Assembly [Everyone!]

[Violet Westwood]

Violet entered the room with her head down and her arms folded firmly around her chest, determined that she was going to get through this assembly without a panic attack, something she hadn't quite got the grasp of in her old school. Never mind. She'd do it today. She had a notepad and pen ready in her pocket, in case they needed to speak, but she hoped they wouldn't. Then she'd get the stigma of being the one that couldn't talk straight away, which was never good. She wondered if there'd be other people that couldn't talk here, but it was a small school. Statistically, there wasn't much of a chance. It'd be nice though, she thought. Having a friend that would let her take the time to write and pass notes, rather than getting bored while she scribbled on the paper. Vi hoped that everyone here could read, or there'd be some problems.

As she looked around the almost-full room, she noticed that it was mostly full, with kids she didn't recognise. Wait; there were the twins - the girl one was her roommate, although she was never there - but there were people sitting on either side of them; the anorexic blonde girl and the dark scared looking girl. There was a big gap, then a cluster of people; two of whom were boys that looked like they were a foot taller than her. She decided to stay away from them. Who else was there? Two teacher looking people, but they were both men, and the younger one was huge. Vi stared at him for a minute, wondering why exactly every man here was on growth hormone. Some weird experiment? There was another boy, who looked scary and mean and sitting by his self, so she kept looking around the circle. Yet another boy - how many were there? - and four girls, all in a group. A blonde one, a older looking blonde one who might have been a teacher person, a red-head and a brunette. She decided that she was going to sit next to a dark-haired girl who was sitting next to the black girl that appeared to be talking to herself.

Hurrying across the room, hoping people weren't watching her, she sat down in the chair and pulled her legs up on the seat, wrapping her arms around them and hoping that her knees completely covered the scarring on my throat. She was worried that people were looking at her, and pulled her legs up tighter, glad that she was wearing trousers instead of a skirt. She didn't particularly want an indecency charge on her first proper day here.

She turned her head to give a small smile to Kitty, and then looked at the teachers, wondering what was going to happen. She hoped that she wasn't going to be introduced; that was always incredibly embarrassing, and everyone looked at you then. At her last proper school - not the psychiatric hospital - that had happened, and the teacher had said something patronizing about her not being able to talk. Vi began biting her nails, really hoping that that wasn't going to happen. If it did, she'd run out of the room.... But then they'd all think she was weird and not talk to her. Reminding herself to take deep breaths, she concentrated on not bursting into tears or having a panic attacks, and instead pulled out her notepad, resting it on her pulled-up knees. She wasn't going to pass any notes, yet, but she wanted to be ready. And if she got really stressed, she could try writing a poem or something. That was always calming.

Outfit.

[Hazel Johnson]

Hazel walked along behind the brown-haired boy, yawning occasionally. They'd had to make it a Saturday morning, hadn't they? Not only did they want to torture the pupils, but the staff as well. She'd been on shift last night, and now she'd had to extend it to the morning as well, because of the lack of security. Well, they'd better bloody hope that nothing happened, because she was not on good form today. She'd been making her way down to the therapy rooms when she'd spotted the kid loitering about outside his dorm, and she'd had to persuade him to walk to assembly by himself. That was when she'd decided that this day was steadily going to get worse and worse.

Entering the room, she surveyed it critically. Those three at the side looked like trouble. She could see the anorexic girl sat on the other side, and Josephine Hudson sat next to a little redhead. Hazel, satisfied that for now, everyone was sat quietly, leaned back against the wall by the door and folded her arms, surveying the room wearily, and hoped against hope that nothing would happen today.

Hazel covered a yawn with her hand, brushed a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her eyes, and re-folded her arms, wondering what, exactly, a school assembly here entailed. At her other hospitals, there had been various motivational lectures, warnings, and awards. Here, it would probably be the same, except with less teenagers, which she was glad of. Maybe if something happened it wouldn't be to bad after all: she could call for backup, and she knew Doctor Hudson (the male one) would be able to help, should she need it. So, hopefully, they'd survive the morning and she'd be able to go home and have a coffee and a good long sleep before her next shift. And some pizza would be nice.

[Alex Greene]

Security here were evil. Some woman - a woman, not even a butch, strong man, but a woman - was forcing him down the corridor, intent on getting him to the assembly that he'd been trying to avoid. When she'd found him, he'd been on his way to find a decent hiding place. But no, he had to go to a room where he was quite probably going to get raped, because hearing a couple crappy announcements was that important. Great.

