Coconut
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DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
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Post by Coconut on Sept 6, 2010 19:52:05 GMT -5
One of these days, Ethan Jones was sure that he could be a good teacher. One of these days he’d be able to inspire students to do better in school and do as well as they possibly can in mathematics. And he was perfectly aware that there would be days when he would feel the weight of the world crashing down on him. There would be days where he’d feel panicked and alone and that there was no reason in the world why he should have ever entered this profession, especially not as young as he was.
Yeah. Days like today.
The young teacher was sitting in one of the large, comfortable chairs scattered throughout a small common room near the teacher’s quarters. It was something of an unofficial teacher’s lounge, being closer to the classrooms then the rest of the rooms.
He probably looked for all the world like a student, now more then ever, with a textbook sitting on his lap as he slouched in his seat, no briefcase in sight. His head was tilted back against the back of his seat and his eyes were closed, but he wasn’t asleep. The young man often found it easier to concentrate on his own thoughts when he wasn’t looking at anything in particular. If he watched the ceiling for too long he might start trying to distract himself with numbers and Ethan wasn’t quite ready to stop sulking over the disappointing class he’d just dismissed.
It had been his first student who didn’t really give any pretense of paying attention in his class. She hadn’t even been working on other homework, she’d just been sitting there. Fiddling with something inside her desk. He’d asked her to stay after class to talk, but the way she reacted... He just. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do if he started running in to more and more students like that. He just didn’t know what to do.
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Ixtlilton
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Post by Ixtlilton on Sept 6, 2010 20:12:10 GMT -5
Coach Sky, as he insisted his students call him (Coach Red sounded stupid), wasn't really having a bad first day. He worked in a class room in which if a student wasn't paying attention to you, you could just make them run around the castle three times. There'd been this problematic little firebug in one of his classes (first years always thought they owned the place), but he'd learned very quickly that Coach Sky always carried a water bucket.
Plus, Sky had ways of getting people to calm down, relax, get into the water, go swim a couple laps... Not to say he could control their actions, of course! That would be freaky and immoral and stuff! But if he reaaaally felt like humming a song to himself... Well, he had ways to encourage obedience in his classes, anyway.
Speaking of students, was that one there, taking a... no, wait, wait, there'd been a meeting for this. New teachers, right. Although Sky had only been there for a year, so he was still pretty new himself.
The guy looked like he was asleep, for all the world. Sitting there with a textbook, konked out, when the rooms were right there and classes were over? What a weird fellow?
Sky bent in and peered at the dude, having never really learned personal space.
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Coconut
Minion
DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
Posts: 63
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Post by Coconut on Sept 6, 2010 22:10:11 GMT -5
Once the next class was over, Ethan would know whether or not he’d have to invest more time into this student. If she did well on her homework and seemed to understand the subjects they’d discussed, he could leave her to her own devices and just watch from afar. Or if she came to him for help, then he’d also know that she’d do just find, but he most sincerely wished that it would be the former. Maybe she was one of those types of people who don’t understand a subject until they read it for themselves.
But if she got a majority of the problems wrong... First he’d go to the headmaster and request information on the student. Maybe she had something in her past that was inhibiting her learning and, if so, he’d do his best to help her overcome them. Once that was sorted out he’d have to ask her to stay after class again and create a schedule for private tutoring. He wasn’t happy that his and her personal time would have to be cut, but he would be even less happy if she ended up failing his class when he had the power to stop that from happening.
The presence of another person in the room didn’t really register with the young teacher until he could hear the man breathing close to his face. Ethan stiffened slightly, his line of thoughts broken suddenly, took in a deep breath and opened his eyes, staring back at the invader of his personal space with a look of simple, slightly frightened, shock. He opened his mouth, tried to think of something to say, then closed his mouth.
Let’s try this again.
“...Um.” Good beginning. “Hello?”
The things Ethan knows: 1. This guy is probably a teacher. 2. He feels like and idiot. 3. He doesn’t remember what he’d been thinking about five seconds ago.
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Ixtlilton
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he knows where all the naughty boys and girls live
Herp
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Post by Ixtlilton on Sept 6, 2010 22:44:16 GMT -5
Sky watched for the moment as the man's mouth twitched. Was he dreaming? What was he dreaming about? Why the hell was he sleeping there? Then his eyes snapped open, and Sky let his head drift backwards out of his face.
"Oh, you're awake," he commented. "I thought you'd fallen asleep. You're one of the new teachers, right?" He sat down on a coffee table. "Sorry, I'm awful with names. I'm Sky, the PE coach and the least intelligent person on staff. You?"
