Daslabor

Lucas was sitting against one of the walls, staring at one of the corners of the room with a mild, terrified look on his face, yet he remained silent, as if he feared if he made a sound, whatever he was seeing would get him or something. No one really knew what he was seeing, except for himself.

Lucas held his knees to his chest, tears prickling in his bloodshot eyes, slowly rolling down his face.

Silent as death itself, Dr. Hartmann cast her shadow over the mortified boy. Hardly tall but nonetheless commanding, she regarded SE-2006 with a steely, unmoving gaze, observing the child as he wept. The intruding humbuzz of the sterile fluorescent lights choked out all the other noises in the room, though by the tightness of SE-2006's face, Dr. Hartmann could see that he wasn't making a peep either. "How long are you intending to wait, 2006?" Hartmann spoke after a silence that may as well have lasted an eternity. Despite having been in Daslabor for over a month, she was still loyal to the WCBL way of addressing subjects. "What is not real cannot touch you, no matter how much your mind wants you to think otherwise." Though cold in tone and expression, this was actually a far-fetched Hartmann'ian way of trying to comfort the kid. After all, she had been tasked with coming out of her shell more and interacting with other subjects than SE-0111, and an innocent but afflicted child like SE-2006 seemed like a good start, at least according to the Board. "Try to step into the light. It may upset those fungi of yours, but that might be exactly what you need." Cross-armed, she considered extending a hand towards the child. There was the risk of startling him, though, and she didn't want the other Subjects and Doctors to think she'd warm up that easily. Having said that.. perhaps being agreeable would get her chummier with the Board. Maybe then, finally, they'd reconsider her appeal to stay in touch with the WCBL. Ahj Eshno*, how much she hoped they would.. [ *: her culture's equivalent of 'Good God' or 'Oh goodness' ]

🌻 Lucas:
He heard Dr. Hartmann's voice, which caused him to tense up and become more alert and afraid. He glanced his eyes around widely and quickly in attempts of tracking down the voice, only to notice Dr. Hartmann right beside him. He tried to speak, but only a terrified crack of his voice came out before he raised one hand to his chest, his heart racing quickly.

Listening to Dr. Hartmann's what is not real cannot touch you comment, he slowly looked at the abomination of eyes, uncomfortable wide grins and distorted imagery of mailboxes and trees, that stayed in the corner thanks to his hallucination. He looked back at her just as she was telling him that the light would upset the fungi and that it might be what he needed, but when he fully turn his head to face and look at her, to him, Dr. Hartmann's face distorted into a dripping orb of trippy colors that moved and waved, only making Lucas feel a bit dizzy and even more terrified. He shuffled back, away from her a little, quickly looking back at the corner to make sure that thing wasn't growing closer to him, then looked back at her, still seeing the splashes of the colors.

Well, this wasn’t going to work. Stone-faced to the pitiful sight of the poor, disoriented child stumbling about, Dr. Hartmann tried to run herself through what little notes had been taken on SE-2006’s nature. So far, all that was known to her and her new colleagues, was that this otherwise ordinary kid possessed over ‘PSI’, whatever that meant. In a way it seemed comparable to her previous studies on the Therion Alpha, yet whereas Subject 0 had been comfortable and born snugly into his abilities, SE-2006’s seemed to be intruding onto his sanity. Was he simply too young and inexperienced to handle his own abilities, or were they inherently harmful? One day, they’d know. ”Hm, you don’t have to look if you don’t want to. I’m simply here to talk,” Dr. Hartmann said, deciding to stand against the wall right next to SE-2006. He was about the same age as Zero, too, but in demeanor, they couldn’t have been more different. ”Is there a drink that you would like? Proper hydration will be necessary to keep you alert and, well, sane.” She’d witnessed Zero been this afraid before, though not of something inside his head. If anything, that what was within his head was the only thing he could depend on. Especially.. now. Dr. Hartmann hoped to have coaxed some verbal feedback out of the child. She wasn’t one to speak much, but silence in the face of the boy’s hallucinations unsettled her. One way or another, she had to find out what it was that the child was seeing. With how little they knew about this subject and his donor, any evidence she could provide would be valuable. Appease the Board well enough, and she could hopefully ensure the safety of not just two, but three Lab-bound youngsters. Slowly, she crossed her arms across her chest, intently diverting her eyes from SE-2006 to give him the space he needed.

