Tavi used her key card to get into the elevator, thinking all the while of the final touches she wanted to make to her own room. The Rails was finally done...even down to their own printed key cards. She looked down at the amber coloured piece of plastic with the black stylized owl eye, symbol of ill omen. That was them, the upstart generation of Vyusher R'asa. She figured that her father's age group might take back their right to live in the cities but it would her generation that actually made it something of a home. Tobi thought the symbol of the mulo was suitably creepy for the their home; she just thought that it was cool.
She looked up at the box on the wall in front of the security booth; Tobi had gotten them a first rate intercom system for the main lobby, the common room, kitchen and each individual room. There was a flashing green light that was able to be seen in case the noise was too loud for the intercom to be heard. Each box had a 'do not disturb' option allowing it to be taken off the main system so that you had to send to that box directly, with she hoped, only important news for that person. There was also a block all function which did not allow any incoming messages to get through for those people with anti-social tendancies.
Tavi smiled affectionately at the gate 'guard' in the security booth. Today's person on point was the ever alert live sized stand up of Wolverine from Xmen III. Tipping her top hat to him, Tavi grinned and moved past the cage and into the common room.
Here was where the room got its name. She had taken the corrugated siding normally used for trailers and Rvs and painted it until it appeared to be a rusted reddish metal. It was used to line the walls of the common room making the place look like the interior of a railway box car. From the ceiling Tavi hung a lattice work of fake railway tracks in a grid pattern, four across and two on each end. These held the lights. They were swivel mounted theatre lights on dimmer switches which currently sported gel colours in red,yellow, blue and white. The gels could be changed suiting their design whims and gobos could be added for special effects. There were four seperate light controls for the different colours. Tavi figured that her brother would suck many of the residents into his movie projects and the versatile lighting of the main area would come in handy, plus it was useful. The vintage horror movie posters,courtesy of Tobi, hung in driftwood frames on what appeared to be railway spikes. The windows had heavy black drapes that could make the area as black as pitch during high noon if desired. Two of the openings had the security bars unbolted but replaced; they were now removable and two emergency fire ladders were rolled up just inside those windows. These could be let down for any nocturnal adventures that they might have where they did not want to be seen going through the main lobby.
There was a variety of seating in the common room. In front of the large plasma screen tv there was a long comfy couch in a durable dark brown with several side arm chairs to match. Off to the far sides there was a row of tables and chairs for dining or conversation. Tobi claimed that a large clock was a must; her only demand was that it did not chime something annoying every fifteen minutes or... at all really. The large time piece had a white face in a brushed bronze casing. It hung straight out from a decorative hanger over the kitchen bar. Its clearly visible black hands and roman numerals could be read from either side of the clock that looked much like the time pieces seen in the London railway stations. Tavi had to admit that it was a cool addition and that her brother sometimes had very good ideas... to herself anyway.
By far the most unique feature of the common room was the sleek miniature train that ran along a winding trail that took it in front of each door, next to the seating area and just in front of the kitchen opening. The tracks were securely fastened to the floor so that they could be walked over without coming up. The Crazy Train, as the model was lovingly labeled, had a box cars with neon blue lighted serving trays bolted to the top of them. Each person in the ward had their own special car with their name stenciled on the side of the train and on the top of their tray. One of the R'asa known to be gifted in engineering rigged the train for variable speeds and loads so that they didn't send drinks flying or burn up a standard motor by over burdening it. The train controls were located on a panel in the kitchen.
In the kitchen they left the stainless steel industrial dish washer and sink and added the large refrigerator. The cabinets were light oak with metal panels. Just above the counters all the way around the kitchen was a backsplash made of chalkboard material with ledge on the top to hold pieces of chalk for messages and reminders. For more permanent notes the walls inside the entry way were lined with cork board. The rest of the walls were painted a bright chili pepper red. Because they were a bunch of young people with the eating habits of college students, they installed two under the counter microwaves. There would be less waiting for the pizza bites.
The music room announced its presence with a neon blue twisting of letters that hung on the wall; it read "Shock Therapy."Â? Inside the music room the walls and metal door have been paneled with padded black vinyl to keep the noise located within the room as much as possible. The floor was tiled with brilliant blue non slip tiles used on theater stages; though Tavi had never seen one made of that particular shade of in your face cyan. The far wall held the music system and a counter for extra equipment. The speakers were hung up near the ceiling and out of the way. There were two sets of lights, one normal and one black light. Tavi also added a bubble machine and a mini fog machine for fun party atmosphere.
