Assembly [Everyone!]

[Dr. Josephine Hudson]

POSTING ORDER! <3
Josephine Hudson, Gabriel Hudson, Peter Irves, Riordan Shonski, Laura Richardson, Francesca von Hannesburg, Faerydae Elfe, Morph Brown, Leah Wright, Layla Whitney, Chanterelle Stone, Chris Allen, Kitty Allen, Maddox Greydon, Jessica Air, Yvonne Olzon, Violet Westwood, Hazel Johnson, Alex Greene, Evan Lear.

Jo was excited, if not mildly apprehensive. They'd edited the school timetable; now, they had weekly assemblies. Fairly early on a Sunday morning, which was a little annoying for some of the lazier students, but she was sure that they'd all survive. After eating her breakfast - that Gabe had insisted on preparing, he didn't like her cooking - she went straight to her therapy room, arriving at exactly 9.20. Perfect.

As she sat at her desk, doodling on a piece of paper, she looked around her half-painted room. It was beautiful, she thought, although she was slightly worried about her students reactions to it. Laura and Francesca had helped her design in, and so far, they'd painted one of the walls - the far one, around the door - half blue and half green, like a hill against a very clear sky. There was a rainbow as well, stretching over the corner of the room, although it wasn't yet complete, only half-done.

She thought the room looked lovely. Gabe, however, had disagreed when he'd come to see it, just after the girls had finished painting. He hadn't been mean - in front of the students, anyway - but when they'd got back to her apartment, he'd told her it wasn't completely appropriate. She didn't really understand why; she thought it was beautiful. Like a fairy tale scene, or something else incredibly unrealistic but appealing at the same time. The ring of chairs in the center ruined it slightly - made it more school like - but it was still pretty.

9.22. Jo wondered who the first person to arrive would be. She hoped it wasn't Riordan - that would be awkward, although she was trying not think about Rio-related stuff too much - and preferably, it wouldn't be Morph either. It'd be nice if it was Laura, or Francesca... They could have tea. No, there wasn't time for tea. But maybe after the session.

Outfit.

[Dr. Gabriel Hudson]

Gabe entered the room, took in the brightly coloured walls, and sighed. This was going to be a bloodbath. The rainbow in particular wasn't a good sign. But he hadn't explained that to Jo, and there wasn't much point now. The students would eat that up, he knew. He smiled at Jo. "Morning, Jo. How are you?" Grabbing a chair, he pulled it round the desk and sat down, stretching out his legs, nervous about the upcoming slaughter. He'd asked for extra security to be on guard, but suspected it was going to be hellish, all the same.

He tapped his fingers on the desk, wondering when they'd first arrive. They'd probably mostly be late. Saturday mornings weren't the best time for teenagers, even mentally healthy ones, and this lot would be irritable. They were bad enough on their own; throw them together, and you got blood. That was it. He made sure he had his radio in his pocket; he could see Jo's lying on the desk. It was well within the grabbing range for a student sitting near the desk, and he sighed and pushed it towards her. "Keep better care of that, Jo. Someone might grab it."

He sat back in his seat. He literally could not think of anything except this assembly. The idea had been Jo's- of course- and he had agreed with it, but only as a trial. He was regretting that decision now, and had been since he'd made it. Normally, he wouldn't have allowed it, but Peter had also seemed fond of the idea, so he had given in. He was glad Peter was going to be there; the man had a very calming presence- to Gabe, anyway, probably not to his patients- and Gabe needed calm right now.

[Dr. Peter Ivrie]

Peter had thought that assembly had sounded a good idea when Josephine had proposed it. He remembered assemblies vaguely from his own school days but was sure the practice had come on a little since then. Besides, in a school as small as this one the idea of fostering a sense of community was never a bad one. Not only so the children knew who they could turn to in times of trouble, but also to observe how the students interacted with each other in a group setting. The group dynamic in such places as this could enhance or vastly decrease any level of progress patients made.

