driftfleet | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Everyone
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Iskaulit
When:

[So we've been stuck on the poison moon for a couple months now, so a lot of people probably want to get away from that.

Unfortunately, the only place you really can get away from it besides your own ship is the Iskaulit. So, here's a June Iskaulit mingle!]

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[ Charles involuntarily stiffens at Tyki's name. ]

I see. What else happened?

[She sees that reaction.] You know him? Tyki Mikk?

I did. We were friends once.

[ Back when things were easier. However, the teams had their own way of doing things. Copper Rose was to threaten others. Fawn didn't agree with it. ]

Small world.

I was...more than friends with him once. Twice technically. [WAY more than twice, but she was with him and broke things off and then got back with him.] We got back together that night at the prom. [Had sex on the beach. Not the drink.]

Fastforward about a month and he viciously dismembered a friend of mine at random and left one of his arms for me. Wrote Bible versus on the walls of his bar in his blood. Then we tried to kill each other and failed. I managed to take his noah and his powers away, and he disappeared.

That does sound like him. Though the friend he murdered last time was me.

[ It had taken a lot to talk Erik down when it happened. Charles had let it happen. ]

He has a funny way of showing his affections. [She does give him a concerned look though. Murdered and all even if he's clearly here and alive. Seems like the sort of thing that stays with you. She's also wondering if there was torture. Tyki...likes to enjoy things.]

Oh, he certainly did.

[ Charles shrugs. Tyki was a long time ago. He rarely devotes any time to him. He wasn't important. ]

I'm fine. I've died plenty of times.

You say that like it makes it easier. [Maybe it does, but she never found having people she cares about dying got easier.]

To some extent, it does.

[ Charles finds it easier to die than to watch people die. ]

Charles... [You're getting a worried look, sir. And the worried feelings to back it up.]

[ He shakes his head, rueful. ]

Don't worry about it. That kind of mentality . . . is for a different place and it isn't needed anymore.

Yeah. [She says it slowly as if trying to decide if she agrees with her "yeah" but in the end she does.] I get that. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to survive or protect others.

[It was jarring to her sometimes to think about how much she's changed in the last ~~seven~~ year and handful of months. Because she could. Because there were fewer threats and different kinds. Because she was away from so much of what she'd known and had to adapt in completely new ways. She imagines anyone who has been through one of these places has had some kind of shift like that.

For Charles and the rest of them from his home maybe it worked the other way. A nicer home and harsher environment after it.]

[ Charles nods in understanding. That's how it's been. He's pushed himself to the limit in trying to protect others. ]

And now?

And now...survival is easy here. There's time to focus on other things. [Unavoidably in some cases.]

[ His lips curve, faintly nostalgic. ]

That makes it strange, doesn't it? That we have time to focus on other pursuits, that we don't have to look over our shoulders.

There's always a little bit of looking. [That habit dies hard even if it's not so necessary.] But yeah. Definitely strange. Lots of growing pains.

That's probably something we can both work on. You're not alone in feeling that way.

No. I guess I wouldn't be. Especially in a place like this. Lifted out of all the troubles and concerns of our regularly scheduled lives.

[ He nods. ]

That's the first place to start when it comes to stress disorders. We have to recognize the normalcy of it.

Yeah? What's step two?

Step two is walking through them. Think you can manage it?

[Unsure.] ...As I'll ever be.

Whenever you're ready then. I'll have a link open so I can feel what you feel. Then I'll slowly dial down the intensity. The memories themselves will be unchanged.

What am I supposed to do? Think about things that have been bad?

If that helps. It works best with whatever you want to start with.