Logs:Scared Together

Scared Together
Dramatis Personae Maya, Nandini	2019-07-21 "{Please don't get super-syphilis, ok?}" (set at the blackburn prometheus lab)
Location Blackburn Research Facility - Cafeteria
The sign by the door says "Refectory", though the "R" has at some point in the past been re-written with a permanent marker to a "D", and then been subject to a half-hearted attempt at cleaning. It's one of the larger rooms on this level, tiled with the same variegated pea-green linoleum throughout, its walls clean but bare of any decoration or relief for the eyes. The floor space is mostly taken up with long, rectangular tables with attached bench seating, a stainless steel counter at one end serving up bland, often overcooked, but reasonably nutritious food day in and day out. The acoustics are awful in here, rendering mealtimes loud and the occasional fights that break out here even louder. Lunch time is noisier on Sunday, as some labrats who are inclined to sleep in and might otherwise have been roused for studies have things their way in the the absence of much of the research staff. The kitchen is serving up what passes for brunch here, spongy pancakes (sometimes still goey at the center) with surprisingly decent maple syrup, dry, over-done scrambled eggs, and some sort of blueberry...dessert thing. Nandini has her plate piled high with all of the above (eggs liberally soaked with what passes for hot sauce here) and is steadily cramming her face. "{...point is,}" she concludes, "{I think we can get out of here, whatever the others say.}" Maya has eschewed the questionably cooked pancakes, choosing to take the eggs and doctor them heavily with the hot sauce as well, adding a large side of blueberry whatever-it-is. She's been eating steadily, her gaze skipping around the room as Nandini talks, fingers toying with the end of her braid. She looks back to her sister, swallowing a mouthful of eggs and licking at her lips. "{Of course we're getting out of here, I never doubted that.}" Her head tips from side to side. "{-- I guess having him here does make it a little more likely. Do you think his, his -- what, his team? They'll come? He doesn't, um, look like much on his own, but.}" Her nose crinkles up. "{I guess in here that doesn't mean all that much!}" Nandini waggles her head. "{Before he came, a lot of the other people in here seemed like they'd just --}" She stabs a wedge of syrup-soaked pancake with her fork and swirls it around through yet more syrup. "{-- given up. Or acted like it. But now?}" Her skinny shoulders give an exaggerated shrug. Bite, chew, swallow. "{I don't know if his team will come, and he sure doesn't look like he can fly through the air with a flaming sword shooting lasers out of his hands -- though like you said, who knows! -- but he's got experience.}" She leans forward conspiratorially. "{And like, there's a lot of people here. Who can probably do all kinds of things.}" "{Can you blame them? I've been here a minute and I have to keep telling myself there's hope. You know some people have been here a decade? I don't know how any of this is legal.}" Maya tucks a stray wisp of hair behind her ear. "{I was hoping he'd be cuter.}" Her sigh is very faint. She reaches over, slicing off a small corner of one of Nandini's pancakes. "{Besides, right now nobody can fly through the air or shoot lasers. Even if people can do all kinds of things that's not. We need something else, right? Like are we just going to charm the guards, I don't think that'll get us far.}" "{I don't blame them,}" Nandini retorts. Then rolls her eyes. "{Ok, I mean -- I did, but I know that's not fair.}" She pokes at her eggs, her lips pressed together tight. "{None of this is fair. None of this is legal.}" She gives a sister a skeptical look. "{Hey, chin up. Maybe his mutant power is being super cute. And flying and shooting lasers, who knows.}" Her eyes drift up to the ceiling. "{It'd only take one person getting loose up there to shut off the...whatever, machines, that keep you --}" She breaks off, scrunching her face up. "{-- that keep us from doing our stuff. Theoretically? I don't know, this is the kind of thing Flicker would probably be able to tell us.}" "{Oh, I hope so!}" Maya perks, sitting up straighter, a brighter smile on her face. "{Right now the cutest guy in here is Typhoid Mario and that doesn't seem --}" Her eyes widen. "{Can you even get condoms in here?}" She shakes her head. "{Right, not the point. I don't even know what's on the up -- up floor. They don't take me up there at all. Not that I want to!}" she's quick to add, "{but it's not really good for, um, scouting.}" Nandini groans very softly. "{I'm sure you could ask for them...?}" She scrubs her face with both hands. "{Whatever. Please don't get super-syphilis, ok? Or even regular syphilis.}" She takes a determined bite of her spiced-up eggs and keeps her eyes on Maya even when they try to stray upward. "{I guess they're probably afraid you can -- walk out of here, just like you walked in. All I've seen is the exam rooms and the halls, but maybe some of the people who've been here longer...}" "{Do you think they'll give me that on a t-shirt once this was all over? I went to a super secret torture lab and all I got was -- super syphilis?}" There's a strain around the edges of Maya's smile. She twirls at the end of her braid again. Not eating anymore, just pushing the remaining scraps of her food around her plate. "{I probably could. I don't know. Maybe. And then I could tell people where you all are --}" She sounds briefly hopeful, until a moment later a frown crosses her face. "{-- if I had any idea where we all are.}" "{No, but I will have a t-shirt made for you once we get out, if you want.}" Nandini's smile looks even more forced than her sister's. "{We're in Maine...? Somewhere? But even if you had a GPS coordinate, I'm not sure if people would believe you. Flicker had gotten out before, and his team was out there -- oh. I guess you could contact them.}" She braces her elbows on the table and sags. "{If you can get out.}" She drops her fork and reaches out to grab her sister's hand. "{Sorry, I'm just -- scared.}" "{Maine?}" Maya wrinkles her nose up again. "{I didn't think anything was in Maine.}" She squeezes Nandini's hand back -- very tight. "{Maybe I can -- talk them in? To... experimenting -- on -- me.} She does not sound enthused about this plan. "{I guess for now we'll just have to be scared together.}"