:Mmm: He's suddenly very tired. :...I guess we should eat lunch, we sort of skipped it, sorry: 

:It's okay. I can just eat a little late. Do you want to come?:

:Yes, I'll come: He gets up. 

And at her usual meeting time with Lionwind she reports on her findings about Ma'ar - not a rape victim but has otherwise been through some shit, weird but gyroscopically stable.

He listens thoughtfully, and then mostly looks very confused, and curious. "Hmm. Needless to say, that is - not at all how people usually end up with that sort of background. Do you have any sense of where the difference comes from, and - how robust a factor that is?" 

"He has a big central gear like me."

"Huh. That is really surprising. And - a how but not a why, if that makes sense?" Shrug. "Maybe that does not actually matter, people vary in all sorts of ways and some of them appear uncorrelated with their childhoods, I am just so curious." 

"Yeah, I don't know a lot more than what I told you, I think he might just be like that." Her big central gear has been the same for ages and his likely also has.

"Mmm. Does he seem particularly distressed either by the experiences he had, or by the way his mind is now?" 

"Not currently. But they're - motivating."

"Hmm. I - could imagine configurations of that which would concern me, but if your impression is that his overall motivation structure is - stable and robust - then it could be perfectly healthy and just unusual." 

"I think it is, but I might want to check in on it sometimes if he'll let me and see how it develops since he's in a different environment, he's changing some stuff and might change more stuff."

"...Changing things? On purpose?" 

"...I do that too. It might be a big central gear person thing."

"How incredibly fascinating." Lionwind sits back. "I think it sounds reasonable for you not to be worried, but to plan check-ins if he is comfortable with it. And - I am proud of you. Most students are not nearly as ready to see patients alone at thirteen." 

She smiles up at him. "I guess I have good timing."

"I guess so!" He pats her shoulder. "- Oh, hmm, one last thing - which of course you know already - people are generally happier when they have attachments and loved ones, and know how to trust other people? And I expect this would be true of him as well. It is his mind and his life, of course, and up to him how he wants to live it." 

"Yeah, I think maybe he doesn't like to. We hang out but I don't know if he actually likes me as opposed to... appreciating me? Which is fine as long as I don't expect it on my end but I don't know if he can integrate actually liking people into his thing."

"Does he seem to - care about, or prioritize, being happy or doing things he likes? At all?" 

"...I don't know if he has... hobbies..." Which now that Lionwind points it out seems bad! He mostly seemed to be hanging out with Skan as exposure therapy, and her for a study-buddy, and... yeah she's got nothing.

Sigh. "It - could be stable and self-sustaining for him. Some people are like that their whole lives - driven, but not happy. Still, it is...it feels to me that something is lost, especially when it is not clear that this is an intentional and informed choice rather than...failing to realize that personal happiness is one of the things that one can care about. I will leave it up to your judgement whether that is productive to bring up, though." 

"I think it would be but I'll wait for a good time."

Nod. "I think that is everything I had to say, then. Any other questions?" 

"What's a big central gear look like for you?"

"Honestly I have not seen very many minds that looked like yours on the relevant dimension! So I am not sure his would appear the same, to me. For you - I see a long strip of exposed bedrock along your riverbed, a single unbroken piece the whole way down, determining the overall shape."