X-Men: Tory and Halo
Under a stipulation of her deceased guardian and benefactor's final will and testament, Halo is required to both attend Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters until the age of twenty-one, and, at the suggestion of his legal team, receive regular sessions of therapy from a certified counselor with consideration to her past.
It's been three weeks since she arrived at the Mansion, and there's been significant upheaval in the interim, so her counseling has been understandably lax, consisting of periodic calls from her psychologist from back home. In an effort to try and normalize life at the Mansion, Tory has picked the figurative mantle up and embarked upon her first session with the distant young woman.
December 28th
Xavier's office was nicely furnished. But it was too formal for
Tory's tastes as she tried to push the heavy chairs into a better arrangement. Her feet slipped on the carpet several times until she got them situated. This would be her first of many sessions with Halo, the girl who had helped her before Christmas, and she wanted to be certain to get this first session right. The overly masculine feel of the room put the smaller woman off, but she overlooked it as she finally got the chair into place with one more hard push. Having read over the files that had been sent, she finally felt like she could do something to help the girl. As far as Tory could tell, she had no real friends in the mansion, and wasn't really trying. She was just here. So with that in mind, Tory settled in her seat, looking over the files one last time as she waited for Halo to appear.
There was a polite knock on the door before
Halo entered the office, looking as stolid as ever, and perhaps even more so, since she knew, or at least thought she knew, how the next hour or so would proceed. Typically, Halo's choice of garb was a relaxed, seemingly effortless ensemble of menswear, but today her white pinstriped shirt was buttoned up to her throat and the sleeves were buttoned all the way down to her wrists. She was punctual-- Halo was always punctual-- but she seemed to take her time actually making her way across the office, pausing a moment to look down at little Tory in her seat before she lowered herself into the chair opposite. Her long body managed to look stiff and uncomfortable in the plush, cozy chair as she folded her right leg over her left and crossed her arms over her chest. The look in her eyes was so distant, it was as if she were not seeing Tory, but trying to gaze right through her, and her full lips pushed together in the vaguest movement, pursing slightly. Dr. DiBiasio said that she could expect this meeting sooner rather than later, but it was obvious that she was not going to make the first move.
That look, the bland, bored look, made
Tory swallow and watch the girl. It was clear that Halo was taking a defensive posture, her arms crossed across her body. It didn't bother Tory, who was very similar, and gave her somewhere to start. "Hello," she offered as a greeting. Anything was better than staying silent and the overly friendly Tory had to dial back on her own chattiness. "This isn't going to be like the sessions you had prior. And there are things I need to know that aren't included in the files." Tory gave a half smile, which faded quickly. There were no notepads in her lap, and when she set the file aside, she was just sitting there, nothing in between herself and Halo. "I'm just going to ask you one question, and once we establish the answer, we move on. My first question is what is your name?" This was important. To Tory. Because the first clue to identification was how someone introduced themself. It would give Tory some insight. Her training hadn't covered everything, but this she could do.
Tory's voice appeared to bring focus to the girl's metallic eyes, and the young woman parroted a simple, 'Hello,' in return.
Halo then considered the question for a moment, despite how easily answerable an inquiry it was, and, save for a single blink of her eyes and the movement of her mouth, she maintained her posture in a frozen manner as she replied, 'My given name is Luloah Esther Akins, but I prefer to be called Halo.' She spoke concisely and carefully, but not rudely. It was her stock response to any time someone introduced her or himself and expected the act to be reciprocated.
Taking into account what exactly Halo responded with, that it was her given name and not just her name,
Tory filed that away in her memory banks. "Why Halo?" she asked, keeping her tone carefully even. It interested her a little to know, and besides, it was an important aspect to the girl. She had decided her given name wasn't what she wanted to be called. For whatever reason, it wasn't good enough to keep. Tory thought that the reasoning would be good as well to keep this new identifier.
'That's not in my file?'
Halo asked in somewhat of an abrupt manner, this time without leaving much time between the question asked of her and her own response. Her voice wasn't hostile or accusatory, but her usual, robotic drawl, albeit slightly more forceful and a little faster than usual. Historically, Halo did have the tendency to be evasive about things she either didn't care to talk about, or those things she thought a waste of time, and answering a question with another question was one tactic she employed.
