Setting
- 36 posts here • Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Some days it was difficult to tell if you'd lain in bed a little too long. Even during the summer, the light difference between night and day time wasn't especially pronounced. Even after ten years, there was still plenty of dust, ash and god knows what other crap obscuring the sun's light. Not enough to cause an ice age (which was odd, because many people had predicted one) but certainly enough to bring down the light levels.
Today it had caught Simon out. He'd slept in, and not set his alarm. The display on his PDA was the first thing to alert him as he rolled out of bed. He dressed hastily, and dragged a comb through his hair until it looked vaguely presentable.
Did it really matter so much that he was late for classes? Not really. The acadmy didn't have a rigid timetable. They'd decided early on that wouldn't work, because there were so many students with different specialties. The professor who's lovechild the academy was had bestowed upon the teachers the idea that the students are the future, let them lead the way. It sounded like a hippy lyric to most, but the staff tried to be faithful to it. Which meant allowing the students to largely dictate how they wanted classes to run. The teachers were just there to bring the knowledge.
Once he was done, he decided there wasn't time for breakfast...it would be lunchtime soon anyway. So he hurried out of his appartment and took the stairs down one level, to the 16-20s student floor. See it wasn't just staff that had a propensity to lay in in the absence of bright sunlight...and if the students had a feeling some of the staff weren't up, they'd milk it for all it was worth. In other words each student would either be a) still in bed, b)lounging around in their chalet, or c) by some miracle motivated to go to whichever morning classes had been running.
One thing for sure, though, was that they would be getting up for afternoon class. Even if Simon didn't bang on the door to motivate them, Monday afternoons all the students had Dragology; a subject which unsurprisingly caught the imagination of all the young people and had a correspondingly pristine attendance rate.
Dragology...was that even a word? Simon found it hard not to be a little skeptical about the whole idea of having it as a subject in it's own right. Sure, dragons were fairly topical to say the least, but why not just cover them in biology and current affairs? Or perhaps it was the research element of the subject which gave it it's pride of place. Even so...Simon didn't trust that guy. Was that his first name or his last name? Did anyone even know? The guy was a few tenors short of a choir, no doubt about that, but most disturbingly of all he was a strong proponent of the Tamer ideals. Over this, Simon was happy to agree to disagree, but it bothered him that Areev seemed more inclined than the other staff to impress his own policy on the students.
And then Simon's brain began to hurt just thinking about it all, and his thoughts turned to the need for coffee, which he could get in his office in the main complex. But not without escorting any tarrying students with him.
"Eh! Let's get moving eh?" he called out, pounding the door with his fist, hoping at least one person was inside to hear him.
"Unless you bring coffee," she grumbled, "I don't care who you are or what you want." She closed the door again and walked back towards her bed, flopped down and buried her face back in the pillow, sighing in relief. After a moment, the name and face clicked together, and she flew into an upright position, her heart in her throat.
He was a teacher here, the one for Dragology, one of the only classes she looked forward to. She rolled out of bed and onto the floor with an audible thump, and began to search for a pair of pants. She threw the door open again as she tugged her jeans up, hopping up and down on one foot as she worked the denim over her slim hips.
"See, what I MEANT to say was, uh, right away! ...Sir!"
Richard was now up, sitting in the lounge having just come back from his early morning classes. He liked to show up whether the teachers or any of the other students showed up or not. If he was alone, it became independent study, which he was always prepared to do, which was actually what he was doing right now, as he waited for the afternoon classes to start. He was sitting on a sofa reading a book on water sanitation methods. It was just one of many topics Richard considered to be important enough to be useful someday. He'd already read the book three times in the past, but felt like some of it's knowledge had become to slip from his mind, and was hoping to reinforce the information.
He heard the knock coming from a door, and recognized the voice. He rolled his eyes as some of the other teens stirred from their slumber. He didn't appreciate the nonchalant attitude that many of his peers, and apparently, teachers, had towards punctuality and productivity. He remembered a time when his father was alive, that about this time each day, his father and his team would've conducted 3 experiments, write out 5 reports, fill out piles of paperwork, and would just now be taking a break so that they could be ready to finish out the next half of their work day. Richard didn't like the idea of anybody wasting time, as time was a very valuable resource. But he chose to say nothing. These kind of people weren't worth the time scolding. They probably lacked the ability to comprehend simple logic anyway.
