So, let's talk about your self-esteem.

[piper90npcs]

Who: Jorgmund therapists and patients.
What: One of the benefits of Jorgmund health insurance? Mandatory grief counseling!
Where: Side rooms of the medical bay.
When: In the days following Planker's death.
Warnings/Notes: Likely to delve into the personal issues of various characters, which may get dark or go into sensitive content.

In the days following Planker's demise, some of the hires get tapped for extra counseling, on the basis of being "excessively perturbed" by the passing of their most beloved trainer. Rather than be assigned to chore shifts, these unlucky hires are sent to a room adjacent to the med bay with a small fountain of smooth-flowing water over rocks and the general scent of patchouli for an hour a day.

It's a healing space. Breathe deep. Abandon your pre-conceptions and negativity.

Comments

Re: Dr. Fust | Saturday/Price/Loken

[greyerrant]

Loken scowls at the question, but nods to Saturday. He might not trust the aliens, but this seems like an attempt to see dissent, not an attempt at helping them mentally.

Loken tries to hide his disappointment at the ruse by maintaining his scowl.

"My colleagues have been exemplary."

It pains Loken to lie so much right next to Price, of all people, but in this case showing cracks that Jorgmund could exploit would probably be worse.

Re: Dr. Fust | Saturday/Price/Loken

[myagents]

Price doesn't like being mistreated. In fact, he hates it, but the freelancers 'have their own reasons' so they are allowed to beat him up, apparently, and everyone else is allowed to attack him and insult him in whatever way they please because...Why, exactly? He's been mostly trying to help, the only times he was rude was when he lasered Loken and when he said he went dumpster diving for agents - which was, you know, the literal truth - after they decided to dogpile him when he praised their abilities.
Ah, also the thing about mocking Dan's grief, but that doesn't count because they were no witnesses. Stupid Dan.

"I agree. Our colleagues' behaviour has been impeccable."

It's not like the staff will try to help if he complains about what others do to him. They'll tell him that he is the problem like everyone else does.

Huh. What if he pretends to be naive and to 'open up'? What will they come up with to exploit him in this situation? It could be fascinating. There are so many threads that this can follow, and who knows what will impact the agents and the new hires at large. Perhaps he'll get to catch a glimpse of what Jorgmund is up to, perhaps they'll just kill him and spare him from an extended stay in the third prison in a row he has been forced into. He might even have the chance to come up with some clever counterattack if they try to get rid of him, guess there's only one way to find out. Either way, it could be fun.

"In regards to feelings of alienation, I am aware that it was mostly me causing problems to others and it is completely understandable if they don't want to interact with me."

He pouts softly, his face looks tiny and round like one of a child.

"So I am currently focusing on my chores and trying not to step on anyone's toes in order to offer at least some usefulness."

[piper90npcs]

Dr. Fust makes a little "hmm" noise and writes something down in her notebook for each of them. It seems she has a paper file for all three, although nothing is visible from here.

"So, between the three of you, one of you has already volunteered for the role of scapegoat. Saturday, Loken - do you think Price has anything to apologize for, here?" She sits back, tapping her pen against her notebook. "Actually. Are you all familiar with the social dynamics of scapegoat, victim and hero?"

[wheyoftheadept]

Saturday had raised her eyebrows despite herself at Price's uh - whatever the hell he was doing. She'll admit she hasn't paid a lot of attention to the group of color-coded super space marines from one of the half-dozen or so endless-war realities knocking around the place. She thinks Price is with them. Definitely is from one of more militant homeworlds, assuming she hasn't mixed him up with someone else. But she's never run into the guy before, or heard boo about him, really.

"Uh, nope," she lies on the subject off social roles, volunteering no further information. "Dunno anything about you, dude," she says to Price directly. "If you got a rep back home, no one's said shit to me."

[greyerrant]

Loken is relieved he can answer this honestly. Therapy isn't really a thing in the Imperium of man, at least not for the genehanced shock troops like himself. They get chaplains, instead, and they are mostly there for more rote guidance than psychologically complex issues.

"I am not aware of this dynamic, I would be grateful if you could explain it."

[myagents]

"They are some of the roles we can encounter in a dysfunctional family."

He answers to both Dr Fust and Loken.

"However, this...Family being so large might blur some definitions. Like Saturday said, she doesn't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about her either. This is the first time we interact. Whether you assign us one of these roles or we do it ourselves - or, more likely, you have us assign them to each other, it won't necessarily mean much in this particular session."

