Sarah Erebus's Story

Television Room
1005

Sarah was still watching Aveline carefully, half believing that the other girl was going to get up and attack them at any moment.

And Sarah seems too normal to actually be normal, thus she is not.

Sarah sighed, then leaned over Jack. "Should it worry me that crazy girl over there is starting to sound rational?"

"Do we get special pills here? Like the colorful ones I usually take? Oooh, and if we get sick do we get good tasting medicine or the crappy type?"

"Then again . . . back to wacko land." She rubbed Jack between the shoulders absently, looking around as she suddenly noticed that Matt was missing. She was about to draw attention to his absence when Aveline suddenly started shrieking and pointing at somebody at the far end of the room. Curious, Sarah shifted around in her seat, only to see an head poking up from behind the couch, the guy looking as if it was going to take a small army to get him out from behind it. Now, given their current conditions, it was entirely possible to just be a random so-far-unknown nutcase; but the guy looked familiar. After a moment's thought, Sarah remembered him from the group she met earlier in the hallway. Which meant . . . . this was probably the missing Matt. And being that he was a shapeshifter, he was probably dealing with a typical problem.

Despite all the shit that she had dealt with in the past couple hours, she could still find a small bit of humor in the situation.
"Jack. Hey Jack." She nudged him until the larger guy looked up. With the faintest grin and a bit of a blush, she jerked her head over her shoulder in the direction of the far end of the room. "You wanna help a brother out? Get him a shirt or something? Or pants? I think he'd appreciate a pair of pants most of all."

Television Room
1020

Sarah couldn't help a small smile as she saw Jack standing there shirtless and Matt in what was now a small dress.
"You're ready for the Paris runways, both of you." Now bereft of company on the couch, she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, hugging her legs to herself in an effort to remain calm. Then she looked over at Keiko, remembering the last time she had seen the other girl.
"Hey, didn't you stay behind to talk to the doctor? Did he give you the answers you wanted or just a lot more double talk shit like the rest of us got?"

Television Room
1030

Sarah had caught the look that Jack had tossed her, but it was hardly nessassary. She wouldn't trust Aviline with her bus pass, let alone anything any more important. She nodded in response before glancing back at Keiko for a moment, her attention finally caught by soemthing she really should have noticed earlier. Not wanting to make a scene, she quietly got up and crossed over to Sam, reaching out to draw him away from the other girl with one hand.

"Um, Sam? Small problem." She waved one hand at her own shirt and then hooked one thumb over her shoulder. "I'm afraid both Keiko and I need something new to wear." Keiko still had a large bloody smear down one side of her shirt and her own shirt was covered in small dark smears that must have been transfered when she was holding the other girl. "I know that this is the worst time, but . . ." She geastured again and noticed that her hand was trembling just a little bit. Sarah drew in a deep breath and clenched her fist, fighting for calm. She needed to hold on and be strong right now.

With everything that was going on, she had almost forgotten the circumstances of her waking up here, the way that she shouldn't be here. She had to remember that, had to hold on to the knowledge that she needed to get out. If nothing else, she had to find a way to escape. But till then, she needed something fresh to wear.

Television Room
1035

Sarah quickly sorted through the stacks of cloths, finding some yoga pants, a t-shirt and a hoodie that she thought would fit. They would be comfortable if nothing else. Glancing at the other women in the room, she had a moment's hesitation. While she didn't mind Keiko or the nurse; she was hesitant to turn her back on Avaline. But at the same time, no way she was giving a free show. So instead she moved back away from the door to a quieter part of the room, turning her back and quickly changing. It was remarkable how reassuring it was to be dressed in something other than pajamas. She pushed her feet back into the slippers and walked slowly back over to the others, reaching up and starting to braid her hair in an effort to keep it out of the way.

"So, Lauren was it? What's next on our fun filled tour of . . . . wherever the hell we are? Art's and Crafts, story time . . . uh maybe a movie?" Sarah accepted a rubber band to hold her braid in place and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe an explanation as to how we all happen to be here?"

Television Room
1050

Sarah glanced at Lauren from under half lidded eyes, watching where she got her keys from and where they went to. She wasn't ready to make a move just yet, but all information would be useful. Given that she didn't remember getting here in the first place and she was almost entirely sure that she wasn't insane (who could ever be 100% sure to begin with?) that meant that she had to get out as soon as possible. And it was guaranteed that they weren't just going to let her walk out. What that meant . . . she'd just have to see.