As he combed his hair, brushed his teeth and did any other minor adjustment to his person that was required, Elit mentally kicked himself for not waking up earlier. He'd be damned it he missed Dragology class! Simon Stawski was the man he looked up to, besides his mother and his ten-year deceased father (may God have mercy on his soul). It was the highlight of his days, giving him debates to dwell on and problems to solve. What was more mysterious in the world than a dragon?
Coming out the bathroom, his clothes hastily thrown over his body, Elit spotted a girl at the doorway, speaking to whoever knocked. Hadn't he seen her open the door and go lay back down on his way to the bathroom? Stopping himself behind her, Elit sucked in a sharp breath when he spotted who was outside. Simon Stawski.
"OH! S-Sir! How n-nice of you t-to come with a wake up call...!" Elit was sure that his cheeks were turning a bright red color, only imagining how terrible he looked with his hasty outfit.
"Y'know, Teach," she called out as she slipped into one of the adjoining restrooms and whipped off her t-shirt, thanking whatever deity exists that she decided to wear a bra to bed the past night, "I thought professors were suppossed to be all strict and uppity, not waking up later than students!" She had been awoken early that morning by the sound of doors opening and clicking shut, and, in hopes to chew the perpatrator out, poked her head into the hall. A retreating back had been the only things her drooping eyes had caught, and she had stumbled back to bed, a gentle grumble her only response.
She splashed her face with cold water from the sink and brushed her teeth as the droplets ran down her chin and neck and dampened the edges of her bra, then whipped her unruly red hair back into a ponytail and slipped a tank-top hanging on the door over her head, before popping back towards the door. With a bat of her long eyelashes, she lay her arm on Elit's shoulder, and grinned cheekily.
And then Lily was back out of her room again, giving some more like a 'correct' answer this time. He nodded towards her, and again said nothing as she ran off to the bathroom. The initial flurry of activity was encouraging, but for all the noise not many faces emerges. Simon closed his eyes and shook his head. There were so many battles to fight, and the good guys were losing on every front. Dragons vs the human race. Ragtag students vs me. The desire for coffee vs the probability of there being time to get any before class. Etc vs etc.
He opened his eyes as Elit addressed him. "Yeah peachy isn't it." Simon said gruffly, "Not a wake-up call I'm afraid...or at least if it is it's a wake-up call to all of us to pull out socks up and try taking this a bit more seriously. Well...almost all of us..."
He threw a smile over at Richard at that point. Not an entirely pleasant smile, but half 'good on you for setting an example' and half 'damn you incorrigible know-it-all for making us all look bad'.
And then Lily appeared once again, this time with a bit of life in her it seemed and that endearing - no wait, make that tiresome - gleam in her eye.
"You thought that huh?" he said, "Well I thought it was man's right to get up in the morning, walk down the street for coffee, and then get on the subway, go to work and talk to his colleagues about the weekend's Maple Leafs game. But you know what's true? Sometimes, things happen than challenge what we think. So..." at this point he raised his voice so those still in their beds could hear "...is anyone else coming or shall I just arrange for the pork chops to be sent up when they're ready?"
Wolf raised his head of the pillow at the sound of something being called out from the living area. Ugh...damn...have I missed breakfast? What the hell time is it? He looked across at his alarm clock, but realised that his view was obscured due to there being a CD case stuck to the side of his face. Raising a hand he flicked it off and looked at the time...and started to laugh. Missed Maths class? RESULT!
