Ryan was still in some weird form of wonderment. He hadn't been so happy since before his wife's death and the level of enjoyment he was getting out of this conversation was something that would astound Ryan when he later analyzed their meeting. Narnia had been such a favourite of his as a child and, later, of his daughters and the thought of seeing the lamppost in person made him nearly giddy. As it turned out Elaina had been to the land in question with her sisters. Ryan had never been an extremely God-faring man although he had said his share of prayers for Mandy after she passed and had given thanks for the continued prescence of his little princess. He had read Narnia many a time as an adult and now recognized the allegorical content of the novel. Somehow Aslan had been easier for him to relate to and easier to love than a faceless God. Ryan couldn't imagine being scared of him and wondered what his reaction would be were he to come face to face with the great lion.
Elaina was now discussing one of her sisters and the urge to grow up. Ryan shook his head, fearing the day his Lily-Rose no longer wanted her dad to tell her stories and the day she found it all to be fantasyland. More scary than anything except the taking of her life was the notion that one day she would grow up. He could guide her along the path to what she would become but he couldn't shape her entirely and feared that when Lily reached maturity he would lose the only thing that kept him sane and happy in this world. What would he do without her.
"Your very own Susan," Ryan remarked, responding to Elaina's comments on her sister slightly sadly. He wouldn't wish adulthood on anyone and yet it seemed that all children yearned to reach it and all adults wished they could return to their carefree youths. In some ways life played a cruel joke on them all.
"Don't let your little girl get the notion to grow up too fast," Elaina told him with a grin. "Because once they get it in their heads, it is hard to stop them!" Ryan took the comment far more seriously and nodded, not smiling as his fellow teacher was. "I won't let her," he said wistfully, hoping that day of maturity would never come.
He changed the subject to more interesting things and asked instead for more information on her character possession. Ryan noted the cautious tone to Elaina's voice as she spoke and wondered if she had had problems with her power in the past. He wasn't about to pry but hoped she could explore it safetly for it sounded a most enlightening experience to the teacher. Leaving the subject for times when they were better aquainted and not in the process of lifting boxes, Ryan asked about her use of powers in her teaching.
"I never really was able to use it in the classroom," Elaina replied and Ryan thought 'of course, how silly. How could she do so in a regular variety of school?' He had been a mutant for more than a decade now and he had grown up alongside a wife with mutant powers. Sometimes Ryan forgot what the rest of the world thought of them when he was safe within these walls. Then he thought of Mandy and remembered.
"Honestly, I might need to reserve that for an advanced course while I teach here. The worlds of stories can be dangerous. Especially since I don't always know at what point in the stories I'll open a portal too." Ryan nodded in sudden understanding. Powers were sometimes touchy things and to not know at what point you were jumping into a book could be quite dangerous. He was an overprotective father and as such appreciated the risks involved and the effect a trip gone wrong might have on a child. But for an advanced course well-versed in the novel in question... there were so many opportunities there.
After a moment they seemed to be done with the boxes and Ryan greatfully set his down. He could carry them alright but that didn't mean the task hadn't taken a little out of him. At thirty-two he felt an old man. With a smile and a mock wiping of the sweat from her face Elaina was returning the question, asking if he had used his powers in the classroom.
"To be honest I haven't had much chance. I wanted to make sure Lily-Rose and I were settled in before I started teaching a class. I didn't want to leave her alone during the day," Ryan explainned with a fond smile at the thought of his blonde angel. "I'm just dabbling in teaching now, I've only been at it a few weeks but I'm enjoying it so far and I intend to use my abilities at somepoint. For the moment I've just been entertaining my girl through bedtime stories though I'm afraid," he finished with a rare grin.
Manners seemed to come back to the Literature teacher and he remembered that, since they were done with the boxes, he should probably ask the teacher if there was anything else he could help her with. "Well that's it with the boxes then. Is there anything else at all you might need assistance with?" Ryan asked. He was fully willing to help the teacher with anything else that might be required as he was enjoying their conversation. However Ryan also understood that she might prefer some time to unpack and adjust to her new surroundings and if she said the word than he would make his farewells and perhaps ask to continue the conversation at a later date...perhaps over a coffee.
