bardish: 40s; SCD (to-scd-170)
Jeff Calhoun ([personal profile] bardish) wrote in [community profile] riverview2018-09-03 05:31 pm

CAUTION: BEWARE OF STUDENTS (video; un: j.calhoun)

[ Here's Jeff Calhoun, wizard dad/teacher of youths, broadcasting live from his classroom at Gramarye. It looks a bit... chaotic right now, as there are winged origami hearts flapping around, and some kids equipped with butterfly nets and... y'know, magic, trying to round them up.

Amidst the chaos, the hearts are chirping out what sounds suspiciously like people's names, which the kids are reacting to with various degrees of shouted denials and peals of laughter.

Meanwhile, Jeff looks about as harried as if he's reporting from a warzone. But he puts on a nervous smile and waves at the camera. ]


Hey-- hi! Uh, so... one of my students got a little too into the spirit of Dragosta and brought these [ GESTURING TO THE BAT-WINGED MENACES. ] lovely cards in to share with his classmates and--

[ NO, he can't keep the charade up! ]

Okay, look, he pranked the class. And it's gone totally out of control! A batch of these little fuckers-- [ Cough. A student mock-gasps, 'Language, Mr. Calhoun!' Cue: adolescent giggling. ] --little... scamps... flew out the window, so if you see any? Don't be alarmed, and for the love of god, don't throw rocks or anything at them! If you miss, that projectile of yours will come crashing down on some innocent bystander, and I can't have that blood on my hands, because it's totally my fault for leaving the window open in the first place and failing to rule my classroom with an iron fist and--

[ BREATHE, JEFF. It's just, look, he's pretty sure this is some kind of karmic retribution for all the teachers he terrorized as a teenager, himself. ]

Uh, so just. Ignore them! They're harmless, really. All they do is follow you around shouting the name of whoever you might have a crush on.

[ Hence the kids' reactions to the various names the cards are shouting. Their secret crushes, revealed! It's totally embarrassing! ]

The enchantment should wear off in a couple of days!

[ Meanwhile, one of the origami hearts from hell lands on his desk and starts to chirp a name... but all it manages to get out is a 'CAM--' before Jeff's swatting it with a notebook. SHUSH, HEART.

...

Gosh, he actually feels kind of bad for smashing it with a notebook. Poor enchanted bat-heart... Jeff seems to remember he's still recording, so he flashes another nervous 'EVERYTHING'S FINE' smile at the camera. ]


Okay, that's all, I gotta get back to cleanup-- Bye!

[ But hey, FEEL FREE TO SAY YOUR CHARACTER'S BEING TERRORIZED BY ONE OF THESE HEARTS AS WE SPEAK. ]
bestsir: (sad smile)

[personal profile] bestsir 2018-09-17 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He starts a little, but only because what Jeff says has just given him an entirely new perspective. ]

I had not thought of it in precisely those terms—but you are exactly correct. And not simply a life, but a world, and all that one has known and lived with since birth.
Edited 2018-09-17 19:45 (UTC)
bestsir: (yes)

[personal profile] bestsir 2018-09-18 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. Yes, it is exactly like that.

[ A sigh. ]

All I can do, I think, is to try and be the best man that I can—the man I believed I was, before—before the end. And to not waste this time I have been given.
bestsir: (studious)

[personal profile] bestsir 2018-09-18 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's something about the way Jeff asks that question; it's absolutely impossible not to smile in response, even if the answer is ... slightly less than entirely happy. ]

I had hoped, on my return from the Arctic, to write a book about the flora and fauna that I found there. Much like Charles Darwin's account of his voyage to the Galápagos.

[ Dawning realisation: ] Perhaps the settlement here would benefit from something similar.
bestsir: (smile)

[personal profile] bestsir 2018-09-20 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)
You are right.

[ You can actually see Harry's mood lifting at this idea. ]

I don't imagine Darwin would have ever envisioned a fire-breathing fox, to say nothing of some of the other creatures I have seen here.