It Doesn't Come Naturally [Ingrid Barnes]

[Mary Savage]

Savage was feeling very, very nervous. She'd spent the twenty minutes before classes got out for the day in the staff lounge bathroom trying to make her hair look like it was actually hair and not something that had crawled on top of her head and died. She'd actually brought a clean pair of (mostly) unripped jeans and a t-shirt to change into for this. It was a good thing too, because she'd spent part of the day halfway into a crawlspace in the wall and had come out completely coated in dust. She heard a knocking at the door. "Hey, are you okay in there?"

"Uh, yeah." She called back, "Just having a really bad hair day." She gave up and decided to go do what she had come to do. She sucked in a deep breath and stepped out into the staff lounge, then into the hall and down toward the classrooms. Her rehab therapist had told her this would be good for her, a "cathartic experience" to quote him exactly. She stopped in front of the classroom Ingrid Barnes had occupied since before Savvy had been a student at Hammel and forced herself to calm down. You're freaking out over nothing she chided herself.

She opened to door and found Ms. Barnes alone. "Ms. Barnes, do you have a minute? I don't know if you remember me, Mary Savage? I just, ah, I wanted to thank you for trying to help me when I was one of your students. I mean, you did a good job. Better than most everyone else. Even if I didn't really understand it back then." She sucked in a deep breath. Now this was the hard part! "And-I'm-sorry-I-was-such-a-snot." She spat out all in one breath. Okay! Done! And she did feel better, though it might just have been because she'd let all that neurotic anxiety out with her apology. Obviously, Savage did not apologize well.

[Ingrid Barnes]

Ingrid was sitting at her desk, red pen poised over the lab reports she was grading. She had a Christmas record on, and was humming along to White Christmas with gusto. There was mug full of candy canes sitting at the corner of the desk, topped with a red bow. Strings of garland ran around the ceiling of the room. The effect was cozy and spirited and it all made the cranky old bat look out of place.

Not that she would care. Despite all that she was, Ingrid loved the holidays. No time of year made her more cheerful. So when she noticed someone coming up to her door, she paused her work with a smile. Which dropped into a confused glance, which then turned mildly amused. Well, this was an once in a lifetime event.

"Mary Savage, have you come to apologize to me after all these years?" She was full out grinning. She stood up from her chair to move closer. "Well, this is a shock, but I can't say I don't appreciate the sentiments." She gave the girl a once over, eyebrow raised.

"What on earth made you decide to do it?"

[Mary Savage]

Though Ingrid Barnes did always seem to be extremely stern, and had an effect on students that somehow made even the most unruly of them want to behave for fear of what might happen, she had a remarkably warm smile. Savvy had freaked out when she had run into Ingrid in the main office earlier, and her stern, no-nonsense demeanor while Savage had been in school was the main part of that. Ms. Barnes was not one to deal with Savvy's crap. Which, of course, meant that Savvy hated her while she was in high school. Looking back, she was amazed that Ingrid didn't have a look of horror on her face at seeing Savvy again. Actually, Ingrid's smile knocked Savage off her balance completely.

Savvy did something that was so completely out of character that had any of her friends from back home seen her, they would have assumed she'd been abducted and replaced by an alien. She blushed - a deep, red embarrassed blush. She stepped meekly into the room and leaned on a desk, trying to regain her normal composure. It was amazing how authority figures from her past could turn Savage back into a twelve year old girl.

"Yeah, I -uh- I did come to apologize." She said, not quite looking at Ingrid's face. "I - I realize that I wasn't the easiest person to deal with back then. I wish I'd taken all the help that was offered, I guess I just couldn't clearly see how good I had things here." She shrugged, in an that's-all-in-the-past-now way. "After I left, I decided to go back home - worse idea I ever had, by the way - I moved back in with my sister, who wasn't doing to well. I had some hard times, ended up in the same rut as my folks. Luckily for me, I figured out that I had a serious problem sooner rather than later and checked myself into rehab." She took a deep breath. She didn't mind telling people about her past, especially if it might help them with their own issues, but talking about it with someone like Ingrid, someone who had tried to tell her this would happen, was hard. "I was there for a year and half or so, and my therapist had me call everyone I had hurt while I was using and apologize to them. Or write them a letter, if I couldn't get hold of them. But I've decided that I needed to go a little further, apologize to the people I should have listened to before I ever got myself into this mess." Wow, that was a lot of being serious. Savvy liked to take life with a grain of humor, and all this seriousness felt odd to her. "So, because I really am sorry and because it'll help cleanse my chakra or something, here I am." She spread her arms out to show that indeed, she really was here.

