Counseling Appointment [Setsuna]

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe twiddled her thumbs a little, sitting in the tiny office that the school had set aside for the counseling sessions. Really, how the hell had she landed this job? It was those silly teachers -- nobody wanted to really take responsibility for dealing with the more troubled of the kids. So out of the blue they decided to shift the job onto her, because she was the newcomer and her schedule was a little fluid.

Aaaah... Sasakura-sensei, why me? she groaned internally.

That dumb principal. If he hadn't gotten the situation with Mr. Sheraton, the regular English teacher, mixed up, she wouldn't be in this mess. It wasn't that she didn't care about the kids. She actually did and took care of her students. But she wasn't sure she was the right person for the job. She wasn't a psychologist. She figured that the best she could do with her situation was to make the kids feel comfortable and lend a friendly ear if they needed to vent. She was kind of scared of some of her students, though. There were quite a lot of delinquents among them, but even those kids who were simply strong-headed could make her nervous. She wasn't that older anyway so they didn't always have much respect for her.

She'd made a fresh batch of hibiscus tea in a thermos and brought some muffins along. She actually rather hoped that her first appointment, a young girl named Setsuna Hanamori, would help her figure out what she could do with her current situation as Special Counseling Teacher.

[Setsuna Hanamori]

"If he's so fucking perfect, then why the hell are you bothering me and not him?!"

It was during the lunch break on that day that those words echoed into the hallways from one of the bathrooms. This was accompanied by a loud crashing sound, the result of a mirror being punched hard enough to shatter the glass. The teachers who rushed onto the scene of the calamity quickly saw an enraged Setsuna, her bleeding hand making it obvious that she was the one who punched the mirror. There was also a female classmate of hers, looking at the girl with a combination of horror, worry and confusion. Naturally, their first concern was getting some first aid for the girl.

Of course, once that was taken care of, and it was assured that the damage to her hand wasn't too severe, it came time to question the girl regarding her behavior. All they could get out of her was that she was in a bad mood and "lost her cool". What had really happened was that the girl, who Setsuna often spoke to just so happened to have nabbed herself a rather nice boyfriend on Valentine's Day, and despite Setsuna's subtle attempts to change the subject, she refused to shut up about how great he was. Considering Setsuna's less-than-pleasant opinion of relationships in general, it was needless to say that this was getting on her nerves...until, finally, she snapped.

The teachers were perplexed, however. Usually, Setsuna was a pretty good student. Not the most social, but she was never the type to cause or start any trouble. So they couldn't possibly imagine what could have caused this outburst. This went doubly for her friend. Of course, none of them knew anything about her past, so it was only natural that they'd be in the dark about it. Still, it came as a rather nasty surprise. So nasty, in fact that they deemed it necessary to send her toward the new school psychologist. By then, a written report of the incident (as well as the overall concerns of the teachers) would be on Phoebe's desk.

Not long after classes had been let out for the day, Setsuna would quietly step into the room, a sour expression on her face. "...sorry if I'm late, ma'am." In all honesty, she just wanted to get this over with so she could go home.

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe looked up as Setsuna stepped in and closed the folder she'd been looking. It was the report on today's incident. She was worried; something had made the usually calm student Setsuna Hanamori snap and hurt herself punching a mirror. She rather wished she knew the girl a little better. She'd only taught the third-years a little so far, because Mr. Sheraton was still regularly teaching.

When the girl herself stepped in, Phoebe saw the sour look on her face and sympathized. She knew that kind of look. She'd seen it on her own face often enough when she was Setsuna's age. If she remembered her own attiude correctly, Setsuna wasn't about to just spill everything. She likely just wanted to get home. Well, that was fine with Phoebe, but she was going to try and at least pep the girl up a bit before that happened. They were obliged, after all, to spend an hour together and talk.

And hypothetically, get to the root of today's outburst.

"Hello Setsuna, come in. Don't worry, we've got plenty of time," she said kindly. "Have a seat. I've got some tea for us and muffins. If we're gonna be stuck here for an hour we might as well enjoy it a little, right?"

