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 Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 4:20 pm
Who: Cesc, Gertrude, Duncan and Aina
Where: Various schools for magical children
When: May 2016
Weather: Overcast but warm
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Cesc shifted his weight in the air, tucking his wings back. His ears were tilted forward, alert, although he was looking what had become his usual semi-ragged self this spring--he was sporting three days worth of stubble, the wind was tousling his hair, and he looked both alert and tired: the effect of an energy drink coupled with little sleep.
Beside him, Gertrude Maplethorpe was eyeing him with an expression of faint disapproval.
"Really, Rhedefre," she was saying. "Look at you. A t-shirt? You might have at least worn something nicer for Duncan and Miss Aina."
"You think so?" Cesc tugged on the front of his plain heather grey shirt. It was ironed, and it was clean, so he was at a loss as to why visiting schools with Duncan and Aina would mean he needed to dress in a button-down.
They were currently standing at the entrance of Morgan's Elementary, the first of three schools for magical children Gertrude had some connection with--for this one, privately her least favorite of the three, she had recently met the assistant principal at a conference. It was best, she thought, to start Duncan and Aina with some familiarity in what basics a school should offer before showing them the better options.
"I was kind of nervous about this anyway. I haven't seen Aina since she was upset at the bakery." Cesc raked his fingers through his hair, which did little to calm the curls.
"Rhedefre." Gertrude turned her attention back to him from her consideration of curriculums.
"What do you think I should say? That Eth and I are okay? She doesn't need to worry about it?" The stag fretted.
"I am fairly confident," said Gertrude with some asperity, "that the child has not lost sleep over your romance. And that neither of them are waiting with bated breath for the conclusion of your tepid romances as though they were soap operas."
Cesc broke into a boyish smile, nudging Gertrude with a shoulder. "You don't think so? DAYS OF RHEDE'S LIFE." He began to hum a manufactured theme song.
Gertrude smothered a smile as she looked across the green. "There they are. Quiet, now."
"On tonight's DAYS OF RHEDE'S LIFE. Aina has been in love with me the whole time. She's only been pretending to be a child. She's actually 84! She has legs!"
His companion smiled despite herself, shaking her head in silence.
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:17 pm
Duncan checked and rechecked the address of Morgan Elementary before he had even left home, passing by each locale and diligently asking Aina if their arrow was still on the path that his phone GPS had hurled them toward. The Frei was always so delighted to navigate to a new place, the faint sounds of Moonbeeps looming in the vehicle throughout their drive.
When Morgan Elementary was in view, Duncan - relieved as he was - let out a small sigh, calling Aina's attention back up from his phone. The Frei was surprisingly resilient in the face of motion sickness, and she perked readily at the sight of the campus, and the recognizable figures of one Cesc and one Granny M up ahead. "Grandpa, Cesc an' Miss Maplethorpe are here!" she announced, just in case her grandfather hadn't seen - and he hadn't, given his focus on choosing a parking space out of many from Morgan Elementary's relatively empty campus lot.
"They are! It has been quite a while since we've seen either of them, hasn't it?" he asked, smiling jovially back at Aina. He took a quick glimpse at the car clock, shoulders relaxing some when he noticed they were blissfully on time - a few minutes early, in fact. Once the car was off, he hopped out of the car, Aina opening her passenger door while waiting for his help to exit the car.
"Mhm," Aina said, a bit airily, focusing back down on Duncan's phone as the map went silent. She blindly reached for Duncan's hand when she saw it at the corner of her vision, hopping out of the car with his support. "D'you think Cesc plays Moonbeeps?" she asked, poking a green digital firefly that was near the edge of the screen.
"He might. You could always ask him," he smiled, shutting the door behind them and locking the car. Aina floated alongside him, her hand in his. "Aina?"
"The pink fireflies remind me of him," she said, poking a green firefly, "An' the green ones remind me of Cruz."
"We should put away the phone before we greet them, shouldn't we?" Duncan said, and Aina glanced up, grinning playfully. They were halfway through the lot already, and with Cesc and Granny M so close, she nodded, gently putting the phone back into her bag.
True to Gertrude's predictions, Aina didn't call attention to the fiasco between him and Ethiriel that had happened last winter. She hadn't forgotten it completely, but the subject hadn't crossed her mind when she hadn't seen either of the Raevans together since New Years, which seemed like forever ago. Aina waved at Gertrude and Cesc, smiling wide, floating a little faster than Duncan was walking to close the distance.
