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Post by Emma Frost on Apr 27, 2010 23:07:43 GMT -5
She had eaten light. A simple fare, some fruit and some cheese.. peasant's fare really. Enough to fill the void, but hardly a meal. She did not want to be busy digesting, or have any loss of her edge when it came to this afternoon's meeting. She wanted the lean and mean demeanor, yet she hadn't eaten at all yet and she needed her faculties to deal with her faculty, so a breaking of the impromptu fast she had going since dinner the night before had been in order.
Serious breaches of protocol had occurred.
Emma was loath to have such discrepancies in her staff, and yet even as she had superior recall she had no recollection of having included Coffee as a member of the staff. The quick double tap on her door and the twisting of the knob announced her lover Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, entry to her personal office.
A quick look exchanged between them before Scott began to speak, Emma however, cut him off as she stood from behind her desk. "I know you had plans for this afternoon Scott. I am sorry to have work interfere in the rebuilding of your engine block or what not, the matter at hand though is a bit more pressing than the return to road worthiness of an outdated piece of Americana. I know how you love your muscle cars, but you love these children more and I fear there has been a serious overstepping of bounds on the part of Rogue's long eared friend."
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Post by Cyclops on Apr 27, 2010 23:24:14 GMT -5
"No, no you're right. I always put these kids first, so it's no big deal. The car will be there whenever I get around to it." He said as he walked over to kiss her. "But a moment of pleasure before business I will take for myself, and I think you deserve it too. I haven't seen you all day. What have they had you cooped up in her all morning?"
He stepped behind her to rub her shoulders and that spot in her back that only he knew how to get just right. "I know you are the Councillor, but why don't I pencil you in on my calendar for something special later, say six-ish? And we'll see if we can't forget the world for a time." He smoothed his hand up to move her hair out of the way and kiss the side of her neck. It had been a great deal of stress lately and he knew they both needed some special one-on-one time.
"So what's all this about anyway? What did our furry displaced mirror-warrior do? I've alway thought he was quite a little gentleman, and great with the children, something happened though or we wouldn't be having this meeting." He walked around her to stand leaning up against her desk and folded his arms. His body language was interested, not defensive as he wanted details of what had Emma all fired up.
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Post by Emma Frost on May 2, 2010 0:41:13 GMT -5
"Oh your powers of observation are keen. Yes. There was a bit of an 'incident', nothing to get to excited over but none the less I believe our Little Gentleman needs some guidelines. A few parameters if you will, and I also have realized that our Southern Belle has not kept up her end of the bargain."
She moved to stand across from him leaning up against the counter where she had her tea service arrayed and adopted a similar pose, mirroring her love in his stance. "In other words Scott, Rogue has let us down by not supervising the rabbit, and he has overstepped his bounds conducting training with students that have just arrived, in fact they are so new here that their clothes are still settling in their rooms from unpacking."
She turned and looked out the window to see the shenanigans going on out back. With a thought she notified Kurt to be watchful of the happenings and if things got too out of hand to step in and take charge of the situation. It was a weekend after all, and ordinarily that would be enough to excuse most behavior, but causing permanent bodily harm would not be tolerated. As HeartString was still some hours away from being expected, there was no safety net and the children were decidedly less likely to survive something otherwise perceived as fatal.
"Good lord Scott he was using incendiary devices and crossbows, oh not to mention the swords.. with children who only got here yesterday, last night even. I am speaking of Olivi- uh," she remembered that Scott hardly knew the children by anything but their codenames until at least a month had passed "rather, Rhetoric, and Ram. I just don't like how it took place without consent or supervision but Rogue, of course Rogue.. but if not her then at least SOMEONE who is on the faculty." She turned back around to face him.
"And that's another thing- he has been calling himself staff, so you can see he is completely without boundaries. This is simply beyond what I wanted as a place for him and I told Rogue he was her responsibility to handle. I thought that fair considering it was she who brought him here, coupled with the simple fact that she hasn't even so much as a single student to look after- let alone a team, I thought it well within her scope. Simple task in fact really, keep an eye on Mojo's latest trend to come bursting forth into our dimension."
