Skylar and Serafina Reduex

[Tei Kae]

"A C?!?!"

The red crept into her face as she glared the piece of paper into cinders...even as she debated actually turning it into cinders with her pet. But even the normally cheerful and cheering baby dragon was staying far, far away from her at the moment between orders to do so due to class time and due to their emotional bond. She hadn't even bothered to look at the paper during class as she was rather resolute in her refutation of a anarchic system as the basis for the realm's government.

"How dare he!", she fumed. It took no small amount of willpower for her not to crumple the 3 page paper in her fist in rhythm to the heels now clicking down the hallway to her TA's office hours. Strapping the leather cords around her wrists as if preparing for battle, the strong willed hellion was not about to let some priss give her a C for a paper that was better than anything else he had seen out of this entry level class or probably in his entire life, even if she had half assed it.

There was no knock, it was his hours after all, open door policy and all that liberal bullshit. If there was someone else there, more then pity for him to get ripped in front of another student. "If you can't believe that this whole realm is set up as an individual sovereignty based society, then you have no right TAing a bunch of impressionable freshmen."

"With as much individual physical power as a large subset minority have to subjugate the population but instead choose to test their strength against on each other in contests and games or as soldiers of fortune to so called princes of men who find no better than reason to toy with those less fortunate because they can, there is no way it is true anarchy as it is a system that functions." Her eyes lit with flares of blue, green and flecks of red, it was not hard to tell her anger as her fists punched into his desk, the material crackling inaudibly from the force.

"We don't even have the option of a dictatorship as we would have any one of hundreds so called heroes ousting him within hours.", she continued passionately, determined to give this pompous a** whom she'd knew watched her both in class and as she was leaving. There had even been a few times she'd given him a show, just for the hell of it but if he expected any kind of 'favors' to raise her grades to where she knew it deserved to be with a curve such as this class was supposed to offer, she would show him a kisser, right to his, from her fists. Brushing the dark red curls from her face as they clung to her face from her frenzied pace combined with the dark purple leather jacket she wore, she finally gave him a chance to answer, and to catch her own breath with had her chest heaving from the cold as she fought to cool down.  

[Psychofish]

Two figures turned when she burst through the door- at the desk of the small closet of an office sat her pale TA, purple eyes snapping on to her face and focusing sharply, intense and perhaps even glowing with a hint of outrage for but a second. Coat hanging over the back of his chair, he was immaculately put together but for a day's light tussling of hair- much as the rest of the room, absolutely tidy but for a few open books (laptop present as well, but closed and put aside) and an unstraightened stack of papers from a different class sitting on the desk. Even as he slowly seemed to leak tension out until it had escaped everything but his eyes, leaning back into his seat with what could easily have been called smugness, only two things truly looked out of place in the room.

The angry young redhead, and a long-haired boy from one of his other classes, staring fish-mouthed and slowly shrinking into a corner. Until the TA lifted his hand, snapping sharply in the middle of the tirade without more than glancing away from her- and pointed at the door.

Spurred to life, the boy hustled out with the door closing sharply behind him, leaving Skylar to sit quietly in his seat, listening until she finished raving and the echoes of her voice faded from the room. Reflection flashed across his face and was just as quickly gone, finding what he was looking for.

"Miss Veli," the composure was almost tangible- a well trained tactic, both to help keep his own emotions under control, and by calm and posture to make her subconsciously note how cool and unaffected he was in comparison. Of course, the imperfection of the tactic was that, if you really cared about that result, it sometimes spurred on an aggressor by stripping the sense of power or control from them, instead of calming them or giving them pause. She was a bright girl, a quick and sharp wit, lively, playful even perhaps, and clearly at least as arrogant as any other freshman who didn't opt to be scared out of their wits instead it seemed.

Skylar laced his fingers together. "What you've just described is a state of natural order underlying Gaia's state of governance. Personal agency of the exceptionally powerful. Firmly stated. Well defended. It is one of the most obvious correct answers..."

He stood up then, giving a light flick to readjust the name plate her fists had jounced out of place on his desk: "S. Pendra". The second TA's nameplate had been stored dismissively on a book shelf to one side.

