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[heyboss]

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after talking to Malcolm

[lone_horse]

I realize we're all busy right now. But I'd like to have a meeting with you and Bright-sensei.

Would you have an issue with that?

Re: after talking to Malcolm

[heyboss]

Ah. Did he say something to you?

A meeting is fine with me.

text

[cactusy]

[Kiryu and Sheehan are both getting the exact same message today, but separately:]

It's been 3 months and I haven't shown any sign of being a danger. I'm thinking we can scale these check-ins back to once a month.

[This is not to say that she's been doing amazingly well, because she absolutely hasn't - but she figures the brainwashing worries are probably baseless at this point.]

Re: text

[heyboss]

You're feeling better?

audio

[cactusy]

Scale of one to ten, how much would you say you hate it here?

Re: audio

[heyboss]

Ten being the most and I would leave right now?

Four, maybe.

Hello doctor!!

[lestercraft]

[Alright, that's quite enough. He's known Sheehan's been ignoring him for a while now, and he's been happy to try and give the man space, but at this point he's more or less run out of patience.

It's really not difficult to pin a time when Sheehan's going to be in his room, he's a fucking detective. So it's evening when he knocks on Sheehan's door with a restraint he's not actually feeling.]

[heyboss]

[He's not exactly expecting company at this hour, but he answers the door in his pajamas anyway.

And pauses, immediately worried.]

Detective. What - is everything alright?

forward-dated by a couple days

[cactusy]

Do you know what zero-g is?

[heyboss]

You're awake!

Is that some kind of - soda?

Backdated a couple days | audio

[greatoldjohn]

...look, I can't get into why without sharing things I shouldn't but, well-

Arthur's going to need you very very soon. And he's probably going to be a raging lunatic during part of it. Or belligerent. Or drunk. Or any combination of those.

Re: Backdated a couple days | audio

[heyboss]

Alright.

He doesn't always seek me out when things happen, but I can certainly find a reason to see him.

[heyboss]

[Continued from here and NSFW ahead.]

Sheehan's cabin doesn't quite look like a cabin at first. The front room is all office, floor to ceiling bookshelves dominating the space. The shelves are filled with books of all sorts - psychology and medical and poetry and classical literature. The keen eye may even notice a stack of comics piled over to one side. But aside from his jacket draped over the chair behind a grand wooden desk, there's nothing that really speaks to the man living inside.

There are a few doors off from the main room, but he doesn't open any of them just yet. He holds her close instead, pulling her into a kiss.

[una_persson]

She does take searching look around in as much time as she has before he kisses her. None of it is particularly surprising, she decides, although a more careful study will just have to wait.

As she kisses him, she hooks her finger into the knot of his tie and gently pulls.

[cactusy]

[Shaw sits herself down on Sheehan's couch for one of her regular appointments, but doesn't say anything immediately. She's quiet and still, clearly mulling something over, the way she is when she's figuring how to broach an issue.]

[heyboss]

[He's learned to wait, so he smiles at her approach and pours a glass of water for her, setting it on the table beside her.]

private;

[hippie_ninja]

I don't mean this to be invasive but I need you to answer me honestly.

Are you involved with or sleeping with an inmate?

Re: private;

[heyboss]

No. That's a boundary I would never cross, no matter what other people are doing here.

Why do you ask?

text

[cactusy]

I'm trying to talk down people who Malcolm Bright listens to but who don't coddle him, are you one of them?

Audio

[heyboss]

No, our relationship has already been - strained. He's never listened to me.

Morning after Scary Sword gets resolved

[lestercraft]

It's not going to be a pleasant wake-up, for Sheehan.

Part of his jaw and neck are numb, from where Arthur made contact to knock him out, but it's only surface level. His arms are definitely going to be sore, and he'll be able to see immediately that they're tied together to the head of the hospital bed he's laid out on. With a tie, of all things.

And on the floor next to the bed (not immediately obvious with how still he is), sitting upright but rather slumped with his head resting against the mattress, is a very rumpled Arthur.

[heyboss]

Sheehan wakes and he's - lucid. He remembers what happened, remembers vaguely walking through a dream, like he was another person, like he was - not himself. It's not the same as a breach, though. Not any at all. There's no satisfaction of being another fully formed person; he was Swiss cheese.

He pulls at the tie, but his wrists and arms are bruised and raw already from where he had spent his waking moments pulling in fear and panic, so he stops before he makes them worse.

He remembers that, too.

"Arthur," he says softly. He doesn't know he's so close nearby, but he figures he's somewhere.

audio

[cactusy]

So you can probably guess how I responded to all that.

Re: audio

[heyboss]

[He almost, almost tells her that he can't do this right now, but he can't.]

I have a few guesses. Tell me?

voice;

[tarakan]

I am not going to apologize for the dirty Soviet trick of shoving you in an empty room and leaving. Communists play dirty, after all.

[ Hilbert's tone is as dry as the Sahara. ]

Likewise, will not press on the matters of Teddy and Rachel unless you feel the need to explain yourself. However, I do have a question you need to answer.

Re: voice;

[heyboss]

...I...didn't realize that had actually happened. You did the right thing, regardless.

What's your question?

after... allll that

[greatoldjohn]

Hey. Um.

Are you okay?

Re: after... allll that

[heyboss]

Of course.

Well, that's not true. I've been better.

It's been a hell of a week.

About a day after Norton's post

[lestercraft]

[Arthur sounds a whole combination of things right now: sheepish, flustered, somewhat resigned, but none of it comes from a truly negative place. He's just... embarrassed.]

