Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reginald Thrash was not happy, and being a man of action, when he was not happy, he didn't sit around the house moping with a cup of tea like his dimensional alter Percy. He got up and did something about it. It was a trait he rather wished Percy might adopt, but so far it had not happened. At this point, Reginald had stopped expecting it to. As much as he and Percy had in common deep down, on the surface, they were very different men.

He found himself at the door of Ms. Lindy because everyone said that was the person with whom he needed to speak. She was the only one capable of reversing her own decision. Reginald had the offending paper in his hand. He knocked twice, a quick and firm double-rap that said he was ready for business, and felt his chest fill with adrenaline at this little adventure. By the Crown, he loved being alive.

Reginald sauntered in with bravado and swagger, his long scarf trailing in the air behind him, and you could just imagine him thinking to himself: I am awesome. He flourished the paper with Lindy's signature like a wand and slapped it down on her desk, his fingers upon it. "I'd like to speak to you about this," he said, grinning confidently as he kicked the door closed behind him. He was a one-man show, that's what he was, and Lindy was getting full admission whether she wanted it or not.

"May I sit?" asked Reginald, flicking his finger in the air, and sat anyway. He settled comfortably as he could into the chair, which wasn't really all that comfortable, and put his foot on his knee. "I'm afraid I really can't accept that, to be honest." (A lie. Reginald was afraid of nothing except losing his family.) "While I would freely admit that Ylaine can be quite a handful, I don't think it's time yet to give up on her schooling, and as her guardian's appointed representative, I'll tell you plainly: Ylaine's education is not an option, no matter what she thinks." He smoothed down the wrinkles in his shirt, giving it a bit of a tug for good measure, and put his hands behind his head, making himself completely at home in Lindy's office.

"Thrash, Reginald Thrash, and I will have some of that tea, the black if you don't mind." He pitched forward and extended his hand, his grip firm and disciplined, and anyone who believed that handshakes were great indicators of personality would have concluded Reginald was a truly decisive man who didn't take "no" as an answer very often.

He settled back into his seat. "I'm sure you don't believe that, Ms. Lindy, because there is no one beyond saving given the right pair of hands making the invitation, and I think Ylaine has made great strides in spite of herself. That's why I find it simply unacceptable that she not attend school, especially one with such caring role models as yourself." And a charmer, to boot. This Reginald Thrash was a dangerous man.

"I had suspected as much when she first stopped attending and refused to discuss the reason," said Reginald, his tone darkening because it was hard to be jovial about something like that. "To be honest, I didn't put her in school because I expected her to like it, I did it because I expected her to dislike it and soldier through. The lesson I want her to learn isn't the importance of a good education, it's how to make the best of the situation. I won't let a mind as brilliant as hers could come to the conclusion that the proper way to deal with your problems is to turn and run away."

Reginald was feeling less awesome by the minute, but he did his best to continue. "She doesn't have friends like you or I would, that's true. But I assure you she does have friends. She's awful to them all, I've seen her, but they're still important for her, far more important than she ever lets on. I even think she likes me a bit." He chuckled, but it was a weak attempt, and even he had trouble laughing at it. "You're probably right that she will eventually hit a breaking point. But I think she needs to. Everyone has a breaking point. Until Ylaine discovers where hers is, she's just going to continue to be impossible. She's only going to realize she's no different from anyone else when she meets her own limitations."

There was a pause, Reginald dropping his bravado for just a moment. "Maybe it's cruel for me to say that, but it's the honest truth, Ms. Lindy. She needs this, no matter what she thinks, and I'm going to do everything in my power to get her to that point so she can move past it, because until she does her life is simply an exercise in the most utter futility I've ever seen." He fixed Lindy with a look of such earnesty it was hard not to accept at least some part os his words. He clearly cared for Ylaine a great deal, and was heavily vested in her future, or potential lack thereof.

Reginald laughed then, a good, throaty laugh that said he liked Lindy, even if Ylaine didn't. "Milk and sugar, yes. I think Moll will kill me if I come home drunker than when I left!" He was still half-laughing as he wiped the beginnings of humor-induced tears from his eyes and took the cup of tea. "Thank you. I'll tell you a little secret. When she first met me, Ylaine hated my guts, too, and she still acts like she does. But I've noticed something about the people whose company she tolerates. They were all too stubborn or too dumb to give up. That's what she responds to, in all honesty. People being just as or more stubborn than she herself is, and it's one of two things she'll respond to that I've found."

He sipped at his tea. It was as good as Lindy promised if not better. Like any good Englishman, he did dearly love a good cup of tea. This was the most encouraging thing so far today.

"Whether I want to be or not," chuckled Reginald, glad the conversation had taken a turn for the better. Tea was great for that sort of thing. And drinking. "I'm good friends with her guardian, Grey, who impressed upon me the task of handling Ylaine, I think because she was under the impression I liked challenges." His eyes twinkled. He obviously lived for challenges, the harder the better. "What precisely do you propose?"