The Caretaker's Ballad {Open!}

{{OOC|| I hope you guys don't mind that I'm joining! And no worries, my posts won't usually be this long. You should just pretend I was here all along, and here are all my posts jammed in all together.}}

Adam had done something bad.

True, it had been an honest-to-goodness mistake, but he was suffering from extreme guilt. When battling the treacherous bile that had risen to his throat, he was forced to accept a humiliating defeat when he saw his lunch coating the hallway floor. If only the bathroom had been a 100 feet closer, he could've possibly made it.

Oh geez, oh geez, oh geez, oh geez, he thought frantically to himself. I'm going to get totally busted for this one. I've been here one full day! They're going to completely hate me! Man, I TOLD Mom and Dad that I couldn't drink milk in the car! Okay, yeah, it may have been the three portions of dessert I had in the cafeteria 10 minutes ago, on top of all of those peas and carrots and stuff, but I'm sure the milk didn't help...

And Adam continued to think such thoughts as he stood there in the hallway, his hands gripping his blonde hair with an expression of pure panic scribbled across his face. As an 11-year-old, you'd think he would be old enough to know how much food was too much, but at times the poor kid couldn't help himself. Some food was simply too good to resist!

His panic increased tenfold when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. In a flash, he was throwing open the door to the bathroom of which was his destination only minutes prior. The door had JUST closed behind him when he heard someone fall and scream.

"OH. MY. GOD. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" came the voice of a teenage girl. "Please, oh please, let this not be vomit. All OVER my brand new Burberry skirt. Please oh... OH MY SWEET LORD, someone is going to PAY!"

Adam squeezed his eyes closed and curled up into a little ball on the floor. He had been considering coming clean (haha) and finding a janitor to report his dirty deed, but after the little outburst, he went back to the drawing board with his plan of action. He heard the click-clack of the girl's heels as she ran away, and shortly thereafter, heavier footsteps and wheels squeaking graced his ears. He ventured a peek outside the bathroom, and saw some sort of custodian with a mop and bucket, listening to some tunes. He quickly shut the door, debating in his head whether or not to apologize for the mess.

Then, Adam started hearing voices. And no, I don't mean the ones in his head. They were coming from the hallway, and what ran through Adam's mind wasn't pretty. This is how he imagined the conversation was going:

"What's this?!"

"Vomit! I HATE cleaning vomit! It's disgusting and inexcusable!"

"Why, this is entirely unacceptable! We must find and prosecute the hoodrat who committed such an atrocity!"

"I agree! After I finish, I will use my superior sleuthing skills, and hack that wretched scoundrel silly with my likewise superior mop-hacking skills!"

"And I will join you with my own special powers of destruction!"


Adam detected a third voice, and the narrative in his head grew.

"Hey there fellas, what are ya'll destroyin'? IS THAT VOMIT?!"

"Yes! We're annhiliating the person who threw all of this up!"

"Well, there's nothin' worse than vomit, so I'll just hafta get my mob together and we'll go right ahead and join this hit-parade!"



There's really only so much a boy like Adam can take before curiosity and fear take over. He, once again, peeked out in the hallway, where the voices became much more clear and distinct. To Adam's absolute relief, they weren't talking about killing him, but were instead mentioning lunch and the ominous things that were ...not happening around school.

The wave of relief was so powerful, in fact, that it became intermixed with gratitude towards these guys. They walked away, and Adam debated in his head for precisely one minute before deciding to confess.

Bolting out of the bathroom, he caught up to the three men, two of which seemed to be teachers, and one a student. They were having a conversation with... Oh no, Adam groaned, that's my English teacher. She hasn't even met me yet, and she's going to hate me before class even starts.

But, Adam is strong-willed and brave (most of the time). With a deep breath, he began his apology.

"Hi there, guys. You don't know me, but I'm Adam Blackfeld. I'm sorry to say that I'm the horrible person who threw up all over the hallway back there. I'm really really really really sorry about it. It was disgusting and I probably should've cleaned it up, but I gotta say, I'm super grateful that I didn't because gosh, that's gross! Who would want to clean that?! But I mean, thank you so much, and I'm really sorry! I honestly tried to make it to the toilet, but you know what milk in the car'll do to ya..."

Adam shut up when he realized he wasn't making any sense.

He decided to blame that on the milk, too.

The moment Tobias saw her, his heart began beating like the drum solo of Wipeout. He shook her hand, and he couldn’t help but give her a decidedly wicked grin. Tobias hadn’t heard Zeke’s question over the sound of his blood pulsing in his ears. He had found her question about Nikolai’s turning a bit odd and Nikolai’s origin’s were beginning to fascinate him. “That’s probably me,” Tobias admitted after the formal greetings. “Bit of a bad habit I can’t seem to let go of.” He said this lightly, the grin still playing on his lips, and he scratched his stubble idly.

He was about to say something or ask a question, but looking back on this moment Tobias couldn’t remember which, because that young Adam Blackfeld decided then to deposit his verbal diarrhea onto the group. Tobias could still smell the sick on him, and also the guilt. He listened to Adam with his head cocked to the side and one thick brow raised. The look on his face was a cross between bewilderment and mild amusement. Tobias pushed his hair out of his face and when Adam was finished he said, “Well…kind of you to say it was you.”