Emma kept her tone in check. The entire time she peppered him with the legato of her rant, so smoothly did she tie together her complaints there was no time or space for any intervening silence. Never once did she lose control of her tone. Ever the professional and outwardly almost cold in demeanor yet even without looking into his thoughts she knew Scott could feel the subtle vibrato of her passion in the matter, he knew where her heart dwelt on the subject of her kids. "I trust you see the need for this meeting now, yes?"
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Post by Cyclops on May 2, 2010 12:00:34 GMT -5
"Oh, well uh yes, yea I get it now. Not that I didn't think you had justification, but it's always best to know what happened before I jump full on into an ass chewing." His smirk and head tilt told her he had every confidence in the tone of how this meeting was to go, and better still he would put his slant to it.
"So, do you want to be the good cop this time?" the look on his face betrayed her answer and at that he shook his head. "Of course, why do I even ask?" The rap-a tap tap at the door made him stand up off of her desk. Slight surprise registered in him, but he read none in his lady. "Why didn't you say she was here? A little warning woulda been nice don't you think?" He grinned, before clearing his throat and wiping the amusement from his face. "Come in Rogue-" he called out as he shook out his hands and made his body language as neutral as possible.
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Post by Rogue on May 2, 2010 13:03:14 GMT -5
Rogue paused in the doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms folded across her chest and her eyebrow arched. She had no disillusions about this impromptu meeting. When Emma Frost randomly summoned the staff to her office, sounding especially irritated, something was up.
The Mississippi beauty was beyond inconvenienced at being called down to the principal's office like she was about to get f*cking spanked or something equally degrading. She wasn't a student. She was a part of the faculty, and Coffee... Coffee wasn't a student. He was a guest and Rogue saw no point in following him around and monitoring his every move. Whatever her 'charge' had done, the truth was, Rogue didn't care. She had half expected one of the wolf twins to get the rabbit by now and relieve her of her guardianship. Why Emma had seen fit to dump Coffee into her lap when Rogue clearly wasn't interested was still baffling.
Both curious and wary, Rogue looked over her two friends, a slight smile ticking up the corner of her mouth. They were putting on their stone faces, giving her no indication as to how much heat she was to expect. Whatever was going on, though, it was serious enough that Rogue was getting double teamed by both headmistress and headmaster. Coffee was just a rabbit, after all. How much trouble could he have caused?
"Emma. Scott," Rogue nodded her head and finally stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. "Well, let's get this over with, then. What did the little fur ball do?"
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Post by Emma Frost on May 2, 2010 18:53:30 GMT -5
"A good question indeed, but a better one I think is, 'Why don't YOU know what he did?'.. wouldn't you agree?" She walked over to sit in one of the two chairs set before her desk and motioned for Rogue to have a seat in the other one. "I know you didn't like that I foisted the responsibility for Coffee on you, but there is little you can say that will put me off of that position."
She waited for Rogue to take a seat before she continued. "Besides I would think you would want to help. All of us have our responsibilities here, and yes.. I know you have been working very hard to get yourself back in peak condition, but this is something you must do for us. Scott and myself have no time to go chasing around after the rodent and Hank, Kurt and Kitty have all of their own problem children. Peter of course, has a full plate with Haven alone, and Bobby is our resident morale officer and chauffeur."
"So I ask you, since the moment that I called on your assistance in this matter, how have you helped us?" She looked eye to eye with her friend. It was hard at times for Emma to ask a friend for a favor, but this was not a favor of a friend. This was an administrative request from the Headmistress of the school, the self same institution that the curvaceous beauty with the shock white streak in her hair owed so very much to. It was her home, and in all truth the southern belle honestly knew no other.
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Post by Rogue on May 3, 2010 10:46:50 GMT -5
Rogue frowned a bit but accepted her seat. She knew how seriously Emma took her position as headmistress, and the school was a better place for it, but… seriously? Was her own place being questioned? Because of a rabbit? It was true that Rogue didn’t have much…alright anything to do besides watch the hairy critter from the Mojoverse, but she hadn’t realized that she’d been enlisted as a fulltime babysitter. “Emma, of course Ah want t’help out, but do Ah really need t’know Coffee’s every move? He ain’t that interestin once ya get past the whole gladiator thing. He’s a rabbit. He eats, he follows that little Veronika around, and he leaves fur all over the couch.” Rogue ticked off Coffee’s daily activities on her fingers. “Then he’s in the gym waving around that toothpick he calls a sword.”
