driftfleet | three ➵ text (ANONYMOUS)

Entry tags:

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.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Beg pardon. What manner of counsel are counselors required to give?

[ maybe she'll finally learn what's expected of her. ]

That's the other thing. I'm not completely sure. I'm not sure what Atroma's goal is with the counselors, since I don't have the augment, so I don't know what knowledge has been input if any. But where I come from, counselors are supposed to support people in times of stress and help them learn and utilize positive coping mechanisms. With confidentiality.

Which is why it's stupid that there aren't any checks and balances in place as far as I can tell, or a public list of counselors even, because it's so so so easy to hurt people if you know secret painful things about them and I'm not doing that.

[Again.]

Edited 2015-12-08 21:16 (UTC)

[ the startling honesty contained in these lines leaves her breathless -- and for a moment, she finds herself seduced by anonymity. sansa almost replies with words she'd be too frightened to tie to her honest name. but at the last moment, good grace and discretion prevail. ]

It sounds as though it is a heavy responsibility. I do not envy these people.

[She's not the only one. Truthfully, Abigail's being much more honest, at least emotionally if not factually, with the anonymous function than she would be if her name was attached to this. Part of it is, of course a trap - fishing - to see how any potentials respond to her vulnerability. But part of it is that she is vulnerable. She just is.]

It's a heavy responsibility. And it's not fair. Because you're supposed to be able to choose whether you want to do it or not. You're supposed to be able to pick it as a career or say hell no, I'm never going to do that. But Atroma makes you.

None of that changes the fact that I need help. But it's not fair.

I'm sorry.

[ at first, she'd been baffled by her allotted 'career' within the strange micro-society of the fleet. but now she wonders whether she ought to fear it. sansa knows her shoulders are not strong enough to carry such a burden.

unwilling counsel must be as unwelcome as an unwilling wife. ]

It isn't fair. Not for you.

[ and not for me. ]

I'm used to not fair.

[She is. And she's gotten used to fighting to make things as fair as she can, too, which is why she made this post at all. It's fair to have some kind of help, even if the kind that comes isn't fair.]

[But there's that other thing, too.]

It's only a matter of time until somebody goes crazy without support around here, though. Or, you know. Crazier.

[ had she been a more prescient and self-analytical person, she might have wondered whether she wasn't crazy for lack of help or a dearth of fairness. but sansa doesn't see herself as someone who needs counsel. counsel is for kings and lord protectors, and not for silly little girls. ]

I pray you find someone worthy of listening. I truly do.

Don't know if I'd trust a list of Atroma-appointed counselors, regardless. The title seems to be fairly arbitrary, and way too easy to throw around.

Plenty of people who know how to keep secrets, if that's what you're looking for.

if you get that list
can you make it public?

Praying doesn't help. Doing helps.

[It's not a nice thing to say. But it's not the meanest thing she could have chosen, either.]

You're saying one thing and then ignoring it to say something unrelated. Trust or secrecy? Which is more important? For me, it's trust. Secrecy is a close second, but I'd rather someone tell my secrets than use them against me.

Yes. I can and I will. As soon as possible.

What is it that you need? As broadly or specifically as you want to say.

Godsdammit, how do you write on this bloody thing?

[He was going to volunteer since this was his job description, but... well, even with an augment, Robert suffers from being just old enough to be completely useless at technology.]

[Yikes. That . . . is not promising. It's a good thing she asked this question now, before she actually got to a vulnerable place. Welp.]

You can use voice if that's easier.

[Well, he'd just as soon not go fiddling with all the fiddly bits on the device anyway. He scowls at it, then decides he'll play the fool and go speaking to words.]

I'm told I'm the ship councilor.

[He has not yet realized there is a difference between counselor and councilor. He's not even volunteering so much as to find out what in seven hells is actually expected of him.]

[Double yikes. She takes a moment to go back and look through the archives for a moment, and . . . triple yikes. Wench. Act the part of a lady. Have you gone and wed them? Has she?]

[For a moment she panics. Then she screams fury into her pillow, and comes back to the communicator.]

My understanding was that you're a king.

[That takes a very long time and Robert gets bored and forgets the conversation entirely.

... only to come back some minutes after she does, only now with a can of something that is supposed to be meat that he is giving serious consideration into not actually eating. Then in trying to distract himself:

Ah yes.]

Aye. So I am. But a king with nothing to rule. So I'm to counsel instead.

Welcome to the club.

Are you any good at it?

[Is he any good at it? Well...]

Better than the last.

[He's no Mad King Aerys. If he measures himself by that, he's a good king and probably a good counsel as well. He's certainly had enough councilors to have an idea of what is expected of him.]

But you'll have no flattery from me. [Gods strike him down the day he becomes some sycophant. Heaven and earth couldn't keep him from just speaking his mind whenever he pleased.]

I know there's a few scattered around the ships, but I haven't heard anybody advertising that that's what they are. It's kind of a randomly assigned title, so I'm guessing not everyone wants the responsibility.

That being said, I'm one of the counselors. I don't exactly have any testimonials or anything, [ since she's nosy and approached the people she thought she needed help instead of the other way around ] but I did work in medicine and psychology back home.

[ That's a nice, non ninja-interrogator-sounding way to put it, Ino ... ]

I have no idea if we already know each other or not, but if you're comfortable with it I'd be happy to help.

A counselor who flatters isn't doing his job. A counselor who flatters is, in fact, worthless. Are you worthless?

[She's needling him on purpose. She wants to know what he does when pushed - if he gets aggressive, angry, like he did that first time. If he's as likely to strike out as she fears he is. God, she's scared.]

[Yeah, guess who's going to be unhappy as hell if she finds out about the spin there? This gal. For the moment, though:]

It's something you like to do?

[Yes. In those darkest moments at night when he had sobered enough to reflect on the sad state of his life, he knew that he was in fact worthless. He was an empty man who served no better purpose than to keep the throne occupied.

But Robert had never been honest with himself.]

No. But I've no need of words to prove my worth. I've done that a thousand times over.

Not here you haven't.

[And here is where matters. To her, to everyone else. Here is what matters, so what will he do?]

Here makes no matter. What are these floating buckets of rust to me?

[It was either hell or it was simply a dream. In either case, it was of no consequence.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 7

three ➵ text (ANONYMOUS)

text (anonymous)

text (permanon)

text (permanon)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

texty text

text (anon)

no subject

no subject

no subject

voice

permanontext

permavoice

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

text ... NON ANONYMOUS ...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject