y'all with the vampire squad?

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

The blond watched his mirror image as he slept peacefully next to him. Akira sighed tiredly as he looked at his twin before getting up and getting dressed into a pair of light blue pyjama pants, and a white t-shirt. Just as he was finished pulling his top down over his head, a nurse came in and told him it was time for breakfast. He looked at his twin, and debated waking him up, but decided to just let him sleep. Shou had been up most of the night, getting sick because of the new medication that they were on.

Akira followed the nurse to the Mess Hall, frowning when he saw that they were serving oatmeal. He made a disgusted face as he took the bowl that was handed to him, as well as the glass of milk, and sat down at an empty table. He pushed the lumpy, cold mess around with his spoon for a bit, before pushing the bowl away and folding his arms. ”I’m not eating this” He muttered, glaring at the oatmeal with extreme distaste. A nurse with one eyebrow and huge muscles that was patrolling the Mess Hall came over and pushed the bowl back in front of him. ”You can’t leave until you eat it” She said before walking away to deal with another patient. Akira continued to pout and stare at his oatmeal.

A different nurse came over to him, this one nice looking and actually quite pretty. ’What would make a woman with looks like that become a nurse?’ He thought as she asked him if something was wrong with his oatmeal. ”It’s cold!” Akira whined, pouting up at her. ”It’s supposed to be cold” The nurse said in a calm, sweet voice. ”I don’t like it cold!” Akira replied, still in a whiney voice and pushed his bowl away again. ”Well you have to eat it darling” The nurse said, pushing the oatmeal back in front of him and standing right beside him until he put a spoonful of the gross food into his mouth. The texture made him screw up his face, ready to spit it out. ”Good boy” The nurse said, patting his head before walking away. Once she was gone, Akira spat the oatmeal back out into his bowl, completely disgusted.

”Eww, eww, eww” He complained, picking up his napkin and using it to wipe off his tongue in attempts to rid himself of the horrible taste. He downed half his glass of milk and shook his head. ”Gross” He groaned, pushing his bowl to the other side of the table. He felt like crying, knowing they’d record that he refused to eat breakfast. It wasn’t his fault that the food was terrible. Akira crossed his arms and rested his head on them, wishing now that he’d woken up his twin. He couldn’t help what Shou would have done now that he’d been forced to take new meds. It was most likely that he wouldn’t be able to do much, he’d be so weak because there was nothing in his system. Akira sighed and shifted away as a nurse tried to touch him. He just looked down at the table, not speaking until she walked away.

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 540.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]

[DULCIE LORELLE JACOBS]

Sometimes I get a little wild

[/size]

please forgive me.

[/size]

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

[/color] [/font]

Dulcie entered the Mess Hall nervously biting her lip and tugging at the sleeves of her over-sized t-shirt. It was her first time out of her room, but she didn’t have total freedom yet: the nurse who came in to inform her that her solitary time was over also informed her that she was to go to the showers and then eat breakfast in the Mess Hall straight afterwards –no exceptions.
So, a few wrong turns and a helpful nurse later, Dulcie was clean and ready to eat.

Going up to the food line, Dulcie took a few moments and observed how everyone else was doing it, then timidly grabbed her own tray and got in line. The server asked her name then checked a list and nodded to herself before putting an unpleasant looking bowl of oatmeal was put onto her tray, along with a banana and a small carton of chocolate milk, and told her to enjoy her first real day.

“Yes ma’am, I will. Thank you very much,” Dulcie responded, her voice a little raspy from disuse. Blushing, she cleared her throat and gave the server her best smile before getting out of the way. Not that it’s off to a very good start,[/color] she thought glumly, looking down at the oatmeal with distaste. Though she was grateful for the chocolate milk –clearly whoever put her information on that list was at least a bit considerate.

Standing in front of all the tables and feeling extremely awkward and out of her depth, she once again started chewing on her lip as she fretfully looked around for a place to sit. Dulcie couldn’t help but outright reject some tables -despite how bad it made it feel her- due to how…well, crazy some of the occupants looked.

Finally, a boy sitting at a table near her, who was showing just as much distaste towards the oatmeal as she felt, caught her attention.

Although his method of showing it is rather childish, Dulcie thought, unable to stop a small smile as she watched him spit his food back into the bowl. He reminded her so much of one of her ex’s little sisters who she used to babysit; no matter how hard Dulcie had tried, the girl always found a way out of eating her veggies.

Despite his appearance telling her he was probably only a few years younger than herself, she couldn’t help but feel a small bit of the maternal part in her swell up. Before any thought even registered in her mind, her feet were carrying her over to the table.

