Heyo, Kariotic here again with another update on this little fun project of mine. I'm honestly surprised at the amount of following this story is getting in it's infancy, I never expected it to really grab anyone, honestly. Either way, I appreciate it a lot. Enjoy the update! Any reactions/constructive criticisms/plot suggestions? Feel free to throw them in the reviews!
"I hope you don't take any offense," Weiss said from the back seat of the car. "But shouldn't you be a little better dressed for your position?"
"None taken," Kay said, double checking his reflection in the rearview mirror before returning his gaze back to the road. He wore a simple black sweater shirt and dark had left the house in the care of Yang and Ren, as well as a to-go menu for a pizzeria and money for two pizzas. Kay placed a lot of faith in Yang, being an older sister and all. "And there's no real dress code for the professors other than: a proper shirt and pants. A neutral sweater and black pants are absolutely fine."
"Is it a big school?" Blake asked from the seat next to the former SDC heiress.
She had brought a few small books to read while waiting for Kay's class. They were each wearing variants of the clothes that Kay had bought them yesterday: Weiss in a light blue shirt and light gray cardigan, Blake in a purple turtleneck and jeans, and Oscar in a brown hoodie and jeans as well. Ozpin was sitting in the front passenger seat, observing the landscape as it flew past them. It was probably nearing winter now, the headmaster noted, as the cold air hit his face from the slightly open window. That was the first reason why Kay also gave Weiss and Blake beanie hats. It was also to cover Blake's ears.
"Not really, look!" Kay answered. The trip came to a gradual slow as the destination neared and the school buildings came into view. Ozpin saw three bland gray buildings sitting on a small square of a campus. Weiss thought the buildings were commercial corporate buildings until she saw a sign that their driver read out loud, "Welcome to Avera College of Glen Plains."
"No dormitories?" Ozpin asked. "Do most of the students live in town?"
"Yeah," Kay answered as they turned into a parking lot. The asphalt markers went from the usual white and occasional blue to yellow. Signs at the end of each parking space clearly noted that these were reserved for faculty members. "Students from out of state that come here usually share an apartment in town. We're not exactly notable enough to receive enough funding for proper extracurricular programs, let alone dorms around here."
"That's unfortunate thinking," Ozpin scowled, unbuckling his seat as Kay finished parking. "Higher education deserves proper funding."
"Take it up with the government." Kay replied, shrugging, retrieving his messenger bag from Weiss. They exited the car and walked to the nearest building. Entering revealed a modest reception area, complete with a couple people working at the main desk behind computers.
"G'morning Mr. Grey," one of the receptionists, a tired young woman, greeted them. Her light brown hair was put up in a messy bun and her green eyes appeared to be slightly glazed over behind clear framed glasses. She flashed the teacher a tired smile before looking to the rest of the entourage. "What's going on here?"
"It's 2 PM, Lucy." Kay deadpanned, raising his right wrist to show her the time on a watch. "I need three visitor tags for these kids here. Two of them will be in my classroom and the other needs to use the library."
"Alright, alright." Lucy's answer was sarcastic and dry. "No need to give me a whole novel, Grey."
"Drinking late again last night?" Kay guessed, watching the guest sticker tags print out from beside Lucy.
"Me and my girl's anniversary," Lucy answered, a genuine smirk on her face. She handed Kay the stickers and made sure to fake him out once by pulling away quickly. "Had a lot of fun."
"Nice of you to share," Kay rolled his eyes but wore a small smile as he turned back to the others, tags in hand. "Stick these to your chests, keep them visible at all times. Let's get going."
As they traveled through the halls towards the elevators, Weiss looked was able to glance into the classrooms they passed by, each of them filled with a diverse cast of students. She made sure not to look in so closely, so as not to appear too "snoopy," as Ruby would call it. Ozpin followed closely behind Kay, looking around with a casual curiosity to the bland aesthetic of the hallways. Blake was thankful for the short walk to one of the last doors in the hallway, a somewhat large one in a corner that would hold around 30 students.
"Here we are, my first classroom for the day." He said, stretching his arms as if to present something impressive.
"First?" Blake repeated. She had already started making her way to a seat in the corner of the corner classroom, where the two in-wall heaters met.
"I teach two classes." Kay explained. "We'll move to another, smaller classroom later for that one."
