Inside of a Dog, It's too Dark to Read
Who: Brianna and anyone else really.
Where: Liz-ibrary. I mean, Library.
When: Mid-Morning
Somehow, she wasn’t entirely sure how, Brianna had made herself leave her house. A cloak kept her warm and was spread out over her somewhat fluffy skirt. Bustles did that though the one Bri wore was not as large as they were supposed to be. Anyhow, she had made her way out of her house all on by herself. Brave considering she still wasn’t sure about the town. Still, she was fairly comfortable with Elm Street now and the library wasn’t that far according to her directory.
She was fairly certain she wasn’t going to find anything good to read but that was not the point of her journey. Honestly, she wanted to find a way to make herself useful and what better way than learning about the local flora and fauna? If she could start identifying plants that were perhaps edible – of course, plants themselves weren’t going to be the biggest of help. What they needed was a good source of citrus fruits and Vitamin C. No one needed to be getting scurvy. Of course, scurvy was hardly the most pressing issue. At least it seemed that so far no one had arrived with anything contagious. Not that she was a doctor but it seemed like a good thing that it hadn’t happened.
Anyway, about an hour ago she had arrived at the library and immediately disappeared into the stacks. She had no idea how the books were arranged and assumed they used the Dewey Decimal Classification. Brianna knew she should have tried to memorize the numbers... Where the hells was she going to find botany and zoology? All in all, that meant she was entirely lost in the stacks and somewhat distracted flipping through books of unimportant subjects.
She had realized unconsciously that it was far too quiet and had begun humming random songs. Right now, she was working through “Play That Funky Music” and had no idea what had spawned that into her mind. She put the random book back where it belonged and made her way back to the lobby. Okay. She was going to have to start again and actually find the classification system or an inner library map... And why did this suddenly feel like she’d stepped into a video game? “Which way, which way,” she asked herself quietly unaware that someone was listening.
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Jeremy had told people to come by the library and he had started going through the books to sort the useless from the useful. It shouldn't surprise him that someone would take him up on the offer but it still sent his heart racing when he heard someone moving around downstairs. He'd been busily pulling useful books from the shelves on the second floor and it wasn't until he finally left the shelves to go down again that he heard the movement. He just stopped then and stood there with his arms full of books, listening to whoever was down there as well as his own heart pounding furiously in his chest. We're all in the same boat now. We're all scared and abandoned and we need to stick together he thought to himself as he tried to calm down but what if it was one of them, there to drug him and take him away, tie him up and leave him for dead.
Or what if it was Everett? The guy scared the shit out of him, Jeremy knew what he'd done and he had no doubt that if he said the wrong thing to him, he'd strangle him too. But then he heard the humming and it took him a moment to recognize the tune but when he did a small, if twitchy smile curled his lips. Right. This didn't sound all that threatening. So he made his way downstairs, balancing the stack of books against his chest and, not wanting to startle the girl, he called out a cautious, "Hello?"
It was not really that surprising that Jeremy didn’t hear her. Brianna was always very careful to be extremely quiet in a library even one that was technically fake and rather empty. Force of habit really. Thankfully for him, Bri was neither ‘one of them’ or Everett. If she were Ev, at least she’d know how to work a gun and protect herself... Hmm, she was going to have to look into that. Anywho.
When Jeremy called out to her, she took in such a sharp breath in surprise that she literally squeaked. Great, now she was a squeaky toy. “Oh, um,” she began but never finished as she grabbed a handful of cloak and started twisting the deep green fabric around her fingers. That was just an intelligent thing to say. Go on, look at the guy. Only she was staring at her toes, cheeks bright pink like she’d been caught doing something bad. Okay. Deep breath. In... Out... Finally she tore her eyes away from the ground and a smile flickered briefly at the sight of a guy half-hidden by books. Bri didn’t see that often.
Now she just had to actually form some words. “Um,” that’s not a word, “Hi. Y-y-y-you m-” She looked sort of angry with herself for a moment and paused for another deep breath which was followed by, “You must be Jeremy. I’m sorry I n-never replied to-to that private message. I’m B-Brianna. Do you need some help?” Of course, she’d taken so long to actually form words that he probably didn’t by now. What a fantastic first impression – not.