He wasn't being self-depricating, it was just true. He hadn't been hired to teach students important knowledge, he'd been hired to make sure they stayed healthy, could defend themselves if their powers got blocked, and could run more than ten yards without collapsing of exhaustion. An important job, not one that required book smarts.
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Coconut
Minion
DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
Posts: 63
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Post by Coconut on Sept 6, 2010 23:05:36 GMT -5
Once he actually had room to breathe without worrying about blowing on another man's FACE, Ethan felt his body relax significantly, a quiet breath of air leaving his lungs. What kind of a person went around sticking their facing into someone else's personal space, especially if they thought the person was asleep! GEEZ! He'd been deep in thought, too, and he'd finally managed to calm down and get things in order and then this guy...
"Um. No." Yeah, he sure sounded like a college-educated man who was about to get his PhD in mathematics. Brilliant. "I mean, no, I was just thinking about something. And yes... I'm Ethan. Jones. I'm the math teacher."
Feeling suddenly self-conscious, Ethan straitened up out of his slouch and fixed his sweater, running a hand thought his hair to dispel any strange shapes it might have taken while he was leaning against the back of the chair. He wanted to be taken seriously by the other staff members, he truly did, and appearing unkept was probably the worst way for a young teacher to go about accomplishing that goal. Or so he thought.
"So... how long have you been wor... teaching here?" Ethan attempted to make conversation. He managed to shed a few ums, but he couldn't help but rethinking some words he'd started to say. Poor thing never really had a gift with words, only numbers. Or words that related to numbers.
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Ixtlilton
Moderator-In-Training
he knows where all the naughty boys and girls live
Herp
Posts: 205
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Post by Ixtlilton on Sept 6, 2010 23:51:52 GMT -5
"Oh, sorry for being all up in your grill, then," Sky said with a pleasant laugh. "I was trying to figure out if you were asleep." That was enough of a reason for Sky, so it should be enough of a reason for anyone. Really, Sky didn't even feel the need to give reasons for that sort of thing.
"Right, RIGHT. Ethan! I'll try to remember, I promise. I can't even remember half the student's names, though, to be honest." He tried not to crack a smile at seeing Ethan nervously rearrange himself. "This is only my second year. It seems a lot of people come and go once they feel they can be stealth. Have you met Jacob? Boy with the wings? Swear to god, he's been here since it was founded, and he plans to teach here, too! This time next year, he'll be a coworker, and he's only like four years younger..." Sky rambled off, then picked back up again. "Are you planning on staying here a while, then?"
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Coconut
Minion
DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
Posts: 63
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Post by Coconut on Sept 7, 2010 1:24:03 GMT -5
Now that he felt that he was somewhat presentable, Ethan allowed himself a small smile at his coworker's apology. He even went so far as to letting himself really get a good look at the other man, he hadn't really SEEN him when initially overcome by surprise at the FACE in his face. The first thing that drew his attention was, of course, the mismatched eyes and even further mismatched eyebrows. He could already tell that this Sky fellow was quite the character and he hardly knew the guy. Hopefully they'd be able to be friends... he looked pretty young himself.
"Don't worry about it... You just startled me, is all." More like creeped him out, but there wasn't much of a difference so he didn't see the reason in specifying. He was kinda lost as Sky just started talking and might have thought up some replies to his questions and comments, but by the time he was ready to say them the guy was already off on something else. He barely even got out "Yeah, I've seen him around..." in response to those comments on the winged boy.
"Um." Damn it. Ethan let out a small sigh. "To be honest, I'm kinda laying low for a while, but I've always wanted to try my hand at teaching." A smile began to creep its way on to his face, giving him a bit less of a worried look and doing a lot in the way of relaxing him even more in this other teacher's presence. "So who knows? You'll probably be seeing me around for a few years, at least. Er... if you don't decide to move on yourself."
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Ixtlilton
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Herp
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Post by Ixtlilton on Sept 7, 2010 2:47:12 GMT -5
"He's hard to miss, right?" Sky said with a laugh. "Poor guy, I think he's the most obvious one I've ever seen. Wings of that size? He can even fly with them. RIDICULOUS if they get wet, though."
Sky glanced out one of the castle windows. "Ah, I dunno. Contacts work, so long as I don't transform with 'em in--not pretty, I promise--and I can always tell people my hair is dyed, unless it starts growing out a different color. I can pass. But this is a good gig. I kinda like it, even if I'm not exactly set up for teaching." He grinned sheepishly. "I'm not really that good with kids. But the juniors and seniors, they're not much younger than me, so we can get along alright. The little middle schoolers and freshmen, though... uy."
