As usual, Tom had been up before the alarm. He had showered, gotten dressed (white button down shirt, blue jeans, faded brown cowboy boots), and made his own breakfast before the alarm had even gone off. He was a morning person, always had been. There was something so calming about the morning, when everyone else was asleep -or- at least in a peaceful state of mind.
He'd gone outside, made sure the front lawn was clear of any foreign or sharp objects, and done the same with the backyard. He was a thorough man, always making sure things were the way they ought to be. Today though, he was extra careful. The new guys were coming, and he wanted to make sure that Home looked decent enough. He decided to wait to mow the lawn, though, not wanting to wake anyone up before they ought to have been.

He was in the kitchen a couple minutes before Amy had gotten there, setting things out for breakfast. Tom usually cooked in the mornings, he knew what everyone liked and didn't like, how they wanted their food prepared and arranged. And that's where he was now, on the opposite end of the kitchen from Amy, letting her do her own thing. He had made toast, a big stack, and was making pancake mix, heating up the big pan on top of the stove. The stove itself had a lock built in, so that only someone with the key could turn it on. Every evening, the carers worked out who would make breakfast in the morning, and what they would make. The key would then be passed to the person making breakfast.
Reaching for a large plate, Tom started pouring out the mix onto the pan ((Not sure the actual name for it)) and watched the cakes carefully, not wanting them to get too brown. He scooped up the down ones, making a stack with them on the plate until he had finished the pancake mix. He grabbed the pancake plate and the toast plate and headed over to the dining table. He'd set out the plates before hand, and divvied up the pancakes and toast equally onto each plate. Butter, syrup, and jam were all in separate containers in front of each plate, so no one would fight over any of it.
Sighing, he stepped back, and reached for the little bell they kept in a cabinet by the table, ringing it as a signal. "Breakfast!"

Alex got up,not wanting to deprive anyone of a seat. Amy was just putting the last egg on her plate. She cut it up,with a small butter knfe,then buttered her toast. She sat down,as Alex went to get Lucas,or anyone else who hadn't heard.
He walked up the stairs to Lucas's room He knocked on the door,and said," Breakfast it ready,if you want to come eat."
He walked by the others.
"Breakfast." he said,walking down. He came back to the kitchen,were Amy was eating.
"So,Amy. What do you plan to do today?" He asked,smiling. She shrugged,and took a bite of her eggs.

Nathaniel stared in puzzlement at Judith. He was the shortest male at the asylum, yet most of the girls were his height or shorter. Although, he supposed, he couldn't really call them "girls;" most of them were older than he was.

"She?" he had thought. Had that been him thinking? What do you mean? he inquired of his mind. There was no answer. {Of course there isn't, Nathaniel. It's your mind.} "What the hell?" he muttered to himself. {What the hell?} his mind repeated. {I don't know what he's talking about,} a second voice said. This one sounded very familiar, though Nat still couldn't place it. Someone he had known a long time ago, perhaps.

He looked back at Judith. This was a mistake.
{NATHANIEL!} her eyes screamed at him, and now he recognized the voice. He screamed back, in surprise and horror. {Nathaniel! You evil, evil boy! Who taught you to do such things?} Her eyes burned through him, screaming in pain, in shock, in emotional agony...all about something Nat had supposedly done. Nathaniel clamped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, but the loud girl's eyes were emblazoned into his vision, and the screaming continued. Nathaniel couldn't tell why he felt so much pain at hearing this particular voice, for he had often made people scream before, and it never made him anywhere near this unhappy.

{Listen to,} Nathaniel heard, from who-knows-where. Not the eyes, though, somewhere else. Something else. {Listen, Nat, listen to,} repeated over and over, this time in men's voices, and children younger than him. He began murmuring random snippets of what he heard, almost absentmindedly, in a steady, monotonous voice. "Why, Nat, listen, who, listen, hey, listen, father, evil, Nat, listen, listen, listen to, Nat, fire, malicious, malignant, malformed...listen, Nat, evil, father, house, why, listen, listen, hey, who, listen, brother, boy, girl, that girl, listen, why, cry, me, father, listen, Nat, listen, listen to, listen to your..."

Nat froze. Yet another voice joined the congregation, this one completely unfamiliar. {It's HER!} it screamed, nearly drowning out the voice of the fly, and someone else, and someone else. It repeated over and over, alerting him that something was someone who he apparently should recognize. The voice also seemed to be commanding him to do...what? "What do you want?" he said, in congress with his mutterings. "Hey, girl, sister, what do you, listen, want me to, listen, father, house, do? Listen, evil, fire, that girl...no! Listen to me! Listen to your---NO! Listen to me! What do you want? Listen! Evil, father, house! Why, Nat? What do you want from me?" he said, his volume increaseing almost subconsciously.

