Private Finished Of Glitter and Innocence

Kazimierz was used to having a table left to himself.

It's not that Kaz always sat alone. It was common for a friend of classmate to come sit with him, especially if Kaz was tutoring the student. It rather helped Kaz's case for innocence; after all, if he was always sitting with different people, it was not strange to the outside observer for Kaz to no longer spend lunch with the same person he'd been sitting with for weeks.

Today, Kaz had a wide open space across from him. The seat next to him was occupied by his bag. He was wearing a tweed blazer of a fitted shirt and jeans. The attire might look sloppy on anyone else, but on Kaz, it had the appearance of young college professor.

He was taking a bite out of a particularly good apple when something bright caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

Kaz adjusted his glasses and looked up.

Pastels and sequins might be a mess on anyone else, but damn, Kaz thought, this girl had a way of pulling it off. Had he been the more artistic sort he would have wanted to draw it.

Kaz realized a moment to late that he was blankly staring at her.

'Sorry," he said, his voice lightly accented. 'Your outfit is nice, it caught my attention. I wasn't trying to be creepy or anything."

"Oh, yeah, go right ahead," Kaz waved to the open seats.

Now that she was closer, Kaz was experiencing something a bit interesting. Was that.....happiness? No, not as strong. Maybe cheer? Contentment? And curiosity?

Kaz took another bite of his apple to try and hide his pondering. What was it that he was feeling?

Kaz's curse did not extend to pleasant emotions. Wouldn't that have been nice if, in order to live, he had to feed off people's happiness? Their curiosity? He could just hang out in a museum or become a wedding photographer. No, instead, Kaz had to feed on misery.

So why....was he sensing this?

"I don't teach anything," Kaz confessed, but he offered a half of a smile. "Though I do tutor in chemistry and history. I suppose it'd be nice one day, being a professor, but I'm not sure if I'd want to teach....here."

Kaz considered it.

Maybe being a teacher wouldn't be such a bad idea. He could just give pop-quizzes when he needed a low dose of misery.

He said, curiously, "Why do you ask?"

And then, realizing his rudeness, he extended his hand and said, "Please, forgive me. My name is Kazimierz, but people call me Kaz. It's good to meet you."

There it was again.

Kaz's reactions were a little slow while he tried to suss out just how it was he was feeling this. He knew it was just the girl across from him. The reason he knew this is because there was a student laughing a table away that was still giving off the faintest droplets of misery, like a trail of bread crumbs. So it was just her. Why?

The girl was like a candy store personified, Kaz though, but her comments did produce a small laugh from him.

"Really, it's okay, I do kind of dress like I'm forty,' he said, and then frowned and said, "Okay, forty like being old for a human. I forget not everyone ages like that here."

He considered her words and then tried to reassure her.

"That's okay. I mean, it's better you assume I am a professor and be wrong than to assume a professor is a student and be wrong, you know? There was a magic professor here who looked like he was an elementary school kid. Carried around a big stuffed animal and all, but lo and behold if you crossed him,' Kaz said, making the exaggerated motion across his neck like a blade slicing a throat.

Then, he frowned and said, "That was supposed to be a joke but maybe it wasn't a very good one given that there are some Very Scary Teachers here."

He thought of the rumors he heard that there was a lich who nearly vanquished the world teaching history.

He said, 'Highschool, which I'm very excited to be near the end of. And yourself?"

"It's okay," Kaz attempted to reassure her again. He took note of that statement, that she didn't seem like the person who would gossip about someone.

That was very interesting to Kaz. She seemed like someone he might want to know a bit better.

Kaz considered her question and tilted his head to look at her better, resting his chin on his hand and making a small 'hmm' noise while he thought it over.

"Acting major," he said. "You're very...ummm.."

He searched for a word and then said, honestly, "Bubbly. It seems like you've got a lot of energy, which is usually great for an actor, but not so great for psychology majors. Besides, to do anything with a psychology major in most countries you need to go to grad school, so I guess it's a question of 'how many years do you want to be in a classroom?'"

He said, "But that's just me anyway. Tiffany, you said your name was, right?"

He took a bite of his apple, chewed, swallowed, and said, "Did you go to high school here, too? I'm thinking about staying here for college."

Not like he had much of a choice, really.

"I was wondering what your thoughts were. Do you like it? Have you been here for a while?"

Kaz ran the name through his head and searched his memory.

"I'm embarrassed to say I'm not familiar with her work," he said. "But this isn't unexpected. I don't watch a lot of media. Is she a movie actress or a stage actress? "

He took the information she gave him and filed it appropriately. Daughter of an actress, bubbly, enjoying college. It was his experience that these sorts of people brought about some of the most effective forms of misery.

And she was born on the island. Did that complicate things or make it easier?

Kaz decided he'd have to find out.

He gave her a thoughtful smile while he considered everything she told him before he responded after another bite of his apple. Kaz's demeanor was like this.

He laughed first and said, "Did you really check yelp?"

A bite of his apple, chewed, swallowed.

"I'm not so sure how I feel about the community part," Kaz admitted. "I'm a bit of a study bug, I suppose, although it's nice to know that the teachers here are concerned about our success. My last school wasn't quite like that."

He was stalling while we tried to come up with an answer that he was allowed to speak; Kaz couldn't lie, after all.

"I'm not sure about post graduation, but college is on my list for sure," Kaz said. That was true, even if he never thought he'd make it that far. He clung to that idea. He'd make it. He'd do whatever he had to do to make it that far.

He asked, "I don't know, I suppose i have so many interests. How did you narrow yours down to psychology and acting?"