A little after noon


The night before, she had a vision of a certain student being particularly upset about something regarding a charms lesson. It was fairly vivid, and given the fact that he was having a Charms class the following day, Maiko felt like it was highly likely that it was a premonition that was highly likely to occur. As a result, she had a note sent to Church Comer immediately after the class was finished, at noon. Church would have been sacrificing his lunch time in order to meet with her, so Mai had prepared by making a nice lunch for the two of them. There were some savory crepes, rolls, cookies, and some fruit as well. It was a nice, home cooked meal, and she hoped that it would meet the Ravenclaw’s satisfaction. Mai was thankful that Tulojow was so generous with allowing her to use her kitchen.

She sat back on one of the rather plushy chairs located in her office, absentmindedly twisting the stem of the apple around as she waited. Mai crossed one leg over the other casually and watched the door intently. Church was due any minute now if he got the note, and if he didn’t come soon, she was prepared to go looking for him. Mai really wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t show up; after all, it was his lunchtime.

Considering the lack of sleep and how obnoxious the day had gone so far, Church was certainly looking forward to lunch. Truth be told it wasn't so bad, for a Monday. But it wasn't exactly on his top ten list of best days ever. Not to mention the hunger. Oh, the hunger! That had set in a few hours ago. Odd considering how much he'd eaten at breakfast, but still, it was about time to gorge himself.

At least until some fourth year came running up to him with a note as he was reaching the second floor. With a scowl Church snatched it out of the kids hand and waved him away. This couldn't be good. Carefully he read the slip of paper, stopping on the steps simply to read it again. The school counselor? What on Earth could she possibly want with him? After all, he hadn't really done... anything. He'd never been called to see them before, and this year really wasn't any different than the others.

Well, shit. There goes lunch. With a bitter look and a growling stomach Church finished his descent and made his way to her office.  Why did it have to be on the ground floor? Lunch smelled so good.

Hesitating for a moment, Church stood at the door, finally knocking and opening it slightly to peek his head in. "Ma'am?" he asked, eyes taking in the room. It was... about what he expected it to be. "Something you need?"

“Come in.” She said, motioning towards one of the cushy chairs.  “I made lunch.” Maiko glanced at the crepes and other food spread out on her desk and then gave Church a smile, “It’s edible, I promise.” Hopefully, giving him access to food would allow him to feel a little bit less bitter about missing lunch. Yes, he would be missing out on social interaction with his peers, but at least he wouldn’t be hungry.

“I hear you might be having a bad day.” Mai said honestly, taking in Church’s appearance. More than anything he seemed almost hesitant to enter—like he didn’t really want to be there. The counselor expected that; no one wanted to feel like they needed to see a shrink. “We can start with your charms class, if you’d like.” She was direct and to the point, not wanting to tip toe around the subject. After all, she had pulled him in all because of a vision; if it was untrue, then she wanted him to be able to leave quickly if he wanted to.

However, the vision had been so close to the actual event that she felt like the chances of Church leaving class annoyed was likely. If he asked how she knew, she’d give him an explanation. The fact that she was a seer wasn’t something that she hid, but it wasn’t something that she announced either.

"Do I have too?" Church muttered at the invitation. After all, he didn't exactly fancy the idea of spending time in the counselors office. Although, it was awfully nice of her to have made lunch and all. Okay fine, may as well see what the deal is. Besides, it wasn't really as if he expected to be overly social at lunch. May even avoid some annoying questions this way. Carefully he slipped inside and closed the door before taking a seat in a slightly sturdier chair.

"Oh?" Might be having a bad day indeed... Well no, not really. Had a bad time in-

“We can start with your charms class, if you’d like.”

-Charms but... Oh, shit, he saw what was going on here. Go figure. Well, he did suppose that ability would come in handy for her line of work. "You're a seer, aren't you?" Church asked, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back. "My friend, Jazz is one, you know? I know the type." Great. Just great. Which means she may actually know some of what happened in charms. So he supposed this day was starting to get worse. Or perhaps more interesting?

