W06L
Official Inmate
Posts: 20 
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Post by W06L on May 26, 2017 20:54:50 GMT
I stare at W10R. "Speak" I tell myself' "the colony has been reminding you how, talk!"
Instead all I can do is nod as she offers a flower for my hair. As she gently weaves it in, she talking softly but I can't focus. The careful and gentle touch, the kindness. It's overwhelming and I suddenly reach for her hand a squeeze it. My voice feels strange as I tell her "beautiful. Your heart." I blush at how silly the words sound to me, but she smiles at me and squeezes my hand back. I pick up a bit of Rouge and offer to start applying it to her lovely face as well.
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W10R
Official Inmate
Posts: 33
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Post by W10R on May 26, 2017 21:12:47 GMT
-Beautiful. Your heart-
I play her word back in my head. I am not wrong about her. It seams as though we both struggled with communicating skills but we make it up with kind gestures to each other.
She offers to help me apply my oun things and don't deny it. I let her touch my face which is nothing easy for me, i try not to show it. We both don't speak as we help each other, but the silence itself is also quite conferring. Although this silence did not last long for an inmate began to panic while a chaser had her in hand.
I looked back at W06L unsure as to what happened, but she was at loss too. We were to focuse on ourselves to notice the surroundings till now. I looked back toward the chaser and felt Scarlet take over. She always does when I need a stronger character, right before SCARLET takes control. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that. Scarlet is enough.
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W05W
Official Inmate
Posts: 101
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Post by W05W on May 26, 2017 23:08:03 GMT
I watch the other girls braid flowers into their damp hair and rouge their beautiful, pale cheeks. The room has quieted now the wild girl and her captors have left. I see a small grey rat dart across the floor, disappear into the shadowy corner across from me. Tentatively I step toward the other girls. "Um", I say, for I have no words. This is all so overwhelming. I am trembling and my eyes are never far from the brutes standing by the door, ogling the girls. I feel exposed, so I walk up behind the table holding the wilting flowers and grab a few, clumsily braiding them into my own hair. When in Rome, I think, steeling myself for whatever strange events lie ahead.
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W06L
Official Inmate
Posts: 20
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Post by W06L on May 26, 2017 23:52:47 GMT
I catch W05W's eye and gesture subtly for her to come to us. She is so sad, so alone. It's so quiet now and yet the silence is worse than the screaming. The girl I used to be would be raging against this fate, trying to rally the girls to fight and resist, to bite and claw and kick until death or freedom. But that girl died with her family. I stare at my companion, she's trembling and I know that my touch is welcome but frightens her as well. We look at each other, and we understand. Words are not needed. I look up as Madame Mournington enters the room....
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W05W
Official Inmate
Posts: 101
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Post by W05W on May 27, 2017 0:28:20 GMT
I move towards the girl who calls herself W06L. She pulls me to a mirror and helps me to rouge my cheeks and lips. I am grateful for the help and introduce myself shyly. My name is W05W now, and I refer it. The girl I left in husbands house is dead and I am glad for it. I am afraid of what is to come, I have read stories of these places and I know what horrors await, but right now, for whatever reason, we are wearing flowers and rouge and clean white shifts. This is my first experience of the Asylum.
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W03Z
Official Inmate
"I'm running with the wolves tonight." -Aurora
Posts: 130
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Post by W03Z on May 27, 2017 1:18:04 GMT
I am dragged from the servant's quarters, kicking and screaming. Some of the inmates I'm closer to, like W11Y and W04V, are screaming protests. The door to the servant's quarters slams in their faces, and my world turns to silence. W06L's beautiful song is gone. W04V's caring vigilance, W02Y's reassuring presence, W11Y's kind words - all gone.
I am led into a fancy-looking tent, and tossed into a cage entwined with flowers. I say nothing. It is dark out, the tent lit with elegant candles and gaslights. The Chaser throws a bit of fabric at me, and I stare at him with confusion. "Change," is all he says. I snarl, but he doesn't look away. I ignore his eyes as I throw on the fabric - a dress.
The dress is silky and white, sheer, and above my knees. As some of the other inmates would say, 'just how men like their women'. But I no longer care. This is the first time I've been truly alone, without my girls, since the zoo, and even then I had my brother. I say the wild will never leave me, but what if this is it? What if alone, without my pack, this is all that's left? I will my brother to come out of the forest, come for me, but I know he won't. I'd be lucky if he's still living...
The Chaser points to a swing entwined with white roses behind me. "Sit down." I sit, without a word. So obedient...The flowers in my clean hair. The dress. The make-up. I can't feel my wild fire...
"Ah, don't worry, miss," taunts the Chaser. "They's wills all be joinin' you!"
He turns around, and I feel my fire ignite. "NO!" I scream. "Don't hurt them!" I'm screaming at no one. "They're coming for you! They're coming for you!" Who am I shouting at? The inmates, still in the servant's quarters? Or myself, a me from long ago, before the Asylum?
