Perceptional - Pt 5: Over the reaction
#5 of Perceptional
Suddenly drama. Of sorts.
We see how Mark's dealing with all this- Not too well it seems.
I actually had planned to follow a different, currently unknown character, to kind of keep up the segmented flow of the story. However, I felt that simply skipping about the smaller sub-plots so to speak would feel really jarring, so I thought "maybe not switch places every single part", and so we come back to Mark. I'll try to focus on the two already-going-on parallel stories, if that makes sense.
As usual, if you find a typo (you shouldn't) or something a character shouldn't have known but suddenly does (calling it now), or you know, something just plain wrong, let me know. I'm not psychic.
Now now. Just wait a second. For the past pieces I've uploaded I kind of focused on what I was doing wrong. I thought "If I only focus on changing what's wrong, I'll not notice what I'm doing right, which is just as bad!" So, in addition, I ask:
Am I doing something right? If so, what?
Mark
It had been three days since he arrived. By extension, it had been three days since Lucas, his new roommate, developed the ability to predict people's thoughts. These three days had been fascinating. He'd spent all of his time with the brown ferret, trying to work out the kinks in the system, so to speak. Lucas didn't seem too interested in working everything out. He'd said that things pretty much 'clicked' to him when he saw them. Most would simply explain it as "he's just psychic" or hand-wave the issue. Mark wouldn't stand for that. It was something new and he wanted to fully study it, even if it meant that he would need to ask Lucas to stare at him lift a pencil fifty times in a row. Which, by the way, he did.
"Okay, what do you see now?" Mark lifted a fairly sharp wooden pencil, in his mind imagining stabbing himself in the neck, conscious that the action seemed excessively violent and over-the-top. He had to test the limits though.
"Whoah whoah don't do that." Lucas stepped forward trying to pry the pencil from Mark's hands. "Even if you're not going to actually do it, just, don't do that."
"What did you see?" Mark released his grip on the pencil.
"You were going to not-actually-but-yes stab the pencil in your neck." Lucas took a step back, sitting down on the edge of his bed, looking a bit shaken.
"No, no. What did you see?" Mark was getting tired of this. The black ferret had explicitly asked him to describe what he saw, not what he could tell from what he saw. He'd deal with how things 'felt' after he finished with what he actually saw. Lucas paused for a second before responding.
"The pencil turned red, just like a spot right in the side of your neck." Lucas visibly shuddered when he finished the sentence. Mark decided it was enough with the more violent of tests, since it was obvious that Lucas was plenty disturbed from it.
"Alright." he replied calmly as he reached for a pen he had in his pocket and jotted something down in the notebook he held in his other hand.
Red is conclusively indicative of intention on simply rupture or destruction, NOT pain or harm.
"How old are you?"
Mark looked up from the notebook. Lucas still looked a bit shaken.
"Sixteen." He looked back down at his notebook and continued writing.
This debunks the idea of purple being a mixture of blue and red intentions, as purple has always appeared when a series of steps leads to a single tangible result. This might mean that different colors do not mix to form new ones. In this case, I have yet to find what results when a mixture of intentions is present.
"I-I don't want to do this anymore." At hearing those words Mark tightened his grip on his notebook, making plainly visible claw marks on the pages.
He couldn't stop now! Only now was he starting to make sense of the whole everything that Lucas saw!
"What? No!"
"I can't do this anymore!"
"What do you mean? You've been doing just fine for the past two days!"
"Yeah. I know. I didn't mind much at the beginning, but then... Look. I don't know. It's just freaking me out okay?"
Freaking him out? What could possibly be freaking him out? He's been basically flaunting it about any chance he gets! In fact he seemed really happy about all of it up until... Wait.
Mark looked back down at the notebook, and flipped a few pages back. He had filled about fifteen pages of notes and tiny diagrams in total. Everything was split into what color he was studying at the time. The last five pages were about red. Oh.
"It's because I've been focusing on the red tint lately isn't it?"
