10/7 Instance: Delicate Pets

[Starfish]

Timeline: After "Debating the Dead".


Jessica: The sound was unmistakable and it lured Jess down from her room rather quickly, "Yay! They're here!" She skipped the last few steps and hurried to check the terrariums.

Carol: Carol could hardly believe what she'd just signed for. Frogs. Why were there frogs? They definitely weren't for biology classes. Heading back inside after the driver had checked there were no more frogs in his van, Carol paused to look the frogs over again and the aparent culprit. Of course Shaw was somehow involved.

Cessily: "Ooh, are these the new chalkboards?" Cessily asked as she made her way towards the main entrance. As a contrast to her usual relaxed business chic, the silver teacher was dressed in simple work clothes. The dried paint on her top revealed that she had been busy.

Cessily: "Uhm, I guess not." The shiny girl slowed her steps when she joined Carol's side. "Frogs?"

Carol: "Yeah... frogs... why are we signing for frogs?" Carol turned her attention to the student.

Jessica: Jess eeped and turned around, "Uh... because... well... I promised...?" she chewed her lip, "They can live in my room..."

Cessily: "Perhaps Doctor McCoy ordered them for his anatomy class," Cessily suggested, leaning over the nearest terrarium. She gently tapped the glass. "Awww, I hope not. Look how cute they are."

Cessily: She turned her head to look over her shoulder at Jessica. "Wait, do you have something to do with this?"

Jessica: Jess nodded, "Clarice... she wanted me to look after them for her..."

Carol: Carol looked between them, folding her arms across her chest while she waited to see where this went.

Cessily: The smile drained from Cessily's face, the revelation silencing her for several seconds. "These are... Clarice's frogs?" she eventually asked, having to swallow to find her voice again.

Jessica: Jess nodded, "She asked me to look after them for her... I said I would... I read up on it and I promise they won't get loose or anything..."

Cessily: Cessily sniffled, awkwardly fidgeting with a strand of her crimson hair in a futile effort to hide the look of sadness in her eyes - or the glistening silver tears forming in their corners. "Oh, I see," she told Jessica, forcing a smile as she looked back at the student. "That's really sweet of you."

Cessily: "Of course you can keep them," she was quick to assure the girl, while repeatedly telling herself that she had to keep it together for everyone's sake. No melting into a sobbing mess again... not in front of her student - or the cute SHIELD officer.

Jessica: "Really? It's okay?" Jess managed a smile, "They probably won't be here that long... we're going to look at houses in the city...."

Carol: Carol frowned, bowing her head and pinching the bridge of her nose. "You want to keep them in your room? You didn't think we might need to know to expect frogs?"

Cessily: "I'm sure we can find a way, Miss Danvers," Cessily said, turning around to face the officer, bottling up the painful memories and emotions so they wouldn't cloud her typical sweet demeanour. "We have so much room around here, we don't know what to do with it all, anyway. Right?"

Cessily: She gave Jessica a quick smile. "Don't worry, we'll think of something," she assured the girl.

Carol: "Well... yeah there's loads of room but most of it is still under construction..." she eyed the stairs, "I guess we can help you take them up... We'll figure out something more permanent later..."

Jessica: Jess smiled, "Thanks... sorry... I should have said something... forgot I need to ask now...."

Cessily: "It's okay." Cessily gave Jessica a heartfelt smile and stepped up to her to put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "You made a promise to a dear friend, and we're going to help you keep it." Her fingers squeezed gently. "Because we all would've made that same promise, and it's the least we can do to honour her sacrifice."

Jessica: Jess managed a small smile back and tried not to remember Clarice as she'd last seen her, "I'll try to be careful with them..."

Carol: "As long as they don't escape to attempt a reenactment of a plague on the building, we'll be fine..." Carol eyed the frogs again and tried to find a way to pick one of them up without dislodging the occupant too much.

Cessily: Cessily was a little more forward, already fishing out one of the noisy terrarium inhabitants to cradle the green animal in her hands. "It's okay, Miss Danvers - I'll personally make sure the frogs are well kept, and I'm sure they're in good hands with Miss Drew here."

Cessily: As she carefully pet the animal's moist skin, the silver teacher glanced over to her student. "Actually, would you mind if I helped you care for them?" the shiny girl asked. "Just... every now and then?"

Jessica: "Of course you can." Jess gave her a smile, "Anyone can help... they're kind of cute... for insect murderers..." She leaned to peer at one of them before picking up the terrarium.

Carol: Carol picked up her selection carefully and nodded towards the stairs, "After you, then..."

Cessily: "Aren't spiders insect murderers, too?" Cessily asked with a chuckle as she sat the frog back into the terrarium, before picking up the whole glass container to carry it upstairs. "And that's a wonderful idea. I can tell the others and encourage them to help care for the frogs."

Cessily: She smiled down at the living cargo she carried. "It's nice to have something to remember Clarice by."

