Hunter nodded as Andrea explained. He took one of the offered cookies and nodded his head in thanks before taking a bite. Nodding approvingly he thought about what she had said. The offering of cookies was an obvious attempt to change the subject but it wasn’t going to work.

Swallowing the mouthful of cookie he said, “They’re good, very nice. Now the exercise we have just done was a form of personality test. Let me explain. The cube is your ego, how you see yourself. Yours wasn’t too big but not too small either. You described the colour like that of the ocean, which has a myriad of hidden depths, some of which no one knows about.” He didn’t explain the metaphor, just gave her a moment to digest it as he took another bite of cookie.

“The flowers are your friends,” he explained, “And you’ve framed the room with flowers like you probably frame your world with your friends. The ladder is your ambition, your goals. Yours is a small wooden ladder, probably not too solid. You like to keep your ambitions small, aiming for low goals.” Again he paused and had another bite of cookie.

“The horse is your relationships,” he continued, “Yours is a white stallion with a black mane, a typical romantic image. However the horse is eating your flowers so you’re concerned that relationships could disrupt your friendships. Finally the storm clouds are your problems. Yours cover the room, so every aspect of your life, and remind you of home. That could either indicate problems at home or more likely feeling that being away from home is a problem.”

Finishing off his cookie he summed it up with, “While everything I’ve said might not be exactly correct I’m probably fairly close.” He left it to Andrea to elaborate. It hadn’t been especially troubled and he didn’t think he’d suddenly revealed anything too embarrassing.

His explanation nearly wiped the smile from her face. It faltered, but she maganed to keep it in place. The cube was her Ego, the color of the cube was her personality- something that very many people truly knew however... she knew of two people specifically that could probably say they knew her well. She picked up a cookie as well and took a nibble, nodding along as he continued to explain.

The description of the flowers representing her friends caused her to pause and think. She did know a lot of people that she liked... so it made sense in a way. The explanation of the horse caused her to flush a little. A light brown tinted her cheeks and she finished her cookie off quickly. In a way, it also made sense. How she felt about Saph was... complicated... Especially when others became involved.

It was the part about the clouds representing home though, that made her smile tighten at the corners a little. She did have problems with home... She admitted to herself that if she had known before starting the test, she either would have answered falsely, or avoided the test all together. The twenty two year old set the container of cookies down between her and hunter and folded her hands in her lap again, sighing lightly. She wanted desperately to excuse herself politely and take her leave- ignore all of the unanswered questions that hung in the air before her...

... but that would be avoiding the problem... Her problems. Wasn't the whole point of her being here to resolve those issues? "Well..." She started, her voice slow and quiet. "It appears your test hit the nail on the head..." She paused again to clear her throat and reached up to adjust her scarf. "... where does it go from here...?" She asked, wondering if she was supposed to just come right out and spill the beans... or if there was a different approach. She most certainly wasn't going to dump such an avalanche on him if it wasn't absolutely necessary...

Hunter was skilled at reading body language and could tell that he’d been fairly accurate even before Andrea confirmed it. The relationship part sparked of some embarrassment but it was the storm that really hit home. Understandably what he had said had made her uncomfortable. After all this was only the second time she’d met him and he was already alluding to some very personal things.

“Where we go from here is up to you,” he told her, “You told me that you came here to work on your self-confidence. I’m guessing that you have some issues probably concerning with home that are related but we don’t have to dive into that just yet if we don’t want to. Instead we can work on some confidence boosting exercises for now. However at some point it would probably be best to deal with the issue. As I said it is up to you.”

She nodded, somewhat relieved that he didn't expect her to come clean... but was willing to listen if she felt inclined. Hearing that made her feel a little more comfortable, and she figured it best to get things out in the open before other appointments were required. Andrea relaxed into her seated position a little more, and glanced down to her cookies, before returning her gaze to hunter. "Earlier, when I said that I do not feel properly equipped to tackle life in the city..." She started, swallowing a lump in her throat before it could fully form. "I feel this way, because before coming here, I spent all of my time indoors. I was told when I was old enough to understand that things outside my home were dangerous to me, because of how I am different. I was home schooled, and-" She paused again, wavering for only a moment. "- My parents were the only people I interacted with." A small smile curved her lips. "I am twenty two years old, and just now learning how to converse with real people, and deal with real life problems."

