Play@YSDC

Location: Roxbury Sanitarium
Date: Monday, March 21, 1921 8:30 AM

Warren picks up Jordan in the morning after a restless night. Everything seemed so surreal, and now you are heading for an insane asylum. Talk about taking a turn. As they make the 20 minute drive just outside of Boston, the Roxbury Sanitarium looks intimidating.

"Love, you happen to have the time?" Jordie's voice did not come off as alluring nor disdainful, but strong. She had an earthly air to her, she smelled of honey, timber, the musk of rain, and spring. Sweet yet dry. There was something promising of her beauty. Jordie had all the qualities that appeared organic and intrinsic to her character; without any excessive makeup most flapper girls wore or the loose morals. Jordie did not share the same taste in beauty like most of her youth, she left her breast unbound unlike her peers, who pursued the fashion of appearing flat-chested. Jordie was not slim but wholesome. She was naturally beautiful.

Jordie understood the nature of her beauty and the nobility that entails. Of how it made men want to escape from themselves, with someone so ideal, yet judge their worth too corrupt for her beauty. And this, Jordie took advantage of.

OOC,Sorry if I'm rambling on and making drawn out descriptions. I'm just having too much fun writing, hahaha :D

It is around 8:30 am when you pull up. There are only a few cars parked out front, no one is outside. It is already unusually warm for a March morning.

Warren Kaine
Gently pulling the car to a halt alongside the others, I pull my pocket watch from my waistcoat and glance at the time.
"8:30" I answer trying, with some difficulty, to ignore the obvious charms of my companion.
Picking up my hat and coat from the back seat, I climb from the car and move towards the main entrance, noting, and ignoring, the visiting times posted next to the front doors.
With my free hand I knock, hard, on the door. As I wait for an answer, I take my cigarette case from my jacket pocket and flip it open. Then thinking better of it I close it with a 'snap'.

After a few minutes pass the door opens a bit. A young man is looking out at you.


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"What do you want? Visiting hours aren't until 9:30." He seems to notice the cigarette case in your hand. "And no smoking."

"It's terribly hot outside and you can't leave us stranded in the heat," Jordie fans herself with her hand in a very feminine posture. "We can wait in the lobby, we won't bother you," Jordie winks at the young man, with a very inviting look in her eyes.

"Well it is going to be a hot day. I guess it can't hurt to wait in the lobby. All the patients are having breakfast right now, unless you are here to see someone else. Come on in, but still no smoking." The intern lets you in.
.
Just past the door is a lobby area. It is full of single seat comfortable stuffed chairs. They are setup in pairs. You notice a lack of other furnishings.
.
"Please wait here. I'll be back in a bit when we are done with morning rounds."

"Thank you kindly," as Jordie gives a warm smile to the orderly, she helps herself to a seat and patiently waits.

After what seems like a long time, and you feel like maybe the orderly forgot about you, he shows up. He is smiling this time.
"Hello, sorry if I was rude earlier, we were in the middle of a crisis. My name is Kevin, how can I be of assistance?" He says as he holds out his hand.

Jordie quickly glances at Warren and back at Kevin the orderly, "my friend and I are interested in visiting Mr. and Mrs. Macario? Vittorio and Gabriella?"

"Ok follow me." He says., "You'll have to sign the book."

Then he mumbles something else.

OOC,both of you make a listen check to hear it.

Warren Kaine;
As we follow the attendant I overhear his low mumble

OOC,Sorry I have been unable to log in for the past couple of days

You over hear him mumble "The Macario's seen to be popular this week."
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He leads you to a desk, "You'll have to sign in here. The dude doesn't talk much, his wife is a bit more."

ooc,no problem, it happens

Warren Kaine

Giving no evidence of hearing his mumble, I follow him to the desk and the book to be signed, "Where do you want me to sign?"
As I speak I look at the previous visitors names and hope they indicate who they were here to see, so as to see who had suddenly been visiting the Macarios.
"Tell me - uh Kevin is it? Who is the doctor in charge of the Macarios treatment?"

"Just the next line on the sheet. And put in who you are visiting." Kevin responds.
.
As you look through the sheet, you can see a spot to write your name, who you are visiting, date of visit and time.
You can see that 1 sheet lasts several weeks as there are very few visitors for anyone. You see 2 lines above where you are supposed to sign, a visitor 'Tom Law' written in from March 17th, just 4 days ago. He only stayed about an hour and visited Gabriella.
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"The Macario's don't have their own, they are treated by the staff doctors. Yea, both of you need to sign in," as he looks over at Jordie and smiles.

As Jordie saunters toward the desk, she leans over it and examines the visitors' lists. Jordie politely returns the orderly's smile, and flourishes Claire Bloomfield on the sheet. As much as Jordie enjoys candlelight dinners and inviting herself to art galleries; Jordie was on edge, a place like this is meant to keep people in and Jordie didn't want to stick her nose around in the wrong places. The narrow hallways divested of all colours and imagination, made the hallway no different than the dark alleys of Boston. Especially the dangers that wait around the corners.

Warren Kaine

I notice the signature that Jordie has submitted and smile as I look away from the book. As I turn toward the waiting attendant, I continue the smile making it as friendly as I can, "So Kevin. That takes care of the formalities may we see Gabriella Macario now?"
I glance toward Jordie, "I'm afraid Miss Bloomfield has limited time available to her, so we would like to make this interview as short as possible."

He leads you up some stairs and down a hall. He comes to a small door and knocks gently. "Gabriella, you have some visitors."
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Kevin opens the door slightly, "Do you feel up for talking today?" He looks in and you can see a smallish woman sitting on the bed.
.

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As he sees the woman nod, Kevin opens the door the full way, he looks back at the 2 of you. "The door must stay open and don't upset her." He steps aside for you to enter, its a small room maybe 8x8, with a writing table, 1 chair, a photograph of 2 young boys, some paper and a pen. Then the small bed and a cabinet in one corner. A picture hangs on the wall of a peaceful meadow.

Warren Kaine

Allowing Jordie to enter the small room first I turn to the attendant, "Kevin before you go, a question if I may?"
Raising my voice enough so that it carries to the sitting Gabriella, "I couldn't help but notice that Mrs Macario here was visited a couple of days ago by a Tom Law. Were you on duty then and can you describe this Mr Law?"
I look for any unexpected reaction to the name from Kevin or Gabriella.

Gabriella looks up but doesn't seem to have any reaction out of the ordinary. Kevin responds, "Yea he did, strange fellow, though nice enough. He was one of those albino types, you know white hair, real pale blue eyes. He only stayed a couple minutes and left."

Warren Kaine
"Thanks" I smile at the attendant as I follow Jordie into the room.
Interesting, so unless albinoism suddenly got fashionable, Tom Law is the missing Tom Lawrence. So why was he visiting Mrs Macario? Right now I could do with a cigarette but I remembered the no smoking rule.
Instead I move to the writing table and pick up the photograph, "Nice kids, yours?"

Gabriella looked over at you and starts to cry softly, "my boys."

"Oh dear..." Jordie softly hits Warren in the shoulder for his insensitivity and manners, and slowly moves toward Gabriella and sits on the bedside with her. "Forgive us, where are our manners? My name's Claire and my lovely friend is Warren," Jordie offers her handkerchief to Gabriella in an attempts to calm her down, "Do you know what the day is today? Mrs. Macario?" As Jordie attempts to measure Gabriella's level of awareness.

Warren Kaine

"Sorry Ma'am" I mumble an apology as I replace the photograph.
Never having been the best at dealing with tearfull women, or men for that matter, probably due to my time in the trenches dulling any natural sympathetic tendencies, I'm content to allow Jordie to exercise her feminine sympathy towards the distressed Gabriella.
As I replace the photo I glance at the paper on the table to see if it has been written on.

Gabriella takes the handkerchief, "no I'm sorry, I just miss them so much. The doctors said I should talk to people to help get over what happened. How can I help you."
.

Warren,make a spot hidden roll.

Warren Kaine

Success,1d100 → [64] = (64) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4194997/

The indention on the paper is faint but you can just make out what looks like the drawing of a curvy knife or dagger.

Surprised to hear Gabriella's cooperation and control over her composure, Jordie was having a hard time believing that Gabriella is being institutionalized in an insane asylum. Maybe not everybody in the looney bin is crazy.

"Mrs. Macario, do you remember an albino man visiting you a couple of days ago? His name is Tom Lawrence."

Gabriella says, "Yes, though he said his name was Mr. Law. A rather strange man."

OOC,this is a sanitarium not an insane asylum.

"Ah, I see. What did Mr. Law ask of you?" Jordie briefly looks at Warren and back at Gabriella, "The reason we're asking, is because Warren and I are investigating into your home." Jordie gesture her hand towards Warren, "Warren is a reporter, we may even be able to reunite you with your children Mrs. Macario"

OOC,[url=http://imgur.com/zK1LNYM]I was under the impression we were visiting an insane asylum.[/url]

Gabriella bursts out, "Oh please dear, you don't want to go in that house. An evil lives there, its dangerous. Please promise me you won't go there."