Once the Chaser is gone, I am left only with my thoughts. A tear runs down my cheek. "They're coming for you..." The gaslights glow brighter around me, and softly I sing a song that seems to materialize from my soul. "And in the gaslight, that brings both life and death. If it's like last night, this could be my last breath. And no one's coming, coming to take me home..." A soft howl, and then the silence closes around me.
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Post by W02Y on May 27, 2017 10:32:45 GMT
I march with my sisters after W03Z was snatched by chasers.
One foot in front of the other. With Madame Mournington guiding us I'm the first one in line, I try to look calm for I don't want to scare my new friends.
But then... I see dear W03Z on a swing, confined like a wild beast with chains so she can't escape, they tried to conceal this hedious fact with vines but it's so obvious to us...
I tremble, my only wish was to be able to set my dear W03Z free. I see she still has the flower I gave her and she's howling a beautiful melody, yet so sad. It's about how no one is coming to take her home... I wish she could see this is home now, we only have each other.
And that, that gives me hope. I do not know why.
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W03Z
Official Inmate
"I'm running with the wolves tonight." -Aurora
Posts: 130
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Post by W03Z on May 27, 2017 13:38:25 GMT
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the girls, and I can feel hope pouring into my heart, but also fear. I have no idea what is to become of us, but if the cages are here as means of torture, I would rather be sitting here alone than see my fellow inmates tortured. Surely, this must be torture, because putting me in a cage, clean and alone, is the equivalent of putting a normal human in 'solitary confinement', from what I've gathered from the Asylum staff on that topic. I suppose solitary confinement is also like Quarantine, but then again, Quarantine is always crowded with too many bodies than it was ever meant to hold.
I pause my song to call out. "W02Y! Be careful!" But then a chaser reaches through the bars and wrenches my arm.
"I should muzzle you..." he growls. Who is the savage one now?!
Some of the girls are thrown into the same cage as me, and I experience the same feelings again of hope and desperation at once. Hope, because I am no longer alone. Desperation because...will the Chasers try to wipe away their personalities, what makes them special, as they have tried to do to me? Why else would they cage me and dress me in such a human way, when they have looked at me as anything but human. "What is to become of us here?" I ask the girls in my cage.
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W05W
Official Inmate
Posts: 101
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Post by W05W on May 27, 2017 15:33:05 GMT
W06L takes my hand as Madam Mournington enters. She gestures to the chasers and they set upon us abruptly, shoving us towards the door. We are filed out onto the asylums wide front lawn where pretty white tents have been erected. Inside are gilded cages, gaslights, and flowers. It is almost pretty, but then I see the beautiful wolf girl chained up in a cage by the entrance. A chaser shoves myself, W06L, and a handful of the others towards her. "Alright, get in girlies!," he shouts, "Time te get changed for your big debut show!". We file in obediently and sheer silk shifts are thrown at us to replace our standard Asylum cotton. I wince, turning my back to change as it is the only privacy I will get from these horrible men with their rough hands and wandering eyes.
It is fitting that this, the Ophelia gallery, should be my first punishment in the Asylum. I was forever escaping husband with my books, and now the sweet stories I loved would be used against me. I would be the fair Ophelia, unable to escape from the cruelty of men once more.
I turn to the pretty wolf and pick up some flowers which have strayed from her hair. Braiding them in gently, I reply, "We are to become the most beautiful dead girls the gentry of London has ever seen."
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W02X
Official Inmate
Posts: 26
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Post by W02X on May 29, 2017 16:39:20 GMT
After Madam Mournington and the chasers visited the cell blocks and took some of the inmates with them, I started pacing restlessly around our cell, wondering where they were taken and why. It bothered me that I couldn't be where they were. There was nothing I could do.
Then I heard the loud footsteps from the corridor. I turned to face the Chaser as he entered cell W02, not knowing what he wanted.
"We heard you can sew."
"Y-yes", I answered, even though it wasn't a question.
"You are needed. Madam wants you to stay at the servant's quarters in case something needs to be repaired."
I didn't understand what he was talking about, but I nodded.
He smirked: "Some of the girls might tear their new shifts... or maybe a guest will get a bit too eager, if you know what I mean..."
I didn't, but I followed him anyway.
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W03Z
Official Inmate
"I'm running with the wolves tonight." -Aurora
Posts: 130
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Post by W03Z on May 29, 2017 17:15:42 GMT
I smile at W05W, lowering my head to accept her flowers. For now, we are safe. But what will happen when the tent opens?
In only a second, I receive an answer. Gentlemen and their painted ladies pour into the tent like a river running through the trees. Some of the inmates cringe, fearful of the crowd, or the confined space. I, myself, am none-too-fond of the cage, but I remain on the swing, more afraid of the consequences of disobedience than of the cage.
The crowd is pointing, laughing, shouting. Some of the drunk men are rambling endlessly, nonsense about how women who are allowed to think for themselves will all end up like us. Come to think of it, they aren't wrong.
Most of the inmates stand stock-still, unsure of what to do next. A Chaser slams a cane against the bars of our cage. "Go on! Give 'em something to look at! Be mad!"
