fandomhigh | Office Hours - Abnormal Psychology

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psychology

Office Hours - Abnormal Psychology

Jenny is sitting in a bare office, and is typing happily away on her laptop, updating herself on all the new computer technology she's been missing out on.

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Deciding to check it out for himself, Cameron drops by Ms Calender's office and knocks on the door.

"Door's open," says Jenny, closing her laptop and looking up.

Cameron opens the door and enters the office. He relaxes a bit when he realises there's real light in the room and not a tentacle in sight.

"Good day, Ms Calender. I hope I'm not interupting. I'm Cameron Mitchell."

Jenny grins at him. "Hey, Cameron! Nice to meet you." She gestures at one of the two chairs in front of her desk. "I was just seeing what was out there in the wide, wonderful world of computers. Grab a seat, tell me what's going on."

Cameron sits down, grinning. "Would that be for the psych classes or the entire island, ma'am?"

"Ma'am?" Jenny shakes her head, amused. "Let's stick with 'Ms. Calendar.' I hear 'ma'am,' I'm not going to know who you're talking to. You're way more formal than the last bunch of kids I taught."

She leans back, props her feet up on her desk, and grins at Cameron. "How about we start with the psych class? Then maybe we'll move on to the island."

Cameron raises an eyebrow at the feet on the desk, but smiles amused. He shakes his head and tries to find the best words to describe Drusilla's classes.

"They've been... interesting. I only started attending them since I took on the TA job," there's a slight grimace as he considers those circumstances. "~~Crazy Squid Lady~~ Professor Drusilla wasn't too adverse to trying experiments out on her students. So some students had problems turning up for the classes, or at least weren't looking forward to it. Uh, you know about the experiment she wanted the class to run."

Jenny just grins back at the eyebrow. Her desk, her office, her boots.

"Interesting in the sense of 'may you lead an interesting life?'" asks Jenny. "It wouldn't surprise me. ~~What's up with the squid lady nickname?~~ So what'd she try out on the students? And I know she wanted everyone to come up with experimental designs, but I don't know much more than that."

"Something like that," Cameron says carefully. He decides to start with the easiest part of the question. "~~Well, she's got a squid and she's crazy...~~ She actually wanted us to come up with an experiment to find out what would make people kill. I'm not so sure I was too thrilled about the part where we'd have to try it out on our partner."

He takes a deep breath before continuing. "She somehow managed to give some of the students one of the mental disorders they had discussed in class for one day."

Jenny taps her finger on the side of her coffee mug as she listens to Cameron. "Let's just lay all our cards out on the table here," she says. "Talk as frankly to me--in private--about Drusilla as you'd like. Just between you and me? She's one kooky, crazy woman. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to hire a vampire as a teacher, anyway?"

Jenny tries to give Cameron a reassuring look. "We're not going to be doing any more of that, trust me. Psychology has some helpful applications. I want us to look at those instead."

Cameron lets out a breath, relaxing visibly. "Alright, I can do that. I have no clue who hired Crazy Squid Lady, but they were out of their minds. It's good to know I won't have to get a medical check up with my girlfriend after every class. That frank enough, miss?" He asks with a grin.

He nods. "That sounds good. I really don't have much knowledge of psychology, but I was hoping it was more useful than it has been up until now."

"Completely out of their minds," agrees Jenny. "Wait, medical check-up?"

"Just about anything is more useful when you take Drusilla out of the mix," says Jenny. "So, help out a new arrival. What's the gossip around the island?"

"Yeah," Cameron stratched the back of his neck. "After that experiment Drusilla did on the students, Vala got kinda nervous about the class and started getting a medical check-up after every class. She wasn't too thrilled about my position as TA and that was the compromise. Not that I was thrilled myself..."

He huffs. "I somehow manage to miss all the gossips. I suppose right now it's all about Angel getting his soul back."

"Don't you have to apply to be a TA?" asks Jenny. "I mean, they don't often give it to you if you don't want the job."

Jenny shrugs, but stays in a good mood. "That's all anyone's talking about," she says. "You'd think a vampire with a soul was a rarity or something."

"Yeah, I filled in an application." Cameron clears his throat. "There might have been a squid behind me at the time..."

"I think it's the part where Angelus killed one of the students and tried to kill two other that's got everybody up in arms."

"Drusilla blackmailed you into being a TA?" asks Jenny disbelievingly. "And here I thought she'd have just killed you."

"He waited this long in the school year to start killing?" asks Jenny. "That's--unusual."

Cameron winces. "Yeah, I think I annoyed her a bit too much. God knows why she wanted me."

"I think he was enjoying playing us all along," he pauses. "You know about him?"

"Because she's crazy?" asks Jenny, her tone matter-of-fact.

"Oh, yeah." Boy, do I. Jenny takes another drink of her coffee. "My last teaching job was at Sunnydale High."

"That would do it," Cameron agrees. He frowns. "Never heard of Sunnydale."

"No?" asks Jenny. She drops her legs onto the floor and leans forward, resting her elbows on the desk. "Lucky you. It's a small California town situated right about the Mouth of Hell." She pauses and shrugs. "Called, coincidentally enough, the Hellmouth. Angelus used to live there. I used to teach at the high school."

"Oh," Cameron blinks. "Hell? As in fire and grimstone... hell?"

"I think so," says Jenny. "To be honest, I didn't investigate it too closely. Demons and creepy-crawlies that go bump in the night? They and I don't get on so well."

"I don't think I can blame you, I've had my fair share after zombie weekend."

"Zombies?" Jenny wrinkles her nose in disgust. "Ew. You guys have zombies here? Gotta stock up on the salt and moly."

"There was an invasion, hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. The whole town was smelling for at least a week after. They're all gone now, though, except for the band at Caritas. Salt and moly works against them?"

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