Diving into Boone

[purplerhino]

Who: Doctor, Rose, Boone, (open )
Where: Medical facility
When: Day 24 following the meeting and search for Sparrow
Status: Open/incomplete

The Doctor was unsure if he was glad to have Rose with him or not.  She has insisted she felt fine.  Only bruising and a vague headache remaining from her ordeal.  She seemed to sense his reluctance to do what he

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[Doctor]

[purplerhino]

The Doctor gave Ami a brief hug. “First you gotta understand in your heart as much as your head, that you were forced to do what you did to protect another. Then comes the really hard part. You have to try and help undo it.”

He could see her fear and tearing up. “I told ya it wasn’t gonna be easy. But in the end, you’ll feel better knowing you at least tried to undo what was done. In doing that, you’ll also learn how to help others who might suffer similar trauma, and that’s no bad thing to know. But you won’t be doin’ it alone. I’ll be with you, as back up, as a crutch, whatever both of you need.”

This wasn’t his usual thing. He tended to blow in and fix problems, yeah, but this was helping with recovery, something he tended to avoid.

“But no one here is gonna force you to do anything. And trying anything until you accept that you’re a survivor of this as much as he is, might hurt more than help.” The Doctor considered a bit more. “I’ll also teach you how to simulate what was done here while protecting the person. So if in your worst nightmare, you’re forced with anything like this again, you can fool the bad guys, yeah?”

[Ami]

[fikgirl]

Something of the Doctor's words made sense, at least to the logical part of her. The emotional and psychological parts, however, still took issue with the part she played in Boone's damage. If she'd been stronger, if she'd been quicker, if she'd been smarter, if she'd trusted Daisy, if she'd trusted herself -

The Doctor's voice interrupted her musings. "Aht! None of that, then. Looking back and questioning yourself doesn't help and it doesn't change anything. Best you can do for yourself and for Boone is to look ahead now."

"How did you -"

"It's what anybody in your position would do. Anybody with half a brain and a bit of conscience at least."

Ami looked away for a moment. It was hard dealing with all of this, facing it, when she really wanted to run and hide. It was one of the things that she'd gotten good at - avoidance therapy she liked to call it. She chewed on her lip before returning her attention to the time-traveling alien. "I'd like to learn how to not do this in the future. And I'll work on the other."

[Doctor]

[purplerhino]

"That's all can be asked, really." The Doctor nodded a bit. "Right, I'll give you a real lesson when we're somewhere more private.and no chance of inturruptions. But basically what you'll do is create a mental room for the person. Try to explain this is how it's got to be, and shove their consciousness into the room. It's pretty much what sometimes happens when people face trauma... but you're doing it before the fact. The rest is just touching on the nerves. Basically, you'd simulate Boone's reaction by making the brain believe it was being shocked, or drained, or what have you. The body reacts, the person is shut away without experiencing anything."

It was a simple explination, but a bit harder to manage in practice. "Once I teach you how to suppress a person's self, I'll show you how to set it up so they'll release on their own after a set period of time. I believe you're experienced, and smart enough to know this type of thing is for extreme emergency only. You wanna incapacitate someone, you're better off whackin' 'em over the head. And while you can make the body react as a sadistic ass might expect, it's not like you can make an automaton. Nothing more complex than firing synapses. It's something you'll not like experiencing, but it's much better than the alternative."

Just then Rose knocked and re-entered. "Blaise just wanted to know if he was consious and able to move around. I think he was thinkin' security risk. I told 'im that Boone was still catatonic for now, but improving." Rose tried to give Ami a reassuring smile. "Docotr, he'd like to talk to you when you're done here, though. Wants a full report."

The Doctor inwardly winced. He hated making any reports or doing anything 'official'. It had chaffed before the war, and doubly so now that he'd actually been a 'soldier'.

But it couldn't be helped or avoided, so it had to be endured.