heyboss | IC Inbox

He walks inside and seats himself at the table, leaning back as he reaches behind himself to shut the door. "Thanks for coming. Is it alright if I call you Thrawn?"

He sits down opposite, as indicated.

"Yes."

Thrawn does not say 'it was a condition of my rehabilitation'. He would not be here otherwise, and finds that voicing it helps no one.

[He nods.]

I talked to Florian, but I'd like to know - why do you think you're here?

Florian is afraid. He believes there are skills you possess that he is lacking. Skills that will help me graduate.

Do you believe the same thing?

I do not have any knowledge of your abilities and thus cannot say.

I think that's fair.

[He gestures towards him.]

What do you want to get out of coming to me?

To fulfill my punishment as set forth by my warden. He advises that I attend all sessions, and that I listen and obey you absolutely.

Edited 2025-02-17 03:12 (UTC)

[He's actually had patients like this, and Sheehan feels something like nostalgia.]

I understand that you see these sessions as part of your punishment, and I’m not here to force you to talk or change your mind about that. My role is to provide a space where we can explore whatever you feel comfortable discussing, if and when you’re ready.

[He leans forward.]

Even if you don’t see the value in these sessions right now, it might be worth considering that understanding yourself better could help you navigate your situation more effectively. It’s not about right or wrong—it’s about gaining clarity.

We don't need to start with anything too personal. We can talk about something you're interested in.

It would be difficult to ascertain the value of something I have yet to experience, Doctor Sheehan.

Regardless, I am not resentful. I have done some immeasurable harm to this ship and its passengers by my warden's estimate, and must pay the price.

By your warden's estimate. That's an interesting way to phrase that one.

Do you believe you've done harm?

Show me a person who has not done harm, and I will show you someone who does not exist.

Ah, forgive me. Do you believe you have done immeasurable harm?

[silence, as Thrawn debates on how to answer that question]

That depends on how one defines 'immeasurable harm', Doctor Sheehan.

I set a series of alarms to test the ship and its passengers in case of danger. In response, I have been hit, threatened, beaten, placed in Zero, lost important allies, had my projects stripped from me, and now I find myself here explaining my actions yet again. My warden has told me I have broken hearts - his, and Aerith's.

The variety of responses to this compared to, say, a murder, and shattering of a heart would indicate harm beyond measure, no?

Edited 2025-02-18 03:01 (UTC)

It does.

Do you understand how your actions caused them harm?

I understand undiagnosed trauma disorders coupled with unannounced alarms will trigger detrimental responses.

Perhaps in the future, these people can come to you to work through them.

[If only, Thrawn. If only.]

Did you understand that before you decided to set the alarms?

I did.

Can you tell me what you believed would happen?

[He starts to make columns on the page.

[a pause]

Do you wish for my risk assessment report?

No. I want you to tell me how you thought this might go? The most probable path.

I estimated about 50 to 70% of the ship's passengers would take action and attempt to find the source of the alarms and either proceed to the exits as intended, or take steps to eliminate the alarms at their source. The plan was to divide these groups into two: the helpful, and the obstinate and reluctant to change.

A further estimated 10 to 20% of residents would either ignore the alarms entirely and not adhere to evacuation protocols, or be too overwhelmed to do as instructed either through animal reaction, searching for friends, family and allies, or through trauma responses.

A final estimated 5 to 10% would have no context of these alarms due to no evacuation procedure on their home worlds and would need further direction for compliance.

I anticipated confusion, anger, resignation, and acceptance. I knew that I am an unpopular and strange inmate who nonetheless has earned the backing of Wardens Burke and Rawne, and made plans to transfer the alarms and manual to one or both of them so that they could conduct further annual reviews at their leisure, once I had made my departure. There is no possible outcome where the wardens here will agree on a need for an overall alert system, agree as to who will carry it out, and agree to a regular maintenance schedule. It must come from an inmate first, because animosity can be redirected at me for 'not knowing any better' and later upheld as a partially good idea now that it exists, but no one was going to install them first to begin with. Someone must take the leap and the 'heat'.

There was a non-zero chance I would be removed from Maintenance. A non-zero chance I would be tortured or killed. A non-zero chance I would be ignored entirely. These were extremely unlikely responses, but would speak to needing more research done on the fringes of known Barge residents.

[Florian was so, so right about his inmate. As it should be. But he does nod again.]

That's a lot of actions that you anticipated.

Did it work out like you planned?

I planned for several of the most likely possibilities. If you are asking which I had hoped would occur, I can tell you that I can work with many of the outcomes, advantageous or no.

You can work with, but what did you prefer?

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