"The library, Kay?" Ozpin asked. Kay nodded at him as he put his messenger bag on his chair and turned back to the girls.
"I'll bring Ozpin to the library upstairs," the teacher said. "If anyone comes in and asks, just act natural and pretend you're my students."
Kay held the door to the library for Ozpin after the brief, silent walk upstairs. Upon entering the room, Ozpin was surprised at how small it was compared to Beacon's own. A small, circular main desk was situated at what appeared to be the center of this floor of the library, at which an older woman sat reading a book.
"Hello Miss Valerie," Kay greeted warmly, causing the librarian to lower her book to meet his gaze. She must have been in her forties, if her graying blonde hair was anything to go by, but her bright blue eyes were vibrant and alert. "How are you doing today?"
"Mondays will be Mondays, you know that, Grey." Miss Valerie said with a soft voice. Her blue gaze shifted to Ozpin, and to his surprise, she looked rather happy to see him. "And who is this charming young man?"
"Oscar Pine," Kay answered before Ozpin could introduce himself. "My friend's little brother. He just needs to hang out in the library today for some research project. Would that be alright with you?"
"Absolutely fine, dear Mister Grey." Valerie beamed, eyes still on Ozpin. "Our reference books are in the back right corner of this floor. If you need any assistance, you can let me know."
"I'll come by later to pick you up," Kay played into his act a bit, messing with Oscar's hair and causing the immortal wizard in control to scowl. "Don't cause my biggest fan any trouble."
"Speaking of which," Miss Valerie cut in once more. Ozpin got a good look at the book the librarian was reading and it was, indeed, one of Kay's other poetry books. "When am I going to get a sneak peak at your new work?"
"Eventually maybe." Kay teased before walking away with a casual wave to both of them. "Have fun, Oscar!"
Weiss was staring out the large windows of the classroom when Kay returned as Blake was reading in the seat behind her. Only one other student had entered the room while he was gone, a girl with short blonde hair and glasses, who was currently looking over her notes with dutiful scrutiny. The girl also looked up to see the teacher enter the room.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Grey." She greeted, catching the man's attention. Kay didn't seem surprised at the early entrant at all and returned a smile.
"Hello Christie," Kay said, looking around his desk as though searching for something. He appeared to realize something after a moment and glanced at his watch. "Actually Christie, do you think you can do me a quick favor and get me a small cup of tea from the cafeteria?"
"Sure Mr. Grey," Christie closed her notebook. Weiss watched a few more early students walk through the door. Kay retrieved 3 dollars from his wallet and handed it to the student. "Any preference?"
"Earl Grey, if they have," Kay answered. "Regular black tea is fine if they're out, though."
With that, Christie left the class with the borrowed cash. As she left, Kay retrieved a laptop from his messenger bag, opened it and began typing on it very quickly. He then turned around and started writing on the whiteboard behind him. After a few minutes, the board had an interesting line drawn upon it. It began at the lower left corner, rising at a steady incline before reaching a rounded peak, then declining at a slightly steeper angle and ending as a horizontal line at the bottom right of the board. Christie emerged from the hallway with a small cup and handed it to Kay before returning to her seat.
Idle chatter filled the room as class time grew nearer. Blake looked up from her book to see that students had truly filled the room and were either reading or looking through notes. She could catch a few of them talking amongst themselves about herself and Weiss. Would Kay give them an excuse as to why they were here? Speaking of the man, she looked up to the teacher as he checked his watch one last time and cleared his throat.
"Alright everyone," Kay's voice lacked any true authority, like Port's, but it seemed to do the trick. Conversation halted and everyone's attention was one him as he drew a line above the weird hill. "We finished our second text last week and I asked you all to draw what you felt the plot diagram for it would look like. Let's start with an easy question, what's the title?"
"At the Storm's Edge," one student answered. "By Lukas Sharpe." Kay wrote the title and author on the top line and turned back to class. "What can we identify as the exposition here, Christie?"
"Maxwell falls out of the boat?" She said, sounding unsure. "And finds the island?"
"What do we think guys?" Kay asked the class. Several hands went up to answer.
"Maxwell sneaks onto the boat," another student answered after being called. "And he meets Sofia Gardner."
"Very good," Kay commended. "Christie, what you were thinking of fits more of the next step, our Rising Action, the crafting of our conflict." The girl in question nodded, though looked sullen after having given the wrong answer. She remained silent for the rest of the period, recording Kay's dictations and following along as the class completed the plot diagram.
