driftfleet | three ➵ text (ANONYMOUS)

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three ➵ text (ANONYMOUS)

Who: ??? (but secretly abigail) (BUT WHO) & you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: P....ossibly but I'm not sure where yet!
When: 12/8, early morning

I can't find a listing of ships counselors. I know they exist, I just need a list. And I need to know which ones are actually reliable. Personal experience rather than conjecture preferred but not requisite.

[And that . . . appears to be all.]

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[Like she knows what Ino's thinking:]

If you'd claimed you were perfect, I wouldn't have trusted you.

I've met plenty of people who say they like helping people when really they just like manipulating them.

Well, yeah. Nobody's perfect.

Nobody here, I hope?

Not yet.

[#jamjarproblems]

[ Yeah ... there's always that possibility, huh?

Well, she's pretty sure this person isn't someone she knows. At least, not someone she knows well enough to clearly be someone to for this person to trust. ]

I'm going to guess we don't know each other.

[ Because if they did, she's pretty sure this person would know that any such person would have a nice hot right hook to the face in store for them. ]

I'm not going to tell you that you should totally trust me, because that type of thing is earned, not suggested. But if you eventually decide you can, or want to try to, here's my personal frequency. [ Insert numbers here! ]

Okay. I'll remember it.

Is it okay if I ask you a few more questions?

Sure, ask away!

Okay.

What kind of psychology do you practice? What's your approach?

[ Hmm. There's a thoughtful pause. ]

I'm thinking you're probably from Earth, so I'll do my best to explain in terms of what I've read and heard about the average incarnation of Earth since I've been away from home.

I come from a military village, so a pretty vast majority of the people who live there are people who've fought in battles and killed people one way or another. The history of our village is pretty short compared to what I've heard of a lot of Earth cities in "modern" times, and there's still a very prevalent "suck it up and deal with it, because that's just how it is" type of attitude. Counseling and actively applying any kind of therapy the way it sounds like places on Earth tend to do is honestly a pretty new concept for us. That's why I say I'm still learning. It's still a lot more common to just have someone removed from service and leave them to their own problems rather than try to help them process the things they may have seen or done -- which plenty of people know isn't exactly the right thing to do, but there's a ways to go before there's any kind of official process to properly help those people.

That being said, you can probably guess that a lot of the people who might actually try and seek out counseling where I come from are usually suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress. According to what I've read about Earth psychology and the way it's classified, I think the closest match to the type of help that we've tried to provide so far is like what Earth calls cognitive behavioral therapy. Working through what happened, figuring out what parts specifically bother them, helping them understand that deaths or torture of their teammates on missions were often beyond their control -- so on and so forth.

If you charged for that in a place like this, you could make a killing.

[She doesn't say anything else for a little bit. Then:]

Thanks. That was the answer I was hoping for.

What's the worst case you've dealt with? Worst or hardest. This isn't a voyeuristic question, I promise. I do need to know.

I don't think I could charge for something like that. It seems wrong.

[ Especially considering they're all getting paid well to spill their guts and cause drama and intrigue.

The next question gets another pause. She thinks of Sasuke, mostly. He never would have sought help at home, and technically he never asked for it by name while in Paradisa. But he did let her in a little bit to discuss what had happened and how it had changed him for the worse, to ask her advice on trying to be a better person and a better friend. Maybe it shouldn't count as a "patient" or "case" because he was her friend, but ... it's the most difficult conversation she can think of as far as people who'd reached out to her to talk about their problems, and not the other way around. ]

I spoke to someone whose sibling murdered their entire immediate and extended family in one night. Their situation became a lot more complicated than that for various reasons I won't go into detail about, but that was the starting point.

[. . . Right. That's good enough.]

[She still doesn't switch to video, because there's something more personal about that, and, she doesn't know. This isn't a public thing, either, she's not posturing or anything like that, and she doesn't want to give away enough tells in her body language that Ino can completely figure her out.]

[Still. This is a measure of trust. It means a lot, at least to her. She sincerely hopes that Ino isn't going to fuck it up.]

That was a good answer.

Do you know anything about cannibalism? I'm asking for a reason, and that's my last question.

[ ... Oh. That voice is familiar. The girl who was asking for the history of this place, wasn't it?

She doesn't comment on remembering her for now, but she will switch to audio to match, after a pause. With the type of questions she's asking, Ino is starting to see why she needs someone to talk to. ]

I've never had a case involving cannibalism, no.

[ Just about every other weird way you could die, but somehow -- not that one. She pauses again, before deciding she wants to make at least this much clear: ]

... I'd understand if you weren't comfortable talking about it with someone without that experience, but regardless, my offer to listen is still open if you need it.

No. I think being that picky would land me nothing. It's not like it's a particularly common problem - even if I were at home and had my pick, I doubt I'd find someone who specialized.

I don't need you to know exactly what I went through. You can't. So this is actually probably better.

I'm really fucked up, fair warning. But it sounds like you're used to really fucked up.

[ There's a small amused sound at her last comment. ]

If there's anything I've learned from floating around the multiverse for several years, it's that experiencing what you have is probably exactly why you were brought here. It's not very fun for whatever's running the show to play dolls with people who haven't had something messed up or weird happen to them.

-- How do you want to do this, by the way? I have an office on the ship we could meet in, but I haven't really had the opportunity to get much in the way of furniture or anything comfortable for it.

Wow, you're bitter.

[She sounds cheerfully approving. She's bitter, too!]

I don't know. I'm kind of thinking about that . . . what's the office like now? Is it just a room with chairs?

[ She just laughs a little at the comment, both because of what she said and how she said it. Maybe she is, but it's only the truth. ]

Yeah, pretty much. I keep some extra weapons in there too, since it's convenient storage space.

[ A little sheepishly: ]

Not exactly super welcoming for guests, though.

The second therapist I ever had, he had this really nice home office. It was big and open and super comfortable. Probably the prettiest room I'd ever seen.

That's where I died. So I honestly would be much happier with utilitarian.

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