Private A Visit to the Madhouse

[Val Drutin]

The answer should have reassured Val, but with his intuition and danger sense going haywire, the impact of the doctor's words was significantly blunted. He could no longer resist the urge to probe Dr. Benson's mind, looking to see if he was hiding something specific. But Benson's brain was locked down too tightly for Val to reach the withheld information without becoming more aggressive - and more obvious - about his probing.

Val crossed his arms over his chest, still not moving from his spot beside the chair. "Since I came here willingly, can I also leave whenever I want to?" he asked. "I'm still able to function. It's just... difficult for me."

To outward appearances, his behavior might seem childish and defiant, complete with lame excuses. But he was determined not to wind up in a cage, no matter how gilded it might be.

| Jakob Benson |

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

The lad's stubborness was really shining through at this moment. It was as though he had something to hide. And from what Benson could tell, it was more than just a fear of needles.

He slid his hands into his pants pockets, widening his stance so that he'd be more comfortable. If Val wanted to stand there for a while, he'd do so as well.

"If you're having an episode, then I'd advise against it. But otherwise you need only to ask. You are a unique case and contrary to popular belief, not everyone is held here against their will. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

 

[Val Drutin]

With his arms still crossed over his chest, Val's expression was sullen. His face reddened and his eyes were downcast.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I just wanted to make sure it was safe here. I don't like being locked up, no matter the circumstances."

Dr. Benson's demeanor had changed almost imperceptibly, but the shift was clear. By asking such specific questions, Val had heightened his suspicions. In the end, Val still wasn't quite sure what he was trying to hide from the doctor, just that he had a bad feeling about it all. But if he intended to stay and seek treatment, he would have to go along with whatever Benson required of him.

Uncrossing his arms, he loosened his stance, almost mimicking Benson in his attempt to appear more relaxed. "A unique case, huh?" He managed a half smile. "I like the sound of that. I'm not so sure it's true, though." His smile faded, and he clasped his hands behind his back, bouncing on the balls of his slippered feet. "Okay... lead on, I guess."

| Jakob Benson |

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

Benson tilted his head to the side a little. "That is a common wish and a common fear. Everyone longs for safety and security without confinement. It is in our nature to explore and go beyond our surroundings."

A unique case he was. Val it seemed was unaware of it. "You'll come to realize that I never lie. There is no purpose in it. Lying doesn't serve me nor my patients. Just as I hope that they would always be honest with me." Benson did indeed lead on, exiting the interview room and heading down the corridor, continuing to speak while they walked. [color]"Whatever we talk about, you can rest assured that everything said remains strictly between the two of us. The notes that I make are easily destroyed and never in electronic record. The cameras here are visual only. There is no sound. My patients need protection and that includes from prying eyes and those that would seek to take advantage of them. Sometimes there are very high profile people within these walls and their purposes for seeing me needs to remain out of the public record."[color] Benson stopped at a door and opened it with his palm on a touchpad. Once the door opened he walked inside. The room was bare, with the exception of a chair, however embedded in the wall was a cell of sorts. The energy shield was not activated. The cell itself was well furnished and some might even say it was cozy. The lights were the only electronic devices inside. But there were books, sketchbooks and pencils. "Meals are delivered on schedule. They are quite pleasant and not what you would expect from a hospital of any sort. Have you any allergies?"

 

[Val Drutin]

Distracted as he was by the new surroundings, Val almost didn't hear Benson's question. He turned around, taking everything in, before he quickly answered, "No, no allergies..." and crouched down to look under the bed.

His movements around the room - lifting pillows on the bed and pulling back the sheets, running his small fingers over the spines and covers of the books and sketchbooks, picking up the pencils to examine them one by one - were ritualistic and subconscious. When he raised a pencil to his nose and sniffed it, he wondered only afterwards why he was smelling a pencil. He quickly put it down, hoping in vain that Dr. Benson hadn't noticed.

"Um... this is a pretty nice room," he said. While the energy field wasn't on, he could tell the gap between the cell and the other room was divided by such a device. "Are you just going to leave me in here by myself, or... do I get to meet other patients...?"

| Jakob Benson |

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

No allergies. That was a good thing. It made the meals all the easier to prepare.

Benson observed Val while he went through the room and everything inside it. At least he seemed pleased enough with it. That gave a greater chance of Val wanting to stay, which would help with his studies of the lad.