Entering the room, he surveyed the rainbow and colourful walls with a mixture of amusement and interest. Perhaps some kind of art therapy… Or, quite possibly a whim of Josephine’s. Although he strongly suspected there was a student element involved. Joining his colleagues he smiled warmly at Josephine, then moved his attention to Gabriel, who was apparently very uptight. “Good morning, Jo. Gabe.” Fetching his own chair, he set it behind the desk next to Gabe and observed the younger man curiously. “I have seen more relaxed statues.” He announced finally, with a ghost of a smile. “Be calm, Gabe. This will be fine. We have security, and if it does turn out to be a catastrophic mistake, we need never do it again.”

At least that much was true. He was certain both Gabe and himself were capable of at least sitting on any unruly students until security arrived, and what he’d seen of security was impressive. Compared with his previous placements, anyway. Smiling warmly, he sat back in his chair and awaited the arrival of the students. Looking around at the décor, he turned to Jo. “Most interesting choice of decoration, Jo. Was this your project, something to do with the children..?” He was sure it would help them, even if Jo hadn’t done it for any kind of therapeutic purpose. Besides, it made the room less intimidating, which, it could be argued, would be beneficial to certain students. “I would have brought coffee,” He murmured to Gabriel, “But I did not feel it was safe to have hot beverages in… the present environment.”

[Riordan Shonski]

Rio wandered into the room, stopped for a few seconds, and stared incredulously at the brightly coloured walls. Then he quickly regained his posture, and gave Jo a look of puzzlement, mixed with amusement. "Your idea? It's beautiful." Glancing across the room, he saw the other Doctor Hudson and the third psych- Peter, Peter Ivrie, Rio remembered- sitting behind the desk with her. Gabe looked panicky, and Rio didn't blame him. Having the whole load of psycho kids all in one place didn't seem the best idea to him, either.

He sat down in one of the chairs near the desk and watched them. After a few seconds of silence, he greeted them. "Morning, Doctors." For once, he was quite glad that all three of them were there, along with security. He didn't fancy getting into a fight with a broken arm, especially not with some of the kids here, the ones who looked like they would happily murder... well, him, mostly.

He watched Jo carefully for any reaction to his entry. He wondered how she felt about him right now. It was always hard to tell, since sometimes people seemed to like him more after sleeping with him, while others tended to like him less. Jo seemed the 'less' type, but it was always difficult to know until he'd experienced it. He tapped his fingers against his cast as he stared at Jo, knowing he was being unsubtle, and not really caring, to be honest. She'd probably told her husband already, and besides, it wasn't like they'd do anything about it. Gabe wasn't about to report his wife, and Rio doubted Peter would go against what Gabe wanted unless he really disagreed. Which he might. But Rio could burn that bridge when he came to it.

[Laura Richardson]

Laura walked into the room where they were going to have assembly and surveyed her handiwork happily. It needed finishing of course… but it was good. It made the room look happier already. Seeing Rio down one end of the room, Laura glanced, scared for a moment at all the psychologist psychiatrist people in one room at the same time, then decided to ignore them. Maybe they’d ignore her in return. She didn’t like the set up of chairs… she couldn’t hide at the back. She’d done that in her last school when she’d had assembly, even when they tried to make her sit at the front. Laura’s nails went back into her mouth and she decided the best thing to do might be to just… sit down. Yes. The other student in the room was sitting down, so it was probably the right thing to do.

Cautiously she moved around the outside of the circle and picked the seat next to Rio. She needed to ask him something. Biting her nails, she wriggled slightly. She was nervous beside him, and it showed, but her question was important. “Um…” She whispered, mainly to her knees. “Can you… help me again? Soon? Please?” Laura swung her legs, which didn’t quite reach the floor and waited for an answer. She was sure the grown ups hadn’t heard, they were quite a way away and they looked all… tense. Chewing her nails more now, with nerves, she worked very hard at not looking at Doctor Hudson. He’d said he’d help her, but he’d never asked her not to find other people to help as well.

Waiting for whatever this was to begin, Laura began to wonder if it was a bad thing she was sat next to Rio. He made her uncomfortable… even when he wasn’t hurting her. In the end she curled her legs up to her chest and waited a little more calmly. She’d asked now. There was no point in feeling bad. She wondered who would sit next to her. She couldn’t get up and move places… Laura had a mental vision of her standing up only to be pulled forcefully back down by Rio. And that would hurt on these chairs.

