Issue 24, Page 3
Transcript
1: The two facing each other at the table. Mel is smiling.
Mel: Since the moving people said there was a delay with the rest of our furniture, we have some time… I was thinking, maybe… we could find something to do in town?
Find somewhere nice to eat, maybe take a walk in that park nearby?
2: Julia looks concerned as she thinks and looks to Mel.
3: In Julia’s view, Mel is seen to be something worse, something writhing with tentacles and glaring eyes – Julia can’t help but contemplate the dark writhing hidden in Mel, and herself.
4: She looks away, down at her tablet.
Julia: I can’t today, I’m sorry. I…
It’s a bit much for me today, and with all this moving shit…
5: Julia stands. Mel is feigning a smile.
Mel: That’s okay. I understand, honey.
I should get back to some of my research anyways.
Julia: Let me get these plates.
6: Julia having left, Mel looks away, expression both stern and vacant, a cold look.
Ah, I see. I figured Julia would have lingering effects from her… experience, but I didn’t consider how pronounced it would be.
no Julia Purged the influence of “The one who Crawls” from her body… Mel was not with Julia so she never got the Benefit of a full cleansing…
How the heck an you be cleansed of yourself?
yeah that is a new one on me to0. But it did happen… no matter how strange, Perhaps Our Julia is much stronger willed then Mel??
Trauma does that… but it looks like Mel REALLY isn’t happy about the situation. Whether it’s good or bad remains to be seen, but that’s hidden hurt.
Oof! Is there even a classification for that sort of PTSD?
In my unprofessional opinion, I’d say the closest we could get to the kind of PTSD she suffers from would be Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which results from really long term inter-personal things, such as prolonged psychological abuse, in which there is no chance of escaping it. Which, honestly, she had no way out, so I’d count it. It typically manifests like normal PTSD, but with additional symptoms such as “prolonged feelings of terror, worthlessness, helplessness, and deformation of one’s identity and sense of self”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_post-traumatic_stress_disorder
She sees what everyone truly looks like now.
I was going to say, I don’t know if this could be strictly called PTSD so much as you can’t *unlearn* that kind of truth.
Hell, even being physically close to other people must be at least slightly harrowing for her.
So, unless the Martian Manhunter goes in and erases that knowledge out of her, she’s fucked for the rest of her life.
(Yes, there is a reason why I said Martian Manhunter … J’onn J’onzz might have nothing to do in the Blackdogverse though.)