The Usual Session

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[attr="style","color:#732331;font-size:180%;font-family:'Megrim',sans-serif;text-align:left;display:inline;float:left;"]Break Room

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It had been a slow day for Alvis. One of his early-afternoon patients had cancelled her booking- it was something about a wedding being scheduled a couple days before she thought, he wasn't too concerned with the details. Regardless, it meant that his afternoon had been clear up until that point, so he had enough time to have a long break before his next session, and enough of an excuse to spend that break in the staff room, instead of his office.

It was a nice room, really. The back wall had been replaced by a sliding glass door facing the garden, the careful layout made it feel quite spacious, and the whole place had that same level of bright, inviting warmth that the rest of the establishment carried. Alvis was in there alone, resting against the counter as he finished the last few sips of chamomile tea. He had no need for caffeine, and he didn't care much for the taste of coffee, so most of the drinks he made here were whatever herbal teas he could find in the cupboard. Ah, perhaps he could grow a chamomile plant here at some point. That would be quite nice- they're beautiful things, after all, and the climate wasn't too harsh for it...

"Alvis, your 3:30 is here."

Ah, right. That was the problem with long breaks- you're never quite as sure when they're going to end.

Alvis smiled at the woman by the door,

What could be said about Kore Smith that hadn't been said a thousand times before? The Earth-dwelling Antichrist, atoning for the sin of her being by saving the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people. Alvis heard a lot about these high-profile heroes. The clinic did specialise in those affected by metahumans, after all, and Kore had been present at a great number of attacks and tragedies that people came to him for. She gave people hope. He admired that. She wasn't perfect, and Alvis did try and make sure that people never believed that anyone was perfect, but the amount of good she had done for the world far outweighed any bad. Not that he was one to judge, of course. On a professional level, Alvis didn't really care much about how the past weighed up like this. On a personal level, however, he was very impressed indeed.

This wasn't personal, though- not for him, anyway. He was told to check in with Kore regularly, for obvious reasons, to make sure she hadn't given in to her nature, or whichever insensitive way they had phrased it to him. He, of course, had welcomed the idea anyway- as much as he hated to admit it, it probably was a good idea to give the daughter of Satan regular checks to ensure she wasn't using her immense power for evil. There was enough of that in the world as it was. Besides, reading through her folder was enough to warrant at least a little concern, even without all of these other factors. Childhood depression often led to similar symptoms in adulthood, and... well, he didn't want to dwell on this too much in case it clouded his judgement, but she was in the age group at highest risk for this sort of thing.

Still, none of his concerns seemed to show whatsoever on his face as he walked into the waiting room, smiling politely at Kore and gesturing down the hall to his office.

Kore's formal attire was... not matched by Alvis. He was wearing his usual business-casual-erring-on-casual-casual lilac sweater over a shirt he had found in the back of his closet. It was his job to make people feel at ease, and dressing too formally would likely intimidate patients, or at least make them feel out of place. Ah, but the contrast between him and Kore really was a bit much- did he look like he wasn't taking things seriously?

Oh, well. It wasn't worth worrying about. Kore wasn't the type to judge anyone for things like that, nor was she the type to particularly care- not when there were clearly more important matters to discuss. Alvis sat down on one of the chairs, turning it to face the couch. The notebook was still in his pocket, but he made the choice to not get it out just yet. Perhaps the only inconvenient thing about these sessions with Kore was all the summarising he had to do of her personal notes- there were some things that the people he had to give these reports to did not need to know about, and Alvis was known to be quite straight-laced when it came to his patients' privacy. Much to their chagrin, most of his reports simply amounted to 'Kore is fine, and there's no need to elaborate'. Still...

Alvis smiled apologetically,

He was also perfectly content with lying to the government about this. They didn't need to know that he wasn't following their directions to force his way in.

Alvis, of course, listened intently as Kore expressed her concerns, making a mental note to accept her request for a direct inspection. Whilst he didn't write anything down just yet, he picked up his notebook just in case- if only to gauge his patient's reaction to the idea of keeping a record of any of this. Her problems this time seemed almost shockingly mundane. For all she did, fighting evil on a regular basis and such, it was very important to keep in mind that she was still human under all that- and, at times like this, Alvis didn't care whether or not someone technically wasn't human for that sentiment to apply. Sometimes the biggest problem on someone's mind wasn't whether the fifteenth supervillain of the month would kill you or not, but something about the downtime in between, and Alvis was (quite obviously) perfectly fine talking about that. Once Kore had said her piece, he straightened his posture slightly and began his response, offering his usual sympathetic half-smile as he spoke.

He said,

Twenty was not old at all, and the fact that Kore thought it was... well, it just about proved that point, didn't it? For all her other wisdom, she was surprisingly naive about domestic matters like this. Perhaps it came with the line of work.



Alvis had never had a relationship, and he likely never will. He never had the desire to seek one out in that way- not necessarily from lack of attraction (though such attraction was incredibly rare anyway), but from his own voluntary abstinence. You see, his disarming aura, the one that put people at ease in his presence when they might otherwise not have been, wasn't something he could turn off, and having a field that essentially lowered people's boundaries... there was no way he could justify that. The line between genuine comfort and comfort induced by this field was blurry to the point of nonexistence, and Alvis did not want to play that game. Although... perhaps he took this a little too far. He didn't allow himself any relationships that were any more intimate than passing colleagues- no partners, no friends.

He much preferred his own company anyway, despite his profession.

He continued,

There was no point in making this any more awkward than it needed to be.



Alvis sighed.

Alvis listened silently as Kore continued, not even thinking about reaching over for the notebook. There was no way he was going to tell them anything about this- it was a rarity that he ever told them anything they did need to know, so something like this was completely out of the question. He debated whether or not to inform Kore of his borderline non-compliance in this matter, but ultimately decided against stating it outright. Although, she did seem like she needed some reassurance...



What they really needed to know, of course, never amounted to anything more than she's fine.



He paused for a moment, thinking of what to say. Though he'd never admit it, she really had thrown him for a loop here, even if things like this were meant to be routine.

Alvis sighed,

He smiled apologetically.

It was sad to see Kore like this, of course, but it was also somewhat reassuring. She clearly felt comfortable enough to open up like this, and being open about her problems was the first step on the road to do something to help with them. He listened intently, of course. He always did. He did think that perhaps his question of when her quest would be finished was a touch insensitive, all things considered, as he had only intended for it to be a point in their more lighter conversation about relationships, but he wasn't going to try and rectify that. This seemed more important, anyhow- and, most pertinently, it seemed the most important to her. Alvis gave a sympathetic frown.

He said,

He sighed, leaning forward in the chair a little.



Though he could hardly blame her for it, she did seem a little short-sighted.



Alvis paused. This was going to be a difficult topic to handle, even though he did already have an idea of what to say. The idea that a journey like that could take away parts of one's person was... uncomfortable, to say the least, and it was one he avidly disagreed with. Alvis had hardly undergone a hero's journey himself- arguably quite the opposite. Sometimes he wondered what was left of him after what he had done, but he only had to look around him to find it. A stable job in a field that helped people, various degrees and qualifications in the field of psychology, even several research projects penned under his name- these weren't the kind of things an empty man could achieve, were they?

For Kore's sake, he believed they weren't.



He offered a slight smile.



A risky question- one that was probably better off unasked, but one that he asked nonetheless.