#prismoria

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Jacob shifts in Jay's arms, studying the way the sunlight filters through his blond curls, making the ends appear to glow. It's ethereal. "Jay?" The word slips out before he can stop it, carrying more weight than he intended.

It's been years. He knew from day one he wanted Jay. The progress he's made so far is extraordinary. Jay's gone from cold and distant to preferring Jacob in his arms, something both soothing and torturous for the brunette.

He doubts Jay even knows what a crush is. What romantic feelings are.

The man of the hour was just contentedly leaned back against a tree with his eyes closed, Jacob safe in his lap. The steady roar of the waterfall is the only sound they need. But now he opens his eyes to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Do you... Like me?" Jacob tilts his head up, his hands clinging onto Jay's thick hoodie.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" His brow furrows slightly as he reaches up to brush a strand of hair from Jacob's forehead.

"No," his gaze flickers toward the waterfall. He really should hold Jay's gaze when asking this, but he can't. Not with the heat rising in his face. "I mean... Would you ever want to kiss me?"

"What... What's that?"

Fuck. He can't verbally explain what a kiss is without sounding like some sort of freak. But with Jay... He can't just *show* him. That could dredge up some memories that would best be left unturned.

"I can't describe it. Do I have your consent to show you? If it makes you uncomfortable, I will never do it again. Actually, never mind. It's not important anyw--"

His rambling is cut off by Jay's answer. "I trust you." It's not normal for Jacob to be this worked up over something, especially when it comes to feelings. But he would never cause harm.

Jacob shuts up. He forces himself to look up at Jay. His own panic has no effect on the blonde; Jay is just as peaceful as a few moments prior. His gaze flitters down to his lips.

No. That's too far.

He takes a deep breath, steadying his nerves before leaning up. Just a quick kiss on the cheek. That should say enough.

It's never been hard to fluster Jay, especially not after he started letting himself feel. But this is another level. His entire face and his ears turn a strawberry red, a stark contrast against his light curls. He rips his necklace off in an instant, pushing Jacob away and averting his gaze to the ground. His chest rises and falls quicker.

It takes several excruciatingly long minutes before he manages to get any form of sounds out, but that's all they are. It's clear he's trying to form words, but all that comes out are these high pitched squeaky sounds, completely unintelligible.

Jacob fucking broke Jay.

He waits in the grass he was pushed to, giving Jay some time to process. No need to rush him. Eventually, he prompts "... Was that okay? I... I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable... Are you okay?"

That, Jay can answer. He nods.

Jacob doesn't fight the smile tugging at his lips. "Did you freak out because you found the word to that action? Did you just not know what a kiss was called~?"

Jay nods again.

Right. Jay just didn't have the label 'kiss' in his vocabulary, but knows the implication of the action. He got hit with all sides of this at once. Jacob's confession, the physical intimacy, and his own feelings towards him.

"Do... Do you like me? Actually, no, sorry, I don't want to put that pressu--"

Jacob doesn't get to finish that sentence. He's caught in a whirlwind. His mind goes fuzzy.

Jay pulled him back to his lap, pressing their lips together. Hesitant, questioning.

Numb. Numb and electrified. Jacob melts into the warmth of Jay's body, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around the back of Jay's neck. His fingers curl around his soft hair.

It doesn't last long. Jay pulls back, holding Jacob's seafoam gaze.

Jacob takes several seconds to get his bearings again, his own face heating up. "That was... That was one hell of an answer~" He gently brushes back a strand of Jay's hair. The kiss lingers on his lips. It lingers with Jay; his hands are shaking. "Thank you."

Whatever confidence Jay had is quickly wanning. He breaks the raw eye contact, focusing on the grass. The intricate winding of thin vines around the blades. "I..." The word barely scrapes out. It takes significant effort just to keep his voice -- still a bit higher than normal, but not absurdly so -- steady. "Love you."

Jacob couldn't've heard that right. That did not just happen. Jay never lies. There is no chance that he made up his mind that quickly to such a bold stance. "What?"

Jay's gaze doesn't leave the grass. "I love you." Still quiet, but steadier this time.

Jacob blinks. He blinks again. What is happening?

The silence stretches for a while. Too long.

He needs to reply. He can't leave Jay hanging after such a statement. "I... Love you too." That is not the reply he was expecting himself to say, but he's sticking with it. He unwraps his arms from around Jay and gently tilts his head up to actually look at him. "I wanted you from the day we met. I wanted to see you happy, to see you smile. And when you finally did... All I wanted to do was kiss you."

Jay doesn't fight Jacob's touch, no matter how hard it is to confront this.

Jacob continues. "You are... Radiant. I know you think I'm the 'sun' and all that, and it's a shame that you don't see your own light. You're loyal to a crazy degree, deeply caring even if it takes a while to show it, and you're genuinely nice to be around. I know you don't think that's possible, but you are funny; a very dry sense of humor. You're trustful; I never have to doubt your words. You're so warm and affectionate... I love everything about you. Your smile, your touch, your eyes, your scars, the effect you have on me... "

Jay doesn't even have to ask the question on his mind.

