Interlude: Therapy
Twilight, Ratchet, and Clank all stared up...and up...and up at Pokitaru resort's on staff psychologist. He was a Caluf'ti, a race of four armed winged giants from a star system between the Solana and Bogon galaxies. This particular member would easily top fifteen feet tall when standing, and was very heavily muscled under his aqua skin. Against one wall was a rack of glasses, each one having a different number of eyes in different arrangements, matching the ocular patterns of the various races of Solana. He was currently wearing a set with two eyes which looked out at them all calmly. His wings were folded gently to his back over the massive Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts he was wearing to account for Pokitaru's tropical climate, given Caluf 4, his homeworld, had a temperature that varied from pleasantly cool to frozen over the course of a year.(1)
"Greetings," he stated simply, his voice gravely but somehow calming. One large hand clutched a small notebook, another clutched a pencil. The third held a mug filled with an acidic concoction that was lethal to most races but the equivalent of coffee to Caluf'ti, and it bubbled and steamed with frost. His last hand turned a set of stress balls around and around in his palm. "I am Dr. Fizzi K. Drake. You can, however, call me Fizzy Drink if you prefer." His smile would have been less off-putting if his teeth weren't razor sharp. "Many of my patients do."
It was plain to them all that he was making a genuine effort to be relatable and calming. The effort would likely have worked better if any of them were eye level with anything above his ankle.
Fizzi glanced over the expressions locked on him. The Lombax was terrified. The robot was nervous. His patient looked more curious than anything. He decided to start there. "If it will help you feel more comfortable, I would happily answer any questions you have about my species, or myself personally."
Twilight's eyes widened with glee. Ratchet facepalmed. Clank merely muttered, "Oh, boy..."
The eyes of Fizzi's glasses widened somewhat as the torrent of questions bombarded him. This would take a while.
Nearly two hours later, Fizzi had finally answered all of Twilight's questions...or at any rate, all such questions he felt it appropriate to answer for a prepubescent patient. Some of the questions had left him stupefied from how out of left field they were (2), while others seemed unusual for a child to ask(3), and some startled him with their logic(4). "While I'm glad your more comfortable now," he said at last, "I believe we're here to talk about you, Twilight Sparkle."
"Oh...right..." Twilight rubbed the back of her head sheepishly while Ratchet chuckled indulgently. Clank 'baa'ed for some reason, resulting in Ratchet laughing and Twilight punching Clank.
Fizzi smiled softly. "Now then, Twilight...tell me what bothers you."
Twilight shrugged. "It's nothing...really...nothing..."
"Really?" Fizzi asked. "It was my understanding that you've been suffering..." He glanced at the notepad. "Nightmares, occasional anxiety attacks, flashes of inexplicable temper, and...magic surges?" He looked to Ratchet and Clank for explanation of that last one.
"Twilight generates an energy field that is...unique in nature, as far as the known galaxy is concerned," Clank explained. "The only texts covering it at all are Old Earth texts describing the 'etheric' sciences."
"Twilight calls it magic," Ratchet added. "It comes out through her horn, and...sometimes, when she loses control of herself emotionally, it comes out in huge bursts that...she can't entirely control."
"Can you give me an example?" Fizzi asked curiously.
"The resort only fired off one firework last night," Clank replied. "The rest was Twilight's magic reacting to the sound of the unexpected explosion."
"I see..." Fizzi turned back to Twilight, and saw she was looking away. "Ratchet, Clank, perhaps now is the time for me to speak to Twilight alone...professional to patient."
Twilight looked up nervously, but Ratchet nodded. "It's going to be okay, Twilight," he reassured her, stroking her mane. "We'll be just outside the door if you need us."
"We aren't going anywhere," Clank added.
Twilight stared after them, looking anxious as the door shut. She started to hyperventilate.
"Twilight, look here," Fizzi directed firmly, calling up a holo-display.
The display showed the live camera view of just outside the office door, easily confirmed by glancing out the window into the hall. "They're right there," Fizzi reassured her. "If you need them, they can come back in at any time...and in the meantime, they can't hear what you tell me. So why don't you start by telling me what sort of nightmares you've been having about them?"
Twilight looked up at him in shock.
"I'm no amateur," Fizzi pointed out. "Now...tell me. None will hear from me of what you speak."
Twilight swallowed and nodded. "Well...we recently escaped from the Dreadzone...it was-"
Fizzi held up his hand. "I am aware," he said softly. "You aren't the only new patient of mine to have escaped that hell hole. Though given how the others have spoken of you three, I'm surprised you haven't been swarmed by them and their gratitude."
"Daddy goes to an effort to make sure we aren't," Twilight replied. "For my sake..." She glanced up at the holo-view, her eyes on Ratchet.
Fizzi thought about everything the other escaped heroes - and audience members - had told him. "It's about when you were tricked into fighting him, isn't it?" he asked. "Your nightmares, I mean."
Shivering slightly, Twilight nodded.
"Tell me."
Taking a few calming breaths, Twilight spoke. "I...in the dreams, I'm fighting Daddy again. Sometimes, I end up killing him before his helmet comes off...and only discover I've been fighting him after I've already killed him. But...but those aren't the worst ones, even if they are the ones that feel all too real."
Fizzi nodded. "What are the worst ones?"
"...when the helmet comes off, I see I'm fighting Daddy...and then I kill him anyway...and then Ace is looking at me in horror..."
