PATIENT SESSION #1 (open)

[Candace R. Stanton]

It’d been Candace’s first week at the prison. Ever since finding out where she’d be doing her residency she’d been more than a bit nervous; she was terrified out of her mind. While she was fascinated by the human mind and wanted to be a psychiatrist in order to help people, deep inside she wasn’t sure if these people could actually be helped. But she couldn’t back out. Not now. Not only did she need this job, but she didn’t want to be considered a quitter. Despite her fear, she had to suck it up. These people were just that--people. No matter what they did she had a duty and responsibility to try and help them. And she had to at least pretend that she wasn’t afraid while she did it.

The majority of her time so far had been spent settling in and getting all the boring humdrum paperwork filled out. She didn’t have an office, but she was welcome to use the visiting rooms or the infirmary to conduct her psychological evaluations. It wasn’t so bad, but carrying around the patient files on her person was a bit of a hassle. Now of course she could opt to having her own accommodations, but that required her to actually live at the prison. It gave her the creeps just being there throughout the day. While there were so many benefits to having her own sleeping quarters (main one being she would save in rent and utilities), she wasn’t ready to take that plunge and doubted that she’d ever be.

Candace sat in the visiting room with her patient files stacked neatly on the table in the order she was supposed to see them. This would be the first time she’d ever done this on her own without any supervision and she couldn’t help but wonder if she was ready. Reaching out she picked up the first file and began to scan it quickly, waiting for the person to arrive.

[Ruby Bennighton]

Ruby walked down the hall towards the visiting room. Guards behind her although she was not sure that was exactly needed since she had not been charged for murder. Her hands were cuffed together and she did little twisting to make them more comfortable around her wrist. Instead she let her black and red hair cover her light brown eyes as she kept her eyes on the floor. Her mind was processing one simple question; why was she even going to see a psychiatrist? She closed her eyes for a moments as she walked just to let her annoyance out at a random source. When they reached the visiting room the guards left. But she said sarcastically as they left "You gonna take my cuffs off or are you afraid of a thief?" Turning to look at the other person across the room she almost smiled. It had been a while since she saw anyone not in any uniform.

But it quickly faded away as she continued to study the woman. Sitting down she blew some of her hair out of her eyes and just looked at the woman with a pensive stare. Shaking her head she simple said "So what am I crazy Doctor." Jail could make you go crazy. Ruby knew that for sure, but she only let those words come out of her mouth because she was irritated. She of all people knew she did not belong here, but she certainly knew that no one understood. Once again she shook her thoughts away and in a nicer tone introduced herself. "Sorry, I'm Ruby." She let a nicer smile spread on her lips although it faltered a little at the thought of some other things.

Finally she put her head in her cuffed hands and watched the person sitting in front of her. Then she asked "So why did you come to work here? I heard it has horrible pay. I was a criminal lawyer before a got in this dump. Kind of ironic, huh?" She slowed her speech down a little. The main reason she asked so many questions was because she did not wan the subject to turn to her. But she let some things slip about her just to keep the woman's mind turned onto other things. But she knew it did not always work with most people, she only learned this trick by being in a court of justice. It helps a lot when you are trying to get the truth, but the other lawyer might call you out on badgering.

[Candace R. Stanton]

When the door to the room opened, Candace’s head shot up from her papers. She forced a smile on her face, reciting in her head the crimes of a Miss Ruby Bennighton. Nothing dangerous really and she was glad to have someone with something a bit lighter to start off with. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was intentional, but she certainly wasn’t going to complain.

Candace sat in front of the girl, her hands resting on the table between them. “Aren’t we all a little crazy?” she asked the girl rhetorically in response with a slight laugh. The classes and the teachings never actually prepared her for this. The young psychiatrist wondered what kind of style would be best suited for her. Should she go textbook or use unconventional methods? Would she get in trouble for being unconventional?

