Gwendolyn simply stood as the woman had her well-deserved breakdown, eternally glad, once more, that Neena was here for the woman. There was nothing that she could do. The woman needed her friends and family, and time. That was all.

"Rupert ...Detective Rupert."

She gave a start at that name. She knew it, from two places. Her brother James, who was on the NYPD, and the photographs of the camp workers that were posted in the staff lounge. She had to get confirmation. “Detective Rupert Kelley? Did he know you were a mutant?” She received a nod of the head, and a shake. Detective Rupert Kelley. That just about blew Gwendolyn’s mind, right there. James made him out to be a good guy. Good guys didn’t knock their girlfriends up and then stick them in concentration camps.

"Isn't there something you can do about that piece of junk? She has enough to deal with, don't you think? I doubt she's going to cause in trouble in this condition. Can I vouch for her.... or something...."

Gwendolyn had been turning to get a phone, and track down a certain number. Now she paused just long enough to address the woman. “I don’t have control of that. I’ll try yelling at the higher-ups, but I don’t know how much good it will do. One thing at a time, if you’ll excuse me.”

She left the room. It wasn’t hard to find the Detective’s phone number—there was a directory with off-duty contact information for all of the camp employees, should any of them need to be called in. She dialed, and waited. A voice that was irritated at the world answered her.

“Detective Kelley. Who’s this?”

“Hello, this is Gwendolyn Delray, at the camps—”

“I’m not on duty until tomorrow.”

“Yes, I know,” she didn’t know, but she didn’t care. “Listen, Detective Kelley—”

“Can’t this wait? I’m rather busy over here.”

“Detective Kelley, I am calling on behalf of Raina.” She suddenly realized that she couldn’t remember the abused woman’s last name. It seemed, somehow, a crime.

There was an intake of breath on the other end. “Do your superiors know that you’re making calls on behalf of the freaks?”

Gwendolyn would have liked this conversation to be face-to-face. A slap in the face was a great attention-getter. “Detective Kelley, Raina has just had a miscarriage.”

((ooc: The other end of the line is in “Hungover”, the second post therein.))

Gwendolyn was not gone long. She came back, her heels clicking angrily at each step. “He hung up.” She told the woman. This information was not going to help Raina. She deserved to know the truth, though: the father was an ass.

Raina leaned against Neena and felt warm when the woman touched her. She was so relieved to have someone with her she couldnt help but cry. Gwen left the room- she assumed to call Rupert. That thought churned her stomach even more.

She waited quietly- images of an unborn child floating in her head. She felt like she was about to vomit so she swallowed hard and the end result was a cold sweat. She was counting backwards in her head. She wanted to sleep- to just sleep and not wake up for a while- at leas until everything stopped hurting.

The minutes past and she could head Gwen's voice out in the hall- but also the voices of guards complaining about the mess she'd made. She was so tired.

Gwen came back in and told her Rupert had hung up. It didnt surprise her- Rupert didn't deal with shock well. She just hoped there wasnt a gun near by for him to shoot anyone else with. She let out a silent sigh and leaned her head against Neena's shoulder.

Her body was shutting down, trying to protect her pcyhe from what had happened. She found her eyes feeling heavier and heavier, soon she was out cold.


ooc: feel free to keep posting, but i'll likely be on hiatus for a little bit to allow for time to pass before putting Raina back with the others, I'm thinking that there will be rumors flying etc. But I wont have many people actually knowng about it

Still holding Raina, Neena began to rock back and forth slowly; her grandfather would do that when she’d hurt herself when she was little. It helped soothe her and, hopefully, to pass that along to Raina. She couldn’t imagine the pain the chanter was going through, physically, emotionally, mentally... Images of her mother being attacked on the river bank flashed through her head. Was that it? Torn apart... but from the inside... yet still alive?

Neena suppressed a shudder, and wiped the thoughts from her mind, concentrating instead on the constant motion.

Gwen returned and said that the detective had hung up on her. Well, that was one more stone on the scale toward ‘jerk’.

<“Don’t judge him, Neena. You don’t know him. Maybe he passed out. A lot of first-time fathers pass out. And this news had been bad.... no, worse than bad. Devastating. Yeah, he must have just passed out.....”>

She carefully schooled her expression into one of dismissal, and continued rocking.