She motioned to the girl to have a seat across her and pulled the tea tray closer. Then she brought out the little basket of blueberry and chocolate chip muffins she'd brought from home for this purpose, leaving it near the tray for Setsuna to help herself if she wanted. She poured tea for both of them.

"Anyway, I'm Phoebe Minola; you can just call me Phoebe. How's your hand, then? I hope it doesn't hurt very much now."

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna blinked as she looked over and saw Phoebe for the first time. Admittedly, she seemed fairly nice. She noticed that she was a bit on the chubby side, but not enough to detract from her looks. In fact, she was actually quite pretty, causing a faint blush to appear on Setsuna's cheeks. All in all, it was a pleasant surprise; maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. The tea and muffins were kinda unexpected, and she was almost reluctant to accept them, if only because of how random it seemed. In the end, however, the chocolate chip muffins won, and Setsuna quietly grabbed one and took a small bite. It was...quite good.

Of course, while this was a pleasant distraction, it didn't make Setsuna any less aware of why she was here...or any more willing to explain just what it was that set her off. Sure, she regretted it, and not just because she injured her hand, either. Or even the fact that her parents were probably going to ground her for a month once they found out about this. She was simply upset at herself for losing her cool like that. She certainly didn't mean to snap. Her friend couldn't have known how much she hates relationships, even if Setsuna did try to make some subtle hints about that fact. In the end, it would have just been easier if she had just said something. Instead, she snapped and scared her half to death by punching a mirror...right now, she hated herself.

Either way, when Phoebe asked about her hand, she looked down at it, letting out a sigh. "I'll probably have trouble moving my fingers for a week or so, but the school doctor said it doesn't appear to be serious." Setsuna was, admittedly, starting to calm down a little. She still wasn't anywhere near ready to talk, but her expression was beginning to soften...even if it was only by a tiny amount. "...so...now what?..."

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe settled in her chair and gave Setsuna a moment to get comfortable, gather her thoughts and have a muffin. She sipped her tea and studied the girl a little further. She seemed like a good enough kid, maybe a little reserved, but Phoebe could sense an underlying tension. A lot of teenagers gave off that impression, actually. Like there were things going on underneath and she knew full well that many kids who appeared to be well-adjusted and healthy were in fact stewing in their own little personal hells at home. Most of them just needed someone to lend an ear without criticizing them and she was perfectly okay with that instead of being a stiff-backed, probing therapist. She always felt a kind of big-sister attitude to her students, even if she was rather scared of some of them. She supposed it came with being the youngest of four siblings and always being looked after. It had instilled her with an instinct to do the same for others.

"Well, I don't think there's much point in asking you about today's incident," she said kindly. "It's obvious that it involves something that upset you and I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the desk between them and cupped her chin in her hand. "I'm more concerned with the fact that everyone seems to be so on edge. More than usual, I mean," she explained. "Especially since the perimeter was established. A lot of strange things are happening and it looks like it's getting to many people. On top of school and all, I think it can be stressing for a student. How are you holding up? Everything alright at home?"

She hoped that talking about something different, yet still relevant to her, might help Setsuna relax and help her express her feelings. It'd give Phoebe a good way to get a feel for the kid and work out how to best approach.

[Setsuna Hanamori]

This was... a little surprising. She was sure that this woman was going to pry about the incident and try to get to the bottom of what happened, whether Setsuna wanted her to or not. Which she didn't. Still, it was a pleasant surprise when she instantly mentioned that she didn't have to talk about it. Perhaps she recognized that the cause of the outburst was due to something she was uncomfortable with. Either way, this worked just fine for Setsuna. Though, that ultimately brought a different question to the girl's mind; if they were going to be here for an hour and not talk about the incident, then what were they going to talk about?

Luckily, Phoebe took care of that by bringing up the border blocking off part of the city. When she mentioned "strange things" happening, she raised an eyebrow...she couldn't be. Could she? Maybe it was just a coincidence. Until the day her Persona awakened, she never noticed anything unusual happening around the border, aside from how eerily empty the rest of the city beyond it was. Then again, her family had only moved there a few weeks before the "military" came in, so it's possible that someone who could have been here longer might notice something that she wouldn't. Still, she couldn't help but mutter something under her breath "You have no idea, lady.". She thought she had merely been thinking to herself when she said that, though, at the very least, it was only barely audible.

