daisy023 | REPORT 013 :: CATHARSIS // VOICE

This is Spartan TwentyThree.

New feathers. Any and all UNSC forces in the area. Respond.

... I'm back.

[ENCRYPTED TO CLINIC PERSONNEL // TOP SECRET // EYES ONLY]

What equipment do we have in the Clinic?

[ENCRYPTED TO VALVALIS // TOP SECRET // EYES ONLY]

Thank you. I mean it.

[ENCRYPTED TO PAPRIKA // CLASSIFIED // EYES ONLY]

Ma'am. That offer for treatment. Is it still standing?

[ENCRYPTED TO SUPERMAN // CLASSIFIED // EYES ONLY]

...

[She sounds meek when she asks.]

Can we talk?

[ACTION FOR HOUSE 20]

[Comm matters taken care of, she goes to House Twenty, having quite remembered the matter of the hat, and it's implications. With two knocks on the front door, the armored figure calls out.]

Mr. Castagnier.

[After that...]

[Later in the day, having gotten the package, the 7ft tall girl in red armor goes to the Clinic, hat in hand, to see if there's equipment there to see if there are hairs in it to analyze for DNA. Yes, for her, that damned hat is that important.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

PTSD is not a challenge, it is a disorder. That is what the 'D' in it stands for and its there for a reason. If you are the only ones capable of fighting then fine, but that still does not excuse you or the people sending you out for making it a game.

[Paprika ignores the people surrounding Daisy and continues on. Those people are just projections of Daisy's mind and nothing more.]

You feel that way because the war zone has been made into your home. But, it should not be a home. Those afflicted by PTSD in a war situation may feel that they need to go back because it might relieve the stress, but it's just the opposite.

I meant... It's battle what we enjoy. I feel focused. I feel adrenaline. I feel I can break my limits. I feel I'm making a difference. That despite how strange we may be to everyone else, that I'm allowing the normal human to return home alive. Something I never got to know.

[Until Luceti.]

We never treat anyone's traumas as a joke. We know it's to be treated like an injury. We get leave like everyone else in the UNSC for time to recover when we need it. But no one can be out of fighting forever.

[The place shifts back to the first scene. The plaza with the fountain and gardens. But Daisy remains in armor.]

And even if we didn't get out to fight, what would we do? Between the Covenant burning worlds to glass, and just accepting that you were turned into a weapon and forbidden from having a childhood... what can I do?

My part in my war is over. But even this place has fighting. You know it.

I don't think the people you met in the village would call you strange for enjoying the battlefield, even if it was to that extent.

You can do anything you want. No one should restrict you from what you want to do. Whether it be to fight a battle, no matter where the war zone is, or to live a normal life. You're a person too and you shouldn't be denied those rights.

[With these words, Daisy looks at her, then sits to look at the marble road. And slowly, she calms down.

For a minute, she stays still to think, and regain control of her emotions. The armor slowly dissolves into the figure with a red jumpsuit, and the environment... transforms, but halfway it. It turns into an hybrid of the city of her childhood, and Luceti.]

Well, no one can forbid me much in this place.

[She accepts. Civilian or not, Paprika was right. Everyone in Luceti was right in that matter. Daisy was following rules she didn't know how well could they be actually applied into this place. Her voice sounds saddened and confused, but also curious.]

There's also a lot that I've always wanted to do. But sometimes I don't where to start. Or know how to do it.

...Can there be a balance between the two things? Between being a Spartam, and having a life?

Hm...there are special trained forces in my world too. I don't know much about military or government operations, but they seem to live a normal life outside of their duty to protect others. Like keeping your personal and professional life separate. It may not be the same, but in this place you can have that separation. You understand?

[Keeping both separate. Ironically... it is an alien concept to her. They were trained to have their professional life as their only one, and their personal lives... as something secondary. Something that would only come from the former, rarely worth paying much attention to.

But this place... Even when she hated the free time, it was making her develop that. A personal life. It may not be like home. It may not be the same. But maybe she can make one.

It was what she wanted since she discovered the truth from Halseu. And right now, everyone was helping her.

The merged location slowly fills with living beings, many of them familiar faces.]

I think I do.

[As she stands up, she shifts again, but returning to her form as the adult woman. Not in armor, but in what was her new feather sundress.]

It may not be the same. But there's an opportunity here. I... don't have much experience outside the military. But I want to know.

You never know until you try, right? [She lets go a breath she didn't realize she was even holding and smiles.] Still, I'm sure you'll be fine. Adapting to an environment like this takes time, but I have faith! So, you should have faith in me, for having faith in you.

[She had to give Paprika that. It would take time, but it was possible... And for a Spartan, adaptation was important. Perhaps this could be taken as another mission. Another challenge. It was the way she had been ingrained into seeing things. But now she could perhaps use that for this place.

A lot of people here had adapted. Ralph got to adapt to having a normal life, and lived happily to the end. So could she.

Daisy smiles to her.]

Thank you, Paprika.

[She cannot hug her. Dream or not, Spartans are not adapted to physical contact. Though a part of her wonders how much of that would change.]

...Sorry I am a trouble patient.

[One with an amount of issues as high as her kill count.]

[She laughs lightly.]

Oh please, don't be like that. If you are a 'troubled' patient, then what does that say about the people I had to deal with before you? [She doesn't initiate any physical contact either, just out of professionalism sake. Also Daisy is pretty large compared to her 5'5 foot self.] If you ever want to talk about this again, I'll gladly lend out my services once more.

Well... thought I'd be one of the worst.

[She blushes. She wondered if her kind of thinking was even common, but she trusted Paprika's judgement.

This time, nothing in the dream changes. Perhaps it is the way Daisy wants it? After her trip... She had tried to become a bit more open. Realizing you don't have much time left gives any person perspective.]

Thank you, ma'am. For your help. [And for being an ear.]

Nah, there are no bad patients. I promise. [She notices the halt in changing and smiles. Looks like she's done for now.] Well, if we're finished I should leave you to resting. Have to get a good night sleep to function well during the day!

[She nods, closing her eyes, smiling to herself in a state of peace. With it, Daisy walks back to back to the town, towards familiar faces, with her new feather dress waving with the wind.

Daisy will still be a girl with problems. But in a way? Even this place may help.]

REPORT 013 :: CATHARSIS // VOICE | ACTION

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