[Tuesday, August 31, 2004.] [The last bell rang just now, and that means students are fleeing the premesis, because you never know when some teacher might try to eat them. It's still hot and humid, though luckily for Luke, the rooms in the English hallways - including his office - have decent circulation.] (Anything happen since Monday? In class?) (Nothing beyond you giving your usual Shakespearean spiel.) (A staid, dignified, and traditional affair.) (Very much so. Which act are they on now anyway, teach?) * Luke heads for his office. (Act? 1. Scene 3.) [Luke... goes to his office! He's really getting very good at this getting-to- his-office thing.] (He last taught Scene 2.) * Luke arrives at his office. ( [Mini ends!]) (Seriously, what's up next?) (Seriously, I'm typing.) [Frank isn't there, though Sylvia is. She's a big woman with short-cropped blonde hair, glasses around her neck, and is wearing a blouse and skirt which just hangs off of her. She's talking with a short male student with freckles and drab brown hair. "Really, Wade," she says, "You have an excellent grasp of meter. You should join the club and give us some decent poetry."] * Luke shoots a grin at the pair of them, but doesn't interrupt as he heads to his desk. [The boy (must be Wade!) rubs at the back of his hair. "I don't know, Mrs. Kohn, they'll just-" He turns to look at Luke as he enters. Sylvia glances up to the other teacher and then looks back at Wade. "They'll just?" she prompts.] [Wade blushes a little. "I just don't want to."] [Luke found something a little unnerving about Wade's look, but he can't quite put his finger on it. The boy's eyes are blue, for the record.] [Upon looking at him again, Luke spots nothing demonic about the boy. Just that something kind of strange about his look.] [Or witchy or vampiric or any of those things.] [Sylvia smiles a little. It looks reasonably sympathetic. "How about I read it for you? Come on, you can just sit in this time. We're meeting in ten minutes."] * Luke doesn't set his briefcase down, keeping it clasped in his left hand the entire time as he uses his right to gather up some papers and books. ["But I don't..." He fidgets and looks at the door. Maybe he can escape! Instead, in comes Tabby, arms overfull as usual. She looks around, gulps, and then ducks back out of the room.] ["I'll walk you there," Sylvia offers. Wade... tentatively nods. His teacher (is she his teacher?) grins, gives Luke a small wave, and then she leaves!] * Luke takes a small brown duffel bag out from under his desk and stuff the papers and books into it, still all with his right hand. He keeps his grip on the black attache case with his left. [Wade glances at Luke again before following. Same odd look.] * Luke zips up the duffel bag on his desk, then looks over to Tabby. "Good afternoon, Tabby." [Tabby poked her head back in after the teacher and student left, and then the rest of her follows to stand awkwardly in front of his desk, arms filled with books and overstuffed backpack on her back. "Hello, Mr. Mendel."] * Luke leans down and sets the briefcase down beside his left foot, behind the desk. "I'm sorry we weren't able to speak yesterday about whatever it was you came by here to talk about." ["It's... okay." She smiles nervously. "Krista was here first."] "What can I do for you?" ["I just wanted to talk about the... thing that happened on Friday."] * Luke nods. "Feel free to have a seat." [Tabby looks around, then she has a seat. Well, she tries, before she stands up, shifts her textbooks into a precarious position between her body and left arm, pulls off her backpack to let it plunk very heavily on the floor, and *then* sits down. With textbooks on her lap. Yes.] * Luke pulls up his chair and sits as well, pulling his attache case up onto his lap. (He's still behind the desk, right?) (Yes.) [After making sure her textbooks are perfectly stacked, Tabitha looks back up at Luke. "It's okay, right? If we talk about it."] "I'll resist the urge to give you a detention." Luke flashes a grin. [Tabby looks relieved. "That's good. My father would kill me if I got detention."] "It was a joke." ["... So you would give me detention?"] "There aren't any school rules against talking about students catching fire. Not as far as I know, anyway, and it would take a rather idiosyncratic school board to come up with one." ["Oh." She shifts, then