“It’s that gross, huh?” Dulcie said -pleased to hear that her voice was clear and soft again- giving the boy a light grin. “Well, it always feels better to suffer with someone else than to suffer alone. Do you mind if I join you?”
[/size]

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

Akira sighed and rested his chin on the hard table, with marks that told stories of why the patients shouldn’t be allowed to use knives. He started to push his glass of milk from side to side, happy when a nurse came by to refill it for him. He lifted his head to smile widely at the nurse before going back to his previous activity, his blue eyes watching the glass as it slowly glided from one side to the other under his control. He knew that he was going to be in here for awhile, considering the nurses watched all of the high risk patients like hawks and every nurse in this building already knew who he was. He felt his cheeks colour at the thought, wondering how his name had gotten around so fast.

He jumped as a girls voice broke into his thoughts and looked up at her as she continued to speak. It took a minute for what she was saying to process, but once it did a smile broke out on his face. ”Yes, it’s dis… Dis… It’s gross” His accent was heavy over each word when he spoke, as he was sure it always would be. He frowned as he couldn’t remember the word that he was looking for, racking his brain for the proper English word, but was still unable to find it. He sighed and looked back down at the table. Akira nodded as the girl asked if she could sit with him. ”Sure, pull up a bench” He said, kicking his feet slightly – he was too short to reach the floor.

Resting his eyes back on the girl who now sat in front of him, he smiled slightly. ”I’m Akira” He introduced, bowing his head slightly before reaching over to table to shake her hand. ”My twin is here too… Still asleep I think” He looked thoughtful for a minute, wondering if they would have to change Shou’s meds again because he couldn’t keep them down. Akira just simply hid his pills everywhere that he could, but they’d forced Shou to take his because he was getting more violent with the nurses. ”Who are you?” Akira asked, kicking his feet again and smiling widely at the girl in front of him.

Sipping his milk, Akira stared at the oatmeal and shuddered. There was no way he was eating that. A nurse came to take away his bowl, and instead replaced it with apple slices and caramel sauce to dip them in, which he happily dug into. The nurse’s name was Violet, and she was by far Akira’s favourite nurse because she helped him. She got him things like breakfast, and the better crayons to colour with in his art class. As he chewed on his apple slices, he tilted his head and really took in the girl’s appearance. From her hair to her eyes, her clothes and even looking to see if there were marks on her arms. He smiled slightly, sucking the caramel sauce off of his apple slice before actually eating it. ”Have you just been brought to here?” He asked curiously. ”I was brought here a little while ago with Shou”

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 533.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]

[DULCIE LORELLE JACOBS]

Sometimes I get a little wild

[/size]

please forgive me.

[/size]

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

[/color] [/font]

At first, Dulcie was a little surprised by his accent.
Then she felt stupid for being surprised -after all, it was a 50-50 chance of him not having one- and mentally rolled her eyes at herself as she sat down. Outwardly, she gave him an encouraging grin, and resisted the urge inside her that made her want to squish him with hugs as she watched him kick his feet, successfully showing her how short he was as his feet didn’t even graze the ground.

“Disgusting? Yeah, totally agreed. Though it could be worse; they could be eggs,” Dulcie said with a small laugh. She new he wouldn’t get the joke, but she couldn’t help herself. Shaking his hand in return, she cheerfully continued.

“Akira, eh? That’s a very pretty name. Does your twin have as nice a name as you? I hope he wakes up in time to join us; I’d like to meet him. Oh, and my name is Dulcie. I can’t say I like it very much…I’m pretty sure the only other women with my name are in their eighties.” She chuckled, although it was cut short when she realized he seemed to be analysing her, and she played with the material on her jeans uncomfortably. At the question of how long she’d been there, her expression became sombre. “I’ve only been here a bit over a week, but already it feels like forever. Though at least I’m allowed out of my rooms now -they had me in solitary until today- so things will hopefully get better.”

She gave him a sad smile, leaving the “because I’ll go crazy if it doesn’t” unsaid. Then she snorted at the irony.
Turning her attention back to the food (and belatedly but happily noticing that Akira’s had been replaced with something good), Dulcie felt her stomach roll at the gruel-like oatmeal -well, even if I did have an appetite before, this would have killed it- and almost passed on eating any. Then she thought of the how wasteful it was, and how offensive it would be to those who made it, and purposefully took a bite.
Then she gagged, and nearly choked as she swallowed.
Then she took another bite.

Dulcie continued this for a dozen more bites, though with slightly less gagging as she got used to it. Finally, after getting halfway through, she had to call it quits, deciding it would be much more offensive to throw it all up than to not eat some of it. Taking a sip of her chocolate milk, Dulcie gave a delighted moan of approval as she washed away the bad flavour with the chocolaty deliciousness. With her stomach and taste buds now happier, Dulcie started on her banana.