The game room was entered by following the twisted neon green letters that read "Radiation Room"Â?. It was a long slender space that had once been an office. The walls were painted solid black, lush dark grey carpet covered the floor. The only decoration on the walls were the series of plasma screen tvs. Various controllers sat just below these. The rocking game chairs were a lime green and some of the only bright things in the room. Steel racks held games and dvds on the long wall opposite the screens. There was extra seating and lime green floor cushions stacked in one of the far corners in case the gamers had an audience.
Some of the spare patient rooms held tables and chairs until someone claimed the space as a bedroom. The wards living quarters consisted mostly of normal bedrooms like the other wards and a few padded cells at the far end. Wandering back and into her bedroom, Tavi had a feeling that she was actually going to like living here.
The Rails
Tobi lay sprawled out on the floor, which would have been uncomfortable if not for the mattress-like padding, and fiddled with settings on his autocad design, flipping over to add new items to the growing order form. His sister wanted the maximum security ward to share with the young single types and he was content to go along with that, assuming she wanted to get as far from mom as possible in this place. Well, you couldn't get any safer than here as far as unwanted guests went. The regular elevators didn't even go up to this floor, which aside from their ward just had some offices and stuff, and the working lifts required a keycard. Then there was another keycard to the cage, plus whatever people decided to have on their door. Of course, for all that security they were planning on ripping the bars off some of the windows and throwing out the fire escape ladders for easy access off the grounds without going through the entire building.
He thought the cage was a pretty cool idea and thought that might make for a suspenseful movie scene, someone getting trapped in there with a psychopath. He figured it was set up to keep the crazies from escaping - the only way into the ward itself was to go through a metal door and step inside an enclosure made of crisscrossed steel beams. Then you had to lock yourself totally in before the actual door to the ward would open for you. Heh, mom was going to -hate- that.
Once you entered the ward you weren't home free yet - instead of coming out into an open common area, you ended up in a small exam room. Tobi thought it was probably for the strip search and wondered what they would use it for now since he couldn't get away with...yeah better not even go there. Well Tavi probably had lots of ideas, she was really good with that stuff. Vetoing a Harry Potter theme was about the extent of his assertive opinion giving though he threw out a couple of things here and there. Right now he was ordering, among other things, an intercom system for that front area, so they could laugh at any poor bastards who forgot their keys.
Really, interior decorating was all about the little things.
One you got into the main common area of the ward there was actually a nice amount of space to work with. No open nurse's station taking up room here - crazies that needed maximum security probably couldn't be trusted not to riot and steal all the drugs. Lots of wall space was cool - they needed somewhere to put the plasma screen TVs and game consoles, shit like that. He actually did care about the chairs in this room and Tavi had okayed some cushy ones.
The kitchen was off to one side and he was going about upgrading some of the appliances, in and amongst his orders. Tavi had thought of a better ice maker - always thinking, that one - and he decided to screw it and get a truly massive fridge and freezer. They were totally keeping the industrial style dishwasher though, mostly because it was so much easier to use. His goal was to have the lazy man's kitchen and so far he was well on his way.
Off to the other side there was another secure song and dance of locked double doors and a little holding room, though it was little less elaborate considering this exit led to an entirely enclosed terrace from which there was no real means of escape. He figured it was so the nutcases could get outside time but he thought it could work with some lights and plants and shit. He ordered some ferns and some glowy round yellow lights to go along the paths.
There were a couple of large office type spaces up near the front that they were planning on using for smaller game rooms where people could talk or whatever without having to worry about disturbing or being disturbed. Tobi was not fortunate enough to find one of those cool couches you see on the movies sometimes, but the padded rooms were impressive enough to overshadow that initial bummed out reaction.
The padded rooms were at the back of the ward and Tobi had immediately claimed one for his use. Everything, floor to ceiling, was covered in dense foam pads and there was a squishy bench type thing off to one side that he guessed served as a bed. Maybe it wasn't the most practical choice of rooms but it sure was funny. They would probably end up spending a good deal of time tearing down walls and adding little conveniences to convert the long series of rooms into suites but he figured it would be worth it.
