He hadn't noticed as they'd moved him, hadn't noticed the balled up coat. Inside Shin's head, too many distracting things were happening for him to focus on silly details like 'location', 'location', or 'location'. It was hard to describe 'what', though. It wasn't hot. It wasn't cold. It didn't hurt, but at the same time, it felt overwhelming. Behind closed eye lids, his eyes were making rapid movements. He was beyond the 'distorted dream vision' stage. Now, all that was left was 'dealing' and 'change'.

In that order.

How else could one describe a rapid change in brain chemistry? Think of a million Disney romance themes expanding out over the air waves, only to get cut short by a jarring interrupt.

Think A Whole New World meets Never Gonna Give You Up.

----------------------
Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
Through an endless diamond sky ...

A whole new world... Gotta make you understand.

Never gonna give you up,
Never gonna let you down,
Never gonna run around and desert you.
--------------------------------------

Shin rolled to his side, and let out a groan. He was... just the worst person imaginable.

"Ugh... what." He put a hand to his face, and pressed.

He didn't feel good. His lips turned downwards in a mathematical frown. This place... wasn't a good place, was it? But where... he sat up, and opened his eyes, then closed them again as the collar demanded.

O K. Well at least we know one thing.

His lips pouted defiantly. "I cannot see."

Rice Cake... was blind.

Shin had stopped moving and Tarin didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, if he wasn’t conscious he wasn’t getting shocked. On the other hand, he was unconscious, and not by choice. As he walked, Tarin almost dared someone to come up to them. The guards, Tarin avoided eye contact with, sneering at the ground. Now wasn’t the time, he repeated like a mantra in his head. These bastards deserved what was coming to them though. Them and their controllers, zapping people purely for the pleasure of watching them squirm. Letting someone like Shin suffer because it was entertainment was simply nauseating. Still, Tarin kept his eyes down and kept moving towards the barracks.

It seemed like the distance between the two spots grew exponentially with every step Tarin took, but after the required amount of time and effort they were in the relative darkness that was the inside of the prisoner’s quarters.

There were bunks in here and Tarin made his way to the one he’d claimed for himself since arriving. Shin had only been in the camp for a little while, but he’d need a bunk of his own too, so Tarin found him one. Very near the ones that he and Slate had taken upon being brought in. Then, they waited.

Eventually, Shin stirred and spoke and Tarin darted to his side just in time to see the collar activate again. ”Dammit.” he cursed, reaching out a hand but dropping it before he touched Shin.

The younger man spoke again, and Tarin swallowed hard at what came from his mouth. There were several things Tarin thought about Shin’s apparent blindness. First, that it was something that had happened as a result of whatever had just happened with his mutation. Something had happened to Shin’s eyes back there, and surely it would take his body time to readjust. The second option was much less optimistic. The collars had broken something. More information was needed.

”You can’t see, or you can’t open your eyes without getting shocked? Which is it Shin?”

Shin stirred, and for a moment Lily hoped he was feeling better. He clearly wasn't. The collar was activated once again by whatever was happening to him, and Tarin was by his side in a split second. Lily followed him.
”You can’t see, or you can’t open your eyes without getting shocked? Which is it Shin?”
"Take it easy" she said, kneeling down next to the bed, placing a light hand over his eyes "Don't open your eyes, Shin. It's all right, we're here. We're going to take care of you."
Two guards stopped in the doorway, blocking the light; Lily turned to see. Clearly, seeing three mutants in here during daytime, two men and one girl none the less, peaked their interest. Or they heard about Shin already.
"Problem here?"
Placing a hand on Tarin's shoulder, Lily stood and walked over to the guards.
"No sir. The kid can't turn his powers off, so his collar is acting up. That's all."
There was no need to ask, or beg, or accuse. She didn't want to make a scene - that was all the guards were waiting for, all the time. Besides, their English was bad, to say the least.They grinned as she spoke; one of them glanced over her shoulder at Shin, and muttered 'looser', or something like that.
Lily stepped back, out of arm's reach, just in case.
"Maybe we can take care of him." the guard grinned, and Lily suddenly felt sick. There was no way she was going to let them get to Shin. Just not happening.
"No need, sir. He's out. He can't make any trouble. Don't waste your time."
She bit her lip. If they decided to move - either to Shin, or to her - there was really nothing she could do to stop them. They glanced at each other, then at Tarin and Shin again, and took a half step forward. Dammit.
"I have to go back to work" Lily said, taking a step forward too "They are expecting me in the kitchen. Would you escort me there, please?"

>>”You can’t see, or you can’t open your eyes without getting shocked? Which is it Shin?”

"I don't know. Here, let me open my eyes again to che-- yeah. Pain. Still have sight..." Shin grimaced. "On the bright side, I know exactly how far you are away. Don't move any, man. I want to preserve the measurement." Don't wanna have to recalculate. Head-spinning, no good.

It seemed Shin's predicament had caught the hollow attention of the guards. Shin could hear them now. He didn't need eyes to imagine the dangerous looks on their faces. Ugh... who could do something like this... A moment of worry passed through him. He hoped nobody had found Kasumi... he didn't want her to have to experience anything this unpalatable.

He didn't want her to ever get hurt.

Shin rolled back onto his side, and faked unconsciousness for the sake of Jewel's bluff. If he could keep them out of trouble by being mute and blind as a rice cake... he would.

Please move along...

It wasn’t something wrong with his brain. Regardless of how bad the situation was, at least Shin wasn’t actually blind. The collar was just reacting to whatever had happened to his powers. The situation was still bad, really bad. It wasn’t devastating. Tarin actually smiled a bit, then chuckled when Shin told him not to move. Apparently one perk of the power growth was that he could gauge distance. ”That’s fine Shin, I’ll stay where I am. Just don’t open your eyes.” The smile faded quickly when the artificial light coming from the doorway dimmed.

The guards had taken notice of the group making their way through the camps. They didn’t speak much English, and they didn’t seem to care that something was wrong with Shin’s collar. They offered to take care of him though. Tarin had feeling he knew what they meant. Hell no. He opened his mouth to speak and Jewel beat him to the punch. Tarin’s eyes widened at what the girl was suggesting. Didn’t she know…

Tarin’s mouth shut with an audible snap. She knew exactly what she was doing. Tarin’s hands clenched at his sides again. Going along wouldn’t do any good, they had the remotes that controlled the collars. Tarin looked at her, then back at Shin who had rolled away form the scene on the bed, ”Be careful.” he said, brown eyes meeting Jewel’s. He’d find her later and make sure she was okay. If she wasn’t….Tarin memorized the guard’s faces. He'd take it out of their hides, one way or another.

”That’s fine Shin, I’ll stay where I am. Just don’t open your eyes.”
So Shin could still see, the collar just didn't want him to. That was... well, not a relief, but the lesser kind of bad. Jewel turned her attention back to the guards, who were busy exchanging meaningful glances, considering her request.
"Let's go miss." one of them nodded to her with a grin. She suspected not many female prisoners asked for an escort in the camps. At least none in their right mind.
”Be careful.”
She nodded to Tarin as she walked out the door. "I will. You make sure he stays put."
Of course she would be careful. As careful as she could be after asking two camp guards to follow her around.
Are you out of your mind, Lily dear?!
It was not like she didn't know what she'd done. She was well aware of it. She was also scared, really scared.
The guards walked on each side of her, exchanging glances as they went. One had his hand on her shoulder, that was staring to creep lower on her back. Jewel shuddered and hung her head to avoid his gaze. Once they were out in the open, there was less to be afraid of. A little bit.
She'd never wanted to get back to kitchen duty as bad as she wanted now.