Jacob can already tell that was coming. He smiles and gently takes Jay's hand in his, lacing their fingers together. His thumb traces the minor cut on the back of his hand that never seems to go away. "Your scars make you who you are. I do not love what they mean, but they are a part of you. And I love you."

It takes a moment before Jay reacts at all. He has no idea how to react.

Then, he pulls his hand away so he can hug Jacob tightly, burying his head against his shoulder. Not his usual hold on the brunette, but a full embrace. Like Jacob might fade away if he lets go.

Jacob nuzzles into Jay's embrace, trying to ignore the pain. It is a little too tight, but now's not the time to get hung up on that. He returns the gesture. It's clear Jay needs reassurance. "I won't leave you."

I get up from my office chair to answer the door and stretch. I don't really need my crutch anymore, but I'll keep using it for now anyway. My reflection in the hallway mirror stops me, but I'm not sure why.

Today feels like an off day. My hair's messier than usual, and Spence didn't say hi to me this morning. I try to readjust my loose stra-

HOLD ON AM I NARRATING EVERYTHING I'M DOING?

WHY AM I DOING THAT.

WHY AM I DOING THIS, STOP IT.

I shake my head and try to drop it for now.

There's no one at the door, just a large box. Is this the lighting I ordered for Spencer's room? Can't be, I just ordered that yesterday. Man, deliveries in Prismoria are way faster than I expected.

"Whoa, you're heavy!"

The box is only about 2 feet tall but the weight is so dense I can barely pick it up with both hands, so I carefully tilt and drag it inside.

Definitely not string lights. What is this, what else did I order?

While I fail to remember what I bought that could be this size, I silently wish Spence would randomly appear and help me.

"Nope, nevermind, bad idea. He'd probably just throw it into the Kitchen."

I chuckle to myself as I lean my crutch against the wall and slowly drag the box down the tiled hall, stopping every few feet to quell the sharp spurs begging me to rest.

I finally make it to my destination. I removed the smoke detectors in the kitchen on our very first night because I knew he'd set up a bonfire in the connected dining room, and I was right. 'Course I was, I'm always right.

Shut up me, I'm narrating.

Anyway, Spence is at least smart enough to keep the back patio doors and kitchen window open, allowing the fire to breathe without smoking up the house.

Alright, time to see what exactly this is.

It's addressed to me, correct address, Amazon sticker, matching print on the box, edges and sides are tightly bound by layers of black tape.

After opening a jug of water and pouring myself a glass, I pull a butter knife out of the drawer; my box cutter is in my office and I'm not patient enough to-

F W U M P .

I scream a curse as bright greens and purples jet out in every direction, pushing me against the now bright and shiny counter.

IT'S A BOMB - Oh... I know what this is.

It's a Glitter Bomb.

I've just been GLITTER BOMBED.

I cough a few times, adding to the air sparkles as I try to wipe my face. No dice, that was stupid, it's all over my hands too.

The floor is slippery now. So is the counter but I manage to pull myself up with only a few minor slips. Was there soap in it too or something?

"H-oly... W-what..."

My kitchen used to be monochrome before.

Nice, sleek, white everything save for a black stove and fridge combo.

Now all I can see is Colour. Colour EVERYWHERE -

"IT'S ON THE FREAKING CEILING!?"

I blink hard a few times and try to focus. I'm starting to hear something beside me-

OH GOD THE BONFIRE!

Most types of glitter are flammable. If that's the case with this stuff, then Spencer's Fire hazard will grow out of control!

My arms flail and scramble to grab the water jug, ready to snuff the flames.

But it turns out, aside from a few crackles and a brighter light than before, Spencer's Xenia isn't threatening to cause any problems.

I slowly shake my head and cough another cloud of vivid specks.

Spencer walks in the front door, quite unusual for him. As he tracks dirt in and refuses to remove his sandals, he notices something is off. Kotomi's crutch is leaning against the wall near the door, and there's… Something… In front of him. It's like dust, but Colourful.

The colour dust is in the air, and on the floor. Some of it has settled on the wall. He wipes a speck with his finger to get a closer look.

The speck is flat, round, and *very* purple.

This is man-made. Is it another of Ko-Chan's experiments?

The wild man stops himself from taking another step.

Now there's millions of specks forming a chaotic spill out of the kitchen.

A shiny, purple and green figure is attempting to sweep up the explosion of dust. There's a single scientist shaped section of clean counters, with what looks to be the epicenter of the experiment in the middle of the kitchen floor.

". . . Having fun?"

He expects Kotomi to throw her broom down.

He expects a temper, a scream, cursing even…

But she stops. She slowly turns to look at him…

And she starts laughing.

TRIGGER WARNING: Mild Language.

WORDS: 619

--- --- ---

The sky looks a bit like her hair. It appears black, but underneath its' real blue hue is just starting to peek through.