It had occurred to him that he didn't actually have to walk along silently, but he couldn't quite bring himself to resist. It wasn't that he was scared of a woman, or anything. He just didn't particularly feel like being rebellious. Still, he wasn't going in and sitting on a chair with the rest of the kids here. Especially not with Danny there. Alex wasn't sure who exactly Danny was - one of the staff, like 'Morph' had said, or the boy himself - but he was staying away from all of them. He was beginning to doubt the mind control thing. At the time, it had seemed plausible. But now... No, he didn't believe it.

As he entered the room, his fists up by his chest in a defensive position, he looked around. He could see Danny, sitting in between two blonde girls. One was tiny and looked quite scared. The other was tall and looked...scary. Alex thought that he should warn the small looking girl - psst, the guy next to you is a rapist - but thought he'd leave it until a time when Danny wasn't around. Instead, he scuttled into the corner of the therapy room and curled up on the floor, hoping they weren't going to yell at him. The security guard probably would, he thought, but fuck her.

If they tried to make him sit in the stupid circle, on one of those crappy little plastic chairs, he'd just scream until they stopped touching him, anyway. He scanned the room, not seeing anyone he knew, aside from Maddy, who he smiled at briefly before watching the two men who looked like they were in charge. They were the ones that were going to yell at him to sit in the circle, if anyone was. Well, aside from the guard next to him. He looked up at her quickly, before putting his hands over his ears and closing his eyes tightly. If he couldn't hear them yelling at him, they wouldn't be yelling at him. Hopefully.

[Evan Lear]

Evan sighed, dragged himself up off the floor, and stared blearily around the room. He'd had another sleepless night, but apparently his roommates had left the room without him noticing. Fair enough: he'd been lying on the floor with his head buried in his pillow, which he used as a muffler more than a place to rest his head, now. Beds weren't his thing. Apparently, they weren't Maddox's either, and Chris spent all his nights trying to get to his sister, so the beds in dorm 104 were sadly underused. Although who, exactly, it was sad for, Evan couldn't for the life of him imagine.

Getting dressed, he walked downstairs, choosing to forgo breakfast in favour of not being the last person to assembly. He wasn't hungry anyway. Pushing open the door, he saw that theory go down the drain. Both his roommates were there, and they were about the only people he recognised. Well, there was the other musician, a blonde girl, sat next to a couple of boys who looked about Evan's age. They seemed to be the oldest students there... not, wait. There was a blonde girl who must have been about their age, and a dark-haired girl sat right beside the door. Evan headed for the nearest seat, sparing a boy curled up in a ball on the floor a contemptuous gaze. Well, whatever he wanted. Slumping down beside the older girl with dark hair, he glared over at the two men sat behind the desk. One of them was his shrink, the other was the headteacher. Whoop-de-do.

Well, this was a barrel of laughs. The older ones at the side were laughing about how it was going to be a bloodbath, a sentiment Evan secretly shared, along with their apparent anticipation. If there was going to be a fight, it should provide some good entertainment for the day. The rest appeared to be sat around looking either terrified- Evan didn't blame them much- or bored. Again, Evan didn't hold that against them. They appeared to have been waiting for him to turn up.

[Dr. Josephine Hudson]

Jo thought that the assembly was going well, so far. Nobody had died, at least. Nobody had attacked anyone else, although some looked close to trying. She began to make a mental list of who to keep apart - Francesca and Morph being at the top - but it got quite confusing when she got to ' Francesca and everyone ' and ' Faye and anyone that would take advantage {Riordan, Morph, Layla, Yvonne, Chris, Jessica, Maddox, Leah, Chanterelle, Evan and Alex' and ' Alex and Morpheus and Gabe ' so she stopped, deciding to focus on keeping Francesca and Morph apart. Moving her chair forward slightly, she glared as she saw Morph staring at Faye, the small Faerie girl that was Gabe's patient. If she was allowed to call her patients perverts, she would.

She wondered what exactly was supposed to happen at this assembly. She hadn't had them, at her first school - the special one - but she remembered them from her high school, when she'd been mainstreamed. They were painful. They were supposed to be at nine a.m. every morning, and last for exactly twenty minutes. Teachers used to yell at her when she arrived at exactly nine a.m, if they rest of the class were behind, and they'd be furious when she walked out at exactly nine twenty a.m. Teachers could be idiotic at times, she decided, pulling out a notebook and pen to record the assembly. It wasn't strictly necessary, as she'd remember the entire thing anyway, but it gave her hands something to do; the same reason she always took notes. It meant she didn't have to look at anyone.