That was fun! Should he say what he wants to say next? Absolutely not. So he's gonna say it anyway, because whenever he sees a threat he has the primordial impulse to poke it with a stick. If he dies he dies, fuck it, he's done. Yes, he can be a little bit reckless every now and then, he learned from the best. Sometimes fear takes over and he acts submissive, it happens very often given that that is what the freelancers and the Director himself know him as. This is not one of those days, though.

"Unless this meeting aims to obtain feedback on your 'parenting' and rearrange the roles in a more pleasant way while actively keeping the family dysfunctional."

He's merely spitting venom to make it harder for everyone, but he does have a point. He's worked for Project Freelancer, he knows damn well how to perpetuate a dysfunctional dynamic. Hell, look at Saturday and Loken try to be cautious and under the radar, if it hasn't worked for him why would they have the right to try and get away with it? He's been so nice except for a couple of occasions and he was repaid in a less than ideal way. If Fust says he's the scapegoat, he might as well remind everyone how right she is.

[piper90npcs]

That's undoubtedly one of the purposes of this meeting, but that doesn't show in Dr. Fust's body language or tone. "This meeting is to assess how some of our most vulnerable hires are responding to the traumatic loss of a beloved superior."

She tilts her head at Price, then looks to the others. "Mr. Price is somewhat correct, but he's wrong in believing the scapegoat-victim-hero dynamic is limited to a family unit. It actually appears frequently in workplaces, particularly in workplaces that have just undergone an emotional shift, such as losing a colleague. The idea is that we consciously or subconsciously act out the roles that are most comfortable to us along this triad. The victim is the person who's unfairly suffering; the scapegoat is causing that suffering; the hero is the one who steps in to rescue the victim. Now, it seems at least one person in this room believes Mr. Price to be the scapegoat, and I imagine Mr. Loken sees himself as the hero. Which leaves you as the victim in this triad, Saturday. Are you feeling unfairly punished lately?"

[wheyoftheadept]

Saturday takes perhaps a second too long to respond. There are so many possible ways she could, and so few of them would be remotely helpful.

What is the woman's game? Does she think she's good enough to take three people with no reason to hate each other and make them? Is she that good? The peppy blonde, Saturday's seen in action enough to clock, but this one... is Price in on it? Saturday considers Loken's possible culpability, briefly, and decides against it. And she doesn't know Price well enough to guess.

That's of courses assuming this is some kind of elaborate, well-thought-out play, and not a half-assed attempted to shut the barn door now that they've noticed the horses of rebellion stampeding. Jorgmund is brutal more than clever, but they're not stupid. If she sent up flags during the last run... hmm.

All this thought happens in a moment. The corner of Saturday's mouth pulls back in a bland grin that almost touches her eyes.

"Why d'you ask?"

Let's play passive-aggressive stonewall of bullshit. See where that gets us.

[greyerrant]

Loken finds it hard to deny he was playing the hero when he did punch the recently-deceased Planker directly in his face after one too many nasty punishments being inflicted on some of the less physically adept new hires. He lets Saturday guide things, his own lack of guile not an advantage here. He is direct in his confrontations, and is now visibly swallowing disappointment he doesn't get a chance to talk about his actual problems.

[myagents]

Price had kind of hoped that the others would be unlocked by now. He understands why they don't want to speak, and it's alright, but putting a wall makes it so much clearer that there is something to hide. Still, as much as he likes to poke the threat with a stick, he doesn't necessarily want to be difficult. He just genuinely thinks it's all he can be.
He lowers his head. This session is going to be painful, and not the entertaining kind of painful.

[piper90npcs]

"Well, I should hope that you notice that everything you've said so far as been a conversation-ender. Lots of no's, no follow-up. That defensive posture usually comes from someone who's feeling threatened."

Dr. Fust looks at all three of them in turn. "I think we can all agree that this is a safe room for discussion, doesn't everyone agree?"

[wheyoftheadept]

"Safe, huh? What makes a place safe, exactly?" Saturday asks, cheerfully, politely interested. "Like I said, I never even met Price. Seems t'me we three got assigned at random an - hell, do we even have files for you t'read?"

The possibility of somehow talking her way into seeing them is a bright spot in what's otherwise shaping up to be a very boring afternoon. Stonewalling builds character, but it's no fun.