"I don't..." Dr. Hinamizawa paused, clicking her tongue contemplatively, "...see my position at Buttercombe as a step down, per se."
The smaller woman steepled her fingers as she sunk into the chair that Dr. Schwartz had provided for her. While oversized, it was quite comfortable. She slouched a bit, her soft stomach folding beneath her purple blazer. Fukuda rarely ever let her employees—Yeng appointed or otherwise—see such a bend in her normally rigid demeanor. For whatever reason, Fukuda couldn't say much as to why, she suddenly felt the need to unburden herself.
However insidious (and frankly, scary) Dr. Schwartz could be... she was still a therapist.
"I see." the round woman waddled to her desk and took her seat, "Go on."
"When I was offered my position here, to be the Vice Headmistress, and all that entailed..." the phrase had become shorthand for affiliated characters so as to avoid openly discussing Yeng-related matters. Even in private conversation, the habit still lingered. "I saw it as a reward for my hard work. Perseverance. And it was, please do not misconstrue—"
"I would never." Helen said with a little smile, "Please, continue. Do not edit yourself schätzchen, feel free to be honest with me."
Honest with Dr. Schwartz. The thought was laughable. Seeing what she had done to some of their most prized assets, knowing her skillset, made it almost impossible to think about being so trusting. Her skills in manipulation and double-think were unparalleled; it's the precise reason why she'd been stationed at Buttercombe Academy as the guidance counselor. The less that their charges would fret about the changes that they were being subjected to, the better.
However...
"What we are doing here is very important, you no doubt agree." Dr. Hinamizawa turned to her colleague, temporarily her therapist, with an open palm, "It's just... I have been stationed here for ten years now. Far longer than I was ever the head of the R&D Department in Daven's Port."
"So you are bored then, ja?" Helen blinked, "Ach, to say it as if it were some big mystery."
"Not bored, perhaps." Fukuda searched the ether for a more fitting description, "You are not a native English speaker, so you must understand the difficulty of when you want to say a word, but—"
"But it does not sound right in English." Helen chuckled, her double chin bobbing, "I am quite familiar."
"Man-neri." Fukuda answered with a rare smile, "I am... caught."
"Ach—you are in a rut, mein liebchen." Helen said with a confident click of her pen, "You are not bored, simply dissatisfied. Day in, day out, you feel as if you do not experience anything new."
"That is much closer to what I meant to say." Fukuda said with a small sigh
"This is good news, and a simple solution." Dr. Schwartz said, clapping her chubby hands together. Her wide arm wings wobbled with the motion, and her round cheeks bunched into a pleased smile, "All you must do is to find a way to break your routine."
"I'm sorry?" Dr. Hinamizawa looked up at the doctor, right into her eyes, "I'm afraid that you do not understand. I am, effectively, the headmistress. I do not have time to—"
"Dr. Hinamizawa, you are not listening to me." Helen said more sternly, her big hypnotic eyes widening, "I said, in order to break out of your rut, you must first find a way to break through your routine."
And somehow, that seemed to sink in a little better. Dr. Hinamizawa sunk back into her chair, processing the diagnosis of one of her longtime colleagues. After all, she was a doctor. This was her field of study. She had come to her in the first place, and, if anyone would know how to get her feeling back into sorts, it would be Dr. Schwartz.
"I see your point." Dr. Hinamizawa said with a resigned huff, "But how do you suggest that I do such a thing? I have almost no free time."
"Nonsense, you will only have time if you make time." Dr. Schwartz said, her chipper tone of voice returning, "Might I suggest...
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