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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 27, 2009 6:09:30 GMT -5
In one corner of the room, the wall-mounted television set was tuned in to the morning world news, which today seemed to be focused on some scandal surrounding the death of a young female celebrity.
Hitoshi, for his part, couldn't fathom how some pop-star's stress-induced suicide was a higher caliber of news than the results of a major Supreme Court case -- but then, Hitoshi was not a news anchor, and he had no intention of being so.
Hitoshi leaned forward on the couch, sipping at a cup of steaming-hot green tea.
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Post by professorianharris on Dec 27, 2009 6:21:39 GMT -5
Ian walked into the room, rubbing his eyes. He had just woken up not ten minutes ago, and had thrown on some clothes and headed down for breakfast. When he had been a student, Paula had always told him how good the coffee in the teacher lounge was. Once he had returned as a professor, it had not taken him very long to discover she was right. From his very first day, he had always started his mornings with a cup of black coffee from the lounge.
He headed over to the coffeepot and poured himself some into his personal mug. "Good morning, Hitoshi." He said politely, going to take a seat on a chair facing the couch. "How did you sleep?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 27, 2009 6:40:40 GMT -5
Hitoshi's eyes shot from the television to the man in front of him. "Very little," he said crisply. "I've been busy."
Hitoshi glanced at his watch. It had been about half an hour since Hitoshi had left his room, which meant that--provided he hadn't fallen back asleep after his insistence that he would be along once he had taken a shower--Alex should arrive soon.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 27, 2009 7:01:04 GMT -5
Alex was through the door before Hitoshi put his head back up, and headed immediately to the refreshments. Grabbing a large thermosful of orange juice and a couple of banana-walnut-bran muffins, he turned towards the couch, and upon arrival, flomped down half beside and half on top of Hitoshi.
"Mm, more celebrities? Are they not allowed to do real news on the television anymore, is that part of their contract?" he groused between muffinbites.
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Post by professorianharris on Dec 27, 2009 7:08:59 GMT -5
Ian looked over at Alex and shook his head, smiling a little bit. "I think they get paid not to report things, honestly. Like an anti-commission." He took a sip of his coffee and shook his head again, this time attempting to jar himself awake.
"Maybe... uh... teachers should work on an anti-commission basis. We could get paid to sit around and do nothing... and drink coffee..."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 27, 2009 7:49:44 GMT -5
Hitoshi shifted slightly to give Alex a better angle, stealing a chunk of one of the muffins.
Ian seemed to have actually downgraded in his ability to socialize since high school, though Hitoshi shouldn't have found that surprising. Hitoshi sipped at his tea.
"How has your wife been?" Hitoshi asked, flipping idly through a newspaper. More about the scandal... A new teen romance about ghosts or some such made the best sellers... Movie listings... No useful news, sadly enough.
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Post by professorianharris on Dec 27, 2009 7:58:03 GMT -5
Ian looked down at his coffee mug. "She... She's fine. She'll be back as soon as she's able. Her dad's doing worse every day, so she stayed home to take care of him."
He shifted awkwardly and drank a little more of his coffee.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 27, 2009 8:03:19 GMT -5
Alex looked over towards Ian with a look of pity and frustration in his eyes. He felt bad for Ian; he didn't really known him very well, but ever since he'd met the man as a boy, he'd suspected there was more to him than simply social awkwardness, and he still had his suspicions.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied. "How've you been this summer?"
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Post by professorianharris on Dec 27, 2009 8:20:15 GMT -5
Ian shrugged. "Oh, you know... the usual. Decent enough. How about you? How was... um... your summer?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 27, 2009 8:34:24 GMT -5
"Alex spent a while on personal business abroad, and I spent the majority of the summer trying to make improvements on the school budget. The old headmistress was...inefficient with her spending." Hitoshi sipped at his tea.
"Apart from that, we took a short vacation to San Diego and spent a few weeks with Alex's family."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 27, 2009 8:38:27 GMT -5
"'Inefficient'," Alex quipped, "'spent most of it on personal items', more like. But then a lot of that was Himmel, too, apparently."
He sighed deeply and took a deep draft of his juice. He didn't really want to think about his family too hard.
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Post by professorianharris on Dec 27, 2009 9:22:30 GMT -5
Ian nodded slowly, cupping his coffee mug with both hands. "Sounds like a good summer, then. Except for the whole... you know... paperwork and budget thing."
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. Things never got any less awkward around here. At least when Natalie was around things were a bit better... she was always more of a talker than Ian was.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 27, 2009 9:36:10 GMT -5
"I'm not terribly fond of the beach, particularly not the San Diego beach in August," he replied. Hitoshi didn't much like the heat, and Alex burned far too easily, to spend any amount of time in the sun. He wouldn't be surprised if Alex's shoulders were still peeling halfway to Halloween.
