The Golden Afternoon (Open)

[Leah Girard]

Leah missed sister terribly, but she knew better then to complain about changes. that was something only misses did or whores too young or stupid to realize how little they mattered to their masters. She didn't understand why she and Sister were separated this time, they were always together sharing a room and keeping each other warm snuggling in bed. She saw the men with guns station as the corners few the halls. She knew what guns could do having watched more executions of 'faulty product' than the girl cared to remember.

She had not met her new roommate she did know her name was Lyra, she just hoped the miss was nice, she didn't want to be alone in a room with someone who was going to hurt her more.She ate breakfast in the cafeteria, Leah wasn't exactly sure what she ate but she was used to just eating what was in front of her without asking, and since she didn't have sister to talk to she reverted to her previous survival skills; head down and mouth shut. But with so much free unstructured time she wasn't sure what to do. Picking as the dark blue leggings that she was given to wear under her blue and white checkered dress Leah ambled down the hallways, trying not to act afraid; fear angered the people around you, even when they were the cause of it

Leah had been looking for the door that lead outside, but a guard who asked a little too roughly what she was doing wandering the halls sent her very quickly in the opposite direction and into what she realised must be the library. There were rows upon cases upon shelves of books. There were also large chairs that looked soft and maybe she could sit in them... She shook her head, still clinging to her much loved stuffed bunny and reached for one of the books on the shelf and found a quiet corner to settle on the floor, opening the book she set it on the floor in front of her and stared at the black squiggles on paper, it helped the every few pages there was an image of a girl in a dress doing very odd things, The story kept getting curiouser and curiouser...

[Eddie Wilson]

Eddie Wilson was in the mood for some quiet reading today. In fact, he was actually in the mood for TV-time, but unfortunately that noisy girl with the high-pitched voice was in the Tv-room today. She sort of annoyed him with her constant chattering, shouting and running about. Especially when she became argumentative towards people. Eddie really didn't like argumentative people, they sure rubbed him the wrong way. At times he really wanted to just grab a hold of her and wring her scrawny little neck like a wet dishcloth. Grab that stupid little head of hers and just crush it between his hands. Like an egg! That would teach her to make noise! That would. . .

Eddie was shocked from his thoughts by the realization that he almost lost his temper there and then. However, this, as many other times he had caught himself before that little dam within him that held back all the violence broke once again. The doctors wouldn't be happy with him if he broke more things. Or people. Not to mention those security-goons. They could be rather scary at times.

Despite the fact that he was dressed in the usual "scrubs and slippers" combo that seemed to be mandatory for the high-profiles his 450-pound body was more than enough to make the thump of his footsteps heard throughout the library as he entered, barely ducking enough to get in without hitting his head on the doorframe this time. The Library seemed to be empty except for a young-ish girl who was currently reading Alice in wonderland. Right now she looked more like a little girl than a teenager. Another thing he noticed was the fact that she had opted to sit on the floor rather than use the big comfy chairs that looked particularly inviting. However, what really caught Eddies attention was her hair. it was almost the same as his. For some reason this amused him whilst makeing him somewhat homesick.

"Hi there" Eddie said his deep voice, despite not being very loud had a certain booming quality. as he walked past her to browse the bookshelves for something he might like, but hadn't already read "Haven't seen you here before. New arrival?" the big man continued, hoping that this one was one of the "talky" inmates as opposed to the "Shouty" and "Loopy" subtypes

[Leah Girard]

She knew the pictures and the wiggles on the page worked together somehow, caseworkers looked at wiggles in manilla folders, therapists scratched away on pads those black marks on paper meant everything, but she didn't understand their workings.

Though she knew the outcomes, those marks ruled her existence, just as the green papers used to before...there was something about paper that made it so important, maybe if she could understand these marks she could know what exactly made them so vital to Sirs, Misses, and Masters. In a lot few ways the girl one the floor was stuck somewhere between childhood and old age; knowing too little in some cases and far too much in others.

Leah took note of the sounds and vibration of footsteps coming closer. Hiding wasn't an option anymore, if the movement was that close whom ever it was already saw her. If she was good and quiet nothing bad would happen. She knew that would be true, it always worked before. Just how many people were coming, she wondered...? It couldn't be just one, the ground moved to much. not to the point of books falling off shelves or calamity happening around her though it just seemed too intense for one Sir

Leah didn't quite know what to do with her hair anymore it always just existed on her like a leg or her now-removed body piercings, but on like the rings that were removed upon admission, she would actually miss her hair. It was soft and curly but this and massive mostly un-tameable, today she opted not to bother with it, it was a little dry and she didn't want to have a headache after trying to force it in to plaits as she normally did.