As she began to draw a small picture in the top right corner, she heard the girl sitting beside Francesca introduce herself. Jo wondered if she should interject and tell the girl - Leah, obsessive love who was hanging around Riordan too much - that Francesca was mute, but decided not to. She smiled instead, and looked around the circle, taking note of who was sitting where.

There was Chanterelle, one of their newest patients, the one who had abused her children and denied it. She was sitting alone, and glaring at Riordan. Jo wondered what he'd done this time. Near her was Evan, sadistic personality disorder, who rarely spoke to anyone. Peter and Gabe were sitting beside the desk, talking quietly. Gabe looked concerned about what Morph had said. Good. She wouldn't be the only one. Near the others was a small group; Riordan, talking to Laura. She would have glared at him if it wasn't entirely unprofessional. And he might have thought she was jealous. Jo remembered their last group therapy session, when she had kicked him, and smiled to herself. That was a good day. Anyway, beside Laura was Morph - evil - and Layla, the sexual sadist with IED.

Yvonne, conduct disorder, was not interacting with anyone else, including Evan - depressive and sadistic -, who was sitting next to her. Not surprising. Then her roommate, Jessica, the anorexic, was sitting by the twins - Chris had conduct disorder (maybe he and Yvonne should make friends) and Kitty was mute; both were attached to each other. During therapy, Chris had to be in the room whilst Jo tried to make Kitty talk. She worried that it might be a form of control - Chris making Kitty mute. She'd seen sibling relationships like that before, but there wasn't anyway to separate the two currently. They were bad enough at night. Had they not been so aggravating whilst asking to be changed into the same room, she probably would have let them. As it was, she didn't want to 'give in'. Peter frowned upon that.

Beside the twins was the fairy - Faerie - girl that Morph was staring at, and Jo decided that she'd keep the two apart, somehow. If he heard that she'd do 'whatever made him happy'... Even she could get the innuendo in that. The circle finished with Maddox - a sweet bipolar kid - and Leah, the obsessive love that was talking to Francesca. Sitting in the corner, with his hands over his head, was Alex - Fregoli delusions. He was the one that thought Morph was a rapist, wasn't he? Jo almost laughed. Thought he was a rapist? He just wasn't the rapist Alex has mistaken him for - and Hazel, the security. Jo smiled at her, hoping that she'd leave Alex be. She knew the feeling of wanting to curl up in a corner and cry. It didn't help when people tried to drag you away.

[Dr. Gabriel Hudson]

Gabe sighed, smiling apologetically at Peter. "Can you blame me? I'm all for the idea of building the community, but I doubt all the kids will agree with you." All the same, he stopped himself fidgeting, sat back in his seat and watched the room fill up. Morph was talking loudly at Rio, quite near the desk, and he glanced over at Jo, sat next to Francesca and Leah, one of his patients. Francesca looked terrified, but she was managing not to show it. The security guard who had practically had to drag Alex Greene in by his hair was looking at his quizzically. Gabe shook his head. Touching the boy, who was now curled in a ball by the door, probably wasn't a good idea.

Glancing around, he took in every student he could see. Riordan, sat next to Laura and Morph. A blonde girl who he thought was one of Jo's patients was next to Morph, then it was a couple of older students who weren't talking to each other at all- they were Peter's patients, he was sure- and another of Peter's patients, Jessica, was sat next to the twins, Chris and Kitty. He'd allowed Kitty to sit in one of their sessions earlier, feeling too tired to cause an argument. Then came Faye, his patient, Maddox, one of Peter's, Leah, Jo, and Francesca. No-one appeared to be considering homicide or suicide yet, and he relaxed a little more, turning to Peter and replying, "What would I do without you? Thank you," returning his colleague's faint smile gratefully. He was certain that if a fight did break out, now, it would be fairly easily controlled. A security guard was here, and he and Peter were capable of restraining students, at least until backup arrived.

[Dr. Peter Ivrie]

Peter smiled amicably. “I am well aware of that Gabe. But I am also well aware of the fact that when people, especially teenagers, begin to feels like numbers they will do anything to define themselves. Including causing injury to themselves or others.” The last part was said in a low voice, so the children wouldn’t hear. It wouldn’t do to give them ideas. Not that they didn’t probably have enough of their own, of course. He smiled kindly back at Francesca and kept his eye on Morph. While he was aware of Gabriel doing the same, two heads were better than one.

