Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia: The most chronic and disabling of the severe mental disorders. Typically develops in the late teens or early twenties. The overt symptoms are hallucinations (hearing voices, seeing visions), delusions (false beliefs about commonly held views of reality) and bizarre thought patterns. These are the positive symptoms that usually lead to psychiatric treatment and hospitalization...

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Bethlem * Case Files

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Archives: Schizophrenia 152 * Schizophrenia 332

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On the other side of the door the nurse who had been their escort all day appeared again, swiping her card to open the door. She held it open so that the patients could file out, then with a nod to Doctor Hannis, she let the door swing shut again, and escorted the group off, leaving Louisa, Nadia and Raphael with the doctor.

Anselm left the room with a glare for Doctor Hannis, gave the escorting nurse a long stare, and finally trudged along with the rest of the group down the corridors. He didn't speak or make eye contact with any of his groupmates, but bumped into one or two as they walked. Anselm was too busy glaring at the walls and sulking to pay attention to what was in his path.

The nurse lead the rest of the group along innumerable corridors, passing hundreds of doors, and round countless corners - or perhaps it just seemed that way because they all looked the same. Eventually there was a door they did not pass. Stopping in front of it, the nurse swiped her security card and then held the door open the the patients to enter. Just as she was about to shut the door, she spied Bastien being led down the corridor by another nurse, and held the door open until he too had entered the dorm room.

The room was fairly spacious, and longer than it was wide. Beds lined the two longer walls and at each bed the baggage and belongings of one of the group had been placed. It seemed to be arranged so that all the girl were on one side, and the boys on another - this of course left a few empty beds on the girl's side. In one corner of the room was something akin to a shower curtain which could be drawn around the corner to give some privacy whilst changing clothes. In the middle of the shorter wall at the far end was a door leading to a small en suit, containing sink, shower and toilet. The door could be locked from the inside, but also opened from the outside with the aid of one of the security cards that all staff had.

"Here we are," said the nurse, beaming brightly at her little flock of patients. 

Bastien stepped in and paused, looking at the room with disgust. A snarl on his lips, he walked along side the beds until he found his own. He lightly placed his fingertips on the top blanket and stared down, as if considering something.

Harvey stared at the beds is mixed disgust and indifference; he had no privact here... How was he going to hide if they stuck him out in the open like this. But then again why should they think of him? He's just a worthless runt anyway, insane and useless... He stood near the doorway staring at his feet as his mind grumbled and cursed at itself.

Caroline had already been in the room to put her things away before dinner, so without breaking stride she headed for her bed next to the window on the girls side. "We have free time for a while, correct?" She asked, running her hands over her bedspread to smooth the wrinkles out before she sat on it.

Anselm glumly surveyed the room, then slowly walked down the row of beds, looking for his backpack. That was all he had on him when those men grabbed him and whisked him off to this insane place. After a moment of searching, he was mildly surprised to find a bag from his apartment sitting next to a bed, almost covering his school bag. He certainly didn't pack that. With a touch of uncertain curiosity, he set the bag on his bed and opened it, searching through the contents. Nothing interesting, it seemed someone was at least considerate enough to grab a few of his clothes. Without his consent, of course. Irritated, he tossed the bag back on the floor by his bed, and began rummaging through his school bag. In reply to the girl who made a fuss about the accommodations- he had forgotten her name already-, he spoke loudly without looking up from his bag, "Yeah, they said we have a few hours. Tell me. Do they monitor what people say in these rooms? I'd bet they keep an eye on everything anyone does here, don't they? Not a chance of speaking privately, is there?"

The nurse had been about to answer Caroline's question before Anselm butted in, she pursed her lips as he did so, and then when he had finished, added, "Yes, you have two hours to do as you please in here before lights out." Then she turned to Anselm, "the rooms are of course monitored for your safety, either by staff or by cameras," she said, pointing to a black box on the ceiling in a corner, "but the cameras can't hear anything."

Anselm, who had forgotten the nurse's continued presence, muttered sheepishly to himself. When he realized what he was doing, he glared at the nurse from his bed. He had every right to be so negative, after all.

"I need to shower." Caroline stated bluntly. "Do you need to monitor me or can I have some privacy?" She was hoping that she would get privacy and that this shower wouldn't automatically turn off after twenty minutes like her other one had. This whole day and left her feeling soiled tainted and she intended to scrub herself until she felt perfectly clean again.

"There's a camera in there," the nurse said to Caroline, with an indifferent shrug, "just like there was in your last bathroom."

Simply nodding, Caroline jumped off her bed, gathered her towel and pajamas, and headed into the bathroom. Closing the door firmly behind her, she turned on the water to let it warm up and stripped down. When it was ready she slid under the spray, letting the steam and water cocoon her in comforting heat.  

Bastien had been listening to everything being said. "Are you going to be monitoring us tonight?" he asked.

"Not in person," Said the nurse, "but someone will be monitoring through the cameras at all times. And obviously, if we see any trouble, then someone will come in and stop in here for the rest of the night."

Bastien's eyes went back to the bed for a moment before he sat down, pushed off his shoes and pulled his legs onto to the bed, his back leaning against the wall.

Anselm sat on his bed with his back to the wall, holding some paper in front of him, but all he did was glare at it angrily and wait for the nurse to leave the room. Maybe she wouldn't, and they were expected to entertain themselves while under supervision like a bunch of three year olds. The uncertainty made Anselm even more grouchy.

Harvey stared blankly at the wall as he moved forward, finding the bunk with his own things on it and sitting down slowly. His "things" consisted of a toothbrush, a few books and a watch that had run out of batteries; he didn't want to bother anyone to get him another battery....

Heading across the room, Caleb glanced at each bed in turn, finally deciding that the unclaimed one must be his - that and his rucksack of things was on it. He immediately sat down atop the sheets and pulled open the bag. The room overall pleased him just fine, there was no privacy, but that wasn't really an issue when you stopped long enough to think about it - everyone here had 'problems' of a sort, no one had anything nobody else had seen before (he hoped), and it wasn't as though the security was lax. Inside his bag was the usual essentials: toothbrush, comb, a few books - all with the vaguely familiar name 'Caleb LeRoux' printed on the first page in small, neat handwriting. Wiping a hand over his tanned face, he exhaled. It was typical of the 'parents' to mess it up and give him the wrong stuff. Shrugging inwardly, he resigned himself to the fact that they would never get it right, and their way of getting rid of him was to send him here. Though on that note, he was still a little confused as to why they didn't just kick him out - he was twenty after all. Sighing, he shoved the bag off of his bed and laid back to watch the others. He couldn't wait for nightfall.

Knowing that the showers tended to be on automatic timers, Caroline washed her hair quickly so she could have time enough to scrub herself raw. Sure enough, after twenty minutes the water such off leaving her with slightly soapy red skin. Grumbling to herself she dried off and put on her pajamas which consisted of tank top, long john bottoms, thick socks, and a soft sweater all in various shades of gray. Brushing her teeth and washing her hands twice for good measure she gathered her things and headed back into the main room. 

