Wards of Darkness.

[Ravenloft]

Enumael

Enumael stood behind Carlita in the entrance way to the common room as she hesitated. He leaned toward her, placing a supportive hand lightly on her shoulder. "Its okay Carlita, you can go. Just remember, call my name whenever you need me." He whispered in her ear.

He waited for her to go in and mingle, watching her for a couple moments with a genuine smile and a nod of approval. Satisfied that she would be well, enjoying her new found freedom, Enumael turned back and headed up the hall. He walked with purpose, withdrawing an old key from his breast pocket as he came up to the door to Maya's old cell.

Taking a deep breath and pushing aside Jerome's lingering emotions assailing his being, he slid the key into the lock and turned it. A click and a twist of the handle to the door and he stepped inside. It was dark... He reached out and flipped the light switch to the room. Everything was the way Jerome had left them several months before. He'd even left Maya's noose remain, a grim reminder of his ultimate failure. Enumael's throat tightened with emotion and his eyes stung with tears as he slowly stepped forward being assaulted by Jerome's pain and loss.

"Maya..." He choked out. "A-are you here?" Enumael asked, reaching out to touch the noose. "I heard your voice... You were singing." He whispered, Jerome's tears rolling down his cheeks as he drew the noose to his lips, taking in a ragged breath. She'd woven her noose from her own hair, over the years Jerome had kept her locked up on her cell, and her scent still lingered in it.

 

[emipet]

They talked to her. Whispers from the corners. She would try hard to ignore them, but they always seemed to be there. They said wierd things, strange things and a few times she would argue with them.

"No! The purple is NOT with four! It is around the smell of flowers! Get OUT of my thoughts! Enumael is here! Make him go away!" Sometimes dancing quietened the whispers and she'd madly dance until exhaustion took her and she'd fall to the floor.

"Oooh, I want to fuck! The dogs are NOT loose! Cry havok and unleash the dogs of rage!"

 

[Ravenloft]

Bale-Doll (NPC)

"A'Fore, not four. From thirteen they come with the smell of blood." They whispered from the darkened courners of Rosemarie's room. The only sign of their presence was their glowing green eyes and dark open mouths set in perpetually wide grins. The blackness of their mouths darker than the darkness that shrouded them.

The one that taunted her now giggled, saying. "You let us in, silly girl." The thing in the darkness shrunk away from the mention of Enumael's name, hissing. "Kill him... He means us harm... Kill him. We are afraid."

"Poor Rosary, wants to fuck but has no luck... Heheheh!" The thing in the shadow taunted, giggling again, like a little girl. "Oh, but the dog IS loose, she gets to roam the halls even as we speak, and here you are, stuck, without any luck, or even a fuck... Hahahahah!"

The creature in the corner leaned forward into the light while it laughed. It had the height of a little girl, it even had cute little pig tails like a little girl. But its eyes glowed green and its mouth was a black maw of nothingness. "Come play with us and you will be free..." It croaked out in a voice no longer sweet and innocent like before, but dead and cold, like the sound of dry autumn leaves crackling and burning in a late fall fire.

 

[emipet]

Rosemary flew into a rage and beat on the walls with her entire body. Fists, feet, head, ANYTHING to stop their taunting!

She felt a strength from inside her and floated around the confines of her cell pummeling and lashing at the voices, screaming in rage and fear. This also seemed to lend a prior to this moment, ability or power, her skin should have been horribly bruised and abraded but remarkably the damage wasn't as bad as it should have been.

She stopped in the middle of the cell in a combat ready pose, panting and sweating, her green eyes firey with anger. "Come out you gnurrs vrom der voodverk oudt! Face me! Go away from me!"

She started swaying and humming a tune, where it came from she did not know or care, but it was old when the Earth was young. It hinted at primal things. Lust, fear, rage all threaded from the wordless tune she hummed. It continued building then stopped. Leaving a unsettled peace in the area and Rosemary fell to the floor asleep.

 

[Ravenloft]

Bale-Doll.

