Welcome to Gaia! ::

Just nearby the door to Joe's room sat a waiting area for visitors and those checking in and out of the hospital, a quaint open foyer with just a few cushioned chairs, a table with magazines, and a television posted in the corner broadcasting some basic cable game show. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the curious gentleman reading a newspaper, the pages folded out to obscure his face. It wasn't the fact that he was reading the Opinion section that made his presence strange, but the way he folded the paper down and stared firmly towards the door Cyrus had just entered, once "The Dream" had gone inside to check on Joe. It was Salem Croft, dressed in casual street clothes, not even sporting his signature pants or 'change' shirt. Instead, the savage but presently silent rookie was wearing a long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans, obviously lying in wait for Cyrus to make his inevitable visit.

As the door shut behind Cyrus, Salem stepped up and glanced around, apparently looking for something. Spotting the bathroom just a few feet away, Salem walked over casually and took a drink from the fountain that was just outside the short corridor where the men's room was located. As he drank, an orderly walked out from the locked door across from the fountain, an entrance labeled 'Laundry'. The orderly walked out into the outlying lobby, oblivious to Salem's foot just creeping into the path of the shutting door as the attendant turned the corner. With a smirk, Salem ducked over into the room and shut the door behind him.

From the door of Joe's room, a soft knock would ring out against the wood, a gentle three-part rapping that signalled someone was at the door. "Hello?" a nasally voice asked, friendly and sincere to the ear. "Hope I'm not interrupting!" the masculine stranger continued, turning the handle and gently opening the entrance to the room. In stepped a doctor, dressed in fresh, white scrubs with a face mask, hair net, and sterilized gloves to boot. In the man's hand was the metal clipboard that had hung outside, containing all of Joe's charts and medical records since he'd been admitted. Looking over at Cyrus, the doctor shut the door behind him, speaking once again as though he'd had tissues stuffed up his nose.

"Well, hello!" Salem said in disguise, putting on his best friendly demeanor as he reached for Cyrus' hand, offering a shake. "I didn't know our new friend had a visitor! I'm Joe's doctor, pleasure to meet you."

Shaking Cyrus' hand, Salem deftly dodged the question by looking at their meeting palms, jerking his hand back hesitantly. "Gah!" Salem exclaimed, somewhat comically. "Now, I need to sanitize my gloves again..." Walking over to the nearby sink, the 'doctor' would turn the faucet on, dabbing some liquid soap from the dispenser onto his hands, lathering the disinfectant against his gloves under the hot water. "Gotta get prepped for surgery, y'know." Clearing his throat, Salem glanced down at the chart, approaching Cyrus from behind in a non-threatening fashion. "So, it seems you only woke up earlier today...when you were brought in unconscious a couple days ago, we thought you wouldn't ever wake up." Salem's voice slipped out a bit as he put a slight emphasis on the last two words, intentionally trying to arouse Cyrus' suspicion with the odd choice of words.

Salem glanced up from his clipboard, an unseen grin on his lips as Cyrus started to poke holes in his ruse. Fine by Salem, he was more than content to stand at Cyrus' back, the weight of the metal clipboard in his hand giving the wolf in sheep's clothing a bit of added confidence. He wasn't sure if Cyrus had caught on entirely, but the seed of doubt had been planted thanks to Salem's psychological games. He got a particular pleasure out of this charade, a secret satisfaction of baiting the hook, waiting to see if Cyrus would take a bite. "Ahaha...silly me." Salem said, adding a twisted tone of sincerity to his words. "I am a doctor...and I can say right now that your friend needs all the help he can get."

Salem chuckled, the sound a smug cough to the ears of those present as he lowered his eyes, tugging down his surgical mask. Indeed, Salem had plugged his nose with tissue paper, the white tufts poking from the ends of his nostrils. "Oh, I wasn't talking about Joe..." Salem said, reaching up to pluck the paper from each nostril, allowing him to breathe freely and naturally once again. Raising the clipboard from behind Cyrus' back, Salem would smirk fiendishly before whispering quietly to his intended target, this time in his normal voice.. "...I was talking about you!"

With that, Salem would bring the steel clipboard down, using the force of his swing coupled with the weight of the thick layers of paperwork to try and crack Cyrus in the head before he could react, hoping to get a quick upper-hand on "The Dream" before all Hell broke loose. Though the door was shut, Salem anticipated that someone outside would hear the commotion rather quickly, should matters escalate much more than they already had. Still, Salem had no reservations with trying to strike down his Wrestlemania adversary from even the confines of his dear friend's hospital room.

Cyrus had saw through Salem's thinly-veiled deception, trying to make a move on the rookie with the food tray that sat next to Joe's bedside. But the conniving Croft was quicker, his steel clipboard meeting The Dream's forehead with stunning force. The cranium-rattling blow forced Cyrus back a couple steps, Joe looking on in shock at the sudden appearance of Salem, the man who'd so brutally put the pizza guy into that lonesome hospital bed. The air was riddled with the repetitive beeping of Joe's heart monitor, which was escalating in frequency at the sight of his friend hurt in front of his hospital bed. Glaring over at the kneeled Cyrus, Salem smirked, taking off his lab coat and tossing it at Joe before stepping up to attempt a big boot to the side of the wounded Cyrus' skull.

"Call me Doctor Doom, ********>

As the boot connects with Cyrus' skull, Salem wastes no time in trying to draw out this punishment, content with letting The Dream suffer his splitting headache while the Charismatic Calamity took a chair from next to Joe's bed and propped it up underneath the door handle. This would prevent anyone from barging in on Salem as he turned back around, noticing Cyrus trying to get up to his feet. Throwing a hammerfist down for Cyrus' back, Salem would try to jolt his Wrestlemania opponent before grabbing him by the hair, looking to slam his head into the bridge of the bed to Joe's footboard.