( Ben thinks to google for suggestions on how to respond to someone having a dissociative identity episode, and he does, except half of his brain is so confused and concerned that it's shattering his concentration, which leads to the other half of his brain being unable to fully understand the terms he's reading considering that they're all articles in Japanese, and while his handle on the language is plenty good enough to be a foreign instructor, he certainly isn't teaching medical psychology here.
so he's in the middle of devising how to ask Whoever he's talking to to somehow...let him speak to Shinichi โ who knows, maybe it will work? โ when new messages reach his screen first.
and that's...exactly the development he had hoped for, which is great, except that now Ben once again is not sure how to proceed now that we're all here. )
It's a relief to hear from you, Izumi. No trouble at all.
( Ben can't think of anything better either, if it helps... the brief explanation Shinichi gives him is just another perplexing layer on this confusing cake, one stacked so precariously that Ben isn't sure how to approach it without it all toppling down. )
Can I ask how you're doing? I don't want to intrude, I'm only concerned if you need any more help. ( he hates implying that Shinichi needs help, especially from him, but also...this string of exchanges from tonight is kind of a glaring beacon for that, isn't it? )
( Shinichi's quickly scanning over the messages that were sent between his, sentient alien hand,, and his tutor (is this really his life? is it??), shocked that Migi would reach out to someone like this. And now how to fix this..... Ben's inevitably asking how he is, probably wondering if he's having some sort of mental breakdown...
The boy sits on his bed, stunned for a long moment, loosening his shirt collar because things still feel a little too tight. He's no stranger to panic at this point, but the anxiety has.... gotten worse. Sometimes, debilitating.
But he realises he can actually answer this part honestly. )
It's just
I heard about another one of those murders happening, and I guess it got to me
( The grisly Tokyo killings popping up over the news, lately... said to be the work of some deranged serial killer. What's left of the bodies that are found.... are barely anything recognisable as "human." Shreds of skin draped over someone's clothes' line. Masses of pulp, a few bones but never a full set.
Shinichi knows, however. No person is doing this. It's others of Migi's kind, the ones who were able to successfully take over their hosts' brains. And now they're feeding on humans.... It's messy, violent, brutal. Too wet, too red. He's seen it happen right in front of his eyes. As far as he knows, he's the only one who knows the truth.
โHe should tell someone, tell the police, but Migi won't let that happen, and the guilt is an ever-present weight; sometimes Shinichi just can't carry it and it's hard to breatheโ )
I'm okay now, thank you I talked myself through it
You sound like you're really good at this kind of thing
( the murders โ Ben has undoubtedly heard about them, and while it's no surprise that anyone in the city is feeling a striking fear over the expanse and the severity of them, but is somewhat surprised that this topic seems to be enough to send Shinichi over the precipice of composure into a well of absolute panic. fears don't always have a defined source or reason, of course... but this has Ben wondering what it is about local murders that has the boy so afraid. the shocking brutality of them? the close proximity?
Ben has been...especially keen on following the developments on them. because while he might not know the culprit as well as Shinichi does, he has already decided they can't be done by human hands.
and that fact has Ben feeling a more solid connection to this entire event tonight. while it, as a reason, is a surprise โ Ben is far from questioning it. )
They've been on my mind as well... So your concern about that is very understandable. I'm happy to help in any case. ( it's true, and it's also a more stable bridge for Shinichi, should he wish to travel it. Ben knows that continuing to comment on Shinichi's...odd panic attack here isn't considerate, nor will it really gain anything for either of them. besides, he's not his doctor, just a foreign professor...
it's sort of a good sign that Shinichi is present enough in the situation that he's commenting on Ben's ability to help him through an attack โ even if it leaves Ben feeling a smidge self-conscious, it's only because he doesn't know how to respond the most considerately that isn't fully truthful. it can sometimes make others feel put-upon, but here... )
You could say that. (here, perhaps talking about this won't be too much. (and he also doesn't think Shinichi is the type of teenager that will do something childishly nefarious with personal information about one of their professors, especially.) )
By a wide margin, I'm more practiced at handling panic attacks than I am at teaching.
a horrendously dated tag appears from the ether.... pls feel no obligation to reply to this!!
( There's a knee-jerk guilt at bringing up The Murders and using them like this, even if he's technically not lied about anything yet. But it feels wrong, not being fully truthful about something so horrible. There's certainly an abundance of rumours flying around โ the leading theory is, of course, some kind of serial killer. But people say other things, the kids at school whispering about spirits and monsters, mostly in nervous giggles, like it's something they're not exactly serious about. Alternatively, older generations might very seriously use the word "demons", yokai. What he'd give to be able to tell someone that he knows exactly what they are, what they can do. )
You've had them before?
