Returning Patient: Chloe Black

It was an obvious issue that she was avoiding - something she wasn't comfortable talking to him about, even after their long history. It didn't bode well that there was some kind of secret, and if someone had asked Valli ahead of time, he'd have said that no such secret existed.

"You can always talk to me about anything," Valli said. "The confidentiality extends to things you share about your daughter as well," he added as an afterthought.

But it was obvious she wasn't jumping to share any more information about it, and Valli wasn't going to push. That wasn't what they were talking about anyway.

"It's good that she trusts you. The mechanics of it.." That she aged so fast, in other words, "don't give a lot of time for you to build a relationship, so these early years are that much more important." He wasn't a child therapist, not by a lot, but she probably needed one.

"It might also be worthwhile to find a therapist who has experience with children to help her through it. It's a lot for a child to process, and having someone she could talk to would probably be ideal."

It would be impressive for Valli not to know who the Rosales were, although he did his best to avoid knowing too much. But there was a lot to parse, and Valli let it pass, focusing on other things.

"People having to use their powers to maintain their strength is relatively normal. While it can be alarming from a mundane perspective, it's simply a fact of life for many non-humans. Vampires must drink blood, wendigos must eat flesh... for the most part. Addiction can be a struggle, but it has to be treated like an addition to food- it's important to live, and should only be considered an issue if it starts interfering in day to day life."

Food addictions were some of the worst, because there was no way to go cold turkey. Someone could cut themselves off from drugs, but they couldn't cut themselves off from food.

"Yes," Valli admitted. "I have to admit it was weighing on my mind. That sort of dynamic is rarely healthy, and generally raises several red flags. It creates a situation where the power dynamic is inherently inbalanced, and while things might be perfectly fine now, it means that if anything does go wrong - if the balance of power shifts at all - things could end poorly."

She didn't have the power to leave. She didn't have the power to run. "How are you feeling about it, after the fact?"

Valli had accidentally wandered into uncharted territory. What was appropriate here? People were supposed to be able to share anything with him, but he couldn't help but admit that this had likely steered into off topic and too much information territory.

"Please don't feel obligated to explain things to me like that," Valli said instead, carefully redirecting. "I'm familiar with the general idea of healthy and consensual bdsm. It's something that requires a lot of trust, and in a healthy relationship means that the submissive partner is the one who truly has the most power."

In theory, that was how it was supposed to work. It didn't always, but... well, it was supposed to.

"Perhaps you're uncomfortable that bedroom play has suddenly become more prominent in your normal life. It's extremely common for people to feel that the self they are in a relationship is different from the self they are any other time."

Valli frowned at the mention of it being scary. It wasn't supposed to be scary, but it was anyway. Pandora had all the control. Magically she had all the control, and most likely physically she had all the control. Chloe herself was many things, but compared to a full strength demon?

"It might be worth speaking to her about directly. That while you trust her, you're uncomfortable with your lack of options." The trick was how to present that to her without coming across as insulting, like Chloe was implying she'd do just that.

"Focusing the conversation on your own feelings would be best." Chloe'd already heard the I-statements lecture at least once.

Hm. The entire situation was... complex, to say the least. Magic tended to make relationship problems tricky. If someone was supernaturally compelled to do something, they could hardly be talked out of it. Similarly, someones opinions of things could be effected. Even though he'd grown up on the island, often Valli struggled with it, simply because there were so many options. Therapy could only go so far.

"It's impossible to say for sure if it is or not," Valli said. "But situations where there is a large power gap that isn't compensated for tend to degrade the relationship overall. In this sort of situation, the more communication, the better. Be clear about your feelings. About how you feel about the situation. Communication is the most important part of a relationship by far."