Dire Times [.Teachers.]

The only signs of the stress that Caroline was carrying on her person were the dark circles she had unsuccessfully tried to hide still smudged blue-black under her eyes. She spent more time at school now than she had ever done, even when she was a new teacher with no experience and no materials to draw from. Her hair, dyed a rich medium brown with gold highlights, was pulled into an immaculate bun and she had chosen a classic red lipstick for the proceedings this evening.

She'd once favored long, loose skirts that hid her legs, as well as longsleeved shirts that hid her arms. Now, she wore a pencil skirt and pantyhose. The hose covered most of the scars on her legs. A blazer hid the scars on her arms. Scars a madman had designed for her.

Her cherry-red stilettos clicked against the marble floor of the teacher's dining room as she walked around the table. She placed an information packet at each seat. She'd already placed glasses out, with several pitchers of water. The staff had put food out on a sideboard for the staff when they showed up. This meeting had the potential to be quite lengthy if it went the same way the last one went.

Looking around the room, she tried to remember if there was anything left to do before people arrived. With things the way they were, she had hired a student with an impeccable record to look after the babies so that she and Tobias could attend the meeting without having to worry about Lauriana or Rory. She didn't want to hire a mundane babysitter since the atmosphere towards known Gifteds was cooling rapidly. The world was changing and she knew that her own attitude needed to change too.

Last time the school had a staff meeting, she had been elected interim principal. It was good to be second-in-command. The pressure probably ten times higher for Martina. Caroline poured herself a glass of water and tried to think professional thoughts. Despite her appearance, she often battled feelings of complete inadequacy. Was she doin the right thing? Would she even be able to know until the situation was over? Regardless of the answers to these questions, she had to keep acting decisively, maintaining the mask of complete confidence for the sake of the students and the other staff.

He hadn't left the house until he had been absolutely sure the student knew what she was doing with the babies. Tobias had told her all the instructions twice, and hadn't hopped into his Jeep until she said them all back to him. Caroline had gone through so much, in her own life, with her brothers, and now at the school...not to mention Tobias had been a special branch of monkey wrench in her life, so he didn't want "crap babysitter" added to the list.

He had changed out of the school uniform and scrubbed the grout out from under his nails. After the attitude he had given the headmistress, Tobias wanted to look better put together for this meeting. He tied his hair back, changed out the nose ring for a less obvious stud, and trimmed his beard. He had almost shaved, but didn't have the time. He rolled up the sleeves of his tartan shirt and silently cursed the fact that skinny jeans were the only style that suited him in the waist, but gave the inseam nothing for the imagination. Just before entering the staff dining room, he checked for his lighter and smokes. They were the best combination of security blanket and excuse to leave the room.

With an easy stride, Tobias crossed the room and headed directly to Caroline. "Everything's ok but I should maybe call in thirty minutes, yeah?" He had greeted her with a rough kiss on the cheek, that was more of a jaw bump. "When this is all done, I'll.take the kids for a few days. You sleep." A soft voice at the back of his mind reminded him that the first phase of the full moon was just days away. Already he was feeling the effects. That he blamed on the entire experience of being renditioned for science. It had left him constantly achy and moody.

To distract himself from his own thoughts, and the constant gnaw of nicotine, Tobias selected a ham sangwhich from the table, and did away with the bread. They were alone in the room still, and he cricked his neck, like an animal rolling its joints to prepare for the hunt. "I can't get the smell out of my nose." A growl rumbled through his chest and he tore into the ham and swiss.

Caroline watched Tobias walk in, thankful that she was wearing such tall heels since the half-wolf was considerably taller than she was. She looked him up and down and silently approved of the efforts he had made in his appearance. He wasn't wearing the most professional gear, but this was a noticeable effort and he was a caretaker. This was as dressy as he would ever need to get.

"I appreciate it," she said in response to him offering to check on their progeny. "I-" She shook her head, unable to form a coherent phrase to match what she was thinking. Caroline offered him a weary smile when he offered to take the babies so she could sleep. "I'll sleep when I'm dead. You've taken them so much lately. I don't want to be an absentee parent. I will rearrange things a little so I can take them. Full moon's soon, right?" Even as a teacher, she'd always been aware of the full moon. Students of all ages seemed more wound-up on those days. Even mundane students.

