In the Absence of Luck

Dr. Wu

My smile became a bit more strained. Another one of these types, eh?

"I'm not going to force you to shake my hand, but if you'd just remove your clothes for the physical I'd be much obliged."

Waverly made a face. "Is that really necessary?"

I sighed in exasperation. "My dear, this is a PHYSICAL. Of course it's necessary! Now please take off your clothes!"

Waverly did as she was told. She took them off uncomfortably and Dr. Wu examined over her making marks and things on her clipboard. It wasn't long until Dr.Wu was done.

"Alright, Waverly. You can put your clothes back on and join the others," she said motioning towards the door. Waverly nodded and put her clothes back on. She walked through the door only to be met by glazes from the others. She made her way over to a corner and sat down with the darkness of the walls enclosing around her. She sat there as the next person was called for the physical. The time ticked by slowly and she started braiding a strand of hair. She started to look at the ceiling and someone named Gabriel was called. Out of curiosity she looked his direction, as she did when the others had been called also. She smiled. He was fairly good looking and it had been a while since she had socialized with a man. Then her social shyness took over. She looked back down and started creating invisible images with the tip of her pointer finger in the concrete floor.

Gabriel Stone

I stood reluctantly to join Dr. Wu. A frown crossed my face when I realized the new girl, Waverly, was looking at me. Did I have something on my face...?

Oh. No, it was a different sort of look, the kind I'd seen girls shooting at my almost physically perfect half-brother in the park. It made me feel a little odd, especially as I had to have been ten years older than her and I hadn't interacted with anyone but guards for the past seven years. And then I'd generally just been surly and flung insults around.

One of the guards nudged me impatiently. "Don't touch me," I said coldly, "I'm moving." Without another word, I slipped into the room after Dr. Wu.

"Name?" she asked without looking up from her clipboard.

"Gabriel Stone."

"Alright, if you could just take off your clothes. Before you say anything, no there isn't a male medical doctor to do your physical so you might as well just cooperate.

I opened my mouth to protest, but she talked over me. "I'd suggest you start undressing, unless you want the guard to help you." The guard by the door glared at me menacingly.

I scowled and stripped down. "This is a bit humiliating."

"This is prison, not chess camp," she said sternly, motioning for me to turn around after making a few marks on her clipboard.

After a few minutes, she stopped writing. "Okay, we're done. You're free to leave."

I hastily pulled my clothes back on and exited the room.

Dr. Wu glanced out after me. "Okay, if the last young lady could step forward we could wrap this up."

I sat back down and crossed my arms.

Waverly glanced in his direction again. She looked back down. The final girl was called so she started to tap. She thought about if she should go talk to him or not. She finally decided. She slowly got up and made her way over to the place Gabriel was sitting. She sat down next to him. She inhaled deeply.

"Hi. I-I'm Waverly," she said still staring downward. While she waited for him to say something back she looked down to her pants. A string was jutting out so she played with it before ripping it away.

"Hi," he said back. Waverly exhaled.

"At least he answered me," she thought to herself. For the following few minutes, they sat silently.

Sage

Sage looked over at the other two convicts in the room with her. Gabriel, and the new woman, Waverly. Sage listened into the very brief exchange of words they were having. As she listened, Sage's eyebrow rose steadily.

Sage turned to them incredulously. "You can' be serious," she snorted. Waverly sat up stiffly.

"Who are you?"

Sage's nose wrinkled distastefully. "Sage Fleming. Why do you look so uncomfortable, Waverly?"

"Why you you look so defensive?"

"That the best comeback you can think of, eh?"

**Gah - Horrible, I know... But I'm trying to re-insert Sage back into the picture...

Waverly stood up.

"Shut-up! I didn't even encourage a convorsation with you! Leave me alone," she yelled walking away, returning to her corner. She threw herself down and covered her eyes with her arms. She sat like that until the last girl came out from her physical. Doctor James Fields came out. He looked around in the room.

"I would like everyone to come together, please," he said. Waverly stood clenching her fist.