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

Akira blushed slightly as the girl found the word he’d been looking for, feeling a little more like his hair colour because he’d been unable to think of it himself. ”Yes… Disgusting…” He had a little trouble pronouncing the word, and frowned slightly when it came out sounding different than the way the new girl had said it. He stared at the girl blankly as she began to talk about eggs, wondering if he’d missed something. He didn’t see what was so funny at all. He wrapped an arm around himself after letting go of Dulcie’s hand, as if needing the feeling of comfort - Akira didn’t really care much for strangers, but the place was full of them. He didn’t really feel comfortable being places around here without his twin.

”Dulcie…” He said, trying to wrap his tongue around the strange name, completely ignoring her question. ”Dulcie?” He tried again, tilting his head and listening to the name as he said it. ”That’s pretty” Akira said, a thoughtful expression taking over his doll-like face. He smiled softly at her, starting to trust this girl already. That’s how he always got into trouble, but still Akira never learned. He just continued to trust people too early in the game, and then they ended up hurting him. It was his twin’s job to be suspicious anyway, Akira had no reason to be.

Looking thoughtful again, Akira drank in the information that she gave him. ”Oh, I see” He said, nodding his head a bit. ”My twin and I have been here for about two weeks now, or maybe three… I’ll have to look at the wall in our room” He shrugged his shoulders a bit, giving up on pinpointing how long they’d been at Aldridge. ”Why are you here?” He asked after finishing off his apple slices. ”My parents didn’t want us anymore, so they left us here” He said this as if accepting that was the true reason why he was here, and not for anything else. He didn’t understand why he had to take medicine, and why there were so many people that were scary.

He watched Dulcie with a disgusted expression as she tried to eat the oatmeal and shuddered at the thought of making himself eat that terrible sludge. He was just about to pull the bowl away from her, but she finally stopped eating. ”Why did you do that?” He asked, horrified at the thought of being made to do that himself. If ever the nurses force-fed him that stuff he’d spit it in their faces. He simply would not be able to swallow that stuff.

Distracted easily, Akira remembered the caramel sauce he had left over and drizzled it onto his index finger before lightly licking it away. Then he started to stick his finger in the little bowl that held the caramel sauce, trying to get it all out. Akira had missed sugar this past little while. He was going to have to ask nurse Violet for some candy or anything with sugar – even caffeine sounded good to the little blond.

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 517.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]

[DULCIE LORELLE JACOBS]

Sometimes I get a little wild

[/size]

please forgive me.

[/size]

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

[/color] [/font]

Dulcie didn’t say anything back to Akira’s compliment to her name; even though his youthful demeanour made him fall under the radar for her DPD, she still felt uncomfortable disagreeing with him –and anyways, who was she to argue his opinion? After all, it was his opinion, not hers. Not to mention it wasn’t a topic worth debating.

She gave him a sympathetic nod when he revealed he was also fairly fresh there, and assumed by “check his wall” he meant he had created a tally on it, or that there was a calendar there. On her first day, she had considered keeping track of her time there, but changed her mind when she came to the conclusion that it would only make her feel worse about being there.

Not to mention D will probably be more than happy to inform me of how long my stay has been every time I don’t show improvement. Or should I say, D’d be more than happy to rub my face into the fact I’m wasting both my time and theirs?

Shaking her head of those thoughts, Dulcie waited for him to finish talking before responding to his question. At his reason for being there, she got her first real inkling of Akira having more problems than he let on.

Denial over actually having a problem is one thing, but denial over the reason for being here? ‘Cause it has to be denial; they wouldn’t take him here just because they didn’t want him –not to mention he wouldn’t have been accepted here for that reason- ‘cause that’s not what places like this are for. That’s what foster homes are for. But if he truly believes that, then it’s not my job to question it. I’ll leave that up to D.[/color]

Pondering over what could be wrong with Akira, she almost forgot to respond. Coming back to reality, she blushed slightly over probably looking a bit stupid and replied, “I’m sad to hear your parents did that to you. But then again, parents can suck. I hardly even remember my dad -hell, I’m not even sure if those are real memories- and Mom made a few bad choices, so now she’s in jail. Don’t get me wrong though, she’s the best. My Aunt Irene is the one who seemed to think I have problems -no thanks to that stupid psychiatrist- and made me come here. They think I’m too dependant on others. But when it comes down to it, I think my Aunt’s just punishing me ‘cause she didn’t like my boyfriend. After all, before she saw the bruises he gave me -which, by the way, were totally reasonable- I was doing fine her books.” Dulcie sighed. “But what can you do, eh?”