[Francesca von Hannesburg]

Francesca sidled into the room, smiling slightly at the bright colours on the wall, she edged further in. Jo was there- that was good. And so was Peter, which was better. Francesca didn't think Jo would be much help if Morph tried anything, but Peter had already saved her from him once. And then there was the other Doctor Hudson. She hadn't talked to him much, but she knew he was nice because Jo liked him and he liked her, and she trusted Jo. If he was nice to her, then he'd probably be nice to Francesca. Laura was there, sitting next to a big, dark-haired boy with his arm in a sling, and she wondered whether to go and sit next to them. The boy looked too like Morph for her liking, so she edged up the side of the room and sat opposite them, across the desk from Peter and Gabe. She gave them a shy smile, lowering her head so her hair covered her face, and sent Laura and Jo proper smiles.

She wondered what would happen. It would be very loud, and Morph would be there, so there would probably be fighting. That was all she knew. This assembly idea didn't seem very clever to her, and Dr Hudson seemed to second that feeling; he was edging about in his seat, holding his radio and looking impatient. She shrank back from him, just a little, pulled her feet up onto her seat, and wrapped her arms around them. Her back was to the wall, her side protected by Peter, and she could see the door. She felt fairly safe, but she'd like to know when Morph came in... just in case. Just in case he tried anything. If he did, she decided, she'd crawl under the desk and hide, hope no-one followed her and under and the security did their jobs properly.

Then Jo got up. Was she leaving? She couldn't leave. Francesca didn't want her to leave, then she'd be here with the three men and Laura and Laura wouldn't be any help is any of them tried anything and there was no security here so what if something... Oh. Francesca smiled slightly as Jo sat down next to her. That was good. It meant no-one could sit on that side of her, either.

[Faerydae Lily Elfe]

Faye wondered what assembly would be like. The only memories of assembly she had was when she was five or six, and sitting in a big room with lots of other kids. She'd always ended up sitting at the end of the row, because people said she smelt funny... Laila liked using essential oils. As she walked towards therapy room one, she casually sniffed at her shoulder. She didn't think she smelt funny.

When she entered, she was relieved to see that there were no rows - you couldn't be alone at the end of a circle. Unfortunately, that posed the problem of where to sit. She didn't really know anyone. Quartz was there, and she smiled at him briefly, before her eyes flickered around the rest of the circle. Both her roommates were there, her psychiatrist, and another two adult people, one of whom was moving across the room to sit with Francesca. That left sitting on the other side of Gladiolus, sitting by Quartz, or White Heather. She bit her lip, and decided on secret option four, which was sitting by herself, and praying to Faerie Queen that someone would join her. It would be so humiliating if they didn't...

When she'd sat down, in the middle of the group of chairs, she noticed how far away everyone was sitting from each other. They'd split the circle; Gladiolus and the headteacher (girl) were sitting next to each other, opposite Quartz and White Heather, and she was in the middle of them, by the door. The circle looked...hostile, somehow. Faye began muttering some spells, calling upon the Faerie Queen and asking for protection for everyone inside the circle. It was nice that it was actually a circle. They could be imaginary ones, but this was easier.

Quartz = Riordan { protection }
Gladiolus = Francesca { strength of character }
White Heather = Laura { protection from danger }
Outfit.

[morpheusbrown]

Morph walked into the assembly wondering why they had dragged him out of bed on a Saturday to come to this pointless waste of time. What did they think would happen? He smirked as he looked around and saw most people already there. Not Jessiekins though… as much as he’d like to sit next to her, freak her out a bit more, she wasn’t there yet. Probably still trying to solve the mysteries of how buttons worked or something.

Flinging himself into a chair next to Rio and a little blonde girl he was sure he could make cry in about twelve seconds flat if he wanted, he grinned over at his friend. “Useless or what?” he asked, smirking over the girl’s head to Rio. “Dragging us out of bed at this time on a Saturday… it’s like they’re asking for trouble.” His grin widened as he considered his options, and glanced over at Doctor Hudson who was eyeing him as if he expected him of terrorist involvement. Morph smirked at him and surveyed the rest of the room.

