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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The maze of corridors that seemed to comprise the Bethlem Institute for the Mentally Ill were white-walled with a light tan linoleum floor. The occasional bright splash of colour made by the posters and prints of almost-famous paintings were hung on the wall with immaculate straightness. It felt like the artworks were the only landmarks by which to navigate the labyrinth of the corridors: past the Parisian street scenery, left at the corner behind the flower vase, and if you passed the couple dancing the tango you had gone too far. But fortunately there was the white-dressed beacon that knew exactly where she was going. She guided the newcomers past doors and entrance ways to other corridors, through open communal areas and past stairways, until they reached a double-door with a tall thin window in each side, behind which was the common room. Inside several people were gathered, staff as well as patients of the asylum. The beacon-nurse led the newcomers to the room and seated them at a small round table with a smile.

When everyone was there, a man in a white labcoat stood up, beaming, and addressed everyone. "Hello, and sorry to interrupt your usual daily routines. But we have some important announcements to make, a few changes in policy and so on. We have decided that the therapy groups we current had you in were not the most... beneficial to the improvement of your conditions. Today, then, you will be meeting some new friends with whom you will be spending more time: these are the people in your new therapy group. To try and make the bonds of friendship between you stronger, you will eat with them, sleep in the same room as them, attend classes with them, and of course, have therapy sessions with them. This group contains a few new arrivals to the hospital," He smiled benevolently towards the two new young lads whom the nurse had accompanied in, Caleb and Anselm.

"We're quite sure you will all get along very well, but allow me to introduce you to each other. Our new arrivals, here" he said, indicating the table where Caleb and Anselm sat, "Are Caleb and Anselm. The rest of you may already be briefly acquainted with each other," he continued, and then in turn pointed to each person as he said, "Bastien, Nadia, Harvey, Leonard, Raphael, Caroline and Louisa." He smiled again. "You have about, ohhh," he checked his watch, "half an hour of supervised time in here to get to know each other before tea begins. Remember to sit as a group when you're in the dinner hall." With a final look around the room, and a nod to the nurse, the man in white lab coat left the room via the doors through which, moments ago, Anselm and Caleb had entered.

Nadia, an average girl on the outside with long black hair and brown eyes, pale skin and full lips, watched Caleb and Anselm cautiously, sitting in her chair with her knees drawn up and her arms tucked in protectively, her toes curling around each other. She was wearing her usual outfit--a beautiful white dress with a long skirt that flowed around her ankles, barefooted, no make-up. She quickly looked down at her hands in her lap before Caleb and Anselm noticed her staring, and went back to muttering to herself under her breath. "No light.. there's no light.." she whimpered, as if talking to someone. Her body shook occasionally in odd convulsions, but it was nothing serious, only mild fright coupled with excess energy. She was nervous about the newcomers.

Harvey pulled his grey suit jacket tighter against him, shirking back slightly against the window sill where he stood and staring down into the yard. He didn't seem unfriendly, he didn't seem as if he was ignoring the instructions... he didn't seem anything actually, just hovering in the dull light as if it passed right through him. Harvey looked around slowly at the new people, only for a second though incase they noticed him.

Bastien stared at the newcomers as he sat at the table. His expression had the air of a bored hawk, eying some prey it was currently too full to peruse. He didn't care if they noticed him, matter of fact, he hoped he'd unnerve them. He needed some amusement.

Shifting uncomfortably where he sat, Anselm brought his gaze from his hands in front of him to some of the people across the room. He felt like an exhibition, all the more so because these people probably assumed he was mentally ill in some way. Who knew what they expected of him? "Hey. Uh. I'm Anselm. I'm a writer... Or I was going to be an author, I suppose. I'll probably have to ask some of your names again. You know how it is when you're meeting lots of people at once. Uhm." His eyes fell self-conciously back to his hands and lapsed back into silence. He seemed to be preoccupied with something besides the people in the room, though their glances were starting to make him uneasy.

With a small, placid smile, Louisa very briefly regarded Anselm and Caleb. She sat very still, stone upright in her seat, hands clasped snuggly together in her lap. There was a vaguely perceptible change in her expression as she recalled her first days here at Bethlem; the corners of her mouth fell ever-so-slightly. She managed to catch the backside of the man in the labcoat as he left, and her expression fell further into displeasure.

Caroline regarded the newcomers with a cool gaze. Shifting in her seat, she straightened her gray pleated skirt and picked an imagininary piece of lint off her soft black sweater. her hands rested tensely in her lap and she wore softed fitted leather gloves that came to the wrist. After a moment she reached into a pocket and pulled out a crisp white handkerchief. Taking off her glasses she cleaned each lense exactly four times before sliding them back on.

Standing slightly back from Anselm, Caleb looked from one person to the next quietly. A small line marked his forehead as his features fell into a frown. "Well., I'm Caleb.. There isn't much to me," he let out a light laugh, feeling as though he were terribly out of place with these 'crazies'. "I don't do an awful lot.., I guess I'm just here because I get a lot of blackouts," Caleb shrugged almost inperceptively. Raising his eyebrows after this short bout of words, he sighed heavily. It was true, he didn't belong here. At least that's what he thought.

"Real talkative bunch," Raph muttered to his identical brother, not unkindly, as he lent forward in his armchair. He rested his elbows on his knees and looked around the room, mildly bemused. They'd been in this situation before, he and his brother - a room full of awkward silence with a bunch of "crazies". Half the people probably thought that they weren't crazy - or at least not crazy enough to be here. But they all still assumed that everyone else was crazy enough to be there. The ones that really were mad as hatters most likely didn't give a damn whether they should be there or not, or care about what the others were doing there. He looked at the two newcomers and nodded at them in greeting when they spoke. The others he'd seen around a few times, but didn't really know any of them. He wasn't sure he wanted to. He glanced around the room. The Nadia girl seemed likely to be the battiest of all of them, though Raphael wondered briefly if her rocking and muttering were just an act. Who could tell, in this place? He glanced at the clock, not even five minutes had passed yet, still about half an hour to go until tea time. Still resting his elbows on his knees Raph crossed his arms in front of him, and proceeded to rest his head on his wrists. It gave him a perfect view of the floor.

"So you're a writer?" Caroline asked glancing over at Anselm with a rather bored look on her face. "What do you write?"

Shrugging, Anselm replied, "I always liked mystery novels and horror short stories, that sort of thing. Nothing too long. Yet, at least. I still have two more full years of university work to do before I have a degree or anything. I haven't published any books yet or anything like that." Anselm took a moment to stare at the small woman across from him, before letting his eyes glaze over again.

