[video] - what i need is a good defense

[phdmotherfucker]

[ Harleen looks like she's had a rough night. The lighting is doing no favors for the dark circles under her watery red eyes, her mascara is smudged, and her hair probably hasn't even seen a comb. She clears her throat and her voice is raspy when she speaks. ]

So I got another round of memories, and uh. I think that other me is living in a horror movie or something. And I think she ... might not be the hero.

Are we absolutely sure there's no mute button on this shit?

Comments

[phdmotherfucker]

Yoga? Guided meditation tapes? Drinking?

[darkforcerising]

Only lorazepam if I wake up with a full-on panic attack.

Yoga is for the physical therapy, not the mental therapy.

Mostly mental grounding exercises, coping techniques. The usual a wounded vet would have in their therapy arsenal if they attended therapy regularly.

[phdmotherfucker]

I know. I'm usually the one teaching the coping techniques.

[darkforcerising]

Okay. Then practice what you preach.

I can't run you through an EMDR session because that would be unethical as I am not a licensed therapist. But I am a connoisseur of many years of therapy. So I know this stuff you guys teach works. I mean, with constant practice, so I guess doing it one time right now might feel pointless.

But I donno, tell me five true things about yourself. That you're willing to share with me.

[phdmotherfucker]

Grounding usually starts with things someone can see, hear. The sensory stuff. But, okay, uh.

I went to University of Georgia, then Stanford. I'm a natural blonde. I have one tattoo. I was a gymnast. I don't actually need glasses even though I wear them at work.

[darkforcerising]

Ya, but you've just experienced firsthand the memories of another person.

Reminding yourself who you are, here, now, helps.

Is this glasses thing something I as a white dude just won't get 'cause no one would question why I have the degree I have and the job I have... or is this some late 2000's Millennial-ism?

[phdmotherfucker]

I'm conventionally attractive, so I don't get taken as seriously without them. That sounds like some humble brag bullshit, but it's real. A big heavy pair of frames say, "Oh, Barbie can read!"

[darkforcerising]

Men are assholes.

[phdmotherfucker]

Are you just figuring that out now? Because it's old news.

[darkforcerising]

No. I've known.

[phdmotherfucker]

Congratulations. Give yourself a sticker for self-awareness.

[darkforcerising]

[ Anakin is so fucking tired of people getting churlish with him, unprovoked, on this network. He just adds Harleen to the list of people he'll avoid and deletes the notif without responding. ]

[phdmotherfucker]

[ Oh no, did she hurt his delicate feelings by not getting over her moment of crisis with the barest of feminist platitudes? Truly, her heart is broken, irrevocably, with the loss of this most stimulating conversation. She will never recover.

Or she won't give it a second thought. Definitely one of those two things. ]