Fandom Island Counseling Services and Psychiatry, Monday

[never_dull]

Well, if there were any time that people were going to need counselling, it was after something like that.

Hannibal had coffee, tea, wine, and beer ready to go, and was doing paperwork and catching up on the news.

And drinking wine. They'd missed another wedding, and this one hadn't even been a ceremony!

[Open post, no OCD! Come talk it out.]

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[uncertain_dume]

Kanan had considered just staying in today.

Actually, no, Kanan had considered calling Portalocity to see how much it cost to get a one-way ticket to Illium for a man, his dog, and a ship that had maybe enough fuel in it to get him to the nearest edge of the solar system from Earth. It had been that sort of everything, basically, and while he was pretty sure the 'Jedi' thing was no secret around here anymore, he'd still taken his lightsaber apart and wasn't wearing it in the open.

He had it with him, but it wasn't out in the open.

So, that was Kanan's headspace as he made his way in to Hannibal's office.

"I don't suppose you have time for a walk-in today, Doctor?"

[never_dull]

Hannibal waved him in. "For a friend, always." He got up to pour him a beer. "In point of fact, I've been no busier than usual today. I don't know whether that speaks well or ill of the island's population."

[uncertain_dume]

"You mean an island full of people who for the past several days have had to fear for their lives every time they step out into the streets?" Kanan offered Hannibal a wry smile at that one. "Give them time. Just because you can logically look out there and know there aren't hollows waiting to jump out at you from the alleyways doesn't mean people aren't still on edge, no matter how much help they need."

Sorry, Hannibal. Kanan was feeling extra Jedi today.

[never_dull]

"Or it could be that they're so accustomed to such things, they need no more help than usual." Hannibal grinned and handed Kanan his beer. "As I said, I don't know to what extent either is true; I suspect both. As well as a good number of people simply pleased to have central heat and water again."

He brought his wine over to a chair and waved Kanan toward a nearby one. "You seem to have no problems in compartmentalizing that far."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan managed a little smile as he accepted the drink, and found his way to the chair that Hannibal had indicated.

"Compartmentalizing is what I've been doing for the past eight years," he noted. "I'm basically a professional by now."

If he could get paid to compartmentalize, he'd be set for life.

[never_dull]

Interior Decorator was a job, Kanan. All about compartments.

"And yet, here you are." Hannibal smiled. "As wonderful as my company may be," and modest, too, "I don't often see you without a trauma."

[uncertain_dume]

"That would be because I haven't been without a trauma in longer than eight years," Kanan countered, and then took a deep pull of the beer, pausing for a moment and closing his eyes, savoring the taste on his tongue. "This is a different kind of trauma. But trauma's not entirely the reason I'm here today."

Not entirely.

[never_dull]

"No?" Hannibal settled back and offered Kanan a calm and open presence. "Why, then?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Less for the trauma, and more for direction," Kanan sighed. He frowned as he looked down at his beer. "I did something this weekend that I haven't done in ages. It's left me with a lot on my mind."

The fact that he'd done so at least in part because of the trauma, he'd get to. Probably.

[never_dull]

Hannibal spread his hands. "I will offer whatever counsel I can. Perhaps we should start with, what did you do?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan frowned, then set down his beer for a moment so that he could unclip the two pieces of his lightsaber from his belt. He held them up, one piece in each hand.

"Do you know what these are?"

... They didn't look like much of anything, the way they currently were. Shiny?

[never_dull]

Hannibal looked them over and shook his head. "Some sort of machinery," he guessed.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan's mouth quirked faintly, and he held the two pieces in front of him, clipping one into the other and then holding the assembled weapon, still unlit, in one hand.

"Not exactly. I don't suppose you've ever seen a Jedi use one of these?"

[never_dull]

"Ah." Hannibal indicated it with a wave. "Is that the laser sword? I have seen them from a distance."

[uncertain_dume]

"Plasma, technically," Kanan replied, smiling faintly, though there wasn't actually much humor in that smile at all. "It's a lightsaber. Wearing one around on my belt would be like an advertisement to anybody from my galaxy. 'Hey, it's a Jedi.'"

And using one, to good effect, was unavoidable proof.

[never_dull]

"Something you've avoided for years," Hannibal said. "And yet you did it this weekend?"