Office hours [Tuesday, October 31, all day]

[sith_happened]

Like Vader had anything better to be doing.

He was in his office ignoring the notes he'd taken on the last few weeks of Ethics, focused on moving the sand of his Zen garden into a new and complicated pattern.

Hurt - Johnny Cash

Comments

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory knocked on the door and stuck her head in. "Good afternoon, Lord Vader!" she trilled

[sith_happened]

Vader immediately stopped playing with the garden. "Miss Gilmore," he replied with decidedly less enthusiasm.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Happy Halloween!" she chirped cheerfully. "Are you going trick-or-treating later?"

[sith_happened]

"No," Vader replied flatly. "I will be at home."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"With your boyfriend?" Rory asked, eyes wide. "How romantic!"

[sith_happened]

Vader slapped his gloved hand down hard on the desk. "I don't have a boyfriend," he snarled.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory blinked. "But Blair's article said so."

[sith_happened]

"Blair was mistaken," Vader gritted out.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"But I ran the interview and I don't print libel," Rory said seriously. "So it must at least partially be true."

[sith_happened]

"It's not," Vader snapped. "I live in a house with several roommates. One of whom is V. That is all we have in common."

Well, other than the same taste in women to pine over, but he was certainly not about to mention that.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"You both wear masks," she pointed out. "And you dress alike. Sometimes couples like to match."

[sith_happened]

Vader snorted. It sounded very strange coming from the mask.

"I'm not that type."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory raised a brow. "Then what type are you?"

[sith_happened]

Vader bit back a "you'd know," and instead chose, "the type who's alone."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"It's fun, isn't it?" she asked, watching him. "Being alone. Though I suppose it's by choice in your case, and not because your companionship was taken away."

[sith_happened]

The empty coffee mug on Vader's desk smashed into a hundred pieces.

"Don't talk about something you don't understand," he snarled.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Make me understand," she challenged. "You can't deny speculation without giving a solid answer."

[sith_happened]

Even after almost twenty years, Padme was a wound that wasn't even close to healing.

"No!" he shouted, sending a lamp flying towards the wall.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory watched the lamp fly, trying to look as calm and collected as possible.

"I was right, then," she whispered. And more loudly, "I'm sorry."

[sith_happened]

"Get out!" Vader shouted, whirling around and looking for something else to throw. If he wasn't as upset as he had been about Rory's necklace, it was still pretty close.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory backed up towards the door, and today, the look in her eyes wasn't anger or hatred or any of the other blinding emotions she was faced with when she butted heads with Vader.

It was pity.

"I'm sorry," she said again, reaching outside the door. "I brought you cookies, if you want to share with your housemates."

[sith_happened]

Vader abrubtly spun in his chair so that he was facing away from her and ignored her completely.

The way he'd moved made certain that when he dropped his helmeted head to rest in his hands, no one would be able to see it.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory took the opportunity to run and place the plate of cookies on his desk before retreating out the door again with another, "I'm sorry."

It was all she could think to say.

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

Despite the busy day, Wilson didn't forget his promise!

While the cake had been baking and as he needed to pick something up from his office anyway, he had scampered up to the school with a bag of beans in hand.

Brewing the coffee in his office as he finished talking with his father and making up the disk of his 1st birthday party, Wilson packed up and poured a stainless steel traveling mug full of an Ethiopian Harrar (http://www.coffeecoffee.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CTS661&Category_Code=AFRICA) blend coffee, enriched with the warm spicyness of the Fall season.

Stopping by Vader's office, he knocked lightly on the doorframe, the scent of the coffee creeping on into the office ahead of him.

[sith_happened]

"Come in, Dr. Wilson," Vader said, sounding almost polite.

For him, anyway.

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

The deep sucking mechanical breathing still added the proper air of menace but that didn't keep Wilson from smiling warmly as he stepped on through the door, coffee in hand.

"Good afternoon, Lord Vader. Happy Halloween!" He offered as he walked over to the desk and set the fragrant coffee mug down on the desk. "Are you enjoying the holiday?"

[sith_happened]

"It's another Tuesday," Vader replied.

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

"Ah but with free candy." Wilson pointed out but he didn't push it.

"If you like it," he said nodding to the coffee mug. "I brought the whole bag up. I had them send an extra one."

[sith_happened]

"I don't eat," Vader replied, pulling the mug closer. "This smells...intriguing."

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I know." Wilson said and he carefully set the bag down on the desk. "But, this particular blend is pretty potant and I thought it could just sit somewhere for you and smell coffee good?"

Beaming, he rocked on the balls of his feet and nodded. "I'm glad to hear you think so also. I was particularly pleased with the way they were able to maintain the integrity of the original roast but get a smooth and even marriage of the spices into every bean."

[sith_happened]

Vader moved the bag of coffee so that it was lined up evenly with the Zen garden.

"People don't normally give me things," he said gruffly.

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

"I don't normally give things, except shots and advice on birth control." Wilson said with a grin.

Then he gave a little shrug of his shoulders. "A lot of the students like coffee but not many of the teachers. It's nice having someone to talk to who enjoys the richness and complexity of the roasts."

[sith_happened]

"I haven't needed either of those other items for quite some time," Vader commented dryly. "And coffee...is something my galaxy hasn't quite figured out yet."

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

"Now, see...that would definitely make me grouchy, because I am thoroughly addicted to coffee." Wilson admitted openly before asking curiously.

"Galaxy?" Usually, when he heard about far away places, it was in the midst of some medical emergency and he only used the information towards treatment but the concept rather fascinated the very Earth Bound mortal and he took the oppertunity to be curious.

Be glad he wasn't being curious about the birth control.

[sith_happened]

Vader nodded sharply. "Far, far away," he added unneccessarily. "We have caf there--more caffeine, much less aroma."

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

That got a bit of a perplexed expression out of the doctor.

"Oh but half the power of coffee comes from the scent. That's why, though I love tea and it has it's place, it just for the morning when I'm trying to wake up, the complexity of a rich cup of coffee always does the trick to wake me up."

It probably should have dawned upon Wilson to wonder how Vader knew about and was a connoisseur of good coffee if he'd grown up in a 'far far away' galaxy which had no coffee but, sometimes things wandered past him.

[sith_happened]

Vader hadn't realized that he had given part of himself away though his mun had because she is evil to him.

He pulled the mug closer to his mask. "It puts me in a better mood," Vader admitted.

Galaxies tremble at him in a worse one.

[dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com]

Wilson perked up at that and his smile grew warmer, reaching up into his dark eyes.

"Well, then I'm doubly glad to share and provide coffee, Lord Vader."

[sith_happened]

"You can leave now," Vader said.

But in a polite...ish way.