Bastien lazily curled his tense hand into a fist and rested his cheek upon it, bored with the newcomers and everyone else in the room. His eyes slid around the walls, hoping to spy a clock.

Leo nodded in greeting at the exact same moment as his brother did, which looked a bit odd as he turned his head away from the newcomers a fraction of a second too soon to look at Louisa, and appeared to be nodding at her instead, but he didn't seem to notice this misplacement of his greting. He was sat in an arm chair next to his brother, leaning back and his ankles crossed. "Well at least no one has declared themselves to be Napoleon yet," he muttered back to Raph, leaning towards him. He let his eyes quickly dwell on each face in the room -- nervously noticing the TV-set in the corner which was turned off -- then turned his attention back to Caleb and Anselm. Leo listened with great interested as Anselm spoke, he leaned forwards a little bit and even smiled briefly.

Nadia listened to what everyone said, though it didn't appear so on the outside. Her brown eyes still stayed lowered on her hands and her shaking, rocking and occasional mutterings of seemingly random and useless words continued. It was a rare time when she wasn't doing such things, usually after the first dose of medications in the mornings. She whimpered and flinched, her eyes shooting to the floor, and then up to the ceiling, around the room, as if looking for whatever startled her, but when she couldn't see it, she went back to shaking and muttering, her eyes on Caleb. "No one belongs here... not even the dead." she mumbled, her fingernails clicking slightly as they interacted in her lap.

Harvey's complete and utter silence was causing the others to ignore him again, though many people would find this a bad thing Harvey was quite content to get looked over. He pulled his jacket tighter against him as he began to walk around the others towards the door, he didn't want to leave it was just it meant he could be the first to go. He stared down at the floor as he hunched his shoulders, not even daring to cast his gaze up at the others.

The nurse that had been left attending them saw Harvey's movement and promptly made her way to the door, beating him there. She stood in front of it, and graced him with a cold, prim smile as he approached. Not that he could leave even if she hadn't stood there - he didn't have the key card required to open the door, after all.

Louisa, her attention having been on the door all this while, watched the exchange between Harvey and the Nurse. There was a sudden and abrupt change in her posture, as her hands unclasped, and her right hand flew to her head. Once, twice, she stroked her hay-colored hair from the crown of her head to the tight ponytail at the small of her neck. The third time, her hand slid down and she wrapped her strong fingers around the ponytail. 'We are supposed to be making friends,' she suddenly spoke-up to no one in particular. Her voice was matter-of-fact, yet soft and childlike. 'My name is Louisa, I am seventeen years old, and I have been here for three months, two days and six hours.' Her eyes flickered over each occupant of the room as she fell silent, after her awkward introduction.

Growing slightly unnerved as he watched the exchanges taking place in the room, Caleb shifted his feet. His eyes snapped to Nadia as she spoke, as his eyebrows shot up. "The dead..?" he whispered, mostly to himself. Swallowing as quietly as he could, Caleb moved a little further into the room. Most of the people here seemed friendly enough, if a little introverted. Caleb shrugged to himself, and attempted a warm smile to Louisa as he moved towards her. Holding out his hand, his dark brown eyes wide and welcoming, he greeted her. "Nice to meet you, Louisa," Uncomfortable and rehearsed though this sounded, Caleb found it only natural to be open and approachable in such situations.

Prior to responding, Louisa cast Nadia a sidelong glance as well. She paused before looking back to Caleb. 'It's easy to forget how to talk to other people...' A small smile returned to her face and she refolded her hands in her lap. 'It is very nice to meet you, too,' her words were polite, and it seemed as if she meant them.

He nodded to her first words, smiling slightly - sympathetically. "So, where are you from?" Caleb added with a bright smile, eager to at least try to get along with the people here; it seemed only fair that he tried, after all they were all in here for a reason, himself included. Everyone needs a friend, no matter their location.

"Does anyone have the time?" Bastien interrupted them, finding the wall clockless.

Reaching into her pocket Caroline pulled out a small sliver watch. "It's 3:40. We still have twenty minutes." She put the watch away, crossed her legs casually, and began to rhythmically tap the top of her knee with several of her gloved fingers.  "I'm Caroline, and if we're all stuck here we might as well follow Louisa and Caleb's example and make small talk. Unless, of course, you'd all rather watch Harvey loiter around the door or observe Bastien fidget in his seat for another twenty minutes." Her cool blue eyes scanned the room and then landed on Anselm again. "So you were attending University? Where?"

Bastien's lip curled at her comment. He hadn't been fidgeting. His eyes continued to slide between speakers, even though he wasn't entirely listening.

At the mention of his name Harvey let out a small squeek of terror and shuffled away from the door at once; he bit his lip as he retreated into a corner and stared down at the floor. He still didn't seem to want to speak, hunching up further in his jacket and freezing in the corner of the room.

Caleb instantly felt a small sense of pride at having been mentioned by someone else, particularly for a fairly good thing. He smiled slightly, mostly to himself. Looking over at Harvey, his smile dissipated though; he didn't like to see people in such a state, it didn't please him. "Are you okay?" he suddenly asked, dropping - somewhat rudely - his conversation with Louisa.

Nadia had also noticed Harvey's attempt to run and hide in the small, crowded room, of which there were no places to hide. In fact, when she noticed him, her rocking, shaking and mutterings had stopped. Well.. for a moment. After taking in what Harvey had done, her mutterings continued, but this time sounded like she was arguing with someone, mostly herself. Finally, she got up and in very graceful steps, with her hands by her sides and her skirt swaying around her bare feet, she went to Harvey and knelt in front of him, smiling in a friendly manner. "I'm Nadia." she said softly, but offered no hand to shake. She didn't like the human body; not on herself or anyone else.

Harvey stared with wild brown eyes at Nadia's face, bringing his arms up across his chest as if defending himself. He looked like he was having a panic attack as he fell down to the floor and began to push back quickly, pressing himself into the corner and clutching the jacket tight around himself. He looked crazy, the craziest person in the room...

Having been fabricating an entire history of where she was from in her mind, Louisa did not, in fact, respond in an expeditious manner. She took no offense to Caleb's turn of attention, her own now on Harvey. Her expression indicated frank concern. Again she stroked then grasped at her hair. 'Nurse, I think he needs...help,' she said in her obviously innocent manner, as if she wouldn't have already noticed.

At Louisa's words, Anselm's eyes refocused, and he shook his head apologetically, and looked at Harvey in concern. He replied, though, to Caroline's question. "Er, sorry there. Um, nowhere big. It's to the north of here, I think. Something like three hours north. It's not very well known, except maybe for its literature and fine arts department."