"No,"
Tory said just as quickly. "Your power is, but not why you chose that name over your given name." She leveled her gaze at Halo, fully prepared to pry if she had to in order to get the girl to answer. It didn't matter what was in the file, all that mattered was what she said now. And with her response, Tory hoped that it didn't give room to deflect again. If this was going to work, lesson one was always that the patient had to be as open and willing as possible, and Tory knew that Halo was terse and serious.
Halo had a practiced poker face, and she offered only her intent, serious gaze to Tory as her initial response. Her eyes flickered for a millisecond to the file that the woman across from her has set aside at the beginning of their conversation, but she was soon enough focused again on the winged mutant. She didn't consider it a mark in her favor for someone, nearly a complete stranger, at that, to have a veritable font of information about her at this person's disposal. 'I was told that I looked like I have a halo when I use my power a certain way,' she finally said, providing the least amount of information necessary. With that, she cast an obvious glance at the wall clock, for checking her watch would require her to shift from her protected, arms-over-her-
chest position.
Tory refused to be frustrated. Refused. "This will only help you if you try, Halo. I cannot force you to be open, but this will go better if you are." She tried not to let her own eyes follow to the clock as well. This was going to be a ridiculously long session. The first of many. Not even in her days of being a student teacher had she run into this problem. "I know your powers. Localized vibrations. My own powers are that I can fly and my fingers have bioluminescence. That's why they named me Firefly. But I go by Tory. My brother called me that for as long as I can remember, and that name stuck with me. That's what my mind names me. Now I'll ask again. Why Halo?"
With a glance back to Tory as she insisted further explanation, Halo took an obvious survey of the winged mutant's seated form after she explained what her own powers were; it could be considered her first sign of interest, even though her face was still set in an unwaveringly stony expression. Then, she let her gaze become distant again, and it once more seemed as if she were trying to see to some point past her. 'Luloah is a stupid name,' she finally answered, her voice low but her words clearly pronounced. She didn't sound angry or bitter, just matter-of-fact, like she usually did.
There was a tiny smile forming on Tory's face as she looked at Halo. The explanation was there, and it was as much as Tory figured she was going to get. And that was an opinion, not a fact. They were making progress. "Do you like your abilities, to want to be named for them?" she asked. It was all to keep Halo talking about her own opinions, feelings on herself, how she saw herself. That was the first step for Tory. She didn't like how clinical the files had been, but those were a doctor's words.
Her eyes narrowed slightly but perceptibly when Halo noted the vague smile upon Tory's lips. 'Halo is easier to pronounce than Luloah. Whether or not I like my powers has nothing to do with anything,' she replied with stoic actuality, regardless of it not being the entire truth of the matter.
With a small nod, Tory looked up at Halo with a mostly innocent expression. "You chose that name for convenience. Interesting." Halo was easier, but Luloah was stupid. Tory kept track of it all in her mind, tallying up what was opinion and what was seemingly not. "How exactly do you feel about having abilities such as yours?" This was a question that Xavier had asked her half a dozen times during her stay at the mansion, and she missed the man, knowing that he could do so much more for Halo.
While Halo was mildly curious as to exactly why Tory found what she had said interesting, she didn't care much to delve into the matter, and it seemed that the woman counseling her was content enough to continue on. The next inquiry did not please the young woman, however, and she finally moved after sitting stock-still for the past several minutes, uncrossing her legs to sit with them momentarily side-by-side, both feet on the floor, before crossing them again, the other leg on top this time. Over the past six years, Halo had had long discussions with both Drs. Nowak and DiBiasio in regards to the nature of her power, although to different ends, and, overall, it was more than evident that she was generally chagrined over her mutation. 'My first experiences with my power resulted in several injuries. One of my classmates was in an extended coma, among other damages, some more permanent, some less,' the young woman explained quietly and evenly, all the while staring at Tory, who, having read her file, would probably already know this information. To Halo, in those words the answer to the question asked was glaringly obvious.
