First Encounters

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

"Thanks." She offered the main receptionist a bright smile before heading towards the offices. During her time in college, Pandora had never really used any of the office times that her professors had open, so she never really knew where the teacher's offices were located until a few days ago. It had been a week and a half since Pandora finally made her arrival back to the Academy after being gone for about six months. She was now done with undergrad and wasn't really sure where to go from there. Which was why she applied back to the Academy and managed to snag the open recruiter and teacher assistant positions. She figured if she wanted to go anywhere else with her love for fashion, photography, baking and cooking, she might as well figure it out here.

Pandora made her way through the hallway of offices and tried to remember where the receptionist told her Seiji's new office would be located. She said he would have been there instead of the lab, due to his summer office hours that were currently posted. It was kind of exciting, to know Seiji had moved up to not only being a specialist but also a teacher. It made her seriously proud of him. The thought of it kept bringing a smile to her face. Pandora always knew how much he loved helping others, his heart was always so big, and he was such an intelligent person and now he was able to use all of that to teach as well.

While she did inform Seiji about her departure back home because of how homesick she had been, Pandora managed to keep in contact with him every now and then; It was just that she had sort of failed to tell him that she was coming back. You know, with her being busy and she figured it would have been a nice surprise anyway. Hopefully he didn't think of this visit as too unexpected to the point where he didn't want to see her. She had even brought him a gift basket she made filled with candy, wrapped cookies and office supplies, and even a barnes and nobles gift card. Hopefully he liked it!

She stopped in front of the office door with a closed thermal coffee mug in her hand, her shoulder bag on her shoulder and the gift basket in her other hand. Oh wait. How in the world was she supposed to knock with her hands full? Okay so she didn't really think thing through. Pan glanced around before tapping the front of her high heel against the door. "Room Service."

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji did know about Pandora leaving, but that didn't mean it made it any easier on him. He was very fragile when it came to his friends leaving because he had lost so many over the years. Sometimes he just wanted to hold onto them and beg them not to leave. Yet, that would have been selfish of him, so he always smiled, gave them his best wishes, and just hoped that they would be alright and he would see them again. He was just happy that Pandora had at least kept in contact with him when she could and it was always nice to hear that she was doing well. He honestly was pleased to hear that she was doing so well, but he did miss her.

Needless to say, he had no idea that she had come back or that she even planned on coming back to the school when she was done with her schooling. So he was just relaxing in his office as a teacher. Now he had two offices, which meant even more time that he was going to be spending in the school. Not that he was upset by that, because it meant more ways for him to be able to help out those who needed his help with their power or to learn about powers in general. He blinked several times as he looked to his door at the knock and the words about room service.

Ghost knew who it was right away, he could smell her when he flicked out his tongue and the snake was already speed slithering across the floor to the door as Seiji went to open it. "There is no room service...at least if there is I didn't as-PANDORA!" Seiji said as he quickly surged forward to give her a hug, being careful to not knocked what she had in her hands on the ground, so came in from the side. Ghost was all over her feet so it was very possible Pandora was going to end up falling with all of this attention.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

Okay so maybe saying it was 'Room Service' may be have been a bit cliched? Just a tiny bit? Pandora didn't really catch on to that possibility until after she said it. What school offered room service anyway? Heck, the Academy still served pretty crappy coffee last she remembered. Then there was that voice, the all too familiar voice that managed to put a smile on her face no matter what part of the country she was in. It was as if her eyes lit up and the grin never faded.

The hug had taken her off guard for the moment but it was certainly welcomed. She smiled brightly as she giggled, more than excited to see him again. "SEIJI!!!" She turned slightly to give him a proper hug, even with her closed thermal mug and gift basket in her hands, she didn't care. She had missed him so much! It wasn't until she felt something moving all along her feet, which had taken her not only off guard but off balance. "Ack!" She tried to gain her balance with her arms flailing in the air before falling and dropping everything as she landed on her butt. Which probably wouldn't have hurt as much if she had any butt to begin with.

