1:50, Monday afternoon. Neptune was already outside of Professor Goodwitch's office. He'd bought lunch- a huge sub sandwich and some fruit- before coming and even bought an apple or two for her. He was planning on waiting for her to arrive before he started eating, but as his stomach grumbled, his will wavered.
"Alright, one bite, then I'll wait for her." He looked around before unwrapping the sandwich. Avocado, lettuce, grilled chicken, shredded pepper jack cheese and sweet honey mustard. "… okay. Maybe two bites."
Less than a minute later, Goodwitch was nearing her office. He heard her before he saw her, the regular clack-clack of her heels against the hard floor pulling his attention away from his lunch.
"Mr. Vasilias." Glynda nodded curtly at him. She took note of all the food he held in his hands. I'm going to order more food immediately. These teenagers are bottomless pits.
"Oh! Hey, Professor Goodwitch." Neptune finished swallowing the piece of sandwich he had in his mouth. "So what're we doing today?"
Glynda reached for her keys. Supply closet. Auditorium. Dust closet. Ozpin's office. Office. She held the door open for Neptune as she walked inside. She was slightly peeved- Neptune's sandwich smelled enticing, and she'd missed her opportunity to purchase food before the office hour started. These hours were for teachers to make themselves available for students with questions or concerns for their professor in any particular class. Unfortunately, students hardly- if ever- took advantage of them. That meant long, mandatory, lonely hours spent grading exams.
Neptune nodded quietly, looking around the room. The smells of polished wood, ink, parchment paper and plum air freshener layered over one another and filled the well lit room. Glynda's office was small and well organized. Three filing cabinets on the left wall, three on the right, a large printer and bookshelf by the windows across from the door and a closet on the wall behind him. Her desk was near the far wall, just within reaching distance of the printer. It looked like an older desk, the style of wood carving reminding him of something he'd seen in a 70's high school movie, but its condition screamed new. There were three chairs in front of it, most likely for any students she'd entertain.
"You'll be grading the worksheets and homework I collected today. I must make some calls." She took her seat and set down the thick Manilla folder she held in her arms. "I've already graded your assignments. Good work again, Mr. Vasilias. Perfect scores." She smiled as she opened the folder, producing both of Neptune's papers. They were paper-clipped together on top of the pile of other student's work, dark purple "100%'s" on both sheets. "Use your papers as answer sheets to grade your classmate's. Mark any answer you'd give on the homework as correct." It was a small test. The homework she'd collected had been five short answer questions. She'd check the papers later tonight and check his judgement.
"Thanks professor. Want an apple?" Neptune offered her the fruit, setting it on the desk nearer to her than the destroyed remains if his sandwich.
"Oh… thank you Mr. Vasilias." Her normally stern face softened for just a moment. It was a kind gesture, and the rumbling in her stomach thought the same. She accepted the apple, but set it down in front of her. She'd eat when she was done.
Neptune sat in on of the three chairs in front of her desk. He slid the folder towards him and reached for his own pen before she placed a purple and black fountain pen in front of him.
Glynda watched him until he found his rhythm. She picked up her Scroll and started to dial. Food. Textbooks. Medical supplies. Gym equipment.
She started with food. Thousands of hungry teenagers sounded like a dangerous storm to her.
Neptune listened in as he graded. The minutes ticked by, his only soundtrack to the quiet room was Professor Goodwitch's stern, commanding voice as she ordered supplies for the school. Treadmills and free-weights and tons of food. Textbooks and number two pencils and tons of bandages and gauze and nifty little pills called Aura-Plus that helped regenerate Aura quicker. It was as if all of Beacon ran from this one room. This single woman.
He hardly managed not to be distracted from his work.
She finished her final call fifteen minutes before the hour was up. She looked pleased with herself. "Almost done, Mr. Vasilias?"
"Yeah, Professor. Just two left. You should eat the apples, though. One a day keeps the doctor away. And if that doesn't work you can just throw the second one at them." Neptune smiled warmly at her, pushing the fruit towards her. He wasn't sure why, but she just seemed so… drained. It was obvious the work pleased her, but it was as if the return never quite matched up with the loss.
