(no subject)

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Who: Jim Haller, Laurie Collins.
When: Backdated to Thursday May 25th 2006 Time: 1:30pm

What Happens Laurie goes to see Haller for the first time to discuss classes and getting a job.



Laurie fidgeted with her shirt for a bit, tucking it in and then pulling it out again, before once again tucking it back in. She wanted to make a good impression and a part of that was looking like you were going places that weren't the fast food take out place down the road.

Problem was, jeans and a t-shirt didn't exactly scream 'Professional something or other in training'.

'Will you just stop obsessing over the future and knock on the damn door'. Laurie thought fiercely, suiting action to thought as she rapped softly at the student counsellor's door. His name was 'Haller' or something like that, she'd been told that he was probably the best person to see to talk about everything that had happened.

"Just a minute." Jim rose and made his way across the room, absently rolling down his sleeves to cover most of the scars on his right arm, and opened the door to give the nervous young girl behind it a warm smile.

"Good morning," Jim said, stepping aside to allow her in. "I thought you might be stopping by one of these days. You're Laurie, right?"

'Wow, tall guy.' Laurie thought, having been greeted by the man's chest before adjusting her gaze a bit.

"Um, hi." Laurie replied, shoving her hands into her pockets and smiling brightly before she realised she hadn't exactly answered the question put to her. "Oh! Um, yeah. I'm Laurie. Laurie Collins."

Laurie disentangled her hand from her pocket, swearing briefly under her breath as the studs on the inside of her jean pockets decided to turn vicious, and held it out in what she hoped was a suitably calm fashion.

"I'm David Haller," he replied, taking her hand. It was a little clammy, but Jim had accepted far worse. He released her and closed the door behind them, motioning her to follow him to the chairs in his office. He gave her another smile as they sat. "How have you been settling in? This place is a little weird, so it takes some getting used to."

"G-good." she replied, placing her hands on her knees as she sat, straight backed, in the chair. She'd been told having good posture made you seem confident, she couldn't exactly remember who had told her but it made her feel better anyhow. "Everyone's been really friendly, and Forge made me something so I didn't have to worry too much about my powers making people weird."

That was more like it, stutter firmly controlled and eye contact established, she'd be President of the United States in no time.

Jim chuckled. "Forge is very useful. Charles should put him on staff. He'd definitely earn his keep. What did he make for you? Your power has to do with pheromones, doesn't it?" He remembered that from Nathan's account of her case. In the past, he'd found getting newly-emergent mutants talking about their powers was a good idea. Speaking of them like they were a normal part of life tended to make them grow closer to -- well, accepting them as a normal part of life.

Laurie pulled out the device Forge had made for her, it was a the size of a regular IPod, white and had a tiny fan set in the middle. "I didn't really understand much of the explanation he gave me but this is meant to cut down most of the pheromones I put out, although he did say it wouldn't cut out all of it. I only really use it when I'm extra nervous or really need a break in the concentrating, since I'm meant to be learning control, rather then just stopping the results." she replied, her tone soft and somewhat quiet.

Jim nodded. "Like anything else, control's going to take practice -- but if there's a way to make the transition a little easier I don't think there's any reason not to take it. That'll be a whole other level of stress you won't have to deal with. And I think there's a consensus that the less stress, the better. Especially when you're dealing with your powers on top if it." He gave her an encouraging grin. "Don't be too worried if there's a few sharp turns in your learning curve. It just takes time. Maybe it'll seem like the majority of the student body have a pretty good grasp on their powers now, but I guarantee you they've all had their fair share of awkward moments. Personally, I used to charr the curtains and wreck the room's feng shui when I got upset. We understand about accidents."

Laurie smiled, this was going a lot better then she'd thought it would when she stood at the door just a moment ago. It was even feeling, dare she say it, comfortable. "Soooo. I guess I'm meant to be asking you about jobs and such. Only, I really need a part time job and I think someone said something about food preparation being sort of sketchy legal area considering I exude chemicals all over the place. Although, no bunny suits. Or large animal suits of any kind, really. This one time, my Mom took me to Disneyland, she said I was about 6 or something and I took one look at Goofy and started screaming the place down."

She paused, thought about it for a second, and then realised she'd been babbling to the school councillor about giant animal suits and Disneyland. She could see her dreams of first woman President slowly sailing into the sunset. "N-not that there's anything really scary about Goofy. I mean, seven foot tall dog who has an unhealthy facination with hugging random strangers...W-what's not to love, right? I'm perfectly over any sort of trauma with Disneyland. Totally."

