Who: Tobias and Lennon Where: out and about When: midday
One thing Lennon had noticed about their new living arrangements was that everything took longer than it had before. Getting ready to go out and do anything, for example. There were six people and one bathroom on their floor, and that wasn’t really great odds. He was anticipating that at some point he’d have to go outside and whiz on a tree because somebody would be in there when he really, really needed to go. Honestly he’d lived in worse conditions in his life-- when he’d been a young child, a couple of his foster homes had left a lot to be desired-- but it was an adjustment after the mansion. Maybe it was supposed to teach them about gratitude, but some days he couldn’t find much to be grateful for considering they’d all been abducted.
This wasn’t one of them, at least. All things considered, he was reasonably okay. He and Tobias had decided to get out and roam around, since the weather was nice and he kind of wanted to see if he could find the bridge Felix had made. Plus he’d packed a lunch of hard boiled eggs and a small amount of the trail mix Jack had requested. It wasn’t much, but he figured it beat nothing at all. Also, he had some of the weed he’d brought along with him. They were set for an adventure away from the house, which could feel a little claustrophobic to him after what they’d been used to.
“So hey,” he said as they walked along. “Another day, another question about why we think we’re here. Didn’t they ask us something like that before?”
Tobias was finding he didn't mind the lodge all that much. It was admittedly a bit scary at night, especially with so many trees, and being able to see them out the windows. It was like the setting for a horror movie in a way, but then again, so was Zenith. Just two very different kind of horror movies... both still terrifying. But the lodge itself also felt a bit like summer camp, except without the summer part. And he enjoyed sharing a room with Lennon. Tobias figured Scotty would be less tempted to break into the room and murder him in his sleep if Tobias had a roommate.
Getting out of the house was nice too, and he walked beside Lennon, his hands tucked into his pockets as they put distance between themselves and the lodge. He thought about Lennon's question for a few minutes, his face scrunched up thoughtfully before shrugging. "You know, I really can't remember. They've asked us so many things. I have no idea what they plan to do with the answers. I bet they just have a randomized list of stupid questions they chose from whenever they feel like locking us in our rooms to the point where we nearly pee our pants."
Lennon snorted. “Remember the twenty question quiz? ‘Cause there’s nothing like having to answer that many random questions when you’re dying to go pee. One day I’m gonna hang it out a window when that happens.” Unless it might get chopped off or something. One never knew around here. “How would you even know some of that stuff?” Some of the questions had seemed weirdly personal, too; he recalled the one about some of the occupants having been in foster care very well. He sometimes wondered if there really was a point to their presence here or if that was a lie made up by the sadistic mofos who’d taken them. It hurt his brain to think about too much. As they drew closer to the river, he said, “That bridge should be around here somewhere… I think we’re in the right area.”
"I think they just want to know how much we're socializing and getting to know people, but you know, they already know that because they're watching us all the time," Tobias pointed out. "I think they know everything. So... I don't know what the point is, but I'm sure there is one." He shrugged. "But this place hasn't been so bad yet. I kind of like it. It reminds me of summer camp in a way. And there's no snow, so that's definitely a plus too." They could always walk into town back in Zenith, but this was kind of more fun. More peaceful, anyway, exploring and finding new things.
“Do you forget about being watched sometimes?” Lennon asked. This was something he was honestly curious about, because he often did. Maybe it was just that they’d been here so long it had become the norm. “I mean, yeah. I really don’t hate it.” He smiled, thumbs hooked into his belt loops as he walked. “Having an awesome roommate is a bonus.” That might have been the best thing about this so far: not being alone at night. Sure, there were times they’d had a sleepover, just the two of them or with Chase and Kiley, but more often than not Lennon was on his own when bedtime arrived. He exhaled a puff of air as they took a slight incline; maybe he could get his sorry ass in shape here.
“Yeah.” Tobias grinned and felt his face grow hot. “I mean...I’d like to think they’re not watching us everywhere, but they probably are.” And he had to agree with Lennon. Having a roommate was awesome. Mostly because it was Lennon. He didn’t think he would have enjoyed this as much if it had been Pam or someone else. Tobias fell silent as they worked their way up the incline. He had never really been fond of exercise, but it did feel good to get out and stretch their legs a bit. And he was kind of hoping he could buck up the courage to tell Lennon what happened with Chase and Kiley, even if a part of his brain kept insisting Lennon didn’t really have to know. But maybe he did. It was a weird gray area in his head. “I mean, have you done anything that you hoped they didn’t see?”