She lolled her head to the side, looking both Emma and Scott over, and her frown deepened. “Y’all ain’t kiddin, are ya? Aw, hell… you’ll have to excuse my ignorance in this case, Emma, and just tell me what he did. We can’t all know everything that’s goin on around us every minute, and Ah can’t rightly correct the problem if Ah don’t know what it is.”
Subconsciously, Rogue cracked her knuckles. Judging by the hard expressions of her fellow X-Men, something serious had taken place. If Coffee had done anything to endanger the students… well, then she’d understand Emma’s anger, match it, and then raise. Just like the rest of the faculty Rogue knew perfectly well that the kids came first.
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Post by Cyclops on May 3, 2010 22:49:09 GMT -5
Scott stepped in at Rogue's last attempt at levity, because in this situation it did not belong. "This is serious. And you should know where he is AND what he's doing. That was the assignment, that was the mission and you dropped the ball Rogue."
His face was grim as he looked at her from behind his ruby quartz glasses. "I don't have any idea what's been eating at you, but something has for a while now and this bit of disregarding what you were given to do just tops all. You think his little sword is harmless? Well how about some smoke grenades in a dry grassy field and a few crossbow bolts? Are we still in the harmless range now? Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that he took it upon himself to train a couple of children that only just arrived YESTERDAY! With SWORDS!!"
"So, YES! It's a very serious thing Rogue, and it's exactly why you were given the job to keep an eye on him. He thinks he's on staff here as an instructor of combat skills or something, did you lead him to believe that was his assigned place and role here? Because I know he didn't get it from Emma or myself." Scott took his role as bad cop very seriously in times such as these. He was a hard ass'd stickler for the details and his military mindset and professional bearing made the role a perfect fit. Plus if it ever came to good cop Emma flipping the script, the party was definitely over.
"It seems like you have been absent more since you came back than when you were away. Do you want to share with us what's distracting you or are you going to keep us in the dark a while longer? I know that if and when it comes to the safety of these kids SHE has no problem" he pointed a finger, arm tense with stress, at Emma "forcing her way in and ripping something out of a mind, so why don't you let us in on it because it's got to be all consuming. Why else would you disregard something as simple as 'Keep an eye on him because he's a dangerous unknown from a hostile dimension!!' -Well? Let's hear it."
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Post by Rogue on May 4, 2010 0:59:06 GMT -5
Two trains of thought were battling for domination of Rogue's anger. First and foremost, she was going to kick fuzzy wuzzy through the nearest mirror, animal rights groups be damned. Treating kids like training dummies was dangerous, inappropriate, and completely unacceptable. Smoke grenades? Cross bolts? How the hell had Coffee gotten his nasty, little paws on that sort of weaponry? She was gonna pop his head off and use it as a pencil holder.
Going head to head with her anger at the rabbit was a growing annoyance at the way she was being approached. No, scratch that. Rogue wasn't annoyed. She was livid. Slowly, very slowly, she stood up and took a casual step back so that Scott could not continue to look down on her. With a glance at Emma, Rogue knew perfectly well that her thoughts were being broadcast at the the telepath, no justification needed, but for Scott's benefit she took a deep breath.
"Ah believe you're forgettin that Ah am well aware of your version of the 'bad cop', Scott and it ain't gonna work on me. Nor will your threats, so, knock off this intimidation puckey and remember who you're talkin to. Ah've known you too long to take you scowlin and barkin like a junkyard dog seriously. Ah ain't a student here, Scott, and this ain't a trip to the principal's office for a demerit. Ah'm your friend and Ah fight for the same things y'all do. So let's talk to one 'nother with some respect 'fore we say things we regret." She eyed Scott sternly, her expression carrying as much weight as her words. "And Emma doesn't need to force her way in to know my thoughts."
