fandomhigh | Office Hours - Abnormal Psychology

Entry tags:

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.

ETA: The post is closed to new interaction. If you've already commented, then by all means, let's continue the conversation. But it's closed to anyone new. That's because I'm going to be sending out another email soon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?"

"There's a zombie band?" asks Jenny disbelievingly. "Wow. Are they any good?" Maybe she doesn't want to know.

"Yeah, throw a mixture of salt and moly in the eyes and mouth of a zombie, and they go back to being all the way dead." Jenny shrugs, holding both hands clasped around her coffee mug. "Of course, first you have to get close enough to them, which is a little risky. How'd you guys take care of the problem without everyone's brains getting gobbled up?"

"I was too busy bellowing to notice, it's karaoke." Cameron grins.

"Everyone stuck together, people took up the weapons they're familiar with and they defended the school. One of the students apparently flooded them with hot water, I think. I kinda missed all that action as I went with coach Ash who found the source of it all and destroyed that."

"There's a zombie karaoke bar?" asks Jenny. "This I have to see."

"Wow. I'm used to most of the students being oblivious to otherworldly events." Jenny grins. "Sounds like they're an everyday occurrence around here."

"I don't think the owner is a zombie, though. He's green and he's got red horns."

He scratches the back of his head and grins. "Yeah, I suppose it is. I've seen some weird things since I came here. What worries me is that I'm starting to get used to it."

"So he's a--demon?" guesses Jenny. She'd heard not all of them were evil, but living on the Hellmouth, that was mostly what she'd seen. "Okay, I really have got to go to this place."

"So why's that worry you?" asks Jenny, setting her coffee cup down on the desk and leaning back in her chair again. "The world's a pretty weird place. Wouldn't you rather know about the weirdness than not?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Cameron agrees. "I just get the feeling that if I told my parents half of what goes on here, they'll think I'm crazy. Or they'd get my ass out of here."

"And you don't want to go?" asks Jenny. "So why did your parents send you here, anyway? I mean, 'multidimensional high school' just doesn't give off normal vibes in the first place, you know?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject