Lab Shit
(Original date: 11/10/22)
Eshman: he/they
Yumaio: he/xe
Eshman stepped back, his heart sinking as they felt his back hit a tree. They were cornered. He looked at the man in front of them, his expression cold and blank. He raised his gun, aiming it at Eshman. "Finally cornered you," he said. "You cryptids are all so careless." They glanced around, looking for an escape. If he had a chance to attack the man, they'd be able to slip away free and unharmed. A thought came to him, and so he glanced to the ground. By pure luck, there was a pile of leaves right beside them. He looked back up at the man, who still had no emotion on his face. "Any last words before your confinement?" He asked. "I-" Eshman said, cutting off as he rustled the leaf pile beside them. He quickly glanced around, feigning being alert. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw the man glancing around as well, and so he took the opportunity to strike. They lowered their head, his sharp horns pointed at the man before they suddenly charged at him. The man's gun dropped as he fell to the ground, having no chance to react as Eshman ran off. He darted through trees, being careful not to trip. Suddenly, they heard rustling leaves, soon followed by him getting tugged back. They felt himself be raised off the ground, yelping in surprise as they tried to stuggle free. "Thought you could get away, did you?" A voice asked. He strained to look behind themselves, seeing another person in a similar uniform to the man that cornered him holding them. He looked forward again, about to use their tail to try and break free before the person spoke again. "Well, too bad." They said. He soon felt a sharp jolt of pain in their neck, followed by the sensation of something being injected into him. They were dropped to the ground, growing suddenly drowsy. He laid there, hearing footsteps approach.
"Got 'em?" A voice asked, Eshman recognizing it as the man from earlier. "Yeah," the person that had grabbed them replied. "No thanks to you." The man scoffed. "Well how was I supposed to know I'd get rammed into?!" The person responded again, though he was too tired to understand what they had said. The sounds of the two bickering died down as Eshman closed their eyes and soon fell fast asleep.
———————————————————————
Eshman slowly opened his eyes, the room around them pitch black. He wasn't sure where they were, but it certainly wasn't the forest. His eyes slowly adjusted, now able to make out a wall of glass in front of them, along with a bland, concrete room around him. "Finally up?" A gruff voice said, Eshman jumping in surprise and quickly swiping at whoever it was that was speaking. He felt a tight grasp on their wrist, panicking and trying to struggle free. "Hey, calm down." The voice said. He looked to the source, a tall, strong, and stern looking man meeting their gaze. This panicked him even more. "D-d-don't hurt me!" They instinctively yelled, the stranger's eyes widening. Xe let go of his arm, and they immediately curled up into a tight ball. The two sat there in complete silence for a few minutes before Eshman felt a hand on his shoulder, shuddering. "I won't hurt you," the voice said. "Trust me." They slowly looked back up, the person beside him speaking once again. "My name's Yumaio," he said. "You can call me Yuma if you want." Eshman slowly nodded, being the only response they could muster. "What's your name?" Yumaio asked, tilting xyr head. ".. E.. Eshman.." he mumbled. "I see.." Yumaio said, giving Eshman a slightly comforting smile. "That's a nice name." They couldn't help but smile as well, having never been complimented on his name before. The soothing, tranquil sense of comfort quickly died down, however, as the lights in the room abruptly turned on. "Oh no.." they heard Yumaio mumble, a figure walking in front of the glass wall. The man was tall, with fiery red hair with orange streaks. The coat he was wearing was more plain, a white coat with fancy, red embroidered edges. He adjusted his golden, rounded glasses before pressing a button on a control pad behind the glass.
"Welcome to your new home, Subject Number.." the man glanced at his clipboard. ".. 5198. I hope you have made your acquaintance with Subject Number 252113." Yumaio glared at the man, whom Eshman could only assume was a scientist of sorts. "I said my name was Yumaio," he said. "Not 'Subject Number 252113'." The scientist glared back. Both he and Yumaio clearly were not fond of one another. "Oh, really?" He asked sarcastically. "Hm, I don't see that name in the records here. Maybe I should ask the higher-ups to change that." Yumaio stood up. "We both know that won't happen, Okero." Xe snapped. The scientist, Okero, gave a slight chuckle. "My, my.. you're smarter than you look." He smirked. They were able to tell that this irritated Yumaio, his fists clenching before xe spoke again. "What was that?" He asked. Eshman stood up, taking a couple steps towards Yumaio.* "E.. enough is e-" he started, jumping back as a large, sharp clawed hand shot out in front of them. He looked up at Yumaio, who now had large horns atop xyr head and large, clawed hands. "Stay out of this." He hissed, Eshman backing away and hitting the wall. Okero chuckled again. "Threatening your new friend.. you're quite the interesting one, Subject Number 252113." He said, a smug grin on his face. "I SAID MY NAME WAS YUMAIO!" Xe yelled, charging at the wall of glass. Okero didn't seem to react in fear, instead taking out a notepad as Yumaio stumbled back after hitting the glass. He began to write, presumably taking notes, while Yumaio attempted to shatter the glass by punching it. This lasted for several minutes, Eshman standing and watching in silence, unsure of what to do. Eventually, Yumaio stopped with his attacks, stumbling backwards. Xe was panting, seemingly out of breath as he changed back into the human form that Eshman first saw upon meeting xem. "Are you finished, 252113?" Yumaio didn't respond to Okero, instead walking back over to the wall and sitting down.
"Good," Okero said, putting away his notepad. "Now, I must conduct some preliminary tests on Subject Number 5198, if you'll excuse me." Eshman noticed Yumaio's eyes widen, which didn't give him much confidence about the nature of said 'preliminary tests'. "Security," Okero said, snapping Eshman out of their thoughts. "Kindly retrieve Subject Number 5198." Yumaio stood up, charging at what Eshman assumed to be a security guard as a door to the side of the glass wall opened. The guard fell onto their back as Yumaio tackled them, pinning them to the floor. The dark, clawed hands and large horns had returned, tightly gripping onto the guard's neck in a clear attempt to strangle them to death. Eshman was frozen stiff, too terrified to do anything. Another guard rushed through the door, quickly stabbing a syringe into Yumaio's neck, not giving him a chance to even react. Xe let out a cry of pain before swiping at the guard that was now injecting the contents of the syringe into his neck. Sadly, despite his efforts, his movements slowed, and his eyes slowly closed soon after. Eshman could only assume that was the same tranquilizer that had been used on him had been used on Yumaio. They still couldn't move, not even able to struggle as one of the guards grabbed him. They blankly stared straight ahead, feeling himself be guided by the guard. It felt like only a few seconds before they were shoved into another room, snapping out of his trance. The new room was nearly identical to the previous one, the only differences being its size and the table and chair in the middle. They stared at it for a moment, Okero's voice suddenly startling him. "Welcome, 5198." He said, Eshman quickly facing him, his smug smirk almost sinister in nature. "Wh.. what.. d-do you w.. want.." they mumbled, trembling.