As quickly as he could manage - which wasn't very - he rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of cargo pants and a sweatshirt over the top of his bed t-shirt. Who was there worth getting scrubbed up for after all? Were there any nice looking girls in the academy? Hell...maybe...but they were the only girls he'd ever seen. For all he knew they could be butt-ugly by world-standards, and only seemed attractive because his sampling so was narrow. It was different when it came to guys of course, he thought as he looked in the mirror and tried to do something with his hair. Guys are just meant to look rugged, so in Wolf's mind he was pretty sure he was pretty drop dead stunning. The fact that he thought this whilst picking a bit of cilantro out of his teeth didn't strike him as in any way ironic...
Once he'd gathered enough balance, he hobbled out into the living area and raised a hand.
"Pah-yo-yo y'all." he said, "What's cookin'? Take me to class or lose me forever baby."
Richard acknowledged Simon's half hearted words calling for the students to take things 'a bit more seriously', along with his artificial smile in his direction, and he knew it was artificial, for no one was ever sincerely filled with pleasant thoughts when looking at him. He was not amused with his speech, and made no effort to return the smile, and in fact, effortlessly maintained his frown back at him.
"Nice words." Richard told the instructor. "But it would be nice if the actions matched. I'm just saying."
Richard knew he had a problem, namely, in showing respect towards people who don't deserve it. On an intellectual level, he knew that it was very important towards his survival to be liked, so that he wouldn't end up being the first one eaten when things got desperate, or to be the one left behind when they'll all being chased by dragons. But on another intellectual level, he knew that if his life was ever dependent on any person currently standing in this room, he would be doomed from the start, so why make any effort to be liked?
He moaned internally once again as another student arrived, another person that he would not trust his life to. He seriously doubted the survival skills of anybody who would make up their own words to use as a greeting when there were already several other greeting words he could've chosen. What does Pah-yo-yo even mean? It was like a secret code with no solution, exactly the kind of thing that would bother Richard all day.
She grabbed her over sized handbag and took a deep breath before pulling the handle on the door, it opened with a soft 'click'. She quickly got out and closed the door behind her. Seeing some people she thought to be students walking, talking or sitting around, Charlotte decided to sit on a couch and read a book, or at least pretend to read, for a while, to wait until lunch time, or next class. She located a couch not too far and walked up to it, let herself gracefully down and took a Douglas Adams' classic from the seventies from her handbag and opened the first page.
Terence went back to his trunk and grabbed his notebook labeled Dragology and a pen before following the masses as they moved towards the lunch room. Upon entering, Terrence didn't see anyone he noticed, so instead of fighting through the crowds, he decided to plant himself on a couch fairly close to the door, sitting a few feet away from an attractive girl reading a Douglas Adams book on the same couch. Terrence opened up his Dragology notebook and began reviewing what Professor Stawski had covered last time and waited for lunch to be ready.
Lily felt challenged by him, and she stiffened, narrowing her eyes. She was usually easy-going, but disrespectful people were something she could not stand. She strode over to him, still standing in her bare feet, and glared up, close enough to feel the heat from his body, far enough that she could dodge backwards if needed, and cause some damage.
"Listen, bud," she coughed, curling her lip in a snarl, "just because you're some freaky super-human who doesn't need sleep, doesn't mean you can trash-talk your superiors." She poked a finger into his chest, not hard, but a bit sharp. It may have been early, but she was never too tired to start a fight.
She didn't like acting like this, but it was merely instinct. Inside, a meek voice begged her to close her mouth and back away, allow the adult to handle him, but fire was building in her lungs, and she was ready to tussle. Just this past night, she had dreamed of a young child with untameable red curls, a shy creature with a tendency to hide behind her mother's skirts when problems began to arise. But whether that child was her or not, Lily could not back down. She wanted to make a good impression, and prove herself capable of whatever anyone, including this cazzo, could throw at her.
He wanted to avoid any physical confrontation while at this school, but he also didn't consider himself weak, and would in no way back down from this show of undeserved aggression. Instead of retaliating with a show of his own physical prowess, which would be rather humiliating for him, he'd decided to fight her the only way he knew how, with a battle of words.