You know- i-in future, if you're going to tell Folgate anything, you should probably get his silence in writing first.

Re: About a day after Norton's post

[heyboss]

That asshole.

[But he sounds unsurprised.]

What did he say?

Private | Video (forward dated to after the breach)

[talesuntold]

This is a courtesy heads up that I'm about to have a big fight with Shaun, so he might be furious later.

Re: Private | Video (forward dated to after the breach)

[heyboss]

Alright.

Can I have some context?

three days after the breach

[anti_altruisms]

[ Archer has never hesitated so much before sending a text. And yet, he manages to go through with it. ]

I have had more on my plate than I was expecting.

But things are as settled as they can be now so I can drop by at your convenience, doctor.

[heyboss]

Of course. I'm in my office between breakfast and lunch and then again a few hours after the last meal.

the day after the breach;

[greenzone]

She left one for Arthur first. It felt right. But she can't leave nothing for her other parent, the man she remembers as dad, even if the title came to him later than Arthur.

She almost knocks, but she's too afraid. He hasn't said anything, Arthur hasn't said anything, John said Arthur needed space--

It occurs to her that she had no idea what to call Lester if it's not 'dad.' She doesn't actually know if that's his name. Which is its own fresh kind of guilt.

She can't make herself knock. But unlike Arthur, if Sheehan is home, he might see the little folded-up shapes made from a newspaper she found in the Lounge as she pushes them under the door. Shapes in the secret language the three of them shared, that she started making up in the months after joining the circus, to leave Arthur messages he'd be able to 'read.'

It's a little bit of floss threaded through three folded paper scraps, showing the order they're supposed to be translated in.

I'm scared. I'm sorry. Are you angry?

[heyboss]

His heart aches to see those shapes, and guilt immediately wells up in him. Of course she would still remember. Of course she would reach out.

It's your job as her father to reach out first.

But he's not. Not really. As much as he remembers those milestones, those soft memories between the two of them, he's still nothing but a stranger. Even if he could probably remember how to braid hair, her hair, if he thought about it long enough.

She gets a gift in kind. Under her door, the same deal - shapes in a quick note.

I'm sorry. I'm scared. I miss you.

And leaning against her door is a book - Winnie the Pooh - a strange find in their library, but one Sheehan is grateful for. He remembers reading it to her. She was too old for it, even then, but he still made up voices and acted out scenes in the 100 Acre Woods, all in the hopes of making her laugh. Laughter had been so scarce in the beginning, after all.

after his talk with Arthur

[greatoldjohn]

Arthur let me know about certain... developments.

We should probably talk.

Re: after his talk with Arthur

[heyboss]

Of course. At your leisure.

[anti_altruisms]

One week after their first appointment, there is a knock on Sheehan’s office door. Of course, he is right on time.

[heyboss]

"Ah! Archer, come inside," he calls out. He's not expecting anyone else, after all.

text

[anti_altruisms]

We missed our appointment due to the flood.

When is a convenient time to reschedule?

Re: text

[heyboss]

I like keeping a nice schedule. Same day and time as before. I'll leave the door open for you.

audio

[empathicfault]

Hello, Doctor Sheehan. I was hoping I could set up a meeting with you and Shaw, acting in her capacity as my warden.

I've got an apology I should give you, and it's probably better if it's supervised.

Re: audio

[heyboss]

[Hm. This is all terribly formal and Sheehan is instantly on alert.]

Of course. I'm generally free in the mornings.

[una_persson]

In that quiet period between the giving of gifts and whenever the first chaos of the New Year strikes, Una is over at Sheehan's one evening—just an ordinary bit of time together, talking about whatever.

At some point he leaves the room, and she happens to notice a new book lying around. Curious, she picks it up.

When Sheehan returns, he'll find her reading it with a hugely amused look on her face.

[heyboss]

He stays in the kitchen, making some coffee for the both of them, but he nearly drops the cups when he comes out. He hurries over and places the cups down, spilling them in the process and reaches out to try and snatch the book from her.

"That's not for you!" he huffs.

after the discussion with Strange

[lone_horse]

You mind handling Strange-san for the next few days?

Re: after the discussion with Strange

[heyboss]

Handling?

at the counseling office

[mandrakeroot]

Nathaniel doesn't try to appear completely comfortable entering the counseling offices. It's not a place he stops by often, so something so blatantly unrealistic wouldn't be a good start. It's better to begin with something close to the truth. Uncomfortable, but doing his best to conceal it behind the neutral politeness he generally does his best to keep up. Nathaniel doesn't make an effort to hide his presence on the Barge, but he also doesn't try to draw attention to it.

He offers help to people in the library, because he's more comfortable with action than conversation. He cares about presentation, though that's mostly just shown by the care he takes to be neat and presentable. He's probably not a perfectly pleasant young man - he is on the Barge, after all - but that doesn't mean have to mean he's an unpleasant young man.

All in all, Nathaniel figures he can work with that.

"Doctor Sheehan, do you have a moment?" As if he's just caught him. In a world where Nathaniel would ever go to counseling, he would absolutely pick Sheehan over any of the other people who work there. It adds a certain level of honesty to it all.

Re: at the counseling office

[heyboss]

Sheehan hasn't ever really thought about interacting with Arthur's inmate for a myraid of reasons. While they had a brief encounter during a flood, when Sheehan wasn't entirely himself, he wasn't sure what there would be to talk about.

Unless, of course, the boy came to him at work. He looks pleasantly startled and smiles. "Certainly, Mr. Mandrake. I have plenty. Come inside." His office is welcoming and very typical for his time, with tall bookshelves and mahogany furniture.