Lennon thought they probably were watching everywhere. Hopefully it wasn't a thing where somebody sat staring at the monitor 24/7. That would suck. When Tobias asked if he'd done anything he hoped hadn't been seen, he started laughing so hard he was snorting. When he could speak again, he said, "Where do you want me to start? So many things. I've made the baby Jesus cry."
Lennon's laughter was contagious and Tobias found himself grinning. "Yeah, I figured. You've always come across as a deviant to me." It made his entire body flush with embarrassment when he thought about what They had probably seen him do. With Madison, and then Chase and Kiley and... well, alone. It was like They had sex tapes on everyone in the house. Well, the ones having sex anyway. "We should start making videos for them. Not like... not you know, those kind of videos. But just act like total jackasses in front of the cameras. Maybe if we annoy them enough they'll send us home." He knew that wasn't a possibility but it was nice to think about anyway.
He smirked at Tobias’s comment. “If you only knew,” he said about being a deviant. There was some tiny part of his brain that hoped Tobias might have the opportunity to find out one day. Hope springs eternal. Also, this conversation was making Lennon recall that he hadn’t packed his favorite vibrator. He’d felt like maybe there were other things he might need more, but if they were here for a long time… Shit. “Not the worst idea,” he said thoughtfully. “We could light things on fire, old school Beavis and Butthead style, uhm… see how many different things we could throw at the cameras. I’m all about actin’ the fool sometimes.”
As they reached the top of the incline, he squinted at the river and pointed. “I think that’s the bridge thing.” He saw something that didn’t look like just water, anyway.
Tobias didn’t mind acting like a total idiot sometimes. Occasionally it was fun to just let go and be silly, especially in this place. He looked in the direction of where the bridge was meant to be, and while he wasn’t exactly sure they had a destination in mind, he didn’t mind just exploring. Maybe they would find something cool. “So… there was something I wanted to talk to you about,” he began, feeling awkward as he kept his hands snug in his coat pockets. “It’s kind of… uh, awkward, I guess, but I didn’t want them to somehow use it against me or whatever…”
It was mostly Tobias’s posture and tone that made Lennon think this might really be something important; also, there was something about it that sent a tiny spear of dread through him. “Okay,” he said, continuing to walk toward the edge of the river, wondering what on earth Tobs could have gotten up to that was making him seem uneasy about telling Lennon. “What’s up? I mean, we can talk about anything, you know?”
"Yeah, I know. But it's kind of like..." He drew a hand from his pocket and waved it around as he tried to find the right words. "... maybe too much information? And you may not even want to know, you know? But Chase felt like you should know?" Tobias took a breath and then sighed before shoving his hand into his pocket again. "I kind of... had sex with Chase." His throat felt dry and his voice sort of scratched out the words. "And uh, Kiley. Like. Together." Saying it out loud made him want to giggle, mostly because he was nervous, like Lennon would get angry or upset or something and that was the last thing Tobias wanted to happen.
Lennon had stopped a few feet from the river and turned to face Tobias when he mentioned Chase, and his expression was strangely blank as he listened to the next words his friend said. He frowned slightly and his head tilted just a little as he scrutinized Tobias’s face as if to determine if he was serious or if this was some kind of joke. “The three of you…?” He waved his own hand as if he could fill in the blank that way. “...had an orgy without me? Y’all suck.” His tone was lighthearted but he didn’t necessarily feel that way, and he turned to face the river again, a complex mixture of emotions stirring in him. “When did this happen?” He stared at the water and the edge of Felix’s bridge, and if he’d been asked he would have been unable to say exactly how he felt right then.
Tobias glanced at Lennon every couple of seconds, trying not to read too deeply into everything Lennon was saying, or doing, which wasn't much really. He wasn't sure why it was a big deal. Okay, he sort of did. But it wasn't like it had happened since. There was just the possibility of it happening. And Tobias didn't want TPTB to somehow use that against them to hurt Lennon. Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe Lennon was totally fine with it. "Uh, you know that day when we got those like, baskets with the candles and alcohol and all that? Everyone was acting weird, and I was feeling all over the place." Tobias cleared his throat. "It was sort of spontaneous and not something we like, planned."
That day had been a while ago, and Lennon squinted at the river as he tried to think how long. “That was almost two weeks ago,” he said. It was weird to think of all of them keeping that from him for so long, and even weirder to think of the three of them having sex. He did feel a little bit hurt even if it wasn’t rational; feelings often weren’t. It was one more thing to make him feel alone, like he didn’t really fit here, even though he knew that people could sleep with whomever they wanted. He wasn’t sure if he’d rather know or go on in blissful innocence… which, yeah, wasn’t an option now. “Are you guys all a thing now?” His tone was normal although he was just as glad his face was turned away, and he fumbled in his bag for the joint he’d brought along. Standing without doing something felt odd.