fixes her textbooks again. "So... what happened? And do you know why? You were talking about it in the library."] "I'm afraid that I don't know why, no." "I was simply discussing with Veronica and Krista some of the history and folklore surrounding this sort of accident." [Tabitha looks interested. "Like what?"] "You'd rather hang around and hear me lecture than hurry home after school? I'd be flattered, but I can't imagine it's my inspirational teaching style." Luke gives a grin, then continues, "I was talking about old tales of demons and witchcraft causing people to catch fire." [Tabby looks down at her textbooks. "If you want me to go, but... no, I think it's neat. Not that someone caught on fire," she hurriedly corrects herself, "but the theo- tales."] ("The Theo Tales: moral parables about capitalism!) (Morals and ...capitalism? >_>) "It's your free time." Luke leans forward a bit. "I mostly related to Veronica and Krista the legends around a sort of demon that was said to set people on fire." ("A penny saved is a penny earned", that sort of thing.) [She looks up at Luke again. "A demon?"] "Demon or monster. You could call it either, I suppose." [She nods slowly.] "Have you studied much folklore, Tabby?" ["Not that much," she admits. "I'm a lot better with science and math. Dad thought it was more important."] "He's right. They lead to high paying and important jobs. Studying folklore, on the other hand, leads to being a high school English teacher." ["Do you like being a high school English teacher?"] "Yes, but it's only been a week. Ask me again in a month or two." [Tabby blinks. "You mean you didn't teach somewhere else?"] "No. My old job didn't end up agreeing with me." Luke pauses, leaning back in his chair. "I did marketing work," he adds. [She nods, thinking about that. "Why didn't you like it?" she asks tentatively. She *is* talking to a teacher about something not related to school at all.] "I know I must strike you as a buttoned down type who would fit in well in large bureaucratic organizations, but surprisingly, I found that sort of situation stifling." Luke leans forward again. "But we're getting off track." [Tabitha nods, sitting up straighter. "Right. Demons?"] "In Algonquin legend- a subject which your education may have sadly neglected, with its focus on math and science- there is a creature called a Malphas." (Arwen, I can't find the original notes you send right now, so if I get this wrong from what you sent, correct me.) (I never specified Algonquin legend, if you want to go by the letter of what I sent. The ritual does use an Algonquian language.) [Tabitha nods and listens. It's story time!] "An Algonquin mystic's entire family had been killed by a neighbouring tribe. The mystic sought revenge through dark magic, which is only natural, him being a mystic and all." [Tabitha wraps her arms around her textbooks and pays attention to Luke.] "He made a deal with the spirits to summon a demon to destroy his enemies." Luke pauses for a second before adding, "That's a strategy that you just know is going to end well for all concerned." ["So they *had* demons?"] "I suppose that depends on whether you believe in ancient legends." Luke grins. [Tabitha looks a little embarrassed. "Okay."] "So the mystic performed a dark and terrifying ritual involving goofy dancing. If you don't think that dancing can be dark and terrifying, it's because you're too young for disco. And he cut himself with a silver knife; the knife would let him control the demon, like a remote control that ran on blood instead of triple A batteries." "On the plus side, you don't have to root around in the back of drawers to get more." ["I'm pretty glad I'm too young for disco," Tabby says seriously.] "Most of my traumatic childhood memories stem from it. I still wake up screaming some nights." [Tabby's eyes widen. "Really?"] "It's why I mostly date the hard of hearing." [She nods. She also seems to be taking him seriously.] ["I'm sorry to hear that."] "The mystic succeeded in summoning a creature that looked like a man, except for the black goat's horn, utter lack hair, pitch black eyes, black fingernails, and forked tongue. This is not one of those stories whose moral is 'don't judge by appearances', incidentally." [Tabitha opens her mouth, then closes it. She nods again.] "The mystic sent the demon into the enemy camp. The demon walked