New Kid on the Block (Open)

[Dr. Adelaide Koenig]

Adelaide was carrying a large cardboard box down the busy hallway, heals clacking rhythmically against the hard floor. The box contained the last bit of her belongings to be added to her new office. Dr. Koenig was thoroughly excited to be back in Hammel, this time as a member of the faculty. She had missed this place so much since she graduated. It had become her home when she was younger, the place where she felt most accepted and safe. It was for this reason she wanted to return to Hammel so badly after the death of Mary. The logic was if she wanted a fresh start, Hammel would be the best place to begin.

When she reached her office door, she awkwardly maneuvered the box into a position in which she could turn the door handle and pull the door open enough to hold it open with her foot. Then she used her heal to push the door fully open. Once she had made it past the door, she let it shut behind her and carried the box to her desk. She let the box fall from her arms and hit the mahogany desk top with a thud.

“Phew!” Adelaide sighed, her hands now resting on her hips, blue eyes scanning the office. Adelaide had several other boxes waiting to be unpacked on the floor. She could not wait to see the final product. The book shelf needed filling, the walls needed decorating, and the desk needed organizing. Right now, it looked rather bland and empty. At least the couch and chairs were in order in case a visitor came knocking.

For now, Adelaide began decorating by opening the box on her desk. The first item she removed was a wooden sign she had hanging on the door of her previous office. One side was engraved with the words, “Please call again later!” The other side read, “Please come in!” Both messages were framed by a vine-like design. The sign hung by a black cord attached to the top two corned.

Adelaide ripped a plastic, no damage, stick-on wall hanger out of its packaging, then walked out of her office again with the hanger and the sign. She stuck the hook on her wooden door, and hung the sign on it carefully. She waited to make sure the hanger would hold before turning the sign over so the “Please come in!” side was visible. Then she returned to the box on her desk hoping someone would heed the sign…

[Mason McQueen]

“Thanks a lot Mrs. Michaelson. I’m really sorry for the bother; I promise not to do it next time,” said Mason with a smile, waving as he walked out of one of the offices along the administrative wing of the Institute, particularly the one in charge of student grades and other records. The man was called in early because apparently there has been a problem with his spreadsheet/database: the final grades were a little whack (a few of his students got over a hundred percent while more than half got negatives), with some cell entries being misaligned or missing altogether. Sure, Mason’s still relatively new (he just celebrated his first year teaching in Hammel a few days ago), but he’s done it a number of times before and it’s never been a problem. And while he admits, he was a little pressed for time as the deadline for the submission of preliminary marks (term marks sans finals), he’s certain that him rushing did not affect his data entry.

Which could only mean the mistake was with the admin people themselves. That, or some technopath *coughMiacough* tried to hack into his classroom computer and altered the marks a bit (he remembers it being a little glitch yesterday afternoon).

In any case, Mason’s not the type to insist that he did nothing wrong and since a disaster was averted (he keeps an electronic copy, as well as a hardcopy, of his spreadsheet, so it was easily fixed), the man simply let it go. Though he has to admit, Mrs. Michaelson’s look of derision was a little unsettling.

The man was on his way to the staff lounge to grab a quick cup of coffee before heading into class when he heard a loud clank-thud-clank to his right. Turning quickly, he saw three books scattered on the floor, and what seems like an unfamiliar woman walking a few paces away. Must’ve dropped them and didn’t notice. Box seems rather heavy, he thought. He would’ve called the lady over, but by the time Mason got to the books, she’s already entered a room down the hall.

Mason knocked on the door three times before opening it, a cautious smile etched on his lips. “Umm, hi. I hope I’m not interrupting or anything,” he muttered as he looked at the woman he saw earlier. Yeah, she seemed unfamiliar. New maybe. Though oddly enough, she doesn’t have that newbie aura around her. Kind of like Dr. Neville really, only younger. “I think you dropped this,” added Mason, extending his arms out to hand the books back.

[Dr. Adelaide Koenig]

Adelaide was removing books from her box when she heard a knock on the door. Wow, that was fast... she thought, as she had only just hung up her "Please come in!" sign. Her blue eyes turned to the opening door, and she instinctively investigated the visitor's current emotions using her abilities. She had adopted this habit with her patients to get an idea of how to start the session.