Two weeks. Was it really that long ago? Time certainly seemed to blend together in this place, and he wondered if the timing somehow made it worse. Should he have told Lennon earlier? Maybe. Chase had wanted him to, he felt like. Tobias's face was definitely hot now, even as he shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. Chase and Kiley are like... you know. I'm not trying to join them, or for it to be a thing." He didn't really want to say that it might happen again, because that felt weird for some reason. But he didn't want Lennon thinking Chase was his boyfriend now, or Kiley was his girlfriend, because that wasn't what was happening at all. "Are you upset about it?" He felt like he had to ask, even if the words sort of sounded strained. He didn't want this to change things, or make things weird between them.
Lennon had finessed out the joint and his dusty pack of matches and seated himself, half-turned toward Tobias now because it didn’t seem like he could keep being completely avoidy. “I don’t know,” he said, because that was the most honest answer he could give right then. “It’s a little weird.” And he felt more than a little left out, but damned if he’d say that. A guy had to have some pride. He folded the match pack over and pulled a match through it against the strip-- his brother had taught him that years ago-- and fired up the joint, drawing in smoke to make sure it fired up. “Want some?” he asked after he’d exhaled.
Tobias pulled his hands from his pockets and sat. Lennon didn't seem angry, so that was good. It still felt strange, putting it out there, but also he felt kind of relieved. He didn't want Lennon to think the three of them were hiding things. Tobias licked his lips and took the joint before bringing it to his lips. "I know it's weird," he said finally, after he had handed the joint back and exhaled. He only coughed a little. "I'd feel super weird if it had been you with them. We're like... a group, you know? But you're my best friend here, and I just don't want things to get weird between us." How many times could he say weird today? A lot apparently.
Being angry wouldn’t have done any good. Lennon didn’t think he was angry… it was just weird. Yeah, definitely overuse of that word today. “I miss Google,” he said, pinching the joint between his fingers. “We could find a few good synonyms for that word.” He inhaled again, holding it for as long as he possibly could before releasing the smoke and offering the joint back over. Maybe he’d get so high he’d fall in the damned river on the way back. Clearly, feeling sorry for himself was on the agenda for today. His goal was not to show it, though. He knew it had taken some serious courage for Tobias to tell him that, and yeah, he didn’t want things to get too weird either. “We are a group,” he said finally. Just not a group that has sex, evidently. “If the four of us can’t room together, I’m glad I’m with you.”
Tobias couldn't help but exhale a soft laugh. Yeah, Google would be nice for a lot of reasons. He took another pull from the joint, wondering if it was smart to get high out here. He was a lightweight with alcohol, and he got really giddy and weird when he was high. But maybe that was what he needed right now. It had been so long since he felt really good. Some of the better parts were always temporary, because he fell back into thinking about Simms again and all those good feelings immediately crashed around him. "I'm glad I'm with you too. It's kind of cool having a roommate. And at least I know you wouldn’t go all Pam on me and chase me with bleach and a broom." He smiled, hoping to lighten up the mood a bit more.
If Lennon had known what Tobias was thinking, he would have agreed completely (minus the baggage of having killed someone): the good stuff never lasted very long. He couldn’t blame Tobias for what he’d done with their other friends, because would he have turned that chance down if he’d gotten it? Hell nah. He would have done exactly the same thing. “Yeah, man, I’m not about to go cleanin’ freak on you.” He liked his living quarters decent, but he wasn’t going to scream about a dropped t-shirt or a full wastebasket in the bathroom or whatever. “Most people here would be okay to room with, I guess.” He snickered. “Just not Pam or Vanessa.” He took a deep draw when the joint came his way again. Even when things were shitty, at least there was pot.
"That's true. But... I'm glad it's you. I'd much rather do this with a friend. It makes things slightly less stressful." Tobias was starting to feel good and relaxed and he found himself laying back on the grass. The sound of the water nearby was soothing and he loved being outside without snow and bitter cold. It wasn't summer, but the weather was decent. Even the grass felt nice beneath him. Maybe this place wasn't so bad. "Who'd you want to room with, if not me? Or Chase or Kiley. Like, who would you want to bunk with?"
