Who: Adam & Lettie When: morning, Thursday, October 12th Where: Mercy Hospital Status: Complete
Adam arrived early at the hospital on Thursday for the larger bi-weekly staff meeting. It fell on a day when he already had to come in anyway, which meant he had some time between the end of it and the official start of his shift. Most of it was fairly routine--the usual brief updates on patient care that had happened since their last meeting and a reminder about incident reporting--, though there was also a new introduction to staff: Letitia Amari. Though she was mentioned as being on with Mercy part-time as needed, it was good there was another therapist in town, as it seemed unlikely she’d have any shortage of work.
Once the meeting had concluded, Adam approached her, waiting until a couple other people finished introducing themselves to her. He smiled at her when he had her attention, offering his hand. “Hi, Letitia, I’m Adam Morales. Welcome to Mercy. Do you need to take off after this, or would you like to grab a coffee in the cafeteria?” he asked, since it never hurt to get to know people better.
Lettie was a little nervous about her new job. It was a perfectly normal feeling, she reminded herself, and yet she felt like she should be above it somehow. New job, new people, new town. She only knew one person in town so far though people had been very friendly so hopefully she'd make some friends. So far everyone seemed relieved to have another therapist in town so she had a feeling David had not been exaggerating when he offered her the chance to come work with him. It was a strange little town and she felt it the moment she drove into it. How? She couldn't explain it, but there was a sense of dread and excitement in the air.
The hospital was nice at least, a fairly modern building with good amenities and well trained staff - as far as she could tell so far. She had just exchanged some words with a jolly nursing attendant and was smiling at her retreating back when Adam stepped up and introduced himself. She gave him a delighted smile, aware of her tendency to be overly friendly to strangers because of nerves, then shook his hand. "Hi Adam," she said warmly. "Or ... Morales? I don't want to..." Assume. "You can call me Lettie and I could really use some coffee!"
Adam always liked meeting new people, even if that feeling wasn’t always reciprocated, but Lettie seemed friendly. His own smile widened in response to hers and he released her hand after shaking it. “Adam’s fine. Sorry I just went with your first name off the bat, but I’ll remember Lettie,” he said, since while he hadn’t thought much about it, he didn’t want to be rude. “Excellent. The cafeteria is this way.” He took a step, assuming Lettie would fall in beside him; Mercy wasn’t the largest hospital, so it wouldn’t take them too long to get there. “How’re you settling into Point Pleasant so far?” he asked meanwhile.
She had not meant to imply he was being rude and her eyes widened a little when she realized he had started with the first name basis thing but hopefully that was just her own anxiety and not something he had really noticed. He was smiling at least so that was a good sign. "It's so pretty here," she told him in sort of reply to his question. "Everyone's been really friendly and I'm loving my little house so far. Go figure I've finished unpacking and settling down in my office but not my home." She had unpacked a few things but her computer had taken priority outside of the office for the paper she was working on. "Have you lived here your whole life?"
Mostly, Adam tried his best to not fall toward being impolite to anyone on accident, though he tried to not dwell on it either if the other person seemed fine with it. "It is, especially at this time of the year," Adam said. Summer had its charms, but fall had always been his favorite season since he was a kid. "The people here are pretty nice. I grew up here as a kid--until I was about twelve--but only recently moved back a few weeks ago. I kinda did the same thing, where I got settled into work before finishing everything else." They reached the cafeteria and Adam pushed one of the double doors forward, holding it open for her. "You moved here from New York, Erin mentioned?" he asked, as he thought that's what was said in Lettie's introduction.
"It went something a little more like New York City, Annapolis, Pittsburgh, Columbus, New York City, Point Pleasant," Lettie said jovially, drawing a little map in the air with her finger of where she'd been traveling. "It's such a small town, it'll be interesting to adjust to it. "But yeah, I'm from New York originally. It's so expensive to live there now I'm not sure I'll go back but we'll see." She let him go first at the coffee and then poured herself a cup, generously dumping sugar cubes in there. "So where did you spent those years away?"