When she reached her alloted space she carefully put her things away and then hopped onto her bed. Reaching over, she grabbed one of the books that had been stacked in a pile next to her bed and settled down for some reading, her hair falling around her shoulders in damp ringlets as she bent over the book.

His arms resting behind his head, Caleb let his eyes fall shut, but remained alert to what was occurring around him. He could hear little - no one seemed to want to talk to eachother in this place - and it slightly unnerved him. After a few minutes of silent dozing, he snapped awake and sat up, glancing around the room in alarm.

When Leo entered the room with all the others he had walked to the beds on which were placed his belongings and those of his brother. He checked that everything was right with the bags, first going through Raph's stuff, then his own, and then he cleared Raph's bed for sleeping, putting his bag tidily on the side of the bed, then attending to his own, all the while muttering incomprehensibly. When he was finished he stood between the beds taking a good look around. In his opinion it wasn't a particularly disgusting space to be in, at least no more than the rest of the asylum: institutional but humane. He sighed and stared at the window for a while, lost in thought. He snapped out of his mind-jam to Anselm's grumblings with the nurse. He smiled mildly at the exchange - he found Anselm rather fascinating - and when the nurse turned his attention away from the grouchy boy, Leo crept a bit closer to Anselm and said in a low voice "whatchoo got there?" Meaning the paper he was holding.

Letting a small cough escape his lips, Caleb stood up. Frowning minutely, he headed towards the bathroom, after pulling off his shirt and throwing it at his bed. He ran his hands over his face tiredly, mildly irritated by the confusion he felt. The blackouts seemed to be getting a hell of a lot worse since arriving here. Sighing, he put it down to the stress of changing scenario - even though he'd only been here a day, he assumed.

Disinterestedly, Anselm looked up from his paper to Leo, thought for a moment, then turned the paper around so Leo could see. There was some writing on it, but mostly blank. "A pretense of something to do," he replied quietly. "I was kind of hoping she would be leaving, but it doesn't really look like it. Ugh. Anyways, this is just a bit of a poem I was writing before they took me. It's obviously not finished yet."

Harvey just sat there and stared from person to person, then down to his shoes as he considered shining them again; they had been shined to the point it was actually buffing away the material but still they could be shinier... He sighed softly and bit his lip lightly, sitting on his bed with hands clasped in front of him, waiting for someone to do or tell him something. He always did this in his room, just sat or slept, sometimes he read but... but now people could see him do it. His eyes glazed over slightly as he thought of the last time he lay in a bed... She'd visited, Mercy with her pins... He hoped she'd come again and explain what he was meant to find, she'd been so kind looking.

Returning minutes later, Caleb ran a hand through his now wet hair. He had put back on his clothes from earlier, being too lazy to grab others before he slept. Covering his mouth with his hand, he coughed as he sat down heavily on his bed again. Everyone seemed nice enough now, if a little eccentric, but he supposed that was to be expected. He gave a small smile and laid back down, his hands behind his head.

The door to the dorm swung open, and Doctor Hannis appeared, holding the door open for Nadia. Once the girl was in, she gave a curt nod to the nurse, then left, shutting the door behind her. The nurse looked up as Nadia entered, then glanced at Doctor Hannis. She returned the doctor's nod, then turned her attention back to Nadia, giving the girl an encouraging smile. 

Nadia frowned at the floor, and then gave the nurse a return smile, however weak it was, feeling as though she owed her that much, and she shuffled across the room to her bed where her things were sitting. She bit her lip and sat down on her bed, grabbing her bag and pulling it onto her lap. Her backpack was simple, a light blue with a single white feather down in the lower right-hand corner, and a single strap. She loved this bag, and had held onto it for as long as she could. She snuggled it and drew her knees up, sitting on the edge of her bed like that with her face buried in her bag.

Nadia's bed was next to Caroline's and movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. "You alright?" She asked Nadia, looking up from her reading. 

Leo's reply to Anselm was a muffled 'ah' as his interest in Anselm dropped several notches at the mention of poetry, and it probably showed too. He had never been able to understand poetry, he found it frustrating and couldn't comprehend why anyone would write something in a completely roundabout way instead of just saying straight what they meant. As Nadia entered the room, Leo stared quite openly, and continued to stare at the door after Doctor Hannis had left, as if that might make Raph return a bit quicker. He was still not used to these separations in the evenings - when they had started when they had arrived to the asylum, Leo had thought they'd be just temporary and end pretty soon, but 'pretty soon' was long past and they still took his brother somewhere every evening, and he was quickly losing the last strand of patience he had for this practice.

Harvey watched as Nadia came into the room, silently watching the two as they seated her and trailing his eyes after Dr Hannis as she left. He turned his large, blank eyes onto Nadia now, watching as she curled up upon her bed; he wanted to ask everyone who went away like that the same question, had they seen the Mercy woman? But he couldn't ask... why would they tell him anyway, and they all must have, he's not special... unless he was the only one to see her and he's utterly crazy...

Nadia blinked and slowly looked up from her knees and at Caroline, then nodded and smiled weakly, before looking around at everyone else. They were all familiar faces, and she recognized that Raphael was still gone, along with Louisa, and she wondered where they'd gone. She then looked at Harvey and gave him a reassuring smile, a sweet one, and looked back down at her bag. After a moment, she stood off her bed and went to Harvey, kneeling in front of him beside his bed and looked up at him. "Want to see my bag?" she asked quietly, barely above a whisper.

As Leo looked away from Anselm, Anselm returned to looking at his writing, but he still wasn't interested, and by now Anselm had decided they would get no privacy from the nurse. Repressing an irritated growl, he instead looked back at Leo, and asked him, "Do you like cards at all? I had my cards on me when they showed up, and they never really took them away from me."

Harvey stared at Nadia with huge eyes, biting onto his lip at the close proximity of a person... He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, a few gasping and grumbling noises coming from deep within his chest. Finally he snapped his jaw shut and a small nod was his only response; then again being this close to a person without freaking was amazing for him.

After minutes of silence, Caleb grew bored - he was somewhat of a socialite generally, so he saw no reason why he should change here. Sure, some of the others may not appreciate his attention, but he'd find them out and leave them be. Sitting up as though having finally reached an internal decision, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and glanced up and down the room. He was choosing who to approach first - Harvey and Nadia appeared to be preoccupied, as were Anselm and Leo - though the former did seem to have something of interest. He stood up and sauntered over to the pair. "Alright if I join you guys? I'm getting bored over there." He smiled his best 'winning' smile, and raised his eyebrows in question.

