hadriel | 006 [Video]

[So, the event's officially over, everything's back to cave-normal, and Lance has had some time to sort out his thoughts on everything. He's also had time to debate with himself on whether he should address something bothering him or just ignore it.

Although he's decided, finally, on the former, it took quite a bit of mental debate; he probably wouldn't have said anything at all if he weren't a psychologist, and weren't concerned that other people might be seriously negatively affected if the issue weren't brought up. Regardless, he's still not exactly looking forward to this entire thing because he can't see it going over all too well, but then again when does anything go over well here?]

Now that the event is over there's something I wanted to address, regarding it and others in the future. I expect there will be disagreement, which is fine, but it would be nice if that disagreement could be discussed in some sort of reasonable manner.

[In other words, not with yelling or threats or murder. He has high hopes for you all!!!]

I'm not going to go into a lot of psychological details and reasoning unless anyone is actually interested, but to summarize: although the idea of simply resisting a compulsion is theoretically appealing, it's not exactly that simple in practice. It also has no correlation at all with being weak, feeble-minded, a failure, or any other negative descriptor I've seen used so freely lately.

[Which he's none too pleased about, even if it doesn't bother him much personally.]

Considering that so many here have so much to worry about and are under enough mental stress already, adding blame for something caused by an outside influence is not exactly helpful, especially in the long run. I'm also just generally unsure that being angry with each other over something caused by an event is the best use of everyone's time and energy.

[Especially when things done by people while completely in control of themselves tend to be overlooked entirely, but he's not even going to touch that topic right now.]

That said, if anyone who has been here for some time has any sort of advice or strategy for identifying and attempting to control an event-caused mental effect, that would be useful. I don't doubt that there might be some techniques that could help, depending on the individual and the specific nature of the event.

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[Way to go, indeed. The desire to do something helpful, but find the opposite has occurred is one that is familiar to Carlisle, and one that garners a shred of sympathy from him. It's a surprise to even the clergyman himself, given how strong his feelings are regarding this.

The doctor has been helpful before, though. And seems to be interested in pursuing that, if his application for glyphcrafting holds any truth. He was sympathetic regarding Emily's disappearance.

Carlisle is silent several long seconds himself, his inward debate punctuated by a quiet sigh. His voice is muted when he speaks again.]

Perhaps you should look into more productive ventures, like steeling yourself against compulsions so this doesn't happen again. At the very least, with practice, you might be able to stay your hand, should the gods push you to do something you would regret.

[The only thing that stops Lance from responding with something frustrated and defensive is that he's getting the sense--from Carlisle's tone mostly, but that also combines with the rest of the conversation in hindsight--that maybe there's something else going on here. So instead he asks a cautious question.]

Is there some specific manner you suggest for doing that, outside of an event of that type actually occurring?

[More hemming and hawing. There are some sounds that might be him fumbling with the buttons on his phone. He's not sure he wants to talk about this in the open, but he's never been the most technologically adept person.]

You... could find someone who would perhaps have experience in such things. And the capacity to, ah. To influence your mind. If such a person exists in the city, of course. It's not unheard of for those as- associated with dignitaries and royalty to be trained in resisting such things, as rare as they may be.

Edited 2017-10-02 22:08 (UTC)

[Yeah, just... Give him a moment of very suspicious and pointed silence, and if this were video he would be giving the creepily intent stare he usually gives when he's trying to figure someone out.

But while he does that, Lance thinks about the same thing as Carlisle does regarding the public nature of this conversation, but he's quite a bit more comfortable with technology and has no problem shifting the connection to private before he cautiously responds.]

I presume you have a suggestion of who such a person might be?

[In other words, he knows this isn't a hypothetical suggestion, although he isn't suspecting Carlisle personally yet.]

[Thank goodness someone know how to work one of these communicators. Carlisle has been shown a couple of times now, and still struggles with it. Those his nerves continue to bleed into his tone, he is marginally more audible when he replies, seeing that the feed is no longer open to the public.]

I, er. Yes, I suppose I do.

[He's been trying to gain some measure of control over his influence for months now, and while he feels he has a better grasp on it these days than he used to, he is still morally opposed to using it in nearly all cases. This... could be helpful, though, even if it is just one less person falling prey to the whims of the false gods.]

I assume people from worlds where magic is an unknown aren't taught to combat such things, and aren't naturally predisposed to c- compulsions in any way, but if it can be trained in my world, I see no reason individuals from others could not be similarly versed in recognizing the feeling of having their will dominated by another, given p- practice.

[Which doesn't exactly answer who it is who'd be training Lance, but Carlisle certainly does seem to be dancing around that topic for the second.]

[That is a lot of very suspicious rambling that also confirms this is a thing in Carlisle's world. It isn't taking much to put two and two together, although the implications are giving him some pause; on one hand, the idea that it might be possible to practice resisting a supernatural influence is definitely something he wants to explore in theory, but in practice... He's more than a little nervous. He didn't even let anyone use healing powers on him until Brennan was given Hope's blessing, let alone trust to allow someone to--presumably, since he doesn't see any other way this would work--try to control him so he can practice resisting.

The whole idea is, actually, pretty terrifying.

And, although he doesn't specifically distrust Carlisle, he doesn't specifically trust him either. Who knows what he could do if he chose to, and it's not like Lance has had a lot of great experiences with the people here in general, although he's also never heard a bad thing about Carlisle. And, if he were intending to use any powers he might have for something sinister, surely he would just use it and not go through some elaborate ruse like this?

There's silence for several seconds while Lance debates internally, but then he decides he should actually be certain of the situation before he continues stressing out of a decision.]

You're talking about yourself, aren't you?

[It isn't judgemental, just making sure.]

[Another quiet sigh, though he doesn't sound anymore relieved.]

It... is not an ability I am proud to have, nor one I was trained in. Though resisting such aural influence is a learned skill in my world, the capacity to compel someone against their will is not a natural one. I- I would not offer this openly, or to just anyone, but... you do seem well-intentioned, and willing to help others.

[And that's apparently good enough for him.]

[That answer is enough to reassure Lance at least somewhat, because he believes Carlisle means what he's saying and therefore Lance probably has little to be afraid of, at least consciously. Overriding the more instinctual fear is more difficult, but he can manage that.

And it's too valuable as a chance to pass up; if he can learn to resist the events that affect people mentally and emotionally, that'd drastically change how he's able to handle some things here in general. At the very least, maybe he'd be able to be certain he doesn't cause anyone any harm.]

Thank you.

[It's mostly in response to the last part specifically, but also in general for the offer.]

I'd like to try, if you're willing.

I make no promises on if you will be able to learn, but it should not hurt to try.

[Hopefully.]

I will leave it to you to decide when and where we should meet for this. Somewhere private, preferably.

[Lance's first thought is his apartment, but then he rethinks that; not that it's much of a problem for Carlisle to know where he lives, considering he's taking a much larger risk by trusting him on the main point of their conversation than he would be by letting him in his house, but there are a few totally different issues with that. The biggest one is that Lance has a gun in his apartment, and so even if he didn't have it on him it'd still be there to find if something happened to go wrong. Another is that he has friends who might show up unannounced and be--with good reason--a little concerned.

So his apartment is probably not the best choice after all, but that means he really isn't so sure of where to suggest. He'll have to think about it.]

I appreciate it. Can I get back to you on a location?

[And a time, obviously, since the location needs to come first.]

Of course.

[He sounds a little relieved that Lance doesn't want to start immediately. That'll give him time to consider a proper lesson, something less haphazard than his own studies in control have been.]

You may reach me by the communicator at your leisure.

006 [Video]

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