Maybe Darius’s response would have changed if Calliope had shared their views on charity work. But alas, that was not bound to happen today.

Calliope slowly loosened their grip, then concluded “Very well, then, you will have a free session if Sonia treats you poorly. And if not, you will pay me for an extra session.” In a different situation, maybe they were going to give that one for free, but it sounded like Darius was going to need a whole lot more therapy and Chéri had a whole wardrobe to fill. They did their job with precision and originality, accepted happily to be walked back and made sure to make Darius laugh as much as they could while they were together.