Staff Room Meet Up

An did feel bad about asking — not that she felt bad about it, just about creating the awkward atmosphere — though Henghai's and Celeste's reassurances did much to soothe her frazzled nerves. Still, the thought of bloodsucking students and open cannibalism was a thought she was going to have to get used to, and even normalise. It felt fundamentally wrong; yet she couldn't begrudge her — yes, her — kids their dietary needs. They'd been born that way, after all.

Fae rules?

An knew there were things about not accepting food from faeries, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She fixed Celeste with a confused look, picking up the mug to absorb whatever residual warmth remained in the ceramic surface. She felt... ashamed, not knowing. The tall hooved dude said it was a common thing to know, and here she was, mostly ignorant. She'd really only been on the island for a few days; she still felt very much chinese and stupid.

"...No." The cup was cold. An didn't want coffee. She was cold. An squinted at the coffeepot, decided the warmth, wasn't worth the taste, and brought the mug over to the sink to wash. Celeste seemed to know quite a bit about the fae, so An directed her query at the woman while she washed up. "Tell me about them?"

Looking at everyone, she glanced at her empty cup. Sighing loudly, she moved over to the sink. "Do you mind washing this for me? I have a class to go to soon."

Clearing her throat, she added. "It's best to ask the students themselves. Gives them and yourself a reason to speak. Who knows, you could even become friends."

And ending with that, she walked out the door, this time as human as she could be. Lia An already saw her, there was no reason to hide.

Henghai let out a tired huff after Mallory left the room. "It only takes thirty seconds to wash a cup," he grumbled. If she was that short on time, she should have watched her clock better than leave the dishwashing to someone else. Henghai was not going to be the one to wash her dirty cup.

"Anyway, I'm pretty knowledgeable on fae. My species is very similar to them and we were meant to be with fae. So, where to start? Well, fae generally dislike it when you apologize or thank them. It's seen as a sign of debt, and you do not want to be indebted to a fae. Those things have no legal power here, but many fae can't apologize or thank you either or face magical consequences. Don't take any offense if you do something for them and they shrug it off, a lot of the times they can't help it, though they probably don't want the help in the first place. A fae being indebted to you can be more dangerous than vice versa."

An couldn’t look at either of the remaining people as she was currently occupied washing her own cup up. When Mallory asked if someone would wash up for her An was about to offer, but the lack of any cup approaching the sink alerted her to the fact someone else must have taken it. Celeste, most likely, given her occupation as the school’s home ec teacher.

Well, thought Jia An as Mallory exited. That was distinctly unhelpful. What the hell was she supposed to do — “ask her students”?? She did want to start conversation with them, but wouldn’t it be rude or something? Out of the blue asking them if they were related to fae? Her closest interaction with any sort of faerie was the tooth fairy and she knew very well that had been her parents.

An snorted softly at Henghai’s comment. That was something her mother was fond of saying too. “An, folding clothes only takes two minutes. An, wash all the dishes in the sink.” And annoying as she found it, the habit formed did serve her well. And even without that, maintaining cleanliness in the lab was paramount; her time working in a lab had trained her to clear up everything properly. ”Alright,” An told Henghai instead. ”I appreciate it.”

When she was done with the mug she set it on the drying rack and extended her hand to Celeste, wordlessly asking if she wanted An to take care of it. An was at the sink anyway; her hands were wet and one more cup wasn’t going to be much trouble. She listened as she did so. She’d never heard of oricenta, even in old legends or the aptly-named fairytales. This was new.

”How closely related must... ah, species be related to fae for fae rules to have an effect? And Celeste, if you don’t mind, does the Academy prefer dishwashers or hand-washing?” The second part of her query was weird and out of the blue no doubt, but Jia An had been raised on hand-washing things and she had absolutely no idea how to use a dishwasher. The first part she left to either of them to answer; it didn’t matter who did, and she figured she could get different perspectives from each of them. Furthermore, the scientist in her was intrigued — with rules affecting fae, how far could a people go before they wouldn’t be affected by the rules anymore? It was all very

Very

Interesting.

"I am, yes," Henghai said in reply to Celeste. It was something he had to force himself to sound proud about. Just having to admit his people were similar to fae was hard enough.

"I've seen people who are half fae and third fae who still have to follow some rules, like not being able to touch iron or only being able to tell the truth. I don't think you should ask people their species, however. Some people prefer to keep it to themselves, like their powers and weaknesses. Others think it's something you should learn while being with them.

"I just say, be careful of how you speak. For example, I don't thank or say sorry to anyone until I know for sure they're not fae. Instead, I say, 'I appreciate your gesture,' or, 'I did not mean to offend you.' I could see the latter getting you a, 'Well, you did,' though." There's plenty of ways to step around that issue."

Henghai gave Jia An a cheeky smile at following his directions. If she kept that up, she shouldn't have any trouble with fae trying to pull the debt card. As if that was something that could be relied on in court.

That smile promptly disappeared when the holy water incident came up. Henghai found the entire thing stupid. If it was a prank, it was a bad one. If it was a hate crime, the person carrying it out was an absolute idiot. Why show your face so blatantly? It made Henghai wonder if the perpetrator knew what they were doing.

"Yes. There was an attack that was said to be a prank, but most people agree that it was a hate crime. Holy water is a common weakness of demons, after all. Thankfully, Chloe Black, the one who got splashed, is fine. Holy water has no effect on her. Still, people are still wary, and for good reason."

For the most part, all of this was delivered matter-of-factly. Henghai had seen many, many things in his life, and honestly, his empathy was very selective. No one he truly cared about got hurt, so it was not his issue. But so he didn't seem completely heartless, he still put on a somber expression and looked to regard the topic as serious. He could be a great actor when he needed to.