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Coconut
Minion
DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
Posts: 63
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Post by Coconut on Sept 7, 2010 3:37:11 GMT -5
Ethan smiled at the friend Sky and shook his head out of sympathy for the boy, silently agreeing that the size and simple nature of having wings would post a problem for anyone who didn't also possess the ability to hide them. It really made him thankful for his own ability.
While it was a bit odd, often annoying, and even embarrassing for him among others with abilities, at least it didn't mark him in such a drastic way. The color of his fur and hair was almost identical, but there was no living bear that had fur any color that wouldn't be considered natural for humans as well. The only thing that might mark him in society was the gold that had entered his eyes upon the discovery of his shifting.
"I'm glad he's at least found a place here. He must like it if he's sticking around for so long." Ethan immediately perked as Sky mentioned transforming. It was one of the more common abilities, so he couldn't say that he was surprised, but at the same time it was always pleasant to hear about someone else who didn't always wear human skin.
He smiled and nodded in agreement. "I doubt there's any shifter who'd risk contacts without really good control of their transformation. I've only slipped once, myself, but I'd still rather avoid them." That hair comment kind of confused him since he wasn't really familiar with this other man at all, much less his abilities. But he might as well play along.
Ethan smiled back. "Well. It will be a pleasure to be working with you, Sky." He laughed softly. "And I'm sure you'll grow into the job. At least, that's what I keep hoping for myself, too... It usually works better then questioning why I ever bothered to try and teach. Um, if you don't mind my asking, what do you transform into?" He couldn't help himself. He hadn't really been so surrounded by others like him during his childhood so Ethan was eager to always hear more about other shifters and abilities in general.
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Ixtlilton
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Herp
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Post by Ixtlilton on Sept 7, 2010 17:02:27 GMT -5
"Not that he has much of a choice," Sky added. "Where else is he gonna go? Live in a tree? Circus? Circ du Solei?" he chuckled at his own joke. "Still, he's good with the kids. He'll be a better teacher than me, that's for sure."
Sky perked up. "Oh, you're a shifter too? There's getting to be more and more, aren't there? Lemme guess, uh... ferret? Small burrowing mammal? SOMETHING fluffy, I'll bet my life on it. You've got fluffy-shifter hair." Sky didn't bother to explain what he meant by that. "And you sure don't look like you could be a snake, although I bet you'd make one with some pretty colors," he observed.
"Oh, me? Well, I'd show you, but I'm wearing pants, although they DO have zippers... but, not worth the trouble. I turn into a fish. I know, I know, so lackluster. I heard there's some kid here who can turn into a freakin' dragon, but nope, I'm a fish. A giant Siamese Fighting Fish, so I can't even blend in to nature, because Siamese Fighting Fish aren't normally the size of small dolphins."
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Coconut
Minion
DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
Posts: 63
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Post by Coconut on Sept 8, 2010 4:36:05 GMT -5
"Point." Ethan admitted. He was sure that if anyone as obvious as Jacob really wanted to, they could find sympathetic towns or other safe places such as this castle, but... Without the right connections, Sky was right. There wasn't really anywhere else to go. The circus was certainly the last place any of their kind would willingly submit themselves to, anyway.
Ethan was being all friendly and smiling as Sky spoke until, that is, he started rattling off small mammals. Hahaha... Yeah, he shouldn't really be surprised. Anyone who got one look at him would, no doubt, start imagining something cute and fluffy with big eyes and no aggressive bone in its body. He wasn't a big man or intimidating... He was the opposite. So he really shouldn't be surprised... but there was no one who'd blame him for being a bit embarrassed.
"Ah, actually..." He gave him a funny, embarrassed smile at that snake comment. "I'm a bear. A spirit bear." He hit the fuzzy part dead on, but Ethan wasn't sure if he should be happy or insulted that Sky assumed that he was something small. Eh, he just shouldn't let him bother him, he figured. It wasn't like the other man meant anything by it, he was just making conversation.
The young man smiled, bit his lip, but eventually laughed softly as Sky named his own animal. Now that he really thought about it, it fit. At least, appearance-wise. "That explains all the colors." He didn't know much about fish himself, but he did know that most fighting fish were known for being very colorful. "So what happens if you transform out of water?"
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Ixtlilton
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Herp
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Post by Ixtlilton on Sept 8, 2010 13:40:55 GMT -5
"Speaking of which, have you heard of the way kids have to go out on the town? A teacher has to go with them, and in case you haven't noticed, like most schools, there are far more students then teachers. If you're good with kids, you should sign up for it. It's an AWFUL way to spend an afternoon, but it gives you a chance to get to know the students a bit more out of the classroom."