"Hi, Miss Granny Maplethorpe! Hi Cesc!" Aina greeted, moving away from Duncan to float immediately to the stag, arms reached out for a hug.
"Lovely seeing you both, Gertude, Rhedefre," Duncan laughed, bowing his head in courtesy to the two of them. One good look at the stag, though, and Duncan's smile faded with a hint of concern - he'd never seen the boy so ragged. "You look quite tired," he admit, tone gentle. "Are you well, Rhedefre?"
"You're all prickly-lookin', like papa," the younger Frei chimed in.
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 11:11 am
As the duo approached, Gertrude managed to remold her expression as the model of upright British dignity, both her hands gently folded atop her small, sensible handbag. She greeted both Aina and Duncan with what was proper: a smile, with a gentle squeeze on the shoulder for Aina and as a palm-down handshake for Duncan.
"So delighted to see you," she said. "I am so happy to be of service to you and to Aina in this small matter."
It took a great deal of her fortitude to see the impropriety of Cesc's greeting just after hers.
"AINAAAAAA!" Cesc gave a cheery roar and swooped down to envelop the child in a bear hug. "How's the coolest kiddo I know?! Ready to start school and be the brainiest? I heard a rumor that you're getting so smart, you've got to start going to the super-smart classes and outsmart everyone there!"
Cesc looked up at Duncan as he pulled away from Aina, and the broadness of his smile faded in the face of the man's concern. A faint look of guilty embarrassment crossed his features, and for those listening, a quiet tsk could be heard from Gertrude's direction.
"Oh, I'm alright," said Rhedefre, rubbing his jaw with the knuckles of one hand. "Just let the time get away from me a little bit last night." He looked angelically at Gertrude. "Just a lot to do around the bakery this time of year, yeah?"
Miss Maplethorpe's expression was that of a strict schoolmistress unimpressed. She turned toward Duncan with a slight raise of her eyebrows, imparting more meaning to the words than face value.
"Rhedefre," she said crisply, "has lately discovered a hatred for a straight razor."
"What do you say, Aina? Do I look okay prickly? Am I prickly enough?" Cesc turned his attention to Aina, all smiles, although the cloud of self-consciousness had not quite dispersed.
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 11:15 pm
Aina giggled as she buried herself in Cesc's hug, nuzzling against his stomach, arms wrapped as tightly around the stag as she could muster. She didn't seem to catch onto the air of awkwardness that hung between the three grown-ups, happy as she was to see the stag and his Granny. Duncan listened to Cesc carefully, his hands folded over each other as he turned to give Gertrude his attention instead.
"Ah." Duncan lifted his head, slowly, in recognition of what Gertrude was implying, but it was rude to inquire any further. Perhaps he was projecting, the image of Cesc less than clean-shaven and prim from his usual reminding him of a certain son-in-law that he often had to worry about. Before he could interject with an apology, Aina leaned back to look at Cesc, all fondness and awe.
"Are you prickly 'nough?" she mirrored, hopping up to try and pat her small palms against Cesc's cheeks to measure his Prickliness. She grinned, wings twitching in curiosity, and nodded. "Mhm! I bet you give really tickly kisses," she deemed, and Duncan chuckled, bowing his head briefly.
"I'm sorry, Rhedefre, I don't mean to put you on the spot. If you and Gertrude would have us, we could always relax after the tours with some tea," he suggested, a gentle hand at Aina's back to guide her to Cesc's side. The Frei followed, one hand held out to Cesc, and Duncan smiled politely at Gertrude. "Gertrude, I can't thank you and Rhedefre enough for your help," Duncan said, standing politely near her, inclining his head. "Please, after you. I've done my research, but I'm still woefully unlearned on this type of curriculum," he admit, always eager to learn.
"Cesc?" Aina piped up, whispering so as not to intrude Gertrude or Duncan. She floated a bit higher, as much as she could muster. "D'you play Moonbeeps?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:26 am
“Do you think so?” Cesc laughed at Aina’s speculation and bent to give her a kiss on the forehead. He was steadfastly refusing to buckle under the pressure of not one, but two British grandparents’ disapproval, which was perhaps the hardest thing he’d ever done. Internally, he was fighting the desire to sink into the ground, shave and shower and dress nicer while there, and then reappear whole and proper. “Was it tickly?”
He smiled up at Duncan then, nodding, trying to exude pleasantness, goodwill and responsibility. ”No, it’s nothing! That sounds great. Always up for a little tea.”
Gertrude gave Rhedefre one more fleeting look of displeasure, her sense of propriety further wounded by the fact that Duncan had taken notice of her charge’s deficiencies.
