01 ❄ Magical Grad School [open]

[iceolationqueen]

[A] Grading Essays (Redbright)

Elsa is not sure when using proper grammar went out of style, but some of the essays she has to grade are seriously terrible. Why is the Oxford comma optional? And someone actually used the word 'bro' in an attempted serious context. Elsa knows that she's a bit old-fashioned, a bit of a nerd when it comes to grammar, but by God, how hard is it to write properly when writing an essay for school?

She puts down her red pen and rubs her eyes. The dim light in her office (basically a closet) and close scrutiny of the papers in front of her are making her head hurt. And it's been at least 5 hours since she's had any caffeine and she's going to need to rectify that before she starts working on her own research. Elsa carefully packs the essays away in a folder and grabs her backpack, swinging her blonde braid over her shoulder.

In the hallway outside her office, she fights her way against the current of students walking opposite her like a salmon swimming upstream. One of the students accidentally bumps into her, causing her folder to drop to the floor, essays spilling out all over.

"Shoot."

With a sigh, she bends to start picking them all up before they're trampled.


[B] Drinking Coffee (Out and about)

After retrieving the fallen essays, Elsa makes her way to the coffee shop a few blocks over from the University. She likes getting out of the bubble of Redbright and going into the "real world". Being a meta-human, she feels as though she kind of belongs in both worlds, magical and mundane. She has special powers, but the rest of her family does not. And while the relationship between she and her parents is strained, she still speaks to her sister, Anna, on a daily basis.

Which reminds her to check her phone. She fishes it out of her pocket and sees that Anna has indeed texted her. It's typical stuff about school, but Elsa texts her back as she waits in line at the coffee shop. Most of the time their conversations are unexciting, but she enjoys texting her sister and keeping up with what's going on in her life.

When she steps to the counter, she orders a large iced coffee. Even in the dead of winter she orders iced coffee because too much of the hot stuff causes her to overheat very quickly. She needs the caffeine, but not the heat. After the barista prepares her drink, Elsa carries it to a nearby table and pauses to check what Anna has texted her back.


[C] Doing Research (Redbright)

Coffee acquired, Elsa gathers a bunch of books at the library and sits down at a table off to the side. She begins to take notes on anything relevant - specifically related to meta-humans, which is her research area. She hasn't quite nailed down exactly what she wants to research, but she knows she wants it to be about her kind. There are still quite a few questions about meta-humans and how they are created. What makes one sibling "normal" and another sibling have extra-human powers? She wonders if it has to do with genetics and she feels as though the research will lead her there eventually. For now, she's still exploring.

Elsa takes a long swig of the iced coffee and goes back to reading and note-taking. She's technically working but she wouldn't be completely against an interruption.

[OOC: If you would like your character to have previous CR with her at all, just let me know.]

Comments

A

[livelongenough]

"Here," Henry said, kneeling down to help pick up the essays. As he did so, he happened to see a familiar name and smiled as he handed it and a few others back.

"Mr Trainer, I see. I hope he's not giving you too much trouble. He does tend to be a bit... spirited."

HI HENRY :D

[iceolationqueen]

Elsa sighs and gratefully takes the papers from his hands, placing them back in the folder. "Thanks, Dr. Morgan." She moves a bit off to the side of the hallway so that she'll be out of the stream of students. "Yeah, he's..." What's a good word to use? "Trying."

HI! These two need to hang.

[livelongenough]

Henry offers a faint smile as he picks up the last few and hands them over. When she moves aside, he follows, and he leans down to speak a bit more quietly to her. Not like the students pay them any mind anyway.

"My advice? Pull him aside or keep him after class. All you have to tell him is that his mother's been asking you how he's doing. It doesn't make him an angel, but he shapes up pretty quick."

Yes, definitely!

[iceolationqueen]

Elsa smiles, nodding slowly.

"Ah, so that's the secret. He's afraid of his mom. Thanks for the tip. I was thinking of freezing him out instead."

She's kidding, of course, and knows that he'll realize that. "Mostly I wish he'd just take his papers seriously, but I know most kids don't like school."

Elsa, on the other hand, loved it. When she came to Redbright, she finally got to meet other people like her.

[livelongenough]

"Freezing might work. Worth a try, at any rate." His voice is easy, returning the joke. Even if there's a part of it that's appealing. Letting teachers with powers use them to discipline children. Just to make it clear that they weren't to be taken lightly.

