✯ Tenth Session ✯ [Voice]

[byakkoyagirl]

Voice;

Hey folks. Sorry to interrupt all the daily fun you're having over the books, but I just want to let people know that I'm going to be off on a mission for the next week. Nothing life threatening, just reading some books on Japan's Edo Period all day long. May learn something new! Hey, if you've been on one of these researching things you should tell me how it went. Weren't too bored right?

Oh and for the New Feathers, and those who don't know me -- [She quickly takes out a pen and writes on the journal page Paprika! ] --

I work as a psychologist back home. Psychologists are people doctors so to speak, who evaluate one's psych and counsels them. That's the concise definition at least. I am particularly versed in dream therapy. So, if you have any troubles you feel like speaking over, I would be glad to help you. Confidentiality is of course the number one rule, so nothing you tell me will be aired publicly.

Oh and one more thing:

[She pauses, takes a deep breathe and then, speaking quickly-]

If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?
If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the choose he shoes

--Argh, messed up again. American tongue twisters are harder than they look.

Comments

[ voice; filtered 100% ]

[herotypical]

S-sometimes, I'm someone else. Many someone elses. [ this? she blurts. grateful to hide her investigative nervousness behind some other excuse.

but... ] If that's still okay? I'll...go right ahead. Onto trying. [ she folds paprika's business card in two. a little tent of paper. ]

Y-you don't need directions, do you? Fifth blonde head on the right -- anything like that?

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[byakkoyagirl]

Hm, I see. [Split personality disorders? Well, it's too early to judge.]

Thanks for the concern, but I'll manage to get there on my own.

[ voice; filtered 100% ]

[herotypical]

Right. Okay.

[ a deep breath. ] ...Dream you soon, then?

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[byakkoyagirl]

[She snerks a little.] Dream you soon? That's a new one. I like it! Sure, I'll dream you soon.

[herotypical]

[ she retires to her room. fretful. worried. in fact -- it takes a decent twenty minutes of crystal meditation in order to calm herself down to a state even half-suited to sleeping. at such a point, she draws her curtains closed. she even locks the window; this is something she rarely does but it occurs to her that a sudden piratical visit would not do this situation any good. so the lock it flicked with righteous guilt.

eventually, the slayer does sleep. she manages to let go of her concerns over her own strange dreamscape -- where she sometimes dreams the lives (and deaths) of slayers before her. and other times? omens. predictions. things to come and things as they actually were. all of it rooted deep in her mystical heritage. all of it an undeniable part of her.

there are small mercies. paprika's arrival will not trouble her too much -- she has shared dreams with other people in the past. sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. but, surprisingly, she finds herself sniffing salt air on the wind.

an unexpected clue. ]

[byakkoyagirl]

[Paprika notices her arrival is rather uneventful, which was certainly more than she expected given Buffy's warnings, and navigates with ease. All dreams were like maps to her, guiding toward the source of the world created through images, sounds, colors, thoughts and so on and so forth. The scent of salt air is easily caught, giving her an almost nostalgic feeling, and no sooner does she find Buffy.]

I'm not use to this smell often. It isn't too strong?

[herotypical]

In the immortal words of Goldilocks? Just right. [ though a slight frown suggests otherwise.

buffy isn't certain how paprika is accustomed to finding her clients, but she's rarely been one for non-lucid dreaming. a dream is often known for what it is in buffy's mind. ever has she been the dreamscape explorer, picking her way through riddles and signs. ]

Hi. Welcome to my humble abode. Or...

[ the cry of a gull and the distant whispered crash of wave. what on earth...? she hadn't expected a shoreline, but the details slowly creep into existence. a borrowed scene. buffy's predictive powers at sly work. ]

[byakkoyagirl]

...Or the beach? [She follows up with a teasing chuckle.] Guess we can chock up the smell to this place. Any reason we're by the shores?

[herotypical]

...Call it a new love, I guess.

