someday, we'll find it {justice. open}

[justice]

Justice rubbed his head and put a few more puzzle pieces together absently, blinking every few minutes, apparently deep in thought. All this time, he had been trying to remember who had made him dance when he was just a few years old, but the image just kept slipping from his grasp, like he was trying to see his reflection in a handful of water. He sighed and looked over at Charlotte, already beginning to regret telling her to ask questions. Though he was glad for her current silence, it was only a matter of time before she began firing off questions like a cannon; he could tell that from just watching her sit there. It was if she was working hard to keep her mouth closed, or something. He attached another piece of the tutu, resting his chin in the palm of his other hand as he worked. He couldn't even remember the music that he had danced to, just the smell or perfume and laughing... lots of laughing and the feeling that he was having a good time. None of that narrowed it down much, seeing as back in those days he got along well with all of his family, and even his father wore perfume. Well, cologne, but Justice didn't really see the difference between the two types of scented liquid, because he wasn’t that girly. And he would personally torture anyone that said he was.


The patient yawned and rubbed his eyes, tired. It was the middle of the day, but he didn’t get much sleep anymore. The bed was uncomfortable and he always got the feeling that something was watching him, even in the bathrooms. He wondered aimlessly if they had security cameras or anything. Well, the manor probably did. It was a big building filled with hundreds of insane patients and only a handful of guards, so security camera were kind of necessary, when you thought about it. He’d be on the lookout for them from now on, just to see if they were in private rooms as well as public ones, like the cafeteria and the hallway. He looked warily up at the ceiling, wondering if there were security cameras in here, too. He couldn’t see any, but then again, they might be pretty small. To give the patients a false sense of safety, knowing that they weren’t being watched when they were alone. But really, were they ever alone? Even the low profiles had the public guards stationed in shady corners and throughout the hallways, watching the general public to make sure no one got in a fight over who ate who’s vegetables. What with the drama that happened at every turn, it was like being in a particularly violent highschool. ”Yeah, tutu. Whatever, it’s a pink fluffy thing. Nothing special,” he muttered to Charlotte, shifting through the pieces.


He looked up in surprise when she said that she would teach him to dance, the faintest hint of a blush rising on his cheeks. Though, luckily, most of it was hidden by the nose cover. Justice blinked, his critical and pessimistic mind already coming across a snare in the plan. ”Isn’t it hard to dance without music?” he asked, his voice uncertain and his eyebrows pressed together in a worried little crinkle. He was pretty sure that the manor only gave music to well-behaved patients, and though Justice did everything that the staff told him to do, he wasn’t the most agreeable of people, and they probably wouldn’t give him a CD. He watched Charlotte warily, already seeing the excitement begin to form on her face. Maybe they would give the little doll girl one. Justice couldn’t see her misbehaving or being disagreeable, like he was most of the time. He sighed and took a few more pieces out of the pile, attaching them to the ones in her hand and placing them on the table. The puzzles was now a rough oval shape, only needing about ten more of the middle pieces and then the edge ones to boot. They would be done with it in a few minutes, and then Justice wasn’t really sure what would happen. She might try to teach him to dance, or either one of them could just stand up and leave. He just hoped that they wouldn’t sit there in an awkward silence with nothing to do.

[charlotte]

I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
There's something that I'm supposed to be.

[/url][/size]
Charlotte wasn’t very good at puzzles so she did her best to make certain she looked like she wasn’t having a lot of trouble. She quietly put things together but then she would occasionally look back up at Justice to see what he was doing. The young lady eagerly waited for the puzzle to come together though and she saw that Justice was far better at puzzles than she could ever hope to be. She wasn’t very good at sitting still and thinking critically. She was a creative and free spirit who needed to move constantly. She was pretty much the total and polar opposite of Justice. Miss Fujimoto watched him skillfully piece everything together and she offered him a smile. He sure was a lot better at it than she was. She wanted to ask if he had always been good at puzzles. She wondered if he was good at Sudoku and crossword puzzles too.

