synopsychic | (no subject)

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Hokay, so, I think it's safe to say we're getting into the last round of these shenanigans, which presumably means regular 'being ripped out of Liminal Space and possibly dumped into someone else's life' service will be restored shortly.

I'm gonna scale back cool-stuff offers accordingly, but that doesn't mean lightcycles and fancy magic tattoos are completely off the table. I'm thinking four for lightcycles and... the usual one tattoo, since God knows what these guys are gonna throw at us once they're done, or how soon. If it turns out we still have a while before the next jaunt yet, I'll consider a second.

As usual, first come, first served.

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The Sun Guard tattoos, right?

...Can you do one that's kind of a...I don't know, a general power boost?

The Sun Guard tattoos, yes, but I'm gonna need a little more to go on than 'general power boost.' What kind of power are you looking to boost?

...Also I don't think I know your actual name, which isn't a requirement so much as just generally awkward.

Oh, right. It's Rosalie.

For the power boost... I know how to do some magic. Non-Jaunt magic, just to clarify. But I've never had the power for it to be really useful. And it would take too long for me to learn how to do it the normal way. So I'm looking for shortcuts.

Claudia. Good to meetcha properly.

Okay, so a magical power boost instead of a super-strength kind of thing. That's definitely doable. Given any thought to the drawback?

If you can make it work. And drawback... Oh, Christ. Right. Uh. Do I get to choose?

It's easier if you do. Then I know what I'm working with.

[Trying to think of something that's legit but also won't backfire in a crisis, when she's likely to actually break out the magic.]

Hmm... Any suggestions?

The power boost calling for an increased stamina cost would make sense, but might not be ideal if you use it in a pinch. Reduced agility or physical strength would land you in the same kind of bind. Upped metabolism would also work pretty well, with less immediate drawback - you'd just need a really big meal afterward.

Let's go with that one, then.

[She can handle being hungry for a while. It's something she's more used to than she'd like to be.]

Sounds good. Now I just need to know what you want it to look like and we'll be ready to roll whenever you have time.

Does it matter? Uh, I can draw some of the wards I know for you, if that'll help.

It matters as far as this being a tattoo is concerned. Might as well be something you actually like. It can be based on the wards or not - your choice.

[Rosalie mulls over this for a while. This was really all just practicality as far as she was concerned. Actually thinking up some kind of pattern wasn't an aspect she'd been thinking of.]

...Might as well be like a ward, in that case.

[Some of the symbols are pretty enough. And she knows enough to not do herself an accidental mischief by drawing something meaningful.]

Sounds good. Draw me up the one you want and we'll go from there.

Gotcha. I'll see what I can doodle up.

If you have not already been inundated with requests, I would be interested in a lightcycle. I remember them being quite useful on the Grid.

[Also fun. Loads of fun.]

I haven't been, no. Besides, Team Crypto's gotta stick together, right?

[That last part's more of a guess than Claudia care to admit, but her overlay spent the entire damn jaunt holed up out of the way and only emerged when the fuss was largely settled, so she only has half-remembered and very old data to work with.]

An admirable sentiment.

[A hint of humour colours the thought.]

Is there anything you need in return?

[Okay, good, her lucky guess paid off.]

There's never any obligation to do something in exchange. But if you really want to... you have a decent amount of network-fu, right? I'm not after spying-on-people stuff, just trying to figure out if something's possible.

I do. What are you attempting to figure out?

[Claudia hesitates for a moment before taking the conversation private, for much the same reason the initial call for help was locked down.]

One of my friends... bluescreened himself pretty bad last Liminal. Overlay prodded the terminals. And I couldn't think of a damn thing that would help him put that crap away long enough to think straight short of calling in reinforcements, and I don't like not being able to help my people.

Is there, like... a way to help people process that kind of thing a little easier? I know you can't make a thing stick unless the other person wants it to. [Oh god does she ever. She's grappling with Malik's back catalog of issues.] But if there's an option, I'm starting to think it'd be a good thing to have in my arsenal.

I suppose it was always futile to hope that Riddick and I would have been the only ones to take our chances with those machines.

[There's a moment's pause before she continues.

There is a way to help a person's mind heal from that sort of trauma, though fully moving past it will still take some time - not unlike healing from a physical injury after a doctor has treated the wounds.

I don't think he would have if he'd been himself. He's usually pretty sensible about poking that kind of thing. [Which is more than she can say for Malik, but if anyone could handle that information, it's probably him.]

Yeah, that's how these things tend to go, but every little bit that'll help is worth having. I mean, hell, I'm already practically Liminal Therapist.

Are you? That is quite a burden to take on.

[There's humour and sympathy in equal measure there.]

I would be glad to teach you what I know of psychic healing, but you have to promise me that you will take care of yourself as well.

Believe me, I didn't do it on purpose. I just... don't like to leave people hurting if there's something I can do about it, and somehow I manage to pull out the right thing more often than not. [Possibly because she's been on the receiving end of bad psych care before, and thus has some idea of what not to do.]

Thanks. And don't worry, I do. Part of why I put limits on the lightcycles is so I have a chance to do something else during your average Liminal.

And the extended length of this interlude has allowed you to offer more than usual.

[There's a hint of understanding in Liara's voice - both of the logic behind Claudia's limits, and of the risk of working oneself to the bone if care isn't taken to do otherwise.

Particularly where Crypto invention is involved.]

Exactly. The tattoos are more complicated in general, and I don't want to leave people with half-finished work, especially when they're supposed to shuffle your body's energy around. I'm lucky to get through two in an average break. [She could have pulled off more this time, but Jean was the only one to ask - Eren's touch-up work was a lot simpler than doing the thing in the first place had been.]

But yeah, I've pushed myself to the brink before and I know it isn't pretty. I save that kind of stops for when I really need it.

Which is likely enough to come during a Jaunt without helping it along in the interlude beforehand.

Pretty much. Probably the closest I've come here was Ninjaville, and even that was an overlay. [But it wasn't like Chiyo wasn't going to defend her family.

The resonance between them, salad-worthy as it is, is definitely strong enough for Claudia to see where it came from.]

So, trauma reduction tips? Solemnly swear I won't be running myself ragged with it.

Approach it like triage. It is tempting to try to fix everything, once you're there, but that is rarely effective - choose the most important aspect, and work with the person's mind to build the framework they need.

Fixing everything at once doesn't actually fix anything anyway. [If it were that easy, Malik wouldn't be half as fucked up as he is.

Nor would Raidou, for that matter, but that's a whole nother kettle of fish even without his Interface shenanigans.]

No, it does not, but I believe your people have a proverb about hammers that occasionally suits.

Regardless, the first step is similar to extending a shield across another's mind, only rather than encompass the entirety of their thoughts, you narrow the focus to protect the proverbial wound, to give your patient repsite and allow them time to heal.

True. [It certainly applied to the hospital's approach, when she was there. Everything was anger management and pills, for anger she didn't have and problems she didn't need treated.]

So it's basically putting the firewall around a smaller target?

It is closer to quarantining infected files for repair, I believe, but yes - it's applying a similar principle on a smaller scale.

Got it. [Let's be real, Claudia has the right reference base for dealing with the network - there's just a very uncomfortable difference between hacking a computer and hacking someone's mind.]

Thanks. So much. I'll drop you a line when the lightcycle's ready.

You're welcome. If you have any future questions, do not hesitate to ask.

And thank you.

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private, double protected

likewise, into infinity

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