[ she crosses her arms. this is not a shoreline she's seen before. never. maybe one of the older slayers' lives got mixed in? maybe this is some scene from her inherited past. maybe they only needed to wait to see some terrible act of violence.

a shiver. ]

[byakkoyagirl]

A new love huh? [Paprika gives a thoughtful hum and turns to the ocean.] However, it isn't quite the right season for beach going. You can easily catch a cold in winter waters.

[herotypical]

I don't get sick. Not easily. And certainly not from a dream-world.

[ it happens to be port royal -- jack's port royal. buffy has no way of identifying it as such. no way to interpret this omen. ]

[byakkoyagirl]

It's an old wives tale - sick in dreams, sick when awake. Same goes for all other things.

[Paprika walks away for a moment to look around the beach. And something feels vaguely familiar about this scene and yet not familiar at all.

--But that can wait. She should get to the crux of the issue.]

You sounded pretty urgent. Is everything alright?

[herotypical]

I...found your card. In a book. Someone else's book.

[byakkoyagirl]

[She pauses and turns back to Buffy, a puzzled look clear on her face. Suddenly her habit of leaving cards for her clients with last words may be catching up. But why would it matter so much?]

And? What of it?

[herotypical]

And I'm worried. Because Jack Sparrow's been acting way wigged and I'm guessing it started when he picked up that card.

[ really, it's a feat of willful ignorance that she hadn't put the pieces together before now. jack had not made a secret of it, before hand -- the fact that he was considering contacting paprika about one particular issue. ]

Y-you don't understand. His mind...[ the pirate's temperamental psychology has long since been a source of concern for her. she wants to protect him. his mind. his heart. she wants to see that she does right by him.

she wants to look after him. ]

[byakkoyagirl]

...I figured.

[The smell of this beach was just like before. But, many dreams are similar and she naturally can't process it well as a dream entity herself. So now she was here. And she knew that the answer wouldn't be the one she wanted.]

You know I can't tell you, right? About our session.

[herotypical]

...But can you tell me how to reverse it? Fix it? The it that you can't tell me about?

[byakkoyagirl]

Not without telling you what it is. I can tell you the process of reversal will be easier, but a lot more painful.

[Psychologically speaking, of course.]

[herotypical]

Look. Before he...before things changed? He told me he was thinking about -- about consulting you. About something. About a very particular some... [ one. someone ] something.

[ a strained sigh. ] I'm not gonna try and stomp all over your patient-shrink confidentiality but...but I'm worried. I'm just so -- worried.

[byakkoyagirl]

I'm sure he did. People normally do that. [Especially given what he was asking her.] If you are concerned, I'll talk to him about it. I've been meaning to follow up anyway.

[herotypical]

Y-you can't tell him I came to you. Asked you to come to me. Talked to you about it. Please?

[ she hugs herself and frowns at footprints in the sand. troubled. ] I want him back -- the way he was. I liked him the way he was. It's not like he was any less off-kilter but that's an off-kilter I know. L-like, even.

Love.

[byakkoyagirl]

[She cracks a small smile.]

I think that was obvious enough. But, you know, if he refuses then I can't do anything about it. Unless I see for sure that it has an adverse effect on his health. Treatment shouldn't be forced.

[herotypical]

It's just...

[ she hugs herself. trying to ignore the dream around her. ] I've got this nagging feeling that whatever he had you do, he had you do it 'cause I somehow...because I didn't -- I failed him. I must've. Because the situation he considered contacting you about was...

Say nothing changes. Say he refuses? Will he ever get better? Because now, he gets this...look on his face, sometimes.

[byakkoyagirl]

Is that what you think?

[Paprika says it quietly, barely above a whisper. It's funny. She could have swore Jack was doing it for the exact opposite reason.

But then she straightens herself up and walks toward Buffy, her expression becoming truly serious for the first time.]

I'm around to help people get better. If I can help then I will. But, Buffy, you need to listen to. Jack, like any other person, needs support. I'm not going to tell him you came to me, but you need to let him know how you feel as well. If two people are staring and doing nothing, then nothing is going to happen. I'm sure that if he refuses that you, of all people, can definitely help change his mind.

[herotypical]

Ch-change his mind... [ she repeats that last thought -- thoughtful, herself. ]</small Right. Okay. I can...do that.