"Go fearless leader!" Nora cheered on as Jaune was currently facing Yang in an intense game of Super Smash Brothers. Ruby was currently waiting for her turn to play, eagerly looking over at Jaune, as the rules were that the loser switches out. "You can do it!"
"Not if I can help it!" Yang, their undefeated champion. Her Little Mac dashed across the dark stage and launched a flying haymaker towards the red-headed swordsman that Jaune controlled. "You're mine!"
"Yes!" Ruby yelled, and to her surprise, as did Jaune! She watched as his Roy flashed with a bright blue light just before Little Mac made contact, negating the normally devastating punch and countering the attack. Ruby mouth was agape as the screen exploded with dynamic lighting as Jaune's perfectly timed counter sent Yang's character careening offscreen to eliminate Little Mac's third and final stock.
All five Hunters shared a moment in awed silence; the best video game player had been bested by Jaune, who had decided to look at the game manual for a minute before his match.
"JAUNEY-BOY WINS!" Nora picked Jaune up with an inhuman strength and swung him around in a tight hug. "Jaune is the champion, Jaune is the champion!"
Yang was still looking at the screen in shock. She looked down at her hands, which were still tightly gripped on the controller, still in position to input Little Mac's Side-B attack. Ruby was patting her shoulder comfortingly.
"How did he do it?" She muttered, turning to watch Nora still swinging her leader around in celebratory fashion. "I had the best character, I made all the right moves!"
"You did that lunging punch move about 80% of the time you spent on the ground," Ren commented. "At least Jaune made an attempt to do more varied attacks."
"This kind of talk is why you lost in the first round of the tournament, Ren." Yang's scorching remark didn't hurt so much. Ren felt a tinge of smug satisfaction as the one who had eliminated him was eliminated by his own teammate.
Ren looked back to the kitchen, where two empty pizza boxes lay on the counter and several plates sat in the sink waiting to be washed. With a grunt, he rose to his feet and made his way to the kitchen to clean. As much as Yang was in charge, he still made sure that the place was clean so as not to irritate the homeowner upon his return. He turned the sink faucet on to begin rinsing the dirty plates.
"Hey Ren," Ruby's quiet approached surprised the young man. He didn't even hear her approach. Despite the exciting event they just hand, the little reaper appeared pensive. Unsure of something. It concerned Ren that she would approach him in such a way instead of her sister. "Can I ask you something?"
"Can I ask why me?" The green shirt-clad ninja asked, beginning to soap up the plates and rinse them off. "I don't know if I'd be a better source of wisdom than Yang or Ozpin."
"They're all still talking about the game over there," Ruby pointed behind her with a thumb. "I wanted to get away from the noise a bit."
"Hm." Ren stood over the empty sink, the finished plates set to dry in a rack next to the sink.
"How long do you think we'll be here?" Came the team leader's question.
"I hope not long," Ren admitted. "I don't want to be so much of a bother to Kay."
"Me neither," Ruby agreed. "Is that why you always clean up after us while he's gone?"
"Yes," Ren nodded. He looked back at the rest of the small group remaining in the house. Jaune was now closely examining the globe of Kay's world. Nora was looking over his shoulder, throwing quips here and there about some of the funnier sounding places she saw. Yang simply returned to playing the game on her own, this time playing around with a different character. "But there really isn't much else we can do right now. We obviously owe the man. It's but a kindness to at least keep the place he's allowing us to stay in clean."
"I mean, duh, of course." Ruby said, chuckling awkwardly. "But I just really hope he doesn't hate us for doing this."
"I'm sure he doesn't," Ren took this moment to pat Ruby on her head, though the shorter girl immediately moved away out from under her hand. "But I think we're lucky we dropped in on him than some random stranger. Or even worse, the middle of nowhere."
"True." Ruby had to agree there. She look out the kitchen window, where the empty driveway was. "I wonder how things are going over at school."
Ozpin couldn't believe what he was reading. An entire set of encyclopedias sat on the desk he was currently reading at. Oscar had gone silent at some point, also in some awe of the history of the world they had been dropped into. Countless conflict and greed, wars that made and unmade societies and cultures. Man turning on man for personal gain.
There are no Grimm or monsters in this world, the immortal wizard spoke within Oscar's mind. But man himself are the truest definition of moral duality here, it seems.
