Dangerzone High -- an unofficial morbit story

[Lilium Mortem]

whoops, probably should have let them know y'all were ok. really should be standard operating procedure in a place like this.

also now would be a great time to exposit about your scrap abilities. plush golems sound adorable.

[King-Clod]

Let Volley lead, she's the one being addressed. Don't want to speak for her. Do back her up with whatever she says, though.

[anima]

My scrap affinity is "soft," which means either warm and fuzzy memories or actual physical softness... sometimes both! Usually, I use this just to boost morale, or in order to lessen blows from creatures... Buffs and debuffs, metaphorically speaking. It's not the worst, but it's not the best. I... don't think I recall anything about those plush golems, though. Whatever; it doesn't seem important right now.

Anyhow, I keep quiet and allow Volley her words.

VOLLEY: Oh, sorry about that! Yeah, I ran off after I saw... the body, haha...
RIJK: I'm here too, also.
TORPEDO: That's a relief. I'll go tell Kate to stop knocking on your dorm, then.

Shuffling sounds. It seems Torpedo is gone for the moment, but he's likely enough to come back and check on his sibling.

VOLLEY: Rijk.
RIJK: Hm? Oh, you look... more serious than usual, I think?
VOLLEY: When does it sink in?
RIJK: What?
VOLLEY: It's... hard not to think back to him. I saw... the state he was in, but I can't seem to get it to really... click that he's gone.
RIJK: I thought you didn't want to talk about Alicorn?
VOLLEY: Yeah, that was when I thought it would work. And it did take my mind off it, for a while, but...
VOLLEY: I'm going to have to deal with constant reminders he was there once. Constant reminders of exactly how he went out. I don't know what to do about that.
VOLLEY: Do I just have to deal with flashes of his voice in my mind clear as glass, followed by the image of how he ended up?
RIJK: I...  Really don't know anything about any of this.
RIJK: Judge asked me to be a therapist earlier--
VOLLEY: He what?
RIJK: It's fine, he apologized afterwards--
VOLLEY: He what?
RIJK: I take it that doesn't happen very often?
VOLLEY: I've never seen him do something like that. Like... making an effort to better himself. I'd kind of... assumed it was beyond him.
VOLLEY: I'll have to keep that in mind.
RIJK: I don't think he's as awful as you and he both seem to think, but do be careful, alright?
VOLLEY: Of course!
VOLLEY: Anyways, you were saying?
RIJK: Huh? Oh, right...
RIJK: Judge may have had me play therapist earlier, but obviously, I'm just as much of a lost, scared child as any other student. I don't know everything about mental health. I barely have it myself, heheh...
RIJK: You sound like you're having... flashbacks, or maybe the...
RIJK: Do you think you'll see a person "based" on Alicorn in your head?

Even with the difficulty of reading emotion on an eyeless face, Volley looks more strained than I've ever seen her. She runs a hand through a strand of hair, briefly looping it around one finger.

VOLLEY: I'm actively trying not to have that happen.

[1011686]

Are there any therapists in this place? Could one of the teachers start looking into that if not, would probably be a good idea.
As for Volley, could she try just letting the memories, be memories, if that's possible? Let them run through her mind without denying them, with the knowledge of what they are and what happened.
idk, grieving takes a long time and there isn't just some string of words you can say that will make things better, if only you can find them, but decisions made during this time will probably affect how she continues to feel in the future as well. So, just say what you think will help, even if not by very much.

[Lilium Mortem]

I lost someone dear to me very suddenly. It hurt a lot at first, mind numbing sadness, it eases up after a while, but doesn't go away. There's a hole in my heart where he used to be, every time I do something, or think something, that would have involved him I run into that hole and have to stare at it, all the parts of my life where he was neatly slotted into are ripped and torn holes that bleed, but then are just gone. eventually life changes so much that those holes are covered up, you don't run into things that make you think of him as often. 

It's not wrong to get sad or to grieve, but whenever I think about the precious person that left my life, I think about how much he would have wanted to see me happy, how much he'd be cheering for me. 

also RIJK, can you like 'soften' the impact of Grief on Volley?

[King-Clod]

After the sliger attack is over, do you think you guys could have a service for Alicorn? Like an informal funeral?