With Tobias, it was a little more than 'wound up'.

She watched him select a sandwich and felt her expression grow grim at his comment. "We'll have to talk about that at the meeting. I don't think the school will come out of this unscathed. I... I don't think we should come out of this unscathed. We have to answer for our negligence." She felt a little ill at the memory. "...My negligence."

Maybe the reason she wasn't sleeping was a desire to avoid the dreams.

Cade wasn’t sure if he should attend the staff meeting at first. He hadn’t even taught a class yet and felt that the subject that was to be discussed wasn’t really something that concerned him. He wasn’t even hired when the student was killed. However, if he wanted to seem like a good employee he would have to go regardless of whether or not he was involved with the incident.

He decided to wear his formal outfit, which was one he usually wore and the one he planned to wear when he began to teach classes. He still remembered the layout of the school quite well and had no problem finding the staff room, though it was the first time he had ever seen the inside of it fully. There were only two staff members in the room, both he didn’t recognise in the slightest. In fact he felt that the headmistress was going to be the only person he would recognise and he barely knew her name either.

Cade eyed the room for a short while, analyzing all he could before he turned to the only other people in the room. “Am I early or is everyone else late?” he asked sort of awkwardly unsure of what else he should say around his colleagues. It was something a bit harder to do when speaking with the people he worked with rather than complete strangers. Strangers, you can test their limits all you wanted and not have to see them ever again. Co-workers, not so much.

His eyes were interested in the finger foods, but his feet instead made him wander the area on the other side of the table.

After running this school for what would seem longer than necessary, Martina still found that she didn't do as enough as she should. Maybe it was the need to shirk work and just be like a kid again, or maybe it was just the situation presenting itself at hand. As she sat at her desk, tapping her fingers and listening to the Mayor of Port Albion quite vividly express his frustration with the school and how they have been dealing with things - Martina couldn't help but wish for a secretary again. She knew she'd probably have to hire one soon and she'd also have to find someone equally as responsible as Caroline to help out a little more with the school. Was she really dealing with this stress like she should? Upon first glance most people would think that nothing was bothering her at all. Maybe it was Nikolai making her feel like she was in the clouds, but then again... the woman knew too well things could come crashing down at any moment.

At her cue to talk after the Mayor had finished expressing his frustrations at her students as of the recent, for what seemed like hours but was in fact only a few minutes Martina managed to sort out yet another thing rising high on her lists with the Mayor. It had been only a phone call before him that she had managed to talk with the mother of the deceased student. Needless to say she was very upset, but thankfully all she wanted was the body.

After talking with the Mayor and making one more phone call, Martina checked her watch and almost gasped at the time. She was supposed to come to the meeting Caroline was setting up for all the teachers and she barely even looked presentable. Slipping on a pair of black high heels that were hidden quite well under her desk, Martina brushed off some crumbs from her grey dress-shirt. As she was making her way out of her office, Martina stopped by a mirror for an inspection of her hair and face. The image surprised even herself, the woman looked completely exhausted despite the fact her demeanor didn't seem to show it at all.

Looking around her office, Martina spotted her make-up bag that was under a pile of papers. Grabbing it and in the process making more of a mess in her office than there already was, Martina started off down the hallway. As she walked the woman quickly put some foundation on under her eyes and around her face. She then started to add some eye-liner and managed on eye successfully, and then started on another and ended up almost poking herself in the eye when she ran into a student.

The student was obviously new due to the fact of them not recognizing the Headmistress. Nonetheless, Martina patted them on the back and continued on her way - quickly adjusting the black out of place line near her eye. By the time she got the the teacher's dining room, her face looked surprisingly immaculate and her hair was fluffed up just a tiny bit. As soon as she saw Caroline though, Martina immediately felt just a bit guilty for looking as if everything was going fine with her. That guilt that was quickly overridden by the fact that she was in control of the school, and had to represent a certain amount of strength - the thought had her thinking back to all the times she watched her father work.

The habit of putting on appearance's seemed to run in her family and while thinking to herself she couldn't help but remember all the times seeing her father bent over so many papers looking completely drained and stressed - the moment he walked out of that office though the transformation from tired to well put-together seemed almost magical in itself.

