Be jelly? 96 sounds ****ing awful. Keep it. Look I know I may sound choosy about my weather but I like my weather between 40-70 degrees. Especially now that I have a yard work job. If I maybe owned an air conditioning that didn't fry the circuits, I wouldn't mind 96. Now if we still were having the snowpocalypse over here, I might have been jealous.
Spoiler: I know walls of text aren't fun, so if you do read this (which I hope you do) clicky With help from the larger hooded figures, Abi and Tomas were escorted back to their cell. One helped Abi sit on her bed and handed her pain medication with a glass of water in which one of the children fetched. Tomas was helped out of his wet robes and then two hooded figures toweled him off while another child figure moved to pull an oriental room divider to obscure Abi's view from the boy. After a few moments, the hooded figures moved out of the room and the oriental room divider was slid back in place, showing that Tomas was now laid on his bed, teeth still chattering with a large quilt over his body. He looked even more paler than before. After all had filed out of the room, two adults pulled out complicated electric fancy locks that had no key hole in them. They placed them so that the cell door was secured, and then bothered to lock the original key hole as well. Then they left, locking the wooden door behind them. Tomas couldn't look at Abi. He felt like he did something wrong, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time. "H-how's t-the p-pain?" He asked softly, trying to hide the quiver in his voice from the cold. Abi hadn't heard Tomas, with everything that had been going on. She had been paying a lot of attention to the locked cell door. Now, it was going to be harder for her to try to break out again... not that she really had another plan going anyway. She was staring at the door when she realized Tomas spoke, she turned towards him and said, "Huh? I'm sorry, I hadn't heard you... are you alright?" The boy finally opened his eyes, not offended with Abi's spacing out. "Th-the pain... H-how i-is it?" He slowly turned his head, making sure he wasn't laying on the side he was stuck by the needle so he cold face Abi. He tried to bite his lip to stop the annoying chattering, but it wasn't working. "J-just c-c-cold... And a li-ittle t-tired... But alr-right..."Abi massaged her shoulders at the question and responded, "Probably about as good as you think it is... though I'm honestly hoping this pain med kicks in soon..." She crossed her legs and shook her head, "I'm not mad at you... but why did you do that?" Tomas breathed out softly, pulling the thick blankets over his head so he looked like he was wrapped in a cocoon with his face poking out. His violent shivers began to lessen, and he took in a few more breaths to calm down his chattering teeth until they stopped. "Because I know what it's like," the boy said quietly. "And I wished someone was there for me when I had to go through it. Someone's probably out there looking for you, you know? You just barely got kidnapped... I think people gave up on me. But... I don't... I don't want you to ever believe someone is going to give up on you." He gave a small smile as a violent shudder went down his spine and curled up more into a fetal position on his bed. "They probably would have left you up there until your shoulders dislocated... That would have been bad." Abi closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before she only replied, "I'm sorry." "For what?" the boy asked, raising his eyebrow as his smile faded away. "I'm pretty sure you just went through twice what I went through for something I did... and it doesn't matter if you've been through it before... it only makes it worse." she looked away from Tomas and was no longer making eye contact, "I barely even know you and you just went through all that so I wouldn't feel given up on... but I don't like the idea of people getting hurt due to actions I caused..." Tomas looked at her sadly, quivering under his blanket slightly. "Hey... You didn't know... And I'm a tough cookie. I got bucked off a horse when I was seven... Those were fun times." He then pushed himself to sit up, finally taking the power bar and unwrapped it. "Tiger Milk bars... they're really good. I don't feel bad for eating these. It's got carob coating, peanut butter, and all sorts of yumminess... Not like that nasty shake. This one is... Peanut butter and honey. Want to try some?" he asked, holding up the bar for her to see. He was trying to distract Abi from the horrors of this place. He was seeing the light being zapped out of her already and felt awful about it. "I can't." she realized how blunt she sounded for a moment and kind of tried to lighten it up, "Well I mean, I could if you wanted to see how fast a girl can swell up. I'm allergic to peanut butter." she held her hands up in defense just in case he got worried, "Not airbourne, so don't worry about that." "Oh... darn." Tomas looked at the tasty bar, wondering what it would it would be like to be allergic to peanut butter. "Maybe they'll bring something else next time." He took off a piece and gave it a nibble, instantly feeling reenergized as the sugar substance touched his tongue. "I don't know when they'll be back though... Hopefully they won't give a lecture. They're not as bad as discipline, they just talk to us, but it's like the same old stuff over and over again... I swear if they found out how Moonblinking really works from Guardians of Ga'hoole, they would use that if they could." He chewed and swallowed more of the bar, feeling bad to eat in front of Abi, but he needed the proteins and sugar it had to offer after the blood he lost. Abi looked confused, "Okay, I got the references up to Narnia... now you're out of my understanding." she waited for a moment before she got up, which felt wonky for a moment and then she went into the bathroom. She came back out with three cotton swabs. Before Tomas could make any assumptions she spoke, "They kept the Q-Tips in here, I feel like they did it just to spite me... nah I'm not doing that again..." she mumbled as she went back in. She came back after another minute and responded, "What do you mean by the 'same stuff over and over again'" Abi