Leo glanced furtively at the nurse at Anselm proposition to make sure she wasn't looking, and nodded to him. He knelt between the beds, pretending to look for something, and silently motioned the boy over. At Caleb's question he also nodded and motioned him to get closer too. He welcomed the chance to not think about his absent brother and do something with his hands - other than pick at his nails that is. He found his left hand idling at a kink in the right hand's middle finger's nail, and had to make a conscious choice to stop doing that. He made sure one more time that they would seem inconspicuous on the floor, out of sight of the nurse, and he was relatively certain that she wouldn't care of a few crazies huddled together, especially in the dorm, which was the closest to 'personal time' they ever got in the asylum, and therefore if they wanted to sit on the floor, they bloody well should be allowed to. Leo's thought went off in a tangent, and he sat still on the gap between the beds, trapped in his uncontrollable thought process.

Caleb actively broadened his smile, pleased to have been accepted in by the duo. He mimicked Leo's sitting, but refrained from looking up at the others in the room. Crossing his legs as he moved into the space between the beds, he looked to Anselm. As he was the one he entered the place with, he felt that he was the one he could most identify with - purely because both of them were at a loss as to what kind of place this really was. The 'older' tenants - that is, they had been there longer, rather than in age as far as he knew - all seemed to have their own niche of 'comfort' in the facility. A small frown across his face, he tried to recall what that large group meeting had been about, but he had trouble in doing so. Why couldn't they just medicate him for the blackouts? Surely that would do the trick... Sending him to an asylum seemed a bit much. He sighed and glanced at Leo. "Are you okay?" he asked after a few seconds, his eyebrows raised.

Anselm eyed Caleb warily as he shifted to give him room to sit. Cards was more fun with more people anyways, and he only knew a handful of two player card games in any case. More importantly, though, he wanted to know more about the people who ran the asylum. Anselm pulled out his deck silently, and began dealing shiny black-backed cards to each person. He didn't glance up when Caleb spoke to Leo, however. He didn't think anyone here was quite okay except for himself, and the sooner Leo responded the sooner he could ask about who ran things, what kind of people were they. Most of the doctors he had seen today were different from the people who showed up in white coats and forcibly put him into that car, driving him away without so much as two words of explanation. He shook his head and waited for Leo to answer.

Leo snapped out of his trap of thoughts when Caleb spoke and looked him in the eye. He replied with a low voice "Yes, sorry, with you now. Deal away" he added to Anselm. He wasn't too fust what they would play - he reckoned he knew every possible card game anyway. "Are we gambling, or keeping it friendly?" He asked quietly, certain that other noises and voices in the room would keep their words from carrying to the ears of the nurse. 

"Well what can we gamble with?" Caleb smiled slightly, but looked up at Leo enquiringly. "I don't know too many games, so you might have to teach me a little, by the way," he added quickly, looking somewhat apologetic. He looked back across the room, wondering what the others were up to. A fair few had made no noise for a while now; it was a little unnerving. He looked down at the cards he had been dealt and turned to Anselm.

Anselm shook his head. "I don't have anything to gamble with anyways." He took a look at the cards he had dealt so far, then shook his head again and started returning some to the deck, leaving each with just five cards. "Dunno if either of you know this game. Not many at my school did, but it's not too hard to pick up. Called Black Maria." Anselm picked up his hand and looked at it, while watching to see if the other two recognized the name at all. Not likely, he figured, but strange things did happen. Like being kidnapped here without explanation.

"You need to kill the cards the previous player gives you, and the Queen of spades is trouble, right?" Leo checked to make sure he was on the ball. He was a little disappointed that the excitement of gambling wasn't involved in this game, but the boys were right, they'd only have some kind of abstract assets anyway, and he had to remind himself that they were all crazies, so trading favours with them probably wasn't a good idea yet. But he did want to measure success in the game in some way, and simply decided to keep track of it in his head. He was feeling the rush of the approaching competition get to him a little bit, and his face felt a little warm.

Anselm nodded, a bit surprised, and turned his head a bit to Caleb. "Familiar with it?"

Caleb shook his head slowly, picking up the cards he had been dealt. "No, sorry," He looked a little ashamed, but smiled nonetheless. He didn't want to inconvenience them, but he'd be damned before going back over there on his own. These guys seemed to nicest of the lot, thus far. Biting his lower lip, he leant back on one elbow and looked to the others. "So how do you play?"

In response, Anselm shrugged and motioned with his cards, "It's not too tough, though getting really good at it takes practice. You look at your hand, and one of us will start by laying down up to five cards. The next person can play cards on each that are either higher or trumps them. The cards he beats are discarded, and he takes the others into his hand. If he beats all of them, he gets to put down the next cards. When you lose cards, you draw again until you have five. When the deck runs out, the person left with the queen of spades loses, so you want to get rid of her." He shrugged, then added, "You'll see," and put down a pair of cards, vaguely wondering what everyone else was up to, but was more interested in doing some actual talking with these two.

"So," Leo started to fight the silence as the game was underway. "Today was some day, huh? Hope they didn't freak you out too much on your first day. You get used to it. Maybe. Though, well, you might not, there's a guy here that wakes up every morning without a clue as to why he is in an asylum, like, he can't remember being admitted or anything. So to him, every day is his first day here." Leo realised he didn't know what either of his gaming partners were diagnosed with, and wondered if he had put his foot in it already. He trailed off, cleared his throat and kept digging: "but then again, you could say that that keeps it interesting for him, like, who are we to talk, our stay in the asylum has mostly been kinda boring, we sleep a lot while trying to think of interesting things to do at the same time." Somehow he couldn't get his words to say what he wanted to say - he noticed this often when he spoke to other people - but he reckoned they somehow made enough sense regardless. "Tell you, if it wasn't for Raph, we'd be going crazy," he added.

Nadia subconsciously noted Harvey's apprehensive expression and she nodded too, but instead of placing the bag directly on his lap--which would have been both a break of personal space and a risk of touching him--she lifted it and set it on the bed beside him instead, neatly folding the strap on top of it and she pulled her arms back in, wrapping them around her knees and smiling at him, waiting for him to pick it up. "My mom bought it for me when we first moved here." she explained. "It's my favorite." As always, her voice hardly rose above a whisper.

Harvey just gave another small hesitant nod and clutched at the fabric, lifting it carefully and staring at the patterns on the bag; all the time he tried not to break out into a cold sweat from Nadia watching him so intently. Very carefully he began to examine the bag from all angles, noting any rips or discoloured patches before carefully, very carefully, he began to open it up to see what was inside.

Caroline had long since stopped paying attention to what she was reading, even though it looked like she was still interested in her book. She glanced over at Nadia and Harvey, mildly amused at the friendship that was forming there. Her attention was finally drawn to the group playing cards and she discreetly studied them. She always found it odd to see Leo without Raph. They were almost always together so when one was gone the other just looked sort of incomplete.  Anselm seemed to complain alot. She knew that he had apparently been brought here against his will, but he needed to get over that. There was nothing he would be able to do about it and no amount of complaining ever helped anything in this place. FInally her eyes flickered over to Caleb and she felt a slight blush spread across her cheeks. He was annoying and strangely interesting at the same time and it unnerved her that she found him intriguing. 

Anselm's eyes rose at Leo's comment about going crazy, and he said with a bemused expression, "You mean you aren't? Does Bethlem typically take perfectly sane people?"