"So, suddenly, it's a super human ability to get up before noon?" Richard inquired. "I'll take it. I'd prefer super human to lazy any day. And just so you know, I would never trash talk my superiors, as you put it. Unfortunately, I don't appear to have any superiors in this room, whatsoever." He looked around the room, specifically at Lilly at Simon, just hoping that one of them would have the intellect to recognize his insult. For the first time since Simon knocked on the door, he smirked. He realized a second too late that he probably shouldn't have, but it was too late to back out of it now. He continued smirking.
"Perhaps superhuman was not the best choice of words. Rather, I find it odd that you should be so completely against the fact that we," here she gestured to the scattered people inhabitting the room, "would enjoy sleep. Brains and bodies function better with sleep, and if we are ever to compete with your intellect, we must need a lot of it." While being obviously sarcastic, her tone was still venemous, and she narrowed her eyes into slits.
"I would never be one to say that I am anyone's superior, but where I'm from, the man who teaches the class? Yeah, he's obviously superior to you. That's why he's TEACHING the damn CLASS. I think a horse with three broken legs would be your superior, friend. And unless you want that pretty smirk ruined, I'd suggest you wipe it off your mug."
Insulted as she was, threatening a fight was pushing limits, even for her. Did she want Simon to think her a bloodthirsty buffoon? Or the other kids, for that matter? As the battle around her raged, a battle inside took place, pitting her natural, compationate human nature against her bruised ego.
This kid was obviously bigger than her, as were most boys, and he looked sturdy enough, but that didn't bother her. She'd spent enough time learning to use her enemy's force against them. The thought made her visibly wince. Her enemy? Is that what he was? She certainly hoped not. In her home town, arguments among the males had been solved simply; duke it out, then laugh about it. The system made sense to her. Get out all your anger by physically hitting someone, and once the blind fury is gone, solve the real problem. Lily had been in quite a few of those fights, and quickly had to learn to survive and thrive. Throwing someone off balance or swinging onto their back was fun, as was lobbing rocks from a tree, but those tactics wouldn't work here. She blinked a few times, then banished rational thought from her head and stared up, waiting.
"Well, what's it gonna be? You gonna apologize to the man and get the stick out your arse?"
"Listen, bud," Lily said, her lip curling into a snarl, "just because you're some freaky super-human who doesn't need sleep, doesn't mean you can trash-talk your superiors." To get her point across, Lily jammed her finger into his chest, not quite hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to attempt to receive some sort of reaction from Richard.
"So, suddenly, it's a super human ability to get up before noon?" The American questioned, causing Elit to smile openly. This guy never ceases to amaze me with his wit. Elit thought. "I'll take it. I'd prefer super human to lazy any day. And just so you know, I would never trash talk my superiors, as you put it. Unforrtunately, I don't appear to have any superiors in this room, whatsoever."
This last comment caused Elit to grind his teeth slightly, his hands folding across his chest to hide his clenched fists. Elit wasn't one to allow such feelings to enter his thoughts, but saying that infront of Simon Stawski? Did he not have the decency to keep such comments to himself, or was he intentionaly trying to get under both Lily's and Simon's skin? The dude sometimes really puzzled him.
"Well, there may be no "superiors" here," Elit brought his hands up to quote "superiors", "But some respect is in order for the man who actually gets us thinking about the real problems in the world." Using his foot against the wall, Elit propeled himself from his perch and turned to walk out the door, giving a half wave to the three. "I, on the other hand, have plenty of respect for you, Mr. Simon. If you don't mind, I'll be making my way to you're classroom now so I can have some time to look over some content before the class actually starts. Later!" And with that, he made his way through the lobby and around the corner, disappearing from the three's view.
The confrontation between Richard and Lily left Simon feeling bemused. He couldn't entirely understand what would lead his students to stick up for him, or why he didn't feel more patronised that he should even need them to come to his defence. But it was endearing in a way. Or was it more a statement about the fact that they had such a small pool of adults in their lives that they attached themselves to the ones they had in spite of the glaring inadequacies? A bit like Stockholm Syndrome...
"How about we hold those thoughts guys," he said nonchalantly, "and get to class where attitude and backbiting might at least earn you a decent grade."