Judith! It must be Judith! Nathaniel's head snapped up, and he opened his eyes.

[[What he sees will hinge on what Judith's response to this is, so I'll leave it there. Sorry for the dinner show, but I was on a roll.]]

Lucas nodded a Alex returned to him, He got up slowly walking out of the door. Writhing his hands together quickly he breathed in and out shakily. Finnaly making his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where everyone was. sitting down on a chair he folded his arm tightly, Lucas hardly noticed what was going on in the room he looked down at the plate before him. A slightly confused look painted itself on his face almost like Lucas had no idea what to do. Shaking his head quickly making a small groaning noise he folded his arms tightly his other hand reaching up to his mouth softly knawng down on his hands lighlty, his mind ticking over the prospect of new people arriving today. Alex did say that they were safe Lucas trusted Alex it was very hard for him to trust people espscially with the voice in his head telling him otherwise.

Judith's eyes had widened at the happenings that seemed to fill the boys mind and eyes. She took a deep, unsteady breath before freezing. She did not know whether she should move away, did not know if that would help. Her breath started to hitch in her throat and she started to get nervous. He was looking at her like he had after she had screamed at him. She couldn't help it. He had changed, turned into something with leathery wings, something with blood dripping off him. He had been screaming that it was her fault that her mother was dead that she should have stopped the evil man. His head had changed, his eyes. Everything seemed just to distort and change into something hideous.

Flames had shot up around him and she could remember screaming something at him. Screaming to make it go away, the carers hadn't known what to do; they'd only ever handled her nightmares not visions. The closest object had been the fork she had been eating with. It had taken might but she had stabbed it in her leg and the flames died down, the wings moving away until she could see the room again. The incident had traumatised both of them and this now was reminding her of it. She didn't want another vision and she didn't want Nat to yell at her.

Her breath kept hitching in her throat a small whining sound coming from her lips. She was scared and her heart was beating so fast she thought it might just jump out through her throat. "Please don't yell. Please." Large emerald eyes pleaded with him.

[[It's classic, how the other guys are just, like, in the kitchen, eating breakfast...and there's all this drama, what with Screwball Sam and Nutcase Nancy up here...]]
[[Btw, GP, you haven't looked Nat up, have you? Because I've used him in a few other RPs. If you have, that's cool, but if you haven't...this is far creepier than I expected.]]

Green eyes...in pain...dying...what? Nat tried to focus. He stared at Judith's face, tried to concentrate on the present, on what was actually here. Her eyes looked glazed. {She's dead...you've killed her...}
She doesn't look so good.
Then, silence. Nathaniel sighed with relief.
"You're not dead..." he said, looking carefully at her. She looked terrible, like death warmed over, like she was terrified. Almost like she did when she was having nightmares. Nat remembered one time when the blonde woman had been in his room, and she had heard Judith screaming. Nat had followed her into Judith's room, where she was lying on the bed, tossing around, and her face had looked much like it had then. How had she snapped out of it?

Pain. Pain was the answer. She constantly sliced herself open, stabbed herself...and she said it made her feel better. Nathaniel didn't want to do any lasting damage, but he needed to snap her out of it.
"I'm sorry!" he said, and then he slapped her in the face.
"I'm sorry!" he said again, thoroughly unhappy with himself, "Are you OK?"

[[Come on, where's Diedra? She's lying down on the job, here...]]

[[No I've never looked him up. So I guess this is creepier than you expected.]]

Judith's eyes opened wider at the sharp sting of Nat's hand against her face. It did clam her down a little bit, the pain was something refreshing and she let out a sigh. Her green eyes closing briefly before opening and looking at Nat. Her heart slowly started to calm down as her breathing steadied. The visions were horrible. She knew she didn't have it as bad as some of the other patients but it was almost as if Judith lived in her own personal hell. Especially at night.

Wide eyes danced over Nat as she took in a shaky breath. "I'm okay now. Thank you for not yelling." White teeth scraped across her lower lip; biting down harder and harder until she could taste copper on her tongue. She breathed out another sigh, the pain washing away what was left of her fears.

[[Copper? I think you mean iron...unless Judith is a Vulcan.
I often play Nathaniel as a demon in supernatural RPs, and it's weird that he's showing up as one in Judith's visions...]]

Nathaniel stared in bewilderment at Judith.
What's wrong with you, he asked, not wanting to say it out loud for fear of offending her.
"They tell me it's my fault," he said quietly, unsure of whether he was speaking to himself or the girl in front of him. "They say it's me." He shrugged, and gave Judith a forlorn look. "I'm the reason they're here. They wouldn't be here if I had just been...well, right. I tell them they're contradicting themselves. Then I realize it's me." He paused. "Sometimes."