Bastien tilted his head to watch Nadia and Harvry and smiled in cruel amusement.

Nadia didn't move away from Harvey, simply tilted her head at his fear of her, and she stood, still watching him. After a moment, she looked around at everyone else again, and turned, going to a window and leaving Harvey to himself once again. She started humming and sat on the window sill, looking out through the bars on the other side of the glass, and sighing, going back to shaking and keeping to herself. She'd been rejected like that before, so she took it like everything else and simply tucked it into the back of her mind.

Caroline's glaze flickered over to Harvey, not really paying attention to Anselm's answer. "Seriously, Nurse." Getting to her feet and she turned to face the nurse near the door.  "Harvey is clearly upset. Tell me, is this gathering really a meet and greet, or is just to subject some of us to mild torture? Because if it is the latter, then you are doing a marvelous job." Her tone was bitter, cold and quiet enough to sound quite threatening. She didn't say this so much for Harvey's sake, but for her own. She hated scenes or when things got out of control.  

The nurse, who was usually a kind person, found Caroline's comment upsetting. She hardly worked at Bethlem for the pay - she worked there because she genuinely believed in helping the mentally ill recover, and for some up-start little brat who didn't have a clue about mental health to accuse them of doing exactly the opposite was, in her opinion, both rude and uncalled for. On top of that, it had been a long day for her, she'd been working in the basement and between cleaning up the sick, shit, and blood she'd not had a moments rest. She looked at Caroline with a mixture of annoyance and disgust, but didn't seem at all threatened. "Don't be so silly, child," she replied sharply, "are you a doctor? are you a psychologist? A psychiatrist? No? Do you know what you're talking about? No? Do you know what the best treatment for a patient is? No, you don't. The nurse closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if to steady herself, when she looked at Caroline again her expression was far calmer, "the situation is quite under control, even you don't understand what's going on," she continued, having reminded herself now that Caroline probably couldn't help herself - after all, she was mentally ill too. The nurse convinced herself that the patient would be a far nicer person once she was better, and even managed a small, warm smile as she finished her small speech, "we're not here to allow you all to carry on wrapped up in your mental delusions and problems, we're here to help you get better. And I assure you, with the all the best intentions in the world, that can't be done without someone getting upset at some point. The shells you've made for yourselves have to be broken and it won't be pleasant." She continued to ignore Harvey. Her lavishing personal attention upon the boy would probably make him die of fright, at any rate.

Louisa looked between the Nurse and Caroline, her wan brown eyes fretful; but then she smiled and spoke-up excitedly, 'Oh, why don't we...why don't we play a game? Parcheesi, or...or Crazy Eights...everyone can be dealt into that. I only have one deck with me though,' she paused as she slid her hand into the pocket in her drawstring pants, 'does anyone else have another deck? It will be more fun that way. This will be very fun!'

The nurse and Caroline were doing more for Harvey than they might consider, the fact that they took most of the attention away from him let him calm down enough to reach into his pocket and pull out a bottle of pills. His hand still shook as he produced them but he quickly stopped that, he didn't want to make a noise. He looked at the pills in disgust as the two purple pods sat in his palm, he hated them. They stopped him from being him... Still he was told to take them when he was scared and he didn't like to second guess others. He popped them into his mouth and swallowed them dry; they'd take a minute before they came into effect though.

The nurse spied what Harvey was doing - now that was a problem. Where had he managed to steal a bottle of pills from? Her temper started to flare again, incompetent pharmacy staff! None of the patients were allowed to self-medicate! They knew that! How could they have been so stupid as to let him get hold of a bottle of pills? What if they weren't even his? They could kill him! With these, and other worries suddenly buzzing in her mind the nurse practically ran to Harvey, with her hand outstretched, "Give me the pills please, darling" she said kindly and quietly, so only he could here, "and then I can leave you alone." and then she added, just in case he had forgotten, "You know the rules - if you need your pills you have to ask for them."

Harvey rocked back and forth slightly where he sat, not daring to look up at the nurse as the silent war in his head waged. He shouldn't hand them over, they told him not to, he couldn't ask for them back... he never asked for anything. But the lady had asked for them. Maybe he'd made up that he should hold onto them, maybe it had changed and he didn't know... Silently he handed over the bottle of pills, good riddence to them anyway, and wrapped the jacket tighter around himself. A few more minutes, a few more minutes and they'd take effect and he'd turn into... not him.

At the mention of a fun game of cards, something inside Anselm snapped. He had had enough of playing at being polite and enjoying his stay here and wasn't it wonderful they were going to make him better and it was for the best after all. He wasn't even supposed to be here, he knew with a certainty. While she was fussing with Harvey over Anselm couldn't see what, he rose to his feet in rage. "Look here," he said with a half snarl. "You know what's best for everyone, huh? Then tell me, what on Earth am I doing here? Is it part of your medical training to abduct mentally stable people? You all haven't even told me what I'm supposed to be diagnosed with! How do you plan on curing someone without any illness? I have had it with this charade, and this time, you'd better give me a decent explanation!"

The nurse looked at the bottle Harvey had handed her first with relief as she noted it contained the correct medication, then with mild horror as Anselm started ranting in the background, "but these are too strong... it's the wrong dosage," she muttered, ignoring the shouting patient for a moment. "Oh, sweetie, how many of these did you take?" she asked Harvey, slight concern showing on her face. It couldn't be a lethal amount, she knew, but it was hardly going to be beneficial to his progress. She turned to Anselm, distracted, having only half listened to him, "the doctor will go over your files with you when you have your first meeting with him," she replied, too distracted to even take offence at Anselm's rudeness. She needed to page the doctor about Harvey, then she could deal with Anselm's episode. And that was what she did. Having paged the doctor, she turned to Anselm, "Now dear, calm down," she said soothingly, hands held out, disarmingly. "You're here because your doctor referred you here. Don't you remember why he did that?" she asked.

"Yeah, I mean" there was a loud phump from behind Anselm as someone threw themselves bodily over the back of the seat he'd abandoned and landed heavily onto the soft cushions "If you're fine they let you out right?" This man seemed to have just appeared in the middle of the room without anyone noticing his presence, his wild smiling grin and messy brown hair giving the thought that he was slightly off his rocker. "Anyone got an apple? I want an apple" he began to search for the fruit at random through the furniture as if expecting one to just appear out of no where. His ill fitting grey suit flapped as he moved and as he stooped low to search behind the chair he became recognisable. It was Harvey. Even though he was the same person and not the youngest in the room by far he seemed to have a bright exhuberance that the others seemed drained of, his almost frantic demeanour resembling a hyperactive child.

