maybe this would help

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Maybe this would help? Zoe couldn't help but sort of hope so, though, well, she wasn't entirely sure she needed therapy... more therapy. She'd ended up talking to a few various therapists, starting with when she got to school. It was almost tiresome, having to explain something all over again.

Yes, she had come out effectively by kissing her stepsister. Yes, she was aware that sounded almost incestual. Yes, her powers had developed at that time, sending the girl to the hospital. Yes, Zoe had come to the school with nothing but what she had on her. Yes, she'd then gotten into a relationship that had been wonderful at first but transformed into something destructive. Yes, she'd sent that girlfriend to the hospital. Yes, she'd been publicly humiliated by Dirty Laundry and called "The Lesbian Pikachu." Yes, she'd been the poster child for mutant hatred. Yes, she'd been shot by anti-mutant groups. Yes, she'd effectively killed someone in self-defense. Yes, she'd been part of a viral campaign to get clothing, much of which she donated forward. yes, she'd ended up practically running into her current girlfriend. Yes, she'd severed a relationship during prom when her girlfriend had cheated on her. Yes, she'd then essentially been stalked. Yes, she was now associating with said "stalker." Yes, she was in love with and had gotten quite intimate with her new girlfriend, who was also from an abusive family. Yes, she'd recently contacted her family and hadn't quite heard back. Yes, she'd pulled her girlfriend from a fire. Yes, she'd had an avant garde mutant art show.

Yes, she was really happy now.
Honest.

Zoe took a deep breath, staring at the office door. it seemed almost unfair to spring this on someone new but, well, Zoe felt like having another person to talk to would be, well, helpful. So she'd arranged the appointment. And now she was facing the door. Zoe swallowed hard, raised her hand.

And knocked.

[Vesper Bae]

Various minds in a person's head could hardly ever end well. Multiple therapy installments with different people never worked to overlap in a way it might seem like it should. Vesper operated from square one; she wasn't sure what the protocol was for other people, but for her, sessions were relatively open. She never knew what would happen until it happened.

She never knew she'd seemingly joke about a student being shot until she knew she had to get on their level or effectively get out.

Softer approaches were usually better, though. When people made sessions of their own free will a weight was lifted; Bellefonte's halls might have been filled with some of the best, brightest and most talented individuals in the world, but with those abilities came great expenses.

A knock at the door dragged her attention from the file at the desk she'd been looking over. Pressed hands raised themselves from the desk surface, and with a few steps she moved to the door itself. Usually, she'd find her seat and allow them in of their own accord, but for whatever reason this felt different. Fingers curled the handle itself, and with a spare moment, she drew it open.

"You must be Zoe." She declared. After all, the timing was right. With a small step, she pulled the door open a little further, clearing the way for her to step in. "I'm Vesper. Please, take a seat." She greeted, indicating with a wave of her hand towards the duel chairs to the end of the room.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The door opened, and Zoe looked up at her latest therapist. The woman looked older than most of the others, though in this case, that meant more wiser and mature than battered or beaten down. Zoe found herself nodding at the initial comment: she was, in fact, the owner of that name. The counselor moved.

Zoe stepped in, weaving her way to a seat. "Pleasure to meet you, Dr., um, Vesper?" she tried, looking around to see if that was correct. "That's quite, um a pretty name?" Great, she was already doing the question thing. Zoe took one of the more comfortable looking seats, though she was also looking around for a couch. At least one of the therapists she'd been to had asked her to lay down on one.

"Ah, sorry if I'm, uh, bothering you or anything," she said, looking back to Vesper. "I just... sometimes I think it would be good if I had someone to, um, talk to?" She nearly flinched again. She already unloaded more on Dr. Campbell than she knew was probably comfortable, which was part of why she came here. Though she was already thinking that she was putting this woman out too...

[Vesper Bae]

Initially, Vesper offered a small nod to the greeting she'd been given. She couldn't quite catch her eyes, but that was fine. As was the secondary statement about the name itself. "It's certainly unique." Vesper replied with a small nod. Something to follow her through her life, but it was hardly a bad thing to speak of.

