[center][color=teal][h2]Jessamyn "Jess" Bailey[/h2][/color][/center]

Jess winced at Roxy's tone, a reaction that probably didn't help matters. Even if not for the clear wave of concern from the secretary, the glance in her direction would have said it all. The empath closed her eyes. Less than a minute here, and someone had gotten the wrong idea already. What if this got reported as a warning sign? Even worse, considering who had recommended this service, what if this got back to her mom?

Standing up, Jess tried to remedy the situation. [color=teal]"Yeah, it's the empath-anchor adjustment session. Heh, seems we're a little early,"[/color] she said with a glance at the wall clock. Once she'd told the secretary both their names, she signed the visitor sheet, her handwriting a scrawl from jittering as the woman's nervousness fed her own. Maybe this hadn't been the best way to solve the problem.

The secretary gave a tense nod. [color=gray]"Take a seat, Laura will be with you shortly,"[/color] she told them. Jess trudged back to her seat, the minutes dragging by as she and Roxy waited. When a figure appeared in the doorway, a woman with curly grey hair and coral-toned clothing who radiated warmth, her smile lines deepened as her eyes settled on the two girls.

[color=salmon]"Would you be Jessamyn and Roxy?"[/color] Laura asked. Her voice alone was the kind that could lighten burdens with its gentleness - or at least it would, if Jess and Roxy had any hope of offloading said burdens. Still, the fraught atmosphere seemed to calm ever so slightly in her presence. Nodding, Jess followed the woman to the cosy-looking office, set up like a living room. She was glad the pictures on the walls showed city scapes at sunset, instead of the nature scenes that were typically considered relaxing. Forests and other places of isolation weren't something she, or other adapting empaths, would want to look at.

[color=salmon]"Nice to meet you, I'm Laura,"[/color] the counsellor said, sitting down on an armchair as Jess took her place on the sofa. [color=salmon]"I'm an anchor myself, and you say you were both recently matched. You wanted to talk about adjusting to the changes in your lives?"[/color]

A second anchor. So that explained the lull in the turmoil of emotions. [color=teal]"Yeah... I mean, we're getting there in some ways. There have been a few issues, though."[/color] Jess explained, shifting in her seat as she considered what to talk about first. She decided on something an anchor would understand. [color=teal]"We stick by each other's sides all the time, but some emotions are still getting in."[/color]

Hands in her lap, she paused to let Roxy speak. If nothing else, maybe counselling would help her stop blaming herself.