Her eyes wandered away, losing focus as she thought back again and lost herself in thoughts. "I have encountered many things... since coming here, that I do not understand. I have been attacked for how I appear... but I am unable to defend myself. Thankfully, I have found a place that took me in, and many people who I consider friends." Andrea blinked, and dragged herself back from her thoughts. "I must admit, that talking about such things is hard. I was raised to keep my thoughts on the inside, for they are personal matters that only pertain to me." Her smiled shifted into something that could be considered apologetic, "I am sorry if I seem uncooperative... I just do not wish to off load my problems onto other people.."

Hunter listened with a patient and considerate ear as Andrea told him the root of her problems. He could understand why her parents had done what they had done but that made it no less damaging for Andrea.

“First thing I want to tell you is this,” he said with a smile, “Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength. Being able to admit when you are in over your head is a valuable trait. I also want to assure you that anything you tell me in here will be held in the strictest confidence. The walls are soundproof so no one else will know.”

“Now first of all I want to tell you a little something about confidence. Confidence is not something you either have or haven’t got,” he explained, “All that separates someone who is confident from someone who isn’t is how they choose to behave in new situations. Being confident is not about being someone you’re not. It’s is about exercising our best aspects and learning new patterns of behaviour that do us justice. That’s what I am hoping to teach you. Now for a little exercise.”

Motioning for her to stay seated he went over to a table at the side of the room. On it was a lit lamp, a cloth, a small hammer and a glass of water. Flicking off the lamp Hunter unscrewed the bulb and brought it, the cloth, the hammer and the glass of water back over to Andrea. Setting them all down in between them he handed her the bulb. “Once you’re satisfied that it is indeed a real bulb I want you to wrap it in the cloth and carefully break it with the hammer,” he said with a grin.

She glanced at the walls when he mentioned them being sound proof, and blinked. Perhaps then, she could mention the problem she had with that whole pesky 'being here legally' thing. After a moments consideration, she decided against it. Some things were better left unsaid... at least for now. Instead she turned to processing what he had said. Strong people were the ones who admitted they needed help, and how everyone had confidence... She blinked. In a way, she had confidence... she had done many things in her life that she had previously thought impossible. Boarding a cruise ship and heading to the US had been one of them, but she considered those times of actions differently. They were born from desperation in her mind, more than anything else.

When he stood after mentioning an exercise of some sort, she took the moment to snatch another cookie... before her stomach decided it wads hungry again and interrupted her session. She watched him, her eyebrows raised as she curiosity spiked, and leaned to the side a little in an attempt to see around him. Without getting a glimpse of what he was going, he turned back and sat again, and Andrea finally got a look at what he had grabbed.

A hammer... a light bulb, and a piece of fabric. She resisted the urge to scratch her head, and took the bulb when it was handed to her. He explained... and she grew even more confused. Her eyes shifted from the hammer at cloth on the floor, to the light bulb in her hand, to the lamp the bulb had come from, and back to the hammer on the floor. She would rather not destroy his property... but if it was some sort of test like the room test had been she was game. Blinking once more, she took a few moments to examine the glass bulb like he had asked and turned it about in both hands, glancing at the bottom, top and sides before she was satisfied...

"Alright, It looks real enough, I suppose." She set the bulb in the cloth and folded the fabric over it, pausing in case she had done it wrong, and then picked up the hammer in a gloved hand. The weight of the tool caused her to feel sorry for the unsuspecting light bulb, and she briefly thought of Kai. Hopefully she wasn't about to smash something and find out later that light bulbs had feelings too. With a grimace, she turned her head and squinted, tapping the light bulb as hard as necessary to break it without sending shards everywhere. Afterward, she withdrew her hand, still grasping the hammer, stared at the lumpy cloth, and waited...

