Re: quicklog: micah & elena & npcs And what if... Her brown eyes watched the newcomer, the nervous energy of his hands as he stroked the disposable cup. That was nothing new, she'd watched men and women tear the styrofoam into little pieces like the action alone was a way of disassembling their worries. She did the same thing with her wedding ring; when Elena wasn't thinking about it, she could feel the metal spinning round and round until she forced herself to stop. She wasn't obsessive compulsive, but anxiety brought repetition at times, it let the mind think about things other than just horror or sadness. Somebody could think about twisting their cup or tearing their cup or fiddling with their jewelry, not all of the ways that they'd blown what felt like their futures.
"I'm going to ask you to do something for me, okay? I want you to do something good for yourself, not tomorrow, tonight. The only reason we fall back into these patterns I've described, that you've described..." The amaretto flint of her eyes scanned the other people around the table. "Is because we don't believe we're capable of change, that we don't deserve it.
But I want everyone in this room to know that nothing is impossible, lives can be turned around, the nightmares will go away -- whether you need meetings or medication or just a change of scenery." The room smiled with her, nodding along with the kind of belief that came from trying to do all of this for way too long on their own. It hadn't worked for them, so now they were here, making this work.
"I care about all of you, be safe out there, be safe to yourselves, and I'll see you next time." People began to file out of their chairs and dropped their cups into the trash bin on the way out. Some hugged Elena, most men shook her hand. Finally it was just the man at the other end of the table and herself, she saw him struggling his way back to his feet.
"You're new." It was obvious, and he'd lingered although she couldn't tell if that was from injury of hesitation. "We can talk some more, if you like."