Session #15
Therapy, angst, past trauma, past dehumanization, implied past violence, bar fight mention, neonazi mention, referenced past character deaths, dubious psychology by fault of the author
[Follows Bared]
“It was fine until…until we got back to the house. It was late - everyone was asleep and we all went to our rooms and - ” East’s breathing shuddered. He wasn’t crying - not yet, an impressive 20 minutes into the session - but he was feeling the vice of terror squeeze his heart. “I just…I know he was an asshole, and he probably deserved it - or worse - but - I - I enjoyed it.”
“I probably would too; there’s catharsis in taking someone like that down a peg.” Judy hadn’t been critical of his parole violation - (he wasn’t actually on parole, he had to remind himself) - she was more interested in its aftermath. Which, for once, East wanted to talk about.
“It wasn’t just, as you said, taking him down a peg. It - it felt like before. When Smith would have me…y’know…” He trailed off, clearing his throat and reaching for a paper cup of water. Drinking helped him keep his voice. Judy nodded, brow knit in concern.
“Was it like a flashback, like you were feeling the way you did when he made you kill for him?”
“No - no, maybe?” East cringed, running his fingers through his hair. (It was getting long - he wasn’t sure he wanted a haircut. He wasn’t sure if he would like who he saw in the mirror after.) “It…felt safe - controlled?”
“Control I think is the right word. Smith never let you express yourself outside of when he made you kill for his entertainment. You were safe to do as you wished within the scope of his orders.”
(Except the one time he wasn’t. Except the one time he tried to be creative - to show mercy the only way he knew how - and oh, how that choice fucked him later.)
(…)
(Well, he was here, alive and free, wasn’t he?)
“I guess…yeah, the control part - controlling the situation, it felt good. But…” He bit the insider of his cheek, shame creeping up his throat. “The way he looked at me, at the end - I just - I know how that feels. And I don’t know how to feel about that.”
“Well, as much of a wanker as he is, that skinhead is still human. He still feels fear and pain and shame just like the rest of us.”
“That doesn’t mean - but he’s still a skinhead and, and I should feel good kicking the shit out of him, right? I just felt…dirty. The way he looked at me...”
East shuddered, remembering coming home that night, sitting in the dark quiet of the house. How quickly the ghosts came for him, how little sleep he stole away.
“Smith made me feel that way. And I made that piece of shit feel the same. I - I mean, like - I could have been that piece of shit, when Smith - y’know - and, and I just - I wonder if that was how Smith felt. When he hurt me. It felt good - being in control, knowing that punk was scared of me, wouldn’t look me in the eye. Wouldn’t fight back anymore.”
And that was the heart of it, wasn’t it? East wasn’t upset because he empathized with a pathetic dickhead he scared the daylights out of. He was upset because he empathized with Smith - the heady rush of power, the security of being feared.
“What was the goal of fighting him?”
“He…Alister wanted to be left alone and he wouldn’t leave. I needed to make him leave because nobody else would.”
“Did you want to kill him?”
“No - no, I only threw his knife after him to scare him.” The question startled East from his spiral. He didn’t kill. He didn’t have to kill anymore. He didn’t want to kill anymore. So he didn’t.
“Do you regret it?”
(Did he?)
“No…he was an asshole. He wasn’t going to leave without a fight, or Alister, or both.” East avoided eye contact, trying not to think about what would have happened if he wasn’t there. If all of Tierney’s 151 cm of fiery drunkeness was pit against someone as hateful and hungry for violence as that punk.
“You saw your friend was in trouble. You took control of the situation - not the person causing it. You created a situation where he chose to leave, and you let him leave.” Judy glanced up from her notes. “You are not Smith, East. You didn’t trap him there. Whatever hits you threw were precise and efficient; you could have kicked the shit out of him, beaten him to a bloody pulp, and to be quite honest I don’t think anyone in that bar would have had an issue with it.”
“But - ”
“East, you let him go when he wanted to leave. Would Smith have done that?”
(No. Never. Smith would have meted out a punishment. Nothing but immediate and complete surrender was good enough for Smith.)
“Still feel like shit about it.” He managed to mumbled, swallowing back tearful words.
“Smith was human too, East. He was a fucking monster, but still just a human, like you and me and that prick from the bar.”
“If this is supposed to make me feel better, it isn’t.”
“You’re human too, East. You're going to have moments of your life that you're not proud of. You're going to say cruel, thoughtless things and behave inappropriately and upset other people. You're going to do things that feel good in the moment that you regret later. That dickhead at the bar didn’t regret what he said to you and your friends in the moment because he didn’t see you as people entitled to basic human decency. Just because he learned to regret that choice doesn’t mean you did something wrong.”
East nodded, digesting the information.
“Smith didn’t regret what he did to you because he didn’t see you as a person. He didn’t treat you with any respect or basic human dignity because he thought you didn’t deserve it. He was wrong, of course, but he didn't regret it.” Judy’s smile was tinged with wry bitterness. “If you can look a skinhead in the eye after kicking his ass and still see that he’s still a human being, that he’s just a man, you’re not going to make the same mistakes Smith made.”
“Yeah, I’ll get to make new mistakes.” East grumbled, the retort slipping past his lips before he could catch the thought. But Judy just smiled, shrugging.
“We all do. It’s how we choose to learn from and react to our mistakes that lets us grow beyond them.”
[Concurrent to Tea]
(Part of my Freelancers: Changing Tides series)
Taglist: @stargeode @sacredwrath @genuineformality
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I love that we have collectively agreed that Jamie is bi. But also… imagine bisexual Georgie Tartt. Like it just kind of makes sense. I can picture her maybe having a girlfriend or two when Jamie is younger before his dad comes back into the picture. I can picture them all going to an aquarium or something. I can see Georgie sticking with dating women for a while, because she’s still wary after leaving Jamie’s dad. And like the women she goes out with happen to be more understanding of her situation than the men. And they all love Jamie to pieces. But maybe she ends up breaking it off with them due to being busy. Or like maybe her girlfriend ends up moving away for work or something, but Georgie doesn’t want to leave.
And maybe James knows and he’s angry but not really worried, until he hears that she’s going on dates with girls and guys again. And then he feels threatened because he didn’t really see the women she went out with as anything serious. But the men definitely threatened his position in her (and Jamie’s) life. He didn’t want another man raising his son. He probably came with the scheme to get back in Georgie’s life because he realized he didn’t have control over her anymore. But he also knew he couldn’t be a dick at first or she wouldn’t let him back in. He was also probably a bit worried about whatever “soft bullshit” Georgie was putting in Jamie’s head. He didn’t want Jamie to end up queer just because Georgie made it seem like it was okay.
So when Georgie finally trusts him enough to let Jamie start spending time alone with him, he makes sure that his son knows that he can’t be soft, that needs to dominate and act like a real man. He takes him to Amsterdam to make sure any ideas Georgie put in Jamie’s head about being queer were stomped out. And then one day when he’s going on a misogynistic rant to Jamie, he brings up how he knew he had to try and win Georgie back once she decided to pursue more serious relationships. But Jamie is confused because she’s been dating other people for years. And when he brings that up, James just explains that those weren’t deal and didn’t count cause they were women. And Jamie just goes home confused and mentions it to Georgie, who gets reasonably pissed off. And then she kicks James to the curb for real.
And then on her first real date after all this, she gets stood up. But she ends up making friends with the pastry chef at the bakery she went to, whose name is Simon. And she ends up in a happy and supportive relationship, with a man who understands that her liking both is not a phase or wrong. And a man who does his best to show Jamie that it’s alright to be soft.
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