Looking towards her feet she couldn't help but to smile as she held her arms out towards Ghost if he was willing to give her a hug so that she could rub him. How could she ever forget Seiji's biggest baby, she had always admired how beautiful each and every one of them were, especially Ghost. "Of course I can't forget about you! Hey handsome!"

Pan then looked up at Seiji from the floor, with a bright smile, "Surprise! I so wanted to tell you I was coming back but I thought just popping up would have been fun. I can't believe you're a teacher now! I was like so shocked when the receptionist lady was like 'oh he may be in his office', and I was just like 'Omygawsh, his office? He's not in his lab office but his office, office?' and she was like, 'Yes dear, his office office'."

[Seiji Lockard]

It was good to hear Pandora's voice not through a phone or reading it from a letter or email. To have her right there in person where he could touch her. It was just too perfect. This month was the greatest. Now two people he cared a lot about and was worried on some level were back to him and in the flesh before his eyes. He could not help but to be worried something bad was going to happen soon with all of this good luck for him. Yet, he did his best to not think about that and instead focused on the fact that he had Pandora here now. He was going to enjoy every moment of it.

"Careful." Seiji said as he managed to catch himself from falling onto Pandora when she fell back. He had wanted to try and catch her but Ghost's large body had been hard to avoid and caused him to trip up as well. Thankfully Seiji was tall so didn't have to work too hard to catch himself with his long limbs. He was pretty close to Pandora still, which caused him to blush for a moment before he moved to stand up and help her to her feet. Ghost didn't see that he did anything wrong and was quick to slither up Pandora and nuzzle her under her jaw when she opened her arms up to him. He was all for her petting him and just holding him close.

His master could be a slacker and not hug all over her, but Ghost was going to do it. "He says he missed you a lot, you smell really good, that mast-I missed you as well and..." Seiji informed her of his oldest snakes rambling, stopping towards the end and started to blush even more at the things Ghost was saying. He really needed to keep them from watching dramatic TV shows and just in general away from all things human and try and get them to be like normal snakes. That would be impossible. "This is a great surprise, I'm happy you are back." Seiji said, fully planning on giving her another hug when she was on her feet.

"Oh yes, I wanted to be able to help out even more so figured teacher a Mutant 101 class would add to that and of course I'm still mainly focused on helping out with people’s side-effects." Seiji informed her, blushing a little at how pleased she sounded for him and just because of how happy he was. "How are you doing? When did you get in? Your powers not giving you too much trouble are they?" Seiji could not help but to ask several questions at once as he ushered her into his teacher office.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

One could say that Pandora truly missed this. Being surrounded by people... and snakes, that she cared about. She wasn't even sure how she could have possibly stayed back home for so long, to think she almost decided to not come back. What a crazy idea. Pandora smiled towards Ghost's large body as she petted him with one hand and used the other to allow Seiji to help her up. "Is it me or did Ghost get bigger? That or I'm totally understanding what happens when I get lazy back home and miss more than a few workouts."

She smiled as her eyes squinted, "Aawww shucks, thanks fellas.I missed you both... a lot." She nodded while mentioning the last part while giving Seiji another hug. Her bright eyes looked up at him with curious eyes, "How is Akiko and the rest of them doing? I so need to give them a visit when you're not busy." She hoped they were all good and well. It was hard to forget Akiko, especially when Pandora met her and Seiji at the same time.

Pan slapped the back of Seiji's arm, not noticing how hard she did it. "Look at you! Mr. Lockard!" She studied him up and down with a proud smile, "I think that's great. It really is. I think the students are lucky to have you as a new teacher, as well as the staff." It was nice to know that Seiji still cared about her past issues with her abilities even now. She gave Ghost's body another gentle pat. "No, my powers have been... okay, so far. I mean I still have those nights every blue moon but I figured maybe once I got back, you could check it out for me." She picked up her bag and basket before moving with Seiji into his office. Placing them down once she took a seat in the available chair next to the door.

