A pleasant day for Edjamacation greets the students of Monroe. The birds are swaying the trees are singing... Wait, strike that. The skies above are the blank slate that makes avid computer gamers think that the Gods are saving on framerates again. Winds are blowing mildly hard, threatening to pick up if anyone even thinks about opening up an umbrella.

Milling crowds of students dot the entrance to Monroe High, chatting and milling about before the start of the school day. A few of the more... troubled... students are catching a smoke before the first bell near the gates.

Dr. Freeman, wanders past the young hooligans and looks over his horn-rimmed glasses at them, murmuring something about 'cancer hasn't been cured yet.' This doesn't do much for them stopping, as they are lost in their Hot Topic Shoplifting stories.

With a grunt, the science teacher shifts the briefcase from hand to hand and walks past to the courtyard.

One student out of the crowd has been here for quite some time, and is very noticeable, really. Not due to the way he's dressed or what he's saying or his looks... No, it's the fact that he's sitting up against a tree, mostly protected from the wind by its trunk. And he's cross-stitching.

Uryuu Ishida pushes up his glasses, ignoring the occasional glances and snickers of passing students. He pauses as Dr. Freeman steps in, and he raises his free hand in greeting. "Good morning," the young man says politely. Then he returns to his work. Only a quarter of the circle is left; he may be able to finish before class begins.

It's been a pretty chaotic indeterminate time period or so for Ryouko Asakura, Brand Spankin' New Transfer Student. We'll skip the hows and whys of her arrival - the young woman is here now. She won't be attending classes properly until a new term starts because, well, it'd be sort of dumb to actually start attending for a grade when finals are so close, but nonetheless, here she is, no doubt to meet her new classmates and teachers like a good overachiever.

The girl is clearly Japanese in origin, but she has a friendly, benign smile as she walks past the Failure Brigade and into Monroe proper. Her eyes scan over toward Ishida, and she blinks a little when she sees him. She angles her walk toward him, and Dr. Freeman as well.

With a slow and relaxed gait, Dr. Freeman wanders through the throng of students, pausing to speak with a few students here or there. A contingent of stereotypical geeks and nerds gravitate towards the poor science teacher, their pimply-faces alight with adoration.

"Dr. Freeman! Can we talk to you a moment?" the alpha geek of their ranks chimes up, the mere act of speaking without being spoken to galvinizing his cohorts with the sheer audacity. Social Contact? In Real Life?

The good(ish) doctor turns with a neutral smile and greets the group with a bemused smile, entirely masking the 'oh-god-not-the-Science-Club' look that most of the science department affects when the youths threaten to natter on at them.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, I urgently need to talk to..." he turns towards a more outlying area and sees Ishida playing Homemaker Deluxe, "Mr. Ishida."

Excuse made, he leaves a group of dejected protogeeks behind, all silently blaming each other and preparing mental notes for a flamewar on their private wiki-web-thingies.

Slowing as he approaches the tailor, Freeman notices what Ishida is working on and awkwardly broaches the conversation with, "Ah, a tailor?"

Ishida glances up from his cross-stitching as Freeman addresses him, setting it on top of his bookbag. "Ah, yes," he replies, with a bit of awkwardness as well. At least it's a teacher, so he doesn't need to be prepared for mocking laughter. Probably. "I'm preparing a few examples for the first Arts and Crafts Club meeting tomorrow." He's not sure how many people will even show up, but in case someone does, he'll be ready. Ishida hasn't yet noticed Ryouko approaching, although he's dimly aware of her presence. Spiritual senses and all, don'tcha know.

That's the strange part about Asakura - she feels quite spiritually...weak. Perhaps some kind of disease? Especially for one with Ishida's perception, it's not hard to catch if you're paying attention.

The young woman doesn't seem diseased as she approaches, though, offering a smile and a small bow to both Freeman and Ishida. When she speaks, it's with a very faint Japanese accent - obvious, but not really enough to actually get in the way of understanding her. A more cynical individual might say it seems all but calculated to increase her charm to those susceptible to such tactics. "Good morning!" she offers. "Ah, I hope I'm not interrupting anything...I just moved into town recently, I thought I should come see the school as soon as possible. I'm Ryouko Asakura."