"Opportunities are wasted on the young. Ten years from now? They'll wish they'd taken it more seriously."

[iceolationqueen]

"If only I could." She can't even really threaten it. Any abuse of powers and the dean will hear about it and Elsa would rather not lose her position and training.

"I agree, but I think it's partially the nature of children. They don't realize what it means to live in the adult world."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Cold brew," said Heiji from the next table, shaking his head. He had a coffee and a book in front of him.

"One of these days they're gonna learn you gotta brew the iced stuff hot!"

I'm going with assumed CR, let me know if I should change this

[iceolationqueen]

Elsa looks up at the sound of Heiji's voice and rolls her eyes playfully. She crosses towards his table before speaking.

"You know I can't drink hot coffee."

She doesn't want to yell that across the cafe. Granted there could be any number of reasons why a person might not drink hot coffee, but she'd rather not draw unwanted attention.

"What are you doing here?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"Oh, don't worry -- the secret's coolin' it down after it's brewed. That way you bring out the taste of the coffee and it's nice and cool."

He got up and sat down across from Elsa. "Just walkin' the beat, I guess. Who knows, maybe I'll run into an interesting case while I'm out here. What about you, checkin' your email?"

[iceolationqueen]

"Texting my sister," she replies, taking the seat in front of her. "So do you.. take actual cases?"

She's never heard of a fae detective before, but she supposes there's a first time for everything.

psst heiji usually poses as a human in London

[detectiveofthewest]

"Yeah? Anything fun?" Heiji leaned back in his chair a bit, never mind that it was mildly dangerous.

"I just help out once a while; it's nothing too official. That'd mean opening up a detective agency, and bein' available during normal working hours. And people coming to visit. Not that that's necessarily all bad, but doing that commute like Apollo does? Eh, not unless I have to."

[rules_winter]

Mab was moving through the areas of London less open to the Fae and thus she looked almost entirely human, white hair piled up on her head in a bun, eyes green but no more abnormal than someone with colored contacts and clothes that would be expected inside any boardroom. She was a little more pale than normal, a little taller than most women but that aside no one would immediately peg her as inhuman unless they had the specific ability to do so. Mostly other Fae and very specific witches.

But that did not mean she did not feel it when another pale young woman brushed by her and a snap of electricity passed between them. Likely because both of them cooled the air naturally. Mab stopped and slowly turned, her eyes following the girl as she stepped into the coffee shop. The girl had power, Mab could feel it call to her. She did not feel fae but it brushed her own magic with a familiarity like a cousin. It took only a breath before her heels were clicking down the sidewalk in steady pursuit, pushing open the door and suddenly being assaulted by the smells of coffee.

It stopped her in her tracks and she titled her head a little taking in the heavy aroma that had hit her like a wall. She felt someone stop behind her and entered to keep them from touching her. Her own hands gloved in leather to protect against the metal bar of the door though even with that she only touched the glass. Fortunately the tables and chairs were wood, heavily scarred and well worn but sturdy.

She stepped toward the line, a few people back from the girl and pulled some money from a pocket, eyes scanning the lists and not knowing what any of it was. Which was annoying. Mab was not accustomed to not knowing things. She finally just settled for what the person in front of her ordered and took the whipcreamed concoction in the general direction the girl had drifted still looking at her phone.

She lets the girl finish before stopping next to her and asking, "Is this seat taken?" Gloved fingers curled around the back of the chair with the soft sound of giving only very expensive leather made.

[iceolationqueen]

Elsa looks up at the sound of the woman's voice and thinks there is a very high probability that she is looking at someone from the underground world. There's a moment of panic inside her, wondering if this woman is perhaps a vampire, and not a friendly one (they have a tendency to be pale like her). She grips her coffee, trying to direct any panic towards it so that she does not freeze the table and ground around her. Over her years of schooling she's learned to have much more control over her powers and it helps when she can direct her emotions into one thing instead of letting them fly everywhere.

"Uh.. no.. it's not..."

She hadn't been planning on staying, but it looks like she might be here for a little while now.

[rules_winter]

"Excellent." Mab's voice was amused at the look of sudden terror that flashed across Elsa's face, she pulled the chair out and sat, crossing her legs and smoothing her skirt. Her fingers curled around the cup but she focused on Elsa, feeling her control waver, magic that felt so similar to hers trickling out for a moment frosting the girl's cup over. "Sit, child, and breath."