Rosemary's rage was a terrifying thing to witness in all its purity and it sent the waif-like Bale-Doll shrieking through the wall of the cell. A viscous splatter of some sort of thick black oil coated the wall where the thing had fled. It was not gone, just out of her reach as it giggled. "Come play with us..." It repeated before Rosemary began screaming in rage and fear. Then... It was gone, driven off by the ancient words Rosemary spoke. It was gone, but not forever... Rosemary's song would only keep it away for a day, maybe two.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Maggie~An Appointment

Luncheon is bland. Very bland. No flavor. No color. Nothing to exalt the taste buds. Like crazy people lose the ability to enjoy food. Like too many flavors will warp their minds further from true. Like the doctors and nurses are scared of too much excitement.

Suddenly, a new thing. The wolf girl.

Maggie's nose lifts. Sniffs. Catches the scent that screams other~

trees and verdant fields, and wild flowers and fur and springs and lonely mountain tops and...

'Must stop that...'

Sense shuts down to more human range. Eyes fixate upon the shadow of the man who has brought the wolf girl to the common areas and left her there. Alone.

'Should I get up? Follow?'

Her nurse comes, stops by the table, looks down upon her.

"Maggie, you are next to meet with the doctor. Please return your tray to the appropriate place and proceed to the doctor's waiting area."

Eyes narrow. Maggie HATES that snobby tone. Stupid bitch thinks she is being helpful. Acts like all patients are too dumb to know how to comport themselves. Makes the girl angry, makes the girl strong.

Maggie moves, quickly, standing up and pushing past the nurse with a brisk stride. The tray is dumped and placed in the collection pan. Silverware and plates are placed in the one next to it. She continues onward, never slowing, never looking back to see just what the nurse will do.

She doesn't care.

But here comes the bitch any way, hand gripping her bicep.

"You need to be more polite. An excuse me would have been helpful."

Head turns, sharply. Eyes fix on the woman until the hand releases it's grip. The voice is not a Maggie voice. It is a Margaret voice. It is the voice of one who has had enough.

"Touch me again and I will break your fucking fingers."

And then Margaret is gone, her brisk walk eating up the distance, leading her ever deeper in to the abyss. Leading her to his office. She finds a chair, settles in to wait.

 

[La_Reina]

Carlita nodded at Jerome's words. She takes a step, but no more. She watches everything from the way the orderlies look at her with apprehension to the girl coloring on the table with dry markers. No ink or color marring the table top. It had been so long she loses courage. She'll get thrown back into the pen, back into the cage. She must conduct herself civilly. She catches people looking at her. Mouths move, but she's used to ignoring ramblings. Hell she's used to ignoring anything that didn't have Carlita prefixed.

She takes another step. Watches a girl move in an angry fashion to put up her eating utensils. Carlita's stomach grumbles. She should have lunch. For once she could eat out here. Maybe she'll do that. The girl marches past and barely misses brushing Carlita. Carlita catches her scent and inhales the pretty smell making sure to close off anything that would spark the other senses. She smells nothing, but life and freedom and see the anger. The orderly grabs the girl. Carlita growls. The girl talks to the nurse. The nurse feels ganged up on all sides. The other orderlies take a step in Carlita's direction. Carlita ponders if it'll be easier to get used to if her freedom was taken away now or later. She decides now and the nurse must have sense that. She backs down and the girl is gone. Carlita takes the two steps towards the entrance and watches her walk down the hall. Her other sense tugs at her wanting her to open up and look at the girl through that way. She clamps it down tight.

Carlita returns to the commons area and sits down. She's no longer hungry. Instead she watches everyone including the nurses. She can tell they don't like her stare. So she stares more. Watching them mess up under the scrutiny; watching them watch her; watching them.

 

[Cheska]

Briana's room.

The nurse was relatively new.
That's why she made her first mistake.
She was a people person.
This is why she made her second mistake.
She assumed that Briana had gotten hold of some markers and was breaking a rule.
This is why she came screaming down the hall, Briana in pursuit, bellowing at the top of her lungs.