Tory couldn't resist the urge to pull her feet up and sit cross legged in the chair while waiting for Halo to speak. It probably wasn't professional, but it was a sight more comfortable. "Okay," she said once Halo answered. "However, those are mere facts in this case. Reasons, if you will, not the actual topic I would like to hear about." It was then that she realized maybe trying to be subtle wasn't going to work with this one. Most of her practices had her doing the subtle, slightly leading questions. Maybe she needed to be blunt. Like her patient. "You have yet to actually answer the question of how you feel about it."
'It took me a while, but I've come to terms with my mutation,' Halo promptly replied when Tory finished speaking, and after a beat of silence, she cocked her head slightly before succinctly continuing, 'I care little one way or the other. Doesn't do any good. My powers just are.' After that, she fell silent again, and it was apparent she wasn't about to expound upon the topic any further.
"In the past you had issue with them?" Tory followed up. She watched Halo carefully, waiting for her to evade again. In her evasion, her answers were equally telling. Tory found it fascinating that the girl could act so uncaring but reveal so many little details. It helped her make sense of it all. There were aspects about her personality that didn't match up fully, and those were what Tory really wanted to dig into. But that would have to wait until a base was built.
Instead of an expeditious answer, Halo didn't say anything this time, at least not right away. Instead, she stared intently at Tory, bothering to blink maybe a couple of times in her extended silence. 'Yes. Obviously the answer is yes. And that answer should be in my file.' While her words might seem flippant or rude if said by someone else, she still spoke them in the same calm, prosaic manner as everything else that came out of her mouth.
So maybe now was the moment for Tory to reveal her distaste for the previously sent files. "A clinical examination is not what I do. I skimmed those files, but I don't put much trust into the work of others when I can see flaws in their methods," she said evenly, almost in the same tone as Halo used herself. "If I work with anyone, especially a student, it must be in my own way, not building off the work of someone else." With that said, she straightened in her seat a little and met Halo's eyes. "I don't want to know about your psyche evals or what other people think about you. I want to know what you think about yourself."
'My last psychologist was highly credentialed and with several years of experience,' Halo clearly stated with what might seem like pointed emphasis at Tory's youthfulness. 'After six years of appointments, it's difficult to imagine that there isn't anything useful in the files. Especially since your questions sound the same. Therapists always sound the same.' She put specific emphasis on the word always, pausing before the word and carefully enunciating it. 'And what I think,' she continued after a brief silence, but didn't finish the thought immediately. Instead, her mouth hung barely open, shaped in the slightest of sneers after her sharp pronunciation of the word think. 'I think my time is being wasted,' she said after a calm, deep inhale, '...at an institution being run by kids.'
Tory refused to rise to the bait. It was there, dangling in front of her, and had she had more confidence in her own abilities and insight, she would have refuted what Halo said that was a direct insult to her. But the small winged woman simply sat there, keeping the look of disappointment out of her eyes as she instead turned to pick up one of the files before flinging it down on the table that was in between them. "Read it yourself if you don't believe what I'm saying," she said rather than defending her own assessment, her voice betraying some of her annoyance at being questioned because she was young looking. "It's complete rubbish. 'The patient', 'facts point to', 'there is clear evidence of'. That kind of work does me no good. It doesn't say anything on how you felt, or what you said in your interviews. But if you feel this is a waste of time, you're free to see yourself out and do something more constructive with your time. But if you want to do what you've been asked by people you seem to respect and go through with this, a little less skepticism from you would go a long way."
Over the past several weeks, it would have been apparent to someone much better acquainted with the young woman that Halo had regressed. Eventually and after putting up a thorough fight, she'd grown comfortable, to a point, with Dr. DiBiasio, who'd made headway with her. Of course, no one could ever have accused Halo of being friendly or in the least bit personable, nor did she go out of her way to find companionship, but at least she would hold polite, if not brief and dutiful, conversation with those she most frequently interacted with back home at the compound. Even as Halo was obstinate, however, she was a highly pragmatic individual, and knew that these sessions were required for her to fulfill the stipulations set in Dr. Nowak's will. Thus, she knew she would, at some point, need to bend, although it would be on her own terms. 'I am dependable,' she said after some length of silence while staring straight ahead. She was being truthful, and she was certain in what she was saying. 'My judgement is reliable,' she added after a quiet sigh, and her eyes wandered off to the side, deciding that that was quite enough to start.
