[EcM] November - Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. -Henry David Thoreau

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
-Henry David Thoreau




He'd volunteered, walked right in the door after he'd gotten the visit from the guy who turned his watch to gold. "I could've gotten a gold watch... now this one's ruined." The guy had laughed at him with the kind of laugh that echoed in the back of his head even after it was all over. Now he was the subject of all their random tests.

"Pick up the wire."

"Which one?"

"Either... doesn't matter."

Bastian knew that there was a good chance both of them had current running through them, and that it'd either sting like a bitch or nothing would happen at all. Tempting fate was easy... living with the outcome was what he hated the most. His hand reached for the one on the left, and a second before his fingers touched the live wire the entire building went into black out.

"That's interesting."

"Ain't it though."

+++

They'd given him guidelines, things he was allowed to do during those first few months, and even then his access to the site was limited. Volunteering had given him some leniency and he wasn't kept in cages like some of the others. The tests he had allowed to continue, and that bought him forgiveness for when he did step over the lines.

Don't talk to others.
Don't discuss the testing with others.
Don't discuss your ability with others.
Don't try to leave without permission, you're case will be assessed weekly.

He was a human test subject with a gag order about exactly what he was, and over time it got to him. Little by little the fact that the saying no man is an island unto himself was starting to ring a bit too true to him.

Then there was the smile, curved with wicked splendor as the blonde hair bounced off her shoulders. It caused him to stop for a second as she passed by his window, fingernails tapping against the glass and something more shining in her shadow. In the months he'd been there he'd never seen anyone else roaming freely, and even still... never anyone that looked him in the eye. He wasn't supposed to be seen... not heard or spoken to. Just another test subject.

'Just another test,' he thought to himself as he walked out of his room and down the hall to follow the blonde. 'They wouldn't be able to stop me anyway,' his conscious told him as he reached the door to the outside. It should have been locked... but the odds were always in his favor. Unlocked on the other side stood Bob Bishop.

"You know we've been waiting two weeks for you to walk out."

"Didn't have a reason to before I guess..." Sebastian replied honestly as he winked at the blonde that had captured his attention.

[EcM] November - Crazy Bitch

Break me down...
...you got a lovely face.
We're going to your place...
...and now you've got to freak me out.



He'd been with worse before. The hot and cold of it all was nothing really, in fact at times it just made her a bit more entertaining late at night. It was like flipping a switch at times, trying to figure out what could set her off... what would settle her down. He had even odds on most things in life, but it seemed she was the one thing he couldn't actually get a number on. He should have been able to get the perfect girl, all wrapped up in silk when he was ready for nice, and leather clad when he was itching for naughty.

Instead he had Elle, and even now he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It wasn't anything that she did either... it was the one chaotic thing in his life and he was grateful for the fact that for some unknown reason she wasn't quite as 'dependable' as the rest of the things around him. She wasn't like the empty gallon of milk he knew he'd put back being remarkably not empty the next time he needed something for his cereal.

She was kind of crazy, and that was putting it mildly some days. The shine in her eyes and that crooked smile that betrayed her innocence was what attracted him to her in the first place. The fact that even behind all the lack of experience she had, Elle was nothing at all close to inexperienced. She was chaos, and she was probably a bit more than just delusional, and he just didn't seem to care.

When he'd hear the crackle and pop against the plaster in the halls he was never quite sure which Elle was going to visit him. In fact there had been times when he was pretty sure even she didn't know who she really was... but still he stood by her side, because in all the chaos she created some sort of sanity for himself. Maybe in a way he was using her... trying to figure out what it was about her that he couldn't control, but he figured she was using him too, trying to figure out why he stuck around... and how much he could tolerate of what she was.