Savvy looked around herself for the first time since she'd walked into the room. She'd been so focused on offloading her baggage she hadn't even noticed the bright decorations. "It's very colorful in here." She noted, trying to diffuse the atmosphere, "looks like Santa vandalized the place." She gave Ms. Barnes her patented cheeky look, allowing herself to feel more like, well, herself.

[Ingrid Barnes]

Ingrid was used to facing the hatred of her students. She was also used to those same students growing up to realize that her methods were for the best. This wasn't a job about making people like you, it was doing what was best for the student. To that end, she could never hate anyone who had been through these halls. Ingrid would, and often did, get annoyed. But not hate.

Ingrid grinned broadly at the red staining Mary's face. Under normal circumstances she'd point it out with glee, but she filed it away for later. Instead she focused on the content of Mary's apology, letting herself be serious. "I'm very glad that you'd come to tell me this Mary. I'm happy that you consider me someone you needed to see. Know that I forgive you for anything you feel you've done against me."

She walked to where Mary was standing, placing a hand on her shoulder briefly. She backed off and just stared at the younger woman. "I'm proud of you." She smiled sincerely. "For turning your life around. That's not easy."

Ingrid gave her room a glance over, shaking her head. "I'm not immune to the holiday spirit." She went back to her desk to turn off the record and straighten her papers. "Besides, my granddaughter would have a fit if I didn't decorate. I find it rather cozy." She laughed, waving Mary over.

"Want a candy cane?" Ingrid lifted the filled cup and gestured it towards her.

[Mary Savage]

[OOC: Sorry this is so late! Lost track of the thread, need to make myself a tracker.]

Savvy looked at Ingrid very carefully, trying to discern if she was being truthful. She decided she was. "Well, you did basically tell me this would happen. I mean, not in so many words, but you did. A lot of people did, actually. But I was stupid and stubborn and yada yada and I decided that I should go see my family even though even I knew that it was dumb. I mean, most teenagers a idiots 90% of the time anyway, so it's not too surprising. Now that I'm an old, dignified, mature 24 I'm only an idiot 75% of the time. You've gotta be down to, I dunno, 30% or something." She gave Ingrid a sly, sideways grin. She really was terrible at having a serious conversation.

"Thanks," Mary said sincerely, "It was an... interesting experience, let me tell you. Nice thing, though, they had a 'dance therapy' class at the clinic - so now I can do more than shuffle awkwardly. Very useful." Savvy had a strange feeling that Ingrid was far more graceful than she let on, though she could be quite wrong.

Savvy sat down across from Ms. Barnes' desk and smiled. She felt far more relaxed now that she had gotten started on the "talking about it" process. "Is your granddaughter at school here?" She asked, making herself comfortable. "'Cause that's pretty nice, having family so close." She looked at the cup Ingrid offered her. "Shyeah! C'mon Ms. Barnes, you know me. Can't turn down sugar." She wrestled with the plastic on one of the candy canes for a minute before finally managing to rip it with her teeth. She shoved it into her mouth and spoke around it, "Thanks, it's delicious." Only with the candy cane it sounded more like "Shanks, ish delishus."

[Ingrid Barnes]

Ingrid smiled wryly, giving Mary a pointed look. "Prehaps I should have been more direct." It was hard to image a time when Ingrid wasn't blunt about her thoughts, but she'd actually had a bit more tact in her younger years. Thankfully, tact had been beat out by the passing of time. She gave a hearty laugh, shaking her head. "I'm never an idiot, my dear. You can't be an idiot and deal with super powered teenagers all day."

Mary would be partially right about Ingrid's grace. She might never bust out into disco moves or anything remotely modern looking, but she certainly could hold her own in a waltz. "I'm sure it is. I can remember the school dances and that thrashing you students thought was 'dancing'. Kids these days have no concept of elegance."

Ingrid could never deny the chance to talk about her family. Her face lit up and she pounce on the subject with a gusto that didn't belong in someone just shy of 70. "Vicky's her name. She's been here a while; a size shifter. She's a darling thing." Ingrid smiled fondly, touching the family photo on her desk. "I love having them close. One of my sons went here, you know. Having my grand daughter as a student is much easier." She paused, thinking. "You were here around the same time Denny was, I believe. I'm surprised you two never ganged up on me. You're quite alike."

Ingrid raised an eyebrow, but only chuckled at Mary's devoring of the candy. It was for these reasons she always kept some kind of candy in the room. Usually it kept kids quiet during meetings. Seemed it had an effect on adults too.