"Err, well..." Leo tried to choose his words carefully. He knew why he and Raph were there, and he was interested why all of his new roommates were here, so he thought the fairest thing would be a trade-off, and he decided to give it a go at trusting his fellow players. He continued with a low voice: "It was meant as a turn of phrase, y'know. Everybody here has what they'd call a condition. Like, we're in- and hypersomniac. But a lot of us with conditions could actually deal with the world just fine - it's the world that doesn't want to have to deal with us." He tried to sound sympathetic to Anselm's none-too-subtle hints of being here for no reason though Leo had seen it enough many times to pessimistically assume that the rejection of acknowledging a condition usually was the condition. But for the sake of civility, he did his best to not let his thoughts on the matter show. "Y'know, they don't want to deal with it, so they put you aside, hide you out of sight. You become somebody else's problem." He paused for a while to play his turn, then continued: "But then again, some of those that are here, really should be here, too." He glanced quickly at the room - or what he could see of it from behind the beds.

Caleb watched the other two intently as this conversation went on, a small smile on his lips as he waited for a chance to jump in. He was likely to be less tactful than Leo appeared to be, but it wasn't as though it would be intended. "It's true, my parents just sent me here because they were sick of medicating me. Apparently my 'condition' is too awful for them to bear. It honestly makes no sense to me," He sighed, and laid down some cards, still a little confused as to how this all worked - he figured that one of them would correct him if he made an error though. "To me, it seems that you are right," he nodded to Leo, "We are just pushed away to become somebody else's problem." He shifted his legs a little and glanced back across the room, his eyes lingering over Nadia and Harvey, ending with a swift glance at Caroline. She looked completely engrossed in her book, and he wondered idly what it was about.

Nadia smiled as she watched Harvey move to open her bag and she tilted her head. She had nothing of true importance inside other than a notebook that had some old drawings in it--dark as they were--but was empty the rest of the way after she'd become part of the asylum's residents. They'd taken all her crayons, pencils and paints when she moved in. Aside from the notebook was a small pouch that held make-up items that she never wore aside from the eyeliner and a small, plastic bottle, empty of what seemed to be perfume from long ago. "I still like to keep it around." she shrugged. "Even though the perfume itself is gone.. it still smells like it on the inside." She smiled and looked up at Harvey again, pushing some of her long black hair from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear.

Harvey leant down quizzically as he opened the bottle lid, sniffing at it carefully; the perfume was still strong enough for the scent to be distinct among the disinfected asylum halls. He blinked a few times as images came back, images of his mother; it was just like her perfume... Suddenly a more fetid, rotten stench filled his nostrils and he jerked away from the bottle at once, going pale as if about to be sick.

Anselm nodded, a bit disappointed. "But still. Insomniac? Hardly seems like the sort of thing you're put up for." He glanced at the cards on the floor and played a couple, exchanging some cards for a new hand. "I suppose you can get better treatment if you're here more often, though. If you can't handle a 'problem', find someone who can perhaps. But for something as innocuous as insomnia, shouldn't you be able to leave freely? Somehow I don't think they'd just let me walk out of here. Though I might try tomorrow morning if I don't get some clear answers from someone. I swear, for all they talk about doctors and case files, it sounds like it's just a method of putting me off for a bit. Shouldn't the nurses at least be able to tell me what condition I have? Pretty stupid if you ask me." And of course, there was the question of whether or not his parents would be here to get him. He half expected them that day, though he knew there would be allowances for informing them and travel and what-have-you, so maybe tomorrow would unravel all the confusion of today. Anselm was muttering to himself again, "It'd better."

Leo listened intently to both Caleb and Anselm, trying to put the pieces together to figure out what was going on. He was puzzled by their words: how can you not know what's wrong with you? Unless... maybe they had never been right, and therefore didn't realise how different it feels to feeling normal. He shifted uncomfortably a little bit. "Well, the sleep-things are a part of... like a symptom. And, y'know, there's like, 'episodes', except we sort of divide them between us..." He trailed off, struggling to express himself - because of the limitations of language that in his opinion didn't have good enough pronouns to say something like 'I-of-us', and because of the emotional discomfort caused by making a difference between himself and Raphael. They were in it together, always had been, always would be, and even trying to explain that there was any difference between their persons made Leo choke on his words, unable to continue. He wished Raph would be brought back soon, so that saying "we" wouldn't feel so uncomfortable, so that Raph's presence would justify his words, so that they could be together like they were supposed to. Leo watched the game intently while gathering his thoughts, the deck in the middle going down quickly. "Sorry, we're not being very eloquent today," he said, still keeping his voice down, and tried again. "They call us bipolar, and sleeping problems are a part of that. And the pills sometimes work, sometimes they have a sort of reverse effect... Who knows, maybe they get us confused and give us the wrong stuff." He picked up the cards he had to, and nodded to indicate his turn was over.

Caleb frowned and took his turn, thinking hard about what to do. He looked up at Leo when he was done, puzzling over the use of 'we'. Then he remembered - the other. It was difficult to recall who each person was, given that he couldn't remember half of his time here. He felt damn lucky that he could right now - even if the hour or so before this was a blank. He sat back with his hand held loosely in his left fingers, his brown eyes keeping their gaze on Leo, his brow furrowed. "I didn't know that you got institutionalised for bipolar disorder... Then again, I didn't know that you could get put here for having blackouts either." He shrugged, finishing his musing with a small glare at his cards. "To be honest, I can't quite see the point of this place, besides to relax me a little so that they don't happen anymore. But so far the opposite seems to be happening, I mean... It's as though they have been happening more and more even since arrival," he paused, inhaling slowly and releasing a cough sharply. Glancing across at the pair, he frowned more deeply. "Another one?" His voice was low, as though speaking to himself. An expression of confusion passed over his face.

Nadia blinked at Harvey when his face suddenly went pale and she reached forward, quickly snatching the bottle away. She didn't have to be stupid to know it was the smell that did that to him. She recapped it and shoved it back into her bag after pulling her bag from Harvey's lap without touching him and she whimpered, hugging her bag to herself again. "I-I'm sorry... Are you okay?" she asked, looking up at him.

Harvey nodded slightly, still pale and curling in on himself slightly now because he'd caused her to panic. His wild grey eyes stared out at Nadia as he stayed curled up on his bed, gulping dryly a few times before he croaked out "I-it's... v-very nice..." He pointed at the bag in Nadia's arms "S-sorry..." He began to wipe his hands off on the bed slightly, biting his lip firmly as his gaze slipped down onto the floor; he shouldn't have reacted like that. He felt a sudden urge to take his pills... but they'd taken them away from him.