"You Moron, idiot, incompetent plebeian!" Briana did not run, she did not wave her arms or very much at all, she did stride, she marched, she made it obvious that she had a destination and it was ment to inflict harm in some way. Most likely verbal.

The young nurse had made it to the common rooms, she was trying to stammer an explanation to the head nurse, calling on orderlies, who seemed amused if anything.
The head nurse, taking the collection of black dry erase markers from the young nurse, held them out to Briana, who glared, she sneered, she almost growled.
"Thank you nurse Conners, as always, you are most helpful. Now, if you could have the dimwit flogged, I shall return to my lab."

The elder nurse shook her head, "Not today Professor. Doctor Jerome wants everyone in the common room, for a bit of social interaction."

Briana stared at the nurse as if she had spoken an alien tongue, "Social.." she said with mild disgust, "Interaction... should we sing Kumb bai ya? hold hands? Share our feelings?!"

The nurse shook her head again, "Lord no Professor, I don't think the ward could recover from the diatribe you would unleash.. just find a cozy spot and jot down in your journal.. for an hour, please?"

Briana seemed to consider the options, she looked about the room with a sense of loathing and with a sniff, she went to the nearest window, barked at a patient who smartly flead, and took up a seat to look outside, making notes in her hand made journal.

Nurse Conners turned to the younger woman, "Congratulations, you meet with her approval." and went about her own duties.

 

[emipet]

Rosemary woke up and stretched, idly pinched her nipples and fingered herself and looked to the food pushed into her cell. It looked, boring so she pushed it back out and sat leaning againt the door.

Maybe I should get dressed? Where are my party clothes? Why are the things after me? What did I do?

"Hello? HELLOOOOO! I want out please. Is anyone out there?" She took the gown and wrapped around herself in a sarong fashion. Then peered through the grill trying to see down the institutional green painted hall.

She refused to acknowlege the other sights she saw, even if they were real, which it wasn't as cells did not open to surreal vista with oddly shaped and oddly moving things outside of them.

 

[yeishia]

Maya

As Maya had curled around her musical box she had started to drift, was she dreaming when this happened? she truly did not know yet she always awoke refreshed and the dream was always the same with only minor deviations,this time it was no different.

Her father blithely planned her birthday party he even had a beautiful grown up dress, a delightful pink concoction, made especially for her special night. She had danced as she always did with gay abandon, the huge hall remindedher of the miniature scene from her dead mothers music box, even down to an orderly all tuxedo-ed up playing the piano. The orderly his name had been Simon...he...his face...handsome, caring...that night she had wondered what it would be like to be dancing in his arms instead of those of her father.

The festive evening ended as it always did and Maya returned to her room where she carefully retrieved the thick noose she had spent the best part of her stay in bishops gate painstakingly making using her own silken hair. She had forgotten that small fact it surfaced in her memory like a small knife wound. Had she looked reluctant or complacent she couldn't remember?She would find her mother she would have her answers! That thought had remained the same even though in the end she of course had failed.

In this version of her dream the young girl wasn’t thinking of her mother the image that came to mind was of Simon the piano playing orderly of her party she couldn't seem to get him out of her mind. Maya’s reflection touched her lips wondering what I would be liked to be kissed by someone other than her father, by him… She would die in her dream she always did...on a cloudy day like the rain tht always fell it was inevitable

Only this time...

Mmmmm, she could smell apple blossoms, the fragrance from her own hair after it had been newly washed, Maya stretched remembering the heavenly smell her eyes slowly opening to find her beloved father standing just a few feat away his pain a palatable entity as he drew her noose towards his lips.

"Maya..." He choked out. "A-are you here?"

Maya's heart went out to her father immediatly fearing he was about to follow her into oblivion! The wraith's mind for a split second became muddled across place and time...

It's not your father! a voice reminded her. It is the demon, look how close he is to the noose...a small push...kill him, exact your revenge!

