slightlyoffchilt | - IC CONTACT POST FOR MASKORMENACE -

Take comfort in my greatness, then.

I'm sincerely looking forward to our session, Dorian, there is much that I want to discuss with you.

I'm equal parts interested and scared.

See you then.

Just the way I like you, in exactly those ratios.

[I'M THINKING OF DOING A SESSION LOG LATER IN THE MONTH or would you like one separate, or handwaved, or threaded here?]

Sometimes you make me worry that I chose the wrong therapist.

[ whatever works best with you, bb! ]

[Date of the assigned day. Chilton had his communicator in hand, considering it -- those messages had been something, and it left for ample material to stem from. Not that Dorian would likely appreciate the endeavoring, of course, but sometimes psychological therapy was painful!]

There's only two of us. [Muttered Chilton, in reference to that test Dorian made days ago.] I am not the wrong choice.

[He put down the communicator and leaned back in his chair, frowning as he pulled out the notepad dedicated to Dorian's psychological state.]

[ Dorian's ten minutes late. When he actually shows up, he a: barges into the office without even knocking and b: gives Chilton a halfassed apologetic smile as he enters.]

Hopefully I'm not backing things up or anything like that. [ #modelpatient ] Let's get this over with, [ said with a wave of his hand. ]

This is about you, Dorian. An hour discussing you.

[That was the skeptical greeting that Chilton returned fire with, before leaning back in his chair.]

I highly doubt you'd want to get it over it. Be honest.

[ ....yeah, Chilton's right. Dorian likes an hour discussing him. He doesn't like an hour of Chilton attempting to diagnose him. Still, pros and cons. ]

Point taken. What about me shall we be discussing today?

[He smirked at the admittance -- baby steps, Dorian! Confession was that initial step. Although, in all truth, the confessions of Dorian Gray weren't going to be inspirational enough to make the man repent; luckily for Chilton, his goal was quite oppositional.]

I'll let you choose: either your evidently crippling fear of being ignored for even just a weekend, or an acquaintance of yours. Matthew Lin -- ring a bell?

[ so is Chilton looking for the Confessions of Dorian Gray?
ba dum tssssssh.

As he mentions Matthew, Dorian can't help but frown a bit. How the hell did Chilton know Matthew? He'd have to ask Abduxel about that later. ] Let's go with my crippling fear of isolation then. Why not.

[So literary!]

Really. You want that, over Matthew.

[That frown, that choice was duly noted -- but now that the offer had been accepted, Chilton wasn't about to rescind it. Dorian had... Rights... As a patient.

Discussion about Mr. Lin would have to wait.]

All right -- how do you feel, when people leave you by their own volition? I'm not speaking about those forcibly taken, by death or porting out. What have you. How do you cope?

I don't kiss and tell. Any part of talking about Matthew would involve the latter. [ said with a smiiiiirk on his face.

But ah. People leaving. Of course Chilton would take Dorian blowing up his phone out of sheer annoyance to mean he was worried about the man. Dorian slouched back on the couch, like he didn't have a care in the world. ]

What, like a break-up? I've already had one of those here and I think I took it rather well. I found someone new.

[Which was something that Matthew had already alluded to -- something that he had discussed with Mr. Lin, in fact. Surprise did not register on his expression. It was a tightly strained smiled he offered; despite what Dorian thought, Chilton didn't mistake Dorian's need for attention as worry. Dorian was incapable of caring about other people, which made the patient rather ripe for exploitation, and it was all the better that he underestimated his psychiatrist.

Dorian Gray, concluded Chilton, considered people to be playthings. All people. His friends, his lovers -- they were all subhuman compared to what Dorian's immortality meant to him. That was the presiding theory anyway, and if Dorian's response didn't resonate the way Chilton wanted it to do so, he did not reveal disappointment.]

Not just break-ups. Leaving you totally. Deeming you irrelevant, beneath them. Trash. How would you react to that?

[ He can't help but purse his lips at that, frowning as Chilton talked. Deeming him irrelevant? How ridiculous. Who would deem him irrelevant, especially since he obviously had so much to offer anyone? ] I thought we were supposed to focus on the here and now, not ridiculous hypotheticals.

[ People didn't leave him. He left them. Dorian didn't take kindly to being ignored, that much was obvious. He had no idea how he would take to people leaving him. ]

Ah, but Dorian. Ridiculous hypotheticals have a nasty habit of manifesting reality.

[Chilton's saccharine smile caught on quick; Dorian's reaction was beautiful, exactly what Chilton had wanted. While Chilton hardly thrilled himself with the concept of fear in the same way Crane did, he nevertheless appreciated what a fine mechanism it could provide -- a cog in the grander scheme of things.]

I'm not suggesting it is a likely occurrence, of course. But, hypothetically, if someone you were invested in decided they no longer cared about you, would you react violently?

[ Dorian's still frowning, as he looks over at Chilton. He doesn't like thinking about this because, again, it never would happen. How the hell is he supposed to answer for something he hasn't thought about? ]

Probably not. [ Of course, he wouldn't think he'd react violently unless he had to. ] I suppose I'd probably try and show them up. To prove them wrong somehow.

You'd go after their friends? Close acquaintances? [A beat.] Their loved ones? Perhaps give those individuals a reason to leave your former confidant?

[He asked with the consistent tone of someone mildly intrigued and amused by these possibilities, someone who was more invested in the ideas than the personal implications. In truth, Chilton's razor focus was on Dorian. The possibilities only mattered in this case as they related to the probability of Dorian's behavior.

Chilton was scripting a guideline.]

Maybe? [ said with an idle shrug. ] But you can prove someone wrong in many ways

This subject is making you uncomfortable, is it? [The tacit response was noted.] We don't have to continue, Dorian. There's always Mr. Lin to discuss.

We're keeping it here, [ said almost emphatically. Talking about Abduxel opened up an entirely different can of worms that he wasn't so sure he wanted Chilton to know about. ]

Absolutely. Confidentiality is legally in the contract.

[And of course, Chilton took legal matters so seriously.]

I meant, we're keeping it here as in there's no way in hell I'm talking to you about my relationship with Matthew. [ no way in hell. ha ha ha. ]

Let's go back to me hurting people for abandoning me. I'm sure you'd like that point of conversation better anyway.

Oh, "keeping it in here" is a euphemism for "automatic repression". [He leveled a glare, tilting his head with contrived cynicism.]

You know I can enable that behavior in you, Dorian. Why does Mr. Lin provoke this reticence?

Aside from the fact that we're fucking? [ said almost nonchalantly, though he's keeping a close eye on Chilton's face as he talks. He doubts that admission will shock Chilton (because let's be real, his patient is Dorian Gray,) but he wants to see just what the man's response will be. ]

That was already presumed. [Chilton smiled, smugly, hoping that this particular breed of smug smiling would irk Dorian.] I have, after all, been in conversation with Mr. Lin.

[Patient and doctor confidentiality ought to close in, right about now.]

We met at a Swearing In.

[There it was. Kind of.]

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action!

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