That was a bit of a shock. Tory half expected her to walk away. Not to see reason. And then to have her actually say something about herself surprised Tory further. She wasn't positive what to make of this, but the winged mutant settled back in her chair and studied Halo over steepled fingers, doing her best impression of a statue as she digested the past few minutes. "And what sort of judgments have you made recently?" she asked through her hands, still studying this enigmatic creature in front of her. It was interesting to Tory, who had no self confidence in the least, to see someone so unsociable who had confidence in herself. Or attempted confidence anyway.
Halo allowed her eyes to wander the room momentarily, maybe because she was distracted, or perhaps she was bored. Her lack of expression likely made it difficult to deduce why she did what she did. Eventually, however, she aimed her coppery gaze back to Tory, considered the question briefly, then drily responded, 'I ate a balanced breakfast. And I went to the gym today.' She wasn't a fitness nut like some of her fellow mansion-dwellers, but she did make an attempt to at least adhere to some sort of routine. Plus, it was easier for her stick to the topical, mundane things she did, not that she'd had any other responsibilities to see to other than herself lately, which was a point of frustration that she figured she'd already expressed.
Tory couldn't even help it when she laughed. She tried not to, but the small bubble came out and she quickly cleared her throat and looked away, dropping her hands in her lap after a moment. "Not exactly the judgments I was looking for, but it's a start." She straightened, readjusting her feet underneath herself. "What other judgments did you make? Not things you did, but things you thought." She wasn't sure if Halo would actually share, but it was worth a shot.
When Tory laughed, Halo lowered her chin sharply and peered through the thick fringe of her eyelashes at the slight mutant sitting opposite her. The natural sheen in her skin reflected down the side of her tan face like a subtle gleam down the edge of a knife. 'There hasn't been anything of dire consequence, lately,' she replied truthfully in her cold monotone. She stared at Tory from the top of her eyes until she was through speaking, at which time she raised her chin to fix her gaze on a point somewhere over the other mutant's head.
That death glare did little to Tory's outward pleasantness. But then she was one hell of an actor. She could put any type of mask on, and today it was the open and honest one. "Dire consequence..." she repeated to herself, watching the girl who was steadfastly ignoring her. The things going through her mind were jumbled and she focused on one thing in particular. It would be hugely frowned upon to say by most therapists, but Tory wasn't most therapists. And Halo wasn't most patients. "Why are you scared of opening up and being honest?" she asked in the same pleasant tone she asked all the other questions in. She wasn't directly calling Halo a liar, but in Tory's experience, people made judgments on everything on a daily basis. From what to eat, what to wear, what to do. Even her judgment to come here was one. Everything was important, as it built one's life. And the thing that kept most people from opening up is fear. Fear of rejection, fear of humiliation, fear of the unknown. Tory felt it with everything she did. If that was Halo's problem, then she needed to tackle it, and the sooner Tory put her on that path the better.
'I am being honest,' countered Halo flatly, right on the tails of Tory's question. And she was, although perhaps it didn't dawn on the girl that her demeanor prevented others from believing or trusting what she said. 'And I let people know what they need to know about me. I use my... judgement... when it comes to choosing what I say and what I don't say.'
Tory gave a small nod of acknowledgement of what Halo was saying. She tried to keep as neutral an expression as she could, given that she heard a mountain of what Halo wasn't saying. She didn't refute that she was scared or not open. Only that she was honest. It made her tilt her head slightly as she regarded the taller mutant. "And you have judged that all you need share is what you have shared?" she asked, her tone even and unaccusing. It entertained her slightly how while Halo dodged the questions, she was still answering in a way.
