The Quiet of a Melancholic Moon

Nothing

"This is where you all will be staying until this program is over. There is two sets of bunk beds and a couch, so settle that dispute how you see fit. I'll come back tomorrow for your first lesson," Eret explained as he closed the door. Tommy sniffed the room cautiously as he moved across the main room in slow motions. When Tommy was sure he was safe, he dumped his backpack on the couch while kicking his legs up on the armrest.

"At least that saves us from an argument," Luke said as he lowered himself onto the bottom bunks on the left. Joshua threw his bag above Luke, and Deo vaulted onto the other one. Kit blinked as he cautiously sat his bag on the bunk under Deo while keeping a sharp gaze on the beanie wearing teen. Tommy made sure to note how they all acted and where they were sleeping.

The main door entered into a square shaped room with a kitchen area on one side. It opened up into a larger squared room that housed the beds on a raised platform, and a step down was the couches, chairs, and coffee table. In the corner, there was a room with a closed door that Tommy figured was the bathroom. It was large enough to hold a toilet, shower, and sink. The room didn't have any privacy. Tommy wondered if this was part of the program. The five of them were in Eret's group because they were terrible at human interaction. Tommy and Deo seemed like the violent types, Luke was aloof, Joshua had an overbearing presence, and Kit was hesitant around people. If they were forced to interact with one another and solve problems within the environment, that could help them overcome their lacking social graces. That, or Tommy was overthinking.

"We're going to be a team, right? We should probably get to know one another. I'll go first!" Luke said as he stood up. He moved to the entrance of the kitchen area with a bright smile. "My name is Luke. My ability is to create illusions that manipulate all senses except for touch. It takes me a little while to project taste, smell, or motion but I can do it. The easiest to do is sound and sight. I haven't came up with a hero name yet. If I need one, you can all call me something!"

"I guess we need to do this," Kit muttered as he walked over to where Luke was standing. Luke moved out of the way for Kit. "My name is Kit. I prefer to go by Wisp, my hero name. My power allows me to turn myself or certain body parts into a cyan blue mist. I'm not poisonous, and it doesn't take away my body parts if you breathe in the gas. I can obscure vision, pass through small openings, create a smokescreen, avoid getting hit in my gaseous form, that sort of thing."

"I'm up!" Joshua said as he climbed down the wooden planks of his bunk bed. Once Joshua was down, Wisp moved out of the way by retreating back to his bunk. "My name is Joshua. I decided on the hero name Blitzel. My superpower is that I can create nets and cages made out of blue energy. They aren't unbreakable. It's more like... the strength of my traps is dependent on how much I want to trap that person. My traps are as strong as my willpower is."

Blitzel stepped down from the position. The three waited for Deo or Tommy to step forward with information about themselves. Deo looked at Tommy behind his sunglasses. Tommy returned the stare without a drop of emotion. Deo finally sighed. He jumped down from his bunk to the ground. Luke jumped back in fright while Wisp flinched away from the sound. Deo sauntered over to where they were introducing themselves. "Name's Deo. I'll be going as Time Deo. I have Mystic Eyes."

Deo kept staring Tommy right in the eye. Tommy quirked an eyebrow. The response Deo gave was a satisfied smirk. Tommy rolled his eyes as he stood up. Tommy remained by the couch as he glanced at everyone there. "I'm Tommy. No hero name. No power worth mentioning. Is that all?"

"Uhh... yeah, thanks for sharing everyone!" Luke said, ignoring the obvious tension in the room. Instead of acknowledging that emotional turmoil, Luke opened his bag to pull out a deck of cards from a pocket. He lifted it high in the air with a big smile. "I want to ruin our friendship before it even begins! Will everyone play?"

The others- however reluctantly- agreed to participate in a game of Uno. They went over to the coffee table, so Tommy was forced to watch the game instead of ignoring it. When Luke dropped a card in front of Tommy, the boy slid it back towards the dealer. Luke blinked in confusion. Before he could take the card back, Deo slid the card back to Tommy. The blonde glared at Deo as he tossed the card back at Luke. Deo glared back as he grabbed the entire deck from Luke's hand. Luke could only watch in pure confusion as Deo grabbed seven cards. Deo held the cards towards Tommy with an equally potent glare. "If we're playing so are you."

