[PRP] Crimes Against Nature (Izaya & Amaia)

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Once so proud, the man now in his thirties got down on his hands and knees to scrub the communal bathrooms of the trainees. He knew he wasn't the only one made to do such a thing, but it still irked him somewhat to know that no other Rocket who had been through the same stuff he had was forced to do such menial chores.

It wasn't the hard labor that bothered him as much as the lack of people around. He would have been fine if only he could listen in on a conversation or watch the body language or expression of nearby Rockets. However, cleaning was work best done when everyone else was cleared out of an area. That meant no one to interact with, observe, or overhear.

During times like these when he was practically alone, he occasionally had Mika giving him reports about her own adventures and information-gathering pursuits, but at the moment she was off on one such adventure so he would have to wait to hear back from her. Just when he thought he was going to die of boredom, however, Izaya thought he heard something. He raised his head and peered past the showers to try to locate the source of the sound.

"...Hello?" he called, his voice echoing against the tiled floor and walls. He was pretty sure he'd had a sign put outside saying that this part of the restrooms had been closed for cleaning. Was it a pokemon who had chosen to ignore the sign, then, or been unable to read it?  

[insidiousEnigma]

Amaia didn't often leave the labs.
Amaia didn't leave the labs at all without Zacharie.

She wasn't entirely sure how to behave outside of the walls of her room. Clean, white, contained, safe. Zacharie wanted her to live normally though...well, as normally as she could live at this stage in her life. That meant that she should leave her room, leave the labs, and do...this. She didn't know why scrubbing a bathroom was something she should do but she went about her task with a single-minded focus. It would make Zacharie happy. She liked when he was happy.

"...Hello?"

The girl paused and lifted her head as her scrubbing slowed to a stop. "...Hello?" She echoed, tone airy and a bit raspy from disuse. She licked her lips and glanced about, there hadn't been anyone in here when Mathis had showed her where to go. At least she didn't think there had been. She hadn't been paying much attention.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Thin brows rose before meeting in slight consternation. "Who's there?" Izaya asked, rising from his hands and knees to just his knees. Even so, it was still difficult to pinpoint the source of the voice since the sound seemed to echo off every surface.

He hadn't been aware that anyone else had been assigned to clean the same bathroom he had, but then again, who would have bothered telling him if there'd been a change in plans?

Either way, it didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that he wasn't alone anymore. Even better was that the voice seemed unfamiliar which meant there was a new, wonderful human to discover and learn the strengths and weaknesses of. And no one else was around to stop him, either.

"Were you assigned to clean the communal bathrooms on floor B5 as well?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

"...I am." She supplied helpfully, her fingers clenching around the scrub brush in her hand before she went back to the task given to her. Though she didn't know why she had been given this task, she intended to make sure it was done to the best of her abilities. If she knew anything about anything, she knew about cleanliness. She'd been surrounded by sterile environments since....well, for as long as she could remember.

"Huh?" She shook her head to clear it when she realized this other person was still speaking to her. Her dark gaze flickered from the floor to where she thought the voice might be coming from before she gave a little shrug. "I suppose so...I was brought here and told to clean until I was picked up."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

He frowned at the short answer he received, but nothing more followed. "...And your name is...?" he prompted.

Curiosity getting the best of him, the man pushed himself all the way back up into his feet to head toward where he thought the voice was resounding from. Meanwhile he continued to speak.

"Who brought you here?" he asked casually. It could have just been a normal trainee, but from the sounds of it, this didn't sound like a usual routine for them. "Do you not normally clean this place?" Maybe they had just been recruited. "Are you new? To Team Rocket, that is."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Amaia dipped her brush into the bucket of soapy water before returning to scrub the tiled wall in front of her. "My name?" She cocked her head slightly, "Amaia." The black-haired girl didn't look up until the voice drew closer and her curiosity got the better of her. She shifted so she could look at the other trainee fully, the pitch black of her eyes glinting in the florescent lighting. "Mathis brought me here...I've never been here before." She pushed an inky strand of hair back behind her ear. "No....not new...I live-" She paused, nibbled on her bottom lip. "Lived in the labs...but now I'm a trainee." She pointed to her uniform before pointing to the others. "You are too?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

As soon as he saw her eyes, Izaya froze, trying to make sense of what he saw while barely registering what he heard. Not only were the young lady's irises dark, but her sclera were, too. Jerome also had black sclera, but at least they were distinguishable from his irises. The ex-Rocket couldn't tell where this girl's irises ended and her sclera began.