His voice was the first thing she noticed, it was deep and reminded her of thunder, she held bunny a little closer and slowly bought her eyes up just enough to see his legs. The man was huge. She'd never see a Master that big before.
"Y...Yes sir, Rabbit came yesterday."
Ignoring the strange hollow feeling in her stomach she would talk, if Sir spoke to her he expected her to talk, if she didn't she could be punished, and she already didn't have sister, or the liquid that made the aching in her body stop, she didn't want to give sir any reason to add bruises on top of that.

[Eddie Wilson]

The reply that came out of the womans mouth almost made him regret talking to her. She was obviously one of the loopy ones, what with reffering to herself as 'Rabbit' and all that. Still, she seemed harmless enough, still, there was something about him that made his fists itch in that oh-so-special way.

Eddies eyes narrowed and he clenched his ham-sized fists as she seemed to shrink back as he laid his eyes upon her. Obviously she was afraid of him. He hated when they did that, just like he was some sort of freak or something like that. He was a nice guy, why couldn't they just get that? He just wanted to grab a hold of that hair of hers and bash her head against the floor untill that pretty face of hers was nothing more than a puddle of bloody sludge on the floor, that should teach her to act like he was some sort of menace!

Eddie caught himself slipping and banished the unbidden thoughts behind that 'wall' in his mind, keeping his rage at bay. He knew she couldn't help her actions and probably didn't to insult or belittle him in any way. Heck, this girl seemed to be nuttier than a hazelbush. He couldn't really put his finger on it, but this girl seemed to be one of those patients that had been broken down or abused really bad at some point in her past. She had that fearfull timidity and fearfull submissive manners he had come to associate with abused wives and children and similar patients

As he regained controll over himself and once again calmed down his expression softened again and the soft, slovenly smile returned to his lips
"Well then, 'Rabbit' I'd like to welcome you to Lucid Manor. I think you'll be here for quite a bit of time, so I suggest you get to know the place. I'm Eddie, by the way. Eddie Wilson." The big man said, his voice surprisingly calm and somehow resembling the sympathetic yet detatched drone of the average doctor. He turned back to the shelf, resuming his search for a decent read.

[Leah Girard]

At this point the book was mostly forgotten, she was far too busy preparing for what she assumed to be the inevitable first strike. She quietly hoped he'd kick her, kicks hurt more but they weren't as precise as a fist, besides, if he punched or slapped her he could hold her there and keep hitting her until one arm became tired and switch, at least with a kick he had to expend energy to follow where he kicked her to.

Should have stayed in the room, always safer to stay until told to move. she thought to herself, forgetting she had been coaxed out of her dorm by staff. She had to eat and get fresh air, she wasn't afraid to leave her room entirely so it was not an undue cruelty to make her step outside.

After what seemed like ages but might have been less the five seconds, Leah raised her head...and raised it higher --the man was taller then she expected-- and by the time her eyes reached his face he was smiling and didn't seem mad at her anymore. Strange. She knew Masters--men in general really, to hold long grudges.

He welcomed her and gave his name, that was nice. Maybe he was confused and mistook her for a miss as well, maybe she should have sat in a chair, her bum was tingling. "Thank you- Eddie."
Still regarding the man with curious awe he turned to the bookshelf but the way he searched for a book was different, his eyes only moved one way... back and forth, or up and down it was deliberate, he knew what each one said...he could make sense of the words too! it seemed everyone could. So many questions bubbled in her throat, she wanted to ask him a hundred thousand things, instead she simply watched and nibbled on her toy's ear thoughtfully.

[Eddie Wilson]

Eddie's eyes darted across the titles, dismissing one book after the other. The asylum staff had a rather strict oppinion on what was suitable reading and what was not, and unfortunately the things that were deemed unsuitable was boxing. Eddie had always been a fan of the sport. He had even been something of an amateur himself before he ended up in here. What he missed more than anything apart from his son was a boxing-bag. They were great for relieving stress during those long and boring hours he was "Grounded" in his rather bare cell.

