18th Howl: After School Numbers Club, Summer School Edition [Action | Open]

[professorwolf]

Summer school got out earlier than school during the year proper, so Lyall had his classroom open from one until five in the afternoon, in case any students wanted to come by. There were a few games and a few decks of cards, and plenty of snacks, most of which he browsed on while he worked.

Lyall himself had some finishing up to do, as this was the last week of summer session, and he was leaving the week after anyway, so he needed to get everything graded and turned in early. So he was busy, but always ready to take a break if someone wanted or needed to chat.

Up to and including fellow teachers, one of which came by halfway through the afternoon acting very strangely....


((I'll have one thread for the oddly-acting teacher, that a couple people can join in with if they want to! this is plotty stuff :) otherwise, feel free make new threads if you wanna come visit!))

Comments

[scramasax]

The door opens.

Anthony realizes that that is Aria there an instant before she seems to spot him. A stir of brightness - she accepted the invitation after all. The feeling anything but unpleasant surprise and welcome and recognition on hearing a voice on the network he thought he knew was back and redoubled.

As she starts heading over however he freezes - just a bit.

And when she takes her seat, right in front of him, beaming, he feels a very self-conscious chill.

After a few beats her words set in enough to warm it out and shake it off.

"...I know! It's -- ah..." It strikes him, here, to pull his hood down - with a small shake of his head and a sheepish smile back to Aria; he needs to keep reminding himself to keep his state in mind as nothing of concern, at least as much as is evident, around people like them, all part of this, all seeing much stranger, being much stranger, for no limit of reasons. "...nice seeing you -- ...again. I'm -- happy you - were interested."

[eras]

"Of course I was! After all...I sort of need to figure all this out, don't I?" If she was going to be seeing what amounted to a magical network and if she was going to continue getting magical memories...and if she was going to be in danger of getting attacked by aliens (or werewolves? or fairies? Aria just wasn't sure which they were up against).

But at any rate, as long as those things continued to hold true, she needed to continue to learn more and to talk to those who had been at it - whatever "it" was - longer than she had been.

Knowledge was power, after all.

[scramasax]

"We're -- still... figuring things out -- too," he says, with it striking him to work up and inject in what comes across as a very weak and apologetic excuse for a friendly laugh. He's skirting just around looking her dead on - trying eye contact, technically, but from a slight angle.

First time seeing someone since before the end of the school year. He's still going to need to adjust to the fact that Aria has, suddenly, been pulled in to join this. He feels compelled to talk to her normally, still, but not naturally. They're in the same sub-world, now, it can and ought to be both - and surely she would like to be a part of that "figuring things out"; he'd taken from her well enough that she liked learning things, and knowing things.

He is grateful, at the very least as a starter, that she didn't seem to pause at the change to his looks since spring - he'll let anything that may be a reminder of sink in for himself later.

haha s'fine

[eras]

"Yeah, that...seems to be the case, but you know - I think the more people trying to help out with that, the better. I don't know - isn't that how it normally works? And not trying just seems...a bit of a waste, I guess." A waste of time and resources and...who knows, it just seems wrong somehow.

And seeing as how people uninvolved are still getting attacked...

Aria thinks it's also probably a bit useless to try and hide from something so there.

While she's aware Anthony has changed, she's not mentioning it. At least, not unless he brings it up. Hadn't she heard about people getting robot arms and the like, and seen some weird stuff on the network already? People changed, apparently. More than just growing up and apart, here they would grow into someone else. But Anthony still seemed like Anthony, which was good enough for her.

That may be fine but the prose abuses in this one are surely less so. XD

[scramasax]

"Of course," is Anthony's return - and his nod is made with an eagerness, cowed tone and sheepishness-held smile aside.

Sheepishness-held, but he tries to work up another degree of warmth, also in some hopefully more productive, helpful pressing of apology, to loosen himself up out of the "newness" of these circumstances. "Though still I'm sorry that there -- isn't more... for you - to start with. We -- still... don't exactly know - how to stay safe..."

Among many other things, too many other things that are, as is right there and clear as he speaks, mortifyingly unfair for someone to enter so happy to cooperate and turn this into a process of discovery to have to find themselves completely blind and without a point of preparation on.

i forgive them all

[eras]

"Well...I don't know that staying safe is really something people ever know. Sure, you learn to deal with crises and how to minimize things, but...life in general is sort of hard to plan, don't you think?" Aria shrugs. She's going to try to keep a positive outlook just because...well, cowering in her apartment would look too tempting an alternative, otherwise.

[scramasax]

These are unbelievable circumstances. Aria, of course, understands that, it'd be doing a disgrace to talk as if she can possibly not - he'll appreciate and concede to the positivity - back down and up to zoom in to the more productive and relevant - "So you -- haven't had much trouble so far. Have you?"

[eras]

"No, not really. I mean...besides finding this network thing, nothing much has happened to me." Her memories have yet to be traumatizing.

It will happen, though. She has at least three separate deaths to go.