🌻 Lucas:
You don't have to look if you don't want to. Lucas stared, then forcefully made himself look away, the floor and walls various different warping colors. He closed his eyes and covered them, attempting to try and block the hallucinations out. Is there a drink you would like? He heard another noise, not just Dr. Hartmann's voice, but a sound of someone laughing, someone he knew, someone a lot like him, a twin even..

Proper hydration will be necessary to keep you alert, and, well, sane.

He uncovered his eyes, trying to see where it was coming from, but there was nothing but the distorted looking trees and mailboxes and eyes and grins and trippy colors. No other person, no twin.

Lucas finally spoke, barely being able to be heard as it was so quiet and gentle. "Anything..anything would be nice.."

He heard the laughing again, it was so far away, he hated it. Not because he wanted his laugh to go away, but he wished that it was closer and that he was here with him.

But.. Unfortunately..

”Very well, I’ll see to it.” Well, at least some external stimuli were replied to. Dr. Hartmann reached for her cheekbone with a gentle hand and activated her ear piece. ”Bring me one portion of apple juice. Pour it over into one of our own cups.” These ‘juice cartons’ that the juveniles of Earth seemed to enjoy tended to have a lot of bright colors and imagery on them, and with SE-2006 hallucinating as violently as they were, she first wanted to try to reduce any heavy stimuli that might trigger more illusions. Furthermore, the sugar would give him more energy to keep his mind as straight as possible, and the tartness of the juice would hopefully be distracting enough to reduce anxiety. ”Your drink will arrive in a second.” She looked at the boy, her face unmoving. He had stopped burying his face in his hands, and once again looked mortified. Dr. Hartmann wondered if brain scans would be able to successfully simulate what he was seeing. ”You are doing well, Subject 2006.” That was about all she could muster up to say. She couldn’t imagine what he had to be going through, especially because she knew so little of him. Did SE-2006 have any parents or family that he missed? A world and environment that he had been ripped from? It was hard to say. Perhaps she could find this out, slowly, to better understand who she was dealing with here. ”How have my colleagues been treating you, so far? I have not had the opportunity to meet you during your arrival.” Dr. Hartmann sucked at smalltalk, and it radiated from every crevice of her being. Every word was meant, though. She had always been fiercely against testing on the underage, and while there was no Nice Man Blake to hold her back here, she wasn’t at all optimistic about her chances of getting this kid out of here. That said, it did seem like SE-2006 would benefit from any possible help they could give him here at Daslabor.

🌻 Lucas:
You are doing well, Subject 2006. He glanced at Dr. Hartmann, the trippy orb warping around on her face, before he looked back over at the distorted mess of trees, mailboxes, eyes, grins, and colors. Lucas then focused back on Dr. Hartmann, despite the distorted colored orb that replaced her face. How have my colleagues been treating you, so far? Lucas pulled his hands close to his chest. "I.. I guess they've been fine.."

"But.. But.. They look so strange to me.." Lucas' voice was shaking.

He remembered that one of the employees had a blurry face with one eye and a wide grin, and one of the others was of a mailbox, rats crawling out of it. "They scare me.." His voice cracked into a sob, he seemed at edge of tears again. "I just..want to go home.." Lucas murmured, his voice just getting quieter and quieter, and he was back to being silent again. This silence was broke when he saw an illusion of a rat with a one eye, wide grin crawling quickly towards him from the distorted trees and such, then he gasped loudly and scrambled back, only for his back to hit the wall with a loud thump, he covered his eyes with eyes and started crying again.

He could have sworn he felt the rat crawling up his leg. Which didn't help his crying and fear.