Walking over to the shelf of DVDs, she quickly glanced over the selection and pulled out one of the cases.
"I've always loved this one," she said quietly, holding out a copy of Young Frankenstein. "Good for a couple of laughs at least." She listened intently, waiting for some sort of sign that Lauren was leaving. It was always easier to look around when you weren't being watched.

Television Room.
1100

Sarah shrugged and sat the movie back down on the shelf.
"Wouldn't be very fair to the guys to start something without getting their opinion, would it? I mean, what if they want to watch something else?" She started out the door, looking both ways before figuring out where the others had gone. There were raised voices, so she followed them down in time to hear Jack yelling at Aveline. She didn't hear it all, just enough to catch that Jack's brother was dead and Avaline was being what looked to be her normal bitchy self. Sarah tamped down the urge to slap the little idiot, it wouldn't do anybody any good for things to get violent. For one thing, Jack was about half again as big as her. She shook her head as she glanced between the two of them from the door, feeling just the tiniest bit of ironic amusement.
"Listen, Av. Bit of a tip for pissing people off. You need to pick on somebody a bit closer to your own size."

She looked over at the guys and bit her lip. Jack looked to be right on the edge and Matt was standing near him as if the two of them were guarding each other. With a tiny crooked smile, she held out one hand to the both of them; ignoring Aveline for the moment.
"Come on guys. Let's go hang somewhere together and just breathe ok? We're all going through hell and we need a moment to get things together, right?" She finally spared a glance for the other girl. "And if you could manage to not infuriate everyone in your immediate vicinity, that would be really cool."

Leisure Room 2
1115

Leaving the doorway, Sarah carefully walked over to Jack, kneeling down next to him and wrapping her arms around one of his. She leaned her head against his shoulder and simply waited a long moment, listening to his breathing gradually slow down.
"What's it like to have a brother?" She asked softly. "I was an only child, so I've always wondered. Is it like they say, you've always got a partner in crime, someone you can blame things on? Fighting tooth and nail one minute, then defending each other to the last breath on the next?" She didn't look at Jack as she spoke, instead just gazing off into the distance. Actually she was hyper aware of everything that was going non around her, paying special attention to any sounds coming from behind them. Aveline might be content to just scream at most of them, but at any moment she might attack somebody that she thought was vulnerable. Especially somebody not paying attention to her. So she was ready to defend herself at a moments notice, if not in a physical way. She had always been a bit on the slight side and never had she wished more for the ability to hold her own in an real fight.

"Hey man, at least you know why the hell you're here." Sarah half smiled as she spoke, still leaning against the large young man. "They still won't tell me what I'm in for. Must be pretty bad, huh?" A beat of silence. "If it turns out that I like to dress in a costume and run around downtown trying to save people from evil aliens, will you still be my friend? Or if I have a tendency to see fluffy pink unicorns and try and go off with them to Candy Mountain? What if I have a pathological need to recite the Pledge of Allegiance backwards?"

Leisure Room 2
1120-1125

Sarah wrapped her fingers through Jack's again and held on tight. "Yeah. We're friends. We'll get through this just fine."

-“We’re- we’re supposed to be here, but that’s okay, isn’t it? We can get better.”-

Are we supposed to be here? Too many things don't add up for things to be right around here. Too many unanswered questions, too many things not quite right. Why can't anybody remember why they're here? Why are there violent patients in the general population? Something isn't right!!

Sarah continued to just sit with Jack, not revealing her thoughts one way or the other. Too speak up was to invite the idea that she was paranoid, that she felt that the would was out to get her. And while that might very well be the case at the moment, she wasn't about to make it easier on the son's of bitches that stuck her here. For now, play it cool. Go with the flow, act as if she bought the story. The more they thought that she believed, the better her chances of escaping.

The only problem was, who else in here was sane? Jack wasn't exactly acting like somebody well balanced, but they might have found his weak point somehow. Apply the correct pressure at the right moment and you could crack anybody, really. The only question was going to be whether or not the guy could put himself back together afterwards. Idly, Sarah stared at a nearby shadow, watching it ripple under her attention. She wasn't a physically strong person, never had been, never would be. Which meant she needed to think her way out of this. Needed allies, needed resources. And most of all, she needed to be underestimated.

"Come on," she said, gently tugging on Jack's arm. "There's far more comfortable seating than the floor. Let's try a chair at least." With a minimum of prodding, she got Jack up off the floor and seated on a nearby bench. At the same time, she sent a grateful smile to Kieko for her help in calming Jack. The nurses didn't seem to be doing anything useful.