He acknowledge Elit as he passed, marking that out as the cue for them all to get going. Didn't look good if a student you'd come to get out of bed still managed to get to class before you. He also acknowledge Wolf with a nod. It wasn't an amazing turnout, but perhaps other students were elsewhere. Not that there was a huge complex of amenities which they might be off enjoying...which was ironic considering the entire campus was supposed to have been the site of the Olympic Games.
"Come on guys," Simon said, stretching his shoulder back and clicking his back slightly, "let's go change the world one paper at a time.
Wolf grinned dopily while the brief argument took place. Richard was someone he had no particular beef with, apart from the fact that he didn't know what the guy was talking about half the time. Richard was cerebral whereas Wolf was more hands on...but at the same time Richard had ideas...and ideas needed to be implemented...and Wolf was an implementing kind of guy.
Lily's performance, on the other hand, he thoroughly enjoyed. There was definitely something attractive about the redhead giving the smug guy what-for. But even if he hadn't been too tired and hungry to think of something to contribute to the discussion, he felt at this stage it would probably have been in his interests not too anyway.
"Alright let's go!" he said enthusiastically.
The classroom was in a seperate building to the residences, across a bleak, gray courtyard of concrete and asphalt, with several stone benches and unfinished stalls. Doors led off to other areas of the academy, including teaching blocks, the cafeteria, the faculty block and the administrative offices. Simon Stawski's classroom was on the second floor of the teaching block, and the walk there took them across the courtyard underneath the equally gray, amorphose sky. The ash layer in the atmosphere left by the asteroid strike had still not entirely cleared, and the sun's light was dispersed so widely that it was almost impossible to tell it's position. It was the same most of the world over, though in other parts of the world that same haze was often the murk within which resided danger and terror. In the skies over the academy, it was simply a reminder of the plight of the world, for no Dragon had been seen so far north in the Americas in years. As the ash layer thinned over time, it was expected the climage would warm and the dragons' territory would increased. The Academy would not be a haven forever...
Bang! Natalie shot up out of her bed with a start. 'What?' With a sigh, she got out of her warm bed and went over and drew one of the curtains. Instead of the bright light that seared her eyes when she was a kid, it was dull outside - not at all like morning. She shrugged, before deciding that the interruption was probably some sort of prank, or an overly excited student who wanted for the notoriously lazy people that attended the Survival Academy to actually go to class.
With a heavy sigh, Natalie returned to her bed with the idea that she was going to bed again until the sun actually came up. She closed her eyes, but from her almost heart-attack from earlier, she felt twitchy, and try as she might, she couldn't quite go back to sleep. Such a shame too - she had some sort of dream... It was about... well, at this point, she couldn't quite remember any more, but Natalie knew that it was something amazingly awesome.
The loud commotion outside certainly didn't help matters either. Her fellow classmates were out there creating a ruckus, without any thought to anyone who might also go to bed. With a heavy sigh, she realized that going to sleep was never going to happen by this rate, and slowly pushed the covers off. She lay there for a few moments - it didn't take that long for her to get ready compared to everyone else, and she really wasn't looking forward to dealing with her 'friends and classmates' this early in the day.
She ran her fingers through her brown hair to get out the largest tangles, before flipping over on to her stomach. Sticking her hand to her side to rummage for a hair tie on her bedside table, she hurriedly put her hair up into a messy bun. That done, she rested her head on the bed again, before slipping out of her soft and ever-so-comfortable bed with another groan.
So seriously, what time was it? Looking at her alarm clock, her eyes widened slightly when she realized that she was running far later than usual. Grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste, she opened the door to her room before entering the bathroom. She brushed her teeth quickly, before throwing everything on her bed, and returned to the center lounge.
The majority of her fellow classmates were there engaging in some sort of conversation, but Natalie didn’t have the time to deal with this at the moment. In a way, she dreaded the future of the world if these were the people who were in charge of destroying the dragons and rebuilding Earth from the rubble upwards. With the way that they couldn’t get much of anything done, she didn’t doubt that if they were given their own way, something dreadful was going to happen. Catching a glimpse of the reason for her getting woken up, one of the teachers at the Survival Academy - Simon... something.