Jessica: Jess nodded, "Yeah it will... and they are but they're way cooler..." She started up the stairs.

Carol: "I think a frog would win if a spider picked a fight with it..." Carol offered from behind her.

Jessica: "Not if it was a goliath bird eater spider...."

Cessily: "That's only a name, is it?" Cessily asked, a worried look on her face. "I mean, it's not really eating birds, right? Please say it's only a name, and that it lives only far away from here."

Jessica: Jess giggled, "They only live in tropical climates... well except for the ones kept as pets or in zoos. You won't find one here, I promise."

Carol: "No spiders around here that are any threat to you, don't worry... not that I think they'd stand much of a chance of harming you anyway with all that metal skin of yours." Carol adjusted the weight of the terrarium carefully.

Cessily: "That's true, but living metal or flesh and blood, I still don't like them very much," Cessily told Carol, making a face as she looked over her shoulder at the officer behind her. "Perhaps it's just a silly old habit, but I'm still glad the only kind of big spiders around here is the cute kind." She smiled at Jessica.

Jessica: "And more threat to you than real spiders if I have a power mishap." Jess threw her a grin, "It's a funny old world..."

Cessily: "At least I know you'll do your best not to zap your teacher, am I right?" Cessily gave Jessica a lopsided smile, before the turned to look down the hallways as they reached the top of the stairs. "Which way now?"

Jessica: "That depends... some of them like it." Jess offered a mischievous grin with that remark before leading the way to her room.

Carol: Carol wrinkled her nose, "Ew."

Cessily: "Are you suggesting I should try it sometime?" Cessily giggled as she followed Jessica down the hallway, the improvised lighting not doing much to improve the dim twilight that permeated the old building.

Jessica: "I'm just saying don't rule it out... not that I'm suggesting I should be the one to zap you... not really into women..."

Carol: "... I can't believe I'm listening to this conversation. So many levels of inappropriate..."

Cessily: "Oh, I think you might be surprised about all the things I'm not ruling out," Cessily replied, a suggestive smirk curling her shiny lips as she gave Jessica a sideways glance. "Don't assume I'm an old bore just because I'm behind the teacher's desk most of the time these days."

Cessily: "Then again, I'm pretty sure Mr. Shaw already showed you this is not the case with us teachers," she added with another snicker.

Jessica: "Yep... but he wasn't a teacher when we started dating..." Jess was always careful to point that out, "So it's not completely inappropriate...." She stopped at her door and gave it a nudge with her foot to open it.

Carol: "Well that's a relief..." Carol didn't sound at all relieved as she rolled her eyes. "Where are we putting these?"

Cessily: "I think we might be scaring our brave SHIELD officer with our talk," Cessily commented and chuckled, carefully navigating the terrarium through the open door. "I guess this must be a little strange for you, Miss Danvers."

Cessily: "You see, we're not really like any other school, and I'm not only talking about the fact that we teach young mutants," the silver girl continued. "Most of our teaching staff has been recruited from former students, myself included."

Cessily: "So, we're often a little more... uhm, relaxed in the way we handle things." She put on a sheepish smile.

Carol: "I know a lot more about your school than you guys seem to realise - I read up before I came over here." She set the terrarium down on the desk where Jessica indicated. "I knew things were a little unorthodox here but... it's still taking some getting used to." She moved out of the way so the others could put their passengers down. "But you probably shouldn't expect me to get that relaxed...."

Cessily: "Oh, don't be too quick to say that," Cessily told Carol with a grin on her lips. "This place has a way to rub off on you." She hesitated when she put down the terrarium, lowering her gaze for only a brief moment. "I mean, the old place did."

Jessica: "It's not the building, it's the people in it." Jess reached to pat Cess on the shoulder.

Carol: "Well good because I don't want an asylum rubbing off on me..." Carol adjusted her jacket now that she wasn't carrying a frog.

Cessily: Looking up again, she quickly conjured another smile as she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "Yes, that's true," Cessily replied, pausing to give Jessica a thankful look. Then she turned towards the uniformed woman and grinned. "I think you only have to worry about us rubbing off on you then."

Carol: "Why doesn't that make me feel any better...?" Carol looked between them.

Jessica: "Because we're all crazy." Jess nodded sagely then looked at Cess, "We are, right?"

Cessily: "I think we have to be, even if it's just a little bit," Cessily admitted, an uneven smile on her lips. "How else could we carry on if it weren't for that little bit of craziness?"

Jessica: "I never said crazy was a bad thing..." Jess pointed out, "I've come to the conclusion that it's an excellent coping mechanism."

Carol: "It is, that's for sure.... but in the military they'd send you for a psych evaluation for that too..."

Cessily: "Then it's probably a good thing that we don't have that, or we'd probably all be unemployed already." Cessily crouched down to get eye to eye with some of the frogs in their terrarium. "I guess we need to get some food for them, no?"