That was a damned fine idea, Lennon thought, and he lay back himself. Staring at the sky was most excellent, and he thought that he might be just a little bit high. His tolerance wasn’t what it used to be when all manner of substances were more readily available. “I’m glad to have friends here,” he said. “Like, some people don’t really seem to as much?” He chewed on his lip as he pondered Tobias’s question. “Hmm. I guess Marco’s my next closest friend here, and after that… Felix.” That might seem odd to Tobias given he wouldn’t remember Lennon interacting with the guy all that much, but yesterday he felt like they’d really vibed. Enough so that he kind of wondered how he’d missed hanging out with him before.
Tobias understood the desire to be solitary. He felt that way sometimes, but he couldn't imagine not having people in the house he was close to. He needed support in weird ways, and he felt like the reason he was tolerating all of this was because of Lennon, Chase and Kiley. "Marco's twitchy," Tobias murmured. He closed his eyes and reached his hands out to brush them along the grass. So much better than snow. "Felix is hot though. Like... yeah, I'd be his roommate. Is that weird? Everything's weird. You know who else is hot? Jack. Jack's hot. And he cooks, so it's like... hot guy can cook. That's double hot."
Lennon snickered. “Yeah, he’s twitchy, but I love his twitchy ass. On the other hand, you do have to remind him to take a bath, soooooo…” He laughed, finding it easy to forget everything else on his mind for the moment. Pot was great, and so were hypothetical conversations. “Duuuude. Felix is so hot I think my fingers’d get burned if I touched him. I didn’t even think of Jack. Yeah, he’s hot too.” He bent his knees and crossed his right foot over the left one. Somehow the sky was looking almost blurry, but he figured it was just because he was high. “I can cook, and bake too. ‘Member the brownies? Man, I want a brownie right now.”
Tobias laughed. "You can cook and bake, so you're triple hot. I don't think we have any brownie stuff back at the lodge, which sucks." He was sure they'd had this conversation before. Hot people in the house. Hadn't they talked about a calendar at some point? Or was that someone else? Time really was a different beast in Zenith. It didn't really matter anymore. He was just happy that Lennon seemed to be okay and that's all Tobias really wanted. "I wonder if we can ask the people if we can have brownies. You think they'd like, leave us a box of brownie mix overnight?"
“Yeah, a lot of good it’s done me,” Lennon said mildly, swinging the foot that was crossed over his knee. Triple hot his hairy balls. Eh, whatever. He was getting too mellow to want to dwell on the negative, at least right then. “No brownie mix,” he verified. “The food is very lacking, have you noticed that? I hate canned tomatoes and I hate spinach unless it’s in spinach dip or queso.” A smirk curved his lips upward. “Better than having to hunt our own food or pull a bunch of leaves to cook up for dinner, though.” Being grateful for every small blessing wasn’t a concept he’d ever internalized before he’d come here. He thought about Tobias’s question. “Probably not, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Maybe if we get rewards for something. There’s eggs, so we could cook them.”
"You just gotta know how to use it," Tobias pointed out. He closed his eyes and placed his hands loosely on his chest. He could so easily nap out here. "But yeah, the food is... I mean, it's fine because we've got a chef in the house, but I miss the kitchen at the mansion. They found seeds though so I bet we have to start growing our own stuff. And before you know it, we'll see deer everywhere and we'll have to kill them to eat. That's what'll happen, I bet. I hate asking Them for anything, but brownies might be worth it." He wanted so many things, mostly answers, but he already saw what They would want in return for that kind of stuff.
Lennon rolled his eyes at the sky but he didn’t comment. He’d never had any trouble using it before he’d been taken out of that club. “There was everything in that kitchen,” he said nostalgically. “Maybe we didn’t appreciate it enough.” There might not have been every speciality item one could think of, but there was plenty to prepare almost any kind of meal you wanted. “Maybe They think we didn’t have enough to do,” he said, swinging his foot some more. “I mean, I can think of days when I didn’t do anything but lay around my room and draw.” Gardening and hunting would definitely fill up some time, even if he had no desire to shoot any kind of animal. Hunting wasn’t really a thing in the Ft. Walton Beach, Florida area.
Tobias wasn't really one to give advice when it came to using it or anything else. He had never been very lucky in love, or sex, or anything like that. The stuff with Chase happened because of Chase, not because of Tobias. He just wasn't the type to put himself out there. And he had never seen Lennon do that either. But Tobias always viewed Lennon as a confident guy, so he simply assumed if Lennon saw someone he wanted, he would go for it. Tobias had always admired guys like that. He managed a soft grunt in response to Lennon because he could think of so many things he enjoyed doing back at the mansion. This was definitely more "rustic" living than before. Which was okay. "Guess we'll have to entertain ourselves more here," he murmured before giggling into the hand he brought up to his mouth. "Or we can just lay around and draw like before."
