Office Hours, Tuesday

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell wasn't sulking, or hiding. Nothing so pedestrian as that.

He was being avoidant. Avoidant of people, avoidant of his memories, avoidant of the fact he was riding a high buzz on the blood currently still flowing through his system. He knew the come down was going to be horrifically bad this time, but not for another day or two.

Right now he was the safest he could be, even though everyone was back to smelling like food and--

What he really needed was a distraction.

So Mitchell was back in his office. Poking through TV channels.

[[ open. there shall be no biting today ]]

Comments

[vanillajello]

After a handwavy dance session in the dorm gym and a cigarette on the walk over over from the dorms, Kate appeared in the doorway, leaning a shoulder against the frame.

"Hey."

[chosehumanity]

"Hey."

Mitchell looked up leisurely. "You're here about the coffee, then."

[vanillajello]

"Mmhmm," Kate agreed, nodding. "'Coffee' is the magic word that makes me turn up at places."

[chosehumanity]

"You can try the local brew," Mitchell started, gesturing at his machine. "...or we can go to the Perk."

[vanillajello]

"The Perk," Kate replied quickly, needing no time to make this particular decision. "I'd have to go into town today anyway, to see whether Geoffrey's finally put the cast list up."

[chosehumanity]

"The Perk it is."

Mitchell was trying to gloss over some of his subdued mood now, thank you.

"Lead on, MacKate."

[[ put up a pooost? ]]

[vanillajello]

Kate snorted. "I think calling me that might give me bad luck. Let’s go.”

[awakestheghosts]

It had taken Chloe some thinking and stressing before she decided that coming to talk to Mitchell would probably be the best idea she could have. The things she needed to talk about were best done not in a crowded classroom and not where the wrong people could find out about it.

And really, having someone else that knew her secret and knew why she was getting a little concerned or upset in class couldn't hurt.

Right?

She made it to his door before she drew a deep breath and then knocked lightly on the door.

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell blinked once. It was a fairly sluggish reaction altogether.

Not that he hadn't heard her coming.

"Door's open."

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe came in and even though she felt comfortable with him in class, she was feeling a bit shy now.

"Mr. Mitchell? Do you have a few minutes?"

[chosehumanity]

"Well, that's why I'm here," he pointed out, making an attempt at a reassuring smile that didn't completely reach his eyes. "Just don't call me 'mister'."

[awakestheghosts]

She smiled faintly. "Sorry, it's habit. I um..." Oh how to start this? "I wanted to talk to you about why I was so upset during last week's class... and why yesterday's class had me in deep thinking mode."

[chosehumanity]

"Sit down, then." This attempt was slightly more succesful. Especially now that he had the option of gesturing towards the seat at the desk. "We can ward off the squirrels if you'd like. Little bas-- little rodents keep poking about the building."

[awakestheghosts]

"I hope they're not hanging out here right now." Chloe nodded and sat down. Talking about this was going to be hard enough as it was without worrying that the squirrels were going to out her as a freak.

"It's just that... Dr. Frankenstein." She puffed out a breath. "I'm worried that I may be a monster like he was. See... I do that. Just not with electricity and not exactly on purpose."

Way to clear things up there, Chloe. Maybe you can vague it up even more?

NFB from here please!

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell took a moment to wave a hand at the window behind him, sending some squirrels skittering away. "Bloody things," he muttered, shook his head, and paid attention.

"You can bring the dead to life?"

He didn't sound judgemental. Just curious.

Re: NFB from here please!

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe nodded, giving him a sad smile. "I don't mean to do it and I don't exactly have control over it yet. I just discovered that I had that ability recently, shortly before I was sent here."

[thatsamilkshake]

Baby bunny? Safely tucked up in her own bed with a plate of equally baby carrots. Avoidant non-bunny? Finally answering that phone message she'd got, oh... a week ago? The one she couldn't pretend wasn't for her because he'd gone and stuck her name in it.

If you could call knocking so lightly you'd have to be a vampire or a dog to hear it, then standing awkwardly in the doorway an answer.

[chosehumanity]

Luckily, the guy on the inside was a vampire, and his head perked up. "Come on in," he called.

[[ brought to you by Len's inability to let an opening ping go unanswered. niiight ]]

[thatsamilkshake]

But she'd so much rather stand awkwardly in the doorway!

"Um. Hi, Professor Mitchell."

Dude. You brought it on yourself.

[chosehumanity]

The edges of his mouth curled up. "Hi, Francine," Mitchell replied. At least he could try and insert some comfortable cheer into his voice? "Come on! Take a seat."

[thatsamilkshake]

"I wasn't..." Going to stay, she was going to blab something about not having intended that message for him and then flee back to the safety of bunnyland.

So. Seat. "Okay. But I just wanted to, you know. Apologize for you getting that message. It was supposed to go to Castiel."

[chosehumanity]

"It's fine, Francine. It was sort of a relief in between obscene misdirected phone calls."

Pause. He smiled at her.

"But if you're concerned about that kind of thing, you know you can talk to us, right? It doesn't have to be me. Anyone in the faculty."

Why, look, that smiling and sounding nice thing wasn't lost to him after all.

[thatsamilkshake]

"I'm not!" Mmm, reflexive defense, the Other White Lie. "I mean... it's not like I was trying to call Castiel to ask about that. He left me a weird message about--" Yeah, she was not repeating that to a teacher. "How the angels don't care if humans like furry handcuffs or something."

Yes, because that was so much better.

[chosehumanity]

"So you decided to call him back and tell him you were worried about how God feels about homosexuality instead?"

Dubious was too harsh a term, but there was a certain amount of no, really involved.

"...But this isn't an interrogation," he said, holding his hands up, "I thought I'd just extend the invite."

[thatsamilkshake]

Flail, dissemble. Flail, dissemble. Difficult decisions tend to make badgers of very little brain fall back on option C, the blurt. "Well, the Bible doesn't say anything about furry handcuffs, but it does say stuff about that."