Nadia flinched again at some imaginary, yet threatening object, and she looked around from the window, watching everyone else in the room. She blinked and wondered why the dead had directed her at Harvey. She couldn't see them right now, thanks to her medications, but she could still hear them. "No... he's not real anymore." she muttered to herself, frowning at the hyperactive Harvey. She looked between the nurse and Anselm before stepping away from the window and going to the nurse, though she didn't put her hands on her, or get too close. "Nurse.. The dead told me you've had a tiring day.. Do you want to sit down?" she asked, tilting her head with a worried look in her eyes. "No sense in you ending up like them.."

With a last bout of frustration, Anselm responded, "No. No, I don't have any doctors, nor was I consulted before dragged here, nor do I have anything wrong with me. Perhaps you can't do anything about that, so apologies to you, but you can be sure I shall give my irritation in full to whoever IS responsible for dragging me here. I'll thank you to not treat me like a five year old, though, considering I'm nineteen." He sat down again, on the floor now, apparently somewhat pacified for the time being. No use getting upset at this nurse, after all. Yes, whoever was in charge of telling him what he was diagnosed with certainly would get an earful, though he doubted it would do him any good. Anselm had no idea why he was at Bethlem, but he didn't think the people in labcoats were interested in what was best for him. Tossing a stack of see-through cards to Louisa, he commented, "Yeah, maybe best if we play some game. Here are some cards, just make sure I get those back before we go. I like those cards." His neck twitched between keeping an eye on his cards and the Nurse.

Throughout these proceedings, Caleb had remained quiet, until now. Carefully thinking before he too spoke out to the nurse - noticably influenced by Anselm's outburst - he frowned. "Excuse me., but I'm not mentally ill," he nodded slightly, "I was told that I was only here for testing and stuff, because of my blackouts..," Caleb looked mildly confused, "Yeah.. Testing..," the teen suddenly let out a small, mirthless laugh, "God, why am I so gullible?" he smirked, talking to himself now. His stance shifted as he retreated. He leant slowly against the wall beside the door, falling silent.

Through this whole exchange Caroline hadn't moved from where she was standing. She had been at the asylum for almost three months and she had long ago realized how this place worked. She stood stiffly with her arms folded across her chest and a solid frown of her lips. She didn't even flinch when Harvey's personality changed, however Caleb's comment drew her attention. Turning her head she looked at the boy who was slumped against the wall, something almost akin to sympathy touching her eyes for the first time. "Figured it out, have you?" Her voice was soft but loud enough for a others around to here. "We're here because we're crazy whether we want to believe it or not, and no amount medications or group therapy sessions will ever change that." She paused, and looked down at her gloved hands. "....Crazy people don't get better, we just stabilize and attempt to live with ourselves." 

Caleb's gaze snapped to Caroline the moment her soft voice reached his ears. A small smirking smile crossed his features, "I suppose you are right..," he sighed, shrugging minutely. He slid all of the way down the wall, so that he was sat up against it, his legs resting in front of him carelessly. He tilted his head to the right as he stared at Caroline, taking in the sympathy that he saw in her eyes. "Well then, surely we should reject medication?" He grinned, "If it will make no difference to anything, then what is the point of taking them?" he added, coughing slightly to punctuate the end of his sentence. His fingers had steepled in his lap, gently resting.

If Raphael had been awake at that point he would have snorted at Caroline's statement, and muttered something along the lines of "speak for yourself." He wouldn't have bothered to say it loud enough for anyone but his brother to hear though, what was the point? If the crazy girl wanted to be so pessimistic as to believe she could never be cured, who was he to tell her otherwise? But he certainly didn't believe the same was true of his brother or himself. Not on that particular day anyway. It had been a rather good day for him. But Raphael was not awake, nor had he been for a few minutes now, at least. He sat with his head still resting on his arms in quiet slumber, regardless of the shouting or panicking the other occupants of the room were indulging in.

Caroline looked even sadder at Caleb's comment. "Because we aren't given that choice." Sighing, she moved over to her chair and bent down to pick up her bag and what looked like a violin case. Standing up straight, she began heading to the exit. "This has been fun, but I've had enough. Considering I'm getting absolutely nothing out of this, I'll be leaving now." She got to the door and turned to the nurse. "Would you unlock the door please. I have some practicing to do, and if you took a look at my file you'll see that it is part of my therapy and daily schedule." She said this politely enough, although if you listened closely you would hear a slight undertone of sarcasm. 

Seeing Anselm calm down the nurse felt it safe to turn her attention to Nadia, she seemed entirely un-phased by the macabre hint of the comment, and smiled at Nadia, "I'll end up like the some day anyway, dear," she said, "thank you, but this isn't the time for me to be resting." then she turned to Caroline, "not today it isn't," she said simply, "as the doctor said, you're staying here, getting to know your new room-mates until tea time." she turned back to Nadia and smiled again, deciding she liked her.

All the while, Bastien kept eerily still, and eerily quite, watching everything unresponsively.

Taking the oppertunity to cause utter mayhem, as it seems the new Harvey was akin to doing, Harvey turned to the person who seemed most likely to explode. "Cheer up gloomy gus" Harvey said in a sing song voice "This isn't your own funeral." He turned to Nadia quickly and said "Not that I have any disrespect for the dead, they must be a miserable crowd though. All that wailing and moaning..." He seemed to have picked up and dropped a conversating with Bastien within a few seconds, his attention flicking from person to person and his fingers drumming off the soles of his shoes.

Blinking at the Nurse for a few seconds if she was trying to comprehend what she had just said, Caroline took a step way from the door. This was messing up her schedule, and changing said schedule was not something that she tolerated well at all. However, she was absolutely not in the mood to make a scene so taking a few deep breaths, she made her way to a table and sat down. "Fine!" She grumbled as she began to dig through her bag. Pulling out several sheets of staff paper she reached for a pencil on the table, and began furiously scribble musical notes on the lines. As she wrote her hands shook slightly and she clenched and unclenched her left hand into a fist.

