'come shop with me [Hazel]

[Miranda Sutton]

Mia flopped on the sofa, exhausted and feeling slightly depressed. "Long day," she muttered to herself, closing her eyes and stretching her legs out. The job had been brilliant; she'd loved the thrill of actually meeting kids -real, live kids with psychiatric conditions, not just case studies!- and helping them. But the whole day, there was a horrible sick feeling that always followed her after she purged; the only way to cure it, the horrible emptiness, was to binge again, an endless cycle. She'd felt so sick, so idiotic and disgusting earlier; a young girl had come in to be weighed, a weekly necessity due to her eating disorder. For a minute, Mia had just stared enviously at her; bones almost protruding through her skin. Not eating at all, if only she had that sense of self-control.

After she realized what she was thinking, she'd hurried about the rest of her work quietly, hating herself for being jealous of a girl that was as messed-up as Jessica. Still...it'd be nice, so nice, if she could just be half as thin as her. How much did she weigh, now? Average. Her diet had been going well, and she'd found it helped to eat with people -a girl called Layla today, and it stopped her binging- but she still needed to throw up...

Sighing, she opened her eyes, smiling as she saw another person enter the staff room. Hazel, she remembered, a security guard and the second youngest staff member here, now Mia had arrived. With her head, she gestured the other girl over, despite her slight fear that Hazel could probably break her neck. Half of the kids here could, if they wanted to; she didn't need to worry about the security. "Hi! I'm Mia. How long have you worked here? It's cool, don't you think? Tiring, though." With a mock look of exhaustion, she pretended to swoon on the sofa. "Not used to that much hard work; I was just waitressing before this."

[Hazel Johnson]

Hazel sighed, wiped a hand over her brow, wiping off sweat. Bloody kids. She found herself irritated with them, always pulling her out of her apartment to drag them off into isolation, and the thought made her laugh. Wrong job, if you don't wanna be doing that, love. Pulling off her jacket - her shift was officially over - she quickly changed into clean clothes, relief at the feeling of being clean and dry filling her. Grimacing, she tugged her hair out of it's tight ponytail and brushed it thoroughly. Finally, she was presentable. Now she had to find something to do. Glancing at her outfit, she decided a shopping trip was in order; maybe she could ask that girl - the new one, what was her name? - to help her. Mia, that was it. She'd seemed friendly enough.

Her mind made up, Hazel grabbed her favourite leather jacket from the wardrobe, pulled it on, hooked her radio into her belt, more out of habit than anything, and headed down to the staff room, hoping to find Mia there. Seeing Mia there, she was slightly surprised to find herself beckoned over, but went willingly, flopping down onto the sofa, exhausted, with a tired smile. She'd been right, then. The girl was very friendly, more bubbly than Hazel was used to finding in psychiatric wards. It was a nice change, if she was honest.

Swinging her legs up onto the small coffee table, she stretched, then relaxed on the sofa, practically sinking into it. "I've been here a little while. About a month, or thereabouts. You've been here, what, a day now? Trust me," she said with a grin, "It gets harder. You haven't seen them after fights yet. A bit of a step-up from waitressing, huh?" She smiled at the other girl reassuringly, hoping she wouldn't freak out about the mention of fights. It would be nice to have a friend here who was both female and not... well, slightly odd, really. "What do you think of it so far? Enjoying yourself?"

[Miranda Sutton]

Mia grinned. "Not even a day." She glanced at her watch, frowning as she did a quick sum. She'd arrived at 10AM, it was 8PM now... "Eight hours. Wait...ten hours." Not much had happened on her first shift; just getting to know the head of medicine -nice enough- an STD test, and applying a couple plasters to skinned knees. Nothing interesting, although she was supposed to have missed some fun by a few days - suicide attempt in the dance studio. Fun? Wrong word. That, or she was a complete psychopath, and having a crappy vocabulary sounded better than that.

"A month? Wow." Rolling her shoulders in an attempt to get rid of the persistent ache, she smiled. "Yeah, quite a step up. Fights? Oh, can't wait for that," she answered, half-sarcastically. "The best I got today was an STD test, for a pissed-off sadist." Good times. With a yawn, she half-nodded, laughing. "Enjoying myself? Well, it's...different. Y'know what I mean. It's..." She couldn't think of any words. "Yeah, different. You like it?"

Hazel probably did, or she'd have left by now. Unless she was as desperate for money as Mia... No, she reminded herself. She wasn't desperate for money, not anymore. Waitressing had left her completely skint, but it was better pay here; enough for even a drink out once or twice a month. More, if she didn't mind not having food. "So, is there anywhere to shop around here? Or -" with a sly smile "- anywhere to get completely pissed? There must be a nightclub in...the whole of ND." There better be, anyway, or she was quitting. Hopefully, Hazel wouldn't be completely prude; if she was, she'd probably freak out at the mention of -shock horror- swear words, and the mention of alcohol would make her faint with horror. "We've gotta do something to make the kids jealous, anyway," she added, smiling. After all, if they didn't, they might as well be students at the school, not something she fancied. No, it was much better to nurse a hangover until dragging herself out of bed for the afternoon shift than get up at 8AM for maths or something. Being a student had sucked.

