stykera: (oh that's just great)
Stark ([personal profile] stykera) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2022-02-08 07:35 am

Living with Trauma, Tuesday 2/8, 3rd Period

Stark, somehow looking even rougher than he had last week, still managed to be at the front of the classroom again today. He was clutching a large coffee from the Perk like his life depended on it, but he was there.

“Sometimes,” he said, “when things happen to you or around you, it makes it difficult to go on. Sleeping can be hard. Eating can be hard. Everything can be hard.” Yes, kids, he was absolutely talking from experience here. Could you tell?

“Once, when I was h-...when I was where I was before I was here, on the ship I lived on, I was forced to do something I didn’t want to do. My friends…they had a good reason for making me do it. I don’t blame them now. Or at least not so much. They went about it all wrong. It hurt. I wasn’t ready. I felt betrayed. I was betrayed. These were people I trusted. I…I shut down. Stopped eating, stopped talking. I couldn’t do anything, even if I wanted to. I didn’t want to. I wanted to hide and be left alone. I wasn’t alone. But then I did hide, when something worse started happening, and I was alone, and things were worse and then…then suddenly things cleared. I nearly drowned, but things improved. I improved, at least. Everything else was still…we were in the middle of a war. Nothing was good but I was a little better than I was. I don’t recommend drowning as a way to stop being trapped inside your own head. But it worked.” No, he was not going to throw himself into the ocean anytime soon to try this again. Probably.

“Sometimes,” he continued after a very long sip from his coffee, “you need something else to focus on. Nearly dying is not a good thing to focus on. Effective. But not good. There are better options.” Stark had not found one that was effective currently but hopefully he would. Eventually.

“School could be a distraction. Work. Friends. Someone to talk to. Just something else to do. Anything else. Going somewhere else can help, if you can. My friends once tried…no, bad example. Never mind. It was a good idea but it didn’t end well.” Hopefully this week’s spa excursion wouldn’t end in trauma and/or deaths that didn’t need to happen.

“So. Something to think about. To talk about. Ways to help yourself move on. Less dramatic ones than nearly dying, if you have them. What has worked for you? What hasn’t? Or…you don’t have to talk about yourself. Just like always. I won’t make you. Never that.”
outofthequiver: (devistated)

Re: Sign In

[personal profile] outofthequiver 2022-02-08 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Liberty Hazlett
onlyajones: (shocked)

Re: Sign In

[personal profile] onlyajones 2022-02-08 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Josephine Jones
gospel_of_oblivion: (distraught)

Re: Sign In

[personal profile] gospel_of_oblivion 2022-02-10 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
Illyana Rasputin
outofthequiver: (soft by firelight)

Re: Listen to Stark / Discuss

[personal profile] outofthequiver 2022-02-08 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"Prayers always help for me," Libby offered, with that faint, almost apologetic sort of smile, as she eventually expected everyone to get to a point where they just sort of rolled their eyes at her because, yeah, of course she'd say something like that. "Sometimes it's just nice knowing there's someone listening and looking out for you. I almost always feel better once I've had a chance to talk with God about it. He doesn't respond the way back a friend or something would, but He's got other ways of letting you know you've been heard and helping you out if you know how to listen...

"I like walking in the woods, too," she offered. "But, in a way, I feel like that's sometimes just a different way of praying, too."

As long as she wasn't just letting her imagination run away on her, anyway.
onlyajones: (Pensive)

Re: Listen to Stark / Discuss

[personal profile] onlyajones 2022-02-08 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
“I found trying to exercise and improve my general physical health worked,” Jo explained quietly, “I used to be a lot more unhealthy and when everything happened at my last school …well working on that aspect was something I could change,”
gospel_of_oblivion: (shrug)

Re: Listen to Stark / Discuss

[personal profile] gospel_of_oblivion 2022-02-10 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
"I try meditating, or studying magic theory until my eyes can't focus," Illyana muttered. "...it still is not the fastest way to handle my 'feelings.'"

That was violence.