Maya drifted off her dresser to float behind the man she had called father in life her small hands hovering at his shoulders. "I heard your voice... You were singing." He whispered.

The wraith that Maya become truly felt her father for the first time since she had returned to earth, she could almost taste the salty tears falling from his weary eyes, she could clearly feel his distress...her heart went out to the man he had been in life.

"Feel my presence father," she silently begged, "come back to me!"

Maya pressed her slight length into his back her own form coalescing, merging into his where pure energy met flesh and blood. She closed her beautiful eyes and pressed her lips to his neck willing her father to feel her love, the love she had steadfastly denied him in life.

He had heard her sing ...

Maya concentrated harder than she had ever done before calling on all that she had learned from Umbrel. The lid of her music box slowly opened, the mechanism turned on, the antique arm lowered carefully and the haunting strains of Au Clair de la Lune floated around them both like a soft soothing cocoon.

"Pappa..." she whispered against his ear.

 

[Ravenloft]

Enumael felt Maya's presence and smiled softly as she exerted her will, making the music box her mother left her begin to play. Enumael closed his eyes and gave himself over to the part of his being that was still Jerome just as she whispered "Pappa" in his ear. "Oh Maya... You ARE there. I'm sorry baby, I am so sorry I failed you... I should have been there for you. I never should have locked you away from the world like I did. I thought you were getting better... I should have known something was wrong, the way you looked during that last dance."

The pain Jerome felt over losing Maya was profound. Enumael had not felt anything like it for a very long time, and then, only once before, when he fell from grace. It was not the fall from grace itself, nor the horrible absence that followed that had hurt, but the silence with which the judgement was rendered. The fall of many of his brethren was acknowledged, even given meaning by the harsh words of God. But when it was Enumael's time to be judged for his hand in the rebelion no words came. They were simply ignored, unworthy of punishment even.

"I wish to make amends, Maya." Enumael whispered. "I wasn't able to set you free of this place, but perhaps I can help the other's... Carlita, Margaret, Briana, Rosemary and the others. They are special, they don't deserve this hell. I want to set them free, but I don't think I can do it alone. Please, Maya, please help me reach them."

 

[Ravenloft]

An Orderly named Simon.

Simon has been an orderly at Bishops Gate for a few years, so it seemed a bit odd when the head nurse instructed him to go and bring several of the female patients back to the common room for 'socialization'. He unlocked Rosemary's cell and let her out, directing her down the hall, toward the common room. He'd delt with her a few times before and knew better than to entertain any of her sexual advances.

 

[emipet]

Rosemarie hugged Simon out of the sheer joy of seeing another human. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I was going crazy in there! Um, well, not crazy... real bored."

She stepped back when he stiffened. "Oh sorry. I promise to not bite your cock like I did James'. Is he better now?" She giggled wildly and danced down the hall singing a happy ditty about being free.

She at first had not secured the sarong well enough and had the decorum to blush when it fell off revealing her nakedness, as she quickly replaced it to cover herself then danced into the Common Room.

"Hello, hello, hello! Anyone horny? Need a pussy or cock sucked? I'm your girl!" She sat on the floor in a cross-legged fashion, not realizing or caring her privates were readily visible.

 

[La_Reina]

Carlita continued to stare and she was amused when a patient who was kinda dress like the doctor came in barraging a nurse. The Head Nurse even called her, 'Professor', which was very interesting. The woman was obviously smart and the younger nurse was near tears. Carlita wanted to laugh, but didn't want anyone to know she was having too good of a time for fear they'll use this against her too as some sort of punishment.

"Carleeta? How are you doing by yourself?" Carlita turned her head and stared at her personal nurse. She wanted to tear out the woman's jugular. "Would you like to-"

"No." Carlita interrupted her. "I'm fine."

"Your lunch was in your room. I brought it to you. You can enjoy it here." The nurse laid it down in front of Carlita. It was a simple fair of baked chicken, cream corn, corn bread, and some juice. For dessert was a brownie.