What else was there to say? People got sick all the time, and when Tobias had used, he was always waking up with his face plastered to the seat of a toilet. But he wasn’t about to admit that in such lovely company. He stole another glance at Caroline and his rough fingers itched to touch her hair.

"I hope to see you in one of my classes sometime, Zeke." She was having difficulty deciding whether the boy's tone sounded self-assured or simply aloof. The 'Correct' bit seemed a little strange to her coming from a teenager, but she had met some very strange teenagers at Foresta.

Caroline did not know what to think of this Tobias fellow. If her reading of his reply was right, then Nikolai was lying and this fellow was a smoker. Now, there was no reason for Nikolai to try to cover for the other man unless he felt that the other man had done something to get himself in trouble with a teacher. She shrugged off the conclusion she had reached. Even if she felt it necessary to confront somebody about that, it would be unwise to do so unless she had seen the behavior.

Still, if Nikolai felt comfortable enough with the new caretaker to try to cover for him, he must not have struck the groundskeeper as bad or anything.

She was about to pass through the doors into the cafeteria when the student came up to apologize to Tobias. She watched the exchange with a sort of.... detached interest. She felt bad for the boy, but she knew better than to display any sort of pity for him. After all, this may be something the boy had to learn sooner or later. A flicker of recognition dawned in her eyes. Adam Blackfeld was on the roster for one of her English classes.

Caroline decided that it was probably better not to point that out. The kid seemed nervous enough as it was.

---

Nikolai had never seen this kid before, so he had no idea whether he was new or not. He wondered if he had ever been around the school when there were bugs going about. One mess wasn't the end of the world. He did not relish the change of season and the inevitable bout of disease. He had seen people in close quarters during a stomach flu epidemic and it was not pretty.

Besides, from what he knew about this school, vomit was a relatively easy thing to clean up. He remembered the fallout after a necromancer had come and gone.... now THAT was a disgusting and strenuous cleanup. He suggested to the group, "Perhaps we continue this conversation inside the cafeteria? Caroline, you are welcome to join us. You too, Mr. Blackfeld... on the condition that you will avoid dairy products, just to be safe."

Nikolai had a feeling that milk would not have been the cause of all the mess, but he felt that levity might be the best policy with this one. He smiled gently, feeling even older than ever.

Caroline smiled at Nikolai's invitation, then turned that smile on the rest of the group and replied warmly, "I think I'll take you up on that offer, but I can only stay for a little bit. I was just going to scarf something down before running to go finish up a few lesson plans." With that, she entered the dining room.

Zeke could not help but smile at Caroline as they finished greeting each other. "Likewise, it seems like you're a very good teacher." He knew that his tone made him seem older than he was and in a sense it was true. Zeke had seen a various things in his childhood, some of which were locked away deep inside his mind.

As they were about to enter, a student abruptly appeared in front of them and began apologizing. Most of which seemed to be nonsense, but he could forgive that well enough. He introduced himself as Adam Blackfeld, a person who seemed fairly average if he were to be without his Gift.

The boy seemed to be extremely agitated as he spouted word after word. Zeke chuckled to himself, a mess as small as vomit was measly on the scale that was unique to Foresta. He had nearly forgotten food despite his stomach until Nikolai had invited their two new acquaintances. "An excellent idea, Nikolai! I don't know about everyone else but I'm starving."

Zeke followed Caroline into the dining room, hardly losing a step as he glanced back at the others with a questioning glance. "Come on now!" His loud outburst attracted the attention of everyone in the room but he payed went on as though nothing had happened.

Blackfeld (as he prefers to be called, given that it sounds stronger and bolder) instantly changed his demeanor. Where he had felt small and insignificant while wracked by guilt, he now surged with more confidence than a hippopotamus in a fight against a duck - no, duckling! He threw his shoulders back and held his head high. The look of terror that had dominated his expression was replaced with a grin that stretched from ear to ear, the gap between his two front teeth in full view.

Yeah, he was pretty happy.

Now that the nice man who had cleaned his mess had apparently forgiven him and all Adam's negative feelings had been immediately eradicated, he was, of course, back to his usual outgoing and boisterous self. Not only that, but his gratitude was in full-force.

"Boy, oh boy, no problem!!!" Adam exclaimed, looking up at his new friend. The guy had stubblies all over his face, and Adam admired him greatly for that. One day, he, too, would need to have stubblies on his face. And... what was that? The guy smelled like cigarettes! Well, then, Adam was going to have to get over his disgust with the cancer sticks and possibly pick them up, too. But, he figured he could worry about that when he was older.

His admiration of his new hero was interrupted when he heard his name. One of the other guys had invited him to eat with them in the cafeteria! This was the best day EVER! Adam had only met one other person at Foresta, but he had pretty much only succeeded in injuring her and abandoning her in the infirmary - not the greatest impression, ever. The very next people he met were old and cool (because Adam could deduce such things), and they were already inviting him to lunch! No way was he going to pass up an honor such as this.