( It surprises him. He's not really used to hearing adults talk about things like that. Or.... well, anyone, really. And text can't quite convey how gently he means the question, how much he wouldn't want to pry into the older man's personal business โ certainly, Shinichi knows what it is to prefer to keep things close to himself. But he can't help toeing closer to it, to what Ben's gently opened up for him, and even if this entire conversation is less than pleasant in terms of subject matter, it... helps. To have something to concentrate on. To talk to someone who has experience with something like that โ to such a degree, more experience with them than he does with teaching. That... says a lot, and Shinichi's absorbing it for a few moments, this information he's been given.
Another question forms, one typed slowly, aware that Migi's watching everything, but for the moment his hands are his again. )
Does it get any easier? Handling them, the more you do it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
so he's in the middle of devising how to ask Whoever he's talking to to somehow...let him speak to Shinichi โ who knows, maybe it will work? โ when new messages reach his screen first.
and that's...exactly the development he had hoped for, which is great, except that now Ben once again is not sure how to proceed now that we're all here. )
It's a relief to hear from you, Izumi. No trouble at all.
( Ben can't think of anything better either, if it helps... the brief explanation Shinichi gives him is just another perplexing layer on this confusing cake, one stacked so precariously that Ben isn't sure how to approach it without it all toppling down. )
Can I ask how you're doing? I don't want to intrude, I'm only concerned if you need any more help. ( he hates implying that Shinichi needs help, especially from him, but also...this string of exchanges from tonight is kind of a glaring beacon for that, isn't it? )
gently brings in canon horrors for tutor AU ....
The boy sits on his bed, stunned for a long moment, loosening his shirt collar because things still feel a little too tight. He's no stranger to panic at this point, but the anxiety has.... gotten worse. Sometimes, debilitating.
But he realises he can actually answer this part honestly. )
It's just
I heard about another one of those murders happening, and I guess it
got to me
( The grisly Tokyo killings popping up over the news, lately... said to be the work of some deranged serial killer. What's left of the bodies that are found.... are barely anything recognisable as "human." Shreds of skin draped over someone's clothes' line. Masses of pulp, a few bones but never a full set.
Shinichi knows, however. No person is doing this. It's others of Migi's kind, the ones who were able to successfully take over their hosts' brains. And now they're feeding on humans.... It's messy, violent, brutal. Too wet, too red. He's seen it happen right in front of his eyes. As far as he knows, he's the only one who knows the truth.
โHe should tell someone, tell the police, but Migi won't let that happen, and the guilt is an ever-present weight; sometimes Shinichi just can't carry it and it's hard to breatheโ )
I'm okay now, thank you
I talked myself through it
You sound like you're really good at this kind of thing
no subject
Ben has been...especially keen on following the developments on them. because while he might not know the culprit as well as Shinichi does, he has already decided they can't be done by human hands.
and that fact has Ben feeling a more solid connection to this entire event tonight. while it, as a reason, is a surprise โ Ben is far from questioning it. )
They've been on my mind as well... So your concern about that is very understandable. I'm happy to help in any case. ( it's true, and it's also a more stable bridge for Shinichi, should he wish to travel it. Ben knows that continuing to comment on Shinichi's...odd panic attack here isn't considerate, nor will it really gain anything for either of them. besides, he's not his doctor, just a foreign professor...
it's sort of a good sign that Shinichi is present enough in the situation that he's commenting on Ben's ability to help him through an attack โ even if it leaves Ben feeling a smidge self-conscious, it's only because he doesn't know how to respond the most considerately that isn't fully truthful. it can sometimes make others feel put-upon, but here... )
You could say that. ( here, perhaps talking about this won't be too much. (and he also doesn't think Shinichi is the type of teenager that will do something childishly nefarious with personal information about one of their professors, especially.) )
By a wide margin, I'm more practiced at handling panic attacks than I am at teaching.
a horrendously dated tag appears from the ether.... pls feel no obligation to reply to this!!
You've had them before?
( It surprises him. He's not really used to hearing adults talk about things like that. Or.... well, anyone, really. And text can't quite convey how gently he means the question, how much he wouldn't want to pry into the older man's personal business โ certainly, Shinichi knows what it is to prefer to keep things close to himself. But he can't help toeing closer to it, to what Ben's gently opened up for him, and even if this entire conversation is less than pleasant in terms of subject matter, it... helps. To have something to concentrate on. To talk to someone who has experience with something like that โ to such a degree, more experience with them than he does with teaching. That... says a lot, and Shinichi's absorbing it for a few moments, this information he's been given.
Another question forms, one typed slowly, aware that Migi's watching everything, but for the moment his hands are his again. )
Does it get any easier? Handling them, the more you do it.