~Reginald Wagner~
"No thank you, Sir. She is, Aspen is her name. Injured slightly during the trip here but nothing Dorian couldn't fix. Handsome young man, that one, just like me in my youth"Reginald smiled at this. Dr. Archer was nothing if not graceful about his age. Perhaps there was a chance that even he could follow the other’s footsteps, head into the realm of old age with purpose and dignity, not allowing the beast that is Time wrestle control from him.
Then Reginald’s thoughts hit the bottle, his mind refusing to let him dream for even a moment. No, Wagner knew his place in the world.
But this Dorian Lost…
Reginald hadn’t spent much time around the lad. Perhaps the occasional word in passing. His opinion on the man was…
Well, to put it bluntly, Dorian struck Wagner as a bit of a punk. As much as the man preached keeping an open mind, to judge a man not on his appearance but his actions...well, Wagner always had been more of a ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ kind of fellow. Perhaps he would attempt to break ground with the lad. As an old professor he had once said, “The youth are a bottomless new well of knowledge and curiosity. Rotten, useless knowledge and curiosity, but still new.”
I can see him charming the ladies, he even got my Aspen to let him attend to her injury and she's usually not good with strangers especially ones that look like...you know...lab coats...,"The Esper Program. Reginald frowned. Not because he had full knowledge of the program and all it entailed...but because he didn’t. Despite not searching, few things escaped Wagner’s sight. The Esper Program was one of the few. He had seen legions of realities, countless ‘could-have-beens’, and more than his fair share of ‘what-ifs’
But the Esper Program had never featured in any of them. Not that he hadn’t seen the people involved or the location, of those he saw plenty. But the program itself. It was new. It was something that never was, something that shouldn’t been, but something that existed now. Or did, at least.
It was something which Wagner had never seen. Uncharted territory. It troubled him to no end.
"Anyway, the new kids are here, they've already had the pleasure of meeting Miss Meredith, Dorian...and I believe the Vice Principle should be meeting them soon. I wondered whether you want to come down and introduce yourself, I haven't yet but I'm going to have to and of course Aspen has no clue I was going to be here and she's not seen me yet,"Wagner’s eyebrow perked up. A meet-and-greet with the students, then? Shake a few hands, tell a few jokes, then everything’s right as rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain.
Four letters. Four repetitions.
He shook his head and grinned.
“Absolutely. Why, nothing would grant me more pleasure than looking out at a sea of bright faces, each one more likely to snooze during one of my lectures than the last.” He nodded his head and waved the hand not holding the glass.
“Of course, my friend. Let us be off.” The man sat down his drink, straightened his tie, then moved to join the Good Dr. Archer.
Off to shape the minds of children. For the better or worse, Wagner had not yet decided.
----------------
~Graham Turner~
“Your stuff is already in your dorms that the headmaster chose for you. And Im pretty sure we will be getting roommates soon enough."
Welp. That solved that mystery. Apparently he wouldn’t have to tap into his inner Bear Grylls. Which was good. He didn’t have his own production crew tailing him around waiting to wait on him hand and foot. Sadly.
"I might have a lot of stuff in me pack, but ye can bet I sure as feck didn't bring anything like what this guy is talking about. Camping I can do, just not without gear." As the pack hit the ground, Graham was reminded of a time way back in the day when he, as a wee wittle baby, knocked over one of Grandma’s lamps and it had shattered. He was scolded pretty fiercely at the time. His father got really angry and took him to the bathroom. He yelled a lot then pulled his hand back really quickly and…
And…
Nope. Gone. Whatever brain-train might have been down that particular lane of thought-track had been swiftly derailed. The next thing that Graham could really recall was playing in the backyard that summer. He had to wear a cast like Kitty, because his arm was broken. He wasn’t sure how exactly he broke it, but it had to be sometime around the lamp incident.
Wait. What? What was Scorpio saying now? Graham had totally spaced.
"...sand miles. Ay, mate, what's your name? And what kind of powers do ye have? I've never met anyone else with powers til now."Oh! A question! And a personal one at that! Glorious! Now Graham could avoid the embarrassment of admitting he had basically nodded off.
“Little ol’ me?” Graham started, slathering his own accent on the words to a ridiculous degree.
“Why, they call me Graham. Graham Turner. I guess I’m a pet vet without the whole tools or surgery part. I touch sick or injured animals, then they ain’t sick no more.” He paused, stretching out his arms. Dropping the accent, he continued.
“What about you? I mean, I got the name part. Can’t say I’ll ever meet another Scorpio. Err...a person named Scorpio. I’ll probably meet another Scorpio. Waaay too many people into that whole astrology/horoscope mumbo-jumbo. Annnnywaaay, what do you do?”Almost immediately after he had finished, the adults started calling for everyone to move into the school. To their rooms. Tony added his voice into theirs. Somebody rather familiar asked about food, and food was promised. Alright then. Graham could get down with that groove. He started off to the door, forgetting that he had asked Scorpio a question. But only for a moment. Still, Graham felt like shit. It’s not cool to treat someone like that. And after zoning out? Nah, brah, not excusable. Turn around and stop being a little shit.
So Graham listened to his brain which had FINALLY grown a brain stem and organed up.
He stopped, rather suddenly, causing the poor bloke behind him to just barely swerve to avoid a collision, turned and right beyond Scorpio was the nurse fella.
And.
What.
No.
That’s not fair.
That’s just not fair at all.
Please.
Somebody.
And for not the first time that day, Graham Gavin Turned belted out a cry right in the middle of a lake of his peers.
OH COME ON!!! THAT’S NOT EVEN...SERIOUSLY?!!”The Murse was speaking to someone alright. Someone that made even Tony look like an ant. Tony, the guy whom Graham thought stretched forever into the sky, a regular New York skyscraper. But this person? This GIRL for crying out loud… did she ever stop? Graham would need an elevator just to look her in the eyes. He didn’t normally mind being short, but this was just ridiculous.
But Graham’s jealousy left as soon as it came when he realized what he did. He, being the loudmouth he is, had just shouted for no reason, right? Those around him, they’d be able to see what, rather who, he was referring to. That’s almost worse than ignoring Scorp. If this girl was uncomfortable with attention...even if she wasn’t, she was talking to a nurse.
IDIOT. Idiot. IdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiot.
Graham turned as quickly as he could, and forced out a powerful laugh.
“HAHAHA, GOTCHA!” He managed through that laugh. If nothing else, he could try to make himself look like an annoying ass. People tend to ignore annoying asses. They’d just think he was being obnoxious and carry on towards the dorms.
Hopefully.
He didn’t wait to see. Graham pushed forward, assimilating into the crowd, leaving his friends and poor ignored Scorpio in his wake.
He’d explain later.
Now it was time to catch the one-way express train out of Embarrassment City. Next stop, Regretsville. Thank you for choosing Douchebag Railways.
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