amidst the soldiers, simply touching them. I imagine this must have seemed a relief at first, given that he wasn't tearing them apart or eating their entrails or anything so colourful." ["But they were set on fire, right?"] "Exactly. About an hour after each one was touched, he suddenly caught fire. So, if a big scary guy says he just wants to touch you and not hurt you, don't let him. That actually is a good life lesson. This thing's sort of the scary mystical Algonquin version of an after school special." [Especially one with black eyes and nails and... horns." Tabby looks like she want to take notes, but she's valiantly resisting the urge.] (Add beginning quote.) "Now, there's no need to be prejudiced against people with horns. Many of them are fine people and upstanding citizens." Luke grins. "Just not this particular one." [Tabitha looks confused. "Did you ever meet somebody with horns?"] "I've certainly met my share of horny guys." Luke flashes another grin before continuing quickly, possibly before what he said can sink in, "The people who were on fire actually set the entire camp ablaze, even the ground itself, and everyone who wasn't on fire followed the basic fire safety rule of running away from the flames really fast." [Tabby processes what Luke said, blinks, looks down, looks back up at Luke, blinks again, and then... nods. And fights a blush. "Right."] "But the demon didn't follow, which strikes me as really being a bum deal for the mystic, who had probably paid pretty dearly for a demon to avenge his family, only to end up with a lazy slacker who wouldn't finish the job." ["I guess... demons do that?"] "So the story goes. Another important lesson: don't make deals with demons because it's a rip-off. I wonder why concerned parent groups don't emphasize *that* reason more." ["Probably because they don't believe in demons."] "Then why are they so worried about you consorting with them?" [Tabby looks confused. "They are?"] "So the televangelists say." ["Oh." Pause. "I don't watch televangelists."] "Smart move." [She smiles nervously. "Yeah, I think so."] "The mystic was understandably upset at this, so he made a complaint to the demon's customer service representative, namely the demon itself." "In retrospect, he should have done this by calling the 1-900 number, rather than making his complaint in person." [Tabby pushes her glasses up, then readjusts her books. "But they didn't have telephones."] "They should have gotten some, then." ["But they couldn't-" And then Tabitha blinks. "Oh!" She laughs a little. "Okay."] "So the demon set the mystic on fire, which I totally didn't see coming." ["... You're lying."] "Okay, the demon didn't set the mystic on fire." [Tabby blinks. "No, I meant that you were lying about the other thing."] (Is Tabby in the class that everyone's in? The one where the lectures are actual session?) (No. She's a sophomore.) "You caught me. I actually did expect the ending of the story I was telling. What gave me away?" ( Your personality type plots in advance!) ["You knew the story. Plus, you're right. Anyone can see that ending coming a mile away."] "An ending that sadly predictable, and yet Hollywood still hasn't adapted the story of the Malphas." ["Maybe they just don't know about it." She shifts.] "I find it hard to believe that Hollywood executives don't study Algonquin legends." ["Really?"] "No." [Tabitha looks down at her books again. "Oh."] "And that's the legend of the Malphas." ["It's... a good story." She looks at her watch. "I should... I should go."] * Luke nods. "You've wasted enough precious free time on something alarmingly close to learning already. Go on and enjoy the rest of the day." ["I like learning," she says as she stands and gathers her books. She smiles nervously at Luke. "Thanks, Mr. Mendel."] "Come back anytime." Luke stands as well, shifting his attache case back into his left hand. [Tabitha cheers considerably. "Okay." She picks up her overstuffed backpack and somehow works it over her shoulders without dropping her textbooks. "Thanks again!" And then she's out of there, hurrying off. Probably for the late bus.] * Luke zips up the duffel bag and picks it up with his right hand, so he's carrying something in both. He heads off as well, dropping the duffel bag in the hall to lock the door behind him, then picking it up again and going on his way. [Minisession End!]