Kotomi Pylia has been driving for a long time. She's used to long trips like this, being asked to head out to foreign, remote locations to conduct investigations for her boss, but she's never done a 9 hour Drive in one go before. She's glad she packed extra fuel, and that her little two-seater has good fuel economy.

"Why me."

A raspy voice, the chords of Spencer, her passenger. She thought maybe she had the volume on her headphones too loud, but it turns out he really hasn't said anything throughout the whole trip, only deciding to speak now as the secluded town of Prismoria flickers into view, its small band of streetlights casting a pale orange haze against the early morning clouds.

Kotomi shifts down and gently brakes to match the town's lower speed limit. Even if no one else is on this road, she doesn't dare get in trouble with law enforcement.

"Pardon?" She asks. She knows the nature of his questions, but she likes grilling him to get more information, and to see how he formulates his thoughts.

"I'm not smart like you. I'm only good at surviving and fighting stuff. So... Why drag me along? Is something gonna fight you here?"

The scientist responds with a scoff of amusement as she re-syncs her thoughts to her music.

". . . . Don't tell me you're not excited. They've kept you holed up in that stuffy lab for over 2 years. I knew you needed a break, so I pulled some strings to make sure you'd come with me on my next investigation."

'Pulling Strings' is a bold face lie, and Spencer sees right through it. Kotomi's adoptive mother and boss practically begged her to babysit him and give the scientists a break.

"Just relax, Spencer. Think of this like a reward, for good behaviour. …What, what's with the face."

"Not my name."

"AGH. We've been over this, dude! For the record, *I'm* okay with calling you Dresden, but our Sponsor thought that sounded too 'aggressive'. Look, the people in this town won't be like what we're used to. They've been through alot and they don't like outsiders. We need to blend in here until I can find why— WHAT ARE YOU DOING‽"

Kotomi carefully but quickly brings her Miata to a stop as her passenger unbuckles his seatbelt and stands on the seat of the open-top roadster. Spencer stopped listening to her when he noticed something in the air. He looks around, unable to hear or see what it is.

"There's something here."

The tone in his voice says it all. He only loses his cute raspiness when he senses danger. If it was an animal he wouldn't act like this; He'd either jump out to go say hi, or he'd ignore it. No, this is something else, possibly something airborne.

Kotomi pulls a mask out of her labcoat and puts it on before tugging at Spencer's pant leg.

"You might be smelling fertilizer, we just passed a farm."

"No, its-"

"DREZ. I mean. . . . Spence. Sit down."

"But I can't-"

"SIT. DOWN."

Spencer finally listens, slowly sitting cross-legged on the seat. He's still scanning the sky, his eyes darting around as he fails to track what his brain is alerting him to. Kotomi looks around as well as she puts his seatbelt back on and slowly starts driving again, but she can't sense anything different.

"Boombaclaat, if anything *can* kill you it'll be me, by accident. Just sit tight bud, we're almost there. Once we get to the house you can go explore."

The room immediately becomes bright white, transporting her and Spencer back home, much faster than usual, as if it's kicking them out.

Kotomi is standing in her office, adrenaline vibrating her hands. She eases herself into her office chair. They just had another White Room Visit, but this time... She can remember being there. The memory is faint, like waking up halfway through a boring dream, but it's there.

In her last Progress report, she had requested R&D make her a chemical that will boost her short term memory. She slides her clipboard onto the desk and digs through her Labcoat's pockets, pulling out a voice recorder, a broken petri dish, and two small vials. Only one vial is full of a menacing black liquid, and a bitter spike burns the back of her throat.

"I took it... But I still can't remember everything. I'll need a stronger batch." She summarizes to herself.

A pause. Itchy hand. Bug bite? No, nothing there, just pale vitiligo blotches.

Vitiligo... She articulates her fingers, watching how they bend. She's never really cared about this condition until recently. Did The Room bring it up in a question? She's always been grateful she didn't get the scaly, painful kind her Father got... Not yet, at least.

Knocking.

"Intrude."

Spencer's not crying for once. That's a good thing... Right?

He places a hot bamboo cup on her atom shaped coaster. She turns down the UK Rap blasting from her headphones.

"...Wazzi?"

"Tea... You asked me for one?"

"Oh aye, thanks. What kind?"

" . . . You're welcome." He smirks and turns to leave, but she stops him.

"Spence? Uhhh..." Strange, she thinks.

I want to say something to him, but I'm at a sudden loss for words. What was I gonna ask him, dammit?

"...Hm?"

"Um... Don't leave, I might have to do some... Tests. On you. Today."

Spencer shrugs.

"Okay. I'll be at my fire."

. . . Okay. OKAY? I was expecting him to protest, or at least show disgust, not be complacent with it.

Too late to question it, Spencer has already walked away. Kotomi scratches her only sharp fingernail against the edge of her clipboard, feeling the fake corkboard wrestle between the chitin and skin of her right pinky.