His smile, if it was at all possible, widened at the other guy. He had metal protruding out of his lip, which Adam remembered was another mark of coolness. He responded immediately, "Really? I can come? Geez, I haven't been this excited since... I dunno, when my dad said I was finally tall enough to ride the BIG rollercoaster - can't remember the name right now - at Six Flags. I mean, I could definitely eat more, since my stomach's pretty empty right now. I don't really feel too keen on the thought of food, for some reason. Oh well, I'll get over that soon enough, right?! Yeah! And don't worry, I PROMISE I won't drink any milk, although I don't think that'll be a problem since I'm not in a car."

Adam's rant was interrupted when the only other student barked for them to "Come on now!". Adam shook his head in astonishment when he noted the appearance of the other guy. He had RED hair AND eyes. That was just so cool. He'd never been surrounded by so many cool people in his life!

As they walked in to the cafeteria, he looked up at the stubblies guy again. "Can I sit next to you?!" He asked, and for once, he shut up and waited for an answer.

Tobias couldn't help but grin. This kid reminded him a lot of his second youngest brother JR who was, Tobias guessed, the same age. Tobias scratched the stubble on his jaw line and shrugged. "Sure, why not?" he said at last. Tobias thought for a moment that he should say something else to at least match the speed of Adam's miniature monologues, but he (being quintessentially Irish) said nothing. He wasn't much of a talker. Sure there were moments of hyper activity where he would just blurt whatever went through his head, but that was rare and far between.

He found himself glad to learn that the woman, what was her name....Caroline, was going to stay. He caught himself looking at the curve of her hips and quickly averted his eyes and pursed his thin lips. If nothing else worked for him, his accent would. At least it would for a little while, until he said something completely stupid...which would probably be soon. When was the last time I was in a relationship? Jesus, seven years I think... Tobias thought idly as he lit another cigarette and took a slow drag, his body resting languidly as his blood filled with the wonderful nicotine.

Tobias' stomach turned when he caught the first whiff of food, but the smoking was quickly suppressing the want to eat. He couldn't even remember the last time he ate an honest meal and thought that it was a sure sign that he should have a sandwich or something. Without thinking, he ruffled Adam's hair with his large, square hand. "I could eat," he added in response to Zeke's enthusiasm.

Caroline looked back only once, to give Blackfeld a confused look. It was only food, for heaven's sake. She placed her book on an empty table, to indicate that would be where she was going to sit. After all, Nikolai had not pointed one out yet and one seat in the dining hall was as good as any other.

She wandered up to the tables of food and searched for something that appealed to her. After a moment's consideration, she poured herself a mug of chai and picked up a cup of yogurt. Yeah, it was time to go on a diet again. She was aging, sadly enough, and that meant her metabolism was slowing down. With all of the younger teachers around, she needed to watch her figure. Hell, the headmistress was only a couple years older than she was and still looked many years younger.

She had noticed Tobias's smoking and wondered if she should say anything. Perhaps if he was still smoking when they were seated. She didn't much care for the smell of cigarettes. Hell, she didn't even like the smell of those godawful cigars Emilio occasionally smoked when he thought there was something to celebrate.

Caroline sighed and wandered back to the table, sitting where she had placed her book earlier. It was a perennial favorite, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.... She figured that she might not have time to read it again for a while since classes should be picking up again and she would be stuck grading papers.

---

Nikolai followed the scent of meat to a tray of steaming bacon and sausage. His eyes turned a bright amber-gold for just a moment as he surveyed the meat hungrily. He picked up a plate before realizing that he had been about to just dump the entire tray (probably a messy course of action) onto his plate.

It took about a minute of closing his eyes and muttering in a dead language before he could bring himself to pick up the serving tongs. Despite himself, a trail of smoke drifted from his left nostril and he could feel his throat get uncomfortably hot.

Zeke eagerly took his seat next to Caroline, noticing the book that she set her book down onto the table where she had decided to sit. Although she were his elder, it seemed as though they could get along quite well.

He made it very clear where his seat was before departing for the counter filled high with food, not all of them quite healthy but delicious nonetheless. Zeke usually tried to watch what he ate due to the strict training diet that he was currently on, but now was not the time to worry about such things and indulge.

As he passed through the food, he noticed that Caroline was contemplating what she wanted to get. Unlike Zeke, she probably had a better sense of control over what to eat even here at Foresta. He looked away, ashamed that he thought about such things when she was his elder and a teacher at the school.

Glancing at Nikolai, Zeke noticed he had less inhibitions on what he could or could not eat. It was reasonable enough seeing that the man wasn't entirely human which would explain his unusual diet and the smell of smoke that seemed to surround him everywhere he went.

He made his way back to the table, his plate filled until there wasn't any space left to add more. Although he and Caroline had made it back, the others were still gathering food so Zeke chose to wait until they returned to be polite.

The book from earlier caught his eye as he sat down at the table. From the looks of it, it seemed to be a variation of German unless if he were wrong which he usually was when it came to foreign languages. When Zeke traveled, there was a need to know different dialects in order to survive but he often spoke broken parts as there wasn't much of a chance to become fluent.