Closing the door on point, Vesper followed suit and took the next available seat. Arms to the rests and her hands curled together in her lap. Her dark eyes worked to catch the face, though it was all the same if she couldn't.

"I hope I can help with that." She replied sincerely, because it was a simple fact of life that some people were better suited to others when it came to divulging secrets or personal stories. "What might you need to talk about?"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The door closed, and Zoe watched as the counselor moved around. She certainly seemed in control of herself. Zoe couldn't stop running her hands over her skirt, smoothing wrinkles and bits that she knee weren't even there. It still sometimes felt odd to see her hands without the gloves. The comment came, and Zoe could hear the sincerity. It made her lips tug up into something of a smile.

"Well, ah," she said, shifting. She chewed her cheek for a bit, looking around the room as if seeking out hints. "I, um, there's a lot..." she trailed off. Zoe flushed, looking down at her shoes for a moment. They dug into the carpet and she kept moving the left one, trying to think of something. "Um, should I start by talking about my family or something? Or should I talk about coming out? Or, um, ah," she fidgeted, the hands smoothing again, "there's the, ah, Pikachu thing? I kind of talked about that with someone else though, and I'm pretty okay with it now...?"

Zoe smiled nervously up at Vesper, the expression looking as though the slightest breeze would knock it right off her face.

[Vesper Bae]

Vesper remained silent as Zoe tried to find her footing. It was difficult, she assumed, to wade through the myriad of difficulties that faced her in order to find a place to start. There were offers raised; two crucial points that seemed to cause a level of anxiety within her. At least the final proposal sounded as if it had been dealt with, be it by her own means or with the help of someone else. The ordeal she was talking of was something Vesper knew about already; if she felt it had been dealt with, then that was that.

"If you're okay with it, then we can leave it." She replied with a small nod. If it wound itself up again, she'd hardly turn the topic down.

Instead, she looked towards the two offers placed between them. It seemed as if a little direction was necessary, but she could easily take it from what was given to her in the first place. "Tell me about your family."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nodded, almost sighing with relief. The whole Pikachu incident had just been so much and she'd tried so hard to get over it that she was glad to leave it behind in the past. It had become something she'd come to own, in a way, something she'd grown from, something that made her stronger, like everything that had happened to her.

"That seems a little cliche, doesn't it?" Zoe asked before laughing softly. She looked away for a moment, considering. "I... my parents were, well, technically I never really knew my mom. She was only around for a while before she left us. My dad wasn't single for long," she looked at Vesper, "he's quite charming, really. A very good catch," she smoothed down her dress. "He ended up with my stepmom, who I've called mom for years. That's why I have such a long last name. Her name was Smythe; his was Wallerstein, so... together."

Zoe licked her lips and looked away for a moment. "She, um, I have a step-sister? Ava," Zoe chewed at her cheek. "it was... my power, it came out with... I put her in a hospital... and I haven't... haven't really talked to them since. I sent them a picture of me when I graduated, and they did send me a camera but... nothing."

And Zoe sat in silence, feeling truly pathetic for even admitting as much.

[Vesper Bae]

The corner of Vesper's mouth tugged into a knowing smile. Cliche? Of course. "They become as such with good reason." She replied, warmly. After all, the most known were also the most profitable places to begin.

There was obvious admiration for the main parental figure in her life. And moreso, no negative feelings for the way in which he moved on. She even wore the name she had no initial claim to, dropping the prefix that most would hold so incredibly dear to maintain a little more understanding. The step-sister was an obvious difficult point; the kind Vesper would remember but not quite delve into for a first session if she could help it.

It would have been easy to ask how she felt about the disconnect from her family. Such things were always difficult to look past for those who didn't understand it. Interest coloured her dark eyes, quickly.

"Tell me about the camera."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"The camera?" Zoe couldn't help but repeat, looking to the therapist. She was tempted to ask why but, well, she knew that the woman had more training than Zoe, and she certainly knew what Zoe needed to talk about. Plus, Zoe certainly didn't mind the conversation shifting to a "safe" topic for her.