Leo was no longer seated next to his brother, he had stood up and walked around the room and sat down in different seats, exchanged few quiet words with different people and generally been restless throughout the exchanges, all the while maniacally keeping an eye and ear on everyone and everything, thinking that maybe he would some day write a study of some kind about how people adjust to being institutionalised. But his thought interrupted when he remembered that they should be making friends, and as he was naturally curious about everyone, he approached Anselm because he had been "outside" not long ago, and seemed relatively normal. The expressions of insanity by other people still made Leo nervous a little bit, he still wasn't used to it, despite his short stay in Bethlem already. "I know exactly what you mean," he said to Anselm and smiled, "about being here and like being treated like a five-year-old. But life is, right? We make do, right? No point being all negative about it, at least not by day one. Maybe they clear it out and you really are fine and can go. We'll miss you and all, of course, but I hope it gets sorted. By the way, have you been to the cinema lately? I'm really behind on all the latests releases in everything, it sucks. Did you go see the new Coen brothers' one? I have really high hopes for it, but I've heard some negative things about it too. But mainly from critics that are always wrong anyway, but still, the blind chicken doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"

Nadia gave the nurse a return smile, and even turned to Caleb at the end of his and Caroline's conversation and put in, rather optimistically, "Of course we're going to get better. That's what we're here for. I'm sure we'll all get better with time, but we have to trust the doctors here." But when Harvey spoke to her about the dead, she gasped and all boldness she'd temporarily had dissippated in seconds. She had temporarily forgotten about them in her speaking to the nurse, and his words reminded her of the voices she had been trying so hard to ignore, along with the rest of the room. "They don't moan or whail... they just talk... and scream." she whimpered, putting her ears to her head. She knelt on her haunches beside the nurse with a deeply disturbed frown on her face, whimpering again with her hands over her ears. "Nurse.. make them stop?" she squeaked, not looking up at her. She felt like her head was about to explode with all the voices. It was like low humming in her ears, like a loud machine.

"Pill time!" Harvey said loudly, clapping his hands in the air before shifting slightly closer to Nadia's side "Here, come on." He put his arm behind her but didn't touch her "No one's screaming ok? Ignore the screaming" he shifted slightly closer but still kept himself from touching her "You were doing alright just then, you couldn't hear them, why have you got to hear them now?" He seemed much more confident now, their roles reversed now as Harvey tried to comfort Nadia; that is, no one except the nurse and doctors would know his name unless they asked him while he was like this.

Nadia whimpered and slowly looked up at Harvey, but seeing how close he was made her scream and fall back, away from him. As she fell back, her hand brushed against the nurse's leg, and she shrieked again, pulling her hands into her chest to hug herself protectively and to keep from touching anyone else. She didn't like the human body.. It was disgusting to her. After seeing so many forms of rotting flesh in her dreams and everywhere else, she didn't find the living form so attractive. "Don't touch me!" she whimpered pleadingly, not necessarily yelling at Harvey. "Stop talking! Please, just everyone shut up!" she cried, covering her ears again, rocking back and forth with her knees pulled up.

Harvey winced slightly and bit his lip, he could feel nerves edging around his mind again... He shuffled forward slowly but kept himself at a safe distance from Nadia. "H-hey..." his voice was getting more hesitant now, you could hear the pills slipping from his system now "No one's touching you..." He stayed quiet once she asked them to stop talking, not even hesitating to follow the order. He just knelt opposite her and tried to keep her eye contact, though his eyes flickered down a few times to the floor.

The nurse gave Harvey an exasperated sigh. Someone was going to pay for giving that boy a bottle of pills. "Sit" she said, in a commanding and stern voice, pointing to a chair. The she knelt beside Nadia, not touching her, "shhhhh," she said to her, very quietly, "no one's touching you, no one's talking, there's nothing here that will hurt you," she murmured, calmingly.

Nadia whimpered and slowly looked at the nurse, her black hair falling around her face and shoulders, tears streaming down her cheeks. "They won't stop screaming! Make them stop screaming!" she begged, sniffling and shaking. "I tried to ignore them.. they only got louder.." She hated all of the voices in her head. Her morning pills had worn off, the pills which had kept her from hearing and seeing things had run their course by now. She slowly looked up from the nurse, at something that was seemingly standing behind her, her brown eyes focused on it, and she let out another blood-curdling scream. "Get away! LEAVE ME ALONE!" she shrieked, hugging herself tightly, then got up and turned, running for the door. She collided with it rather roughly, only to stop and pound on it with her fists. "Let me out! Please!" she sobbed.

Harvey's legs trembled as he fought against the urge to follow the nurse's directions; it was getting harder and harder to ignore that little demanding voice in his head that told him to obey and doubt himself. He got up carefully and made his way over to Nadia as she pounded on the door; he stood behind her and rubbed his hands slowly "C-calm down... there's no screaming apart from you... J-just calm..."

If he didn't glare at Leo, Anselm at least managed to keep his face smooth, though he looked far from pleasant at the moment. "Leonard, wasn't it? I suppose you're right, but something from the way I was pretty nearly kidnapped tells me I'm not likely to be set free any time soon. I have family outside here. Why haven't I heard from them? Needless to say, I'm both skeptical and worried. Anyways. Uh, cinema. I go a fair bit. Some decent stuff, though I don't think I know which movie you're referring to. Coen brothers? Don't happen to know the name, do you?" Anselm appeared to be completely ignoring Nadia at this point. If he was going to make friends with this lot, he was going to try and stick to the most sane ones he could.

The nurse rolled her eyes, good lord, the boy was stupid. She marched over to Harvey, roughly pulled him away from Nadia and yelled at him sharply "SIT", once again pointing at a chair. She then turned to Nadia gently and placed her hand on her shoulder, "sweetie, you need to come away from the door so the doctor can get in," she said, having spied the doctor she had paged finally arriving, "come on now," she said. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was probably the stress and excitement of all these new people that had made the effect of her medication wear off faster than usual.

Nadia let out another shout as she felt the nurse's hand on her shoulder and turned away from the door to look at her in horror. "Don't!" she cried, backing away into the corner beside the door, whimpering as she fell to sit on her haunches, hugging herself again and crying. "Stay away... please... Don't touch me.. stop screaming.." she muttered, her eyes wide on the floor as she cried, her hands over her ears. "Stop screaming... make them stop.."

Harvey couldn't resist the urges now, his legs moved without thinking. He moved stiffly to the seat and sitting down in the chair, though he peered over the back of the chair nervously at Nadia as she scuttled into the corner screaming. He wanted desperatley to help her, but he was told to stay here, he must stay here... He was the one who'd done this after all, he was stupid, an idiot. He twitched as if someone had just hit him in the rips but didn't even seem to notice. He must stay in the chair no matter what... But his gaze stayed on Nadia, he wanted to help her as well...