Something doesn't feel right. Spencer's been acting weird since they came here. She's been acting weird. The people here look and act weird, but so far she's the one that feels like an outsider. Kotomi would never admit this out loud, but until she gains the trust of a local, she can't make any more progress on her investigation.

Whatever... Let's just see if the recording worked.

Her device claims over 40 minutes of recorded audio.

A quick glance between her watch and the wall clock shows a difference of 24 minutes. She's already aware of The Room's temporal shenanigans, but it still intrigues her.

She promises herself to stop procrastinating as she hits the "Play" button.

"Ooookay, let's get this started. Chief Anomaly Enforcer Kotomi Pylia, for Research Project KP—016, Audio Log 01. I wasn't fast enough on the draw but they just asked us new questions. Spence, watch? … In sync, great."

Static behind her voice. Kotomi tested the device beforehand; it's an older piece of equipment but 100% analog and in perfect condition. It shouldn't give off any static, unless something - like an extra-dimensional room - interferes.

A distorted sound follows her voice. Kotomi pauses and rewinds the recording, and then slows it down while raising the pitch. It's not enough to be good evidence, but she knows the room spoke there.

'Answer The Questions And You May Leave.' That's what the room voice says every session. This time it sounded a bit more emotional. Closer to annoyance than anger, but it's getting there.

Kotomi grabs Spencer's tea and takes a whiff.

The aroma reminds her of the soil directly underneath a freshly pulled weed; it doesn't smell sweet, but it's not exactly "bad." She blows on it and tempts a fateful sip.

Spencer always makes weird teas with questionable ingredients, but she's never grown ill from any of his concoctions. Maybe he can turn this into a business in the future.

As expected, the potion tastes far better than it smells, but she can't place the flavour profile just yet. She itches her hand again as the recording continues.

"Yeah yeah, we know... Who do you want first this time?"

"~^•π√" More distortion. She knows it said 'Boy answers first.'

"Oh good, then we have some time. Knock yourself out kid, I'll be over here. Ahem, so Spencer and I have just been ...-{STATIC}-... Voice asks us questions and won't let us leave until they're answered. Sounds easy on the surface but we immediately noticed some issues. First, it wants a VERY emotional, "honest" answer, but it seems to be biased in certain aspects.

"Second... We seem to be pressed for time. If we take too long to answer, we get threatened with ominous downwards movement. This is now our... Fifth time being here. Uh... No, six rather."

Her voice is replaced with shuffling and a grunt; she remembers she found a wall and slumped into a sit to rest her leg.

WAIT, REMEMBER! I JUST REMEMBERED. I CAN SEE IT NOW!

Kotomi dips into the dubious dram before setting it down and shutting her eyes tight, trying to put herself back into The Scene.

"The room just asked us the following questions: What is your primary comfort? What do you do when you need to feel safe? What relaxes you the most in your downtime? Unfortunately those questions seem a little too easy to answer, so I don't think we'll-"

She gets cut off. On the recording, the interrupting sound is scratchy and bit-crushed, like some kind of old video game's audio getting corrupted.

Kotomi pauses the recording and thinks about what happened next before pressing Play again.

She's written down in the past how The Room turns red and shakes, but this is the first time she can actually visualize it.

The sudden shift of the world surrounding her, morphing colour and tone from neutral to vehemence.

The grinding of unknown mechanical variables assaulting the two with the screeches of irregular movement.

The tactile response of their equilibriums to an intangible force, a clear reminder of their own mortality.

Okay, no, that's TOO vivid, Ko.

A gulp of turbulent tisane and she's ready to proceed. The taste is powerful, almost meaty, minus the phenolic tinge of a broth. Her hand won't stop itching.

She presses play, but nothing happens. Static, the ambient ticking and whirring of tape moving but nothing else.

She pauses the recording, rewinds to her talking, then presses Play again.

"So I don't think we'll-"

Loud bit-crushed scratching, then... Nothing.

No, that didn't happen. She knows what happened next and it DEFINITELY wasn't nothing.

She pauses, skips forward 30 seconds, and presses Play.

Silence. She looks back at her clipboard.

A Scribble, scratchy and ominous. She etched it as fast as possible:

ANGRY RECORD.

Angry Record... The room got angry that I was recording.

In her mind, The room turns a vibrant red and violently shakes, much worse than last time. Whatever just happened, the room is definitely angry.

"Whoa! Wh-what the hell, room!? We haven't done anything this time!"

Spencer picks himself up and looks at the recorder, now on the floor as it fell out of Kotomi's hand.

"No... You did that and the room doesn't like it."

He points at her small metallic box.

"What, my voice recorder? Oh come on, room, you're testing us but I'm not allowed to test you? Why were you letting us move around and do stuff la-"

She gets cut off by a jolting downward movement, this time faster and more aggressive.

"OKAY OKAY FINE! HOLY CROW, CHILL! Friggin hypocrite, I'll stop recording! Happy now‽"

The room finally turns white and stops moving. Kotomi places her recorder in her chest pocket but 'forgets' to press pause.