With a huff Church drew his wand and summoned himself a plate, along with some food. "What exactly do you want to know, ma'am?" He asked before taking a bite out of the roll on his plate. After all, a lot had happened in charms. And while she was quick to the point, there was no real reason for him to be. Might as well take some time. He had to eat after all.

She grinned and nodded. “Yes, I am a seer.” She said, pleased that he figured it out. Mai had very mixed feelings about being a seer-- on the one hand, she didn’t see much use for it because she didn’t feel like people’s futures were any of her business, but on the other hand, it could help her pinpoint which students she may need to see in the future, if things continued the way they were going. She didn’t feel like visions or prophecies would help her learn about people as a whole or even on an individual basis-- everything she knew about people she learned from studying and through experience. “But, I’m sure I would ‘ave found a way to pull you into my office eventually.” His mention of Jazelle Hawke had made her eyes light up with recognition. She knew the girl, and she rather enjoyed being around fellow seers.

“Why don’t you first tell me what the class topic or activity was.” Mai said, “And then why don’t you tell me what 'appened to make you feel uncomfortable.” Might as well start from the very beginning-- if he had all the time in the world for this, then so did she. If he was late for his next class, she would simply write him a note to give to his professor. It wouldn’t be like he was skipping class, he was told to come into her office. Sometimes meetings lasted only a few minutes, but there were some that had lasted a few hours.

"Oh I don't doubt it," Church commented darkly. After all, his general disposition and completely casual misanthropy was rather well known; he didn't even really try to hide it. No doubt that she would hear of it eventually through one of the teachers or on her own means. But regardless, he still wasn't overly fond of being stuck in here, even with the food. Talking about ones own insanity wasn't exactly pleasant by any means and lord knows Church didn't want to speak of it anyways. Not that it looked like he would have much say on the matter.

“Why don’t you first tell me what the class topic or activity was.”

And so it begins. "Memories," Church replied bluntly. "Kesali wanted us to talk about childhood memories and I didn't want none of that." That was the gist of it at least. He didn't really feel like getting int the whole 'pushed my father down the stairs in hopes that I would kill him' business yet. Well actually, even if she asked, he wasn't going to tell her. "I'm sure you can fathom why I wouldn't want to speak on the subject."

Memories.

Her body stiffened up for a brief moment. Of course. Her vision made complete sense now. She thought that Kesali, of all people, would respect the privacy of others, especially in regard to memories. They were very personal, private things, and weren’t meant to be taken lightly. She was sure he didn’t intend on insulting his students or making them feel uncomfortable, but he did. “Sharing memories in a Charms class doesn’t seem… Fitting.” She commented,  eyebrows raised. “Yes, I can understand why anyone wouldn’t want to share memories.” She replied, “They’re very private things. Some are too emotional and personal to share with others. Asking a student to share memories to the class is not appropriate.” Mai took another bite of her apple and thought as she chewed. When she swallowed, she was ready to ask him another question.

“Were you the only one who felt this way?” Mai was sure that there were others who were annoyed by this.    She felt like it might have been best to talk to Kesali about his class. “Why did ‘e want you to discuss memories in the first place?” She really hoped that he wasn’t trying to teach them about memory alteration. To her, that was something that needed to be taught in small groups only, or one-on-one. And even then, that would have been with the most promising, responsible, mature students who were ready for such risky magic.

"Oh yes, I quite agree," Church replied, only slightly sarcastic. He didn't exactly need to be told that after all. If he didn't already think or know that memories were private things then he wouldn't have been so tight lipped in class. Nor would he have been so uncomfortable thus spurring her to have a vision of it.

But yes, Memories were indeed private things.

Church considered for a moment, not really wanting to say other people's names. "No, I wasn't." He finally answered. "But most people figured I was 'over reacting'." Church snorted. Over reacting indeed. "We were uh... we were practicing memory charms..." He said quietly. "He was trying to make a point about how, uh, special memories are or some such." Not that it really mattered.