Hello everyone! Hopefully you all have had a lovely Tuesday.
No content warnings in this other than Tarmon being Tarmon.
Link to the Discord: https://discord.gg/Gbh2t4UpAt
Emma stuck her head out the door. “Come in. We can talk about it.” She walked them inside, and Emma guided me to the kitchen table with her.
So much for a day of relaxing.
+++
You’re going to get thrown in jail and it’s going to be hilarious.
+++
No I won’t because I just need to tell them the truth. Mr. Roland woke Esmer up and didn’t tell me shit about them. So I wouldn’t know about not waking up Robbie’s anima.
Agreed.
We need to protect ourselves, even if it means throwing him under the bus.
“We apologize for scaring you,” the tall guy with the slicked back hair and brown jacket said as he and his shorter, white suited partner or whoever sat down next to him. Meanwhile, Emma and I sat across from them. “I’m Agent Werner, and this is Agent Benet. We’re here under reports of several people that have woken up their anima without going through the proper channels. Kendall being one such person. Before we get into it, do either of you have any questions for us?”
Esmer was on the floor next to me, but she was tall enough where even without legs she could poke her head up past the table and sat there patiently.
“Yeah,” Emma said, “I still don’t know what’s going on, but I want to know how Kendall got an anima. Because she’s the last person that should have one.”
“As for what happened,’ Werner said as he took out a folder and opened it. “Her teacher, Mr. Roland, was the one to wake hers up a bit more than a week ago on March 25th.”
I peeked over at Emma. And holy shit. I’ve seen Emma get pissed before, but this was pissed. I wasn’t a fan of being around her like this, even if I’m not the reason she was pissed. “Mr. Roland. Where is he right now?”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Emma,” Werner said. “It’s going to be best to let us take care of this.”
“But-“
“He’s right,” Bennet cut in. “Waking up anima without being vetted for if it's safe, let alone a kid’s anima, is a serious crime.”
Emma still looked like she was going to burn Mr. Roland’s house down, but she followed it up by saying, “Fine. But I’m going to be calling the school.”
“That’s alright, but the school is already aware and has suspended him for the time being during the investigation. Now moving along, did you two have any other questions?”
Ask what’s going to happen.
“So what’s going to happen to me…?” I asked.
“Under normal circumstances, we’d give you a form to fill out with some basic questions to determine if you’re at risk, and what intensity of risk your anima would pose. Then we would suggest a psychologist, or you may pick one if you so wish.”
“No,” I said, crossing my arms, “I’m never fucking seeing anyone like that ever again.”
“I’m sorry,” Werner said, “but it’s standard procedure that everyone has to go through.”
“I don’t care. I am not seeing anyone like that because that’s not going to do anything and will be one giant waste of time.”
“Well, if you refuse, then it’s going to be brought to the courts I’m afraid.”
—
Being forced to testify to what father did in front of everyone.
—
“I’m not doing that either.”
Emma, with her arm around me, pulled me closer. “I know you really don’t want to, but it’s just to see if your anima is safe.”
“She’s right,” Werner said, “We know it can be intimidating for some people, but it really will help with guiding you through any problems you may have with them. And so we know if there are any risks.”
I just stared down at the table. “Whatever…”
I’m still not going.
We can talk about it later.
Let’s pay attention for now.
“I think it’s best if we just get through the questions now,” Emma said, as if she was reading my mind.
“Agreed.” Bennet took out a piece of paper and slid it over to me with a pen. “We have some basic questions for you to fill out, and then we’ll have some questions of our own to go through. If you need help with answering anything then just let us know.”
I hunched over the piece of paper and started at the top.
‘Your anima’s name:’
I knew Emma was right there, but I could feel her eyes glued to my paper. I guess I couldn’t blame her for wanting to know what was going on in my head.
‘Your anima’s name: Esmer and Tarmon’
“You have two of them?” Emma chimed in almost immediately.
“That’s not terribly unusual depending on the circumstances,” Werner said, “Did they by chance tell you why they appeared after your first one?”
Tarmon popped his head next to mine, making me look at him.
+++
So that I can fix all the fuck-ups from Esmer repressing your memories.
+++
Looking back at the other two, “This is kinda weird talking like this…”
“If you’d rather have them write out what they say, then that might be easier.” Bennet slid his notepad and a pen in front of me. “Are you aware of how to give control of your arm to your anima?”
Without warning, Tarmon wrapped part of his body around my arms and sunk in. Right after, he started writing frantically.
‘Her useless anima repressed memories. I’m here to make her remember every last one.’
Emma peeked over it as he was writing, but the moment Tarmon was done, he slid it back towards Bennet. He and Werner looked it over and put the notebook in front of me. “I see. What are the severity of the memories if we may ask? Is it something that requires immediate attention?”
Tarmon took the pad and started writing again.
‘If I were to unload the memories all at once, then this stupid-‘
I forced my hand to stop writing anything else.
Don’t fucking insult me in front of other people!
+++
Then you’re going to have to explain why you’re stopping me, and then they’ll keep questioning you and you’ll have to answer them all and it'll drag this out.
Or you will let me write what I want and get this over with faster.
+++
…
I let go of my hand and let him keep writing.
‘If I were to unload the memories all at once, then this stupid slut would likely get traumatized all over again. If not worse.’
I leaned forward to block Emma from the notepad, and it seemed like I did a good enough job.
