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Post by Jasmine on Oct 16, 2014 21:14:10 GMT -5
(( oh gosh i feel really bad sorry for taking so long >< ))
"Okay..." Tao mumbled, his fur slowly lying flat again. "Okay. Yeah. Something else." He looked around the room, looked at the glass reflecting the harsh artificial light, at the door just down the row of cages, cracked open just the tiniest bit, and said, "Have you ever gotten out of your cage?"
He himself had never done it - Zitao had once, he knew. Of course, there were quite a few other lab creatures that went out often; he'd heard them telling their stories, of hiding in shadows and running from guard dogs. One had said something about their companion dying. There had been a fire. From yet another rat he had heard of something called a library, a book-place. I'd like to explore, for once, Tao couldn't help but think.
"Imagine how much there is out there," he said aloud. "In the rest of the lab, I mean. It's a big place."
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Post by lewis on Oct 16, 2014 22:18:34 GMT -5
(( You're fine, it's ok :3 ))
Lewis relaxed a little bit, feeling less anxious and aggravated. It was rare that some other individual managed to push him out of the edge of anger; he assumed it had something to do with Tao's negative outlook on Blank.
"Out of my cage?" he asked. "No. Not yet, at least. I know there are escaped rats somewhere, maybe I could talk them into letting us out in the night..."
Lewis had actually never seen an escaped rat. It was probably because they, logically, were avoiding the holding room for fear of being captured.
"Yes, while the thought sort of scares me, I do want to see the rest of the lab. Maybe there's something amazing somewhere." And maybe there's Blank, he added in his head.
"I want to go outside more. I want to see the orb of light in the sky so bright it hurts to look at. I want to see Green. But we already talked about this. Have you ever eaten a carrot?"
Lewis asserted a rather random question as his mind strayed to one of the only True colors he had seen, a piece of carrot that a whitecoat had once given him. He could only distantly remember the taste, but the color shown in stark contrast to the dark thoughts settling in his mind.
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Post by Jasmine on Oct 19, 2014 19:26:08 GMT -5
"A carrot?" Tao searched his mind for something like that. "I... I don't know. What's it like?" He thought about it some more, and added, "After they made- I mean, after Zitao was... born, they gave me and him something, these little round green things. Something like..." His mouth moved silently as he tested out sounds in his head, until it sounded right. "They were... peas. Yeah, that's what they were."
He smiled at the little triumph. "They were a nice green. What color is a carrot?"
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Post by lewis on Oct 19, 2014 23:09:34 GMT -5
"It's sort of... um," Lewis struggled to recall the taste, pulling the memories slowly as if from a deep pool. "Sweet. Yes, sweet, definitely sweet." he said, suddenly receiving a short burst of old and unpacked memories that lingered with the forgotten flavor on his tongue.
"Color? Oh, it's a little weird. It's called Orange, which is also a fruit! It's a vegetable... and a fruit! Isn't that unusual?" The lab rat grinned, shaking his head at the confusing and illogical concept formed by the other entities.
"I don't see much orange here in the lab, but look at that little light over there," Lewis said, gesturing to a glowing red power-indication button on some machinery. "It's sort of like that. But more yellow. You know what Yellow is, I'm presuming?"
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Post by Jasmine on Oct 21, 2014 20:04:09 GMT -5
Tao couldn't help but grin. "Orange..." He glanced at the light. "Oh, yes, yes, yes, orange! I know orange. There were flowers, right outside my home. Orange. And yellow, yeah, yellow, funny little flowers that had lots and lots of petals, but then they fell off, and these white puffs grew instead. But before they became white puffs, they were yellow." Colors were something he knew, something he missed, maybe even something he craved.
"I saw a rat once," he recalled, "who was all green, but she had blue too. I saw her again, and that time she was red and orange. The last time I saw her, she was plain old gray with some little bits of white. Isn't that weird?" He looked over at Lewis. "Isn't that funny? D'you think the whitecoats changed her color? Maybe they wanted to see more colors too. There's not a lot of colors around here."
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Post by lewis on Oct 25, 2014 0:54:26 GMT -5
Lewis giggled a little at the image, feeling slightly detached and light.
"That rat sounds like a rainbow," he said, imagining her shifting colors. "Rainbows are supposed to be everything, all of the colors in one. Maybe the whitecoats never see rainbows. Yes, that must be it. And that's why they made the Superhero in the picture book look all colorful, too. Do you think..."