The evening of Raina’s breathing told Neena that the woman had fallen asleep. Good. Sleep was what she needed most right now. Sleep would give her body a chance to heal. They’d deal with the heart and mind later. One step at time....

Very gently she eased the sleeping woman from her shoulder to the bed. She pulled the sheet up and tucked it around her, then stepped back with a heavy sigh. She felt kind of sick, her version of concern, since she wasn’t capable of worry. There wasn’t much else she could do now.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder. She turned to face the guard that had accompanied them in.

”C’mon. You’ve got a job to do.”

Oh yeah. Clean up duty.... Neena wrinkled her nose, not from the task itself. She wasn’t thrilled to have to face that.... that.... Her mind drew a blank as to what to call the woman. No animal on Earth was low enough to describe what Neena thought of her. On the positive side, this man was indifferent as opposed to insulting, the lesser of two evils, and made the return easier to stomach. She turned to Gwen.

”Thank you for helping her. I’m sorry for yelling at you Miss Gwendolyn.” Overall Neena held no ill will towards humanity; it was the individuals that she couldn’t stand. Gwendolyn at least, so far, had treated them like persons and not ‘things’. In Neena’s mind, that rated respect, indicated by a title and name. The name meant that she was a person deserving of the title given. People without names were simply ‘things’. ‘Things’ didn’t rate respect.

She turned back to the man. ”May I come and check on her later?”

He merely shrugged, and motioned for her to follow him outside. Well, he didn’t say ‘no’..... She shot a final glance towards Raina, then followed.

She expected to be guided back to the Mess Hall. Instead he walked her the length of the camp, furthest away from the front gates, to a dull stone building in the far corner, near a small lake. It was about the size of a small apartment. The sign over the door read ‘Laundry’. He unlocked the door with a master key, and led her inside. Indeed the place looked like a laundry room; folding tables, stacks of linens, cleaning products (which were behind a locked fence-like gate), and various other things. Once thing Neena noticed right away was the lack of washers and dryers. Ah! That explained the lake....

The guard unlocked the gate, and pulled out a gallon bottle of generic-looking dishsoap, then locked the gate behind him. He stuck it in a metal bucket.... <“Been a while since I’ve seen one of those.”> .... along with two dirty-looking rags, and dropped them into her hands. She grunted, nearly dropping the load. He motioned outside, and she obeyed. He pointed to the lake.

”Fill it.”

<“He speaks... Will wonders never cease?”>

She did as she was told, guessing this was how she was going to clean up the blood in the Mess Hall. At least the water wasn’t hot; she’d never get the stains up with hot water. Task accomplished, she was led back across the grounds to the Mess Hall. It was a long enough walk that her thighs were twitching from the exercise. Unfortunately she was almost immediately descended on by the ‘Thing’ in charge. Neena repressed the urge to spit.

(OOC: Continued for Neena in Woman's Side Mess Hall.)

Raina shuddered in her sleep. She'd been in the infirmary for a while and she knew it- she'd woken up a few times by herself save from a guard always watching and the few times she caught site of Gwen. Each time she woke up the pain in her stomach was still there- so she'd close her eyes and fall back into a murkey dream.

She was constantly reliving the mansion raid. watching Rupert shoot her over and over again. Images of young children streamed through her subconcious. A little boy with copper hair. It was curly.


What grew
What grew
What grew and inside who
First so simple was the vow
Then the chorus sang alloud
Your shoulder
The mourning for me
Like water lost in the sea

she shuddered awake again.

She let her eyes focus. The room was dreary and a pristine white. Far too clean for how she felt. She was weak and hadnt eaten since she could remember.

The cold heart will burst
If mistrusted first
And a calm heart will break
When given a shake

She wondered if she had it in her to go back to the others. To look them in the eyes. She couldn't be sure what would happen from here on in. She just wanted to throw up until she couldn't breathe.

I’m a stem now
Pushing the drought aside
Opening up
Fanning my yellow eye
On the ferry
That’s making the waves wave
Illumination
This is how my heart behaves

Could she even live anymore? Really? Could she go on knowing that there was once a life inside her? It's not like she was ready to be a parent yet... but that didn't meant she wouldnt step up. Would it have been a mutant?