[Mary Savage]

Mary laughed when Ms. Barnes gave her the patented teacher look. "Ha! Don't think it would've helped much. Pretty sure I was determined to do exactly what was worst for me. Can't remember my exact line of reasoning, but I'm pretty sure it was something along the lines of "I can handle it." Obviously, that was wrong." Mary nodded in an approximation of wisdom, "Ah, yes. Ingrid Barnes: Storehouse of wisdom and sage advice. Never stupid, never wrong." She gave the older woman a slightly strange look, one that said that she was being glib, but not altogether joking. Now that she had had a chance to mature, Savvy realized that Ingrid probably was never once wrong in the advice she gave. At least, not in the advice she gave to Savvy. Had she listened, she might be something more respectable than a menial maintenance worker - but she liked it here, and was glad in some ways things had turned out the way that they did.

Ah, there was the Ingrid Savvy knew and loved: disparaging, yet playful underneath. "Psh. I still have no concept of elegance. Only now I can be inelegant and uncoordinated while doing a waltz. I'm sure it would be pretty funny to watch, maybe I should get it recorded for when I'm bored at home. Pop a video of me dancing in to get a good laugh. I'll give you a copy too, bet it would be great stress relief." If she could actually convince someone to record it, she probably would too. She knew Ingrid must have bad days (such as the many Savvy probably ruined) and humor always seemed to be the best way to get anyone out of a funk. "But, speaking of dances, do you know if we lowly custodial and maintenance staff are allowed to chaperon? I need an excuse to practice my thrashing." She wiggled her arms in the air as an example of exactly how she would thrash at a dance. Honestly, having Savvy there would probably encourage some of the shy students to get on the dance floor: there was simply no way they could look as dorky as Savvy did.

Savvy looked at the picture that Ms. Barnes had touched. "Vicky, huh? I'll keep an eye out for her." She studied the picture a little more closely, "She's pretty. I bet the size shifting thing is nice, somebody tries to mess with the sweet, cute little girl and suddenly they're dealing with a sweet, 9-foot-tall girl. That I would pay to see!" She was just imagining some of the street thugs she grew up with trying to mug Ms. Barnes' granddaughter. If she had even half of her grandma's intimidation factor, they would scatter like roaches in a flashlight beam. And why she assumed Vicky was sweet, she didn't know. She just couldn't imagine anyone related to Ms. Barnes who wouldn't be. "I think I met Denny, once or twice. I remember someone at a party saying something about being related to you, and then he tried to do something dumb like grab my butt and I hit him. Think that was the last of our interactions." She shrugged and smiled cheekily, Ingrid knew her well enough back then to know that she tended to punch first, ask questions later. She actually felt rather bad for the people who had unwittingly hit on or startled her and had felt the wrath of her fist. She shoved her candy cane back into her mouth, contentedly giving herself a sugar high.

[Ingrid Barnes]

"That's the mantra of teenagers. Young people believe themselves infallible. It takes some growing up to realize that needing help is not the end of the world." Ingrid remarked kindly. "It's something I know as a teacher all too well. But it won't stop me from trying to reach them while they're still young."

Ingrid allowed a small smirk and raised her brow. "I try my best to be as right as humanly possible. Then exceed it." She said this by way of a joke, but there was a hint of pride in her voice. It suggested she did tend to think like that from time to time.

Ingrid let out a horse laugh and shook her head at the younger girl. "I'm sure with proper training even you could waltz in style." She rolled her eyes and settled herself with cleaning her desk. "I appreciate the sentiments, but I'm at war with technology. If I get a copy, I request a tape." Technology was this old lady's one weakness in life. Ingrid didn't understand the need for more advanced things and was very happy living with her relics of the past. Which is why she still had a record player in her classroom. "I'm sure you can come. I'd have to ask someone with more authority, but I can hardly see why they'd keep you out. "

"She'd get along with you. If only for the amusement." She quipped, taking back her photo. Oh, if only Mary knew. Ingrid's granddaughter was very much like this old bat. Ingrid was proud that Vicky was capable of taking care of herself. "Groping. That does sound like a young Danny. Thankfully he's engaged and stopped that behavior." Ingrid was very relieved her hellcat of a son was finally settling into a more decent life. Dealing with him in those early days had been a hassle that Ingrid didn't feel she could cope with now. "I'm sure he deserved the punch and much more for what he was into those days." She smiled, letting Mary know she didn't care. Even she could acknowledge her son's mistakes.

