the writer (c)

The moment her current client opened her mouth, Gen knew this was going to be a difficult session. People who didn't want to be here were the worst to deal with. They adamantly said I don't need help! Not me! The others do, but not me. That always ended up backfiring.

"Something like that," she said, sitting back with her notepad and pen. The client — Courtney Blake — had already gone through all of the prescreening tests, so she didn't need to ask any questions about that. All of the information was right here, and she'd read it before meeting up with Ms. Blake.

"It says here that you're here to talk about childhood issues," she explained. "So why don't we start with you telling me what you remember from your childhood?"

Gen could only help people who wanted to be helped, after all.

@courtney

Genesis listened with detached interest as the woman regaled her childhood. As suspected, it was nothing happy, and though the woman claimed she had no problems it was clear that something was amiss. Death in the family at a young age never really went over well with anyone. Death in general was hard to cope with.

Pushing the thoughts of her own family out of her head, she focused on her client. They still had quite a bit of time to go in this session and Gen needed to get this woman to talk more so she wouldn't have to charge her for a full session if they only talked for fifteen minutes.

"Was was your mother like?" she ventured, pen poised on the paper as she waited for Courtney to talk again, prepared to jot down noteworthy things as the other relived her past.

@courtney

Genesis listened as the woman spoke, jotting things down on the paper as she did, though she maintained eye contact and nodded a bit when the conversation deemed necessary. It really was an unhappy tale; while Gen hated her circus upbringing, it was times like these that kept her grounded and reminded her that things can always be worse.

But things can always get better, of course. If she didn't believe that with her entire being, she wouldn't be in this profession after all.

Crossing her legs and resting the notepad on her raised thigh, she set the pen down and thought for a moment. There was no real easy way to say this, but Gen had never really been one to be overly tactful. Some people just needed to hear something straight out.

"Well, from what you told me, it appears that you do have some issues with your childhood and teenage years," she explained, looking at Courtney from across the room, eyes firm yet understanding as they could be. "I am getting quite a bit of anger from your description of your mother, and for good reason, it seems."

@courtney

Her client was getting agitated. Best to move on to a different subject for now, because when someone is angry they aren't about to dig deeper to figure out the issues that are making them angry. A little fun tidbit of human psychology, of course, that just made Gen's job that much harder.

"You mentioned your brother," she said, tapping the tip of her pen against the page a few times, searching for what she'd ask about the brother. Hopefully that was a positive thing that Courtney could focus on for the time being so she wouldn't get too upset.

Leaning back, she tucked her hair behind her back. "Why don't you tell me a little more about him, next?" she asked, waiting.

@courtney

Seeing Courtney smile was a happy change. As aloof and uninterested as Gen could seem, she actually was happy when her clients were happy. It wasn't that she really showed it much, but it was a truth. The smallest of smiles perked on her lips when she started to talk about her brother's kids. In a way, she thought of Sycamore.

It seemed like she was very similar to Courtney. Unhappy with her parents and devoted to her younger brother. Granted, her own parents hadn't been horrible like Courtney's, but she felt a bit of a bond. It helped her understand the situation better and be able to sympathize more.

"How many children does your brother have?" she asked, hoping to delve into happier thoughts. "What are they like?"

@courtney

Gen was relieved that they had gotten on to a happier topic. While the point of therapy was to face your past and go beyond your issues and learn to heal, that couldn't be done immediately. She needed to get to know Courtney better, and one way to get her to be more willing to talk was talking about happier memories.

"It seems like you've got a good relationship with your brother and his children," she said, glancing up from her notes to look at Courtney while she spoke. Gen herself had never had much in the way of extended family, but it seemed like a nice thing to have.

"But why don't you think you'll have your own children one day?" While this might not be a happy topic like the last one, she was curious as to why Courtney brought that up twice. It must have been something in the front of her mind for her to mention it more than once, and Gen was going to figure out why.

@courtney

"Rambling is good," she nodded, finishing up writing a few more things on to her notepad. The more her clients talked, the better, because that meant they were getting somewhere. It also meant that Courtney was clearly getting a bit more comfortable around her, because she was willing to go on such a tangent.

It was even better that Courtney was talking about her dreams. That was definitely a good sign, a sign she could work with.

"Well, there's always time in the future to realize that dream," she suggested. "It's impossible to know what the future will bring." Normally Gen wouldn't push such a thing, but if Courtney wanted this dream at one point, she wanted it, and no amount of work or responsibilities was going to change that.

"Plus, people rarely do end up like their parents as long as they keep those feelings at the front of their mind," she said, thoughts wandering back to her own mother.

@courtney