There was everyone else he’d met, as well as a few extras. Morph wondered vaguely where they’d been keeping the pretty girl who was sitting halfway around the circle, in between him and that mute kid. He eyed Francesca for a moment before returning to stare at Faye, smirking slightly. He knew who he was talking to after this dog and pony show was over. “Why are they even pretending this is a normal school anyway?” He said loudly to Rio, hoping the adults were listening. “All these sick in the head people in one room… something could go horribly wrong…” He grinned and wondered how long it would take the slightly less useless of the Doctors Hudson to decide this was a bad enough idea to tell them all to piss off and find some homework to do.

[Leah Wright]

Leah barely managed to drag herself out of bed in time for the assembly. As it was, she was only a minute or so late; the power of alarm clocks set strategically by the door so she had to get up to shut the bloody things off. That, or get Layla - her roomie - to turn it off, but she wasn't too keen on that idea. She hadn't got to know the other girl much yet, and she looked sorta scary, even if she was an awesome singer.

She entered the room and looked around, smiling as she saw Rio, but with Laura. Damn. Well, she couldn't go and sit there now, 'cause there was a scary looking boy as well. Leah stood in the doorway, wondering where to sit, before deciding to make some new friends. She crossed the room quickly, sitting next to a small, red-headed girl and one of the psychiatrist people - her psychiatrists wife, she thought, although she couldn't be sure.

The room was half-full; she counted five kids - the redhead she was sitting beside, Rio and Laura, the black-haired scary looking boy who was eying up a nervous looking girl who was sitting by herself. How many were even at the school? More than that, she thought. No, she knew - Layla wasn't there, and nor was Maddy. Plus a few others she had seen in the halls, although none stood out in her mind, aside from a pair of twins (were they twins? They looked alike) that hugged each other all the time.

Leah thought that Morph was spot-on about the pretending it was a normal school crap, but didn't show it. She smiled at the psychiatrist and the girl beside her, whispering a quick " Hi, I'm Leah, " before letting her eyes wander around the circle. She was slightly nervous about the loud boys second sentence - ' All these sick in the head people in one room...something could go horribly wrong ' - and wondered what exactly could go wrong. There were security guards here, right? Well, they were't in this room, which was weird. Surely the security should be in the room with the crazy kids? She supposed that there were three psychiatrists, but one was old - like, really old - and the girl didn't look capable of much.

Sighing, she lent back in her chair, crossing her fingers that she wouldn't get murdered by any psychos. That'd be a downer.

[Layla Whitney]

Layla moaned into her pillow when her roommate's alarm went off, and rolled over. By the time she got around to opening her eyes, Leah had managed to get dressed and leave the room. That probably meant she was late. Layla sighed, cat-stretched, and pushed the covers down unhurriedly. They could wait for her. Seeing some of the other kids, she was amazed they expected half of them to turn up. Pulling on tight jeans and a teeshirt, she meandered downstairs, still half-asleep. Goddamnit. Why did they do this on a Saturday morning, for Christ's sake? Did they really expect any bunch of teenagers to be able to survive an assembly at this kind of ungodly hour in the morning, or was it just a very inventive form of torture?

Entering the room, she glanced around. Leah was there, sat next to Layla's shrink and a redhead. On the other side of the room sat Morph, a blonde girl she didn't recognise, and a dark-haired boy, chatting to Morph. She made her way around the seats to that side, slumping down in a chair just in time to catch the end of the conversation. ...could go horribly wrong. She grinned, glancing over the two shrinks sat behind the desk, looking apprehensive. "You're telling me," she drawled from Morph's other side. "Why not just hand out a few pointed sticks and tell us to go wild? It'd have about the same result..." Jess wasn't here yet, she noticed. Probably hiding in her room. Didn't she have a grudge against Morph, as well? Most likely, she seemed to have a grudge against everyone. That reminded her. Layla looked around the room for a girl who matched "Yvonne's" description, but couldn't see anyone. Jess' roommate sounded like the kind of girl Layla would like to meet. Maybe not for long, though.

[Chanterelle Stone]

Chanterelle took a lot of persuading from her alarm clock before she managed to sit up, throw her pillow at it - knocking it off the stand and effectively killing the noise, if not the stupid red clock - and snuggled back under her covers, ready for another few hours of sleep. For the love of God, it was the weekend. It was meant to be a day of rest, right? When they'd taken her babies from her, they'd also taken away the part she liked least about her children: early mornings. Now they were just giving her ridiculously early mornings, and no Jamilla and James? Surely that classified as torture?

