[IC] Nobody Will Believe It [SporkoBug and Calle]

[SporkoBug]

Ari's eyes lit up when Benjamin mentioned he could hear her.
"Did you hear that!" She asked to Dia, who nodded gently, before focusing on Benjamin's words.

"Franklin was never really a fan of taking medicine." Ray said with a frown and a furrow of her brow, "He was much like me in terms of taking medicine; Except he did things to make it look like he did take them."
"He got into confinement a couple of times because he decided to pick fights with a couple of the male members of staff." Dia mentioned quietly, Ray and Ari both nodded.

[Loksfjoer]

"Confinement is one place I'll try to avoid," Benjamin sighed. "It would be a nightmare come true to be locked up in there." And something he'd rather not think about, so he focussed on the medicin use instead. "Simon faithfully took his pills, Susanna... she took her anxiety medicine on occasion, but more often than not traded it for painkillers or sleeping pills. So none of them had the same habits when it came to that. They also didn't have the same reason for being here. Susanna was agoraphobic, had anxiety and was a recovering painkiller addict. Simon had auditory hallucinations. And Franklin..." he paused, looking at Ray and her spirits.

[SporkoBug]

"Frank had a lot of things." Dia started, Ray gave a small nod.
"PSTD, underlying OCD, hysteria occasionally, Untreatable Trauma." Ray started with a small shrug, "Violent if Irritated, so anger issues." Ari added on, Ray nodded once.
"He would explain to me what it's like to take his meds, to have everything mentally just... numbed out."
"He hated it." "Aggressively so."

[Loksfjoer]

Benjamin listened as all three explained about Frank, he couldn't stop a smile from forming. It was kinda cute to see and hear them talk about the same subject together.
"They have nothing in common then," he said, crossing his arms. What could be the reason those three had disappeared? "We honestly need access to their files, there has to be something in there. Which means we need Sara, right now she's the only one of the staff we can trust."

Marc was doing some paperwork, but when that was done he decided to check on some patients, some had to be checked at irregular times to see they were not endangering themselves or those around them. Maybe after that he could check up on Sara.

[SporkoBug]

All three of the girls nodded at the idea of needing Sara's help; each of them with a slightly different expression.
Ray herself seemed more focused on Benjamin, her expression more serious than anything else- Dia's eyes and face held worry, where as the mention of Sara seemed to distract Ari; her face had suddenly softened and her eyes seemed to be unfocused.

Sara stayed on her bed, she was fighting with her spirit the entire time.
She stayed lying on her back as she stared up at the ceiling, feeling her gain and lose control of her body at several times.

[Loksfjoer]

"Let's go look for Sara then," Benjamin said. "There's nothing we can do from here anyway." He left the room, leaving the door open for Ray, but when he stood in the corridor he noticed Marc looking at him.
"Have you seen Sara?" he decided to ask.
"Not since lunch," Marc stated. "But if you have a question I can help you too."
"It's just about a book, she recommended one but I forgot the title."
Marc nodded to that. "I haven't seen her, but if I do I'll let her know you are looking for her."
"Thanks," Benjamin said, looking behind him to see if Ray had joined him.

[SporkoBug]

Ray stayed back at the brief sight of Marc, she had a feeling things wouldn't go well if he noticed she was with Benjamin. She waited for a moment and slipped out to stand behind Benjamin, keeping her eyes away from Marc.

Sara finally managed to push her spirit back, moving to sit up quietly. She glanced at her door before she moved to leave the room. Her mind was moving quickly, trying to settle her worries.
Gotta find Benjamin... She thought to herself, Or do... I find... Marc? She asked herself, she paused in her way out of the doorway. She was torn between what she could do; she needed to see Benjamin, but she wasn't against finding Marc.

[Loksfjoer]

Marc was about to leave when he noticed Ray slip out Benjamins room. "Hey, you two," he said. "You know it's against the rules to form physical relationships with other patients, right? You really shouldn't be in each others room. I have to report that and the psychiatrist will take action when she suspects something is going on between you. I'll leave it with a warning this time, but don't let me catch you again, okay?"

"We don't have a physical relationship," Benjamin stated, "but thanks for your concern, we'll keep it in mind." He turned to Ray. "Let's go read something." This place was awful if people weren't even allowed to be in relationships. Not that he had any desires to be, he just wanted to have friends, but patients being witheld the freedom to love who they wanted, that was terrible.

