Remember Where You've Been

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

The path to Dr. Neville’s office was becoming more familiar to Penelope, but it never managed to grow into something she enjoyed. Specifically due to her destination. Forced therapy, as she considered it. There was no reason she should be required to meet with Dr. Neville once a month. Her mother thought otherwise.

So there she was, going to another meeting. The fourth, now. And still, Penelope felt like it was, more or less, a waste of time. Especially when she knew exactly what she could be doing with it instead.

Penelope knocked on the slightly ajar door before pushing it open further. Although she had a scheduled appointment, the Brit still felt the need to announce her presence in some way. Still, she refused to step completely inside until invited, despite knowing she was supposed to be there.

“Dr. Neville.” She addressed with a small, polite nod.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Society carried with it a strong bias against those who required mental health services. In his ideal world, everyone would speak with a mental health professional once a year, just as they did with their annual physical exam, to make sure that they had no untreated concerns. And, if they did, so that they received treatment for those concerns without anyone glancing askance at them.

Unfortunately, Sean Neville did not inhabit his ideal world. Instead, he and all of his students and patients inhabited the world where poverty, ableism, and associated stigma prevented people from receiving the therapy and other treatments that they desired. The one where therapy was often considered punitive rather than as necessary or healthful. And where people had unrealistic expectations of therapy borne from their biases in the rest of the world.

At least he made progress with some of the students, even if progress had to be made with their parents as well.

That brought him to his mandated sessions with Penelope. Penelope belonged to that group of quasi-student, the ones that required additional power training while having already graduated academically. And her parents used that to their advantage to case the psychiatrist in the role of someone who would agree with them and use his degree and training to usher that in. Not that he did, but parents had as unrealistic expectations about therapy as students did.

Hearing her knock and her greeting, Sean gestured in her direction. “Come in and take a seat.” By now, she knew the routine.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Once invited, Penelope gave another, more direct nod as she slipped into his office. Careful hands closed the door behind her, but the memory of a student taking the handle as he left still caused her to falter for barely a moment. A half second in time before she snapped back and continued her trajectory, a teenage boy's worries plaguing her mind as if they were her own. The worry he felt rose in her chest as she took a seat across from the doctor.

It always took a few moments to completely come back, but a short the glimpse had been, she was still more herself than usual when it came to her psychometric ability, and she tried to move forward with a clear mind.

Pressing her palms to her legs, she smoothed out the material of her dress in a single motion. She straightened within her seat, looking towards Dr. Neville. "How're you?" She asked, accented voice sounding about as invested as she actually was; which was barely at all.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean kept a mental list of powers that he did not envy, which went beyond simply not wanting them for himself. He loved his telepathy, and he was comfortable with his memory manipulation, and so he would never want to give either up, not to become baseline and not in exchange for another ability, no matter how tempting they might be for the greater good of humanity. But there existed certain powers that he found more difficult than others in terms of how they affected those around him, and why he did not envy them. Empathy topped that list; it always had and it always would. Both psychometry and retrocognition found themselves on the list as well, and they struck a bit closer to home. He worked with memories, after all, but his powers were purely mental. He never had to worry about an errant brush to someone’s face or the lingering touch of a doorknob overpowering him.

But, aside from sympathy, he could do nothing about that, and, as such, he always left that to trainers to figure out for the students involved.

The psychiatrist waited for her to make herself comfortable before he said anything. As always, Penelope displayed all of the enthusiasm of a child who had been taken to math tutoring while her friends had been taken to a water park. Not that he could blame her; he knew the circumstances that had led to their continued meetings. But he kept up his end of the bargain well enough.

“I’m actually quite well today,” he replied honestly. He and Josh were still living off the excess Halloween treats, and he always found himself in an exceptional mood after the passing of his favorite holiday. “And how are you today?”

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It was true; Penelope lacked any real enthusiasm when it came to these sessions. Her mind would have been far more content focusing on the ink manipulator she had reluctantly left. It wasn't as if she had made any of this easier, as it was. Yet she couldn't even allow her wandering thoughts land on Lucy Serrano, knowing she was in a room with a telepath made that much clear.

She failed, horribly. She always did. Even with the worried state of her mother over Penelope's decision for staying in Vermont, the psychometrist was far too drawn in to the way her counterpart had fought to have her stay, and how, to an extent, she had successfully kept her just a little too long.

Lifting a hand from her dress, precise fingers worked into her right shoulder, trying to ease away some of the stiffness that burned into sore muscles. "I'm well, thank you." She responded flatly, without offering an answer.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

It wasn’t as though Penelope’s relationship with Lucy was what one could call a secret. Even without telepathy, someone would have to live under a rock if they were tuned into the Hammel community at all not to notice. The rumor mill told of a number of incidents between the two young women, sometimes involving other people (including Karalie, whom Sean kept an eye on for other reasons, but who intersected with them as a roommate). Lucy’s behavior at the most recent sexual education seminar had also cemented that, when she had stood up to brag about sexual experiences. Then there was the fact that Penelope’s parents had insisted she see a mental health professional specifically because of their relationship.

Sean saw no reason to keep that out of her thoughts, but, as a telepath, he was implicitly comfortable with both the concept of telepathy as well as the practical matter of sharing space with other telepaths. He found nothing uncomfortable with it. Particularly since he had no interest in listening to someone’s infatuated thoughts about a person a third of his age.

She seemed particularly reticent today, which would make for a long session. “I’m glad to hear that.” He pointed at the candy dish on his desk. “Would you care for a piece?”

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Although Penelope had no reason to hold a personal grudge against Dr. Neville, she did so regardless. He seemed to be a nice enough man - one with good intentions. There was no reason to dislike him, really, but the Brit had little reason to like him, either. She moved forward in her usual fashion with others. She nothing'd him.

She looked to the candy bowl simply to break her gaze, although her focus hadn't landed on the colorful pieces, but rather past it.

"No, thank you." She responded politely, dropping her hands to her lap as she pressed her palms together. Was it not better to get this out of the way and over with? "I'm doing well in university, and I have no other stresses." She explained in a bored fashion - except, of course, she was lying. Concern lined the back of her mind, trying to push past it to simply be able to leave the room.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

One couldn’t claim that Sean had failed to offer, and he wouldn’t prevent her from taking a piece of candy should she change her mind. He had more than enough to share.

One difference between them was that he didn’t find this session to be agonizing. Another was that he had nowhere else to be. This was his job, this was his office, which made this his home away from home. If he wasn’t presently engaged with Penelope, then he would be engaged with another student in a session, or he would have to deal with paperwork or a telephone conference. He lacked the same eagerness to leave and thus the sense of unease with having to be here.

However, he could sense those in Penelope, coupled with the layer of concern beneath her easiest to read surface thoughts. Which were topics of conversation in their own right.

The psychiatrist kept his attention on her as he followed up from what she had said; they could begin there before moving on to what she hadn’t said. “That’s good to hear. Are you taking gen ed classes right now or have you moved on to a major?”

With that said, he then asked, “And no stresses at all? That’s certainly an accomplishment.”