2025-07-05: What's Yua's Problem With Psychologists, Anyway?
- Log: What's Yua's Problem With Psychologists, Anyway?
- Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Julian Marlowe
- Where: Kasugayama High - Teacher's Lounge
- OOC Date: 2025-07-05
- IC Date: Tuesday, June 05 2012
- Summary: Yua and Julian make each other's acquaintance, and they get along great! ... until Julian mentions that his other job is as counsellor. For some reason, Yua's entire attitude changes, after that... but Julian is wise enough not to poke a sleeping bear.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua Ooshiro is a new hire, in Kasugayama -- and not just Kasugayama. She's trying to run a program to intercept school refusers before they get to the point of ruining their futures via her skills in dance, and so she's started up a new class for those students who are disengaged from health and physical education. She's here one day a week, but she's on a rotating schedule... mostly so that students can't get into the habit of skipping one day a week to evade her.
Today, she's here on a Tuesday. She needed the support of the Bosses to get her students to actually engage in her class, but thankfully, Eikichi has the soul of a musician. She arrives around midday, in order to run classes in the second half of the day, when students are mentally tired or restless and would benefit from some physical movement instead. Once her classes end, of course...
... it's time for the paperwork, and that's something she struggles with far more than the actual dancing. It turns out she's quite slow at it. She must be a recent graduate, right? That must be why.
It's frustrating enough that she actually exclaims, "annnnd... done!", in the run-down teacher's lounge, when she finally get through the last forms she needed to fill out for today. (Behavioural monitoring. Why is a teacher doing something like behavioural monitoring?!)
Tragically, (fortunately?), there's not many people here who can actually share in her victory.
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Monitoring behavior of students and teachers alike certainly isn't something that all teachers at Kasugayama put an equally great deal of care into. It's remarkable how some of them look like they want to be here even less than the average student does. Or so thought Julian Marlowe, fresh-faced English teacher coming in at the start of the current school year. To him, it just validated his decision to apply at this school in particular. Clearly this is where he would be able to do the most good, especially in what is officially his secondary role, but he considers his primary.
He's actually not in the teacher's lounge often - avoiding the often dismal small talk of his co-workers, he much prefers seeing students going about their business. All the while attempting to analyze behavior, attempting to spot anything that might indicate an angle he could approach from, should they step into the Guidance Office one day.
...One way or another. To his chagrin, the other teachers are kind of using him as a dumping ground for problem students, so that they don't have to deal with it. He does want to help, but it's not made easier when students are coming in with a negative picture of what he's here to do. Then again, if it wasn't for that, he would not be getting very many students into his office at all. This will have to do, for now.
This IS the sort of work that has him often remaining at school longer than most... and as such, he was still wrapping up his own day, only intending to step into the teacher's lounge for a moment to drop off his own paperwork, completed in the solitude of his office. Poor noise filtering makes it easy for him to tell that someone else is in there before he even opens the door.
"That's quite the victory cry," he states calmly with amusement in his voice, stepping over the threshold. "Seems it's been a long day."
He pauses, looking over Yua, placing a hand on his chin before quickly raising a finger, recalling, "Ah yes! I did hear something in regards to a new hire. Remarkable, I'd thought I would be the 'newbie' for longer than this." He mimes the removal of a non-existent hat as he bows at the waist.
"Julian Marlowe, charmed." Perhaps she's heard of him...? He stopped short of a longer introduction for the express purposes of finding out what sort of reputation he might have at this point... if any.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"Huh?" Yua startles, a touch, looking up from her paperwork. (And it is paperwork; Kasugayama isn't rich enough to spring for digital systems.) Her tan cheeks blush a darker shade in embarrassment, because she evidently didn't expect someone else to wander in. "I-- I was just..."
Well, at least he's taking it with amusement, so Yua just waves a hand. (There's a strange decoration on it, black fabric stretched from a ring at her middle finger to a matching bracelet. That thing which isn't quite a glove is only on her right hand...) "Of course! A long day! I'm, uh, still getting used to it."
She has no idea what she's doing, but this is not about that. Is it still imposter syndrome when you're actually an imposter?
"Be warmed and welcomed to the hearth," she says, a touch too theatrically, though she smiles through it. "I'm Yua -- Yua Ooshiro. Ah, I'm afraid I'm still learning who everyone is... especially here. No one seems like they want to leave their details here," and she draws her fingers down her cheeks, as if to mimic weeping. "I don't know how the students are supposed to form connections like that!"
Beat, "... um, not that I'd know much about how things work here, yet. You know the students didn't trust me at all until some of them spoke up for me? Bosses, they call themselves. Isn't that cute?" That's youth crime, Yua! That isn't cute!
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Paperwork on actual paper doesn't bother Julian, that was pretty normal when he was a kid. Though he may personally own digital electronic devices nowadays and knows well their convenience, it somehow feels fitting, more personal, for these sorts of things to be done by hand. ...Maybe he's just old-fashioned. Who would unironically wear a monocle in 2012?