"To be fair to the headmistress, a good deal of that money was hers to do as she pleased," he continued. "But she didn't keep her finances separate, which has been causing me budget problems for five years. I can't make heads or tales of her records. I suppose she assumed that since Dunehelden wasn't susceptible to tax audits, she had no reason to keep track of anything."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Dec 27, 2009 16:17:21 GMT -5
"That sounds like her," Aramis said, coming in. His long hair was braided as usual, the tail end just curling at his waist. Getting a cup of simple mint tea, he joined the others. "Of course, I doubt she really thought she would get bored enough to let someone else head her school."
He sat, flicking his hair out of his way as he took a seat. Something substantial could wait until he'd woken up a bit more. Giving Ian a quick nod, he just sipped at his tea. The television was showing some story about a child-star who'd been overwhelmed by fame and was on a fast course to an early death. He snorted, narrowing his eyes at the screen. "There has to be something else on. Are you sure that isn't the entertainment channel?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 27, 2009 21:51:21 GMT -5
Alex munched on his muffin and waved at Aramis.
"Good morning. I suppose there must be- cartoons would be better than this."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 27, 2009 22:33:42 GMT -5
Hitoshi shrugged. "It might be," he replied. "It is CNN, but it was either this or Fox News." He waved dismissively. "The remote is on the table if one of you cares enough to change it."
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Aramis Stryker
Kitty Kat
Staff: Healer (2gen)
We all have demons. Some just hide them better
Posts: 19
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Post by Aramis Stryker on Dec 27, 2009 23:03:02 GMT -5
Aramis made a noise that might have been agreement with Alex and stood, moving to find a pastry or some such sweet for breakfast. He didn't feel like making some eggs or something, and it wasn't like he couldn't afford to gain a bit of weight. His ex had always been telling him he was too thin for his own good. Shaking his head to get her out of his mind, he found a box of something that looked sweet... probably some concoction of Rhythan's.
Aramis didn't really care. All he needed was something to sink his teeth into that wasn't too bad. Eating one as he sat back down, he set the box down nodding. Yup, sweet and rather good. "I don't. It's just going to be the same sort of rubbish anywhere else. Unless there's an objection to me turning it off."
He took another bite of the sweet, settling into his seat and stretching out a little.
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Post by professorianharris on Dec 27, 2009 23:08:53 GMT -5
Ian shook his head. "No objection here. Feel free to turn it off." He stood and walked around, attempting to find something good to eat. Eventually locating a box of muffins, he picked on out and returned to his seat, taking slow and careful bites.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 28, 2009 0:54:17 GMT -5
Alex finished his juice and muffins and went to rinse out his thermos and put it back. On his way back, he picked up the remote and turned off the TV.
"So. Next week is classes. What do we have left to do?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 28, 2009 1:01:34 GMT -5
"At this point, it should just be lesson plans and the like." Hitoshi drained the last of his tea. "Provided we can keep the freshman from tearing the school down around our ears, I think we'll manage."
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Aramis Stryker
Kitty Kat
Staff: Healer (2gen)
We all have demons. Some just hide them better
Posts: 19
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Post by Aramis Stryker on Dec 28, 2009 1:07:29 GMT -5
Aramis shrugged, "I'm prepared for even that. I heard they found a descendant of Korlian's... and that they're coming here. Considering all the creatures around here, I wouldn't be surprised if we have to rebuild some of this school again. It seems to happen somewhat every year."
He took another sip of his tea and stretched again, rubbing at his forehead and pulling free some of his hair. It fell in front of his left eye and he ignored it. Brushing it back wouldn't work. The hair was long enough to tuck behind his ear, but it always fell loose again.
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Post by professorianharris on Dec 28, 2009 1:20:58 GMT -5
"I'm pretty much ready..." Ian said, finishing off his coffee. "I just have to make sure Paula hasn't just made something up. Though I'm not sure how to break the news that one of Korlian's descendants is coming. I'm sure she'll probably have a heart attack and then try to shoot the wall down."
He stood again and poured himself another cup. Returning to his seat, he sighed and touched the tiny bald spot on the top of his head. "I haven't seen Korlian in a while..." He said, half to himself "I wonder how he's doing..."
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Post by Xander Elderton on Dec 28, 2009 1:57:18 GMT -5
Xander peered around the door into the teacher's lounge. He had rather been hoping that Hitoshi and Alex would have been there alone... He wasn't sure if he'd feel comfortable barging into the teacher's lounge when it was full of, well, teachers. But it was still a while before the school year begun, and his uncles were both there, so he couldn't imagine getting in trouble for it.
He exchanged looks with his brother. The couch was facing away from the door, and the other two teachers seemed to be talking about something and not paying attention to the door.
Xander quietly slipped up behind the couch, throwing his arms around Alex's neck.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 28, 2009 2:40:55 GMT -5
"Ack!" Alex laughed and attempted to turn his head around to see the boy. "Good morning, Xander, now why are you up so early?"
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Post by Aisling Elderton on Dec 28, 2009 2:50:52 GMT -5
Aisling followed his brother quietly, walking up beside Hitoshi and staring at him from behind the couch, hands behind his back, semi-hiding.
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