Logs:Zero Stars

Zero Stars
Dramatis Personae Maya, Rosalyn
In Absentia	2019-08-04 "As soon as I get my hands on a pen I'm drafting a letter to my congressman." (set in the blackburn prometheus facility.)
Location <PRO> Cell - Blackburn Research Facility
The staff calls them "rooms", but this is like any of the other cells here. It is small, though not claustrophobic, and the door with its single reinforced glass window locks from the outside. The walls are off-white and the floor is the same pea-green linoleum that plagues the rest of the facility. The two cheap cots are permanently attached to the floor, as is the stainless steel sink/toilet combo in the center of the far wall. The inset overhead lights are institutional fluorescent tubes, their light sickly, sometimes flickery, and liable to emit a certain high-pitched hum. The air conditioning is always set too high and the heat set too low. Dinnertime has come and gone. In the sparse confines of the little two person cell, Maya is more unobtrusive today than her usual dogged effervescence. She's recently returned from a shower, with a short amount of time to spare before lights out. Hair still damp, her old scrubs traded for -- new scrubs, okay, it's not much change. She sits on her bed, knees pulled up to her chest and a well worncopy of /Fifty Shades of Grey/ propped against her thigh. Rose has been at Blackburn long enough to settle into a routine. And the current task on her schedule is a daily light work out before lights out. Not that there is a whole lot of exercise you can do with the facilities available. A few one handed push-ups and some sit-ups while awkwardly taking up most of the floor space at best. Of course it's always a good excuse to keep an eye out on the comings and goings in the rest of the block. At least until the door gets shut for the night. When she's fairly certain no-one is lurking outside she idly muses "You think they got microphones in all the cells?" with a faint Irish tinge to her accent. "Seems to me like they would do. But god that must be a boring job." "Hm? Oh --" Maya starts to glance up from her book, but reverts her eyes to it almost as soon as she's started. "I'm not sure actually. I know they have /cameras/ but if they have sound or are just those silent closed circuit types? I have no idea really. The cameras creep me out enough, I don't want to think about some of those guards sitting out there spying on us changing or --" She does dart a quick look to the toilet, here. "Or anything." "Ah'd rather that than go under the knife," Rose points out with a laugh. "Maybe they don't record the sound so nothing incriminating can leak." She pauses mid press-up, holding until her arm starts to shake. "Like asking to see a lawyer." Then lowers herself sharply with a grunt of effort. "Still, been a good opportunity to get in shape. I'm startin' to think of it like a really shitty spa. And if i ever get out I'll be leaving a bloody scathing review..." "Wait, can you do that? I didn't even ask, I just --" Maya blushes, combing her fingers through her damp hair. "Hey," she announces to the room at large, "I'd like my lawyer, please." She closes the book around her finger after that. "What category on Yelp are secret government labs in? They definitely deserve zero stars. The food is terrible, the room service is shoddy." Slowly Rose sits up and begins working on a few cool down stretches. "Oh well we can ask all right," she admits with dry amusement. "Still waiting on mine. Him and the masseuse." She takes another glance out the door under the guise of holding a stretch. "As soon as I get my hands on a pen I'm drafting a letter to my congressman. I'd be furious about all the wasted tax money... Well if I'd paid any." "I've written so many angry letters in my head. This /can't/ be legal. Right? Can it?" Suddenly, Maya's brows pull together. "They pass so many weird laws about mutants, I'm not actually even sure. If we get out of here I'm definitely paying better attention to what they're putting in all these crime bills." She pulls in a deep breath, closes her eyes, says -- firmly but more quietly, almost to herself, "When. When we get out of here. Do you need a pen? I might have a, um, a pen hookup. I don't want to over promise or anything. Not with something so valuable as writing implements. But one of the guards said --" She chews briefly at her lip. "I might be able to get you a pen. I'm pretty sure you'll be out of luck on like, envelopes or stamps or -- getting out of here to find a post box though." "Oh I'm certain it's illegal," Rose assures with a grin. "They keep asking me to help with some tests that I doubt are FDA approved." She clambers to her feet and rolls her shoulders, turning the taps on the tiny sink on and then lowering her voice. "You can huh? See... I've an idea how I could get a message out." She makes a show of washing her hands. "But I'd need a quiet place off camera and powers on. Which I guess is easier said than done..." "That guard with the dreadlocks is into Asian women, I guess." Maya sounds nonchalant about this, but looks a little stiffer, a little less casual when she shrugs. "I'm trying not to push foot things /too/ risky in case he cuts me off, but paper and pencil is probably okay. I'm not sure about all the cameras." Her voice has dropped very low, too. "I bet there's someone here who knows where's good, though. Maybe Flicker? They say he's broken into like a hundred of these places. Did you even know there were so many? It's awful how they can do this." "This is maybe my third," Rose muses, frowning. "Unless they're moving people in trucks to disorientate them. Which seems like a waste o' time. Last place was much nicer. Well. Not so good if blood made you squeamish." She splashes herself with a handful of water. "Don't really need the paper." Her lips crinkle in a brief cruel smirk and then disappears as she adds "I heard we had a new guy. Everyone seemed on edge after he turned up. Well more than usual anyway. Researcher I'm stuck with's been on the verge of a breakdown since we got here." "No paper? How would you write the message?" Maya twirls a stray lock of hair around her finger. "I can maybe help you with a pencil but I definitely can't help with the powers. I'm sure if someone knew how to take care of /that/ we'd be out already." She looks down at the book, then over at Rose. "From what people have said that guy's been kind of a big pain in their asses for a while? The guards are tense and some of the others seem hopeful. Why is your researcher freaking? Personally I don't think he looks like much trouble honestly." She shrugs, quick and small, and then offers the book out toward Rose, her finger still held between the pages. "Here. Some bedtime reading. I've read it like ten times by now. I don't know if it's better than I remembered or if I'm just /that/ bored." "It's more about what I'll do with the pencil," Rose offers quietly, giving Maya a wink. "Oh he was making big promises and couldn't deliver. I've apparently got this healing power only.... it's got a little duration problem." She dries her hands on her legs. "Still not really used to this whole mutant business. But seems to me appearances don't count for much with 'em." She takes the book and flips it over. Skimming the blurb on the back. "Ah it's that sex book. I swear about a dozen of my aunts went crazy over this thing." "I guess it's a lot to get used to. Honestly this is the most mutants I've ever seen in one place. My sister didn't even know until they were sending her here. It must be such a rude awakening, no?" Maya pulls her covers down, tugging the thin sheets over her feet. "Duration like -- you have trouble with stamina?" She looks confused, now. More confident on the topic of the book, though. "Oh yes, the sex one. You need to have /something/ to look forward to in here, right? There's a bit around the middle I particularly liked." "Something like that. Turned out it wears off in a pretty dramatic fashion. I suspect I'd have got in some serious trouble if I'd had any idea what was happening," Rose admits with a shrug, settling down on her bed and leafing through the pages. The book gets cradled so it's hard for any of the possible cell cameras to see. "One minute I'm havin' a nap and the next they're demanding to know how I 'unhealed' someone." She hrms thoughtfully as she reaches the middle of the book. "Well now that /is/ very interesting. I've always been a fan of... you know... creative writing." "Wears off? But -- oh." Maya's eyes open wider, rounder, her mouth echoing their shape in a small O. "The healing wears off. That's -- oh." She ties her hair rapidly into a loose braid, fingers working deftly through her thick locks. "I thought it was a refreshing change from what's usually in the rec room. Maybe once you've enjoyed it you can pass it along." Doing her best to fluff up the sad thin excuse for a pillow, she settles into bed, pulling the sheets up over her. "'Night."