so you wanna visit a youth correctional facility | Post-Curtains R2 CMO

[isawallflower]

The moment Riley walks through one of those magic doors at the liminal Denny's, she knows there's no going back. ...Well, there was no going back the moment she slide a knife into another girl's stomach - two other girls, how lovely - but she was far in denial, to acknowledge any of that.

It's a strange whirlwind of a few weeks. With a few...helpful ways of framing her request, Riley was able to convince the Leading Player to help her. To give Chess, Farrah, and Clark back their lives. For a favor, she'd said, and Riley just knows she's going to pay for that, one day— but it's' not now, and it's something she would have to give, not them. The whole town's a flurry of activity, as dead people don't typically show up out of nowhere and missing criminals don't emerge from the back of a police station. Still, it's hard to charge someone with any degree of murder when the victims are alive and well (and confused; Riley doesn't know what if anything the Leading Player told them, but she doubts she'll be able to compare notes)— so things go a little...strangely.

First of all, Riley's folks hadn't expected her to appear out of nowhere, so the proceedings are a bit...delayed. (It hurts to learn that they'd already packed up or...donated most all her things, but she doesn't find herself too surprised.) For a few weeks, she's shunted around from center to center around the state, until her sentencing (and charges—assault? but they have not a single scratch—) can be finalized. It's normal procedure, apparently. Not many kids there are permanent staples, and...none of the places are very nice, honestly. Those days are the loneliest. A few times, she has a roommate for a night or two, but—

Well. Riley knew she talked in her sleep, but apparently now she screams, too. The other girls...are less than enthused, so. She's always moved to her own room, eventually. She doesn't stay in the facilities for long, and she's not allowed visitors, beyond the lawyer she's eventually provided.

Second of all, the instant she can talk to said lawyer, Riley confesses very clearly. She pleads guilty, agrees to a bargain. Yes, she stabbed two girls. Three, if you count Kate, which is...probably the most concrete charge against her. No, she doesn't understand how the people she'd seen dead (killed) are alive again. (Which isn't a lie; she doesn't pretend to understand Narrator powers.) No, she doesn't know exactly who kidnapped her, or how to get back to where she was. She tries her best to avoid outright lying and simply settles on being unable to identify the location, that she never spoke to the man who abducted her, that there were times she was drugged. If you count the nanites as "drugs" it's not technically a lie.

The whole thing takes some time to sort out. It's three weeks before everything can be cleanly settled and Riley can receive her placement— a juvenile detention center (Youth Correctional Facility, she'll insist on using) just outside of New York City. It's...not a bad place. Her lawyer (who Riley highly suspects her parents, who haven't visited her once, had nothing to do with) got her to a better facility than she could picture.

Her own little room, almost the same size as the dressing rooms they'd been trapped in. A desk, built into the wall. A bed that could honestly be a lot worse, considering the places she'd been in just weeks before. The facility emphasizes learning, so...in some way, she's still going to get to finish school. Daily recreation, including outdoors, unless it's raining. ...Riley still stares out the window when it does; she misses just standing under the rain. And she finds herself placed with an actual therapist, some actual medical professionals.

By the time the whirlwind settles? It's just a few days before her eighteenth birthday.

Three and a half years, with probation. Required psychological evaluation and monitoring. Current sentence and progress to be re-evaluated every three months, unless drastic intervention is needed.

Riley reminds herself this could be much worse. For Mattie, it probably was. So, she sucks it up. And she waits, for visits from her real family.

[ SO!

Assume after the Opera House, you haven't seen Riley for a few weeks, unless you've found a way around that, cough cough MEPHISTO. She's allowed two visits per week, up to three people per visit. They will be non-contact visits at first (the basic conjugal visits, a little room with plexiglass between you), but she's very quickly allowed contact visits! You'll need to preregister visits, but you can do that up to day of, as long as it's before visiting hours. Everyone has to be pre-approved to visit, though, under the pretense that it would be beneficial for her to see them. Please assume you've gone through this song and dance, we've (I've) researched enough about New York law. A guardian can help speed this process. Again, cough cough MEPHISTO.

She's also allowed phone calls, though!! She can call up to 21 minutes, and then there's a cooldown period. All calls are monitored. She usually tries to set these up beforehand.