Re: Unknown
Yes, they were done with the boxes, but Elaina was not entirely ready to end the conversation. If she wasn’t mistaken, though, she felt that Ryan wasn’t ready to end it as well. Perhaps…No, she wasn’t going to ask. If he wanted to ask her, that would be lovely. However, she wasn’t going to push him. She had a feeling that he was a bit shy and the last thing she wanted to do was put him off her. Nope, she’d be old fashioned for the moment.
“I think that’s it,” she said with a warm smile, “Thanks for your help and your company. I really enjoyed our conversation.”
The English literature teacher really had enjoyed hearing about his daughter and answering his questions was nice. It seemed like a nice welcome back to the school. Talking about Narnia the place had been fun as well. Sometimes she took for granted the fact that others couldn’t visit the wonderous place. She knew that her first time had been grand. And her other visits had set up ties with various people. She sometimes felt that if she thought hard enough of a place that she could sometimes revisit it in the world of the book that she is visiting. Perhaps she was really getting better at controlling her powers. All she needed was a bit of concentration.
“I would really like to meet your daughter, Lily-Rose?”, she said with a grin, “She sounds like a sweet girl. She’s very lucky to have a father like you.”
Elaina meant every word that she said at that moment. She had seen doting fathers before, but Ryan was the very definition of one. The ebony-haired beauty always loved children. They were so fun to play with. Always truthful, sometimes sweet…They could make you see life in a different light if you let them. They also hardly ever judged you. It was always a sort of stress reliever for the mutant to volunteer at the nursery on weekends. When she told them all that she was leaving to go back to the Institute, the children had thrown her a nice party, each of them signing a nice little card. She could remember how they all hugged her in turn at the end, making her tear up. She knew she was going to miss them, but she couldn’t risk their safety. Not after the incident with Nimue. Hopefully she’d be able to learn how to control this new aspect of her powers soon enough.
Three Amazing Girls + One Super-Powered School = Countless Possibilities.
Re: The New English Teacher
Elaina's "I think that's it" seemed posed to bring the conversation to an end and, to his surprise, Ryan found himself unwilling to say goodbye. In every previous encounter he had made an excuse, usually involving having to get back to his daughter, and had left as soon as he was able without seeming rude. He wasn't disliked by others, he just wasn't someone who stayed in their minds or who they sought out because there was always a distance implied. Ryan was warm enough but a certain look in his eyes told anyone conversing with him he wasn't entirely present, that the man was lost within his memories of better times. Elaina was just different somehow and Ryan didn't need a mirror to know that that far away look he so often got was not present now.
“Thanks for your help and your company. I really enjoyed our conversation,” Elaina said with a warm smile. Ryan's answering smile was every bit as warm and his tone was genuine as he replied, "I did too and it was no trouble at all." He dared not say that he had actually enjoyed even carrying boxes from the car to the room for her.
“I would really like to meet your daughter, Lily-Rose?” Elaina told him and Ryan's suspicious mind immediately searched her face for signs of ulterior motives or insincerity. He found none and the tension bled from his shoulders as he relaxed. “She sounds like a sweet girl. She’s very lucky to have a father like you.” Elaina added and this time Ryan didn't scan her face for signs of a lie but smply smiled back, the wistful smile of a father doting on his child who felt pride when she was praised.
"Thank you," he said, and meant it. "She's an angel, never been any trouble at all," Ryan reflected and it occurred to him that he had been incredibly lucky to find in Lily-Rose such a perfect daughter. The seven-year-old rarely got into trouble and she was always regretful when she did. He couldn't stay angry with her for long and forgave the girl easily enough on the few occasions where she did make a mistake. Granted Lily had still to go through the trying pre-teen and teenage years but so long as she didn't make up for lost time Ryan Warner didn't think he would have any problems with her in the future.
Suddenly remembering how the subject had gotten onto his daughter in the first place, Ryan met Elaina's eyes. "I'd like for her to meet you. Perhaps we could have lunch in the cafeteria or something," he suggested. "The three of us," he added quickly, trying to make it sound natural. He liked Elaina and didn't want to give her false impressions. The English teacher knew he was not yet ready for a romantic encounter even if Elaina was exactly the type he would have found appealing had he been looking. What Ryan ready needed right now was a friend closer to his own age, a friend who liked his daughter and who provided him with conversation and company and he hoped Elaina would be that much needed friend.
