John Jones is a manhunter (johnjones) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-05-19 23:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, j'onn j'onzz (martian manhunter), lorna dane (polaris) |
Something to look forward to will help this along.
Who: John Jones and Lorna Dane
Where: Red Planet International's Danger gym building
What: John attempts to help Lorna with her trauma.
When: Earlier today
Warnings/Rating: PG-13, triggers for mass NPC death, loss, insanity
Status complete
John was at the danger gym building within a few minutes, after talking to AJ and letting her know what was going on. Once there, he booked both of the gyms, just in case, and one of the conference rooms, indefinitely. He wanted to have the time and area to take care or Lorna, however long it must be. Somehow, someway, he would help her.
Even if he had to face his own traumas to do so.
And so he waited, leaving word at the front desk where he was, and where to send her when she arrived.
Lorna was wearing running shorts and a tank top when she got there, because he’d said gym and for some reason that stuck in her head. She didn’t feel bad, just vaguely confused. Her emotions were all mixed up now, but she understood why John did this, and generally approved.
She eyed him a little when she was shown into the gym. “Hi.”
“Hello, Lorna.” He was wearing a simple but elegant tracksuit, and smiled to her. “Walk with me?” He waved a hand down a circular track. “I was thinking we could talk about options, and walk some, then adjourn to a conference room to do the actual work.”
His voice was gentle and warm, and he wished he could help this go away instantly.
“Sure.” Lorna nodded, and fell into step next to him. “So what are the options?” She toyed with the end of her ponytail, nervous.
“Well, there are a number. We could do this like a therapy session and confront the issues in a careful, gentle situation, exploring them without actually reliving them. The problem with that is it might take a very long time, and won’t necessarily work. Another option, is to take us into the mindscape, into the astral plane as they say, and face the situation head on, with my power backing you, giving you the ability to face the trauma without being overwhelmed. It would mean something like fighting your own mind, or rather the dream memories, given form. With my power backing you, you could beat it and absorb those memories without harm.“ He walked for a minute with her.
“We could also go into your mind and confront one of the voices your mind has created, and using my power and your willpower destroy that one. Then, duplicating it on a larger scale, we could destroy them all at once. This would probably take most of the day, two days at most. But it would end it quickly, though difficult.”
John nodded again, thinking. “We could do it slowly,facing the memories, and the voices together inside your mindscape. For us, it would take weeks, while for the outside world, it would take almost no time at all..” He smiled sadly. “All of these solutions share one thing, though. They will hurt some, and they will be hard, and mostly rely on you and your determination.”
He hmmed. “There are a few more options, but they are more drastic.”
Lorna thought for a little bit. “Might as well hear those too.” She didn’t like any of her options so far.
He sighed. “I could try to permanently block the memories and voices created, or just the voices. There is no guarantee this would work, and if it didn’t, then they would probably be worse, then.” He licked his lips. “I have recently had a new idea about the Dreams, but haven’t tried it yet. I could try, by searching your mind for what it feels like when the Dreams happen, to stimulate the dreams into happening faster, while you are here, under my care and watch. I have noticed of late, that when people hit the end of their dreamcycles, things seem to normalize. Of course, as yet, I don’t know if this would work, and I don’t know, for sure, that the end of your dreamstory is any better than you are facing now. If it isn’t, you could be even worse off than you are now.”
She thought about that, and shook her head. “No, I’ve seen what happens with telepathic suppression, and I’d rather not have more dreams to deal with on top of this. So. . . I guess the one that takes the least amount of real world time is best. I can’t be crazy for long, I have stuff to do.”
John smiled and nodded. “I was hoping you would choose that one. I’ve had to use it myself, for me, on a smaller scale. So I know what I am looking for, at least.” He gently touched her hand as they walked. “And that is a good attitude. Something to look forward to will help this along.”
“Even if it’s just eating an entire cake by myself in the tub?” Lorna asked with a laugh. “By the way, when did you start being a superhero?”
John grinned at her. “Yes, even that. People underestimate how much small pleasures can be strong motivators.” He nodded. “About two months ago. After I got my full powers and memories, and people needed help. I kept running into situations where my powers could help, so, when I heard of a need, I helped. mostly as the Bronze Wraith, an identity my dream self took on, once. I’ve helped your not yet nephew a few times, and others.”
“Nate, or Scott and Emma’s baby?” Lorna asked, curiously. “You need a new name, that one’s silly.”