The reaction he gets from the new teacher is not strange to him, it's normal to be nervous when you're new. Not everyone covers that up as well as Julian does. And he actually is charmed by the theatrics, he's rather fond of that sort of thing... even if he doesn't knowingly engage in it much, when he's at school. Plenty of other reasons people might think him a weirdo already.
"A pleasure to meet you, M--" He actually needs to self-correct to not use an address in English. He's used to that with the students, but perhaps it wouldn't aid the first impression doing this with a fellow teacher. "Ooshiro-san." He can do it if he tries. If he remembers to try.
Scratching his cheek, he sheepishly admits, "I'm afraid to most teachers, this is about making a living and very little else. I would like to see otherwise, but... well. My efforts tend to be rather unappreciated. I hope to fare better with the students."
He smiles, recognizing the experience Yua went through. "That's not surprising - the Bosses have much sway over the student body. It seems moreso than in other schools, students here trust their peers to have their best interest in mind over the faculty. Perhaps we might change that in time, if we keep up the good work, yes?"
He takes a moment to free his other hand, placing a stack of paper in a filing cabinet, before turning back to Yua to explain. "Aside from my job as teacher, I also act as the school's guidance counselor. Shockingly, there wasn't even a similar position assigned to anyone else at this school. I understand that it's not often a permanent position, but to think there may have been students feeling as if they had no adults they could turn to... tragic, is it not?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Probably the same kind of person who unironically wears pointe shoes to work. At least they're custom-made, so they're not completely wrecking her feet. ... not completely, anyway.
Yua is, tragically, a weirdo; there's no getting around that. Luckily, she wants to do a job no one else particularly wants to do!
"Yes, a pleasure!" She does notice his tone kind of shifting, like he's wanting to speak another language, but -- he doesn't, so she doesn't press on it. He's likely from another country, so she supposes it's likely he's self-conscious about his Japanese, and she's the last person to give someone a hard time about that. ... sometimes, she still slips from Japanese into Okinawan Japanese, and it can be terribly embarrassing.
(Some people even call her 'Puppy-sensei', now, after they heard her call herself 'wan' instead of 'ware'. She hates that.)
"I don't have much need to make a living, these days," Yua admits, sounding a touch embarrassed about that, too. "Since I'd be taken care of regardless of what I occupied myself with... but this is something I wanted to do. Teaching the youth to dance, I mean," she clarifies, smiling to Julian.
She tilts her head, as Julian speaks of the fate of the Bosses here. "It's a little sad, don't you think?" She asks, her brow creasing. "They shouldn't need to take on so much of that responsibility at this age... but of course your words ring true," she agrees. "We will simply have to demonstrate they can rely on us." A fact like that is hardly limited to Kasugayama, either, she thinks, thinking of one of her Sevens students.
She doesn't mention him, though. She promised!
Yua's frown deepens from concern to suspicion, though, when Julian mentions the extra duties he's taken on. "Shocking," she remarks, and this statement is far more dry. "Are you trained as a counselor, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Julian wouldn't have imagined, but it seems to be rather common, almost expected for teachers to have some manner of weird quirks. Lucky them. Perhaps especially for Yua right now, Julian isn't about to call attention to anything weird that he might have noticed.
He certainly has the look of your stereotypical 'western white guy', with the blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin. And the height. 6 feet is far less common in Japan than where he's from. Unfortunately, though he suspects Yua might also be from Elsewhere going by her appearance, he not nearly as able to identify where she might be from as a local might. And he does so hate to assume, or pry too much - not even when on the job. It's always best for information to be freely volunteered. Or well, 'volunteered', at least. Coaxing it out, that's perfectly fine.
And yet, he then immediately makes an assumption from Yua's phrasing, that she must be a housewife. At least he doesn't actually say that. "Ah, well, following one's passions is something I can very much relate to. Doubly so where it involves aiding the youth! I may, ah, need the paycheck, but that was not the reason for choosing this school in particular."
He shakes his head side to side, considering. "I'm uncertain whether the way the students developed at this school is a sad thing, per se. The amount of support that their own self-constructed system provides them is rather impressive. Though it's not without its flaws... and as you say, the Bosses themselves have an unfortunate amount of responsibility on their shoulders. They may seem to cope well with it on the surface, but I rather think they could benefit from some support themselves. As in all things, it's best to strive for mutual acceptance and keep an open mind."
That's his general philosophy, at least. It might be a bit naive. But he'll try his best to follow it nonetheless.
There was no suspicion involved from Julian at all thus far. That is, until Yua asks him that question. "Why, of course," he says, with the raise of an eyebrow. Odd question to ask. How would one get a job without the proper certifications for it? "I dislike to brag, but I followed a double major - psychology is my other field."
A copy of his degree is on file. Can't get much more genuine than that. Right?
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Teachers are quirky. Especially Gekkoukan teachers. Yua doesn't even stand out when she's over there!