Sarah felt a distinct sense of relief that Jack was going along with what she suggested, it was clear that the nurses were disinclined to try anything physical with him, given how big he was. But that made no sense, given that he hadn’t shown any real signs of aggression and even when he had it was under extreme stress. Which if they were halfway competent, he would be sheltered from if it ordinarily caused this much trouble. Everything that happened just reinforced her feeling that something was horribly wrong with where they were; that there was no way this was a real facility.

Paranoid delusions, anyone?

But even if she was paranoid, there was still the fact that the nurses here seemed to wander around with their heads up their asses. No matter what the other patients were like, those with violent tendencies should never be in the same room as those who were unable to even respond, let alone who were emotionally fragile.

“Jack?” Sarah waved her hand in front of his face, hoping to see his eyes track the movement.
“Hey, Jack?” She was aware that her voice was rising in worry and she tried to bring it under control, biting her lip in worry.
“What’s wrong with him?” She looked over at the nurse, her gaze clearly demanding that the woman take care of what was happening.

Sarah recognized a seizure when she saw one and much as she wanted to help this was one time that she couldn’t. She didn’t know Jack’s history, she didn’t know any medications he might be on; there was nothing she could do except stay out of the way as requested. Quickly, she moved the stool as Lauren asked, then summoned the shadows in order to clear the rest of the area quickly and without fuss.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she fell back to stand against the wall, biting her lip in anxiety as she watched Jack progress through his seizure. She didn’t relax until he started breathing normally again, letting her own out in a long shuddering sigh. She felt almost faint with a sense of relief, clenching and unclenching her fists as she watched Jack being surrounded by the nurses.

She was so focused on Jack that she almost didn’t notice the nurse coming up to her, only realizing that he was there when he stood directly in front of her. Much as she wanted to not listen to him, she knew it wasn’t the time or place to rock the boat, instead she simply followed after him, still lost in her own thoughts.

Sarah followed the nurse, hoping that soon enough she'd get some answers about what was going on. "I'd like that. Jack is a friend, I hope . . . he's going to be ok, right?" She was upset enough about things that the shadows were stretching out behind her, summoned unconsciously to follow her should she need them. It was almost as if she cast an extra shadow, one that flowed out further than physics should have allowed. They got back to her room quicker than she expected, the nurse guiding her along in such a way that she didn't have a chance to pull away and join the others.

Her room showed up sooner than expected, and Sarah grimaced sourly. "Home sweet home, 'eh? When do I get to decorate?" She shrugged and went in, walking over to flop down on the bed, looking over at the nurse with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, if we get to choose, I'd like a sandwich for lunch. And maybe something to read in the meantime?" She pulled her legs up to cross in front of her, drumming her hands on her knees; the shadows now pooled underneath the bed like a slow moving pool of ink. She wouldn't admit it, but she was really worried about Jack. He seemed fragile to begin with, the seizure might really knock him for a loop. She sighed and started chewing on her thumbnail, waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Event! Sarah.
Room 5.

Sarah had gotten bored rather quickly while she waited; pulling her bed over to look out the window, she found nothing that gave her any clues as to where she was. Once she got tired of looking, she paced a bit, finally curling up on her bed and falling into a light doze. The surroundings didn't help her stay awake, instead they all conspired to lull her into a false sense of serenity, sucking her downwards into a state where she was willing to just go alone with what was happening. The only thing that changed was a slowly increasing feeling of hunger, but even that was a distant feeling. So much had happened, she felt completely overwhelmed. The urge to just pull the blankets over her head and hope it was all a bad dream was overpowering, but she had the horrible feeling that it wasn't. This was real, terribly, deadly real. And if her family didn't know where she was . . . she had to get out somehow on her own. And given that she had no idea what she was up against. . . . . this was going to be very bad.

The door opening caused her to jump a bit, pushing up and tensing as if she expected something to rush her. Instead it was another nurse, asking about how she was feeling.
"Well, considering that I don't remember anything about this place before waking up this morning, I'd have to say no. No offense, just that my previous location was a bit more congenial." Sarah spoke in a dry tone as she sat up and put both feet on the floor. A quick glance clued her in as to what was probably going on, there was no other reason for her to be carrying towels. "It was also a lot calmer, which would be weird, considering that it was a college campus. With frat boys trying to pledge." She shrugged slightly. "But I'm sure you're not here to listen to that. So, what's up?" She leaned back against the wall, slightly to one side so that she could see the nurse clearly. "Looks like I get to clean up some. I'm surprised anybody is willing to walk into an inclosed space after what happened this morning."