In the midst of all the hubbub, Louisa sat quietly by herself. She shook her head and filed through her cards; should anyone have cared to look, they were in order by suit and numerically. Nice and in order, if only her fellow residents could maintain the same, everyone would be content...or so she believed.

As Caleb quietly sat, he felt himself growing weary - tired even - of this 'friend-making' exercise. This wasn't to say that he was unwilling to get along with the others in the institution - after all, they wouldn't have been placed here if they were unfriendly., or dangerous. They wouldn't have been given the opportunity to spend time in a large group of vulnerable people, with only one nurse for protection. One nurse that was frequently distracted by one or another of the inmates.. He observed. Passing off this slightly sinister thought as nothing, Caleb shrugged. "Well, we don't have long left, we know eachother now?" he looked up at those nearest to him, a small smile on his face, "'Cause I'm really God-damn bor---" Caleb's eyes shifted, glazed over as he paused his sentence. He stared into space for a few seconds before continuing his thoughts, "--loving this first meeting," He grinned, "Nothing better than meeting new people!"

Bastien continued smirking through Havrey's comment, and hummed a little laugh as Nadia flipped out. Lifting his face off of his fist and leaning back in his chair, he folded his arms and let out a long exhale. In his mind, he counted down the seconds until there'd be a change of scenery.

Anselm gave Caleb a wry look. "I could think of something better. Like getting on with my life. No offense to anyone here, but I hope I don't stick around. Seriously, though. Do we have time for cards still, or are we nearly finished?"

Caleb grinned broadly up at Anselm, before jumping up and sauntering over to him. "We could place bets.., yeah lets do that," he nodded for emphasis, glancing over at the others, as though sizing them up. It wasn't as though he particularly liked to gamble - in fact, he didn't really - but there seemed little else to do, if anything. Surely a nice game of cards would get everyone invovled? He closed his eyes tight for a moment before looking back at Anselm. "We're probably right out of time, aren't we Nurse?" Caleb turned to look at the nurse for a moment.

The nurse ignored Caleb, since she was of course, busy tending to Nadia. Now that the girl was out of the way, the doctor on the other side swiped his card and entered, making sure the door shut and locked behind him. He looked at the nurse, who was holding out the bottle of pills Harvey had had with one hand, and pointing to the boy with the other, "some fool gave the boy these," she said quickly in explanation, "the dosage is too strong, the boy was hyper." the doctor took the pills off the nurse and strode over to Harvey, leaving the nurse free to turn her attention back to Nadia, she began to quietly hum a song in hopes of distracting the girl from the voices she could hear.

The doctor crouched to look at the now seated Harvey, he inspected his eyes and pupils all with a frown on his face. He shook his head, "well I assume you've had your high," he explained to him, in a no-nonsense voice, "and now you're going to have a bit of a crash," he continued, "you may feel tired, paranoid, and upset. It will pass, and you can't take any more pills until tomorrow. I'll tell all the nurses that they're not allowed to give you any until then. If you start to feel nauseous you need to let one of us know, can you do that for me, Harvey?"

Harvey sat there, gaze switching from the doctor to Nadia again; paranoid, upset and tired... as if any of that was new. Talking to the nurses, that would be new; as if he ever actually asked for pills, he freaked out until he took them himselves or they were given to him. His gaze went back to Nadia again, trying to comfort her without speaking or touching her.

Throughout the entire ordeal with Nadia and Harvey, Caroline had not moved from her seat. In fact, she had tuned the whole thing out as best she could, focusing on the lines of music in front of her. Four lines containing sixteen measures in four four time. It was perfectly simple and perfectly even, and it would be perfectly beautiful when she played it. Setting her pencil down and then moving it around until it was exactly lined up with her staff paper, she looked up when her heard Caleb ask the nurse the time. Digging into her pocket she pulled out her watch, "We still have ten minutes." She said winding the time piece exactly four times before putting it away.

'Ten minutes is not really enough time for cards,' Louisa calmly piped up, almost subdued. She shook her head and looked at Anselm, then at Caroline, since she spoke last. In the meanwhile, she had tucked her deck back into her pocket, then only smiled.

Caleb nodded at Caroline. "Thanks, sweetie," he winked before turning away to look over at each of the others again. Not a bad lot - though it was a shame he had blacked out through the first few minutes of the meeting with them. He had a feeling he was supposed to know at least a couple of their names. Inhaling sharply, Caleb raised his eyebrows again. "Not long enough by far..," He appeared to have gathered enough to guess that they were taking part in a 'meet and greet' style activity.

Upon hearing this, Anselm pocketed his cards again. "Well, what do you guys like to do for amusement, besides cards? Like I said, I like reading simple novels." He frowned. Had he said that? Absent-minded sometimes did not go far enough to describe him. Peering at the paper Caroline was writing on, he asked, "Is that music?"

Caroline had been thrown slightly off kilter at being called 'sweetie' and could feel blush touching the tops of her cheeks. Shaking her head, which caused her brown ringlets to bounce prettily, she looked over at Anselm, "Yes. It's a violin concerto." 

"Harvey." the doctor said gently, but with a commanding edge to his voice, studying the boys face intently. "Is that clear?" he wasn't going to leave the boy alone until he answered him in some form, even if it was only a nod.

Nadia rocked back and forth in quick movements, her hands still over her ears, her eyes shut tightly. She whimpered, able to hear the nurse humming to her only lightly. It was slightly soothing, and it was helping her. If she concentrated on only the humming, she couldn't hear the screams of the dead that surrounded her. They were surrounding her... the dead were all standing right behind the nurse, glaring down at Nadia. She tried to hum along with the nurse, a different tune, of course, because she didn't know the one that the nurse was singing, but she tried to. It only came out in whimpers and whines, though, and she finally looked at the nurse, trying not to look at the dead standing behind her. "I can see them..." she whispered to the nurse in a frantic whisper. "They're staring at me! Nurse, make them go away!" she cried, her nails digging into her scalp above her ears.

Caleb observed the blush that gently tinged Caroline's cheeks with a minute smile. Such a pretty young lady, he thought to himself. His eyes remained fixed on her and Anselm; he felt a hint of irritation that he could not steal her attention - though of course he could always try for Anselm. Barely taking notice of the obviously distressed young lady, Nadia, behind the Nurse, he approached the pair. "A violin concerto, doesn't that sound lovely?" he directed the question at Anselm. It was fairly clear that he didn't mind interrupting other people's conversations.

Harvey nodded slightly, his eyes still locked on Nadia as she rocked back and forth and cringed in terror. He wished he could help her... but he could never help anyone, he wouldn't be able do anything right... He just wished she'd be better and get out of this place.