After Tory asked the next question, Halo rolled her eyes up and off to the side in a somewhat automatic manner, as if she were used to doing it, and she sat in unwavering silence while considering her answer. 'Like I said, I haven't made too many decisions, lately,' she said, glancing back to her counselor. 'Mundane, every day things. Stupid, uninteresting minutia,' she added, droning on, adding a disinterested half-shrug after she was through speaking.
With a nod, Tory leaned forward a bit and watched Halo. She tried hard not to smile, keeping her face as straight as possible. There wasn't much for her to respond to, so she just went with the next question that came to mind, still trying to get Halo to open up a little bit. And away from the judgement questions since in Tory's opinion Halo's judgement was a bit questionable. "In what ways are you dependable?" she asked, moving on to the next area that Halo professed confidence in.
'I perform tasks in an efficient manner, ' Halo replied without hesitation this time. It might be more her general bearing than her flat voice that conveyed her frank assuredness. 'My assignments and homework are frequently completed ahead of schedule. If I have homework and assignments here, I would proceed in a similar manner.' She paused, and, although it seemed like the words could potentially be a dig, he gave no indication one way or the other as to her intent. 'I arrive to my engagements in a timely manner. I always have.' Halo ceased speaking and uncrossed her legs, allowing them to settle neatly side-by-side, both feet flat on the floor, knees touching. No matter how the girl sat, it always looks stiff and didn't appear to be comfortable.
Tory wasn't sure if Halo was being purposefully obtuse or if the girl honestly didn't realize what she had done. "So you're on time," she said with a nod. "And other than being prompt and finishing things in a timely manner, how are you dependable?" The girl was completely lacking anything social in any of her answers. It gave Tory a good idea of what she would ask Halo to do over the next week before their next session, and Halo probably wouldn't understand it. But the idea wasn't for the person to understand it until they actually did it.
'Those are examples of my dependability, too,' Halo calmly replied, punctuating the sentence by blinking her eyes once. It had been a while since she'd done that. She certainly was painfully steadfast, in everything down to her thought processes. 'I had homework and other assignments from my tutors, and I always had tasks to complete for Dr. Nowak. If I weren't dependable, they wouldn't have been finished.' Other than her tutors, Dr. Nowak and Dr. DiBiasio, she didn't have anyone else for whom she could be dependable over the past six years, so perhaps she didn't quite get was Tory was trying to infer.
"I knew a great many udependable people who finished homework." Tory gave Halo a look and leaned forward. "I know this should last a bit longer, but I feel as if I have enough to start with. I'll have a better structure when you return now that I have a base to build off of." She let her feet hit the ground and gave Halo a quick smile. "I do have a few more things for you." She turned to the desk sitting next to her and picked up a small file, holding it out for Halo. "First part of the homework I'm assigning, which, given that you're dependable, I trust will be completed. This is your doctor's full final assessment. I want you to read it and come back to me and tell me which parts of it you believe to be correct." She decided to wait for Halo's reaction to that particular request before she would continue.
Halo didn't move very much at first, save to unfold her arms to accept the proffered file folder and to nod slightly. She appeared unruffled by both the request and Tory's seeming cheeky comment. Her long fingers settled underneath the file and her thumb clamped firmly onto the top. 'The first part of my assignment?' she asked, even though, considering her lack of inflection, it possibly sounded like she was simply repeating what the older mutant had just said to her. She quirked an inky eyebrow, further indication of her query.
"The first part," Tory said with a nod. "The less important part." She turned to the desk and picked up a small notebook, the one she was planning on using during this sessions but chose against. Tory looked at Halo before she held out the notebook to the girl. "Take this. Chose a day, whatever day you want, and take this with you. For every person you meet, write down the first three judgments you make about the person. It doesn't matter how mundane the thoughts are, write them down." There was a pause as Tory tried to figure out how to word her last request without sounding like a crazy person.
After setting the file in her lap, Halo neatly folded her hands upon its smooth surface; her stony façade remained intact as Tory eventually continued with her apparently multi-part assignment. She spared a glance at the notebook by way of averting only her eyes down toward the bound pad of paper. She looked at it a long moment, flickered her eyes up toward Tory much in the same way she initially looked at the notebook and moved her mouth slightly, keeping her lips shut, although it looked like she was working something over for a second. Halo also slipped her fingertips around its closest edge and plucked it from the counselor's own hand and set it atop of the folder in her lap. 'Anything else?' she inquired in a hollow tone, her attention not wavering from the diminutive mutant sitting across from her.