It would’ve been hard to explain how everything felt so different here. Never knowing what was going to happen from one day to the next made it tougher to settle into a real routine, to run game. At least it did for him, especially now that their numbers continued to dwindle. It was strange and unsettling, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. “Lay around and draw, lay around and get high like today,” he suggested. “I wish I knew for sure I could get more weed when mine runs out. Doesn’t Chase have some too?” Tobias giggling was both cute and hilarious and he chuckled himself, just because. He liked how everything seemed funny when he was high.
Tobias liked laying around and getting high, especially when it was with his friends. He wanted to go home, yes, but he also dreaded the day they were all separated. Lennon and Chase and Kiley were his best friends now, and he didn't like thinking about not having them in his life. "He does, I think. I mean, I think Kiley does. She seems to always have everything." Tobias chuckled. "We'll ask them if we can borrow some weed next time. That makes it sound like we'll return it..." He looked over at Lennon and lowered his voice to a whisper. "But we won't. Because we'll have smoked it." He brought a finger up to his mouth before grinning, like they were now co-conspirators in the scam.
“Kiley’s got all the goods,” Lennon agreed. “It’s a plan.” He loved how relaxed Tobias was when high, relaxed and goofy. It was cool. He lifted a finger to his own lips, snickering. “Sssshhhhh. They’d never guess we won’t return it.” Placing his legs down flat, he stretched, pointing his toes and then releasing them. “I should’ve brought another one,” he lamented. Eh, well, he could make this be enough. Mildly stoned, enough so not to dwell on what he’d been told, and with one of his favorite people. It worked.
"Oh god, if you'd brought another one I'd probably start eating the grass." Tobias snickered and lifted his hands to rub them over his face. Skin was amazing. "Now we've got to stay here for a while. Just relax and chill and then we can pretend like we're the only two people here." No Scotty, or TPTB or people who would stress him out. "This was a good idea. Do you think the weather will ever get warm enough that we could like, swim in the river?"
“You’re not a cow,” Lennon pointed out, but he laughed all the same. It actually was nice to think about himself and Tobias alone here, on the grass by the river. It was soothing and helped him not to dwell on less pleasant things. “Hope so,” he said of swimming in the river when it was warmer. “I dunno about you, but I’m sick of snow. It felt like the winter was never gonna be over back there.” It had been a novelty at first, but he supposed everything got old eventually.
"I could be a rabbit. Rabbits eat grass, right?" Tobias couldn't twitch his nose, so he used his fingers to do it. "Anyway. Yeah. No snow. I want warm weather. This place'd be so much more fun if it's hot outside, then we can get out and do things and swim. When we get back to the house we should play a game or something. There's MouseTrap, did you see that? I love that game. I wonder if we have Twister. We could get a lot of people to play that. It'd be fun, I think." Depending on who played with them. It was all about trying to make the best of a bad situation. That was the optimism speaking, and probably the pot.
“They do,” Lennon said. He wasn’t a rabbit expert but he knew that much. “We had enough winter, maybe we’ll get summer.” Being on the bank of the river would be vastly improved by sun beating down on them, warming them all the way through. When he closed his eyes he tried to imagine he could feel that, but it was too breezy. He exhaled a breath at the thought of playing Twister in this condition. “Nah, man, Twister’s for when you’re not high. Hard to get anywhere with it this way. I could go for somethin’ else though.” Checkers would be about his speed right now. Something easy.
Would they still be here in the summer? Or back in Zenith? Were they still in Zenith? So many questions rolled through Tobias's mind but none of them triggered any anxiety, which was good. Right now it felt like he could just roll with things. He tried to imagine Twister while he was high, and it sounded like a lot of fun to be honest. Maybe Chase and Kiley would play with them. If they had Twister. He wasn't even sure that was on the game shelf. "We'll play something easy then. Maybe we've got Uno or something." Tobias exhaled softly. "But not yet 'cause I just want to chill here for a while okay? Then we'll head back and find brownies and an easy game."
“Uno’d be fun,” Lennon agreed. He’d always loved that game and it wasn’t difficult at all. “But yeah, I’m good with chilling.” He didn’t want to shatter his friend’s illusions about the brownies so he kept quiet. It seemed like a good time to do nothing, to keep his mind empty, to listen to the breeze and maybe even drift off for a few minutes. He was sure he’d be unhappy later, but that didn’t seem to matter right now. Even temporary peace was a thing worth striving for.