Faculty Meeting (Friday after classes)

[bigdamnprincipal]

After the student council cleared out, Zoe got the council room set up for yet another meeting, hoping all the teachers had gotten her handwavey email. Sure, classes had only been in session for a week, but she figured it was a good idea to check the new teachers for shell shock early. There were warm food and drinks set out (not the leftovers from the student council... at least, not totally) but nothing alcoholic. If people wanted to go that route, they would have to bring their own this time.

"Hello there, come on in and have a seat if you'd like," she said. "I thought it might be good for everyone to have a chance to get together without students around, and be inside where it's warm. I hope everyone's had a good first week. If you haven't, well, now you have a room full of people to vent to." It was the little things that helped make this job better.

[Open to all staff and OCD free!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Jono was here, ignoring the food and drinks, and looking... more or less not too disgruntled. Which was an improvement on his usual, so he was going to roll with it.

He needed to talk to... somebody... about a student who wasn't going to be coming back, and probably somebody else about the one who seemed to have a hate-on for anyone with powers, but overall, he was pretty mellow.

He was occasionally making sad eyes at the coffee, though.

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa wandered over to her co-teacher. "So -- do you want to share some of my coffee?" she asked.

They'd only really done that once, as a flirting ritual while not themselves. But that didn't mean he couldn't do it not as a flirting ritual. Some days required coffee.

[furnaceface]

//Never has anybody so eloquently demonstrated that they really do love me,// Jono replied, giving her a very thankful look for the offer. //Thank you, luv. And how has your day been? First foray into the wonderful world of teaching, and all.//

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa took a slow gulp of her coffee -- with sugar and cream, sorry if you were hoping for black, Jono -- and relished the taste of it in her mouth.

"I love it," she said. "I was worried, because I didn't feel qualified? But it's -- it's less like we're teaching and more like we're, I don't know. Mentoring? Counseling? Telling these kids that it's going to be okay."

[furnaceface]

//Between you and me,// Jono said, closing his eyes for a moment and tapping into Rinoa's sense of taste, //that's all most of these students need, luv. Some of them have never been told a day in their life that what they are and what they can do is anything but an abomination. And here we are, survivors of whatever the hell, with advice and sympathy and a bit of understanding. It makes a hell of a lot of difference, I think, being told by a person in a position of authority that there's nothing really the matter of them. Always meant a lot to me, when teachers here said so.//

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Hannibal tried not to chuckle at Jono's sad eyes, then raised his own (much better) coffee in a toast and offer.

[furnaceface]

Hannibal, you and Rinoa were Jonothon's favourite.

//Oh... please? Rinoa let me share with her not long ago, but she likes hers blonde.//

And don't get Jono wrong, he enjoyed sweet coffees. But he far preferred Hannibal's to whatever it was the school was serving up.

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

See, Fandom High? Even the man with no mouth knew subpar coffee.

"This has just a touch of sugar, nothing else." Hannibal took the time to appreciate it properly. "How was your class today?"

[furnaceface]

//It went... well, I think. It was just introductions today, but a lot of our students are already far more open than we expected them to be. And Rinoa's got a gentle touch with them... A lot of these students need that, I think.//

Jono sounded pleased about that. Of course, that could partly be his appreciation for the coffee. Maybe both.

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Both was good!

"I hope you'll be able to give them whatever help they should need," Hannibal said. He smiled. "And I'm happy to give whatever nonspecific guidance my education can offer."

[furnaceface]

//Fortunately, Rinoa and I have the powers bit under control,// Jono mused, //though I'm not professing to have a psychiatrist's touch, of course. If I have any concerns at all that I'm about to fall short, I'll happily consult you first. Er. Nonspecifically. Thank you.//

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Hannibal answered with a nod. "Your experience is likely to be the most useful, but some experiences are unfortunately universal."

[furnaceface]

//Even today, there were so many who...// Jono shrugged a little. //Some were hesitant to talk, and that's fine. We've made certain that they know that they are never under any obligation to tell us anything that they're not comfortable sharing. But some of them... Hannibal, we gave them a platform to speak, and they just... it was like watching them remember to breathe.//

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes that's the most important thing," Hannibal noted. "It won't solve everything, but acceptance is a very good start."

[furnaceface]

//It kind of... stupid as this sounds, reminded me a bit of me, when I was new here, back when I was about their age,// Jono admitted. //You know, I spent a while here pretending to be a mute burn victim? Here? Seems absurd looking around here, now.//

[nuclear_snide]

"Well, I suppose at least I'm not the only one." Bob stood next to Jono and crossed his arms, glowering at the coffee.

[furnaceface]

//Tragic, innit? At least you get to scowl about it.//

Jono crossed his arms in turn.

//... Guess I could try to string up a three-way telepathic link if somebody doesn't mind letting me tap into their senses, though. Never attempted to do it with a ghost before.//

[nuclear_snide]

A few things Hannibal had said or thought clicked into place, and Bob nodded. "I'd be curious to see if you could, if nothing else. And you hardly need a mouth to scowl." You were doing pretty well with that frowny face, Jono.

[furnaceface]

//Well, I've had a bit of practice,// Jono replied. //It'll be an interesting exercise, at least. More astral plane, less rooting around in somebody's brain...//

Well, now he was curious, too.

[nuclear_snide]

"Oh, I'm quite firmly rooted to this plane," Bob answered. "Or, well, technically to my Chicago, I suppose, by way of my skull. Just no physical brain."

[furnaceface]

//It's... er...// Jono scratched at his head. //Probably similar terminology for a very different outcome, come to think of it. Different realities are a pain in the arse that way. That said, there's no way in hell I'm sending my senses all the way to Chicago to try to tap into your mind, which I'm quite certain is right here with the rest of you. What I mean to say is, this won't have anything to do with a tangible, physical brain, so much as whatever wavelengh your thoughts exist on in a purely psionic sense.//

He... was rambling. About telepathy. This was possibly a new low for Jono.

[nuclear_snide]

"Ah, yes." Bob nodded. "Well, you're on your own for that, I'm afraid. Wavelengths are a bit after my time; I've never thought of magic or myself in those terms."

[furnaceface]

//Fortunately,// Jono noted, //it's my powers that rely on that sort of thing. And technically it shouldn't be much more complicated than my speaking to you right now is. Just a little more heavy lifting, is all.//

[nuclear_snide]

"Or I could just pop inside and make it super easy," Bob suggested.

You wanted company in there, didn't you, Jono?

[furnaceface]

As much as Bob was more... hygienic... than the last ghost who had possessed him...

//Don't you even bloody dare.//

He didn't care how dead you were, Bob, Jono would kill you.