"Ace?"
"Ace Hardlight," Twilight replied. "He...he kinda looked after me in Dreadzone, and...he died, making sure we made it out in one piece...and making sure Vox couldn't come after us. I...I heard him die..."
Fizzi nodded. "And how are you dealing with that? Losing someone who cared for you, whom you cared for?"
Twilight chuckled a bit. "Well...you'd probably say I'm in denial, but...I don't want to believe he's actually dead. I mean...he survived being killed once before shortly before that."
"Why do you want to believe it so strongly?" Fizzi asked.
Twilight looked down. "It...it helps me to move on from all that...if I don't have to think that someone died...for me. It...it's already hard enough, remembering the Bio-Crusher...the one I had to put out of its misery..." She sniffled. "It makes me miss Fuzzy-Biter so much..."
It had been after coming to Pokitaru that Twilight had discovered that Fuzzy-Biter - the original Protopet - had died while she was in the Dreadzone. Apparently, to balance out their incredibly high rate of reproduction, they had a very short lifespan, and the forced extraction Fuzzy-Biter had undergone had shortened his life artificially. While there were many others, it just wasn't the same for Twilight.
Fizzi remained silent, having been briefed previously on much of this. "And so you cling all the more tightly to those you care for," he added finally.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah...I guess so..."
Fizzi let her think for a time, then nodded. "Twilight, while we're a long way from any sort of treatment - if such a thing is even applicable - I think we are well on our way to identifying your issues and helping you to address them. I see no reason why, in time, you shouldn't be just fine."
Twilight looked up. "Do you really mean it?"
"Indeed," he replied, reaching into the jar of small treats he kept for his child patients. "Here," he said, tossing her one, "have a peanut."
(1) Like Aska Ni Teng back in "Interlude: Interview", Fizzi K. Drake was created by my Mom. I think she's enjoying helping me come up with things like this.
(2) "Do you generate etheric energy for flight, or are your wings just for gliding?"
(3) "How many breasts do the females of your race have?"
(4) "If you hatch from eggs, why does your race even have mammaries?"
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Nightmares, occassionl anxiety attacks
1. Occasional.
Wow, you've got the... I wouldn't say equivalent to a soccer mom but an awesome mom all the same.
a peanut really dr fizzy drink you give them a lollie
6393568
It was in reference to the Princess Bride character who inspired the name and personality.
Fizzi: "They are for gliding, for the most part. Although, if there are decent thermals or if properly equipped, we can manage a limited form of free flight."
Fizzi: "Aren't you a bit young to be asking that question?"
Twilight: "Yes. Yes I am."
Fizzi: "..."
Twilight: "I still expect you to answer the question."
Fizzi: "I'll tell you when you're older."
Twilight: "That's what Daddy tells me when I ask him anything about females of his race."
Fizzi: "When you are much much older, and I'm stone drunk at the time."
Twilight: "He says that too."
Fizzi: "For the same reason most races with mammaries have them - to look good in a bikini!"
That 4th question is a doozie. I hope this therapy works man. I had guilty nightmares once or twice before and they are not fun.
6393613 My childhood, right there! That's just
caragaleblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/princess-bride-14.jpg
I'm relatively sure the word is ethereal, for that context.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
6394005
I've seen 'etheric' used in that context, especially in reference to the scientific analysis of magic.
And that is how Twilight found out that she was allergic to peanuts.
Hey... if enough of us believe with Twilight... can Ace come back??? Please????
I think a good way to let Twilight vent is to get a supply of Vox dummies and let her destroy them.
6393748 ROTFLMAO!!!
it would have been funnier if Fizzi offered her a Quesadilla at the end
Okay, I want to say that Fizzi wears the appropriate glasses for each species so they are more comfortable with him, rather than any actual need. He probably has perfect vision, in fact. However, the fact that he has so many variations raises a question for me. How many eyes does he even have, and does that vary across his species? At this rate, your mom may be tangentially badgered by us wanting more information about the characters she creates to get her own account.
6394389
You're actually dead on as to the glasses. His actual number of eyes, however, was left deliberately vague.
Is... Is Dr. Fizzy Drink... another Cthulu character?
6394399 I imagine that the number is, in fact, variable. How many, or few, he has depends on how many he needs.
He doesn't have eyes, persay. He has light-detecting freckles.
6394399 I imagined him to have no eyes of his own at all until he puts on the glasses. Just a depression in the eye region. Like a Moai Head. :3
6393748 I applaud you for Question 3
Is good that she is getting help.
6393613
That you for that
6393613
One of my favorite scenes from the movie (haven't gotten around to reading the book yet). Actually, when I first read the name I thought Fezzik
I don't know about anyone else, but I freaking LOVED the protopets in Ratchet and Clank: going commando. I mean, sure they were a massive pain to deal with on the planet that has hordes of them, but I loved them nonetheless.
So here is an idea for Twilight: genetically alter a protopet so that it has a longer lifespan, and doesn't reproduce so quickly, like hardly ever so they don't overrun any planet they are on. Please use this idea
6401377 The best option I can think for that would be lowering its metabolic rate, as doing so would slow the protopet's cell division rate, and likely lower the hormone production rate, proportionately. The end result of which would likely be a longer general lifespan, and a lowered sex drive.
We found Big Foot!
6401377 while that sounds good, it still isn't the original.
7126690
No you found Big Foot's cousin, the flying multi-armed Jotun from space