"Thank you," Carlita replied before picking up the utensils. Carlita smelled before she saw the shock register over her nurses features. Carlita wasn't sure what for, but ignored her. Just as Carlita was biting into her chicken than a half dressed girl came into the common's area. She was a little too happy and chipper and Carlita's mouth hung open. Very sexual.

Carlita tried to look away, but the girl was flaunting what she had and she was quite pretty. Carlita had to force herself to look down at her food as she ate. She didn't want to get in trouble. Though she couldn't help glancing up to look from the Professor to the naked one and back again.

 

[Ravenloft]

Simon

Simon called after Rosemary to wait as she skipped happily down the hall toward the Common Room as he quickly grabbed an arm full of cloths as well as a blanket from her cell. She'd blythly ignored him and was half way down the hall by the time he jogged after her. "Oh no... Oh no..." he muttered under his breath as she slipped into the common room. He was only a moment behind her, but that was enough for her to make her announcement.

He entered the room just as she sat down, exposing herself. He inadvertently glanced before looking away and striding up to her with an arm full of her cloths, his cheeks blushing red. "Now Rosemary, you know the rules, you must be wearing propper clothing when you visit the common room." He knelt down in front of her, setting her cloths by her side and opened her blanket up to cover her from her shoulders, down.

 

[yeishia]

Maya

Her father hadn’t completely disappeared...

Maya’s ethereal form seemed to press closer until she became one with the man who had been her father, almost as if her very ectoplasm was determined to ferret every small essence that remained in the body Emumael had stolen .The Demon seemed like he was filled and surrounded by a slightly illuminated cloud as the image of the beautiful haunting Maya winked in and out. His pain became her pain, conjoined their hurt was almost overwhelming for the young and barely out of the womb wraith.

"I wish to make amends, Maya." Enumael whispered.

Don’t believe him! her shadow told her seeking to darken the very fabric of her being ….the cloud darkened slightly.

"I wasn't able to set you free of this place, but perhaps I can help the other's... Carlita, Margaret, Briana, Rosemary and the others. They are special, they don't deserve this hell. I want to set them free, but I don't think I can do it alone. Please, Maya, please help me reach them." Enumael continued his voice instant in its passion.

The walls of her room began room ooze black slime dark, ominous laughter surrounded them both as another made its evil presence known

“He lies…”

Who spoken, not the voice in her head surely?

Pain picked at Maya like tiny vicious knife wounds, as the conflicting wills surged through her incorporeal form seemingly from all sides… they were like tiny devils as they slithered around her fragile psyche... taunting teasing tempting.

“Umbrel!” she pleaded her beautiful eyes filling with tears.

Maya’s hold on her father loosened and she was sucked in a whirlwind of emotion back into the familiar Umbra and her mentor's waiting arms where she clung to him before her awareness faded into nothing.

“Shhh! child you are safe,” he murmured as he held her close.

Umbrel frowned his usually serene face darkening, he had recognized the evil which dwelt beneath Bishops Gate.

Enumael’s talents paled before what it was capable of! It processed no conscience, no heart, it was simply a black hole of corruption and pure evil.

The dark presence seemed to have taken a fancy to his protégée... she would not be his!

 

[emipet]

"Now Rosemary, you know the rules, you must be wearing propper clothing when you visit the common room."

"Oh. Yes. Okay Simon." She stood up and tore the sarong off and put on clothes but left the underwear alone then sat down on the floor again humming happily.

"Oh thank you for rescuing these fair maidens from the wild naked!" She giggled and looked around. "Is there a magazine in this doctor's office? I need to keep up with current events. Also if the Pope is wearing tenns shorts or a cullotte this season."

 

[Ravenloft]

Enumael

Seeing the walls bleeding black oil-like ooze and feeling Maya's presence suddenly whisked away Enumael rose sharply to his feet and with the force of his will alone brought forth his celestial form.