"I don't know how to play, dipshit," Tommy said as he stared at the cards. Tommy had never played this game. All he knew was that 'uno' was a word from the El Rapids language that meant 'one'. That meant this game originated from El Rapids, or took inspiration from a game played there. That didn't give Tommy any knowledge on how to play. He couldn't even see the cards. Looking around, everyone was hiding their cards and Deo held the seven cards face down. Tommy had no clue what this game was.

To his surprise, Deo's gaze lightened up. Deo lowered the cards before his lips set in determination. Deo gave the deck back to Luke before sitting right beside Tommy. The blonde blinked as Deo showed him the seven cards. There was a blue two and seven. A red nine. A green crossed out circle. A yellow with a +2 on it and one, and a black card with all the colors forming a circle in the middle. Deo smiled at Tommy. "I'll just have to teach you then!"

Tommy was confused by the change in demeanor. He was sure that him and Deo wouldn't get along. Now, Deo was smiling happily at Tommy as they waited for the game to begin. The others were perplexed as well, but they didn't talk about it. Wisp kept a straight face, Blitzel kept looking at them from the corner of his eyes with an awkward smile, and Luke was openly showing his concern as he dealt the cards. Deo didn't seem to mind. He kept his gaze on Tommy.

When it was Tommy's turn, the card was red two. Deo pointed towards the blue two and the red nine. Tommy stared at the cards. Did that mean he could play any card that matched the color or number? Tommy dropped the blue two since he had another blue. The likelihood of the color matching up again was higher than the number. Seeing Deo's huge grin, Tommy felt like he had done good.

When it was Tommy's turn again, there was a blue version of the +2 card. Deo pointed to Tommy's own +2 despite it being a different color. Tommy placed it down. Wisp let out a huff as he took four cards from the draw pile. Tommy figured that the +2 meant draw two cards, and that it was stackable regardless of color.

The next go around, it was a yellow eight card. Tommy didn't have a yellow or an eight. Deo pointed towards the multi-colored card. Tommy put it down. Luke smiled politely as he asked 'what color?'. Tommy looked down at his cards. Deo pointed towards the green one so Tommy said green.

As they looped, Deo chuckled as he dropped the green one without Tommy's consent. Wisp muttered a curse as he was skipped over. Tommy was sure that he understood all the cards, but then he was hit with a new one. It was like the multi-colored one but with a +4 attached. Deo glared at Blitzel as he grabbed four cards from the draw pile. He sarcastically asked Blitzel what color.

They kept going. When Tommy had one card, Deo hurriedly said 'uno!'. When Tommy asked why he did that, Deo replied that whenever a player had one card, they called out uno or risked another player saying it. If that happened, the one who had one card would need to draw two cards. Tommy nodded at the new mechanism. That would explain the title, but Tommy didn't know why someone added that component. Was it an inside joke that caught on, or did it have significance in the original game?

Tommy partnered with Deo ended up winning. Blitzel called out that the game didn't count since Tommy and Deo were paired together. Deo called him a sore loser before dropping to the ground. Luke shuffled the deck before passing out the cards again. This time, Tommy was by himself to make his own decisions. While Tommy made good choices, Deo ended up winning. In fact, Deo won most of the night. Tommy did pretty well, though, considering he won a few times.

As they played, instead of remaining in silence between rounds, they began chatting. This evolved into them joking with one another while telling the most ridiculous stories. Tommy didn't have any crazy tales worth sharing, but he was more than happy to comment on the stupidity of his new team. Tommy thought it would be hard to trust. He had been violent and hesitant around Bad, George, and SapNap. It could have been that these boys were close to Tommy's age. They fit together in an odd way. Tommy found that he liked having friends. Tommy decided that he would give these boys a chance.