"That's quite a list," Adam said, grinning. "It takes a little getting used to. I'm still adjusting a bit to treating people who I'm most likely going to bump into at the grocery store or at the diner, but it's kinda nice that way." Adam nodded at her words. "Well, we'll all be glad to have you here, however long you stay." When she hung back, he poured coffee for himself and added some milk to it, stirring it with a stick. "My family moved to Northampton. It's a decent sized college town in an area of college towns in Western Mass," he said, moving to claim an unoccupied table for them to sit at. "I hung around there for school and after, until the moving bug hit and I decided I wanted to get reacquainted with here. Any favorite places amongst the places you listed?”
It was a tricky question because Lettie had liked a lot of those places but she also had a feeling she would have enjoyed them a whole lot more if she was white. "They were all nice in their own way," she said with a little shrug as she sat down. "I guess it's a little lame but I always felt most at home in New York but at the same time I love the small town look of this place, everything is just so pretty." Race relations was not a light topic for a friendly coffee with a new coworker so she wouldn't get into just what made New York more comfortable despite it not being as small and cosy. Point Pleasant had gotten her hopes up some so far, nobody had been outright hostile to her, quite the opposite. "I think I flew over Northampton on my way here," she added with a little nod and then laughed and shook her head. "It seemed great!"
Adam had done his share of random traveling around the country, but aside from his sexuality, which wasn't a readily visible part of himself, he checked off most of the privileged boxes. Which he was aware of on some level, but definitely tended to take for granted and wasn't thinking about now. "I think everyone's got some place like that, where they feel most at home," he said. "I've been to New York a couple times and really liked it, even if it was kind of overwhelming, in a sheer mass of everything way." And from a weird emotional sensitivity way, being in that kind of press of people all at once when he was younger, but that wasn't the sort of thing he could explain. He sipped his coffee. "Yeah, I'm pretty fond of it. It's got a very liberal hippie vibe that's relaxing," he said with affection, smiling. "Have you had a chance to check out some of the places around town yet?"
"Not yet," Lettie replied. "I've got a lot of recommendations though, like how I absolutely must go on the witches tour if I want to actually live here." She laughed a little at that and shook her head. "There's some big festival coming up I'm not allowed to miss so I better get unpacked and settled in so I can start checking everything out." Every place had its own quirks, traditions and history and it was always fascinating to learn about it. So far Point Pleasant's quirks seemed a little darker than most and she was beginning to understand what David had been talking about when he told her about this place.
Adam smiled. "Yes, I heard about that, too, and it sounds like it'll be a lot of fun." It was exactly the sort of thing that Adam enjoyed; he had wandered around Lyttle Hill a bit, but even if those sorts of things could end up being kind of cheesy, he had a good time. Maybe it'd be different here in Point Pleasant, but either way. "I'm also planning to check out both of those, if you'd like some company for either of them and don't have other plans come up," he offered, since there was always the chance they'd run into each other anyway.
Lettie smiled, a little surprised by the offer. "That could be fun," she said. Adam seemed like a really nice guy though it was really hard to judge people based on such a short interaction. No doubt she'd find out soon enough if they ended up working together in any capacity. "It'd be nice to know someone there, I don't know if my friend is going or not, he's lived here a while and has probably seen his fair share of these festivals.
They had a mutual interest in going to the event and it might afford a better chance to become acquainted than briefly at work, so there didn't seem harm in extending the offer. "Yeah, it's a little hard to imagine they'd change too much from year to year? But that's something I won't find out for myself until next year." Adam drank some of his coffee. "Though if you end up having plans with your friend, that's totally cool. We'll probably end up seeing each other around the festival regardless," he added with a smile. Having company at the festival would be fun, but he also didn't want Lettie to feel obliged to hang out with him.
