Save me or pay me, take me away or stay [Mai]

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

It was just another day for Dimitri. He had just finished his round at the children's ward and was just making himself a cup of tea as he sat down at his desk to look at the file of the next person that was bound to walk into his office in a few minutes. He had not looked in to.. her, Maia-Lynn seemed like a girl's name, he had not looked into her case before, though not intentionally. It was just that Dimitri was one of few councellors at St. Mungo's, as they were specifically specialised in physical trauma, but these days.. these days there were so many casualties and, ironically, even more traumatised survivors. It was a good thing that Dimitri lacked a social life, because he had never been up to his neck in work before as he was now.

Sipping his tea, he half-reached for his reading glasses, sliding them in front of his eyes so that they were slightly askew, but he didn't bother to correct them. Dim knew he had but a few minutes before Maia-Lynn (Miss Hart) would arrive and he was a fast reader, no time to waste by replacing glasses, he could juggle between reading and getting hydrated just fine like this.
His eyes scanned over the page at record speed, not even bothering to stop at conjunctions, prepositions, only focusing on nouns, verbs, the occasional adjective, and the adjunct that indicated time - those were the stepping stones, the rest was just empty ballast, hardly carried any relevant information.
Abandoned by father at a young age, stepfather was also a muggle, stepfather murdered and mother tortured and killed before- Dim paused and swallowed away a lump in his throat. His collague kept telling him it would get easier eventually, but Dimitri had the feeling this would never be easy for him, it would never be clinical, it would always be emotional. He forced his eyes back to the page. Stepfather murdered and mother tortured and killed before client's eyes (client - how he hated that word, it was even worse than patient!), sent off to live with her grandparents in Ireland.
Frowning, Dim leafed through the rest of the file. What? No extensions? Had she not been treated for the obvious mental trauma before? Weary and with a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair, checking the girl's age. Fifteen. Incident took place at.. twelve? She had been left with this for three years? Dimitri glanced at his door, no sign of life still, and to be honest, at the moment, he had no idea what to expect.. She could either be still burdened by grief.. of be extremely bitter.. it was no use listing the possibilities - they were infinite. Why had no one taken care of this child?!

Dim yelped as he was pulled from his whirl of thoughts by a knock on the door and almost knocked over his mug of tea. "Come in!" he quickly said as he remembered to put his glasses on properly just before the door opened.

[maihart]

Mai was quite honestly, seriously considering risking splinching and attempting to apparate before she'd ever learned how to, just to get out of this situation. Honestly, counseling? What kind of a stupid idea was that? How on earth could laying her entire life out before some complete stranger to analyze possibly help her? It was almost as ridiculous as Lucas' theory that Hyppogriffs would one day rise up and take over the world. Honestly, the mad theories her demented older brother came up with, they were almost as bonkers as he was. Almost because Mai was pretty sure the only person in the world who was crazier than Lucas was her senile Great Aunt Imogen who was 87 and thought that she was sixteen and engaged to the Minister of Magic.

Speaking of her good for nothing brother, Mai was going to bloody murder ((Or at least severely maim)) him the next time he was home from Romania. Why the hell had he gone and told Gran when he found her screaming in the middle of the night, from a nightmare about the Wizards that had killed her parents coming after the rest of her family and then killing her. Lucas had been home for Christmas and had been getting himself a glass of water, when he walked past the door of Mai's room and heard her screaming and crying.

Mai had been in hysterics, screaming and sobbing and crying, barely able to breathe, and in her hysterical state she had told Lucas about the nightmares, the ones she had at least once a week and always hid from everyone, for fear they would think her weak and pathetic. The next morning, Lucas had gone and told their grandmother, who had then had the 'great' idea of sending Mai to some counseling thing she had heard about in St. Mungos. Mai had protested of course, telling Linda exactly what she thought of the idea. But when Linda Freeman set her mind on something, it would be done.

So here Mai stood, two months later, outside the office of Dimitri something or other with her grandmother behind her,making sure she didn't make a run for it. Mai had put on one of her more comforting outfits his morning, something she only really wore when she needed some kind of support. She wore her oldest pair of jeans, ones she had gotten when she was eleven, but due to her short legs and inability to grow, still fitted her, an old t-shirt that her friend Diana had given her for her birthday, a pair of shoes she had bought with Christian, the Summer before second year, which, due to her tiny and un-growing feet, also still fitted her, a necklace that had been passed down through her family for so long that no one was even sure who it had originally belonged to anymore, her brothers watch that she had stolen when her won one broke and a pair of diamond studs that were almost always present in her ears, a pair that had once belonged to her mother.