“Youth,” she sighed in a low voice to Duncan. “Nothing to be done but wait it out.”
The next moment, she straightened, nodding. “Do not trouble yourself by mentioning it. We are delighted to be of assistance. This is Morgan Elementary, here—they serve many children with magical powers, but you’ll find that their curriculum is quite standard, with allowances. Ah, I see Alice Keiter, the assistant principal, there on the lawn. She will be able to tell you more. Alice, good morning.”
”Moonbeeps?” Cesc was saying to Aina at that moment, his eyebrows raised. ”No, I’ve never heard of it—what’s a moon beep?”
His eye soon caught the figure of Alice Keiter, an athletically-proportioned dark elf with deep purple skin and bright white hair half-tied up with a clip. She strode with militant purpose, only acknowledging the presence of the group when she was close enough for speech.
“Gertrude, good morning,” she said. Alice had a tendency to clip her consonants short, giving her speech a telegraphic style. She smiled a brilliant smile full of white teeth. “Rhedefre, nice to see you again.”
“Morning, Mrs. Keiter,” said Cesc.
“Alice, may I present Duncan Clarke and his young charge, Aina.” Gertrude gestured at Duncan with a slim smile. “They are quite interested in alternative schools that could benefit Aina’s education.”
“Of course,” said Alice with a brisk nod. She shook Duncan’s hand with a steely authority, then knelt to make Aina’s acquaintance. “Mr. Clarke, good morning. Miss Aina, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Miss Keiter, and this is our school, Morgan Elementary. We are happy to have you.”
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:18 pm
Aina giggled, scrunching her face when Cesc bent down to give her the kiss on top of her forehead. It certainly did tickle, and she held his face there for a moment, delighted and bright. "Prickly! Mhm," she replied, nodding briefly. If there was any discomfort that grew between them during their brief meeting in winter, Aina certainly didn't seem to take notice of it now.
"There's a teashop in Gambino that grandpa really likes. We go with my Aunt Rebecca sometimes," Aina said, sagely, smiling up at the stag. She pulled out Duncan's phone from her pocket, handing it up to him, rune thrumming with excitement. "Moonbeeps lets you catch fireflies inna forest," she explained, smiling at the stag. She tilted her head up in an attempt to look at the screen, poking blindly at the lockscreen, which was set to a wallpaper of their home garden. "You hafta walk to find more fireflies, though. D'you wanna play?"
Duncan smiled an even-keeled smile at Gertrude, one of understanding and sympathy. "But it will always find new ways to surprise you," he commented, his voice equally low. He stood attention when Gertrude greeted Ms. Keiter, nodding in silent greeting to the woman as she approached. Gertrude and even Cesc's own familiarity with the assistant principal helped put Duncan more at ease with the visit already, and he nodded promptly at Gertrude's introduction of him, offering Alice a firm handshake.
"Wonderful seeing you, Mrs. Keiter," he said. The rain Frei glanced uncertainly up at him when Alice turned to her, but Duncan's smile helped reassure her. Keeping close to Cesc, she waved carefully at Alice.
"Hi, Miss Keiter," Aina greeted. A small smile followed. "Why isn'it called Miss Keiter Elementary? Does a Morgan go here too?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 11:11 pm
"Oh man! That sounds really cool, Aina. I think we should definitely play some Moonbeeps--but maybe we should check out this school first? I'm not great at playing and walking... I might float into a tree or a door or something!" Cesc said, grinning down at Aina.
Alice lifted her eyebrows in response to Aina's question, rising again from her squat. "What an interesting question! Our school is named after a Dr. Allisandra Morgan, who first created this institution for magical children. Would you like to see our campus?"
Without waiting for much of a reply, Alice began to walk toward the school gates. It was a fairly large structure: the school itself was comprised of a large faded red-brick building that called to mind a miniature castle, with two towers on either side. There was a short staircase into the front double-doors.
"We have long since," Alice was saying to Duncan, "opened our doors to non-magical children as well. We think it to be a better for their social integration. Our current ratio is about 60:40 now, favoring the non-magical." She strode with long legs down the lane. Gertrude seemed to be able to match her pace without breaking a sweat, but it was always impressive to Cesc how quickly all the educators he'd ever met seemed to walk.
