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 Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:28 pm
Okay, so the teacher's lounge at Crystal Academy might not have been the Legion of Doom, but many a student's fate had been sealed from the grading done behind those cloistered doors. Suri had done all of her grading in the staff room for the past week in the staff room, and in general tended to seem on edge. The small wrist brace on her writing hand was the only indication that the teacher had experienced a brush with death, but considering she'd chalked it up to a minor car accident to her fellow faculty, no one suspected how traumatized she truly felt. It was humbling, to have one's life made to feel so fragile, and grading in the teacher's lounge felt a little more...public...than her private office.
She couldn't help but shake the feeling that the senshi could find out where she worked and finish the job. No matter the reassurances, she always felt that nagging paranoia in the aches of her formerly broken bones. Thraen could be anywhere, so she needed to be in a place where he couldn't find her. It was the smart thing to do, until she could assure herself that he had lost her scent.
For now, the teacher was taking out her inner anxieties on a couple of unfortunate sophomore's lab reports. On one side of her table was a neatly stacked pile of papers, clean and pearly white: on the other was a scattered mess of red ink and disappointment. Between this paper canyon was a favored coffee mug, an empty thermos that seemed like it had contained some kind of soup, and one lab report that she took particular delight in scrawling on, the back page sporting a growing paragraph in angry red ink.
Your hypothesis is crude, and does not support your findings in your initial research. Are you sure you read those primary sources? In addition, the sample of data is much too small for the significant figures you provide, and the type of graph used to present your numbers is inappropriate. Typically, if one wishes to express change over time, they use a histogram. Take note. Your bibliography is also incorrect in that you cite your primary literature in MLA format. This is not an English paper. Standard format for scientific documents is APA, and I trust that in the future you will use the appropriate website to make these annotations for you.
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Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:37 pm
Vanya still hadn't gotten used to her job. Like, she knew she'd probably only secured it by dint of the Negaverse being a pervasive part of her life, and probably the good word of people already on Crystal's staff, but--her? A teacher? Sure, it wasn't exactly the private investigator career she'd sort of always wanted, but it was a career, and a good one. It allowed her access to budding young minds, and furthermore, access to people who could actually do things with the budding young minds. The whole career field just gave her a staggering amount of power, and for someone who until recently had had none at all, it was a little bit… heady. She had to take a minute every so often, between lectures on sonnets, to gather herself.
But she had to act normal sometime, and part of that was probably socializing with others. She'd been told that Suri, the woman from the werewolf game who had seemed so nice, worked at Crystal too; Vanya thought she could maybe find the other Negaverse agent and sit with her for a while. Learn some tricks, pick up a few tips…
She felt gratified to see Suri in the teacher's lounge when she looked. "Hi, Suri," she said, feeling about twelve years old or younger. Shifting her students' papers in her arms, she glanced at another chair at Suri's table. It all felt very… lunchroom-esque. "Can I sit with you for a while?" She thought about just sitting--it would show assertiveness, an important skill for a young officer. But it would also be rude, and would probably burn a bridge before the foundation was even built. "If you aren't busy, I mean. You look like you might be busy." Duh.
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Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:47 pm
Suri's initial reaction to the greeting was to stiffen, holding even tighter to her correction's pen. Slowly, her gaze tilted upwards, but when she met eyes with a familiar face, her expression softened, as did her posture. "Vanya," she breathed in relief, and with a courteous smile she cleared away the finished pile of graded papers, offering her fellow officer a place to sit.
"They don't pay me enough to be this busy," remarked the teacher, who tucked her grading pen behind one ear, reaching for her coffee. "Though I wasn't aware you were on the payroll here, too." She recalled the night of the Werewolf party fondly, even with its interesting turn of events. Vanya had proved to be an ally in a time of need, and that had earned her a seat at the cool kids table, which now had a staggering population of two.
"So when did you start working for Crystal?" She had an inkling there were Negaverse ties behind the placement, but it would be better to let the other woman make conversation. It was...friendly.
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Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:53 pm
She sat gratefully, setting down her own stack of papers at her right hand. "I haven't been for very long," she said. "Uh, some friends of ours referred me to the position. It was very kind of them." She couldn't tell the whole story in possible mixed company, but she knew that Suri was smart enough to get it. When she'd settled in--she routinely didn't eat over lunch break, but she had a thermos of cold coffee to polish off--she uncapped her own grading pen (a purple one) and set about studiously correcting grammar. "I guess they were trying to get me in at Sovereign Heights, but so many students there are close to my age…" Or the age that Vanya thought she was. Kess had said she was twenty-two and Vanya supposed that Kess of all people would know, since--hadn't she also procured some of Vanya's old things, from whoever she was before? "It's a new place, too. So it's exciting, don't you think?" And there was no chance of anyone ever recognizing her, which was a huge relief. She didn't say that part, though. It seemed rude to dump all of her insecurities on someone she'd really only just met. Vanya considered a particularly vexing error, scrawled a scathing condemnation down the margin-- What did your prior instructor teach you?. "I teach English, and you're…" she looked at the pile of papers between them "…Science? That's interesting. I wanted to major in some sort of science, but… I didn't. I don't remember why."
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Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:27 am
Suri admired Vanya's stylistic choice of purple ink for corrections--less forceful than red, perhaps, but possibly more trendy to better connect to students. She herself had an affinity to purple, given her powered identity, though red would always be her choice of ink when fixing a student's errors. It was the color of academic justice, of wrongs made right with a swift and effective pen stroke, and after all these years Suri found that she could not break from tradition, no matter how trendy the alternatives might be. Still, she could appreciate the verve.