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W05W
Official Inmate
Posts: 101
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Post by W05W on May 29, 2017 17:41:01 GMT
I watch in disgust as the gentlemen pour in, ladies on their arms. I half expect to see husband, parading a newer, younger wife. I pity whatever poor girl he sets his eyes on next. Perhaps I will meet her here when he tires of her, too.
Some of the girls are backing away from the crowd, some are stock still, or shivering. W03Z remains at her swing, eyes darting about anxiously among the crowd. They are pointing, jeering, laughing. We are very exposed in our simple shifts, so indecent. The ladies avert their eyes as their "gentlemen" come closer to the cage, inspecting us, some even trying to reach in.
I jump as the Chaser nearest our cage slams a cane against the bars, and suddenly I am furious. He is shouting at us, telling us to be mad. He wants mad? Ok.
I spring towards the front of the cage, my curly red hair flying about my face. Spectators jump back in shock as I screech at the Chaser and swiftly grab his cane before he can pull away. I raise it high and strike it against the bars with all the might my small body can muster, cracking it in half. I stand stock-still with one half still in my hand. The other has bounced across the floor and through the bars. The Chaser stares in disbelief. I've hardly said a word since I've been here. I hardly believe it myself. Hadn't I always been a mouse of a girl? Quiet and obedient? Perhaps I am madder than I thought. I smile and toss the other half of the cane out of the cage and give a small curtsy to the crowd, then I spit at them. Who knows what punishment I shall endure, but I don't care. I've never felt more free.
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W04V
Plague Rat
Posts: 21
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Post by W04V on May 29, 2017 19:14:24 GMT
The girls are being led from the servants quarters sooner than I had expected, yet I stand defiantly by my bedside. I am refusing this. The Chasers approach me, smug grins plastered all over their faces.
"Time to go missy." The more sober of the two taps his club in his hand threateningly and I steal myself.
"I will not." I fear for my newfound friends, but I will not be subjected to this mockery.
"Did 'at wench just says what I thinks she did?" The drunker of the two slurs, eyes darting wildly between me and the brute, "are you's gonna let her talks to you 'at way?"
Evidently the answer was no. He raises his club at my defiance and brings it down in the square of my back, knocking me to the ground. The pain shoots through my spine and into my neck and I am blinded by it. He is yelling at me but I cannot hear it. I am hauled from the ground and thrown onto the bed. Two hands begin grabbing me roughly, touching my face and lips smearing something on them. Something is pulling my hair. I am in too much pain to fight any of it off.
The assault suddenly stops and I am again pulled to my feet and dragged from the room.
The bright light of the outside blinds me. I hear strange voices gasp and laugh and I wonder at what. My eyes begin to focus and I realize they are reacting to me. A woman catches my eye, and she yelps, fanning herself as if she may faint.
Before I can protest, I am thrown in a large gilded cage, one of many under what I now recognize as a tent.
I cannot stand, yet I grab the bars wrapped in vines and pull myself up to sit against them despite the shooting pain. "Face the payin' customers," the brute jabs at my back again and I cry out, "or you's'll be thrown back in Quarantine."
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W02X
Official Inmate
Posts: 26
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Post by W02X on May 30, 2017 13:37:08 GMT
I am brought to the Servant's quarters. It's quiet and empty now, but I can see clues around the room - some of my fellow inmates have been here.
It is a strange room with beds and mirrors, flowers and rouges. It makes me wonder...
"You are to stay here, someone will bring you a kit. Don't even try to leave the room, nobody wants to see you out there.", the Chaser says before leaving the room.
I don't dare to ask where the other girls are, but I hope I will see them soon...
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W03Z
Official Inmate
"I'm running with the wolves tonight." -Aurora
Posts: 130
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Post by W03Z on Jun 2, 2017 3:49:29 GMT
I fear for W05W's life. She has just done what none of us dares to do: Challenge a Chaser. I cannot bring myself to look her way, afraid to witness whatever punishment she may endure. I always hate seeing my friends get beaten.
My attention is drawn to the crowd around the cage I share with some other inmates. One man gestures around wildly, as though seeing in double vision, unable to point directly at his subject. How many drunk men are allowed here, anyway? Oh, right. The doctors do not care who we encounter, as long as they make money. "Can't's they's do somethin'?" slurs the man. "Other than's scream n' shout? Why not sing a song? Do a lil' dance?" He is practically being held up by his wife, the same woman who yelped when she saw W04V.
A wicked grin crosses my face. Sing, is that what they want? I jump down from the swing, crouch low in a squatting wolf-position, throw back my head, and howl so loudly that the bars to my cage seem to shake.
Madame Mournington runs over. "Stop that at once, you little beast! No respectable gentleman wants to hear your cacophony!"
I stop howling, but let my tongue loll playfully. At once, Dr. Lymer appears out of nowhere. "Put your tongue in your mouth, before I cut it out!" I scramble over to where W04V, W11Y, W05W, W06L, and W02Y are, in terror. A wolf's tongue and facial expressions are the strongest indicators of a wolf's mood, excluding the tail. I don't want to lose the last semblance of happiness I contain.
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