"Now, s'cuse me for sayin so, Emma, but Ah told you from the start that the school was no place for Coffee. He don't belong here. Ah agree with what Scott said. That rabbit's a dangerous unknown from a hostile dimension, no one understands a damn thing he says, he clearly can't be trusted to make good choices..." she paused and looked down at her gloves in thought. "If he's been behaving as one of the staff, it's been without encouragement from any a'us. In fact, he's been reminded time and again that he's just a guest and nothin more. You know that there ain't a soul on this faculty that would put those kids in danger, be the baddie one of the Brotherhood or a loony bunny with a pig-sticker. Now, Ah'm sorry this happened, Ah am, but Ah ain't gonna apologize just 'cause the furball that Ah said would be trouble gets in trouble."
She snorted. "Now, do we stand here criticizin each other? Or do we figure a way to fix this?"
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Post by Emma Frost on May 5, 2010 0:17:19 GMT -5
"It's completely understandable that you feel defensive" Emma said without even a hint of emotion. "However Rogue, lest we forget ourselves in this place, both you and I share something with that poor little man, we all three were neither trusted nor welcomed when we began out tenure here in this extended family. So, above all else I would think you might find a grain of compassion.. and barring that at least a speck of pity for Coffee."
She looked up at Scott and then over at Rogue. "As for the criticism, I would think you would recognize it as being constructive, harsh yes.. but constructive. The threats? Well I know you don't have any secrets really so you can tell us anything you know. I believe it all comes down to motivation though and what I am quite sure Scott was asking is where has your motivation gone?" She took a moment to ponder the look on the woman's face at her inference of intimate details that needed sharing before waving it off with a flutter of her hand. Her mind drifted off the details of Rogue's love life then and back to the point of all of this.
She thought back to the evening of the return from LIMBO and all that happened. "I recall you being less than trusting of the Mojo-born rabbitman, but now that we have all come to know him I would think what you had said the night you returned with him in tow is now irrelevant. Everyone makes mistakes, all of us have, and in this instance we all carry that distinction to be sure. Since clarity was our" she indicated to herself and Scott "responsibility to share with you and make you aware of how much you needed to watch him as well the details of his sanctuary here and what things were permitted him, it was then in turn your task to make clear to Coffee what was expected of him in this place and where his boundaries were. We must all share a piece of the blame, but at the core of it the blame is mine."
"Moving forward however, lets be frank.. common sense would dictate that he is to be taken more seriously. He has a vast knowledge of armed and unarmed combat as well as physical conditioning. It seems he is clearly either a threat or an asset. The choice I think, is ours, to define his role." She placed a single finger to her temple as her elbow rested on the arm of the chair, the wheels in her head turning over potentialities. Having made monsters her whole life out of the innocent, and turned things inside out to show them the reflection of their innermost darkness she knew how twisting something one way or another would affect it, and to her credit she shared her thought process.
"Now, as a possible assistant.. should you use him as such.. you would be able to keep an eye on him. As well, we might manipulate him to feel he is helping out. Thus we win his heart and mind, plus we also gain from his knowledge and expertise. Conversely if we turn our backs to him and break his will, making sure he never try to help again for fear of the penalty it would bring down upon him, we gain nothing but a deeper burden. For fear, ever a deterrent should the weight of the punishment be great enough, is hardly as inviting as friendship and trust.. even if it be provisional. I think therefore, that the latter does none of us any good while the former kills three birds with one stone- Coffee gets a place with some prestige, while you receive an assistant and add to that the simple fact that the task of keeping an eye on our refugee becomes infinitely less burdensome."
"So I ask you... which fix do you prefer?"
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Post by Rogue on May 5, 2010 16:45:42 GMT -5
A half smile softened Rogue’s expression. “Listen t’you with your pretty talkin,” she said, half joking. Her green eyes narrowed at Scott another moment and she fought the urge to stick her tongue out. Rogue didn’t ‘talk things out’. She kicked ass and she didn’t take shit. If Coffee was a potential danger, kick his fuzzy ass out and be done. If he wasn’t then why the hell was she ordered to the office? There was sense in what Emma was saying. Coffee was an outsider that wanted to be a part of the family that they had built at the Academy. But at the same time Rogue thought that the similarities between the rodent and her and Emma ended there. Namely because Emma and Rogue had earned their places, whereas Coffee was a f*cking bunny, and a nuisance at that.