"Caroline," she suddenly said as she walked up to the woman - looking around the table seeing that everything had pretty much already been done. "I'm not quite sure if all of the teachers will be able to attend, so be sure to have everyone talk to their co-workers." Martina mostly said this as a means to be helpful, she didn't necessarily want to get in Caroline's way - feeling as if since she had started this meeting that she should be able to run it just the same.

Tobias picked out the deli innards of another sandwich. Maybe he should have saved the bread for the ducks around the lake, but didn't think too much on it. He had looked up, addressed Cade when he had entered with a stiff nod, and said coolly, "I think everyone is running on poet's time...late." Tobias chewed thoughtfully. Chicken and Munster this time. Had meat always had a sensual taste to it this close to the full moon, or was it a recent development? Tobias' insides felt as though the craving would continue well into the night. Martine had come in with a level of distractedness that Tobias thought it rather did Caroline a disservice. This time, however he held his tongue. After all, he not only had to play the model employee, but needed to prove to Caroline that he was worth a second...or was it fourth?...chance.

The humidity of the afternoon pressed heavily against Bradford's face. He had his own slightly cumbersome weight to deal with, and dealing with the weather's hadn't helped. He puffed up the main stairs and through the entry way. Tell was waiting by the Dining Hall doors. Since both of them had forgotten the meeting, they had decided to endure the embarrassment of lateness as a pair, rather trickle in one after the other. Bradford retucked his lime green polo as they walked. Tell had been texting on his phone while waiting, but shoved it away quickly into his cargo pockets. Bradford had expected his young friend was dallying with a certain lady that he had no business being romantic with. He said nothing, but pursed his lips and pushed his glasses up his short nose.

Tell seemed to read Bradford's mind and pushed forward, redfaced. The wheels on his skateboard clicked against the floor, announcing their arrival, the same way someone might clear his throat for attention. "Sorry headmistress," Tell said.

"It won't happen again," Bradford agreed quietly. They both took seats near the door, where Tell had left his skateboard.

Caroline nodded in Cade's direction when he arrived. They had never formally met, but she knew about him simply through the hiring process and the resulting background check. His question was no surprise. As it was no surprise that others were running behind. The school was the sort of place that seemed to defy time often. That was something Caroline wanted to fix, but there was only so much she could do at once. With new students arriving each day, it was the job of several more people just to keep up with the day-to-day tasks.

And, at Foresta, there were always going to be discipline problems.

She answered him, "If they don't show up in the next five to ten minutes, we'll start without them." At this point, the Headmistress showed up. Caroline was used to seeing the other woman in more casual clothing, so she was pleased to find that Martina had thrown together a more businesslike ensemble for this meeting. She laughed in response to Martina's suggestion that she make sure that everybody talk to their coworkers. "I used to be a teacher, remember? I have the information packets already in order and I can cover the material with those absent today." She wasn't bothered by the suggestion; she knew it was offered with good intent.

She moved to the table and filled a glass of water, muting the sound of the liquid hitting the bottom of the glass subconsciously. Anybody paying close attention that most of the ambient noise- electrical, HVAC, etc- had been unnaturally absent. Ever since she had her babies, it was like a complete 180 for her powers. She had more control of them now than ever, though it was hard to turn off. Muting ambient noise and filtering out specific sounds helped her at home to prevent anything from waking her offspring if they were sleeping.

Two more teachers arrived. Both she knew from sight, but not personally. That was something she needed to change. For the school to work cohesively, there had to be a rapport between all of the staff members. She smiled as Nikolai and her half-brother's half-brother walked in. Jaime was wearing his scrubs, indicating that he'd been at the infirmary. He almost seemed to live there most days. She reminded herself to give him some time off. All work and no play, right?

Nikolai, for his part, looked the very picture of health. She could never get used to how young he looked. Despite the black-and-white plaid button-up and black trousers, he didn't much older than eighteen (if that). The way his eyes lingered on Martina did not escape Caroline, but she didn't trouble herself about that. Instead she gestured at the table. "Welcome, everybody. At each seat you'll find a packet. It's got the meeting itinerary, some administrative handouts, and other information you each may find useful. We'll try not to waste any time today, but there is a good deal to go through. Expect meetings to happen more frequently in the future to prevent such a backlog from building up again."

