InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "What the bloody hell!?!"

Psyche (allyourwonders) wrote in nevermore_logs,
@ 2022-05-17 20:15:00

Entry tags:

lee stone, psyche

WHO ~~Psyche~~ Enid Swinhoe & Lee Stone
WHEN Monday morning
WHERE The unnamed school of their work
WHAT How do you do, fellow education adult?
WARNINGS unlikely

The morning before her first day at the new school, Psyche changed her outfit three times before she was happy with it. She wanted to look respectable, well dressed but not in a way that would draw more attention than she already drew by just existing.

She eventually settled on a pale blue and pink floral dress with a beige cardigan, and pulled her hair into a tidy low ponytail. Yes. She looked perfectly suitable for a school, Psyche thought. How nice it would be to meet new people.

(In truth, it was actually a little daunting to meet new people. She could never quite tell if people would react completely genuinely to her and be interested in truly getting to know her. But telling herself that it was only the excitement of new friends making her belly upset meant that soon enough she could make herself believe it. She hoped.)

She arrived too early at the school (better than too late!) and ended up walking through the corridors, no students yet around. What Psyche was really hoping for was- Ah! There! An adult (and potential new friend) passing across the corridor in front of her.

“Excuse me!” Psyche called out, her voice polite and with a slight sing-song edge to it. She smiled when the man turned to look at her.

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vaultkeeper
2022-05-17 10:50 am UTC (link)

School- school was- well, it was a living. Lee got in early because it was better than being at home, and wandered towards his office, a bagel between his teeth and his coffee in the crook of his elbow as he wrangled his keys into submission. Suppressing a yawn (didn't want to lose his bagel to that floor) he finally got the right key in his hand, and went to unlock his office, when someone called out.

When he turned- wow. Such a dainty and graceful creature he'd never seen! But as she got closer, he realised it just must have been the lighting or something, because although she did look lovely, that heart-stopping beauty was blinked away. "Can I help you?" he asked, taking the bagel out of his mouth, because it was the polite thing to do.

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allyourwonders
2022-05-17 11:00 am UTC (link)

Psyche did a little jog over towards him (not wanting to make him wait too long for her) and said, "I was hoping to run into someone else before the children came flooding in. Hello, I'm new here, I'm going to be working in the cafeteria." She held out a hand to him and her smile was warm and open, a smile that she hoped said I swear I'm a very nice and friendly person, please don't be mean. "I'm Enid."

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vaultkeeper
2022-05-17 11:42 am UTC (link)

"Oh hi," Lee said, and went to take her hand, except that he had a coffee cup and a bagel and his keys in his hands, and he juggled them a bit before managing a very brief handshake. "Lee. Or Mr Stone. I teach. Here. History and Social Studies." He gave her a polite smile and a nod, wondering where to go from here. "Did you... need a hand with anything? You know where you're going?" he asked.

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allyourwonders
2022-05-17 11:50 am UTC (link)

"Lee, so nice to meet you," Psyche said, always unfailing polite. He seemed nice enough, or at least wasn't openly looking down his nose at her for being 'lesser' staff. "I didn't need anything, I just saw someone and hoped to greet a new coworker." At his last question she made the smallest of frowns. "I think so? Mr Marcus gave me directions but... is the cafeteria down this way?" she pointed to the corridor past them.

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vaultkeeper
2022-05-17 11:56 am UTC (link)

"Oh- yeah, you go down there and then turn right- look, hang on. I'll show you while I head to my office." Lee had managed to rearrange the items in his hands so he had his keys held between his fingers on the hand holding the coffee cup, and his bagel in the other. He didn't normally go past the cafeteria on the way to his office, but he'd make an exception today. "So, first day? You worked in a school before?"

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allyourwonders
2022-05-17 12:01 pm UTC (link)

"Oh yes," Psyche said, but she couldn't tell him the real answer was that she'd worked in and out of schools for the last forty years, never as a teacher but always in some helping capacity. You couldn't claim your real work history when your IDs all said you were thirty and you looked even younger than that. "I just came here from a school in Kentucky. I thought a change to New York seemed wonderful, and an acquaintance told me there was a position open here. Would you like me to hold something?" she asked, noticing his hands so full of things.

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	vaultkeeper 2022-05-17 12:36 pm UTC (link)
	Was handing over his keys to the new hire a good idea, or overly trusting? "Ah- the coffee? Just for a minute." Lee passed over his cup and took a bite of his bagel. "Kentucky to New York? Hope you saved up before you came. Will definitely be quite the difference. I grew up on a farm, living in the city is a huge change." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

allyourwonders
2022-05-18 12:31 am UTC (link)

Psyche nodded as she took hold of Lee's coffee and then smiled at his comment. "It is, isn't it? My apartment here is very small but I'm quite small too, so it's no true trial." Psyche, after all, knew all about being put through trials. "How long have you been here?" She left the question open, leaving it up to him whether he would like to read it as 'at this school' or 'in New York'.