"Just...one more thing," Tory said, her near constant smile fading from her face and being replaced by a look of consternation. "I want you to take an hour out of your day and talk to someone. About anything. It doesn't matter who it is or what you talk about, pick a subject at random." She bit her lower lip as she tried to explain this one. "You say you are dependable, correct? But part of being dependable is having people who can depend on you. Before classes start up again, I want you to have someone who can trust to depend on you for various things, even if it is just homework help or assistance in the Danger Room." Tory knew there were a multitude of lost and lonely people in the mansion, herself included. And maybe one of them could benefit from some form of acquaintanceship with the taciturn girl in front of her. She was certain that Halo would benefit from such a relationship.
As Halo listened to the final portion of Tory's assignment, she tilted her head forward minimally, and her coppery eyes darkened with the movement. Her gaze slipped to an indeterminate spot on the floor somewhere between where she was sitting and where the other mutant sat. 'I've only been to the Danger Room once,' she stated. 'The day I arrived. When the school shut down.' She paused after succinctly speaking her words and glanced back up to Tory. 'When are classes starting again?' she inquired, with no further acknowledgement of what she'd been asked to do.
Tory let her face contort slightly into amused confusion at Halo's remarks before she gave the girl a smile. "Middle of January, if everything is seen to properly." As she was the only licensed teacher in the school, it would be left to her to see to things. She didn't like bringing up the each one teach one method to students she wasn't sure could handle it, so she didn't say anything to Halo. "We will hopefully have at least two more sessions before then."
As usual, Halo didn't respond to Tory's smile; she simply stared quietly at the older girl as she explained when classes would, thankfully, commence. When she was through speaking, Halo sat-up, let the notebook and file folder nestle into her crooked left arm, and, with her right hand, she reached down into her pants pocket for her phone. The subtle sheen of Halo's coffee-and-cream-colored face and her dense, dark hair reflected the light of the handheld touch-screen device in her palm as she navigated to the calendar. 'Date and time for the next sessions?' she asked with a pointed lack of emotion.
"How is January 4th?" Tory asked, knowing that she would clear the time. "Same time?" If Halo couldn't do that, she would find another time. But it really wasn't crucial to have it on a specific date unless Halo procrastinated on the homework she was assigned. But then, the girl had already professed to finishing things in a timely manner. Tory smiled as she waited for the girl's answer.
Of course Halo didn't have anything scheduled on the fourth of January-- that would require her to have friends, acquaintances or at least some semblance of a life. She left the question unanswered at first, though, as she selected the appropriate day, and after an unnecessarily long pause, she inclined her head a small amount, just enough to flash her eyes in Tory's direction. 'That should be fine,' as said, as if there had been an inkling of a doubt. Taking a couple of moments to set the date and time of their next session, Halo afterward asked, 'Am I dismissed?'
"Unless there is something else you wish to speak about," Tory said with a nod. "I will see you on the fourth." She would of course see Halo around the mansion, but not in this way. It would be as housemates and acquaintances, not as councilor and patient. Tory was usually the caring type, though, so it might not make much of a difference. She gave Halo a smile as she waited for the girl to decide on leaving.
The moment Tory uttered about, Halo pushed into the cushy chair where she was seated and stood, carefully tucking the folder and notebook into the crook of her left arm, then pressing the small stack of paper goods to the side. Afterwards, she didn't move, save for pocketing her phone, until after Tory was actually through speaking this time. The tall girl stood their for an awkward, silent moment, just looking down at the smaller mutant, waiting for anything further. A couple of beats passed before she offered a, 'Have a good day,' devoid of anything that remotely sounded like she actually wanted Tory to have a good day. Taking much less time to cross the office back to the exit than she took crossing it after her entrance, Halo slipped quietly out into the Waiting Room, closing the office door very softly behind her.
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