Jim grinned as he rose to consult his filing cabinet. "I was always a lot more freaked out by Donald. I mean, how do you trust something that wears a shirt and hat but no pants? Uh, but anyway, the job." The counselor turned back holding a piece of paper, which he then handed to her. He was glad Nathan had warned him Laurie might be looking for a job; it had given him the chance to read up on state employment laws. "This is an application for a certificate of employment -- you can submit it to Mr. Summers or Ms. Munroe when you're done. After that we can start looking into jobs in the area. If food service is out, I think I remember an opening at a local nursery. The plant kind, I mean. There might be some heavy lifting involved, but it's pretty low-stress and it should be safe for your particular power."

Laurie nodded, taking the piece of paper and glancing over it. The nursery idea sounded nice, although she'd need some training considering she had never had an urge to garden before and didn't have the first clue as to what you did to look after them. Now, for the other thing she'd come for, discussing her class schedule. "Um, the other thing. Classes. Only, I'm not sure when I'm supposed to start them, or what I'm supposed to be studying. Do I get to choose? Only, I don't know what classes you do here and I was told something about a powers class as well?"

Jim nodded, moving to get her one of the booklets that were stacked on his desk. "Powers class is mandatory for all students -- you'll be assigned an instructor to work with. Usually you'd be working in a class with other students, although independant sessions are possible if that doesn't turn out to be a good fit. Mutant-specific classes aside, the curriculum is pretty normal. We actually have a fairly good selection of summer courses, so if there's anything you feel you need to catch up on or would like to get out of the way before fall you can start on that right away." He handed Laurie the booklet and seated himself again. "Here you go. This is the course list for the summer. Once you've got your GenEds covered you can pretty much pick whatever you like. You don't have to worry about finding an emphasis yet -- if you're not sure which direction you want to go I suggest grabbing a few classes in different areas that look like they could be interesting and see which ones you like the most. You can start narrowing things down from there."

Laurie looked over the course list, there really were a lot of classes to choose from. She knew she wanted to do cooking...wait, would her power affect that as well? "Mr Haller, would it be okay for me to be in a cooking class? Only, it's the whole food thing again and while I'm probably one of the few people eating the stuff I cook, I don't want to give harm anyone."

Jim rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. "That may be something to ask the medstaff to look into. Whether or not your pheramones can be transferred by food, and if they can how long a half-life they have. It may turn out there's nothing to worry about. But if there's a problem with normal lessons I bet you can guilt Lorna into a few private ones. She's the one with the insanely green hair and absolute control over all food. She's may be a little bit of a kitchen-tyrant, but a benevolent one."

"Miss Dane seemed really nice on my journal." Laurie offered, trying to equate the person whose comments she'd read with the idea of 'Kitchen tryant'. It didn't quite fit. But then, she wasn't exactly the person she was on the journals in real life either. She'd have to talk to the Medstaff though, Mr Xavier had mentioned something about a general checkup once she'd settled herself in, and she knew Paige had gotten a lot on her mutation for the court case. "Um, I know Paige did a lot of work for the court case, maybe she could help me work out if I'd poison people's food or not?"

Jim grinned. "Either Paige or Moira would be qualified to determine that, yeah. One of the benefits of being a mutant-centric school is that we've got a lot of experts on how not to inadvertantly blow up, melt, or poison things. It's pretty comforting, actually. How are you doing with dorm-life, by the way? You're in with Dani, right?"

"Yep, although I think she's gonna be moving up with the other adults soon, so I guess that gives me the room to myself. It's different having someone sharing the room though, not bad, just different. Dani's been great putting up with me settling in and all. I had a bit of trouble sleeping the first few nights."

It had been an interesting choice of roommates, Jim had thought, but then, Dani would be particularly sensitive to some of the quirks of Laurie's power. And, for all that Dani was still having some difficulties with control, the girl really had made remarkable progress since coming here. "That's not really that unusual. I mean, it's a pretty big change. It takes some getting used to, but it's a good setup. Kind of takes the pressure our of socializing, you know? And after Dani moves out you'll still have your suitemates, or a new roommate will come in. We'll see." Jim smiled at her. "So, any other questions or concerns? Job, roommate, powers . . . you seem to be getting off to a pretty good start."

"I think that's all, l-least for now. It's still confusing sometimes but I think I'm starting to get the hang of things. People have been really good at answering questions and making me feel welcome. I didn't expect that, a-after e-everything. It was a good change." Laurie replied, looking at the clock on the wall and realising that she'd been in here longer then she'd realised. "I'm s-sorry. I've been here chattering away and you m-must have other people to see."

The telepath only smiled at her. "Expect the unexpected. It's the only sure bet. And don't worry about it. I didn't have any appointments scheduled this morning, and new places warrant extra time. An abrupt change can make even the perfectly sane feel a little . . ." Jim raised a hand to his head and rotated his finger slowly next to his ear. He grinned. "Take some time with the course list and get that application turned into either of the headmasters. Then we can take a serious look into those jobs. Okay?"

Laurie nodded, clutching the papers he'd given her in her hands as she stood. "Thanks, Mr Haller. I'll have these to them in no time."