][ 008

[team_sociopath]

You can pace the room if you’d like, but it’s barely a cage; long enough to lay out on the floor in either direction, but not much bigger. At first it seems empty; but after a time the shallow sound of breathing is perceptible, coming from one of the walls. There’s a bed there, little more than a cot, with a supine body on it. Was that there

Comments

[repeatshimself]

[Billy is curled in the corner, a massive power suppressor fitted over his head and his face, and he's chanting, but nothing is happening. He finally opens his eyes to see Tommy, and they go wide, and he reaches out for his twin's hand]

[team_sociopath]

[His hand curls around Billy's reflexively at the touch, though for a long, long moment-- and here there is no measure, so each minute lasts an uncertain eternity-- it doesn't seem to change things. Then he wakes, abruptly; their outstretched arms pull taut as he sits up and flattens himself against the wall, his other hand flat against it. Tommy yells, hoarse and incoherent.]

[repeatshimself]

[Billy yells back, but his is muffled by what's on his head, and he grips Tommy's hand tighter.]

Tommy, Tommy!

[team_sociopath]

[Maybe it's hearing his name, maybe it's his twin's grip, but he comes out of his half-aware distraction and focuses on Billy's face. Where Billy's face ought to be, anywhere, and there's an odd fluttering breath-- nervous laughter, because why put a power suppressor on someone in a power suppressing cell?]

Billy...

[fromlegal]

[Natasha sets to pacing the perimeter, deep in thought. There's an exit strategy for everything, sometimes it just takes some time. She doesn't recognize the body on the cot, and even if she did, what would it matter? Unless...

She approaches, crouching down beside the cot to reach forward and look for a pulse at least.]

[team_sociopath]

[There is indeed a pulse-- strong and a little quick, in spite of his unconsciousness. A moment after Natasha touches him Tommy wakes up, wildly disoriented, grabbing at her wrist with a surprisingly strong grip. Luckily the cell keeps him from lashing out any further in his confused state.]

one more, so sorry! i should know better than to div tag everything

[fromlegal]

[She doesn't recoil; in fact her only response is to move her free hand in front of her, to have a better chance at warding off more aggression. She's trying to understand what's going on here, but there's only so much she can control.]

...Potes dicere*?
[When it comes out in Latin, Natasha furrows her brow, and blinks rapidly, trying again:]

Kannst du sprechen*?
[Okay. That's just...wonderful.]

*Can you speak?

no worriesss <3

[team_sociopath]

[He just stares blankly at that. Unfamiliarity is a good thing, because an unknown quantity stands a slight chance of not being an enemy. He doesn't let go of her wrist, but he doesn't attack, either.]

I don't understand you.

[aimandfire]

At some point between the segments of her own dream or after or before (who can say, really) Katniss finds herself here. Where here actually is, however, is lost on her, which is only all the more reason for her to feel her way along the wall, callused hands scraping all the way to the door, which of course isn't budging. Only when she turns at the speed of growing anxiety does she notice the boy. It helps her that, upon closer inspection, he seems young, her defenses automatically lowered because with people her age or younger or even just a little bit older the instinct tends to be to protect even if she doesn't follow through.

But...what's going on here?

Tentative, she shrinks away slightly, aware of how dirty she is and the blood on her shirt, her shiny, gold mockingjay pin the only clean thing about her.

[team_sociopath]

It's a long while before he stirs, left on his own; and you might miss it, if you're not looking, when his head tilts a bit to the side and his eyes open. He's trying not to draw attention, taking a moment to size her up.

Finally, he pulls himself to a sitting position, fidgeting with the needle in his arm.

"What're you in for?" he asks flatly.

[habitformed]

[ It's a small space, but that doesn't quite bother Mouse. And no one is coming to get him, which doesn't quite bother him either, if only for the other person in the room. Stranger, maybe, but definitely here. Life has taught him that there are levels of suffocation, a million ways to be stifled, and very few of them truly bother Mouse.

At least, that's what he tells himself as he scrambles to his feet and shifts nervously back and forth at the foot of the cot. He should scream, see if it wakes the guy up. Mouse claps his hands instead and jumps up and down in the hopes that'll make some kind of noise.

It does. Barely. ]

[team_sociopath]

[It's been a long time-- feels like a long time, anyway-- since there was any noise in here, aside from the all-too-frequent intrusion of guards and researchers, and their racket is unmistakable. Tommy wakes up, already pulling himself up into a little ball because there's someone else here, and that someone else is automatically an unknown quantity.]

Who are you?

[habitformed]

[ Mouse starts but then automatically peers at the boy now curled up at the head of the bed. The shock of white hair is confusing because the face is familiar. Billy only...not Billy.

Mouse blinks silently in the darkness and then points at himself. ]

Mouse. [ He shuffles his feet again and then points at the boy, making sure to keep his hand to himself. ] ...Tommy?

[team_sociopath]

How do you know my name..?

[He's suspicious, still not quite out of the confines of dreaming. This is all he has. He hasn't brought the walls down yet, to come face to face with his own mirror image.]

[team_sociopath]

[Tommy snaps awake suddenly, like someone waking from a nightmare; though, of course, that's backwards. He flattens himself against the wall, yelling, too hoarse to be loud. He's been doing that a lot, here.]

[team_sociopath]

[He breathes heavily, blinking sightlessly for a moment, hands still pressed against the wall and twitching slightly. Nothing happens, of course; it's something in the walls, something in the wiring, that keeps him from using his powers.]

Where... what... How did you get here?

[Still not all here, Euph.]