was laying down on the bed at that point, when he said that line she said unconsciously, "Oh god that is more terrifying that the torture." she cringed and sat up, "I'm gonna guess they tell us 'oh no one is looking for you' speech just to get us to stop hoping for it. But honestly, they are probably still looking... I don't know what your life was like outside of here, but even if one person cares about you, they are probably still worried about you..." She turned her head and made sure she was looking directly at Tomas, "You aren't only important to them." Tomas watched Abi from where he was sitting, wrapping the blankets around his skinny frame to keep warm. His tired brown eyes had dark circles under them and it seemed as if he almost had no light in them as he stared back at the older teen girl before him. But there was a little glimmer in them if someone looked closely; a glimmer that showed that deep down, even after all this time, he still tried to fight. "My dad's a very important guy, owned a bunch of ranches and whatnot... He's a tough cowboy kind of character; wore ostrich boots, jeans, fancy belt buckles, and a button up plaid shirt with his favorite black gallon cowboy hat." He smiled a bit at the memory and then continued on, "Him and my momma knew something was different about me... But they didn't know what to do. Dad wanted me to take over the ranching business someday, so I guess he just.... Kind of ignored what I really could do with hearing other people's thoughts and whatnot... Momma said it was a gift that I needed to take care of. My grandma, well... I already told you about that." He shifted on the bed, his shivering had all but died away by now. "They don't know where to find me though... It's been a year..." He began to tear up, his throat becoming pressured as the emotions swelled inside of him. "Maybe my grandma convinced them that it was for the best... Maybe... Maybe they think I'm dead and I'm not going to come back for sure..." He took the edge of the blanket wrapped around him, furiously trying to wipe away the tears that were trying to come. He needed to be tough, his dad kept telling him that over and over again. Tomas was to not cry in front of anyone, especially girls. He needed to be the tough guy and to keep sensitive feelings at bay, something that his dad often chided to him often. "Sorry," he mumbled, sniffing as he continued to furiously wipe away the tears to stop the crying. Abi looked across at Tomas and listened to his story, and she could hear him try and hold back tears. She hated it whenever people pointed it out for her, so she wasn't going to point it out for him. She sat up in the bed and replied, "My dad works for some high end company... I'm not really sure what he does exactly... but my dad has always not been fond of the idea I had powers... my mom didn't mind it... I dare say she loved it." Abi felt the painkillers finally starting to kick in which made her seem to seem a little more relaxed than she normally did, "My momma's pregnant. She's having a boy. I didn't tell her yet though, she wants it to be a surprise. But I always checked up on him to make sure he was okay. So... my parents might be occupied for a little while when it comes to things... because of my baby brother... but I'm sure they'll find me... the problem is details really... I mean... do you have any idea where we are?" Abi let out a little laugh and pointed to herself, "I'm from Nevada." Tomas in turned listened to Abi and her story. The fact of knowing what sibling she was going to have next was pretty cool to him. He sniffed as he finished wiping away the tears and shook his head. "No... I don't know where we are. They never let me outside." He smiled a little though, finding something similar. "I'm from Nevada too... Las Vegas. That's where my daddy has his headquarters at anyways. Sometimes we go stay on the ranches, they're way out in the middle of no where." He laughed a little, letting the blankets fall off his shoulders now that he was warmed up. "But I like those places better... They're quiet and you can wander off on your own without worrying too much... Just need to be careful of the rattlesnakes, cougars, and wild mustangs." Abi was quiet, she had a little bit of a hopeful sound to her voice, "Do you think we're still in Las Vegas?" she sat up a little more and continued, "I'm also from Las Vegas... never left though." "We could be," Tomas said, scratching his head. "... The day I was kidnapped is a little fuzzy though... They drugged me. I just remember being pulled into a van and they said something about..." He was confused as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Something about I would like to see the ocean... It was weird." He shook his head, looking back at Abi. "I don't remember much... And they keep their thoughts muddled when they're around us." He smiled when Abi mentioned she was from Las Vegas too. "Hey, as soon as we get out of here and all that, you should come see one of the ranches. The animals are very nice, and we can go horseback riding in the mountains, camp late at night, go rock hunting... A-anything really." He felt a little embarrass going on about it and laughed it off, but there was a dim light shining in his eyes now as he talked about all the wonderful things he used to do. Abi listened to what he mentioned about the drugging. That happened to her too, but she was out almost immediately, she didn't have any recollections of conversations. And she wasn't surprised that they would intentionally not talk about it, but there was one thing he mentioned. The ocean. Man she'd have loved to have seen the ocean. She'd already talked to sharks, why not go to the ocean. Granted, the horseback riding he mentioned later sounded cool too. She chuckled to herself and replied, "Sure. Sounds like a good time." but after a moment she was reminded of the whole stuck-in-a-cell thing and she didn't realize her smile had faded when she thought about it. Without saying it or really thinking it, her thoughts almost screamed, 'Add that to the laundry list of things I'll never get to do due to seclusion...' when she remembered Tomas could probably have heard that thought guilt showed on her face and she just layed down and shut up.