Charlotte wanted to know who he was before Lucid Manor. What would he have been if he hadn’t been committed. Did his parents just put him in it because just like her? She didn’t know but she wondered what he would be if he wasn’t there. Would he be an artist? He looked like he would be. Or would he be someone smart. Maybe. He seemed to be an analytical thinker. She didn’t quite know but she knew that she would be dancing. She was always dancing. The young woman couldn’t help but wonder who he was.

She listened to him yawn and wondered why he was tired. She tilted her chin up and the girl listened to him. She watched him and she moved a piece around as she tucked her dark hair back once more and twirled her hair between her fingers as she wondered how quickly he’d finish. A tutu was in fact special though. She loved her first recital when she first got to wear one.

Charlotte immediately thought of Sergei. She wanted to see him. Why didn’t Sergei love her? She sighed and her thin shoulders dropped as she picked up a piece and placed it. She smiled and the girl was snapped out of what she was supposed to say. Charlotte heard his question and she shook her head. “Oh no no no,” she shook her head and placed her small hand on her chest where her heart would be. “The music is here.” She loved dancing. She could dance whenever she wanted to. She tucked her dark hair back and the girl continued, “I just…If you love music you’d love dancing.”



[/blockquote][/blockquote][/font]

[justice]

Justice had always been good at puzzles, even when he was a little kid. He had always thought critically and thought about what he said before he said it, and though a lot of that faded when he came to Lucid Manor, some of the puzzle-solving skills remained. He pit a few edge pieces on, stopping for a moment to look over the remaining ones. There were only five or so left; enough that he would be done with them in the next minute, and then the awkward silence would start. Where neither of them knew what to say, and they would just sit there... doing nothing. Justice really didn't want that to happen, but he wasn't the talkative type, so there really wasn't anything he could do to prevent it. He furrowed his eyebrows, fitting on a few more pieces. Two left now. ”You can probably figure this part out just fine,” he said, a little smirk finding its way onto his face. If she couldn't fit the last two pieces on, she was even stupider than Justice thought she was. Well, stupid in the sense of the word. She seemed to mean well, but he guessed that she wouldn't have done very well in college if she had the chance to go. It was a tough place, and even Justice had suffered days on end without sleep. Most of the general public had called it 'sleep-drunk', playing on the fact that students who hadn't slept for a few days found everything funny, even people like Justice, who normally never laughed. Those had been horrible times punctured with good moments, and he missed them. He even missed the bullies, in an odd way. At least they made his life livelier, though there was plenty of that here... it just wasn't the same.

He wrinkled his nose. “I don't really like music in general... it's too loud. So I don't think I would like dancing,” he said, shrugging. It was as simple as that, and if she couldn't respect his lack of interest, she could leave. He blinked, now faced with the awkward moment he had been dreading. Really, they had nothing in common, and therefore nothing to talk about. Well, other than the fact that they were cooped up in here, but that really wasn't a subject that was polite to bring up. Though, Justice, lacking manners, brought it up anyway. ”So, how're you liking the manor so far?” he asked lightly, leaning back and looking at the puzzle. The ballerina had one leg up and seemed to be reaching towards something with her arm, a bright pink figure in the relative darkness that was the background. It was a little depressing, but cute all the same. Just like the manor to put such a puzzle in the cupboards. He sighed, wondering if they would have to take it apart. He guessed that even if they left with it still intact, the guards would clean it up as soon as they were gone, and that was just degrading somehow. To have their project taken apart by people that he barely knew, and that were in a position of higher power over the patients. He would rather take it apart himself, but he wasn't sure that the doll girl would like seeing it taken apart so soon. He would have asked, but he didn't, for some reason. Best to see what she was going to do before making any moves.

[charlotte]

I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
There's something that I'm supposed to be.