Sky blinked. "A bear? Damn! Everyone always gets the cooler form! Bears and dragons, ch," he said scornfully. "Is there no one here who just transforms into a pidgeon or a tuna or something? Well, I can't complain... bet you can't do this!" he said, cheerfully reaching down towards his pants. Once Ethan's inevitable moment of blinding terror was over, he'd realize that Sky's pants had zippers and snaps on the inseam, which he was undoing, fast. As soon as they were undone, he leaned back, and his legs fused together and into what was undoubtably a fish tail. A bright red and blue one, too, at that. "Feel free to make mermaid jokes, god knows I hear them every day. It's GREAT for when we have PE in the pool, though."
He blinked. "I'm a fish. If I transform all the way out of water, I can't breathe. I can't say that's ever happened to me, though. My triggers are enjoying water too much, which doesn't normally happen outside of it."
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Coconut
Minion
DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
Posts: 63
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Post by Coconut on Sept 8, 2010 19:12:28 GMT -5
Ethan shook his head at Sky's question, listening with interest. Wait a minute. Teachers had to go to town with the students? Ethan frowned a bit, but nodded his head at the same time. Still, he hesitated before speaking. "I'm... I'm not sure how good I am with kids." He gave a soft, nervous laugh, remembering his last class's conclusion. "But I think I'll sign up all the same. It'd be wonderful to get to know more students."
The young teacher grinned at Sky's reaction, but that grin soon turned to a look of shock as he watched Sky undoing his pants. What the HELL was he thinking?! Wait, calm down, calm down, he's probably just showing off something that has to do with his shift. That's right... He's not just stripping to make you uncomfortable. Right...
Ethan started with a completely serious face (completely). "Actually, I think the term is merman." And then proceeded to bite his lip while he tried not to snicker. Really, he tried, and if Sky wasn't such an easy-going kind of guy the bear shifter doubted that he'd have much trouble holding it back. Yet as it was, Sky's attitude had just caught up with Ethan and he was slowly finding himself smiling more easily to things that might have just made him force a polite look at any other time. It was weird how that worked.
"Huh." Let's hope he never suddenly becomes a fish outside of water, then. "Sorry. I've just... always been curious about people who go from a human, a mammal, to... something else."
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Ixtlilton
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he knows where all the naughty boys and girls live
Herp
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Post by Ixtlilton on Sept 9, 2010 23:23:16 GMT -5
"You're probably better with kids than I am... at least you'd better be, considering you signed up for this teacher gig!" he said with a laugh. "Sometimes it's like they're not much younger, and then others, it's like their from another damn world." He seemed a bit exasperated, but it was just because of his seeming inability to see eye to eye with most of his students. A lot of the new ones were out of shape, too, like the skinny little pale girl who ran like her ass was on fire for five seconds then collapsed. She was just as bad as that other girl, except for the pale one actually tried.
There was the boy who looked like a girl even when he (she? Sky hadn't known how to ask, and had just called, uh... them, by their last name the whole time) was wearing boy-clothes... The rest were about what could be expected, but... ug. Still. At least none of them were using their powers to cheat that he could tell (yet). Once Jacob had learned he could push himself along with air when he ran, there'd been no stopping the little bastard.
He had to laugh at Ethan's silly "merman" comment, then he grinned slyly. "If you caught that much of a peek, I need new boxers," he teased. "I can't blame you for being curious, though. Say, isn't there someone here who grows gills? It's hard to keep powers straight... hard as names, really!"
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Coconut
Minion
DON'T PUT THE LIME ON THE CAT, YOU NUT!
Posts: 63
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Post by Coconut on Sept 10, 2010 1:36:48 GMT -5
Ethan grinned back. "I guess I should just be grateful I'm not here as one of the students. I was never really good at talkin' to my peers in school, being the teacher kinda takes off some of that pressure." And the fact that he was now a 'mature adult' and shouldn't have to worry about classroom bullies helped. Now he wouldn't have to duck into corners to keep out of the way of stupid jocks. Hell, he could show them WHY they shouldn't underestimate nerds.
And then Sky had to tease him. Ethan felt himself freeze, catching the joke and coloring swiftly. Not too badly, but his cheeks were pretty pink. "Um..." Shit. He hadn't meant... Oh thank god. The young man gratefully let himself be swept away in another line of conversation, not really mentally capable of going down the more colorful paths of humor. Not when he'd been caught so off-guard, anyway. It wasn't like... he couldn't... No... He'd just been. Sheltered. Understandably. Being... what he is and all. Shit.
"N... noo, I can't say that I remember." Clumsy recovery. "I think I've heard of someone like that, too, though. Maybe it was another teacher...?" Ethan racked his brain, trying to remember. He was pretty sure that it hadn't been a student so all that left were the teachers. God, why should he even be bothering? Sky was right. It was hard enough to keep names strait, forget about powers.
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