"Sir? Sir?!" Joshua finally awoke to knocking on the window of the car and he shot up and looked up and saw a woman knocking on the window, who was dressed up in a workers uniform. Presumably for the grocery store that his car was parked in. He realized what happened when he looked at his watch and he rolled down the windows, "Hello? Yes. I'm sorry." "Sir, you cannot sleep in this car on this property." "I know, I know. I'm so sorry. I had no intention to. Please forgive me. I can pay compensation or a fine for that if the owner wishes." "I'm the owner, and frankly, I don't care. I just want you off this property immediately. Unless you intend to buy something." Joshua nodded and replied, "That's fair. I'll buy something." and he rolled up the windows before he exited the car and locked it. He followed the woman inside and noticed just by inspection that she had a rather large tribal tattoo on the back of her neck. He went inside and grabbed a few obvious travelling items and the owner motioned for him to come over to her so she could ring him up. When he went over she said, "So are you passing through on a trip?" Joshua tilted his head slightly and responded, "I guess you could say that. I was trying to make it in one go and stopped for a second and ended up passing out. I'm sorry about that." "Are you okay to drive? There is an inn and a hotel just on the main road if you drive a little bit of the ways by. I know it's a little late, but I can call in for you and put your name in if you'd like." Joshua nodded and responded, "I guess that sounds like a good idea. That you, I appreciate that kind gesture." The woman pulled out a notepad and paper and inquired, "Okay, what's your name?" Joshua cracked his neck and responded, "Joshua Barry." "Joshua... Barry..." It sounded like she was taking down the name, but she also sounded like she heard a little bit of familiarity in the name. Trying to sound suspicious she asked, "If you don't mind me asking, Joshua, where are you from?" Joshua decided playing up the tourist role would probably work in his favor, so he responded, "Nevada. Las Vegas. Not really fond of the casinos there so it's good to sometimes go for a drive." The woman simply responded with, "I see... well, I'll call them up on the way there. I'm going to be calling up the Pine's Inn, it's a motel, but it's still nice. Unless you prefer the hotel?" "No, the motel is fine. Thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful night." Joshua grabbed the bag of groceries after paying for them and smiled as he left. It was a charming and charismatic smile, one that almost won the woman over for a moment. She knew she had a little bit of time before she called up the Inn, so she pulled out her cellphone and called up on the phone and walked into the back room, "Hello... Valentine? Yes, I know it's rather late... but someone is in town that shouldn't be... Joshua Barry... yeah... he's staying at Pine's Inn supposedly for the night... but I'm doubting that..." "Shhh, not so loud." Tomas said, putting a finger on his lips as he tensed, looking back to the heavy oak door. Suddenly, it swung open and in walked someone else, dressed also in a black robe like the previous person. This figure was kind of small, almost feminine like. The figure picked up the trays without saying a word before wandering off, locking the door behind them. Tomas relaxed, sighing out in relief. Maybe they were just going to ignore Abi, that was good. He didn't know what good shouting would do, but Tomas decided to just let her be. He got up and went over to his bed, taking out a sketchbook from under his matress and grabbed a pencil from his night stand. He then leafed through the many pages, most of them been drawn on already until he landed on an unfinished sketched. It looked anime like; a girl dressed in armor holding a large sword with her other arm up and ready to jump off the page and fight. Abi was still unbelievably pissed off, but she stopped screaming because she was aware that wasn't going to get her anywhere. So she decided to do something she figured wouldn't work but she was going to darn well try. She started looking around the rooms for a bunch of supplies, until she got to the bathroom and found a box of cotton swabs. She took a handful and began to walk back to the cell door, ripping the cotton tips off. She looked at it for a moment and spoke out loud, "I hope you don't like to use these Tomas, because of this doesn't work, we'll probably never see these again." She took a deep breath and then stuck her arms out and around the bars and started to attempt to lockpick the door. Tomas glanced up from his sketch, raising an eyebrow as he watched Abi. What was this girl trying to do exactly? When he saw the discarded Q-tips on the ground, he then looked back up her and sat straighter. "Careful," he warned, keeping his voice low. "Those bars are ridged with electricity... Kind of like an electric fence..." "Then I'll just make sure not to touch them, yes?" Abi mumbled back, after a moment she heard a click and held her breath before she let out cheer. She backed away for a moment and grabbed one of the books and threw it at the cell door, which pushed the cell door open. Abi was aware that what she was doing was only making things worse for herself, but she was going to keep doing it anyway. She grabbed the book and slipped out of the cell with her handful of homemade lockpicks. She looked at this next door and cringed, "This one's gonna be harder, I can already tell. What is this, a door from 1894?" Tomas had put the sketch