St. Peter's Asylum discussion

The loud fire door of the library closed with a loud click, breaking the peaceful silence that had hung in the air. The one who had caused the noise winced, and slowly walked along the shelves of the library, her feet making no noise as they shuffled across the floor, her bright blue eyes gazing at the titles on the spine if the books she passed, none catching an interest to her. She was silent as a ghost, and wouldn't have been noticeable if not for her entrance and flaming red hair. Old habits died hard, it seemed, and being silent was just one of them. Today, Rosemarie had found herself waking up and immediately prayed to her goddess- the one that she had abandoned a month or so ago. To her, it seemed that the Lady Artemis would never stop watching over her former Huntress, and her Huntress in return would never fully be able to get the goddess out of her system.

Rosemarie passed the couch, but did not notice the lanky Indian sprawled out along it. She had a book in hand and was gazing at its pages. It wasn't anything too interesting, but anything having to do with the Greek gods, as this book was exactly such, could suck her right in. She made her way to another shelf, just behind the couch where Raven lay, and put the book back. She stood still, gazing up and down the shelf with mild interest.

The slam of the door had inturrupted his thoughts, and Raven's eyes flicked back and forth over the library curiously. Whoever had come in had disappeared just as quickly--or so he thought, until he heard the soft sound of a book sliding on the shelf. He turned and raised his eyebrows at the girl behind him, his voice almost surprised: "Oh, it's you. Hi, Rosemarie."

Rosemarie turned her head quickly and her firey red locks cascaded over her shoulder. Her stoney face turned to one more friendly when she recognized the owner of the voice. Her lips tugged up into a weak smile. "Oh, hi Raven. I didn't see you there before." She walked soundlessly to the top of the the couch and took a seat. "Tell me, what have you been up to?"

"Absolutely nothing. Why else would I be sitting here thinking and not out terrorizing some other soul?" Raven raised his eyebrows and grinned at her. "My life has been extraordinarily uninteresting lately. So we can't talk about me. What have you been up too?"

"What luck the other patients seem to have struck then," Rosemarie said with a chuckle of amusement. "Well, I've been trying to follow your instructions, have terrorized a few patients, but other than that, things have been pretty dull." She made a face of distaste and shook her head. "Seems as though this place needs some living up."

"Or some dying up. Whichever works." Raven chuckled and slid his hand over hers, pausing to give a slight questioning raise of his eyebrows. "May I?" He didn't know how comfortable Rosemarie was with other physical contact--they'd kissed, sure, and wrestled once, but that was it. He didn't know if it would bother her or not, and so he asked.

She nodded, and intertwined their fingers together. "Wouldn't it technically be dying down if we want to be opposite? Besides, some of these patients would all but lose their pulse if anything else died more."

Raven laughed. "The whole point. That's the whole point. It would be hilarious--we'd just need some sodas and some popcorn, and then we could enjoy the show." He gave her a wry, sideways smile. "It would totally be more interesting than whatever shit we've been trying to occupy ourselves with when there's no one around to torture."

"Good luck trying to get a soda or popcorn around here. We could use the butter and salt as a mace or knock someone out with a can of pop." She rolled her eyes and slid off the top of the couch, onto the seat next to the Indian, hands still entwined.

"Sure we could. And then you try to open the can and it sprays out everywhere. Like a party fountain, except you'd be doing it on purpose." Raven chuckled his amusement and gave the sadist-in-training another sly grin. "We could make up some party games, too. Find the doll-maker and playing Pin the Needle on the Innocent."

"You're terrible, truly terrible." She grinned, though, all the same. "Of course it would have to be in the basement. We would be caught too easily otherwise."

"Of course!" Raven nodded his agreement. "How else would we get away with a horror party? To make it interesting, we'd have to play games--and my idea of an interesting game is apparently too disturbing for anyone else to consider. Once, I had a dream about hunting some girl down in this really awesome police car, and when I finally caught up to her...I can't remember exactly, I think I siced a bunch of attack dogs on her or something. I thought it was pretty funny, but I told a doctor the next morning and she just kind of stared at me with this terrified look on her face." He shrugged, his point made.