She had to wonder if he believed in any of that stuff, witches and the supernatural in general. Most people laughed it off but Lettie believed in most of it in some capacity. "Are you going to get your fortune told?" she said with a bit of a tease in her voice though she was genuinely curious. "I love all that stuff," she added quickly when she realized it might come off mocking. "Witches and ghosts and spooky history. It's interesting, don't you think?"
Adam chuckled. “Most likely, yes. It doesn’t hurt to get some probably vague, generalized, warnings,” he said. Visiting the sort of psychics that usually attended these sorts of things might not get any real glimpses into the future, but it was still fun. “I enjoy it all, too. I admittedly read a lot of paranormal nonfiction.” It wasn’t typically the sort of thing he might lead off with, but Lettie seemed like she wouldn’t give him a hard time about it, with her admission as well. “It’s a nice bonus about living here. There’s plenty of that sort of history to check out. Will you also be getting your fortune told?”
"Most of those people are frauds, I know," Lettie said. "But as long as they only deliver good news they can really help people. It's..." She paused, furrowing her brows. It was no good to start professional psychobabble with someone who might not be interested in it. "It's an affirmation, it's like... you tell yourself good things, your brain is like a program you can influence. So if someone..." She trailed off again, she was doing that a lot but it helped to show sometimes rather than tell so she leaned over and grabbed his hand, looking at his palm as if she was really reading it, then smiled brightly at him. "If someone tells you you have some really good things coming your way. If you believe them, if your brain believes them, it sends out all these happy little chemicals and signals and if nothing else, it brightens up your day."
Psychology was something with which Adam was, in general, passingly familiar; for certain aspects, he was more well familiar, though that had to do more from personal rather than professional reasons. In either case, he was by no means an expert, so he listened with interest to what Lettie had to say. His gaze remained attentively upon her, though he blinked in surprise as she took his hand. She had a lovely smile and Adam grinned easily at her in return, leaning forward a little over his coffee. "So, what do you see for me? Do I have good things coming my way?" he asked, good-naturedly teasing a little.
Lettie laughed that, drawing back and letting go of his hand as she nodded firmly. "Absolutely, I see confidence and good days despite the cold. You'll have a run-in with the supernatural very soon, maybe as soon as this weekend but nothing negative, just a festive sort of spirit." She grabbed her cup of coffee again, wrinkling her nose in amusement. "You feel better already!"
Adam's hand fell to rest atop the table after Lettie released it. He chuckled from her prediction, grinning at her thereafter. "You're right. I feel great now!" Less to do with the prediction--he was sort of concerned his next brush with the supernatural would be unpleasantly werewolf-heavy, even if that was just a planned discussion rather than an encounter--, and more to do with Lettie's company. "I'll look forward to meeting this friendly ghost. Want me to make a prediction for you?" he asked, smiling.
"Witch," Lettie corrected him since her prediction was based on the fact he was planning on going to the festival. "I don't know," she then said, giving him a suspicious look. "Are you really psychic?" She offered her hand again with a quirked brow, curious about what he'd say. It might tell her more about him and how he thought and Lettie was all about getting to know her coworkers.
Adam’s mind defaulted to ghost when Lettie had said spirit. “Right, witch,” he said agreeably to her correction. He grinned and raised an eyebrow at her in return. “Depends on what you consider psychic. We’ll have to see if my predictions come true,” he said, taking her hand and studying it as she had done with his. “You're going to find yourself a bit busy, but you'll help a lot of people. Something that's been on your mind is going to become clearer and you'll have good fortune coming your way. Many new friends,” he said, smiling and releasing her hand. Not the most inventive fortune telling, but Adam wasn't clairvoyant and he wouldn't think to say anything other than something positive in return.
"Ooh You're good at that," Lettie told him and it was absolutely a reasonable prediction to make. She just hoped he was right about the friends bit, sometimes making friends was hard no matter how friendly and open minded you were. "It's vague enough that I can apply it to almost anything I've been thinking about lately and I'm just starting work in a new place so, yes. Very neat." She clutched her cup of coffee with both hands. It wasn't hot but it was nicely warm and soothing.
