Antoine Agrees on a Soft Contract

Antoine didn't know what to expect, so it was with a churning in his stomach that he sat in one of the two chairs and waited for the counsellor to come. He linked his fingers and looked around the room and wondered whether he was making a mistake. The room was warm and comfortable but very plain, with no family photographs or personal objects or art. A clock, fixed on the wall, ticked quietly and once he noticed it he couldn't ignore it.

The door opened and he flinched. A seahorse smiled at him through the crack. "Good morning Antoine," she said in a gentle, nasal voice, and came in. She sat down opposite him and settled her angular body into the cushions with a small wiggle of her shoulders. "Now, as I described in my letter, our consultation is fifty minutes long, so as soon as you'd like to tell me what you want counselling for, feel free to begin."

Antoine, after reading her letter, had realised he would need to plan for this question and he'd decided to talk about his unrequited love. He knew the story - and the tragedy - of his life so he confidently began the explanation. "Well Madame, it is being like this. I am in love with the princess Sally but she, ah..." (this part always hurt him) "...she does not to be seeing my love. Instead she is loving Sonic the hedgehog."

He paused so that the seahorse could answer, his dislike for Sonic hanging between them like a bad smell. He looked forward to hearing her answer - perhaps this professional could give him some ideas about how to gain Sally's attention. She nodded and re-settled her webbed hands in her lap, but she didn't say anything. The silence stretched on and he began to wonder what was happening.

She continued to say nothing.

Finally he cleared his throat. "And that is the problem," he repeated. "I love her and she does not to be loving me."

The seahorse nodded. "You are in love with her. So, what is it you would like from these sessions?"

Antoine had thought it was obvious. A solution, that was what he wanted! He huffed his irritation at the counsellor's lack of intelligence and with his brow creasing with annoyance said, "What I am wanting is..."

He went quiet. What did he want? For Sally to see Sonic's foolishness and to fall in love with Antoine instead. But now that somebody was sitting opposite him with their attention absolutely on him and quietly waiting for a response, he felt foolish putting his wish into those exact words.

The pause went on for long enough that the seahorse noticed. "You look like you're feeling something," she said.

Antoine shook out of his thoughts for a moment and focussed on her. Well, obviously he was feeling, he was suffering from unrequited love! "It is sad that she does not love me back," he explained flatly and watched her irritably for signs of understanding.

"May I make a suggestion?" the counsellor asked.

Antoine paused with surprise, and nodded.

"Try answering the question from an irrational place." When Antoine looked confused (he didn't know what all of her words meant and in this case wasn't able even to take a calculated guess) she said, "In your wildest dreams, what would happen?"

That was easy. "She would be forgetting him and loving me."

The seahorse nodded. "How possible do you think that really is?"

Antoine felt annoyed. "But you are just to be asking about my wildest of dreams! How am I supposed to be knowing if it is the possible!" He scowled and folded his arms. "I do not understanding why you have asked."

He expected her to turn haughty then, or get angry or (he hoped) look sorry and apologise. But she did none of these things. Instead she said in a matter-of-fact way, "I asked because some of the things people most want are not possible. But they don't always let the impossibility stop them from wanting it. They forget, and carry on wanting it anyway. My intention was to check with you what you most want so that we could start from there. If what you want isn't actually possible then perhaps we should plan for something that is, instead."

Antoine grudgingly accepted that there was a kind of logic to this but he scowled anyway. "Hmph. We are wasting the time. You should only to be asking what is possible."

"So, what is the nearest possible wish to the one you expressed?" she asked.

By now Antoine felt like he barely wanted to be there any more. And Sonic and Rotor had thought this was going to make anything better? Better to solve the problem on his own than waste time with this so-called professional. His arms still folded, he said, "For her to falling in love with me. That is not impossible, is it?" he glared at her and dared her to deny it.

The seahorse tilted her head. "No, it isn't. How do you propose we make Sally fall in love with you?"

Antoine stopped short. Almost before he knew what to say he said, "That is not what I meant. I only meant for you to tell me how to woo her so that she will..." He fell quiet as he saw his argument turn full-circle.

The counsellor seemed to have been watching Antoine go through his thoughts and said, "I asked because your question seems to centre around changing another person's - Sally's - behaviour. But since she isn't the person sitting in front of me I'm not able to do that. I can only help you influence your behaviour, Antoine."

Antoine blinked at her, astounded and with a familiar wounded feeling in his chest. "Oh." But he'd already tried everything with Sally. Acts of courage, poetry, flowers...

"So with that in mind, I would like to suggest we agree on a course of counselling that involves only you."

Perhaps there was something she could suggest. Something he simply hadn't thought of. "Oui, I am happy to be doing this," he said a little more meekly than before.

"So, have you decided what you would like to do?"

Antoine didn't understand why the seahorse couldn't just tell him what he should do, but he felt so disoriented by now that he simply tried to answer. "I want..." How was he supposed to phrase this? He shut his eyes and concentrated hard on what he was saying. "...to understand why my behaviour is not attracting the princess and what I can do to change it so that it will. Or... might."

The seahorse nodded. "Okay."

They sat in silence for a moment as Antoine thought about all of this. Could there really be a way to finding a solution to the princess' lack of interest in him? Was it worth coming for more sessions to make that dream come true? There was something different about the way they interacted, something he'd never experienced before. She seemed... he wasn't sure. Relaxed? Gentle? He wasn't sure why that was relevant, but somehow it was.

He decided to go for it.

Now Antoine only had one other problem. He drew himself up to his full (though seated) height. "I will also be needing this to happen in three sessions or less. Your charge..." The truth was, he felt embarrassed admitting he couldn't easily afford this help. But if he took all of his savings, did a little extra work to raise more funds and insisted on three sessions at most, he could do it. In a month's time the princess would be in his arms!

The seahorse paused and dipped her long snout. "I understand. I strongly recommend more than three sessions but if you need, we can arrange a lower rate so that we can achieve your objective."

After a little more discussion they decided on ten sessions at a reduced price, and Antoine left, his head full of thoughts and worry and hope about what would happen in the coming weeks.

TO BE CONTINUED...

DISCLAIMER: "Sonic the Hedgehog" and most other characters and situations in the following story are copyrighted trademarks of Sega Incorporated, Archie Comics and/or DIC Productions. Permission to reproduce this specific material may be granted by the author so long as you email first. Words and Seahorse character © 2013 Velvet D'Coolette/Hayley Deakin.