Warren Kaine

I pick up the sheet of paper, "May I?"
Without waiting for an answer I tap the paper "Have you or anyone else written or drawn anything in the past few days?"
As I speak I draw Jordies attention to the faint indentation on the paper and raise an eyebrow quizically.
I wonder, why Gabriella would be doodling a knife, and if she hadn't who had?

OOC,Is there one sheet of paper or several?

As you pick up the top sheet of the small pad of paper, Gabriella looks over to you, "Mr. Law drew a picture of something, asked if I had seen it. I told him no, and he left."

Warren Kaine
"Hmm, do you mind if I keep this?" I indicate the piece of paper. Then again without waiting for an answer, I produce my notebook and pencil from my jacket pocket, neatly folding the paper and placing it inside the notebook.
"So Mrs Marcario, or may I call you Gabriella? Why should we keep away from the house? What's this 'evilness' you think lives there? And why is it dangerous?"

Gabriella nods, "yes please keep it. There is evil in that house, I'd swear on it," her fingers find their way to a cross hanging around her neck. "I'd wake in the middle of the night and it would be leaning over the bed looking at me. It wasn't more than a shadow, but the eyes, they glowed red. " she stopped for a second and you could hear her say a quick Hail Mary under her breath. "It didn't bother me and my boys much, it mainly hated Vitto, my husband. I don't know why, we tried to make it happy, left its room alone, and never went in there."
.
You can tell she's starting to get upset.
.
"When it would get mad it would throw dishes and other things around. When it would get that bad, we'd leave so it could calm down." She took a deep breath like it was difficult to finish. "If it would let us leave."

Warren Kaine
I note down the important points, "You say you left its room alone, what room? It hated your husband, why? How did you try to make it happy?"

Gabriella is looking more and more flustered with every question, "Well his was the 1st bedroom when you go up the stairs. You can tell its his. You can hear 'em in there walking around, moving about. It's worse at night, but it can happen anytime."
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She reaches for a glass of water by her bed and takes a sip. Her hands are shaking and it takes both hands to steady the glass enough to drink from it.
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"It must have hated Vitto, it bothered him every day. Hitting him with knifes and plates. Somedays we had to go eat outside just so we could eat in peace. And Vitto could spend hours sitting in the living room. If I went to talk to him, he'd yell at me. He never yelled at me before we moved into that wicked place."
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Gabriella broke down crying at this point, sobbing loudly.

Warren Kaine

Disturbed at her sudden outburst of emotion, I reach into my inside pocket an pull a clean handkerchief from it which I reach across and hand to Gabriella, "Sorry Mrs Macario, but these questions had to be asked."
I look toward Jordie hoping that a little feminine compassion will help calm the woman down.
Interesting, I think, she constantly refers to this unknown shadow with red eyes as he.
"One last question Ma'am, this 'he' you refer to, have you seen him before or after you vacated the property"

Gabriella already has the tissue from Jordie, and so doesn't take yours. You see her shake her head no, but the sobbing continues.
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Kevin steps into the room. "I think thats enough. Come on time to go."

Jordie looking at Warren, "C'mon Texas, Gabriellas had enough." Jordie stands up from the bed and searches in her satchel for her business card. "I'm sorry if we caused any problems Gabriella, but if Mr. Law drops by or anything comes up, please, let us know." Jordie paused, realizing her business card has her real name on it, Jordie looks back at Warren, "Warren, I think the business card is on you?"

[sub]"If it would let us leave."[/sub]

What Gabriella said made an impression on Jordie. She didn't know what to think of it and it began to chew on her mind. Jordie wanted to ask Gabriella more, but it looks like she's seen better days. Gabriella will need some time to collect herself again, before Jordie could press more questions.

Warren Kaine
With a shrug of resignation I replace the unused handkerchief in my jacket pocket. As I close my notebook, having written down her last comment, I take a small card from it and hand it to Gabriella.
"Sorry to have upset you Ma'am, but like I said these questions needed to be asked if we are to get to the bottom of this and see you runited with your kids"
Turning away from Gabriella and toward the waiting attendant, "Okay that's enough with Mrs Macario. Now may we interview Mr Macario?"

