Open!

[souille]

Who: Abigail and YOU
What: A day in the life of a new prisoner
Where: Around Obsidian
When: July 23rd



i. Common room

[ Abigail hasn't taken to coming in here often, but this afternoon it was relatively quiet, so she ventures in, sitting in a corner with her back to the wall. She glances up at the television for a while, in relative disinterest, before something else catches her eye - a ragged page from an old magazine. Through the stains and scribbles on the paper, someone's left her a half-finished crossword. She lights up a little - this will the time for now, at least. ]

Five across: Hillary's challenge as first lady: to do nothing (7).

[ She frowns a little, then quirks an eyebrow up at whoever's nearby, in case they want to have a go at the answer. ]


ii. Bathrooms

[ It would be just her luck to be assigned janitorial duty. At least it's something to keep her occupied, even if it's pretty grim work. She tries to finish up quickly, though she's worried she'll be reprimanded for not being thorough.

She jumps out of her skin when someone bangs on the door, but before she can scurry out to let them use the facilities they're already off down the corridor, laughing at having startled her.

In another stall, she finds someone's drug stash hidden under the rim of the toilet bowl, and frowns as she turns it over in her hands, wondering whether to flush it, or whether that would end up getting her in trouble with whoever it belonged to. ]


iii. Meal room

[ She's managed to queue up early today, hoping for a shot at the better selection of food. When she's nearly at the head of the line, however, a rather burly inmate sees that she's about to get the last of the good stuff - and that she's rather small and unintimidating. Without further ado he storms up and grabs Abigail by the scruff of the neck, dumping her unceremoniously on the ground and taking her spot in the queue. ]


iv. Recreation area - Closed to Rook

[ She's slowly walking circuits of the running track when she sees Rook, and saunters over to him, offering a small smile. She doesn't spend too much time outside, but it makes a change, and that's as much as she can ask for here. ]

Hey, how's it going?

Comments

i

[callhousekeeping]

[ Halfway across the room, sitting sideways in a chair with her legs over the arm, is the Countess. She's got a copy of Vogue, albeit last month's, and she turns the page listlessly, looking at the clothes as if she intends to buy them. She can still see the designer tags in her mind's eye, fresh as day, hanging beautifully in a closet whose owner will never see it again.

There's a pause before she says anything, and when she speaks, it's with a black sort of humor in her voice. ]

Husband.

iii

[hardcase]

[ Flagg's sitting at a table with a few of his other followers, and he sees the whole thing. A boorish, shameful display from someone who had no doubt taken a lot of pleasure in picking on new arrivals.

Unfortunately for him, this new arrival already has someone looking out for her.

He stands up and slinks over to the front of the line, silent as a prowling lion, and is standing there ready to yank the full tray away when the offending inmate turns around. ] Thanks for the donation, pal! [ He smiles amicably, but glares daggers at the inmate, who looks him over, looks back at the table of cultists, and decides to walk away.

He was from B block, it would seem. Flagg would have to chat with AM about dealing with him later. ]

Are you alright? [ Holding the tray of food in one hand, he offers his other hand to Abigail to help her up. ]

iv

[violenti]

[ Rook spends a lot of his time outside running the circuit. Today, though, he's on the bars. When Abigail finds him, he's doing pushups. He doesn't recognize her approach until she speaks.

He glances up, and offers a smile in return. ] Oh, hey Abigail.

[ Rook pushes himself up, dusting his hands off. ] Alright enough, all things considered. You?

[souille]

Hmm... [ She looks closely at the page, counting out the letters. ] Nope. There's an 'E' in it somewhere, if that helps?

[callhousekeeping]

[ Well, at first it had been a joke, but now it's more of a challenge. With a sigh, Countess thinks for a moment, idling on a page showcasing the some of the most tragic shoes she's seen in ages. Ugh, who decided that gym shoes were a proper fashion statement? ]

What about... silence?

[souille]

[ Abigail gladly takes his hand, pulling herself to her feet and sticking close to him as she watches the man stalk off. She dusts herself off, but nothing's wounded except her pride. ]

I am. Thank you.

[souille]

[ She watches him get up, not relishing the idea of doing push ups even if she knows she should probably be more active. ]

I can't really complain.

[souille]

That could work. [ She moves her finger over the spaces as she sees if it fits, then shakes her head. ] ...Nope. I just saw one of the other clues and the first letter's an 'E', too.

[violenti]

[ Rook chuckles at that. ] I think we all have reason to complain. —Not that it would do us good, but still.

[ He places his hands on his hips. ] You wanna join me? [He gives her a knowing little grin, almost playful. ] Or are you here for that self-defense lesson?

[callhousekeeping]

[ She thinks for a moment, but she's never exactly been the queen of crossword puzzles. They always seemed a bit... fuddy-duddy of a hobby. ]

Then I have no clue. We don't exactly get the Times in here, so god only knows where that brainteaser came from.

[souille]

I have no idea, it's been torn out of whatever magazine it was in originally.

[ She turns the page over, finding only a full page advert for a truck on the other side, and shrugs. ]

At least I have nothing but time to think of the answer.