Jeremy had quickly calmed down when the girl in question didn't look threatening at all, add stammering to the mix and there was just no way he could stay tense around her, offering her a friendly smile as he headed down the stairs. "Yeah I'm Jeremy, nice to meet you," he told her and by the time she asked if he needed help he was sliding the stack of books onto the counter next to other stacks. "Well, if you see anything useful over there you can bring it up front. I'm trying to sort all this, good from bad." No, that wasn't it, not good or bad but... "Useful from useless. Things that could help us, so anything like DIY books, practical... Encyclopedias." He ran his fingers through his hair, looking over the books he'd brought up front already.
"You were in Experiment E, right?" He asked and he'd somewhat instantly liked those people. Some seemed mad at them for having gotten the easier deal but to Jeremy they were a group of people less likely to be completely psychotic from their experience. This meant a whole lot of new people who might not rip him to shreds when they found out he'd used to be an intern.
Yeah, she had that affect on people when they actually spoke to her. Too bad that was actually kind of not good around here. If she were the more threatening type, she wouldn’t be so worried about safety. Oh well, wish in one hand as the saying goes. Her kind of twitched smile appeared again and lasted for a few seconds longer than before. She sort of tilted her head to one side as his words got mixed up but she didn’t say anything. After all, he hadn’t been in E so very likely... Well, Bri didn’t want to think about what could have happened. All she had was speculation anyway. “I haven’t seen anything really useful... I, um, I was trying to find a book on, uh, botany. As l-l-local as I could f-find.”
Bri kind of winced when he asked which subject she’d been in. “Y-yeah. I can’t help but feel terribly guilty about that. And somewhat suspicious of someone back home.” She had a conspiracy theory but then she had a lot of theories. And none of them were positive. Not even the one that this was actually a testing ground for the Matrix and that none of this was really happening.
"Believe me, there are worse things to feel guilty about," Jeremy told her truthfully. Like being a damn intern. "Don't take it to heart if people give you a hard time just for being in E, it's pretty stupid since you didn't have a say in it. Whichever place you were in we're all stuck in here together now, right?" Her nervousness made his own dampen a little - much like with Owen. Clearly he should just hang around the neurotic to feel good about himself. "Books on botany, huh? I'm afraid there won't be much use for that soon, except maybe roots and such. We're heading straight into Russian Winter territory." He frowned softly but looked over his stack of books, brooding over this. "I haven't found any yet which means there still might be some in the shelves, I only just started this morning..."
She smiled sadly and looked at the floor, “I guess it’s a little more complicated than just feeling guilty. For the first time in my life, I was happy.” Bri sort of scoffed at herself and shook her head. No, she wasn’t going to get into all of that. It would just lead down a bad, horrible road to which there would only be more depression. And really, a guy she just met did not need to be in on her personal life. Her smile became broader and much more genuine as he sort of denounced the usefulness of plants in winter, “You underestimate the power of roots, Jeremy. Animals survive on them and while it may not be the healthiest thing in the world for humans, it can help. That’s better than having nothing at all, correct?”
Since he had come from upstairs with his books of usefulness, she started up the stairs to the second level. Bri had to hold a bunch of skirt in one hand just to make sure she didn’t trip and break her nose or something. “I’ll help if you show me where to begin. It’ll be easier with two people.” The more she seemed to slip into her element, the more she spoke but gods help them both the first time the shy bug popped its wretched head up again.
"Oh I know about roots, but that's what I'm saying. Those are the only things you'll be able to use," Jeremy replied as he followed her upstairs, wondering if he'd have to catch her if she tripped on her mass of skirt. "Have you worked with plants before?" He asked. "Or are you just feeling your way along like most of us?" He offered her a small smile when he joined her on the second floor where he'd made quite the mess. Book stacks everywhere! But figuring out just what was useful hadn't been as easy as he'd hoped. Sometimes information hid in the most unlikely of places.
Of course, roots could do more than just be eaten... There might be some medicinal value out there somewhere. They just had to find it... Lord only knew if they’d screwed with the plants as well as the food supply. Of course, that might have made her too paranoid. “Mm, no... This will be a test of my learning abilities... The only herbs I’ve ever worked with were dried.” She smiled broadly at the book stacks strewn about. Oh this was curious indeed! “Are the stacks books you’ve already been through or still going through?” Best to know where the beginning and end was after all. She stepped over to a stack and tilted her head to one side involuntarily as she read the titles on the spines.
Jeremy looked around and gestured at the books. "The stacks on the table are books I need to take downstairs and the stacks on the floor on the right are books I haven't been through, on the left are the ones I can't find anything useful in. As you can see, the stacks on the table are kind of... Miniscule." He frowned softly and grabbed the books on said table. "So feel free to start on that right side pile, or just browse the shelves if you want to see about botany. I haven't found one yet so I'm obviously just not there yet."
