Office hours [Tuesday, April 17, 2012]

[sith_happened]

It had been bad enough that he was in a navy blue polyester nightmare, but Anakin's problems had only compounded when he'd reached out to save what he'd thought had been several little green toys from falling into the pond on his way to the school.

"You saved our lives," they intoned in creepy unison, pattering along behind him. "We are eternally grateful."

"Really, it's nothing," Anakin said. "Go away."

"You saved our lives," they repeated in the same tone. "We are eternally grateful."

"Fine, fine, you're grateful," Anakin said, shooing them into his office and hiding them under his desk. "Now hide."

"You saved our lives. We are eternally grateful."

It was going to be an unbearable day, but the Dean of Students was in for all of your bitching about your uniform/new roommate/final exam needs.

Comments

[fates_jaye]

"This is hell," Jaye said when she arrived at the door, with a really big, zipped-up coat over her uniform. Was it too hot for it? Yes it was. Was she wearing it anyway? Uh huh. "I always wondered what hell was like, but now I know. It's this uniform."

[sith_happened]

"I've worn worse," Anakin said, "but not much worse. How'd your exam go yesterday?"

[fates_jaye]

"Good! I think I really freaked them out."

Teacher of the Year here.

[sith_happened]

"Please tell me you mean the students and not the board," Anakin replied.

[fates_jaye]

"Yeees. I was very good with the school board. Even if the guy didn't believe my class was always Philosophy," she said.

[sith_happened]

"It always called Philosophy, at least," Anakin said slowly. "You were planning on giving the a real exam all along, weren't you?!"

[fates_jaye]

"I wrote it weeks ago," Jaye grinned. "I'm tempted to grade them like the Tick and see if anyone has a nervous breakdown trying to figure out what Nifty+ means."

[sith_happened]

Anakin burst out laughing. "You're a terrible person."

This wasn't a complaint.

[fates_jaye]

"I think of it as a sort of social experiment," she reasoned.

[sith_happened]

Anakin laughed harder. "They've probably had enough trauma for the week."

[fates_jaye]

"Maybe a Nifty+ would make them feel better," she tried.

[trigons_child]

Raven's wings had gone away, thank Azar, though she was still wearing her cloak over her uniform because she thought she looked ridiculous. She'd promised Jono she'd talk to Anakin about her nightmare but right now the situation on the island was more on her mind.

"It is not right that the school board has made people leave the island," she started to say, then stopped short first at the sight of Anakin in his own awful uniform and then at the little green minions praising him.

[sith_happened]

"I should have brought my robe," Anakin lamented. "Maybe I could've smothered my new friends with it."

"You saved our lives. We are eternally grateful."

Anakin ignored that. "Who'd they make leave?"

[trigons_child]

"Jono and Elphaba," Raven said unhappily. "I do not believe they were told they were required to leave, but they were put in a position where they believed they had very little choice in the matter. Fandom is a place where we are safe to be ourselves and now that safety has been taken away from us. Even if it is just for a day, or a week, it is not right."

Unfortunately she didn't have any suggestions for a way out of it other than "find money somewhere else."

She paused to take a breath to rein in her anger and crouched down to inspect the green aliens. "Hello," she said.

"He saved our lives. We are eternally grateful."

"That is a gratitude I share," Raven said, managing a smile. She just didn't follow him around announcing it.

[sith_happened]

And as a student, Anakin would have felt just as betrayed. Being an adult had given him more perspective on politics and how money made the galaxy go around.

"I've had my own thoughts on the board's...capriciousness," he said, "and the wording on Colbert's letter would make even a sane person clench their teeth. But we can't just ask Warren or Chuck Bass or Bruce Wayne to foot our bill instead. We need accreditation to be able to get students from this world into good colleges, and if we changed the money flow so abruptly, those people would be looking for things that are out of the ordinary, and I don't think they'd be as easily distracted as the Howells seem to be."

[trigons_child]

"What if they demand permanent changes?" Raven said. She'd had a couple of restless nights worried about that. "You will not allow them to do that, will you?"

Fandom had to remain a refuge for mutants and aliens and people from other times. And people who hated plaid.

[sith_happened]

"Of course not," Anakin said, "and not just because I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to polyester. Fandom is a place where people can be themselves, and there are sadly not enough places like that in the multiverse. We'll be polite to a point, and then we'll send our guests on their way. But this is just a temporary inconvenience."

He hadn't gotten the incoherent scream of a message from Zoe yet.

[trigons_child]

"That is a relief," Raven said, finally sitting down (but taking care to make certain she didn't accidentally sit on any little green Anakin worshipers). "Jono was very upset and left Monday morning, and Karla told me Elphaba had gone as well. Has anyone attempted to speak to the Howells to ascertain if they would be open to some of Fandom's strangeness? Perhaps this is all unnecessary."

[sith_happened]

"No," Anakin said, "but they're leaving today, so it shouldn't really matter much longer."

[trigons_child]

"I have not met them, and perhaps they are very nice people, but if this is the result, I hope they do not return for a very long time," Raven said with a soft sigh.

There wasn't much more she could say about that without nurturing bitterness, so she shifted the subject to something else on her mind. "I had a nightmare last week, one that I thought it wise to tell you, just in case." She'd learned her lesson about hiding things, oh yes. "I have dreamed of my father plenty of times since my return, but this dream seemed more specific than others. And my brothers were in it. I sometimes have prophetic dreams, but it is difficult to tell what is a glimpse of the future and what is simply a dream."

[sith_happened]

"When it's bad, it tends to be prophetic," Anakin said cynically, raking his fingers through his hair.

[mouthy-merc.livejournal.com]

"Is the coast clear?" Look, Deadpool was well aware that just being around the school could only lead to messing up this ridiculous masquerade they had goin'.

It was his charm that did it.

[sith_happened]

"Of board members, Howells, or irritating green aliens?" Anakin asked.

"You saved our lives. We are eternally grateful."

"I will toss you out the window if you do that again."

[mouthy-merc.livejournal.com]

"Give 'em to the kid. They'll shut right up after a few hours," Deadpool suggested.

[sith_happened]

"Yes, but I'd like to still be married at the end of the evening," Anakin replied.