The cold heart will burst
If mistrusted first
And a calm heart will break when given a shake

(How her heart behaves)
The rain rain making me cry
(How her heart behaves)
Then the wind comes
Fanning my yellow eye
(How her heart behaves)
The waves wave the waves wave
This is how my heart behaves

She didn't think she had any tears left... and yet... they came. She wasn't ready to go back. No, not yet.

ooc: Just a little filler. I want more time to pass before Raina goes back. I'm a musician you know so I picture a lot of things in my head with music and I always love to share the local talent. You can see a fanvid using this song here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oqowxblENQ

and totally unrelated, if you'd like to see my latest uni project, go here!: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMmV2uEerj0

I'll be bringing Raina back into the plot soon! *nods*

The door swung open and in came three guards dragging gore into the infirmary. "Get your ass on the table!!" one of the guards yelled as if Jason could hear him. The look on Jasons' face was one of a guy that was on his last breath. He looked badly beat but instead of blood all over his face... He looked extreamly dusty. Like he had been rolling around in the sand pit.
The guards looked over at the ladies in the room and with a rush told them to get him patched up cleaned up and back in to his room as soon as possible. As the last guard was about to walk out the room. He heard something behind him. Jason was trying to get something out. "Did iii Ge emmm....." "Yeah you sure did you mutants don't even like each other" The guard laughed making his way out to the room.
Jason looked around trying to see what was going on but the pain in his neck was to much. Every time he tried all he could do was drop his head back down and gasp for more air. But all he kept doing was trying Jason stood up and and saw three girls sitting across from him and after trying to mutter out the word Hi. the pain just overwhelmed him and sent him tipping froward and laying face first on the ground.

Gwendolyn had come to a conclusion: she was never going to get a break around here. Literally. Every time she sat down with a sandwich or a cup of coffee, someone got dragged in. Her esteem of her fellow nurses wasn't exactly escalating.

"Hey, Gwen--" One of the head doctors stated matter-of-factly as he came into the break room. "The other nurses are gawking at a guy on the floor. Thought you might like to know." Some of the other medical staff hid smirks behind their hands as Gwen set her mug down, and walked back out into the main infirmary like a martyr. The camps had only just opened, and already she'd been pegged as the mutant sympathizer in their midst. Like hell she was. Gwendolyn just happened to have a work ethic, unlike the rest of the people sitting on their tooshes around here, letting her do all the work.

She broke through the starring line of nurses like a bulldozer, and began barking orders. "You two, get him on a bed. You--look up his powers, or something. Be useful."

She quickly knew all that the camp's mutant directory knew about Mr Blake, here. She got him as cleaned up as she could, and then brought her coffee mug out from the break room to the bed next to him. She wasn't hovering: she was being realistic. If she tried to sit down and relax, something was going to go wrong. So she'd sit out here, and glare at the infirmary doors. That'd keep the troublemakers out.

After a few hours laying on the this uncomfortable hospital bed, Jason let out a few small moans. His eyes slowly opened. Batting his eye lashes as if it was the first time in years they have been opened, his yes milked every possible bit of light from the room they could get which made his head pound more and more. Jason was really starting to get tired of being in this camp. Anything he would do to get out he was willing to do it, even at the cost of others.
Jason opened his eyes again. Little by little. Slowly letting his eyes gain focus. Everything looked blurry like he had one to many drinks. Jason muttered a few words trying to get someones attention but nothing. Then he realized it. They were here cause they had to but like all the other humans they didn't give a damn what happen to any of the inmates in this prison. And neither did Jason anymore. Jason tried to sit up but his head was still in pain and just layed back down. This having others take care of him was starting to get old. And it was time he do something about it. But what could he do? How was he gonna make his way out this camp alive and quick.

Raina opened her eyes again sometime later and saw someone in the bed next to her. She was quiet, very quiet to not set off her collar. She wondered if he could see or hear her. He looked familiar but she wasnt sure anymore of who she knew and who she didnt. She was lying on her side now looking at him silently. He looked pretty beat up and he was slipping in and out of sleep. She was vaguely aware of Gwen walking around.