Jessica: Jess nodded, "Yeah... I already have a place in the city warned that I'll need something... I can go down there in a little while, it's fine."

Cessily: "Oh, that's good." Cessily nodded. "Otherwise we might have had to ask Miss Kusuma to share some of her flies with us." She chuckled to herself. "I always think that she must have a secret bag of them somewhere. Please, don't tell her I said that."

Jessica: "Pretty sure she does... they're good for you, you know - lots of protein..." She decided she should stop talking.

Carol: ".... Ew." Carol pulled a face.

Cessily: Cessily frowned and gave the student a long look. "Remind me to always bring my own snacks when either of you arrange for a movie night," she told Jessica.

Jessica: Jess giggled, "It's okay, I won't make anyone eat anything they don't want to eat... not everyone wants to try weird food."

Carol: "I'll try anything once... but I might have to be drunk before that's a good idea."

Cessily: That remark made Cessily laugh. "Oh, you might come to regret having said that, Colonel," she said. "Because both alcohol and temptation tend to be in ample supply at this school."

Carol: "Good thing I've had training to resist these kinds of things, huh?" She looked into one of the terrariums and inspected the frog staring back at her.

Cessily: "Then I hope you've always been a good student." Cessily chuckled, looking up from the terrarium. "Okay, let's find some sockets to plug in the lights. We don't want Clarice's little darlings get too cold, do we?"

Jessica: Jess went to see where there was a spare one, "There should be one around here somewhere..."

Carol: "I can warm them up a little right now," Carol offered, avoiding Cessily's question. "If you can't find somewhere there's an extension cord somewhere in my office, I'll go get it if you want."

Cessily: "If you wouldn't mind..." Cessily smiled and ran a hand through her hair. "I'd really like to apologize if we're too much of a bother. We really appreciate all the help."

Carol: "It's fine... this is my job now." She heated up the air in the terrariums gently before she went to the door, "Be right back."

Cessily: "Thank you!" Cessily called after the SHIELD officer, watching her leave before she turned to Jessica and nodded towards the terrarium. "So, do you think we should give them names?"

Jessica: Jess bumped her head on the underside of the desk on her way back up, "Ouch..." she rubbed the sore spot before looking up at her, "Um... I guess we should... know any good names for frogs?"

Cessily: "Hm, I'm afraid I don't even know what kind of names you usually give to frogs," Cessily said, putting a shiny finger on her similarly shiny chin. "Do you think we should name one Charles?"

Jessica: Jess eyed the frogs now in her eyeline, "Hmm... I'll watch them.... if there's one that sleeps a lot, yes we can do that." she looked up at the silver lady and gave her a grin. "I'm not good at naming things... that's why I have a silver corgi named after Sebastian."

Cessily: "I'm just glad you didn't name it after me," Cessily commented, giving Jessica an awkward smile. She still wasn't too comfortable with the idea of a miniature monster running around the school and wearing her skin. "And no worries, we can think of names later, or even invite the others to make suggestions."

Jessica: "Oooh that sounds like a good idea! We could make a competition to name the frogs!" She got to her feet, looking at the door, "Do you think the mess in her office ate her?"

Cessily: "We'll make sure Clarice can be happy she left her little darlings with us," Cessily said, gently tapping the glass one more time, before she stood back up and turned towards the door, as well. "Or perhaps she got surprised by another shipment of wild animals."

Cessily: "Should we stage a rescue mission and see if we have to save our brave soldier from a horde of mice?"

Jessica: "Yeah we better or no one'll get paid..." Jess offered another grin before going to the door, herself, "And then I have to remind Sebastian about the frogs and call a restaurant.... they're not related."

Cessily: Cessily paused for a moment to blink. "Oh, that's... good to hear," she said, following Jessica back into the dim hallway. "No selling our frogs as delicacies, you hear?" The silver woman chuckled.

Jessica: "On my honour... not that honour, I lost that years ago." She giggled, "They're too cute to eat. The restaurant is for Sebastian's birthday... but shh it's a surprise."

Cessily: "Ooh, of course! My lips are sealed." Cessily made a zipping motion from one side of her mouth to the other, barely suppressing her grin. "But you'll have to tell me all about it. Perhaps we can think of a nice surprise for Sebastian."

Cessily: "We've had so little reason to celebrate lately, I feel like we need to make the most out of every opportunity that comes our way."

Jessica: "That would be so cool! But don't tell him I told you! I don't know if he wants to celebrate... but I think it'd be nice." She gave Cessily another smile, "Plus it'll be fun to sneak around a bit."

Cessily: Cessily gave Jessica an exciting smile and giggled. "Oh yes, that will be our little secret!"

Jessica: "Excellent!" Jess linked arms with the othe girl, "Now... do you think we can get SHIELD drunk enough to rope them in?"

[Slarti]