She kept it recording. Did it ruin the tape?

She pauses the device and opens it, checking all the equipment inside. Everything seems to be in working order and the tape isn't corrupted. Maybe the machine itself broke somehow? Or perhaps The Room anomalously expunged the tape itself.

She closes the recorder and tries fast forwarding five, ten, then 15 minutes. Finally, the audio kicks back in... And it's right where it left off.

Odd. 15 minutes of silence, presumably dead space where nothing happened. Did the room freeze them for 15 minutes while it tried to calm down?

"Friggin hypocrite, I'll stop recording! Happy now‽ Ugh... Spence, room said you first. Got anything yet?"

"I Almost had something until you interrupted. Now let me think..."

Cloth shuffling. The sound of Kotomi getting up and moving again. She remembers she got up and held a hand out as she found a corner, then leaned her back against it. Her next experiment would be a bit more clandestine, partially testing to see how much this place could 'see' all at once.

"'Primary... Comfort.' That's like... Feeling good. Stuff that makes me happy."

"Correct. Like i said, this one's an easier one."

"Not for me... Sigh, what makes me feel better..."

A slight rubbing sound, Spencer dragging his finger back and forth across the ultra-smooth floor.

"Exploring."

Kotomi fills in the silent gap with her own memory of a yellow flash.

"What I mean is... Just, wandering, I guess. I like finding something I've never seen before and learning how it works."

"Like skunks? You still stink by the way, I should give you more baths."

"Ko. Uh... Fire. I like fire. It feels... Nice. Warm... Alive, but not. Like it knows I'm there, helping it grow, and it reacts by cooking stuff for me. I like my teas too, those always help me feel good."

Yellow. Spence frowns as he starts to get impatient.

"Mm, cooking... Oh, cookies! I like cookies, they taste awesome. Hmm, Maybe I should learn how to make cookies."

"NO. You'll waste my whole budget on flour and fill the damn house with cookies!"

"I'll eat them all."

"Our house will reek of vanilla!"

"I fail to see the problem. Isn't that better than skunk?"

Another yellow. Not quite enough, but Kotomi isn't really sure herself of what Spencer actually likes besides those things.

"Still yellow... Mm... Oh, maps. That's a new one for me. I like looking at maps and figuring out where stuff is."

The room still isn't satisfied. It wants a deep comfort of his, and neither of them really know what the correct answer is this time. What he likes. . . . What about what he liked? Kotomi thinks back to the Jungle she found him in, and about that creature that seemed to prefer his company. What did he call that thing again?

"Spence." The sound of tapping. She rapidly taps her fingers on her arm, trying to replicate Spencer's Thunderblight. This only annoys him.

"N-no, that hurts. I mean, I make teas to help with that, but none of your science buddies have been able to find a cure for... For..."

Oh boy, here he goes.

He realized what Kotomi was getting at, and she realized just a bit too late what reminding him of home could do to him. Luckily though, he pushes through his homesickness to talk about it.

"Oh… Kadachi. My friend. I lived with her, back in the Jungle. She didn't do this to me on purpose, she's just uh... Prickly. But she still felt... good to rest against when I was tired, or when I had head pain."

"Your little Dino friend helped you feel safe. She was your comfort."

A silent nod from his red flushed face.

Wait, WAIT! Kotomi's eyes snap open. She pauses and goes back a few seconds, then listens carefully.

A Ding!

No aberration, no corrupted audio! Exactly 24 minutes and 24 seconds in, she gets her very first, Viable audio proof that she's NOT crazy! It exists! The Room is real, and it rmesses with your emotions! It really does force a biased truth out of its Victims!

She pushes herself away from her desk and pops off, standing up fast enough to make her chair fall over as her first piece of real evidence makes her lose control from elation. Both her leg and skin whine in complaint, but she's simply too excited to care about the pain in this moment.

"Y E S ! YES, YES, YES! LET'S GOOOOOOO! LET'S FREAKIN GO MY G, WE GOT IT! TAKE IT ALL IN WASEMAN, YA DONE NOW. FINNA BUN'DEM, WASEMAN, YA DONE NOW! OOOOOOOH— Ah-"

She freezes in place, mid-shimmy. Spencer is staring at her from the office entrance. He came over when he heard Kotomi's shrieks and wasn't expecting her dance of excitement. Her face suddenly feels hot.

". . . . I caught the room on audio. It's, uh. Proof. That we're not crazy."

"How's the tea?" His curled lip remains, but there's something deeper in his eyes this time. It almost feels like Kotomi's looking at her own reflection.

"It's… Fiiiine? Why w-what, what did you put in it?"

"Dragonfly."

"...Y... You're joking, right? It tastes good, tell me you lie."

"Nope. Glad you like it, enjoy the dance party, weirdo!"

Kotomi shuffles around for a minute as she cleans up the slight spill she made and struggles to right her chair. Once she's situated again, she adds the current song in her ears to a special playlist. She does this any time she makes an achievement or breakthrough, making a sort of Audio Trophy Case for herself, her own version of sentimentality.