book down and was now on his feet, looking back at the two way mirror. "You're going to get in serious trouble," he whispered, folding his arms tightly over his chest as he walked cautiously over to Abi, feeling his heart race as he eyed the heavy oak door. No one had ever tried to escape like Abi had, not that Tomas had known. Then again, the girl that was here before him mysteriously disappeared for who knew how long ago that was. Abi looked at the lock and started to pick at it and responded, "Look, I am in a place I don't know, surrounded by people who want to use me as their monthly dessert specialty. If I'm not already in trouble, then I don't know what this is." Abi kept going for a little bit before she mumbled, "****, this lock is rusty. If I had a hairpin this'd be over. Where'd they take our stuff man, I had pretty much a skeleton key for this kind of stu-" the blue haired girl got quiet and cringed as she used her telepathy, 'Tomas... someone's on the other side of the door aren't they?' Tomas held his breath, feeling with his mind that someone was standing there, patiently waiting for something. Tomas swallowed heavily, standing at the edge of the cell. "Just come back over here, before they come in," he said, keeping his voice low. "You don't want to be caught by them, just come back." Abi stared painfully at the door, she knew this was going to end badly for her either way. She looked at her last two tips and whispered, "If these break, I'll go back. If not, just don't get yourself in trouble too, okay?" Abi closed her eyes and then tried one more time, she heard another click, and knew it had worked. However, she didn't know what was going to happen when she opened the door. If someone was waiting outside with a projectile weapon, who knew if they'd shoot it immediately. Since the door opened in, Abi opened the door but hid behind it. Three robed figures with veils over the opening stepped in, one advancing towards Tomas while the other two looked around. The two looking at each other nodded and stood facing the closed door, one standing by the wall while the other standing at the entrance of the door frame. "Come on out, don't make this harder on yourself than it already is." The third robed figure had Tomas clutched tightly by the shoulder, forcing the poor boy to stumble out of his cell and towards the oak door, now opened obviously. 'Oh no. No, no, no,' Tomas muttered in his mind as he read the thoughts of the one dragging him. 'Not water boarding. Please, not that again...' But the boy was speechless, watching for Abi who was hidden away from his view before he was shoved out. "Don't hurt her!" he spouted out, only to be pushed hard by the one holding his shoulder, stumbling to one knee. He was then yanked up, being led down the hall as his voice began to fade away. "She doesn't know! She's scared! Don't hurt her, please!" "Seems as if Tomas has taken a liking to you," the one standing by the entrance of the door said. Abi cringed as she heard Tomas' thoughts as they dragged him away. She was silent for a moment before she knew she had to walk out from behind the door. She refused to look at any of them as she said, "What, are you hurting him because of something I did? Sounds counterproductive to me." "Because he didn't try to stop you. He should know by now we don't tolerate rebellion of any sorts. Now, what to do with you... Should we room you away from Tomas? Though he seemed to be lonely the last few months... Ah, well." The figure put their hands on their hips. "Perhaps we should let you meet Syrus first hand... Then again, you are new... Spiteful little cobra though..." "In his defense, I'd probably have knocked him out if he had tried to stop me." She was bluffing. Mostly. She didn't know if Tomas turned out to be some sort of black belt in karate. Abi looked at the figure and spoke, "What the **** do you people think you're doing? Don't you realize people will notice that I'm gone?" She was still bluffing, "And I don't know what makes you guys think that this-" she was still holding the book, so she took a page and intentionally gave herself a papercut and let the piece of blood drip down her finger, "Makes you guys able to do crazy ass **** with your brain. It doesn't work that way. **** what momma taught you." "I told you she had spunk," the hooded figure said, looking at the other who stood at the door quietly, just watching what was happening. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? No one has noticed Tomas has been gone... No one has come looking for him..." The hooded figure snatched Abi's wrist with the finger that was cut and with the other pulled back the veil over their face, revealing a man with tribal tattoos of sorts etched on one side of his face. "And this," he said, bringing her cut finger up to her lips, "is more powerful than what your small brain could wrap around..." A long tongue suddenly snaked out, running it over the cut to lap up the blood. Abi glared at the man, and despite how disturbed she should have been at that moment, she still managed to muster up enough energy and willpower to give the man a quick punch to the face and a kick to the balls.
blah blah blah graduation blah blah blah kh rep on grad cap.
well I guess that's one thing not happening at bethesda e3 bingo cards are already going bad my brother and I have been excited about this since we heard even the whisper it was going to be set in Boston. not that something being in Boston is automatically gonna win me over but it definitely wins points. I have no words to describe my hype.
