A nod, recalling — easy to recall when she had been so inclined to fold that idea into the collection of strategies she already has. Things she can see. Things she can feel. Exist in this moment, where nothing is actually trying to hurt her. (Tricky trying to reassure wildly overpowered anxiety living a life where things are frequently trying to hurt her, but not impossible, actually.)
“It reminded me of what Guilfoyle would do,” she says, “counting breaths or — making me explain something to him.”
Distraction, as a method: she is calm before she's realised she's being calmed down.
This had been a part of why she'd cooperated so readily at the time; not the same, maybe more effective, but close enough to something she was used to reaching for that the moment where she might have balked and resisted didn't happen. The other part, probably, had been Stephen himself— she can admit that now, in retrospect, when she hadn't particularly wanted to examine that at the time.
no subject
“It reminded me of what Guilfoyle would do,” she says, “counting breaths or — making me explain something to him.”
Distraction, as a method: she is calm before she's realised she's being calmed down.
This had been a part of why she'd cooperated so readily at the time; not the same, maybe more effective, but close enough to something she was used to reaching for that the moment where she might have balked and resisted didn't happen. The other part, probably, had been Stephen himself— she can admit that now, in retrospect, when she hadn't particularly wanted to examine that at the time.
Upon consideration: “It felt less like a trick.”