"Yes. Well, no. Not completely. Sortof. I mean. It's just that you- the red- the stuff!" Lucas threw his arms up in frustration. He seemed to have a hard time conjuring up the right words. Maybe it was that Mark started going all study-crazy. They'd just met, and he just grabbed him and made his situation some sort of research project. Actually. That's all they've been doing together since they met.
Oh god. He somehow managed to botch one of the most fool-proof ways of making a friend. Living with them.
"Lucas. I'm so sorry. I didn't- I just got caught up in this- Listen. I'm sorry." the black ferret closed the notebook and slid it under his bed. He would pause his research for as long as was needed. "We don't have to do this now. We can finish when you feel better or something. Just... Just please don't cancel it outright."
Lucas seemed a bit confused at this, as if it was not what he was expecting. After a couple of seconds he spoke.
"Mark. It's not this whole research project thing that's freaking me out alright? It's just- It's... It's you!"
Him?
"It's you alright? It's just that- when you were thinking up those things, for the last one, the red one? It's just that seeing you come up with those things as if it was nothing. Look. I get that some people aren't phased by that very much, but you know that I saw what you were imagining, and you didn't even bat an eye, Mark."
That was it? Okay. Mark got the fact that he might have gotten a bit graphical about it. But it doesn't really matter right? It's not like he would actually do those things. Heck. He couldn't have done those things in the first place. He didn't have a chainsaw or super hot metal wires or any of the things that would be needed. In fact, he didn't even have the physical strength to do it.
Mark looked really closely at Lucas, and saw something he didn't notice before. He thought it was just being a bit off-put about earlier, but now he could see it clearly. Lucas was scared. He was scared at Mark because... because...
Dammit!
Mark never had to worry about his own thoughts before. All that really made any sort of difference was what he did or said. What he thought about never mattered as long as what he did didn't conflict with his own morals, which usually overlapped with others'. But now... Now he was supposed to control his own thoughts?! His mind, the only place where he didn't have to worry about anything. The only place where he could be completely free and not have to worry about any consequences. Now even that was open to the world?!
No. Wait.
It was just Lucas. The only person that made the privacy of his mind irrelevant. But he was technically living with him now! Sortof. Actually, the "apartment" as was advertised was actually just a dorm room. That's all it was. A place to store belongings and to sleep. That meant that he could just choose somewhere else to be his "being" place or something. Maybe the coffee shop he passed by on the way to this building. Yeah. That sounded good. He would stay in the room only when necessary and leave whenever possible. He had to get away from Lucas. But... his research.
Baloney. That was no research. He was just describing things. he wasn't actually trying to find how it worked or what caused it. He was only labeling them. In fact, anybody can just grab a notebook and write down whatever Lucas said. Now that he thought about it, whatever he had done didn't have much use anyway. Maybe he would burn the notebook. Maybe cut it up or shred the written pages. Mark wasn't sure if Lucas had told anybody else of his ability. He probably did. Let the others "research" it. He wasn't going to get anywhere anyways.
But first things first. He had to get out of here.
He could just stand up and walk away, not say a word. No, that would be really dickish. But then again it wouldn't matter if he was going to avoid Lucas indefinitely. No. It just felt wrong. This wasn't really Lucas's fault. It was just a problem of circumstance. At the very least he would avoid him politely. Maybe-
A cold sensation interrupted his thoughts. He looked down and felt a small damp spot on the back of his hand.
Oh hell no.
He brought his hand up to his face, and felt under an eye. It was wet. Without realizing it, he had started tearing up. He was about to cry and there could not have been a worse moment for it. He looked back up at Lucas, hoping against hope that he didn't see. But lo and behold, he did. Of course he did. Why wouldn't he? In fact, he was openly staring at him. He had to get out now.
Mark rose to his feet and made towards the door. He had intended to say something before leaving, but he felt that his voice would completely fail him at this point. He just twisted the doorknob and took a step into the hallway, closing the door behind him. He ran.