"I could actually use your services," he gestures to his suit, "I commonly get ridiculed for my attire and would be more than happy to provide-"

The interruption that isn't an interruption causes Dr. Freeman to pause slightly but not aggressively. He turns and smiles politely, "Not at all, miss. Dr. Freeman, physics instructor. I hope you'll enjoy your time in Midgard and at Monroe." He turns his gaze back to Ishida and a momentary blank look crosses his face as he has forgotten what he was talking about with Ishida.

Ishida shifts and gets to his feet, to more politely talk with the teacher before him. (Who has several inches on him, he notes.) Before he can speak, though, Asakura greets the pair, and he turns to her as well. "Good morning, Miss Asakura," he replies. "Uryuu Ishida, fellow student." That... seems to be all that he's going to offer.

Ishida returns his attention to Freeman, raising an eyebrow at the blank look. He doesn't see anything wrong with the teacher's attire, himself, but if Freeman is looking for a change, he'd be happy to assist. "I can certainly assist you with that, Dr. Freeman. What sort of clothing were you looking for? Formal attire, or something more casual?"

o/` The gears on the mental bus go round and round... o/` "Ah, yes, my clothes," he starts abruptly, "Perhaps something a bit more... modern?", a hopeful look to Ishida, "Casual?", a more crestfallen look followed by a quieter, "Something that doesn't make me look like I'm an extra from a 1950s monster movie."

Not going to offer your information!? Ryouko Asakura will pry it out of you! With... ... ...overbearing niceness? Hm.

"Tailoring," Asakura reminds to Freeman with a smile. "I hope so as well, Doctor. It's very nice to meet you, both of you."

The young woman merely...stands by for a moment. Exotic matter behaving unusually around Uryuu. Nothing really especially interesting about Freeman. What's it all mean...? She decides not to interrupt again, as something actually important is being discussed.

...well, not important, but eavesdropping can be an effective way to gain data on her new classmates before she has to interact with them daily.

Ha, the joke is on Asakura -- Ishida is working on developing a resistance to overbearing niceness. (He lives next to Orihime, for crying out loud.) Anyway, with her staying quiet, Ishida focuses on the conversation with Freeman. He raises a hand to his mouth to mask a slight chuckle. Again, he doesn't think it's that bad. "Very well," he says, looking thoughtful. "I'll work on a few designs and get back to you within the week." He's already got a bit of an idea in mind, although it will need work before he's ready to put needle to fabric.

Hope springs into the teacher's eyes, "Thank you! I can only hope your Arts and Craft club can muster the resolve to put up with me as a model," he claps a hand on Ishida's shoulder, "I hope you can have it ready before the PTA conference. Those poor parents, seeing a seedy-looking teacher talking about their children..." The implication is left as an exercise to the students.

He looks to the young lady with a hefty smile and a palpable sense of relief streaming from him, "So, what's your primary talent? Please don't say 'chemistry', I can't stand the Chemistry department..."

That won't stop her, Quincy! Ryouko Asakura is capable of being consistently pleasant to Haruhi Suzumiya, who only failed to throw Ryouko out a window because she didn't think she could get away with murder in the middle of English class. MILD ASOCIALITY IS NOTHING.

Asakura looks up as Freeman favors her with attention, and smiles. "Well, I'm skilled in a lot of things! My teachers always say I'm good at track and field, and I've always gotten good grades in math and the sciences." She gives Doctor Freeman that innocent smile again and adds, "Particularly physics, actually."

Ishida looks mildly startled by the clap on the shoulder, but he manages a slight smile in return. "I believe I can make that deadline." He can, of course, especially with winter break approaching fast. He just doesn't want to sound too confident.

Now the conversation moves between Freeman and Asakura, and Ishida takes the chance to listen quietly, gathering up his things in preparation for class. Ah, another intellectual? She sounds that way, anyway. Hopefully they'll get along well. She seems nice enough.

The smile wanes a little bit, the exuberance of the young lady's pandering to his skillset being a bit offsetting, "Hmm. I look forward to seeing you in my classes." He looks down at a fraying cuff momentarily as he shifts his briefcase between hands. Catching a glimpse of a rather battered digital watch in the process, he lets out a sigh of resigned exasperation.

"I have to get going; Classes don't teach themselves..." he extends a hand to shake with each student in turn and meanders off through the crowd.