Abi stared in absolute horror as she replied, "W-wait a second? Blood? Powers? Excuse me?" The boy shrugged sheepishly, looking at Abi again. “I think you have powers… Otherwise you wouldn’t be here with me. They only take those with powers… Those who can read other people’s thoughts, move things with their mind, or talk to others without moving their lips. Psychics… Whatever people call us these days.” He sighed out, rubbing the back of his neck. “They drink blood of psychics because they think it enhances their training. Kind of like... a boost of sorts. Energy shot. You know…” The boy placed his hands in his lap, sitting cross-legged on the bed now. “Do you know… What day it was before they kidnapped you? What year too?” Abi's eyes widened when the boy said that, "Wait... other people can do that? The mind reading stuff?" the blood comment only made her cringe a little more, then she thought about his question, "Um... the day I was kidnapped? July... 10th? It's 2015..." her voice trailed off before she looked at the boy and then nervously said, "How... how long have you been here?" The boy frowned, clenching the robes underneath his hand as he sat there, quickly calculating the time in his mind. “A year… June 13, 2014… That was my birthday, the day I was kidnapped too. I’ve been here a year…?” He looked down at his hands, suddenly realizing the reality of it all. He sighed out, looking back up at Abi. “Yeah, other people can do the mind reading stuff. Listen.” The boy looked right at her, his lips unmoving. "Can you hear me?" he asked with a small grin. "They call it telepathy…" Abi freaked out and held her head and whispered, "Don't do that, my dad says that's an evil thing to do and that I'm following Satan's lifestyle if I do it." Abi thought to herself to humans, since she always used that logic since her dad hadn't ever said anything about animals. She looked at the boy and responded, "I'm sorry... I just..." she shook her head and put the book down and held her hand out in a hand-shake gesture and spoke as if trying to detour conversation, "My name is Abi, Abi Barry." The boy suddenly broke out into a laugh, taking in breaths as he was trying to calm himself down and cover up his mouth. “I’m sorry. Th-that’s…” He laughed some more, getting out of his system before he shook his head and smiled really big. “That’s what my grandma used to say to me. She used to come at me with a spray bottle full of holy water. It was funny.” He smiled cheerily and then took Abi’s hand. “Tomas Mullane. Nice to meet ya, Abi.” His hand was cold, and his grip was on the weak side, even though he was fighting as hard as he could to be a firm hand-shaker. “Where are you from?” There was a suddenly jingle of keys and Tomas jerked his head to the right side of the cell, his smile instantly fading. Someone in dark robes walked in, keeping their face hidden from view. They wheeled a cart of sorts into view, which had breakfast placed on it; whole milk, eggs, turkey bacon, bran blue berry muffins, and a green looking power shake of sorts. Two trays were eventually passed under the cell bars to the people inside and the hooded figure stood back, wiping their hands together. “There we are. Eat everything on the plate now, you know the drill,” the hooded figure said, gesturing their head to Tomas. Tomas scooted off the bed in silent obedience, quietly taking the tray and took it to the table, sitting in place as he kept his head ducked down to not try to peer up in the hood. “I’m trusting you’re getting to know one another?” the hooded person said, now seemingly looking right at Abi and watching her. Abi immediately noticed Tomas' changes in behavior. And when she watched the hooded figure, she could tell their motions were deliberate. They seemed to be keeping a distance, probably to keep someone from reaching through the cell bars and trying to grab them. As a matter of fact, that seemed to be the way everything was set up. Keeping her from being able to really attack. Not that she felt she could have held up in a fight anyway. The question asked bothered her, and she responded probably in the most stereotypical way possible, she walked up to the cell, keeping a slight distance from the bars as she responded, "Yes, definitely, but who the fuck are you?!" Tomas made a stifled coughing sound, covering his mouth as he forced his eyes to keep staring down at the meal that was made carefully for them. He was biting his lower lips as if he was trying to hide a laugh. “Aren’t you the little spunky one,” the hooded person chided with a smile. “You’re lucky that I’m the easy going one. Faced with anyone else, they would see some way to… hm… discipline you. You’ll know who I am in due time. You’ll know everyone in due time… Eat your breakfast, your cellmate is being so polite right now by waiting for you.” Tomas folded his hands in his lap, hunching his shoulders uncomfortably when he was mentioned by the hooded person. The mysterious one then saluted with a wave, wiggling their fingers as they turned to leave. “Ciao~” And with that, the person walked off, shutting a heavy wooden oak door behind them. The boy sighed out in relief, looking up at Abi. “That was funny,” he said with a smile. “But you have to be careful around here. Even though we’re technically their idols, we’re their food too. Their discipline is harsh.” Tomas united his robe, slipping it off of one shoulder to reveal some gnarly scars that snaked way down into the robe. “I don’t even know how bad they looked,” Tomas said as he slipped the robe back over his shoulder and tied up the article of clothing again. “It’s not just the whipping they do, it can be other things as well… “ He picked up the plastic spork, running his fingers over the dull plastic edged of it before plunging it in the egg. “They want you to eat all of the food they give you, not one thing not eaten.” He pointed to the green shake in the clear plastic cup, making a face. “Even that... I don’t know what’s in it, but they pack it with vitamins and all sorts of green stuff… I think veggies and some fruit. Nothing is ever poisoned… And they bragged how organic everything is at least a dozen times.” Tomas gave Abi a small smile, and then shoveled some eggs. “They’ll come check on us in a hour, to make sure we ate everything…” Abi sat down with the tray of food, cringed a bit when Tomas showed the scars, then she was mostly distracted by the shake, which she grabbed cautiously as if she were a little kid trying to avoid eating vegetables. She took a sip of it and almost immediately held back throwing it up, "Oh god, that's disgusting. Ugh. Can't we just have water or something?" "We get water too, but they say..." Tomas stopped, wanting to avoid the blood subject as much as he could, but it was proving to be impossible. "... They say it enriches the flavor of the blood..." The boy cringed while saying it, obviously not liking it. "It's better than being whipped by Syrus, trust me. Syrus will go as far as to licking the blood off your... cuts... Something about adrenaline being like electrolytes..." Tomas was losing his appetite by the second as he explained this out loud. For a whole year, he had been put under this