Asylum
Kuany disappears as Thredson walks into the room, clinging to Lana's skin as the doctor grabs something from one of the shelves, leaving with a smile over his shoulder. Lana smiles back weakly and Kuany forces himself visible, forces himself to reach a claw towards Skaldne as she buzzes towards him. Then the two are gone, and Lana curls in on herself, tears forming silent and unbidden in her eyes.
'No, no, no.' The chameleon mutters, beginning to panic and scurry up to her face to wipe away the tears. 'Can't let him see, don't you let him see.'
Lana nods, suddenly determined and sits up, brushing the tears away. 'We've got to get out of here.'
Kuany looks around fearfully, scared Thredson heard and is coming to get them, despite the soundproofing. Eventually, he turns back to his human, whispering so low she can barely hear. 'We do, I know we do but how? You're chained up and I can't leave without you.'
A door opens upstairs and Lana hears voices, Thredson and several overs. Help is just a few metres away but they don't even know she in there.
'I don't know how.' She mutters. 'But we will.'
Kit glances up as the men walk in, eyes flashing as he realises they still haven't brought his baby back. He doesn't understand why they won't let him see Thomas, why he isn't allowed to raise his boy. He wants to, Grace wants to, surely that should be enough.
Telpa jumps on his knee as the men speak to the Monsignor, refusing to even look his way. The squirrel wants to shout, rush at their little bug dæmons and make them realise that she's not dangerous, she just wants to see her baby.
'Don't think that would work, Tel.' Kit mutters, tugging on her tail to stop her moving. 'Besides, we're not violent.'
'Say that to them.' She scowls, dropping the expression as one of the men turns back to face her. 'They treat us like murderers.'
'We are, you know. In their eyes, at least.'
Telpa huffs, the noise turning into a moan as the men shake their heads and leave, the Monsignor going with them. Kit hits the back of his head against the wall, letting out a shout. He wants his family, wants to hold them. He wants Alma, he wants Grace.
He wants his baby back.
'We need to keep an eye on that one.'
Sister Jude barely looks up as Ms. Winters is escorted out of the room, leaning heavily on the orderlies. After her electroshock therapy, the newest inmate is holding her chameleon dæmon close to her chest and Frank's rottweiler is stood below her arms, in case she drops him.
'The Lord is watching over her. We need only follow his guidance.'
Vainus makes a clicking noise, crawling over her arm and toward the desk. The spider, although a part of her, doesn't have to share her emotions, or her beliefs. Specifically not the belief she has in religion. 'Well, when your God sends down some guidance, be sure to let me know.'
Jude rolls her eyes slightly as she turns back to the paperwork but otherwise makes no reply. Vainus glares at her from the desk.
'You could speak, you know.' He says. 'Tell me why we're doing this, why we're here. You never have, you just drag me around the place like a slave.'
'We are all slaves to the Lord's Will.' Jude recites back. 'We just wait for signs that-'
Frank bursts into the room. 'There's a possessed boy downstairs.'
Meli flutters around the room, trying to get away from the woman on the bed. She looks like Mary, sounds like Mary, walks like Mary, even smells like Mary. But she isn't Mary Eunice and Meli hates it, hates seeing his sweet, innocent girl sneering like that, trying so hard to cause people pain.
'Oh, come now.' The creature in Mary's body says, eyes glinting. 'Don't be so boring.'
'Our Father, who art in heaven.' The butterfly began fervently, flying out of Mary's reach as she tries to grab him. 'Hallowed be thy name.'
'Stop that.' Mary hisses, standing up and jumping after him. 'Stop that or I'll stop you.'
Meli ignores her, still trying to get away but easily backed into a corner by his former loved one. 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.'
Mary grabs him, pinching his wings down and making him cry out. For a brief moment, he hopes it hurts her as well but he goes immediately back to pair, albeit in his mind rather than out loud.
'Be quiet, little bug. I've got work to do and you're going to help me, or I'll kill you, and her. Understood?'
Meli can only nod.
'That's poor, Hans. Terrible science.'
Dr Arden glances at his dæmon, perching on the railings and tilting her head at him. 'The science is fine, Akitapen, and you know it. And don't call me Hans. It's Arthur now and you know it.'
The barn owl smiles, jumping from the railing and flying down to the table. 'Then you should know to call me Nepatika, shouldn't you? Explain this science then, if it's so good.'
Arden pokes the body on the table with a scalpel, making its arm twitch near Nepatika's foot. She jumps away, tumbling off the table and having to flap her wings frantically to get up and land on his shoulder. She looks down at the body, seeing the skin unmarred from the scalpel 'As you can see, the subject is responding perfectly to stimuli but it is harder to actually break the skin. This would create a much more powerful creature; invulnerable but still able to feel pain.'
Se tilts her head. 'If you can feel the pain, what's the point? Couldn't we get rid of that?'
Arden smirks. 'We've got a mass murderer coming in soon. I'm sure they would be happy t let us try.'
