Settling In [open to faculty]

[Skell Harvey]

”Oh man… first day.”

Skell walked into the staff lounge much earlier than her classes had called for her to be at the university. All of them were after lunch hour – figured they’d do that for Criminal Justice courses. The hard sciences were always the early ones; she’d remember that from her own undergrad. The social sciences, however…

Out of her tan leather messenger bag she pulled a black hardbound book. Along with it she pulled out a pen and started sketching away. Some random faces she remembered seeing during her stroll on over here from the apartments that were offered to her by the University. She hadn’t run into any of the other professors yet, and she figured that maybe it would be a good idea to pop into the lounge in hopes of meeting at least one.

If they even met in the Staff Lounge at all. She was the new teacher on the block, so the other professors could very well have their own hideouts where they decide to take their relaxation to.

Maybe her drawing would make her out to seem a bit antisocial. It wasn’t as though she absolutely needed to draw something down in that moment anyway, so with reconsideration she set the sketchbook back in her pack along with the pen. Drawing could be her little dirty secret. Who would expect the Criminal Justice professor to engage in such a subject?

In the sketchbook’s place, she pulled out a yogurt parfait she had prepared back at the apartment. Simple. Vanilla yogurt with slices of fresh strawberries, bananas, and almond granola. She was slightly surprised to notice that none of it had been jumbled or displaced, and still sat ever so nicely in its cup. Taking off its lid, she set it on the table and eyed it. Looked absolutely nourishing. Now to eat it…

”… uh oh.” Hand in this pocket. That one. She set the parfait on the table and stood up, patting her red coat down. She then sifted through her bag. Nothing. Out of some desperation she felt along the cloths that draped around her: her white ruffled shirt, her black pencil skirt, but nothing.

How’d she forget the spoon?

Running a hand through her black curls, eyes searched the room. Maybe there’d be a stash of plastic spoons here or something… worst comes to worst she could always leave the lounge and search the school, or just go back to her apartment. But she’d probably miss out on meeting someone. It’d be best to scour the lounge first… it was a bit more upscale than what she had imagined, being a whole building and all. Trusting nothing to happen to her bag, she left it where it was with the room of tables and chairs and went back to the entertainment room she passed before.

A kitchen was around here somewhere…

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[tenshisekiyo]

Tenshi walked into the staff lounge with a soda can in one hand and a copy of Das Kapital in the other. He was critiquing the work to himself and writing it down later. he did not agree that a socialistic policy helped the everyman, but he was doing this from that standpoint. If this book was any indication, Marx was obviously neglectful of details, and the big picture seemed a bit broken through his eyes as well. Oh well, he was not going to psychoanalyze Marx through this one book. he would psychoanalyze him through ALL of his books. This is what he did when not playing basketball or teaching. He was anyalyzing the mental state of certain authors. So far, he had analyzed Shakespeare, to little effect, and Adolf Hitler, to a major effect. So far, Marx was yielding similar results to Hitler, just not on a megalomaniacal scale. Though, they both favored violence to a certain degree. He saw another teacher. She seemed to be missing something. He looked at her food. Oh, she was missing a spoon. He opened a drawer near the refrigerator that contained some spoons.
"Um, Ms, here is a spoon."
He extended a spoon toward the teacher. he was trying to be nice to her. After all, this was a first meeting.

[Skell Harvey]

The staff lounge was actually quite nice from what she gathered, just standing there looking at the entertainment lobby for one. She wasn't quite sure how she had missed noticing it upon walking in toward the room with all the wooden furniture. Could have been nerves... not that she was particularly nervous...

Spoon, spoon, spoon... right. She came back this way to go to the kitchen to find a spoon. Wandering over to that area, she scratched the back of her neck for a moment to ponder about which drawer to open first, and whether or not she had the right to just up and go through them. Well... she was faculty now. So it shouldn't be considered wrong, right?

She began sorting through the drawers that she figured she'd put her utensils in -- closest to the sink or drying rack. But, alas.

"Not here..."

"Um, Ms, here is a spoon."

Slightly startled, with a small jump, Skell turned on her heel toward the voice, eyes flickering from his face to his extended hand holding -- well, a spoon!

"Oh! Well thanks," she took it kindly from him, looking over at the nearest drawer to him. Somewhere by the refrigerator next time. Note taken, "You're faculty here, too, right? I'm the new Criminal Justice professor... oh!" she extended her hand quickly for a handshake, "I'm Skell Harvey. Sorry, I'm awful at introductions..."

Being the more or less personable person she was, she truly was bad at recognizing that one moment called for introductions over casual conversation.

He seemed nice. He found her the spoon. After the hopeful handshake, she'd be sure to make her way back to where she sat earlier...

[tenshisekiyo]

Tenshi took the hand and shook it happily. He enjoyed meeting new people. It gave him a chance to practice his psychoanalysis skills. Plus, he got to meet someone that was his age in this case. He continued reading Das Kapital, but was interested in learning more about this Criminal justice teacher. He removed his hand and opened the refrigerator. He pulled out his lunch, a cheesburger he had purchased from a fast food restaurant near his new house. He wished he could have made some ramen or something Japanese, but he had not yet had a chance to buy any groceries. Oh well, he did not mind fast food. It never affected his health as much as others he had known.
"Tenshi Sekiyo, professor of psychology. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Harvey. I do believe we are in the same building."
He closed Das Kapital and put it in his pack. He pulled out a pen and paper and began to write his review of it.
"Hm, well written for its time, but its ideas, though progressive and appealing, are not very practical for this or pretty much any other time as long as we have war..." He finished his review in two minutes and began eating his lunch.