"Well, my first camera broke," she explained, shifting in her seat. "It was, um, during the time SPECTRE attacked me and a teacher?" That had gotten around to everyone, and Zoe knew it was in her file. She rubbed her arm, trying not to feel the twinge that came from where the bullet had grazed her side. "My parents found out about it. I think the school told them? I have tried..." Zoe trailed off, remembering her most recent attempt and the lack of response she'd gotten from that. "But they sent me a new camera. A digital one. No explanation or note, but, well," she smiled a little sadly at Dr. Bae, "it had their address on it. I haven't forgotten it."

She took another breath. "It felt great to get something from them, and they know it's important to me. I fixed my old camera thanks to some donations from a friend, but, well, I still use both." she looked down, smiling. 'I needed to learn to use a digital camera anyway..."

[Vesper Bae]

Vesper knew the question must have seemed like a stretch, or a random insert into a general greeting. Had it been dropped, it would have been dropped, and she likely wouldn't have thought to resurface it until another moment deemed worthy of the question. But it seemed as if she was willing to speak, and that was the shot of encouragement the memory manipulator was hoping for.

No note. No explanation. But an address remained and a quiet need was filled.

"People find coping with terrible situations difficult. As much as you aren't to blame for your manifestation, what happened still happened." She explained, but she knew this girl knew it all already. She'd had years to ponder and process what happened; what might have been and where she stood now. "What did you think of the gift they sent you?" She asked then, wondering just how much thought she'd placed into the reasoning behind it, if any at all.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Yes, Zoe knew all about coping. She couldn't help but nod along with Dr. Bae's assessment there. She'd done quite a bit of it herself in this past year, usually through a camera lens, though she'd gone through therapy and the like as well. Though it seemed like this had led to another question.

"I liked it?" Zoe said, tilting her head slightly. She chewed at the inside of her cheek, almost as if trying to scrape an answer off the inside of her mouth. "I wondered why they sent that instead of trying to talk to me. They seem to know where I am but haven't really sent anything. I guess that... maybe they wanted to show that they still cared but weren't sure how to go about saying it?" Zoe licked her lips. "I don't know. I'd really like to talk to them again, what with... everything."

This actually felt good, being able to open up like this. Zoe'd only really been able to do that around Alice, and that only lately. Well, sometimes around Dr. Campbell, but that was different than this.

"It's been quite a busy year," Zoe added, adding a light laugh. Quite the understatement, what with being shot and all.

[Vesper Bae]

To listen to Zoe's musing over the reasoning behind the camera offered a decent amount of insight. Vesper listened accordingly, picking up the little pieces as they seemed to trail towards the same point; one verbally, one not.

"It's nice to know they still know you. Enough to send you something precious in a time where you might need the distraction and the thoughtful gesture." Vesper offered, her tone as light as the suggestion implied. It was always difficult - and likely wrong - to talk about the way other people felt, but in that instance building from what Zoe gave her was simple enough.

"Yes, you've had something of a tumultuous run." She agreed, raising her eyebrows with a slight tilt of her head. Something must have prompted the little comment, and she had to silently request a better explanation.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nodded along with Dr. Bae. She could already feel the tension leaving her body, making her go from a slightly stiff position to one decidedly more relaxed. It felt in many ways like it did when she talked to Dr. Campbell, or even, in some ways, Ms. Riggs, the previous nurse who'd had to leave Bellefonte. "That's what I'd like to think," Zoe added verbally, further confirming the statement.

The comment had Zoe pausing, looking to Dr. Bae. There was an expectation to the comment that she just picked up on, and she wondered if she should be elaborating. "um, well, we all have, haven't we?" She pointed out, smoothing her hands along her clothes. That was true, but even Zoe knew that she was supposed to be talking about herself during the session, not about everyone else. She looked away for a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek, trying to figure out how precisely to do that without sounding conceited or self-involved.

"I... well, there was my finding out my powers... and my, um, sexuality?" she looked to Dr. Bae, seeming to doublecheck if she had the right word. "And the shooting and just... everything," she paused, looking down. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm not just broken. It feels like I should be..."