So why was he here in the first place? She had to muse over this question for a few minutes, as her mind didn't feel like moving at any speed in the morning. Then, finally, after a few seconds, her mind put one and one together… and realized why the teacher would have bothered to enter him. It was so dreadfully simple that Natalie didn't know what was preventing her from realizing this earlier.
He was here to rouse them up to go to his lesson. It was time for Dragonology - one of the few subjects that actually kept her attention. Actually, she practically only bothered to go to about two classes, Dragonology and History. Everything else wouldn’t help you survive out in that dreadful world out there. And it was all the fault of those idiotic dragons. If they didn’t have the sudden urge to stop by Earth on their stupid meteor, Natalie would be able to be living in Australia - happily. She had heard that her previous home was completely rubble at this point, and in most of the continent, humans were few in between.
But there was no use thinking about it. She needed to find out how to fix the problem after all - there was really no time to waste. Her stomach growled from the long fast, but she ignored it, with the idea that she would be going to class first...
Even with the hazy air, Lily thought it was a beautiful day, and twirled for dramatic effect a few times, the near blood-bath already forgotten. She decided to walk backwards a few steps, and called back, "Come on, let's go see you put those smart words to paper in class!" Laughing, a real, open laugh, clear as bells, she clambered atop a short stone wall and balanced upon it. She knew it confused people, her venom, but if she didn't confuse them, she wasn't a very good woman, was she? Still grinning, she hopped down near Wolf and stuck her hand out as they walked.
"I don't think we've been entirely introduced, friend. Name's Lily, I'm seventeen, like long walks on the rubble, and my star sign is too clouded to tell." She wanted to prove to someone, anyone, that her embarrasing show of bravado wasn't everything about her. She was smart, and social, and could bake the hell out of double fudge brownies when she wanted to. A fleeting thought passed her mind, of bringing Richard some brownies to apologize for her dramatic behavior. And if he would forgive her, maybe they could help each other. She'd teach him how block and parry blows (she was sure this wouldn't be their first argument), and he could help her with writing papers. She was terrible at writing papers. Words might have been fluid in her head, but once she tried to put them on paper, something odd happened, and she felt like an elephant with a paint brush; people liked the way it looked and clapped for her, but she hadn't a clue what exactly it was she was doing.
As the argument diffused, and the group shifted their focus on heading towards class, Richard followed. In a way, he was glad. He was glad that the disagreement had not escalated any further than it had. He didn't like disturbances of any kind, especially when it disrupted class time, and the fact that he was in the center of one was a major embarrassment. He was also glad to see that Simon had not taken any special offense to his comments, or at least didn't feel the need to say anything about it. He was glad that at least somebody among that group was rational, especially since Richard was convinced he had not said anything wrong. It were the other students that were being irrational, the ones that felt that the man needed to be placed on a higher pedestal, rather than treat him as the equal that he was.
Richard had nothing against Simon, and in fact respected him in his own way. Richard didn't think the man deserved any more admiration than any of them, simply because he was supposed to be their teacher. Anybody could just be given the role of teacher. It really didn't take that much, especially in this time and age. It didn't help that Richard felt like he knew more about dragons than the man who was supposed to be teaching them about dragons. It couldn't be helped when you're the son of a man who devoted himself to the study of dragons since they first appeared, and lived the majority of your life among a group of researchers who tried to study dragons. But though Richard felt superior to Simon in terms of knowledge, and to some extent, work ethic, he did respect the man for the qualities he demonstrated just now.
If it weren't for Simon, his and Lily's argument would've escalated, perhaps towards violence. Simon was level headed and don't not go off at the slightest provocation. This was an admirable trait, and Richard couldn't help but feel like a jerk, considering he was the most guilty of not acting rational in that disagreement. Simon had proven himself to be Richard's superior in at least one aspect in that single moment. He felt like he needed to say something.
