Who: Juliet and Tobias When: midday-ish, post bouncy obstacle course Where:: town, then Cassi’s
Juliet had been pleasantly surprised by the “test” they’d had to contend with today. Who would ever have thought of a bouncy obstacle course? Honestly it had been fun; she’d been able to chat with Marco and exchange pleasant greetings with a few other people. Bonus: she had a different outfit even if it was workout gear. She had shoes now also, fortunately. If that hadn’t happened, she’d been planning to ask on the network if she could borrow someone’s shoes to go into town to hunt for more clothing, shoes and makeup. Sometimes things worked out for the best despite all odds. That was something she’d noticed in real life away from here, too. Sometimes they didn’t, hence her stint in jail. Anyway.
She’d gone to the locker room to freshen up a little and use the restroom once she was done with the course, and when she’d come out she’d taken the elevator up and out. As she left the building, there was a guy standing on the porch as if hesitant as to what to do next. “Hi,” Juliet said. “Are you one of the new people or the older ones?”
Tobias had been completely flabbergasted by the inflatable obstacle course. It was a far cry from getting his arm shocked, numbed and burned. What was even more baffling was the amount of people who had jumped right into it and seemed to have fun doing it. Tobias had concluded that most of them had been there far longer than Tobias had, and really, he had no clue what they had all gone through before his arrival. If this weird experiment made them happy, well, okay. Tobias hadn't really done much himself. He had reluctantly changed into the gym clothes and shoes left for him, but then he'd sort of skirted around the arena, watching. He didn't know anyone, save for that Lennon guy, so Tobias didn't feel right just jumping in and attaching himself to someone. And he felt silly doing it by himself. So he'd done nothing. For awhile, at least. And then he'd changed back into his jeans and t-shirt, since it didn't appear as though they were required to stay.
He left quickly, with the new duffel bag on his arm and then hovered for awhile outside. Did he go back home? Did he wander around and see what there was? They had warned him if he ventured too far he would receive a terrible shock thanks to the implant in his neck. So Tobias was scared about his limits. He didn't know how far was too far. What if something happened to him in town and no one was there to help him? Worse yet, what if he returned to that huge house and everyone inside of it ignored him? Tobias was feeling extremely indecisive, which was causing him to chew nervously on his fingernail when a female voice startled him out of his thoughts. He turned to see a redhead, one he had seen a few times on the obstacle course. And now she was talking to him and Tobias flushed, dropping his hand away from his mouth.
"Uh, new. Old. Newish." Tobias blinked and tried again. "This is my third day, I think. Time kind of blends together here. I'm Tobias. Are you? New, I mean."
“It does blend together, doesn’t it?” Juliet said. She still couldn’t believe that three nights ago she’d gone to sleep in a prison cell and had awakened in this place. “I’m Juliet, and this is my second day. I got here just in time to almost get heat stroke.” Out of the frying pan into the fire? In her case it was the opposite… or maybe from fire into being doused with cold water? Somewhere along the line her analogies were falling apart, but Juliet didn’t give a shit. She still felt she was better off where she was now.
“I was going to go try to find that store where they have clothes,” she said. “Want to come with me? If you’re new like I am, you need more things too.” She was pining for some makeup, but she could do that after the clothing store, and if Tobias didn’t want to come to the pharmacy, she didn’t mind going on her own.
Tobias felt like he would have almost preferred to wake up yesterday in the heat, than in that concrete room. He felt so out of place here, more so than he ever had back home. At least there he could hide in his apartment with his small group of friends, surrounded by familiar things. "Yeah, it was pretty bad yesterday," Tobias admitted with a small, sheepish grin. "You kind of had to decide between standing outside and risking pneumonia, or sweating in places you never knew existed." Tobias paused and grimaced. "Sorry. Gross description." Which he would, of course, make in front of a pretty woman. So he hurried to accept her offer to find clothes before she could change her mind, shifting the duffel bag onto his other shoulder. "I could use a couple more pieces of clothing for sure. I'd rather not have to wash the same jeans and shirt every other day, you know? Uh." Tobias glanced around. "Do you have any idea where it is? I saw a map on the network, but I didn't think to copy it down for myself. I'm still trying to get used to this whole thing."
Juliet laughed at his description. “No need to say sorry. We were all doing that kind of sweating.” Very indelicate but true. She could deal with hardship; being in prison had taught her a lot about that, in all honesty. Still, that kind of heat had been hard to deal with all day long. When he asked if she knew where the shop was, Juliet nodded. “I have a decent idea. I spent a while yesterday studying that map.” Gently, she tugged at one sleeve of Tobias’s shirt so he was standing next to her and facing in the exact same direction as she was. Then she pointed straight ahead. “I’m almost sure it’s down that road, so my vote is we walk in that direction. Deal?” She smiled, letting go of his shirt.
Juliet didn’t seem to be totally put off by him, which was a relief, and Tobias felt himself relax. Slightly. His eyes drifted down when she tugged on his shirt, though he didn’t mind it. He wasn’t used to people touching him in any manner, not lately anyway, so it was nice that she seemed comfortable enough with him to do it. His eyes moved away from her hand to follow her gesture. “Deal,” Tobias said with a soft nod. “I haven’t really been into the town yet, so… all I know is that it’s deserted, but like, almost every building has stuff in it still. Which is… odd. But...yeah, let’s go.” He started in the direction that Juliet suggested, shifting his duffel bag on his shoulder. “So do you have theories about why we’re here?”
