Private Who here would ever understand?

With how the island was, Vito couldn't even tell Maarab had a last name. Lots of people didn't. Really, anyone who wasn't from the narrow reality seemed to have a fifty-fifty chance for whether or not they'd have one, and Maarab...

Well, it was hard not to notice the scar on his neck and come to the conclusion that whatever he had going on, he wasn't completely human.

Vito would offer his hand once Maarab had introduced himself, offering him a smile, a handshake if he'd wanted it, and then an introduction.

"My name is Vito Savoia. Have you ever had therapy before, or should I run down how I usually run things for you?"

"None taken," Vito said, pulling his hand away. Not everyone liked handshakes, or even any physical contact at all. He liked to give the option, because it helped some people get in the right mindset—often professional and emotionally distanced—for their session.

"Then you're familiar with the basics," he added, saving himself the time of covering it all. About disclosure rules and everything like that. They were standardized, thankfully, saving him from having to re-explain them for those who had been to therapy before. Sometimes reminders helped, but actual disclosures took a long time.

"I try and start at the end for new patients. So I'll ask this: what made you decide to try therapy for yourself, and what is your end goal? What do you want to get out of therapy? This helps us set goals, and gives me an idea of what you'd like to focus on."

Vito was, minute by minute, getting a better understanding of what sort of person Maarab was, and what sort of environment he had grown up in. The mention of a lack of leadership, and deferring to authority. The discussion of rebelling.

If Vito had to guess, he'd come from a very authoritative environment. It was also hard to miss that Maarab seemed to struggle with expressing their own wants, either because they didn't know how to express them (or were nervous to do so), or because they weren't used to thinking of themselves as someone who even had wants.

And then, of course, Maarab all but confirmed Vito's theory: what they wanted didn't matter, and now, on Manta Carlos, it did.

"You grew up with a rigid structure," Vito observed, "and now that it's removed, you're floundering. Like a tree that's been growing tied to a stake, only to have the stake removed." Would Maarab even understand that metaphor? Did he understand basic plant husbandry?

That was a problem with Manta Carlos: everyone had such varied experiences that it was sometimes hard to find a commonly understood ground.

"Would I be correct in assuming you want to find a way to... deal with that? To become comfortable with the way things are on the island, now that you've left your old life behind."

He had some theories about what Maarab would say to that, but he didn't want to lead him to a specific answer.

Vito had, overall, a much clearer understanding of what Maraab was going through by the time they finished their explanation. The society he'd grown up in was completely alien to the one on Manta Carlos. It held to rigidly defined structures, and enforced them no doubt with violence and intense punishments, if Maraab's injuries were anything to go by. He had been happy there, and then, when he had left--for whatever reason--his eyes had been opened.

He had, to give a biblical metaphor to a man Vito did not yet know was an angel, tasted the forbidden fruit.

"You've already accomplished the first step. The hardest part of getting help is recognizing that you need help, and it's something a lot of people struggle with. Even if those around you recognize it--" Which apparently they did, because multiple people had told him to go, "--only you can make that choice."

More or less. Vito wasn't getting into the ethics of involuntary committal.

"Even if the island doesn't have the sort of structure you're used to, I think you can find ways to help create a structure for yourself, one that will help you adjust more readily. Setting yourself rules and a schedule, keeping track of things... even if the island won't provide you with someone who will tell you exactly what to do, there are a lot of resources for helping you find a structure to meet your goals. Something you could do, for example, is to set aside a short time each evening and write things down about your day. What you did. What progress you made towards your goals. Questions you're thinking about. Writing things down tends to help cement things in our minds, and can help you feel a sense of structure even where one doesn't strictly exist."

Vito wasn't quite sure how to interpret the gesture towards himself. Therapy? Talking? Support? Something else entirely he wasn't sure about?

Impossible to say, and Vito wasn't the guessing type.

"If you're worried about it being read, there are ways around it. Enchanted diaries that burst into flames if opened by anyone but the writer. Locks. Keeping it on your person. Humanity at large does enjoy writing things down and not having them be read, so that's something you can specifically not have to worry about."

No reason not to take advantage of the options.

"Writing is an excellent way to keep track of scattered thoughts, to make connections you might not have otherwise, and generally meditate on things. It's something I recommend to a lot of my patients, and it's proven to have plenty of benefits."