Nat couldn't remember the last time he had said so much in one sitting without being prompted. A small voice in the back of his mind was telling him that nothing bad would come of it. Although, small voices in the back of Nat's mind tended to be untrustworthy. He remembered the first time he had been told about consciences. Someone had said that it was a little voice in your head that told you to do the right thing. Nathaniel's response had been, "So normal people hear voices too?" No... Nat thought, puzzled, That wasn't what I said...I said something after "too." I addressed her. Like, "So normal people hear voices too, Sally?" But what was her name? Nathaniel put it out of his mind.

"You shouldn't do that," Nathaniel said to Judith, seeing her jaws clamp on her lip. "Why does it make them go away?" Nathaniel wasn't entirely sure what "they" were. He almost remembered something he had heard about her, about how her disorder was similar to his own. Except instead of hearing things, she saw things. "There's got to be a healthier way of distracting yourself from unspeakable horrors." he said. {She could try drugs.} {She's already on medication.} {No, I meant, like, heroin.} "Shut up..."

[[Blood has always tasted like copper to me. Hmm, that is freaky.]]

Judith stopped herself at his question. Why did it make them go away? She had to think about this one, a little crinkle of a frown at the edges of her eyes. The sharp sting of teeth was still chasing back the worst of her fear, which made it easier to think. Thinking and fear doesn't work together and she certainly couldn't come up with anything extremely knowledgeable with the fear that she could see tell him. But why did she hurt herself? Maybe it was because controlling the pain meant they couldn't hurt her any more. Yes, that sounded like a good answer. She should tell him.

"Because if I control the pain, they can't." She swallowed convulsively, her eyes darting around. She was still nervous but she was used to that. She could handle being nervous. What else was it he had said? There had to be a healthier way? No there wasn't. She'd tried almost anything. None of it had worked nearly as well as the pain. Maybe it said something about Judith? What it was she didn't think she could understand it.

"Breakfast is ready." She motioned to downstairs, hoping she could get some breakfast into her. The sedatives made her hungry usually. A different side effect then most. A small forced smile crept along the corners of her lips as she played with the edge of her jumpers sleeve.

((and you know what copper tastes like do you guilty? hehe))

Lucas's eyes looking around paniky at everyone in the room. The carers where dotted around the sitting with the other paitents watching them carefully. Making a whimpering noise again he bit down on his hand harder than before but without realising it it was only when a streak of blood began to run down his wrist and arm that he felt everything around him close in. His breathing quickened and his eyes darted around the room in a very paranoid way.

((Sorry. I've been super busy this weekend. I think I didn't even open my laptop for like... two days. That's kind of a record >.> ))

"That's great!" Cal enthused when Judith told her the new medications were working. "Tell me... tell me if you need any adjustments..." she said, getting preoccupied as she noticed the gathering in the kitchen. "I'm gonna see if the others have anything for me to do, you know, to prepare." She saw a flash of red hair and noticed that Nat had followed her, then trotted down the stairs.
The kitchen was her favorite room. It was sunny. It was warm. It felt like family and safety and belonging. She spent a peaceful moment admiring the room, a small smile gracing her face, before she approached Tom. Just as she opened her mouth to ask for a task, her highly attuned ears picked up a raised voice on the upper level. Her eyes involuntarily flicked upwards, her mouth shutting, and she excused herself from Tom and, unsure of how serious the situation was, made her way upstairs. There seemed to be no situation by the time she got there, so, feeling like an overreacting, panicky child, she inquired, "Is everything alright?" She decided, in hind sight even more childishly, to tack another phrase on to alleviate her own embarrassment. "Or can't I leave you alone for two minutes?" she asked, smiling and clutching one hand near her throat.

Alex's eyes,flickered over to Lucas,who had just sat down. He stuck his hand in his mouth,and Alex moved over closer,to him.
Lucas had told him a while back,that it gave him comfort. Lucas didn't seem to be biting his hand,very hard,so Alex let him. But he kept one eye,on that hand.
"So,Lucas..did you sleep last night?" He asked,looking over at Lucas,and even daring to have both eyes look at the bags under his eyes.
He worried about all his patients. Even Cal's patients. They were all like family to him. Speaking of which,he really missed his biological family,now.