Last but not least! No letters or gifts (besides prepackaged, store bought snacks) allowed in visits. BUT you can mail her things!
The following are not allowed in the mail:
- Food, baking and/or cooking ingredients
- Any kind of drugs
- Can-type containers with metal parts
- Metal, ceramic, or glass containers
- Aerosol type containers
- Guns, just- any guns
- WEAPONS AT ALL HONESTLY


......AND THAT'S ALL, thanks for reading the tl;dr or at least this bottom part. ]

Comments

[likemypicture]

[The three people per visit rule means that even though Anne is present in the car ride for almost every single visit made to Riley’s own personal Tower of London, and hasn’t been in to see her yet. Riley probably knows about that through whatever pained expressions her guests may have (Anna von Kleve loves car-karaoke) — also from some of the letters that Anna has penned from the back seat of the car and sent off immediately after.

Her letters are a little hard to read— she has old timey penmanship. But they include candid photos of her new life, doodles of Tad Cooper, and clippings of announcements and reviews for her show. Letters had been the only way she had to communicate with her family, a lifetime ago—- so Anna’s well versed in them, and she writes so many that it may be slightly absurd. But Anna doesn’t want Riley to feel forgotten, or alone, so she keeps writing— even if half of it is unreadable, and sometimes, if she’s not paying attention, pages are literally written in German.

Eventually, though, it’s Anna’s turn to claim one of the prized visiting spots. As someone goes to let Riley know her aunt’s there for a visit, Anna sits in the visiting room and pouts at the loss of her crown, which they made her remove for the visit. The pouts quickly gone when she sees Riley enter the room though, and she beams.]

Meph was right—- it is nicer than the Tower in here!

[madgiganticfeelings]

[Christine hasn't really expected to become a familiar face in a youth correctional centre, of all places, but it seems that she has, if the nod from the guard is any indication. Even when she couldn't come weekly, she was sending letters to Riley on bright stationary, usually with gifts. She was a little frustrated to find she wasn't allowed to send food, but she did try argue with security and hassle them long enough for her to send an mp3 player, as she assumes Riley doesn't have access to her phone.

She records a recitation of one of the Percy Jackson books first (thankfully thinking to spare Riley the Shakespeare), and then at her suggestion, begrudgingly moves on to the Divergent series, sending her a few chapters every week or so (or more likely, nagging someone to upload them onto Riley's player). The recordings aren't absolutely perfect quality yet, but Christine puts a lot of her passion into them, knowing Riley can't yet attend any of her plays.

It's only been a day since she sent another few files, but Christine is still happily skipping into the visitor's room. She's eager to hear what Riley thinks of her presents, and even more excited just to finally give her a hug.

Hopefully Riley can break the distance between them before Christine does something as foolish as yodelling to announce her presence and scaring half the guards.]

[onthebusagain]

[Heather freakin hates this place. So many eyes on her at once—- suspicious eyes, and though she knows she’s not actually the one under scrutiny here, she hates it. It makes her feel small, fragile, weak—- all of those things.

But... a place like this. Locked away from others. A place where she’s unable to create more trouble for herself, and where others can’t reach her. She can’t help but feel a little envy over it. That’s why she’d chosen to work in an empty Denny’s, wasn’t it? It always felt like there were eyes on her there too, despite the overwhelming isolation of it all. And despite the emptiness most of the time, sometimes it wasn’t empty—- sometimes, like the night where Riley showed up for the first time, it was full of life.

She and Riley just get each other, despite the odds. They’re both cheerleaders. They both aim for perfection, paralyzed in fear of what may happen if they step out of line. Both followed in their best friends’ shadow, and loved her for her power. And both of them had lived (well. mostly.) through an incredibly traumatic event involving murder and an opera house. Heather’s got a lot of time on her hands at Denny’s, so she’s written Riley countless letters in bubbly handwriting— trying to keep from the deep stuff, since she’s sure they screen the letters. And they’ve talked on the phone a few times, running out of time each time. Heather feels herself growing closer to this other cheerleader, even if she was a murderer-not-murderer.

So she shows up, for Riley, despite how much she hates this place. Hopefully she can breathe a little life into this place. She sits in the waiting room very stiffly, trying not to sweat like she’s the one under observation here. She’s failing. But when she sees Riley, her body leaps out of her seat, and if she’s honest, her heart leaps too, giving an excited little wave of her hand.

Oh my gawd, all her friends are killers! ]