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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 11, 2021 20:57:04 GMT -8
Doctor Rosalind Wakefield sighed silently as she reviewed what little notes she had. The thing about 'mandatory counselling' was that most of the officers she received did not want to be here. The Knight of Scales had borrowed from the mundane, pushing a vassal to make an appointment—and an Elemental none the less. Really, it was Solomon who should be speaking with her. The Ogre Chatelaine greeted Oren in a formal matter, offering a seat in the classical office of leather and textbooks. It was held in a Hollow, allowing her to not fuss over the potential of magic burning her paperwork and startling the other professionals that rented office space. Though she had preferred in the past to allow Lost to visit her in a space that told them they were just as human as her other clients, escalating risks and a few instances of ignoring refusal of service... forced some adaptations. Oren wasn't sure how Fall manifested on her yet, where her jutting lower teeth and bronze skin didn't exactly reflect sinister or foreboding. "You can help yourself to the Keurig while you fill out the paperwork, or if you need a break. Unfortunately, I think it's enchanted itself where I'm never sure what tea it's going to make." She shrugged with a small smile, offering the Mirrorskin a clip board. Most of the the questions were what a human was used to seeing: known medical history, referral source, current medications... other questions prompted things like motley contact information, whether they relived their Durance while asleep, if their mien was a source of physical injury to others... She read fast, purposefully slowing her movement so the client didn't think she was just tossing the paper aside. "With intake, we work towards establishing the structure of the therapeutic relationship. You decide whether I'm the right fit, and if that's not the case there's no hard feelings as I refer you to someone else. What would you like to accomplish with therapy, Oren?" |
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242 
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Post by Oren on Jul 12, 2021 14:47:50 GMT -8
He pictured the faces that would look back at Doctor Wakefield. The kind of expressions those seeking counsel for the head and heart would wear. Dour countenances. Righteous frustration. Doe-eyed befuddlement. Oren opted for a small smile, and a wisening eye. Skimming and then properly reading upon realizing the intake questions were a little more involved. He wasn't in a Motley, per se. It had all been rather...per diem. Yet, Solomon, Kai, and...Mitchell were placed on the Emergency Contacts.
The pen scraped and Oren chewed on the question. In truth, he was here because he was told to, and the telltale glance from his own intake paperwork, to the loose ream that he assumed was his profile on Wakefield's desk would tell her just as much. His emerald eyes wandered to a dimly lit corner before finally saying, "You must be one, if not the, most powerful changeling in Las Vegas."
He didn't answer the question. "To command such a presence. How could I possibly lie to you?"
"I make a living out of playing pretend. Being someone else. Wearing another skin. Sometimes I forget...what my face actually looks like. I just get so caught up in the roles I've been given, Oren just...disappears. And the reason I'm here is because that worries some people. And I suppose, something I'd need to accomplish to make them stop, is to make him stay."
"But I don't know how."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 12, 2021 15:04:52 GMT -8
"Well, thank you."
She didn't offer a wider smile or expressive feedback on the topic of herself and the nature of magical trauma victims. "It doesn't sound like lying if it's a part of what you are. Is Oren a favoured persona, or what you've labeled the human side of yourself?"
She starts the notes, though her pen is silent, "Is it a problem that your friends are worried about you?"
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242
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Post by Oren on Jul 12, 2021 15:14:00 GMT -8
"The latter. Definitely the latter. This...", he said, loosely gesturing to himself, "...is the first thing I saw in a mirror this side of the weeds."
It was one of those things that just stuck. What he would revert to upon letting go of one face or another. Oren, was home base. "It's a problem because they think something's wrong with me. That I give too much. That certain things capture my attention. That I find certain things beautiful or trivial."
"It's easy to blame it on one's stay in the Old Country. But my host had an expansive palette."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 12, 2021 15:30:57 GMT -8
"Everyone's experiences are unique," she agreed, "And with the memory coming into question, we can only go with the symbols we assign. It's real because we decide it is real, and the second we buy into the questions from the mundane, we have to accept it didn't happen, which destroys us."
She leaned back, "Do you like it? You don't seem to be hiding your face. What normally grabs you that other Lost would find odd? We have plenty of artists or people with unique opinions."
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242
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Post by Oren on Jul 12, 2021 15:37:47 GMT -8
"I watched my boss carry out an interrogation. I found myself drawn to the way he was able to be so persuasive. How the Wyrd bent crooked and jagged. How it can pry and split open things that want to be closed."
He kept it light on the details. Confidentiality could only go so far when one dealt with other Lost, be they patients or otherwise affiliated. Whatever she already knew, if she knew anything at all, would fill in the gaps for her. "I felt it in a Dream, once. It split me open and let a lot of things out. Faces I don't remember ever wearing. But...there they were. I let some of them go because they were holding me back from truly appreciating the face I wear all the time. Yes, I like it. I never hold one persona higher than another."
