LOCKED TO alchemicals

[deaftly]

[He doesn't remember anything. All he knows is that there's a bright light in his face and he just wants to sleep. After a couple of minutes of tossing and turning he finally opens his eyes and sits up. The room he's in is perfectly white, without any sort of interesting features. There's a desk and a chair, but nothing on either of them. They're as white as the walls and floor, and on closer inspection, the bed he's in is just as white and spotless as the rest of the room. The sheets are a bit on the stiff side even though he's been sleeping under them, and the bed is kind of hard for his liking, so he finally squirms out from under the covers and stands.

The clothes he's wearing strike him as being wrong, though he can't recall what the "right" clothes would be. They're white - like everything else - and they're very simple. He doesn't have anything to compare them to, but the material is soft and kind of thin and feels a little odd. He shrugs off his confusion about the clothes and starts for the door. Even the doorknob is white, which strikes him as strange for about half a second before he yanks the door open.

The room that he enters is spacious. Like the room he woke up in, everything is white. There's a sofa, a small table in front of the sofa, and a couple of plush chairs. There's a couple of doors leading elsewhere, and his first order of business is to see where they lead. One leads to a perfectly white kitchen which isn't interesting right now (though some part of him wonders if the food will be just as white) and the other door he comes to is locked. There should be a front door around here somewhere though, right? He doesn't want to be here. He can't remember why he's here (or anything, really) but being here doesn't seem right.]

Comments

[alchemicals]

[He finally makes his way over to that table, though he's going to make sure the guy isn't going to just...bolt before he joins him properly.]

I don't know what it was for me, either. I get the feeling I wasn't eating very much, though - the starvation thing is what made me think of it. I don't think they were doing that because I think I'd be more fucked up than I am, but it doesn't feel right thinking about it, either.

[...]

...Do you think we did something? Before coming here, I mean - like maybe we did something fucked up and we're criminals or something.

[deaftly]

[He doesn't move when Kimbley sits down, so at least he's calmed down for the time being!]

You do seem kinda scrawny.

[Thanks, Naki.]

But... maybe? I dunno. Something about this is really wrong though, and I think it's just how nice this place is. I mean, sure, it's a little barren, but they gave us a lot of food and a nice bed, which... doesn't really seem like something you'd get if you'd fucked up somehow. I think the idea that we've been sold to some fucking psycho who put us in here to watch makes more sense, but if that was the case you think the fucker would at least give us something to do. I mean, I dunno about you, but I'm not gonna be all that interesting if I've got nothing to focus on.

[...]

Though maybe he gets off on watching us sit here and try to figure this shit out, that could be it.

[alchemicals]

[He's quiet for a moment, thinking that over.]

...No one's going to miss someone like that, though. If we did fuck up, I mean - who the hell is going to miss a pair of criminals? If anything it'd justify selling us off, right?

Or maybe the thing we sort of remember is wherever they were keeping us before, but that doesn't feel right either because I'm sort of used to it. I don't know how to explain it, but this is...familiar, like wherever I was, I was there for a really long time.

[...]

...You'd think they'd give us something to do, though, yeah. I can't even remember if I had any fucking hobbies, the least they could have done is give us some basket-weaving supplies or something. After a while I'm sure I'll be bored enough to give it a shot.

[deaftly]

I guess that'd make sense. I don't know if there would be anyone that would miss me.

[It's not said in a self-pitying way, it's just a statement.]

So if we did fuck up and I dunno, the cops were corrupt as fuck and allowed us to be sold off... then yeah, I guess that could explain some of this. I'm not really sure why you feel like you were there for a long time. Maybe you were thrown in jail before or something?

[With the amount of terror that this has brought on, it doesn't seem like he was only locked away for a little while either, but he can't be certain about that.]

I dunno how much I'd like basket-weaving though. It sounds boring as fuck. I mean slightly less boring than being stuck in a room with everything being fucking white, but they did leave us a pen.

[Naki uncaps it with a grin.]

I mean we could use the paper they provided, but I'm more interested in giving this place some color, what do you say?

[Naki no]

[alchemicals]

[Kimbley just leans back a bit in the chair, smirking quite like a douchebag, thank you very much.]

You want to go have fun, I'm not going to stop you. Who knows, maybe something important'll fall out while you're doing it and you'll remember something.

[Naki yes.]

[deaftly]

Fuck yeah!