Either way, Phoebe then asked if her family had been affected by it in any way, to which she nodded slightly. "My father was set to begin work at a hospital that ended up being within the quarantined zone, though he was able to transfer to one within the safe area...although it did take a bit for everything to be worked out." Setsuna frowned a bit. In that regard, it was rather scary how close of a call that was. If the "military had come a single day later, he would have started his job at that hospital, and likely would have been caught in that hellish nightmare of a world. Even now, just thinking of how narrowly he avoided that fate was enough to make her shudder.

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe quirked an eyebrow a little at Setsuna's mumbled comment. "You have no idea, lady..."

Her tone, as quiet as that comment was, gave away something. Phoebe wasn't sure what but it gave her a strange, niggling kind of feeling. Like there was more to Setsuna than met the eye. Perhaps there was, but she wasn't going to pry. Since the evening at the bar she was aware that some teenagers were Persona users but there was no valid way to tell them apart from others without alarming them. She'd have to proceed very carefully. Dropping hints would be all she could really do now. If the girl was aware of how the city really looked in the perimeter, she might catch on. If not, well there wasn't much to be done.

She listened to Setsuna explain the situation with her father. While she spoke, Phoebe felt there was more to her words than she tried to let on. Like a much bigger relief that he had transferred than she let on. And she'd be all too right; the outskirts had been pretty ravaged from what she could tell in her forays into them and any human caught in that mess would probably be deader than a doornail... at best.

She nodded. "I'm very glad to hear that. It's distressing how many people seem to be missing since the perimeter was established," she said carefully. "I believe you moved to Mosaic city recently, right? The whole quarantine thing aside, how are you adjusting? Having any problems with settling in the city, or maybe you miss your friends? Moving to a new place can be a tough challenge for a person your age. I've been in your shoes. I used to live in Ohio but then I moved to Asia for work and I felt like a fish out of water. I'm still somewhat culture-shocked and home-sick like you wouldn't believe."

Fact was, moving to Mosaic City was a pretty damn big step for her, considering what had happened back in her previous city and job. But she refused to dwell on it or bring it into this conversation. She would never lay her own burdens on a kid she was supposed to be helping out.

Besides, I swore to high heaven that I wasn't gonna give that creep another thought...

[Setsuna Hanamori]

As Phoebe started asking more questions, specifically about when she moved here and how she was adjusting to the city, Setsuna let out a soft sigh. For the most, she didn't mind talking about it, though the part about missing her friends prompted a rather bitter response "Hard to miss something you don't have..." Unlike the first thing to slip from her mouth, she realized what she had said this time, and she was annoyed at herself for letting that out. Since it was directly related to the incident from a few years ago, she wasn't ready to talk about it, so she could only hope that Phoebe didn't notice it...or, at the very least, say anything if she did. It was still a very sore subject.

Either way, she continued to speak, avoiding that particular subject as much as possible. "Yeah, I moved here about a week before that military moved in. It took a bit to get adjusted, especially with all of that going on, but it wasn't too hard. I came from a pretty big city in Japan...though, even with a large part it sealed off, this city makes it look like a small mountain village." Setsuna remembered being completely awestruck at how huge Mosaic City was when she first moved here, and that was saying something, since Saitama was no slouch in that department. Either way, Setsuna blinked when Phoebe brought up where she was from "Ohio...isn't that in America?..." Now that she thought about it, she did look like an American.

She had gotten used to how incredibly diverse that the city was as far as race goes, so it didn't even cross her mind until it was pointed out. Had they met while she was still living in Saitama, Phoebe would have stuck out like a sore thumb; not that there was anything wrong with that. A lot of people she knew back where she lived weren't very fond of "foreigners", but she personally didn't see what the huge deal was. And this was even before she knew all too well how it felt to be singled out for being "different". As such, while it did surprise her a bit, she had little trouble getting used to the diverse population in the city. Her parents took a little longer, though, at the very least, they were never as blatantly racist as a few of the older people she knew back then.

