things worse than it already was,” caden stated. “i don’t like that i can’t control my powers, and because i lack that control, i-” he cut himself off, carefully dislodging the stone in his chest and taking a deep breath before he could spiral. he focused on the joke instead, turning his head to look at the floor around his bed. “i’ll have you know that the ground is incredibly comfy. it’s good for your back.”

“shit.” kit muttered, the feeling all too relevant, and relatable as he looked to caden, a bit of a sigh releasing from his own chest. “i understand, if you can believe it or not. i feel like...one wrong move, and i burn this entire place down with my powers. i’m always on edge...always one outburst from hurting somebody.” he stifled a bit of a chuckle. “no, what’s good for your back would be having the freedom to go to a masseuse.” 

“then why aren’t you in bed? this couch can’t be comfortable at all when you’re back is like this. no, they probably won’t. and i’m nowhere near being activist. just seems like a thing that might make them listen if all of us are on board. the least they can do is provide us with one nice thing. can you imagine when it’s peak summer? a pool would be a nice way to relax.”

“i don’t know. i just ended up here because i’m closer to snacks. and other people. it’s nice to socialize instead of being stuck in my room all day, every day.” he finally turned over, letting his back hit the back of the couch to look at the girl. “it’s gonna be hot as balls, i don’t even want to think about that. but a pool...they’ve got resources, they should give us what we need.”

“that doesn’t really count. they aren’t going to help unless you say something’s wrong with you and sadly, i don’t know if a sore back is going to count. think we can petition for one or something since they’re forcing us to live here?”

“a sore back should at least earn me bedrest for a few days. it’s the least they can offer after the shit that the sandstorm caused. a petition would be nice, but i’m not even sure they’ll listen to our demands. you some kind of activist? because i know this whole thing has got to cross off a few inhumane acts for treatment of humans in some moral code of ethics.”

she smiled softly at his reassurance, digging a little deeper into the muscles on his shoulders. “they set this whole thing up to…make up for whatever that training stuff was. but besides the food, they didn’t give us anything that might actually make us feel better.”

“well, we’ve got the medic on site, but...other than that...nothing to really help us relax. i tell you what—if we had like a pool or a sauna...i’d be so good with this, but instead, they really want to just treat us like prisoners.”

“oh, uh…yeah. sure.” thalia hovered over him, hesitant for a moment before her hands wrapped around his shoulders, thumbs gently pressing into his back. 

“thanks.” kit mumbled, before feeling the girl’s hands in his back. “that’s perfect actually...” he let out a soft grumble with the pressure at his back. “i can’t tell you how much i needed this.”

“see, and that’s where i come in. you want control, i got the means to make that happen,” they say, holding back a grin as much as they can, trying to hold a serious face as kit entertains the idea of burning the place down. “see, us two - we could make good partners in crime. you have the powers, i make you powerful. the only thing i need are two cartons of goldfish,” they say, finally grinning, absolutely not sure where this joke is going, or if it’s even a thing. “nah, kidding. if you wanna burn this place down i’m free tonight, i guess.”

“oh?” kit was growing more curious by the second as he took a look at the other. “what’d you say your name was? don’t think i caught it at orientation.” he jested with a slight grin, the quirkiness pulling him back to a short shrug. “you can have all the cartons of goldfish if you promise you’ll help me burn this place, could cause some real trouble for the government running this town.” brows lifted and he nodded back. “tonight sounds as good as any night.”

      “You normally let random people touch you?” His brows were tightly furrowed, staring at the other incredulously as he passed by with a pear in hand. Asher was hoping the crunch of food would be enough to wake him up, but his stash he had acquired was almost depleted– the rest wasn’t doing so well in his unlit apartment. So he sauntered back down, forgot his plan for another stash and settled for one piece of fruit. His eyes fell shut as he fell into a nearby chair, took another bite and tiredly spoke with a mouth half full, “It’s kind of weird. How about a rain-check?”

“i mean...sure, why not?” kit muttered with a short shrug. “but sure, i’ll take that raincheck, especially if it means i’ll get one soon. maybe they should invest in a spa around here. that’d be a nice addition.” kit was all for the town splurging on things they needed, and wanted, but it seemed more and more that things were getting bleaker and bleaker. “you think they’ll actually give us fun things to do around here?”

their neutral expression betrays how funny they find kit’s pointed reply, and while zig offers nothing but a shrug at first they do eventually let out a grin. “goldfish crackers are gonna be the next currency of ninguna parte, mark my words,” they say, half-sarcastic, half-not. “hey, aren’t you the dude with the fireballs and shit? what’s that like? i’ve always wanted to just, like, watch everything burn down here.”

“oh...really? the next one? i didn’t know there was a current one anyways? might just be a terrible way to barter around here. guess it could be something to look into if we needed something, but for now, i’d like to keep things free around here.” he lifted a brow with a grin. “and yeah...that’s me. i...kind of can’t control that shit, but i do like the idea of burning this place down for fun too.”

caden wasn’t sure if kit was trying to put up a rough front, or if his brash words were a result of a complete and utter lack of thought for his conversation partner. a combination of both, maybe, but also not really his problem right now. “i’m not sad,” he stressed. “guilty, maybe. definitely exhausted. but not sad.” he did wish he could find the emotional energy to be offended by the other resident, but he also saw the benefit of not feeling particularly strongly one way or another. “besides, this is just the only part of the floor that isn’t covered entirely in glass or trash, and i like lying on the ground.”

