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[empathicfault]

"Will Graham here. Leave a message."

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[empathicfault]

[ He nods in acknowledgement. Next time they end up at his cabin, he'll offer the helmet for her to try. The question gets a somewhat sheepish smile. ]

Not entirely, if I'm honest. Emotions'll run high, watch out for old grudges, go real easy on the alcohol. I feel like I'm missing something...

[cactusy]

Mostly the old grudges thing, yeah. I'm thinking we start working on her suggestion to burn off steam in the Enclosure when you're at risk of that stuff starting to surface.

[empathicfault]

Right. That's a great idea. I've been taking Malcolm running in the fake woods a lot lately. But it'd probably be good to have some more...visceral outlets, for when I'm feeling frustrated. I'll have to think on what scenarios might work best...

[ But maybe he shouldn't introduce the topic of what he'd like to hunt right now. He looks over to Shaw, his expression curious. ]

How do you think I've been doing so far? Noticed anything worrying?

[cactusy]

No. But you haven't come to me with any issues, which either means there haven't been any or you've been keeping quiet about them. Either option's possible; I figure anything can have a honeymoon period.

[She raises an eyebrow, the obvious follow-up question unspoken.]

[empathicfault]

[ Will chuckles briefly. ]

I suppose that's what you could call it. I've been doing my best to avoid Barge 'politics' and focus on enjoying my new state. The sensory deprivation helmet has been helping with that, too.

[ He tilts his head thoughtfully. ]

I'm not sure if my precautions have been working or if I'm actually a little better at handling these emotions, having dealt with calming wildly out-of-place emotions for decades now. Either way, I've been appreciating the transformations, the enhanced senses, and the fact that I don't seem nearly so tired all the time. I think I'm sleeping better?

[ He says that the same way someone would say 'I appear to have grown an extra toe.' That wasn't on his list of expected effects. ]

[cactusy]

... Huh. That's good. Were you sleeping bad before, or--?

[empathicfault]

Always have, and it got worse when I started working for the FBI. I try to make up for it when I can, but there's only so many catnaps you can take while on a break.

Now I sometimes get five hours at once. That's pretty huge for me. I'm having less entirely sleepless nights, too.

[cactusy]

I guess that'd was implied with being tired all the time. My, uh-- standards are pretty skewed.

You ever need a rest break while we're working, you tell me, got it?

[empathicfault]

Yeah? Okay.

I doubt it'll come up too much in the future. Our activities aren't exactly stressful in the way looking at dead bodies and pretending I killed them was.

[cactusy]

Good. Because none of this - patrolling, keeping an eye on you, everything else - it's not supposed to be a punishment.

[empathicfault]

[ He smiles. ] I know. It's...prevention, more than anything else. Being careful.

I appreciate you being straightforward with me about it. ...even if 'straightforward' is your default state.

[cactusy]

Mm, prevention and being careful, but also learning. Being a Will Graham expert is my job, yeah?

[empathicfault]

[ That actually gets a chuckle out of Will. ]

So many psychiatrists would've killed for that job, you know? Metaphorically.

...mostly metaphorically.