Event! Sarah.
Room 5

Sarah froze for just a moment when she saw the nurse’s watch, and a glance out the window seemed to confirm the ‘fact’ that it was early in the morning. She felt a strong sense of uncertainty, was it possible that she had simply dreamed what had happened earlier?
“Oh” she said in a small voice. “But I thought . . .” It hadn’t felt like she made it up, but wasn’t that the easiest answer? Occam’s razor . . . a dream made more sense than some of the things she had dealt with. Her fists clenched on her knees as she took a deep breath, trying to match up what she believed had happened with what might have happened.

When in doubt, keep your head down and wait for your moment. Do what is necessary to survive.

“You let me sleep so late? There isn’t going to be anything good left by the time I get there!” Sarah let a brief look of dismay cross her face before she got up. “I had the most wild dreams last night, you wouldn’t believe it.” She got up and followed the nurse out and down to the washroom, pulling her hair out of it’s braid and combing through it with her fingers.

Act normal, act casual. Don’t let them see that you think something’s up.

In the bathroom, she quickly cleaned up, accepting the nurse’s help and trying to seem like a hungry young woman who just wanted to get to breakfast.

“So, anything special about today?” she asked as she roughly toweled her hair dry and rebraided it. “I’d like to get caught up and see everybody.” She brushed her teeth, leaning over to rinse her mouth and taking the opportunity to take a good look at herself in the mirror. No visible changes. What the hell was going on?
“I have to say, my dreams weren’t really very nice . . . I’d like to make sure that everybody’s ok.” She shrugged lightly. “You know how it goes, it all seems so real when it’s happening. Anyways, what’s for breakfast?” She kept up a light flow of chatter, playing the part of ‘confused but harmless’ for all that she was worth as she followed the nurse down the hall towards the dining hall.

Until you know what's real . . . play along.

Event! Sarah

Sarah had been quietly following the nurse when she started talking to empty air. Everything seemed to be normal up to that point, at least as normal as it must be in a nuthouse. She thought that she had missed the person that the nurse was talking to, but then it happened again; no mistaking that the woman was talking to somebody who wasn’t there. Just a collection of shadows moving down the hall, accompanied by footsteps. Which, actually given Sarah’s own history and abilities, wasn’t all that unusual. She could do something like that without even trying.

Frowning, Sarah turned her head and followed the shadows as they passed, limiting her interaction to a brief smile and then ducked her head and firmly looked at the floor. It wasn’t hard to continue playing the confused by harmless young woman, given that apparently she was surrounded by people who weren’t there.

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...

Some poem by some old dude who quite possibly belonged in the room down the hall from her.

Or maybe he knew something that she didn’t.

Either way she kept her head down and her shoulders loose, body posture that of somebody who didn’t want any trouble. There was obviously something that was going on, she just had to keep going along with it until she figured out what it was. She kept it up as they went into the Dining Hall, sitting down at the table and waiting for whatever would happen next. Under the table, her fingers twitched slightly, wrapping a tendril of shadow around her leg in a comforting caress. It was nice to know that if she needed to make a run for it, she wasn’t completely helpless.

Sarah blinked when she entered the dining room, slowly trailing to a stop as she took in the table full of crazy. Slowly her head tilted to the side as she took it in, carefully weighing each place setting and balancing it against what she knew. Her lips pursed and almost without realizing it she started whistling a tune, almost under her breath.

A very merry un-birthday to you . . . to me? To you!

The sprightly tune seemed to echo from the corners of the room, matching the way that she felt she had been dropped into the middle of Wonderland. All that was missing was the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit and a couple of mice to make the scene complete. For some reason, the ‘normal’ meals bothered her almost more than the crazy ones, being so very out of place.

Slowly, she approached her designated spot, using just two fingers to pick up her place card, flipping it over to take a look at the back before setting it back down again. Madness it read.

A very merry un-birthday to us, to us
A very merry un-birthday, to us . . .

With one eyebrow cocked curiously, she looked at the other place settings, flipping over Jack’s and Matt’s to look at the back. Matt, who could turn into a dog, had a card that read sodium pentobarbital, which was a drug that commonly was used in veterinary practices. While Jack, who looked to have just had a seizure, had a card that read aneurism. So were the cards predicting what was going to happen to them?