He would have to remind himself to remind his doctors about how good his behaviour had been of late and to try to persuade them that a punching-bag would both constitute a proper reward as well as being a helpfull tool to relieve some of the stress and anger he held back. He was rather pessemistic about his chances, but he might as well try it. After all, the worst thing that could happen was that they denied his request

His eyes kept examining the titles, but he found that he could not really concentrate. It was the fault of the small girl sitting behind him. She was looking at him, he was convinced of it. He could almost feel those eyes of her burn two small holes in his back. He turned around and shot her a quick, seemingly relaxed glance. She still sat there, those big black eyes of her focused on him, just like he thought.

He couldn't really decide wether he liked her or not. On the plus side she was quiet and somewhat polite, even if she was more than a bit messed up in the head. However, the way she moved, the way she curled up and the way she talked all broadcasted 'pitiful and helpless' at all avalible frequencies and it repulsed him. Yet it made a tiny part of him want to protect her against the big bad world somehow. That was the worst thing, since it reminded him far too much how he had felt everytime his son had got into a fight at daycare or toppled over. It reminded him of what he had lost.

Still, he figured he had to remember it wasn't her fault, really. He cleared his throat uncomfortably as she kept staring. The awkward moments of silence was taking it toll on him, and he decided he had to say something to end it. Anything would do.

"So, what'cha in for, Rabbit?" he said, his voice showing no trace of the nervousness that had risen within him. Those sessions with the doctors had at least taught him to keep controll of his voice.

[Leah Girard]

Leah had not been raised to be much for conversation, her previous masters were not that interested in her opinions, feelings, questions, views or ideas. Her mouth, as she was often told or physically reminded, was better put to other uses, but she was trying, rather then cringing from Eddie she just watched, blinking infrequently as the man tried to find a book, then turned and addressed her after an awkward silence.

Gently and lovingly Leah took the toy's ear out of her mouth and dried in on the side of her dress before looking back up and the very large man, setting Bunny's year down along the side of his brown head, "Not sure, sometimes told for...CP..CPTS...CPTSD," she stumbled over one of her many diagnosis, "other times because Rabbit's told she's not property...and other things, not sure of everything." and shrugged, not sure of what else to say.

idilly she wondered if she was begin a mother then slowly shook her head, if she was bothering him, he would tell her. "Um...Why are you here, Eddie?" She was watching him, trying to understand him and hopefully anticipate his moods and movements. She could never completely relax with people, it was difficult to know what upset them, what made the happy, what entertained them if you were not being a good observer. She she did note was he seemed nice but that his hands were a truer indicator of his feelings then his face, clenched fists were trouble, but if his hands looked relaxed she might be okay.

[Eddie Wilson]

Eddie honestly had no Idea what "CPTSD" meant. He wondered if it had anything to do with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. That one he knew about. . . Well, he knew that fictional Vietnam-veterans from a wide variety of movies were suffering from it. He had met a few Real-life cases in the institutions he he had been admitted too, but most of them seemed to be just average folks. Well, Average by insane-asylum-standards at any rate. He hadn't known most of them all that well, but apparantly it had something to do with some sort of traumatic traumas that occured somewhere in their traumatic pasts. Or something like that, he hadn't really paid much attention to the guy explaining it to him, but on the other hand, the guy had been shouting a whole lot and waving his arms around like he was trying to win a prize for "most enthusiastic imitation of a windmill" in one of those gameshows.

His thoughts where interupted when the girl he had already started thinking about as "Rabbit" spoke to him. It obviously hadn't been an easy thing for her to do, so he decided he might aswell answer. It was a fairly innocent thing to ask, after all. Besides, when he asked the same thing she had answered at once without any drama or shouting. In Eddies world this was a grand thing indeed. He was not a great fan of drama at all. It made things stressfull and it made him annoyed, and that was that.

"Well, er. I've got some anger-issues. I kinda just explode at people, ya know." He said with an indifferent shrug. He had told so many people about his problems so many times that saying it didn't mean that much too him. As a high-profile inmate he got that question alot, probably since most of the other high-profiles were the kind of murderous crazies that had been on the news a multiple times. He himself had not been on the news, not that he wanted too. The only reason he was a high-profile was that he had been involved in a few fights earlier. . . No biggie, right?

