Office #5, Saturday Afternoon

[apocalipped]

Jono was going to be doing some schedule shuffling this week, yes. Parents Weekend meant that, unless he wanted to make people run halfway across town just to see what his students had been up to, he was going to be holding his Boards office hours here, while trying to finish everything up early, as he had company of his own to get back to

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[the_raven_boy]

The young man who knocked at Jonothon's open door looked quietly unassuming at first glance. And certainly not old enough to be someone's guardian or parent even though he had two grown sons of his own. "Pardon me, is this the office and hours for... " He paused to make certain he was reading the title of the class right from the hastily scrawled notepaper in his hand and then sighing at Mercy with a soft smile, "Living on the Outskirts?" He lifted piercing eyes up to the man behind the desk.

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"You've found the right office, yes," Jonothon replied, offering the young man a faint smile and gesturing for him to come in. He was beginning to wonder if perhaps there would be anyone to enter his office who didn't look as though they could attempt to bore through him with a look alone, but, as with the last two, he took it in stride. "And the teacher of the same. I'm Jonothon Starsmore. And I suppose it's safe to assume that you're here to discuss one of my students?"

[the_raven_boy]

The man behind the door looked like some fae he'd seen before though he didn't smell like fae to Bran. He stepped in and smiled pleasantly back. "Excellent." The tone was brusque and he strolled over to the desk pulling hands out of pockets and offering one to the instructor. "Professor Starsmore, I am Bran Cornick, here for Mercedes Thompson." He barely kept himself from saying, Mercy was his which felt more natural. She was part of his pack regardless of what she thought. "So yes, your assumption is quite safe."

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"Ah, a friend of Mercy's, then," Jonothon nodded as he pulled himself to his feet, meeting Bran in a firm handshake. "With as unwilling as she seems to be to talk of the people where she's from, I had begun to wonder if anybody would be coming for her this weekend. I'm glad to see that my concern was unnecessary."

[the_raven_boy]

"Her sometimes guardian, yes." His handshake firm as well, possibly stronger than he appeared though Bran wasn't trying to show off. "Is she unwilling?" His smile faded and he nodded more to himself than the professor. "She... had a difficult parting from my son." He offered, and the decision to explain what was happening to her still gnawed at his insides. Samuel would not forgive him soon but Mercy was too young and impressionable to let Samuel mislead her like he had even if he himself, hadn't realized what he was doing. Broken hearts in teenagers were difficult to mend.

"But Mercy is ours and if she needs us, we will be there for her." He gave a pleasant shrug. He was eyeing the man that seemed fae thoughtfully. "I am pleased to see someone else showing concern for her here."

[apocalipped]

Jonothon regarded the young man before him coolly, re-adjusting his view of him to account for what he'd just been told. Her guardian. He had a son. Probably older than himself, then, unless her situation was a particularly complicated one.

"Even if it wasn't my job, I'd stick my neck out for her well-being," Jonothon replied, keeping his expression relatively neutral. "I met her while I was helping to direct a holiday production in town, and while she didn't seem too keen on the prospect of participating, at first, working with her turned out to be a pleasure."

And worrisome too, in a way, as reality had fallen apart around them and he'd watched her slowly retreat into herself, afraid to so much as breathe wrong for fear of being left alone.

[the_raven_boy]

That earned an appreciative look from the young man and he sat back, studying him for a moment. "Mercy judges herself harshly." And had very good singers around herself to compare with so it wasn't surprising she was a little shy about it.

"She sang then?" Or did Mercy act? He doubted she played piano, he knew she knew it but didn't much care for it. But everyone sang in Aspen Creek, even if they did it badly. And Mercy wasn't bad. "Is she settling in well?"

[apocalipped]

"She sang," Jono clarified, smiling faintly. "She's got a good voice for the stage. And... from what I've seen, she seems to be settling in well enough. It sounds to me as though she as a very high bar set for her back home, though. Perhaps that's part of why she's taking to Fandom so well... expectations here are... not so much high or low as they are wide open."