Sarah slowly spun on the ball of one foot, turning to face the nurse squarely.
“So, what’s the story here? I’ve been playing along up to now, but there is no way you can convince me that this is any way, shape, flavor or style of normal or sane.” She slowly walked around the room, circling the nurse and watching everything that she could at the same time. Something was definitely messed up and she wouldn’t put anything past whoever was running this joint.

Behind her, her shadow lengthened and thickened, responding to her sense of danger by slowly rippling and stretching.

“My theory is that you kidnapped us, most of us anyways, and are trying to keep us as off balance as possible. You want something, I just don’t know what. But I have to say that you’re as crazy as you’re trying to get us to think we are.” She tapped her fingers together and looked closely at the nurse, trying to read her expressions. "Who are you?"

Event! Sarah.

A defiant expression crossed Sarah’s face.
“I’m not hungry after all.” There was no way that she was eating off of a prop from Alice in Wonderland. Who the hell knew what was in there? Instead she crossed over to the table and pulled her chair back, glancing at it to make sure there was no ‘special surprise’ stuck to it. Frankly she wouldn’t be surprised if she found anything from a tack to a hypodermic needle. Judging it to be safe, she kept it pulled well back and sat down, crossing her arms and stretching out her legs, crossed at the ankles.

“And I don’t need any medication. I know what I’m seeing is real, it just doesn’t make any sense. I appreciate the offer though. You’re so very kind.” She smiled sweetly and a tiny bit sarcastically. Then she widened her eyes playfully. “So, if we’re going to change the subject . . . What’s your favorite movie? Mine is One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. You know, where the sane guy is stuck in the nut house and nobody believes him?” She looked around.

Event!
Sarah.

Sarah took a long look at the new arrival and quirked half a smile. While she might look like another ‘patient’, this was obviously somebody who was in charge given the fact that the nurse listened to her. Might even be somebody that was making policy decisions, which meant that if she was cautious enough, she could learn a lot. Too bad she wasn’t feeling cautious.

“Shawshank Redemption? I watched it a while back, it was pretty good.” Sarah settled back in her chair and pulled her braid over her shoulder, running her fingers down it in a self soothing motion. “A man, falsely accused of murder, is sent away with a two consecutive life sentences. While there, he manages to make himself useful to the corrupt warden, who uses him to launder money. The guy spends twenty years digging his way out of that hellhole and in the end manages to bring the whole rotten thing down.” She wrapped a stand of hair around one finger as she considered the other woman.

“So, if we’re comparing movies to our current predicament, would you be playing the part of the Warden or the head of the guards? Because in the end, one them got caught, while the other died.” Sarah shrugged. “Not really the ending you might want.” She flicked at a spot on the table and looked directly at Icarus. “So. What’s your game?”

Event!
Sarah.

Sarah widened her eyes. “You think I’m the smartest one here? I’m flattered.” Her smile definitely was heavy on the sarcastic side. “You really shouldn’t say things like that though, it’ll go straight to my head.” She realized that she should have been playing it a bit smarter; but at the moment, she just couldn’t manage it. Things were just too far from normal, she didn’t know which way was up. Which meant flying by her instincts, which sometimes were not always the smartest things to go with.

With a practiced gesture, she drew a small pool of the shadow at her feet up into one hand, shaping it absently into a pair of smooth balls that she rolled around and around in a meditative movement. The shadows felt cool and heavy, while at the same time wispy and ephemeral. It was a dichotomy that she had never really understood; instead she just went with it. Her eyes stayed steady as she listened to Icarus speak; still waiting for something to happen beyond the nice friendly chat they seemed to be having. Talking with her though, it felt something like what she always imagined a game playing against a Grand Master must feel like. You knew your opponent had all of the advantages, knew every move that you might make and had counters for all of them. The only advantage she had . . . . was in being unpredictable. The less she knew about how she would react, the better. But at the same time, she still had this to get through.

“A year to the day later, he went to visit his mother, who happened to be his deceased aunt’s twin. They ate a meal together, and traded stories about many things, and at the end of the evening, he took a carving knife from the table and slit her throat.

“What I want to know,” Icarus concluded, her fingers shredding the little piece of card into confetti. “Is why he would do such a thing?”

Sarah sat back and listened, the shadow balls still rolling smoothly in the palm of one hand. Her eyes flicked to the side for just a moment before she focused back on Icarus.
“Money. He wanted his inheritance and didn’t want to wait any longer.” She passed the shadows back and forth for a moment as a brief smile crossed her face.
“Oh, I know that’s not the answer that your scenario is supposed to lead me to, but the number one reason for killing somebody is money. Greed. Followed closely of course, by a moment of rage, a crime of passion in the heat of the moment. Perhaps they argued while they talked, maybe she refused to give him something?” The shadows split into four, then eight, then merging back into three, and all the while they kept moving.