[anima]

From what the teachers have told us... the job application for counsellor has been open for about two years now, but no one has been brave enough to take it. I never knew the previous counsellor, never personally had reason to.

RIJK: I know there's no string of words that will magically help you, but... I'm going to try and help you get over the grief, however I can.
RIJK: Is there some way to let the memories just... be memories, maybe?
VOLLEY: I'm not sure I want that.
VOLLEY: I'm... not sure what to do...
VOLLEY: I don't know if my mind is capable of handling the permanence of death.
RIJK: Do you want to see yourself try?
VOLLEY: I... think so.
VOLLEY: I don't... need to splinter this mind more. It's just... hard not to.
VOLLEY: There's this... pulsation of... something like scraps pulling together.
RIJK: You don't need to deny that if you don't want to, but you don't have to actively have it happen.
VOLLEY: I'll... try. Sometimes it's... sort of temporary, and it falls apart in seconds.
VOLLEY: If I just... let the memories be memories, like you said, I think it'll be simpler to... dissolve.
RIJK: Eventually, there will be more memories overtop of those memories, too. You won't forget him, but you won't think of him as much.
VOLLEY: I know, but... right now it hurts. It isn't eventually yet.
RIJK: There's... one more thing I think I can do, if you'll let me.
RIJK: I can try and use a scrap to "soften" the impact of this on you, probably?

Volley looks away for a moment, out the wide virtual window the bunker dorms are equipped with, towards the view of a garden programmed onto each.

VOLLEY: Go ahead and do it.

I reach into my backpack and grab a scrap, a child's memory of being swaddled into a blanket after playing with their crayons, and I focus on Volley's mind. The resistance that meets me is almost as much a force of its own, sharp and monochrome and filtered like an old camera. I soothe the metaphorical spikes that result from it, wrapping them in memory and calming them down. The pain, fear, grief-- they all subside. Behind Volley has dropped something, shaped like a conch shell or a piece of candy, pink with black and white splatters of dots on the edges.

I check the scrap. It's Volley's memory of this very moment, in some abstract portrayal-- the sharpness and bleakness of grief subsiding like a crashing wave. I'm not an expert at identifying types, but I would guess evolution, or perhaps acceptance.

She hugs me before I can manage to ask how she's doing.

VOLLEY: Thank you, Rijk.
RIJK: Did you notice you dropped this?
VOLLEY: What is-- oh, a scrap. It's... hm... huh. That's interesting.
VOLLEY: We should take this back to someone at some point.
RIJK: Sometime, yes. Should we do anything more here?
VOLLEY: Nothing comes to mind. Shall we go?
RIJK: Perhaps we should wait for Torpedo to get back--

Ah, she's already stood up and getting ready to leave, taking the scrap with her alongside her things. Alright. I suppose I'll go with her, back up through the elevator to surface level and onward to the medical ward again.

I feel... it would be a good idea to call someone in order to get a briefing on the situation before we arrive there. I'm not sure who to call, though...

[ಠ_ಠ]

Honestly, trust fresh eyes. You don't need too much preparation here.

[Lilium Mortem]

Why not ask Volley who to call? also, have you ever considered a career in therapy? I feel like you'd be good at it. maybe even become the school councilor, if they let students do that because normal rules don't apply here. I say this because you're likable, and you like other people, you care about them in a way that not everyone can. Your entire class came together for Project Plot armor because you mean something to them, and you have a scrap affinity that would lend itself well to soothing troubled souls. so bartender as a backup career, alright?

[Shifter55]

I suppose Torpedo is waiting for you two somewhere? What usually happens after attacks like this? The main things I can think of is head counts and a lot of cleaning... In any case, just keep an eye on Volley for now, it's weird that that fell out.

[1011686]

Are there any other personal scraps you and the others keep on your person? This place seems like it would generate a lot of them.

[King-Clod]

Moon Logic, maybe? He seems to know what's going on most of the time.

[cosmo]

sure, let's check in with moon logic.

[DebraFak]

I stayed in the South Island and did mostly the high country trails in central Otago. I do believe the 90 mile beach is a peach. So any miles so little time.
Back in the UK now so hopefully the weather will allow us all to enjoy our own roads for a while.