"Then close your eyes for a moment, sweet pea, don't look at them" the nurse said to Nadia sympathetically, before resuming her tuneful humming.

"Good. I'm glad we understand each other." The doctor said, in a slightly friendlier tone as he saw Harvey's nod, "Now, I need you to tell me who gave you these pills."

Nadia whimpered at the nurse with sad eyes, but nodded and closed her eyes again, still rocking back and forth and listening to the nurse's humming. Eventually, her quick breathing slowed and she gradually stopped rocking, though she was still shaking. She bit her lip and opened her eyes again, looking around the room and pulled her hands from her ears, looking at the nurse. "They're gone.. I can't hear them anymore.." she whispered, her brow covered with sweat and her skin pale. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, wanting to hug the nurse, but still finding it hard to do so. Human bodies were.. disgusting. She smiled thankfully at the nurse and briefly leaned forward and hugged her, only to snap back again and looking down. "T-thank you."

Anselm nodded to Harvey. "I can't say I've listened to a great deal of music, but I have heard an impressive thing or two from the violin. Of course, some less impressive things as well, but I'm sure that sounds great." The last was directed at Caroline again, but Anselm was now eying Harvey, who had stolen his chair earlier. A thought seemed to occur to him and he grimaced, all interest from the card game gone, and Anselm appeared to drop back into a sulky mood, dropping his eyes and sitting back in his chair.

Looking down at the paper Caroline smiled slightly, "It's not finished. I've been working on it for a while and it's going to be beautiful when it's done and I actually get a chance to practice it." Music was the one area in her life where she never doubted herself. She worked too hard and was too gifted at it to think of herself as anything less then virtuosic. 

Harvey shivered slightly and crouched down in his seat, opening and closing his mouth a few times. He'd been ordered not to tell anyone about who had given him the pills, now two different forces were trying to take control of his mind. He clutched the headrest tight and whimpered slightly, shrinking in his seat.

Slightly put-off by the fact that he could not 'steal the show' in this little gathering, Caleb exhaled heavily. He had been attempting to listen to the conversation between Anselm and Caroline, but had evidently failed in joining it. He did of course realise that his tactics were off - butting in wasn't the best idea, especially in a room of people he didn't know. Glancing around, he began to think harder. He vaguely recalled having a blackout at least a few hours ago, before this one, and being taken to his car by force. Now he was here. Shaking his head suddenly, he dispelled all thought of how he got here - Sandra and Will had mentioned something about getting him some help. For his blackouts he had supposed. "So, surely this is nearly over?" he suddenly spoke up, to no one in particular.

Pulling a blue folder from her bag, Caroline picked up the sheet music and put it neatly away. She shifted in her seat slightly and put the folder away, suddenly feeling less then comfortable. Although Anselm and Caleb both seemed nice enough, they were still strangers and were here for a reason.  While she had been slightly flattered that they had asked about her music she felt rather exposed. With a soft sigh she glanced at the nurse and then at the door, drumming her gloved fingers rhythmically on the surface of the table.

The nurse beamed in joy at Nadia's hug, then looked at the clock on the wall, it was about time she got everyone to dinner. She stood up, smiling again at Nadia, "okay people", she called out to the room, "dinner time," she looked round, 'Leo, wake your brother, please," she said with a sigh.

The doctor continued to look at Harvey for a moment, "you will tell me in the group therapy session after tea who gave you those pills, Harvey." Then he stood. "Bastien, I need a word with you," he glanced at the nurse, "don't worry, I'll bring him along to dinner when I'm done." he said.

Anselm stood up, and with a sullen look on his face, and asked the doctor, "And can I have a word with you? At your nearest convenience, of course." Though the words were polite, his voice was dripping with contempt. He didn't want to spend more hours in this place than absolutely necessary, but mostly he just wanted to deliver some harsh words with his captors.

"Thank God!" Caroline muttered, swiping up her bag and violin case off the floor and heading toward the door. "Doctor, can I go put these things in my room? I don't want to be carrying them around all evening if we're going to have a group session right after tea." She asked politely.

The doctor glanced at Anselm, unperturbed by the contempt in the boy's voice. "I will go over your case file with you tomorrow, when you have your first scheduled individual meeting with me." He said simply. Then he turned to Caroline, "We were planning to show you all your new dorm room just after tea, before group therapy. Can you wait until then, or do you really want to drop them off now?"

Nadia blushed at the nurse's obvious proud smile. She knew it was because the nurse saw some improvement in her behaviour. It certainly wasn't like Nadia to give hugs, let along give someone a handshake or a pat on the back, and usually it was medication that got rid of the dead people. She was frankly rather proud of herself also. This was a new step for her and it gave her butterflies to think it was possible. She slowly got off the floor with the nurse and slowly, hesitantly moved around her, towards Harvey in his chair. She shifted on her feet a little and blushed, looking at the floor. "T-thank you.. f-for trying to help me.." she muttered bashfully, tentatively reaching out and lightly touching her fingertips to the back of his hand. She quickly snapped her hand back though, with a feeling of unwanted grease on her fingertips, and bit her lip. "A-anyway.. thanks again." She blinked at the doctor and everyone else around the room, as if trying to find something else to think about, before kneeling in front of Harvey and looking up at him. "You should listen to the doctor, Harvey. I don't want you getting in trouble." She then got up again and headed for the door.

Harvey stared at Nadia with something a little less than his usual psychotic frenzy as she knelt in front of him, though he too snapped his hand away from hers once she had touched it. He held it tight against him as he remained curled up on the chair, his escape blocked by Nadia's kneeling form. Still he nodded slowly at his comment about him telling the doctor... but the nurse had been so nice to give him the bottle, he had trouble asking for medication and if he had them himself then he didn't have to...

Bastien's eyes slid over to the doc and he smiled quite sinisterly as he got up. He refolded his arms and waited for the doc to give further instructions.

'New dorm room?' Louisa politely inquired, upon hearing the Doctor's mention of it. As she broke from her role of calm, quite observer, she stood, tall and proper, rolled her shoulders back, then congenially added, 'We'll all feel better after eating something.'

"Wait! We're going to be sharing a dorm room." Caroline's eyes grew wide behind her glasses and a slight tremble could be heard in her voice. "All of us.....Together!?"

"Yes, I'm sure I told you that before." the doctor said, slightly puzzled. "your things have already been moved there and placed next to the beds. You are of course, free to swap beds to get the arrangement that suits you best..."