At Akira’s response to her eating the oatmeal, Dulcie laughed at the appalled expression on his face, although she couldn’t respond right away without looking like a slob, as her mouth was full of banana. Instead she gave him a rather chipmunk-cheeked smile and watched him dig into his own food (well, the sauce mostly) as she slowly worked through the task of eating the fruit; while the taste was by far superior to the oatmeal, her appetite was still non-existent. [/size]

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

Akira pouted slightly as Dulcie completely ignored his compliment on her name, and frowned a bit. ’The least she could do is say thank you’, he thought making a bit of a face before looking down at the table and running his fingers over one of the holes in the table and smiling a bit. Holes meant knives, and knives brought back good memories; when everything was right in his life and things were good – not great, but good. He so badly wanted a knife, but he knew that not even Violet would give him one because it meant that he would draw blood with it. He couldn’t help that he was craving it at the moment. He wanted to feel the warm, thick liquid running down his throat and slipping over his lips. He closed his eyes, trying to recall how it all felt.

His eyes widened as Dulcie spoke, trying to take in everything she told him. Too bad he had a short attention span, just like any other child and began to kick his feet while he ran his fingers across the uneven tabletop. He did listen though, and when Dulcie was finished speaking, Akira sighed a bit. ”I like bruises, but only when my brother gives them to me” He said, and giggled slightly. ”He makes me feel good, he’s the only one that makes me feel special at all” He cleared his throat and looked at Dulcie. He felt the need to share at least a little bit of his story since Dulcie had shared hers. He kept his voice quiet though, since he refused to tell his story to any of the nurses and he didn’t want them hearing. ”My father wasn’t very nice” He said softly, not really wanting to give away too much just yet. ”My mom never did anything to stop him, she was just as afraid as we were. And my dad was proud of our older brother for helping him pick on us”

Once he was finished with his sauce, he let Violet take the small bowl and smiled at her a bit. His eyes brightened when she put two chocolate chip muffins on the table for them and went away without a word, taking Dulcie’s bowl of oatmeal as well. Akira quickly took one of the muffins and broke it in half, leaving one of the halves on the table so that he could give it to his twin later. He paused and frowned a bit when Dulcie laughed at his question. ”What’s so funny?” He asked, pouting. ”I was being serious!” He bit into his muffin, closing his eyes as the warm food met his lips. He was glad something around here was warm. With winter fast approaching, he was hoping that this place was heated at least. He would not be able to live in a cold room, even if he had his twin for warmth. Akira would freeze to death.

He nibbled slowly at his muffin, trying to savor it for as long as possible, moaning a little at the good taste. He wasn’t used to things around here tasting so good, but yet here was proof that they were hiding good stuff somewhere in this building. One day, Akira was going to have to try and look for it.

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 555.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]

[DULCIE LORELLE JACOBS]

Sometimes I get a little wild

[/size]

please forgive me.

[/size]

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

[/color] [/font]

Dulcie nodded her head in agreement, smiling triumphantly that someone else understood bruises weren’t bad as long as they came from the right person. Or any other injury, for that matter. It was a sign of caring and control, and that was anything but bad.

As Akira spoke of his family, Dulcie struggled to fight away her urge to hug him. She’d been warned before being admitted that there were a lot of patients who would react badly to being touched. Asking them permission first was an option, but Dulcie cringed at the idea of being so demanding. Not to mention it would hurt if they declined.
Successfully pushing the urge down, she instead decided to comfort with words.

“Well…we can’t all be gifted with loving parents I guess. But at least you have your brother –your twin that is, not the mean one- and from the way you talk it sounds like you love each other. So really, who needs them, right? As long as you have your brother, that’s all the family you need.”

Shrugging in an ‘I-don’t-know-what-else-to-say’ way, Dulcie silently went back to her banana. Once again, she smiled triumphantly, although this time it was because she only had a bite left before she was finally done all of her food. Taking the bite, she tried not to gag as she chewed; the food felt terrible in her mouth, and the idea of swallowing it made her throat want to close, but Dulcie forced herself to do it.

Feeling very accomplished for making her way through the task of eating, Dulcie happily pushed away the banana peel and continued with her chocolate milk. She nearly choked on the drink when she laughed again at Akira’s affronted, pouty expression.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. You just looked so horrified, like I had killed something cute rather than just eating a bowl of oatmeal.” Dulcie chuckled again. “Although trying to eat that was about as easy as killing something cute. Don’t worry, I definitely didn’t do it because I liked it. I just…they…I know it’ll make them happy. The nurses, the cooks…they don’t have to feed us, but they do. So I’m showing my appreciation for their efforts. Plus I wouldn’t want to hurt the cooks feelings if I didn’t eat it, or get in trouble with the nurses for being so rude. The nurses have all the power here –they could do anything to me. I don’t want them to do…well, whatever it is they do for bad-behaviour.”

As she talked, Dulcie zoned out into her own thoughts, causing her to ramble the first things that came to her mind on the subject. Just thinking about it sent her mind into a flurry of fear, and she physically trembled a bit as pictures flashed through her mind (most of which featured her being forced into seclusion, or being abandoned in the middle of nowhere).

Tugging at her sleeves, she took deep breaths and focused on watching the blonde eating his muffin to calm herself down. Nervously looking around, Dulcie assured herself that none of the nurses had witnessed or heard her showing signs of unhappiness with them.

