I2DT - Wine For Two

[Miriam Bell]

She nods but seems to be somewhat distracted, glancing across the room at a table where a quiet, but intense conversation between a middle-aged couple seems to be taking place.

"Well it still could have bothered you, I suppose."

[Samantha McManus]

"...I'm sorry if I'm boring you," she says, not certain if it would be polite to look over her shoulder.

[Miriam Bell]

"You're not boring. Someone's just being a complete prat back there..."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam quirks a brow, straining to hear and then finally resorting to her other senses.

[Narrator]

The conversation seems to be a fight about something trivial, probably aggravated by Miriam's little stunt earlier, the atmosphere filling the air between them is tense, filled with anger, frustration and anxiety. But what's making it stand out are the bright flashes of fear that happen every time the man makes too brash a movement.

[Samantha McManus]

"...that's not being a prat."

[Miriam Bell]

"You're right, it's worse." she says, apparently already reaching deeper into the man's mind.

[Samantha McManus]

"What are you doing to him?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Nothing. I'm looking for why she's so scared of him." she says in a tone that suggests she already has a pretty good idea and is looking for confirmation.

[Samantha McManus]

"Then you're looking in the wrong place," she says, reaching out to touch the woman's mind.

[Miriam Bell]

On the surface the woman's just kind of generally anxious, trying to come up with ways she thinks will resolve the tense mood, or at least avoid escalating it. Following that feeling deeper down it quickly turns into a mess of internalized fears, dependencies and things she's actively trying to put out of her mind but that still echo of pain and violence behind thick mental doors.

"Not if I'm right." Miriam says, her voice icy. "I don't need telepathy to read her. I just need to know if it's him who's abusing her."

[Samantha McManus]

"The time she was hurt seems buried a lot deeper."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam glares at Sam for a second but at least part of it seems to stem from frustration about not finding what she was, in a strange way, hoping to find in the man's mind.

"Maybe." she admits, but she still doesn't sound at all satisfied, her mind continuing to flit back and forth through the man's thoughts.

[Samantha McManus]

"She could still be afraid if someone else hurt her."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam pulls away from the man's mind with a frustrated noise.

"Well I can't really do anything about that then." she gripes.

[Samantha McManus]

"Sounds like you'd benefit from cutting loose, too."

[Miriam Bell]

"Yes, that sounds like a fantastic idea..."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well am I wrong that you're bottling shite up?"

[Miriam Bell]

"No, but I wouldn't have expected you of all people to be in favour of blowing the lid off of that."

[Samantha McManus]

"It was your advice to me."

[Miriam Bell]

"You blow off steam by turning yourself inside out and running through the woods. You don't want to know what comes to mind when I think about letting loose."

[Samantha McManus]

"There has to be some way to manage it, aye?"

[Miriam Bell]

"According to the so-called experts at Muir it's meditation. Or you can call it 'structured thinking' or wrap it around an activity to call it cognitive behavioral therapy, but in the end it boils down to stomping out a path of self-discipline in your own head. It's a really fancy way of saying 'Don't use your power'. But that doesn't work nearly as well as they wish it did. What works much better is giving a jackass like that an attitude adjustment." she says, glaring at the guy at the table across the room. "Or not, seeing how didn't actually do anything wrong." she begrudgingly admits. "At least not that. I'm sure I could find something if I kept looking..."

[Samantha McManus]

"...so this is self-medicating," she surmises.

[Miriam Bell]

"I suppose so. Healthier than smoking, right?" she says with a wry smile.

[Samantha McManus]

"Physically, at least."

"But you're probably right that everyone has something they'd rather hide."

[Miriam Bell]

"It's just closer to the surface in some."

[Samantha McManus]

"So who gets punished?"

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam shrugs. "Those who actually do something wrong? You know, if you're okay with letting someone suffer first. Or with arbitrary sentences."

[Samantha McManus]

"But what you do is arguably a punishment, aye? It's taking a choice away."

[Miriam Bell]

"I haven't done anything yet. And if that's what they're going to do then maybe they didn't deserve the choice in the first place. What are you willing to let slide just for the sake of philosophical principles?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm just... wrapping my head around it, Miriam."

[Miriam Bell]

"Why let somebody ruin somebody else's life and maybe their own as well if you can stop it, right?"

[Samantha McManus]

"But people think an awful lot of things they never act on."

[Miriam Bell]

"Then judge how serious they are about it. You're already in their head."

[Samantha McManus]

"...something to think about, I guess." She shrugs.

[Miriam Bell]

"Just not right now, apparently. Fine, I guess we can find something else to talk about." she says, trying to sound amicable and failing horribly.

[Samantha McManus]

"Well it's... not exactly the most friendly topic to talk about in public, is it?"

[Miriam Bell]

"No one's eavesdropping on us." she says pragmatically. "But alright. I said I wouldn't want to fight with you tonight and I still don't. I'm just... having a hard time dealing with things lately."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well it's been a crazy time of things, aye?"