"Kill or be killed, indeed." Oscar spoke softly. Looking up as he heard someone approaching. Miss Valerie was currently doing her rounds after some students came in to study nearby. As a precaution, Ozpin and Oscar had to switch.
Not unfamiliar, though it lacks a certain touch of what this world may see as fantastical. Ozpin said. No magic, no Grimm, no Aura, no Dust. No means of returning to the world from this side, so he had to have faith in everyone on the other side. There was no telling how long that would take.
"Oscar!" Kay's voice called from somewhere in the library. The young man stood up and made his way back to the main desk, where Valerie was chatting up Kay once more. Weiss and Blake stood patiently behind him, the latter looking around at the small library. "Did you find what you needed?" When Oscar nodded, Kay added, "Did you return the books to their places?"
"Ah," both Ozpin and Oscar were so wrapped up in the literature that they had forgot the agreement made at the start of their visit. "I forgot."
"I'll let it slide just this once, young man." Miss Valerie warned, crossing her arms. "I expect you to follow the rules if you ever return to do more research."
"Of course ma'am." Oscar nodded in understanding.
"Oh please, I'm not so old as to constitute 'ma'am'." Miss Valerie rolled her eyes before turning to Kay. "Do have a good night, Mr. Grey. Good luck on your work."
"You as well, Miss Valerie." Kay replied. "Let's go, guys."
Just before the four of them reached the main desk at reception, Ozpin realized how dark it was outside through the main entrance doors. He must have been their for several hours. A closer look at Weiss and Blake showed that they were slightly tired. They hadn't attended a proper class in a while and it showed. Suddenly, a blonde girl Ozpin didn't recognize jogged up to them.
"Mr. Grey!" The girl called to get Kay's attention from a short conversation with Lucy. Christie finally seemed to notice Weiss, Blake, and Oscar standing next to the teacher and suddenly began stammering, "I-I'm so sorry to be a bother right now. I j-just needed to ask you something."
"It's fine, Christie." Kay said, giving a 'slow down' gesture with his palms in an attempt to calm the student down. "What's up?"
"I need an extension on the midterm," she said, fidgeting with her hair. She seemed somewhat embarrassed to ask for some reason. "I-I'm having an... issue at home and-"
"I'm aware with what happened, Christie." Kay said, cutting her off. His tone was gentle, though she looked as though she was waiting to be scolded. "That midterm is due next Friday. Try to get a little work done first, and if you find it truly difficult for you to continue, then message me right away."
"R-really?" Christie asked. She had such a genuine smile on her face, Ozpin couldn't help but feel bad for the girl. "I'll try, I promise this time. Thanks Mr. Grey!" Blake watched the girl walk away to join a small group of friends who seemed to be waiting for her in front of another classroom.
"What did you mean by that?" Oscar asked as they exited the building. "That you were aware of her situation."
"I always make sure to have an open door policy for students with mental health issues," Kay said as they got into the car. "And Christie was the first person to come to me about her anxiety and other issues she's been having. I try to fair, but not too lenient with her. She's absolutely capable of great work when she is able to work through it."
"That's very kind of you," Blake said from the back seat, buckling her seatbelt as the car started. "I don't think many people would be willing to do that."
"As someone who had and still suffers from a similar issue," Kay's response was quiet, but it tone got all three companions to listen in closely. "I know what it's like to live like that. There's a lot of people who don't quite understand it, but there's just as many people willing to help."
"Very true," Ozpin said, as the green light faded from Oscar's eyes, ending the soul swap. Blake and Weiss nodded in agreement. Professor Goodwitch had made that a point in a lecture prior to their first mission. It wasn't uncommon for students to return from any mission visibly shaken. "The Professors at Beacon are trained to do similar for students whose struggled after certain missions."
"If it means anything to you," Kay said as they started the drive home. "I really do appreciate that."
Ozpin smiled and nodded at the teacher. The two seemed to share some sort of connection, Blake felt. Perhaps it was because the two of them were teachers? The cat Faunus shook her head her and looked out the window at the passing scenery. Kay's mention of suffering from a mental illness resonated with her. She didn't want to pry; they had only met the man yesterday. She looked down at the books she brought with her today. Blake had a sudden urge to return to the office and read Kay's poems as Ozpin had. Maybe then she could better understand him.