Hunter carefully unwrapped the cloth revealing a smashed light bulb. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. “Good,” said Hunter still grinning, “Now I want you to pick one of the large pieces of glass and confirm that it is glass and does have sharp edges.”

Once she’d confirmed it was real glass he said, “Now I want you to eat it.” He was still grinning. When he’d first seen this done he was surprised himself but had since learnt the trick. It was in fact possible to eat the piece of glass without hurting yourself. Doing so was often a great confidence boost as you had just proven to yourself that you can do something as outrageous as eating glass. If you can do that you can do anything.

(OOC: Here’s my inspiration for this little exercise)

(( ;~; youtube denied me access. *sniffles*))

Andrea watched intently, wondering if this was going to end up a magic of some sort... you break the glass, confirm that it's broken and then he would cover if up again, wiggle his fingers and ta-da the bulb would be whole again... That, or the act of her breaking the glass would point out something about herself she did not know. She wondered slightly if accidentally knocking someone down a flight of stairs also held some deep inner meaning.

Or maybe it just meant she was a hopeless klutz who was willing to smash peoples light bulbs with hammers. Her fingers plucked a good sized chunk of the bulk from the fabric, and she turned it over in her palm, poking at it with her other hand carefully. The last thing she needed was to cut herself and bleed all over the man's floor. "Yes, it is still real... and very sharp." She stated, much more curious now than she had been before. What would he say next? What did a shard of glass have to do with anything?

She did not expect him to tell her to eat the glass.. no, that was something she hadn't even considered. Andrea stared at him for a moment, disbelieving of what she had just heard, before she started laughing. "You are....joking?" She was met simply with a grin, and her laughter died off quickly. Her eyes dropped to the glass in her palm, and she blinked. Her stomach, overly excited to hear the word 'eat' chose that moment to sound out a loud, low pitched growl. Andrea flushed dark brown and grimaced again. Stupid thing, you stay out of this! With a much more distressing dilemma on her hands, she ignored the growl and looked back to him. "I do not understand...but... I trust you." Hopefully that trust wasn't misplaced, and after she did this he wouldn't point and laugh at her. Baring her fearsome jaws, she opened her mouth and deposited the piece of glass on her tongue. She could only imagine the comments she would receive from Saph and Verdy when she returned home with a mouth full of cuts... she'd never be allowed to leave the mansion again...

Unsurprisingly Andrea thought he was joking. After all he had just told her to eat a piece of glass. But she showed enough trust to put the piece of glass in her mouth. “Alright,” he said before she did anything else, “Let me just talk you through this.”

“You can do this,” Hunter assured her, “When you bite what will happen is this. You’ll find that first chew, and breaking the glass, hard. After that it gets easier and what will happen is you will chew it down until you end up with what will feel like just sand in your mouth. Now can you try and chew it?” He watched her closely as she went to try. Once she’d taken the first bite he added, “Just take a breath, remain calm. The first bite is the worst.” As she continued he kept encouraging her, “Good, bite again. You’re just going to keep chewing. Just start to enjoy that.”

She did as she was told and bit down, very very carefully. Her teeth didn't seem to like how hard the glass was, nor did the logical part of her mind that was screaming at her 'YOUREATINGGLASS!' But she nodded and went along with his instructions anyway... she never had been any good at listening to herself. The glass snapped under the pressure she put on it, she moved the pieces back into place with her tongue and bit down again, breaking it into even smaller pieces. She went ahead and let her eyes close, drawing her eyebrows together in concentration, and took his advice about breathing to heart- while making sure to not inhale the tiny shards.

In a way, it reminded her of getting surprised by a chunk of bone or cartilage in your food... No matter who you were, it was almost always the same. Teeth would encounter the object, you would chew, adopt a confused expression, chew more carefully, and then after a while pluck the object from your mouth to have a looksie. The one big difference of course, was she had put it in her mouth willingly and knew very well what it was.