He gave her a smile before heading downstairs, looking around to see if anyone else had come in while they were upstairs. There didn't seem to be anyone there but the two of them so he headed back up, kneeling by the unsorted stack. "So... Was your experiment really as easy as they say? I mean, I hear you ran out of food..."
Ah, so there was a system of sorts. Well, that was better than nothing. “Of course they are. Why provide anything with any real information? That’d make it too bloody easy.” Oh no, she didn’t sound bitter at all. Brianna frowned at the books on the table then made her way towards the stacks of books he hadn’t been through yet. She was going to trust his judgment on the other ones. She split a couple of stacks into smaller stacks and actually sat down on the floor, surrounded by the books. Bri picked one up and slowly started browsing through its pages.
Better let Jeremy take things downstairs anyhow. Likely, she’d trip on her dress and break her neck. She was terribly quiet once he was actually downstairs, focused a little more on the tome on her lap. So much so that she was actually slightly startled by his sudden question and presence. “Erm, well... Yes. I-I think, if I remember my science correctly, we were the control group. Mostly we were just... there. Living in a house. I’m not certain why the food suddenly stopped though.” At the word food, her stomach growled loudly and she blushed darkly, focusing on the book again.
"Have you eaten today?" Jeremy asked her, grinning faintly at that rumbling sound. He felt bad for the way his own kitchen was filled with food when people were talking about how there was none, but it actually belonged to Owen. While he wanted to take it all out to be shared, he worried it'd just be gone in a blink if he did but at the same time, hoarding food was probably going to bring about a lynching so they had to do something soon. He wouldn't be surprised if she had nothing, she was new in town and the stores had been emptied out pretty damn fast.
Brianna kept her eyes trained on the book in her lap, flipping pages a little more determinedly. For a long moment, she didn’t answer and just sat in silence. But honestly, she couldn’t delay it for very long. “Um... I don’t think I’ve e-eaten since I got here. Th-the bear... And – very afraid. Still afraid.” Her voice was very small like something that would come out of a mouse. Everything about Bri seemed suddenly very tiny. “That’s why I wanted botany first. Then I’ll try to find a book on setting snares.” After all, she couldn’t hunt properly. She didn’t know how and she didn’t have the mind for it.
"Okay, just wait here," Jeremy told her. "I'll go get you some food. Anything you're allergic to?" After all he didn't want to accidentally kill her by bringing her something she couldn't eat, but he also didn't dare take her home where she'd see the kitchen and the stacks of cans littering every counter and cupboard. She might tell someone who'd then tell someone and before long. Yup, a lynching mob of hungry people. He probably should bring that damn food somewhere public before it got them into trouble.
“N-no, I’m not...” She started to answer him then changed her wording. After all, she didn’t want to inconvenience anyone... Especially not this nice young man who was being so dreadfully helpful. “You don’t have to. I don’t want to be any trouble.” Something picked at her mind about them being low on food and was he really going to run all the way to the church for someone he just met. And that maybe he was really just going to leave and wait until she left the library to come back. Honestly, it wouldn’t be the first time that happened. “Please just... Don’t.” If she could convince him not to be as... wonderful, perhaps that inevitable ditching wouldn’t be as bad.
"Well, if you're going to be hanging out around me, I don't want you to go fainting from hunger," Jeremy told her. "I'll take five minutes to get some, won't be anything glamorous, we're all out of bread and such, but I have some canned veggies, tuna, that sort of thing." A few. Now there was an understatement. "When did you get here, anyway?" He added a little worriedly. If she'd been here for any length of time she'd have to be careful about eating or she'd get sick.
“You must take very good care of your proper friends then.” Yeah, she wasn’t including herself considering they’d just met and well... Friendship wasn’t something she was used to getting in a day. Normally it took work, mostly from her. Brianna half-smiled at his question. Silly boy. “Just yesterday. Or perhaps a little earlier. I was asleep when they moved me so...” Really, it could have been any time of the night when they’d moved her but that didn’t quite enter in to the hunger calculator.
Jeremy frowned softly. "Well, that's it," he said firmly. "I'll be back in five minutes." He grabbed his coat off the desk next to all the books and no amount of protesting from her would have changed his mind. He kept true to his word though, not the type to ditch someone in that, I'm just going out for a pack of smoke fashion. What he brought back wasn't exactly juicy but something to make do with. A bag of cereal, a bottle of water, a can of mixed fruit and a can of tuna. He sat down next to her, fishing a can-opener from his pocket after handing her the bag and bottle to start with. "It's going to be weird when we have to start hunting for food," he sighed as he pried the can of fruit open first. "I've never killed a thing in my life."