"Sorry guys." He murmured as he walked, hoping that whoever needed to hear it heard it. He said it as an apology to the group, for causing a ruckus and disrupting class, but he meant it as an apology towards Simon, who really didn't deserve his grief.
"Alright let's go!" Called out the first one, now in focus, he was obviously older than the rest of the people Charlotte had seen around, so she assumed he was a teacher and was calling them into class. Once the rest of the people following the man walked past, she decided to get up and follow them, going to class sounded like a good idea, well, better than sit uncomfortably close to a guy she didn't know.
"Hey," he said, chuckling at her banter, "yeah I think I knew who you were...your name anyway. I don't think we have so many classes together. But sure, I'm Wolf, I like addressing my hunger, finding ways to connect things and discover what kind of music people hate without having to ask."
He took her hand and gave it a lighthearted shake. He had to acknowledge it was odd that he'd not really spoken to her before, but perhaps it had been so long since they'd all been thrown into a student apartment together that the temptation to remain aloof was quashed by the sheer need to human contact. Some of the students were obviously...'intense' enough to overcome that. But Wolf, for one, was glad that somebody was coming out of their shell.
Simon heard Richard's softly spoken apology, and hid a subtle smile by not looking back to acknowledge it. No apology was strictly necessary, not to Simon at least. And as long as the bad blood between Richard and Lily seemed to be diluting itself, there was no action required After all, these were the kids who were going to rebuild society...or so the remnant of the government seemed to hope. And in society people had to figure out how to get along even when they didn't...'get along'.
He breezed across the courtyard, not wishing to spend any more time out in the cold than he had to, and hit the button on the elevator which was quite close to the classroom block entrance. He looked back to see who was following, and noticed that at least one more girl had joined the group...she was a new arrival but his memory seemed to be throwing the name 'Charlotte' around in his mind. He'd spare her the ordeal of standing up and introducing herself in class. Nobody really appreciated that.
The elevator chimed and he turned around to enter, but stopped and jumped back a little. He hadn't expected to see someone already in the elevator. It was a dark, rather eccentric looking figure, diminuitive in height but with fairly wild, unkempt light brown hair. He wore a dark blue suit which looked like it had seen...well...more than it's fair share of wear and tear. The face Simon barely recognised but the overall impression was that it could only be one person; Areev.
"Professor Stawski I presume?" Areev said.
"Even he." Simon replied brusquely, composing himself. "Were you looking for me or...?"
"Yes yes," Areev said impatiently, "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be giving todays lecture personally."
Simon's eyes widened, and he hesitated before answering. "I...well...sure thing. Fine with me. In that case accompany us to the classroom."
"Very kind." Areev sneered, "Do lead the way."
Approaching the elevator, Elit bounced on the balls of his heels to keep from freezing in place, willing the elevator to move faster. You'd think they'd make machinery at a location where the Olympics might have been held go somewhat faster. As it opened, Elit paused when the doors slide to reveal a man in a suit that had seen better days.
"Professor Stawski I presume?"
"Even he." Simon replyed, gathering himself. "Were you looking for me or...?"
"Yes yes," the man answered impatiently, "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be giving todays lecture personally."
Well, this is an odd turn of events! Elit was surprised that this man, whoever he was, would simply come across Simon and put it to him that he'd be taking over his class. Unsure why, whoever this was seemed familiar to Elit, related to Simon's teachings somehow. Now why could that be?
After the two men exchanged a few more words, Elit leaned towards Simon and whispered his question, "Um...sir? Who is this man? He seems familiar, but I'm afraid I've forgotten..."
Glancing up at his face, she was almost shocked as she realized: He really didn't think anything he'd done was rude! Speaking your mind was a virtue, of course, but it could easily go out of bounds. Lily's face buckled as she noticed that she had done much the same thing, by trying to force her ways of respect upon him. She cringed and wet her lips, then wrapped her arms around herself.
"Hey, I'm...sorry. About...everything." Her voice was quiet, almost unfitting of the usually spunky girl. She hoped those few words could convey everything; arguing with him, threatening violence, forcing her beliefs upon him...it was all so cliche, and rude. "I'm really not USUALLY that bad. I just...even if he doesn't know much more than us, I want so badly to believe in someone who can...take care of us."