He was tall, statuesque and wreathed in an otherworldly luminesence, like white, lambent flame. Raising his arm and pointing his hand toward the wall from which the dark, soul-knifing voice had come, a tongue of flame spouted from Enumael's palm.

The flame formed into the shape of a sword, the last relic of Enumael's once high standing. "So, it is as I suspected, an agent of darkness dwells within these walls..." Enumael spoke with supernatural command.

"Agent... Mhmhmhm. I could peel the flesh from your bones with a mere thought! I am no mere agent. And what are you? I sense great power in you, but in the end you are bound by flesh, and flesh always rots."

Enumael held his ground but did not dare to attack. For one, there was nothing physical to attack, this was just an emination, a voice reaching out to him from someplace else. And secondly, it, whatever it was, was not lying, Enumael could feel the vast power it posessed. Although he was sure that it could not destroy him utterly, there was no doubt in his mind that Jerome's body could never endure the sort of power this thing posessed. And the only way Enumael could remain 'alive' was through Jerome.

"You're right, I stand no chance against something of your might... But I am not alone..." Enumael warned.

"....We shall see... We shall see!" The knife-like voice replied after a pause, growing louder and louder. So loud that the walls of Maya's room shook and dust from the ceiling rained down in a shower of motes that glowed in the dim light. Then, it was gone. Leaving no sign of its presence. Not even the oil-slick wall, which was once more bare and sterile-white.

Enumael released his celestial form and was once more Jerome, his flame sword going out in a puff of smoke. He examined the room for a moment longer, but nothing happened.

So, he returned to his office, where he found Margaret waiting patiently for him to arrive. "Ah! Maggie, how have you been?" He asked as he circled around her and sat in his chair, facing her. He drew his hand across his brow before leaning forward and resting his chin upon it, his index finger resting against his lower lip as he focused upon his patient. "Have you been sleeping well?"

 

[Ravenloft]

Simon the orderly.

Simon blushed again and quickly looked away as Rosemary tore off the make-shift sarong and picked through her cloths. He didn't look back until she sat back down, even though the image of her naked body seemed indelably burned into his memory.

"Wild naked..." Simon let out a nervous laugh as he bundled up her blanket in his arms. She had such an odd sense of humor. "Magazines, yeah, sure, their over there, where they've always been Rosemary." Simon said, pointing to the corner of the common room that sereved as the Bishop's Gate 'Library'.

It was little more than a stack of seven plastic milk crates filled with old, torn magazines and worn, donated books. "But I'm afraid you won't find anything current in there..." He added, scratching the back of his neck, wondering what the hell a cullotte was. He guessed it must be the silly hat the pope always wore.

 

[emipet]

Rosemary riffled through the magazine s and grabbed one and flipped through it idly, more watching Simon and the other girls than actually reading. She watched the corners especially and cleared her throat several times.

"Why are we here? What caused us to be here? Ohhh! black is the new black. Neat. The horned ones watch! They WATCH!" She giggled. "I give them a show."

She then got up and calmly went to each person and curtsied. "Hello! My name is Rosemary Goodfellow. It is such a wonderful pleasure to meet you!"

She then started a slow sensuous dance about the common room humming happily.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Margaret~An Appointment pt. 2

The chairs outside of his office were very difficult to get comfortable in. They made sitting...hard. There was no give in them. She wondered, not for the first time, if that was so a person would feel more comfortable sitting in the cushioned confines of the chairs inside the office.

After all, comfort makes one more talkative. And she had always found the doctor fairly easy to talk to. Another thought, then. Would that change? He had suffered a loss. Had been gone for so very long. Would she have to start all over, rebuilding that ease?

Gods, she hoped not.

Soon enough, her eyes drifted closed, her mind retreated, away from the here and now. She remembered~

Before

"I can not tell you why you must be here, only that I say you should be. Do you not understand?"

She focuses on her maker, her builder, her rescuer. Eyes taking in his laughing visage, his crazy multicolored eyes, the tilt of his head. She knows now that he is what others would call insane. After all, the first of them was cursed with madness or received it as a blessing.