I can’t handle being here like this: I need to find a guy fast. I can’t do this on my own.

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

Akira’s facial expression clearly showed that he had no idea what Dulcie was saying. He didn’t see anything at all wrong with not liking something – they couldn’t force them to eat something they didn’t like. Did the nurses really expect everyone in here to have the same taste in foods? Breakfast for Akira usually consisted of some sugary cereals like Fruit Loops, or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Trix. The little blond whimpered at the thought of his favourite cereals. He would trade just about anything for even one spoonful of anything good.

”No offence…” Akira said slowly, trying to think of a nice way to say what was on his mind. ”But I don’t see what you mean” He shrugged his shoulders and smiled apologetically. ”They do so have to feed us if they expect us to be sent here. We’re not here to die, even though it kinda feels like it…” Akira looked down at the table and traced a small crack in the table with his finger. ”Besides... It seems no matter what you do, they just like to make your stay here hell” He froze up when a nurse came over, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him in a way that made the young boy uncomfortable. ”Well hello Akira” She said, sliding her hand slowly down his back. ”Where’s your older brother?” Akira kept his frozen position, his eyes glued to the table in front of him. ”Sleeping” He replied, his voice almost a whisper. ”Alright cutie, see you” She lightly kissed his cheek and he shuddered as the nurse turned and left, probably to find Shou.

Looking back up at Dulcie, he had a sad and scared expression. ”See? I just like my brother touching me like that, but these people think they can take what they want from me” Akira had tears filling his eyes. He hugged himself tightly, wishing that Shou was here now. ”If they don’t want something from me, they hurt me, and Shou gets mad when the nurses do either” He looked down at the table. ”Mostly the nurses talk to me when he’s not around. Only one of them likes to do stuff for me without asking for anything from me. And Shou gets punished for things more than I do” He bit his lip and shook his head. ”Trust me, they you can’t please them. To them, you are just another person that’s here for some reason and they don’t care”

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 417.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]

[DULCIE LORELLE JACOBS]

Sometimes I get a little wild

[/size]

please forgive me.

[/size]

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

[/color] [/font]

Dulcie flushed a little at Akira’s disbelieving face and tone, not wanting to argue, but a niggling part of her mind was disagreeing completely with what she was saying –the same part of her that often sent her into panic due to it’s unhappy thoughts regarding others and what they could do to her. So, after checking to make sure no nurses were in hearing range, Dulcie raised her head some conviction (and happily noted her face was no longer red) and said, “I’m sorry Akira, but I have to disagree. Oh yes, I am sure they’re supposed to feed us, but that doesn’t mean they have to. If they just happen to ‘forget’ -or even blatantly just not do it- who’s going to stop them? Who’s going to even know? This place is practically just nurses, and that creates a group mentality. So they’ve probably got each others back if they do notice one of their own do something wrong.”

“There’s also the fact that we’ve all been sent here because the rest of society thinks there’s something wrong with us and that we need to be kept away from them, so even if anything was brought to attention, who’s really going to care anyways? At worst, a couple slaps on wrists will be administered, Aldridge will claim they’ll keep a better eye one things and that they do not condone what certain staff members did, and then everyone’ll move on with their lives and forget, leaving us susceptible to the nurses once again; not to mention after having an incident like that, they’d just become more close-knit and on guard.”

She paused for a moment when a nurse came up and spoke to Akira, surprising Dulcie when she actually gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek. The nurse seemed oblivious to his shudder, but Dulcie noticed it. The shudder was only enforced by the boy’s unhappy words, which caused Dulcie to give the boy a sympathetic look. She started to reach her hand across the table to give his a comforting squeeze, but she remembered his unhappiness with being touched by anyone but his brother, so she withdrew her hand and hid it under the table.

“I know what I just said makes them sound like monsters, but I can’t totally agree that they want to make our lives hell. At least some of them certainly don’t –just look at the nurse who’s given you a muffin, and that one just now, treated you perfectly kindly and even gave you affection. Like, I know you didn’t appreciate it, but it’s the thought that counts, right? It’s the little things they do that tell you how they really are. And if some of them are hurting you and your brother, maybe you should try to get into the good books of the ones who haven’t. They could protect you.”

“And trust me on this: there’s always a way to please someone. And I’m going to find it. Maybe I won’t win them all over, but even if I just have one who understands and knows that I did my best for them will be enough.”

Realizing how much she had spoken, Dulcie blushed once again. This time, however, she felt some pride. For one, she had done something D wanted her to do, which was to disagree with someone (although she purposely ignored the fact that the childlike boy barely registered to her as someone to fear disagreeing with). More importantly to her, she had questioned how society ran, and pointed out how corrupt it could be, and doing so made her think of her mom, and how proud she would be if she –who had always been a rebel to society and made sure to teach her daughter the importance of not trusting it- knew that Dulcie had actually listened and learned from her. Looking down at the table, she bit her lip to keep from grinning.

