Training Day! [Closed to Guardian Dragons, backdated before mission]

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Who: Alric, Tiamaris, Marisa, Flandre, Alicia, Hijikata
What: Team training for the Guardian Dragons!
Where: Danger Room
When: August 23rd, afternoon
Warning(s): None anticipated

It was only a few days since Marisa, Flandre, and Alicia had joined--which meant that aside from himself and Tiamaris, and Marisa and Flandre, none of them had really worked together as a group. Considering the volatile circumstances, and the difficulties so many of them had had with control, it was important to get some training time in, especially if they were serious about the team's objectives. The control issues, Alric would try and work on with Tiamaris and Alicia on their own, as well; but getting everyone to know what to expect from one another, and used to working together and thinking of one another as teammates, would be crucial.

So. At a time when they were all available, he called them together to meet in the Danger Room, with Hijikata on hand to supervise.

Comments

[koukai_kirai]

Hijikata lit it himself, and directed the airflow in the hall to blow the smoke away from Tiamaris and straight to the nearest vent.

"It's a start, but no. That's still letting that fear control and define you. If you want to take control away from your fear, then you're going to need to give yourself another goal, another reason. Something to reach for, not something to run from."

[tiamaris]

"What could there to reach for?" he asked quietly with a small shrug, not looking at his professor. "I thought not being a monster was a lofty goal." One he wasn't sure that he could reach.

[koukai_kirai]

"If you don't want to be a monster, you have to give yourself something else to be. I can tell you what that was for me, but it isn't my place to choose what it will be for you."

[tiamaris]

"Nothing else Ive ever wanted to be." Except dead...

[koukai_kirai]

He took a slow pull on his cigarette, thinking. Even for a mutant, even for someone whose mutation was dangerous, that was something even he could clearly see wasn't the product of normal, healthy thought processes. Something was deeply wrong there, and while he wasn't helpless about it, there were others who could do more.

"Well, that's your project from here on out. Look at the people you admire, look at the things you think aren't just 'not bad', but are good. Think about why they're good, and use that to decide what you'd rather be."

Another pause, another drag on the cigarette.

"...Are you seeing any kind of therapist? You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

[tiamaris]

He shrugged a bit. "I talk to Alric."

In his mind that was the answer to both questions. The person he looks at as good, and the closest thing he has to a therapist. He's the only one who could calm him back down after he became enraged. He had one friend, he had been hesitant to try and make any more.

[koukai_kirai]

"Friends are well and good, and I'm sure he's been a great help to you, but I'll be blunt. You need to be seeing someone more qualified to help you come to terms with whatever in your life has made you think like that. At least one adult, preferably including one with training in therapy or similar.

[tiamaris]

He hesitated then finally asked, "Who."

[koukai_kirai]

"There are counselors here at school. People whose job and training is all to help others deal with problems in their emotions and memories and so on. They're like a sort of doctor. I can set up an appointment with one of them for you, if you'll let me. If you don't like them, we can help you find one at the local hospital.

"And in the meantime, or in emergencies, if there's not another teacher you trust more, you can talk to me."

[OOC: We don't currently have a player character therapist, but there should be

[tiamaris]

[OOC: There should be, how soon to 'Shura? lol]

He gave a small shrug to him setting up an appointment, but his eyes went straight to bright red when he suggested the hospital, and he stumbled back. "That... would be a bad idea," he rumbled.

[koukai_kirai]

[OOC: Forgot to finish the note; there should be someone on staff, just feel free to assume there's an unnamed NPC around taking care of it.]

Hijikata didn't move when Tiamaris stumbled back, though his eyes narrowed a little as his mental guard went up a bit.

"No hospitals, or no outside help?"

[tiamaris]

"No hospitals," he said, trying to calm himself down. "People go there to heal, not to get hurt worse."

[koukai_kirai]

"No hospitals, then." His voice wasn't placating, not really -- even in agreement, it held no sign of weakness or wheedling.　It was strong and direct, matter-of-fact.

"But if you don't get along with the therapists we have here, we can still have one brought from outside if you want us to. I want you to try working with one, though."

[tiamaris]

He ground his teeth, then nodded. "Fine." He would have to hope he could keep from killing whoever it was.

[koukai_kirai]

"This isn't a punishment. It's to help you move forward."

He took another drag on his cigarette, never seeming in any kind of rush. "If you're concerned about their well-being, we can arrange for someone to accompany you for safety purposes if you're willing to sign waivers regarding your privacy."

[tiamaris]

"Alric?" he asked at once. It was someone he trusted to keep him in control, and Alric knew the worst of the worst already.

[koukai_kirai]

"Ideally, someone less personally involved with you, but if you need him there, we can probably make it happen."

[tiamaris]

"Someone less involved wont know how to stop me," he said simply.

[koukai_kirai]

"Someone with the right powers doesn't need to know you to knock you out in an emergency."

[tiamaris]

"I'd rather not have the emergency," he muttered.

[koukai_kirai]

"Obviously. But planning as if there will be one is how you minimize the risk of it actually occurring and the damage it can do if it does."

[tiamaris]

He shrugged, looking away. Planning that there would be one... would almost guarantee it, wouldn't it?

[koukai_kirai]

The logic of that, he saw, had gone over the boy's head.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'hope for the best and prepare for the worst'?"

[tiamaris]

"Not as applies to reality. In my experience preparing for the worst makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy."

[koukai_kirai]

"Fearing the worst makes self-fulfilling prophecies. Preparing for it sensibly and trying for the best anyway is the safest way forward."