She took a seat and smiled graciously at each of them. "Feel free to partake of the food that has been provided. Since there is at least one new face here, and since we don't have a formal introductory protocol in place at this juncture, I believe that it's a good time for everybody to state their names and what services they provide to the school. If you don't know me already, I'm Caroline Harlequin and I'm the vice-principal as well as the librarian, though I may have to give up the latter job so I can focus more on the administrative side of things."

She smiled at Cade, indicating her suggestion that he introduce himself next since he was new.

It seemed that everyone else had showed up after Cade questioned their absence. It made him feel a bit more professional than the rest, but he wasn’t nearly as boastful about it as he seemed. With the room being flooded with more faces that he didn’t actually know he finally took his seat since there wasn’t nearly as much room to pace as there was before. He felt a bit minor in comparison to the other teachers, a few of them looking to be about twice his age. He kept telling himself he wasn’t intimidated by them, but overall he couldn’t tell what his true feeling was.

As soon as the one who seemed to be the caretaker of the event said the word packet and Cade’s eyes dropped down to investigate the collected bundle. All his expectations of this being a short meeting quickly evaporated, but he at least attempted to keep an open mind. He kept himself seated in an upright manner and kept a stern serious face. Now all he had to do was keep it like that for the next hour or so.

Introductions were being made and Caroline signaled him to go next. He nodded in response and he spoke still having some sort of emotion in his voice. “Uh, hello. I’m Cade Lemaire, I’m going to be teaching trigonometry this semester and it will be my first time teaching since I graduated collage.” He eyed around the room unsure if he was supposed to signal someone else to begin.

The packet had Tobias sighing audibly. There was no chance he'd get out quickly, and he had a list of things to do ten miles long. He quietly stepped to the side of the food table and pushed open the window before lighting a cigarette. He flicked through the corners of the packet's pages, reading the page numbers with growing disappointment. Hopefully Caroline would skim rather than read line by line. He looked up from his paper as Cade spoke, and nodded a greeting. Tobias' eyes turned back to Caroline. He wasn't sure what colour her shoes were, but enjoyed how they shaped the muscles of her legs. The fitted clothes were also an improvement and his gaze traveled slow and greedy upwards. An uncomfortable pleaselure shocked his lower abdomen. Tobias cleared his throat and sucked down a cigarette.

Bradford started when Cade finished speaking. "Oh," he blundered. "I guess it's my turn." He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed away the last bits of seeat from his grey-blond temples and adjusted his glasses. "Hello, hello! I'm Bradford Albert. Never Brad, I hate the contrsction." He smiled again and touched the bridge of his glasses. It wasn't as though he was nervous, but he had always been a fidgeter. "I barely just started last semester. World History is my subject." He looked around, grinnning still. The headmistress seemed frazzled, Cade and Tell both appeared eager but in different ways. The assistant head was rather well dressed and put together, but very tired. The other two men were surly and making it a very attractive job. Bradford, while looking over his coworkers, searched his mind for something else to say, but tere wasn'rlt any. So he remained quiet.

Tell took it from there. "Hey, glad to be here. Been on about two months. Telemachus Swansonbis the name, but most people call me Tell. I teach fitness," and he indicated his crutches. "and in that to judge limitations. I like to think I teach confidence...but there it is." He smiled too and his eyes flickered whistfully to the drink and food table. It was a good thing that he had Bradford as a friend because sitting alone in this unfamiliar group could have been awkward and boring.

Tobias lit another cigarette from the corner. He had wanted Bradford's job, but his papers hadn't gone through in time. The people who gave out greencards had been ore than a little uncomfortable with the idea if someone not completely human teaching. "Tobias Williams. Grounds Keeper," he said succinctly. The cigarette hopped between his thin lips.

Martina listened too the introductions peacefully, having taken a seat right after Caroline did to the left of the woman. Martina seemed to be briefly bothered by Tobias smoking out the window, but she decided not too say anything for the sake that everyone here had more important matters to attend too. Her attention instead went briefly over to Nikolai, and then quickly back to the whole room when it came to her turn to introduce herself.

