PROTOCOL 14 – PUBLIC RESEARCH DIVISION
The Repair Protocol
What to do after a fight, in order
- Materials
- two subjects, two glasses of water, no audience
- Objective
- Restore function after an exothermic event without re-running the event. This protocol repairs the bond; it does not adjudicate the fight. The Lab does not do verdicts.
Procedure
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Wait until neither subject is hot to the touch. Repairs attempted on an active reaction fail and void the attempt. This can mean hours. Fine.
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Each subject states the other's position, to the other's satisfaction, before defending their own. This step cannot be skipped and takes longer than you want it to. That's the step working.
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Then, in order, each subject answers:
- What was I actually afraid of under all that?
- What did you do during the fight – even mid-fight – that I noticed and appreciated?
- What's one thing I could have said that would have de-escalated me?
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Agree on one procedural change, not a personality change. "Text before it builds up" is a procedure. "Be less sensitive" is not, and requests like it are rejected at intake.
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Physical contact to close, at whatever intensity the bond runs on – hand, shoulder, full collapse. Seals the joint while it cures.
Expected results
Not agreement – function. The fight becomes a data point instead of a live wire. If step 2 alone fixed it, that's common and slightly embarrassing for everyone. It stays between you and the Lab.
Findings worth keeping? Some of what surfaces in a protocol – the story, the detail they'd be embarrassed you noticed – is exactly the raw material the synthesis division turns into a finished song about them. The Lab merely notes the pipeline exists.
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