I have SO many thoughts about Harper. He is, without a doubt, my favorite character. I wanna chew on him and shake him violently like a dog with their favorite toy teehee
Anyway, here’s a little snippet of him with one of my PC’s <3
Silence, silence, silence. Always so silent.
Harper sighs through his nose and leans back in his chair, gaze still focused on the young woman in front of him. Her own gaze remains on the ground, hands limply folded in her lap.
"Cedar, I can't help you if you don't let me." Harper keeps his voice soft as he repeats the same words as every other session.
Cedar had proven to be a... difficult patient. Not because she was violent or antagonistic, quite opposite. If anything, she was entirely too withdrawn. Normally, he hated anything that threatened his control. But she's proven so, so resistant to his methods that he couldn't help but want to solve her. And much to his dismay, it led to an affection of sorts.
It almost made him feel bad for everything he'd personally made her go through. Almost. It was hard to feel bad when it all led to having her here, always within his grasp.
Harper lets the silence hang between them for a long moment more, simply watching her. She's still like a statue save for the rise and fall of her chest and the small tremor to her hands. It makes him so curious about the things she won't tell him. The events that led her here.
He knows some of it, of course. In a town like this, the worst tended to happen. And as her general practitioner, he was privy to some of the events. But there was a total of four months of her life unaccounted for. Missing in October and being brought to the hospital in January.
Finally, Harper speaks again. "Even if you aren't talking, you've been exceptionally well-behaved. I think you deserve a reward."
That catches her interest, mossy green eyes lifting to hesitantly land on his face, a distrustful frown directed at him.
"I'll let you pick. Anything within reason, obviously." He's being very generous, but he can't help it when it comes to his favorite patient.
Cedar's eyebrows furrow as she thinks, mulling over the words. "What's the catch?" Her voice is barely above a whisper, raw and hoarse, a low rumble that sends a shiver down his spine. It's so different from when he had first met her at the hospital.
"No catch. It's a reward, you've already earned it." He watches with keen interest as her leg starts to bounce anxiously, her eyes still locked on his face, trying to find any hint of a lie.
She worries at her chapped lips, teeth picking at raw, unhealed skin until blood begins to well. No matter how hard he tries, he can't get her to give up that habit.
Harper tilts his head as he contemplates it. It isn't what he's expecting. Usually patients asked for a phone call or to have something specific to eat, or a new set of clothing besides the gowns. But, her hair is getting quite long. Warm dark brown and carefully pulled into a braid one of the orderlies had done after the earlier showers. It's a shame; he quite likes her hair. But he nods.
"Of course." Harper nods, jotting it down in his notes. "How short?"
That gives Harper pause, his pen stalling on the paper. "Shaved?" How curious. There must have been a significant reason if she's using her reward for it.
"I want it gone." Though it would have been undetectable to anyone else, Harper can pick up the slightest bits of desperation. It makes him itch to know why. Why was it so important?
"Is there any particular reason?" He ventures to ask, crossing one leg over another as he studies her.
Her leg bounces harder, her teeth digging harder into her lip until there’s deep indents. Her hands fidget in her lap, picking at her nails and the raw skin around them. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, contemplating if she can tell him, and then she shakes her head.
“You’ll just tell me it’s my fault.”
Her voice is distrustful and resigned, as always, and Harper hums, jotting the interaction down in his notebook. More sexual trauma. It’s a shame he already promised they could do it, otherwise he’d have so many ideas on how to fix the issue.
Ah, well, it can be saved for when her hair grows out. Harper knows she’ll either be here still or have come back.
“Very well.” He doesn’t push it, and stands. “Let’s go have one of the orderlies do this for you.”
He leads here out into the cold, sterile hallway. His shoes tap, followed by the shuffle of the standard slippers she’d been issued.
He brings her to side room and has her sit in the chair. Given that the task involves a razor, Harper remains present while the orderly first cuts the long locks, leaving it to fall to the ground in large piles. And the begins to shave.
Watching some of the tension leave Cedar’s shoulders at something so simple is fascinating. He had heard that hair stores memories, trauma, but to see the effects of it in action is so, so very interesting.
“What do you think?” He asks as he approaches her from behind, watching her examine herself in the mirror.
“It’s good, thank you, doctor.”
And oh, that sends a jolt of delight through him. How sweet his favorite patient could be. Perhaps he’d spoil her some more, just to hear it again.