However, it was not a student that entered Adelaide's office. In stead, she watched a man she assumed was a member of the faculty approaching her. He had a smile on his face, and seemed to be as curious about her.

"No, no! You're not interrupting!" Adelaide assured him, returning his smile warmly. She was only unpacking her belomgings Then she saw he had some of her books in his hands, and walked around her desk.

"Oh, thank you so much!" she told him, reaching out to take her books. She placed them on the desk and said,"They must've fallen out of my box."

Holding out a hand for him to shake, she introduced herself: "My name is Dr. Adelaide Koenig. I'm the new psychologist here." She studied his face for a moment, and then continued. "You must be a teacher here...?"

[Mason McQueen]

So she was new. Mason had a suspicion that she is, but since he’s been wrong numerous times before (he seems to be rather lacking when it comes to putting people’s faces and names together, even remembering them at that), so he didn’t want to set anything to stone. Hearing it from her made him smile, inwardly making a fist pump of success.

“Dr. Koenig,” he said, shaking her hand, “I’m Mason McQueen, but call me Mason. Yeah, I’m a science teacher.” One of the few in Hammel really, which means though the man had a master’s degree in biochemistry, he was also forced to teach three physics classes on his first year. Thank god Kanda came along and snagged those from him (they were lower level physics, but still), along with a few chem classes. Though with Mrs. Barnes retiring, it meant all the bio classes were on him now. Oh life.

He looked around the room and saw it a little bare, which isn’t surprising since she said she just arrived. “Need help arranging your stuff Dr. Koenig? My first class is in three hours, so I’ve got lots of time to spare.” Which is just one of the reasons why he bemoans the scuffle that happened with the administration’s database. “Four hands are better than two right?”

[Dr. Adelaide Koenig]

Science teacher, eh? One of Adelaide's weaker subjects in school, second to last on her list above the dreaded Mathematics. Not that she was judging. In fact, she rather envied those lucky people who could understand advanced math and science. Adelaide only knew enough to be able to become a psychologist.

"I only make my students call me that," she told her visitor with a laugh. She was certainly proud of her title, as all professors/doctors should be after all the work they had put into their degrees. But there was no reason to make her co-workers use it in informal situations. All the teachers here were equal to her in Adelaide's eyes. "You can just call me Adelaide."

When Mason offered to assist in the unpacking of Adelaide's boxes, her smile only widened. "Oh, really? That would be lovely!" How nice! He was right. And extra pair of hands would cut her work in half, and the prospect of having her room sorted out early was wonderful. She had other issues to attend to after all.

"Um..." she mumbled, looking around at the boxes on the floor. "If you would put my books on the selves, that would be loads of help!" she told him. "They have no particular order, really," she added. What a gentleman! Picking her lost books up in the hallway, and then offering to help with the office. Was everyone this nice around here?

[Mason McQueen]

“Adelaide then,” Mason said with a smile and a nod, giving the good doctor’s hand one last shake before taking his hand back and moving towards the box with the books. “Just this? Sure you don’t need any heavy lifting or such?” he chuckled slightly, lifting the box and putting it down near the bookcase. Not that the room need any more furnishing anyway. From his limited knowledge of psychologist offices portrayed by modern media, all you need to look like a credible shrink is a desk, a couple of chairs, a recliner and a bookcase filled with books whose titles eat you alive. Oh, and a carpeted floor. And judging by the books Adelaide told him to put away, she’s pretty much all set.

Naturally curious, he took a quick glance at each of the book he put in the shelf. As expected, almost every book bore no recognition to the man. Psychology was a little far from his own field of expertise after all, and he’s never found himself leisurely grabbing a book related to it on his free time. (He usually reads history books in his free time. More for inventions and innovations of a time period than the significant events themselves though). That is, until he saw a familiar book.