[souille]

[ She wrinkles her nose a little at the idea of joining him in push ups, though she's glad the offer of self-defense training is still there. ]

If I'm not interrupting - is now a good time?

[violenti]

Well, you know, I'm terribly busy, what with... everything.

[ He manages to keep a straight face for all of about four seconds, then smiles again. ] Of course, it's fine.

Now, first thing I guess- do you have any experience with self-defense or martial arts, anything like that?

[hardcase]

I'll deal with him later. [ He shoots a quick glance over his shoulder to the offending inmate. ]

Come. Sit with me.

iii

[adaptivemanipulation]

[AM would normally like to get the "good stuff", and might not think much of shoving an innocent little whelp out of the way, but he recognizes this girl. She seemed like a lost, helpless lamb, someone so ripe and perfect for corruption. The seeds had already been planted, after all, by her father.

So without much thought, AM marches up to the inmate and grabs him by the shoulders.]

Oh, what's this? She stole your precious fruit cup?

[He aims a nice, hard punch into the man's face. He stumbles backwards and other prisoners obviously notice. Some are itching to use this as an opportunity to start a brawl, but the guards come rushing in. They see Abigail on the ground and the burly inmate bleeding from the nose, and both are grabbed by the guards.]

Unhand me, you idiots! I was protecting her!

[callhousekeeping]

[ There's a pause, then Countess closes her magazine and shifts in the chair. Now her elbows are propped on the arm of the chair with her chin in her hands, and she looks curiously at this girl. She's so young -- they occasionally get a transfer from a juvenile facility, but those are almost always teenage boys who flew off the handle and shot up a school or something. This little girl doesn't look like she could hurt a fly.

Fascinating. ]

What's your name?

[souille]

[ Abigail watches all of this unfold from the ground, worried that if she tries to get up she'll be caught up in the fight that's threatening to break out. But when the guards grab AM, she quickly pushes herself up from the floor, panicking that he's going to be punished just for looking out for her. ]

It's true. [ She addresses the guard holding him, her eyes wide, playing up the vulnerable angle as she remembers how Michael said that the guards might take pity on her as a young girl in here alone. ] Please, if it hadn't been for him I could have been hurt really badly.

[souille]

[ Abigail shakes her head, offering an apologetic smile. ]

I can shoot, but that's not really much help in here.

[souille]

[ She follows his glance, allowing herself a small but satisfied smile at how this turned out. ]

Okay, if I won't be intruding.

[souille]

[ She turns her attention from the puzzle to the woman, offering a shy smile. ]

Abigail.

[callhousekeeping]

[ When she smiles back, it is with a cloying sort of sweetness, somehow both warm and dreadful at the same time, much like she herself is. ]

Abigail, lovely. Welcome to Obsidian. I'm the Countess.

[adaptivemanipulation]

[This was a stupid idea. He should have just let the poor bastard throw Abigail to the ground and pick up the pieces later. He doesn't want to go back to SHU or anything like that just for some idiot!

But she does speak up for him. Perhaps this will be worth it after all. How can he resist a pathetic, vulnerable, young pretty thing like her, after all?

The guards do stop and look at Abigail, then look back at AM, then look at the other guy, also held back by them. They finally release AM, but one of them points at him, gruffly telling him, Watch yourself, Masterson.

They drag away the other guy, who yells out at AM that he's going to pay, but he just smiles. Oh yeah, that's a likely story.

Still, he turns back toward Abigail, more concern on his face than before.]

Are you all right?

[violenti]

[ Rook snorts. ] No, can't say it is.

We'll start with basics then. I'll warn you, what I was taught is some bastardized mash up of Krav Maga, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and sort of? Judo. So don't think you'll be earning any black belts out of this. [ Another smile. ]

Since you're probably not going to have a weapon that you have to worry about retaining-that's one of the biggest things cops have to worry about- there are four main things: disarming your opponent, escaping holds or grapples- which covers a lot, honestly-, what to do if you end up on the ground, and subduing your opponent.

When you're attacked, the best thing to do, honestly, is to get away by whatever means necessary and run. But being here makes that a lot harder. So what you need to know, to really take to heart: you want to subdue your opponent with the least amount of effort necessary. The last thing you want to do is to get into a battle of attrition, and not only because you're at a physical disadvantage to a lot of the people in here right now.

—And I don't mean subduing as necessarily on the floor unconscious. People will pick on you because they see you as an easy target. The majority of folks will not grab or start a fight with someone they're not sure they can beat. So if you throw them off or hit them where it hurts, they very well might leave you alone, and that's enough.

[souille]

[ As the guards walk away, dragging the man who'd accosted Abigail, she lets out a deep breath that she didn't realise she'd been holding. She looks up at AM gratefully, her relief palpable. ]

I'm okay, he didn't hurt me. Thank you.

[souille]

[ She's intrigued already, regarding her with a curiosity that's a little beyond what she'd consider polite herself. ]

Are you actually a Countess?

[ They give people all sorts of strange nicknames in prison, right? ]