Event Log: A Hope for the Future

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the A Hope for the Future event
Where: All over the city!
When: April 15th-April 19th
Warnings: Stealth Rock

It's finally time to reap the rewards you've earned from all that hard work collecting and returning the Hope orbs! Be careful walking the streets during the small earthquakes, but feel free to admire the scenery as your beautiful city reassembles its way back into its former glory.

There are new houses where the destroyed buildings once were, and they're perfect for a single person or pair of lovebirds. In addition, you'll find that the electricity to these new houses, and all other homes and shops in the city is restored. The food is better, the monsters are gone- hey, this city might be livable again!

To cap it all off, we've got a feast waiting for you on the 19th! Come one, come all, and enjoy all of your favorite foods, drinks, and party games. It's been awhile since we've all gotten together to celebrate something good, so get your party on and toss all your troubles away!

► This log covers April 14th-April 19th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you get hit by levitating rubble or eat a food that wasn't meant for you, please let us know here.

Comments

[abbatis]

I suppose that is the attitude that's going to be needed if one wants to stay sane while being trapped here for that long. [Because that is what he sees this situation as. ]

I'm not entirely sure. I guess people have only few decades ago started to grow interested in what goes on inside minds. [He says with a thoughtful voice as if he had actually been there for that long even though his small 14 year old appearance says otherwise.] It's quite new profession on it's own. I believe normal physicians and priests have handled such things.

[lifetothefullest]

[He nods at the first comment, because he agrees; there's no point in dwelling on the negatives, because there are plenty of those to deal with without looking for them in other places.

As for the rest of his response, that's interesting too, and Lance has to ask--]

What year is it, where you come from?

[He knows it's entirely possible the year number won't make sense, since different places have different ways of counting such things, but it's worth asking.]

[abbatis]

It's 1948. England.

[He adds just to be sure. It's a small, not-quite lie. Despite having being born there he hasn't felt any genuine connection to the place or cared enough about it to call it his home.

He takes a better look at Lance, eyes wandering from toe to head, measuring and observing the way how he's dressed and carries himself as he tries to pinpoint his time period.]

I take it you're from future?

[lifetothefullest]

[Ah, that makes sense, and Lance nods both in understanding and at the question. He just tries to ignore that appraising look.]

Yes, I'm from 2014, and I live in the United States. Psychology is not a particularly rare profession, but it's still a little unusual and there's a lot left to learn about it.

[abbatis]

I'm glad to hear that. I think human mind is a field of study that has been neglected for far too long. [It doesn't really surprise him either. Both horrors of the war and need to look at the future has left the general mindset in curious yet vulnerable state. No wonder the public becomes more interested in what happens in other's minds.]

Say, do you take patients here?

[lifetothefullest]

It is. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people who aren't convinced it's a valid field, but there have always been those people about every subject.

[So whatever, right? And he nods at the question, looking at Edgar a bit more seriously.]

I do, yes, most of the time. Anyone can contact me at any time if they want to talk, whether formally or casually.

[abbatis]

Ah. Must be nice to have such trust among the people here and know so many of their secrets.

[Those words are spoken with a laughter. The change in his looms makes Edgar smile more mischievously]

Should I come to see you?

[lifetothefullest]

That isn't exactly the point.

[It might've been a joke or it might not have been--he can't quite tell, considering he's heard very similar comments entirely seriously here before--but it's worth clarifying anyway. And he's not exactly sure about Edgar's next response either, so it gets a cautiously neutral answer.]

If you have need to, it's an option.

[abbatis]

Of course not. Just a bonus.

[It is a joke to Edgar, just like almost everything in this conversation. Of course there is a layer of genuine interest laying underneath all the amusement, which is enough for him to keep the conversation on the track.]

How do I know if I have a need? I've never been to a psychiatrist before so I don't know about the requirements.

[lifetothefullest]

I suppose so, although I often learn a lot more about people through normal conversation.

[Just by paying attention. The vast majority of the secrets and details he knows were not told to him in confidence.

He's still watching Edgar a little carefully, trying to get a good sense of him as he responds.]

There isn't really a requirement, but people typically speak with a professional when they have an issue that is causing them mental or emotional stress. I'm typically a trauma counselor, so I usually help people who are having difficulty coping with some sort of traumatic experience.

[But he can help with other issues too, if necessary, it's just his specialty.]

[abbatis]

Really now? Do people often ask you to analyse them, then?

[Edgar keeps his demeanor light and carefree, masking away his own inquiring eyes. Lance is not only one who pays attention during the conversation, picking up hidden messages behind the words and nuances. Subtext and such often reveal more than any spoken words.]