"PISS OFF! ALSO THANKS."

Okay, enough playing around. Back to business.

"My turn now, huh? Aight give me a-AAAH!"

She tries to ready her memory vial, only for The Room to interrupt with more violent shaking.

Her vial survives the fall. Unfortunately, her petri dish does not.

"K-ko! Stop doing that and j-just-!"

Kotomi had been hiding her other action for a few minutes; using her lab coat as a cover, she was pretending to fidget with her hands, when in reality she managed to slide a knife against the wall and catch a few shavings into her dish; her arm tapping from earlier served as the perfect distraction to hide her instruments, but the shaking has revealed her schemes.

The shaking hurts. Everything hurts, and the hurting everything prevents Spencer from finishing his scold.

"Dammit! Enough, Room, I'm about to answer you!"

The shaking quells, slower than last time. Spencer is holding his sides, grimacing at her with as much animosity as he can muster. She carefully cleans up her mess before sucking back the contents of the vial, forcing herself to swallow the oily substance.

"Stupid Ting, yah should know this by now. I'm a - Ugh, oh god, that tastes like death - Ahem, I am a scientist. You really expect to stuff me in here and NOT have me try to figure you out? Yah brain smooth like wall, finna ri."

Kotomi pauses her memory and grabs another swig of Spencer's Dragonfly tea.

Yup, he ain't joking, that's insect... Still good though.

Her hand is itching again. Is she allergic to his tea? No... It must be the chemical, something about it is bothering her. She should've read the ingredients label.

She doesn't need to press play on the recording again; She has all the evidence she needs.

She savours her next taste and presses play on her memory.

Clipboard scribbling is followed by a page flip.

"Comfort. I'll get the drop on you this time and say that music is a big comfort for me. It's the only thing keeping the whole cancer thing from making me go crazy.

"... Heh, yellow on my first try. I'm getting better at this. Yeah, music isn't the only thing. As long as it's some form of mental stimuli, I'll take anything to keep my mind occupied. Games, reading, research... Hell, I'm fine with work itself if I'm in a good mood."

Another yellow. Alright, no more beating around the bush. The Room wants an answer? She'll give it one.

The young scientist lets her clipboard fall to her side and stares into the nearby wall, concentrating her glare into the blank.

"You know what else comforts me? Knowledge. Learning things. You, the one asking us questions, already know everything about us. But I know nothing about you. I want, more than anything else in the world, Information. Raw Data. You have what I want, something I yearn for each and every waking day.

"I'm going to learn everything. I'm gonna find out why we keep being kidnapped and interrogated AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT INTERRUPTING ME AGAIN BECAUSE I'M ANSWERING YOU!

"I take the ultimate comfort in knowing that no matter what happens next, what you ask or how exposed and rotten you make us feel in here… One day I'm going to be asking you the Questions.

"And you. Will . . . . Answer."

Kotomi touches a finger to the lifeless wall she's monologuing to.

She doesn't get a Yellow response this time.

In fact, the wall doesn't turn Red, or Green.

"Spence! Huff, wait up ya jerk!"

He dragged her outside.

It's Four in the morning, and this stupid guy woke her up and dragged her out here to chase after some dumb Fox.

Her chest is burning. Her legs are screaming, but the cool night air is refreshing on her skin, at least. Kotomi finally gives in and stops running, leaning against a tree as she aims her flashlight into the pitch black forest.

She's not just chasing him, though. She was about to curse him out and go back to bed until she saw it. Or rather, she didn't see it. It's another mutated animal, this time a black Fox... But black isn't the right word, because black isn't dark enough to describe it.

This thing's fur is darker than night itself, almost like a missing texture in a video game.

Vantablack… I saw some guy… on the Internet… make a paint like that… once. Dammit Spence… this mission might kill me before I can kill you.

"Ko!" She swings the light around; he's behind her now.

"She wants us to follow."

Kotomi is no slouch. She was on the Track and Field team in High School, and her Halcyon missions get her into some tight spots. But she's never been able to keep up with Spencer. His speed is borderline ridiculous.

"J-just… Give me a sec!"

"Hurry up!" Spencer disappears again. Kotomi tries to give chase again, ignoring her body's pleas for a rest.

And then, Blinding, Bright White.

Kotomi trips.

IT'S A TRUCK, I'M DEAD-

She attemps to re-step and promptly miscalculates a suddenly flat floor replacing the rugged forest ground.

A roll. A sprain. She turns, a bit too quickly.

S N A P ! Thud.

`How do you feel about your body? Are you insecure about it? What do you want to change? Is there anything you li-`

"FFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! AAAAGH! MMMMM."

It's not a truck.

Kotomi holds back tears as she tries to pull herself up. She fails, resorting to propping her torso on one arm. Every movement, from the edge of her toe to the bridge of her spine has been seasoned with agony.

