phonetasmal | [Video] un: foxtales

[Video] un: foxtales

[The initial video opening just displays a new sign on the wall of the common room. It looks like someone managed to find a piece of whiteboard and an erasable marker to incorporate into the sign. What does the sign say?

10 weeks without murder

Yes, you read that right. The whiteboard part is where the 10 is written with marker. It's clearly been made to be regularly updated. Kurama's voice when he speaks is...close to his usual calm tones but a little tense.]

Many of the people here will wonder why this sign is needed. The people who need it know why. I am one of the first group to fall through the Fissures, so this encompasses the entire history we know of of outsiders in this world.

I'm going to keep it updated appropriately, since...there might be more of us, apparently.

I would like to ask that no one tamper with the sign except for accurate updates. This is not a prank and it is not for pranks. It's for people that have suffered.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you're looking for an argument on that, you won't find it here.

[Kurama tilts his head slightly and shakes his head.]

You are welcome to think that. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I will not, unless and until one of the people I made it for asks me to, or it causes a genuine problem.

Look, I understand the purpose of your sign. It's meant to ease the hearts of those who experienced all those tragedies. That being said, I don't believe this is the right way to do it.

[Touma gives him a firm look.]

You're applying a band-aid on a gaping wound. That sign will only make things worse in the long run for the very people you're trying to heal.

I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I ask who exactly said you could speak for us like that? I don't remember any of us naming you as any kind of authority on our feelings.

[ m e n a c i n g ]

Edited 2018-05-07 07:09 (UTC)

[Touma doesn't show any indication that he noticed or cared about the menacing tone in her voice.]

I don't need anyone's authority to speak my mind. The sign and the intentions behind it are good, but the relief it will provide is only temporary and will eventually become a source of anxiety. An anxiety that can only be cured by the very thing that caused it.

Let me ask you this; how will you feel if the next day this sign read zero weeks?

No, you don't need anyone's authority to speak your own mind. But don't you think it's a little rude to act like you know what you're talking about, when it comes to how the rest of us are feeling?

[ she certainly sounds polite enough, even if it's clear she's a little miffed. ]

[His voice is calm with a hint of firmness to it.]

You're right, I don't know how you guys feel. I can't use telepathy or any means to read the hearts of others so I will never truly understand the turmoil hiding inside everyone. All I know is that you all have gone through something terrible and are trying to cope with the aftermath. That doesn't, however, mean I can't try to help simply because I haven't experienced exactly what you guys have gone through.

You haven't answered my previous question so I'll repeat it and ask another; how will you feel if the next day this sign read zero weeks? Are you really willing to use something for comfort that has the potential to change its form at any given moment? By accepting this sign, you are entrusting fate itself to safeguard your heart from the pain you're harboring. I can't claim to know how you feel, but I know there are better ways to heal your heart than to delude yourself with an illusion.

[ His tone is... bitterly polite. ]

Or maybe you could just shut up and let us focus on the positive aspect of this, instead of being "that guy."

[Touma addresses him with the same calm tone he used for Yuuri.]

The fact you have to focus on the 'positive aspect' and ignore all of its negative ramifications is why I can't let this be. Tell me, do you honestly believe the people who this sign is for will be able to focus on the 'positive aspect' of it in the event the murder clock gets reset?

You know what would be better? A sign that encourages those who have suffered to seek medical attention. We have three doctors here at the station that can help. At best, the current sign can temporarily ease those in need, but the help it gives is superficial and will lead to more suffering in the future.

[ Now his expression is shifting to something... overly calm. ]

Not only based on some of the responses I've seen, but from personal experience? Yes. I do.

[ ........................... ]

So, how long have you been a therapist, then? Since you're clearly so experienced in this field, and all.

[... Robin is so tired and it shows on his face.]

Touma, just stop. You're making an ass of yourself. Leave the gods-damned sign alone.

Stop, before you just make things worse.

[Touma drops his calm demeanor and gives Robin a pointed look.]

I don't care if I'm making an ass of myself. That sign is not a good idea. Even in an ideal situation where there's never a need to reset it, we can't expect everyone who drops here to respect it. Someone is going to eventually mess with it, whether it be for malicious or ignorant reasons, and the fallout is not going to be pretty.

I've already made up my mind on what I'm going to do. I'm going to create my own sign and place it next to theirs. It'll have the three doctors' contact info and it'll hopefully encourage them to visit one. I want to remove that damn sign completely, but unless I can somehow convince at least one of them to agree, I can't. Taking it away without their consent would only harm them more and create a massive shitstorm.

They're not going to because you keep pressing the issue. Do you really think what you're doing here is helping? Because the more you keep talking, the more you're turning people against you because you're tactlessly sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.

I was going to leave this alone, but I can't watch this anymore. Stop. Drop it and maybe come back when you've learned to approach this with some modicum of delicacy. As it stands right now, nobody wants to hear your self-righteous harping, least of all the people who are actually reassured by this sign.