To his questions, Benson shook his head. "Seeing other patients is out of the question. Not only is it for safety reasons, but for security as well. Consider this to be....a retreat. Together we can conquer your episodes and you will then lead a successful and fulfilling life."

 

[Val Drutin]

"O-kay," Val drawled, exhaling a deep breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He sat down in a chair in the corner of the cell, and was pleased to find it was far more comfortable than the one in the meeting room. "I don't get along with most people anyway."

He considered Dr. Benson's words. Part of him rebelled at the idea of "conquering" his episodes. To him, they were the last remaining connection he had to his beloved brother - surely that was a bond worth keeping. He was reminded of how Zana Rukh had told him he would either have to use their bond as a tool, or see it as an obstacle he would have to overcome.

"You sound just like my master," he said - and realized belatedly that he had been thinking aloud. "I mean... I'm not... heh." Ruddy color spread across his cheeks. "I've never been a slave," he said softly, before finally clamping up.

| Jakob Benson |

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

"And why is it that you don't get along with others? Is it due to your episodes?" All important questions, and more than likely with answers that he could remember before having to write them down once he returned to his own living quarters.

But then the lad made a slip of the tongue that really caught Benson's attention. "Who is your Master? And what is he to you if you aren't his slave?" Oh now he was really going to pay attention to this answer.

 

[Val Drutin]

Val side-eyed the doctor. "Well... I'm just not easy to talk to, I guess," he mumbled.

The pressing questions about his master had an immediate effect on him. He became pale and queasy, tucking his arms in so that they covered his stomach. His feet turned inward, the toes almost pointing together, and he stared down at the floor as if he'd been reprimanded. All of it was muscle memory, recalled emotions he associated with the Sith lord known as Zana Rukh - fear, loathing, begrudging respect. Submission, with a little bit of misplaced affection.

"I was supposed to be sold into slavery," he admitted. "But I wasn't. My master saved me from that fate. She took me from the slavers and let me live with her on her ship - the same ship I piloted here." He raised his head slightly. "She's dead now. It's funny... she wanted to die. I've never met anyone who wanted to die, except for her. And she was so committed to it..."

He trailed off, unable to elaborate further. He was sinking into intolerable introspection, lost in his thoughts and memories of the past.

| Jakob Benson |

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

Not easy to talk to? From what Benson could surmise, that was more than likely a lie. Unless of course the lad acted differently around him.

Again he listened, studying Val and his body language. Perhaps the death of his...master...was some of the reasoning behind the episodes that the lad spoke about. All would be discovered in good time, however.

Benson didn't have his notebook anyways, so he was unable to jot anything down, much to his dismay. Now was the time to rectify that. "I think that that's enough talking for today. The next meal service is in about an hour. I will leave you in peace. Did you want me to come back before light's out? Or wait until after breakfast?" Normally Benson wouldn't ask this of any patient, but Val was a unique case.

 

[Val Drutin]

Pulling himself out of his funk, Val mulled over what his answer to the doctor's simple question would be for quite some time. Rubbing the back of his neck, he finally replied, "Whatever suits you best."

He could tell that Dr. Benson was treating him differently than he usually treated his patients. There was a genuine earnestness to his attitude and behavior, a prolonged interest that seemed to have broken the monotony and startled the doctor from his typical routine. Val alternately coveted attention and loathed it, much as he desired love and affection but was repulsed by physical intimacy, and while he was grateful to see the doctor actually cared about helping him, he felt exposed and emotionally wrung-out by the ordeal.

...uh oh.

Turning away, his eyes scanned the titles of the books on the shelf without really reading them. "How long do you think I'll be here?" he asked, his tone distracted. But it was a front to hide both the emotional vacuum he was beginning to feel, and the irrational fear which had been germinating in him ever since the doctor agreed to see him - a dread that he might never be deemed well enough to leave.

Jakob Benson

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

Benson wasn't sure of whether or not he'd decide to see the lad before lights out or not. Having the decision left to him to make caught him by surprise. Of course he would rectify that soon enough.

Instead he switched his focus to study Val more, noting the movements and shift to nervousness that the lad had returned to. There was more than likely many things on his mind. The questions were a distraction.

"That depends upon you and how well you work with the treatments. You'll soon get used to the place. I know that I did rather quickly. There is no other place that I'd rather be."

 

[Val Drutin]

"Of course not." Val's voice had a hard edge to it now, his glassy eyes staring straight ahead. "You have your own world here, and free reign over that domain. I'm just another subject."