Brianna started to protest once more but Jeremy was gone before she could really get into it. With a heavy sigh, she just settled in to flip through books. He wasn’t going to come back. Why should he? In the time that he was gone, she finished flipping through the book on her lap, started her own Useless pile and begun flipping through two more. At the same time. Better way to be productive she supposed. And then as suddenly as he was gone, Jeremy was back and with food. Bri blinked up at him and accepted the bottle and bag. Not a favorite combination but she had absolutely no right to be picky. Especially because she was too hungry to be picky.
“I’ve only dreamed of it,” she admitted softly though she knew what he was thinking and what she was thinking were two different topics entirely. Honestly, she practically ripped the bag open and was halfway through wolfing down a handful of cereal before she realized she couldn’t eat a whole lot. She’d have to save it. Right. A couple of handfuls of cereal would be all she could eat and maybe one gulp of water. Better than nothing... She remembered her manners, “Oh, um. Thank you. I’m quite useless on my own.”
"So am I," Jeremy told her with a small smile, holding out the can of fruit for her along with a tea spoon. "I'm a city boy through and through. I like to buy my food, not catch it, which is why I'm trying to make myself useful here - with books. I've no doubt we'll be doing hard work at some point, I just hope it won't come to that." Not that he had any faith they'd be saved before hunting and living off the land would take place. But they might all die horribly first. He couldn't say whether sooner was worse or better than later, though he was definitely beginning to think it might be better. What was the point in dragging it all out when they were all going to die in the end anyway?
Brianna set the cereal aside when he offered the fruit tin and slurped up a spoonful of fruit. She made a sound in the back of her throat like it was more delicious than it actually was. Of course, she blushed a little because it was a rather unladylike sound... Tsk. Once she chewed and swallowed, she spoke again, “I’m from London myself so I understand the city thing.” Her features grew dark and something drooped a little all around her when he spoke of living off the land... Her theory smacked full force back into her mind again. She pressed her lips together slightly and sighed heavily, “I have this... theory that we will be forced to do something horrible. But perhaps I am being paranoid.”
Many of us already have. It was on the tip of his tongue but he waited, not sure he wanted to tell her that. He watched her eat, though in no way staring, inwardly debating how much to say. He didn't see the point in bashing other people's hope even if his own was mostly shattered, not being broken was a good thing after all but at the same time he didn't want to untruthful. "What sort of things do you think we'll be forced to do?" He asked for distraction, though ideas of that kind didn't exactly help distract him from the thought of the bleak and miserable town they were stuck in.
Brianna pinched the bridge of her nose. He had to ask. She hadn’t even told Camber yet – hadn’t written it down for Wendy to read some day. Did she want to speak it? Were they listening? Oh Hells, it was awful enough that they likely already thought of it. Quite suddenly she wants hungry anymore and she set the tin down looking a little green around the gills. “Th-there’s a theory... I mean, okay, I got it from a song but it m-makes a lot of sense and the writer is extremely intelligent...” Nervously, she pulled her hood over her head, hiding her face like a security blanket. “And the situations are v-very similar... The theory that the Mayflower pilgrims were forced to cannibalism. I-if we d-don’t find enough food... a-and people start dying...”
"It won't come to that," Jeremy told her, though he really had no way to know that for sure. "We had a bear in town, there's wildlife, where there's wildlife there is food." And he didn't dare speak up on the unless part of that statement where his brain automatically went. Unless they all woke up locked up somewhere like the rooms or the tunnels. "There's a large group of people here and we have weapons as well as books on how to survive, it won't come to that."
Brianna shook her head a little and peeked out from under the hood, “You really believe that? Yes. We have weapons and we have books... And both of those could help us hunt mankind as well as animal.” She reached under the cloth hood, pulling and twisting a bit hair underneath it almost nervously. “I don’t know what happened in the other experiments – and I don’t want to know. But it seems like it was bad enough that I can honestly ask who really knows what’s going on around here?”
But then she sighed and looked down again, face disappearing once more, “Maybe I’m just paranoid. Maybe I read too many books and watch too many movies. Good thing I never watched Saw or anything like that....” That definitely would have made her theories much worse.