Lifting the cup to her mouth she sips the steamy liquid, pauses, at looks at it as though it has mortally offended her. Sugary sweet, processed, coated in caramel and chocolate with that barely there undertone of bitter coffee. It is horrible. She sets it down on the table and stares at it for a moment longer. "Swill." She finally murmurs. "I was informed that this establishment had high standards."

[iceolationqueen]

Yes, breathe. She should do that. And sit, also. She carefully pulls out the chair at the table and sinks down in it. Elsa is fascinated by the woman in front of her.

"It's, um.. white chocolate mocha.. they have plain coffee." Her voice gets softer when she speaks next. "What are you?"

Because she's honestly not sure if who is the right word, though she hopes she doesn't offend the woman. Meanwhile, the cup of iced coffee in her hand is quickly becoming a frappucino without her even realizing it.

[rules_winter]

Humans. Never pleased with one flavor they needed to botch it all up with five other flavors and chemicals enough to destroy all the tastes. Pushing the cup away she raises her eyes to Elsa's again and tilts her head just a touch, finally smiling again. "What indeed?" she repeated unhelpfully, studying the girl which she does for longer seconds than is comfortable before her eyes drop back to the girl's frosted, slightly frothy drink.

"What do you think I am?" She finally asked, all curiosity.

C

[vengefulyears]

Clive had been residing in another part of the library working on his own research, but he spots a familiar head of white blonde hair on his way out to get a quick snack. He hasn't been around lately due to being swamped with investigative journalism work, so he'd feel bad if he walked past his fellow bookworm without saying anything to her.

He quietly approaches Elsa's table with a smile, speaking in a hushed tone since they're in a library. "Elsa! I was wondering when I'd find you here. How've you been?"

[iceolationqueen]

"Hey Clive," she whispers back. The librarian can be notorious about making sure that people are quiet. "I've been well, just doing the typical class stuff. I haven't seen you in a while." Clive's a regular around the school since he is on the Outreach Group, and both he and Elsa haunt the library like ghosts.

[vengefulyears]

And then he casually slips into the seat across from Elsa. "Yeah, well, I've been up to the typical journalist stuff. It's been absolutely insane lately, but I finally found enough time to come back here again." It's important for him not to neglect his supernatural studies for too long; it's a crucial part of his job as an outreach member.

Clive briefly glances at Elsa's notebook, though not actually reading what's written because that would be impolite. "Making good progress on your research?"

[iceolationqueen]

She shrugs. "Doing my best. I found a few things in this book, but I think I need to move on to the next one. What kind of things have you been working on?"

Elsa always finds his journalism work interesting, though she thinks she's not outgoing or dogged enough to have the career herself.

A

[jointheclub]

"Dear me, what a mess." The voice came from a portly man who looked down at the papers with mild regret. "Dreadfully sorry I can't help, but -- at my age, if I went down, chances are I wouldn't be coming back up again. Ah, age and size," he added, patting his expansive waistline.

The real threat seemed to be less his physical condition and more the strain it would put on his various buttons.

[iceolationqueen]

Elsa wonders why he would even mention her dropped papers if he isn't going to help, but then this is Slughorn so she's not exactly surprised. And to be quite honest, it's probably for the best, because nobody wants to see that wardrobe malfunction.

She pushes her braid back over her shoulder as she gathers the papers on the floor. "Thank you anyway, Professor Slughorn, I've got almost all of them now."

[jointheclub]

Well, he did mean that apology, for a change. A younger by half a century Slughorn might very well have helped. Besides, he didn't want to start the conversation off on the wrong foot.

"Keeping you quite busy, I see? But not, I hope, too busy for a social engagement here and there..."

Not beating around the bush, is our potionmaker.

[iceolationqueen]

Elsa stands, folder in hand, and glances up at him. No, wasting no time at all, she sees. She's heard about these 'social engagements' but has never actually been invited to one yet.

"No, I do have some time for that at least."

While it all seems kind of elitist, she's willing to go check it out.

[jointheclub]

"Excellent, excellent, I'd quite hoped you'd say that." Slughorn clapped his hands together in delight. "I won't keep you too long at them, duty calls and all, but it would have been a shame to have one without you. Promising things, I've heard. All good, of course, all good."

At this point Slughorn seemed to be half talking to himself, since she'd already agreed to come.