fandomtownies | Fandom Counseling, Friday

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Fandom Counseling, Friday

It was a lovely if chilly day, and Hannibal was in his office again. Joni and the flamingos were playing in the yard, and Beethoven was grumpily curled up on some papers on Hannibal's desk.

It was possible that Hannibal had put a small pile of papers on his desk purely to lure the cat there so he'd stay off the computer, which Hannibal was using to alternately troll psychiatry forums and play online chess. He'd actually found a few decent opponents (for the chess, anyway).

Fandom Counseling was open!

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Liz had been avoiding this moment for as long as she could but had come to realise she couldn’t put it off any longer, she had set up the store and had an employee who could help with running it and she couldn’t really use that as an excuse now. Besides she had given Professor Bruttenholm her word that she would seek out counselling while she was living in Fandom to process what had happened in Pittsburg and it was the least she could do after he had gotten those charges dropped and had helped set her up her shop in Fandom.

Then the date yesterday with Prompto and the conversation about her family had reminded her that she really did need to talk to someone.

She took a deep breath and knocked cautiously, “hello?”

Hannibal got up and answered the door, cocking his head curiously at the unknown person. "Hello. I'm Doctor Hannibal Lecter." He held out his hand. "I don't believe we've met."

“I’m Liz,” she said quietly as she shook his hand, “Liz Sherman, I …I run the Photo Hut,” she explained, “I’m new …well I was a student a while ago but I moved back,” she rambled and she was rather nervous about all of this.

"Ah, that must have been before my time teaching." Hannibal smiled. "Please, come in." He stood aside to let her. "Can I get you anything? I have water, tea, and coffee, plus lavender scones today."

“Can I have a coffee please?” she asked, hesitating for a bit before she stepped inside his office, she tried not to look back because she was pretty sure she would run if she did.

"Of course." Hannibal went over to the table the drinks were on and poured a cup of coffee, then set it on a tray with cream, sugar, and a spoon, and brought that over to the little table between two comfortable chairs.

He sat in one of the chairs himself, but left it up to her to sit or stand or wander. "What is it I can help you with?"

Liz hesitated a bit before she took a seat, “does …does any of this get reported?” she asked, unsure of how this worked, her only previous experience had been with the local catholic church before Fandom and their only advice had been to pray her pyrokinesis away.

Hannibal smiled. "Give me a moment, and I shall bribe the squirrels. Then it won't be. And I take confidentiality very seriously."

He got up and brought out the good rum he kept for bribes, and shooed off the squirrels.

As she waited, Liz put three sugars in her coffee and focused on stirring it.

She took a sip of coffee and put it back down, trying not to feel nervous about this.

Squirrels properly bribed, Hannibal returned and sat back down. "Now we are no longer being overheard." He smiled, seeing her nervousness. "Nothing you say will go beyond this room. Would you like to start by telling me about yourself? Or would you rather I asked questions?" He spread his hands. "We can do this however you like."

“Well I .. uh a lot of my background ties into why I’m here,” she admitted, “it’s …I’ve never actually really done this before, my parents tried when I was a child and it first started but they took me to the local Catholic Church and … they didn’t help, they just gave me a crucifix and told me that I had to pray to make it go away because I’d sinned,” she took a deep and raised her hand, “um … I’m a … I’m a pyrokinetic,” blue flames tinged with gold appeared.

Hannibal smiled. "That's lovely. Is it actual fire? My husband was partly made of flames," he explained, "but they weren't actually fire most of the time, only psionic energy."

She nodded slowly, “it’s actual fire …I ...we think it’s this way because I don’t have the best control over it … it’s …” the flames went away, “it’s complicated,” that was a massive understatement.

Hannibal nodded. "Can you try to tell me about it?"

Liz stared down at her hands, “my powers started when I was a child … I don’t know how or why … as far I’m aware I’m the only pyrokinetic in my world, it started off small … I’d wake up and my sheets had been scorched because I’d dreamt of fire or … there’d be other incidents that could be contained, hidden … if we reacted quick enough ... my hands burst into flames once because a group of bullies chased me down the street,” she said softly as she recalled that day but it had been nothing compared to what would follow.

She finally glanced back up, “I have what we call episodes … my powers tend to react if I’m scared or angry and I can’t control my emotions … they … they’re devastating and … deadly …” she hesitated and stopped, unsure about continuing because she’d never really told her story before and not many people knew about it.

Hannibal just nodded again. "I imagine as a child it was difficult to manage. And once it gets out of control, it's even more difficult. Was there anybody to support you? Help you?"

“Not really no … my parents didn’t really understand they were strict Catholics and thought praying was the answer … we moved around a lot because of my dad’s job,” Liz said softly, “and it was easier to ignore that it was happening, usually by the time the local school found out there was something going on … we’d moved on before anyone could know … it was just me, my parents and br...brother," her voice caught on that last one.

"And that made it more difficult?" Hannibal prompted. "Are there many people with powers in your world, or is that why you kept it secret?"

“It made it hard to adjust … I wasn’t popular as a child …I had a hard time making friends…” she admitted and then paused, “I didn’t realise there were other people who were different like me in my world until…” she now hesitated, “after everything happened,” she stared back down at her hands.

"Are you ready to tell me what happened?" Hannibal asked. "Or would you prefer to work up to it?"

Liz wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready but she knew if she didn’t tell him now she may not and so she took a deep breath and steadied herself before she proceeded.

“It…” she started and then stopped, “I … I was 14,” she finally said, “it was the semester before I started at Fandom back when I was student, I was walking home from school one day when I got cornered by a group of bullies, who started throwing rocks at me … I …” she hesitated, “I tried to get away but one of the rocks hit me,” a hand went up to her forehead and self consciously rubbed the spot where that faint and constant reminder was.

“I …” her voice broke, “it … “ and she stopped, as those memories of that day resurfaced. "it triggered my powers ... I had my first episode that day, it caused an explosion that levelled the city block ..." she let out a sob without meaning to, "I killed 32 people that day ... including my parents and brother,"

Hannibal gave her a moment, then said, "Do you realize you aren't to blame?"

She stared down at her hands, tears building in her eyes, “it was my powers that did it…if I hadn’t … “ she stopped, unable to finish that train of thought, “...it feels like I'm responsible," she said instead, glancing back up.

Edited 2021-11-07 04:25 (UTC)

"I'm sure it does," Hannibal said. "Did you do it on purpose?"

"N-no..." she stammered, "I couldn't control it," she said softly, "I can't control it when my powers get like that.."

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