Private Finished A Vampire and a Dragon Walk into a Bar

Qing glanced at his watch, frowning at the time. He kept a good sleep schedule, and so it was rather late for him to be awake. Still, he'd do anything for his students, so upon hearing that he'd been assigned a new kid in his dorm section, he'd done some hunting around and discovered that she, they — Shiro — was one of those vampire creatures that he didn't have back home.

He'd been busy throughout the day and wanted to get the meeting done and dusted, so at roughly 9pm, he settled down in the lounge to wait for the kid. He'd let them know when he'd be expecting them, so he guesstimated that Shiro would be around in roughly another five minutes. With that, a cup of tea in his hands, and a red scarf around his neck, the teacher prepared for the student's arrival.

@Saber

"Mr Jiang, if you want to get technical. Zheng Qing, if not. Or you can call me Lao Shi, whichever works for you." Qing waved with a casual smile. Shiro took a seat across from him, and he leaned back into his chair, crossing one thin leg over the other. "'S cool. As long as you're not late for school..." The teacher shrugged, bringing his tea to his lips as he listened to her introduce herself.

"Mm," He hummed into his cup, then set it down on a nearby coffee table. "That's a lot of things. Can't say I've ever met a bat, cat, goth girl before." Qing rubbed his hands together, the water that had condensed onto his palms evaporating without a second thought.

"Tell me more about yourself, kiddo. Anything y'need me to know?"

"So, you're from China?"

Well, in a way. Qing just nodded at the girl, content to let her think so. He wasn't exactly from the China that she probably knew, but she was close enough, so he didn't bother correcting her. And if she was going to call him Mr Jiang, then that was fine by him as well.

He nodded again as she told him about herself and her job. She certainly was a child, that he was sure of. Definitely sounded like one.

"Diner?" He asked. "Details, details, Shiro. Night shift or day shift? Is it a money thing?" He needed to know when to be expecting her to be absent, and if the kid needed financial help. The school was always willing to fund needy students, but Shiro didn't look like one. So Qing wanted to know if she was doing it for the experience, or if she genuinely needed to dollars.

Two siblings, eh? Maybe one of them was old enough to decide they wanted off the island. It was good to hear that Shiro had a guardian — that reassured Qing a bit more to know that he wasn't her only source of Good Adult Supervision and Advice.

"Can't fault you for that," Qing shrugged, picking his mug back up again, if only to warm his hands a little. "Your sibling enrolled?" He raised a brow, then lifted his mug towards Shiro, as if to toast her, before taking a long sip.

"Fair enough. That's good; I like responsibility in my kids."

He stared at her for a moment, the intensity of his gaze shocking. Wasn't it dangerous for her to be out and about in the sun, then? 'Course, she could stay indoors, but light could bend, and it didn't have mercy on vampires.

"That's sweet, kid, but I hope you're taking precautions. As your new dorm parent, I'd like to keep you in one piece for as long as you're under my charge."

He hadn't really met a non-nocturnal vampire, either. Shiro was a boatload of new things, and Qing was interested in unrolling her to her core. "The evenings, perhaps?" He suggested, "When the sun's gone down and people haven't gone to bed, yet."

Qing took another sip.

"Right, lemme tell you 'bout myself. My name's Mr Jiang, or Zheng Qing, if you ever feel like it, as you already know. I teach Mandarin, if you ever want to pick it up. You can come to me with any troubles, concerns, worries, or fears that you got, or you can join me for a mug-" At this, Qing raised his cup "-of tea or coffee, and spill your heart if you just gotta talk to someone. Business hours are 7am to 11pm, but I'll make an exception if you come knocking at 3am in the morning."

He let her know his room number, not really expecting her to actually come knocking at 3am.

"Tell me more about your girlfriend? She sounds like a dream."

Well, he was her dorm parent, and he was supposed to be responsible for her emotional, social, and physical well-being. Qing sighed. If she so chose to "annoy [him] when [she was] awake and hyped up on caffeine", then who was he to deny her?

"Yes, Shiro, you can," He said, rubbing at his face. "But go easy on me. Some of us still need to sleep." He didn't want to end up teaching a class, and accidentally mix up the words for 'mother' and 'horse' in front of his students. He tried to ignore the statement about her coffee. He had no idea where he was going to get blood, and he didn't want to think about where she was going to get it, either.

"Anyone worth dating should be a dream. If not," Qing levelled an entirely serious stare at Shiro. "Drop them."

Ah, and there they were. The trigger words - "first good relationship". The look on Shiro's face revealed her love for her current girlfriend, but Qing had zoomed in onto the girl's last statement. "'Y wanna let me know about those?" He asked casually, draping lazily over his section of chair. He didn't want to draw too much attention to the question, so Qing kept his face open, and level. If there was anything that posed a threat to Shiro while she was one of his kids...