"...simple and apparent at a glance. Lacking depth. Asserting mostly, indirectly, the lack of divine mandate to cooperation or natural state of debt. Lazy. Not suiting the the wit and understanding you evidenced in class," he flicked a wrist, referring to the debates the class had held- usually dominated by Serafina or, on occasion, the bored TA when he joined in. She hadn't been the only one to feel she belonged in a higher level course, had she only had the credits. That impression of amused pride had drained from him now. She had been doing the looming at first, and now he returned the favor, standing off to one side of the desk and facing her down with only a growing edge of annoyance in his tone.

"This paper is beneath you. In an hour before class- or perhaps before bed?- you tossed together this together. I simply treated your paper with the same disregard you did. If you can't be bothered to challenge yourself at all, it's clear I'm going to have to do it for you."  

[Tei Kae]

Her fists uncurled upon the desk as he spoke, coming to rest flat, the gloves crackling with age and wear. Her head did not even turn as he stood and moved to the side of the desk like a prowling dragon. Show no fear, even if it was not fear she felt but some other intangible sensation.

"...Perhaps", she drew out the word as she turned, lifting the cap of the hat upon her head so he could see her eyes clearly before placing it upon a well turned him, accenting the figure beneath the leather coat without artifice or purpose other than to show her own attitude off. "Or perhaps you take an introduction class far more seriously than any sane person would because it gives you a sense of power that you don't have in your own personal life, so like those who practice the self sovereignty over our realm, you swell with impotent importance when someone actually stands up and reminds you that you also have no divine mandate to rule but to follow the rules as the society or in this case, the university has laid down as to the direction and level of your universe." Her eyes bored into him, refusing to back down, the other hand finally moving to brace upon its hip.

"I have given you a paper that, no matter how long it took me, is still light years ahead of anything any single student has handed you and you know it. Whether it is a challenge or not is not your job to determine. It is to give me the grade that the work itself has determined. Just as I don't judge you based on how often you watch my backside during debates or linger on my front when you're pacing in front of us, but instead on the quality of instruction, which until this point, has been impeccable. ", and then she simply smiled, the wide almost childlike grin stretching across her face to meet the small scar at her jaw as she looked at him and waited, a challenge all her own to see if he would admit his own flaws or double down.  

[Psychofish]

He stayed beside the desk- eyes traced her figure as she pushed it out, returning shortly to her face, focused- but entirely unaware of how predatory he might have come off at the moment, despite his blood or the angles of his face.

He listened at first with only a slight tic of irritation, and then growing impatience as she continued. He held himself to higher standards than petty abuse of his power for ego sake, but his situation certainly stank of impotence, placing him in a situation well below his own talents and deserved rank. Half true only- but that was enough to tic nerves, even without a silent self-reminder of slippery slopes in perception within the human mind.

"Is that it? Not the short-lived impotent dictator, who'd awaited the hero's arrival?" he cut with sardonic humor between one breath and her next long stream, slipping a single smooth step forward with the same languid ire of his voice.

He watched her sharply through narrow eyes at first, but even as she went he slowly came uncoiled- muscles relaxed, tension easing well before she even delivered her half-compliment, slipping closer and slightly to one side- considering her with a slightly turned head, channeling mannerisms that must have come from his mother before he realized they were being acted out. Temper and indignation sloughing away, he leaned forward- perhaps into her 'personal space', depending on just big she saw it as- and let his lips quirk up faintly.

"You're smiling, miss Veli," he confided, much as if warning her that her fly was down, or shoe untied.

" 'Or perhaps'. You assume it can't be 'and perhaps'," mild chiding, the snark and humor in his voice much more relaxed and natural now, less confrontational. "The purpose of university education and the duties of a TA infrequently correlate. Power is granted here, but priorities I can always redetermine. You want fair treatment based on work done? Your grade doesn't change much- excellent quality, but little effort, little work. I could simply toss it on the curve by comparison to the other papers and let you take the high marks in stride, if you truly need the validation."

He paused for a moment there, amused and perhaps looking a bit smug between thoughts. Her assessment of him, and her a**, needed no dispute as he saw it, so he left them be.  

[Tei Kae]

Skylar Pendra

"Is that it? Not the short-lived impotent dictator, who'd awaited the hero's arrival?"

And with a very contemptuous snort and eye roll, all doubts would cease as to whether she intended to seduce her grade upwards. And yet, she kept smiling, saying nothing until he finished, allowing him to loom into her personal space, almost as if expecting him to...as if to trap him herself. It was easy to see her own temper was calming even if her passions were high. It was a game after all.