He smiled around at the children, nodding to his own patients and tapped his pen on the list of names he’d brought. As far as he could see, that was everyone. “You’re welcome. I’ll begin then, shall I?” Peter pushed back his chair and stood up, tucking his pen back into his jacket pocket. “Good morning. If I might have a little hush, we shall get started.” He waited for quiet, or the rain of flying, mostly rotted vegetables before continuing. “To start, I am aware we may not all know each other, so we will go around and introduce ourselves, as well as our talent. I believe you all know the Doctors Hudson, heads of this establishment.” He gestured at Gabriel and Josephine. While he was sure Gabriel would have no qualms about his choice of icebreaker, Josephine may find it stressful. “I am Doctor Ivrie. I am a psychiatrist, and I look forward to meeting a few of you in our sessions, be it for the first time or again.” He gestured to Rio next, inviting each person in turn to introduce themselves, or in the case of Violet, Francesca and Katherine, someone to introduce them.

[Riordan Shonski]

Rio smirked at Morph, ignored Laura, and gave Layla a quick grin. Glancing around, though, he noticed that Faye had entered, as had Leah, so he didn't speak, settling for folding his arms as best he could with the cast and slouching back in his seat, looking amicably around the room. Good turnout... there were the twins: his gaze lingered on them for a second before moving to Chanterelle. Giving her a faint smile, he went on to smile properly at Faye, his gaze passing superficially over the security guard before passing on to Leah. His eyes lingered on her face, and he watched her for a few long seconds, a warm smile dancing around his lips. Anyone watching would think she was the object of a newly discovered crush... which was exactly the look he'd been going for.

(Apparently) tearing his eyes away from Leah, he glanced over the people sat next to her, smiling quickly at Jo, glancing at Francesca, and then turning back to the rest of the room. Most of these people, he didn't know very well. There was a little girl who had severe scarring around her throat, a boy curled on the floor for no apparent reason except possibly some form of psychosis (something Rio wouldn't have been surprised at, considering where they were), and there was darling Jessiekins. He gave her the ghost of a wink, before turning away to look at the shrink who wasn't one of the Doctors Hudson as he began to speak.

When Peter had finished and gestured at him, he tilted his head to one side thoughtfully. "Rio Shonski... I've met a few of you already." His gaze ran over those who this applied to, before he continued, "I'm an actor," his gaze landed on Chanterelle, his only fellow actor, wondering what, exactly, she was thinking right now.

[Laura Richardson]

She wondered why Rio was ignoring her. Had she done something wrong? Possibly, Laura found there were a lot of things she’d missed in not being around a lot of people for four years. Apparently she had to catch up with lots of the growing up all the other people had done in that time between when she left and when she’d made that big mistake. Although, Laura had told them she couldn’t help it if she was short, all the adults said she was missing the point.

She watched the older doctor and wondered why she’d never noticed him before. Maybe he was new or kept to himself a lot. Or maybe she’d been hiding a lot… Instead of looking around the circle she stared at Francesca’s knees. “Laura…” She said hesitantly, then remembered she was supposed to say something else. “I draw…” Quietly, she held out a graphite stained hand as if to prove she was supposed to be there, even though she wasn’t really. Quickly, she wondered who the next person Doctor Ivrie would ask to tell their name would be. Although she was sat next to Rio, she wasn’t entirely sure he’d go in order. Instead she amused herself with watching the lady Doctor Hudson and wondering what it was like being married. Although outwardly she maintained she wasn’t allowed to have friends, let alone family, Laura secretly hoped she would one day. You never knew… maybe there was a way to cure her.

She wondered who all the other people were. In a way it was good she didn’t know them, except for the ones from her lessons and her drawing classes, but she sort of wished she did, if only in case she couldn’t remember anyone else’s name. She knew Rio. And Faye. And Francesca…

[Francesca von Hannesburg]

Francesca scowled when Morph walked in, and turned her face away pointedly, smiling at Jo. She was glad there were so many people here, for once, so he couldn't get to her, but it upset her that Laura hadn't sat next to her. She was also scared for her friend, since she was surrounded by very big, very scary people on both sides, but hopefully, with all the psychiatrists in here and the security woman who'd just walked through the door, they'd all be OK, and no-one would touch Laura and no-one would try and grab her or call her... that, or anything else.

She jumped when someone settled into a seat near her, but relaxed again when she realised it was a small girl with dark brown hair. She introduced herself as Leah, and Francesca gave her a smile, turning her head so her cheek rested on her knees. That way, she could see the front desk and Jo, Laura (and the boy she was sat next to, but Francesca ignored him), and Leah, but the rest of the room was blocked from her vision. That meant she couldn't see Morph, which suited her just fine.