Mai chewed her lip, agitated as her grandmother nudged her towards the door. "Come on Maia, you'll have to go in sooner or later." Linda urged. Mai sighed and stepped towards the door, knocking hesitantly and hearing a hurried 'Come in'. She opened the door and steeped inside, her arms crossed defensively across her chest. She looked at the man who sat behind the desk, looking quite friendly. This did nothing to ease the young girls reluctancy. "Um, I'm Mai Hart, I'm supposed to be here.... You know what, never mind, you look bus, I can come back some other time..." Mai turned about to rush out the door, only for it to be blocked by her grandmother, who sighed. "... Or not." Mai grumbled, annoyed. "Remember, I'm doing this because I love you." Linda assured her, her brown eyes focused on her grand daughter. "That's debatable." Mai grumbled. Linda simply smiled, exiting and closing the door behind her, leaving Mai alone with this Dimitri what's-his-face.

"So..." The brunette said awkwardly, turning to look at the man she had a few minutes ago tried to flee from.


Word Count: 720
Outfit and Hair: www.polyvore.com/mai_safe_outfit/set?id=18858008
Notes: Ah, how I love playing Mai with her family. ^_^

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Word count: 829

The door opened and Dimitri was confronted with a girl who was awfully short for her age and looking terribly stubborn. He was not at all surprised by the latter part, half the teenagers he met in this room were set on the fact the did not need help, that they could fix it themselves. That was probably true, human beings were made to eventually get over their trauma, e.g. by their memories being blocked out of self defense, but that was not the preferable option and Dimitri also knew he could speed up the mental healing process. It just always took him a while to convince them of that..
She looked at him and her expression hardly changed. "Um, I'm Mai Hart, I'm supposed to be here.... You know what, never mind, you look busy, I can come back some other time..." She turned around, but soon gave in to her grandmother (or so Dim guessed, by age) and turned back around grudgingly.

"So..." Dimitri looked at her for a split second and immediately knew that if he tried to be the overly nice councelor, she would never tell him anything. She would object to everything he said, she seemed the fighting type - at least that was good.
"Just call me Dimitri," was the first he said, getting up and extending his hand towards her as he introduced himself. "I'm quite aware my surname is a pain in the neck to pronounce." He smiled a little as he sat back down, it was hardly more than the corners of his mouth twitching. "Sit down," Dimitri offered, nodding at the chair opposite the desk, and waited until the girl was seated before speaking again. "So, I absolutely understand you don't want to be here," he said, slightly distracted as he was also reaching for a clean mug for Mai, then remembered he hadn't asked her if she even wanted tea, yet. "Tea, by the way? I just made some, hope you like Lady Grey?" Dimitri half-shrugged and sipped his own tea, enjoying the near-blistering liquid. Tea was best when it was just-not-too-hot to drink, in his opinion.
"Anyway, I know you don't want to be here and I'm not asking you to pour your heart out and cry and then we'll make up and build a world out of rainbows - we both know that's not how it works." He smiled a little lopsidedly and took off his reading glasses, putting them on the desk, then closed Mai's file and expertly threw it into a spare chair in the corner (he obviously did that a lot).
Then he continued speaking. "We can just talk about anything. Or, we don't have to talk at all if you don't want to. The only catch is that you have to stay here for the time that was set for the consult." Dimitri had decided to go easy on her. (When had he ever decided to be hard on anyone, anyway?) She was only fifteen, after all, and these were not only deep, but also old wounds, of course she was not at all ready to start chattering away about them all at once. He just wanted her to get comfortable in his company, so this first consult, she could read, do her homework, even play video games or whatever it was she'd rather do in this room. Dimitri was quite sure he'd be able to occupy himself as well.

If there was anything he'd learned from experience, it was not to push people too hard, especially teenagers, because they felt patronised quickly. He had the advantage of his age, he was barely a decade older than her, which allowed him to connect to most of the younger patients, which was a little ironical, he supposed, as when he had been in school he had always been younger than his classmates and had never been able to connect with them at all. Then again, maybe that was because of the school his parents had chosen for him (which had been a school specialised in Dark Arts somewhere near Siberia).
But now was not the time for such thoughts. Dimitri shook the thoughts from his head mentally and looked at the girl again. "So you can just.. do your homework, or something, if you want. You go to Hogwarts, I presume?" Dimitri wished he had gone to Hogwarts in his day. As most of his younger patients went there, he had read up one or two things about the school and had come to the conclusion it was an excellent school, really. Glancing at Mai again, he pondered what house she'd be in.. Probably not Slytherin, just taking into account what had happened to her, plus she was not a pureblood. She wasn't quiet and gentle enough to be in Hufflepuff, nor studious enough for Ravenclaw. If he'd seen correctly, the stubbornness of Gryffindor seemed to be about her. Yes, she was probably in Gryffindor, he guessed.

[maihart]

Mai blinked. Okay, so this wasn't exactly the response she had been expecting, she was expecting more of an overly peppy, 'we're gonna be best friends!' kind of person, something like the camp counselor from the muggle Summer Camp she had gone to with Diana when she was ten. "Dimitri, right." She said softly, adjusting the strap on her shoulder bag nervously. She sat down hesitantly, twisting the ring on her finger to distract herself. "So, I absolutely understand you don't want to be here." That was the understatement of the century, she absolutely loathed the idea of being here."Tea, by the way? I just made some, hope you like Lady Grey?"

"Um, no thanks, I'm not much of a tea person." She told him. This was true, she was more of a firewhiskey and vodka shots kind of girl. Not that she was ever tell anyone this, her drinking was NOT something she was going to advertise, if her grandmother found out she would string her up by her ears and beat her with a stick. "Anyway, I know you don't want to be here and I'm not asking you to pour your heart out and cry and then we'll make up and build a world out of rainbows - we both know that's not how it works." Okay so he definitely wasn't like the counselor from that camp, that woman been been freaking made of sunshine and rainbows and all that crap.

"That's good to know." She said softly, twisting her ring again. She raised an eyebrow as he threw the file into the corner. It was probably something he didn't want her to see. A file on her maybe? Her stomach clenched at the though that some had actually made a file on her. A collection of documents about her life, something they had no right to know about. "We can just talk about anything. Or, we don't have to talk at all if you don't want to. The only catch is that you have to stay here for the time that was set for the consult." He told her. Mai nearly let out a sigh of relief. Not talking, that would be good. She was good at not talking, she'd been doing it for three years, not talking to her family about it, not talking to her friends about it.

"So you can just.. do your homework, or something, if you want. You go to Hogwarts, I presume?" She nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I'm in Gryffindor." She thought for a moment, tapping her nails against her leg. "Do you mind if I just read?" She asked, pulling a book from her bag. 'The Wizard of Oz', one of her favorites, along with 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'The Secret Garden', her grandmother was a very avid reader and had passed this on to Mai.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

He had surprised her, or so he guessed. Good. Dimitri didn't know what image was planted in the teenager's head about 'shrinks', but he certainly wasn't the stereotype. He knew many councelors and psychiatrists tried too hard and that's where they failed. They tried to reach a quota, help patients as quickly as possible - these were not Dimitri's methods. Dimitri didn't believe in only battling the symptoms, he believed in establishing a relationship with the patient, based on trust, and still being there for them after the official counceling was over - all his former patients had his contact information (phone, flu, address, etc.). Sure, it cost more time, but it wasn't like Dimitri had other things to do (apart from trying to adopt a child..), and the results were more than satisfactory. Deep inside, Dimitri knew he was partly doing it for the wrong reasons, for selfish reasons, but it helped his patients - so why not?
She declined the tea and Dimitri put the mug back in place again. "Okay. Let me know when you're thirsty, though, I'll make sure you get something." Dim smiled briefly. "Wouldn't want you to die of dehydration, doesn't look very good on my cv, you know." It was obvious he was joking. Funnily enough, Dimitri had not always been this open, in fact, after he'd left school, he'd hardly had any social skills apart from the bare essentials - imagining that becoming a councelor! It had been quite a journey, both for Dimitri and his teachers. But he was fine now, he was fine.

