Snippet #2483783

"Not much information...but not none, either. But not none. Not none..." she said, trailing off into her own thoughts for a moment, before standing up, and beginning to pace back and forth in the room, counting off her steps mentally as a measurement of the size of the room.

"So..." Julia continued, "What do we know? We know we don't know--unless...How old are you, at what school did you complete first grade, and without looking inside your sneaker, what is your shoe size? But then on the other hand, you know the number between 8 and 10, I presume, how to use a straw, and can picture to yourself what a German Shepherd dog looks like, yes?"

She nodded distantly, expecting the other girl to know about as much about herself as Julia did. She walked three last paces to the wall, standing almost nose to nose with it, trying to see if maybe she could see something, like you can if you put your face against a two-way mirror.

"And aside from knowing the things that we don't know, we also know the things we don't see. This place is clean. Has been cleaned. Is perfectly clean. Even the cleaning is cleaned," she glanced sharply at the other girl, "So what then? This place is intentional. Meticulously planned. This isn't a prison, not in the usual way. They wouldn't bother scrubbing their own fingerprints out of a simple cell." Julia turned around and faced her again. "And of course, if you haven't noticed," she gestures around at the four blank walls, "No obvious way in...unless...unless the walls were put up around us? Unless the whole floor raises and lowers like a trap door, making the room look solid when it's closed....not enough information for that yet."

Julia was getting excited, with thoughts flying through her mind almost faster than she could think them. She spoke them out loud, puzzling them out, glad they'd at least put her here with someone she might be able to bounce ideas and talk through this issue with. Julia glanced at her sometimes, inviting suggestions or input or other thoughts, but forgetting to mention that's what she was doing, and for that matter, forgetting to even give her own name or ask for one, or the social convention of introductions in general. She took off her glasses, looked them over, and put them back on, tapping at her temple with a couple fingers of one hand, a thoughtful gesture she wasn't fully aware of.

"But these...like I was saying before. They gave me glasses. Not my glasses, but glasses. And they're my exact prescription. They custom-made my glasses prescription. So, they want us not to be in distress, at least for now: They didn't have to give me any glasses at all. So...so this has been in planning for a long time, and specifically for us, by someone knows everything about us. Even down to details like the exact prescription of my glasses. So whoever is outside this room--and someone must be--we know they're someone who's meticulous, exacting, in control, and thinks of everything, no matter how small. And we know they're human."

Julia paused here and glanced away for a moment, as if she was embarrassed to bring it up, then back to her.

"I mean...it's not that crazy, right? Look at this place: they could be aliens? Robots? Maybe the world ended and we're in Purgatory surrounded by immaterial beings of perfect light and darkness? I just feel like we can't rule out things for being crazy when this situation clearly calls for crazy." she explained, looking for approval. "But giving me glasses, and giving us clothes that fit, and a...uh...I think that might an outlet for "the facilities", which is why I'm rather avoiding looking for information in that corner yet." Julia looked at the corner distastefully, trying not to imagine it becoming a necessity. She had an expression like a cat forced to walk through a puddle of water. "But...but...she continued. It means they're human. Or at least, aware of the facts of human life. Not something we can take for granted here."

She sighed, looking expectantly at the other woman, still not thinking of names at all, but hoping she'd follow Julia's reasoning. Julia felt like most people are generally easy to work with, as long as they understand what the logic is of what's going on around them. If not, they could be...troublesome to her. Of course, right now, Julia didn't really even understand what was going on around them, or who was on the other side of those walls.

Those walls...

Julia stepped back over to the wall, and started knocking on the wall, taking a step or two, and knocking again, occasionally stomping on the floor. She listened carefully trying to determine which parts of the wall sounded thick, and which hollow, trying to determine where the rooms beyond this one might be.

"Do me a favour, uh..." she realized names had been on order some time ago, but awkwardly tried to sidestep it, a bit embarrassed by the social mistake. "If you wouldn't mind, look at the inside of your shoe, and check the collar tag of your shirt and pants. That might help. Look for any marks like a brand or logo, a "Made In" tag, whether the pants and shoes are in American or UK sizing, even just if it's in English. Hell, at this point I'll analyze washing instructions if I can."

It's not like there was much else to do in the blank, empty white room, at least until something changed.