Not much longer. Just hold on. You can do this, she thought as she repeated how rudely that Sage Flemming girl interupted a simply innocent convorsation. What the hell is her problem, she wondered. She sat down behind everyone else. She ended up behind Gabriel, not even meaning too.

It wasn't long before she was accompanied by a girl that looked around her age.

"Hi! You don't mind if I sit by you, do you?" Waverly shook her head. She admired her kindness and immidiately stuck out her hand. Anyone who is able to stay positive in a place like this deserves a proper friend, Waverly thought with a smile.

"My name is Waverly," she said lightly. The girl grinned widely as if she enjoyed having someone return her kindness.

"I'm Faye," she replied taking Waverly's hand gladly. "You have a pretty name," she added. Waverly released her hand and smirked.

"Dido."

Gabriel Stone

I blinked, a little startled, as I looked from Waverly to Sage and back. What was it with these people? We'd only been in the room together for what, an hour maybe, and they were already fighting with each other. I huffed slightly.

When Dr. Fields had us 'huddle up' or whatever other nonsense he had in mind, I stayed seated. I was close enough to him anyways.

Before he started talking, I glanced over at Sage. "Why?"

"Why what?" she said stubbornly.

"All the girl wanted was to converse with me. I hardly see why you felt the need to intervene."

"Dude, are you stupid?" She smirked. "You know she was hitting on you."

I blinked. "I'm at least ten years her senior," I said blankly.

"Yeah, like that makes a difference."

I suddenly smirked. "Then why did you interrupt us Sage? Jealous were you?"

She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "If you want to keep all your teeth, you'll shut up," she growled.

I shrugged and turned to watch Dr. Fields, not bothering to wipe the smirk off my face.

((Yeah... since Dr. Wu's only going to be around when she's needed for medical examinations and emergencies, I think I could handle another character. Maybe a guard?))

It took Doctor Fields a little while to get started. It looked like he was thinking hard about something.

"You know what? Give me a few minutes. I'll be back," he said fleeing the room quite fast. This gave everyone, all four of them, a little social time. Waverly and Faye had no problem getting a convorsation started.

"So, how long have you been in here for," Waverly asked Faye.

"Ten years," she replied. It looked like she was getting uncomfortable, preparing herself for the next question. Waverly thought about what she would say next. She came to a conclusion that she wouldn't dare ask about why she was in here.

"Oh, I've only been here for seven years. How old are you?"

"Nineteen," she replied.

"Me, too!"

"Oh, that's so cool! Everyone here is usually like a decade older than me. I haven't met anyone exactly my age yet," she said smiling. She was as excited as Waverly was. Suddenly Sage turned around. Waverly stared her down.

"Excuse me. I don't remember trying to talk to you. This is a private convorsation, please turn around," Waverly said flatly. Sage stared her down also.

"Well, if you weren't so loud-"

"Last I remembered, we can be as loud as we want to. We are here to change. Eavesdropping is a nasty habit that you should probably replace with ignorance," Waverly said meeting Sage's glance with as much power as Sage. Waverly stood up pulling Faye up with her. She continued quite a ways from them. Not far enough to not hear Dr. Fields, but far enough to stay away from Sage. Waverly and Faye started talking again immidiately.

Hmm, I've decided that I can handle another character. Maybe another convict? If that's okay.

Dr. James Fields

James hurried back out of the room and hopped on one foot. "Impressions, impressions." he chanted. He had of course already met the convicts, but they would be starting sessions soon.

When he was satisfied with his ability to make an impression he went back to the door, but became distracted when his hand touched the doorknob. "What if I could make a man out of metal..." he mumbled as he ran his hand along the shiny metal knob. "Of course that would be a robot...but what if I plated an actual living man with metal..."

The door opened quickly and a guard eyed James. "You coming?"

James smiled. "Yes, yes of course."

He stepped back into the room. "Well, who's ready for a tour?"

None of the patients said anything, they all just stared.

"Alright then, let's get moving." James said energetically.

He then led the four patients on a tour of the facility. Where they would have access was only a few rooms, so it didn't take long. James was happy with their quarters though, it resembled an apartment in it's style.