She nodded, "But I'm good! I'm really good. I got here just the other day. After graduation I applied here... well; online, to be a T.A. for Home Ec and the open recruiter position, and surprisingly, I got it! So... here I am!" Pan couldn't help but to giggle and slightly throw her arms in the air. "Oh!" She reached down and placed the perfectly (in her opinion) decorated and wrapped gift basket she made for Seiji. "A gift, for you." She smiled up at him before looking back down at it and pointed out all that it included. "It has a Barnes and Nobles gift card, it also has a Nook; you know, in case you want to keep your books on you; tablet wise, it even has different apps and stuff. A mug with these cute snakes on it, and candy... lots of candy. 'Cause you know; who doesn't love candy? And I hand made a small blue frame with a picture inside, when we went to the fair last year. I have one in my new room... but mine is pink." She semi-blushed as she looked back up at him with a smile. Pandora pushed a few strands of her straightened hair behind her ears. She just hoped he'd like it.

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji could not help but to laugh when Ghost paused at Pandora's question and tilted his head to the side a little. If only she could understand what he was saying, then she probably would have thought it was funny too. "No, she is not saying you have gotten fat, but you have gotten bigger. He has grown a few inches since the last time you saw him." Seiji informed her after talking to Ghost first. Ghost went back to nuzzling her once that was cleared up. Like he could even be fat, his whole body was pretty much muscle and he had no need for fat with the current season.

Seiji smiled and blushed a little when Pandora revealed that she had missed them both a lot. He sometimes wondered if people would miss him and just hearing it made him feel special and like he was doing something right. Seiji of course hugged her back, trying his best to not just squeeze her much like ghost wanted to but knew better. "Oh she is good. She has a new girl crush but I'm sure she will be head over heels for you once she sees you. The rest are well, Leevi is still a little on the pervy side and Sapphire still dislikes everyone." Seiji informed her as he thought about how all of his snakes were doing.

Other than some of them growing a little they all had been doing pretty well, thankfully. "We can sometime today if you want. I don't actually start classes until summer break is over. Right now it’s mostly my side-effects job with some small test classes to see if I can actually be a teacher since they kind of said yes without me actually having a teaching degree." Seiji said before putting a finger to his lips to sign that it was a secret. He didn't think he really needed one, the school trusted him and he had proved how useful he was in both helping and teaching things even before he became a teacher. He blushed a little at her praise as he ruffled his hair a little and tried to not think too highly of himself.

"I hope I will be able to help more people understand their powers and what they are. I just...want to be useful." Seiji confessed, feeling very passionate about being useful to his fellow mutants and the people around him. He was smiling the whole time until she spoke of her power which had him worried and he was quickly nodding his head yes at her suggestion about him taking a look at her. "Yes, I would like that very much. We can even do that today as well. I was very worried about your power and I think I might have something to help with the uncontrolled porting while you sleep." Seiji informed her as he looked away. He had never asked her okay for such a thing and kind of went ahead with it ever since that time she had broken her leg.

He was smiling again as she informed him that she was doing good and catching him up on what she had been doing and what she would be doing here. "That is great to hear! I'm so happy for you and a very welcome back to BA! I wish you would have told me so I could have gotten a little party together or even a gift." Seiji said as he wondered if there was anything he could do today to be like a welcome back party or gift for her. Here she was the one who brought him a gift and he just stood there as she told and showed him everything she got for him. Getting a gift was a very knew thing for him; other than the time he had gotten Ghost as a gift. "Pandora...you didn't have to...this is so nice. Thank you so much, truly. I mean it." Seiji said, rubbing at his eyes because he honestly got a little teary eye there as he moved over to give her a hug again.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

Pan giggled at Seiji's response to Ghost. "Ooohh noo, Ghost. I would never call you fat." By now she was used to waiting for Seiji and his snakes to converse and was really good at picking up what they were talking about just from Seiji's responses alone. It was like witnessing a one sided conversation but in this case, Seiji wasn't some crazy homeless person. He was actually conversing. She grinned while laughing, "A girl crush, yeah? I'm jealous and here I would be the only girl for her." Either way, it felt good to hear that everyone was doing well.