“I see…” Bennet said, “I can’t express how lucky you are. Anima born from repressed memories are commonly referred to as memory anima. More often than not, they like to unload all the memories at once, and in every case we’ve seen it’s been a train wreck. It’s good to know that your memory anima is kind in that regard.”
A spike of something intense came from Tarmon, and without saying a word, he reached over and snatched the notepad out of Bennet’s hands and started writing.
‘Don’t think for a moment I give a shit about this useless bitch. The ONLY reason I haven’t unloaded everything is because I made a deal with her anima. She stops repressing, and I take it slow. If she goes back on her deal, then I don’t care if I cripple Kendall for life. I’ll make her remember everything at once.’
I peeked over at Emma for a moment, but the only thing I noticed was her mouth hanging open before Tarmon pulled my eyes back to the notepad.
+++
Don’t look away until I’m done writing.
+++
You’re lucky I don’t have my legs, or I’ll be ripping you away from Kendall’s arms right now.
+++
And you’re lucky I haven’t replaced you yet.
+++
‘And if you try any kind of bullshit to push me back into her mind, then I’ll start unloading on the spot.’
He slid it back to the two of them and let go of my arms. Leaving me sitting there with a glowing red face since I knew Emma saw the crap he wrote.
“Don’t worry. We don’t work to repress memory anima. Instead, they’re worked with to help unload the memories. This is another reason getting checked out is important. You guys would have been informed of the dangers of repressing memories when an anima is active.”
+++
You know, I’m starting to like these guys.
First they scare the shit out of you, and then they take my side.
Tell them I said thank you.
+++
“...Tarmon wants me to tell you ‘thank you.’”
“You’re welcome,” Bennet said as he took back his pad and pen. “For now, you should get back to filling out that sheet.”
I turned my attention back to my paper and looked at the next question.
‘Have you ever been diagnosed with any form of mental illness? If so, then list them all.’
Fucking serious? They have to ask that right near the start?
Tarmon slid up between Emma and myself.
+++
I know, right? We don’t have enough time to list everything that’s fucked up in your head.
+++
In the next moment, Esmer reached up and pushed Tarmon’s head down.
Don’t listen to him.
We’re doing our best with what we have, and there’s no shame in that.
I guess…
Besides, this might be a good chance to get some more help if we’re honest.
Esmer’s arm sunk into Tarmon as he rose back up.
+++
Why would anyone want to help a bitch like you?
All they’re doing is checking to see how messed up you are.
That’s not helping.
+++
With a huff, Esmer put all her weight on Tarmon and pushed him down again.
Then we can ask for help.
We know that’s a terrifying idea, but it can’t be any worse than when we went to the last therapist we saw.
While they both bickered back and forth, I wrote a big fat ‘No’ and moved on. Before I even looked at the next question, though, Emma cut in again.
“Don’t hide it, Kendall. We both know you were diagnosed with PTSD.”
“That’s because the guy didn’t know what he was talking about when he said that.”
“Hold on.” Roderick wrote some stuff down. “Did Mr. Roland know about this PTSD?”
“No, because I don’t have PTSD or any of that crap.”
We don’t have to lie about it.
“You just got done having an episode yesterday,” Emma said.
“That was just…uhh…”
It might be better to say we can’t lie about it.
The faster we accept it, then the faster we can get this done with.
With a sigh, I crossed off the ‘no’ and wrote in PTSD and went right on to the next one.
‘Have you ever had any persistent desires to cause harm to anyone else? Explain.’
Absolutely
+++
I don’t even know how long you’ve been wanting to beat up people weaker than you, but years.
+++
I went to write ‘no,’ but both Tarmon and Esmer stopped me.
They’re going to find out from Robbie, possibly.
We already told Robbie to not say he tricked us into waking up his anima to keep him safe, but we can’t trust him to lie about this.
Nor should we expect him to lie about it.
+++
And I just want to see Emma get pissed at you.
+++
Fine.
I took the paper and moved to sit at the edge of the table and away from Emma. “I don’t want you commenting on everything I write. And it makes this take longer than it needs to be.” She looked disappointed, but left it at that.
‘Yeah. Towards a classmate when he didn’t do what I said, but I don’t think about doing that stuff anymore.’
‘Have you ever felt like you’ve lost control in a moment and did something you later regretted? If so, then explain.’
We feel we have to say sorry about those times.
Last night probably wouldn’t have gotten that bad if I didn’t go so hard on Zach.
Even if he deserved it.
With a sigh, I wrote our answer.
‘No’
They can’t prove that. And I’m not dealing with whatever bullshit comes up with if I tell them the truth.
Probably for the best.
‘Are you currently being, or have you ever been prescribed medication for behavior issues? If so, then which ones?’
With one final ‘no,’ I finished the sheet and slid it back to them.
Hopefully this won’t cut too much into our relaxing time.
With how things have been going, I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t get a second more to relax all day. And I got an entire fucking night with Werner being here.
Emma will be here all night as well.
She’ll make sure nothing happens.
Tarmon slid up to me.
+++
He’s going to get her black out drunk, and then he’s going to break into your room.
So I guess that means you better not go to sleep tonight.
+++
I slid down in my seat and kept my eye on Werner.
And there goes any hope of getting rest tonight. Thanks for being such a massive dick…
+++
Anytime
+++