Anselm listened with increasing interest at Leo's use of "we", as well as Caleb's mention that his symptoms seemed to be getting worse. It all sounded suspicious to Anselm, but he supposed (generously, he thought), that it was a little quick to be blaming the institution. After all, Caleb had only been there a day; even with the worst intentions, he didn't know if that was long enough to do anything to worsen Caleb's condition, whatever that was. Seemed like he fainted frequently, but again, that seemed harmless enough too. What a collection of odd balls, Anselm thought to himself. Maybe there wasn't really anything wrong with anyone here. "So, did any of you have a choice in coming here? Or was there at least discussion regarding it? Because for me, they just showed up one day, literally grabbed me when I refused to go with them, and took me here. I can't imagine that's typical procedure..." Nor could he see what anyone stood to gain by having him institutionalised, but conspiracy seemed to be the only explanation that made sense, unless he got answers soon.

Caleb looked sharply at Anselm as he spoke, snapping out of his thoughts, as though he was considering the question. In reality he was confused as hell. "What was your name again?" He smiled suddenly, a surprisingly fake smile - too bright and open, perhaps. He glanced at the cards he held and raised his eyebrows. "And yours?" He directed it this time at Leo, then kept his eyes on the both of them - his gaze flitting from one to the other. He was getting sick of this. He suspected that the frequency could be blamed on the fact that the 'parents' had told him he would be coming here - though they did say it in a way that seemed to suggest that he had already been told... In that way they often did speak to him, exasperated, a little cold. "Oh, uh... I got told I was coming here, by the way," he smiled sheepishly, adding on those words, his eyes opened wide as he awaited their answers to his own questions. Moving his feet, his ankles cracked quietly, so Caleb shifted position and glanced back at the room. Inside his head, thoughts were jumping from one place to another - when did that blackout begin? How long did it last? What the hell happened during it? Did he belong here afterall? Or was this place almost immediately making things worse?

Leo cleared his throat while trying not to do so loudly, but before he had formulated anything to reply, Caleb's question about his name threw him off. He leaned slightly to his right in surprise, as if to get a good look at Caleb, and answered "it's... Leonard." Then an odd feeling overcame him and he asked Caleb in a spur of the moment: "and what's your name?" He tried to keep his glance fixed on Caleb, while wanting really badly to look at Anselm.

The door to the dorm opened and Louisa and Raphael were gently pushed through by the nurses who had escorted them. The nurse who had been their guide and watcher all day rose from her seat to talk to her colleagues. There was an exchange of words and a nodding of heads between the three asylum employees, with occasional glances being cast at the patients within the room, presumably as they talked inaudibly about each in turn, passing information about how they had behaved today. They gave small proud smiles as the nurse told them about Nadia's progress, a motherly, concerned looks as they discussed Harvey's strange behaviour after he fainted, on Caroline they bestowed a stern but hopeful look; even if they did find her stubbornness tiring she was doing well medically speaking, their faces were neutral and curious as they discussed Anselm and Caleb, their two new arrivals - though there was a flicker of a sterner expression as they discussed Anselm. There were frustrated sighs with Leo and Raphael over their continued lack of progress and a hopeful but concerned look for Louisa, as if they weren't quite sure whether she was doing well or not. When it came to Bastien their looks darkened considerably, not even a flicker of care crossed their features. Finally, their talking done the two escorts left the room and the nurse, after looking around the room to check people were behaving, resumed her previous seated position.  

Anselm glanced up as the nurses came in, noticing the arrival of the two other patients, but more interested in their escorts. Keeping a bland but unhappy appearance on his face, he watched the nurses talking from his spot on the floor. In a distracted voice, he responded to Caleb. "I'm Anselm. Don't worry about asking as much as you want, it takes me weeks to get anyone's names right. Oh, and, uh, I think that's your friend that came in," he added to Leo.

As Louisa was ushered into the room, she looked serenely pleased; this examination had gone better than some in the past, and at its completion, Doctor Robbins had even smiled at her. She headed directly to her assigned area to retrieve her sleeping clothes and toiletries. The other patients in the room all seemed preoccupied, so she simply beelined for the bathroom. There would be time to socialize after her shower.

Caroline looked up from her book when the others came back into the room and gave Louisa a half smile as the girl headed towards the bathroom. She glanced around the room again and for the first time noticed that Bastien's bed was across from hers. This made her slightly nervous, but she shook it off and turned her attention back to the reading.

Caleb smiled back at Leo as he responded, he seemed delighted that someone had taken the interest, and so he returned the favour, "Oh, I'm Claus... Claus LeRoux," the bright smile was back, though it appeared to be less fake now that he was less confused. "And thanks, Anselm." He tilted his head and smiled a little, dropping the broad grin and replacing it with a smaller, slightly less inviting one - it wasn't a slight on Anselm, he just felt that the smiling was no longer necessary. He furrowed his brow and shot a look back at the rest of the room as the nurses returned with the others. He cared nothing for them, however, so immediately resumed his position facing Leo and Anselm. Clasping his hands together, Caleb tilted his head to the left, then shook a little hair from his eyes, silently regarding the pair.

Harvey's body gave a small shiver as he felt the nurses gaze fall on him, why were they talking about him? What possible reason could they have? He shuddered slightly as his mind came up with a final desicion; he'd done something wrong, again, just like the pills. What had he done this time? What would they do to him? He began to stroke back his hair nervously and wipe his nose slightly as decay still lingered there, his legs pressing firmly against his chest as his eyes flicked from Nadia still kneeling in front of him and the nurses as they left; when would the punishment come?

Nadia smiled back slightly at the nurses when she noticed them talking about her, and when the nurse resumed to her seated position in her chair, returned her attention to Harvey and she bit her lip slightly in the spot she usually did, a spot that was red, slightly swollen and dried with blood from all of her previous bitings. "H-Harvey...? Are you okay..? D-do you want me to get the nurse over here?" she asked softly.

Shaking his head wildly, Harvey tucked his legs tighter against his body and wrapped his arms around them to keep them in place; he really didn't want a nurse to come over here... They'd punish him for yelling after he'd passed out, that's why he's sure! He'd yelled... something he hadn't done in so long that it had hurt his throat a bit.

Leo's playmates lost his attention the minute Raph entered the room. He didn't recognise Caleb's answer to his question, he didn't hear Anselm's comment, he simply stared at Raph with his mouth slightly open - as if waiting for his turn to say something - until the nurses went away. As they did Leo got up with complete disregard to his fellow card players, or indeed anyone, and went up to his brother, as if to usher him to his proper place; but at the same time approaching him with respectful reverence, as one would an esteemed guest. He stood next to Raph for a moment, not touching him, talking in incomprehensible jibberish. He didn't look at his brother's face, rather he was aiming his gaze to the same place where Raph was looking.

Raph had been standing still wondering what to do - he had spied his stuff on one of the beds and all he really wanted to do was go to sleep, but at the same time he knew that that would disappoint Leo, and that he should make an effort and go talk to his brother and the people he was playing cards with. But he didn't really want to talk to anyone right now anyway, not even Leo, let alone some other freaks. He stood dithering, getting gradually more and more self-conscious as the seconds rolled by. Then Leo saved him from the minor dilemma by coming over to him, he gave a small inward sigh of relief and then felt guilty for not wanting to talk to his brother, and thus did not meet his gaze as he approached. He mentally berated himself - he really did need to make an effort. So he listened as his brother babbled at him, nodding his head where appropriate and occasionally replying himself in their odd gibberish when Leo paused to take a breath.