Rosemarie raised an eyebrow and gave Raven a disturbed look. "You're right. That was a bit too disturbing for the average mind. Luckily for you," she began brightly, sitting upright. "I don't think anyone around here has an average mind."

"So you wouldn't mind if I kidnapped a person and subjected them to another asylum-y party game of some sort?" Raven grinned at her and gave a slight laugh at her expression. "That's good. So we can start planning, right? Who should get the invitations?" By the gleam in his eyes, he was clearly joking--still, it was fun to think about.

"I might mind," she argued jokingly with a smirk. "It all depends on who you decide to kidnap, of course. They have to be people we'd actually want at such a party like this one." She twirled her hair around a finger with a curious expression on her face. "Who did you have in mind, exactly?"

"Oh hell, I don't know. Everybody's scared of me. I was hoping you would come up with some names." Raven smiled at her and leaned forward to give her a gentle peck on the cheek. "Should be easy for you, you're not a remorseless psychopath. Yet. Just don't tell them who's hosting and we should be fine."

The redhead looked up at the ceiling and smiled as she tried to come up with a list of names. "I suppose it really all depends on what exactly wed be doing at the party."

Raven shrugged. "Again, I don't know. We'd have to get...creative." He paused to give her a long, thoughtful look. "Maybe we could invite Morgan," he suggested. "You know, the blind five-year-old. Help desensitize her to the asylum. We'd have to make sure not to break her, but it could be done. Perhaps with Calix and Cadenza too."

Rosemarie nodded thoughtfully . "And Margot as well. The one that talks to dolls. What about some older patients? I think the ones you name are all younger. What about that gothic scheatafrenich(no idea how to spell that), or the satanist, Malinda?"

((*schizophrenic))

"Alexia? She's traumatized and in a wheelchair, she could never come. Malinda, though..." He trailed off, thoughtful. "Maybe. She could be fun. We'd have to work her out of that calm she's trained herself to find--she's really, really good at wearing masks--but if we could it would spell out some very interesting possibilities." Raven nodded, slowly appealing to the ideas. "I like that. Who else ya got?"

Under the praise of her mentor, Rosemarie beamed and flushed slightly. "I was thinking the girl who thinks she's a vampire hunter as well. Or maybe she thinks she is a vampire." She shrugged it off. Either way, I think she'd make a good addition to the party too."

"Isabella," Raven confirmed. "She was transferred to another asylum, I think. Ended up attacking Malinda when she caught her prayer." He chuckled. "That tipped our Satanist off her rocker." He paused to think, and after a moment his eyes lit up. "We ought to get one of the whip twins down there, with the whips. Do you know what kinds of things we could do with two whips?" He was grinning now, and in his eyes the spark was one that almost mirrored excitement.

"Oh yes, what a great idea!" Rosemarie said sarcastically. "Put a bunch of patients together and then add some whips to the scenario. How do you think that would end up working?"

"Death would ensue. Again, precisely the point of the party in the first place. It's not a slumber party, Rosie. It's a slaughter party." Raven raised his eyebrows and gave her a little nudge with his elbow, his wry grin slowly creeping back onto his face. "Remember?"

Rosemarie rolled her eyes and playfully nudged him back. "Yes I see now. Slaughter, no slumber." She chuckled and sighed. "Well seeing as we've cleared that up, how about Suzy? The little girl who throws terrible tantrums."

"I met her once, down in the basement. She had one of her fits and I think she tried to kill me--almost broke my ribs. And I almost broke her arms. All the same, she's dreadfully boring when not in the right mood." Raven shook his head and gave a slight sigh. "It's a shame, really. All that potential, wasted on an unstable child's mind."