He started walking, leaving Marc behind. "I guess we should spend some time apart from each other too," he muttered, glancing to Ray. "I don't want to find out what actions the psychiatrist will take when she starts to suspect things."

[SporkoBug]

Ray flinched at the fact that Marc noticed her. She stayed silent as Benjamin and Marc spoke, letting out a sigh as Marc left, as if she was holding her breathe.
"The Psycho will probably tell you I'm a bad influence as they always do." Ray said bitterly, "If it gets worse they'll lock me up again. They've done it times before, and they're probably not afraid to do it again."

She gave a bit of a sneer before she sighed, "But if you reckon we need to split up a bit," She started, "It always ends up happening."
"Hey." Ari said with a frown, "Shut up. Don't talk like that. This is different."
"She's right you know." Dia said quietly, "We'll be fine."

Sara continued to walk along, she kept near the wall. Her balance was shaky, something was putting her off; she felt like her other spirit was bubbling over, twisting and turning to take control.
She should have just taken her meds... surely that would have pushed the other spirit back. Maybe she should have listened to Jazz-
The Spirit hissed at the very idea of Jazz, twisting violently and caused Sara to leaned against the wall and slide down.

[Loksfjoer]

Benjamin had a worried look in his eyes when Ray mentioned being locked up, but he stopped when she talked about splitting up. The tone of her voice showed how she felt about it and he took her shoulders. "We're not splitting up for ever, don't make it sound like we do. You're my friend and that won't change. But I want to keep you safe too. We just have to show them that while we do spend time together, they don't have to worry about us crossing any lines they don't want us to cross. Okay?"

He was glad her spirits seemed to understand why he said it, it wasn't his intention at all to abandon to Ray, and he never would. But after what Marc said he knew they would have to keep a little distance.

---

Marc continued to walk, shaking his head a bit. He would have to keep an eye on those two, they were drawn to each other. While he did believe Benjamin when he said it wasn't romantically, they would only enforce each others habit of refusing medicine. They would have each other to believe what they had was normal and didn't need any treatment and that would be a problem.
As he thought about he noticed someone sitting on the ground.
"Sara?" he said as he rushed to her side. "Sara, are you okay?"

[SporkoBug]

Ray looked at Benjamin before she moved to wipe her eyes, stopping the tears from trying to form.
"Okay." She started, giving a small nod, "Sorry... Over thinking again." She looked to Ari and Dia. "Do... You want to take either of them with you? I'm sure Ari would like to stay around you a bit more, right?"

Ari looked to Dia before back to Ray, "If he wants me to follow him then I'd be okay. If he wishes for Dia to go with him, I'll be okay too."
Ray nodded and looked back to Benjamin with a small tilt of her head.

---

Sara flinched at Marc rushing over to her.
"I'm okay." She started, shaking her head, "Mind went hazy. It's fine." She moved to smile at Marc, "I'm excited for tonight by the way." She said with a bigger smile.
Her spirit rumbled at the sight of Marc, why was it that whenever she was with Him that she couldn't get control.

[Loksfjoer]

Benjamin looked from Ray to Ari and Dia. "If either of them wants to walk with me they are free to do so, I enjoy the company. But, I'm not going to be much fun in public, when I'm alone I try to avoid talking to people others can't see." He shrugged and had a resigned look in his eyes. "It's why I'm here for and the fewer nurses see me talk to the air, the better it will be." He looked at both spirits. "But when others aren't around I certainly don't mind the chat. If Ray doesn't need you you are welcome to come with me."

---

Marc helped her on her feet again. "I'm looking forward to it as well," he said, returning the smile. "I just saw Benjamin and Ray, I think we need to keep an eye on them. They are spending time together in their rooms, I know today wasn't the first time, and I warned them about it. I don't think it's needed to mark it in their file yet, right?"
He was fairly sure he had done the right thing by just giving them a warning, but it was nice to be able to talk about it to someone else of the staff who wasn't senior staff.