Shut up and mind your own gods-damned business.

o)+ Touma, PLease do not Pretend that what you are handing down is medicaLLy reLevant.

o)+ We're two fieLd medics and a diagnostician. Most of my mentaL heaLth exPertise invoLves PharmaceuticaLs which I wouLd be hesitant to Prescribe for Longer than absoLuteLy necessary. I don't know if either of the others have greater exPerience, but I haven't gotten the imPression that they have a great deaL more.

o)+ ALthough in my ProfessionaL oPinion the sign is LiabLe to do more good than harm for the time being, and aLso the PeoPLe who want it are caPabLe of assessing their own needs.

I can prescribe mental-health-related medication with a reasonable degree of competency, at least for humans. I am not,
in any way, a therapist.

Also, I do not particularly appreciate having one of my patients, especially the one that I can do nothing to magically aid, immediately running out to pick fights with people who have admitted to violent trauma within three days of his release from the med bay. At least pretend you appreciate Jetshard and myself for our efforts, thank you.

Edited 2018-05-09 05:36 (UTC)

Alright, I get it. If even you believe I should stand down, then I will. I know I'm not a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just a normal high school student who wants to help. 

You know, it's times like those I wish I could do more than swing my fists around like an idiot. Here I am, doing my damnest to reach my hand out, and the only thing I can grab at is air. I'll never truly understand what they've experienced, but I still hoped I could have at least used my own experience from being forcibly dragged from world to world to give me a little bit of insight. I guess it really was incompatible.

I'll just observe for now and protect that sign from any future tampering.

o)+ Thank you.

o)+ To exPand on your metaPhor, sometimes the wisest course is to keeP your hands to yourseLf untiL you're certain that Putting them in someone eLse's sPace isn't going to resuLt in getting bitten.

o)+ Or at Least untiL you can say with confidence that if they do snaP at you, your hand bLeeding aLL over the PLace won't just uPset everyone invoLved enough to canceL out the heLP you were trying to offer.

I still don't think you're getting it. You're not trying to help – you're trying to talk over us and explain how we feel to our faces, even when you've just admitted you don't know what we've been through and you don't understand how we feel.

[ she's certainly starting to lean more towards 'strained politeness' than actual politeness. ]

I'm not going to dignify that with a response, because you're clearly not understanding what I'm trying to say. This has nothing to do with you and doesn't affect you in the slightest. So why do you care so much?

[His voice remains calm, but its firmness from before is now replaced with conviction.]

I care because I can't stand seeing people hurt. How do you expect me to willfully turn a blind eye to being told there's a bunch of people here who have been hurt so badly that they need a sign to tell them how long it's been since any murders occurred? Why should I simply accept this as a burden meant to be carried only by those who have personally experienced your trauma and leave you guys to get crushed under it because it's not my problem? I'm sorry, but I'm not someone who believes you need special positions or reasons in order to reach out to others.

If you're so concerned about me not understanding the feelings of those I want to help, how about you try sharing with me the contents of your heart so I can begin to understand them? You're been hiding your true feelings during this whole conversation by remaining polite with me. I know there's more you want to say to me. So please, let me hear them. No matter how ugly or nasty they are, I want you to say them.

accept it as not your burden until such time that someone should choose to trust you enough to share it with you

you are not owed an explanation by default.

if you wish to offer support, then offer it, step back, and wait for those who have been hurt to approach you for it. no matter your intent, pushing for one is like scratching at someone's open wound and being surprised that they're upset about bleeding everywhere.

in summary: thank you for your concern, mind your own business, leave my daughter alone, and go fuck yourself. ╰( ･ ᗜ ･ )╯

...

You call their not being trapped in whatever the fuck was happening to them an illusion?

You want an illusion, I can do that, literally or figuratively. Literally every friendship I can remember before I got here was that - an illusion borne of my powers.

Telling someone that ten weeks have gone by with no one having to kill anything worse than a giant bird or carnivorous deer, when they've been trapped in a place where it was a constant? That. Isn't. A fucking illusion.

And I'm not just talking semantically. I'm talking that what he's doing is a significant comfort to those trapped in a functional warzone. It's telling them "they're safer here". Maybe not safe. But safer.

[Touma gives her a resigned look.]

That's not what I meant when I said the sign was an illusion, but I don't feel like arguing anymore. I promised Jetshard I wouldn't keep pressing the issue so I won't. You're free to think of me as a villain if you want. I don't particularly care.

This goes for the rest of you as well.

Very well.

This won't alone get you your first rank in the Diplomacy skill, but remember, comforts are sometimes the only thing we have.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Video] un: foxtales

no subject

no subject

yuurinokimi

no subject

no subject

no subject

purrusu

no subject

no subject

sharpwings

no subject

no subject

text; Jetshard

text also

Text [Private]

[Private]

no subject

no subject

text; luciferskylight

User: have_hat_will_travel

no subject

no subject