Her eyes slipped open again once the pieces of glass had become manageable, and she returned to looking an Hunter. It did become easier as the glass was ground down, though chomping on sand was as unappetizing as she would have expected. Once the glass was fine enough that she felt it digging it's way between her teeth, she paused, and winced. No amount of flossing was going to get that out without a fight... She waited for any further instructions, and entertained the idea of picking the cloth up to politely cover her mouth while she spit the glass out.

Having ground the glass down to essentially sand Andrea could now swallow it safely. “Here,” Hunter said as he handed her the glass of water, “take a big swig of water.” She’d done it. Andrea had just eaten a piece of glass, something that seemed impossible.

“Well done,” he said with a big smile as she swallowed, “Now don’t go doing that when I’m not around. I’m very proud of you Andrea and this is something that is going to stay with you for a very long time. How do you feel?” It was helping to break down her pattern of negative thinking. By believing she could eat the glass she had managed to safely. Imagine what else she could do by simply believing in herself?

Andrea gratefully took the water, and attempted to not look too panicked at the thought of swallowing a mouthful of glass. As the water filled her mouth and ran down the back of her throat, she didn't exactly share his happiness- she was much too busy thinking about all the possible repercussions eating flashbulbs could have on ones digestive system... but she did see the point in the odd exercise. She had devoured a sharp, imposing object... what else was there that she could triumph over? He asked her how she felt, and she couldn't help but grin at him, cupping what was left of the water in front of her as she worked at picking a stubborn piece of glass from between her teeth.

"How do I feel?" She asked back, rolling her eyes to the ceiling in thought. "I feel... a little excited." She could feel the tremble of adrenaline in her arms and legs. She had eaten glass... "Perhaps next I will walk on burning coals... or go sky diving!"

She imagined herself taking up an activity, a sport maybe. Something she had never done before. Competitive swimming perhaps, or soccer, or boxing. She imagined herself in a ring, throwing a punch at someone like she had seen Saph do... and suddenly lost her smile. Saph had fought on her behalf... She could see Martin and the shovel swinging his way. The shovel turned pink, and she shut her eyes, setting her cup down before she had the chance to drop it. A deep breath helped to put those memories back where they had been buried...

The natural trepidation about eating glass was starting to give way to the excitement of having done it. Andrea’s face lit up with a smile as she told him how she felt now that she’d done it. “Well I’ve not got either of those prepared but they could both be arranged,” Hunter said with a sly smile, “Personally I recommend skydiving, it’s more fun.”

Then suddenly something destroyed her mood entirely. Some long buried memory had suddenly come unbidden to the surface. “Are you alright?” he asked putting a reassuring hand on hers, “What is it?” Hunter was pretty certain it was the memory of an adrenaline filled time that was significantly less pleasant than this one but he wouldn’t push it. If Andrea wanted to tell him what had happened she would.

His touch went unnoticed, at least until she had cracked an eye open again and spotted it. She bowed her head slightly, watching the water in the glass before her settle. She could still see the pink behind her eyes, shifting into a weapon. "I-... I am alright." She stated quietly, unsure as to what to say. She had only spoken of the event to one other person- which... had not gone over so well... But Hunter had said that nothing they spoke of would leave the room....

"... Have you ever seen someone die...?"

Andrea winced at the waver in her voice, and tried to pull herself together again. She was a woman. She needed to act like it.... not like a child. Her thin shoulders rose, and she sat up straight, withdrawing her hand from his reassuring grasp. It was a silly question that she had asked... Lots of people died every day. Not like Cameron... Muttered a voice from deep within.

Death. Something Hunter was intimately familiar with. In the past he had considered death like an old friend. He’d dealt it out with such alarming regularity over the centuries that he’d probably seen more people die than she’d met in her life. People who had died in such a myriad of ways some of which would leave deep scars on those who witnessed it.

“Yes,” he said in a subdued voice, “I’ve seen many people die.” More accurately he’d killed a lot of people. Telling Andrea about his sordid past would be of little help and so he would not volunteer the details. However if she asked him he would tell the truth. And if after hearing what he had done over the course of his four hundred years on this earth she wanted to leave and have nothing more to do with him then that would be that.