[Phoebe Minola]

((OOC: So sorry I missed this! I guess I lost track of the thread when my workload went up, along with other threads here. Let's get this back up!))

---

Phoebe was a bit troubled by Setsuna's reply and her annoyed look (she probably hadn't meant to say that). She got the impression that Setsuna might be a pretty lonely kid and not for lack of trying. Something had gone wrong for this kid in the past and it seemed to have its teeth in her even now - which meant it was recent. Going by her attitude, it'd be useless to pry about it now and she was afraid of making her uncomfortable. Probably be a good idea to let her adjust to the idea of these sessions and then probe, if Setsuna felt like talking about it. If Setsuna wanted to talk about other subjects instead, that was fine.

"Yep, I'm from America. Although, my family are all Greek so technically, I'm Greek," she chuckled. "But yeah, Mosaic City can be pretty overwhelming," Phoebe said with a wan smile. "It's a major crossroads so I suppose it can't help but be cosmopolitan. It's pretty good if you're looking to start a new leaf but on the other hand, the culture mash-up can be dizzying."

She took a sip from her tea and studied Setsuna a bit. Her school file noted her as being somewhat reserved and a bit of a loner, but it didn't specify any particular events. Then again, something might've happened in her old school, in Japan, but that wouldn't have transferred. Though she wasn't going to pry about today, it'd be good to know how Setsuna felt about school in general.

"So, today's incident excluded, how is school here looking? I suppose it's not a huge difference from a Japanese school, but there's always differences," she mused. "Schoolwork any trouble? Or maybe a teacher giving you hard time?"

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna had to admit...this wasn't all that bad. At first she was dreading it, if only because she was expecting to be probed or lectured over the incident. Even then, she was wary about all of the question, even after she was pleasantly surprised about this not happening. But, admittedly, it was kinda nice to get some of this off her chest. She didn't really have anyone she could talk to like this, so things tended to build up inside her; which, as was already made obvious by the incident during lunch, was kinda bad. But, while she still felt bad about what happened, she was beginning to feel a little better. Which, of course, was why she was here.

Of course, she still wasn't ready to talk about what exactly had happened, but, for the first time in this session, she was starting to feel like she might eventually be able to. The thought of bringing up her past was still intimidating, so she was still likely to avoid that subject like the plague, but she'd probably find away to explain what happened without going into detail over why the subject of romance leaves her so bitter anyway. Not that it would be hard to guess why, but she didn't need to know about her dating a woman old enough to be in college when she was in the middle of her first year of middle school. Or that, after being publicly humiliated by said woman, she was basically ostracized and bullied to the point of being driven to suicide.

No...that would be a story for another time; hopefully, one that wouldn't arrive in a very long time. Either way, there were more comments and questions, to which Setsuna responded "Yeah. Some of my older neighbors back in Saitama would probably have a stroke if they ever came here. They were mostly good people, but they could be pretty racist sometimes...probably a result of the times they grew up, so I tried not to hold it against them. Besides, they never actively antagonized any foreigners. Just had really narrow-minded views." She let out a sigh "It took my parents some getting used to, but I think they've started to warm up to the whole thing."

She let out another sigh "As for school...I guess I can't complain. No one's giving me any trouble. Actually, this school is pretty similar to my old middle school. Obviously, it's bigger, but the overall layout is fairly close. I was a little surprised, actually." For the first time since arriving, Setsuna actually smiled a little. It was a small one, but it was more than most of the people at the school had seen. As reluctant as she was to come here, she was actually starting to enjoy this. "Schoolwork isn't too bad either. At least, I'm not having much trouble with it, anyway."

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe nodded and listened on with a small smile. She was glad that Setsuna was relaxing and even smiled a bit. She was a pretty girl and she looked much better with a smile, even a tiny one.

She nodded with understanding at the girl's gripe about backwards people. Oi vey, did she know that feeling. "I can sympathize with that sentiment," she chuckled, knowingly. "My relatives in Greece were a bit scandalized when I came to work in Asia. They already had it in for me for playing video-games at my age, haha. They still love me of course, but my habits just baffle them completely. My aunt wants me to get married and she's always trying to introduce me to guys. She's a silly old goose, bless her."