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

Akira suddenly looked hurt. ”Who thinks there’s something wrong with me?” He asked, his expression very upset. ”There’s nothing wrong with me, or my twin. Our parents just didn’t want us” He wrapped his arms tighter around himself, refusing to believe what Dulcie was saying. She was wrong, he was normal, his parents just didn’t want him anymore. He resisted putting his hands over his ears, knowing that would be rude, but he really didn’t want to hear anymore. He felt tears sting his eyes and his bottom lip trembled with the efforts of trying not to cry, but the nurse that came up to him was making it very difficult.

He shuddered when she left and looked up at Dulcie as she again began to speak. ”That was not motherly!” He said, wondering how she could be so blind. ”She’s one of the nurses that wants sex, that’s why she’s looking for my brother” Hearing this sentence from the little blond would probably shock anyone except for the boys twin. ”If she can’t find Shou, she’ll come back for me. There’s no thought there, just greed and lust. She doesn’t care that she’s using us, she just cares that she’s satisfied and she knows that we can’t do anything about it if she wants something from us” He felt a tear start to run down his cheek but he quickly wiped it away, not wanting any of the nurses to see that he was crying. He’d been given sedatives before, and they hadn’t been fun. ”It’s not that I don’t like sex, I do, it’s just… I don’t like how they do it” The nurses never let him be in control, and always went slow and soft because they knew he liked it rough. The blond groaned and covered his face with his hands. ”There’s only one nurse here that’s nice to me, but she wouldn’t stand up for me. There are too many other nurses against her” He ran his hands through his hair, making it messy.

”Kira-chan!” Shou sang as he walked into the mess hall. His hair was wet, like he’d just taken a shower. He wore a pair of black pajama pants and a button up plaid shirt that was left open to reveal his toned chest. His smile turned into a frown when he saw how upset his twin looked and quickly sat down next to Akira to take him in his arms. ”Awww, Kira-chan, what’s wrong?” He asked, noticing Dulcie and glaring at her slightly as if she was responsible for his twin’s current state. ”It’s not Dulcie! That stupid nurse is looking for you!” Akira replied, attempting to push his older brother away. ”Don’t worry, she found me. That’s why I took a shower, I don’t want to smell like slut while I hold you” Shou kissed his brother’s forehead before turning to see what he was supposed to be eating and made a face at the oatmeal. ”Gross, what am I supposed to do with this?” He asked, his face making Akira giggle.

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 512.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]

[DULCIE LORELLE JACOBS]

Sometimes I get a little wild

[/size]

please forgive me.

[/size]

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

[/color] [/font]

A wave of guilt washed over Dulcie as the blonde haired boy’s hurt expression and distressed words, and she bit her lip remorsefully as she watched him wrap his arms around himself protectively. She hadn’t realized her words would imply disbelief in why he thought he was there, and while she really didn’t think that was the reason he’s been brought to Aldridge, she also didn’t want to be the one to rip away what appeared to be a happier reason compared to being considered unstable.

“I’m sorry Akira,” Dulcie said sincerely, her eyebrows scrunched in concern. “I didn’t think of your situation when I said that. I was just generalizing everyone else. I don’t-“

She was cut off as once again a nurse approached, and she nervously drummed her fingers on the table -causing her to receive a raised eyebrow from the nurse- until the nurse left.

What Dulcie was going to say after the nurse left was completely forgotten.
Akira burst out with accusations about the nurses, talking of lust and sex and a whole manner of things that, because of his childlike behaviour, Dulcie foolishly expected him not to even know about.
In a shocked silence, her mind tried to grasp what he had claimed the nurses were doing to him and his brother. On one hand, she wanted to believe that no one would do things like that -and to Akira, of all people! How could anyone do that without feeling like a pedo?-[/I] and that maybe Akira was making it up, or had hallucinated these things. On the other hand, he spoke with such conviction and so much emotion that Dulcie couldn’t not believe him.
This unhappy acceptance made her stomach roll, and tears pricked behind her eyes.
That’s just too wrong.[/I]

Her mouth opened and closed stupidly as she tried to say something to try and comfort the boy, but it seemed that tidbit of information had practically shut down her brain. Luckily, a distraction came in the form of what could only be Akira’s twin.
Dulcie was slightly amazed for a moment at how identical they were, but it was short-lived as soon as they started conversing, and Dulcie realized they were actually quite different. From the way the other one -what did Akira call him again? Shoe? Something like that-[/I] carried himself to how he spoke, it was clear that this one didn’t have the same childlike behaviour that his twin did. In fact, he was rather intimidating.

