byakkoyagirl | ✯ Seventh Session ✯ [Voice]

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✯ Seventh Session ✯ [Voice]

[Through the weeks Paprika has been noticing more people coming through, signalling another cycle. It seems that most of the arrivals have already come and still no Atsuko. Well, that's probably for the best anyway. She can't say she would be happy to see the woman stuck here. For some reason she's been thinking about it. Probably because of the rain. The cold, dim demeanor reminded her of her creator. Kind of sad actually.

In the morning, she flips open the journal and begins. She has something she wants to address and given the rain, more people will probably be inside reading to see it.]

So, I see we got some new arrivals in the village. I'm sorry that you all got stuck here. ...Well, only half-sorry. If you actually want to be here, that's fine too. [A small smile.]

My name is Paprika and I'm a psychotherapist. For anyone who doesn't have 'people doctors' in their world, psychotherapists help people cope with certain issues they feel they can't resolve on their own. Like mental stress or the like. Specifically, my specialty is dream therapy. Psychotherapists are known for having interpersonal relationships, so it's like getting to know the person inside and out and not just talking to them for an hour a week.

I'll get to the point: if any of you have things you want to talk about, but don't feel like you have anyone who will listen or want to keep a matter private from others, I'm willing to lend an ear. Everything we speak about is confidential between us and I won't force it on you. I already learned to make unhackable filters on this system. Or, if you prefer, we can talk in person.

It's just an offer I'm willing to give to anyone who needs it. We have plenty of medical doctors, but sometimes the deepest wounds come from within the psyche. This goes for current residents too. Luceti can be a stressing environment and no one would blame you for getting stressed to a point where you need help, if you can acknowledge you need it. I'll be here all day to answer in.

[ooc: replies come when I wake up.]

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So basically you listen to people talk about their dreams and help them with that. Is it really needed?

[Here's a guy with many wounds inside him but who doesn't acknowledge them as being something he needs help with. He's pretty fine having those scars there.]

Yes, it is.

Servicemen can have difficulties coping with war, or even situations at home. People with untreated Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can become weakened, unable to even live normal lives, or suicidal.

In the worst cases, time bombs.

[She has her share of scars, so suck it up. >:O]

Normal lives are overrated, some of us would never have a chance at them before we die in combat anyway.

[If Shun was here he probably would be saying that Ikki needs treatment, maybe not directly but... Anyway, Ikki doesn't acknowledge his scars as anything else but old and forgotten wounds.]

This place offers a relative peace but I wouldn't say it's enough to have a normal life.

[SPARTAN-023 pauses a moment. She wished she would not agree with that statement, but she does. Her next words are softer.]

What I mean, sir, is that emotional well-being is as important as physical. Without it, even, or especially in battle, a person would be unable to perform.

[He pauses too for a second, considering it.]

Fair point. A weak mind only leads to a weak body.

[Though as someone who has an ability that preys on people's mental weaknesses he obviously prefers to leave those untreated in his enemies.]

Still, I don't see how talk, or dreaming, could help with that.

[He's sincere with his inability to see how that would be helpful, he's not just being difficult or skeptic. At least not yet.]

They are methods, but not the only ones. Psychotherapy as much of a science as medicine.

It's very common where I'm from.

[Far too common.]

It's not where I'm from, at least not for my kind. We tend to have to overcome our mental problems on our own, or die at battle for being too weak to get over them.

[That's how one ends not realizing if he has problems or not. As long as he can still fight, he's fine, if not... He will be dead soon after so it's not a problem.]

They're as much of an injury as a physical one, sir. To wait until you die by it is reckless.

We usually don't have time to treat them anyway. Physical or mental, I don't exaggerate when I say that we're at a constant war and there aren't enough of us so we can go and rest.

You won't die by it if you're strong enough to overcome it. That's what I was taught.

[And that the way to become strong enough to overcome it was to let anger and hate fill the wound until it turned into a scar full of those emotions. He still was just like that, full of anger and hate, but not so much as before. That time in which Seiya had pierced his chest, it was as if he created an opening in his heart and most of those emotions escaped through it then.]

Yes. Dreams are very revealings. A pioneer on the field once wrote that dreams are forms wish fulfillment, which attempt to resolve a conflict of some sort the dreamer is having.

I always just thought that they were random things that made no sense.

[Actually... How many times he dreamed with the time he met Pandora? He never got to fully get to that part until his memories unlocked but...]

That or memories of events we prefer to forget. Nothing worth studying.

They do seem like that, but many times they aren't. It's just hard to make sense of them because they're so random.

And I think it is worth studying. Trying to forget something and coming to terms with what happened are two different things. For instance, sometimes you can't forget because you haven't come to terms with it.

[... Okay that has finally got his sincere attention.]

And how does one come to term with things other than accepting them as things that happened and can't be changed thus being better forgotten?

That's not something I can really answer for you. Everyone copes in different ways. Sometimes you just need to move on and realize you can't do anything about it. The past is the past. Living in the present and moving on with the future is the best thing I can advise. I can only give further advice if I know more about someone's past and their current lifestyle.

What about someone who lives in the present and moves on but is still haunted by the past despite realizing that?

[He doesn't want to forget... But he would like to be able to stop feeling haunted at times. It makes him feel weak.]

That depends. Do they want to be haunted by their past, or not? If they willingly cling on to things they know would hurt them, I can't really help. I can only help those willing to accept that help.

There's a difference between not forgetting something completely and be haunted by it. I don't think anyone would want that.

If you're haunted by something, it means you want to forget it. At least a part of you does. Why else would you feel haunted?

I suppose you're right, but in that case it may be better to be haunted after all. Forgetting would only lead to commit the same mistakes again.

Forgetting a memory is different from forgetting a life lesson. If you touch a hot stove you'll remember not to touch it again, but you don't necessarily remember the pain that came from it.

I don't think that just remembering that would suffice, if you forget that pain you'll end underestimating it.

You can really remember pain once it's gone as a memory. Your body, on the other hand, would remember the effect and subconsciously you would be wary of something that could cause the pain. You don't remember what it feels like, but you remember that it caused you pain.

Maybe, but not remembering the exact amount of pain that it caused you may lead you to think that you can deal with it if it happens again and commit the same error because the only other option you have is something that would also cause you pain.

Like having to choose between falling into almost friezed water or into fire, you remember that the fire burned you and caused you pain, but not how much pain it caused. So you choose that, because the water is cold and would hurt too and you could down, you think you can handle the fire, but at the end you should have chosen the water because that pain wasn't as bad as what fire did to you.

It's not a matter of not wanting to remember or pushing aside that memory however - remembering a feeling of pain to it's exact amount is practically impossible. You might remember certain sensations regarding the pain, like smells or visual sights, but generating the same feelings are impossible even if you remember how much pain you were in.

Like, getting a paper cut. You know it hurt when you got it, but remembering exactly how you felt is impossible. All you remember is that there was pain involved in it, so you would naturally want to avoid getting cut again.

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✯ Seventh Session ✯ [Voice]

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[Voice] oops didn't see this earlier, my bad.