She nibbled on another muffin - ooh, she had be careful, she'd already had two of them but darn it, she made awfully good muffins.

"I'm glad you like the school. It's one of the better ones I've taught in or went to. The people here are so varied," she said, a bit wistfully. "Fortunately, though the perimeter and cut-off has gotten a few people more nervous and high-strung, we haven't had any serious incidents. The staff's been a little worried about bullying but I'd say you kids are taking it pretty well so far."

She paused for a bit. "Don't be afraid to come to me if you feel something's iffy with you or someone else you know, okay? I'm here for you guys."

They still had quite a bit of time to go before Setsuna would be allowed to leave (Phoebe had to schedule a second appointment for her) so she shifted the conversation to other, hopefully pleasant topics, to get a better feel for the girl.

"Anyway, how about hobbies? What do you do when you've got off-time? Get up to anything interesting? I play video games and watch anime and write," she said and grinned sheepishly. "I guess you could call me a bit of an otaku, hehe."

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when the older woman went on to mention that she was into anime and video games, even going so far as to call herself an otaku. She always did find it amusing how the term had started out as a derogatory one, but was eventually embraced by the very people it was used to insult. Of course, Setsuna was a bit of an "otaku" herself, albeit not quite in the sense that it gets most associate it with. Still, she had little room to judge, given how her room was literally filled to the brim with samurai-related merchandise. Everything from anime to video games to figures. She even had a number of realistic (but fake) katanas and replicas of actual samurai armor.

Thus, when Phoebe asked her about any of her own hobbies, what she responded with was a bit of an understatement. "Well...actually, I'm a bit of a fan of samurai-related things..." It felt a little odd to talk about this. It wasn't something she actively tried to hide or anything. It just never came up before, so she wasn't used to talking about it. "Actually, I had heard that the museum here had a pretty awesome display on feudal Japan...I was wanting to go, but then it got swallowed up by that damn quarantine. Still kinda bitter about that, to be honest." If Phoebe had been paying attention, she might have noticed something interesting.

What Setsuna had meant to say was "blocked off". However, without her realizing it, she had had said "swallowed up" instead. Granted, it was still an accurate way to describe the world outside of the quarantine zone, but it also begs one simple question. How would Setsuna even know about this? Naturally, there was only one possible answer. Of course, that was assuming Phoebe even noticed it in the first place. Either way, Setsuna had yet to realize the implications of what she said.

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe smiled at her. Samurai stuff, eh? Not bad. But it was something else that Setsuna said that really caught her attention. She called the museum 'swallowed up' rather than blocked off. That was significant and it was not lost on Phoebe. The question now is, how do you broach that topic.

"Yes, it's a pity. But... it's still there and it'll be there in the future..." she said vaguely. "It's still accessible, is what I'm saying. I'm not... encouraging you to go plugging past the perimeter, though, but I'm saying it's not impossible. I know there are students who've ventured into the quarantined zone. There's plenty of rumors flying around."

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Even as she listened to the older woman, she didn't quite catch on to anything. Instead, she just let out a sigh as she found herself thinking about the truth of the so-called quarantine. Although, Phoebe's final comment did pique her interest. So several of her classmates have been going beyond the borders of the quarantine. That was interesting. She hadn't quite worked up the courage to go out yet. Though, she was getting close. In fact, either tonight or tomorrow, she was set on calling Jaelyn and asking her to take her with her. She was wanted to have someone with her, and Jaelyn was the only one she knew who had also awakened a Persona. It only made sense to go with someone more experienced.

Either way, she let out a soft sigh "Don't worry, ma'am. I don't plan on risking my neck by ignoring the military's orders. I mean...frankly, I don't buy the "there's a radiation leak" bullshit, but I figure there's got to be some reason they had to block everything off." Obviously, that was a lie. She had already done that, and, as a result, she was slowly but surely entering a world full of monsters and creatures that come from people's minds. Of course, it seemed the only time she was actually good at lying was when it had to do with something that was noticeably hard to fathom. Of course, she had no reason to lie, what with Pheobe also having awakened her Persona, but Setsuna had no way of knowing that.