Haze decided to follow into the Dinning room, and looked around. The place had a homely, welcoming feel. She looked out a window into the starry, beautiful nights sky... It was a wonderfultime of day, night. She scanned the area around the building, to understand her surroundings. All around the empty area where the Asylumand staffrooms were, she saw woodland trees. She couldn't see anywhere beyond woods, thick with branches, but it seemed the forest stretched for quite a while. On the top of a short slope was the concrete asylum. It was still a eerie, creepy feeling, thinking about what might be resting in there...
Dave walked into the kitchen behind haze and started looking for the wine, after a few minutes of searching he found a bottle opened the lid and drank half without stopping. "This is good, needs to be stronger!" Dave mentioned .
Dr. Mentis quickly nabbed the bottle from Dave before he could finish it off. "I should hope it's good; it's rather expensive. Now," he said, as he opened a chest an removed several wineglasses from within, "Would anypony else like a small sip? There are other refreshments, of course, if you prefer something non-alcoholic." The room that they were in was a lot larger than the entryway. A huge table sat in the middle of the room, with enough seats for at least 20 ponies. Above, a chandelier hung, with hundreds of tiny crystals dangling from it, and candles giving light to the room. The table was not incredibly ornate, but it was decorated, as were the chairs. One of the walls parallel to the table was dominated by a massive set of windows that allowed an amazing view of the outdoors. There were lights coming from the Asylum that Haze was glancing at, indicating that even now the staff was making sure none of the ponies got too out of hoof. Haze suddenly noticed something; listening closer, she could hear a strange sound coming from the distant building. It sounded like...howling? Shouting? Yes, shouting and screaming, definitely! However, after several minutes of listening, nothing changed. The sound was still there, but it wasn't getting any louder, or any quieter. As Crash lay in bed, he too heard the strange noise. It was very soft, but as he was lying there quietly, he heard it. Zephyr, on the other hoof, was already conked out. He heard nothing.
Tyro nervously laughs at the offer of wine. He doesn't like wine anyway but alcohol here...or anywhere, passing his lips is not a good plan in any way shape or form. For the sake of everyone else, Tyro quietly denies the wine with a shake of his head. More for the walking Russian Stereotype in the room. "Sorry. I'd prefer something else, thank you." The vainglorious room was pleasant to entertain guests. In fact, the whole house was probably better for living in than making sure the mentally ill were safe and treated. Roomy or not, you don't just pick up a place like this for tuppence going 'Well, it'll do'. "So, Doc. Where'd you get this place?" Tyro said, looking over the Chandelier.
Dark Shine went over to the wall and inspected it in all parts. He did not trust this place, and if he found something, he would tell Haze then Tyro then the rest. He looked over the walls, even though he would have looked silly and surveyed for anything out of the ordinary.
Dr. Mentis, in response to Tyro's question, explained after a pause for thought: "When I first became a psycologist, I knew I wanted to work closely with the patients. But it was immediately obvious that I needed to live closeby in order to do that. I was not as...prominent then, so I didn't have the money to do so. In fact, I really had no money at all. I took out a loan and bought this house. It was most certainly not in this condition at that point; in fact, I'd be surprised if 5 percent of the current house was part of the original." He chuckled. "As I became richer, so did my house, I suppose. And though it may have been run-down, it wasn't small in any way, shape, or form, so when I started needing staff because of the number of patients, well, I simply converted other parts of the house into staff quarters. In fact, the rooms you are staying in are simply bedrooms for staff I haven't hired yet." He took a sip of wine. Then Silver started in on him. "So, Doctor," asked Silver, "Can you tell us about any of your patients or how you handle them?? I've heard a lot about your special methods!" He looked at him eagerly. Dr. Mentis shook his head. "I'm sorry to inform you that our methods of treatment you have apparently heard so much about have not been used for the past few weeks, and actually, we have concluded to renounce it forever." Silver was shocked. "Really? Why?" Dr. Mentis sighed. "It was a good concept, in theory, but honestly it did not work. I have devised another system that I beleive will work much better. But," he said, seeing the look in Silver's eyes, "how about we talk about that tomorrow over breakfast, hmm? Perhaps we can simply have a bite to eat, get to know each other, enjoy the company of our fellows." He smiled at Silver. "Of course, I will insist you stay for breakfast. I can't let you go walking another dozen or more miles on an empty stomach, now can I? Not to mention that you will meet many of the staff before you go!"