[/b]
Charlotte may not have been exceptionally smart in any way, shape, or form but she wasn’t as dumb as a post and even she could put two puzzle pieces together. One part was most definitely in the background as it was dark and obviously belonged there. The other part was on the ballerina’s silhouette. She put both of the pieces in their proper home and the young girl wiggled in her chair before she clapped. The young girl chirped, “We finished it.” More like he was the one who had finished it. She just came in at the very end and put two pieces in. Charlotte tucked her dark hair back and she glanced up at Justice once more.

His assumption about her was one hundred perfect correct. She didn’t want to go to college. While many girls grew out of wanting to be a princess of a ballerina by the time they were ten she would have absolutely no part of it. She knew what she was supposed to be and she knew that she was supposed to be a ballerina. If she did go to college it would be for dance—she’d done rather poorly in school since she had been dancing and put her heart and soul into it. Charlotte graduating was a miracle in itself. She was actually shocked that her brother hadn’t graduated by the time he was twelve. He was so smart.

Stupid Franklin. He was good at absolutely everything. She nodded. “Oh,” she started to say. He didn’t like music. She shrugged. “Well, dancing’s not for everybody. You seem like you’d be better at something else.” Not dancing now that she thought of it. She would have loved to teach somebody how to dance but if he didn’t want to then he wouldn’t have to.

Now that she thought about it he didn’t seem like the type who would eagerly be waiting back stage to perform “The Nutcracker” or “Coppelia”. It was wrong to stereotype of course but she just didn’t see it in him. She stared down at the puzzle and the young woman bit down gently on her lower lip. She wished that she had her toe shoes but they took them away. it was so much harder to practice without them. There weren’t many places for her to practice. She reached out with her small fingers and traced the outline of the ballerina on the puzzle. She missed that. She missed pirouetting and jete’s. She missed the music. She missed sweating and the satisfaction of landing the perfect leap. She missed the crowds. She missed the flowers. Charlotte missed it. “Hmm?” she questioned as though she were awoken from a dream. “Oh well….” What sort of question was that? She withdrew her hand and her nose crinkled. She should not be there. “You want my honest opinion?” she offered a wiry smile. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/font]

[justice]

He took a deep breath and leaned on the base of the couch behind him, still sitting on the floor itself and watching her fit in the final two pieces. He yawned, stretching one of his arms above his head and squeezing his eyes shut as he heard a few joints make little crackling noises. He had been sitting relatively still for longer than he thought, then. Which was odd, because time only flew when you were having fun… had talking with the girl been fun? Maybe it was the puzzle that had made the time slip through his fingers like liquid silver, because most of the other patients in the rec room were gone now, only a few guards lingering in the corners and watching their every move. Of course, the low profiles hardly needed guards, and the high profiles seemed to be all gone. So it must have been the medium profiles like Justice that required the public guards to watch over them; after all, they were the unpredictable ones. The ones that the staff labeled as “in the middle” because there weren’t any set expectations for them. High profiles were always violent and lows all generally passive, but the staff just didn’t seem to know what to do with the middle ones. Justice found it amusing, but then again, the staff generally left him alone, and he liked that. It was a good compromise between being constantly prodded by doctors and having a guard follow you around all day.

He raised an eyebrow when she said that he would probably be better at something “else”. It probably didn’t mean anything, but after a few months here Justice had grown to be suspicious of everything that moved. ”And what would that be?” he said softly, staring absently at the walls. He had never liked rooms in general, and normally preferred to be outside in the sunshine, or in triangular rooms. Those only had three walls… his eyesight started to get slightly blurry, and he shook his head violently, unsure if he was on the brink of a panic attack or crying. It could be either one, but if he had been crying at least the tears hadn’t fallen yet. He had been closer to panic attacks ever since a few weeks into his confinement in this place, and one of these days he wouldn’t be able to prevent them any more. This place wasn’t helping with anything, it was just unraveling everything he had done to hide his diseases, and he hoped that once he was broken they would do something to fix him up again. Otherwise, he would be having panic attacks every other day and stealing lighters every chance he got. Well, he was already doing the second one, after all. It brought a small smile to his lips, knowing that the lighter was safely tucked in one of the hidey-holes he had made in his room. He was beginning to get paranoid, always afraid that someone would check his room and stumble across one. It was just another way that Lucid Manor was slowly killing Justice.