"That's good to know." Dimitri smiled at her a little, noticing she still wasn't feeling at ease. Then again, what did he expect - of course she wasn't. Everything here was unfamiliar to her, most of all him.
He smiled a little at the confirmation as she said she was a Gryffindor, but said nothing. Sometimes it was just better to say nothing. Mai was quiet for a moment and Dimitri pretended not to be waiting, leafing through some note books and searching for a pen. "Do you mind if I just read?" Dimitri looked up from what he'd been 'doing'. "Oh, no, I don't mind at all," he said, looking at the books she pulled out and smiled. "Lewis Carroll, huh? One of my favourites." He smiled a little wider. "Oh, I have his biography at home, it really provides an interesting background on how he wrote the novel. Did you know he named the Dodo after himself?" Dimitri realised he was rambling a tad, but then again, he tended to do that when it concerned a topic he was interested in. As said before, he didn't have many friends and knew even less people who shared his literary interest. "I'll bring it for you next time, if you want?" He hesitated but for a moment, and it was hardly visible. Dimitri wondered if he hadn't been too enthusiastic just now. On the other hand, it hadn't been the typical, 'shrink' sort of enthusiasm, it had been genuine.

[maihart]

"Okay. Let me know when you're thirsty, though, I'll make sure you get something. Wouldn't want you to die of dehydration, doesn't look very good on my cv, you know." Mai smiled at his joke, though it wasn't really very good, but it reminded her of the kinds of jokes her brother made, so totally un-funny that you couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles. His favorite was 'What did batman say to Robin to get him into the car?' Then he would always pause dramatically and look around as if afraid someone near them might hear his super secret joke and steal it, then finally he would say 'Get in the car!'

That had always made Mai laugh, no matter how many times she heard it. She was sure that if anyone else told it, she would simply raise an eyebrow and roll her eyes. But Lucas was her big brother and he had definitely inherited their mothers sense of humor, as she had told the same kinds of silly jokes and used to always do the looking over her shoulder thing too."Oh, no, I don't mind at all, Lewis Carroll, huh? One of my favorites." Mai looked up in interest, books were always something she liked talking about. "Oh, I have his biography at home, it really provides an interesting background on how he wrote the novel. Did you know he named the Dodo after himself?" She gave him a proper smile at this. Anyone who liked Lewis Carroll couldn't be all bad.

"I'll bring it for you next time, if you want?" She smiled politely at his offer. "Thanks, I've read it already though, my uncle gave it to me last Christmas." She informed him, brushing her hair from her eyes and opening 'The Wizard of Oz' on a bookmarked page. She had already read the book at least seven times, but it was one of her favorites, the kind of book she could read over and over again and never get bored of it. Her brother always teased her about it.

He had been a more typical Gryffindor, the act before you speak kind of guy, he wasn't much of a reader and much preferred causing trouble, something that had made sure he was remembered at Hogwarts. Though few knew his name, they knew him simply as 'that one guy who got down on his knees and proposed to McGonagall on her birthday'. Mai smiled at the memory, she had been in second year at the time, it was before Christmas, and Lucas had been in sixth year. He had gotten in trouble of course, but McGonagall had gone easy on him as he had a knack for Transfiguration and she had a bit of a soft spot for him.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Dim felt a smile creep into his features as Mai smiled. Good, she was smiling. It was a start. Apparently, it was good that he had started on the topic of books, she seemed to be more than interested. Good thing to know. Her file had said nothing about her personality much, at least.. not the personality details Dimitri was interested in.

"Thanks, I've read it already though, my uncle gave it to me last Christmas." Dimitri smiled a little wider. "Good. It's nice to hear when people your age are still interested in the finer pieces of literature." He sipped his tea for a moment. "I'll leave you to it, then," he said. Dimitri didn't want to stretch the conversation into uneasiness. This was quite fine; they had exchanged a few words, she had smiled, she probably felt at least a little better now. He was going to let her read and Dimitri was going to do some catch-up filing work.
He smiled at her slightly for a last time and turned to his file cabinet, opening it and taking out some similar cases. For some reason, although he was using the same approach, one out of three somehow wasn't working out the way he wanted, so he had been planning to compare them three-way for so long but had never had the time to do so. He opened all three files on his desk, littering it with papers and making it seem like chaos, though to Dimitri it all made perfect sense.
Blindly, he once again reached for his reading glasses, scribbling in his notebook in steno, occasionally frowning at the files or looking up at Mai to see how she was doing - she appeared to be reading soundly. He smiled to himself and returned to his work.