The sensation of metallic liquid assaults her mouth.

The Room voice tries again.

`Is there anythin-`

"PISS OFF! LEAVE ME THE FFFF! MMMM!"

She's never broken her leg before. IS it broken? Do breaks seriously hurt THIS bad? Whatever, don't swear in front of Spence. Even though I REALLY WANT TO.

Where is he? Her eyes are still squeezed shut. The room literally flashbanged them. Spencer makes it over to her, rubbing his now bloody nose. He kneels and grasps her shoulder to support her but also hold her in place with a sturdy, weathered hand.

"Don't move."

"YUH DUN KNOW‽ FINNA RI!"

"Calm... Breathe, stop talking, don't move."

The voice decides that, just this once, It'll show some patience. These two know the rules by now. The questions have... Mostly been posed.

Kotomi feels the heat get thicker in her mouth and spits in response. Red, matching the mark on the nearby wall. She bit her tongue when she went down. Spencer ignores The Room for a minute to look at how bad her break is. He's no doctor, but he has experience from bad falls in his jungle home. It's all internal damage. Her foot is twisted wrong. The leg is super tense, and her kneecap doesn't look right.

He winces as this last detail brings back some bad memories. It wasn't just his home where he's seen this. The scientists broke him, too. Always just one piece at a time, to watch how he reacted. Or maybe to gauge how strong he was? It never made sense to him, but Kotomi approved and promised they'd only do it to him for a short while.

He shakes his head and stands up.

"You won't die. Just stay there."

Kotomi growls. He thinks he can hear some kind of death threat escape her, but it's more of that native language of hers. She sounds similar to how he reacts sometimes.

"Okay, Room, I think I should go first so we don't get killed or whatever. Are you okay with that?

No response. Time to start thinking.

"How do I feel… About my body?" He looks down at himself to form an answer, but nearby movement draws his attention.

The wall He ran into… Is changing. A form has appeared, a dark silhouette. Spencer cautiously approaches to get a better look and watches the form take more shape, colour, and definition until…

He's staring at himself. Spencer knows what this is, he just can't remember the name at the moment. He grew up believing it was a type of solid water.

Kotomi mistakenly scrambles to grab her clipboard, which she landed on. The board is cracked, papers crumpled, but it's still usable. She winces as she attempts to write, the pain shooting back through a new wave of intensity.

N-no! Push through it Ko, this is a huge discovery! I can't... C-can't... Write.

The tears refuse to be held back anymore.

The athletic figure rotates as Spencer moves his head around, The Room instinctively giving him the exact angle he wants. The figure refuses to move, but it is breathing and blinking.

"W-wow... I'm... Not really sure? Don't care about my hair, skin is fine... My eyes look kinda cool but some people think they're scary, and my hands-"

His scanning gaze stops. His hands aren't the problem… But they helped to cause it.

His Thunderblight. The condition he's had since he met Kadachi. The Room has seen it afflict him practically every time now, but He still doesn't trust this place enough to reveal information. Nevertheless, the Mirror wall flashes, bouncing dandelion light across the void.

"... And there it is. Sigh... It's called Thunder... Uh... Thunderbite? Mm mm, Blunder? Hang on, I've got this... Blight, there we go."

Something new happens again. The mirror figure moves. It tenses up, winces, and starts shivering.

Spencer has never seen what he looks like when it flares up. It makes him look... Weak. Scared. Small.

Spencer kisses his teeth and looks away.

"I... D-don't want a cure. It... Reminds me of my friend. She didn't give it to me on purpose, she's just... Prickly."

The wild man shakes his head, hoping this is enough to move on.

"Aside from that, I don't have any serious issues about my- AH!?"

Spencer took a gamble looking back at his HD reflection again and lost. The figure's clothing has been removed, revealing his complete lack of reproductive organs. He hears a weak scoff from behind. He knows her; Kotomi would be in a full cackle if she wasn't in so much pain.

"You want me to break the other one?" He snaps at her, only half joking.

"N-no, cough, no, I-i just... looked up at the worst possible time. C-carry on."

"HMPH. Yes, room, I Don't have anything down there. I've always been like this for as long as I can remember, but again, I don't care. I have problems, and I'm different... But I'm fine with it."

Ding!

Spencer glares at Kotomi, but quickly softens his expression. He can't stay mad at her when she's in this much pain.

"Your turn, ma'am."

"I'm gonna... K-kill you..." She strains to pull her chest up again, but fails and lays back down, whimpering. New tears force their way down her face, nearly matching the pace of her shallow breaths.

Spencer's silhouette disappears. A new one forms, this time under the floor, in a position that makes it easier for Kotomi to see herself.

Dammit I wanna write this down so bad!

"Ssss... I'm skipping this one. See ya next time."

The floor flashes Red. Oh great, here she goes.

"N-nah, Room, ya hurt me. I... Really can't."

Another Red flash.

"Ko-"

"Press… O F F !" Her fist strikes the floor.

The elevator routine starts again.

