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damned_institute2010-12-19 09:44 pm
damned-doctors.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_institute2010-12-19 09:44 pm
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Night 53: Disciplinary Therapy Room 1 [M-U for Elena Gilbert]
Memories were such fleeting things.
But taking them away was for simpler-minded individuals; no, it was returning them that made things truly interesting, especially for someone whose memories were so unique as hers. All inside the mind of a seemingly ordinary seventeen-year-old girl from a town that barely made its mark on a map.
Unlike most of these set-ups, this particular one was surprisingly benign. Elena sat on a nondescript couch—sort of an old couch, perhaps, but research was expensive and he did have a budget, after all—and the doctor was perched on the edge of an ordinary wooden desk. It would've almost looked like an office, if not for the complete lack of any other furniture. A small lamp provided the only source of light, casting a deceptively warm glow over the shadows.
She remained unrestrained; there was no possibility of her ever making it out of this room. He found those sorts of things uncouth, anyway. His preferred cleaner methods.
So there he sat, waiting patiently for her to come around. It would be any minute now.
But taking them away was for simpler-minded individuals; no, it was returning them that made things truly interesting, especially for someone whose memories were so unique as hers. All inside the mind of a seemingly ordinary seventeen-year-old girl from a town that barely made its mark on a map.
Unlike most of these set-ups, this particular one was surprisingly benign. Elena sat on a nondescript couch—sort of an old couch, perhaps, but research was expensive and he did have a budget, after all—and the doctor was perched on the edge of an ordinary wooden desk. It would've almost looked like an office, if not for the complete lack of any other furniture. A small lamp provided the only source of light, casting a deceptively warm glow over the shadows.
She remained unrestrained; there was no possibility of her ever making it out of this room. He found those sorts of things uncouth, anyway. His preferred cleaner methods.
So there he sat, waiting patiently for her to come around. It would be any minute now.
no subject
Then they told her she needed to be sedated, and she booked it. She had no idea just where she thought she could run to, but anywhere was been better than her spot between those nurses.
She didn't get far before a third nurse cut her off at the end of a hallway, keeping hold of her until one of the other nurses caught up and injected her with a sedative. It really was just like in the movies - her vision clouded, her mind blanked, then she dropped out of consciousness.
When she woke up, Elena expected to feel some kind of pain, or the glare of hospital lights, but there was... nothing. Nothing strange, anyway. Her eyes adjusted easily to the dim light, though she was quick to sit up (despite the dizziness it caused) and look around to try and get a good look at her surroundings. Naturally, she had no clue where she was. Nor did she recognize the man that sat across from her.
"What is this? Where are we?"
no subject
Back in bed along with a few additional modifications, of course, but he would explain those later. There was no need to overwhelm her with too much information at once. He'd rather not send her into a panic.
Besides, while he couldn't say the method would be exactly painless, it would leave her with no visible scars or physical recovery time. A far better deal than some of her fellow patients, he was sure.
"Elena Gilbert, is it?" He folded his fingers neatly together. "I understand you've been experiencing some difficulty with your memory lately. Perhaps an inability to recall quite as much as your friends?"
no subject
"Maybe." Oh, good one. Play it vague, Elena, that'll work, sure. He called her by her full name though, her real full name, and that was... different. If he really was one of the doctors of this place, it made sense he knew about her missing memories. Actually, it made sense that he would know a lot of things. She let her expression soften a little, less 'get me the hell out of here' and more 'I'm willing to listen'. If he had answers, she needed to hear them. "Why is that?"
no subject
He waved a hand, dismissing her question. "That information is confidential, unfortunately. But," he said, hands in his pockets as he walked towards the girl, "I can help you get those memories back. All of them, in fact."
Theoretically, that was. She was a test subject, after all, so not everything came with a guarantee, but he considered himself an exceptional doctor and he had very little doubt that this particular project would fail to succeed. And if it did, he could always try again. That was the nice thing about this hospital: you never quite ran out of volunteers.
no subject
Elena was nervous, she wasn't about to deny that, but she wasn't going to let this doctor (was he really even a doctor?) scare her into just letting this happen. Whatever it was she had been brought into. Meanwhile, the comment on giving her her memories back raised another red flag, and this one she wasn't going to be so quick to ignore.
"Can you? How exactly would that work?" Her eyes wandered again, because what was the point in subtlety when you were on the spot like this? Things were finally starting to come into focus, and she honestly couldn't tell if that was a door or a bookshelf, but it was worth a shot.
"You know, actually?" She slid sideways on the couch- "I think I'll pass." And made a dash for the bookcase/door/wall/whoreallyknew.
no subject
The girl made it a whole step, which was fairly impressive in truth, before he caught her arm and sat her back down on the couch. He would've said he'd been hoping to avoid this, but he'd never been an optimist: voluntary patients were far and few in between. Throughout most of his (rather long) life, he'd always had to resort to this, and he'd walked into the room tonight expecting no different.
He leaned over her, eye contact easily established. "Please stay where you are," he requested politely before straightening up and moving away. "As for your question, it's simple, really, to allow your mind access to information it normally shuts out. It's not harmful, I can assure you. All humans have a remarkable capacity for processing large amounts of information at once." He observed her for a moment or two. "Don't you want back what's been taken away from you?"
no subject
She would've been more scared if her brain had more time to sift through this, but instead she suddenly felt very much thoughtless, his request to stay where she was pushing anything else she might have been thinking about to the back of her mind. It was painfully clear now that she should have been more anxious to get out, but she couldn't bring herself to move. He told her not to, after all.
Well, compelled her. Go figure this place had vampires.
"I do." Everything was a little fuzzy, like she had to remember how to think for herself again after being compelled. Her body was slowly tensing up again, even as she just sat there, right where he left her. "But I don't want you inside my head." Literally or figuratively. Yikes.
no subject
That was the unfortunate side of his talents. He couldn't do everything, after all. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here in the first place. No, something else would be in her head and then it would be up to her to allow it to do its job or not. It didn't matter which, the results would be the same.
"If it helps to be straightforward, I'm a scientist as well as a doctor. I've developed something that can help you. I'd like you to agree to it if you would. There will be no invasion on my part; only you will know what you see."
There. That was as good a deal as any of these patients would ever get. She was a lucky one, in truth.