Grace leans against the wall of her solitary cell, watching her dæmon pacing restlessly. Kit fell asleep almost an hour ago but Grace cannot close her eyes without imaging what the Sisters and going to do to her.
'Can you stop that?' She says in French, glaring up at Jauns. 'You're making me nervous.'
The horse, a pony really, stop briefly, glowering at her before continuing. 'I'm already nervous, that means you're nervous. So don't be pedantic.'
Grace raises an eyebrow. 'We're about to be sterilised, and you think I'm being pedantic?'
Jauns shakes his head, stepping towards her and resting his nose briefly on her shoulder. He goes to move away but she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him down and forcing his knees to buckle. He complains as he lays down, but stops as her hands begin to run through his mane. 'Yes, I do. Now stop that, I want to go back to grumbling.'
Grace giggles, though the sound is weak and closer to a sob than a laugh. Jauns rests next to her, feeling her shaking against his side. They stay like that for the rest of the night, scared of what is coming.
Skaldne whimpers slightly as she watches Lana drive away from the hospital. She scuttles under her man's shirt, crawling all over his chest in a worried frenzy. He has to press down on her, holding her in place as he heads back to is office, tying very hard not to run.
'Calm down, Skal.' Thredson hisses as they reach the room, locking the door behind him. Holding her with one hand, he reaches under his shirt with the other, pulling her out and throwing her onto the table. The beetle's pain shoots through him as she struggles to stand upright and face him.
'She knows, Oliver, she's going to tell.'
Thredson rolls his eyes, beginning to collect his things and ignoring the discomfort he feels from her. 'Well, that's obvious. But, really, are we worried? We'll clearly end up in a mental hospital, all cushy and cared for.'
Skaldne shudders, as if the though of being cared for is repulsive to her. Thredson holds a hand and she reluctantly crawls on, clinging to his skin as if she expects him to disappear.
'Don't you leave me, Oliver. Don't you dare.'
Thredson smirks. 'Don't worry, Skal. I'll always be with you.'
'Don't move, you're hurt.'
Tikslas tries to push her man back onto the bed, made harder by the fact that she too is feeling the injuries. Timothy looks at her briefly before collapsing on the bed, one arm lolling over the side to touch her side as she flops on the floor.
'So are you, my dear.'
The ram shakes her head, resting her chin on the ground. The bandages around his hands and the holes in her feet make it very difficult to comfort each other, difficult to anything really except pray and speak to the other. Several priests and nuns have come to visit him, to bless his injuries and assure him that what he did wasn't his fault. They all avoided looking at his wounds and their dæmons didn't touch Tikslas once.
The ram looks up, head tilted. 'Will you pray with me?'
Timothy nods weakly, shifting an arm to grab his rosary beads. 'Lord Father, we are so grateful that you saved us, and gave us a purpose to continue. Thank you for guiding us on our way and giving us strength. We ask for...'
Tikslas listens to Timothy pray, knowing its all they can do.
Taget bounces into the room, leaping onto the bed next to Alma. Grace is still with Thomas and Julia, teaching them French, though Alma has no idea what they're saying.
'I still don't like her being here.' The rabbit frowns, sitting back on his hind legs and pulling an ear down to clean.
'No, but Kit won't ever get rid of them. We can't ask him to abandon his son.'
Taget looks up from cleaning his face, allowing his forelegs to fall slowly. 'Maybe not, but we could always get rid of her. Keep Thomas around, I know Julia likes him.'
Alma frowns, leaning over to stroke his nose. His ears relax a bit as she does but he is still listening out for what Grace is sharing to his baby. 'It would never work, you know that.'
He shudders slightly as he hears Grace say something like 'angel' and Julia and Thomas repeat it back, eagerly. 'We've got to do something, though.'
She picks him up, holding him against his chest as Grace encourages the children to draw what they remember, so they never forget. Taget shivers against her, hoping to lose the memories.
'I know, Tag. I know.'
'No one ever named my dæmon.' Johnny says, staring straight ahead as said dæmon prowls around the woman on the table. 'I had to name her myself.'
The wolverine leans forward, sniffing at the woman. Her dæmon has hidden himself somewhere, probably crawled under her shirt to get away. 'Tell her how you chose it.'
Johnny smiles, the expression twisted on his face. He stands and walks towards the woman, grabbing a knife from the side as he does so. 'My foster parent at the time had a dæmon called Argetim, which she said meant fun in Algerian.'
'So we wanted a name that meant something.' The dæmon jumps in, her teeth snapping next to the woman's ear. The woman doesn't move and the wolverine smirks at her learned obedience. 'Looked online.'
'Couldn't find a word that really fit us for a long time.' Johnny continues, sliding the knife along her skin. 'Until I met a Lithuanian man and he uttered the most fantastic word. Nepageidaujamas. I had to know what it meant and it fit perfectly. Unwanted, it means. Just like I was.'
Johnny and Nepageidaujamas glare at the woman, who remains silent. Of course, dead women can't speak.