"Right. That's the main problem." Rosemarie laughed and allowed her head to fall back on Raven's sturdy shoulder. "How about your nice friend, Akantha?" A small smile spread over her lips.

Raven scoffed and gave a good-natured groan of disapproval. "Oh, come on. Am I seriously not good enough for you?" But he smiled anyhow, and gently traced the outline of the ex-Hunter's lips with one finger. "I met lovely little Anderson," he said. "She claims to be a puppetmaster and our prison's warden, but honestly she's about as threatening as a head of cabbage. I'm not sure I liked her. She's trying to usurp me."

[Akantha: and you're just about as appealing to talk to as skunk cabbage is appealing to the nose.]

Rosemarie's bottom lip jutted out and her eyelashes batted towards the Indian beside her. "Awwww! Now don't tell me you're feeling threatened by her. I think she could liven up the party. No?" She smiled pleasantly and giggled. "Okay then, you can be our only puppet master around here.

((Raven: You would be wise to close that pretty mouth of yours, girl.))

"Yeah you better agree with me." Raven grinned and swatted Rosemarie's arm lightly with one hand, drawing his expression into one of disapproval. "I am the puppetmaster in the asylum, goddamn it. It's my job, and she's trying to steal it. No. I don't fucking think so." He dropped the act with a quiet laugh, shaking his head. "But seriously, Akantha was boring. And bitchy. Acts like she's some lost queen who's deserving of worship. Quite frankly, I'm tempted to break the haughty and knock her down a few pegs."

[Akantha: Sorry, I haven't quite reached the old and wise stage yet.]

The former Huntress fought back by grasping the arm that possessed the hand that had smacked her and pushing it away from the two of them onto the arm of the couch. "If you weren't feeling so threatened by the new puppet master, you wouldn't be so angry." She pressed her face close to his, until their lips were a mere inch or less apart. "What? You can't take a little competition?"

"Alpha males tend not to like it when they're challenged," Raven told her. His voice had gone soft, and the smirk that now played along his lips was almost menacingly serpentine. "Keep that in mind when you get up in my face, Rosie." He grabbed her by the shirt collar and pulled her to him, pressing their lips together rather roughly. When he broke contact and pushed her away, his eyes were glittering. "Otherwise things like that will happen."

A smile formed from her cherub lips, and she crawled back beside Raven. "Don't be sending mixed signals," she scolded playfully. "Or else you might very well find me up in your face more often than usual."

"What? I have to confuse people. It's my thing." Raven grinned. "Once again, I feel the need to alert you to the fact that I can no longer torture you. So I have to confuse you instead." He gave a playful scoff and rolled his eyes at her. "It's not like I can just be nice. It wouldn't work."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot. Acting normal and being nice to someone would just be too terrible." Two orbs of bright cobalt blue rolled upward towards the ceiling, then circled back down and found the two dark, endless black orbs gazing back at her. "Besides, confusion in itself is a torture. So confusion is also off limits."

Raven smirked and delivered a gentle slap to her face. "Shut up, woman," he said with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head. "You just can't make anything in my life easy, can you? Of course you can't." He gave a mock sigh of weariness and massaged his temples as if he were getting a headache. "You're killing me, Rosie. You're just killing me."

"I thought I told you not to call me that." She grinned and grasped the hands at his temples, entwining one with her hand and ensnaring the other around her waist. "Always so melodramatic, I see. Besides, you said it yourself, I'm the woman. So, isn't it sort of my job to make your life hard?"

"Damn you and your logic." Raven groaned dramatically and pulled away from her as if he couldn't bear to have them touch. "Yes, I suppose. But--" and now he looked up and grinned at her, "--I'm the man, so it's kind of my job reprimand and punish you for making my life hard. That's just how it goes. The female bothers the male, and then the male snaps at the female. It's everywhere in life."

"Sucks for you." Rosemarie leaned away from Raven, allowing her feet to be propped by his lap. "Because I snap back from time to time."