"Validation?", her arms lifted, crossing in front of her formed leather jacket, playing peekaboo with the barely covering top beneath as the derision dripped from her husky tone. "If that's what you think, then perhaps impotent dictator is more correct than what I used." each syllable of the innuendo laden insult perfectly enunciated to such perfection as to make an language professor weep, just the hint of a French accent driving in the contempt even as she likely took the wrong meaning to his words.

"I am not some stupid putain to come begging on my knees for your 'favor', Conasse." Another short snort of derision as she turned. "You likely couldn't even perform if I did."  

[Psychofish]

His brows sunk in impatience at her turn of wording- impeccable as her wordplay was, he was vexed and unimpressed by her sudden turn into that particular territory, derailing the conversation for insults that, while well delivered, were rather petty. He might have had time to draw a parallel there if she hadn't continued. Instead, his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared, all but snarling or hissing as he quickly took the implications of her next words. How the conversation had detoured there was beyond him- but she set the stage and stated her meaning very clearly.

She turned- a hand snapped out and grabbed her arm, jerking her back as Skylar surged into her face. No aggressive motions, no body language of preparing a blow- just halting her and staring her down close enough for her to feel the heat of his breath.

"I do not care if you think yourself a prodigy, or how fine an a** you have- you do not get to step into my office and insult my integrity, Miss Veli."  

[Tei Kae]

The hat fell back as she was turned, slipping to the ground and releasing the tumble of dark auburn curls that just barely managed to hide the eye roll at the word 'prodigy' but she didn't speak until he was done, inhaling sharply only to exhale and blast a errant curl from her view as well as to let him know what she thought of his so called integrity.

"Then try having some, Monsiuer Pendra. The work is not flawless, but it is more than adequate for the assignment you chose to give us. You graded me based on what you presumed of my aptitude and skill, not on the actual quality of work provided. You graded me, not my paper." She finally jerked her arm free, provided the resistance he gave was minimal and with a surprising amount of strength shoved him backwards towards the desk and her paper.

"You do not know me." As he went backwards, she clicked forward, one leg braced between each of his own as she returned the favor of looming. "Maybe if you tried to, you could do more than look."  

[Psychofish]

Skylar glared, eye-to-eye, letting her speak, before suddenly finding the world off-balance. Hard as he'd yanked initially, his grip wasn't meant to hold her down once she'd stopped and her arm pulled right back out- and he stumbled backward, leg shooting behind him for balance and meeting the front of the desk, falling to a seat painfully atop it.

She was in his face again within a moment and before she could finish getting into position long enough to speak he'd grabbed a fistful of her hair and put a palm on her stomach, stopping short of trying to throw her.

And like that he panted, staring her full in the face, eyes reading into her, thoughts churning in the back of his head. Just as the silence grew stubbornly long, he decided to get over himself and admit (to himself) that he had been mistaken, and abruptly ended it.

"You are correct."

The hand moved from her stomach- feeling after the paper, accidentally nudging it off the desk with a grunt of agitation.

That gone, he dragged her lips down into his instead.  

[Tei Kae]

There was a small smirk of satisfaction as she saw him sprawled there, so much that she didn't even notice the hand on her stomach or the other shooting out to grasp the curls flying wildly around her head. When he finally admitted she was right, her blue green eyes widened, the flecks of red sparkling in surprise. To which part was she right.

The crinkle and flit of paper barely passed through her notice before she felt the press of his lips against hers. Hadn't she been the aggressor? And then the sting of the tightened tendrils against her scalp. Her eyes opened, she looked more an innocent doe than aggressive hooligan even as she fumbled, trying to brace herself, and ending up with a fistful of vest, clinging to his back in a manner that would surely earn her ire if she had realized it.

Pressed against him, her cheeks flamed brightly but not with embarrassment as she pulled back, her breath coming in small, rapid pants and for once had nothing else to say as she stared at him. One eyebrow lifted as the grin widened across her face once again before leaning back down to make sure it was one he'd remember.  

