[Krista runs to her locker! She sees her priest standing by it. At least, it probably is him, because it *looks* like him, only he's... not in his priestly robes, but rather black slacks, a closed windbreaker, and wet. Right. He's holding a dripping umbrella and watching the students pass with interest.] * Krista looks up to Father Bradley and smiles a little, opening her locker as she says, "Hello, Father." [He smiles back, then looks around. "It's been a long time since I was in a high school."] * Krista blinks as she finishes putting things away, then smiles a little, ignoring all the people around her. It's like her own little priestly universe. "Not too long, Father, I'm sure... after all, as you said yesterday, you aren't attached to the church." [He shrugs. "I guess." And then he laughs a little. "I had to identify myself when I came in. Quite the security your school has."] * Krista shakes her head sadly. "When they cannot even trust a Man of God..." she reaches in and pulls out her backpack, already prepared for the second half of the day, and puts it over her shoulder, then looks back to Bradley and licks her lips nervously. "Are you ready, Father?" [He smiles and pats Krista on the shoulder. "Lead the way." The hall is thinning out a bit.] * Krista nods and leads to Luke's office. Along the way, she... chats? "It wasn't too much trouble to get here, I hope?" [He shakes his head, stepping aside to avoid a student. Most ignore them, though some Juniors who recognize Krista seem at least slightly interested. "No," Bradley says, "if I can't do something like this, I don't deserve to be called a priest."] * Krista smiles a little again, side-looking at Daniel and starting to say, "Father, I'm--" but is interrupted when her voice gets weak for a moment. She clears her throat and continues, "Not all priests would do this." [He smiles. "Then perhaps it's a good thing you're stuck with me." They reach Luke's office!] * Krista looks at the door for a second and shifts her backpack before reaching out to the door and opening it! For great progress! [Krista opens the door to Luke's office! Not much time has elapsed during fifth period at all. What is Luke doing? I'm not sure.] * Luke is at his desk. He's busy scribbling on a notepad. His attache case is on his lap. * Krista walks in! She didn't change her clothes any, but she does have her bookbag now. And there's an NPC following her! * Luke looks up. "Good day, Krista." He also looks at the other person, who he may or may not recognize. * Krista nods back at Luke, saying quietly, "Mr. Mendel." [There is an NPC following her! He's a Caucasian male about Luke's age. He has dark brown hair plastered to his head by the rain, blue eyes, and is wearing a stylish windbreaker-dress shirt-slacks combination. A dripping black umbrella hangs from his right hand.] [He looks Luke over from his position behind Krista without saying anything.] * Krista glances back to her favorite NPC, then to Luke, before looking right at him and saying with a perfectly straight and serious face, "Mister Mendel, this is my pastor, Father Bradley." * Luke looks over to the gentleman. "Good afternoon. I'm Luke Mendel. Feel free to call me Luke." [The pastor smiles and steps around Krista, offering his hand to shake. "Then you can call me Daniel."] * Luke starts to set the pad down on the desk, looks over at Krista, and flips it over so he sets it facedown. He rises, taking the case in his left hand, and reaches out his right to shake with the pastor. (play the funky music white boy!) (Play all the 2S music.) * Krista glances to the pad, then to Luke. Funny business? Maybe. She scoots a little out of Daniel's way before looking up at him, then to the handshake. She's a busy looker! (I don't have it memorized.) (And I can't access the webpage.) (Hands, Distant Land, In the Shadows, I Like It...) [They shake hands! Bradley withdraws his and glances at Krista. "I hope you don't mind us interrupting, but Krista seemed nervous about something last time we talked, and I thought it would help put her mind at ease if it was addressed."] (Um... In My Life, Boulevard of Broken Dreams.) "This is somewhat unusual, I admit." (+ all the NPC themes!) ["Trust me, this isn't something I do every day. You don't mind, do you?"] * Krista puts her hands together in front of her in a prayer-like clasp, right over her stomach. She looks back to each of the two men again and then focuses on Luke. "Not as long as it's clear that I can't treat you as if you were Krista's official guardian. This has to be strictly an informal chat. Fortunately, I'm not a formal guy, as I'm sure Krista can attest." [He smiles. "That's fine. Krista, would you mind closing the door?"] ( Fair enough. So, just unofficially, Krista tells me you're Satan.) * Krista shakes her head and says, "Of course, Father." And she quickly goes to do just that! (That's because he is.) (He is not. Just a minor demon.) (Satan!) (That's what he wants us to think!) (And you will think what he wants you to think. It's all those levels of influence) (Yep.) (I certainly can't argue with that. ^^;) [The pastor sighs and works on closing his umbrella fully before turning his attention back to Luke. "Krista told me that you possess some unusual books."] * Krista turns from the closed door to look at Luke, past Bradley. Just look, with a slightly disapproving look. Grr. "I'm a collector, yes." ["May I see them?" There's nothing accusatory in his tone.] "I have to admit, of all the reasons to bring a pastor to see me, a review of my taste in