Sebastian's Time in Portia
Day Five – March 5 – Schooled

His mind refocusing on interacting with others wasn't a good thing. More specifically, Sebastian didn't want to think about how much time he spent overthinking the fact he didn't want to interact with anybody, let alone the reasons he didn't want to; he didn't want another awkward interaction, the one with Arlo weighing on his mind the most closely followed by the one with the mayor – his uncle – until his dark eyes caught sight of the partially eaten pumpkin pie in the small kitchen.

"Ugh."

A shudder ran down his spine remembering his two interactions with the person – young female – who introduced herself as Emily. Something felt a bit off regarding their interaction, yet he struggled in putting his finger on what that something was. The next wonderful thought crossing his mind was the idea of Maru easily figuring out what that something was. He swallowed, remembering his genius younger sister was – well, a genius at everything.

What made him finally decide to seek out the recipient of his commission was the realization that – on top of now knowing two people name Same – he now knew two people named Emily.

Shaking his head, he took a closer look at the actual commission, his mind contemplating the fact the name of the commission seemed familiar. The note regarding where he might deliver the item made the reason for the recognition click.

"Oh…"

Sebastian didn't hesitate, which surprised him slightly. The driving factor was likely the fact he wanted the commission over and one with. Hesitating would only prolong his suffering and prevent him from retreating into the solitary of the workshop and hopefully spending the rest of the weekend holed up where nobody could potentially bother him. Such thoughts made him think about how he might limit potential social interaction.

Entering any of the plaza meant high risk of attracting attention to himself, yet most of the places in Portia were within the city walls while the Storm Rider workshop was outside the walls. In the back of his mind, Sebastian pondered if he'd chosen wrong regarding the name, yet quickly refocused on getting to where he needed to go. Ultimately, avoiding the plaza was impossible for the task at hand.

He debated taking the path to the north of the town square – otherwise known as Peach Plaza yet going around defeated the purposefulness of getting the delivery done quickly so he might return to the safety of the workshop. Instead, the quickest path involved utilizing the park which in turn held the least amount of potential in running into someone, which in turn left the question of cutting straight across Peach Plaza or going around the edge.

The fact going around would take longer, yet possibly draw unwanted attention, not to mention someone from Portia stopping him to talk made him decide to cut across the plaza.

Of course, taking the park meant walking right in front of one of the local businesses – local business where the business owner might likely recognize him and attempt making small talk. The solution was pulling his hood over his head and shoving his hands into his pockets hoping he appeared non-descript as he passed by. For a brief moment as he passed by the shop, he glanced up, almost freezing when he thought the person who ran the shop spotted him.

Somehow, he managed to arrive at his destination leaving him hoping in the back of his mind he might proceed in going back home without incident. He also found himself looking up at the destination taking a deep breath, knowing full well some sort of social interaction would occur inside, yet looking at the building from the steps which led up to the front door and the tower which housed the school bell brought back memories.

Taking a deep breath, Sebastian walked up the steps and reached out so he might open the door. Entering into the school, he saw the familiar green tile with diamond pattern. The walls were still painted in the same sky blue albeit possibly a bit fadded, yet the model plane he put together with Arlo's help still hung from the ceiling. Sebastian let out another deep breath, before saying…

"Wow."

He spoke in a manner which sounded like a soft whisper, yet his focus quickly drew to the classroom. He swallowed, realizing he'd not factored into his thought process the fact school would still be in session. He pulled back his hood, swallowing nervously, stepping towards the doorway which led into the classroom. He hung back, not wanting to interrupt the lesson, yet a flood of memories – actual good ones flooded back.

"Just a minute class."

The sound of an adult voice drew him quickly out of the memories which quickly faded into the back of his mind. The teacher – a woman with short black hair – walked towards him, a smile on her face. His eyes drifted down to her hands which rubbed together knocking the chalk away from her fingers. "Mint. It's good to see you."

"Who's that Ms. Lucy?"

Sebastian found his attention drawn towards the child with blonde hair pulled into pigtails which in turn brought his attention towards the fact all five of the children were looking at him with eyes wide, making his throat tighten. Nervously, he lifted a hand to wave ever so slightly at the children.

"Oh, he's…"

"I have…" Sebastian let his hand lower quickly, his eyes darting towards the ground. He found himself reaching for the paper the commission was written on and handed her the paper. He found himself looking at the ground. He found himself saying, "Sorry."

"What for?"

"Interrupting class," he wanted to say, yet the words never left his mouth.

Instead, the girl with the blond hair became more insistent. "Ms. Lucy! Who is this Mint person?"

Sebastian's head darted up, his eyes widening. His mouth twisted slightly, his anxiety building ever so slightly. He watched Lucy turn and smile at her students much in the same manner she smiled at him when he was learning his school lessons. More importantly, he didn't know how he might act in the given situation and simply stood staring into the room.

"He's one of my former students. He's actually very smart and attended the University of Atara."

Turning his head, Sebastian barely noticed one of the other two girls – who looked very similar – perk up. His mind wandered, wishing desperately his primary school teacher hadn't brought up what he considered his own personal failure. "I'm actually not that smart. Maru is actually…"

"But you must be smart, to have gotten into the University of Atara."

Sebastian looked up, his eyes noting the two girls who looked similar actually wore their hair differently. Despite her words, Sebastian didn't feel intelligent at all, particularly not in comparison to Maru of all people. The thought did cross his mind briefly in that moment regarding the fact Demetrius – despite constantly bragging about Maru, never let her go away to university, particularly when that ended up such a failure for Sebastian.

"I don't want you to go away. Not when I think your mom and I could have prevented the whole mess if we'd not sent you away."

"Seriously. Not a genius like Maru is." Sebastian stared at the ground. The conversation headed in a direction he didn't want, yet he couldn't do anything about the occurrence.

"What is the university like? I want to go one day. Do you think I'm smart enough to get a scholarship there? Also, did you visit the museum while you were there? Why did you come back to Portia?"

"Polly…"

Sebastian's dark eyes blinked. He realized he found himself staring at the girl with the single ponytail. He didn't know when she'd moved from her desk, so she was now standing in front of him, her green eyes widening in excitement. Sebastian was definitely outside of his comfort zone. This Polly – yet another person he'd not planned on meeting – asked way to many questions about something he didn't want to talk about.

In fact, he wanted to retreat back into the workshop so he might hide from the world.

Thankfully, the school bell rang. Polly remained standing, waiting for Sebastian's answers while the other students headed through the doorway of the classroom. "Well? What was Atara like?"

"Polly."

The excitement faded from Polly's face, a sigh escaping from her lips. She headed through the doorway of the classroom and out the front door. Sebastian felt his shoulder muscles relax upon seeing her leave the school.

"Sorry about that."

Sebastian turned and looked at Lucy, wondering what his former primary instructor was apologizing for. The smile on her face confused him even more. He refocused his thoughts on the commission delivery.

"When I finish teaching for the day, I head over to Martha's Bakery. Care to join me for a cup of tea and a pastry, my treat? I've not seen you in a while so I'd like to catch up."

He didn't know how to respond. Not responding made him feel like an idiot, yet Sebastian couldn't gauge whether he looked like an idiot to Lucy.

"I could do all of the speaking if you want."

Sebastian worried saying no might be perceived as rude on his part, so he nodded his head, a verbal answer unmanageable.