The Healer's Touch

[Kender Bard]

"I think so," Iris agreed. "Go ahead and set it up. I'll double check the work when you're done."

[backhandoffate]

"all right, lets see how this goes." Joseph went ahead with his plan, extremely slowly. He had never attempted a feat like this, before. Linking the memories together in order for them to act as one was difficult enough. But, programming them to all react to a certain stimulus was on a whole different level for him.

First was the buffer. Joseph recalled how potent the unnatural aura had become while the paper beast was stirring. He had to encase the beast in a sort of buffer that would keep it from grating on Tanner's mind while it was inactive. The trick was making it so Tanner could still recall the memory clearly if he wanted to. Obscuring the memory in any way would probably just cause it to reassert itself in Tanners mind like it did before. Fortunately for Joseph, his imagination was the only limit to what he could do, so long as it wouldn't interfere with the natural flow of Tanner's mindscape.

As the buffer was put into place, he then drew his attention to the mental constructs now forming around the paper beast. An even gentler approach was needed for this task. As Iris had said, memories were delicate things. One by one, the young intern focused on the constructs, and a small glyph appeared on the bottom of each one. This way, the sensors would be hidden from plain view in Tanner's mindscape, but still able to do their job.

"I think that just about does it. Let me give it another once over just in case I missed anything." Joseph had to be meticulous about this type of work. One blatant error, and the whole thing would come crashing down, or worse, backfire on Tanner and damage him further. After a few minutes of looking his work over, making a few tweaks here and there and then nodding with a look of satisfaction, Joseph was ready to present his final product to Iris. "Well, Iris? How does it look?"

[Kender Bard]

"I think it looks good," Iris said with a critical eye over the whole thing. "We'll keep him here for a few days to observe but hopefully this will provide a medium-term solution to the problem. If the dangerous memory doesn't fade or weaken on its own after a while, we'll see about taking a more direct approach. Until then, I conclude today's work done."

She withdrew from Tanner's mindscape. Tanner, for his part, looked equal parts relieved and exhausted.

[backhandoffate]

Joseph's confident grin widened as Iris gave her approval. He was surprised that he was able to pull something like this off on the first try. Of course, only time would tell if the defense mechanism would hold. Iris intended on overseeing that part of the care. "Of course! Thank you so much, Iris. I never would have been able to do it without you!" Joseph declared in an upbeat tone.

Turning to Tanner, Joseph's smile softened a bit. "all right, Tanner. I'll come back and check on you, if it's all right with the staff. Until then, try to get some real rest. See ya later!" Joseph left the room with a deep sense of satisfaction. He wasn't 100% certain that his work would hold. But, Iris's approval was the best he could ask for at this point. It was time to go home for the day. "Goodnight, Iris! Thanks again for the help." Joseph said as he walked back down the hallway.