[maihart]

So this was counseling? Okay, so Mai had to admit, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. There was no poking or prodding at her past or personal life. No one was putting her in thumbscrews ((okay so admittedly the thumbscrews thing had been just a littler bit far fetched)) and so far there had been no uncomfortable questions that she would rather chew off her own arm rather than answer. Though this was only the first session, and things would probably get more personal as the sessions progressed, since Mai knew that her grandmother would make her come back, again and again.

"Good. It's nice to hear when people your age are still interested in the finer pieces of literature." She gave him a brief smile and settled into her book, leaning back in the chair and unintentionally humming 'Over the Rainbow' very quietly. She continued to read until she came to her least favorite part of the book, it was the only thing about 'The Wizard of Oz' that she could honestly say she hated. When Dorothy went home. Most said that it was sweet and a nice ending and all that nonsense, but Mai knew better. Dorothy was simply an idiot.

Really,it was the only explanation, why else would she go back to Kansas when she had the chance to stay in bright, amazing Oz, with people who really cared about her. What normal person would choose Kansas over Oz? "Idiot." Mai muttered, turning a page in the book. She hated that she was getting so agitated over a book, but it was something she had strong feelings about. She closed the book as she finished reading the last page and put it back in her back, running her fingers along the other things in there, a box of chocolates from Honeydukes, her purseand a Beatles record that she had bought that morning when her Gran had taken her shopping.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Mai was right in two aspects. Firstly, counceling wasn't as bad as she thought, it really wasn't, and Dimitri didn't intend it to be unnecessarily unpleasant for her. Secondly, yes, in the sessions that would follow, there would eventually be talking about personal things and things Mai did not want to talk about at all, but Dimitri was hoping to make her feel at ease enough to be willing to talk to him, first. He didn't want to make her. In face.. he never forced anyone to do anything - it was no use forcing people, really, they had to want it themselves, too, or it would cost him more energy than he was willing to lose for a result that would be more than unsatisfactory.

Dimitri smiled slightly as he heard her muttered 'idiot'. He never talked to himself, well.. not when he was reading anyway.. Okay, well, sometimes, but then he pretended to be talking to Sappho, who was either asleep half the time or being mischievous and making a mess of his wardrobe again. Either way, he was glad to see that Mai felt comfortable enough to talk - even if it was to herself and while she was reading. It was a start.
He eventually closed the files and looked at the ceiling pensively for about a minute before asking, softly, as not to startle her: "I was thinking about getting some lunch from the canteen, would you like anything?" It was just another question, to see how she'd react, really. He usually didn't leave the room when there were patients in at all, but Dimitri wanted to give this a chance and leave her alone. Maybe she'd leave, which would be unpleasant, as he'd have to call her grandmother, maybe she'd stay, which he preferred, maybe she'd go through his things (which Dim didn't care much about, he had little to hide and the file cabinet would be locked up, anyway).
It wasn't so that everything Dimitri did was a test for Mai to pass in some way. There were no wrong and right answers, to begin with, but he was testing the water a little, trying to see what she responded to in what way.

[maihart]

"I was thinking about getting some lunch from the canteen, would you like anything?" Mai gave him a polite smile. "No thank you, I'm not very hungry." This was true, she had had a pretty bad hangover that morning as the night before she had played 'I never' with Diana at a sleepover. It turned out there weren't very many things that Mai had never done, which resulted it major headaches the next day and her having to down one of Diana's hangover remedies, which despite being completely disgusting, always worked, though they took away your appetite for the rest of the day.

Mai opened 'The Secret Garden' and began to read, still humming 'Over the Rainbow' without realizing it. She settled back into her chair comfortably, playing with her hair unconsciously as she read. She was glad she had gotten Dimitri as her her counselor, she very much doubted she would be sitting there reading a book, just as she would have been if she had been at home or at school, if she had been put with anyone else. As he left, she glanced up, looking around the room silently.

This would be a perfect opportunity to leave, but that would be pointless as her grandmother was down the hall waiting for her, and it wasn't like she was being tortured or anything. Plus she had promised that she would give this therapy lark a try, at least for one session. She glanced at the empty chair in the corner, where he had thrown the file she assumed to be hers. Glancing at the door quickly, she got up and went over, opening the file and flicking through quickly, her eyes scanning over the pages and picking out key terms. 'Severely traumatized', 'Anger management issues' and 'No Previous Counselling' were a few.