"We have 8 courses spread over two days. An A-day and a B-day, with one day alternating per week. Students and parents can select four of these courses from the total; the other four are core curriculum classes that are mandatory. Language and writing, mathematics, history and science," Alice said. "The classes you may choose from range from Magical Development, for which we have two brilliant professors, all the way down to Divination and Introduction to Magical Ethics. Students have an hour for lunch and are encouraged to mingle outside of their general groupings. We also highly encourage some manner of physical education."
Cesc smiled encouragingly down at Aina. He couldn't help but think the school was too big, too regimented for her, even from first blush. He held out a palm to her to see if she wanted to hold his hand as they went.
"Psst," he said, poking a finger at a window. Inside were children reading open books--one of which had horns, another of which had green skin. "Neat, huh?"
"Do you have any questions so far?" asked Alice, standing beside the entrance doors, her hand poised to push through.
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Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:32 pm
"Oh... okay!" giggling, she held the phone close to her, glancing up at Cesc. "Cesc, floatin' into a tree would be really really clumsy! Have you ever tripped before? D'you think Raevans can trip on stuff?" Aina, for one, had never done so, but the Frei had often attributed clumsiness to tripping, with how often she had seen Anita stumbling on her feet.
The pomegranate Frei gave a nod of understanding when Mrs. Keiter answered her question, satisfied for now, though more questions popped into her head as the assistant principal marched on, beginning their tour. Aina kept her distance, wanting to float besides Cesc, while Duncan paced briskly forward alongside Gertrude. True to Cesc's assessments, he did so without much issue, with decades' worth of supervising students training his punctuality.
To Duncan, the campus itself was impressive. But, like Alice, there was a structure behind it that felt too stiff, too formal. If he had been looking at Morgan Elementary fifty years ago, Duncan assessed, he would have called Morgan Elementary a perfect place. But, after raising two children who suffered under structure, he found himself uncertain.
Still, he hummed and nodded along to Alice's explanation. He stopped promptly in front of the entrance doors, his hands folded politely over each other. "Oh, always," Duncan replied, smiling evenly at Alice. "I'm curious, what is the student to staff ratio here? Aina has some difficulty learning without some level of individualized attention."
When Cesc pointed into the classroom, Aina arched her head up, hopping up some to glance into the window. Eagerly, she held the stag's hand, smiling wide when she noticed the students inside. Quietly, she nodded, attempting to point at the student with horns.
"D'you think lotsa other kids got horns an' wings an' ribbons like us?" she asked, pressing her free hand up against the window.
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Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2016 3:21 pm
"Mm... I don't know about ribbons," said Cesc, inclining his head in thought. "That seems to be pretty unique to us Raevans. But horns and wings, sure! I don't see any wings, but that kid's horns are pretty great." He smiled down at her. "Not as great as your branches though."
"Our student/teacher ratio is generally 15:1," said Alice, nodding as she pushed into the building. "If Aina requires some extra attention, some of our classes, especially for our magical children, tend to be smaller, although some can be larger, as well. Divination, I believe, had nine children this semester."
"I know the teacher, Eslbeth Mcready," murmured Gertrude to Duncan. "Fine woman."
The building inside was old but well-kept, with brown tile floors well-worn by the staircases and large glass cases showing trophies of all shapes and sizes along the walls. Lockers stretched from wall to wall, stacked two high. There were bulletin walls decorated in school colors (maroon and gold) and pictures of students doing various extracurriculars--smiling with paintbrushes and shovels on a day of service, petting an alpaca at a zoo.
"Whoa," said Cesc as he entered, his eyebrows raising. There was something a little imposing about the school's size, its high ceilings and lockers. Aina, he thought, needed something a little smaller and more plush, with more color and life. He looked down at her. "Wanna look at the pictures?"
"As with most magical schools," said Alice, gesturing to the walls. "Our school is magically protected with various wards in case of tantrum or magical, ah, irregularity. Fire, water, smoke--all the basics are taken care of. The school is two stories, with the older children upstairs and the younger downstairs. The classes are in session now, but we can go observe if you would like. In the back we have our sports fields and the separate building houses our cafeteria and, beside it, the gymnasium. We have track and field, football, baseball, basketball and cricket."
"Most invigorating," said Gertrude politely.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 6:02 pm
Aina glanced down at her ribbon, pouting, though she wasn't remiss for long as Cesc elaborated. She reached up to pet her branches, smiling proudly, even if they were still nubs with saplings growing from her trim in March. "D'you think other kids gotta get their branches trimmed, too?" Aina asked, hugging Cesc's arm. She glanced up at him, at his horns, and grinned. "D'you gotta trim your horns? They're really tall!"