“okay, not sad...then...what are you feeling guilt over? because i am entirely too interested in what exactly you’ve been up to” kit found the other’s attitude to be a bit too down to not ask questions as he offered a short grin over back to the other. “can you really actually like lying on the ground and be comfortable? seriously. seems like the worst idea ever. you could at least start by cleaning up.”

∘◦ * / for one reason or another they began to hoard every small little carton of pepperidge farm goldfish for later storage in their room. better to stockpile and let the government know they’re in demand. it started off as one, two… maybe four in the morning, but by noon they’d already walked down from their apartment and shoveled every carton they could hold into their arms. when zig makes their way up the stairs they meet eyes with someone and quirk their brows at them. “there’s still a few left downstairs in the common area. mind bringing them to my room?” they say without so much of an expression. “i figured none of you deserve them because the whole reason this place is in disarray is because of all of your powers. i just state the facts.”

“my powers had nothing to do with all this shit. if it’s anybody, it’s jasper, the guy who controls the fucking weather. that’s why we’re living in a disaster zone. looks like a fucking war zone actually.” his bluntness came out and kit stared at the other seemingly hoarding the boxes of goldfish. “what the hell do you need all of those for anyways?”

∘◦ ⋄ ◈ ◜open◞

caden stared blankly at the underside of his bed, letting the light senses of the people below brush against his peripheral range. there wasn’t a lot of input, and for that, caden was ever so grateful. in the wake of their first training, he’d been far too exhausted from passing out not once, but twice in one day. trying out fear with dani had been a mistake. touching asher and india had been a mistake, despite it being accidental. even getting close to jasper had been a mistake. there was no way around it. he’d fucked up. badly. but now, as he let himself extend his senses once more, he felt the phantom pressure of footsteps, and he figured that perhaps a conversation from a safe distance would be in order. “i’m in here,” he called, turning his head to face the direction of the door. “under the bed.”

“jesus...” kit murmured instantly, not sure how the other had gotten this bad. “you having a day already or what, because i don’t think it’s just you.” maybe it was harsh to compare his pain to other’s, but kit had a lack of a filter anyways. “hiding under the bed...what’s that supposed to accomplish?”

“i swear to god, be quiet!” jasper yelled, opening his door to the new living area that just so happened to be outside of his door. “i just want a little quiet, is that too much to ask for?!” his head had been killing him since the night before, not quite remembering how he made it back to his room. rubbing at the back of his neck, his body sagged against the door frame. “just please… please be quiet.”

“god....you and me both.” kit chimed back, groaning mostly as he watched the other with a stern and narrowed look grazing over him. “all i want is a little damn peace and quiet. clearly nobody got the memo to be a nice fucking human today.”

Your Result: Horse

      “You might send me into existential crisis with that kind of thinking.” He’d barely thought on why he had his specific ability– dealing with its strange side effects and how to even control it were already puzzling beyond natural comprehension. Dealing with why? He shoved the thoughts away before they began to form. It was a philosophical debate for another time, maybe when he had better understanding. 

      “At least you’ve found a link… not that anger is necessarily an advantage or hindrance. Just musing. If there’s something you can link it to, to reproduce it, then learn how without emotion.” He couldn’t help himself, couldn’t help his blues shifting back up to his denial. The anxiety and frustration associated to it were certainly his, but not something he’d what to experience each time just to say he provoked it. No, bad idea.

      “Sorry if we’ve already met. The past few days have been a blended haze. I’m Ash.”

“well don’t spiral or nothin’. god knows i won’t be able to handle any more of that right now.” kit himself had a tough enough time wrestling with the idea of power anyways, and why in the world this was happening to him. there was certainly an air of discomfort the town forced upon him and looking at his own fate in the grand scheme of things, but the other was right, this wasn’t the time, nor the place. “it would be nice to not learn how to control it without the need to be so emotionally distraught. probably part of my training i’ll get here, hopefully.” he could at least hope for that. “don’t think so. but everyone’s just morphing into one big conglomerate around here. i’m kit.”

India huffed a dry laugh at the tease, as though to say ‘watch it’ but the corner of her lips still quirked in amusement. “Does anyone?” With the ease of tension in his posture, there was a static crackle of monitors shutting down one by one as her own nerves settled. “If they do it for fun, why entertain them?” Easier said than done, she supposed, but India had always been good at playing her cards close to her chest. “Understandably.” She cringed inwardly at the thought. “I’m just curious about how it works for everyone else. I was hoping for some direction too but I guess we will have to get creative and who knows? Maybe if we do all end up taking each other’s heads off, they’ll get the idea. I mean, apparently I might do that by accident anyway if they give me one more exercise to do without touching a keyboard.”

“no, definitely not.” he chuckled again, feeling a bit more ease into the situation as he cooled off completely. “it’s not that i entertain them, it’s that sometimes i just get so upset i can’t even contain it. guess i should work on that first.” it was nearly impossible to figure this place out, having more questions pop up than answers being handed to them. still, he remained stoic as he looked back to the woman. “let’s just stay away from taking each other’s heads off for now. seems like the smartest idea if you ask me.”