hadriel | [Video]

[Swift is, let's be honest, not great with using this thing. It feels clunky and unnecessary, but it's what he's got to work with. Not everyone is a har, so he'll learn to live with it. Maybe eventually he'll even get good at it.

As it is for now, when the video starts he's glaring at the screen and it catches the tail end of a curse before he schools his face into a more neutral, perhaps diplomatic, expression.]

As I understand it, Seel har Parasiel has been here for quite some time...alone, let's say. [Unsupervised. He means unsupervised. He hasn't had a proper babysitter.] I would like to take a moment to apologize personally if he's been incorrigible or stubborn or plain mean. I don't know all of what he said to everyone, but I'm hoping it won't be a problem for much longer. [It will still be a problem for a while until Seel gets used to having Swift around again, and he knows that. He's at least prepared for it. This by itself is going to cause a fight.]

If you are having problems with him, please don't hesitate to contact me and I'll make sure it's taken care of. Once again, I am very sorry and I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That answer pretty much tells him all he needs in regards to his own question.]

It isn't, exactly, other than what you've made everyone's business through this announcement. But it's difficult to just ignore a situation that is not only clearly not working but may be actively harmful to those involved, especially considering my profession.

[In good conscience he can't just step back and watch, especially not when it's being made so public to begin with.]

Your "profession?"

The only thing "actively harmful" is letting Seel run loose. It won't kill him to learn to be polite.

I'm a clinical psychologist; my job is to help people work through issues they have in their personal lives, in relationships, and in certain other situations.

[And that last comment prompts the return of that creepy feeling, which Lance does his best to ignore again.]

Do you think this announcement is going to help with that?

I see. [It sounds very...human. Something they don't have anymore. Or maybe they just forgot how.]

Yes, actually. I believe it will.

Why do you believe so?

[It's asked in a neutral tone, mostly because Lance is taking great care to keep his emotions out of his voice at the moment; he genuinely wants to hear the answer, even if he doubts he'll agree.]

Because it will remind him that he is accountable for his actions, not just to me but to the greater community. He doesn't get to run amok and do what he wants without expecting a consequence.

Is that something he was previously unaware of, and a reminder will actually change? Or will you apologizing for him send the opposite message, not just to him but everyone else?

He likes to think he won't be called out, so I suppose in one sense he is unaware of it.

Has that been a problem here? I haven't exactly followed everything he has or hasn't done, but the occasions I've seen in which he was behaving questionably there was no hesitation from others in pointing it out.

"Pointing it out" is not nearly enough. He is well aware of his behavior, but I am the only one here with the power to even make him consider changing it. He can't write me off or ignore me.

Has this been a long term problem with him, or a recent one?

You seem to think you know him rather well, like everyone else, evidently. You tell me.

From the way you talk and previous other conversations with him and people who know him, it's a longstanding issue, which is why I question the particular method of trying to resolve it. If it hasn't worked by now, it's unlikely to suddenly do so.

And I will take that up with him in private. For now, at least, the people he's wronged can know that it won't be tolerated any longer.

I hope your conversation with him goes over well, then. But if you want to truly resolve the issue instead of constantly doing damage control, it's going to require figuring out the root cause of it, rather than only treating the symptoms.

[Which is not something he really expects either of them to listen to, let alone accomplish, but who knows.]

I know what the cause is. Getting him to admit it is another problem entirely, let alone face it. He still doesn't get to be a horrible person because something bad happened.

[No huge surprise in this response, since Lance thinks he has an idea of what the particular subject is, although it's a least a good sign that Swift seems to recognize a correlation if this is indeed the actual issue.]

Of course he doesn't, and no amount of past experiences excuse or justify current actions. But it's also unrealistic to expect drastic changes without addressing the cause, and an expectation to simply ignore or forget about a past issue and move on tends to worsen problems, not resolve them.

I'm not the one expecting to ignore it. Or expecting him to.

[Lance is not seeing this conversation going anywhere useful from this point, and he's said the most important things, so--]

Alright. I presume he'll go through these conversations later, if he hasn't already, so perhaps the advice will get to him and he'll reconsider confronting the issue on his own.

[Lance hopes so, because it's obvious things aren't exactly working in continuing as they are. But he doubts anyone is going to listen to him, and he can't exactly make them do anything, so hopefully they'll just come to the same conclusion on their own.]

Perhaps. I suppose we'll find out. If nothing else, he knows I'm upset with him.

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