Bob's there when Jedao shows up, standing in the hall in front of a frosted glass door. It looks like something that would be in a medical lab.
He lifts a hand to wave a little when Jedao comes out of the library. He's got his gloves on today, and everything, just to be safe. Just in case Jedao decides touching him is a good idea, the way Arthur had.
"I wouldn't call me that," Bob says, a little wryly, but he does turn to face the door, takes a second to stare at it unhappily, then open it and step inside. The room beyond looks like a lab with a couple sets of shelves and a medical-looking bed at far end in a slightly separated section. There are two shadows burned into the walls.
He doesn't go to the shadows right away; he goes to the cabinets, the shelves, the drawers. What tools are in easy reach, and which ones are a little higher up? What's worn with use, and what's brand new? That should give him a good start on figuring out what kind of lab this was, what kind of science was actually done here - or none, if it was just a staging ground, set-dressing for other activities under the guise of science.
The drawers are mostly empty, and the shelves have a few medical instruments, pipet stands and glass beakers, some binders full of mostly blank paper. It's set dressing rather than useful, no one could actually do medical experiments in here. There's a couple actual books which look like Bob borrowed them from the library and is keeping them here, but otherwise there's nothing personal.
One drawer does have a couple bottles of pills in it, and Bob hustles over when Jedao approaches that one, looking guilty and nervous.
"Should I be worried?" Jedao asks, but casually, looking at Bob's reaction instead of the bottles. It's a real question; he doesn't have a lot of hangups about drugs.
"They're not going to hurt anyone," Bob says, stopping a few feet away and looking uncomfortable. "I haven't even taken any." Yet. He's been tempted, but hasn't so far.
"They're-- nothing," Bob says awkwardly. "They're just pain meds." Which is in fact true. Sure, Jedao doesn't know about his whole... addiction thing. It just seems like the kind of thing you don't have on a prison ship.
Bob scrubs his face with both hands, the adrenaline from the twin familiar sensations of "got caught" and "going to get in trouble" wearing down as the conversation doesn't go the way he expected at all. "Not exactly," he says, stressed but keeping it together. He hopes. "It's a long story. They're not what I really wanted to show you, anyway."
"Okay." He shuts the drawer. "But if there's something else you need, let me know." He swipes a tool that looks like it was borrowed from a dentist's office for set dressing out of a jar, a little metal pick, and heads over to the obvious centerpiece.
Bob puffs out a breath of relief and anxiety, both, then follows after him, looking up at the burned shadows unhappily. "I don't actually remember this place," he admits, "but I can guess where it is. It's probably where I got the powers I know about. It was a medical study, supposed to make me better, stronger, something like that. I wasn't the only participant, they were recruiting from the homeless in Kuala Lumpur, but I don't know if anyone else... got powers."
"A lot of the stuff in here is for show," Jedao notes. "To make it...look medical, look above-board. What do your powers do?" he asks, in a totally neutral sort of voice, as he examines the shadows on the wall, tries to scratch the edge of one with a fingernail, to see if there's any physical residue.
"I've got two, that I know of," Bob says, drifting after him, eyes on the shadows unhappily. "I can move things without touching them, more so when I'm upset. And if you touch my skin, or I touch yours, we both get to watch one of your worst memories. One that scares you or makes you feel ashamed. I can't control it. I can control the moving things a little more."
The shadow doesn't change, nothing flakes off. It's like a psychic residue rather than a physical one.
"Oh, I... didn't really expect you to reveal anything. I don't know anything about what you can... do or not do or anything. I just-- thought you should see why I don't sleep in here, I guess. Since you asked about it."
He shrugs awkwardly, but he also can't help but ask, "Why math?"
"Got ahead of myself a bit, sorry. Although it doesn't fully explain why you don't want something different instead. Unless you're hoping to figure it out, I thought?"
"I do want to figure it out," Bob says. "I just don't expect someone to tell me what it is. I want to-- to remember it. And making the room go away means I'm not... as likely to remember, I think? Does that make sense?"
He mostly hasn't wanted to remember what happens during his episodes. And this one seems... worse, somehow, and did even before he knew about this room. Part of him wants to pretend it doesn't exist and change it and not think about it again. But that's probably the part of him that's the fuck-up.
He shrugs a little. "Everywhere in this place is comfortable, really. And I've never had a place of my own for longer than a few weeks before, and even then it usually wasn't as nice as the empty cabins or common room couches here. I'm doing okay, really."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2025-09-17 03:40 am (UTC)I don't know.
Maybe you'll understand it more than me. I showed it to Arthur, and he seemed to.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-17 03:42 am (UTC)Now?
no subject
Date: 2025-09-17 03:50 am (UTC)It's on level six.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-17 03:50 am (UTC)See you there, then.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-17 04:25 am (UTC)He lifts a hand to wave a little when Jedao comes out of the library. He's got his gloves on today, and everything, just to be safe. Just in case Jedao decides touching him is a good idea, the way Arthur had.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-19 02:28 am (UTC)"Onward, fearless leader."
no subject
Date: 2025-09-20 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-26 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-27 02:52 am (UTC)One drawer does have a couple bottles of pills in it, and Bob hustles over when Jedao approaches that one, looking guilty and nervous.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-27 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-29 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-30 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-01 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-02 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-03 07:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-08 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-08 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-19 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-21 03:33 am (UTC)The shadow doesn't change, nothing flakes off. It's like a psychic residue rather than a physical one.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-29 03:16 am (UTC)"...I'm not actually psychic. If you want me to actually...reveal anything here, I'm going to have to sit around doing a lot of math."
no subject
Date: 2025-10-29 03:37 am (UTC)He shrugs awkwardly, but he also can't help but ask, "Why math?"
no subject
Date: 2025-10-29 04:57 am (UTC)Slightly rueful.
"Got ahead of myself a bit, sorry. Although it doesn't fully explain why you don't want something different instead. Unless you're hoping to figure it out, I thought?"
no subject
Date: 2025-10-31 03:48 am (UTC)He mostly hasn't wanted to remember what happens during his episodes. And this one seems... worse, somehow, and did even before he knew about this room. Part of him wants to pretend it doesn't exist and change it and not think about it again. But that's probably the part of him that's the fuck-up.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-03 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-08 04:02 am (UTC)