Private Finished Returning Patient: Oluremi

Keen

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Remi actually had a smile on her face as she approached her therapist's office. Right on time. With her new hairstyle, contacts, and makeup, she was barely containing her excitement. Partially because she wanted Dr. Bryndísarson to see how much she was improving (physically at least), partially because she was carrying a paper that listed all of the potential discussions she could have with him. And with that, she gave a gentle knock on his door.

After having the door opened for her and being let in, she gave a hearty, "Hey, Dr. Bryndísarson," and entered. "So, uh, I had a lot of stuff to talk about, sooo I made a list, if that's okay. I hope that's okay. You can pick whatever you want, I just kept writing stuff down that I was thinking about. So... uh... y-yeah!" She held out the paper for him to take, then adjusted her skirt before sitting in a nearby chair with her legs crossed. Her face was a mixture of anticipation for his reaction ("Such a good patient for coming prepared,") and concern for what he had to say about some of the items on her list ("A lot of these aren't important at all. You're exaggerating.").

The paper was written in bright pink ink and had simplistic doodles in the borders. By now, Remi felt little need to be too professional with her therapist. What was written was a bulleted list of things Remi wanted to talk about. On the top was a title written in a bubbled font that said, "Remi's Concerns." Written underneath was a disclaimer saying, "Not listed in any particular order." Underneath those was the actual information. It flipped between being formal to being written in her style of speaking. "I'm worried about my boyfriend using a lot of hallucinogenics to help with his spirit flights and I don't know how to help. I don't know if I want to leave my family, but my friend is okay with me moving in with him and I have two jobs now. I kind of want to get a human capability charm, but, like, I don't want to abandon my species and family, and they're already tense about me having this charm. I can't take off my markings anyways or I'm actually abandoning them." Thinking about that last one, the new contacts she got would only accentuate the problem, but she was managing to hide it right now. "If I do leave, I want to make sure Arjean's okay and my family doesn't hate me. I'm not sure if I should go since I'm not really an adult to my species, but I fit well enough here."


 
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Romi

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Oh dear. Lists were, generally speaking, not good. It meant there were so many points that they couldn't possibly be remembered, but it also meant that the person making the list was sincerely worried they wouldn't be able to remember them all.

That wasn't even touching on her appearance. While it was nice she was finding her style, so many major changes so quickly could be a warning sign. It was something he'd have to bring up later, sometime after he settled back into his seat, the note in his hand and a serious expression on his face as his eyes flicked down the list, point by point.

"Why don't we start at the top?" Valli said. The list was in that order for a reason - either because it was the first thing that had come to mind, or because it was what she'd put out front to distract from the larger issues.

"Tell me about your boyfriend, and his spirit flights," Valli said, the note held loosely in his hand as he ticked through the options.
 

Keen

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Remi was used to herself analyzing everything Dr. Bryndísarson did, from his facial expressions to his movement. It kept her busy when he was talking and she was thinking, but also helped tell her if she was on a good or bad path. That latter part was practically useless though since he was skilled at

"Yeah, the top would be good." It was one of the things she was the most worried about. "So, my boyfriend's name is Koda. He's really nice and always calm. I guess my worry is..." she fidgeted with her skirt, "he needs to use hallucinogenics to leave his body and goes to the spirit world. Like, his dad works with him on it a lot. He trains on weekdays and on weekends he's free." Just by her tone of voice you could tell she was a bit annoyed by how busy he was.

"My main thing is is, like, I don't think the methods he's using are good for him. " She tried her hardest to not sound judgemental. Drugs and sustenances weren't something she knew enough about to judge. "He spaces out a lot. Like, I space out a lot, but he comes back spacey or confused because he missed out on chunks of what was going on. It was kind of cute and a bit funny at first when I thought he was exaggerating some of it, but now it's... I've been really stressed about him messing his brain up."
 

Romi

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Drugs. Drugs were definitely not his area of expertise. Of course, he knew the basics--he couldn't be a therapist without it--but he wasn't there to be Koda's therapist. He was there to address Remi's concerns about the situation.

