thisavrou_log | [closed] Who's crazy to live their whole life-

Who: Eric the Magical Therapist and Lara the Hallucinating Archaeologist
When: After this, in the early end of the morning.
Where: The Mess Hall
What: Lara is covering all of her mental health basis, this time with the slightly more legitimate ship therapist.
Warnings: The Usual. Descriptions of violence and death. Shitty hallucination Sans.

She almost feels better after she disconnects with Eric. It's-- It's not fixing anything, not right away, but it's something. A decision to act when everything before had left her feeling trapped and helpless. And it's rather hard to keep up the illusion of not needing help when one's steps are dogged by the bloody specter of one's dead friends, the smooth walls of the ship wiggling and squirming into the crumbling walls of Yamatai's city, the shine on the floor blood at her feet--

So. To the Mess Hall.

It's almost painfully early, even for Lara who had been a morning person even before Yamatai (or rather a poor sleeping habits person), and the Mess Hall is quiet and empty, except for one other person. Lara approaches them cautiously, hoping vaguely she doesn't actually look as worn and tired as she feels. First impressions and all that.

"Eric..?"

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Eric had himself neatly set up at a table, there was a steaming cup of coffee beside him and a plate of fruit in front of him. The coffee was half empty yet the fruit went untouched, he had a small knife in his hand as if he was going to slice it up but thought better of it and was instead drumming his forefinger against the knife's handle. He may have looked deep in thought but he was actually waiting for Lara to arrive, knowing it would be easy to spot her considering the time of morning. When she eventually does approach he looks up, taking in the face of what had been only a voice moments before.

She visibly needed help of some description. Emotionally speaking? Eric wanted to help her. He smiles brightly, placing the knife down delicately beside the fruit and extending a hand. "Lara. A pleasure to meet you in person."

The knife makes her pause, automatic and nearly instinctual, sharp eyes carefully appraising the man in front of her. After a moment, she-- Relaxes isn't really the word. The hyper-alert tension doesn't disappear so much as shift.

Lara takes the hand he offers, shaking it firmly. "The pleasure's all mine," she says, proper and well mannered even when she's close to collapse, "I appreciate you meeting me so early."

He tracks her eyes from the knife to himself, noting with faint interest that it made her seem edgy, made her sharper. When the tension visibly shifts though he nods not at her, but in general, because it confirmed thoughts he'd been having already.

He smiles broadly at her, especially when she displays a level of etiquette he'd grown to appreciate at home. "Its no bother... I don't sleep much, I'm very decidedly a morning person."

The smile lets her relax very slightly. She carefully takes the seat across from him, still moving lightly and cautiously.

"I appreciate it all the same. And we have something in common in that case," she says, hesitating before pushing herself to say it, "Although I admit, I haven't been sleeping... At all. Recently."

Eric relaxes himself when she takes a seat, seeming more at home with the situation. "Oh? And your sleep schedule normally... it was always more routine?" Because he always had to ask- Eric's had a strange sleep schedule since he hit puberty after all. What he deems normal isn't always everyone else's normal.

She considers that for a bit. "I... suppose it wasn't. I don't know. I was at university until-- Well, very recently. There was a sort of routine to it, depending if I was working and what the job was." She pauses and adds with a little ghost of a smile, "And final exams could be a bit mad. I've always woken up relatively early."

Eric chuckles warmly, taking a sip of the coffee. "Believe me, I know exactly how that feels. It may not have been recently but I have certain bittersweet memories of how life, and more importantly my sleeping pattern, was during the days of university." He's still smiling though, hoping that it'll continue to encourage her. "And that changed then? What you're experiencing now is decidedly different compared to the norms of that lifestyle?"

His presence is calming, even if the question still makes her pause. It's only that all of this is mad, only that the whole truth of what's been happening in the past few days (weeks? She doesn't know anymore) is entirely mad. Miller believed her and Miles had seemed to have an idea of what was happening to an extent, but that didn't mean that everyone...

She takes a breath, "I haven't slept in... A while. Days, I think. I've lost track of the-- the exact length of time."

Eric listens intently and his eyes widen slightly, days without sleep was dangerous, he arranges his face into an expression that wasn't quite concern, more neutral interest. "Well, that leaves you in quite the predicament. You know that seventy-two hours without sleep can have the same physical and psychological effects as getting absolutely trashed at a bar?" Because a lot of people didn't know that. "The consequences, or one should say side effects, create quite the list."

The corners of her lips twitch up in a ghost of a smile. She thinks she could laugh, but it might come out wrong, too sharp and hysterical, so she merely nods.

"I hadn't known, but I can certainly give credit to that." Another hesitant pause, eyes flicking to the side and-- yes, there he is. Smiling ghoulishly and dripping blood across the clean surface of the table. She resists the urge to reach out and wipe it away, turning her full attention back to Eric instead, "Does that include hallucinations as well."

Eric notices the eyes flicking away from him, he would've had to. You didn't get to do the things he did without at the very least being hyper aware of who you're talking to. He nods though, deciding not to draw attention to it. "Hallucinations, yes." He seems to go through a mental catalogue then of the symptoms of sleep deprivation, they were sometimes things you needed to rule out. "Memory problems, mood swings, the breakdown of cognitive functions, depression... death." But the moment he says the word he's right back there paying attention, gauging her reaction to it.

It doesn't register more than a slight blink and a nod. An ah yes, of course sort of nod. She considers the factors he lists before responding, "I don't know if I would remember if I was having memory problems, but I don't think so. Nor mood swings."

He actually can't help but chuckle at her response to potential memory problems. "I can tell you have a fine head on your shoulders, Lara." And he nods once, swiftly, as if answering a question he'd been posing so far. Between her emotional state and the fact that she was evidently self-aware there must be something deeper to this- and he wanted to help her. "Now, shall we avoid beating around the bush and discuss the nature of our meeting?" Because he needed to know what brought her here, people didn't seek out a psychiatrist at this hour of the morning unless they needed to.

[closed] Who's crazy to live their whole life-

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