Copy cat

The Genesis Project does not look kindly on those who try to pocket their gadgets. I miss anything while I was in super-detention?

Despite only being in the facility for about a week, Oliver had already decided on his routine. He would let the guards and staff usher him around during their schedule, play good boy and fall in line with everyone else, do his job and pretend that he was happy with pleasing his superiors. He would give them that, because he had known what he was signing up for when he’d offered his services to the Genesis Project. Free time and Sundays were all for him, though. He’d made that deal with himself, if only so he wouldn’t go insane from the stress and end up being dropped in a psychiatric ward.

Oliver had always liked swimming. There was something about it that he had always found calming, whether is was floating on his back in the middle of the ocean or doing laps in a pool, mentally chanting the national anthem of Russia for something to think about that wasn’t what was going on in his life. There was something about cutting through water and pulling air into his lungs, holding it for moments while he moved through something that completely uncased him, that brought him calm.

The fact that the facility had a pool didn’t surprise Oliver, but the fact that they were allowed there outside of lessons was. They weren’t allowed to be alone with guns but they were allowed to be alone where they might drown? It made so much sense to Oliver. Really.

With a sigh, he dropped his bag on a blue plastic chair, unzipping it and tugging out his towel. Draping it over the back of the chair, he fished out his goggles, turning and stepping towards the edge of the pool. The scent of chlorine would probably stick in his brain for a few hours after he was done, but Oliver didn’t mind. He was happy, a hint of genuine joy creeping into his veins while he looked down at the clear water, the reflections of coloured lines on the pool floor and walls. He hadn’t been able to swim like this, alone and in a place where few people could walk in on him, in a very long time. The camps had, of course, had swimming areas, but they were public and Oliver had no intentions of making himself that vulnerable.

Tugging his goggles into place, he moved to one of the diving boards, climbing up with ease while he breathed in steady air. There was always a rush at first, the slightest tingle of nervousness at jumping into something unknown. Oliver didn’t get off on that feeling, but it grounded him. The board was hard beneath his feet, stable and not likely to break with the weight of his body. He was grounded down, with an anchor to hold onto while he dived.

The rest of his team mates were socializing and many didn't seem as interested. Which was another appealing factor to the pool, Oscar wanted to do laps and clear his head, the wounds of his father's death still felt fresh to him when he was alone and would have time to think about it. It felt like his whole body was made of an industrial glue and no one but him could see it, amongst the ones dubbed freaks by society he didn't even feel like he belonged here. If he touched someone he could take their powers, luckily whoever he made contact with would get to keep it still, but now Oscar would walk around, with a small portion of someone else attached to him. He forced himself to think of other things around everyone, a telepath could be lurking about, minding their own business or may want to tune into the frequency he was operating at. Nothing particularly interesting was going on in his head, but it was the privacy he truly valued when the only thing that was really his own were his feelings and his thoughts.

Upon entering the room his eyes focused on the blue of the water and the way the lights inside the pool lit up the entire thing to make it seem like it was glowing, he smiled, instantly relaxing until he saw the other towel. Putting his on the chair next to the other one, he then checked to see who else was here. Oscar wasn't going to leave, he was here now and  there were other lanes for him to swim in, they appeared to be deep in their strokes, so Oscar slid in the lines that gave him enough space away from the other swimmer. He made a splash as he entered the pool, he blamed it on his gangly limbs and hoped he could pretend that hadn't happened, which he'd been doing a lot as of late.

He shot Oscar a reassuring grin, “Don’t be embarrassed, I tend to find that people who get lost in their thoughts are always so much more interesting then those who hardly think.” Those who just wandered through life, listening bored him to no end. Leon considered zoning out a good trait more then anything. He continued, “The cycle of hate and abuse is quite the vicious and unending…” He trailed off, thinking of his mother. “Very few people really survive and those who do are strong. Perhaps that’s what really makes this group of twenty strong. We’ve been oppressed and we’ve survived.” All these people were resilient and strong minded people. It was obvious to anybody that they were fighters, physically and mentally.

Cynical, that was a great word to describe Leon. A realist would be another. Ideals were for fools who didn’t understand the true cruelty of the world. He’d start to trust people, when they showed him he can. Before that it was just reserved judgment. He realized how bitter he must of sounded, “Sorry, I just have been to too many parties in my life to find joy in them now.” Events like this were to form alliances and gain status. He knew that well enough from living with a man who’s status was all that mattered. “Besides the people I have met so far are kind enough, so maybe you’re right and I’m just being cynical.”

Shrugging at Leon's wistful way of his history with parties, Oscar's outlook on it was the opposite. "I've always thought what was fun about parties was that the things may be the same, but the people would always change." He explained, and his hands began moving as he went going in circles and stopping, he even began pacing in another little circle by the board." New topics, new experiences. It's a bonding exercise, I suppose. That does't mean we can't really talk, and you know, not become friends, but something that will make for successful teamwork. If we like and respect each other I think that's the start of solid teamwork." 

Oscar smiled at Leon, then looked away, in truth  the rest of them were so much greater. His power was super stealing, a shameful fact he would keep to himself as long as possible. Oscar would rather be one original power that was worth something than able to be a few other ones, and he had talked to scientists that were keen on having him explore how many more he could take. When that happened a pit of despair formed in his stomach, like twisting knocks in a building ball of yarn, the rest of him would feel light. He couldn't very well say no, not when they would tell him that he was an important investment. Oscar would go through with it, they would remind him that along with the others he was an essential piece. It was their was of manipulating him into saying yes, and he hated himself for allowing it to work every time.

If he said anything and voiced his doubts, he would just appear like he was asking to be pitied. It was the honest to god truth in his prerogative, but saying anything more of it was begging the question of what he even does to be asked. He'd rather filter through the negative thoughts and feelings than even show a sliver of his true emotions here. Viewing things how they were was his best option, and currently there was someone assuring him that he had nothing to worry about.

"I don’t like people either," he stated, his expression stoic. "It was alright." Lie. The food was actually pretty great, but that was also to the man who hadn’t really ever had a decent meal. So, to Oscar, who appeared to Maddox as if he had a pretty cushy life before joining the Project, the food would probably seem mediocre. It made him wonder what the other man was doing here, what motivated him to do this project. "Yeah, that was good, too." Truth. He didn’t have much cake, but he enjoyed it. If that’s what mattered to Oscar, Mads didn’t care, but he seemed almost obligated to carry out the conversation.

Oscar nodded, it felt like the correct gesture to do, at this point anything sounded amazing, he could have said it was terrible and Oscar would imagine burnt chicken entering his palette. "Sounds good, I could really go for some but I think I'm going to wait." Oscar shared with the man, telling him of plans the blond never asked to hear. It was how he was with people, most of the time even the unapproachable ones he made an attempt to talk to, even if they brushed him off he experience from meeting he shadier characters his father would introduce him to as 'business partners.' 

"Um, I'm Oscar." He told him, with the right corner of his lips curving upward, subsequently he placed his hands on his hips in order to satiate the urge he would get to stick his hand out and shake his. But if the blond man didn't smile much he was doubtful he would return a handshake. "If we're going to be part of this we should get to know each other right. What's your name?" He asked, putting a name to the unfriendly face could be a start in getting somewhere with the short talking man, who he was considering a stranger at the moment but knew that he was important. They all were, and if he was going to preach about giving everyone another chance he had to do the same. Beginning with the brooding man that escaped the party for reasons different from himself.