cactusy | IC contact for lastvoyages

You're welcome.

[ He lets that sit for a moment, so Shaw has time to process that a little, at least. Eventually, he reaches over to scratch behind Winston's ears, then leans back. ]

You know, when you do get paired? I could help you with translating your inmate's emotions. If you want. Getting to know someone's motivations was literally my job.

... Yeah.

[God, she can think of so many ways in which that could be useful. She looks up at him, making eye contact again.]

Yeah, that'd be good. I'm not always as bad as you'd think at figuring that stuff out, I can be a pretty good study of human behavior, but, uh... I'm not great at handling it.

[ Will lets out a tiny chuckle. But he doesn't dodge the eye contact, this time. He looks pleased that she's taking him up on it. ]

Yeah, I'm less help at knowing what to do with the knowledge, but I still think I could be useful.

In return, I can do my best to make sure nobody hurts you.

[Which she admittedly would have done anyway, but.]

[ A playful smirk crosses his face. He does totally know that. Still- ]

Sure. I'd like that.

You still want to train me up for patrols? -after you're done tolling, of course.

We don't have to wait, I'm fine.

[She woke up like a day ago.]

[ He laughs. He knew he should've waited to bring it up. But maybe it's not too terrible to focus on what they can do, right now. ]

I was just going to say that I seem to be less averse to practicing at the range now. Not that I know what you're going to want to throw at me, but...might have a bit of an easier time with anything else, too. But we can give it a couple of days, let you get over the worst of it.

[ Besides, you're looking pretty comfortable there with a dog on your lap, Shaw. ]

Do we have a range?

[She hopes go god that the answer is yes and she's just somehow missed it despite exploring the entire Barge from top to bottom, but she's almost positive that he's talking about the Enclosure.]

[ Will shakes his head apologetically. ]

Just the Enclosure. But it's getting used as a range so much lately, I sort of wonder if that's something that could be- I don't know, petitioned for?

I would suggest just setting one up, but I don't know where we could that people wouldn't raise a stink.

I haven't had much reason to have fun with a gun here, and if you're patrolling with me, I'll protect you.

[There's an unspoken but here, because good god would she like a real, non-VR gun range. You can't exactly go firing off guns in the gym (unfortunately).]

[ Will snorts a bit, just an aborted attempt at a chuckle. But he looks pleased to hear it. ]

I don't doubt it. And it's not like we really need the ability to shoot things around here. But I have noticed that a lot of people use target practice to focus and calm down. Maybe I'll talk with Malcolm about arguing therapeutic benefits.

[ Malcolm's the type to take whatever he thinks necessary to the Admiral. ]

Kinda curious about how that would go.

[She says, arching an eyebrow. Malcolm is, in her experience, weird about guns.]

Oh, yeah?

[ Will raises an eyebrow right back. He hasn't heard of Malcolm having any problems with guns, but he can guess. They're a little too easy to use in a moment of weakness. ]

He is much more about bladed weapons. Maybe I'll bring up a fencing club at the same time. Or try to save a spot in the range for axe throwing.

Axe-throwing, huh. Sounds fun.

[Both to do, and to watch other people do.]

I'm, uh-- not a big fan of the Enclosure, but--

[But even if she can't see herself ever using it casually and recreationally, she should get to the point where she can go in without literally throwing up, right? Hating it is one thing; not being able to even enter it is a handicap.]

Yeah, it's a complete fake reality machine, when you're having a hard time with fake realities. I'm not surprised you're not a fan.

[ He rubs his face. ]

I don't think you should push yourself to use it, if you can help it. I- my brain kind of does that sort of thing on its own, and I'm a little rough with it, too.

[ The only thing that got him to even try it was the promise of dogs. ]

It's a weakness right now.

[She murmurs, with a slight shake of her head.]

If there's a problem in there, I have to be able to go in.

[ Ah, okay, so it's that bad. Will nods, looking thoughtful. ]

Well, if it would help, I could go in with you. Bring Winston, and we could keep it just to entering and exiting?

[ Exposure therapy might help, he's thinking. ]

Alternatively, you could look into quick-acting sedatives, something to calm your fight-flight-or-freeze reflex when in an emergency situation like that.

It's not fear. I'm not scared to go in because I'm alone, or anything like that.

[And she successfully manages to suppress an eyeroll at the thought.]

A better plan would be using it as part of a training exercise. Pretending there's danger, making sure I can still pull a weapon and fight effectively.

Well, I wasn't expecting you'd choose 'flight.'

[ But he calms down the sass to listen. ]

Yeah, that'd work. I'm pretty sure you should be able to pull up whatever scenario you want in there for training.

And I could still go with if you're amenable. I could train, and it wouldn't hurt for you to have an extra anchor.

[It's not a bad plan, on the face of it: Shaw might be something of a lone wolf by nature, but she's long understood the value of working as part of a team. And though she's generally slow to warm up to people, she knows that here, she doesn't have the luxury of taking her sweet time in deciding who's worth working with in a professional capacity.

But.]

We'd have to put in safeguards to make sure I didn't hurt you, if my, uh-- if things went sideways.

[ He nods, even if he looks like he's thinking of arguing the point. ]

I'll follow your lead on that, but trust me when I say that I'm really not concerned. Not that I don't think you can hurt me. More that I've been through plenty before. I wouldn't take it personally.

Doesn't matter.

[She says, arching an eyebrow.]

I don't want to hurt you.

[He's done nothing to deserve it, and she doesn't want to risk demotion. Not putting him in danger is an easy call to make.]

[ He nods. ]

Got it. Just didn't want any extra...restrictions placed on you, if that made anything worse.

[ But he's not entirely sure what would cause her more or less problems, at this point. ]

Sounds like we've got a plan. Maybe for tomorrow?

Yeah.

[Says the woman who is still very much death-tolling.]

Yeah, tomorrow sounds good.

[She pauses, then adds:]

Hey, thanks.

Sure.

[ He leans back on his hands, relaxing a little. They can just spend some time petting the dog, now.

The next day, he waits until after lunch to come see her. He's got the day off, but figured Shaw could use the extra rest...and maybe will actually take it, if he sneaks it in like this. Winston-less this time, he knocks on her door. ]

IC contact for lastvoyages

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want to thread this out?

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