Her maker has said no one is sure. She doesn't care. She only knows what he teaches, what he tells, what he shows.

And she hates being stupid to the clans power structure. She hates not knowing, never knowing what his plans are for her besides blood doll, ghoul, toy.

"This crazy quilt of reality will help you to focus. You are strong in the touch. Part of the reason I found you so easily when you were but a real child."

She waits for further explanation, but he gives her none. Instead, his wrist is sliced open with one ragged, jagged nail and rich, red vitae pours free. She is lost in it, for the few moments that he allows her to feed. Lost in the pull, the draw, the beckoning voices.

"Enough, Maggie. Rest now."

He speaks, but the words travel through the night like bubbles, popping gently upon her skin...and then she is resting.

Now

She returns to the present with a jerk, eyes flying open and darting from left to right. Had the doctor come? Had she missed him?

 

[Ravenloft]

"Maggie? You can come into my office now." Enumael called out, realizing that she had been day dreaming as he had walked past her. "Lost in memory again?" He asked casually as he looked up from her file on his desk. "How have you been sleeping?" He repeated now that she was aware of his presence. She had always seemed to have some very keen senses, Enumael wondered if she would pick up on the subtle differences between him and Jerome. "I trust you have been well taken care of in my absence?"

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

She came out of her memories with a startled sigh, her wide eyes flying to the doctor's form as he spoke to her. With nary a thought, she rose and moved into his office, closing the door gently behind her so that they were cut off from the ebb and flow of the outside ward.

"I am sleeping fine, thank you for asking, Doctor."

Margaret settled into a chair and studied the male seated before her. His aura was different. There was a bit of an oddness just above his head, like a halo, not golden but bright. Very bright. What did that MEAN? Before his daughter died? His aura had been gray and pink...depression leavened by compassion. Now there was still gray...but that halo? What did that MEAN?

"Some times, doctor, memories are all that we have. I find myself slipping into the past more than I mean to, simply because the past is known and can be learned from. No one knows the future, nor the present of others, only one's self. Why do you have a bright halo 'round your head?"

Her head tilted, wide eyes studying him.

 

[Cheska]

Opening her note pad, she jotted down a few things she noticed about the room.
She eyed the wild ones, they may be smarter and saner than anyone here.
She paid careful but distant attention to the quiet ones, they could eat you alive and no one would notice.

The nurses were unimportant and only a few interns interested her just now.

One had made his way over, "Good morning Briana, how are we today." he was new.

She wrote a bit more, glanced at him and then finished her notes.
He held out his hand, "May I read that?" he was smiling and stupidly new.
"May I read your personal notes Heir Doctor?" her accent a more germanic than before, being out of place with her real voice. "I will presume that No, is your answer." she turned away from him and looked out the near window.

"Briana, I just want to hel.." was all he was able to say, before she spoke. "Help you, I am your Doctor and would like to know what is going on with you."

His expression was priceless, it was a brief flash, so damn brief, but he was going to say that and she said it for him. "You, Heir Doctor, are not the first to say such a thing."

she stepped away, "Now, be gone student. I await your teacher. You have nothing for me and I have nothing to give you." she snapped.

 

[Ravenloft]

"Good, good, I am pleased to hear that you have been sleeping, Maggie. Has your... Maker visited you at night since our last meeting?" Enumael asked softly, pausing to listen to her words. "Ah yes, and if we do not learn from the mistakes of our past, we are doomed to repeat them, no?" He paused again at the mention of the 'halo' above his head.

"Sharp girl, I can see it would be pointless to hide things from you... To be honest, it is a relief to have at least one of you who I won't need to pretend around... So, I shall lay my cards upon the table. Maggie, I know your secret, you are visited at night by a Childe of Cain: A vampire... And my secret is..." Enumael rose from his seat and shed the guise of his mortal form, revealing his wings and statueque form to Maggie. "I am one of the fallen celestials, but I am also still them mortal you knew as Jerome Manning."