"Amaia-chan," he began softly, "Why are your eyes like that? Did they do something to you?" She said she lived in the labs, didn't she? Did that mean she was an experiment like him? But why would they keep a human in the labs? Unless she wasn't really human.

Maybe it was a pokemon with some sort of human appearance. "Were you born in the labs as well?" he inquired as he studied her. "What...are you? Not in rank, but I mean...are you human?"

Following her pointing finger from her uniform to his own, he sighed. "I'm not a trainee. I'm an experiment like I suspect you are. However, I'm also considered a traitor, so I'm no longer a Rocket. I just wear this uniform because they have none for the ranking of 'traitor' Really, though...I'm more of a prisoner or a slave than anything else."  

[insidiousEnigma]

The corners of her lips twitched down into a soft frown before she hunched over to continue scrubbing, "I think so." Her shoulders lifted in a small shrug. "I don't remember much."

White walls, bright lights, masked faces, the sharp smell of chemicals.

"Born there?" She cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "No...I don't think so? I lived outside once...when my hands were very small." Her fingers flexed around the scrub brush before she let it drop to the floor so she could inspect her hands. She had picked flowers once, big and yellow. She'd barely been able to carry them in her arms. "But...they were also small when I was put in the white room." Amaia seemed to puzzle over that for a few moments before shrugging. "I think I lived outside a long time ago and I was normal then. I'm not normal now though...but that's okay. He said that he'll help me and that I don't have to go back to the white room again." She smiled, her canines and lateral incisors sharpened to threatening points.

Amaia watched the other with her big, dark eyes before she climbed to her feet so she could wrap her thin arms around the older man in a hug. "The white room is scary." She said softly, tilting her head so she could peer up at the stranger. "I'm sorry you had to go in there."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Crimson eyes studied the young lady shrewdly. Well, what she was saying wasn't very informative, but he guessed if she were, she wouldn't likely have been free to roam the base lest she accidentally divulge information she wasn't supposed to to people who weren't supposed to know. Like him.

Still, that didn't mean he couldn't still try. "Why are you not normal?"

It seemed safe to assume that Zacharie was the 'he' who said that he'd help her,
though for what reason Izaya couldn't imagine. He'd thought Zacharie wasn't that fond of people and that he'd already had his hands full with subordinates like Mathias. Not to mention threats like Faleen. If this Amaia was so unfamiliar with living normally, why had he taken it upon himself to teach and watch her? Didn't he have enough responsibility on his plate as an agent?

Evidently not. "What is he helping you with?" Izaya asked, and then tensed at the sight of her unnaturally sharp teeth. What in the world - ?

His eyes grew wide and his body became completely rigid as she got up and embraced him with both arms. From her words, he was able to confirm his guess that 'the white room' probably referred to the labs. As for her behavior,
he may have mentioned being thought of as a slave or prisoner to see if he could elicit sympathy from her, but this was beyond what he expected and for a completely different reason.

When she looked up at him, he realized she appeared young - perhaps Aila's age. He frowned and sighed. "There are scarier things," he told her looking away, but not quite having it in him to push her back. "I was mostly asleep while I was in there, so I don't know what they did to me. But if you remember what happened while you were there...why did you find it scary? What did they do?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Amaia pressed her ear to the other's chest, her eyes fluttering shut at the relaxing, steady rhythm of the man's heart. "Mine doesn't sound like this." She said by way of answering his question, her fingers curling into the fabric of the red uniform. "There are parts that aren't...right." Sighing softly she took a step back so she could look around at their surroundings. "Zachrie says I shouldn't do it because it sometimes make me feel sick...but I can show you." Once more she looked around, as if Zacharie was going to appear out of thin air to scold her, but when she deemed it safe she pulled up her sleeve. "See?" She held up arm to show the other the dark veins beneath thin, pale skin.

