Out With The Old [Mallory]

[Aleksandr Averin]

It had been an incredibly busy morning and Aleks was glad when the lady that had been giving him his induction to the school eventually took him back to the home economics classroom that would be the new base of his teaching. He had been here a few weeks ago, having his interview, and had been surprised by how very… different it felt. It seemed much more laid back, much more peaceful, and the proper tour around during his induction to day had only intensified that feeling. It was the first day back after the children’s summer vacation and there was a sense of energy about that place, and it all felt so organised but still happy. He wondered just how deep that glaze went, and just how far he would have to dig until he found whatever ugly truth lay at the heart of this place.

He thanked the lady that had been showing him around after she said she would leave him to get settled. The children had just gone on their lunch break, and there was a gap now until the next lessons in the classroom began. Aleks wasn’t scheduled to start until tomorrow, which gave him just enough time to find his bearings before the real work began. He could spend an hour or so here before heading home. That way he would have some time to tidy up the apartment and start some dinner before going to pick Holly up from her after-school class. The small box containing the few classroom essentials he’d brought with him was left on the desk, as he started to patrol around his new kingdom.

Well, sort-of his kingdom, anyway. Aleks knew there was another teacher that he would be sharing the space with, but that was absolutely fine by him. The more people he could get to know, the higher his chances of finding the truth behind this place. The more he knew, the more he could protect his daughter from it, if that horrid day ever came. He walked through the sewing room, running his fingers idly over one of the machines. One of them alone was probably worth five times his rickety old thing at home. His wandering led him to the haberdashery section, and he saw a roll of vivid yellow cotton with a delicate butterfly pattern on it. Holly would have begged for a dress of this, if she had seen it. So absorbed was he in his thoughts that he didn’t notice that someone else had entered the room.

[Mallory Reynolds]

Mallory could hardly believe that it had really been three years since she’d last taught. For the past three years she had been the student, but now she was armed with a whole lot more knowledge to help the kids learn. She was already dreaming up some fun projects for the seniors, letting them design their own things and execute them. Maybe they could even do a fashion show...

Yeah. She was excited to be back.

She was also interested in meeting her new coworker. Before she’d gone back to school, she’d been the only one teaching home economics. Sure, it had been busy, but she’d been happy for the challenge. Now the classes would be more split up, which meant she could hopefully give each of her students a lot more individual attention. She loved teaching the first years, as well as the seniors. Both had their positives and their drawbacks, but they would always remain her favorite groups.

Some of her things she’d already dropped off earlier in the week, but now she had a bag dangling from her wrist that she wanted to unload before her afternoon class showed up. She wanted to make something special to welcome them, and it would take some prep work. The morning class had taken well to their treats, and she hoped the afternoon would do the same.

Once she was in, she made a beeline for the first bank of cupboards and the stove, unceremoniously dumping the contents of her bag onto the counter. She had yet to see her new coworker, and merrily went about her business of sorting, measuring, and mixing for a few moments. Once everything was mixed, she let it sit and happened to glance up.

... Oh. Here she was making noise and generally ignoring... who she hoped was her new partner and not some stranger invading her room. “Oh! I’m sorry!” Quickly rinsing and drying her hands, she trotted over trying to hide the guilty expression on her face. “Are you Aleksandr?” Smiling brightly, she held out her hand in greeting. “I’m Mallory. Um. Your...” How could she put this? “Co-conspirator in making these kids learn something practical?” There was something about the fact he just looked intimidating that made her want to giggle slightly over his choice in classes to teach, but she couldn’t be one to judge. In her last year of teaching before university, one of her best students in sewing had been male. Granted, he hadn’t looked quite so... stern, but no one could help the way they looked, and she dearly hoped that they could at least be friends. “Welcome to Hammel!”

[Aleksandr Averin]

Aleks had spent a lot of time lately wondering just what it would be like to be in a place such as this again. He thought he would perhaps feel anger or frustration. A part of him reasoned that even some amount of fear would be a rational and expected response. He hadn't anticipated that he would feel so incredibly determined. Here there were no overt signs of the corruption and hatred that had plagued Odarennyĭ, but that was just serving to make him more committed to finding them. Not for his own sake, but for Holly's. If the world was merciless and she did manifest, they would have to kill him before he would let them take her away from him the way he had been taken away from his parents.

The opening and closing of cupboards caught Aleks' attention and he turned to find a rather glamorous looking woman bustling about. He considering going over and introducing himself, but she seemed incredibly busy and focussed and he decided that intruding on that wouldn't exactly be a great first impression. Instead he kept up with his little task of familiarising himself with his new surroundings, until after a few minutes she seemed to take notice of him. He gave a soft chuckle at her apology, giving a small shake of his head. “There is no reason for sorry. I can see you have been very busy.” Although Aleks still bore a fairly strong accent, he had been in the States long enough to be comfortable enough with speaking the language to be comfortable teaching American students. His grammar was still far from perfect, he knew that, but at least he could be understood. He took her hand with his own, giving it a firm but friendly shake.

As the woman spoke again Aleks was slightly confused by the word she used, but from the context of the sentence he could roughly work out what she meant. “Yes, they said you were working here before and just came back.” For as stern and intimidating as Aleks knew he could be, his smile was warm and friendly towards Mallory. “Aleks is fine. It is good to meet you, Mallory.” Though Aleks didn't trust her, much as he didn't trust anyone here, he kept the smile and gave a polite nod at her welcome. “Thank you, that is kind. I promise I am good at keeping mess away.” He chuckled softly. “Well, as much as I can be with teenagers.”