She thought of her brother, and shuddered. She was still not used to sleeping without the sounds of his breathing, not used to waking without his cheerful jokes, not used to the lack of his slight Italian accent. She missed him terribly. He was a smart man, and he looked out for his baby sister.
"Piccina, we need noone but ourselves. I shall take care of you, eternamente." He had smiled, and Lily had chewed the inside of her cheek, a nervous habit.
"And I want to take care of you, Connor. And in order to do that...," she showed him a paper she had seen in the town, displaying the School, "I need to go here." Connor stiffened, and immediately shakes his head.
"No. No, Lily, you cannot expect me too--"
"But it's my chance! You said you wanted what's best for me, and here it is!" She stood and shook the paper, desperate.
"No, Lily. That is all I will say about it."
Angry, she had gone to bed, sulking. Once she heard him fall asleep in the next room, she slipped her boots on, grabbed her jacket, and bolted.
With a shudder, Lily comes back to the present, and toyed with the arrowhead in her pocket. Silence reverberated around her, and she waited, hoping for Richard's response. Ahead, there seemed to be a man waiting for all of them, and she hoped to wrap up the apologies before reaching him.
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As Lily approached him, he noted that she looked a lot friendlier. He hoped that he was giving off the same vibe. He had some time to cool off since the argument, and the prospect of the class starting, and perhaps a more suitable teaching directing the class, put him in a much better mood.
"Don't worry about." He told her, giving her a genuine smile. "Tempers were high. That causes us to do irrational things. I'm just as guilty. Fact was, I was just a little angry. As much as I feel Simon is more than capable of being able to take care of rest, I kind of wish that the other students would put a little initiative in trying to take care of themselves. If you end up relying on other people to take care of you, ultimately, they're going to disappoint you, or leave you, and you end up alone, trying to find someone else to take care of you, only for the cycle to repeat itself. It's nonsense. Just rely on yourself and you will be fine."
By the end of his rant, he noted that his smile was gone, and his happy mood had reverted back to an angry tone. "I'm sorry." He told her. "Apparently I have issues."
"Sometimes, it isn't their fault. Leaving is a part of life, and we can't change that. We can only take care of ourselves so much, before we have to ask for help."
Her voice was hard, but her expression soft, and she threw her arms around his midsection, capturig him in a tight hug. Her brother had once said that hugs healed everything, and she was sceptical...but desperate enough to believe. She kept on like that for a few moments, crushing her body against him, then pulled away and skittered forward to the others. Her boots slid on a slick patch of ice, and she laughed loudly while wheeling her arms to stay upright.
So what if people leave?, she thought, All that matters is that they're here now.
At first he was afraid he may have accidentally done something to anger her again, which tended to happen very often with people. He backed away a little, but she was too fast for him and managed to grab a hold of him. It didn't take him long to realize that this wasn't an attack, but a hug. He was confused. He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to this. He wasn't even entirely sure how he felt about it. On the one hand, he recognized it as a gesture of good will, and appreciated the gesture, but he still didn't like the invasion of his personal space, which this was a major violation, plus he was pretty sure people were staring, though he couldn't see to be certain.
Then she pulled back, and moved away before he could even process what had just happened. As she nearly slipped on some ice, Richard remained planted in one spot, still trying to piece together what that was all about. The hug came out of no where, and served no practical purpose. He realized he may have been partially to blame for it, letting his emotional side get a little out of hand like that. It made him vulnerable to hugs and other friendly gestures. He had to watch out for that in the future. He wondered if the girl may be lacking a functional brain, and instead has a second heart sitting in her skull, for she appeared to be running off of pure emotion. One moment she's angry and getting into fights, the next moment she's sentimental and giving hugs, and all to the same person, too. It appeared to be a rather stark contrast to his own overly analytical self. Not that he can deny having human emotions, but he can sure try. There was no point in being sentimental and mushy when you have the fate of the world to think about. Richard continued walking after the group approaching the elevator.
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