Kevin escorts you away from Gabriella's room. "Sorry to cut you short there, but I'm under strict orders not to let her get too upset. She seems pretty normal when you first talk to her, but she is very emotionally fragile right now."
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Kevin takes you down a flight of stairs, "Yes you can talk to Mr. Macario, his condition is much different than his wife's. You are not likely to upset him, if anything, the opposite might happen."
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The hall you enter into went from being from what looked like a nursing home to an insane asylum. The rooms are locked with only small sliding windows and small sliding doors at the bottom of the doors. You hear screaming and banging. "To answer your unasked question, yes Mr. Law also visited Vitto, but again for less than 1-2 minutes."
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As he approaches the door you seem him slide the window door open and look in. Then unlock the door. Before he opens it, he looks at the 2 of you. "Mr. Macario is seriously disturbed with bouts of paranoia and schizophrenia, he usually isn't dangerous, but can be." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a syringe and checks it. "For your own safety I must insist I stay in the room with you."
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Without waiting for an answer he pulls open the door and leads the way in. "Mr. Macario, you have some visitors today. Can you say hello?"
.

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The room he is in, is bare except for the small mattress on the floor. Vitto turns towards you two, "You will burn in HELL!"

Warren Kaine

"Morning Mr Macario, my name is Warren Kaine and this.." I indicate Jodie with a thumb, "...lady is Miss Bloomfield." I ignore his reference to burning in hell, "We would like to ask you some questions about the house on Norman Street where you lived if we may?"
I carefully produce my notebook and pencil aware of what a sudden movement may do in this situation.
"We have already spoken to your wife and would like your take on the happenings at that address."
And, I think to myself, on the reason for the albino's visit, was it in connection to the knife about which he had questioned Mrs Macario?

Vitto eyes widen as they look over at you, then in a monotone voice says, "Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake, The shadows lengthen."

Warren Kaine

"What the...?" I'm taken aback by the words delivered in that flat monotone, like a child who is reciting a poem from memory.
Poem of course... I look up from my efforts to record his words in my notebook, "Longfellow, right?" Although with a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach I'm pretty sure it isn't.

Vitto laughs under his breath while he continues, his voice rising slightly with each new line.
"Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is Lost Carcosa"

Warren Kaine

Not sure I like the way this is going I draw the back of my hand across my forehead, noting the beads of sweat that have risen there. I Cast a despairing glance toward my companion.
"Okay...Mr Macario...I'm gonna put some names to you just tell me if they mean anything" I turn several pages in my notebook, "Martin Bishop?" I pause a moment to let the name sink in and see if it registers with this poetry spouting madman, "Tom Lawrence? a gentleman suffering albinoism with a thing for knives"

The man's eys are almost spinning, a dark palar covers his face as the volume gets louder and louder,
"Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard"

He continues on. You see Kevin pull out the syringe and take the top off the needle.

His voice intensifies till it is almost a scream by the end,
"Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die though, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa"
.
Vitto then stops, slumps down onto the matress and is staring blankly at the wall.

"Whatever we have to say to Mr. Macario, I don't think will work." Jordie glances between Warren and Vitto, "What if we showed him the picture of the knife?"

Warren Kaine
"Looking at him I ain't sure that will work." I look at Kevin to see what he is doing with the needle.
"I've written down the...poem he was reciting. Doesn't mean a thing to me but I guess someone else might recognise it and say whether it has any relevance." I shrug resignedly, guessing that this interview is over.
"Tell me... uh...Kevin is there a telephone handy I can use?" I take out my pocket watch and check the time.

OOC,Do I know anyone who might have a handle on that poem, if so can I ring them?

Kevin puts the cap back over the needle, "The worst part is over, yes we have a telephone." he says. And steps back. The patient just lays there staring at the wall, he is mumbling but you cannot understand what he is saying.
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His previous performance has the other inmates yelling and screaming. It is extremely hard to concentrate.
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You look down to your watch and it is almost noon already. Where did the time fly and you still have at least a 30-45 min drive back to the city to meet back up at 1.

Warren,make an idea roll for me

Warren Kaine

Idea Roll
I look up from my watch to Jordie, "We had better be leaving" I tap the watch face to draw her attention.
"Whatever he is mumbling about is a mystery, and from the noise of the other patients I think we'd best be off before a riot starts."
To Kevin I nod, "Thanks for your time, if anything occurs to you..." I pass him a card "...You will get me there". With the card I pass him a five spot.

You think through your contacts you've had over the years, and never once have you had to deal with poetry while chasing down cheating husbands and lost underpants. Kevin smiles as he pockets the 5. "Thanks for coming," as he sees you to the door. "I hope you found what you were looking for."
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As you step out into the sunny day you forgot how warm it was going to be today.

OOC: I'll leave this open in case you two want to roleplay the drive back into town.
When you are done you should move to this thread.