Something that Caleb said caught Carolines attention and she looked up, "I thought you said your name was Caleb..." There was no hit of annoyance in her voice, only curiosity.

Having changed into blue plaid cotton pajama pants and a navy blue camisole, Louisa exited the bathroom. As she made her way back to her designated area, her bare feet padded softly on the floor of the room. After she put her belongings back into their rightful places, she lightly sat on the very edge of her bed, hands resting on the mattress on either side of her. Her body language read a little ill at ease, but her expression was distantly contemplative. It seemed as if the gerbils in her head were turning.

Caleb, having been one of the three to have recently mentioned his name, looked up at Caroline as she spoke. "Who? Me?" He frowned, tilting his head slightly. He did often hear that name at home, spoken as though he had a brother - but he didn't. He was an only child, always had been - for as long as he could remember. "No, I'm definitely Claus!" He laughed, waving a hand at her, but as he turned back to Anselm, ignorant of the fact that Leo had wandered off, his eyes held a dark look. He didn't like the mention of this 'Caleb'. His 'parents' were always talking about him - it was like he didn't even matter. He scowled and stared at the cards in his hand, as though contemplating them.

As Leo stood up and left, Anselm sighed and put down his hand of cards. The other he was playing with, Claus apparently, didn't seem interested in the game anymore, and moreover not interested in discussing the doctors. Seemed straight answers were hard to come by. He stood up and politely excused himself from the game. After returning his cards to his pocket, he flopped on his bed in irritation. He had had enough asking straightforward questions. If nobody would tell him why he was here, they couldn't have a good explanation, so he would have to find out himself.

Harvey was squirming slightly in his seat, clutching at his suit nervously and wringing it through his fingers. The edges were slightly freyed and bleached, as if this was done over and over for a long time; finally he stood up, legs trembling slightly. He just nodded slightly and gave a small smile to Nadia before moving quickly over towards the bathroom. He opened the door quickly, shuffled inside and shut the door behind him; it was locked with a small click. He'd needed the bathroom all day and before he'd finally given up the pretense.

Nadia smiled back at Harvey as he left to the bathroom and she got up from her spot on the floor, still hugging her bag to her chest and moving back to her own bed. She glanced at Anselm and Caleb, then at Lousia and Caroline, and she pulled herself onto her bed, chewing on her nail a little. What was going to happen now?

Before she turned back to face the rest of the room, Louisa reached a hand up to her wet, tightly pony-tailed hair. She stroked it lightly, gently, and turned away from the nurse at the entrance of the dorm, certain she'd soon receive at least a stern look. After she positioned herself to face the other patients, she spoke, 'Maybe we can tell stories before we go to bed? Like...like someone can start and tell a little bit, and then some one else adds to it. Does anyone else like that game?' She smiled, first at Nadia, whose bed was right next to hers, then to any one else whose attention she'd managed to get.

Caleb smiled. "I've never played it! But it really sounds fun..." He nodded emphatically, a grin spreading across his face as he approached the girl. It was a really nice idea, he thought, for her to come up with something that would bring them all together like that. God knows we need it... He dropped the overly bright smile and plonked down on the floor.

Anselm lifted his face off his pillow to look over at the speaker, a girl whose name he couldn't remember. He really wasn't in the mood to do much more, but if they were going to tell stories, he probably wouldn't get much sleep, and he didn't have much else to do. "Story telling? I suppose I can always use the practice building from other's ideas. I guess I'll join in." He made no move to leave his bed, however, though he did turn around on it so he was lying with his head closer to the group, making it clear he didn't really intend to move. Despite sounding mildly interested, Anselm's face remained glazed over with disinterest.

After a moment Caroline closed her book and set it down on the side table. Sliding down the bed, she sat cross legged facing Louisa and Nadia. She said nothing, but her movement to join the group indicated that she was at least going to listen.

Louisa gleefully watched those who seemed interested in her idea approach and take seats. She gushed in reply to Caleb as she slid from the edge of her bed to also take a seat on the floor, 'It is very fun! Especially when the stories are funny! I like the funny stories, or the happy stories, those are certainly my favorites. Some people like the make them sad or scary or gross.' She paused, her nose wrinkled in displeasure at that thought, 'But...anyone can really do whatever they want with their turn.'

Emerging slowly from the toilet, Harvey was wringing his hands slowly and staring at the floor as ever; he glanced up for a moment and caught sight of the group that had formed around one bed, nearly everyone deciding to congigate around one area. Of course the idea of joining the people was ludicrus to Harvey, they were happy, they were enjoying themselves over there... why would they want him to join them? Slowly he moved over to his own bed in the same shuffley, hesitant walk he always used, sitting down on the sheets and curling his legs up beneath him.

Nadia, who had slowly joined the group with an enthusiastic smile, noticed Harvey's return to the room and his ultimate reluctance to join them. Her smile faltered a little, then she regained it and waved at him. "Do you want to play too, Harvey?" she asked softly. "It sounds like fun. I'd appreciate it if you played with us."

Harvey's eyes were wide as he turned his head slowly and stared up at Nadia and the rest of the group. He twisted the ends of his jacket between his fingers again, biting onto his lip hard as he glanced around the room; his eyes rested on the nurses. His pills... if he had his pills then maybe he'd join them... but they made him different, not him... Instead he just shook his head slightly and pulled himself tighter together; he didn't want to bother them. His teeth gritted slightly as he forced himself to talk, if only slightly "I... I don't w-want to be a bother." It was lucky it was so quite right now, if it hadn't been he would barely have been heard.

Nadia's smile slowly faded into a frown of concern and she watched him with her dark eyes before getting up from her spot on the bed and moving to him. She knelt beside his bed and put her hand on the bed, but not anywhere near him, and looked him in the eyes. "You aren't a bother, Harv.." she whispered, using a personal nickname for him. "Really.. no way, are you a bother." She smiled again gently and stroked the bed, as if it were a part of him, and then chewed her lip some more. "I don't think it could be any fun without you." she said reassuringly, her voice no louder than a whisper herself.

Caleb watched this exchange with mild interest for a while - he was intrigued by this apparently ever-scared young man. With his head inclined, he stretched his back out, gaining comfort. The congregation was not complete, but he felt that it was at least nice that people were getting involved again. "Come on Harvey!" He called from across the room, waving with a smile - he didn't really realise that that was probably more likely to drive the guy away.

Harvey was staring at Nadia with a scared, pitying look on his face as he tried to display to her without words that he was scared and didn't want to join the group... He only got so far before Caleb spoke, causing him to kick out on his bed to push himself back until he was pressed against the wall. He ran his fingers over his frayed jacket lining, eyes flicking from Caleb, to Nadia, to the nurses in the corner.

Anselm watched the episode impassively, though when Caleb retreated to the far side of his bed, he shook his head and muttered to himself, "Shouldn't be so pushy with people. If he wants to come or not, it's up to him."

