Lesson the First: Coexisting [.open.]

Morning light spilled through the ceiling-tall windows in her room, illuminating the sun catchers she'd placed in them to help minimize bird strikes. The art wall was relatively sparse, since she hadn't had an art class yet and it felt weird to put too many of her own works up, or those of her old students.

Her sandy-blond hair was an artful tousle, with just enough product to keep it from settling on her scalp. Her long legs were covered by khaki pants that she'd had long enough for red paint to, somehow, get splashed on her left front pocket. Kestrel wore a loose white button-up over a gray camisole, completing the soft and neutral look. With her topsiders, she was the very image of laid-back business-casual.

The woman surveyed her domain, hands on her hips in satifaction. She had only arrived a few days before, but her books were already stowed in the shelves near her office and she had prepared lesson plans for the next two and a half weeks (she had lesson plans for art class already, but Coexisting was a class she had never taught before).

At this rate, you might as well paint yourself a picture.

Andras's voice was a snarky intonation in the back of her head and she replied aloud, "I haven't had a chance to appreciate the room yet. If your particular brand of helpfulness hadn't set back my lesson planning, we wouldn't have been in such a rush to move in."

You just don't see the brilliance of my ideas. Teaching your students about coexisting alongside normies won't be complete without role-playing games where-

Kestrel pinched the bridge of her nose and said evenly, "Role-playing is fine, but your particular brand of that teaching tactic is horrible. I really don't need your help in this."

Andras didn't like all of this sunlight, but it made Kestrel practically glow with her end-of-the-summer runner's tan still lingering in her skin. She sighed and moved to the front of the room to write her name on the board.

Coexisting was not a course that Lon had chosen himself, in fact it sounded absolutely boring to him. His mother insisted on the course due to the behaviour he’d shown before he had been sent off to Foresta. Lon himself didn’t want to go to the class, so he ended up commanding three of his other clones to go instead, one would stay in class, while the others would be waiting outside the classroom in case he got too bored and needed to switch out.

Each clone was dressed in a pale blue tee that had Superman’s emblem stamped on the center of it. He had dark coloured pants, along with red wrist bands clamped on each arm looking like they were ready for a game of tennis. The one clone waved goodbye to the other two with an expressive unexcited look. Finally, he entered the class, again being the first student in.

Lon took in the room’s atmosphere for a second or two before he wandered over to a place of seating. He was quick to sit and get all his utensils out, but once he was finished with that his body slouched against the table, showing his eagerness for the class to begin.

Kestrel turned as a student entered her classroom, superman logo emblazoned on his chest. She smiled at the student, trying to be as warm and inviting as she attempted to make her classroom. "Welcome," she said cheerfully as the student slouched against the table. She moved to a table where she'd placed a clipboard with her class roster and lesson plan. It would be easiest to start learning names as students came in, rather than trying to memorize them all at once. Furthermore, she'd have an easier time developing meaningful learning experiences if she knew her students better as people first.

"I'm Miss Harris. And you?"

"Look at him. He's just so excited to be here. Poor kid." Andy's sarcasm didn't go unnoticed in the back of her brain, but she tried to ignore it. It wasn't helpful. Andy, for his part, was annoyed that she wasn't paying attention to him and that emerged as an increasing stream of unpleasant images flashing before her eyes.

Kestrel frowned and muttered under her breath, "Stop that. You're quickly depriving yourself of any outings in the foreseeable future."

Lon looked up to the teacher when she introduced herself to him. His face had the definition of boredom plastered all over it and the lesson hadn’t even began yet. Obviously he was not expecting to like the class, the title of it was enough to convince him alone. Added to the fact that half of his courses were ones that involved physical activity more often than not, this course might have a difficult time keeping his attention. The class was also a reminder of what he had done to end up in Foresta which didn’t help either.

“I’m Lon Huxley, ma’am” he introduced as he corrected his posture. He looked at the door for a moment and noticed that there weren’t any other students within the classroom or coming through the door. He wondered if he was the only one who signed up for the class and hoped not for his own sake. He noticed Harris mutter something to herself, but didn’t quite hear much outside of undistinguishable whispers. It was a bit off-putting for him and he tried to not think about it much since he was fully aware that his imagination would bring him somewhere he’d prefer not to go.

Lon cleared his throat slightly and shifted his eyes around the room once again. “Um… Did I come in really early?” he questioned in a sort of awkward tone displaying that he was a bit uncomfortable.