[SporkoBug]

Ray looked to Dia and Ari, motioning for one of them to follow after Benjamin.
Ari looked to Dia and Dia shrugged, stepping towards Benjamin quietly. "Ari is better to stay with Ray, she's physically stronger to gain control and knows how to handle situations." The softer spirit said with a small smile, Ari's eyes widened at Dia's words but she gave a small nod.
"Dia knows the place well, she can mention stuff to you if you need." Ray said before she moved to grip her arm with her left hand, "I guess... I'll see you around?"

---

Sara thought quickly, "Yeah no just leave it as a warning for now." She almost rambled, clearing her throat, "Three warnings and then it gets written on their files. Three more written posts and we tell Vivian about it and she decides if we need to physically split them up or not." She said before she moved to rub her head.

"But I doubt there is anything to worry about." She said with a smile, "I don't think Ray would get romantic with anyone anyway. She probably needs a friend, everyone else doesn't like being around her so she's probably taken to the new kid for comfort."

[Loksfjoer]

Benjamin took Ray's shoulder. "I'm never far away," he promised her. "We're just doing an act for the staff, that's it. Let's have breakfast together, if we skip sitting together for the evening meal I'm sure they won't object to us sharing a table in the morning." He let go of her shoulder again, gave a final smile and walked towards the common area. Still not sure what he would do there, but he'd figure it out.

It was nice to have Dia with him, he enjoyed her company. "I won't talk much to you when others are around," he warned her. "When they have proof I'm still delusional they will want to force their medication on me. And me talking to the air will count as proof for them." He sighed, how he hated not being able to do what he wanted here.

---

"I have that idea too," Marc agreed, "they are friends. They don't touch as lovers would." He paused as he looked at Sara. "Do you want to go for that drink straight after my shift, or would you rather go tonight after dinner?" he asked. "I mean, I can pick you up at any time, no problem."
He kept his hand down, even though he'd much rather run his fingers through his hair because of the nerves.

[SporkoBug]

Ray looked at Benjamin as he spoke to her; her fear slowly disappearing before she nodded at his words.
"Okay." She started, she watched him leave, before she walked off towards her room.
Ari followed without a word.

Dia nodded at Benjamin's words, "Understandable." She said with a bit of a scowl, "If you'd like, you can nod towards someone in the common room and I can try and give you the information I know of them?"

---

"No, they're probably just close friends." Sara said with a small nod, "After your shift would be fine by me." She said, answering his question, "We could... even go out for dinner?"

[Loksfjoer]

"We should come up with more signals," he muttered, it would be a good idea to have a non-verbal way to communicate with Dia and Ari, or even Ray if she wasn't in her body for whatever reason. "And of course you don't have to stay quiet when I am, if you have a story to tell I'll gladly listen to it."

When he reached the common area he stood still, lost at what he would do next. The TV on the wall was on, showing some kind of nature program. A few patients were watching that. There were puzzles and books, but both were things that never had been high on his list of things he wanted to do. He sat down in one of the chairs with a sigh, looking at some fish swimming through a coral reef. It was impossible to hear what was being said from here, the volume was barely turned on, just far enough for the people on the sofa's close to the TV to hear what was being said.
"Simon puzzled a lot," Benjamin recalled. "I played checkers with him too..."

Being unable to spend all the time with Ray and with Simon gone, Benjamin realised he'd have to befriend other patients too, but he'd rather not befriend one and then have that patient disappear as well. And some people had a condition that made it really hard to befriend them. He had tried the first few days he was here and in the end it had been just Simon who had opened up to him. And then Ray had come from isolation. He looked at Dia. As grateful as he was for her presence, he couldn't play checkers with her. But maybe...
"How about a game of solitaire?" he asked with a smile. "You can help me decide what cards to play."

---

"I wanted to ask you that, yes," Marc said with a sheepish smile, "if you wanted to have dinner. It will be my treat, there is this place that I haven't tried yet, but Benjamin once told me it's a really good place to eat. And, well, I'm sure him seeing ghosts doesn't affect his ability to know where the food is good. From his file I understood he had an active social life, but I never gone out much, so I'll take suggestions where I can get them." He laughed a bit, but it was true, he hadn't gone to bars or restaurants a lot, but he did want to take Sara to a good place.