“I’m Dr. Stanton,” she replied. With a slight laugh she waved it off before saying, “But that sounds too formal and we‘re going to be seeing a lot of each other. So call me Candace.” She smiled at the woman across from her before picking up her notepad. It was for taking notes during the session, but since nothing worth noting had been said yet, Candace doodled in the margins instead.

“So it says in your file,” she responded before sliding the pencil in the spirals of the notepad and reaching over for Ruby’s folder. “Ruby Faye Bennighton. Age 26,” Candace paused, looking up at the young woman for a brief second. “Me too,” she said before continuing on. “Theft, other white collar crimes…” Candace trailed off before shutting the manila envelope. “None of that really lets me get to know the real you though.”

She smiled at the girl, setting her pad down on the table while leaning forward. Candace repositioned herself to where she was sitting on one of her legs. “As for why I’m here…I’m here because I have to be. It’s a requirement to spend four years at a facility for my residency under the watch of someone with proper credentials in order to complete my certifications.” Candace held her hands out to motion around her. “I’m here for four more years.”

Leaning back in her seat, Candace crossed her arms as she focused on Ruby. “By law I can’t tell anyone what you tell me during our time together. Patient confidentiality. But even so you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to tell me, Ruby.” She figured that she would have to earn the girl’s trust before she told her anything and what better way to do that than to just be like a friend? Candace smiled warmly at Ruby before picking up her pad again.

“So,” she said, scribbling Ruby’s name and the date at the top of the notepad. “How are they treating you here?”

[Ruby Bennighton]

Ruby laughed at the idea of seeing this lady more then once. But she knew that she was serious. Shaking herself back into reality she said with a small little grin "Considering what most of these people have done better then most jails if I'd say so myself." Although that grin told how badly she hated the place, but most people would not really understand it the first time they saw it. It is her way of getting things out but without having to say them. She leaned back in her seat letting her hair fall slowly behind her shoulders. Her light brown eyes scanned the room. This room reminded her of so many time when she had to talk to the person she was defending in law between the glass. Her eyes slowly wandered back to the women that sat in front of her.

The grin had already faded and now that she answered the question she dreaded the questions to come. Slowly she said "Okay maybe it's not as good as I say it is, but I mean what jail would be. We have been downgraded in society. People could careless about how we are treated." She shrugged not really caring that much. But after that she promised herself that she would keep her straight face on. She did not really want to stay in her longer then she needed to. She smiled a little as she remembered when her sister led her into the interrogation where she would talk about what type of questions the officer would ask the criminal.

Sometimes its good having a detective as your sister defiantly if your a lawyer. But she was not anymore so she pushed those thoughts away and waited for the next question. Patiently she pulled her knees up towards her stomach and again let her intent gaze stay on the women in front of her. Although sometimes it shot towards the door behind her. Yawning she fiddled with her cuffs a little as she turned her hand slightly to touch the key hole.

OOC: Still trying to get my muse to work.

[Candace R. Stanton]

“What’s a smart girl like you doing here, Ruby?” Candace wondered. “Criminal lawyer…you would have known the repercussions.” Her eyes darted to the cuffs that the fiddled with. It had to be uncomfortable to have her arms bound together. Her file didn’t mention anything about her being violent and she wondered why the guards had left her that way. While she wanted to help make her more comfortable during their session, Candace didn’t have a key. There wasn’t really anything she could do about that.

So instead she went on, jotting a note down on the paper to remind the guard to remove Ruby‘s shackles next time they were together, certain that she‘d be able to handle herself. “What happened?” Candace asked. “It doesn’t have much in your file before your current convictions. It looks like you were pretty clean. Then all of a sudden you just decide to up and break bad? To risk your career? Everything?” Candace looked at the woman dubiously. She didn’t buy it for an instant. People don’t just suddenly up and do this kind of thing. From the studied cases in her textbooks there were always signs.