"I snap harder. Therefore, there is no problem." Raven chuckled and leaned back against his arm of the couch, studying her for a moment. "You seem happier than usual," he observed. "And more playful. Did something awesome happen while I wasn't around or did you just miss me?" He grinned at the tease, though he was quiet serious. "You're not usually so willing to banter with me. Usually there's more...snark."

"I'll let your feelings go unharmed and just say I missed you. Should help your ego, not that it needs much anyways." Rosemarie leaned her head against the back of the couch, her eyes flitting around the room. "Is it so strange that I decide to be nice to you for once? I figure it wouldn't kill you if I gave you a little break. Why," she asked, picking up her head and fixing him with a sly gaze. "Would you prefer I'm not so nice. Do you actually miss the snark?"

"Eh." Raven shrugged. "Occasionally. Like I said, life is pretty damn boring around here lately. I need something to think about, and you were always a good candidate. It's really not hard to get to you, so I would find myself thinking about how to best get a reaction." His grin widened and promptly turned smirkish.

"All I heard was that you think about me all the time." Her eyes batted up at him once again. "Oh, Raven, that's adorable. A girl always likes a man who's okay to leave his heart on his sleeve for a little while." Her voice simply oozed with sarcasm, but her face kept its composure.

"Oh, shut up." Raven gave her a little kick with one foot, smirking. "It's not like you're not guilty of constantly thinking about me, you know. Quit making up lies that sound like fairy tales, would you?"

"That's abuse, Mr. Raven. Do I have I call a nurse down here to restrain you? You can't seem to behave today." She smirked herself, and refused to retaliate against his playful nudging, despite his tempting it was. "Anyways, you should feel honored that someone is thinking about you not in a way that would give them nightmares or cause them distress. It must be a rarity for you."

When she spoke, Raven burst out laughing. "Abuse?" he cried, though his laughter. "What? That's not abuse, Rosemarie Toom!" When he finally recovered himself, he was left simply smirking at her. Or perhaps he was grinning, by the light in his eyes; it was hard to tell. "Do you want to see abuse? Because I can show you abuse. Believe me, I can." He ignored her second comment entirely, in favor of focusing attention on her first. It had struck a chord in him--good or bad, it was too early to tell.

"Trust me, I believe you." She didn't feel as uneasy as she thought she would about Raven threatening to abuse her. A month ago, she would have been furious and terrified. Now, it seemed she had vainly put a lot of test into the psychopath. Perhaps too much. "Come on, you couldn't abuse this face even if you wanted to. It's too much cute for you."

"Don't tempt me." His tone wasn't exactly threatening, but something in Raven's demeanor had changed just slightly. His grin now held more danger than humor, and though he didn't move from his position against the arm of the couch, his left hand began to tap a quick, restless rhythm against his leg. "No, seriously." His eyes glittered, and no longer with a nice spark. "It's not a good idea."

The Huntress knew she was walking in very thin ice, but she couldn't help by wonder what he would do to her. It excited her a little, and she almost wanted to push him further, even though she knew it would end poorly. "Why is that?" She asked quietly, in an almost taunting tone, still frozen in her spot on the couch. "What would you do? Probably nothing you haven't done before."

((You're pushing it, Rosemarie.))

With a snake's speed Raven had grabbed her again, and turned her and shoved her against the back of the couch, pinning her there by the shoulders. He drew in close, so that their eyes were level and their lips a mere inch or so apart. In his eyes there was a sinister light. "No," he said softly, "but I can guarantee you you've never been on the receiving end of anything I've done before." He took her chin roughly in one hand and forced her to lock eyes with him, one side of his mouth curling up into a psychotic smirk that would better fit someone like Bundy. "It's not pretty. And I hate to ruin you, Rosemarie. Think a moment before you insist." There was a telling tenseness to his muscles and a set to his expression that spoke now only of indifference, perhaps even eagerness. If Rosemarie were to push--no, even something as little as nudge--him a toe over his line, the result would be an episode, and it would not be a good one.