Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 38: Psychophysiological

Chapter 38: Psychophysiological

It wasn’t long, maybe two hours before Ye Yao Zu could hear the pitter-patter of little feet coming down the stairs toward the rec room.

He glanced over at Bai Long Qiang, but the man was already staring at the entrance like he could see through walls.

"Couldn’t sleep?" he asked softly as the little girl, Wang Tian Mu, walked into the room and climbed into his lap. Getting comfortable, she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I slept long enough for the God of Sleep to roll the dice about what nightmare he wanted me to experience tonight," she said with a shrug like it was no big deal. She pointed to Bai Long Qiang’s beer and made a grabbing motion.

"Nope, not happening," he said with a laugh as he moved her into a more comfortable position.

"Beer tastes like crap anyways. I never developed a taste for it. If that was a whiskey sour, I’d be willing to throw hands for a sip." Ye Yao Zu looked at her, stunned. Where was the little girl he had seen earlier with all the adults around?

There was no way they would let her drink alcohol, let alone something like whiskey.

"Still not getting it," muttered Bai Long Qiang as he muted the television. No one was really watching the movie on it anyway. "What was your nightmare about?"

There was silence as Wang Tian Mu pulled her feet under herself so they could stay warm. "This one was being shot in the head because a patient didn’t like my diagnosis," she muttered as Bai Long Qiang pulled a blanket off of the chair he was sitting on and wrapped her up in it.

"You know that would never happen, right?" he asked, pulling away just enough to be able to see her face.

"You would think that, huh? Who is he?" she asked, this time directing her full attention to Ye Yao Zu. He felt himself stiffen under her gaze, but he had no idea why.

"Ye Yao Zu," he replied, introducing himself for a second time. Did she really not know who he was? Was there something wrong with her head?

"Cute," she replied, wrinkling her nose like she had smelt something bad. Then she turned her attention to Bai Long Qiang. For a moment, Ye Yao Zu felt empty, not liking the fact that she was no longer paying him any mind. But that was just stupid. She was nothing more than a child, probably with a big brother complex if he was reading things right.

"Ye Yao Zu. Eighteen years old. Graduated first in his class from High School. Joined the military the same day I did. His father is Ye Gup Zhi, arguably the best psychologist in the country. The military will be sending him to follow in his father’s footsteps in a few months," said Bai Long Qiang. Ye Yao Zu was shocked his friend had told the little girl everything about him.

She simply looked at Bai Long Qiang, not saying a word. The other man sighed and took a drink from his beer.

"Dad has asked me to be on the lookout for men that I would want as part of my own special forces team. I thought he was a good candidate," admitted Bai Long Qiang.

"He’s not," she replied instantaneously with a shake of her head. "Or at least, he isn’t yet."

"I thought it would be beneficial to have a psychologist on the team?" Bai Long Qiang ended his statement in almost a question form.

"Why? You need your team diagnosed with PTSD as soon as it happens? He will be useless to you as a psychologist. If that is what he wants to do, then fine, cut him loose and let another team have him," said the girl with a long sigh.

The conversation between his friend and the girl was almost too much to bear. Why did she have so much sway over Bai Long Qiang? It wasn’t nature.

"What is your suggestion then?"

"A psychologist would take too much time to understand the enemy and predict their next move. Time that you probably don’t have out on the field. What he needs to learn and study is not the mind but the body." The girl seemed to curl up even more on Bai Long Qiang’s chest as she spoke and gripped his shirt as if it offered her some level of comfort.

"You think he should be a medic?" asked Bai Long Qiang, a confused look flashing across his face as he turned to look at Ye Yao Zu. The other man simply stared at the television. If they wanted to talk like he wasn’t in the room, then he could play least in sight. Maybe then he could learn some more about the dynamic between the two.

"No, but you will need one of those on your team too. I’ll comprise a list. But what I am talking about is learning microexpressions. It falls under the category of a neuroscience. A psychophysiological approach."

"Explain," grunted Bai Long Qiang, and even Ye Yao Zu was leaning closer to hear what she had to say. He had never really heard of anything along those lines before.

"Basically, it boils down to the way in which the mind and body react. Most micro expressions are so tiny and last for mere milliseconds that most don’t even register themselves doing this." There was a slight pause as the girl looked up at Bai Long Qiang. "Think poker. Everyone has a tell. This is the study of tells. Someone well versed would be able to know exactly how someone else was thinking before they even realized it themselves."

"Like shifting your body weight before striking. Most don’t even know that they do it, but if you are watching out for it, they will give themselves away," muttered Ye Yao Zu.

"Exactly," nodded the girl. "Psychology takes too long to dive deep down into the psyche to figure out why someone does what they do. You need to know what they are going to do before even they do."

"Psychophysiological, the way the mind and body interact," muttered Ye Yao Zu, pulling out his phone and frantically starting to type something in.

The girl hummed and nodded her head.