Equivocating was something Adam was better at than any kind of outright lying, so it was useful in making a generalized psychic prediction. Plus, Lettie was likable on first impression and he didn’t doubt that she’d do a lot of good here and find people to get along with. He chuckled. “Thanks. I had a little background information to help, admittedly, but maybe with practice I can make it a backup career,” he joked, since it wasn’t like he was looking for one of those, then asked out of curiosity, “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?”
"A little money on the side wouldn't hurt," Lettie agreed with a snicker. "And yes, so many plans," she replied then, going a little wide-eyed as she thought of all the things she was juggling today. "I'm only here for the meeting and then I've got other meetings and things to set up... How about you? Is there much to do around here? The library looks decently stocked and the local cinema seems really interesting but... other than that?"
“I'm here the rest of the day for my shift, so just the usual stuff to take care of.” Adam picked up his coffee cup, considering her question. “The library is good. There are some shops and restaurants down by the pier. Quite a few places that are rumored to be haunted all around, if you're into that. I think there's also a karaoke place, though I haven't been there yet.” Finishing his coffee, he gave Lettie a small smile. “Until winter sets in, I also like getting outdoors as much as I can. So, some stuff, but not necessarily a ton?”
Lettie looked around before leaning in closer again. "I've heard things about this place," she said, twirling her finger to indicate their surroundings. "That it was rebuilt after it burnt down and people have seen and smelled strange things." She quirked a brow, making an effort to not be too flippant or too serious about it. It was genuinely something she was interested in, all the supernatural things, though she wasn't necessarily gagging to run face first into an actual ghost. "Have you ever...?"
Adam blinked as Lettie leaned forward, though immediately cottoned on to what she was talking about thereafter. “I have heard all that too,” he said, since it was one of the earlier things he had learned about the hospital, after the usual, generic, overview. “Though haven’t encountered anything myself. Yet. I'm not of the opinion it's outside the realm of possibility,” he said, trying to keep his tone on the lighter side of serious issues just in case Lettie hadn't meant it as a real option, but it was still admitting to at least some degree of his belief in the supernatural. She didn't seem like the judgey sort.
"I'm really interested in that stuff," Lettie admitted and it wouldn't really do to try to hide it. Anyone who looked her up might just run into her essays and theories anyway. "If not actual supernatural things then... the psychological implications of them, what they mean, where they come from, why there's often so much universal commonality to the stories. It's fascinating." She glanced at the clock and frowned softly. "I should get going though, I have a carpenter coming over to my office... Though what are you willing to bet he'll be late."
“Yeah--I wholeheartedly agree. It’s really interesting stuff from whatever perspective you want to take it at.” Adam smiled at Lettie, though her prompting then led him to glance over as well to check the time. “But then if you aren’t there, he’ll likely end up being early,” he said lightly, pushing back from the table. He picked up his empty cup and held out a hand to offer to take Lettie’s as well. “There are a couple things I should do before my shift begins, too, but I’m glad we got to talk. Maybe next time we’ll be a little freer.” At least, he would like to continue getting to know Lettie better.
"Oh you know it," Lettie replied with some amusement because wasn't that the truth. Hiring guys to do work always seemed to be such a hassle and she couldn't imagine why it was so hard to make appointments and keep them. "I'll be seeing you," she added cheerfully and while she wasn't naive enough to think she'd just made a friend for sure it was nice to chat to someone who wasn't David for a change. Adam seemed really nice and everyone could use allies at work. "Take care, Adam."
“It was great meeting you, Lettie,” Adam said, smiling brightly. He always liked meeting new people and getting along with co-workers made things easier. Time would tell if they became friends, but Lettie seemed nice, which was a good starting point. “See you later.” As she made her departure, Adam made his as well, getting ready for the rest of his day.