[And off he goes! Naki picks a section of the wall where there's nothing and he begins to draw. The designs aren't anything specific, it's just whatever comes to mind first, but as he he works he gets more into it, looking incredibly happy. Some of the designs are geometric (though they're never exact) while others are more loose and flowing, like he's just letting the pen go wherever it wants. Either way it basically looks like a more simple version of this. He doesn't seem inclined to stop any time soon, sorry Kimbley.]

[alchemicals]

[Well, in fairness it's not like Kimbley is remaining totally still while he does that; he gets up after a moment, disappearing back into the kitchen and returning with another pen eventually. Apparently whomever left them in here doesn't seem aware of what a bad idea it was to leave them alone with white walls and ink; either that or this was exactly the intention and they want them to prove they have souls by creating art or something. Who knows, it's a bit hard to say; either way, after a while of watching him Kimbley seems rather content to find his own expanse of wall nearby.]

You ever done labyrinths?

[He's working on one as he speaks, marking out the dots and the cross for the initial setup before connecting them with easy, clear arcs; he continues very determinedly looping them around, the design eventually ending up as something like this by the time he's done.]

[deaftly]

Labyrinths?

[Naki stops drawing to study what Kimbley's doing. He says nothing as Kimbley works, but eventually it becomes clear to him what Kimbley's doing.]

...I always just called them mazes, I didn't know they had a name!

[...and apparently he doesn't know what a labyrinth is, but alright.]

You just try to reach the end. Though I can't remember if you start from the middle or the opening.

[alchemicals]

[He laughs a bit, but there's no cruelty in it.]

The outside. Labyrinths are different because there's only one path - you don't have to figure it out, you just follow it.

[deaftly]

Oh, really? I thought it was the same sort of thing. I was never good at that shit.

[Probably because he's really impatient...]

How'd you manage to draw it so easily? You were doing some weird thing with dots, right?

[alchemicals]

Yeah. You can draw simple ones like that, and once you've gotten it figured out you can start doing the harder stuff, it all works the same way.

...Come here, though, it does nice stuff to your head if you follow it. It's weird, just follow it with your hand for a while, you'll get to the center after a while.

[deaftly]

...Okay.

[He caps the pen he's holding and reaches out to start following the lines. He expects to get frustrated long before he reaches the center, but aside from having to pause every so often because his eyes kind of mess up where the lines are going, he eventually finds his way to the center. He stops and tips his head.]

...Huh. That's... kinda relaxing, I guess? I'm not really sure how to describe it.

[Kimbley certainly wasn't wrong though. It has done some nice stuff to his head.]

[alchemicals]

It does a great job at calming you right down, anyway.

[He starts setting up another one as he talks, crosses and dots and long arcing lines.]

By the way, I have no idea what you've been doing with the squares but they're interesting as hell.

[deaftly]

Oh, those? I think they have a name, but I don't know what it is. It's just something I picked up from... somewhere, I guess. I don't remember. But they're kind of fun to do.

[He grins as he watches Kimbley work.]

I'm not a great artist or anything, but the good thing about those is you don't have to be. You just do whatever the fuck you want and it looks cool.

[alchemicals]

[He laughs again.]

I like shit like that, I think. You can't really fuck it up, and you always end up with something good at the end. These are kind of like that, too.

[deaftly]

Yeah! It's pretty fun. And relaxing, especially the labyrinth things! Where'd you learn how to do that-- ah, I guess you wouldn't remember. Well, they're definitely cool!

[alchemicals]

[He doesn't seem bothered by the not-question, at least; he's still smirking a bit while he shrugs it off.]

Yeah, I don't know. I guess I must have done it a lot since I don't suck at it, but I don't know where I picked it up. I wouldn't be surprised if someone taught me for a reason like "Maybe now you'll stop setting shit on fire when you're bored."

[deaftly]

...But setting shit on fire sounds really fucking fun!

[NAKI]

[alchemicals]

Why do you think they probably would've wanted me to stop?

[KIMBLEY NO]

[deaftly]

Well then they're fucking stupid!!

[...]

Okay, maybe they aren't stupid if you were setting fire to their stuff or y'know, burning their houses down or something, but that's not the point!

[alchemicals]

[WOW.]

You're an interesting guy, you know that?

[deaftly]

...I get the feeling I don't hear that nearly enough.

[He seems very happy with that though!]

You're not too bad yourself!

[alchemicals]

"Not too bad." I'm fuckin' wonderful, what are you talking about.

[It's obviously facetious, though, and he seems rather pleased by it all around.]

[deaftly]

Man, you're a narcissistic little fuck, aren't you?

[...Well, that's not the exact right word, but he tried!!]

[alchemicals]

[...Hahaha, holy shit.]

Hell if I know. Maybe I am.