Red, shaking, screeching metal, increasing temperature. Spencer feels his Thunderblight threaten to freeze him up but he quickly tries to shake it off. He storms over to his Handler.

"Ko, this is an easier one. Answer it."

Kotomi spits to the side, adding more saturation to the threatening floor.

"R-room's takin us to Hell. We're goin home, Spence."

"KOTOMI. Answer or I'll un-break it!" He kneels beside her, trying to hold back tears of his own. She cannot be serious. He hates this place and she knows that, yet he was finally strong enough to answer properly. Is she really going to waste that to save her own ego?

"Y-you don't know how to-" She snarls at him, her smirk a perfect 180° from its' normal curve

"Try me." Spencer reaches for her broken leg.

"OKAY OKAY FINE, BACK AWAY! MOVE! R-ROOM, I'LL ANSWER. Both of you suck."

The Room complies, ending the threat.

Kotomi closes her eyes for a second, secretly enjoying the new warmth on her back, before she looks down at the Reflection underneath her. She's not really sure where to start, so she tries going top to bottom like Spencer did.

I see my blue hair and I want it painted blaaack~ Oh, I haven't heard The Rolling Stones in awhile -DAMN, WHAT THE HECK, I CAN'T CONCENTRATE.

"... I hate my hair, wish it was actually black. My eye colour is... Fine, I guess, nobody can see the purple colour unless they look real close." She looks at her own hands. She has dotted, sporadic vitiligo on both, growing asymmetrically. She first noticed it when she was Ten years old. Her father had it too, so she chalked it up to just being genetic.

"I… My butt's too big."

Red flash. Spencer isn't amused by her shoddy deflection.

"You never talk about your hand spots."

"AND I DON'T... Ugh." She can't refuse or they die, but she's in too much pain to care about this emotional "Life Review" shtick. She audibly sighs out her frustration. One hand lifts itself straight up, slowly turning back and forth.

"... Looks kinda like the spots on a cow. Kids made funna me for that, but I didn't care."

Red.

"Flippin 'ell, mon! Aight fine, my hands piss me off. I hate my hands, I hate my skin, and I hate YOU, WASTEMAN."

"Stop trying to anger the room!"

"IT BROKE MY FREAKIN LEG AND STILL WANTS ME TO ANSWER QUESTIONS! I'M THE ONE THAT'S ANGRY!"

A Koto is a Japanese string instrument. It's well known for its cultural importance and ability to emit multiple octaves of soft, smooth string notes at once, along with quick variations in pitch, most often utilized in Traditional Japanese folk music.

But Kotomi's voice does not sound melodic, or beautiful, or like anything related to The Koto.

She screamed.

It's the loudest she's ever screamed at anyone, and even with no reverb in this room her booming chords were powerful enough to be felt all around. All thorns, no rose.

She shuts her eyes and drops her head against the floor.

This is it, this is how we die, I just killed us.

Surely now the room has had it with them. It'll skip the song and dance, no shaking this time. Maybe it'll just make the floor collapse and swallow them into whatever hellscape awaits them downstairs. Any second now…

…

We're still alive? Kotomi opens her eyes again.

Spencer has backed off, scared by her yelling, rubbing his hands to ward off his condition. No Red. No shaking or downward movement.

The Room is silent... Silently waiting for her to finish her answer. In a sense, this feels even worse than the elevator sequence.

She tilts her head to look down at the thin frame floating beneath her, waiting to be examined. By now she'd usually run cold and use her science side to push an analytical answer, but her thoughts are everywhere. Even her music can't keep her organized right now. Music... The silhouette has headphones too.

"…Do internals c-count? I hate my cancer, sure you know that already." It hurts to speak now. She might've screamed too hard.

"And… I used to hate my skin condition but I… I got over it. Doesn't bother me anymore, just a bit annoying when I get cold.

I… I honestly can't think of anything else."

Neither can the Room, supposedly, as it finally releases the two with another green, followed by warm, blinding brightness.

Warm to cold. Light to dark.

Light? Why am I on my ba-OH GOD.

She tripped. She must have, and the flashlight blinded her as she dropped it. However it happened, the damp thick bushes now accompany a sharp piercing sensation through Kotomi's body.

She tries to call out to Spence. It barely comes out as a whimper.

Where did my voice go? Maybe I fell so hard I lost my breath? No, my throat hurts like I've been yelling. Oh shoot, how long have I been like this!?

She tries again, forcing wind past the invisible cuts attempting to suppress her call.

"S-spence… Spencer!"

Rustling nearby. Kotomi's hands hunt frantically for the flashlight.

Dammit dammit dammit, please don't be an animal or something!

She grasps her tool just in time. The emergency LED reveals Spencer trudging into view, holding a mess of black nothingness in his hands. The tiny furball of chaos and terror quivers in his crook, staring back at her with intense, intelligent yet horrified azure eyes.

"I was thinking of calling her 'Thalia'. Or, Maybe 'Aszune?' Can't decide."