"We are not going to hunt other people," Jeremy said firmly. He might have paranoid theories of his own but there were some things he did not want to even think about. Like this. "There aren't that many of us and we'll need to stick together, form hunting parties and such. If it became that bad I believe we'd all rather risk a hike away from here than... than do that." He frowned softly and started going through the books again, not wanting to dwell on a topic that gruesome.
It was hard enough as it was to not be freaked out all the time without thinking about the people who were stuck there with him going insane too. More insane at any rate. It was hard enough just to be scared of what They were going to do next - the scientists and their new lackeys.
Brianna shrugged a shoulder. Honestly, she didn’t think they’d be hunting other people either... It was merely waiting for them to start dropping off dead. After all, clearly They didn’t care if people died. They wouldn’t be starving people if they cared. When he moved on to the books, she returned to the one in her lap. After a few moments of silence, her appetite started to scream its return and she picked up the fruit again, doing her best not to drip on the book pages.
Still, she couldn’t stand the silence and asked in turn, “What did you take part in?” It was easier for her to listen than to talk. Then, people didn’t expect as much from her beyond making sure she listened to their words. Only... “I-I mean you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to...”
"I was in experiment C," Jeremy told her. It wasn't a touchy subject until he started thinking about just what had happened in there. "The one with the rooms." If anyone else bothered to tell her he used to be an intern she'd hear it from them. He'd already made his announcement and didn't care to do it again. It occurred to him though that she'd said she didn't know anything about the other experiments so he clarified somewhat hesitantly, "It was... an isolation experiment of sorts."
Brianna honestly had no clue about the other experiments so ‘the one with the rooms’ wasn’t precisely helpful. Thankfully, he explained a little bit more. “Isolation...?” She took a moment to tuck her long hair behind her ears and pondered the legalities of an isolation experiment... And then snorted a bit derisively at herself. Because nothing about these experiments had been very legal. Still – “Damn my infinite curiosity... I want to know more than what would likely be healthy for me.”
Jeremy smiled wryly and shrugged. He could tell her more without getting into personal things, he supposed. "A nice room, computer, cameras, bathroom. Sometimes you'd see feeds on the computer from other participants or just hallways. And then they'd... well, personalized fucking with, basically. Feeds, playing..." He trailed off. "It was-, everyone's a bit messed up."
Brianna frowned deeply at the idea of personalized... torture. Really, that’s all these experiments had been with the way people were acting. It was just flat out torture. “Well... Torture will do that to a person,” she was trying to sound dismissive in a ‘let’s change the subject’ sort of way and not sound rude about it. A thought kind of smacked her upside the head, “Maybe that’s why I got put in the control group. I’m already screwed up.” Well, Bri regretted that as soon as it came out but no taking it back. “Why did you want to be a part of this anyway?”
Jeremy had a perfectly good reason for why he had wanted to be an intern but that reason didn't fly too far with the whole participant thing. He wasn't a big fan of making up grand bullshit lies though so he hesitated for a few moments before going with the truth. "I studied sociology," he muttered. "My professor told me about this and I thought... I wanted to - because I was always interested in studies, experiments - Stanford, Milgram... I wanted to be a part of, but I didn't know the full - it was, nobody told us anything."
The way he spoke... It wasn’t about the experiments themselves but something else and her eyebrows furrowed together. She didn’t know precisely what he was speaking of but it made her suspicious. Bri cleared off her lap and braced herself for what she was about to do because honestly, Jeremy seemed to need it... She stretched out and went to catch him in a hug. (Something in her stomach was flipping around going ‘oh my gods you’re hugging a boy!’) “I’m completely confused but whatever went on... It’s okay. Partially anyway.”
Well, that was... surprising. Jeremy wasn't sure how to react to that sudden pounce of affection and he was a little taken back by it. Awkwardly he petted her back and smiled a little wryly. "Well, it is now, I guess. I guess in a way I'm - I've redeemed or, I don't know if others would think, but that is how maybe..." He swallowed dryly and carefully untangled himself from her. "Nobody knew how bad this was going to get."
Honestly, not even Brianna was sure how to react to it and she’d been the one doing the pouncing. It just seemed like he really, really needed a hug. The more he spoke, the more she was starting to understand... It sounded like he was talking about working on... But no, why would he admit that? She settled back on a pile of skirts, still looking a little confused... “I wonder... I wonder if some people did know. I mean, my school counselor recommended this and we were very close and some how I got into the control group instead of something worse.” But surely she was just being paranoid.
"Anyhow... I believe that where ever you are, you're supposed to be there at that moment. It's sort of a mercenary belief especially with torture but," she shrugged a shoulder and refocused on the book.