Well, maybe I will drop by your office. If you don't mind seeing a child like me.

[lifetothefullest]

No, usually the opposite.

[People seem to take any question or analysis as something he's doing as a psychologist, rather than something completely normal that almost everyone does in conversation. It's a little annoying, actually.

And that last comment makes him hesitate a moment, mostly because Lance is utterly terrible with gauging ages. Considering his own upbringing was unusual and he was rarely around people his own age, as well as looking very young himself, he can usually guess a general range and nothing more; he thinks Edgar is a teenager, but beyond that he's lost.

So he might as well ask--]

How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?

[Because it does matter in terms of counseling.]

[abbatis]

Funny, I would have thought differently. It seems like people here are more and more interested in sharing stuff about themselves than before. Or at least diaries seems to have become a public forum on network.

[Said like a true pre-social media grandpa -- which leads him to smile at his question. How old is he indeed. ]

I'm fourteen. [He says without a hesitation.] Is that alright or should I wait and develop more traumas?

[lifetothefullest]

They are surprisingly open in public.

[Which does make it even more ridiculous how they act sometimes, since they seem perfectly comfortable telling the entire network about whatever terrible things they've done, but whatever.

Fourteen is... Young, but not extremely so. Lance doesn't really deal with kids but teenagers are a grey area, especially here.]

Age is not really a factor in that regard.

[In terms of experiencing trauma, he means. He wishes it were, and that children didn't go through anything that would require counseling, but that isn't the case.]

I asked because psychology varies for adults, teenagers, and children; psychologists normally focus on only one range, and are less experienced with helping people in others. I primarily work with adults.

[For various reasons. But that said--]

However, as long as you're aware of that, it isn't an issue if you'd like to speak sometime.

[No one can be that picky here, after all, and he's not going to tell someone he won't help them unless he really can't.]

[abbatis]

It's quite weird, don't you think? There's nothing quite like it back at home.

[Adults and children are different, that much Edgar can agree. But he's found out there to be unlimited wisdom in the latter group. There's been countless of times when Edgar's trusted more children's word over the grown ups. They see and know things that most can't even imagine.]

I see. You know what is considered a child and adult isn't always so black and white. In some other time or culture I could be seen as an adult. I even met a girl here who claims to be grown up despite not being over 16 and I wouldn't dare to question that.

[But what he really wants to ask is how would the psychology differ with those who don't age. Those who've stayed as a child against their will for several lifetime and continue to exist as such for eternity.]

[lifetothefullest]

The network, or the oversharing?

[Lance nods in understanding and agreement at Edgar's next comments; he's not wrong, after all, and Lance had gone to live in another country for school at Edgar's age so he's not about to judge.]

Age of majority has and still does vary culturally, and that does factor into psychology. Physically, however, there is a lot of evidence to point to differences in how the brain matures over time, and that also has to be considered.

[But that said--]

Right now it's believed that the brain doesn't finish developing until about twenty-five, which is much later than most cultures' age of adulthood, so when it comes to psychology using 'older than eighteen' as the cutoff--at least where I'm from--is kind of arbitrary. However, there is still a difference between someone who is eighteen and someone who is fourteen, in terms of how their mind works for physical, developmental reasons, and that's why teenagers and children are considered separate groups in terms of specialization.

[abbatis]

Network. Oversharing happened but to a lesser scale. [After all, they didn't have platform for it.

But the next part makes Edgar's eyes widen. He hadn't known that - or rather he had never thought about development of a brain before. But it makes sense and he doesn't have a reason to doubt it.

He knows that human physiology doesn't affect him. His senses are different from the human and he doesn't have pulse or a heartbeat. But what about his brain? He's been shot to head before and it did nothing.

Still, somehow this new information digs up the old buried bitterness from deep inside of him.]

How are they different then? How does the child's brain differ from adults?

[lifetothefullest]

The network is pretty normal to me; we have something similar in my world, only it's world-wide.

[So, of course, a much larger scale than the hundred or so people in Hadriel.

The answer to the questions Edgar asks are not exactly easy or simple, and Lance doesn't want to get too deeply into the subject at the moment, but he does have a basic answer.]

There are a few ways, but one of the major ones regards risk-taking; impulse-control and risk assessment are late to develop. But that said, that doesn't mean a teenager is always less risk-aware than an adult because it very much comes down to individual differences.

[And, of course, there are some extremely conscientious children and some extremely reckless adults.]