katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

Alana took a deep breath. You only need to relax completely Alana hadn’t relaxed in a while now, so she was finding it difficult to do so, however, she was going to do her very best to obey the spirit’s commands. She was desperate for finding help, she would do anything in her power to help Will Graham, and if letting this spirit in would truly help him, she was gonig to do her best.

She took another deep breath and felt her limbs go loose, and she shook her arms a little bit. She was feeling more relaxed than she had in ages, and that was something. “Is this good? Or more?” she asked the spirit, looking for some confirmation that she was doing this right.

Aletheia could feel Alana's body relaxing against her. While the two were not pressed together, she was able to feel - or perhaps sense - how tense one was being. It had come with many years of experiencing those that were relaxed and those that refused to allow a single muscle to gain even the slightest amount of relaxation. At least Alana Bloom was willing to do as Aletheia told her; that alone made her a bearable human being, and glad that she had chosen her to be her vessel.

"That is okay." There was a moment of silence as she brought herself closer to Alana. "Do not attempt to fight, it will only make this more difficult for us both."

And so she began to allow for herself to be absorbed by Alana Bloom, hoping there would be no fighting back, conscious or not, from the woman.

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

Alana’s body stood firm and rigid at the spirit’s words. She wanted to put her full trust in her and listen to her, taking her word. But she couldn’t help but be skeptical. Afterall, what person in their right mind would compeltely believe a spirit claiming to be able to help the man who she had tried so hard to help before, but failed.

She let out a sigh as she tried to relax her body, she didn’t want to defy the spirit’s orders, she was merely having ha hard time.

Her head lifted at the spirit’s touch, and her skin crawled with goosebumps. “I- I have no idea how this works.” she whispered, feeling her body start to relax a little bit.

In past experiences, Aletheia had had some difficulty in possessing people's bodies. They agreed to her wishes, though they didn't do as she said, and those that did not stick to what she told them often could not be possessed by her. Some had simply not followed her instructions, though some were somewhat hesitant, and it seemed as though Alana Bloom fit into the latter.

After all, how many people would trust something to do the right thing while using their body?

"You only need to relax completely," Aletheia informed her. "I will do the rest."

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

Alana rubbed her face in her hands and let out a heavy sigh. It sounded worse than undesirable, it sounded crazy. However, she knew that the spirit didn’t mean any harm, and what was scarrier than anything before was that she was truly convinced that the spirit could help.

"Okay." Was all that Alana said, looking down at the ground and contemplating what she had just said and all the thoughts that she had. Alana had just agreed fully to give her body over to a spirit and let her control her. "But I want you to tell me something- tell me you’re not going to harm Will Graham?" she asked, her voice almost a plea.

She also was quite curious about how her mental state would be effected throughout the whole process, but she figured that was something she needed to trust the spirit doing.

The single worded answer from Alana was almost relieving. Aletheia had been hoping for something along the lines of a confirmation, and that one word had given it to her. While there were things to be done other than helping Will Graham and whether or not he had received the help he needed, it would have been a poor waste of her time if Alana had decided to refuse.

“Thank you,” Aletheia replied, her words moving with the wind towards Alana. She moved closer to Alana in the hopes that she wouldn’t move away.

“I promise that I will not harm him.” She would never think of harming somebody on purpose – only on accident was somebody harmed under her supervision, and she would attempt to stick to her promise.

Placing her hand beneath Alana’s chin softly, she said, “I need you to relax.” Resistance only made things difficult, and Aletheia wanted the possession to go as smoothly as possible.

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

”No—-” Alana said, honestly starting to get a little bit freaked out. There were a lot of things that the spirit could have said to Alana, a  lot of possibilities that could have happened, but for some reason she never thought that the spirit would ask her if she could go into her body.

"Wait," Alana said, squinting her eyes at the spirit and stepping back a few steps, fearing that the spirit might get the bright idea to enter her body without permission. "so you’re saying the only way you can help me, help Will Graham is if you possess me?” she said to the spirit, her tone a little bit more snippy than she had intended on.

She sighed out and rubbed her face. “Do you realize how insane that sounds?” she snapped.

She had known that she was probably going to receive that answer. To allow somebody else to have control over your body would be a terrifying thing. You would be reduced to nothing more than a marionette, with the other in control of pulling the strings. There would be nothing you could do until you were in control of your own body again, and even then one wouldn't have any idea of what had taken place.

Aletheia had hoped that Alana wouldn't use the term possess. She had been hoping that the term wouldn't have come to Alana's mind, though there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

"I know that it sounds undesirable," Aletheia answered. "It is the only way. I can promise that I will not cause you any harm. All I wish is to help Will Graham. I only wish to take control of you during a visit to him, and then you can have your body back."

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

Alana swallowed hard as the spirit approached her, but she did not back up. She was brave now, and she could sense that for the most part, this spirit meant no harm at all. She really seemed to want to help Will Graham, and that was something that she needed desperately right now.

She listened intently to the spirits words, and nodded her head instinctively. She was more than right- it would unlock all of the answers,  the answers that Frederick Chilton would never get out of Will— or anyone, for that matter- not even Will himself.

"Yes- I do trust you to help me," she admitted finally, looking up at the spirit. "but I fail to see how.” she explained to her.

The how was always something that humans got caught up on, though she couldn't really blame them. Having a spirit come up to them with the request of them being able to help with their predicament was strange enough, and with their acceptance of the help, it would only continue to get stranger from there on out.