Caleb didn't catch Anselm's words, but looked over as he heard the muttering. Rolling his eyes, he looked away - he didn't really care if it offended Anselm, he felt it necessary - and scowled. "Sorry..." He spat, though almost as quietly as the other had spoken.

'He was..just trying to be nice, Anselm,' Louisa said in as sweet and diplomatic a way as possible. 'Harvey is certainly welcome to join us, but if he wants to be by himself because being around people bothers him, then that is okay, too. We need to find out what each other's boundaries are, if we are going to spend so much time together.' She finished with a smile, but looked largely uncomfortable, like she was predicting a bad ending to this conversation. She glanced at Caroline, who, Louisa felt, always knew what to say.

"Let's just move on. If Harvey wants to join, let him do it on his own terms." Caroline said cooly, looking at both Nadia and Caleb before turning her attention back to Louisa. 

Caleb, or Claus, noted the cool look from Caroline and took instant offence. "Jeez... Everyone's so fucking tetchy in this place!" He sneered and stood up, moving away from the group. He didn't speak loudly, but at a normal, speaking volume. This little outburst was not aimed at Louisa, or even Harvey - he sort of understood why Harvey wouldn't want to be close to them, in a small way - but merely at Caroline. He didn't care for the expression, and really didn't care about showing his distaste. He ran his hand through his still-damp hair, and headed for his bed. Flopping down onto it, he watched the others from across the room - just because he was angry, it didn't mean he wasn't interested in the outcome of this game.

Caroline's voice remained cool and detached and the expression she wore was impassive. "Well, this is a mental institution.... Being 'tetchy' is one of the many adjectives that come with the territory. Irrational and hypocritical are a couple other big ones." She said simply, and then looked at Louisa, "Are you going to start this game?"

Nadia had been taken aback by Harvey's sudden jolt backwards from her to the wall, and she frowned at him, a little hurt. Was she that bad..? She knew she wasn't the best thing on the planet.. but she couldn't surely scare him THAT much. She bit her lip again, stroked the side of the bed a few more times, then nodded at Harvey sadly and got up, moving back to the end of her own bed to join the rest of the group. "O-okay... let's start." she mumbled, her dark eyes down.

Harvey was rubbing his fingers across the hem of his jacket, staring down at the bed clothes as he went slightly pink in the face. He didn't want to make Nadia feel bad... he was just... scared of going up there. He glanced up at the nurses again and gave the tiniest of whimpers, not sure if joining the group or not would get him into trouble.

Louisa sat stiffly with her back against her bed, but smiled quickly when Caroline addressed her. 'Yes. Yes, we will start.' She paused as Nadia took her seat once more, smiled politely, then began, 'Once, there were...six siblings, each born two years apart from one another. They lived on a small farm. There were three girls and three boys-- the oldest was a boy, twenty years old, who was learning their father's craft. The father was a...blacksmith. The second oldest child, a girl, eighteen years old, had been assisting her mother, who was a...midwife. On a particularly clear and sunny day in the early spring, the third oldest child, a boy, sixteen years old, who should have been tending to his chores, came running into the household kitchen and exclaimed...' She smiled once she completed her part, eagerly eyeing the three remaining participants.

Caleb actually smiled as he heard the beginning of this - it seemed to be mildly entertaining at least. Wiggling slightly further up his bed, and resting his head closer to the edge, he listened more intently. He quite liked this place, truth be told. It was far better than being in the house with the 'parents' anyway. As he stretched out his back, he paused, and frowned, before shaking his head and laying back down. Looking across the room at the group he had been thrust upon - the best word he could find at the time - he sat up properly and swung his legs over the side of the bed, starting to swing them gently.

It was lucky that Harvey had decided no to join them after all... he was rubbish at telling tales. Whenever he opened his mouth someone seemed to end up depressed, angry or hurt... or worse. He leant back on his bed slowly, gazing at the ceiling for a long while as he let the mundane moment over take him; his eyes glazed over, his mind relaxing as he tried not to let anything approach him. His eyes slowly began to work over the dark corners of the room, as if searching for something, someone, Mercy...

Nadia sat on the edge of her bed with her knees drawn up and her dark brown eyes still on the ground, somewhat glazed over as she listened to Louisa tell the beginning of the story. When she'd finished her part and was waiting on que for someone else to take over, Nadia's lips started to move. At first, no words came, then they started soft, and slowly grew louder, still managing to stay below a whisper. "Mother, mother! I found a magical mouse in the wheat field. He told me a story of an old man he once helped to fly. He promises to help me fly if I give him a single block of cheese made fresh from your cow and skilled hands. May I have a block of cheese so I may fly away and find my fortune?" she said, telling her own part of the story. She looked up at Caroline and smiled a little. "And the mother said..." she trailed off, leaving the opening.

An eager smile graced Louisa's lips as she listened intently to Nadia's contribution to the story. Sometimes people just didn't want to bother with this game, which was fair enough-- not everyone liked make-believe. Sitting cross-legged, she placed her hands neatly on her knees and leaned toward the other girl as she spoke.

Leo and Raph had moved to their beds while talking, and as the game was starting and Raph was starting to nod off, Leo turned his attention to the others. He listened attentively to the story, and after Nadia finished he started: "And the mother said 'son, your father and I really love you, all of you. And you must understand that whatever happens is not your fault - all things happen in the wisdom of Him who is above all.' The son listened quietly, and the mother continued: 'you must be strong, and think of yourself, your education. You and your brothers all have different paths, even if you are the same on the outside.'" Leo's voice got tighter and strangely desperate, but his face didn't change at all as he continued with a steady pace. "The mother assured the boy that his life would be fulfilling and rich, that he doesn't need to anchor himself to the failing bodies of his sisters, being the only one living in a house of the dying, that there is hope beyond death. The boy simply listened, and when she was finished, mother hugged me, and I walked out of the room and upstairs to our room where my brothers were sleeping, and I sat on the edge of my bed all night, not moving, not thinking, not hearing, not seeing. The only one alive in a house of the dying." Leo stopped, he sat still, not realising that he had stopped and that the room was quiet.

Caleb - at first confused by the game that appeared to be taking place - swung his legs round and approached Leo. "You're... Leo right? He spoke quietly, trying not to make his voice heard by the others. "Are you.. Feeling okay? I know that considering our location, you can't be 100%, but... That was about you, right?" He seemed to fumble over his words in his concern for the other. "So what.. When?" Caleb was unable to decide what would be a good way to converse. He glanced back at the group momentarily, before stepping a little closer to Leo, his back to the story-telling group behind him.

Leo turned his head slowly to look at Caleb, his face completely expressionless. "Before. When we were still a family. Before... I failed everybody..." his voice trailed as he seemed to realise what he had just said, and he turned to see if Raph had heard his 'contribution' to the game. 

"Well this just got decidedly depressing." Caroline commented coolly, glancing over at the twins and then Louisa.