"Crystal does seem like a more natural placement," she agreed, topping off her nod of approval with a sip of her coffee. She watched with mild interest as the other instructor began her own grading process, then nodded again when asked about her subject. "Chemistry and Physics labs, sophomores through seniors. It used to be a promising group of students, but whenever that Horizon Institute opened..." Suri let out a beleaguered sigh with a roll of her eyes. "Nowadays, it's rare to find a student who has even heard of the Socratic Method."
Suri regarded Vanya's statement about majoring in the sciences with modest approval, reaching for the next paper in her neatly ungraded pile. "Don't remember? Did you just gradually lose interest in the subject you were studying?"
She paused, then lowered her voice, leaning in closer. "You can tell me if it was Organic Chem, everyone struggles with that class." Suri herself had struggled her way to a B- herself, and she wanted to ensure Vanya that the teacher's lounge was a safe place where they could talk about the semesters that had ruined their chances for stellar careers.
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 4:21 pm
Vanya didn't remember when Horizon had opened, specifically, except as a vague memory of knowing someone who attended. She bit her lip and stared down at her paper for a minute, trying to settle on how to explain this particular thing in friendly terms. Ones that wouldn't sound weird to the other teachers around them. She finished with the essay she was reading, and said carefully, "I had an accident, and I lost a lot of time." Which could really mean anything. She had been told about the coma sickness that had spread through the city, and knew enough to link it in to that, usually. "I don't remember much before the coma sickness a few years back. It's good that I have friends willing to look out for me, because otherwise I'm not sure I'd have anything going for me at all." She gave Suri a pained smile after that little admission. "I don't even remember if I took organic chemistry," she admitted. "I feel like I must have. I know I was a college graduate, before. I took credit tests through the State to get my degree back, but I sort of just… guessed at the subject. If that makes sense." Which was a pretty sensitive thing to say out loud, but it was also the party line, her official story for how she got where she was. "I can tell you more about it somewhere else," she offered. "Only I don't like talking about it in the teacher's lounge, I feel so self-conscious and kind of stupid."
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Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:40 pm
Suri was not the best at reading people, but as Vanya began to trail off into her dialogue she began to get the feeling that she'd hit on a nerve. At the very least, the mention of the coma sickness darkened the science teacher's expression, and with an uncomfortable flick of her wrist she tucked a lock of her hair behind one ear, looking away. "I apologize, I shouldn't have pressed."
At first, Suri was inclined to take Vanya's story at face value; she'd been in town during the comas, and her own mother had fallen prey to the illness. She'd never heard of anyone actually losing their memories upon waking up, but the whole disease had been something of an anomaly, so there were sure to be some weird side-effects. However, when Suri finally returned her gaze to the conversation, she caught something weighted in Vanya's eyes, a little too much emphasis in the careful way she crafted her words.
Vanya was speaking in code for something to do with their powered lives, and as Suri realized it her eyes widened slightly. She could have berated herself for not catching on sooner, but instead she found herself extremely interested, curious to play this game of metaphors.
"There's no need to feel stupid," Suri responded as a matter of course, reaching over and touching Vanya's grading hand as a gesture of comfort. "Clearly you retained enough to keep your degree, that's something. And you have your group of friends to help you through everything, so you'll get through it." Her expression softened, so relieved to know that the Negaverse had actually helped someone. She'd been talking to so many Knights lately it had started to blur the fact that she was part of a family.
"If you want to talk about it later, we can," Suri added, "Or we don't have to talk about it at all. But either way, I'm sure you'll be great for the staff...here." Nope. You went full sentimental. Never go full sentimental. Slowly, Suri retreated her hand, putting it to use stacking her papers instead.
"I'm sorry, that was too forward," she admitted sheepishly, looking down at her papers. "I just tend to get a little overzealous when someone of similar qualifications as myself joins the faculty." For too long, her peers in the Negaverse had all been students in their normal lives, so painfully young to Suri. It was a fresh breath of air to have someone she could actually consider a peer.
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Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 3:52 am
Vanya smiled, wan and forgiving. "It's fine," she said. "How could you have known? It's not like you did it to me." Casual, she thought. She had to keep this as casual as she could, because getting distressed wasn't going to help anything. Her hand paused in its careful, regimented movement across the paper when Suri settled her hand over hers. The encouragement brought a shier, warmer aspect to her smile; she longed for approval and in the game of Werewolf, she'd gotten it from Suri and Avery both. Having someone like Suri at work would make things so much easier. "I wouldn't be able to do this without them," she agreed. It was true for a lot of reasons. Either way, she shook her head. "I don't mind. It's sort of lonely… I don't remember any friends I had, and I'm not so good at making them on my own." Was that too honest? Vanya bit her lip and flipped the most recently graded essay over, looked to the next one. "Um… I'm practicing for that cooking contest in December. Do you want to come over? My roommate agreed to be a guinea pig, but I'm pretty sure he thinks MREs and protein bars are the height of haute cuisine and… you know, I'd trust your opinion more than his."
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Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 8:55 pm
For a moment, Suri kept her gaze down at her papers, worried that she'd breached some sort of social code. However, the reassurance in Vanya's voice was enough that she looked up, amber eyes curious yet unsure. She gave her peer time to speak, nodding in agreement at various points. Not good at making friends? Now, who did that sound like...?
"A cooking contest?" This seemed to pique Suri's curiosity even more, and slowly she uncoiled from the tense posture she'd been holding. "My palate isn't the most refined in Destiny City by far, but I'd be more than happy to help." Suri's actual tastes varied somewhere in between Deep-South-Trying-To-Be-Healthy and ********, but it at least meant that she'd experienced a wide range of food.
"When would be a good time for you? I never really go out much, except for 'company' functions."romeo wilco We can start to wrap here, I think? And then cooking rp?
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