At his glare, Dulcie shrank back, both ashamed and nervous. Any pride she felt at her earlier ‘fuck-the-man’ rant had completely died, and she felt unworthy of Akira’s defence for her. Waiting until they had finished speaking (and getting shocked once again by what was being said), Dulcie said, “Um, I’m sorry, but I did kind of upset Akira too. I didn’t mean to, but I did. And...well, I’m sorry.” She paused, feeling stupid and hating her nerves for getting in the way of her thought process. Trying to bring things to a lighter note, she gave them a small smile and continued with, “but I’m glad you’re here now. Akira’s been speaking very highly of you, and I’d hoped I would get to meet you.” [/size]

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

Both twins looked at Dulcie, and Shou’s glare returned. ”You’re sorry?” He asked, not sounding like he believed her at all. ”Oh, I guess I should believe that you’re sorry” He rolled his eyes and scoffed. ”Yeah right. Who are you anyway?” He pushed away his oatmeal, staring at Dulcie with a disbelieving expression on his face. He didn’t like to believe that there was any good in the people, especially around this place. His look softened though when he felt Akira stroke his bare chest, and looked down at his twin. ”Be nice Shou-san, she said that she didn’t mean it and she didn’t” He said softly, lightly kissing his twins collarbone.

Shou looked down at his little brother with a small smile. ”You talked about me, hmmm?” He asked, a smirk appearing on his face. Akira blushed slightly. ”It’s hard not to, Shou-san. You’re such a good brother” He said and giggled at Shou’s goofy smile. ”That’s good to know you think that Kira-chan” Shou said and kissed his brother’s cheek. ”Excuse me for a moment, I’m going to see if I can trade this slop in for something” He picked up his bowl of oatmeal and walked away to a nurse. It was clear even from the table that he was trying to cut a deal with her.

”He’s a little rough to some people” Akira said, watching his twin lovingly. ”But he’s really sweet once he warms up to you and he’s great in bed” He sighed, wishing that they were still in their bed, not here in the mess hall where they could get in trouble for kissing each other. Though Akira saw nothing wrong with showing his love for his twin, it seemed that the nurses did and they were usually punished for it. ”Kira-chan, this is nurse Honey” Shou said as he came back with the nurse that he’d been bargaining with. ”She wants to see us kiss” Of course other times, showing affection came in handy. ”Okay Shou-san!” Akira said, happily pressing his lips to his twins. When the two pulled away, Akira went back to his forgotten muffin and Shou sat down at the table again, triumphantly biting into his own cranberry muffin.

Realizing that Dulcie had spoken some truth earlier, Akira paused in breaking off small pieces of muffin to put into his mouth and looked up at her. ”I guess there is something you’re right about Dulcie-chan” He said, smiling at her weakly. ”You do whatever you can to get what you want” He sighed and snuggled into his twin’s side who put an arm around his shoulders. Akira nuzzled his head against Shou’s chest, putting his muffin down and closing his eyes. He hated this place, it held so much drama. ”Shou-san? Why did they leave us here?” He asked quietly, not opening his eyes, but feeling his older brother tense against him. ”I don’t know Kira-chan” Shou replied softly, kissing the top of his twin’s head. ”But I’m sure they had a good reason” Shou bit his lip and looked at Dulcie with worry in his eyes. How much had she and Akira talked about without him here?

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 531.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]

[DULCIE LORELLE JACOBS]

Sometimes I get a little wild

[/size]

please forgive me.

[/size]

_____________________________________
_____________________________________

[/color] [/font]

Dulcie flinched at Shou’s glare, his scathing words making her feel like shit. Even though she really was sorry, he still managed to make Dulcie feel guilty, like he had actually caught her lying.

A defensive bubble of anger welled up, making part of her want to snap back at him, to scream ‘Fuck you, I actually am sorry, so don’t fucking talk to me like that!’
This feeling surprised her, since it’d been a long time since she’d even felt like giving someone attitude, but before she could act on it her mind started whirring, producing thoughts and images of all the bad things that would happen if she acted on it. So, she pursed her lips and looked back at him nervously, afraid to speak up and defend herself. Still, Dulcie couldn’t help wonder at the emotion.

What unfolded in front of her next made her eyes widen in astonishment, and for a moment she was sure she was hallucinating –and damn was it a good hallucination.

She watched as the twins kissed and stroked each other in a way even she knew wasn’t normal between siblings, a dear-in-headlights look on her face. Her mind was reeling with disbelief and wonderment, and she didn’t even notice the meaner twin leave. Only when Akira spoke did Dulcie’s thoughts slightly settle back into place. At first all Dulcie could do was nod dumbly, then she tried to reply but only a nervous sound (which could most closely be described as ‘hnng’) emitted, and she blushed furiously. Clearing her throat and shaking her head, Dulcie replied, though her voice was faint and a little too high-pitched.