[SporkoBug]

Dia watched the screen for a moment, "They play this all the time." She stated with a disgruntled frown, "A month in, Ray had the entire documentary memorized." She continued, "It's not even that interesting. Most of the bits about talking are just about the fish populations and how they breathe and eat. Nothing new in the terms of learning."

She looked to Benjamin as he mentioned about Solitaire, "Oh? Solitaire sounds good." She nodded with a small smile, looking around.
She could spot two of the other Nurses roaming around the room, A few of them she didn't recognized. "maybe they're... New?" She asked out loud with a furrow of her brow.

---

Ray continued walking along, freezing up as she noticed the new Male Nurse outside her room, he seemed to have paused and was reading some file papers.
She slowed down her walking, Ari watching quietly as well; Josh looked up and straight at Ray.

The two seemed to stay completely still for a moment, Josh's eyes seemed to be settled on Ari rather than Ray, and Ray's eyes were looking around the man himself.
"He knows' I'm here."
"I know." Ray whispered back, flinching as Josh stepped forward.

"Heading to your room already?" Josh asked coldly, "I feel like you're missing someone." He hesitated, "Where is the guy?"
"We're not hanging out." Ray said sourly.

---

Sara blinked, thinking about what Marc said.
"D...Dinner would be nice!" She said with a bigger smile, "I... Don't get out much, as you already know, I don't know anywhere to eat..."
She frowned at the idea of making Marc pay for it, "I'll make the money back for you though... I don't really get paid but..."

[Loksfjoer]

"We probably don't have to worry about new nurses," Benjamin said, looking in the direction Dia was looking in. "If something shady is going on it will be the long-term staff who are in on it." He did make a mental note about them, new nurses were probably the safest to turn to when they needed help.
He took a deck of cards and shuffled them as he walked to a table. He chose a chair that would allow him the best overview of the room and he started to place the cards in the table according to the official Solitaire setup.

---

"Why would you want to pay me back for dinner?" Marc asked. "I live alone, I rent a small apartment. Sure the pay isn't that good, but I get more than enough to live from. Why can't spend some on a dinner with a girl I like?" The moment he said it he realised what he had said and he cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks heat up. "So, yeah, don't worry about it, I can pay for us."

[SporkoBug]

Dia nodded at Ben's words about the new staff, moving to rest on the table near him and looked over the cards with a tilt of her head.
"Hm." She said before she pointed to the Queen of hearts and the Jack of spaces. "Is this standard Solitaire or are we doing spider style?" She asked, wanting to move the conversation to something lighter.

---

"Strange." Josh said with a lift of his head, "I still... Feel like you're missing someone."
The tone of his voice and the look in his eyes told Ray he knew that Dia was missing, she instinctively stepped back into Ari as she breathed in.
"You must be mistaken me for someone else." She started, "I'm gonna head towards my room." She managed to slip past him, not moving her eyes off of him before she disappeared into her room and closed the door.

Ari stayed outside the room, staring down Josh. Josh looked at the door before his eyes moved to stare towards the Spirit.
"you." Josh hissed once, his eyes glinting a dark, almost black, blue.
"I could say the same." Ari said with a sneer, baring her teeth. "I'm surprised you're alive."
"I'm surprised you're stuck in a mental asylum. Dead."

---

Sara listened and her face went deep read when he mentioned 'a girl I like', but didn't mention it.
"Okay." She said with a smile, "Deal." She nodded, feeling her heart race- Marc said he liked her... Someone actually liking her??
He's lying. He doesn't like you. You're just an easy woman for him. The voice echoed through her head, she closed her eyes before she breathed in.

"So," Sara started, "Where should I wait for you? What time?"

[Loksfjoer]

"Standard," he said as he did the move Dia suggested. "Spider is a nice game too, I played it a few times. Freecell is my favourite, it involves more thinking and less luck." He glanced around, for a place like this, with these people around him, a mindless game was what he wanted. Alone in his room he might play a more challenging game.
It didn't look like he would win this game though.

"Is it strange to be away from Ray?" he asked, pulling the next three cards from the deck and placing a six of clubs on a seven of diamonds.
At this point he didn't care much about nurses seeing him talk to nothing, but he did keep his head down so they wouldn't notice it. He'd rather look at Dia as he talked to her, but looking at the sky and talking would definitely get the attention of the staff, whereas looking at a card game and talking to himself was not as weird.