[Mary Savage]

"Psh, I'm still pretty sure that needing help is the end of the world. But, the end of the world isn't all that bad. At least, not as bad as it sounds." She smiled cheekily at Ingrid and rolled the candy cane around in her mouth, trying not to get it stuck in her lip rings.

Savvy smiled at Ms. Barnes telling her she could waltz, a big, childish smile. "I'm not sure you're remembering the same Mary Savage that was your student. The Mary Savage that knocked over desks while trying to reach for pencils? I am the anti-graceful." She laughed, her blue eyes full of mirth. "I'm not a fan of technology either, it's too expensive. I'm sure I wouldn't have digital. With me, it's all thrift store special." She plucked at her shirt to prove her point. Sure, it was one of the nicer ones she had, and clean, but that didn't make it nice by other people's standards. "Sweet!" She exclaimed, excitement lighting up her face. "Who would have thought I'd ever be allowed to chaperon anything?"

"Isn't that why most people get along with me? It can't be for my manners, that's for sure." Yeah, she knew what manners were, she just didn't necessarily feel she needed to use them. Savvy could only imagine the kind of person Denny might be marrying. Well, if he was still the same guy she'd cold-clocked. "Well, you can imagine how the two of us would have terrorized you had he not been punched in the face, so maybe it was for the best. I'm not sure you'd look that good with all your hair missing." They probably would have driven her to more than hair removal, so really, it was rather fortunate that they didn't have much contact.

{OOC: Sorry for the late again! I had a fail. I will not let it happen again!}

[Ingrid Barnes]

"We'll just have to disagree on that matter." Ingrid couldn't help but smile in turn at the younger woman. Mary had always been a spunky girl. Even if she drove Ingrid crazy in her school days, that was something Ingrid admired about her. "Few things are as bad as we make them to be in our minds."

"Ah, but all you need is practice in poise and mannerisms. You could get grace in no time." Ingrid noted, never one to give up on the 'proper way'. Her gaze darkened slightly and her tone went rather flat at the mention of more tech. "I wouldn't car about the expense if the blasted things would work properly. You have to have a PHD to work a computer now days."

Ingrid cast her a withering look. "If you get picked, I'll make sure to come along as well. Someone will need to chaperon the chaperon."


She didn't comment on the first of Mary's statements; only smirked in an agreeing way. Manners weren't the forte of most of this new generation. It was a saddening fact. Though Mary had less then the norm most of the time. "Don't remind me. Dealing with Denny by himself was enough to give me nerve problems. I can't imagine if his partner had more of a mean streak then his fiance. " Honestly she had to shudder at the thought. Denny was a hell cat on his own. Add Mary in the mix and Ingrid might have quit teaching all together.

[Mary Savage]

Savvy couldn't help but laugh. Her? Practice poise? It was like saying you could get an elephant to swim in a thimble. It was an actual impossibility. She decided not to comment on it, she was sure her reaction was enough to let Ingrid know that there was no way in Hell that it was even possible. "That's true," Savvy responded, "the old stuff just always seems to be more reliable." she gave Ms. Barnes a conspiratorial wink, as if they were in on some big secret.

Savvy laughed again, even Ingrid being Ingrid couldn't bring her spirits down now that she had gotten them back up. "Probably true. All those young kids might be a bad influence on me."

Savvy really was glad, in a way, that she'd never really gotten to know Denny. At the time, undoubtedly, she wouldn't have felt bad about driving a teacher to insanity. But to have that on her conscience along with everything else? It would simply have to drop it's bags and walk away. Savvy stretched and twirled her candy cane around in her mouth. "The two of us could really have raised Hell, couldn't we?" Savvy mused, half to herself and half to Ms. Barnes. She wouldn't go back and change how things had gone, but she liked to think of how things could have gone.

[Ingrid Barnes]

Ingrid could tell that Mary thought she was off her rocker for the suggestion. This only made her grin smugly. For one thing she was banking on exactly that reaction, and for another, Ingrid was very well aware she was batty. "And makes much more sense." She didn't try back for a wink, since such things just weren't her style.

Ingrid rolled her eyes, and gave Mary a patented teachers look. "Oh of course. How could we let those nasty teenagers corrupt you. I could never live with myself if that were to happen." Sarcasm, another one of Ingrid's favorite pastimes.

"I'm sure you would have." Ingrid chuckled, turning back to her desk to shuffle papers. She regarded the photo of her family fondly, think back on a school aged Denny and a younger Mary. "But you'll understand that I'm rather happy you didn't."

ooc: I'm so sorry for the lateness. Internet had been down the past few days.