Standing up, she slowly began "As most of you know, I am the Headmistress at this school. My name is Martina Kandless, my family started this school and the running of it has been passed down through the daughters and sons. I'm very happy to have such a fine looking staff and I hope we continue to progress this school in the right direction for later generations." With that Martina sat down and turned her attention to some stray teachers walking in. They all took turns introducing themselves and with that Martina turned her attention back to Caroline.

Caroline made notes as the teachers introduced themselves, trying to keep names and faces straight. Some she had not met personally and the next part of the meeting (and the school year) would hinge on the familiarity of the administrators with the faculty.

Once the introductions were made, things cycled back to Caroline, who rose to her feet. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am about to say some things that most of you will not want to hear. It will entail more work across the board for every person on the staff, more late nights, and more responsibility. Every person here will be held to a higher accountability, including myself.

"We live in dire times. Our status as Gifted is quickly making us targets for inquisition-like attitudes from the general public. It does not help that there are those within the community that have used their powers in ways that many could deem impolitic. It took some time, but it appears as though these troubling thoughts and actions have reached Port Albion. And our school." She moved around the table, meeting the eyes of whoever was looking at her. Caroline spoke articulately, emphatically, using her powers to boost her presence in the room. She wasn't very tall, but she would not be ignored.

"For a while, we thought that the events from a few months ago would be the last of the violence that the school would see for a while. We got complacent." She swallowed and cast her eyes down, her grief genuine. "Our complacency is the reason we're here today. We're here because a student, one of our charges, was murdered in the library. Right now, the library is closed to everybody. All the students need to know is that it is being renovated. The girl's guardian has been notified of her death and the murder is being investigated."

Her tone was grave and each word laden with the weight she felt on her narrow shoulders. "Now, I know that all of this does not exculpate us... me, from our negligence. However, we know that there is a problem with the way things are if this can happen. This is a wake-up call that we were in desperate need of. The world is changing, getting more violent. We need to be the sanctuary that these students will need in the rising tide of hatred."

"If you would please open your folders, you will find a write-up of our proposed safety plan. Ms. Kandless and I have reviewed the best ways to keep our students safe- both mentally and physically. We have come up with a plan that treats our school much like a college- each student will be assigned to the faculty whose power most closely resembles their own, within limits, for guidance and safety. They should be encouraged to seek you out or schedule appointments when they need to talk to somebody or are having trouble with their powers, or anything else. We need to let them know that they have a person to turn to in the face of their troubles. It is not a perfect plan, but it is better than letting things blow up later."

She opened her own packet and turned to the correct page. "In the case of an event like the one that occurred a few months ago, there will be designated meeting places. Much like in a fire drill at a regular school, you will guide your students to these places and wait there for further contact from either Ms. Kandless or myself. Once the teams are set, expect regular drills so we can practice these safety procedures."

Caroline turned a page and moved on. "For day-to-day safety, we're setting up hall and grounds duties. At all times, there will be two teachers patrolling the halls and two teachers patrolling the grounds. I'm afraid that this also means that we'll be putting in some night hours, at least until security personnel are hired to take up the slack. That is in the works, but we still have to protect the school in the interim. Visitors will need to sign in to be allowed to walk on school property, there will be a stricter curfew in effect for students, and we'll have to crack down more firmly on those who break the rules. It is hard enough to keep track of all of them without disciplinary issues."

She went on to describe new procedures for writing students up, reporting suspicious activity on campus, and the disciplinary procedures. There was a lot to cover and she was worried that there would be excessive resistance to these measures when her spiel wound down. "And questions or comments? We're open to ideas, but it has to be constructive. There is no way we're leaving this room without a safety protocol in place. Too much is happening right now and we have to answer to the parents who have allowed us to care for their children." She stopped talking at this point and sat down, taking a long drink of water. She also toned her power use down- it was no longer her stage.

Cade listened closely to the rest of the introduction, though he felt as though he might not even remember most of their names in a few weeks afterward. Not because he felt they were unimportant, but because he wasn’t always good at matching faces to names.

The end of the introductions lead to the more important subject of the evening which again involved the death of the student, which was an event that took place before he was employed. Given that he had no reference for the ways things used to be, he couldn’t really object to anything nor did he feel that it was his place to make such a judgement. Though he couldn’t help, but feel it was a bit unnecessary to keep vigilance over every single student, given their amount of staff. Then again they were some dangerous students he’d met only a few days into his job, so maybe it was necessary.