"From what I understand," Valli said, carefully getting a feel from the situation, "you've only ever known him while he was going on his spirit flights, correct? While I obviously can't determine how effected he is by his routine, the possibility exists that that's simply how he is. Some people simply space out a lot, and need to get snapped back to reality regularly. Have you brought up your concerns to him?"
 

Keen

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Remi nodded when questioned about if he only knew him while he was on his spirit flights. "Yeah. I haven't really brought it up to him yet, but I haven't really been good at hiding that I'm worried. I just wanted to talk to you about it first before I actually went to him. I'm not too sure if that's how he is, but he's been doing this for a while and knows more about it than me. Just, I've been with him—er... with his body—during his flights, so I can tell he's more "here" when he hasn't been on a flight for a while. I've gotten used to telling how recent he's been on a flight... I think."

A part of Remi wished she never brought up the topic at all. That she was likely exaggerating the problem. Most of herself said this was a good idea. That this was her getting her thoughts out on the table, as opposed to just going up to Koda and laying everything out without any thought to it. The guilt still ate at her though and it showed.
 

Romi

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Well, there wasn't a whole lot that Valli could do with what little he had. He didn't know what Koda was like, and couldn't possibly do anything based on that. Even Valli's own emotions on it were a bit unclear. She was concerned, but she wasn't sure how much she should be concerned.

"I'd encourage you to talk to them about it. I'd also recommend against texting something ominous like 'I need to talk'. The language I tend to recommend in situations like this is 'It isn't an emergency, but I'd like to talk about your spirit flights. Do you have time to meet up?'"

That was nice and neutral, but also showed there was a need to meet up in person. "Then, tell him what concerns you have. Let him talk with you about them."
 

Keen

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Dr. Bryndísarson's advice was much better than what Remi planned. Her idea was to bring Koda out on a date to talk about it. Now that she was rethinking it, giving him the idea they would have a relaxing day out, then crushing it immediately or procrastinating on talking about her concerns until it was too late was manipulative.

"Y-Yeah. I'll do that after this, or in a few days. I'll decide later. I'm just trying to avoid procrastinating."

Her left leg was beginning to jiggle now that she was beginning to run out of things to say on the topic. "I don't want to mess up and say the wrong thing is all. Like, I've been researching some of that stuff, so I'm trying to understand." She didn't want to say it wasn't interesting. It really was. It was really interesting, and when she got into it, she couldn't stop herself. The issue was that after reading, she still felt insecure about her knowledge, and realized the topic didn't interest her enough to properly recall all the information.

Actually, I think I know what I'll do. I'll text him what you said, then when we're out, I'll ask him to explain what he's doing in more detail, so I actually understand. Then I won't go in acting like I know everything."
 

Romi

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"Speak for yourself," Valli said. "Not for others. If you talk about your concerns, from your viewpoint, than you won't say the wrong thing. If you're speaking from the heart, then I'm sure you'll be able to help him understand where you're coming from. Whether or not it's correct, that doesn't change how you feel about things. Even if it's completely fine and has no long term consequences, that doesn't make your feelings about it invalid."
 

Keen

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Playing with a strand of her hair and still jiggling her leg, Remi's smile became more confident now that she had settled on a plan of action. Her eyes now had a tint of excitement in them, like she was just waiting for this session to be over so she could text Koda, which she was.

"Yeah, just preparing myself is all. I don't really have anything else to say, but thanks. I think I finally know what to do. Um, do you want to go to the next thing on my list? I... actually don't remember what order I put it in."
 

Romi

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She seemed to have collected her courage to take a step forward, which was good. That was, in a large part, what he was there for. Not to give her the answers, but instead to help guide her towards making her own answers. To encourage and support her, even when--and especially when--she wasn't certain.

"Your second point was about your choice to move out. I'm always a supporter of young adults choosing to claim independence for themselves. Generally speaking in most earth cultures, it's assumed that adults will be on their own one day, but I can't say if it's the same for Oricenta. A part of this would be dealing with your own feelings about your family. A part of this would be cultural. And a part of this would be dealing with the culture of the island, where it's customary--even expected--that adults will step out and live on their own. All these things are real factors."
 
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