Hence the blue man teaching a class about fitting in. What was that all about?

[the_raven_boy]

"I can't imagine the skill you must have to get Mercy in front of an audience singing." His expression was pleased though, the girl had an uphill battle trying to stand out around werewolves in a good way. And wolves were so territorial she had learned very early on how to skirt around them. How to fade into the background. Samuel had helped her when he could.

"Some of the people in Apen Creek are a little competitive." He agreed. "But singing, that is something everyone should enjoy."

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Skill... maybe had something to do with it. Or else Jono had accused her of being there to waste his time when she'd seemed bitter about being made to audition, and she'd risen to the challenge. One of those.

"Around here, it's always good to find somebody who does. I hope that after she graduates, she isn't afraid to continue with her singing, wherever she goes. She doe seem to genuinely enjoy it, even if she wasn't entirely certain about it at first."

[the_raven_boy]

"Mmm, I can't imagine Mercy truly afraid of anything." He murmured thoughtfully. She was good at picking her battles but she was also the sneakiest risk taker he knew. She might have been scared when she wrecked his car.

"I am Welsh, we enjoy music a great deal. It is wonderful to hear she seems to share that." Perhaps he could suborn her into something sometime. With her it took a light touch and a little sneakiness of your own usually, to get her to do what you'd like. "Is there anywhere she struggles?"

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Jonothon considered that for a moment, and then nodded slightly.

"Occasionally, in the middle of a class conversation, when everyone else is discussing things openly enough... she'll balk. She'll dance around the topic at hand." He gave a slightly apologetic sort of smile. "Which isn't a problem, per se. She's more than welcome to have her secrets. Everybody around here does, after all. Though I worry about her motives for withholding things about herself in a place where nobody is in a position to point a finger at somebody else over their circumstances."

He spread his hands a little, looking a bit at a loss.

"Trust doesn't come easily to her, I don't think. She keeps guarded, even when she's as safe as she'll ever be."

[the_raven_boy]

His brows drew together a little. He did not know the man well enough to know his own motives. "And what kinds of things does she hesitate to discuss?" He asked sitting back a little and steepling his fingers across his midsection.

"Is she... as safe as she'll ever be?" Bran seemed to find that amusing.

[apocalipped]

"If I knew what it was that she wasn't discussing, I would hardly be concerned about it," Jonothon pointed out, vaguely amused, himself. "Still... she gives answers that border on vanilla, at times. Not just in a classroom, I don't think. She strikes me as a very guarded person, and always has."

There was a moment's pause, and then Jonothon lifted his chin.

"The island can be a dangerous place," he noted, "but when it comes to being accepted, being safe from judgement and ridicule, I have yet to find its equal. In that regard, at least, I believe that yes, she is safe here. And I'm speaking with a fair amount of first-hand experience behind me, now as a teacher, and before, as a student myself."

[the_raven_boy]

"If you don't know she's not discussing it, how do you know she is hiding anything at all?" Bran pointed out. "A boring answer is hardly grounds to assume someone is masking the truth." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps she is at that."

He liked that streak of protectiveness the man showed. "Ahh, we aren't speaking physically but emotionally. I see. In that case, I could have picked no better place for her to be educated." He frowned a little though, "What kind of dangers are we speaking about?"

[apocalipped]

When you saw as many people who had something to hide as Jono had, it was really a difficult thing to miss. There were telltale factors, always, not the least of which being hesitation before settling on something so simple that it should have come easily, with no thought at all.

All the things that Jonothon didn't feel the need to state. He wasn't concerned about digging up Mercy's secrets. He couldn't care less what they were, really, just so long as she felt safe. It was how carefully guarded she was about certain things that had him worried, more than the secret itself.

"With an island like this, the dangers can... vary. Usually according to the island's sense of whimsy. Small things, creatures crawling through the streets for a day or so, easily avoided or fended off. Larger things... reality unwinding around us."

And there was a look in his face at that that suggested that he was prepared for anything from a guardian's protective rage to being blatantly laughed at. He was prepared for practically everything in between.