Cade felt the need to clear his throat before he made the first comment. He straightened himself out even more (even though he was sitting as properly as he possibly could already). “What if there are students with powers so rapidly different from any staff at the school. Could we ask the Port’s community for volunteers maybe?” Cade questioned “because as teachers, we already have a lot of work at our hands.” Given that he still hadn’t worked a day as a teacher yet, he was making a lot of assumptions.

Bradford nodded, acknowledging Cade's question. He had been making notations along the pages Caroline had indicated. This was all stuff he'd feel more comfortable after rereading. "As it stands, we don't have many teachers. How will us patrolling the corridors affect the lessons? And will we start having regular drills? What about students who's abilities might set off the alarms. If we're in a different part of the building, how will we know if alarms are controlled incidents or something of concern?"

From the corner, Tobias growled. "we're talking about kids' lives here, Mr. Albert. I'm sure that our Headmistresses have thought about this. So sorry if the Parisian efforts might have to wait. Those men are already dead. It's our prerogative as adults to make sure our students don't join those ranks and we've already failed." His eyes had flashed dangerously as he spoke and a vein pulled dangerously in his neck. Maybe it was because he had three children, but Tobias didn't like Caroline's plan getting questioned.

Beside Bradford, Tell listened to everyone with a calm expression. All three men had valid points. To Tobias, he said with his easy tone, "Back it down. Bradford isn't trying to put lessons over safety. Cade isn't either. We just need clarity so that we can do right by these kids. Each of us became a teacher because we care about the generation behind us. Mentally and physically."

Caroline shook her head sadly at Cade's suggestion. She waited for the other teachers to put in their two cents (including Tobias's white-knight rebuttal- was it just on behalf of the students?), wondering why Jaime and Nikolai were so quiet during this proceedings. Her answer came as less than a surprise when she saw Jaime dozing off in his chair. He'd been working some pretty strenuous hours lately and she made a note to herself to find him some help, at least while Amy was recuperating.

Nikolai, for his part, was still staring at Martina. Caroline sighed, then calmly answered all of the questions that had been put forth for discussion.

"First off, we are requiring very little more than what a normal public school requires of its teachers. The fact that you all haven't been forced to attend regular faculty meetings is a bit out of the norm. Teachers at schools all over the United States have duty periods, where they have to keep vigil over the hallways of their schools. And that's for normal students. Our students are capable, even inadvertently, of causing great damage to themselves and Foresta. I understand that we're asking you to go above and beyond what you were expecting to do, but we are collectively responsible for the safety of the students here."

She rose to her feet, feeling cagey despite her calm demeanor and tone. "Secondly, as much as we'd love to fob off some of this work on volunteers, that would seriously compromise some of the safety guidelines at the school. I know, perhaps better than most, the deception of a friendly face and a helping hand. No volunteers for now. We're looking to hire more teachers, but you'll have to be patient as we try to find qualified personnel."

Caroline flipped her book open to another page. "Page 17 lists the details of the drills and safety protocols. Note that we plan on sending each teacher a note both in their email if they have one and in their box. It is your responsibility to check your mail every day. You will not be caught off-guard by a drill. However, you should treat each drill with the utmost respect. Act as though they are not drills. This could make the difference between life and death. Those of you who have been here longer know exactly the sorts of things that can go down. Previously, we have not had action plans. This changes today."

Cade was glad that he was not the only one who questioned the new guidelines, it left him feeling a tad bit more confident in his own comment, even though it was not a very educated one to make since he personally didn’t know the village’s overall opinion of the school. He assumed that most of the residents would have been people who grew up at Foresta. The guy named Tobias didn’t seem to like their questions though, for whatever reason it was.

Cade’s idea was quickly shot down by Caroline, which made sense given her reasoning. He wasn’t necessarily discouraged by it since he was actually contributing to the conversation and not hounding on other people or doing nothing at all. However, he didn’t question anything more and fell silent as he read over his packet as the woman had instructed him to. She spoke to them all as though these were huge changes, but given that Cade was still new it seemed less like that.