She was relieved that she had no roommate; she didn't get on well with people early in the morning, and she hated to make another enemy. Chanterelle's brow creased at the thought of that jerk on the IM system, and she wondered if she was going to see him today. Maybe she'd knock his teeth out in assembly. Well, there her motivation for rising was! Throwing the covers off her, she rose and went through the motions of dressing like a zombie, heading to the dining hall to eat a quick breakfast alone before she went in the direction of the therapy rooms. She was pretty late, she noticed, and walked straight in, picking a chair almost opposite Riordan. She looked around but couldn't see the twins anyway; pity. They seemed nice.

She glared at Rio, watching him as he talked to a fairly attractive boy, about the same age as her, but she reminded herself that she wasn't at St. Dympha's to find a boyfriend. They were too much trouble, anyway. Sighing, she rested her hands on her now-flat stomach; an automatic reaction to stress. It reminded her of the twins (her own, not the weird-but-nice ones here) and that was comforting. Even if it made her look like she was pregnant.

Chanterelle looked from side to side and realized there was nobody sitting next to her; if she had actually given a shit about the school, anyone in it, and people in general, she would have cared and maybe been upset. As it was, she leaned further back in her chair, wondering if she could stick her finger up at Rio without the staff noticing. Probably not. It would be funny to see if she could provoke him into starting something in the middle of the assembly hall, but then she remembered that he was narcissic. Basically, he got off on attention. Damnit. How else could she piss him off?

Turning her gaze to the boy sitting beside Rio, she smiled, ignoring the tiny blonde girl sitting between the two. Hopefully, this would annoy him - giving attention to his friend. She wondered if he'd even notice; hopefully, he would. Sick bastard.

Outfit.

[Kitty Allen]

Chris entered the room holding Kitty’s hand, as usual in situations where they were likely to have an adult attempt to separate them for some mysterious greater good. Both twins were tired, they’d been up early and had dozed fitfully together in a bathroom. It had been about three in the morning when the security had either stopped checking or given up.

Glaring at Doctor Hudson – bastard – Chris cast around for somewhere to sit. Not near Rio. Not near the shrinks… what he really should have been looking for was two chairs together, but Chris was sure they could just stand. Or, if they really wanted to freak the adults out, Kitty could sit on him. Chris almost snorted. Probably wouldn’t do them any good, but it could be amusing anyway.

---

Kitty yawned, thankful that Chris took whatever they were giving him for his IED in the morning and not the afternoon. If it had been, they’d have agreed not to take it. They were both wary of sleep medication, which would keep them away from each other for a good eight hours. Eight hours! She and Chris couldn’t manage eight minutes which was slightly ironic, given they were born twelve minutes apart.

Glaring at Doctor Hudson – bastard – Kitty observed the people in the room. Rio… a few people they hadn’t met yet, a little blonde girl sitting in between Rio and an equally scary looking guy who was making loud, obnoxious comments. Kitty wondered vaguely what she’d done to deserve that.

Spotting a couple of seats next to a nervous girl who seemed to be muttering to herself – why had it taken that long? Man they must be tired…. – Kitty didn’t blame her. She’d be doing the same if she’d just been leered at by Scary Rio’s scary friend. Well, no she wouldn’t, but she’d want to. She tugged Chris towards it, and the twins sat down slowly. They were both way too lethargic to be up at this time…

[Maddox Greydon]

Maddy sidled into the room, wondering how many people were there, and how many were likely to try and kill him. A quick scan revealed that there were only a few who looked like hardened killers, and he relaxed slightly. He recognised a few of them: Chris and Kitty were there, as well as Leah. Evan wasn't there: he'd still been in bed when Maddy had left the room. He slumped down in a seat next to Kitty, grinning at her and Chris, smiling vaguely at Leah as well. He could see another girl from the music class, sat next to two boys and a tiny blonde who looked scared shitless.

