Rahim took his seat, and sat fairly still as Zoe hooked him up. He watched her as she worked. She had a precise focus to what she was doing. Now that he was here and sitting and watching her work, his annoyance eased a great deal. It was always in the back of his head, but he managed to relax a bit better. The confidence in Zoe's face made it hard not to relax.
He didn't actually want to share any stories of himself, but grabbing one from a book he read would probably fuck up the brain scanning part of this experiment. And... he was probably going to ask her for help with telepathy in a week or two, so he might as well prepare himself for talking about himself, if she agreed to it. "Alright," he said. He could feel the energy from the machine when she switched it on more than he felt the warmness from these weird little clips, but his eyes were already a light grey, so the energy was easier to ignore.
"I was detained at eight in the morning, on a Tuesday," he said, closing his eyes, so he could focus on it. It would feel less like tell her a story to her face if he didn't have to look in her eyes. It'd happened a while ago and he hadn't much thought about that day in a long time. His voice had a low, calm quality to it. "I was pissed off on my first day on the island." And thinking about it, he was still kind of pissed off. The anger was right there under the surface, so easy to reach the more he thought about it. "I was interrogated for five hours, before they put me on a boat, and shipped me here. Gave me an identification card, biologically armed and dangerous, which kind of pissed me off too. I'd had my abilities for four years when I got detained, didn't feel too dangerous. I was doing fine. I didn't lose control of them, that's not how I got caught the first time. And after they gave me an identification card, one of them directed me to the building in the middle of this island, the facility. Told me I'd hid my powers for so long, I showed no other radiation side effects, so I should try training other people. So we don't all one day blow up the island. He figured my credentials might lend me to being useful at it."
This was a lot of talking. This was the most words he'd said to Zoe, but while his voice remained controlled, he didn't try to control his emotions. It actually made him feel uncomfortable to a degree, despite the anger beneath his surface. He didn't talk this open about anything. Not to anybody who wasn't there and didn't need to know about it. He didn't talk this much in general.
"I told him to go fuck himself, I hope somebody does blow up the island." Rahim smiled, despite himself. It was a small smile, but he clearly still found amusement in the line, even though the line was obviously not honest. He didn't wanted anybody to die back then anymore than he did now. "So I was detained again. Let me sleep it off in their version of a drunk tank, like I was belligerently hungover or something." He hadn't liked it much. It'd been the closest he'd come to a prison cell, but it felt shut off. He couldn't sense any energy in that cell outside of other humans. He felt a strong sense of dread when he thought about it. It'd been the longest he'd gone without being able to control how much energy he could take in, so he could physically feel the energy being consumed. It was one of the main motivators for staying in line. He wanted to be in control of his own abilities. "They let me out it in the morning. There was no machines, in there, and it was too closed off, far from the sun. So by then I'd basically used up all the energy I had stored. Felt more tired than angry. They told me to get a job, or don't, they don't care. So I signed up as a trainer."
Rahim opened his eyes now. "So I spent my first day on this island in a drunk tank," he summarized. He still felt some anger for it, or for the circumstances around it. The first day hadn't been a good day, and it'd taken him a while to find his version of what counted as a good day. That anger hadn't disappeared. It'd lingered for a very long time. It still might be lingering. He couldn't tell anymore.