Mogo isn't social

[futures_of_ash]

Who: Rachel, Mogo, a month of counseling.
When: The month after this piece.
What: PTSD, a planet, and an entity that makes the Guardian's uncomfortable.

She stayed standing by the window as they left, a fact that made her nominal escort a touch grumpy. She should sit and listen etc etc. She wasn't very good with obedience these days, she'd grown far past it since her arrival in Gotham harbor years ago. Grown, learned, been to school, had doctorates, you know, all the trade marks of a modern, independent woman and all. "You're being annoying," she noted softly to the glass.

The guardian's weren't...used to such disrespect honestly. There was glaring and no little "we have important information to relay..."

"I know," she agreed simply. "The combat record of my patient, and you can pass me the files so I much judge them properly, rather than in the light you wish to portray. Again, I am not one of your soldiers and I am not here to follow your instructions on dragging a soldier back to functional. I am here to evaluate and counsel. Do I make that clear?" There would be rules, honestly.

Or else.

"You seem to believe you're in control of this situation, Ms. Grey."

"Doctor," she corrected easily. "And yes, I am. You brought a case to me, I will see the case, but do not believe for an instant I will be strong armed. I am perfectly capable of making my way to Mogo, and back home, without you or your technology." Her parents names meant nothing here, when her world fell she'd fled far and fast away from anything remotely related to the past she'd been bound to, but that did not mean she didn't hold her own in the Justice League. She was there by right, and they had already admitted they had no data on her.

Giving them a few hints to ability now could save her a great deal of trouble later. Especially in the ride home sense. "We have a bit of a ride, a few hours is your estimation. Allow me a few moments of my own to watch my world dwindle in the distance."

"Poetic," one noted sourly.

"Is it your world?" the other added.

That just made her smile at the glass, flame flickering deep in her eyes, "Earth is very good with found families." She let them chew over that as the craft accelerated. Green Lanterns had a terrifying ability to travel between destinations, the Guardians thereof even more so. They were entering, and passing, the orbit of Mars within a few breaths and the telepathic link with J'onn was...thinning. Spooling out like thread rather than the deep channel she could usually feel bracing her spine and echoing in her heartbeat.

Well then...at least it hadn't snapped.

She said a brief thanks to any powers that listening then shifted focus to making sure that thread wound as thin and strong as necessary. Even if thought couldn't travel along it, knowing the other was alive would be reassuring, and no one wanted to go into an intense counseling session unstable.

No one smart anyway.

To give them their due, the Guardians were canny, had to be given their galactic age and as commanders of one of the widest ranging military forces in the galaxy they had to be. They'd learned to pick their battles, so the dwindling feel of Earth was blessedly uninterrupted and when they did break the silence it was to hand her an emerald colored cube and retreat again.

Ah, files. She could feel the heavy weight of the story in that construct, but they'd refrained from telling her how to access it. A test or malicious compliance, either or. She held the cube for the next long while, just letting the weight of it fill her consciousness, then finally shifted to eye her hosts, "do you wish help in this regard or not?"

"Our apologies, we thought you familiar with such artifacts," they spoke smoothly. A test indeed, yes. Showing her how to focus her Will was laughable but burned time that would have otherwise been darkly awkward for everyone. Then she was left alone to consider what had been done to the largest member of the Green Lantern Corp.

Betrayal was the start of it. Mogo allowed people to seek sanctuary on their surface, especially when escaping war torn areas. For the most part these denizens were temporary, but there were a few Mogo considered friends. People that stayed and built quiet lives in harmony with the planet. One of those people had sold Mogo out, bringing in a hard and fast strip mining operation. That was a degree of intrusion someone like Mogo had never known to fear honestly, and she could understand how deeply it could shatter a person. "Mogo may not be able to return to being a soldier any time soon. I need you all to be aware of that fact."

The Guardians sighed, grim, "we hope not to have to withdraw the lantern's power from Mogo. It would be a great loss to the Corp."

Right, retire the planet and it would lose sentience.

Maybe.

She sighed as well, "baited hooks your corp has if it doesn't allow an elevated mind to stay so when retired."

"You do not have a high opinion of us," one blinked.

"I don't approve of hard line tactics," she countered. "There is more to life than War, a lesson I had to learn myself many years ago. Your corp does good work, but good commanders must be flexible to the needs of their troops. Else you're little better than the worlds you police at times, yes?"

There was a thoughtful silence at that, and, "it has been some time since any have thought to argue our methods."

