Elise de Listenois (![]() ![]() @ 2011-04-08 05:27:00 |
![]() |
|||
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
Entry tags: | 2009-08-15, elise, rina |
Don't think for a beat it makes it better
Who: Elise & Rina
Where: Courtyard @ U of M hospital -- Ann Arbor
When: Afternoon
Madness, like most properly made blades, was all about layers. Layer upon layer. Heated, folded, beaten, cooled. Repeat as necessary. Some minds, some metals, could be worked and reworked. They remained malleable enough to reshape as and when one wished. The same sword could be passed down through generations of warriors, though it may carry a different form each and every time. The metal that formed the desired edge was still the very same as that reputed to have defended insert-ancestor-here from insert-ancestral-foe-here. It just looked prettier, was better suited to the fighting style of the time.
Other metals, other minds, were not suitable. Could not endure quite so much attention. They shattered when struck a certain way, were only suitable for specific motions. Reworking became out of the question after a time. Thus, the hours, days, weeks and months spent on one subject finally paid off. It was the fundamental difference between metalwork and psychiatry according to the Gospel of Elise. If it broke under pressure - or, indeed, without the pressure - she was doing her job right. In the middle of the hospital courtyard, in front of the Light-Bringer knew how many people, her most recent appointment fell to pieces, clutching desperately at hands that were actually causing the hallucinations he was suffering from. The shared stab of heartache she received as payment for tipping those particular scales was studiously ignored. It made her nauseous, though her mask of sympathy and concern did not falter. More interesting was the stream of images she was picking up from him. His daughter had a new puppy. Or two. Someone find me a shepherd. If he grabbed at her clothing again, she was going to kick him.
“Perhaps it was wrong of me to bring him outside,” she told a nurse, apparently guilt-ridden. Of course it was wrong of her. Else she wouldn’t have done it. “I had hoped the change of scenery would help a little...” Oh, no. She hadn’t. She just couldn’t have him recovering. Not after she had put so much effort into destroying him. Smiling wearily at the nurse who offered her sympathies - Shut up, you utter half-wit. - Elise sank back onto the bench, fingers supporting her temple as she watched her patient disappear back to the ward. Where he belonged. Under her thumb. Her eyes closed, and the support moved from her finger-tips to the palm of her hand as the rest of her tried to sink into the bench. Too much contact for too long, and her mind was filled with images, thoughts and feelings that were not her own. Added to that the rising mental order of her surroundings, and if the demon were not feeling quite so drained, she would have been fit to give everyone hallucinations.
A flicker in her peripheral vision as her eyes blinked open again, and she closed them again automatically. She had pushed herself too far these past few weeks.