Delusions (Patreon)
"Could I have your hand, sir?" Max didn't move, which Dexter was, sadly, getting used to.
"Sir?" Max jerked, then turned and stared at him, lost and blank. "Your hand, please."
Max's hand lifted shakily, and he laid it gently in Dexter's upturned palm. Dexter gave a quick and quiet "thank you," then turned it over in his own hand, observing him closely.
Too closely - his knuckles were rough and his fingernails were dull and cracked in places. His once-soft, not-a-day-in-his-life-subjected-to-hard-labour hands were now, already, toughened and split and scarred in places, especially the heel of his palm. He turned it over again, this time to stop looking so intensely. He had only wanted to give it a cursory glance to begin with.
"Do you know what I see, sir?" he asked as conversationally as he could manage, running his fingers along Max's abused flesh. He seemed to be at least half paying attention, his eye gazing down between them, and he'd occasionally twitch, encouragingly Dexter thought. He seemed to want to curl around him, then stopped and shook, his hand squeezing into a fist. Dexter coaxed him back out, encouraged him to hold himself lightly.
"What do you see?" He was almost startled by Max actually continuing their conversation, that happened so rarely now, shaking and quiet as it was. He took a deep breath, was he really going to do this?
"I see a hand, with five fingers." Max remained quiet, though his brow curled, and a guarded look came into his eye, though he still wasn't looking at Dexter. He felt a pang of guilt, but he had to try. "What do you see?"
Max's eye unfocused and began to water. He looked up, but not enough to reach Dexter's gaze in return, instead staring through his chest, and he felt just as hollow and empty as he must look to him.
"Do you take me for a fool, DAX?" Quiet and as close to angry as he'd heard since they'd been here.
No, not angry.
Betrayed.
He swallowed down the stinging lump at the back of his throat. He had to put on a brave face, had to keep his composure if he wanted Max to get better. That was the only thing he wanted, more than anything.
"Of course not, sir. Genuinely, what do you see?"
Max pulled his hand away and turned his body, his bandaged side facing Dexter. Shutting him out, pointedly. Dexter's empty hand curled into a fist, he was no better.
"Please, don't..." Max took a shallow, shuddering breath, and several beats before he spoke again, even quieter. "Don't ridicule me." Dexter could hear his breath catch, and he wanted nothing more than for this all to just stop.
"Sir, I didn't-"
"I've had enough of that." He shook his head stiffly, the action strange and wrong, like he had forgotten how. He stilled, his head turned even further away. "More than enough."
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general ramblings about zee & how he operates.
while zestial has some level of fucky - wucky morals , they heavily rely on the kind of respect that was so deeply embedded into him in his time alive. ( albeit without the blatant misogyny of the time period , zestial drinks respect women juice. ) meaning , he doesn't give all that much of a shit what sins have been committed but how one acts towards him ( or by extension , those he cares heavily for / his domain or souls under his protection )
he doesn't even particularly care if you don't like him , but if you can show him respect you'll usually get the same in return --- ** if you are on his level or higher.
he doesn't work without reason , but zestial's still a demon overlord , he makes deals , he's been collecting souls for centuries. he's charismatic & polite , you want to tell him things ! ( that is , if you get past the looming unknown threat of his general presence !!! )
but if you aren't of use for him / don't interest him ( or aren't associated in some way with someone who does , i.e. he wouldn't go randomly targeting those at the hotel since their associations with the morningstar family / alastor , etc. ) or you cross him , he has no problem decimating you for his own entertainment.
on the flip side , if you stay out of his way & don't poke & prod him , you're usually fine. he has ensured however that his reputation stays a bit more ambiguous to keep the fear he's instilled very much alive. ( if he has to make the occasional spectacle , oh well ! he does love his theatrics & can be undeniably petty / also hold a grudge for a long , long time. )
so in this vein , while zestial doesn't particularly like the vees , it's moreso about their general attitude / actions he deems " tasteless " so publicly. but also the reason he'll gravitate more towards dealing with vox rather than vel or val for the more respectful showmanship , doesn't matter if it's sincere or not.
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Expanding on the Vio nightmare idea: do you think Vio ever has nightmares about accidentally killing Green for real at Death Mountain? How does Link feel about these nightmares when he wakes up, considering it's one part of himself killing another?
I DIDNT EVEN CONSIDER THIS... UR MIND... i bet he does . like what a balancing act he had to pull. i bet Vio was stressed out of his mind.
I find it really hard to put myself in Links shoes when thinking about his separate selves and ive been trying ti imagine it all day. I feel like thered be the sense of a Near Missed catastrophe, like stopping yourself from walking into the road the moment a huge truck zooms by. Thats someone he cares about thats him its fine it didnt happen im fine im whole. vertigo.
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THINKING about adam and kate again and how all the background information we're given about adam was that he was fundamentally a Good Son. good enough grades to graduate with honors, loves his mom, raised himself when she couldn't, etc. and it's so LONELY growing up an only child much less one that would have to be alone all the time because kate was either working at night or sleeping in the day!!! and it makes me wonder why someone as close to his mom as adam would go to a whole other state for college instead of just staying in minnesota. i wonder if kate kind of pushed him to go away. like granted he only went one state over to wisconsin but still! i wonder if adam kind of grew up with the same mindset a lot of kids who watch the parent(s) that they love struggle which is yknow that they'll postpone college and stick around and work and help. genuinely kind of wonder if kate shooed him out of the house because she has that same sort of "i want you to be better than this" love that a lot of parents have because they don't want their kids to end up in the same situation as them. and of course adam wouldn't argue about it of course he'd pack his things and move a whole state over to a public university in a country where out-of-state tuition is sky high and he'd aim for a career that pays more than kate's. because kate wants him to be better. because he's a good son.
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I feel like I'm at a point in mental health where CBT is no longer very helpful. Like I know what most of my problems are. I do things to challenge myself and challenge my way of thinking whenever I can. I actively make decisions and change my behaviour to ensure things don't get worse BC I know my symptoms and what can make them worse.
So now talking to this therapist doesn't help BC they just tell me what I already know. And give me tasks that I already know I need to do.
We had an interesting one today where she was like "you need to be able to identify your emotions" and I was like "yes, I know, I try to break them down based on physical response BC I can't really read my emotions" to which she said "you need to be able to identify them, and not concentrate on the physical response". We went in this cycle for a few minutes, after which she said "can you read other people's emotions?". I, stupidly thinking that maybe she was getting it that I am autistic (I know it's on my chart) and can't do that, told her no.
My homework for this week is to make note of how I emotionally feel, not physically, and try to pay attention to the emotions of those around me.
So that's great. At this point I just need someone to help me plan my week so I can function better and THAT shit isn't available on the NHS!
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