Folding his arms and sliding down in his seat, Maddy gazed around the room, wondering about the bloodshed to come. He was fairly near the door, which was a good thing: if something happened, he could dive out of the room. If that exit was blocked, he could always head under the desk, or even better, behind the male Doctor Hudson. That was probably quite a good place to shelter, he thought, considering the large man sitting behind the desk. Well, that was that sorted. He gave Doctor Ivrie a shy smile as his gaze passed over him, and glanced down the row. The female Doctor Hudson was sat next to a ginger kid, with Leah on her other side.

Well, this was fun. Maddy grimaced as he considered the near future. Hopefully, he'd get out with only a few bruises, but the likelihood of that was low, to say the least. Ah, well. Maybe he'd get a decent scrap out of it, at least. That would make the whole thing a little more entertaining. Folding his arms, he stared around the room, trying not to look faintly apprehensive.

[Jessica Air]

Jess waited until Yvonne had woken, dressed and left the room before she got up. She'd been avoiding her roommate as best she could since the...incident that had occurred a few days ago; if she waited until the last minute to go down to breakfast, she was one of the only people in the canteen - always good - and she was sometimes late to class, which was good, depending on what day it was. She hated missing dance, physical education; art, drama and music were okay as well. She just hated all the other subjects - English, mostly, but languages were up there. As was maths.

This morning, however, she had an assembly to go to. Better than a lesson, probably, aside from the fact that everyone in the whole school was going to be there, and she was reasonably sure that they all knew that she couldn't read, due to Morph. And that would be embarrassing. She wouldn't be able to use her laptop in class now without her fellow students all looking at it, laughing. Damn that bastard.

No, it wasn't completely his fault. Jess was nice; she allocated blame fairly. In this situation, Yvonne was at fault as well. That evil bitch had been the one to tell Morph in the first place; so it was partly hers. In retaliation, she'd stolen one of the girls weird dresses - the one she wore all the time - and had hidden in, in one of the empty rooms. Yvonne probably wouldn't look there. Smirking at the memory, she headed from the canteen to the therapy room with her laptop case banging against her hip; she was having a tutoring session straight after and would need. Jess decided that she was going to completely ignore Morph and Yvonne - she was just going to walk straight in and sit down, and pray to God that there wasn't any written material that was going to be passed out for them all to read.

She opened the door quietly and slipped in to see an almost-full room - she was one of the last people to arrive. Luckily, there were empty seats available that weren't beside Morph or Layla; she noticed the two sitting together. Most likely plotting her demise at the same time. And there was 'James' beside them (with a small blonde girl in between) that she recognized as the guy that had lied to her about his name. Was that the freak corner or something? She walked past the small group towards a boy she didn't recognize, who was next to a couple that were clinging onto each other, and tried not to look in the direction of Rio, Layla or Morph. Oh, this was going to be fun.

Outfit.

[Yvonne Olzon]

Yvonne entered the room in a thoroughly bad mood. She hadn't slept well last night- it was too hot- and then, when she'd woken up, she hadn't been able to find her favorite dress, which meant she'd wasted a while searching. She was also convinced that Jess had hidden it, although without evidence she couldn't prove anything. It was just the sort of petty thing Jess would do. So she'd thrown on jeans and a t-shirt instead and come downstairs, eating a quick breakfast beforehand. Now she entered the room, glancing around.

Morph was there, with some other kids she didn't know; one of the musicians she recognized, but the rest of them were new to her. In fact, she'd hardly met anyone here. Jess was sat opposite Morph, next to a kid she didn't recognize. Yvonne sighed, and plonked herself down in the nearest seat, next to a pretty, dark-skinnned girl, and stared around the room sullenly. This was not going to be fun. Even if someone did go insane and try to kill someone else, or themselves. Brushing her hair behind her shoulder, she wondered absently whether she ought to do something; talk to someone, but... no. Definitely not.

Leaning her head back on the back of the chair, she stared moodily at the ceiling, wondering how long this was going to take. Hopefully, not long. She wanted to have another look for her dress before going to class. She doubted it was in the room: if Jess had hidden it, even she wasn't thick enough to hide it in the room. Maybe it was int he dance studio- she could look later. Or someone else's dorm. Yvonne wouldn't have put it past her roommate to give it to some stranger, the stupid bitch.