7.
ONLINE. TIME ELAPSED: 00:00:00
Stillness was the only thing that answered their jested threats in the thread. At first, Peter had simply thought that Astrid was writing up a clever reply, but after some time, he had begun to worry.
Utiopianserpent
A.? is something wrong?
xXx
More silence. Olivia felt her anxiousness growing, and tried not to listen for the bells. They did not sound, and she only found herself staring at the door, motionless. At last she turned to the keyboard again.
Pureffect.45
She hasn't responded in a while. Do you think that something has happened?
xXx
Peter sighed, leaning back to rub his eyes for a few moments before responding.
Utiopianserpent
I don't know. Maybe
But he was interrupted as there was a soft clicking noise, and he spun in his chair, tensed. There was nothing, and he blinked for a few moments, confused. A new tray had arrived, this time lacking in bland foodstuffs. He got to his feet, approaching the tray cautiously. What he saw confused him even further.
Pink ice cream.
xXx
Olivia rubbed her eyes in sheer bewilderment. But, even as she looked away, and looked back again, the ice cream remained- sitting there, it a white bowl, with a silver spoon, slowly melting.
Olivia knelt, scoffing softly at how bizarre it looked, sitting there, as if it had been cut out of a cooking magazine and pasted on a dark page. She carefully reached out, flicking bit of the ice cream onto the tip of her finger and bringing it to her mouth for a taste.
xXx
Peter found himself salivating at the rich sweetness of the frozen confectionary. He nearly smiled, lifting the bowl from the tray and standing. Ice cream- pretty awesome.
He returned to the desk, deciding to ignore the computer for a bit while he enjoyed his frozen treat. The taste was so familiar to him, like a flashback to a moment in his life that he couldn't quite place.
xXx
No response from Peter. Good. She wanted concentrate on her ice cream, for now. If she wasn't careful, she would get brain freeze.
The thought did not occur to her that she had never really liked ice cream, as a child. She had found it altogether too sweet, and it had always given her a stomachache. But this ice cream didn't seem at all too sweet, more cream that sugar, and Olivia found herself enjoying it for once, as she settled onto the bed, crossing her legs beneath herself. If she shut her eyes, she could see herself somewhere else, back in her apartment… where was that, then… ?
Olivia shrugged it off, deciding to at least enjoy the moment, if anything.
xXx
A delightful tingling had started at the edges of his tongue, not at all alarming, even as it crept back in his throat as he ate. It was the sugar, obviously, and he felt even a little giddy at the sensation. He looked up as a message popped up on the computer screen.
xXx
glassmouth
Are you two still there??
xXx
Olivia did not see the message, hoping to catch the larger mass of ice cream before it melted to join the rest. The color of it did not dim, even as it turned to soft foam at the edges of the bowl. Where had she had this before…?
xXx
"What is it? What are they saying?" Astrid asked, looking over Walter's shoulder at the screen.
"Nothing," he grumbled, his brows bent with concern, "that's the problem."
glassmouth
Answer me. What is going on?
xXx
Ah, so Walter was up. Peter wondered why the old man had failed to mention the fact of the ice cream. Truthfully, he thought that there were a lot of things Walter was forgetting to mention, and each one seemed to cause them considerable harm, when discovered. At times, his absence of (or, lack of) coherence to facts of importance seemed a little too convenient. Peter frowned, and bit down on his spoon to feel the cold metal under his teeth.
He could remember eating ice cream from a waffle cone. He was uncertain if it had been the same flavor, as it may have been. But perhaps this was a new flavor that only mimicked and old one from the foggy past.
xXx
Astrid looked back at the door and clutched his shoulder, "Walter," she whispered, and he looked away from the screen as she pointed, "…what the hell is that?"
He hissed a curse, "Don't touch that!" he barked as she moved toward it. His hands returned to the keyboard in a hurry.
glassmouth
DO NOT EAT THE ICE CREAM. IT IS DANGEROUS, YOU MUST BELIEVE ME. DO NOT EAT IT.
"I told you not to touch that!" Walter hissed, leaping from his seat to intercept the bowl in her hands. He raced it to the sink, and she could hear the dish shatter. Water hissed from the tap, and Walter breathed through clenched teeth as he scrubbed pink from his fingers.
"What is going on?" Astrid demanded as he emerged, "what was that?"
"Rat poison," Walter answered bitterly, drying his hands on the front of his shirt.
xXx
She finished off the last of it, and her mouth felt a little dry. Olivia got to her feet, going to rinse out to bowl and place it back on the tray. She soon forgot what she was doing, and left the sink running as she returned to the bed, shaking her head slightly and trying to concentrate. What was she doing?
She hated sweets. They gave her a stomachache. But no stomachache arrived, and she found herself smiling.
xXx
"It contains a collection of the same kinds of chemical compounds used in tranquilizers, along with the base elements of minor hallucinogenics and trace amounts of lysergic acid diethylamide," Walter explained.
"LSD? Jesus!" Astrid exclaimed, horrified, "like a druggies' wet dream!"
"Yes, well. Simple contact with it can cause a minor reaction, but full ingestion will create the response of nearly complete amnesia." He sighed, looking back over at the screen, "Which is what we have to fear, at this point."
xXx
Peter did not finish the ice cream. He set the bowl on the desktop, looking at it for a few moments. The ice cream was pink.
Was it meant to be strawberry or raspberry?
xXx
OFFLINE. TIME ELAPSED: 00:10:07
_SUBJECT STATUS:CONTROL SUBJECTS A24 AND O21 UNDER CONTINUED OBSERVATION.
_STAGE ONE COMPLETE.