Candace wasn’t sure where to begin. There were so many questions that she could ask. She sat there in silence for a minute, hoping that Ruby would just offer up some kind of information. Holding up one finger, Candace reached down to her suitcase and took a quick glance at her textbook for a little help. The whole time she couldn’t help but think what a horrible psychiatrist she was turning out to be.

“Why don’t you tell me about your home life?” she said next, paraphrasing from the book. “Your childhood. What was that like?”

[Ruby Bennighton]

Ruby shrugged as she turned her eyes down to her cuffs. Not really sure how to explain the current situation she was in. It felt so surreal, but she took a deep breath as if she was ready to talk. She let a smile slip on her lips as she thought about home, and mostly her sister rather then the rest of her family. Then she said in an almost whisper "After I got put here the only person who believed what I said was my sister. She and I were the best friends of a lifetime. As a child we would defend each other and all. I use to be close to my aunt in till now also, but some people just don't know how to trust well."

She stopped and laughed awkwardly as she shook her hands up and down while she thought. Then she said mostly talking to herself "I knew I should have listened to my sis. But sometimes your judgement gets clouded by the wrong thing." Looking up she just flat out asked "Is it possible to be in love with a man you hate?" She said answering her own question "Well at least for me it is." Shrugging she crossed her legs like she would do if she was talking to the person she was supposed to defend in court. But she quickly uncrossed them and closed her eyes instead.

When she closed her eyes she took in a sharp firm breath what she yelled at Brandon as she kicked him out. Shuddering she shook her head and just whispered softly "I didn't deserve this, but then again a broken heart is worse then this jail and I did not spare yours." Shaking her memories away she laughed this time louder and less shy. "Please if I start to speak to myself randomly, feel free to just wake me up. It's a habit defiantly when I became a lawyer. The last thing I said just ignore it." She hated that she liked to speak to herself out loud and when people were around. But she kept an unfazed smile on her face as she thought more and more about the past. Then a two words came into her mind and out of her mouth "Stupid past".

Then as if going back into a fortress of protection she covered her face with her hair once more as she looked down at her cuffs while fiddling with them again. Her light brown eyes were full of mostly anger and mistrust but a hint of sadness clouded them too.

[Candace R. Stanton]

As Ruby spoke, Candace scribbled down what she said beside bullet points. Her hands weren’t moving fast enough to keep up and soon she started leaving out verbs. She didn’t even have to ask any more questions as it seemed that Ruby went on to answer them herself though she did manage to answer, “I’ve never been in love. Never really had the time for a serious relationship,“ before she realized it was more of a hypothetical question. After that point Candace simply listened until the girl shut herself off again.

She hadn’t been expecting for Ruby to open up as much as she had. In fact she’d been planning to spend the entirety of the session just trying to get the girl to talk. But looking at the notebook, the page scattered with facts and her own assumptions, Candace was more than satisfied with how things were going. Maybe she wasn’t quite the professional she wanted to be, but she was getting her job done at least. It may not have been a wealth of information, but it was enough to get a sense of the girl.

“So you feel guilty,” Candace stated. “This man…you feel guilty for hurting him so you feel like whatever you get your deserve.” She wrote ‘self-punishment?’ down on the pad, drawing a circle around it to indicate that was an assumption. “You can’t change the past, Ruby,” she told the girl softly.

Candace shut her notebook before tucking it away in her briefcase. When she looked back up, she couldn’t help but feel pity for the girl. With the anger and sadness in her eyes, Candace sincerely wanted to help. It would be a process, but she hoped that she’d be able to get through to Ruby and help her.

“I think that’s enough for the day,” Candace said, not wanting to push her luck or upset the girl any more than she had. Standing up, she fixed her blouse to smooth the wrinkles. “Wait here for a minute,” she said without really thinking about it. It wasn‘t like there was anyplace for her to go, was there? Either way Candace needed to get the guards for them to take Ruby back to her cell. “I’ll be right back,” she said. Leaving her things in the room she left going to fetch a guard.