Harold's morning, meanwhile, had been fairly effective. After Melissa had left for school, he'd made his own way out to deliver the more detailed invitation for his and Virginia's wedding to Dean Myers. The wedding wasn't scheduled until Saturday, but it made sense to have things ready ahead of time so the Dean could plan ahead for it and that also went well. He thanked Dean Myers for his time and then left, and this time he did not hear the echoes of angry shouting coming up the stairway from the entry area to the administration building. That left him free to go about some errands on his own for the morning that related to other aspects of his coming time as a professor at the college. He'd handled all that he needed with the Dean and getting all those things in line, but there would be other things to handle.
That then took him down to the Social Science building that was a few buildings to the south of the Administration building. He'd gotten a tour of the building during his interview and hiring confirmation. The building was shaped like a capital letter "L" when looked down on from the top with the classrooms being on the southern part of the building and the offices for the faculty on the northern side of the building. As Harold entered the building from the western side, he came into a well let entry area with much of the light coming from the sun coming in through the large glass windows on either side. Some of the stairwells that lead up to the upper floors allowed for some shadows to be cast, but it wasn't enough to put the room in darkness and that in turn helped frame a metal sculpture of the globe which glinted in both the sunlight and what minimal electric lights that were on during the day. It made for an impressive entry area, and Harold did smile as he made his way up the stairs since the History Department offices were on the second floor.
There were a few classes that were going, but not every class and not every professor would necessarily start at the same time. Some professors might not come in until before their classes started, but others often came in when it related to department meetings or work on grading or other planning tasks for the day's lessons and Harold figured that hopefully the department head might be in that situation. He did so quietly and made his way in and then down the hallway. There were the lines of doors that lead into the various offices for the professors the college employed in the history department and Harold kept his focus on the specific name plates that were by each door. The plates listed the number for the door and the name of the professor. Eventually he came to one that had an addition to it, and that was "History Department Head." Mustering up his courage, Harold then knocked on the door and got a calm answer of "come in."
Harold opened the door to find a lone man seated at a desk and checking things on a computer. The man looked a bit puzzled, likely expecting that the person knocking on his door would be a student, as with it now being early November, it wouldn't be too far away from when students would begin having their meetings with advisors to set their schedule for the next semester and so on. Thus it wouldn't be likely that an adult would be expected and Harold chose to introduce himself to get things started.
"Professor Harold Jenkins, sir," Harold introduced himself, "I was hired to pick up from Warren Remington when he retires at the end of the present semester..."
"Ah... Jenkins," the man nodded, "the one who got caught in a fight with his neighbors... and how are you doing?"
"Quite well... and engaged with the weretigress from that fight," Harold answered, "and happy to be engaged to her, though that's not why I'm here."
"I'm sure," the man answered, "though we can't move your things in until during the Christmas break period."
"I'm sure," Harold nodded, "and I'm not really starting with that. I was just wanting to check to see that things the syllabi and other materials got passed down. For the moment, I've had contact with the Administration and the Dean's office and all that.
"Oh, they did pass them down," the man answered with a nod and with Harold picking up the scent of wererat on him, "and they do look good. So, you don't need to worry there. They'll fit in well with the Spring Semester when that starts in February. You'll be partnering with Professor Sylvester in the Interim period in January. It'll largely be a history debate course and will help you get hands on work with our department and system here. I'd guide you to her door, but she has a class right now... But you'll likely get to meet her over the Christmas break to talk more on those issues."
"Thank you, and I'd look forward to meeting everyone," Harold spoke, "I simply wanted to make sure you'd gotten everything."
"And we did, though, we'll also have a lot to get to before you can officially start," the man answered, "You're free to use the library and so on... but I have my own schedule to keep."
Harold nodded and politely excused himself. From there he spent his morning going over things in college's library and its archives. At first it had been more a means to get some understanding of the basics and learning on how Moon Lake had developed and set its various local laws and so on. That had been part of his own reasoning for looking for a way to adapt to things in Moon Lake and would be part of his own way into looking into what had seemed to draw Melissa to it. Of course, then came the fight between Virginia and Alice and his becoming a weretiger as a result of that fight and things obviously changed from there. Now, it was more a curiosity at Moon Lake's history and the past of a community that he'd truly become a part of. It related to his general interest in history more than anything else, and Harold found himself lost in looking over those things. It was actually nearing lunch time when he looked up to see that he'd spent much of the morning reading in the college library.