[Psychofish]

He wasn't panting this time, but Skylar huffed one good breath after she pulled back- taking in strange flecks sparkling in her eyes that he couldn't help but wonder about for a fleeting moment, the curls of auburn hair everywhere, his student's swollen lips-

He'd purged enough of the anger and animal urge from his system, that he'd meant to let her up. That wasn't what she had planned though, evidently.

He grunted, thinking he really should push her up to her feet and dismiss her. Instead he found himself rolling her over across the desk.



A few hours from then, he was due for a great many varying thoughts on what he should have done.  

[Tei Kae]

Flopping onto the bed in her apartment, Serafina's hands moved over her body with a sense of wonder, perhaps for the first time in her life. Lady Kimiko's instruction had always suggested such a thing was possible. For every nerve to feel alive and demanding, but the soft touches of the men at arms and women who inhabited her school had never really done much for her and her patience with the school was as short lived as her mother would allow.

Her body ached in a way that flashed through her mind, sparking pleasant returns to the activities of moments past even as she shimmied out of her clothing and into her sheets. It was far earlier than usual for her bedtime, but a nap sounded quite delightful before her evening class and the soreness of her thighs would hopefully be gone before she took Bubbles out for his evening flight. Drifting to sleep quicker than usual between high count sheets, she gave little thought to how her school instruction would be affected by the day's events.  

[Psychofish]

One of the many benefits of keeping his office tidy was that it took very little time to clean, even when it had to pass under the nose of a second inhabitant- even if usually he was cleaning after its other inhabitant had left, rather than before.

It would have left rather a long time to think, but he tried to limit it to while he picked the single book off the floor and placed it back into the shelf, followed by retrieving the paper he'd been left. He stared at it a long time, absently paging over the notes he had made on it already and considering, before adjusting the score and final notations in red ink below those already there.

This had clearly been ill advised, even though the repercussions were not like those if he had actually been a professor already. The girl was rather straightforward and bullheaded besides, which was dangerous. And refreshing in some ways. He'd never realized how stifling the whole matter of this university was, but now he reflected that there was more than just human in his blood, and it must have been that part radiating a sense of happy relief, having finally gotten a proper chance to stretch its legs.

His mother would have laughed.

There was little to be done for it- and perhaps nothing that needed to be done- he decided, and put his pen away, straightening his jacket. He had labs in the evening, which with a busy mind at the moment he looked forward to more than usual. He didn't mind the job as much as many TAs, but it was his own doctorate- and what he was learning working on it- that he was truly interested in.

The rest of the evening delivered a different sort of pleasant distraction. Work, study, notes- he ignored the other inhabitants entirely for once, and simply buckled down into the tests he was running. Polisci was a game- where the medical and magical crossed, a place the university generally neglected? As much as the cross area created no few headaches for him, it was far more important. Introducing science to the magic.

And at the end, he could simply sit down with a book upon the small balcony of his apartment, and enjoy the night air and some wine, mind pleasantly simple and at peace, for the night at least.  

[Tei Kae]

"Mwrrrclkwrrr" The scaled head rubbed against the arm flung over the bed in abandon hard enough to startle most people awake. Instead, she simply moved, lifting the arm to scratch upward against his scales. Still tired, it wasn't until the light streaming into her face forced a slow blink that she realized something wasn't right and that her body was sore in some unusual places. Oh, right...that

"Merde!", the french curse slipping out with ease as she launched from the bed, tossing the sheets back. She'd overslept! She never overslept. It was only as she was tumbling over the small tree trunk sized dragon limb onto the floor and impacting with the worst bout of feat ever that she realized that she'd REALLY overslept. It had been darkening when she'd laid down for her nap. And it was now morning.

"Merde!"

Flopping onto the far too large for the bedroom dragon, Serafina stared up at the ceiling while the head of the dragon contorted itself to peer down at her. "Mwwrrclkwrrr"

"Oh shut it, Bubbles. You missed one flight. You'll survive. I know you went hunting." But she was already affectionately reaching for the underside of his jaw to scritch. She only had her online class today and the work was already done for it and turned in, just the new stuff would be up, so for all practical purposes she had the day free. So she had plenty of time to think, and eventually be glad that her mother was the practical sort and insisted on birth control once she got to a certain age. That was not well thought out at all, Fina.