"No, I don't wanna be here anymore!" Jason yelled. Jason was hanging from a rope in the middle of the courtyard, wrist tied tightly together and his arms high above his head feeling like his arms were gonna pop out of their socket. He slowly opened his eyes, everything had a red tent to it as he looked at all the other inmates standing around him. His body rotated seeing everyone in the camp, the guards, the medics, and the prisoners. Then a man walked out from the mass of people. "Ah, so i see your awake. Are you ready to continue or do you wanna tell us what we wanna know?" The man said well tieing a whip that he had on his belt. The man turned to the Jasons' fellow inmates. "You see, this is what we try to keep from happening. Where not here to cause you anymore trouble then you already are. Where just here to do our jobs, keep you in line, and keep things going smooth! But when you wanna disobey and break rules this is what will happen to you every time." He said in in a tone that went from calm to pretty much dead evil. Jason looked down at his body, and saw nothing but a piece of cloth rapped around his waist. The only thing else Jason saw was blood everywhere! Every wound that Jason had was just gushing out blood leaving a big puddle under neath him. But how could this be Jason thought. Every other time Jason would bleed His body would begin to turn to stone. But not this time it was just blood as if he was a human. Jason heard the whip snap, and as it stuck his skin Jason sat up looking around the room.
Jason looked confused. The last thing he remembered was being punished for something but for what. And now he was sitting in the hospital bay. He gave him self a quick once over but no wounds. Well none but a few bruises and cuts that looked as if they came from a blunt object but nothing cause blame from a whip. Then it hit him he was dreaming but why. What did it mean. This was starting to become way to much and Jason was ready to find him self a way out but how. Jason began to look around the room. Nobody was paying any real attention to him. Would they have noticed if he had got up and just walked out. Jason sat fully up and tried to swing a leg over and off the bed but felt so much pain in his midsection and fell back down on to a elbow. Those guards must have really gave me a beating he thought to him self. Jason looked around still nothing nobody came over to see if he was okay. "Shit why even have a clinic here." He said out loud.
Jason looked back around the room and realized it was a young girl laying on the bed next to him. But he was so busy looking for away out didn't even realize that someone so close was watching him out the corner of her eye. With that Jason lay ed back down propped up on one elbow to see what else he had missed. Looking over at her he remembered her from the first time he was locked up here. She was that girl he took the punch for, but this time she looked as if she was going through some more stuff then what she was last time they had met. Jason put his head back on the pillow lightly seeing how he still had a killer head ache and looked over. "Like a rock" He said as he spit up a little blood out his "I told you, keep it like a rock."

(OOC: Continued from the Women's Side. Hope you don't mind me popping in again. Going to move ahead a few hours with Neena; hope it fits in still with everything else. If not, let me know.

Another two trips to the Laundry Pool were required before the floor was as clean as it was going to get. However Neena's aching knees were not meant to have rest; after dumping the water on the edge of the camp grounds, returning the cleaning tools, and gathering up a bunch of linens, she was led back to the Infirmary.

"Change the sheets," she was told, rather dully, "You're on laundry duty, starting now."

Neena glanced at her escort. Laundry duty? Lovely....

With a shrug she set about her task, taking the opportunity to get a more in depth look at the area. The first thing she noticed was that Raina was gone. Neena frowned, wondering where the woman could possibly have disappeared to; she wasn't healthy enough to go back to the barracks, was she?

The second thing she noted was Jason, laying on one of the beds, looking like he'd been mistaken for a punching bag. Seeing that no one was really paying attention, she paused, one hand on her hip.

"Well, well. Why am I not surprised to see you in here already?" She moved over and began gathering the bloody sheets from the bed Raina had been on. "Making friends with the guards?"

Jason eyes opened back up. 'Damn that beating must have took a lot out of me' He thought to him self as he kept drifting back and forth from reality. Jason tilted to his head to the left looking to see how the young girl next to him was doing but by his surprise she was gone. 'How long was i asleep?' He thought to him self. 'She was just there and looked in no condition to leave, hmm she must have been moved some place else.' That was pretty much the only thing Jason was thinking about.