Lewis had stumbled upon a very disturbing thought, something that contradicted everything he had ever thought and had been taught to believe about the people beyond the glass of cages, watching and learning and testing, testing, testing.
Cautiously, rolling the words in his mouth and trying to find a deeper meaning in his own brain, he asked, "Do you think maybe the whitecoats are stuck in here too?"
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Post by Jasmine on Oct 26, 2014 15:49:17 GMT -5
Tao considered the idea, then shook his head. "I don't think so. I mean, they must've gone outside to set up those traps in the outside. That's how I ended up here." His eyes darkened. "They had little boxes. There were these little... purple-ish round things, fruit, I think. They smelled so good, and I couldn't help but try one, and next thing I knew, it was all dark. I dunno how long I was in there, but then it started moving and I guess I ended up here."
He blinked. "Sorry, I rambled." He sighed. "But yeah. I think they go outside sometimes. More than any of us, at least."
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Post by browniethealicorn on Oct 26, 2014 15:58:50 GMT -5
(can i join?)
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Post by lewis on Oct 26, 2014 16:54:05 GMT -5
(( I wouldn't mind ))
Lewis sat down, frowning at the ground with slightly hunched shoulders. "They could, yes, I guess they could go outside. But why? Why stay in here, why leave? Why make a living rainbow and clones and tests, tests, tests? What's the deeper meaning? /Why?/"
His tail flicked the scarce substrate out of frustration.
"I think they have to be here. Maybe they're not really trapped, really trapped, but why else would they stay when the world of color is outside, just beyond the walls? If they love color so much, then they must want to leave! Why else would they stay here in the white, the bleak vacant white unless they were forced?"
Lewis had breached a new layer of his monotenous and confusing life, a mini-epiphany engulfing his mind and spinning his thoughts around, reversing them and refining them. Maybe the whitecoats weren't the villains. Or at least, not the main villain. But if there were no villains, who would be the hero?
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Post by browniethealicorn on Oct 26, 2014 18:12:06 GMT -5
A rat steps out the shadow of her cage, "I have to agree with you on that, when theres a whole world of color, why stay inside unless you were forced to?" ears twiching in thought
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Post by Jasmine on Oct 26, 2014 22:56:13 GMT -5
Tao opened his mouth to reply to Lewis, then jumped in surprise when the new rat spoke suddenly. Forcing his fur flat again, he peered at the newcomer. "Yeah..." he said, still wary. "Lewis... you think something makes them stay around here?"
It made sense, in a way. He had never thought of anything more powerful than the whitecoats - they had always seemed to be the most all-mighty beings in the world. But perhaps there was something even more powerful controlling them like they controlled him and every other creature in the lab.
"That's kind of scary. Something even worse than the whitecoats...? What could something like that be?"
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Post by browniethealicorn on Oct 27, 2014 0:56:49 GMT -5
I gasp in fear, "What if theres somthing that controls everyone here?And all the places even WE don't know about?!" I gulp
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Post by lewis on Oct 29, 2014 18:22:03 GMT -5
"I don't know." Lewis growled, agitated by his marauding thoughts. "It's... well, like I said before, it's like trying to imagine a color I've never seen before. The mere idea is beyond comprehension, denying everything I've taught myself and been taught. If there is something else out there, I couldn't imagine what it would be. Whitecoats are the pinnacle of fear to us, having experienced nothing more.
"This other thing, this higher, superior being, assuming it exists... must be a real monster."
The lab rat shivered, swirling images and ideas around in his head in a weak attempt to capture an image of the face of Ultimate Fear, which had an annoying tendency to shift into that of a Whitecoat.
(( Fffff late reply ;m; ))
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Post by browniethealicorn on Oct 29, 2014 20:12:44 GMT -5
I stick my tail out an air hole, "Nobody is watching us, how about we strech out our legs?" my tail jigles in the key hole and then a click signaling it unlocked
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Post by Jasmine on Oct 29, 2014 20:46:30 GMT -5
Tao shook himself, trying to rid himself of thoughts of some higher being controlling the whitecoats. "I don't-" He broke off, wide-eyed, as the other nameless rat unlocked its cage effortleslly. "What are you-" He moved away from the rat, as far away as he could get in his own cage. "Okay, first of all, there's no way you could get out that easily," he hissed, more out of shock than anything. "Secondly, what do you mean nobody's watching? They're always watching!"
He glanced at Lewis for support. "Right?"
If that rat gets caught... I don't want to be out there too. It's too dangerous. He shrank away. "You'll get yourself killed. Don't bother with my lock."
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