Who: Jerome and Oliver Where: Lounge When: Around 11 am
It wasn't even noon yet, but Jerome was already fed up with this stupid music piercing through the halls, reminding him at this one horrible day in particular where he had ended up sleeping in the living room because the noise hadn't been bearable inside his room. Granted, today's music apparently didn't have the purpose to drive the residents of this mansion insane by murdering their eardrums, as the actual volume certainly wasn't as nerve-wrecking, which still didn't mean that this music was any less annoying. In a way, it was even more annoying. It didn't take much to realize that the music changed depending on what every single individual did, which, again, seemed like a taunting flex on what these assholes were able to. Watching them as closely as being able to change the music depending on their actions, preparing speakers so small or so hidden they probably weren't even possible to be found, and showing them how supposedly able They were in the first place to pull something like this off. It seemed to lack any purpose other than to annoy the shit out of people, and slowly, Jerome began to wonder if They wanted to see how long it took for people to snap. And then to enjoy their absolute inability to do anything against this madness. In a way, this seemed like a disturbing, but morbidly comprehensible goal They might have, otherwise there really wasn't much purpose Jerome could make out of that. Maybe just monitoring their individual reactions, but if that was the case, this seemed more like an 'experiment' a child would think of. It pissed Jerome off to no end that he had been torn away from his family for such a stupid, senseless and absolutely childish experiment, which he would even consider cute if it wasn't for the whole abduction thing, and the days with less childish and more severe occurrences, and he ended up losing himself in his thoughts again while sweeping the floor of the lounge.
As angry as he was about this whole nonsense, it also didn't make sense that They just wanted to flex with Their capabilities. This whole thing would cost them so much money, they would need so much influence to actually pull it off, that there had to be a serious reason for all of that. They could test technology on them, maybe the chip inside their necks did way more than just deliver shocks, maybe it had something to do with the music. Maybe the music was only in their heads? As a shared hivemind kind of thing?
He sighed silently, not really wanting to dive any further into the depths of potential reasons, as this topic was only circling around itself anyway without leading anywhere, as new occurences, naturally, didn't answer anything at all. Edwin was probably right with the assumption that a fresh perspective might help them figure out something, but Jerome was sure that his thoughts on that matter certainly weren't capable of that. These were all the same theories over and over again, none of which would present them with a way out if they suddenly knew they were right anyway.
As so often, Jerome swallowed his anger, putting it inside his pit of stuffed up feelings to take on a functional demeanour, which had led him to start this weird day by being productive. Even though the music nagged at his nerves, he was feeling a little better again, or at least he could tell himself he did, continuing the act of distancing himself from memories of home and his children, concentrating on the mansion and its inhabitants instead, which certainly was so much easier now than it had been at the very beginning. Given that Jerome hated the angry person he had become during the last decade, it was almost like a breath of fresh air to fall back into old habits of socializing with strangers and feeling comfortable around people who weren't children or family. It was as if his mind desperately needed that to be able to pull through this ordeal, as it always had been ingrained into the core of his personality anyway. It just had been pretty inaccessible for a very long time.
Not that Jerome would give that shithole or Them any credit though.
His thoughts shifted again while his eyes landed on his right hand, observing the bite mark Vanessa had gifted him with yesterday, which was something he still couldn't wrap his head around even in the slightest. Luckily, as much as he had hated the beginning of that day, and as much as he had hated the actual obstacle course, the company had been pleasant, and especially Jack had been able to lift his mood significantly, even though Jerome had felt pretty uncomfortable everytime Jack had to assist him on this fucking obstacle course. Still, Jack and Kate had been pleasant people to stick with, and it was nice to finally end a conversation on a good note again. It had been equally nice meeting Jack in the kitchen in the morning, sharing coffee and breakfast, and after they had been done and Jerome's newest cake out of the oven, he had decided, in his ingrained urge to keep himself occupied and still not willing to just pick up a book or do something equally unproductive, as it still felt like a betrayal towards his children to just indulge in hobbies he hadn't had the time to do so at home, he had decided to start a little house-keeping. They were solely responsible for the cleanliness inside the mansion after all, and given that punishments were a thing around here in case they failed on that, engaging in this matter probably wasn't the worst idea.
People seemed to keep places relatively tidy anyway, but Jerome, always having been very particular about house-keeping and cleanliness, still found things that should probably be taken care of easily. Little dirt pieces on the floor, a little bit of dust on shelves, things that probably weren't that apparent for someone who didn't look as intensely as he did, and even though he wasn't the type of person who absolutely needed everything to be as clean as possible, there was no reason to not take care of this stuff. Others would benefit, and he could put his mind at ease by doing things that were productive and familiar.
And just like that, he had grabbed a broom, a mop, and a bucket full of water after settling on cleaning the lounge, planning on moving through the whole floor and continuing with the ground floor in the evening when people would stop bringing dirt from outside inside. Cleaning every floor once a week very thoroughly should suffice, and he was already making a schedule inside his head when he would be cleaning what, another thing keeping his mind at ease, because scheduling his life had been a pretty important part for him, and just living in the day was nothing he could comfortably work with.
The mop and the bucket were on the side, waiting to be utilized, as he had started with sweeping, ignoring the occasional pain in his hand as good as possible. Until now, he hadn't encountered any people.