reading wasn't the one I would have guessed." * Krista looks surprised and can't keep herself from asking, "Why?" [He folds one hand over the other, which holds his umbrella. Expression still calm, he says, "I came of my own accord, Luke, and I guess I'll get to the point. I'm not interested in censorship - the opposite is true, actually - but I was and still am curious about your character."] * Luke looks at Krista. "How often does a pastor ask to check out your bookcase at home?" He then turns to Bradley. "My character?" "Damn, the life of sin is going to count against me, isn't it?" * Krista blinks, but... can't answer that without being flip. (Answer: He doesn't have to ask.) [He smiles. "Given it's my job to know about sin, maybe."] (Stick around Luke and the flipness will be contagious.) "And it's my job to teach my students, Daniel, which I will do to the best of my ability- or at least, not slack off at anymore than the other teachers here." He grins. * Krista refocuses from her brief distraction. The accusatory look starts to come back. (The flipness pulls at Krista! She won't be able to resist forever.) ["I don't doubt that," the priest says, undaunted, "But you have to admit, it's a little strange. A new teacher shows up with strange books in languages never seen before... one might even call them satanic... and a student combusts in class, another is burned, and according to Krista, some lights exploded on top of it all."] * Krista 's implicit accusatory gaze only fades for a brief second before it comes back. Too bad it's not a paralyzing gaze. Or a truth gaze. That'd be awesome. * Luke pauses for a second. "I admit that my books cover rather arcane topics, but I had nothing to do with the recent tragedy. And I'd like whoever or whatever caused that found and stopped, as least as much as you. It happened in *my class*, Daniel. If I was to blame, would I have been that obvious?" [He frowns a little, then says, "I hope you're not to blame, but if you're not, do you know who is?"] * Krista chews her lip for a moment. "Not at the moment, I'm afraid." [He nods. "But," he says, "the supernatural is no stranger to you. Am I right?"] * Krista says, with a bit of stored up frustration before Luke gets off his standard dissemblage, "I saw the books, Mr. Mendel. You keep lying and slipping away and saying things that just aren't true." Glare. "Don't do that to Father Bradley." * Luke glances over at Krista. "Did I tell Father Bradley that I did *not* have supernatural books, Krista?" (make that "books on the supernatural") * Krista looks back at him and says defiantly, "You were going to. Just like you did to me." * Luke pauses at Krista's withering comment. "I apologize if you think I lied to you, Krista. I hope you understand that sometimes I have to be cautious. I'm sure you do as well." * Krista draws back a bit, although she's still got some of the fire in her eyes. "Yes, well..." * Luke waits for Krista to finish her sentence. * Krista swallows, struggling for a moment before finishing, "So they really are what I thought they were?" * Luke gives an easy smile. "That depends on what you thought they were." [Father Bradley watches this exchange, but he doesn't do or say anything, his hands folded on his umbrella. It's Krista's show now, it seems.] * Krista glances to Father Bradley before looking back to Luke. "Well... they talk about demons and... such things. " Beat. "And vampires." * Luke looks over at Father Bradley for a second, checking his reaction to what Krista just said. ( Oh noz Bradley gonna kill me!) [He just nods slightly. Luke doesn't die.] (Rats.) (Not for lack of trying.) * Luke looks back at Krista. "Some of them do, yes." * Krista looks strangely at him. "Why? Why would you have books on such evil things?" Pause, then almost as an afterthought, "At school? That is surely dangerous!" "I wanted to take them where I thought that books were least likely to be read. A high school seemed a good bet." Luke gives a grin. "I could probably just donate them all to the school library and be confident no one would take them out and read them, but that seems excessive." * Krista frowns and says, "C-can't you be serious about this?" She waves her hands at the books. "Isn't that serious?" You're a teacher for Peter's sake! (Hee. Peter's sake.) (Poor Krista. Luke's wall of flip is disconcerting.) "Would you be this upset if I had a collection of books on the Vietnam War?" Luke asks. * Krista blinks then says with a bit of annoyance, "Of course not... but these are no mere evils of men. Those things are... true evil." * Luke looks at Krista and chuckles, then actually laughs for a few seconds. "The mere evils of men?" he repeats, almost to himself, as he regains his composure. Then the moment has passed. "I know about evil, Krista. That doesn't mean I am." * Krista frowns at him laughing... after all, lots of flip today, and holds that look as he responds. She waits a few moments and glances to Father Bradley saying, mostly to herself, "Books aren't evil..." (Shared reference moment!) (A reference to something Bradley told Krista in the confession mini.) [Bradley looks back at Krista and nods. "Books aren't evil," he says. And you know, he's a pastor, so he can't be deliberately lying about this or anything.] "Not even Danielle Steele novels?" Luke asks Bradley. [He opens his mouth, then pauses. "I'll get back to you on that one."] * Krista hmphs, a slight color coming to her cheeks before saying to Luke, "I-- I'm sorry." Beat. "But you shouldn't have... I still don't think those