Open Pumpkin Spice Latte(s)

On a rainy Sunday morning, at the corner table of a small coffee shop tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Manta Carlos city, a very stressed professor was marking up stapled packets of student work. The shop was the warm and cozy kind, with soft natural lighting and thriving plants artfully scattered around. The walls were adorned with poetry and art from local writers and artists, the tables were well-worn but equally well-loved, and the chairs wooden but comfortable. The display case next to the counter was full of pastries, muffins, and another yummy good fresh baked that morning, while the coffee menu above the counter was filled corner-to-corner with a variety of drinks: lattes, frappuccinos, teas, coffees, and bottled sodas, if you were in the mood for it.

The cafe was nearly empty, probably because of the rain and early hour, but it was warm and inviting, and a cracked window spilled out scents of coffee and cakes just as it let it the soothing smell of rain.

At the professor's table, six empty cups were spread across surface. Scrawled on receipts tucked under each cup were hints to their past contents: mostly random letters, but a pattern emerged after the first three cups. The scribbles read PSL. NW PSL Trip. EW PSL Quad.

Jane had two stacks of packets before her: graded and ungraded. The latter was much taller than the former, which was giving her a great deal of stress. This was her first test administered to her students, and she never expected that grading them would take so long. She'd been at it for an hour and a half and found herself obsessing over every tiny detail of answers to try and give feedback. But how much feedback was too much? Were comments too specific, or too vague?

The exhausted teacher slumped in her chair, tied her hair up in a lop-sided lump on top of her head, and practically slid from her chair to step into line for the seventh time.

"A quad was too bitter and took over the taste of the pumpkin," Jane thought. "Maybe back to a triple. With extra, extra whip cream. Maybe I can ask for no lid so they can put even more on."

Lost in her caffeine fantasy, Jane didn't move forward in line or order. She simply remained frozen, as if transfixed by the sprawling coffee menu before her.

Jane snapped out of her fixation immediately as Nathan entered. Her head snapped around to look at him so sharply, her glasses almost flew right off of her nose. She turned back to the counter quickly, ordered her latte, and returned to her seat with a bit to much vigor. Upon sitting, she immediately turned to the student with an eyebrow arched.

"Are you alright?" She asked quietly. She surprised herself by how motherly it sounded, so she tried to recover. "Just, uh, because your jacket was, uhm, with blood-- or, I mean, paint, someone could think the- that the paint was something else. It could be a little dangerous."

Nervously, Jane picked at the edge of her sleeve. "I don't want to see a student hurt, especially when we're... the same." She nodded. That all sounded perfectly natural.

Jane smiled sadly and nodded. "That sounds awful, it ripping open and getting everywhere." She cupped her warm coffee in her hands, but it didn't help to warm her, and she shivered.

"Yes, I just recently started teaching there. Computer science. I haven't had many classes yet, to be fair. Not yet, at least. I've actually never taught before, either. I'm not making myself sound very qualified, am I?" Jane's smile widened to a grin, flashing her pointed fangs.

Jane set down her coffee for a moment to twist sideways in her chair so as to face Nathan better. "What grade are you in? Have you been at the academy long?" She asked, once she had wrapped her hands around her coffee cup again. She'd happily forgotten about the pile of tests on her table.

Jane smiled sadly. She knew all to well how easy it got to be to wash blood out of anything. Especially with modern detergents!

"I don't think I have it in me anymore. When you live a long time, it's hard to keep up lies if you constantly spin them up. You'd have to write them all down! Then I'd make a better english teacher than anything, right?" Jane chuckled at her own joke.

"I did just arrive recently! I was in Seattle for a long time before this, and before that I bounced around quite a bit. I have to say, I've never experienced anything like this. I thought I'd be sta--" Jane cut herself off. It was probably better to be more delicate around students.

"Ah, I mean, I thought I'd be run off the moment I arrived. We're not exactly welcome in with open arms, but I'm happy we're not completely shunned as well. Hell, they even let me become a teacher."

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