Juliet could be very touchy. It was a way to acclimate herself to people, to make them feel more at home with her. Of course, there were times when it backfired, but she was usually willing to take the risk. If Tobias minded it, he didn’t show it, so she figured she was fine. She slung her own nearly empty duffel-- because of course she’d only been wearing panties when she’d awakened-- over her shoulder as they started to walk. “This is my first chance to,” she said of being in town. “Since yesterday it rained all day long. I did go swimming with a couple of people, though.” She took a deep breath as they moved forward, enjoying the fresh air. “I don’t think I’ve been here long enough to figure out any theories,” she said to his question. “Although it’s obvious there’s some reason behind all of it.” They just didn’t know what that reason was, and they might never know.
All of Tobias's theories felt far fetched. But this whole ordeal was far fetched itself, so maybe his ideas weren't too off the mark. "Yeah, I guess," he murmured. He just hated not knowing what the reason was. Risking a glance at Juliet, Tobias remembered the weather and cocked a brow. "Wait, you went swimming? Wasn't it raining outside? I guess people can swim in the rain. Was it cold?" The few times he had opened the door to get a breeze, Tobias hadn't stayed out very long considering the weather. It had been a no win situation for him. Too hot, or too cold and wet. It had been miserable.
At this point in time, Juliet didn’t care about the reason, but she wasn’t going to go around telling anyone else that. She’d been delivered from an unpleasant situation, and that was all she cared about. “Well, I was hanging out in the kitchen with a couple of people, eating ice from the freezer, and we decided to go jump in the pool. The rain was cold but it felt great given how hot the house was.” She glanced from side to side, seeing absolutely nothing except abandoned buildings. Creepy, but what the hell. “We didn’t stay out too long because it was thundering and lightning. What floor are you on, by the way? I’m on three.”
Tobias wanted to point out that they could have gotten sick, or something, but that seemed super lame, so he let the thought pass and disappear. They were all adults there, they could make their own choices. Besides, with how hot it had been the day before, Tobias might have jumped into the pool with them, if given the opportunity. It just hadn’t been something he’d considered. “I’m on the third floor too,” he told her, glancing at her profile. “Sort of in the corner, by, uh, Lennon’s room? I guess if there’s a silver lining to anything, it’s that the room is really nice. Better than anything I’d have at home.”
“Good,” Juliet said when he said he was on the third floor as well. “I’ve met a couple other people from there so far. Haven’t met a Lennon yet.” So many different people, faces to put with names. She remained intrigued by it all. She smiled, the expression bright and winsome. “I love my room. If I could plan a perfect room for me, that’s what it would look like. Is yours like that, too?” It was interesting how anyone possibly could have known. Juliet never would have mentioned to anybody that she’d fancy a room that looked fit for a modern day princess, but there it was. Just as if they’d picked it out of her brain. She glanced up ahead and added, “Look, I think that’s it, about half a block ahead.”
“Perfect might be overstating it,” Tobias admitted, “but it’s pretty close. Uh, it’s my style for sure.” He hadn’t put a lot of thought into that fact, other than he liked the room. He really hadn’t considered that other people might have rooms completely different from his. Tobias had been imagining the rooms being kind of uniform, like hotels or something. He made a mental note to maybe try and find out if the other rooms were tailored to the other captives. He looked ahead to the building, squinting into the distance to read the sign. Cassi’s. “Who else have you met here? If you’re okay with me asking, anyway. I’ve only met Lennon, and uh, three others I was with the day before last.”
“Maybe I’ll peek my head in sometime, if you don’t mind,” Juliet said. “I’m so curious to know what all the rooms look like.” Bathrooms as well… she thought she remembered someone mentioning that all the rooms and baths were different. Her bathroom was huge, and she looked forward to breaking in that jacuzzi sometime. She saw the sign as well and walked a bit faster, glancing at him as he asked who she’d met. “Marco and Juno are the ones I went swimming with. They’re both on three, too. And now you. I’ve said hi to a few other people but haven’t really talked to anyone else yet except on the network thing.”
A girl in his room? Tobias blushed at the thought, and felt stupid for it. It wasn’t like he was a virgin. It was only because she was pretty and it was… weird. Why, he didn’t know. This whole place was weird. Tobias quickened his steps to keep up with her. “I don’t know them,” he admitted. “I mean, I’ve seen network posts, but not everyone has usernames, so it’s hard to tell who is who? Lennon is pretty cool, though. Uh, I met Jack… um…” Shit, who were the others? “Evie? And Pam.” Pam. That was it. She was pretty cheery for being stuck here. Tobias had been taken back by it, but now he kind of appreciated her enthusiasm. It was better than being super depressed. “And you,” he added with a small smile. “Kind of nice not to feel like the only newb here.”
“I haven’t actually met Jack yet, but he seems a lot of fun,” Juliet commented. When it had been too hot to do anything else, she’d gone back and read all the network posts. “I’m glad there are some decent people here.” She chuckled when he said it was nice not to feel like the only newbie. “I agree. Because it’s not enough to be in a completely strange place, right?” She exhaled a breath and pushed her hair off of her neck; maybe she could find some hair things too, somewhere. The pharmacy, maybe, if there weren’t any here. “Let’s go,” she said since they’d reached Cassi’s. She had no intentions of leaving until her duffel was stuffed as full as she could get it.
Tobias had met Jack under tense circumstances. While it hadn't been fun, the guy seemed decent enough. Everyone had seemed decent enough, so far. He just hoped it stayed that way. This place was unsettling enough without adding jerks into the mix. So Tobias nodded his agreement to Juliet and shifted the gym bag on his shoulder, following her to Cassi's. There were worse things to do than finding some new clothes with a pretty girl.