"You have to let me into your body," Aletheia begun. Anything including the word 'possess' or any of its forms never got her too far, as humans always related it to a painful experience involving demos - to let one into another's body was generally accepted a little better, even if there was still some reluctance. "It is the only way I can get closer to Will Graham. We must hypnotise him and allow him to delve deeper into his memories."

"What did you see?” (x)

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

Her entire demeanor changed suddenly. Alana felt as though she was hit by inspiration and that there was nothing in the world that could stop her will and her passion for saving Will, and she knew that the spirit was going to play an extremely important role in this.

"I know one thing for certain," she said, looking up at the spirit- though feeling a little bit uneasy, she was much more confident "the Will Graham that I know, is incapable of such gruesome crimes." she stated firmly and stuck with her saying.

She sighed. “If Will Graham did anything ugly, he didn’t know he was doing it.” she said, suddenly sounding as though she were defending him, though she had no reason to at this particular moment. She just got that way when it came to Will.

Finally they were beginning to get somewhere; Alana believed Will Graham was innocent, or at least he didn't know of his crimes, and that would be at least enough to prove that he wasn't guilty of committing crimes that he was fully aware of.

"We have to find what lies in his subconscious," Aletheia answered. "In his subconscious lies the true answer. We will find out if he truly did or did not commit the crimes he has been put behind bars for."

Aletheia got closer to Alana Bloom, almost beginning to invade her personal space. She meant no harm, and she could only hope that Alana would see that too.

"You must let me help you."

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

"You’re right." she sputtered, nodding her head. She couldn’t believe that she was agreeing with a spirit of all things, but she figures that she was safest to agree with this spirit, poopsed to anyone else. She seemed to genuinely want to help Will Graham- even more than anyone else, and this was something she needed to take advantage of.

"But spirit- I’m scared to have him remember." she admitted, lookng down at the ground. "I’m scared that he did do these things and that I won’t be able to protect him.” she had never vocalized this fear before, but it was burning in the back of her mind like a plague, it had been for a while now, it felt good to get it off her chest.

Aletheia took another soft step forward. With Alana's agreement she felt as though the mortal woman would be a little bit more comfortable with a closer distance between them.

"There is every chance that he is innocent," she said. Aletheia had to keep Alana's hopes up. If they faded away, then there was no chance of them proving Will Graham's innocence. She was sure that Alana would have more difficulty coping with that than she would; all Aletheia was there for was to lend a helping hand, and proving a man innocent did not mean much to her. She could simply move on and help another person if she wished.

"If you want to prove his innocence, you must also be willing to find out the worst of it."

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

Alana stepped back a little bit, almost as though a force had hit her in the chest and knocked her back a few steps. She wanted desperately to believe the spirit, but how- there wasn’t anything he had to remember, and if he did— would they not just think he was crazy?

She shook her head a little bit and looked up at the spirit that floated in the air before her. “But- spirit, he’s convinced that Hannibal Lecter- his former psychiatrist, his friend, our friend did this to him, when all the evidence is laid out before us stating that Will did this. We just need to convince them that Will doesn’t recall doing any of this— we don’t need him to remember anything- do we?” she asked, almost doubting herself at the moment.

Another question she had was- how, how could the spirit unlock his memories? But she was going to save that for when her brain was a little bit less scrambled.

Of course Alana wouldn't think that there was anything for Will to remember, though in reality there was.

"You need him to remember," she began softly, words floating to Alana as she had done only a few moments previously, "if he did murder those people. The answer lies within his memories, the ones he cannot reach." Aletheia knew partially of Will Graham's condition; he had periods in which he couldn't remember what he had done, or what he had been doing; those were the memories they needed to access.

"The truth lies within his memories - only when he remembers can he begin to prove his innocence."

katochí̱ | the-alana-bloom

Alana found herself quite anxious around the spirt, but there was no doubt in her mind that this was a spirit, but what could it possibly want with Alana? The woman turned around only for a moment to see  where the dogs had gone. How could it be a good spirit if the dogs were so frightened of it?

The spirit managed to capture her attention fully, when she said I can help you help him. Immediately Alana knew who she was talking about “Will Graham?” she asked, already knowing very well that the answer that she was going to recieve was yes.

Countless people had told her that they could help Will Graham, and countless people have completely let her down, she was incredibly skeptical about believing that anyone could help her help Will— everyone was poisionous.

"How can I help?" she inquired, not even bothing to ask how the spirit could help, she just wanted to know how she could help her help Will Graham, Alana was so lost— she needed this.

There was a moment of silence as Alana turned to look for the dogs, though it was short lived. Aletheia didn’t bother about them; animals were clever, and they knew of a spirit’s presence whenever one was nearby. If Alana were to refuse her offer then Aletheia could leave, and she could have the dogs back. Of course, if Alana did agree, then Aletheia would always be nearby, and she would have to force the dogs to become comfortable. It would take some time, but they would learn to live with it.

“Yes,” Aletheia responded softly. It was good that Alana had caught on quickly, though Aletheia hadn’t truly expected much else.

“We need to unlock his memories,” she answered. “He needs to remember what happened.”

Aletheia stepped (though it arguably looked more like a soft glide) closer to Alana. She didn’t dare to get too close yet, not wishing to frighten Alana away. “I can help you unlock his memories. I can help you see the truth.”

madness shared by two

Dr. Bloom is not easily swayed.