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

[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?"

[livestoannoy]

"Right, so just because I don't decide that everyone else must be trustworthy even when I don't know a thing about them, you assume I'll just stand back and laugh when they all die, is that it?" Marco hissed, galled at the idea that just because he looks out for the people close to him first he must be selfish. They're his priority and have always been, but he still spent three years putting his life on the line for everyone else on the planet. Random people, that he'd never met and never will. He went through all that terror and horror and fear, and this guy takes one look at him and decides he's selfish?!

[themightysamson]

"Its not a matter of trust. Its a matter of common decency and respect." Two qualities Marco had yet to demonstrate much of.

[livestoannoy]

"So first it's about needing other people's 'help', then it's about me being too selfish to help other people, and now it's about 'common decency and respect'? Are you going to make your mind up anytime soon, or are you just going to keep rattling off whatever complaints come into your head?"

But Samson thinking he was a jerkass was better then him continuing to poke into the war. If he was just a jerk, then he could be dismissed, and no one would need to start looking more deeply at Marco. Ironically enough, if you go deeper Marco was actually a decent guy - but you had to get past the surface first.

And no one ever pities the guy who makes all the sarcastic and cutting remarks either. Marco prefers it that way.

[themightysamson]

"It's about all of those things. The root of your attitude, your refusal to address it, and the impact that has on others. Its all related." He didn't raise his voice, or let any kind of anger seep into his tone, largely because he wasn't angry.

Sure, Marco had an attitude, but when your clients range from Spider-Man to Magneto to the Hulk, you'd need far more than simply an attitude to get under his skin.

"Its about your fear, your continuing to run away from it, and how you're busy thinking of yourself to worry about what that might do to others. Whether they can help you, or you can help them. You've been too terrified to even answer even the simplest of questions; I imagine I could ask you what your favorite color is, and you'd hedge around it because, what? If I find that out, it's just one more thing that can be taken advantage of and used against you and your friends?"

[livestoannoy]

Marco narrowed his eyes. "Red," he said, challenging.

[themightysamson]

"Interesting." He took a few seconds to write down several notes. "Though I didn't ask you what favorite color was. I asked you were you afraid that even something that small could be used against you. If you're afraid that if you trust the wrong person with anything at all, it'll come back to bite you in the ass.

"Are you?"

[livestoannoy]

What, that? made him write something down? Marco eyed that notebook suspiciously.

Maybe he should try and sneak back in later and find out what Samson wrote. Unless he wasn't really writing anything - it could just be there as a trick, to try and psych Marco out.

"Hey, I trust people all the time. They want to know what video games I play? Sure. The comics I read? Awesome. But the big things? No way. I don't know what bizarro-world you live in," - well, technically he did, but that was besides the point - "but as far as I'm concerned? That's stuff's on a need to know basis, and everyone and their mother doesn't need to know. Because yeah, with the wrong info in the wrong hands? You can do a hell of a lot of damage."

Marco should know. He'd done a lot of damage himself.