kind of brainwashing; he should have been used to it by now, but saying it out loud made things surreal in a way. The boy puffed out air through this cheeks and then forced himself to pick up the glass of green liquid, looking at Abi. "It's better if you plug your nose and try to take it in one go..." With the other hand, he pinched his nose and tilted his head back, forcing as much as the green liquid to go down his throat as possible. He made it halfway, then stopped, catching his breath before he continued, draining it till the last drop. He then sat down the drink with a thud on the tray, panting to regain his breath as he reached for a napkin to wipe away at his mouth. "Sorry... It's just easier for me if I get it out of the way quickly..." "Ah yes... the wonderful... taste... of blood..." she stared at it a little longer and with more disgust, "Oh the savory flavors... what happens if we don't drink it?" "Discipline... which can be by Syrus or someone else... Depending on how severe they want the punishment to be without breaking any bones, poisoning, or killing us..." Tomas kept his eyes downward as he talked, eating his breakfast as polite but as quickly as he could. Abi looked at Tomas for a moment after his comment and then took a deep breath before she chugged down the shake in one go. When she was done she placed the cup down and then quickly put some turkey bacon in her mouth to try and kill the taste of the shake. When she was done chewing she responded in a voice that was coming off more as cheery and less as sarcastic, which could maybe be confusing, "Well that's just great. I'm loving the idea of being the blood doner for some sort of brain damaged cult who wants to have 'psychic powers'." she layed her head down on the table and mumbled, "I don't even want them..." Tomas couldn't help but to chuckle at Abi's comments, swallowing some of his bran muffin and taking a small break. "I don't think any of us wants these powers," he said as he looked up at Abi. "Heck, I wish that my grandma's holy water worked on me." A couple more bites, and Tomas was done, pushing his empty tray a little bit away from him. "What can you do? Besides read minds?" he asked, glancing up at Abi. Abi closed her eyes and responded, "I haven't told anyone this before... but..." she was about to speak but looked around the room and responded, "Are they monitoring us?" Tomas nodded his head. "Mona Lisa's eye has one, behind you," he said, not moving his lips as much as he could, "stuffed falcon behind me has another, vanity mirror in the corner is a two way glass, and there's a camera in the light fixture above us." All the things he pointed out looked bolted to the shelves or walls while the camera in the light fixture was right in the smack center where the lights wouldn't affect it so much. "You know, it'd be much easier if you... you know." He reached up to his head and scratched it, trying to give Abi the subtle hint to communicate through the mind. Abi realized what he was hinting and she nodded, "Oh yeah... that...." she took a bite out of the eggs and responded, "Well... I can communicate with animals like this too." "Oh! So like Eliza Thornberry? Cool." He smiled as he picked up his empty tray, pushing it under the cell door and then retreated back to the table. "How long did you know you were different?" She thought about it for a moment as she kept eating, "...When I was 5 I went to school for the first time, and a lot of the kids seemed to avoid me because kids are mean... but I didn't want to be left out. And then I realized I could hear what everyone was saying about me... even when it was quiet time. I mentioned it to my parents and the teachers mentioned my strange behavior... and that was pretty much it... so it's been about 11 years I guess." Tomas's eyes widened. "Eleven years? Wow... I just started figuring out mine about six years ago." He laid his chin on the cool table top, drawing invisible designs on the surface with his finger. "Did you have to leave school too?" "Yep. And I don't talk to family either... my mom doesn't talk to her family, but my dad keeps me away from his. Especially my grandparents. I haven't seen my grandfather since I was four... I wonder why..." Abi's body stiffened up after the last comment, "Shoot, that last part wasn't... man whatever... I'm in a damn cage right now." "Oh... That's okay, it's kind of hard to control thoughts in this line of communication... We can go back to actually talking if you want to." Tomas sighed out and leaned back in his chair, twiddling his thumbs. "So as you see, there's no clock, calendars, or anything to tell us what day or time it is. They take us out sometimes to walk in this garden... But it's all indoors. There's a big sky light though... If you're lucky, they'll have it uncovered so you can see the clouds, the sun, and sometimes the moon and stars. I think they do that so they can clean the cell up a bit." He then stood up, walking over to a wardrobe close to a bed that was made and ready for Abi. He opened it, revealing oriental robes of all colors and designs. "These are our clothes... Undergarments are in the drawers," he said, pointing to a set of drawers within the cupboard. "I already checked to see if Narnia existed." He said with a smirk and closed it up. He then went to a small door way and pointed. "We have a bathroom. There's no doors... We have a shower in a big bathtub, a toilet, and a sink. If you want to shave, you'll have to ask them for a razor and then they have to watch you carefully..." He then went over to an old TV set that was bolted down to a TV cabinet and that was also bolted to the floor. "TV, no cable or dish, no internet... Books," he said, gesturing over to another shelf. "Board games, card games, some video games... We can have certain systems if we ask for them." He then sat down on a bean bag, sighing out heavily. "Other than that... There's not much to do in here. It's kind of like a mental hospital..." Abi finished off her food and murmured, "What, are they intentionally keeping the dates and times away from us so we don't start day counting?" "I guess lose a sense of time... Brainwashing strategy... I dunno." Tomas shrugged his shoulders, crossing his legs as he sat on the bean bag. "They just don't want you to know what's going on out there." Abi had watched how Tomas brought the tray and had slid it under the cell, so she was doing the same as she replied, "Heh... brainwashing. And does that actually work? I don't exactly see how locking us in a room, cutting off time, and feeding us protein shakes makes us complaisant. Do we get treats and little rewards for good behavior? Or is that the delight of getting to see the sky? Oh kiddos if you act nice and let us take your blood we'll let you see the sky!... aha... aha..." Abi found herself almost having an animalistic reaction, like an angry dog that's being held back by it's owner so it won't attack the pedestrian. Except of course the owner was a cage. Abi grabbed a part of the cell door and screamed, "LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE OR I'LL FIND SOME WAY TO MAKE ALL OF YOUR BRAINS IMPLODE. THEN WHAT USE ARE YOUR SICK METHODS THEN?"