[Skell Harvey]

"Professor of Psychology, huh...?" she poked at the granola and fruit in her yogurt cup, just dipping in enough to get a good amount of yogurt on her spoon. She eyed her cup before she looked over at Tenshi again, noticing the title of the book he put away and his taking out of writing supplies. Seems like a really analytical fellow. "Pleasure is all mine."

"Not to sound like a hippie or anything, but shame for war existing... personally, I think we could do without. It's a terrible shame to the mindset of humanity... but..." with another shrug, she continued at her parfait with another spoonful, sure to keep more or less quiet as he scribbled out whatever it was he was writing. Once he was done, she thought it maybe appropriate to go ahead and bolster up conversation.

"So... how do you like working here? I haven't seen any other staff aside from you. Pleasant air about the place?"

[tenshisekiyo]

Tenshi shrugged. Honestly, the faculty eluded him as much as it did Ms. Harvey. Her comments about war amused Tenshi to some extent.
"Really, violence is just another outlet for mankind's pride and ego boosting. It is the more violent version of competition. There are winners and losers. There are spectators and people who get caught in the middle. Honestly, not much you can do to change war without true brainwashing, but brainwashing an entire planet to be pacifist would be impossible." He pushed up his glasses. He was not used to explaining THAT kind of psychological theory with anyone.
"No, I spent my morning in a cabinet."
He was expecting the typical "Wow, I didn;t kniow you drank that much, professor." comment, but legitimately, he WAS in a cabinet for almost the entire class. Wow, he had to make sure not to tell that story much.
Hey, I just made my students think I was murdered on the first day. So, how was YOUR first day?
He did not expect that going over too well at the water cooler.
"Shouldn't a Criminal Justice professor know enough about violence to know it is common in most every race and religion in the world?"

[Skell Harvey]

Skell nodded as she listened to Tenshi give his very eloquent opinion of war. He seemed a bit of the philosophical type as well, but she supposed that psychology and philosophy do go nearly hand in hand. The study of the brain, and the study of the mind -- or rather, the study of the thoughts that came from the mind.

But brainwashing... this was a heavy topic of conversation for Skell.

"True, there have been the couple in the history we know of who have done a remarkable job of commanding a sizable portion of the population to their control. It's truly fascinating, I think... what one person could do..."

She trailed off with no intention to finish, listening to him again, and perking up in mild confusion at his declaration of his stay in a cabinet.

"You... pardon? I -- I've never heard a phrase like that before..." True, her life was very much devoid of alcohol and the like. She was never fond of the smell, and believed that it'd burn her throat to an undesirable level. But she wouldn't know -- she's never tried.

Though, she moved with his change of subject, "Oh, trust me, I know it is common all throughout the world... it is without discrimination in terms of whom it affects and who implements it. I just think it an utter shame that it should even happen... just because I study criminals, doesn't mean that I find what they do inexcusable. For some, there are legitimate reasons for why they do what they do... be it that they are mentally ill or it a self-defense situation gone horribly awry, where human judgment in a split second could in no way rationalize anything past 'make sure I survive...'" A pause. She felt as though she were rambling.

Maybe just a tad.

"Yes, it's common..." she reiterated to collect herself, "And a shame that it is..."

Brown eyes flickered up to his, hiding behind glasses with a particular glare. With a scoop of some more of her parfait, Skell tilted her head in curiosity, "How're your students?"

[tenshisekiyo]

Tenshi pushed up his glasses a bit while Ms. Harvey ranted. Really, a ranting was just a short lecture. He took a sip of his soda and replied, "No, it's fine." He gave a smile and heard the question about his students. Great, this was the part of the conversation he was SO ready for.
Truth breeds trust. I should probably tell the truth.
"Well, I made some of them think I was murdered... That's why I was in the, uh, cabinet for most of the morning... I was kind of suprised how many of them poked at it. One even thought about using it for a puppet. Oh, it was a mannequin, by the way."
he then forgot an important thing about the explanation.
"I don't drink, by the way. Any suspicion of that should be thrown out with the mannequin."
He pushed up his glasses. He looked a bit large to be a teacher, and his back was killing him. Apparently, being six foot seven and being in a cabinet do NOT mix. He rubbed the sore spot on his back gingerly.
"Mental note: never hide in that cabinet again or get a bigger one."

[Skell Harvey]

Continuing to feed herself the parfait that slowly vanished from their eyes, Skell listened to how he explained his rather eccentric statement. It made maybe a hair of a bit more sense. Well, he was the Psychology professor... so maybe his own subject gave him the excuse to do something like make your students believe you had deceased. It was rather grim, though...

She couldn't help but give him a quizzical look when he stated he stayed away from alcohol, as well. Not that she didn't believe him, but his introduction to her was misleading enough that she didn't know what to believe. Stirring her spoon and staring deep into her cup, she shrugged it off. It really didn't matter, and she shouldn't judge him for it anyway. He did what he wanted to do, and he shouldn't be judged for it.

So, she merely smiled kindly at him after slipping another bite into her mouth.

"All right, then... some have fun with the ocasional drink. So, you never know... you can't really look at someone and say 'oh, hey, they must do this'..." and, admittedly, he was a funny one. He poked a giggle out of her with his candid remark about his pain. Maybe it was slightly twisted of her, but other's pain was often the focus of comedy nowadays. It was just the culture...

"Maybe you should contemplate getting a massage. It must be tiring being tall all the time. I'd say you're just short enough that it isn't miserable."

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