Professor Goodwitch almost smiled. Almost. "Thank you, Mr. Vasilias." She took the fruit and quickly took her first few bites. All the talk of food while she'd placed the orders had reminded her exactly how long ago she'd had her last bite. She was a light eater- one must be if they wish to remain at optimal performance- and the breakfast salad hadn't been particularly filling.
"That was a cool class today. The way those two generals combined their Aura to save the village? It reminds me of an X-Ray & Vav comic." He finished grading the last test, placing her pen on the desk and leaning back in his chair. It took him a moment before he realized he'd just made a reference to a comic his professor most like had no idea-
"Quite. Most early comic book heroes and heroines boasted powers which can be explained with hyper-advanced Aura manipulation. Even Edgar and Mogar borrow their ideas from the same, rather uncreative pool." She took another bite of her apple, barely keeping the smirk from painting her face as Neptune floundered as if he'd been slapped.
"You… know about comics?" How? How in the Dust did she know about comics?
"Of course. Most of these characters were born as a direct result of the Color Generation's desire for more expressive forms of art. My generation." She decided not to tell him she'd been an avid comic collector as a teenager. Decided not to tell him about the hundreds of carefully packaged comic books in her possession she vowed to hand down to any children she might have when she finally settled down.
"So, you know about all of the early comics? That's so cool! I've never been able to get my hands on an actual Golden Age comic! You've probably read some, haven't you!"
"We'll have to discuss comic books at another time, Mr. Vasilias. I have a class in twenty minutes." She took a few papers off the top of Neptune's pile and looked them over. The handwriting he'd used to grade was a touch neater than the handwriting he'd used to answer his questions. Almost as if he'd tried to copy her own looping script. The thought finally made her smile. For just a moment. "Thank you, Mr. Vasilias. If you can return next week-"
"No problem Professor. See you tomorrow." Neptune nodded and grabbed the last half of his sandwich.
She nodded at him in dismissal, quickly checking over a few of the other papers. What a nice, young man…
.
"She's totally cool, man. She knows about X-Ray and Vav and she runs like half the school-"
"X-Ray and Vav? I'll believe that when I see it. She's gotta be like forty." Sun chuckled and swallowed some popcorn.
"Maybe she has a son?" Sage shrugged, offering the guys more snacks.
"I don't think so, guys. I think she just knows." Neptune shrugged and took another sip of his soda. He wasn't sure how the Professor had known about X-Ray and Vav, but he wasn't sure if he liked his team assuming things about her.
"Holy shit, guys rewind that! Look at this explosion!" Scarlet grabbed the remote and hit rewind, eyes wide as the explosion knocked out four city blocks in slow motion. They were watching some low budget action movie in their room. The lights were dim, the curtains pulled down over their windowa despite it only being mid-afternoon. Welcome to Team SSSN's dorm.
"Scarlet, if you ever get arrested for a bomb, I'm not defending you." Sun chuckled, taking a bite of cotton candy.
"So I just won't get caught." Scarlet winked and hushed them just before another explosion nearly rocked their television.
Neptune sighed and sat back in the couch. The movie wasn't particularly good, and he found his mind wandering in search of entertainment. His memory of the day's class was enough of a distraction. He remembered Professor Goodwitch's smile when a student who'd been struggling to understand some concept finally figured it out. He could tell she took pride in that.
She had a nice smile. Even, white teeth. A glimmer in her emerald eyes. The way she loosened her grip on her crop. She was graceful.
.
"James, I just have too much work to do-"
"Which is why you should take a break. Before you spread yourself too thin, Glynda…" The General's deep voice was soothing to her ears. It was just the meaning of the words that stabbed at her like hundreds of sharp knives.
"I don't have time for this, James. These students are depending on me to ensure this school runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible." This went doubly so this year, with so many students on campus. She refused to show these exchange students anything less than Beacon's shining excellence.
The General sighed before he straightened his back. Always so rigid and official. She almost couldn't believe she'd found him attractive. "Understood."
His even stride carried him quickly out of the room. He left behind a lingering feeling of doubt in the pit of her stomach. This first few weeks of this year were more hectic than most. What if she was spreading herself too thin?
She didn't even have time to entertain the thought. She had work still left to be done.