Qrow.

Chapter 8 | Room Search

The morning sun may have hung over the mansion but from inside, you couldn't see an ounce of light. All the windows were covered with heavy velvet drapes. In some rooms, like Marci's, fabric just wasn't enough. Large plates of steel had been bolted over the glass. Some, it may make them feel like a crazy person, but she didn't care. She was just glad there was no light to hurt her sensitive eyes.

No one could really see in the dark completely, though. She had one small candle burning on her nightstand so she could see the book in her lap. Being that her sight wasn't the best, she was having issues completely seeing what was on the pages. The fact that the handwriting wasn't the cleanest ever didn't help. 

A small squeak sounded from her throat when she heard her aids speaking in the hall. Micah and Ryan both had deep voices that carried. Marci shut the book and pushed it under her pillow. She grabbed the small corgi stuffed animal beside her and wrapped her arms around it. The door opened, in walking the two men she'd heard outside prior.

"Good morning, Marci." Micah grinned, "You look like you're doing well this morning."

She nodded shortly. No matter what her downfalls could be, having just a taste of her love once again made her happy. His necklace would remain around her from now on, resting right by her heart.

"We have to do room checks, okay?" He unclipped the connector leading the IV's tub into the needle, clicking a vial in it's place. She whined very quietly from the uncomfortable sensation of the medication being pushed into her veins. Micah frowned, "I'm sorry, Honey. I'll go slower. The twins are going to go see Joy and Friday. Would you like to go with them?"

Marci nodded again and noticed the brothers waiting out in the hall. She would've waved but one of her arms was preoccupied holding her stuffed animal while the other was having medication injected into it. Maybe London felt like he owed it to his brother or something like that. Whatever it was, he always made efforts to be there for her. Tokyo just went along with it considering he couldn't be without his brother for more than a half hour.

Micah pulled the vile out of her IV, then tore off a piece of medical tape to cover the open end. It was a lot easier to just leave it in instead of re-poking her constantly. She'd gotten used to it and didn't pull on her IV like some patients would. Outside of a few downfalls, she was one of the best patients there. It helped to have an aid like Micah that treated her so well. She hopped down from her high bed but he stopped her.

"Hang on, sweetheart. I have to check you and corgi butt first. Is that okay?" He asked. 

She agreed, considering she had nothing on her that she needed to hide. Other places in the room, that may not have been the case. He had yet to discover her hiding place though. Micah checked over every inch of her and her cute little corgi. She was uncomfortable with him taking the toy for even five seconds, so he had to check fast. Once he was done, he let her go.

Micah sighed, "You know, sometimes I wish in medical school they would've told me years of training would lead to having to frisk a stuffed corgi to make sure a psychotic circus clown from the 1940s wasn't hiding anything in it's butt."

"That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard, and I once lived in a town with such a low population I was considering fucking a moose." Ryan replied.

He laughed, walking to shut the door. A hand stopped it before he could, Shae pushing his way in. "Glad to see you bothered to join us. You're late." He carried on, glancing back to Ryan, "So, that means you lived on Earth at some point?" 

"Yeah. After the war, my family and I went to Alaska. No one found us. Until someone did. Same demons that took Felix came for Chris' husband, but that's not important anymore. It's all in the past... Hey, wait... Felix got banished because the wildebeests attached the manor. They only attached the manor to kidnap him for Carmella, but she's dead."

He smirked, "Well, it looks like you just strengthened your case. No matter what though, you are still ours for the next six weeks. So," He clapped his hands together, "You get to learn the art of room searches with us."

"If no one ever visits, nothing could ever come in here. What're you worried about them having?" Ryan asked.

"You'd be surprised what we find." Shae responded, "These people can make a weapon out of anything."

"Patients like Marci we don't have to worry about the typical things you think. We're more looking for bad signs. You know, like suicide notes, disturbing drawings, a clawed out section in the wall. All things I've found in patients rooms previously, by the way." Micah elaborated, "The key to earning your patients' trust though is to give them some sympathy, even if you have to step outside of the rules a little.

Like Marci, she's got this book full of songs and poems Felix wrote." He picked up her pillow, finding the notebook underneath. "I know where she hides it, and I know Beau would take it away because it upsets her to read but I can't take that away from her. You saw the way she clung to that corgi and the necklace you brought her. His things mean everything to her."

"May I?" Ryan requested, gesturing to the book. 

Micah didn't see a reason not to let him. The aids both had never bothered to read what was inside but they figured there wasn't much wrong with it. Ryan took the book with care. He sat down on the edge of the bed, flipping through the pages. Each was littered with lyrics of love songs. They personally revolted him because he's the type that would take out cupid if he could, but he understood how they could mean so much to someone else.

"I recognize some of these." He said, "Felix earns a living performing at cafes and on street corners. Little things like that, and I've heard him sing these songs before."

"He has a beautiful voice. Many of the patients used to enjoy when he'd sing to them. Some of them, it was the only way to get them to sleep." Micah replied.

Ryan closed the book and put it back under her black pillow. "What exactly was his job here?"

"He was an aid, but he didn't have medical training like us. So, he helped us on our rounds each day, in the way that you do now. He made our jobs a lot easier." Shae explained, "Though my job will never be easy."

"Truly," The other chuckled, "You will not enjoy tomorrow. It'll be your first day working on Shae's service."

"What's so painfully wrong with your patients that he keeps warning me about it?" He asked.

"Jasper is a sadistic fuck. He thinks that because I am a demon, that automatically means I should be the one to handle the bitch patients. It's also because Micah is more trustworthy, so he gets handed the scared, helpless ones while I have to take what's leftover." 

"He's only slightly bitter over it, in case you couldn't tell." Micah joked, "And you've got a patient or two that you've been assigned simply because they trust you."

"Yuki's different. You know that, but speaking of workplace romances... What's going on between you and Paris?"

The vampire tensed up, then proceeded to try to play it off. "Just a little fooling around. Nothing serious."

Any joking tones they had in their conversation lost traction when Shae sneered, "I surely hope so." 

That was... Awkward, Ryan thought to himself. The two had an obvious bond but there were some things there that were rooted deeper than he was led to believe. For only being here close to 36 hours, Ryan was quickly picking up on the fact that things are not what they seem here. It could be they were hiding things from him, or it may have been that some cards had yet to turn over to reveal themselves.