“The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat? I think I’ve read this before,” he said with a grin, adoringly examining the cover with his hands. “May I?” he asked before opening the book and skimming through the pages. “This is a very interesting book,” muttered the man in a matter-of-factly tone, as if Dr. Koenig herself hadn’t read it before.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been in town Dr. Koen-Adelaide? Did you just arrive, or have you been in town for a few weeks before coming to school?”

ooc:
Hopefully I didn't powerplay much/cross a line here Addy. If I did, just tell em and I'd gladly take that paragraph off. .
- Jam

[Dr. Adelaide Koenig]

((OOC: Not at all! I didn't give much thought to what books she might own anyway.))

Adelaide smiled as Mason chuckled, and replied, "You're doing quite enough already." She had already done most of the lifting while carrying the boxes from her car to her office. Anyway, she never minded participating in some manual labor, though many would not guess that. Adelaide was happy to get help at all, as she had expected that she would be organizing her office alone.

Returning to the box on her desk, she began pulling out office supplies and placing them in drawers. She had always had a particular way of organizing her desk. Pens and pencils went in the top right-hand drawer, scissors, staplers and tape went on the left, and so on. Her most important drawer was the bottom right-hand drawer where she put her files on patients. This drawer was the only one with a lock on it. Adelaide was just pulling the precious files out of the bottom of the box, when Mason asked her about a book.

"Please do!" she told him. She was always happy to share a book with a friend, and it seemed this one gave them something in common.

"Yes, I agree," she told him. "It was required reading when I started studying within my major." Adelaide smiled again, remembering her college years fondly. "I decided to keep it, just in case...and because I'm a bit of a pack rat when it comes to books." That was true. She had many old books with yellowed pages, some of them from her deceased parents' stash. If she stayed long enough in this office, it would start smelling like the library.

Upon Mason's next question, Adelaide was flipping through her old files. She replied, "I arrived this week, actually. It was a very sudden move." At that moment, she landed on Mary's file... "I wasn't very happy at my former place of employment," she admitted, and that was probably enough. She put some files on top of Mary's, and looked back up at Mason, her smile returning. "I missed Hammel."

[Mason McQueen]

“Oh I know the feeling. I actually kept more than just my books back in my house,” answered Mason with a grin as he closed the book and continued his task. Aside from the thick books that were required for each class (his books all had little annotations and highlighter marks on them; he doubts anyone would buy them back), he kept some of his notebooks, lab reports and even some old exams. Of course it’s not everything, since his wife already threw some before and he had to leave a number when he moved in with his brother. Paul was accommodating, but he didn’t want him to think that his older brother’s taking advantage of that generosity. “I check them periodically even. Use my lab reports as a guide for future ideas for experiments, my notes for making lecture outlines in class, and the many more.”

Even though Adelaide told him no particular order to arrange them into, Mason decided to at least make the whole thing a little bit neater and easier for Dr. Koenig to search for, should she be looking for a particular book. Instead of putting them in a random order, he made the extra step and arranged them alphabetically by book author. It wasn’t much of a biggie really, and in the end, it seemed a whole lot easier. “Hope you don’t mind me arranging them by author’s last name Adelaide. If you want, I can just go with the book’s title itself, if it’ll make it easier for you.” That’s how his references back home are arranged, but that’s just because if he’ll make it author-based, his bio, chemistry and physics books will all be mixed together. Not fun.

Adelaide need not say more. As it was, Mason understood (or so he thinks) implicitly what she means, and he knows more than enough not to prod. “I moved to Pilot Ridge at roughly the same time last year too, got hired within the same time period, if not earlier,” he said absentmindedly, putting the last book in the shelf and standing up slowly. He dusted his pants and clapped for a bit, before grabbing the box and walking over the table. “Life got rough for me too. But Hammel just has that soothing feel to it. Never felt better really.” He hasn’t necessarily sought out any personal help after what had happened to him at the aftermath of Angela’s death, but surprisingly enough, he could say that he’s healing. He found new friends, kept himself busy and even dated a few times. It’s amazing really. He felt a bit of sadness when his wife’s memory came to mind and it lingered for a bit, before being forced out by Mason’s conscious thought. No need to think of that, even though her death anniversary’s less than a month away.

“Have you looked around town yet then? It’s pretty small, but you won’t run out of things to do.” She did come from Hammel so she’d know that, but then many things can happen in a few years. Mason remembers being lost in town the first time he walked on his own. Hilarious really.