“Now, what your scenario is supposed to lead me to think; is that he killed his mother as part of a plan to meet his dream girl again, in the hopes that since she showed up for his aunt’s funeral and presumably the two women were close, then this girl would show up again when she saw the picture in the newspaper. But that presupposes that we believe that this guy is obsessed enough that he’s willing to go to such lengths in order to get what he wants. And while obsession is certainly a motive for murder, it’s not the most common one.” Sarah tilted her head to the side. “It also asks you to believe that this guy was enough of an idiot that he couldn’t go around to the other mourners and describe this woman to them, in the hopes that they knew who she was or some way to find out. And if he’s obsessed enough to murder, then there’s a hundred different things that he could have done first in order to find her.” She spread her hands in a ‘there’ sort of gesture.

“So, not the most dramatic of reasons, but the one that is most likely. Greed, pure and simple.”

Sarah watched the other woman intently as she spoke, a wary look in her eyes. The woman spoke of Icarus, taking chances and loosing oneself in the thrill of doing something forbidden. It might have been a non sequitur, but she had the feeling that there wasn’t a single thing that this woman did that was without cause. Everything was to be judged and weighed, facts against the coming fight. And there would be a battle of some kind, of that she had no doubt. This wasn’t the type of person who gave up what they believed was theirs.

“You’re in power here, but not in charge.” Sarah tapped her fingers on the table as she spoke, emphasizing each point with a delicate thunk. “See, knowing you’re in power, that’s the easy bit. You told Nurse Cheerfull over there to go away and she went. But all of this,” she waved one finger at the table. “This is all too . . . garish for you.” She leaned forward slightly, mirroring the posture of Icarus. “If you were in charge, this would look exactly the way it should for a psychiatric facility. There wouldn’t be a single anomaly, would there? You would keep it all neat and tidy, and you would play your mind games with us in your spare time.Twisting us around until until we didn't know what way was up.”

Sarah turned and looked at the table again, a sudden thought occurring to her. “You’re not in charge, but you don’t respect or fear the person who is, do you? All of this, would have taken a lot of time and planning to put together. And yet you just walked in here and sent whatever it was supposed to be down in flames so that you could ask me some questions to see if you could crawl inside my head.” She tilted her head and looked Icarus up and down, taking in the un-earthy perfection of the woman. Being supernatural herself, it didn’t unsettle her, just pointed out that there was far more to this woman than meets the eye. She was reminded of the way that nature often clothed the most deadly of insects in the most beautiful of colors.

“You probably think of yourself as one of the Queens of this little chess board, don’t you? All of the power, full run of the board, but not the most vulnerable of the pieces. The power behind the throne, so to speak. White of course, you’ve got the first move. Which is ironic, don’t you think?”

Sarah shrugged slightly. “But now I’m the one being rude I’m afraid. I don’t know what it is you hope to gain by doing all of this, but I’m sure its very important, isn’t it? It would have to be, for you to be taking the orders of someone who so clearly doesn’t appreciate everything that you have to offer.” Sarah’s gaze was very direct and clear, as if she truly believed what she was saying. She had really wondered if those acting classes were ever going to come in handy and now she was about to learn if they worked at all.

Sarah tilted her head at Icarus, a sudden smile crossing her face. “That’s the complete truth, isn’t it? You don’t need to tell lies and untruths, not when no one would listen to a word I had to say. Who’s going to listen to a crazy woman locked up in an asylum? That would just be part of the fun for you, to listen to someone try and tell the truth all day long and not be listened to.” She propped her chin in her hand and twisted her neck slightly, listening to it pop. In front of her, on finger still idly tapped at the table, a soft counterpoint to her racing thoughts.

“I suppose the question to ask, would be are the rest of the patients playthings or test subjects for you two. What is it you could possibly hope to gain from all of this?” She breathed out a sigh, brow furrowing in concentration. “If you wanted minions, there are plenty of thugs out there for hire. It’d be expensive yes, but so is all of this. If you wanted to break us, then there are better ways to do it.”

“This Instigator. So named because he likes to cause trouble, I presume. Get’s things started, get’s things stirred up. So he’s got his own goals for all of this, all of us. But you,” Sarah leaned forwards just slightly, eyes intent on the woman across from her. “What is it you are going to get from this?”