"Stagnation leads to death." Very much so. "I'm not here to fix your command structure or thought processes though, it's not my concern. I keep people healthy."

"Hmmm."

Hmmm indeed. She chuckled, "do not worry for Mogo's life. They will be themselves regardless of retirement, sabbatical, or return to duty status. Without that worry, please approach this a touch more rationally."

"We do not see how you can guarantee that."

"The universe would be a boring place if the only energy capable of elevating existence was a green lantern in the core of a world," she snorted.

There was speculative shifting at that, and even a deep sense of caution, "you speak of other lanterns?"

"No. I don't have the patience to unravel all the politics involved in your various lantern colors. Just have a little trust that you've brought what help you can to this patient. Else what would have been the point in asking me to come?" Seriously?

"We will...take it under advisement."

Best she was going to get honestly. She simply stayed tucked in the observation window for the rest of the trip, watching the stars slide by in streaks of light and talking J'onn's cape into something a little sturdier than a makeshift dress. She was going to need it.

Oh yes, need. She could feel Mogo two parsects out, screaming and curled on themselves even though a planet shouldn't have any concept of curling. "Evacuate anyone still on Mogo's surface," she noted, staring out across the distance.

"Our compatriots are already doing so."

"Thank you," she nodded, slipping from the window and waiting just that touch longer to land. "I'll see you in thirty Earth standard days, please. Until then maintain a strict distance. The fewer beings nearby the better."

"We leave Mogo in your care...Doctor," the Guardians allowed, lifting back and away the moment her feet touched ground.

Good.

When she couldn't hear them nearby anymore she knelt, laying her palm flat on the dusty ground of the landing zone and letting flame wash along her fingers. ::I'm here. You're not alone.:: Not by far.

Language was a true gift among thinking beings. The ability to communicate, that had been another hard lesson in the cages of her youth. They were Hounds, but even they had their own language, just as Mogo had theirs. It echoed and sang through canyons, screamed among the waves, and crashed howling among timber far in the north of her. Heartbreak.

Betrayal.

Mogo had loved the betrayer. ::Oh child,:: she murmured softly. Such a young soldier, all told, true pain was rare and battle related rather than emotional. Adding in the physical pain of mining and Mogo had no idea where to even start thinking about things.

It took weeks to even tap some of the screaming pain and let it ease away naturally; just like any other patient, sometimes simply being there while someone screamed out the fear and pain and fell into exhausted breathing was important. No matter she lay in a crater on Mogo's surface rather than Mogo in a chair in her office...

...when the screaming eased and the planet was exhausted she stroked fingers through a stream carefully, thinking. There wasn't much time to help a world grow up. In essence Mogo had been a child soldier, evaluated and raised to battle. Handed morals and rules without outside experience. They had a good basis in observing the other Lanterns, building an understanding of friend and foe...

...but that wasn't a substitute for life experience as it were. So, as she did with many of her patients that had very little time in between dire need for them, she...cheated. With permission she reached out, drawing Mogo into a mindscape where a young soldier could...live. Learn. Minds and emotions were slow things, years mentally could only help.

Granted, there was quite a lot of time spent with Mogo getting utterly distracted in choosing a shape. From 'day' to 'day' there had to be seven or eight full body shifts and several dozen smaller shifts as they played with legs, wings, eyes, antenna, tusks...every idea under the sun and most under the sea. Distraction was normal, honestly. Dealing with emotions was hard work, much less all the trauma that inspired them, so it was a delightful few months of "how's this? How's this? Oh is this called blue? Now I see in the dark!" She had the feeling that no matter what else Mogo decided, well, she imagined they were going to manage a mobile unit to experience life on a slightly smaller scale.

Or many mobile units so they weren't constrained to a single limb configuration. If asked she'd show them how, but that was for later. Now there was more language, words Mogo hadn't really had need for, smaller things. Houses, clothes, weapons, politics...

...yes there was a steep vocabulary curve honestly. Mogo asked.

She answered with all the information she was able. She never lied to her patients, especially in the mindscape. They asked about her past, her own awakening, even the glowing, fire wrought thread that led away from where they stood and off into the distance. She answered. Of course she did, handing Mogo more of her past than anyone besides J'onn had ever gathered (though she was certain Bruce guessed a good deal of it). She'd always adored curiosity; it was one of the most redeeming traits in existence as far as she was concerned.

Finally though, finally, Mogo took one of her hands and they started the real work of walking through the memory that had brought her there.

And those monitoring from parsects away, well, they say great, flaming wings wrap protectively around a world and settle into a shield to keep Mogo safe as they did so.