Crack your skull open [Closed]

[themightysamson]

Picking a place to do evaluations wasn't easy, but after some searching, he eventually found a nice spot. It was... some alien building in the city. He didn't know much about the culture, but he had to marvel at the architecture. Not only was it aesthetically pleasing, the furniture was comfortable, and the walls were virtually soundproof. It helped to provide a nice relaxing and secure atmosphere he needed to get people talking.

And speaking of, he sat back, waiting for his first few appointments of the day to arrive.

Comments

[themightysamson]

"Really?" He'll take that challenge.

"So how did you end up like... this?"

[livestoannoy]

"Like what?" he said, watching Samson through narrowed eyes. He couldn't have figured Marco out already, could he? Unless Samson had had info on him before this thing had even already started...what did he know about? The Yeerks? His mother? Morphing?!

[themightysamson]

"You put an awful lot of effort into appearing shallow. But this goes deeper than simple avoidance issues, doesn't it?

"What are you so afraid of, Marco?"

[livestoannoy]

For half a second, Marco didn't say anything at all.

"Aww, you think I'm deep? I'm touched, really. I'll have to put that on a plaque: 'Marco's not shallow, because the shrink says so.'" Why was he joking? This wasn't going to work; he knew it wasn't going to work. But Marco couldn't think of anything else to get him out of this. He was just rattling off whatever came into his head. "And alright, you've got me. I'm afraid of the gloop; I think it's secretly alive and plotting vengeance."

[themightysamson]

"Are you afraid of crayons too?

"I noticed that you didn't make a crack about them when I mention them, which, struck me as odd considering that you present yourself as being so full of smart remarks. It puzzled me for a moment, but if we toss in the fact that you're trying your damnedest to give away as little information as possible, the most likely reason you didn't remark on them was because you didn't want to give away that you already knew about them." It was speculation on his part, as he had no proof Marco had ever been in this office, but he had a feeling he was close to the truth.

"How many times have you been in my office?"

[livestoannoy]

"Dude, are you insane? That's what you decide to psycho-analyse? The fact that I didn't make a joke about crayons?" Marco said.

Dammit, he needed to think. He should have planned for this more, should have looked more at Samson, should have figured out some topics he could divert to before he got here.

[themightysamson]

"You avoided answering the question," he pointed out, but he wasn't going to linger on that.

"Do you do that because you think its less worse than lying?"

[livestoannoy]

Well, truth was Marco had no problems with lying. In the war, lying had been necessary. The truth would have gotten them all infested. Now, on the meatship, Marco had no qualms about lying if it reduced the risk to him and the other Animorphs.

But Samson had been gleaming a lot more from his lies and evasions than Marco had liked. He needed to change tactics. "Do you really think we'd all be happy to just waltz in here and spill our guts?" he said. "Without even knowing who you are, or whether you're recording this?"

[themightysamson]

"Happy? No. But none of that excuses breaking and entering. Particularly since you could have tried asking me for that information, but didn't. Likely because that would require admitting that you were afraid.

"Why does someone being an unknown quantity threaten you so much?"

[livestoannoy]

"I'm not afraid," Marco hissed. "And if you go around assuming that everyone here is trustworthy you're stupider than I thought."

[themightysamson]

And there we go.

"I didn't say anyone was or wasn't 'trustworthy,' I said 'unknown quantity.' But since you brought it up, do you assume that some is untrustworthy until you can suss out on your own, by any means necessary, that they're no threat to you?"

[livestoannoy]

"If they're unknown you don't know if they're trustworthy," Marco countered. "And in case you hadn't noticed, Stacy's not exactly discriminating about who she picks up. Hello, remember Big Zero? Kawalsky?"

The Yeerks.

[themightysamson]

"That would be all of... what, two out of three hundred or so people? That hardly justifies your paranoia. If anything, it only makes it all the more out of place."

Which begs the question...

"What happened to you, Marco, to make you so afraid?"

[livestoannoy]

"Out of place?! Doc, in case you haven't noticed we're in the middle of a war. Two out of three hundred can do more than enough damage, and they're just the ones we know about. And nothing. happened!"

[themightysamson]

"And what would a child like you know about being in a war?"

[livestoannoy]

"Child? Dude, I'm nineteen!" Marco said, scowling. "And hello, we're all in one now?"

[themightysamson]

"Which means you'd have absolutely no experience before this, yet you spoke like you would actually know what you're talking about.

"Prior to arriving on the ship, did you have any direct experience with war?"

[livestoannoy]

"If you count watching Saving Private Ryan as 'direct experience', sure," Marco said, trying to stall. Samson wasn't going to buy it, he could tell that by now - but he couldn't afford to reveal that he'd fought Yeerks. He couldn't afford to reveal that he could morph. He needed to come up with a story that explained how he knew about wars but didn't mention Yeerks or alien invasions...

[themightysamson]

"That's not a 'no,'" he pointed out.

"What do you think will happen if you were to answer honestly?"

[livestoannoy]

"Why the hell should I tell you anything when it might put me and the other people from my world at risk?" Marco demanded, switching tack. "You think that just because you've got your shiny psychology degree that you get to know?"

[themightysamson]

Interesting.

"At risk of what?"

[livestoannoy]

"Right, so I'm supposed to answer and give you hints, am I?" Marco said, scowling.

[themightysamson]

"Yes. It would help a great deal, actually. If you were in some sort of danger, you could address the issue and find ways to minimize the danger, rather than continue this kind of behavior, deny yourself any assistance, and let that risk continue to be out there."

[livestoannoy]

"I already have people I trust to watch my back" Marco said coldly. "You're not one of them."

[themightysamson]

"And considering that you have a group of nearly three hundred to help with that, sticking to 'your own,' as it were, is remarkably foolish. Not to mention that, if there is a genuine risk, you're recklessly leaving everyone else exposed to it. Does that bother you at all? Or are you fine with being selfish enough that you'll shove someone else under a bus so long as it doesn't affect you and yours?"