While nodding, she gestured at her zipping her mouth shut. Degree schmegree, the Academy was right about allowing him to teach the class. Seiji was one of the most qualified people that Pandora had the pleasure of knowing. "But yeah, today sounds great. I had nothing else planned today and I would really appreciate it." Her smile softened, it was still nice to know that Seiji worried about her even while she was away. "Oh Seiji, just like you to worry. Just don't worry too much. My sleep 'porting happened way more when I was here than back home... but it still happens so you know, every now and then."

"Don't worry about it, surprising you was more than a gift in itself." She smiled. At least he enjoyed his gift and that's all that really mattered now. In her opinion, coming back wasn't as big as Seiji getting a new position. It was a big deal and she was so excited for him. She accepted his hug and hugged him back. She gave his cheek a quick kiss before cupping the sides of his face in her hands. Her big hazel eyes looked up at him, "I didn't have to but I wanted to. You've always been such a good friend to me, Seij and I appreciate and adore you so much. It was the least I could do." Pandora knew she didn't have too many friends because apparently people didn't take well to a hyperactive and bubbly personality but Seiji had always been a friend and stuck by her side and that meant a lot to her. "You just gotta promise me you won't end up spending nights without sleep in that lab of yours." She laughed, "I know how you get when you're all in your science-guy-mode."

[Seiji Lockard]

Seiji was impressed that Pandora was able to pick up what they were talking about, but he was not really surprised. She had hung out with all of them a lot before she left so it made sense she was able to pick up on their conversation just based off of what Seiji would say out loud. He did not always talk out loud to his snakes, but when people who knew of his ability were around he did. It just made him feel like there would be no awkward silence that way and they would know that he was in a constant conversation with his reptiles for the most part. At any rate, Ghost just nuzzled Pandora more when she assured him that she would never call him fat.

"You should know how Akiko is. Anyone that complements her is her next crush, plus she might be a little upset at you for leaving her for so long but I'm sure she will forgive you when she sees you again." Seiji informed her and then quickly tried to make sure to reassure her. Not that he thought it was a big deal if Akiko was upset with you, since the snake easily got upset with anyone who didn't make things all about her. He was pleased that Pandora was going to keep his secrete, but he honestly was not worried. He felt like he could trust her with anything and that she had his back just like he had hers. "Wonderful, we can stop by my room first to see everyone and then go over to the lab to give you a quick check up if you don't mind." Seiji said, pleased that she was free for the day.

He did not want to bother her with checkups and seeing his snakes again if she was busy, even if he really did want to do a checkup to make sure she was at least not suffering from anything serious. Plus he wanted her to test out what he had come up with so far to help with her night time teleporting issue. "Hmmm...the environment effects it as well, I will have to make some changes but I did make something that I figured could help lessen the problem. However; now I want to take an even closer look to be sure the medicine is targeting the actual cause of the problem." Seiji said, not wanting to give her anything less then what would actually make at least somewhat of a difference with her problem. He relaxed a little when she said that he didn't owe her a gift or anything, even if he still planned to try and get her something at some point.

He would not feel right until he did. She smelled wonderful and it was nice to be able to hug her again. The kiss to his cheek had him blushing a little and then he really started to blush as she supped his face and they were making eye contact. "That is what friends are for." Seiji quickly responded, talking a little faster due to him currently blushing like crazy at the moment, but he still smiled at her. He chuckled a little as she tried to get him to promise to not do what he was likely going to end up doing even if he didn't meant to. "I don't think I can promise that. I get caught up in it all and just forget everything, but I'll try not to do it too much so I don’t' worry you." Seiji informed her as he would move to pick Ghost up, lock his room, and start to lead the way to his room.