“I-is that so?” Dulcie laughed awkwardly. “Well that’s…uhh, good. I can see he’s very err, caring of you.” She cleared her throat again, and her voice came out a little more steady. “But thank you for standing up for me. I hope he’ll…well, I don’t need him to like me” -yes you do- “but if we could find a middle ground or something, I’d be happy.”

Dulcie gave him a genuine smile, but the return of Shou made it shrink a little. Timidly, she kept it in place as she looked at him, but he didn’t seem to even notice her. Instead, he was focused on his twin –or rather, kissing his twin for the pleasure of a nurse.

That’s so wrong, how could a nurse treat them like animals for enter-[/I] her disbelieving thoughts vanished as she watched them kiss again. Whoa, too hot; not allowed. Oh man, this has to be what they mean by ‘so wrong but so right.’ Man, if I was an anime character there’d be blood gushing from my nose right now. Trying to shake away these thoughts (which she really didn’t want to ponder on), she half-heartedly added, but it’s still wrong of the nurse to abuse her position like that.[/I]

Silently wallowing in her thoughts as she watched them eat their muffins, she was saddened at Akira’s response to her earlier opinion, and she returned his smile just as weakly, too disheartened to think of an uplifting reply. Her spirits sunk even more at his quiet question to his brother, and she felt like an intruder. When Shou looked at her, Dulcie glanced away guiltily for a moment before looking back, and it surprised her to see his expression wasn’t distrustful or haughty. She couldn’t tell what exactly the emotion was though.

It actually made her a little nervous.

Trying to decipher it, Dulcie quietly but kindly said, “I can really see you care about your brother Shou. It’s nice, not to mention refreshing. I haven’t seen very much caring since I got here, and a lot of that’s just artificial anyways. You’re both very lucky to have each other.”

Dulcie smiled at them, and this time they both received the same one.[/size]

[AKIRA & SHOU TANAKA.]

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED SO MANY TIMES,
AND NOW YOU'RE DEAD

[/font][/color][/size]

Akira frowned slightly at Dulcie, noticing the look on her face. ”Is something wrong?” He asked, not used to someone reacting this way when he kissed his twin. His frown turned into a small smile. ”Yes, he loves me very much” He said and giggled, bubbling with happiness. He was glad that he had someone who loved him, even if everyone else in their family hated him. At least he had one person in this world on his side and to him that made all the difference. He’d always have someone who would take care of him, and that satisfied him.

He shrugged off Duclie’s thanks, not really thinking much of it. Akira was just like a child when it came to speaking his mind, and he did it often, which was probably why he was in trouble so much. He stood up for people when he knew that they did nothing wrong, and most times he told the nurses exactly what he was thinking about them – something they weren’t too fond of – but he was not aware that it was something wrong and that most people his age did not share things so honestly. Akira was not the type to lie, he wasn’t even good at it. And he didn’t like it when others lied to him either. Little did he know that his brother lied to him about why they were here, but he would rather not hear the truth about that anyway.

The twins ate their food happily, Akira missing having some type of juice with his breakfast. The younger didn’t like to drink milk, even though it was good for him and he eyed his glass of it warily. ”Kira-chan, please drink it” Shou said, noticing that his brother had barely touched the glass of milk. Akira made a noise of distaste and frowned at the glass, obviously not wanting to drink it. Shou pushed the glass towards him and gently kissed the top of his head. ”I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t good for you” He said softly to the younger, who nodded slowly and finally drank the glass of milk. ”Arigato Kira-chan” Shou said gratefully, again kissing the top of Akira’s head.

Even though Shou was directly asked why they’d been left at Aldridge, Shou knew better than to tell his little brother the truth. There was no telling how he would react to it, since neither boy thought that they’d done anything wrong. Once finishing what he wanted of his muffin, Akira leaned his head against Shou’s still bare chest and closed his eyes, portraying the innocence that was such a contrast to his personality at times. Shou looked up at Dulcie, expecting her to lash out at him, but instead heard only kind words. ”Thank you” He said softly. ”It’s hard to find kindness like yours in this place” He gave her a small smile and gently wrapped an arm around his tired twin. ”I’m sorry for being rude earlier, I’m just… Protective”

Taking a deep breath, Shou gently shifted his twin, who seemed to be falling asleep already. ”Kira-chan, they won’t like you falling asleep so early” He said, kissing his brother’s cheek. ”Please darling, stay awake” Akira yawned and rubbed his eyes, successful in looking five years old with the action. ”Okay…” He said softly, making himself sit up at the table and try to keep his eyes open.

[/blockquote]

THE TAGGED?!,[/color] OPEN.[/font]
THE COUNT?!,[/color] 569.[/font]
THE LYRICS?!,[/color] Y'ALL WITH THE VAMPRE SQUAD? - GREELEY ESTATES.[/font]
THE CREATOR?!,[/color] ME.[/font]