“Ah understand your reasoning, Emma, I do. We should always try t’make friends ‘fore we make enemies. But Coffee is not a lost mutant trying to find his place. He’s a refugee rabbit, and a guest, and Ah’m not sure what we’ll accomplish makin him an assistant. No one can understand him, Ah don’t think it’s wise to let him have at it with the kids, and as Scott has already so kindly pointed out Ah don’t do anythin. Nothin that requires an assistant, anyway.” Rogue looked between the two heads and sighed. “I’ve got the flyin class, I suppose, but the rodent won’t be much help with that. Not unless I throw him. And Ah don’t like the idea of him trying to train the students, ‘vast knowledge’ or not. He’s a rabbit, not an instructor, and one who’s been playing at warrior in this dimension too long already.”
Rogue ran a gloved hand over her face. She wasn’t the type to give up a fight and roll over, but this wasn't the battle that she wanted to pick. She was saving her real tantrum for later. Scott was talking about her dropping the ball, saying that Rogue had put the students in danger… and yet he still had plans to use Aideen as bait for Brock. That showed super decision making skills and insight… even her inner voice dripped with sarcasm and she frowned. These two were busting her ass over a rabbit, but they were letting Rumble terrorize the school, the only punishment in his future an invitation to join the X-Men. Sure. That made perfect sense.
“Alright, Ah want to go on record once again as sayin Coffee ought not to be here,” Rogue said, batting back her ponytail. “But if y’all want him to feel useful, I’ll figure something out that will sooth his bunny pride and keep’em out of trouble.” She already knew no matter what she said she was officially Coffee’s handler and no amount of complaints or smartassing was going to get her out of this. She might as well go quietly… well, quiet-ish.
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Post by Cyclops on May 6, 2010 1:40:11 GMT -5
I thought Rogue would have more maturity than this. Maybe she's not the right one for the job. If she can't even watch a damn rabbit how can we trust her with anything else? I really had such high hopes for her too. I thought she could solve our problem here. What a shame. Scott watched her and the body language she had, displaying an overwrought defensiveness and an almost outwardly hostile attitude.
Maybe she'll settle into it, but then again the Professor always said that people couldn't be forced into roles they were never meant to play. Not letting on at all what he was looking her over for he simply shook his head slowly. "Fine. Duly noted then, Rogue." Yes, I'll make a mental note that she'd rather cut and run from a problem than face it head on. What happened to her on her 'vacation' to the pole? She's hardly the strong backbone of the X-Men I remember her as. Questioning so much lately, not that she's not entitled to, but things that make sense tactically she's never balked at before. Why now?
"As for the dereliction of your duties, and the potential hazard it allowed to occur, I do not take that lightly. Emma and I split duties as you well know, but neither her word or mine should be disregarded when it comes to what goes on here at the school or out in the field. It's a simple chain of command and you've never had a problem with it before, so get your head on straight. The death of a child is a hard pill to swallow and you know you don't want that on your conscience." He let that sink in for just a moment before adding.
"As for my 'bad cop' routine, if you don't square yourself away you will be seeing more of it and neither one of us likes it so I'll make a deal with you... Don't mess up and I wont put on the black hat anymore. Sound good?" He still didn't understand why she was being so disrespectful. It was a shift in her that he hadn't anticipated, neither he nor Emma had.. well, if she had she didn't let him in on it. Yet even as Rogue had been trusted to Lead a team and hold down the fort, Scott wondered if she could handle what she was being 'tested' for. A tapping at the door, a tapping low down on the door, shook him from his thoughts and told them all that Coffee had arrived.
