Office #26, Monday

[chosehumanity]

You had good days, and you had bad days, in Mitchell's position. Saturday had been a good, if baffling day.

Monday wasn't as good.

He made it to his office regardless of anything going on (wouldn't mess this one up), but he kept mostly to his seat, staring holes into the wall beside the door. Whether it was the memories running stronger than usual or some surge of bloodlust he was having trouble surpressing, something kept him in that suspended state of-- brooding, of thinking, of trying to keep the dark things away, to focus on the light spots that dragged any being through what horrors life might occasionally cast at them.

Mitchell, unlike some people he knew, was not a glass-half-empty kind of man, so he endured.

Life settles. That's the one thing you can rely on. Sometimes it gets shaken and it seems like there's no end to this vast-- tornado, these endless forces of chaos, and yet it always-- settles again.

[[ the post, however, is open, as is the door, and he will totally try to cheerful it up for you ]]

Comments

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max strolled into the office, not even bothering to knock, but stopped abruptly when he spotted Mitchell. "Want me to come back later?" he asked.

See? He wasn't totally insensitive.

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell looked on up from his chair. Blinking once or twice, he shook his head. "Hey, Max," he said instead, "What's going on?"

His posture adjusted itself into something more cheerful. A jolt could be good.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max shrugged and relaxed. If Mitchell didn't want to make a big deal of it, well, that was just fine.

"Not much, just figured I'd stop by, see if you had anything else from the wonderful world of TV to introduce me to." It was entirely possible that Max had spent a lot of time watching swimsuits in slow motion.

[chosehumanity]

And far be it from Mitchell to blame him. "I think we can skip the soap operas," he said, attempting to focus on the new thing at hand so he wouldn't wind up... slipping back in the zone. "They're mostly meant for housewives."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm not really the housewife type, so you're probably right." Max plopped himself down into a chair without waiting for an invitation.

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell was liable to do that himself from time to time, provided he'd actually been invited into a house (it was a thing), so he didn't much care beyond that it saved him the trouble of telling Max to sit down-- although it was something of a social faux pas. "I'm sure we can find something," he started, reaching for the remote and clicking it on.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"So what have you been up to, anyway?" Max asked, only half-watching the TV. It turned out that Max was actually pretty good at small talk and relaxed conversation.

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell turned the channel to something sci-fi that had women in inappropriate outfits in it, and relaxed. "Teaching my class," he said, "Detention, you know how it is."

Mitchell was way better at small talk than, say, George.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Detention?" Max asked, only half-paying attention to any answers. Because he didn't know what this show was about, but he suspected it might be a work of towering genius.

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell could also do small talk that was only halfway overheard. Considering how much time he spent in front of the TV, that was what he was used to. "It's a punishment," he explained, "Kids who misbehave have to spend a large part of their day doing whatever the teachers see fit."

Such as cleaning, or coffee.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Reeeally?" Max asked, attention diverted from the TV for a moment. "And how does one get put in charge of that detail?"

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell shrugged. "Just be in the right place at the right time, I suppose. Know people."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I ask because it would be pretty awesome to have a wild party with the knowledge that you could make students pick up after you the next day..."

[chosehumanity]

He chuckled. "Yeah," Mitchell said, casually. "I had them clean up alligator guts."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"So that's what happened," Max laughed. "I was wondering."

[chosehumanity]

"I'm an honest ruler," Mitchell informed him, and actually managed to make a good bid at his usual level of smug. "Stern but fair."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure it was a character-building experience for them all as well." Max chuckled and shook his head.

"But I was serious about the party thing."

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell considered him, leaning back in his chair just enough to drape comfortably. "Depends on what sort of party," he said, "And what the principal says, I'd imagine."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Oh, so there are limits to your power," Max grinned.

[chosehumanity]

"There are always limits to power," Mitchell informed him, considering the TV with a slight nod of his head. "Usually they involve responsibility, something like that."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"A thing I try to avoid when I can. It makes everything so... complicated." And also meant that it could be your fault when people died.

[chosehumanity]

Killing people also had a habit of making it your fault when people died.

"Hear you on that, mate," Mitchell said, with a slight chuckle. "But it's hard to keep running away from after a while."

And by a while, Mitchell meant 'a hundred years, give or take'.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Haven't had any problems with it yet," Max shrugged. Which wasn't entirely true, but it was nice to think that it was working.

[chosehumanity]

"It's easy when you're just floating along," Mitchell mused. He wasn't doing a great job of staying ahead of his own ennui. "If you don't have to pin yourself down, then you don't have to care, you don't have to feel responsible."

He considered his fingers. They were shaking.

He reached into his coat. "Mind if I light one up?"

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"I don't know what that means, but I also suspect it means I don't mind," Max chuckled, waving airily at Mitchell.