"I see," Duncan replied, a chuckle escaping him from overhearing Cesc's conversation with Aina. As they enterd through the school building, he gave Gertrude a coy smile. "I envy anyone who has the determination to teach divination to children," he murmured back. He lifted his head once the school's interior was in full view, brows raise. It was more refined, he found, than even some of the more celebrated manors in Durem.
He glanced once at Aina to measure her reaction to Morgan Elementary. She was still clinging to Cesc, following his every move quite loyally, outside of a simple glance up the stairs. The Frei was always so eager to wander through anything new that sparked her curiosity, but they didn't seem to be quite there yet. Still, she nodded at Cesc, floating closer to the school bulletins to see.
"Alpacas!" she said, pointing at a picture of Morgan students at the zoo, wings fluttering. "They got 'em at the Barton County Fair. They're really soft, but they don't got any on the farm," she explained, frowning a bit. "Mr. Stephen says he doesn't want any."
"An observation would be splendid," Duncan chimed in politely, too, standing watch of Aina as she admired the bulletin boards. "If we may. We plan on placing Aina in the fourth grade."
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 8:06 pm
"They might have to trim 'em, but I don't know... I guess that's something we'd have to ask them!" Cesc pondered. He leaned down and gently bonked heads with Aina, grinning. "I don't have to trim my antlers, but every winter they turn into light and break off when they're the biggest and start regrowing again. They're kind of fuzzy when they start regrowing!"
He looked over the pictures with some interest, mostly looking at the faces of the children in them and trying to picture Aina among them. It was in the alpaca picture he managed to slot her--and soon, she validated the thought. "Whoa, that's awesome... I've never pet one! Maybe one day we can go to the fair together?"
Alice nodded to Duncan's request, and pulled her cuff back to check the watch on her wrist. She looked down the hallway, thinking. "I think A Magical History of Gaia would be good selection for observation, given her grade level. It's just down this hallway."
She led them down the pathway and turned right, showing a closed brown door with a square window in its top third. Inside was a young, thin man talking animatedly over a projector that said: FRANCIS FIDDLEBERT, GWEE SCIENTIST. The room was decorated with what looked to be student-made projects, many on colored poster board with printouts on all kinds of topics: VAMPIRE INTEGRATION,THE UNDEAD VOTE, WHY I LIKE GRUNNIES A LOT.
Alice smiled brightly at Aina, putting her hands on her knees and leaning forward at the girl. "We're going to go into a class now, Aina! Would you like to see one? You'll have to be quiet so the other children can learn, but I think you might like it!"
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 11:48 pm
"I wanna see when your horns turn to light!" Aina exclaimed, tugging at Cesc's sleeve. When he called attention back to the alpacas, she nodded, too, smiling as she admired the pictures some more. "Can we go to the fair soon? All of 'em are gonna go away when it's August," she said to the Sigel, "An' Mr. Stephen doesn't like alpacas, but he likes showin' off his horses an' his pigs an' goats there."
"Wonderful," Duncan replied to Alice, waving to call attention to Cesc and Aina. "Rhedefre, Aina, Mrs. Keiter is showing us to a classroom."
It didn't take much beyond that to garner Aina's enthuse. With Alice, Gertrude, and Duncan ahead of them, Aina carefully tried to poke her head over the frame of the classroom window. Still proving a little too short, she spun around when Alice knelt down to speak with her. She folded her hands together, politely wringing them in front of the jacket, as she listened to the assistant principal.
"Mhm, I wanna see one, it sounds really fun," Aina spoke quickly, almost nervously, and gave Miss Alice a very practiced smile. She nodded, looking up at Cesc and the two grandparents present for guidane. "I'll be really quiet... 'm really excited."
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 6:33 pm
Alice smiled back at Aina and quietly ushered the group into the back of the class. She nodded as the lecturer turned toward them and slowed his speech, but after she shut the door, he continued at his previous, nearly breakneck speed of speaking. His hands waved and his mouth hardly seemed to be able to keep up with how quickly the information was flowing from him.
Gwees! Their tiny wings (the membranes were really quite tough), their talons (they could rip through a car door if they wanted), their tails (they serve as an excellent counterbalance, just like cats!)--it all interested him the same.
For how engaged the teacher was in his topic of gwees and gwee science, his lecture was like the rest of Morgan Elementary: rather structured. He wrote a few short notes on the whiteboard, which the students dutifully copied into their workbooks, and he showed many pictures of gwees in their natural habitat. The students oo'd and ah'd and piped up: "can we see a real gwee soon?"