"Alyosha..." He mouthed the name soundlessly. The old fear flickered across his features, but it was little more than a brief spasm. Afterwards, his expression was devoid of emotion, his stare cold and unfeeling.

"I'll leave when I want to."

Jakob Benson

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

Ah. There it is. Benson was sure that he just caught a glimpse of an episode. And that would need much further study.

"You are a patient, first and foremost. Not a subject." He tilted his head to the side a bit while he placed his hands casually in his pockets. "Have you seen any labs since you've arrived here? No. Because there isn't any. I don't drug my patients, I don't sedate them. You'll learn that on your own time."

 

[Val Drutin]

"And how do you get most of your patients in the first place?" Val snapped. With his inhibitions removed, he had no qualms against ripping the information from the doctor's mind. "You hire mercenaries and bounty hunters to scour the galaxy, kidnapping and sedating them so that you can lock them up here."

He was suddenly on his feet, advancing toward Dr. Benson. "You think the Force is just another disease of the mind. Because you don't understand it, you try to wipe it out!"

There was a note of triumph in his tone at having been able to deduce this information, but otherwise he showed no emotion, no empathy - and more importantly, no fear of the repercussions that would follow his actions.

Jakob Benson

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

Benson straightened his head as the 'episode' continued. He continued to keep his manner calm, as well as his voice. "Some of my patients do need to be huntrd down, yes. But that really isn't much different than what some law enforcements do. You'd be surprised at how many criminals are insane."

As Val advanced, Benson remained where he stood and didn't flinch. Nor did he try to stop him. "It is a mental disease; this belief in the Force. But we can get into that tomorrow." A different room would be better than this. Although the shield was one thing, it wasn't good enough to hold a Force user.

 

[Val Drutin]

"No, I don't think we will," Val replied, his tone icy. "I'm not going to be here tomorrow. This place is a sick joke."

He considered simply walking away. It was within his power to leave this place, even if he had to fight his way through the police droids. But something else was going on in his brain, something more sinister and conniving. He wanted to make sure he covered his tracks.

His hand stretched forward, fingers held in a clutching gesture. He envisioned his grip closing around Dr. Benson's throat, constricting his airway, choking him through the Force.

Jakob Benson

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

"Your brother wants to be here. He chose to come. As for your assessment, I'd say that it's a.... bit....premat....ure."

Benson wished that he was back in his interview room. In there he had better control than he had here. Another mind game spurned on by the power of suggesstion. That was what the lad was doing in this 'episode' of his. And somehow Benson was fslling victim to it.

Inside his left pocket was his commlink. With his hands already in his pockets, it was quite easy for him to hit the appropriate button three consecutive times. Such was the signal for the Police Droids to intervene.

And that they did. A half dozen of them came into the room with their weapons drawn, all of them aimed at Val.

 

[Val Drutin]

Val's danger sense kicked in mere moments before the police droids arrived. The whirring of their servos and the click-snap of their weapons grated on him, but he couldn't focus on more than one target at a time. If only he'd brought his lightsaber... ah, but Dr. Benson never would have allowed it.

Abandoning his hold on the doctor's throat, he turned his full attention to the droids. Lightning arced from his fingertips, damaging their internal circuitry. The droids sagged and collapsed, inoperable.

But then there was the issue of the locked door. Val clenched his fists and glared at the durasteel, trying to bend the metal with the Force, but while the surface bowed inward somewhat under the pressure, he couldn't breach it. Enraged, he whirled on Dr. Benson.

"Let me out of here. Now."

Jakob Benson

 

[Jakob Benson]

Val Drutin

Benson coughed a little as his throat was released, his hands now removed from his pocket as he instinctly rubbed his throat and widened his stance to maintain his balance. He didn't flinch as the droids were taken out. Instead he just held his gaze on Val, watching him, studying him and making alternate plans.

"I'm afraid that I cannot do that. Even if you managed to get out of this room, taking out my Police Droids have activated the emergency protocols." Laser gates were turned on in every corridor, blocking escape attempts.

"Had you have remained calm like your brother, you'd of had more freedom of movement." Benson tilted his head to the side, a sly grin appearing on his face. "And you are correct. This is my world. I control it in life and in death. I have a kill switch protocol in place. Should one of my patients happen to kill me....well....How long can you hold your breath, exactly?"