Private Finished Background Checks

Lotharingia · Nov 24, 2018

"Huh." He blinked, expression changing very little as she briefly lifted off the ground. Reen wasn't exactly an expert on magic abilities or magic species, so while seeing her liftoff wasn't all that impressive, an intangible pair of wings that functioned on a tangible person was still one of the more unique things he'd seen. "Guess that answers that."

Reen, unfortunately, wasn't the sort of person to really appreciate the scenery. Rather, his eyes roamed around the cafe interior once they arrived, taking note of all the people sitting down. Even while he was taking a break, his instincts didn't stop him from watching his surroundings. He slid into one of the indicated seats, slouching into the backrest. One of his hands rested on his leg, a finger absentmindedly tapping against his thigh. It was an unconscious tick, with all the frustrations in the back of his head his body let out its stress in small ways.

"I take my coffee blank." He said, simply. "No need for you to pay for mine."

He fished into his coat pocket, before pulling out some loose change, just enough to pay for his own coffee, and left it on the table for her. Despite his seeming lack of care for both how he appeared and how others seemed to feel about it, he still had a little too much pride to let a stranger pay for him.

Lee · Nov 24, 2018

He was a curious man.

Reen, An reckoned, must have come from someplace which either constantly required he be on guard and alert (security job perhaps) or something had made him like that. An could feel his eyes on her as they walked; when they entered the store, his attention shifted from her to the other patrons, but not entirely.

Was he used to it? She had, as did all the others, heard about the holy water incident. She had no idea when Reen had been employed, but if she guessed correctly, he'd been around before the attack. Was it guilt, then? It certainly justified the vigilance with which he appraised each individual. It was a Sunday; there were no lessons, but students still milled about on campus. An wondered if he resented being tied to a cafe with some new kid.

"That's fine," An said nonetheless, slipping his coins into her hand without preamble. She herself was not fond of others' charity; but somehow, paying for someone was easier than being paid for. In five minutes, she returned with the man's coffee and a... bagel? Donut? For herself. The cafe was quite inclusive. It had different foods serving all manner of people with differing dietary needs.

...Small talk. She was terrible at it and she hated it. Reen was slouched into his chair, looking for all the world like he didn't care at all about the place. He was only here for the coffee, probably. You'd never know how observant he was being until you'd been come up upon by the towering man. Her leg shook in place with stifled speed. An ended up not saying anything; if Reen didn't want to talk and she didn't want to talk, then it was fine quiet.

Very fine.

Very fine indeed.

Lotharingia · Nov 25, 2018

Small talk.

Oh boy.

Reen was a man of few words. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind, of course, but he also didn't like wasting his time on words that didn't matter. When she sat back down with the drink and snack, he simply nodded, murmuring his thanks as he picked up the cup, taking a long drink of the bitter liquid. For the moment, he remained silent, only the quiet murmur of the other students around the cafe and the whistle of the gentle afternoon breeze was audible around them.

Evidently, An wasn't the only one who hated small talk.

It was easy to see that even with the drink his appraisal of his surroundings never stopped, especially of the new teacher sat across from him. He didn't even need to be looking at her to note her discomfort, the slight tremoring from the table every time she shook her leg told him that right away. Someone as out of place at her should probably have a guide, someone who was more of a people person, someone who was definitely not the kind of man Reen was.

Oh hell.

"So, the Academy invite you here?" He asked, less of a question and more of a statement, before taking another long drink. It was a safe assumption to make, he thought. How unfamiliar she seemed with everything would be natural for any new arrival, but she seemed especially bewildered. Reen had introduced a lot of new people to life beyond the veil during his scout work. Everyone handled it differently, but there was always that similar sort of look. Like they were out of place, like they were just a tiny bit anxious about everything. If she was from the narrow reality, it was far more likely the academy had offered her a job, rather than her applying herself.

Of course, he could be misreading An entirely. There was a chance she was still just scared of him rather than anything else.

Lee · Dec 22, 2018

The part of her that had always longed to rebel wanted to tell him 'no shit.'

The very chinese part of her told her to nod and wave it off, so that was what An did.