Amy shoveled some eggs in her mouth,as people started filling up the room. She finished,and then quickly ate the two pieces of bacon. She finished the last two pieces of toast,but was now feeling very sick.
"Ow..." She stammered,as the stomache ache came. Amy clutched her stomach,as Alex grabbed her.
"What's wrong,Aim?" He asked,concerned.
"S-s-stomach ache... I think I'm gonna throw up." She said,breaking from his clutch,and running up the stairs,wanting to get to the patients' bathroom.
Alex watched her run,and bit his lip.
"Be right back,Lucas." Alex said,running after her.
Amy ran up the steps,but was temporarily stopped,as she started throwing up. She wasn't sure it hit anyone.
"S-sorry." She muttered,as the next wave of nausea clicked in. Alex ran after her,seeing the pile of vomit,he stopped.
"Woah,I'm so sorry,guys." He said,looking as it seemed to splash on somebody.
He stepped past the vomit,to the closed bathroom door. He knocked on it.
"Amy?" He asked,worried. There was a sound like she was vomiting. The sink clicked on,and the toilet flsuhed,as Amy came out,her fce pale,and her looking a little sick. "What happened?" He asked,though he had his theories.
"I-I think I undercooked,the bacon...and ate to fast..." She said,sickly. Alex closed the bathroom door,as Amy stepped out,so she slid against the door,her stomach still upset. She bit her finger,and tasted the irony blood.
Alex grabbed her hand,and took her finger out of her mouth. They stood there for a second,while Amy clutched her stomach,afraid to move from the bathroom.

Lucas jumped as Alex spoke to him asking him if he slept last night. Turning away slightly Lucas's throat emited a whimper thinking he would take away his hand from his mouth. Shaking his head quickly in a negative response to Alex's question. Looking around paniky he moaned again bitting down on his hand harder than before feeling blood rush into his mouth he screwed his eyes shut turning away from Alex so he coulnt see the blood that began to run down his wrist and forearm. Breathing in and out fearfully Lucas's eyes flickered back at Alex.

[[It's not dead! The body's still fresh!]]

The blonde woman walked up the stairs to Nat and Judith---the loud girl---and asked if everything was all right. "Or can't I leave you alone for two minutes?"

Nat nodded, then stopped, paused, and shook his head. He stopped again, and cocked his head, looking at the loud girl quickly, then back to the blonde woman. He nodded again, then stopped, looking puzzled. He wished she wouldn't ask questions like that in the negative. He wasn't sure whether to say yes or no to convey a "you're right." Even if he could, he wasn't sure if she was right or not. Could she leave them alone for two minutes? Well, yes, of course she could, but would something happen? Nat shrugged.

He walked down the stairs, and passed the crazy girl at the landing as she made her way speedily towards the upper floor, clutching her stomach. Nat ran quickly into the kitchen, remembering this one's tendency to throw up. Sure enough, the sound of retching met Nat's ears as he sat down, looking at his eggs. The newbie'll have some kind of time, eh? Nat thought, and was relieved when he heard nothing in reply.

"Pancakes," he said to his food. "I don't like pancakes." But he was hungry, so he lathered them up with as much butter and syrup as possible to hid the taste, and began cutting them into pieces. They never ate anything too hard to cut, so they didn't need knives that could possibly break someone's skin. A dumb idea, really, he thought, Because some people, like me, don't hurt themselves, and would like some steak every now and then. And the people who do hurt themselves will find other ways to do it, he thought, looking at Lucas, who was biting his hand, drawing blood.

{Man, he's crazy...}

[All right. Time to give this thing a push. I'm now back from vacation so I may post without fear (and, hopefully, get this thing moving forward once more).

The constant, steady drone of the car was more than enough to lull anyone to sleep. A young man with sandy-blond hair was in charge of driving said car and was too busy keeping one eye on the road and the other on the rear-view mirror to actually notice the steady hum. His patient, however, only seemed to get more and more nervous by the constant sound.

Brown hair which looked as though it hadn't been brushed in months (much less washed) gave an immediate impression of nervousness. Wide eyes only heightened the fearful impression that he left. A white shirt and black pants, both of which were much too big for him, gave him a ragged appearance while shoeless feet only made him look stranger. A single white sock was worn on his left foot while something resembling a khaki leg-warmer could be seen on his right. The leg-warmer started with a loop around his foot and ended near the base of his knee (much like a large sock except without toes or a heel).

"You okay, Lito?" The caretaker had glanced at the mirror and frowned when he noticed that his 'cargo' had begun shifting repeatedly in a nervous fashion. The only reply Lito gave was a deep frown followed by a repeated shaking of his head as though trying to chase something out of his head. The driver frowned and mumbled "Whatever."

At last the car came to a halt outside the large, rather odd looking house. The carer stepped out of the car and opened the door for Lito. Again, he was greeted by a deep frown. A frown which he returned before he shut the door and wandered over to the fence while murmuring something about 'insane mutes' or something along those lines.

He came to a stop at the gate and sighed. How was he supposed to get inside if the fence was chained and padlocked shut with the lock being on the inside of the fence? Checking his watch, he noted that he was right on time which meant that someone should be coming to greet him soon. Leaving the fence, he again opened the door of the car to allow Lito a chance to walk around. Just then the gate rattled and the carer looked up to see whether there was someone finally at the gate or whether the wind was just trying to make a fool out of him.