skookum
large; powerful; impressive.
excellent; first-rate.
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Dr. Marshall was in over her head. Sure, on paper she was just having a therapy session with a new patient. No different from any other person that graced her clinic. The problem was that the patient she was seeing was a seven-foot-tall wall of muscle that wore a very colorful costume, and made a living fighting villains, monsters and the occasional alien.
He was one of the greatest heroes in the world. His face was on the front page on a weekly basis. Dr. Marshall’s son had three toys modeled after the man. She had watched him do impossible things with a smile on his face. Everyone loved him.
And he was sitting on her couch, struggling not to cry.
She let him talk about his life. Well, a heavily edited version of his life anyway. At first, she had been skeptical as to why he needed a therapist. What kind of problems would a man who could lift buildings have? Then he started talking about his problems.
His parents had been borderline abusive. His size had gotten him picked on at school. His powers isolated him from his peers. And after he became a superhero? Well, she had gone through five full pages of notes in an hour. The man was hurting in ways that were all too human.
This was going to take a lot of work to get through everything. Mental traumas were never easy to deal with, and he was repressing so many of them. It was a wonder that he had not snapped and hurt someone. And Dr. Marshall was not sure she was the right person for the job. She was not sure anyone was. But right now he was a patient, and she would do her best.
He took a deep breath as he finished unloading.
“Sorry about that, doc.”
“Oh, no, no. It’s fine. It’s why I’m here. It’s always good to get all the baggage aired out early on.” She said. “It’s an important first step in dealing with any problem, no matter who it is.”
He sniffled and wiped away a half-formed tear. “Even so. Thanks for listening to all that. I know it was a lot, and it must’ve been hard to listen to me rambling.”
“Oh, trust me, you were not rambling. I know when a person is rambling. You were, hm, you were venting. Letting all that built up emotional pressure finally find a place to escape. That’s good. That’s healthy. And I’m here to listen to all of it. Now, obviously I can’t exactly relate to say, stopping an alien invasion, but I’m still going to listen. Sometimes that’s all a person needs, really.”
He shifted on the couch. The heavy wood creaked under his considerable weight. “Even so. Thanks for everything.” He wrung hands the size of baseball gloves. “And for not treating me like, you know, me.”
She gave a small smile. “I will admit I was a bit star struck when you came in here. But once you told me what you’re here for, you became a patient. And I do my best to help my patients. I could tell right away that you wanted to be treated like anyone else, so that’s what I’ll be doing. Well, provided you want to move forward with future sessions.”
He took a deep breath for a moment. “I think I do, yeah. I do feel a bit better, and all I did was talk.”
“That is quite literally what I’m here for. But, since I am treating you like anyone else…” She nodded to the clock with a wry grin. A grin that he matched with his trademarked enthusiasm.
“Right, sure. I bet you’ve got a lot of people to see. I can respect helping others like that, even if it is because it pays well.”
He stood. The couch groaned and seemed to get half an inch taller once it was no longer supporting his massive frame. He headed for the door.
“So, doc, see you next week?”
“Of course. Next week. Same time. Well, provided work doesn’t get in the way.”
“Let’s hope.”
And with that, one of the world’s greatest superheroes left Dr. Marshall’s office. This was definitely going to be an interesting case.
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I would think superheroes are in particular need of psychiatric help. I mean, come on. They have super powers and are regularly subjected to things that would mentally and emotionally cripple everyone else. Spiderman alone has so much bad stuff happening to him that it's a wonder he can still function.
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