'But people...they usually,' Louisa's joyful expression quickly crumpled into one of dismay as she gawked at Leo but spoke to Caroline, '... but people usually like to tell happy stories here. Sometimes ones that remind them of home.' She dropped her uneasy gaze to her lap. 'Not like that, though, not usually.' She sounded apologetic for the turn of events.

Nadia watched Leo with an almost scornful gaze, somewhat upset at him that he had to turn these--what seemed like joyful and carefree--moments into ones of dismay and self-loathing. She shifted on her bed, looking at Louisa and she bit her lip, reopening the one spot in the corner that was already chapped, scabbed and split, and she leaned forward. "I-it's okay.." she whispered, reaching out a hand, but not quite touching Louisa. Her hand shook the more she got nearer the other girl's body and her finger barely brushed her shirt before she snapped it back, like it'd burned her, or it was contaminated, tucking her arms into herself. "It'll be okay, Louisa. We'll think of another game."

Caleb scowled and turned back to the inconsiderate group. "How dare you act in that way towards him!? You do know where we are, right?" He glared at Caroline in particular, since she was the one that seemed to have the biggest problem with it. "It isn't his fault that he had something... Unfortunate happen in his life..." He chose his words carefully, "So did each of you, I'd imagine." He cut his words off with that, and turned away from them. It wasn't often that Caleb reacted in such a way to people - Claus certainly did - so it felt strange to him, but seeing people be so unfriendly to an individual. "Go back to your game." He threw back. Lowering his voice, he spoke to Leo again, "I'm sorry to be so defensive on your part... I know some people don't appreciate it. Please ignore them, they are just being immature." He looked worried, and hesitantly reached his hand forward to place it on his shoulder - but didn't quite place it there.

Leo was oblivious to the upset reactions of the others. His thoughts had done that thing again where they get stuck in a loop and he can't think of anything except the fact that he wasn't thinking about anything. "Who's turn is it?" he asked distantly, his mind now getting stuck to the shapes his mouth made while talking, and he continued repeating the phrase silently as if practicing the mouth-movements, staring at the wall past Raph.

Harvey was staring at Leo, openly in fact, which was strange for him; though he was sure they wouldn't be looking his way he usually never even attempted it. Leo was obviously still affected by something in his life... Something he was blaming himself for. Though of course something like that would emerge with this game, it could so easily be twisted by the inhabitants. Harvey looked away for a moment, gazing at the floor as he tried to think of something to say, something which would avoid the awkward silence filling the room. He opened his mouth slowly, made a few small guttering noises, then turned bright maroone and hid in his jacket.

Though she still appeared anxious, Louisa managed a small, but grateful, smile to Nadia. When she glanced briefly to Caleb, whose words she took to heart, her smile faltered. 'Well,' she tried to sound as diplomatic as possible, despite her small, meek tone, '...it can be very good to deal with the bad things that have happened in our lives in a creative way. In all fairness, Leo used his turn as he saw fit, and that is how the game is played.' The muscles in her hands, which were still on her knees, tensed progressively as she spoke. 'That's what makes this game so... fun. You never know what's going to happen next.' 

Caleb shrugged at the non-reply of Leo, and glanced back at Louisa, smiling faintly. He appreciated her idea with this game, certainly, but really disliked the manner in which people reacted to Leo's contribution. Falling silent, he perched on the edge of his bed, resting his elbows on his knees and watching the group again.

The idea of this entire experience being FUN seemed rather twisted to Harvey; sure the human mind needed something it could call fun to keep it from going crazy, but the people here already WERE crazy. What's the point of keeping sanity when they'd already lost it. Well... when he'd already lost it. The others were all probably fine, a little mixed up but fine... He was nuts, insane, coco for coacoa puffs; why should he try and be happy?

After a few minutes of silent watching, Caleb turned around and looked at Harvey. Quietly, he got up and walked towards him. "Hey, Harvey, right?" He smiled invitingly, trying to appear friendly for once, rather than arrogant, annoying or anything similar. He figured that it was time he at least attempted to make a friend or two here.

His entire body seeming to freeze on the spot, Harvey considered the idea of pretending that he hadn't heard Caleb. But he was looking right at him. God what did he want? Had Harvey done something? Not done something? Were they angry at him? He gave a small bodily shiver and rocked forward and back once or twice, it would take Caleb a moment to realise he was nodding to the best of his abilities right now.

Having listened with mild amusement thus far to the story, Anselm spoke softly to Louisa, so as not to cover up the conversation already going on. "Well actually I kind of liked it so far. Every story needs some sort of problem, and the more personal the more touching. Always a bonus if it has grounding in real life, too," he commented almost flippantly, not quite grinning. "All we need now is a bit of development as to the source of the problem, and a bit of a quest to the solution, and things will be looking up by bedtime." However, he made no offer to continue the story himself, mostly because as he glanced around, he wasn't sure there was much interest in continuing what was apparently too depressing of a plot.

Wide-eyed, Louisa watched Anselm as he spoke, and she nodded slowly after he was through. One might suspect that she didn't thoroughly grasp what he was saying. 'Yehhh...yes. Precisely that.' She smiled, content, at least, in the fact that Anselm seemed to have responded positively to the situation.

Taking a seat on the edge of the bed near to Harvey - but allowing enough space - Caleb continued to smile at him in as friendly a way as he could manage. "I'm Caleb, it's nice to meet you. I know you don't much like to have attention thrown your way, but you seem like a really nice guy," He nodded gently, trying with all his might to reassure the other.

Harvey gave a slight rocking nod again, not looking at Caleb as he sat next to him; he didn't speak though, just do small motions in reply. He scratched at his threadbare socks slightly as he sat there, staring at the floor as he tried to figure out what Caleb wanted.

Caleb gave him a small smile and fell silent, content to await a response - he saw the small movements, but for him, that wasn't quite enough. It may have been rude to expect more from someone he had only just met, but he couldn't help being that way. He himself had always been really expressive, so he found it hard to understand how some people could be so different. Unable to stay quiet any longer after a minute or so, Caleb sighed lightly. "Don't worry, I'm afraid here too... Would you like me to go away?" He asked, his voice low.

Not understanding his answer in being rude at all, Harvey began to nod enthusiasticly at this point; his knuckles were white on his suit, his stare glassy and his skin shining slightly as nerves wracked him. He asked this question a lot, should he go away? Should he leave people alone? He didn't think it would be rude to suggest that Caleb could leave, because that is what he WANTED to do.

By this point, Nadia seemed to have curled back into herself again, laying on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, her skirt ruffled around herself like a clam shell and her eyes stared off at nothing for a while. Her chest was laying so still that one may have thought she was dead, despite that she was breathing. She just laid very still, lost in her own thoughts for now.

Caleb nodded slowly, "Okay, but come get me if you wanna talk, right? I'd like to talk to you, you seem lovely." He smiled reassuringly, and slowly stood up and stretched. Glancing at the others in the room, he approached the nearest member of staff. "Excuse me.., but do we have to attend private appointments with our doctors?" He smiled.

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