Nadia blinked at the doctor as he announced this and she nodded slowly, seemingly accepting of this new arrangement. She was comfortable with more than just herself in a room. She preferred it, actually. She didn't know why, but as long as no one was touching her, she was rather comfortable with other people around. She shifted on her feet beside the nurse and the door, waiting for the door to be opened for tea time. She was a little hungry and certainly thirsty. She bit her lip and looked around at everyone else. Despite being comfortable with this change, it seemed no one else was.

Caleb seemed positively ecstatic to be finally on the move soon; this one wasn't the type to just sit around for too long. "That dormitory, sounds lovely," he piped up, but fell silent again, as if in contemplation - something somewhat out of character for the teen. His arms were folded, showing some kind of self-protection, but his stance betrayed this with it's cockiness. Silently, he began to rub at his eyes, boredly sighing.

"NO!" Voice raising higher Caroline took a step back as if the doctor had hit her. "I've been here for three months and You defiantly failed to mention this. Believe me, if you had I would have said something about it earlier!" Her cool demeanor was slipping and she could feel panic rising. "You're rooming the girls in the same doom with the boys?! Are you insane? They don't even do that out in the normal world. How could that possibly be safe and sanitary? Why, WHY!?" 

Grinning at the ground suddenly - actually to himself, but that didn't matter - Caleb's gaze snapped up to Caroline. "Oh come on," he said suavely, as he sidled up beside her, sticking his arm rather stupidly around her shoulders, "It'll be fun," he winked, looking at her in a way that was not lecherous, but seemed to hold ulterior motive.

Caroline stilled the minute his arm slid around her shoulders, her tiny body going as straight as a pole.  "You let go of me right now, or I'll punch your nose so far into you face that you will be smelling out the back of your head." She didn't move, save to ball her fists, but the low dangerous timber in her voice proved that she was more then serious. 

Raising his eyebrows, Caleb swiftly removed his arm. "Sorry, I was just being nice..," he rolled his eyes and moved away from the young woman, going back to his leaning place on the wall. He once again slid down it, to land with his legs completely in the way. As he exhaled, he froze once again, but shook his head shortly, and appeared to look around completely unphased. He smiled slightly.

Louisa, a sharp frown upon her face, looked briefly at Caleb. 'I'm sure there's a good reason why they're doing this room switch, Caroline...' she paused to look at the girl she addressed, 'I don't remember them mentioning this before, either, but I'm sure things will be okay.'

The doctor sighed, "I did mention this before, Caroline, I'm sorry you weren't paying attention. I told you when I introduced the new patients and said that there would be some changes what exactly those changes were. Now do you want to drop your instrument off or not?"

Anselm sighed, and edged closer to the door. He had no things to take with him. With his luck, the doctors didn't even grab any of his clothes or papers or books, but he figured he would have to wait and see what would happen once he got to his room.

Harvey stirred slightly but kept his seat, trying to be as inconspicuous as he could and trying not to make any noise. He didn't like that they'd be pushed together, but he hoped the others would be distracted by each other sufficiently.

While the doctor had been trying to explain, Caroline had been trying desperately to get her black sweater off, as if Caleb's touch had seeped through the material and tainted her skin. Panting, she managed to get the thing off, revealing a black camisole underneath. "But how is it logical to room girls with boys? Especially insane girls with insane boys! That is just asking for a major disaster." Her voice was rather high pitched and her panic was evident. With more then a slight tremble to her body she gripped the sweater in one hand, dropped it to the floor, and kicked it away from her.  

Caleb watched Caroline's workings silently, a small frown marring his features. He couldn't understand why she treated the garment with such disgust, but then, he didn't know her at all - she may just really dislike the sweater. An inward shrug, and Caleb was watching, and listening to, the conversation between the doctor and the aforementioned young lady again. He raised his eyebrows at the comment about how they were all 'insane' - certainly he didn't feel so - he seemed to find it odd that someone who was supposedly 'insane' would brand themselves such.

Leo gladly obliged at the nurse's request, as he too was eager to end this mad exercise, and went to wake his brother. He sat down next to Raph and leaned towards him, and gently poked him in the neck, saying something incoherent.

The doctor seemed to grow tired of what he deemed as Caroline's pointless hysterics. "If you're acknowledge you're insane, what would you know of logic and the rational?" He asked, "What position are you in to tell other people what is logical? The issue is not up for debate. This is not a democracy, you are patients and we are in charge. There will be no further discussion about this issue. We have made our decision. Now do you want to drop off your instrument or not?"

Raphael twitched, "nnnnh?" He said as he woke up, slowly lifting his head, he looked around the room as if not really seeing it. He yawned, then looked at Leo blearily. He muttered something that was both too quiet to hear, and probably not in English anyway.

Leo recoiled slightly, with a pained expression flashing across his face, before picking up a faux-brusque tone and said "well, we're here now, both of us, and it's tea time," forcing a smile on his face. He was glad that Raph was able to get some rest wherever they went, but the fact that he actually dreamt as well while Leo was awake did hurt his feelings in a strange way.

Defeat seemed to surge through her body and Caroline dropped her gaze to the floor. "Yes." She said her voice soft again. Bending down, she picked up her bags and moved to the door, waiting for the nurse to escort her. Despite a good effort she could not help the tears of frustration that glistened slightly behind her glasses. 

Raph didn't see his brothers reaction, he was busy stretching his arms and yawning again, it had been a strange dream that he had engaged his sleeping mind, but already the recollection of it was slipping away, and the details blurry. Putting his hand on the arm of the chair where previously his elbow had rested he pushed himself up, and standing, looked to his brother. With a small nod they both headed over to the door.

Having already made her way to the door, Louisa stood quietly, shoulders squared, feet together, straight as a post. She turned her sympathetic gaze from Caroline toward the approaching Bardi brothers, and her mood lightened a little. 'I wonder what they'll have for us today,' she pondered aloud. Then, the girl slowly zipped the front of her track jacket closed to her neck, then carefully unzipped it halfway.

Unsure what he should be doing now, Caleb stayed where he was - resting against the wall. Socialite he may be, but around people he knew nothing about? Not so much of one. He looked to Louisa as she spoke, a small smile appearing on his face. He had previously been watching Raphael wake at the prompting of his brother, but now he had lost interest. One arm crossed over his body, while the other began to play with his hair absently.

The doctor nodded, "very well then," he said in a more kindly manner, "wait here and I'll page a nurse to take you there. The rest of you: off to dinner." He nodded at the nurse who swiped her key card and then opened the door, holding it open so that the others could file out, leaving the doctor, Bastien and Caroline behind.

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