So instead most of the day was spent relaxing with the dragon whose belly was quite full from his hunting, and then preparing for the party that night. It wasn't her normal type of thing, not only a frat party but also a 'theme' party, and she did still have one day of classes left. But she'd promised a friend who was a bit nervous about that type of thing. And the party had been fun, at least until the fourth guy to get his fingers 'sprained' by inappropriate touching things he shouldn't. Seeing the friend finally having a good time and making sure she knew to call her if anything went wrong, she left and decided to finally see what her new assignment in linguistics was. Which led to her idly checking her other grades...only to see an update.

And to have an entire night to stew.

The next afternoon, Serafina found herself back in class, laughing with several of her guy friends, not noticing how even more attentive than usual they were as she removed her coat, that she really didn't need and slipped into her seat. One guy was giving her a neck rub from his seat behind her and enjoying quite a view while the others kept up the idle chatter until the TA appeared. She listened to what the guys had to say and mostly focused on calming her temper, just in case they had debate today. It was the longest class of the week, with a required study groups after so it would serve no purpose no matter how satisfying to call him out on his behavior. Besides, Peter gave a pretty good neckrub.  

[Psychofish]

A day and a half of relief. Even though he now felt his sense of smell sharper than he had for some time, and seemed to catch himself thinking with his blood rather than his head now and then, it felt good to get the pent up tension from having to behave like a machine out of him. The regiment agreed with human nature and training just fine, but taking it so far did tend to make his other side feel somewhat constrained.

The work on his dissertation had been scant, but perhaps driven by that simple curiosity and urge toward learning more as play than science, he had come away from them feeling more productive than usual. He'd made small breakthroughs, and if the scientific proof to back it up was a bit shy he had the documentation to help himself recreate the situations and test them.

Of course he'd also had work as a TA for other classes, but he'd all but forgotten about that part, powering through with mind half-present and not finding it too much of an issue, even if it put him slightly closer to "teaching from the notes" than he generally preferred.

His mind went little beyond it until he arrived in this particular class, something tugging at the back of his mind as he entered. Skylar went to the desk at the front, removing his jacket and setting his notes down neatly on the desk to have the reference readily at hand when he lost his train of thought on the benefits or consequences of altering the rate at which flesh liked to absorb natural energies when something caused him to perk his head up. His nose, actually. He drew a breath and recognized the manner of scent mentally well after his body had already understood.

His eyes scanned up the room and came quickly enough to the redheaded girl seated near the front of the classroom, and the young man behind her with his hands all over her neck... and eyes down her shirt. He started to prickle at that, but carefully assessed the issue and took it under control (for the moment), turning his glare away and finishing preparing the class, finally writing across the board before turning back to the class.

He cleared his throat violently loudly, halting the conversations in a manner not unusual to him- but in this instance also shot Peter a direct glare, and began the lecture.  

[Tei Kae]

"Ahaha~!", Serafina laughed at a joke one of the other boys told, not really paying too much attention to her surroundings as they waited for the class to begin. Once it was there, she wasn't even paying much attention. It was lecture time, and then study hall so it wasn't as if anything proactive was necessary. So as usual, she didn't take notes and simply listened, even as Peter kept giving her neck rubs...although oddly, stopping anytime the TA turned back in their direction.

...Which was more often than usual. As were the distracted getting back on track pauses. As if he was reading from the notes which he held, even though that was far from normal. But other than passing thoughts as it happened, it quickly faded from her mind again as the neck rubs and class continued. Merde, it is warm.

Finally, the class ended. And Study hall began. As everyone parted to their different assigned rooms, Peter pulled her aside. "Hey, Sera. I was wondering if you wanted to go out to a movie, sometime."

Distractedly, she nodded, not really thinking. "Sure, I was thinking about going to the next ", not fully registering the almost pleasant surprise on the boys face. "Yeah, sounds good."

"See ya!", giving a friendly toss over her shoulder as she entered the room with 10 fewer of her classmates than she expected. Only 3 people had showed up for the study halls. You got 3 free passes over the semester but people wasted them far too often and only showed up right before tests. She went to make sure the information stayed as well as a chance to debate. It was fun, and it didn't hurt her grade in the least since full attendance got bonus points at the end so she could slake in other ways. But it especially made sense because she could make sure that the TA couldn't escape without her giving him a piece of her mind. But 3 people meant he'd spend more time in the other rooms first, leaving theirs for last so instead, she hunkered down and began to glance over the book and helping the other students.