towerofanimus | Not all there

Entry tags:

Not all there

Characters: Cain Knightlord and anyone at all
Setting: Floor Three Library
Format: Prose, but will copy you
Summary: Cain is feeling the effects of being in Group C, clearly he should be bothered
Warnings: Sensory Hallucination

It had taken Cain and his partner in map-making more than just the one day to complete their task, scratching a map or notes on each floor carefully onto dinner plates. There were some floors Cain already knew he never wanted to return to, and at first he puts down the sensation of being watched to the unnerving sights of those floors.

Blood and screaming on one of them, endless night on another, what the hell was this place?!

He's taken the plates, twenty-one in total, to the library to sort them into a more organised fashion. Then he starts scratching them into one of the tables, copying the work into the wood for a safer and more sturdy map. But he keeps feeling something brush the back of his neck and shoulder, nothing there when he looks, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he works until...

"STOP IT!"

The shout is loud in the library as he spins, one of the plates crashing to the ground to break, as Cain stares at... well, nothing.

[ooc: Open, please bother him. I love all the CR ever!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I'm just good like that, I bounce back quickly."

Not entirely; there were still lines of tension around his eyes that suggested how much this was affecting him, but he wouldn't let it expose itself as vulnerability again.

Whatever was happening to him wasn't real, and if he could just hold onto that thought, then he was sure to find a solution. His mind had never let him down before, he's sure it wouldn't this time either.

"Have you noticed anything... odd happening?"

His mind had traveled to the subtle oddities he'd experienced over the past few days -- things he had chalked up to interference brought on by their mysterious captors. He assumed the collars were to blame -- that they were feeding some sort of drugs or alterations to their persons... It was the only explanation, and had only hardened his resolve to see them removed tenfold.

"...I guess you could say that."

The reply is offered a little dully as they meandered along; he isn't particularly pleased by recent developments around here for obvious reasons... but he is beginning to see that changes might not be the same for everyone and worth discussing.

To hear that Abel was also suffering some effects was not a good thing, having them both compromised at any time was something that should be avoided at all costs.

Eyes sliding to his brother's face, he pushed his glasses further up in order to cover his dismay, before questioning him further.

"What sort of things?"

Admitting there was any sort of flaw at all was difficult, and thus further discussing it was something that scraped at his pride considerably. He was the sort to be more than satisfied stubbornly denying a problem until it bit him in the face; ignorance was the best policy, far as he was concerned.

But this had stretched to his brother, too -- and that meant the waters were ones he had to tread, like it or not. It didn't dispel the disdain, however, at having to verbalize his observations of...

Hitches.

"...it was in the cafeteria. Do you remember the blonde kid?" He gestures to Edward Elric's approximate height. "The one we met in the library. He and I were doing things... in unison, unintentionally. And I don't mean coincidentally. Moving at the same time, walking at the same time... breathing at the same time. It was ridiculous."

Mentally, Cain filed Edward Elric as someone who was also under change due to whatever was influencing them. It was possible it was something administered through the collars, but if that were the case then there still had to be someone controlling the doses and what was given to each subject.

A brow hitches upwards in surprise at Abel's description of what had happened to him, unease growing in the pit of his stomach. While what was happening to him was unnerving, what Abel had experienced had a much darker connotation of lack of control for him - especially if Abel, who had such a strong will, had begun to submit unintentionally.

"That's... very different to what I'm experiencing. Has it happened with anyone else?"

"...Not that I've noticed."

He's omitting the fact he'd been delivered electrical shocks in punishment for their synchronous decisions to beat one another's faces in, as well -- and how close Abel had come to sincerely cracking Edward's skull open in raw fury.

He's eager to change the subject.

"What do you think it means?"

"I'm not sure, I'd have to look more into the effects being suffered by the others and see if there were a pattern."

Scrubbing a hand through blond hair as they walked, already making plans for how to research this as a focal point for ignoring the hallucinations, he glanced at Abel out of the corner of his eyes.

"Whatever it means, we should stay close until we've figured it out."

Instead of arguing, for once... Abel's obedience was quiet and immediate in response as he nodded his head in acknowledgement. He could find no complaint in sticking to his twin like glue until they had determined what was going on and found a way around it.

"There has to be a reason for all of this." Even if their captors were intentionally keeping them in the dark, there was a reason. Abel wanted to find it...

And them.

Cain was glad to see there was no argument forthcoming from Abel, not that he had expected there would be. He was willfully disobedient at times, but when the situation demanded it, he could usually be relied on to behave appropriately.

"That's something we won't know until we do more research. It's possible the reason could be to test our endurance, to punish us for some misdeed, for simple scientific enjoyment.... we could speculate endlessly."

He gives a quiet noise of displeasure under his breath before exhaling a sigh. Had more than enough of this place... he never thought he'd see the day he yearned for the colony, but he did.