The lecturer promised, yes, on the yearly field trip at the end of the semester, he would show them all some gwees at the zoo.
After the lecture, Gertrude thanked Alice very prettily, and regretted their having to leave so soon--another engagement they simply had to get to, you see, but it was lovely to catch up and see the school.
Soon enough, they were at the gates of their second school:
"Ghislaine Elementary?" Cesc sounded out slowly, squinting at the sign. "Do they want kids to know how to say this, or is this like the final exam before kids leave?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:23 pm
The topic of Gwee Biology was new to Aina, but the Frei admittedly felt a bit lost and anxious taking in so much information at once, feeling as though she was already attending Morgan Elementary and was underprepared by not having a notebook and pencil at hand. Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed, she joined Granny M in a gracious farewell. It was only after they left the campus that Aina felt comfortable enough to cling to Cesc in full.
The only thing Aina really managed to retain fully from Morgan Elementary after they ended the tour was, truthfully, the prospect of going to a zoo. Ever so diligent, the small Frei made sure to ask about going there on their short car trip to the next campus. Duncan’s answer essentially boiled down to a Maybe Later, but it seemed to calm the Frei’s nerves considerably, and she was as cheerful as ever by the time they approached the front of the second elementary school.
“Ghis-laine E-le-men-tar-y,” Aina practiced in a singsong voice. “Ghislaine Elementary! I hope someone named Ghislaine goes here,” she repeated, proudly looking up at Cesc. “I thought it was really silly that there wasn’t any Morgans goin’ to the other school.”
“Quite a difference from Morgan Elementary already,” Duncan noted, admiring the gates of the elementary school. He bowed his head some, smiling a touch eagerly at Granny M. “To the office, Gertrude, or are we meeting someone outside?”
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:05 pm
"Ghis-laine," repeated Cesc, leaning down to be closer to Aina's height. He grinned at her assertion and nodded his head with some consideration, eventually affirming her account of the situation. "You're right. That's so weird. There's gotta be a Ghislaine here."
A gust of wind discommoded the lady, and so, surreptitiously, Gertrude patted her skirt gently back into shape as Duncan looked at the school gates. When she raised her head once more, she smiled what for her might have been considered a broad smile, although it was still rather tame: lips still closed but not tight.
"Yes, we will be met momentarily. I pressed the bell just as we arrived," said Gertrude. She nodded up toward the school in a beat of silence that followed, the smile still lingering on her face. "Yes, if I am not mistaken..."
A bark resounded through the air then, and Cesc lifted his head, floating slightly upwards, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
A dog bounded over the hill, its movements quick but slightly mechanical, like a strangely-advanced animatronic. Its fur was patchy and its eyes bright, unholy blue--but its expression was friendly and its tail wagged in a clicking motion. It also wore a blue vest with the Ghislaine Elementary crest on it.
"Roger! Roger, slow down!" came a British-accented cry behind the dog, and a rotund woman with caramel-colored skin and hair (which flounced behind her in a halo of frizzy curls) huffed and puffed her way to the gate. Before opening the door, she put her hands on her knees and took a few breaths.
"Oh!" she gasped, standing straight, flipping her hair away from her face with one hand, opening the gates to allow the group inside. She waved everyone in with a glowing warmth, her smile wide and full of pretty, straight teeth. She, too, wore a vest with the school crest on the pocket--she and the dog seemed, somehow, to be partners. "What an awful way to introduce yourself! I'm Ambrosia Corsio. This is Roger."
The dog now sat at attention, although his tail still clicked away in its wag, and it turned its nose toward each of the guests in turn.
"Hi, Ambrosia--Hi, Roger!" said Cesc with a smile, charmed by her disheveled appearance. After the straight-laced, buttoned-up appearance of Morgan Elementary, a little dishevelment felt like just what the doctor ordered.
"Hello again, Ms. Corsio," said Gertrude with a nod, her hands folded neatly over her purse. "Lovely to see you. This is Duncan Clarke and his granddaughter Aina."
"Hi, hello, so lovely to have you all. Thank you so much for coming," gushed Ambrosia. The wind came again and her hair danced around her head and she busied herself with pushing it away from her eyes, delaying her handshakes. As she extended her hand, Roger opened his mouth and his tongue lolled out, watching her.
"You can feel free to pat him and say hello if you like--Roger is our undead ambassador dog," explained the woman. "We're still training him, so he can be a little naughty, running away from me! But nothing too bad. He's a big sweetie. Aren't you, Roger? Aren't you?"
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