She put the file back down and went back to her own chair, picking up her book and beginning to read again, not really paying attention to what she was reading. That file had unnerved her, but not because they knew much about her, because they knew so little, the file was fairly thick, with a good few pages, yet within those, there was hardly anything that told you anything about her. Okay, fair enough, the anger management thing was true enough, as she had once chased a boy with a rounders bat because he had called her short, and she supposed she was fairly traumatized, but other than that, the file felt like it had been about a complete stranger.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

She politely declined his offer, as Dimitri had expected, to be honest. "Okay," he said with a slight smile, "I'll be back in a few minutes." He put down his glasses, locked the file cabinet and never realised he had forgotten about her file on the chair when he pulled the door closed behind him.
Dimitri met Mai's grandmother in the hallway and had a brief chat with her, basically telling her how he was planning to tackle Mai's problem and how his approach would probably take a little longer than it would with the average counselor, but that he trusted this would be the approach which would also be best for Mai. After all, the girl would have to face a lot of difficult things, and such things should not be rushed.

Mai was very right about the file, it was impersonal, which was exactly why Dimitri had deemed it practically worthless. He had read it, but purely as background information; he hoped, in time, that Mai would tell him all the information (and more) herself. He was going to be patient. Dimitri was sure patience would be the key. And if she got angry with him, that was no problem. She needed to get the anger out of her system and he had worked with patients more violent than she was. Besides, his repairing spells were pretty good.

He was faintly thinking about this as he stolled into the canteen and half browsed the food there, not really paying attention. In the end, he settled for a chicken sandwich and strolled back, at ease. Mai wasn't going to be a problem, he was sure. It might take a bit of time and of course it was never easy - it never was, neither for him, nor for the patient, but Dimitri did firmly believe Mai's problems could be solved. Or, rather, Mai could solve her own problems, and he was going to help her.
He smiled slightly to himself as he opened the door to his office again, softly muttering a greeting to Mai before sitting down again, munching his sandwich in silence as he jotted down some notes. They still had more than half an hour left and he was in dubio whether to leave her to her reading, or make an attempt to talking a little in the last fifteen minutes or so. Reading might make her feel less bothered and more at ease, but on the other hand just a bit of conversation might speed up the process. It might also do the exact opposite, however, so Dimitri decided to wait and see how the next ten to fifteen minutes would progress before making a choice on the matter.

[maihart]

Mai yawned, still playing with her hair distractedly. God she was tired, she really shouldn't have stayed over with Diana the night before, it always resulted in them staying up all night and never getting any sleep, as well as the fact that it always resulted in major hangovers, but when Diana had dropped by and tempted her with a bottle of Jack Daniels, some vodka and a copy of 'Hawaii', it had been impossible for her to say no, plus she had needed to do something to distract herself from the thoughts of therapy the next day.

She barely noticed when Dimitri re-entered, she was staring at the page of her book, her head propped up on her hand, which rested on her knee. She turned the page lazily, rubbing her eyes. She was going to have to get Diana back for keeping her up so do something involving late. She'd probably Diana's neighbor, Jonathon, whom Diana liked to watch on sunny weekends when he always did yard work, mostly without a shirt on. Diana had a perfect view of him from her bedroom window, so Mai would probably shout something at him to cause him to look up when Diana was hanging half out the window, drooling over him.

Mai smiled at the thought, she and Diana had been best friends for years and were very fond of embarrassing each other, especially around guys. Diana had once even pulled Mai's shirt up when they were walking past a group of guys on the street, as payback for the week before, when Mai had beaten her in a flour fight when they had tried to make cookies but only ended up covering Diana's kitchen and everything in it in flour, including each other.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

She didn't react to him when he entered and Dimitri guessed it was because she didn't want to acknowledge him. He could imagine she wouldn't want to, if she spoke to him the chance he spoke back and asked her things was rather large, wasn't it? He smiled slightly to himself and gave her a few more minutes before leaning back into his chair with a sigh and rubbing his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't like reading, but why did the hospital try to cut back on costs by using such tiny fonts? It was killing his eyes.

Dimitri looked up at his patient and only now really noticed how tired she looked. He wondered if she was sleeping well. And if she wasn't, what was the cause? It was perfectly possible that she had nightmares due to her past, but then again.. if she'd had those regularly for the past few years it didn't seem very logical that they had waited with the therapy until now. Or maybe the idea of therapy and the memory of past events had triggered them? He studied her features for a moment, smiling to himself slightly as he spotted Mai's smile, and mentally shook his head.
"Rough night?" he asked, a bit out of the blue, he knew, but he just wanted to see if she was ready to do at least a bit of talking, even if it was just about nothings, or a bit of polite conversation.