    "Coexisting?" Adrian asked, with the confidence of a person who knew he was exactly where he needed to be. Stout in spirit, the new Ruby student appeared to be wide awake and ready to tackle this new class head on. The course description had not indicated the focus of coexistence that he had been concerned with, but nonetheless it had been suggested and filled yet another otherwise empty time slot. This did not mean he intended to approach this class half-heartedly. Beyond just the need to meet satisfactory requirements for graduation, Adrian knew that the class could be beneficial to him in understanding several things about the relationships between the gifted and humans.
    He had been on both sides of the fence and knew too well how vicious humans could become towards signs of change. Now that he had a gift, Adrian planned on learning to control it to the point that it was a non-issue. One day, he expected, he would return to human society as his own kind, without any indication that he might be otherwise. In the meantime, he could learn what the Gifted thought of the rest of humanity.

    His appearance in the doorway had only taken a second before he moved to find a seat in the second row, one column apart from the other student. Whether the two had shared a class before or not, Adrian did not recognize or remember Lon Huxley in the least. He had missed the entire conversation and entered at the tail end of Lon's most recent question, though failed to offer a wity response upon entering. This bothered him for all of three seconds before he set his notebook and pen on his desk in front of him, turning his attention forward to the instructor to at last acknowledge her existence and authority.
    "Adrian Mackenzie." He offered preemptively, knowing that the size of the class would prompt a more personalized teaching methodology, "I burn things," Involuntarily.

"Nice to meet you, Lon," she replied, trying to gather her thoughts. She checked the clock on the wall above the door and shrugged his question off. "Only a little," Kestrel answered as another student entered. This other student seemed a little more sure of himself. She beamed at him, saying, "Sure is! Welcome!"

"And then there were two. Is this really what you have to work with? I mean, small class sizes- nothing! This is a damn tutoring group!"

Kestrel tried to ignore the blasted parasite. He was getting more and more obnoxious the longer she was at Foresta. She hated to think what would happen once they'd been established for a month or so. "Nice to meet you, Adrian. You can call me Miss Harris. I have a demon bound to a parasite living next to my heart and he allows me to see in the dark." She said all of this as frankly as she would have described the weather. As far as Andras was concerned, her attitude to his presence was galling. He let her know that by flooding her mind with all sorts of unpleasant images.

She winced. Twice. "Sorry. He doesn't want me referring to him so flippantly." Kestrel closed her eyes and muttered, "Strike one, Andy."

Opening her eyes, she wondered when her other students would arrive. If they would arrive. She imagined that a class called Coexistence wouldn't be the most popular one.


||Bleh, short.||

Lon shortly watched the boy who entered the classroom. This Lon in particular hadn’t seen Adrian before. The original copy was the one who had the other class with him. He didn’t think too much of him besides the fact that he saved Lon from having the teacher focus on him all class. He’d have much preferred if the class were bigger so that he could sink into the background and participate as little as possible. He could still hope that a huge flood of students would come later on, however, it was wishful thinking.

Lon’s ears perked though when Miss Harris began talking about her parasite. He hadn’t quite heard something so strange. His mind was quickly tangled in thought by the prospect of her ‘gift’; if one could call it that. He was going to question why she hadn’t tried to get rid of it, but it was quite obvious that if there was a way she would have done it already.

The other two had already discussed their powers, though vaguely. Lon didn’t feel the need to announce what he could do given that he could perform the ability himself since he was a copy and not the original. It would also make his switch out tactic seem a bit more suspicious.

“So… What exactly will we be doing in this course? Like, work-wise?” Lon questioned unsure if he was translating his thoughts into words well enough.

    "Oh," Adrian stated flatly, "So it has its benefits." He had no care for addressing or recognizing the potential, or demonstrated, drawbacks associated with a parasitic demon. As far as he could tell, at least right now, it was not threatening her life. Then again, his power, while spontaneous, was not always in effect, unlike a parasite lodged into a person's chest. Perhaps they were struggling with each other, but her behavior and references to the entity did not given him that impression.
    "So, the two of you have an understanding?" Given the display, he could not be sure it was a thorough one.

    He turned his attention vaguely towards Lon when he spoke, and agreed with the question, "Yeah, what are we doing in this class? You going to bring in some pansy humans for us to test our abilities on? Or is this more about hiding who we are?" He crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat, attempting to gauge Kestrel before she even had a chance to respond. After all, she may be the person most like him here. A human unwillingly granted a Gift that she wanted no part of. Had he met a single person yet that did not embrace their power? Not to his awareness, but he was not exactly insightful.