When Laura spoke, Francesca smiled at her encouragingly, and reluctantly raised her head to look for the next person to speak, passing over Morph with an admirable attempt not to scowl, she though. Her forehead only wrinkled a little. She hoped she wouldn't have to introduce herself; she wasn't going to speak in front of all these people. She'd spoken once, to her psychiatrist, and that was only because she'd said something about her father, and Francesca hadn't been able to stand talking about him, and she'd had to talk to make Jo stop. But now, there was no way she was going to speak to everyone in this room, especially not with Morph here, and those other scary people.

[Faerydae Lily Elfe]

Faye wasn't sure what to do when the tall boy sitting near Quartz began staring at her. Was there something on her face? She thought back. It was toast for breakfast, and she wasn't that messy an eater - besides, how did you get toast on your face? She began biting her nails, trying not to look like she cared that he was watching her, and most likely failing. What was his name? She tried to look at him without him noticing, which was hard, as he was watching her. Begonia, she decided. It sounded nice, if you didn't know the meanings, and it was a pretty flower anyway. She hoped that he wouldn't take offense. Actually, she hoped that he wouldn't be find out his name, i.e. by not talking about her.

She realized how horrible that sounded and stuck the nails of her right hand into her left wrist. Penance. It was a good reminder not to be evil, although it didn't seem to work, because she was so mean all the time. To make up for it, she smiled at Begonia, then ducked her head, staring at her lap. What if he thought that she wanted to talk to him now? Well, if he wanted to talk to her, she would. And she'd be happy about it. He was speaking now, quite loudly, and Faye wondered if he meant for everyone in the circle to hear. Probably not, because it sounded like something the adults wouldn't be very happy about. Unless that was his point? Some people liked to make the adults sad.

People were trickling in slowly, and she smiled with relief when people sat on either side of her. On her left were two girls, both with dark hair, but the one sitting directly next to her looked older. On her right was a boy, then a girl that was clinging to him, another boy and another girl, who was really thin. Faye looked at her enviously for a minute before noticing how her bones almost poked through the skin, and deciding that being skinny didn't look that fun. She looked around the rest of the circle, and saw a sad-looking blonde girl sitting by herself. Should she go and sit beside her? Pushing her nails further into her soft skin, above her vein, she decided not to. If the girl had wanted to sit besides someone, she would have, and it might look rude if she moved. Still... Her gaze kept returning to Chanterelle, feeling bad for her. Sitting by yourself was scary.

As one of the tall men began to speak, she turned so she was facing him instead. It was bad to not pay attention. It upset people, and that was bad... She held her nails in place for a few more seconds, digging deeper and deeper into her skin, until she had to take them away because the pain made her feel sick. That was probably enough repayment, and---holy Faerie Queen, was her wrist bleeding? Faye stared at it for a second before putting her hand on her knees, palm-down, and hoping nobody noticed. That'd cause a fuss, and then she'd be attention seeking... Besides, it probably wasn't that deep.

Now they all had to introduce themselves. What should she introduce herself as? Faye, or Faerydae? Should she use her surname as well? She felt sorry for Quartz, having to go first. He might be worried as well... Who else had to go before she had to? Heather, and Gladiolus. But Gladiolus didn't talk! How was that meant to work? Faye wasn't sure if she should introduce her, or leave it to someone else. Well, if Quartz or Heather didn't introduce her, she'd step in and do it. Smiling at the compromise - Gladiolus would be happy, no matter what {hopefully} - she began to hum happily to herself. As Quartz introduced himself, she frowned slightly. Rio Shonski? She guessed it was his Human name. He didn't know about proper names, not yet. It made her feel guilty that she hadn't told him; after all, it would stop him becoming a Faerie. She made up her mind to tell him right after the assembly. He'd used his surname, which meant that she should...

It was Gladiolus' turn, and she hadn't spoken. Faye opened her mouth to introduce the other girl, and then paused, curling up further in her chair. She hadn't actually told the other girl about her Faerie name, which meant she might confuse her. Also, she wasn't completely sure how you pronounced Gladiolus. But she wasn't allowed to say her Human name, plus she didn't know what it was... She shifted guiltily in her chair for a minute, knowing that she should say something but being too scared to actually speak. And now people were looking at her and it was her turn to introduce herself and she didn't know what to say. With a panicked expression, she gazed around the circle, trying and failing to force the words out.

((OOC: Begonia - Morph. Means Beware, BTW. ^^
Black Quartz = Riordan
Gladiolus = Francesca
White Heather = Laura))