[maihart]

"Rough night?" "Hmm?" Mai looked up, her mind still trying to figure out what she had been asked. "Oh, yeah, I stayed round at my friend Diana's house, I swear, that girl does not know the meaning of the world sleep, it's ridiculous!" She exclaimed, chuckling softly. They continued to chat for a while, about books and what her favorite subjects were in school (Charms and Astronomy). After a while Mai looked at her watch and saw that the session had ended. "Oh, it's over." She said, a little surprised. "Well, I should go, my grandma is waiting, I guess I'll see you next time." She gave him a small smile and shook his hand politely before leaving.

~~~~~~

"I need to see Dimitri Zolner-Zolnerowich." Mai told the woman at the front desk quietly, struggling to remember how to pronounce her counselors last name. The woman raised an eyebrow quizzically, and Mai realized how worn out she looked. Her hair was messy and untamed, her eyes red, with dark circles and bags surrounding them, her skin was pale and clammy and there was a dark purple bruise on her cheek. She tugged at her jumper, which was crumpled and too big for her, but it was the first thing she had found so she had thrown it on.

"He's in his office, it's just down-" The woman said. "I know where it is." Mai said, cutting her off and walking away, keeping her eyes on the ground. Her hair had darkened considerably, so that instead of it's normal chestnut brown, it was practically black, her eyes were the same and Mai wished that she hadn't inherited her mothers ability to change how she looked depending on her moods, although she was grateful that she hadn't inherited the full abilities so that her hair never turned bright colors like her brothers sometimes did.

She reached Dimitris office and lifted a hand to knock, but hesitated. She had been going to sessions with Dimitri once a week for a while now, and she liked him, but she didn't know if she completely trusted him. He's the only person I can talk to about this. She reminded herself mentally, before knocking on the door, and chewing her lip nervously.

Outfit: www.polyvore.com/untitled/set?id=19024595

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Dimitri had been working late all week. He had been slacking off a bit due to the date of his adoption nearing - he had a nursery to get ready, after all. Now he had to catch up with both his own paperwork and a lot of extra paperwork to get rid for the adoption agency plus even more additional extra paperwork for the hospital, as all his patients would be transferred to his colleague temporarily until Rose (Dimitri had named her Rosemary Josephine) would be old enough for day care. He would still work from home and had pressed his colleague to owl him daily about any progress (or the opposite, but he hoped not..) and as he always made sure all his patients had his contact information from the start, he wasn't too worried. Well.. maybe a little. Becoming a father, becoming an adoptive father and single parent, wasn't easy, after all, and although he was looking forward to it, it stressed him out a little, too.
Like Mai (although he didn't know that yet) he looked worn. Okay, not really like Mai, he didn't look that bad. He looked tired, though, and a little nervous - he guessed he didn't look unlike a man about to become a father. He just missed out on the pregnancy hormones and, well, the mother-figure entirely, as he'd be adopting a child from a knocked up teenager. It was a girl he'd counseled himself after the shock of finding out she was pregnant and the father taking off, and she had felt comfortable with giving away her baby to someone she was comfortable and familiar with. Besides.. if she wanted to, she could always visit him - she knew where he lived, after all, like all his patients did.

He looked up, more than a little distracted, when he heard a soft, insecure sort of knock. "Come in?" He didn't expect anyone, so he sounded a little hesitant. Or maybe he sounded a little hesitant because he feared that anyone that would seek him out at this hour would probably have more paperwork for him to go through..
"Oh." He hadn't expected Mai. Well, Dimitri was glad to see her (sort of, she didn't look very well today), but he knew her showing up could hardly mean anything good. She looked like she'd just stepped out of one of her own nightmares, hair all over the place, she looked like she'd been crying, and Dimitri couldn't help but wonder what had caused that bruise - it looked like it had been inflicted earlier, but not longer ago than a week or so, or it would've been fading into yellowish greens already.
"Sit down, please," he urged her, getting up and guiding her to a chair gently. "Are you alright? How did you get here? Is anyone with you?" he asked, a little urgently, as Mai looked rather lost, and Dimitri would've been infinitely reassured if she'd answer her grandmother had dropped her off; he feared that had not been the case, though.