Haze carried on listening to the constant screams coming from the asylum. She thought about what could be going on in there- Perhaps something had gone wrong, the staff had lost control? It was unlikely, even more unlikely that the day that they ended up in this place would happen to be the day that the staff lost control. This place had been up and working for quite a while now, it'd be very unfortunate if it went downhill today... It was more likely to be the patients. They were, after all, crazy right? But something didn't feel... right. What if the staff was... Mistreating them? Either way, Haze felt it was something of importance, that she should tell the others. She turned around and looked around the room. She had been completely oblivious to what the others were talking about, being more worried about the noises from the Asylum. Dr. Mentis was still in the room, conversing with the others. She felt it'd be a bad idea telling the others with him in the room, but needed to let someone know... Crash was in his room, maybe she could tell him? But what if he was sleeping? She'd just have to wait for the moment. She turned back to the window. Haze's ears perked. We'd have to meet the staff in there? Haze didn't like the sound of that...
Crash's sleep was being disturbed by some sort of screaming coming form the asylum. THUD! "HORSEAPPLES." Crash yelled as the noise caused him to toss in his sleep and roll of the bed onto his now even more broken nose. "What is with that screaming?" He asked himself.
Having accompanied the group that went with the Dr., he remains uncharacteristically quiet as he listens to the conversation between the Dr. and Silver. He glanced around the room, taking stock of those who went to bed already and those who are in the same room with him. He also makes sure to get a mental image of the layout of this room, and all the items contained within. Hearing mention of breakfast and meeting others, his ears perk in the direction of the conversation. He wonders where they'll be able to meet these new ponies, and how many there will be!
Haze carried on starring uneasily at the asylum, thinking about the possible happenings inside that building. It was a disturbing thought for her that they would have to sleep so near to it. Would she even be able to get to sleep tonight? Deciding she had to tell somebody, she turned around and looked about the room. She saw Dark Shine in the corner of the room, fiddling with the walls whilst the others were talking. What on earth he was trying to achieve, she had no idea, but he seemed suspicious about this place too, and so Haze decided to approach him about it. Haze walked over to the busy stallion, feeling up the walls, and whispered to him; "Can I please talk to you for a second?"
Dark Shine stopped looking at the walls and turned to Haze. "Yeah, sure thing. Where should we talk?" He knew all too well that Haze and him both felt uneasy about this place.
"Maybe we could step outside?" Haze whispered back. It'd probably be easier to show Dark the noise outside, perhaps it'd be easier to hear, maybe even make out what it is out there too. Haze also kinda wouldn't have minded some fresh night air.
"So, Silver said you had this idea of treating the inmates like free run chickens." Tyro said , trying to add to the conversation. "I guess the big question is what changed and why?"
Dark Shine nodded then turned to Mentis. "Could we go out to get some fresh air? I'm getting a bit stuffy and I believe Haze is the same."
(Sorry for coming in late guys, never got around to posting on here) Snow stood outside the large building in front of her. She had gotten seperating from the rest of the group and had managed to find her way here. She debated with herself about going, several questions shooting through her head: Is it safe? Did the others come here to? What will I find inside? Should I press my luck and continue on? Were just a few.
(Heh, I'm sorry as well, I've been rather busy lately and haven't posted in a while. But have no fear, I am now here!) Dr. Mentis sighed at Tyro's question, then turned to Dark and Haze. They noticed that he seemed confused, and also suspicious, as he looked at them. "...Certainly. If you need to step out for a moment, go right ahead." Dark noticed that as he said this, his eyes darted toward the door for a fraction of a second. After this, he turned back to Tyro. "It's a funny thing, really, that you should use the word "Chicken". I suppose...I suppose I could tell you about the system we used. We did not, in fact, let our inmates run perfectly free, as it were," he said, as Silver gained a look of confusion. "We actually only humored them. We called it the "soothing system". We would not tie up our inmates in straitjackets, that is true, but they were still restricted to certain areas. If one of them began to act as a raving madpony would, then we would lock them up until it passed. We do not house those types; instead we house ponies with maladies such as the delusion of being a chicken." He nodded. "Yes, one of our inmates beleived that they were a chicken. So, instead of attempting to convince him that he was not a chicken through logic, as one normally would, we simply humored him. We treated him exactly as one would treat a chicken; we made him live in a coop, and fed him only chicken feed, and talked to him as though he were a chicken. Eventually, or so the theory held, he would realize that this wasn't how he was supposed to be living, or at least not how he wanted to be living, and thus he could not be a chicken." "However, this system was highly inefficient, and so we have decided to stop using it. This is the reason that all the inmates are currently at the other building."