Yua... is not six feet tall. (Her girlfriend is. Not that she has a girlfriend. Miho's just a friend who is a girl. Honest.) Indeed, at five feet tall, she is positively diminutive next to Julian. Especially when she's sitting down!
(Whether Yua's from Japan or elsewhere is something of a controversial question, too, but never mind that. She's... a Japanese citizen.)
She would be quite flattered if she realised Julian thought she was a housewife, though. Being a housewife is her favourite thing! ... even though she doesn't have a husband. Never mind that.
"I used to be the same," Yua shares, when Julian admits to needing the paycheck. "I hope you're able to pick up all the overtime you can handle, Marlowe-san. Tokyo can be really expensive..." She sighs, and shakes her head. "But... I'm glad you're able to work a job you believe in."
Yua can believe in being a housewife, and she can believe in being an instructor, and... that's what she does, right?
"I just... think children should be free to be children," Yua says, glancing down to that decoration on her right hand. "They'll have adult reponsibilities soon enough. Too often do we demand too much of the young, before they are able to give it." Too often is she unable to stop it.
Unfortunately, Julian settles on the wrong answer, judging by the way Yua's lips thin. "Oh," she says, her tone growing taut too. "Well. I should hope that if you work with the young, you won't be too invasive."
Being fair, a copy of her degree is on file just the same.
It's just... all lies.
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Julian likes to be careful in his interactions. To stay polite, don't overly press any matters that might be sensitive, basically sidestep anything that might provoke conflict. It's what he considers not only respectful, but the best way to do his job - and he could be said to never truly be off the job in that regard. Every conversation is a learning experience, to help him help others.
Which doesn't mean that he isn't genuinely interested in others, quite the opposite. It's fascinating to hear the perspective of others, being able to compare differences, try and draw conclusions from nuance alone - wait, that's just him trying to analyze people, bad example.
He's aware of that tendency, at least, always silently reminding himself not to go mentally off-track. At least he rarely comes off as unnatural, especially not when he smiles and inclines his head to say, "I thank you for the kind words," when Yua is considerate for his circumstances. He isn't poorly off at all compared to many, but one should never take kindness for granted.
In the past though... things were quite different. It's not difficult to guess that he might be thinking back to his own childhood when Yua notes that children should be allowed to be children, given the simple response of, "Ah yes, indeed. Quite right." The way he sounded far away, all of a sudden... there's definitely something going on there.
But that is left in the air, when Julian detects that in spite of his efforts, he made a mistake somewhere. He could swear temperature just dropped a few degrees. He can't imagine having left a poor impression thus far. Could this be... jealousy of his education? Bad history with psychologists? All he has is guesses. All he knows for sure is... it very much sounds like it's time to back off.
"...Perish the thought. As I always tell students up front: should we chance upon a subject that you are uncomfortable with, merely say the word and we'll move right along, no questions asked."
This may or may not be some subtle polling of whether or not that could be the sort of thing that happened with Yua right now. But he's not going to press it, either way. Instead, he makes a show of fishing out his smartphone to glance at the time.
"Well then, it's been nice meeting you, but I really must be off. The commute to Tokyo is considerable, and I prefer to have dinner at home. If you'll excuse me..."
It's not running away. It's a tactical retreat. Perfectly valid approach when you're unsure how to best salvage the conversation.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"One should always try to be kind," is how Yua responds to Julian's grace. Whether one can always be kind -- well, that's another matter entirely.
But she's trying. That matters. Right?
Perhaps... they both have their own experiences with responsibility. Perhaps it might have been a point of connection. Except --
He's one of them.
"Of course," she says, her smile more fixed. "I'm sure someone in your position would never force the matter, given the way you are listening to their most vulnerable thoughts. You wouldn't pry into their struggles for ulterior motives!"
But Yua isn't very good at lying. All she's done is said what she really thinks about the profession and added a negative to the front so it looks like she doesn't think that. ... she doesn't entirely realise how obvious that is to someone with the proper training, either.
"Have a safe trip home," she says, and her tone now is chillier than it was.
Now, she thinks, she has another reason to protect these students in particular.
... but is she really standing on the side she thinks she's standing on, with regards to their welfare?
The Powers that Be put her here for a reason...
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Oof. Oof. Those words that Yua hit him with in response to his well-intended statement of intent, that was an oof so big, Julian almost vocalized it. He has to revise his impression now - there may well be some sort of outright unprocessed hurt involved here. One that, in fact, might benefit from some counseling.
...Obviously not something he should suggest right now, or possibly ever. If this is to be a matter to addressed, he'll clearly have to approach it very, very carefully. Some other time. For now, he can only hope that at least his well-intended parting greeting won't be taken the wrong way.
"Thank you kindly. Have a good evening, <Miss Ooshiro>." With that, he hurries out the door.
...That just kind of slipped out when he wasn't thinking about it. He never did outright state what he actually teaches, but that much is likely obvious now.