Re: The New English Teacher
The lovely book worm hated to end the conversation, but she really did need to unpack everything. That task alone could take a whole day. She had to sort out what was going into her office and what was staying in there and where her office was now...He may be able to help later, but she wasn't gonna impose on him. Ryan had a daughter to get back to and she had a room to unpack. Such was life.
Elaina noticed the suspicion in his eyes from earlier about her sincerity concerning meeting his daughter. She sensed that the man possibly has had some bad experiences with insincerity in the past. However, she had meant every word of it and she was sure that he could see that too.
Maybe she could convince her sister to visit sometime and bring her neice. Lily-Rose and her were about the same age and she had been meaning to send them an invite for family weekend since they lived closer than their parents. She'd make a special visit down to her parents' house soon enough. They'd been to enough Family Weekends in the past and she actually missed her hometown as well.
The sound of Ryan's voice brought her thinking back to the present. "I'd like for her to meet you. Perhaps we could have lunch in the cafeteria or something," he said, "The three of us." Well, that'd be nice. Elaina didn't have allusions to a whirlwind romance at that point. While Ryan was certainly the type she'd go for, she felt that the both of them were not exactly ready to start persuing any kind of romance. He seemed like he wasn't ready and Elaina really only wanted to get the feel for her new role at the school.
A friend, though. That was a different story. She could definately use a friend closer to her own age than the rest of the faculty that seemed to have been there since before she even came to this school as a student. They all probably could remember the pranks she pulled with her friends, the embarrassing moments she had in class, and her grades better than she did. Then again..Possibly not. She was just one out of a million students that have passed through these halls since the school's opening. Well, she'd just have to see how her relationship with the rest of the faculty panned out. Until then though, she knew she had a fast-growing friendship with Ryan (whom by the way she had to reply to!).
"I'd love to eat with you and Lily-Rose," she said with a smile, "It'll be interesting to see if the cafeteria still serves the same food quality they did back when I was a student here. I just hope the student body doesn't have as much of an affinity for food fights as my class did!"
Three Amazing Girls + One Super-Powered School = Countless Possibilities.
Re: The New English Teacher
Ryan didn't realise how much he wanted Elaina to agree until she accepted his offer with a smile. He didn't have many friends here at the school; In fact he could probably count the number on one hand. Colleagues he had plenty of and he enjoyed pleasant conversation with them but it was always the sort that never went beyond 'you are you and your daughter?', 'how about this weather we've been having' and 'are you settling in alright' sorts of questions. They rarely asked personal questions and when they did he had always avoided them. Things were different with Elaina. In just this short meeting he had been able to tell her things that he hadn't told other faculty members and whatsmore he had done so with ease.
Elaina commented on the cafeteria food and Ryan grinned a little. He hadn't eaten much in the cafeteria, preferring to microwave something he had made or to make speghetti and meatballs, his favourite dish, and Mac and cheese, Lily's favourite, and eat in the privacy of their room. Lily mostly ate at the school's cafeteria when with her babysitter, Tessa Macneil. The fracture of trust that had occurred when a possessed Tessa encountered Lily-Rose had put a rift in the previous trust Ryan had had for her and he did feel a little uneasy when leaving his girl with the half-fairy although he was beginning to get over it.
"Food Fights huh? We had a few of those back in high school," Ryan remembered fondly with a genuine smile. He remembered picking pasta out of Mandy's hair and his smile faded slightly. "Well I should let you get to your unpacking and settling in," he said, recognizing that the new English teacher would want to settle in before going for lunch or anything else. Surely she would also have to think over her teaching syllabus and have classes to begin. "But if you need any help feel free to contact me and once you've settled into teaching we can go for lunch," Ryan finished. It seemed like this was the end of their meeting but he really was looking forward to introducing Elaina to Lily-Rose and to talking more with the woman whose powers were so interestingly similar to his own.
(OOC: I think this, or your reply if you'd like to, is probably the end of the thread but we can certainly make a one for lunch or alternately an encounter between Nadia and Lily-Rose *mischevious smile*...)
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