Snickering, Justice nodded. ”Honest opinion and all the commentary, since I’m assuming your opinion is negative and therefore correct.” Justice’s opinion on Lucid Manor was negative, too, and he didn’t even have to explain his thoughts on that one. He had already commented on it so many times, and his bad opinion of the manor layered every thought that escaped his lips, or even reached the deepest parts of his mind. Well, no, the very deepest parts held secrets that were tainted with darker opinions, things that he would never tell anyone. But any time that he commented on Lucid Manor, vocally or otherwise, it was easy to see that he hated the place. It was the bane of his existence, even though these days it was his existence. Maybe that was part of why he hated it so much; it took away his free will and anything else it could get its hands on. Even his mind wasn’t as clear as it used to be, and he assumed that was because of the drugs and the mild depression that was starting to set in. Slowly, even stubborn Justice was starting to become a mindless zombie. He had to give Lucid Manor credit for that; they worked efficiently and were good at breaking the patients down to dust. Justice didn’t plan on that happening to him, but in some part of his mind he knew that it eventually would, and that fact scared him even more than the concept of death used to. In fact, these days death seemed even preferable to the mindless hell that was probably awaiting him.

[charlotte]

I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
There's something that I'm supposed to be.

[/url][/size]
Charlotte glanced up at him as he leaned back on the couch. The young woman bit down gently on her lower lip and she tilted her head over to the side. The way he leaned on the couch she felt a little…Charlotte didn’t quite know how to say it but she had the want to touch his thigh with her hand. The young woman licked her lower lip and the tiny girl moved a little closer to him. She didn’t realize that they were close to being the only two in the room but she had felt that way since they were both there. The ballerina shifted on her feet and the girl quietly moved closer. She looked around and she tucked her dark hair behind her ear. She wished that she had her curling iron because she was really certain that she didn’t look as cute. She bit down gently on her lower lip once more and wondered if he thought she was cute. It didn’t really matter if he thought she was or wasn’t because he wasn’t her target person. she didn’t worry too much about what people thought unless she cared about them or if they cared about her.

From how Justice was talking to her she knew he was being nice but they weren’t really connecting. She didn’t think that they were especially compatible with each other but it was nice to have someone to talk to who wasn’t lusting after her. Charlotte was by no means a fashion model but she was beautiful and she knew it. She understood that people wanted in her pants pretty often and she merely waited for someone to make the first move. Or at least she usually did. The first move could me something as small as an extra smile in her direction. Charlotte’s dark eyes closed and she listened to him yawn.

It was comforting to be with somebody else she wasn’t used to being alone. Why was it that everyone wanted her to be alone? They said she had to depend on her own judgment and herself. Why was it so bad to depend on others? She had noticed that the high risk patients had guards with them at all times and she mildly wished she had someone with her at all times too. She heard him breathe and the girl smiled up at him. She continued to watch him and she glanced up at him with a tiny smile. Charlotte kept her eyes on him. he stared at the wall and she shrugged. He hadn’t been looking all right. She picked up on small movements and facial features very quickly. Charlotte watched him shake his head and the girl smiled up at him shyly. “I don’t know,” she coyly tucked her hair back once more and ran her thin fingers through her hair.

She leaned against the couch and stared up at him. The young girl listened to him snicker. She giggled, “I don’t belong here.” She didn’t know what they were doing. She shook her head and the girl wondered why they were there. She didn’t understand. She desperately wanted to go home and be as far away from the Manor as much as she could. She wanted to be back out again. Charlotte bit down on her lower lip. “I just…I miss little things. Like no fences or being able to go out and shop or if I want to eat something I get whatever I want. And some of the people here are really scary.”[/blockquote][/blockquote][/font]