[Mallory Reynolds]

Mallory had found Hammel a refreshing change of pace from her old school in Maine. Granted, she’d gone to a smaller school, where everyone knew everyone else, and as such had accumulated some close friends, as well as some bullies. She’d been subject to several of them for years, and Hammel had almost been a blessing. The tolerance levels between students seemed so much better, and she’d simply tried to hold her head up high, and be herself. It had worked, and by the time she’d hit college, she’d had confidence to spare. She’d also worked hard in training, mostly out of fear of accidentally poisoning someone like she had before her recruitment. Yes, it had been hard, but her control was flawless, and she had her teachers to thank for that.

Still, confidence did little for her when she was feeling a little ashamed for having ignored her new coworker. Now that things were just about ready on the counter, she had a few minutes to visit. His accent was... well, strong, but his grasp of English was clear. It must have been tough to learn, she realized belatedly. “Ah... yes. I was trying to make up some treats for the afternoon class. Remind them that it can be fun, even when we’re learning the not-so-fun stuff.” In other words, the practical lessons. Not everything was cupcakes and treats all the time. As he took her hand, she gave herself a mental check to keep her power at bay. Nothing was less welcoming than accidentally poisoning your coworker, after all.

“That’s right. I decided to go back to university for a course in fashion design. I thought it would help on the sewing side. So we had a temporary teacher in place. But now I’m back and you’re here. I think it’s going to be a really good year.” She had faith in herself, and she wanted to have faith in Aleks, too. “It’s good to meet you too. I hope you’re finding everything okay. I mean, it’s a shared space, so if you want to rearrange things to make it easier, go for it.” She could adapt easily enough if he chose to do so. As for the mess, she rolled her eyes slightly and giggled. “Right. You sit in here with teenagers who are just here for the easy credits and watch the mess they make.” Most students were good about cleaning up after themselves, but others... more than once she’d had to hold students back to make them do it. “It’s insane how big a mess just one or two of them can make in a very, very short period of time.”

[Aleksandr Averin]

Stood here now, in a home economics classroom with his new co-worker, Aleks couldn’t help but be slightly baffled over how he had ended up in this position. It felt like only a few months ago he’d still been coaching full time and without any other real concerns, rather than the seven years it actually had been. He’d been stuck, fully convinced he’d be in that role until the day they buried him, but then Holly had been brought into his life. Since then it had been a whirlwind of increasing skills on his resume and decreasing funds in his bank account, but he wasn’t complaining. Life was far from perfect, but at least now he had something really worth fighting for.

Aleks smiled at Mallory’s explanation of what she was doing, giving a small nod of his head. “You are very kind to them. You must be favourite teacher of them.” Aleks’ own teaching style was slightly different, he realised, but that was unlikely to be a problem. He would only ever give treats as a reward for work well done. Next to Mallory he knew he was likely to be the strict one that none of the kids wanted to be traching them, but he was fine with that. He chuckled softly. “Maybe you will not be favourite with the other teachers later, when the children are all bouncing on ceiling."

Listening to Mallory explain her absence, Aleks couldn’t help but be more than a little impressed. She had gone back to school and studied more just to improve the standard of teaching here, which showed a level of dedication he would never have expected from a place like this. “I think so too. We can make it very good for everyone, I think.” Nodding as she gave the okay for him to move things around a bit, Aleks glanced around the room. “I will leave it for now, and see. If things will maybe work better somewhere else, we can move them then.” When Mallory spoke about even a small number of children being able to make a big mess, Aleks couldn’t help the soft laugh that left him. “I know very well. My daughter, she is not a teenager yet but sometimes I am spending all evening cleaning. She is only small but she can make a very big mess.” To the extent that glitter was no longer allowed in the apartment, though in fairness that was mostly Lady’s fault. For as long as he lived Aleks would never be able to understand that dog’s obsession with trying to eat shiny things.

[Mallory Reynolds]

Mallory hadn’t always known what she wanted to do when she grew up either. Throughout childhood it had been anything from a dancer (but she was a little too clumsy to do that), to a model (but those dreams were banished by bullies fairly rapidly), to a fashion designer, to a teacher. Once she had dreamed of designing clothes and seeing them be strutted down the runways in Paris. These days she settled for watching her students create lovely things out of fabric pieces with her guidance.

Color dusted her cheeks slightly at Aleks’ observation. “I try,” she said with an almost shy smile. “I want to get them off on the right foot, and with teenagers, baking is usually a good way to do so.” She wasn’t above bribing, but she also wasn’t a pushover. She tried to be sweet with all of her kids, but sometimes they required a firmer hand, which she wasn’t above. Still, she had to giggle, because Aleks was probably right. “Yes, well, maybe with some sugar in their systems they might actually stay awake in their classes instead of dozing off.” Oh to be sixteen again... actually, no. Mallory was quite content to be firmly placed in adulthood now.

At least Aleks seemed willing to work with her, rather than butt heads. If that had been the case, it was going to be a long, long semester. But with him willing to work together, she was looking more forward to it. She’d never worked with a partner before, but with the kids seemingly manifesting all over the place, Hammel’s student population was ever growing. It would be nice to have help. “I know we can,” she said with a much more confident smile. She was finding Aleks’ accent endearing already, but the laugh made her light up with a grin. “I can believe that. My siblings and I were always finding creative ways to make a big mess. My brothers especially.” Tilting her head curiously, she peeked up at him from under dark lashes. “How old is you daughter?” Kids were something that Mallory absolutely wanted in her future, but she hadn’t yet found Mr. Right in order to make that happen yet. Oh well. There was time enough for that still.