Hope's Garden Therapy Centre

"The doctor?" The receptionist asked, "I, uh... I'm sorry, sir, but we have several doctors here. This is a mental health clinic."

It didn't take a genius to figure out who this stranger was referring to, however.

"You mean Dr Holt, right?"

He seemed the most likely candidate, given that he was the main face behind the centre- and the one most people came in asking to see. He glanced down at the calendar on the desk, frowning a little.

"Yes, well he is in today, but he's still with a patient. He should be done in five minutes. Would you mind sitting down there?"

The receptionist gestured to one of the seats in the waiting room.

Alvis was done after five minutes, of course. The patient left his office a few minutes before time was up- there had been no need to go overtime in this instance, despite the fact that he had a break scheduled for an hour after. The doctor stayed in his office for the remainder, however. He still had to organise his files. Still, such a task wouldn't take long- he was remarkably efficient, after all. Pretty soon, Alvis left his office for the break room. He had recently bought this new brand of green tea from a store out of town, and was quite looking forward to giving it a try.

He didn't look into the waiting room on his way, unfortunately.

Alvis heard someone by the door. He caught him in the corner of his eye as well- a man covered in bandages, with a somewhat familiar face underneath all the coverings. Psi. He didn't turn around just yet, appearing to be stupidly determined to make this cup of tea, apparently blind to the looming threat behind him. It wasn't until Psi began to talk that he decided to finally acknowledge his presence.



He turned on the electric kettle and reached into the cupboard for a mug.

He continued,

He finally turned around, offering the man a smile that was somewhere between polite and pointedly hollow.



It was a genuine offer, though the motivation behind it was a little unclear. It might seem as though he were acting out of polite convention, since offering tea when you're making your own was just something you do, but it also might seem a little deeper than that. It was a test. Alvis had no idea when Psi had entered the building, but, if it wasn't a particularly recent arrival, he had been polite enough not to barge in on the session he was already occupied with at the time. Now, testing the limits of Psi's patience was a dangerous game, but Alvis wasn't going to concede the main purpose of his break because he decided to walk in on him at work. Besides, he had learned from his mistake last time: if Psi acted out in the clinic, in front of his own staff and patients, then he will subdue him without a second thought. He poured the water into his own mug and set another one down on the counter beside it.

Psi left him alone. Psi... actually left him alone. That was unexpected- Alvis had anticipated at least some pushback against the wait, but everything had gone... smoothly. This wasn't the man he had met in that torture facility, that was for certain. Perhaps all Psi had needed was to go out and have regular human interaction- ah, that was what he was doing, right? Alvis hadn't heard news of any massacres committed under his name, so that must mean something...

Ah, what was he doing? Letting Psi into the clinic was a death wish- not just for him, but for the dozens of vulnerable civilians who were there alongside him. This was stupid. This was irrationally stupid. If he acted out now, if he were to lay a hand on any one of Alvis's patients, then Alvis would surely be to blame- god, if not publicly, then at least in his own head. Sure, Psi may have been acting calm now, but he didn't seem like he would be at his most dangerous when he was calm. He was violently unstable- violent in his instability. If something were to happen to set him off, to make him lose control, then he would pose a threat- which meant that Alvis had to be walking on eggshells the entire time he was talking to him. Oh god, and he just told the man to wait outside his office. He clearly had something urgent he wanted to talk about. Did that make him angry?

Alvis poured water into the two cups, making Psi's tea exactly as he specified before quickly, but not hurriedly walking back to his office.

He smiled, handing him the mug,

His calming aura had strengthened itself as a response to his heightened nerves. Alvis didn't push it down. It would be stupid to push it down.



He gestured to the main exit with another, polite smile. To Psi, the doctor would appear as calm as he always was. There was no force behind his words- something that direct would only bring about more harm than good, especially if Psi could pick up on things like that.

Alvis walked just a little bit faster than he normally would, checking to see that Psi was keeping pace. His goal, of course, was to take him as far away from the clinic as he could, so that any potential damage could be mitigated- or, at the very least, redirected away from his colleagues and patients. Of course, Psi could very easily tell that Alvis's calm field had strengthened, but that didn't bother him. It's not like he could get angry about that, after all. It was only really a problem when he turned it back down- he'd have to do that very slowly, once they were done talking. Perhaps he would start as soon as he became more comfortable with Psi's presence, though he doubted that would happen any time soon.

He said, somewhat firmly,

Dangerous murderer or not, Alvis wasn't going to break his principles for something like this.



He made a mental note to tighten security on the building in case Psi decided to break in and steal anything, though it likely wouldn't help. Perhaps he should take the records home with him tonight.

He gave a wry smile- one that was perhaps a bit too friendly, given how much Psi despised him,

He paused.



Alvis offered a genuine smile.

Alvis frowned,

He looked away from Psi, turning his attention down to his tea. Not once did he break his pace.



He sighed. The tea was nice, at least.



The tea was nice, actually. Really nice. He would have to get this again, next time he was round the market. Alvis didn't want to dwell on his thoughts about Psi for the time being- if he paid him much more mind, then it was likely that his mild disappointment would turn into something worse. He focused on the tea: sweet, delicate, and not a hint of bitterness.

He said,

He idly tapped his nails against the side of the mug- a slow, repetitive rhythm that he hoped would help him think.



Alvis finally turned his gaze to Psi.



It was, admittedly, quite nice to get that one off his chest. He had been feeling it for a while. Was it a bad idea to be this firm with someone known to almost literally explode when they were angry? Perhaps it was. Perhaps he was in more danger than he realised.



He glanced back down at his tea.