As Jason lay in the bed he couldn't get anybodies attention. Jason' body was aching in ways it never had before and what ever pain pills he was on had now worn off completely. Jason looked around hopping that maybe there as a bottle or something laying around but nothing. Just then Neena had came walking through the door. "Oh god just what I need now. A pain in my side and a pain in my ass" Jason said out loud kinda hoping that she didn't hear. Neena looked kina disappointed like she came she was looking froward to something but wasn't there when she walked in. Then it started. "Well it sure aint take you long huh. You just had to go and say something didn't you?" Jason said with a smile on his face."Well you Know if I was working for the guards maybe just maybe i could get me and you a little time off and i don't know we could catch a movie. What do you think about that?" He added as he put his hand on his left rib cage. "Man this shit hurts. You think you could find me some pain medicine or something it would be very thought full of you." He said as he batted his eyes.

"Well it sure aint take you long huh. You just had to go and say something didn't you? Well you Know if I was working for the guards maybe just maybe i could get me and you a little time off and i don't know we could catch a movie. What do you think about that?"

Neena chuckled quietly. "I think whatever Gwendolyn's got you on has you loopy."

"Man this shit hurts. You think you could find me some pain medicine or something it would be very thought full of you."

"And this coming from the kid who insists that you need a heart of stone to survive."

Despite the kidding, it was obvious he was in pain. Neena spared a quick glance around the room, to be sure no one was paying attention, then began quietly hunting through drawers. She couldn't find any pills of any sort; not surprising. No doubt Gwendolyn had them locked up somewhere. However, in one drawer she did come across a stack of prepackaged patches, the kind that were self heating.

She pulled out two and turned quickly back to the linens, using them to muffle the sound of opening the packs. Then she set the patches on Jason's stomach.

"Sorry Hardhead, best I can do at the moment. Except, possibly teach you to duck." She chuckled, and finished up remaking the other bed.

James walked slowly through the camp, a boony hat on his head and dark tinted sunglasses on his face, hiding his identity. He was now a guard here, not for the sake of guarding mutants, but he had to make contact with a certain one, one that he had imprisoned himself, a woman by the name of Neena Jenkins. He could barely remember the night, he knew he had caught her and was planning on turning her in, but past that was blank, all he knew was something bad happened to him, because his next memory was being dropped off in extreme pain somewhere, and she was his only lead to what happened.

Getting a guard job was simple, he already had public military files, they didn't include any of his Special Ops missions but they were enough to give him a credible history, and he was able to get a job patrolling the yard, he now had a plan worked out, all he needed was a chance to communicate, anything more would blow his cover and get him killed. Then again he had no real intentions of helping the mutants, all he wanted was information.

He noticed Neena heading towards the infirmary and decided to casually follow, he stayed at the entrance though, looking over another group of mutants.

OOC: continued from the women's side of camp.

IC:
Thump. Natalie landed limply on the ground in the doorway. The guard bellowed, "Nurse, got a broken mutie for ya!" and then left. Charming. Not that Natalie had any idea, what with being unconscious. A nearby nurse tutted, and contemplated leaving Natalie in the doorway, but then realised that the girl was supposed to work in the infirmary anyway. She was lucky, there were much worse jobs, and only a very few had been chosen to work in the infirmary. She went to pick up the girl, and was surprised at how light she was. Some mutant power. Look at me! I weigh less than you! She deposited the girl on the bed, and a quick check for injuries confirmed three broken ribs. And bleeding. How was she bleeding? The guard had only struck her with her stick. This girl could have the most pathetic mutant power she had ever seen. Sighing, she got to work on fixing her up.

(refer to natalie's profile in NPCs for reasons as to why she was so badly injured as well as her lightness, and calley, if you want gwen to waddle over and give her favourite healy mutant a look-over, feel free )

Neena finished remaking the bed when another mutant was brought in and placed on it, also bleeding.

"Day one and this place is already a madhouse. Lovely...." she mumbled to herself. She was also none too happy to recognize Natalie. She couldn't imagine the girl doing anything to receive negative attention, except maybe be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then again, that described everyone's situation in the camp currently, so....

She looked up, looking for Gwen. A frown crossed her face as she caught sight of a figure just leaving out the door. Something about him was familiar, but she couldn't place what. Considering how absent-minded she could be, Neena wasn't surprised at herself. But something wasn't setting right with that one.....

.... And it wasn't like she was going anywhere for awhile, so now really wasn't the time to deal with the lapse of memory. More important matters needed attending to....