Inside the box, its something that may seem a little lackluster from all the effort that was put in to getting it open. Inside were watches, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Every single one had a golden anchor on it. There are enough in the box for everyone to take one of a type. However, once someone grabs one of the objects, one of each of the other objects disappears. So if someone were to grab a watch, one set of earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet would disappear. The bird chirped once more and flew off across the room and landed in a new persons' hands, and they spoke softly to it: "Sh, Muffin, you don't need to act so excited." The blonde haired girl let the bird fly out of her hands as it made it's way back over to Camilla. She smiled and approached everyone and spoke in a calm, welcoming voice, "Hello everyone. I meant to come sooner, but I was sidetracked. Has everyone arrived?" The girl's wings folded in behind her and seemed to disappear. She placed her hand to her chin and looked to each person in the room as she started a roll-call, "Rosemarie... Rajesh... Mark... Camilla... Ken... Gwen... Beucefilous... Nikola... Caleb... Leo... Jacob... Emi... Sasha... huh... we're still missing George? He should have-" Right on cue, the door opened once more, revealing a very drowsy man who seemed to be barely able to stand up. When he walked in, he rubbed his eyes and looked around and the surroundings. His face of shock seemed to indicate he was awake as he spoke, "W-what the hell? Is this heaven? Why the fu-" "The letter in your pocket. Read the letter. Get yourself settled in as best you can, okay?" The girl smiled and bowed to everyone, "I am your moderator for the N.A.C.A. meetings. You can call me Aaron." she looked to everyone and responded, "I understand what you are all going through right now is hard. I went through it too. It takes time, but that's what these meetings are for." Aaron turned towards a wall and drew her finger against it, so it created a door. She turned to everyone after opening the door and responded, "I'll be happy to answer any of your questions you may have, but I'm sure some of you are sick of this area. So how about we talk about it in a new location?"
Abi clutched the book tighter as she responded, "New member? Of what? I don't even know where I am!" she got quiet for a moment as she remembered the events leading up to her waking up here, "Wait... you mean those people who jumped me? They're an organized group?" Abi backed away and had a moment where she was about to become accusatory, say that maybe this kid was a member of this group of kidnappers. But after a moment she realized something pretty important. This kid was on the same side of the cell as her. Although that wasn't necessarily an indication he was one of the members of this group, she was going to trust for a bit that he wasn't. Abi held the book a little closer to her chest as she responded, "Do...do you know where we are?"
oh come on you have the power of google search and don't pretend you don't know how to use it.
nope,but the power around here lately has been strange. we've had a lot of brown outs, so I'm not surprised at all this happened. heck I didn't even know it happened until now.
Joshua was dead tired and his eye was hurting like hell. He wasn't sure if it was the lack of sleep or the wearing off of the pain medication. He had arrived in Pebble Beach, California almost an hour before after spending an all night drive following Abi's chip locator, which he had installed in a bracelet he gave to her in case she ran off. However, once it got to Pebble Beach, it stopped working correctly. He wasn't sure why it was like this, it certainly couldn't have been a signal issue. Joshua was parked and trying his best to locate the last spot with a paper map, but after a bit of time he found his eyes shutting, and he fell asleep sitting up in the parked car he resided. Abi awoke groggily and she sat up only to realize she wasn't in a place she recognized. She sat up quickly and her first reaction was to call for Buttercup, but she couldn't get a response. Abi looked around and realized she was in a pretty nice bed, and got herself up and started looking around. The room was clearly a cell, and it was dimly lit. But it was pretty well furnished. In the room there were books, old VHS tapes, card games, board games, and DVDs. She almost immediately noticed the lack of a clock and calendar, which made her realize these people were intentionally keeping the date and time from her. She looked around a little more, and noticed another bed in the room, where someone else was sleeping. She had no idea who they were or if they were working with these kidnappers, so she grabbed herself a book from one of the shelves (for potential self defense) and she approached the sleeping figure. She poked at them and whispered, "Um... hello? Who are you?"