[Hazel Johnson]

Hazel laughed. "Pissed off sadist? Trust me, you'll be getting plenty of those. There are at least three at this school. But an STD test? I wouldn't have thought any of them would agree to that. Sounds like this new shrink knows what he's doing," she said musingly, more to herself than Mia. Hazel whistled, impressed. None of the other psychiatrists had managed that, not by a long shot. At least once a week, she'd been called in to drag them off to isolation or something, and yet, this guy seemed to have them all on a leash. Apparently, he was very good with the bullies and not so good with the underdogs. Oh, well. At least they had variety at this school.

"Yeah, it's alright. The pay's good, the working environment... well, it's better than some of the places I've been, and most of the kids don't give me much trouble, so... yeah," she told Mia, shrugging. "I like it fine. Not much 'different' from what I'm used to, though," she told Mia with a slight smirk. "And there's a town a little way away. Twenty minutes drive or so. D'you wanna go for a drink? It's more interesting than this place once your shift's over, I can tell you," she told Mia, looking at her. Well, she now had company. Could be in for a fun evening, provided Mia wasn't completely opposed to copious amounts of alcohol. She probably wasn't, seeing as she'd asked where she could get pissed, but you never knew... "I'll drive," she added, fairly sure that Mia a) wouldn't have a decent car, with the amount of money she seemed to have, and b) might not have got her license yet anyway.

[Miranda Sutton]

"Sounds...great," Mia answered, smiling. "Well, they're entertaining when they're pissed off. I'm not sure they'll be as fun when they're in bad moods." If Jarrad hadn't been there, she would have been scared; someone with the ability to hurt her, but without showing remorse or regret for their actions. Actually, being...pleased with their actions. Creepy. "He seemed pretty..." she thought. "Weird. But in a good way. Good at his job, but scary." Mia looked around, checking that the psychiatrist wasn't standing behind her, frowning or being generally scary. Luckily, he wasn't.

"The kids don't give you trouble? Well, that sounds good to me." She'd been a little worried about that; the kids were the best and worst part of the job. Other adults, money and having a place to sleep were all perks; the worst part of it was getting attacked by...well, the students on a daily basis. So far, however, that hadn't happened, something she was very relieved about. "Have you worked in places like this before? I've only been in high school, and waitressing. Nothing like this, believe me." Some of her customers had been...quirky, but none were actually insane, like the kids here.

The mention of a town made her smile, the suggestion of a drink made her almost cry with relief. "It's not good that I'm so eager to get out after just a few hours, is it?" Mia asked, half-sighing. "It sounds great to me; are you off your shift?" Hazel still had her radio on, she noticed. "But drinking sounds fabulous," she answered, laughing. And she could afford it now! Well, she'd be able to afford it in a month, when her paycheck went through. And there was a little left in the bank until then, she was sure.

The offer of Hazel driving sealed it. "Well, I didn't feel like walking, so that sounds great to me!" Hopefully, the girl would be able to drive with a lot of alcohol in her system; Mia didn't fancy a crash on her first day. Her employers might not like it if she ended up in hospital, completely pissed, on her first night; good excuse for missing her next shift, though. She felt like a naughty school girl -not in that way- sneaking out of class to steal a swig of booze, and laughed to herself. It was legal, now.

[Hazel Johnson]

Hazel grinned, relieved. "Great. I've been looking for someone to go for a drink with. The shrinks are OK, but... workaholics, much? And they freak me out a little. Weird, but good at his job is right," she laughed slightly. Swinging her legs off the table, she stood up and nodded towards the door, waiting until Mia was standing before she started to walk. Pulling her keys out of her pocket, she spun the keyring around her finger, smiling at Mia's comments.

"Well, mostly. Some of them are a bit..." Hazel pulled a face to signify 'insane' but politely. She doubted the shrinks would take kindly to her calling their patients nutters, even if they weren't here. They might be so paranoid there were cameras here as well. "Me? I've worked in two loony bi- psychiatric hospitals," she told Mia, correcting herself mid-sentence. The girl seemed pretty nice, but Hazel had an idea that she wasn't quite sure what to expect. "I have to warn you, though," she began with a rueful smile. "Keep an eye on them, especially if you're alone in the room with them. Some of them seem harmless, but it's not worth taking a risk. That's something you learn pretty damn quickly, working in places like this," as they made their way down to Hazel's car, she wondered how long Mia would last before she got attacked. The medical staff weren't at great risk; it was the shrinks and the security that got the worst of it. Lucky her.

"Yeah, as medical, you should be OK, but keep your eyes open even so, trust me," she added as they reached the car. Swinging herself into the driver's seat, she waited until Mia was in before starting the engine, pulling out of the car park and onto the road.