Or, more specifically... a redheaded woman within it.

"Then it looks like there's work to do."

If Cain knew Abel were pining for Lilith like that... well, he doesn't, and it's probably for the best. He misses their family as well, both sisters, but not quite the way his brother does.

"I'd suggest starting in the library and looking for any past records of incidents that might have been documented by prisoners here."

The way his face had ached after that confrontation with the little blonde shit was excuse enough to miss her. The moment he had her on his mind, he hadn't been able to get it off... and it'd been sticking in his craw, since. Hadn't seemed real she wasn't going to simply... show up like she always did when something was sincerely wrong or his chest ached in that funny kind of way she had a sixth sense for noticing.

Eyes on his brother are vaguely distracted. He needs to get them out of here... He's really worried about Cain, and if anything were to happen to either of them... then...

"...that doesn't much help us when that's where we just came from, Cain."

Ah.

He looks vaguely taken aback for a moment, he had been so caught up in trying to keep the whispers from affecting him that he had forgotten where he was. That was a lapse in his usual self-awareness, however foolish he pretended to be with directions sometimes, and it disturbed him.

"...Right." He grinned, lacking a little of the usual finesse. "I was just testing you."

Great... he really was losing his mind. Abel palmed his face to rub with a slightly haggard exhale. Honestly, Cain...

"Maybe you should get some rest before we do anything from here." Because he'd much rather chalk this up to lack of sleep than his other half seriously taking a plunge off the deep end.

If something really was affecting them both in different ways, and not just them as Abel had witnessed with Ed, then he didn't have time to be catching naps when they should be working.

"Don't be silly, it's only three in the afternoon."

"I'm not joking." He didn't care what damn time it was... his brother was demonstrating some seriously disturbing behaviorisms, and Abel... was worried. It only shows in the firm furrow at his brow -- outwardly irate, as rigid as ever. Only Cain would be able to tell what was lurking beneath it.

"You're not at your best. I need you to be if we're going to figure out what's going on and how to stop it."

To anyone else it might have seemed that Abel was being a dick, but Cain knew his brother wouldn't be protesting this with anyone else... that he cared, it gave him strength and purpose, warmed him inside.

"Then you should sleep as well, you've also been suffering effects. We can take it in turns."

He rubs a hand into his hair with a grudging noise of acquiescence; whatever. If it got his brother to rest, then... he'd agree and let it be for now.

"Yeah, alright..."

Though he doesn't think sleep will come easy, right now. He still has this... gnaw in the back of his head and...

"...Cain?"

Turning towards the direction of their room, he set off at a steady pace, tilting his head at the sound of his name.

"Mm?"

He falters a bit in his resolve, meeting his twin's eyes with a reluctance. It wasn't the calm and quiet confidence of Lilith's that had him spilling things before be could stop himself from rationalizing all the reasons to keep them to himself.

...He realizes he wishes they were, right now.

After a brief pause, he just... shuts his jaw tighter, and shakes his head. "No... nevermind. I'll talk to you when you wake up."

His brow furrows a little at that. It always rankled when Abel didn't want to talk to him, as though there were anyone that would be able to understand him and help as well as Cain. He was also concerned, worried that his brother was being hurt by these unseen forces, something he couldn't bear to think about.

"No, please talk to me now. Or else you know I'll never sleep, I'll be too busy wondering what the mystery is."

"There's no mystery, it's just..."

...

Mmph.

He glances back at his twin, before deflating slightly and taking his shoulder to gently nudge him into the privacy of their room. It wasn't until they were inside and seared shoulder to shoulder on the bed, he fixed his brother with what amounted to, for all intents and purposes, something approaching a child's look of vulnerable hope.

"...do you realize no one knows what the Mars Project is, here?"

The look of hope in Abel's eyes was one he couldn't bare to crush, and yet this wasn't the wonderful realisation his brother seemed to believe it to be.

"I know, neither of us have been recognised at all."

He paused a moment, pushing his glasses further up his nose, before winding his arm around Abel loosely. Drawing him in to offer solidarity, comfort...

"But that only means that we are somewhere further from anywhere we might hope to be kept. It will take them longer to find us, but they will find us."

And that, in Cain's mind, was a good thing. It was freedom, of sorts, at least a freedom back to what they knew and a place more under Cain's control.

Find them...?

He would rather these people take Lilith and Seth to where Abel and Cain were now and they find their own means of escape - together. A place where they were far enough from home no one knew their faces... their names... their 'birthrights;' no one knew who, or what they were. No one.

Not a single soul.

He could ask for nothing better.

"...I don't want to go back, Cain."

"You would rather we find an escape from here, and leave the others behind?"

It was a question with no accusation in his tone, only curiosity. Would Abel really rather remain with just Cain and a chance of freedom? A slight hope stirred in his gut, deep down, that old satisfaction of being the one that his brother turned to.

Always.

Not all there

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