05-21-2026, 03:54 AM
== Lt Mala's Quarters ==
== NPC Lt Andrea Tate ==
Andrea watched and listened. There were typically considered to be at least 5 stages to grief. Andrea preferred the version that listed 7. They include shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and finally acceptance. Sometimes a few of them might switch what order they appeared in, but that was of minor concern. They were witnessing some of those stages surfacing now and it was only normal.
When Mike went to leave, Andrea said to him softly, "Mike, you're both grieving, she's going to still need you, but give her some space right now. Thank you."
Once Mike had left, Andrea ignored the fact that Jez had completely avoided discussing what Andrea had brought up about her having other relationships, or rather the lack of them. That was fine, Andrea would circle back to that in time. For now, Jez had brought up something more important, "Jez, you clearly despise this man that you once trusted, so why would you care about what mean things he said to you as part of his abuse? The only reason that such words impact us is if somewhere deep inside ourselves, we have thought those things about ourselves. In fact, that's what such a bully is depending on. If you don't have those doubts somewhere inside you, then those words have nowhere to grab onto. You have to be strong enough and confident in your own worth for those words to bounce off of you. The problem is that everyone doubts themselves sometimes. People like him will always try to find those vulnerable parts of others and take advantage of them. From what I understand, he does this quite often and mostly just for his own enjoyment."
She let those words sink in for a moment before thinking out loud a bit more, "Your custody battle should be no issue. I'm familiar with Alex's legal team and I would NOT want to go against them. I wish that I could tell you more, but just know that you have more on your side than you know right now. I don't often gamble, but if I were to gamble, I would place a bet on your former boyfriend having a very bad life altering experience...if he's lucky. Alex is mostly a non-violent man...mostly. However, I have seen him violent and it scared the hell out of me. If Devynn lives through this, I will actually be surprised. He strikes me as the type of weasel that would get violent out of desperation if cornered and he will not win this fight. If he gets violence or is linked to what happened, I don't see him ever being delivered intact. If he is alive, it is because he got smart, but it would require a big change of course for him, so my money is on dead or catatonic."
Andrea gave a sigh and sipped her tea some more than concluded with, "No matter how you slice it, you should stop worrying about that rat. He will be out of your life. Heck, you might even be given part of his family's holdings, but that will require your child to be born first. There's a small chance you would be compensated personally, but courts hate it when people try using kids as weapons in personal matters and there is also the question of hereditary wealth redistribution and so on."
Andrea deliberately didn't give voice to the accusations Jez had thrown at Mike. Blame was part of the anger and often included resentment in that phase, so she wasn't going to feed it, just let Jez work her way through it. It could take a while before they might eventually get to the acceptance phase. These things could take time.
== Tag Mala ==
== NPC Lt Andrea Tate ==
Andrea watched and listened. There were typically considered to be at least 5 stages to grief. Andrea preferred the version that listed 7. They include shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and finally acceptance. Sometimes a few of them might switch what order they appeared in, but that was of minor concern. They were witnessing some of those stages surfacing now and it was only normal.
When Mike went to leave, Andrea said to him softly, "Mike, you're both grieving, she's going to still need you, but give her some space right now. Thank you."
Once Mike had left, Andrea ignored the fact that Jez had completely avoided discussing what Andrea had brought up about her having other relationships, or rather the lack of them. That was fine, Andrea would circle back to that in time. For now, Jez had brought up something more important, "Jez, you clearly despise this man that you once trusted, so why would you care about what mean things he said to you as part of his abuse? The only reason that such words impact us is if somewhere deep inside ourselves, we have thought those things about ourselves. In fact, that's what such a bully is depending on. If you don't have those doubts somewhere inside you, then those words have nowhere to grab onto. You have to be strong enough and confident in your own worth for those words to bounce off of you. The problem is that everyone doubts themselves sometimes. People like him will always try to find those vulnerable parts of others and take advantage of them. From what I understand, he does this quite often and mostly just for his own enjoyment."
She let those words sink in for a moment before thinking out loud a bit more, "Your custody battle should be no issue. I'm familiar with Alex's legal team and I would NOT want to go against them. I wish that I could tell you more, but just know that you have more on your side than you know right now. I don't often gamble, but if I were to gamble, I would place a bet on your former boyfriend having a very bad life altering experience...if he's lucky. Alex is mostly a non-violent man...mostly. However, I have seen him violent and it scared the hell out of me. If Devynn lives through this, I will actually be surprised. He strikes me as the type of weasel that would get violent out of desperation if cornered and he will not win this fight. If he gets violence or is linked to what happened, I don't see him ever being delivered intact. If he is alive, it is because he got smart, but it would require a big change of course for him, so my money is on dead or catatonic."
Andrea gave a sigh and sipped her tea some more than concluded with, "No matter how you slice it, you should stop worrying about that rat. He will be out of your life. Heck, you might even be given part of his family's holdings, but that will require your child to be born first. There's a small chance you would be compensated personally, but courts hate it when people try using kids as weapons in personal matters and there is also the question of hereditary wealth redistribution and so on."
Andrea deliberately didn't give voice to the accusations Jez had thrown at Mike. Blame was part of the anger and often included resentment in that phase, so she wasn't going to feed it, just let Jez work her way through it. It could take a while before they might eventually get to the acceptance phase. These things could take time.
== Tag Mala ==