[Leah Girard]

Leah had no true understanding of her many diagnoses, she was just obedient and listened, doing her best to remember what was said to her by many different therapists, social workers and councilors. Leah just knew she had to obey, to remember her rules and follow them without hesitation. Her primary understanding of the world consisted to what got her hurt and what didn't. She chalked up the bad dreams and stomachaches to being of a poor temperament, it didn't truly dawn on her that the reason she was so nervous and timidly agreeable was the direct cause of her life so far.

'Rabbit' wasn't used to speaking out of turn so she was glad when Eddie responded to her without getting angry to violent. she found it off that he called himself violent, from hat she knew of Sirs when one said they were it was not quite as true as the ones who grabbed by by the hair and screamed that they were not into your face. If he was violent as she had feared earlier she thought he was doing a good job of not being so.

"You're not exploding now..." she tilted her head like a puppy, brown eyes blinking impassively as she noticed his hair...it was chick and curly like hers, it looked dry, like someone needed to take care of it for him. "You can read." it wasn't exactly a question but not quite a statement, it was something she observed that just now came back to the surface of her thoughts as she observed the man before her. she placed bully in her lap, slowly unwinding her arms from the soft friend, she didn't have to cling so if she was relatively safe.

[Eddie Wilson]

"Well, I ain't explodin' all the time, but ya know. I kinda get angry sometimes. And I keep worryin' 'bout things too. Ya, know like pointless things, really." Eddie rambled on, ending the last sentence with a sluggish shrug of his massive shoulders. It seemed that the girl had loosened the grip on her stuffed animal, wich had to be a good sign he supposed. She didn't seem quite as frightened of him as she had been when he had entered either, wich made him feel alot better. He wasn't really alright with people behaving all tensely around him, it made him agitated.

Howver, he couldn't help but to be a bit shocked when she matter-of-factly state that he could read. So what? Couldn't everybody read? Apparantly they couldn't, judging by the way it was said, not everybody could read wherever it might be that she came from."You don't know how to read then?" He asked in return, already being sure enough to take a guess at the answer. It was rather strange meeting a girl who apparantly couldn't read in a library. Especially since she appeared to be reading through "Alice In Wonderland" as he walked through the doors. Still, this was an asylum and in an asylum people were supposed to do weird things. It was the reason they were all there in the first place, wasn't it?

He couldn't help but to wonder what the circumstances must've been to produce a girl like that. Her timidity and the way she acted like a little girl must've been caused by something, a blow to the head, some sort of trauma, anything. He didn't really feel like asking her though, as he figured she was too fragile. Maybe she'd go to pieces or something, and he couldn't really handle that right now. He hated when they cried and he never knew what to really do about it either.

[Leah Girard]

Her arm was getting tired. Bunny wasn't heavy but holding him as tightly as she had done was hard on the arms. 'Rabbit' nodded as he finished speaking, pointless worrying was troubling, your mind held on to thing you could do nothing to alleviate or prevent as you were stuck obsessing over things until they either happened or didn't. She listened to Eddie speak, he seemed not mad, which was good, as long as she didn't upset him they would be fine. He was a very large man, it made her feel smaller than usual, like a solitary pea compared to a cantaloupe.

Though not a perfect scale, Leah was good at reading the people around her, it was a skill acquired through fire, she could tell the Sir Eddie was feeling more at ease now that her own fear was starting to creep back down to manageable levels, this body wasn't quite so tight and it seemed like a burden was lifting from his massive shoulders, he didn't want her to seem visibly upset, so she would not.

Subtly when curious was not encouraged here and curiosity was not encouraged at all for her entire life before running away with sister, so when she had something to say she was as blunt as a cast-iron pan, no guile or subtly she simply spoke. "Non, I cannot. A whore does not need to read." Her parents did not see much use in a literate daughter, either. Leah enjoyed books, her last therapist Dr. Lipton had started reading to her as a treat when she was particularly open or brave in individual or group therapy sessions, she liked the pictures of the rabbit in this book, it reminded her of bunny. The girl was too fat to be sister, her dress was huge, she had to be very fat but then she wasn't fat on top...

It would have been rude to ask Eddie anymore about why he was here, she had already bothered him enough asking her idle question, he didn't have to entertain her like she was a child, it was her job to entertain, but then Dr. Lipton had told her that her job wasn't to do that anymore, though what exactly she was to do now seemed a mystery.