Without further ado, she bit herself.

A thick, black substance sluggishly leaked past her lips before she pulled away to stare down at her blood. She watched passively as it oozed from the wounds for a moment before it managed to close up the open skin. "See?" She asked once more, holding her arm out for the other to touch if he wanted. "They did that when I was in the white room...sometimes I was sleeping and sometimes I was awake. I liked it best when I was sleeping though..." The dark-haired girl stared unseeingly into the distance. "Then I didn't see the sharp things or the squirmy thing."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

As still as his body was, Izaya thought his heart rate might have been going a tad faster than usual with the anxiety of having someone clinging to him. Still, he didn't question what the girl's did sound like on the chance she decided to press his head against her chest for a demonstration.

Parts that weren't right...so did that mean she believed most of her was 'right'?
Since she mostly looked human, was she human to begin with? Just how long had she been here? He wondered if Zacharie would tell him if he asked.

"Ah, no, you don't have to - " But Amaia was already pulling up her sleeve to show him her veins. At first he thought, That's it? How can that make her feel sick? And then she bit herself to draw her strange, thick black blood. Izaya was speechless as he watched it secrete from her bite, but his jaw dropped when the wound healed itself right before their eyes. Though she offered her arm to him, he had no intention of attempting to touch her and waved a hand dismissively.

"They...drew blood?" he tried to clarify. His brows drew together and his forehead creased. "What sharm and squirmy things?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Scratching at the scab that had formed, the girl watched the wound bleed sluggishly once more. "No...well, yes. I meant that they made my blood this way." She flexed her fingers when the blood congealed and sealed off the punctures once more. "Then they fixed my heart because it had to work too hard to push this new blood through my veins." Amaia frowned thoughtfully. "I think maybe that's why my eyes are like this now, but I'm not sure." Once she was sure that she wasn't going to keep bleeding and when it looked like the man wasn't going to poke at her, she pulled her sleeves back down.

"Sharp things? Like needles and scalpels." She giggled softly, amused by his expression. "I'm not so scared of those anymore...it's been a long time since they used scalpels and Zacharie uses needles sometimes to give me medicine and he's very nice about it." Leaning up onto her tip-toes she reached up to lightly rub the others furrowed brow. "The squirmy things? Mmn...I think maybe a pokemon. It screamed sometimes...it was very sad."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The ex-Rocket was beginning to look slightly repulsed by the talk of the alterations and Amaia's picking at her scab until it bled again didn't help matters. It almost seemed like they had pumped her full of a whole lot of ink and that was what had leaked into the coloring of her eyes. "...I see."

He wondered if Shinra would have enjoyed this sort of experimentation. Izaya pondered if that might have been why Zacharie was fascinated with her. Here was a being he could freely run tests on and do as he pleased with in the name of science. Izaya wondered if she 'belonged' to Team Rocket like he and the Rocket pokemon did.

He started sharply when she touched his forehead, having been so lost in his own thoughts he hadn't realized what she had been about to do until she'd done it. Catching her wrist, he gently but firmly moved it away from him before releasing it. "Sad, you say?"

Who had this girl been raised by? How long had she been here? If she knew concepts like sadness for the pain of others, there was sympathy; perhaps compassion. Not anger, though? Or rage? How did they know their experiment wouldn't turn on them some day?

"Those people who did things to you...how do you feel about them, Amaia-chan?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

"The people?" Amaia repeated slowly, obviously mulling it over. When she was strapped to tables and into chairs she hated them, was scared of them, wanted to get away from them...but now all she felt was a distinct weariness when she thought back on them and what they had done. "...Tired." She muttered, letting her hand drop back down to her side. "I used to be angry...but now I'm tired." She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand and sighed. "I don't like to see them, I don't want to." She twitched, glanced around, let out a soft breath. "I guess sometimes I'm scared too...are you scared they'll take you back to the white room?"