It took him a while to order everything they would need and when he saw the totals he winced a little, though it wasn't like they couldn't afford it and then some. The giant clock had been a pretty penny and he was getting eaten alive on the shipping for railroad ties but he couldn't be troubled to rent a truck and get them locally. Shrugging, he pushed up to tell Tavi that yeah, he'd gotten around to ordering stuff, but slumped down again when he realized he hadn't saved the design he'd been messing with. Grinning, he gave the file a name and stood up, shaking his head.
"The Crazy Train. That's us alright."Â?
Octavia Emiliano
18 years ago
Octavia Emiliano
18 years ago
--This Space Intentionally Left Blank --
Octavia Emiliano
18 years ago
The padded walls of her room were probably a bonus to everyone who lived with Tavi. She would not be repainting the walls through each new designing whim. No lugging up cans of paint, no colour smeared werewolf tromping through the common room, no fumes, and no in between mess.
Instead Tavi had a shear iridescent orange/purple fabric attached to the walls making the room like the inside of a geni bottle. Her bed had no headboard or footboard and was shoved into one corner of one of Tavi's small cells. She had a slender metal track placed in the ceiling to hang a privacy curtain from. This curtain was made of a rich purple fabric with threads that caught the light and caused it to sparkle in various places; The curtain was left open along the outside and the foot of the bed most of the time.
She hung a lattice work of light weight square cut wooden boards painted a shiny lacquered black a few inches from the ceiling. From this Tavi could hang various things. At the moment it was bare of everything but several sets of decorative lights made up of peach and purple flowers with a white light glowing in the center of each bud.
This room was her bedroom and she kept the padding on the floor in here. She had several large floor cushions of iridescent purple silk with beaded tasseles on the corners piled up out of the way. There were black open faced stacking shelves of various sizes that could be put together or taken apart at her discretion. Tavi used these as her dresser, nightstand, book shelves and entertainment center. White candles were bundled together in tall heavy glass bowls glazed with gold in the inner layers. She was well aware that her room was flammable and the large containers made the candles less likely to be a fire hazard. They were also very pretty lit up with multiple flickering flames.
Her brother's room was on the end of the series of padded cells so his room, next to her's, had been opened up onto one of the regular rooms. Tavi's room was smaller and made of two padded cells. She figured she didn't need a lot of space since much of her time would not be spent in her room. There was only a doorway opened up between the two cells. Sheer printed scarves in various colours were hung as a drape between the two rooms.
Her crafting and clothing design was her passion and Tavi used the walls of the 'office' for some of her current projects. She pinned the clothing that was in the works straight to the wall where she could occasionally gaze at it and come up with ideas for alterations. Sturdy clear plastic carpet protection covered the entire padded floor space in this room and provided stability for the corner desk and the antique sewing machine. An adjustable clothing mannequin was situated in one corner usually in use with some design or another. This room had black shelves high along all four walls; on the top row Tavi arranged a large collection of wigs on head forms. The second row had labeled spring green canvas bins with fabrics, beads, make up and crafting supplies. She had a tall rolling cart with plastic bins of favorite crafting supplies and tools, along with a cd player and some disks. The cart had a power strip and the whole thing was able to be wheeled to some currently preferred location for crafting.
Instead Tavi had a shear iridescent orange/purple fabric attached to the walls making the room like the inside of a geni bottle. Her bed had no headboard or footboard and was shoved into one corner of one of Tavi's small cells. She had a slender metal track placed in the ceiling to hang a privacy curtain from. This curtain was made of a rich purple fabric with threads that caught the light and caused it to sparkle in various places; The curtain was left open along the outside and the foot of the bed most of the time.
She hung a lattice work of light weight square cut wooden boards painted a shiny lacquered black a few inches from the ceiling. From this Tavi could hang various things. At the moment it was bare of everything but several sets of decorative lights made up of peach and purple flowers with a white light glowing in the center of each bud.
This room was her bedroom and she kept the padding on the floor in here. She had several large floor cushions of iridescent purple silk with beaded tasseles on the corners piled up out of the way. There were black open faced stacking shelves of various sizes that could be put together or taken apart at her discretion. Tavi used these as her dresser, nightstand, book shelves and entertainment center. White candles were bundled together in tall heavy glass bowls glazed with gold in the inner layers. She was well aware that her room was flammable and the large containers made the candles less likely to be a fire hazard. They were also very pretty lit up with multiple flickering flames.