So then tell me do you sparkle, or do you burn?
He was pretty sure he was speeding, and he knew he ran a stop sign, but he wasn't caught at any point. He knew better than to run stoplights in the event they took pictures of those who ran the light. When he pulled up to the driveway he ran out of the car and into the house. He looked around shouting, "Nadia?!" Until he heard footsteps running down the stairs. Joshua looked at the stairs and saw Nadia running and said, "Don't run you don't want to-" Nadia stopped short and brought her hand up to his eye patch and questioned, "Josh what happened to your eye-" "Don't worry about me. What's wrong?" Joshua watched his wide wipe away tears from her eyes as she spoke, "It's Abi. She left here at some point and she- she never came home." Joshua's eyes widened as he quickly walked up the stairs to head for Abi's room, "She's not up there Josh. I looked! A-Also, someone brought home Buttercup and she was kicked around and beat up. I'm worried what happened to her." Joshua slowly walked over to Nadia and he's shared room, and walked over to a desk where he pulled our a new pair of glasses and placed it over his eyes, even though only one eye needed it at the moment. He walked over to a drawer and pulled out a box. Nadia's hands were folded as if she were praying as she questioned, "Sh-should we call the police?" He thought about it for a moment, but he didn't want any of her information public. If it was, then Raven Sun would find out about the daughter he never spoke about. They already had enough distrust and uproar with two members, they didn't need a third. Joshua turned to Nadia and spoke as calmly as he could, "Don't worry Nadia. I'll take care of it. We don't need to worry about the police. Okay?" Joshua opened the box and pulled a microchip from the box and put it into his phone. "Are you not reporting because of her telepathy?!" "Nadia I never sai-" "Dammit Joshua!" Nadia stopped of a moment and rubbed her stomach saying, "Don't listen to mommy's bad language." and then she quickly stared at Joshua as if her eyes were shooting daggers, "She is your daughter! Put that firs-" "Shut up woman and listen to me!" The two were deathly silent and Joshua held his head, "Sorry, I didn't-" "No, I get it. I'll just let you be." Nadia's eyes were filled with pain as she left the room with tears in her eyes and a defeated air to her walking. Joshua could have hit himself for what he just did. Instead, his phone beeped. Joshua looked at it and mumbled to himself, "Now just what do you think you're doing in California?"
By the time they had come to an inconclusive punishment, Joshua's eye had been treated by Walter. He decided it was probably best to wait a bit before heading home, so his wife wouldn't freak out about his eye. However, when he went to check his phone (which he had muted this whole time) he noticed his wife had tried calling him several times. He then went into a panic, wondering if perhaps she had gone into unexpected labor. Joshua excused himself from the room and left as he called his wife back, he waited impatiently until he heard her voice, "Josh?" "Nadia, I'm so sorry, I wasn't getting your calls until now. What's wrong?" "Joshua..." there was crying on the other end and he tried consoling her, "Hun, I can't help if I don't know what's wrong." "J-just please come home." The phone clicked on the other end and Joshua hung up the phone mumbling, "Shit." to himself as he ran for the exit and climbed into his car and began to drive, without regard to his eye.
On the card Leo looked at, it was written: In Loving Memory of our angel Mark Furgot. -Mom and Dad. Once the breadcrumbs were fed to the bird, it flapped it's wings and flew up to the ceiling, chirping as it flew. The bird pecked at the hole, and then entered easily. After a few minutes, the sound emanating from the hole stopped, and the bird returned with a ribbon wrapped around its neck. At the end of the ribbon was a key. The bird flew back to Camilla's shoulder and sung out a song before it nuzzled against her neck again.
Each card approached contained something very similar written on each one. For the one Nikola looked at, it was written: In Loving Memory of Caleb Rask -Tasha For the one Rajesh read, it was written: In Loving Memory of George Froio. It's not goodbye, it's farewell for now. -Lisa
The bird let sung out a small song as it hopped onto Camilla's finger. After a few more seconds it flew up to Camilla's shoulder and rested almost on the warmth of her neck. It then continued to look up at the ceiling.
Despite being a tiny bell, the ring was loud and echoed throughout the room. A cracking noise was heard, and up high in the ceiling a small hole appeared. There was a strange humming coming from the hole, and an occasional clanking noise. The bird on the chair looked up at the hole and let out another chirp as it didn't take it's focus from the hole. None of the chairs could reach the ceiling, even if every single chair was stacked up on top of one another. It was that high up.
Joshua listened to Benjamin's response to his question and was going to respond but Walter chimed in before he had the chance. He let out a small chuckle and replied, "That's probably a good idea. Unless you two want to go into extreme details right now, I'd rather get my eye fixed up as best as possible." Only waiting a few seconds for a response, he turned around and left the room holding his eye and heading for Walter's office mumbling although he wasn't sure if he was heard, "Great to know you can still trust the kid-... younger ones..."
