First Session: Emily

Valli gave her a small, reassuring smile.

"The world moves on, unfortunately. When we're sad, it moves on and gets better. But the same is true when we're happy. No matter how we feel the world keeps moving onward, and all we can do is try and adapt. If you face it head on, you'll have an easier time of it."

Life lessons for anyone, but especially for someone as young as Emily.

"I'm not going to give you some nonsense platitudes about how youth is wasted in the young. Being young is hard, being old is hard, and life really doesn't care how prepared you are to meet the challenges in front of you. People will often say things like college is the best years of your life or highschool is the best you'll ever have it, but what they mean is those were my favorite years. Some people hate school. Some people don't mind school, but hated what was happening in their life during that time. Some people love it, and for them, nothing will ever be as good as their highschool years."

And in truth, Valli had no idea which of those Emily was.

He'd struck pay dirt.

Valli wasn't clairvoyant, so it wasn't as if he'd known she really hated schools. There were signs, but those signs could have been read a lot of different ways. She might have liked school but had anxiety over something related to school. She could have loved school, but been afraid of leaving it. Having her just say that she hated school helped a lot, and Valli nodded, acknowledging what she'd said.

Acknowledgement was important, after all.

"You wouldn't be the first to hate school," Valli said. "Not by a long shot. Although I suspect your reasons have less to do with not wanting to do homework, and more to do with the social climate of school."

There was always a lot of pressure to fit in and be normal, and with Emily still being firmly in the closet as a demon, it was a safe bet that fitting in was normal.

"No one really wants to be alone. Being alone all the time... well, it would be lonely. Acceptance is one of the most important human drives."

"Has anyone told you that you sound like an introvert?" Valli said, raising an eyebrow. "There is a persistent and rather irritating idea that being introverted means that you're shy and bookish, when there are plenty of introverts that are the very life of the party. Being introverted just means you gain energy by being alone, and you spend energy by being with others. Extroverts are the opposite - they gain energy with others, and spend it being alone. I suspect that might be part of why you feel you'd rather be alone."

Only part, though. The bigger part--the largest part--was something he'd have to be oh so careful with.

"Have you considered finding someone--a small group, or even just one person--who you can be open with? To see how it feels, and it it helps you relax to be with them."

Valli gave her a wry little smile at that. Yes, it was obvious. He'd been handed the answer on a silver platter: Emily had killed someone, and was a demon. Neither fact was something she'd really accepted, and there was no doubt in Valli's mind that they were significant sources of stress for her.

"I think it would be a good idea for you to take the out I offer you and attend a meeting. The Demonic Student Union meets on thursdays at six, room three-eighty-two. Anyone who wants to can just walk in and visit."

Of course, Valli wasn't an idiot - he knew the answer would be no, so he simply endeavoured to present a reason it would be yes.

"If you would like to give it a try, you're free to say that I insisted. You could say, for example, that you were mugged by someone who was a demon, and that the school insisted you get therapy. Part of your therapy is attending something like the DSU, to make sure there are no lingering effects of the mugging. That would give you a reason for being there, and allow you to come out looking golden--you're complying with mandatory therapy, and because you have no issues with demons, you'll look rather impressive in the eyes of anyone who hears the story."

"The DSU does good work," Valli pointed out. "And raising awareness and acceptance for demons is a large part of what they do."

It was the closest that Valli had come to actually acknowledging the proverbial twelve foot tall demon in the room.

"The story gives you an out, even if you are seen, and would let you play it off in a manner that would make you look good, rather than out of place. It isn't unusual for people who have been a victim of a violent crime to hold a stigma against people like those who committed it, and it wouldn't be strange for attendance at a DSU meaning to be recommended."

He felt like he'd made surprisingly good progress, which was nice.

"It is, like most things I'll suggest, entirely optional--but I think it would help a great deal."

It was obvious how she felt about that part of herself, but Valli still hoped it would help at least a little bit. It was good to see people who were living normal lives as demons, even if he suspected it would simply twist her self-perception. That was the struggle. If her thought process was I am a demon and demons are bad, proving that demons are bad would just make it I am bad, but at least, ever so slowly, it would chip away at her self perceptions.

That was the theory, anyway.

"I know you're eager to get out of here, so I'd say that's enough for one session. I'll see you next week, at the same time, but if you need to reschedule, you can simply let me know."

Reschedule, not cancel. Emily's therapy was mandatory, and there was no putting it off.