Returning the journal he'd been reading from to the shelf it had come from, Harold made his way out, removing the plastic gloves that were provided by the library staff member that was monitoring the archive level and dropped them into the garbage bin and then began to make his way out. From there it wasn't too far back to the parking lot in front of the Administration Building, where he'd parked his car when he first came to the campus to deliver the details to Dean Myers regard his and Virginia's wedding. That walk was calm and easy with the sound of wind softly blowing through the threes and rustling some leaves on the ground. As he came around the sidewalk that came between the library and the administration building and to the parking lot, Harold came across something he didn't expect. It was a young man seated on the steps to the administration building with a large cardboard box next to him.
"Excuse me, son, do you need any help?" Harold offered as he approached and half startling the young man, who clearly didn't expect any company from the direction which Harold had come from, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Do you need any help?"
"No... I'm just waiting for my dad," the young man answered.
Harold looked past the young man, noting that he was a normal human, and could see that the admissions building was still there and likely going about its day. Though, he expected by now many of the people would either be going too lunch or were eating and wouldn't be available for any new business.
"And he works for the college?" Harold wondered, guessing that the young man's father worked for the college.
"No," the young man stood up, "I'm Frank Van Direstag... My family recently moved here from Michigan. My father and I had some business to handle transferring things from an online learning plan to in person learning. We had all that handled this morning and my dad had to head out to pick my mom up from the hospital. I stayed to get my books and have a look around... though we were supposed to meet back up here..."
Harold watched Frank looked down to the box, which had to holding Frank's books.
"Van Direstag... you wouldn't happen to have a sister named Rachel, would you?" Harold asked politely.
"A younger sister, yes," Frank answered and looking up to the man that had approached him. The man was reasonably well dressed and rather athletic looking, much like his father's human form had taken on after becoming a werelion. In this, Frank guessed the man was a were, but he was a bit hazy on some things, largely as he'd never focused that intently on his sister's friends. The man gave a fairly friendly smile and offered him a hand.
"Harold Jenkins, I'll be teaching history in the coming interim and spring semesters," Harold introduced himself, "and I believe my daughter is friends with your sister. If you're in need of a ride home, I'd be more than happy to do so... And with as big as that box looks, unless you're right across the street, it might be a bit far to walk."
The Jenkins name caught Frank's attention. He'd remembered Rachel complaining about not being able to talk to a Melissa Jenkins over the course of the drive from Michigan to Washington State and this at times included some commentary that Melissa was in Washington already. That was then further confirmed when Rachel had come home, knew about weres and reported that she'd run into Melissa and Melissa had already shared that information. That let Frank piece some things together. Frank also noted a rather fatherly look of concern cross Harold's face, and he decided to answer.
"No... I'll be fine," Frank said slowly, "things are just hectic for us right now... all the... well..."
"What makes Moon Lake special," Harold nodded, "I met your father yesterday... and he seemed frustrated over things, including the town's mandatory were law and all that sort of thing..."
"He still doesn't like that law... but the situation became a bit more complicated than just that," Frank answered, "the law won't be a problem... but there are other things that will have to be dealt with. Which I can't get into right now... but it would be some of those things that has delayed my dad right now. All I need to do is wait... he'll be here eventually."
"You're sure?" Harold asked, "I could loan you my phone and you could call your folks to see if you need a ride... or at least figure out what's keeping them."
"Yeah... I'm sure," Frank answered, "but thank you for the offer."
Harold slowly moved on. A part of him didn't want to just leave the young man there, as if he'd just picked up his books he'd have a lot of stuff to carry, but the situation wasn't one where he'd have to insist on it. The weather looked to be fairly good for the day, which meant it wasn't likely to rain. He'd found that Moon Lake really didn't have too much in the way of crime that would be super worrying. It happened from time to time, and Moon Lake's greatest worry was with regard to "rogue weres," but so far Harold hadn't seen or heard too much about criminal activity that would go beyond the mess that Alice Decrux had caused before her death fleeing the Moon Lake Police. Thus there didn't seem to be any pressing threat, and at the same time, Harold had to admit that Frank was a young man. Harold couldn't insist on anything. So, he gave a polite wave and walked on to his car, which wasn't too far away before climbing in.
"Hopefully he's right about his ride being here soon," Harold thought to himself as he put the key in the ignition, "and hopefully they get through things okay."