"As you can see, you will all be living here. You will be generally living on your own in here but will attend required Rehabilitation activities." James blabbered on about the good qualities of the clinic, but his mind was elsewhere. It was certainly a talent that he could talk about one thing but think about another entirely at the same time.

I can't post right now, but I wanted to let you all know: If you want to create another character, feel free to do so, but please only have one convict. The ratio of convict characters to staff members is WAY off. I would be eternally grateful if you all thought you could create a staff member.

((You'll have to ask phantomofthepotter about it first, but I think it'd probably be fine. I'm adding a guard since Dr. Wu's not gonna be too active, and since you already have a staff member, I don't see why you couldn't add another convict.))

Name: John Vincent

Age: 22

Gender: male

Appearance: dark hair and eyes, stands at 6' 1", well-muscled.

Position in Rehabilitation: Guard

Personality: He's a very by-the-book person. Rather stiff, if you know what I mean. He believes very much that the rehabilitation program is a good thing- although as the story progresses, we'll see if he keeps that viewpoint.

History: John was a good kid in school and got top-grades in all his subjects. He decided when he graduated that he wanted to get a job to keep himself occupied and "contribute to society," so he decided to become a guard.

Other: Up for love, though he'll be a bit reluctant at first if his significant other looks to be a convict.

** I know it will be difficult, but I claim John! Or...may I please claim Mr. John Vincent, Buggy?**

Waverly glanced around the place that she was supposedly to be living for a while. She shrugged it off. It wasn't nice, but it wasn't bad either. Dr. James blabbered about non important things so Waverly stared at the ceiling. She waited for him to come to a stop. After about ten minutes, he finally did.

"Any questions?" he asked. Waverly looked up. "Yes, Waverly?" She thought How did he know that I was going to ask something?

"Um, ya, since their are only four of us...is it possible that we can only have two or one to a room, since we have so few?" She asked. She waited for her answer as she thought about the fact of being forced to share a room with Sage. Waverly refused to put up with anymore of her sarcastic comments. She started to drift into imagination, but was snapped back into reality with Dr. Fields answer.

"I'm honestly not sure. I will have to ask about that. You will have your answer before you are assigned your rooms, I promise you that," he replied.

Okay guys - No one seems to have read this:

phantom of the potter wrote:I can't post right now, but I wanted to let you all know: If you want to create another character, feel free to do so, but please only have one convict. The ratio of convict characters to staff members is WAY off. I would be eternally grateful if you all thought you could create a staff member.

So basically, I would PREFER if you had a staff member, but if you have a gut-wrenching, soul-sucking desire to have a convict, you may.

If you would be okay with a staff member but don't know who to create, by all means PM me and I will help you. Just PM me with the outline of the type of personality you want your character to have.

Right, then, now that we've cleared that up - ON WITH THE STORY!

(I'll post for Sage later)

John Vincent

I watched the convicts expressionlessly as I stood by the door. There were four: three females and a male. It was a good thing Dr. Fields came back when he did, or I would have been stuck babysitting them for a good deal of time as I waited for his return.

Not all of my job was entirely enjoyable, but I got satisfaction from the idea that I was contributing to society in my own way. They needed me here, partly because the lack of any sort of obligation to anyone but themselves had left most of the public lazy and unwilling to help anyone else out. Pathetic. I always knew that I'd be one of those to take on a job. I needed the sense of accomplishment.

These specimens didn't seem particularly dangerous. One of the girls seemed a bit... neurotic, let's say, just from the way she isolated herself from the rest of the group. I got the feeling that she was capable of murder. The other girls just seemed scared. Something was off about them; neither seemed like the killer their files claimed they were. As far as the guy was concerned, the aloof way he regarded everyone else in the room was enough to convince me that he was probably very much guilty, and proud of it. At least he didn't seem dangerous. The files said he was a 'cat burglar', like in the movies, and his slight build made it obvious that he depended more on brains than physical prowess when pulling off his endeavors.

"Dr. Fields," I murmured, "the cells are ready."