"I'm not squeamish. Blood doesn't bother me, and neither does any other kind of...remains left in the way of something strange or just wrong."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 12, 2021 15:53:07 GMT -8
"Is it more than just morbid curiosity?" she blinked, attention flicking from the paper for a moment as the conversation carried, "Was it the trait of persuasiveness, or a controlled elegance of how one can wield violence?"
She waited for more context before asking about the dream, but made note if it that he felt it was important enough to use as an example.
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242
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Post by Oren on Jul 13, 2021 16:05:59 GMT -8
"Elegance. It wasn't brutish or barbed. It was this subtle twisting. It was truly mesmerizing magic."
He remembered shoving an ice pick through the temple of a criminal fixer. That, was brutish. "The work I do can sometimes call for some inelegance, but I more than make up for it with times that call for something more defined. I find that I fit quite nicely in the balance between the two. Sudden shifts don't bother me either. And therein, lies the problem. Why I have been sent here, I believe. It can be too sudden. Too light and airy, despite the situation calling for a grave seriousness."
He mentioned graveness and mocked it. "Now, I know I say this, and it may come off as if I'm treating it as all one big joke or a game. I do my job well. It doesn't mean I can't have a little fun while I do it."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 13, 2021 20:17:10 GMT -8
Wakefield nodded, finding a thread.
"You find it a more admirable trait to persuade people without brute force." She paused if he wished to correct her.
Listening, she quickly jotted:
Amber eyes snuff, turning dark as they flick up—like a trick of the light was casting her in shadow.
"How would one best do your job, Oren?"
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242
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Post by Oren on Jul 14, 2021 15:41:57 GMT -8
"It's smoother that way. Better to glide than to...", he struggled to find the word, probably because he was searching for something lyrical. He finally landed on "Dive-bomb?", tapping his hands and fingers arrhythmically across his jeans.
"I think it's about flexibility. You can't protect the Freehold with two left feet. And the Boys in Blue all have their skills. Mine just happen to be well suited for slipping through the door, lending a kind word, or ear, maybe even a shoulder. Our work is very emotional at its core, even if it's built on a lie. You feel something, even if it isn't the one on your face."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 14, 2021 16:02:34 GMT -8
"If the ability to shift your mindset quickly and move on is the best way to do it, then it doesn't make much sense that Sir Solomon would have an issue with it," she pointed out, referring to his earlier point that he felt he was benched because he wasn't acting serious.
"You would think your boss would be relieved that you don't have a problem with work that would normally disquiet. And by the sound of things, you would have to have some level of empathetic connection with the subjects of your investigations. Do you feel anything? Or is that the character's job?"
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242
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Post by Oren on Jul 14, 2021 16:16:38 GMT -8
"That's because my boss has gunmetal for bones and slow, creeping, rusted magma for blood. You'd smile at him, and he would cave in on himself. What I'm trying to say is, passion, Doctor Wakefield. It's not something he responds to with the grace of a good scene partner. Anything above a solid two is worrisome, and God forbid a three. He'd shoot you himself."
That got a rise out of him. It made him laugh. "If you asked me that three months ago, I would have said I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Now? I feel like I do. They don't hang over me anymore. The Faces, I mean. Rather than a menagerie that wear my skin like a frock, it's more like a walk-in closet. I choose what to wear. It's always me, though. If the character is a puppet, my heart is the string."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 14, 2021 16:39:12 GMT -8
"What are some instances where you feel his reactions to you were unfair?" She asked, curious, and seemingly unfazed by the inflections and borrowed voices.
The Ogre nods, making a note about his own mentioned progress, "How do you feel about that shift? And it's all right if you don't want to answer the question, about people you interact with in your job."
It was a small poke that Wakefield had noticed that he hadn't really addressed it, but her tone remained serene. Intake was about rapport and if it was a sore spot, it was valid information.
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Oren
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written by Hiver
Posts: 242
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Post by Oren on Jul 14, 2021 17:07:30 GMT -8
"Honestly, I don't know if fairness is even on the table? I mean...think about it. We're carved into images and we struggle against the shapes we force ourselves into, just to walk down the street. I can't change Solomon, and I don't plan to. In his mind, I'm sure passing me off to someone who can hold a conversation allows him to think about the things he can actually do with his own two hands."
"Can't really call it fair if you're not playing with a full deck."
He borrowed that line from a script he read once. "It has been incredibly freeing. I breathe with my nose. Speak with my mouth. And it all feels as if it...belongs to one person."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jul 15, 2021 13:57:33 GMT -8
Well, if he was convinced he was here because Solomon was using therapy as a proxy to direct the Torrent...
"Does the situation become invalid if you're the one to reach out first?" Wakefield asked, "If you're acknowledging that Sir Solomon lacks the emotional awareness to correct a wrong with you, why not confront him? You've made it this far with advocating for yourself, without the other Faces."
The Ogre spun her pen.
"It was your choice to be here, Oren. There was nothing stopping you from jumping some basic hoops, so your Knight got his paperwork to say you're a fully functioning element of reflection who enjoys his job. I'm not a fan of Summer's Knighthood using my career to virtue signal the public, either."
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