“Nate. And maybe so, but I like it, sometimes. The other one my dreamself used was far more silly.” He shimmered and transformed, turning into a tall very alien being, with green skin that looked and felt very not like skin, and a head that had angles to it no human head had, with luminous red eyes. Across his torso, a red x of an outfit formed, and from the tops of that, a blue cape billowed out behind him. Blue boots and a blue pair of underwear, or... costume shorts, rather, formed as well.
“The Martian Manhunter, at your service.”
Lorna eyed him curiously, then shrugged. “Other than the costume I’ve seen weirder in San Francisco.” She’d been on acid at the time, but that didn’t have any bearing on anything. “So when do we start?”
John grinned and faded back to a mild mannered man in brown, with brown hair and brown eyes. “Whenever you like. The conference room next door is stocked with food, water and other beverages, and is a sealed environment with it’s own air circulation, so we can completely cut off from others.”
Then he smiled to her. “As well, our company doctor made a call and this was filled out a few minutes ago.” He handed her a prescription sheet which prescribed her to intake [] mgs marijuana as a relaxant, due to her anxiety disorder and her recent attack.
Lorna snorted. “I was about to need a renewal.” She tucked the paper into her wallet. “So what’s first?”
“First, we deal with that. I want you relaxed.” John led the way into the conference room, where, sitting on the table, was a package of weed, rolled into joints., with a label with her name and medical number on it.
“Red Planet International provides for those it tries to help. Considering your current situation, my bosses immediately approved me an expense account to assist you.” He waved a hand to the table and the weed. “Please. relax, rest. When you are ready, we will enter your mind and begin.”
Lorna saw the joints and sighed. The first real burst of sadness hit her, and it hurt. “I killed all my plants. They were in the shop.” She sat at the table and lit up. That sucked ass.
“I’m sorry. It’s hard to face the ramifications of the dreams. I was sick and horrified by my alter’s life and memories at first. It took a long time for me to settle in and actually enjoy any of it.” He nodded, watching her, sorry she felt sad.
“Pffft, I can’t even deal with that shit.” Lorna noted, taking a couple deep puffs. “Okay, so relaxing time, no more thinking about dead plants.” She leaned back in the chair, and put her feet up on its neighbor. She smoked and tried to think of calming things, like watching Champion frolic in Mac’s orchard, or the sound of the waves at night.
John smiled and watched her, letting the room dim a little to a more relaxed lighting level and sipping some cold water as he himself relaxed. He would prepare for this and be ready.
Lorna sighed, her body slowly relaxing. “This isn’t bad.” Not as good as her stuff, but she could appreciate it. “I think I’m ready if you are.”
He gently touched her mind and they were suddenly in her mindscape, in a garden, sitting in comfortable chairs. Ahead of them were display cases, holding thousands and thousands, nay, millions of plants, each individually. The cases were dark, so only vague outlines could be seen. “Those are the individual voices your mind created, imprisoned with the memories of them you have. My belief is that we should let one out and face it, feel it, and deal with it, using our combined power. If we can, then we can learn how to deal with all of them, at once.”
“There’s a lot of them.” Lorna noted. “I don’t know if we can get rid of them all at once.”
“If we can get the correct wavelength, the way of it, we can. But first we must discover that and that could take two or three or five. I am sorry. I will shield you are much as I can from the traumatic part of it.” John felt true compassion for Lorna.
And then they got to work.
Almost eight hours later, he was sitting next to her, his front to her back, as he massaged her shoulders and neck with gentle but firm fingers. In personal time, they had been gone a long time, the mindscape twisting time in their heads to let them take care of things in a controlled way, and letting them rest when they needed to.
Their bodies were tired and somewhat achy though, as they had moved little in the intervening time. John smiled softly and kissed the top of Lorna’s head. “It’s done, my friend.” And she was now. After the long fight they had experienced, sharing that pain and some of his own, he had no problem with calling her true friend.
Lorna sighed at the massage, surprised at how relaxing it actually was. Her mind was full, and her body was tired, but she felt. . . capable. Very much so, in fact. Fixing the problem had given her a sense of closure. She knew there were no demons lurking in the corners of her mind. Not about this, anyway. “Thank you, John. That was an amazing experience.”
“You’re welcome, Lorna. It was a learning experience myself. I feel like I gained a lot from it as well.” He smiled as his stomach rumbled. “Come on. Let’s eat, then get you home to your fiance.” His wife would be waiting for him, soon, too.
Lorna nodded. “I could eat all the things right now.” She said with a laugh, getting to her feet so she could stretch.
John nodded and led the way toward the cafeteria, and hoped the day’s events would be the last such needed.