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	vaultkeeper 2022-05-18 10:59 am UTC (link)
	"Nine years here this year," Lee replied between bites. It was a bit rude to be spitting food as he spoke. "It's been good. The kids barely listen of course, but it is what it is. I think I've helped them. Some of them. I hope." He gave Enid a smile. "But I'm sure they'll be nicer to you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

allyourwonders
2022-05-18 11:57 am UTC (link)

"I don't know about that-" (teens, after all, could be little horrors if they set their hearts to it) "but I do hope they show kindness." She considered Lee and said, "Being a teacher is such an under appreciated role in society. But I know that some of these children will be adults that one day look back with appreciation on everything you did for them, and the ways you helped them grow." Not that she knew what sort of a teacher Lee was, but Psyche always assumed the best of everyone around her. Lee was probably a fantastic teacher who really cared about his students.

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	vaultkeeper 2022-05-22 10:35 am UTC (link)
	"Well, that's the dream," Lee replied with a little laugh. "In the mean time they can doodle unflattering things in their notebooks and try and convince me to participate in their TikTok memes. Which I will not do. There is a line." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	allyourwonders 2022-05-22 11:18 am UTC (link)
	Psyche laughed and it was a cheerful and musical thing, suitable for a young girl who'd once been seen worshipped as the goddess of beauty. "I tried to get with the whole TikTok thing," Psyche admitted, "but I'm afraid it went right over my head. The dances seem very creative, but perhaps best suited to the young." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

vaultkeeper
2022-05-22 01:30 pm UTC (link)

Lee glanced at Enid quizzically. Surely she wasn't that old? But maybe she meant the tweens that seemed to mostly be posting stuff, because in that case, she was bang on. "I've seen them practicing in the cafeteria and the school yard to film these things. So ridiculous, but there are worse places they could expend their energy, I suppose. In my day we read comic books under the desk so the teacher wouldn't see us."

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allyourwonders
2022-05-23 08:38 am UTC (link)

"I think when I was their age I would have been sneaking to the computer room to look at pictures of cats that wanted to know if they 'can has cheeseburger'." That seemed about right to Psyche, having previously worked out for this persona that her teens must have fallen in the mid 2000s. That was when cat macros were around, wasn't it? Hmmm, maybe too early, but surely it would be close enough. "Every generation has to have something their parents don't understand." And how well Psyche, thousands of years old, understood that. She tried so hard to keep up at least a little. Having kids always helped.

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vaultkeeper
2022-05-24 11:43 am UTC (link)

"Oof, that's a deep cut," Lee said with a chuckle. "Well I am lucky, because my mother knows nothing about internet culture. Being around kids all the time probably keeps me fresh. Ish. You just have to keep your ears open. Hey, if you get any good gossip, you'll tell me, right?" He indicated with a nod of his head that he meant if she happened to overhear something in the cafeteria.

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allyourwonders
2022-05-24 11:48 am UTC (link)

"Which students are snuggling up to each other, and who is copying whose look?" Psyche asked with amusement. "I'm not sure they'll let the lunch lady overhear those sorts of scandalous things." Psyche might have suggested that, as an adult, she would be so uninteresting to them that they'd forget she was even there, but Psyche had never in her life known what it was like to be uninteresting. Not because she was actually an interesting person - she didn't think that she was, not at all - but because of the curse that her story had placed upon her. Psyche was noticed and remembered, even when she wished to fade into the background.

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	vaultkeeper 2022-05-25 01:43 am UTC (link)
	"I'm sure you see and hear all sorts in the lunch room," Lee replied. "You know teachers gossip about their students, right? It's how we get through the day. Look, the cafeteria is just through here." He had his bag back in order now. bagel tucked away for later, so he took his coffee back and held the door open for Enid to pass through. "After you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

allyourwonders
2022-05-26 10:52 am UTC (link)

"Oh, I remember the gossip about the students from my last place of work," Psyche assured him, the little dramas of kids always a conversation piece. "But that had been a primary school, so the dramas were less fueled by hormones."

As Psyche slipped through the door to the cafeteria she smiled brightly, stepping unconsciously into a beam of sunlight that lit her warmly. Psyche had a habit of finding the perfect lighting, although often didn't notice it herself.

"This is lovely," Psyche said with complete sincerity. "The yellow walls are so cheerful!"

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