It wasn't that she was afraid of Reen himself, per se, more of an upbringing that demanded respect to be shown to seniors. Or those higher in rank. Or those who'd more experience than yourself. When she'd been in the process of earning her degree it had been under the tutelage of some very smart people in a very big place; practically everything hinged on being able to keep up and keep in.

"Dunno why they did," An shrugged anyway, lifting her own cup to her lips. Inside it was not coffee but hot chocolate, the closest thing she could find to milo. It was stickier and thicker than milo was, and too sweet for her tastes, but it wasn't bad. She forced her leg to still its absentminded movement. Her mother would have yelled her into next week for "acting like an ah beng". "But here I am."

An eased back into her chair. The wooden back creaked as it moved, wings phasing through it like they had the ground. As an afterthought, Jia An willed them invisible, so she'd attract less attention. She knew she was already garnering some stares; no need to make it worse. The attention made her want to shrivel up and hide.

But she casually took another sip of the too-hot hot chocolate, dying a little every time the sugar-sweet liquid hit the back of her throat. Suddenly, she really wanted it gone.

And Reen was probably running out of things to say -- which was fine by her! An wasn't one for dragging an encounter any more than it needed to.

"I'm sure I've kept you long enough --" she began, but paused, to give him time to butt in if he wasn't actually done speaking.

Lotharingia · Dec 23, 2018

"Hard to tell why the academy does most things." He noted between long sips of his coffee. "You ain't nearly the strangest hire they've taken on though, guess they saw you were qualified and thought that was enough."

Reen wasn't really in a position to judge whether someone belonged at the school or not. As far as he was concerned he was in no way qualified to work in an environment with so many kids. But he had the job either way, which he supposed meant the administration at least trusted him to not fuck up.

“Or maybe, they brought you here for your own benefit as much as theirs.” He mused aloud, with that gruff tone of voice he spoke with it almost sounded like an accusation. As a scout, he’d brought a lot of people to the island, sometimes for their own safety and sometimes for the safety of others. He doubted Jia An was such an extreme case however, he’d already concluded the woman was most likely harmless. The paranoid part of his brain still wanted to check in with the scouting office later to see if they had anything on file about her, but that would have to wait until he finished his other work.

Once she began to finish up, he didn’t make any move to object, he simply continued to drink, maintaining his faux-indifferent posture.

“Nah, don’t worry about that.” He waved a hand dismissively. “You’re probably a lot more busy then I am. You’re new and probably need to get stuff ready for your classes.”

Like An, Reen didn’t feel the need to drag things out either. He’d confirmed what he felt he needed to for his job, and he wasn’t really built for casual socialising beyond that.

Lee · Dec 31, 2018

"You ain't nearly the strangest hire they've taken on though, guess they saw you were qualified and thought that was enough."

An shrugged at that. No use arguing; it was true and hadn't it already been proven from her first day? The staff nurse was an oricenta -- and stars be damned if she knew what that was -- the history teacher could turn into a bat, and some of her colleagues were honest-to-god, well, gods. There was no amount of protesting that would change that, so she quietly sipped her drink while Reen spoke and thought and pondered the reason for her entrance.

Truth be told, she had no idea why the Academy had hired her. Something about outstanding work in the field -- and of course her magic -- that would lead to the mutual benefit of students and staff. She doubted they very much wanted her here, but it was money and it was a new experience, so why not?

Besides, she supposed, even the oldest gods couldn't possibly know everything there was to know about the molecular structure of an organic compound, given they were old and specific. She wondered how many gods of science there were. Noel Sinterklaas was the god of the winter solstice, and there were some students who were either of godly heritage or gods themselves... but it didn't seem to amount to much on the island. A simple human, like her, was as capable as the next divine being. There was something about Manta Carlos that made even gods seem like normal people.

"You would be right."

An smiled at Reen, tight but genuine. It hadn't been entirely pleasant, not at the start, no, but the coffeeshop break turned out to be rather enjoyable. If they had met on better terms she might be more comfortable; but as it was, An was more than relieved to be out of Reen's scrutinising stare.

"I'll see you around. Goodday."

With that, An removed herself from the premises. With her feet. Finally. The awkwardness of small talk was getting intolerable.

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Private Finished Background Checks

Lotharingia

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Lee

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Lotharingia

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Lee

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Lotharingia

Promise nothing and deliver less

Lee

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