are safe. There could be less... righteous people around." "Given that someone in this school may be setting other people on fire, I think there might just be some less than righteous individuals about, yes." * Krista nods slightly and then her eyes look towards where Luke's books are. "Mr. Mendel, you... don't know, do you?" A weak laugh. "Looking into spontaneous combustion..." * Luke looks slightly confused. "I don't know what happened, no. I have some ideas, but that's it." ["Are you willing to help her?" Bradley interjects.] * Luke turns to look at Bradley. "I want what's going on to stop. But whether I am willing to help Krista depends on what exactly she's asking of me." [He nods and looks to Krista.] * Krista looks to Bradley with wide eyes, and then blushes slightly, looking slightly away. "Father, I can't possibly... I don't know what happened either..." she looks back to Luke. * Krista drywashes her hands as she continues, "I don't even know where to start... but if it isn't a natural cause, the police won't find anything." "Nothing they can use to solve the crime." "Do you remember what I said in the library?" * Krista purses her lips before replying, "You said a lot of things in the library." A small frown. "More than half of them were joking." [Bradley looks a bit curious, but he doesn't interrupt.] "About the Malphas demon." * Krista 's eyes widen. "Oh!" Beat. "Oh, ah... yes." Beat, then, "You were serious? About the... summoning?" "Yes. It's one of the two most likely possibilities that I've found so far." ["What would be the other?" the pastor asks.] "A spell." "There are too many variations for me to know more, but one thing that they almost all have in common is that the caster would need to wear a piece of the victim, like a lock of hair or a nail clipping." [He 'ah's and nods.] * Krista makes a very obvious face. "Ugh... witchcraft..." (She used fingerpaints!) (To make a face.) (Ha.) (She is an artist!) "I'm afraid that's all I know." * Krista continues her distasteful look before saying, "That still isn't... there is no way to know either of those things..." "No way to know what?" * Krista looks to him. "How would you be able to find someone used any of those things... the... drugs or knife or hair..." * Luke shrugs. "You can ask your friends if they've seen anything?" (Ha! He thinks she has friends.) (How adorably clueless.) * Krista sniffs and then says, "I don't think anyone would tell me if their friends were taking drugs." She also adjusts her glasses. "I don't know what else to recommend." * Krista chews her lip and sighs slightly as she thinks. * Krista finally says, cautiously, "If it were that... demon... why hasn't anyone else been burnt?" I cannot imagine a demon would go so long without committing more evil acts. "I told you in the library that a person could have summoned it. If that were true, they would be controlling its actions." * Krista glances between the two men, then, "What... would they be doing with it? Just... locking it in the basement?" [Bradley shakes his head. "I don't know. Perhaps they banished it."] "Or perhaps they have it doing the dishes and laundry to pass the time between attacks. I can't say." * Krista frowns a little, then says, cautiously, "May I... see the book?" She says it quietly, giving another glance to Father Bradley even as she does, looking like a very nervous little girl. * Luke nods, and turns to search for it. After a minute, he pulls it out and places it on his desk, open to the page showing the Malphas. * Krista stands there a moment, then slowly walks towards the book, blushing visibly as she looks. [The demon looks like a bald human, with black fingernails and horns. He's glaring at Krista, but she doesn't burst into flames - she's safe!] [It's in some old form of English, though it meanders into Latin, along with a few other languages Krista doesn't recognize.] (Which means Krista probably just understands the Latin part.) (Is there anything, uh, helpful in it, or did Luke get all the salient details?) (I'm pretty sure I ended up summarizing everything.) * Krista looks at it funny, finally asking in a soft voice, "Why did they write it so oddly?" "It was written a long time ago." * Krista finally shakes her head slightly and steps back, clutching at something under her blouse for a moment. "I can't think of anything useful... but if I do... I suppose I can tell you now." She looks right to Luke. [Bradley smiles slightly, right as the sixth period bell rings.] (Ah, hell, I'm late!) "I'm glad to hear that, Krista. But you should be getting to class now." * Krista's eyes widen and she says, "Oh, I missed--excuse me, Mr. Mendel--" she turns and starts walking, only to stop and whirl around to say "FatherI'llseeyoulater!" and then flees like she were on fire. (But she's not.) [Bradley blinks as she rushes out. "She's... in a hurry," he says, slightly confused. The bell did just ring.] * Luke turns to look at Bradley. "She seems like a good kid. You're not getting her in over her head, are you?" [He frowns. "I hope not. I think trouble will follow wherever she goes, and she should be prepared for it." Bradley turns to Luke and offers his hand for the second time. "Good to meet you, Luke."] * Luke shakes his hand. "Good to meet you as well." [He smiles and nods, again, and then walks out of the office, holding his umbrella. It's raining, after all.] "Trouble will follow her wherever she goes, Father?" Luke sinks back into his chair, putting a hand up to rub his forehead. "Well, she can join the club." [Session End!]