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Post by Emma Frost on May 8, 2010 11:20:11 GMT -5
Ignoring the tapping at the door for the moment Emma looked up again at Scott. She knew he was upset with so many things as of late, the loss of control, the destructive and manic attitudes of the children as well as how he felt torn between the past and what the X-Men were in days gone by and how they had become something different entirely. Looking into his mind was a rude thing to do without his permission, but the tone of his voice was just so not in keeping with what she was hoping to get across to their friend and fellow X-Man. Rude yes, but she did it anyway. As far as she was concerned he was being rude when it was so very un-called for. What she saw was exactly what she expected~ ~ he was torn, thinking of things as they used to be and not seeing the world for what it was, allowing his emotions to get the better of him, proof of the little known fact that men were ruled by their emotions. Conventional wisdom would dictate that women were ruled by their emotions, but Emma knew better. She knew that women understood their emotions better than men, who basically only register the two - lust and rage, granted with varying degrees. In the understanding of their emotions and the delving into the mindset they inspire do women turn the tide of control back into their own hand. However men, the poor things, they have no emotional vocabulary and thus can do nothing but react to what their emotions dictate they do. Scott standing there was the perfect example of the process. And she needed to say something. "Rogue, what Scott is hoping for is a, well.. an apology." She stood up nonchalantly and straightened her clothes "I believe he would consider anything which evoked an accepting of responsibility for what happened, call it an integrity test." She looked at her love and raised an eyebrow subtlety cocking her head off to the side as if indicating that he should accept anything she might say in order to keep the peace. She knew how he felt about anyone who sidestepped taking responsibility for their actions and she needed them to all have a united front when they faced Coffee. Not in order to scare him, but just so there was no discernible dissension in their ranks. Walking to the door she placed her hand on the knob holding it there, closed, in order to wait for Rogue to reply before she intended to opened it.
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Post by Rogue on May 8, 2010 20:00:42 GMT -5
"Oh, Emma!" Rogue heaved a sigh and subconsciously followed her friend toward the door. "A'Course Ah apologize for lettin things come to this. Had Ah known he'd been runnin a muck, endangerin the students... well," she grit her teeth but did what needed doing, "Ah apologize for not keepin my eyes on him. Ah shouldn't have dismissed him."
Rogue fit the heel of her hand against her eye. The day had started out so nicely and now she was in the principal's office about to face a troublemaking rabbit from an alternate dimension. Just another day at the mansion.
With a small smile, that was immediately schooled into a neutral expression, Rogue went back to the desk and crossed her arms in unmistakable disapproval. She glanced at Scott, eyebrow once again popped. Lord, if that man didn't loosen up soon he was going to give himself a perforated ulcer and then there'd really be no living with him.
The thought of an even crankier Cyclops made Rogue smirk, but she bit back whatever comment was on the tip of her tongue and settle for looking professionally nonchalant. "Alright, y'all. Let's get this over with."
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Post by Emma Frost on May 14, 2010 13:11:42 GMT -5
"Good?" She glanced over at Scott to see if Rogue's apology met his approval and with the slightest nods of his head, registered by her eyes alone, she gave him a gracious smile. "Very well then," she paused to gather herself and stop from letting a broader smile spread across her lips at how adorable her too-tough for his own good boyfriend was "thank you Rogue."
"Now that we've got that settled.." She dropped her smile and let her face go neutral, but with an underlying hint of annoyance. Turning on her stiletto she reached back to the handle just as a loud sonic eruption burst from the back of the school. "Oh, good Lord. Kurt has his work cut out for him now." She said aloud as she opened the door of her office.
With an inward pull she revealed the sight of the furry and slightly confused Coffee, fresh from cleaning up and having lunch, standing there in the hallway. "Coffee, do come in and take a seat." She urged as she shut the door behind him. The sight of him, his strange hopping gait, and across the room the other two teachers, their arms folded across their chests as they leaned against her desk like Bookends of DOOM, was almost adorable.
Had the situation not been so serious, and her concerns for the rest of their students with this newest of events unfolding out behind the mansion so instantly interjecting themselves into her mind, she might have let her smile return. She would now need to keep attentive to the goings on at the basketball court and allow a split of her focus, just in case Kurt required aid.
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