Her brother's room was on the end of the series of padded cells so his room, next to her's, had been opened up onto one of the regular rooms. Tavi's room was smaller and made of two padded cells. She figured she didn't need a lot of space since much of her time would not be spent in her room. There was only a doorway opened up between the two cells. Sheer printed scarves in various colours were hung as a drape between the two rooms.
Her crafting and clothing design was her passion and Tavi used the walls of the 'office' for some of her current projects. She pinned the clothing that was in the works straight to the wall where she could occasionally gaze at it and come up with ideas for alterations. Sturdy clear plastic carpet protection covered the entire padded floor space in this room and provided stability for the corner desk and the antique sewing machine. An adjustable clothing mannequin was situated in one corner usually in use with some design or another. This room had black shelves high along all four walls; on the top row Tavi arranged a large collection of wigs on head forms. The second row had labeled spring green canvas bins with fabrics, beads, make up and crafting supplies. She had a tall rolling cart with plastic bins of favorite crafting supplies and tools, along with a cd player and some disks. The cart had a power strip and the whole thing was able to be wheeled to some currently preferred location for crafting.
Tobi Emiliano
17 years ago
Tobi had a lot of crap.
It was weird, considering he moved around so much, but somehow he had accumulated a host of equipment, props, and memorabilia. Upon moving in he had thrown all of his storage trunks into the unpadded half of the room, intending to go through everything and find a place for it later. Within days he had decided he absolutely had to hang his fake shrunken head collection in the kitchen as one might hang a bag of onions, and he had torn apart all four steam trunks looking for them. Putting away the stuff he’d thrown all over the room seemed like too much trouble, though he had at least made a walkway and arranged some of the stuff. He –wanted- the rubber severed arm on the floor and thought the Freddy glove was very tastefully displayed hanging from the ceiling fan cord.
His cameras and filming stuff at least were neatly shelved on one wall, with his prized pulp horror movie collection stored underneath. Books weren’t quite given the same reverence, though, and had ended up in stacks around the dining room table he was using for a computer desk. He did have a good chair, though, as he recognized the importance of such things.
He’d decided to go studio style with his quarters and knocked out the wall separating the padded room from the normal one, so some of the crap in his ‘office’ area had leaked into his ‘sleeping’ area. A curtain halfheartedly divided the room. His bed was an arrangement of pillows on the soft floor and a blanket he occasionally remembered to fold. Clothes generally stayed in a laundry basket next to his chest of drawers, though a few things had made their way to their proper place. The whole arrangement was entirely unlivable by any standard of decency, but fortunately Tobi almost never concerned himself with such flawed measures.
It was weird, considering he moved around so much, but somehow he had accumulated a host of equipment, props, and memorabilia. Upon moving in he had thrown all of his storage trunks into the unpadded half of the room, intending to go through everything and find a place for it later. Within days he had decided he absolutely had to hang his fake shrunken head collection in the kitchen as one might hang a bag of onions, and he had torn apart all four steam trunks looking for them. Putting away the stuff he’d thrown all over the room seemed like too much trouble, though he had at least made a walkway and arranged some of the stuff. He –wanted- the rubber severed arm on the floor and thought the Freddy glove was very tastefully displayed hanging from the ceiling fan cord.
His cameras and filming stuff at least were neatly shelved on one wall, with his prized pulp horror movie collection stored underneath. Books weren’t quite given the same reverence, though, and had ended up in stacks around the dining room table he was using for a computer desk. He did have a good chair, though, as he recognized the importance of such things.
He’d decided to go studio style with his quarters and knocked out the wall separating the padded room from the normal one, so some of the crap in his ‘office’ area had leaked into his ‘sleeping’ area. A curtain halfheartedly divided the room. His bed was an arrangement of pillows on the soft floor and a blanket he occasionally remembered to fold. Clothes generally stayed in a laundry basket next to his chest of drawers, though a few things had made their way to their proper place. The whole arrangement was entirely unlivable by any standard of decency, but fortunately Tobi almost never concerned himself with such flawed measures.