For yooooou! [Rina!]

[Rhi-Rhi]

Asher glared at the orderlies, but he didn't make a fuss. It wasn't worth it--yet--and besides, he was hungry. So for now, he just hunched his shoulders and trudged along while shooting them the occasional death glare.

The subjects that were neither too disruptive nor too broken were allowed to eat in the mess hall, and it was a "privilege" that Asher had only recently earned back; he had taken many of his meals alone in his room after one too many outbursts in the hall. Still, they were all heavily watched and thoroughly screened before they were returned to their rooms, to make sure no one was trying to sneak in any utensils--as Asher had attempted before.

They were seated together and their meals were brought out--with fries and gravy. Asher shot Cassius a wry look. "There ya go."

[Anonymous]

Cassius had kept up a happy, chattering stream with both orderlies. He tended to remember everyone who he met and liked knowing about them. Waving to them as they sat, Cassius squealed with delight over the food, "Yay! It's my favorite! If you don't want yours, I'll eat them!"

The rest of the meal was a sort of mystery meat steak thing and some vegetables. Cassius happily tucked into his fries and gravy.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Grimacing at his food, Asher scooped his gravy-covered fries up and plopped them onto Cassius's plate. "Have at it." To him, that stuff just tasted like the can and he hated soggy fries.

Looking at the meat, he poked his fork at it, then cut off a piece and took a bite. "At least it's hot this time."

[Anonymous]

"Thank you!" Cassius gave Asher a giant smile, thrilled with the treat. He happily finished off the fries, wishing there were more as he started to scoop the left over gravy onto his fork and licked that clean, "I'm glad you can eat with me again. It isn't as much fun eating without you."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Asher skated his vegetables through the gravy, already finished with half his steak, and felt the corner of his mouth lift a little in a half smile. Cassius was so simple; it was so easy to make his day with just a few fries. It was both amusing and sad and annoying.

"Yeah. Fun. Not many things are fun here, Cass."

[Anonymous]

Cassius was still glowing happily from the fries, eating the rest of his dinner, "Really? I think there are lots of fun things here. There are lots of friends and puzzles and TV and working out and games and you! Asher is my favorite!"

[Rhi-Rhi]

This was the perfect opportunity. Leaning in close to Cassius, Asher darted a look around the room to make sure no orderlies were close before he said, in a low, hushed voice, "Things are more fun outside of here."

Another quick look around and he continued. "There's even more TV and better fries and more puzzles than you can ever finish. And lots more people. It's way better out there. You can have fries and gravy everyday and watch as much TV as you want."

[Anonymous]

Cass tilted his head, puzzled, "I know. Zachary has more TV channels then, um, well, something huge. And I get to eat whatever I want."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"But you only get to go there sometimes. Imagine if you could do that everyday, though. Wouldn't ya like that?" Asher asked, keeping an eye out for anyone that could be eavesdropping.

[Anonymous]

"I guess. But I like it here too. There's lots of fun things here and it's safe." In it's own way, TRIM was Cassius safe haven from the world, from Aedolis and the candidate program. The horrors of it were lost on someone that just erased the bad parts.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Safe? Cass, they fucking cut on you. Hurt you. It's not safe here. We need to get the fuck out." Another quick glance around. "The fun stuff is so you don't pay attention to the bad. But it's fucked up here, understand?"

[Anonymous]

Cassius's hands slid into his lap, fingers picking at the wound in his hand, "That's okay. I don't mind that. It's okay. It's better here. A lot better."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Better than what?" Asher hissed, starting to lose his patience. "Freedom? We're gonna die here. It's gonna kill us. That's better?"

He couldn't stand it, couldn't stand how oblivious and blase Cassius was about this. They were human lab rats, no rights, no one gave a fuck about them and one day they would die here, either from some drug or test or who knows what, and Cassius was okay with that? Fuck!

[Anonymous]

Cassius shrunk back from Asher's anger, digging his nails deeper into the wound. The skin was broken again, though he remained focused on Asher, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't want to die. But I can't go back. I can't. Please don't make me."

He had started shaking now, drawing the attention of the orderlies, wondering if Asher was about to cause problems again.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Fuck. As the orderly came over, Asher drew back from Cassius and turned back to his food, shooting the man a glare.

"There a problem here?" the man asked, and Asher took a large bite of his steak in response, too pissed off to bother with an answer.

[Anonymous]

Cassius shook his head, mute and picking at the cut on his hand under the table. The orderly frowned, but there didn't seem to be a problem so he left them alone, heading back to talk to the other staff.

After a moment, Cassius twitched slightly, "Your hair is getting long Ash."

[Rhi-Rhi]

As soon as the orderly was gone, Asher let out a sigh of relief and let his shoulders slouch. That was close; for a second, he'd been kind of afraid that he'd been caught.

When Cassius spoke up, he blinked in confusion for a moment, then reached up reflexively to feel at his hair. It was getting pretty long, almost to his shoulders now. "Oh. Uh, yeah. Guess it is." He gave a light shrug and finished off his meal. "Guess they're letting it grow but it's getting annoying."

It got in his eyes all the time but, for obvious reasons, no one trusted him with a pair of scissors.

[Anonymous]

"Maybe you should ask to get it cut." Cassius's fingers still picked at his hand, hyper now with nervous energy, "I should get mine cut. Mine's getting really long too. Asher still looks hot with long hair though, but I like you best with shorter hair."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Shorter hair, huh?" Asher mused, fiddling with a strand of hair absently. "Yeah, I never could rock a rocker look. Yours looks alright like that."

Of course, Asher could always ask for a hair cut--but the problem lay in that very sentence: it required asking. And there was no way in hell he was asking these people for anything. Instead, he dealt with the irritation, because they'd cut it eventually. Or he'd lose it from radiation or getting his skull cut on or fuck knows what else.

[Anonymous]

"You still look good." Cassius beamed, still feeling hyper, "You think I look good? I like my hair long, everyone tells me it's pretty! I think my-" He paused, his brain hiccuping slightly as he thought about the past, working out the bad parts, "My mom has the same color."