Taste Testing [OPEN)

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki sighed, shrugging a shoulder to hitch his schoolbag more securely on his shoulder. The little buds in his ears were blasting music from his iPod at full volume, and he was humming along quite loudly as he walked down the street, a letter from his mother held in front of him by one hand. He squinted slightly, reaching down with the other hand to turn the volume down as he struggled to read the Korean characters scattered across the page. His mother had never had very good handwriting, but he luckily hadn't inherited that from her. He stopped humming for a moment; he had never been good at reading his native language. He had been born here in Florida, though his family had another house in Korea that they had spent a few years in when Nicki was a child. Of course, with their little baby in a boarding school, his family had moved back to Korea without him, and now all the letters he got from them were in the language of the land. Though he could speak it fluently, he had never been able to properly read, and the handwriting really wasn't helping.

He sighed again and sat himself on a bench, staring intently at the piece of paper like he was willing it to change itself into English. Hey, if Nicki could shift into an animal, why couldn't this sheet of paper change the language it was written in? Because things didn't work that way. Huffing slightly to himself and rubbing his eyes to disperse his headache, he tucked the piece of paper safely back into his bag, re-latching it and standing up. He yawned and stretched, mulling over the few words he had been able to translate. To anyone but Nicki's family, they would make no sense, but to Nicki they were just highly embarrassing.

His family had always been competitive, and when one of his father's Japanese co-workers had insisted on cooking them a full Japanese dinner, the food battle had been born. Nicki didn't understand all the details, but the general outline was that wherever and whenever his family came across a Japanese restaurant, they insisted on getting dinner there and comparing to their food from home. Of course, the opinion was biased to the extreme, but if it made his family feel better... Nicki rolled his eyes to himself, having deciphered a few simple words that roughly translated to "try Florida Japanese food". It was a little... odd, to tell the truth, but Nicki wasn't about to complain. He knew there was a Japanese restaurant somewhere in town, so he turned in its general direction and started walking, iPod back at full blast. "Tell me what you want to hearrr, something that were like those yearrrs. I'm sick of all the insincerrre, so I'm gonna give alllll my secrets a-way..." Nicki sang along to himself as he neared the restaurant; he barely ever listened to Korean music. It was all American for the pika shifter, but he wasn't about to tell his parents that. His soprano voice didn't fit the song at all, and he sounded a lot like a girl as he neared Rangetsu, though he didn't care. It was just late puberty, right? His voice would deepen soon enough... he hoped.

As he entered the Japanese restaurant, he switched to humming quietly, the iPod switched off. It was just something he did to give respect to the cooks; he may have been fully Americanized, but he was still polite. The only really American things about him were his taste in music and his love of food, even though the second was due more to his shift than the country's habits. He sighed, sitting down by the counter and drumming his fingers on his thigh, bored. He still didn't know exactly what caused people to become shifters; he had never heard the teachers mention anything about it. He did know, however, that his need to eat and hoard was getting seriously annoying. His schoolbag was filled with junk that he randomly picked up, convinced that he would find a use for it, and his room was even more full. He snickered slightly, knowing that it annoyed his roommate even more than it annoyed Nicki himself. He rummaged through his bag a bit more, blinking in surprise as he found a brick hidden beneath the piles of paper. Really, he was just a magnet for bullying, wasn't he? This would explain why it had been breaking his arm for the past few days. He groaned softly as he took out a crumpled sheet of homework and a pencil, chewing on the end of the writing utensil for a moment before using it to hurriedly fill in answers. When someone asked him what he wanted to eat and gave him a menu, he ordered the first thing that he saw, pretty sure that he pronounced it wrong. Whatever. He continued humming softly to himself as he did homework and waited for his food, quite pleased with himself.

notes It's a little scattered... but I was tired. Open to anyone ♥ Lyrics are from Secrets by One Republic.

[Damien Gregory Hawkins]

Near-constant brooding expressions were said to run in the Hawkins family. Any time one of them was silent and thinking about something, it was automatically assumed that the subject was something serious or dark. It added to the imposing presence that each family member carried about them. Damien Gregory Hawkins III, M.E. was no exception. There was no mistaking the commanding air, the confident set of the jaw. He was undoubtedly a Hawkins, no matter how much he went against the grain and acted independently of his family's influence. Honestly he was a much gentler, kinder, and more forgiving person than his father or even his brother. The pretentious title meant nothing to him. He would never present himself with his full name. He was Damien to associates, Ian or Hawkins to friends, and Mr. Hawkins to students.

Regardless, he couldn't do much about his facial structure. Striding down the streets of Orlando, people took in the fine clothes, sharp eyes, and brooding expression and pegged him as a rich prick. He had grown accustomed to it ages ago and thus did not register the quick glances and flashes of judgement. What he did register was that he was quickly approaching his destination: Rangetsu. He straightened the cuff of his black dress shirt and entered the building.

The man walked across the room to the counter and took a seat. Soft music filled the restaurant with a peaceful ambiance. Ian was in a good mood, going over the events of the day. He had had a satisfying day of teaching. His first period class were finally starting to understand aerodynamics. As much as it probably pissed them off, Ian like to assign homework that went beyond simple flying drills. He wanted his students to understand the science behind how and why they did what they did, and how different birds used slightly different techniques. While subbing for a Freshman science class he had begun to slip in some information on aerodynamics from his own curriculum to make it easier on himself if any of those kids happened to make their way into his class. He figured that if he was going to make the effort to take a class temporarily then he had every right to further his own agenda.

As he sat at one of the tall chairs and accepted a menu, the man surveyed his surroundings. Now that his mind was in the present he appeared much more open and approachable. After a minute of looking over his options, Damien chose the salmon and a glass of chardonnay. While he waited he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and checked it for calls.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki pulled his hood over his head, still humming softly to himself. His black jeans blended into the darkness that formed under the counter, and his white panda hoodie stuck out like a swollen thumb in the restaurant full of muted browns and grays. The fact that the hood had little added panda ears that he had sewn on himself didn't help with much. He filled in the answers to a few more questions, smiling at the waitress when she brought his food. He was in an oddly good mood today, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was because he had gone hiking earlier today, so he had plenty of energy still lingering around. He was practically bouncing up and down in his seat as he finished up one page of the homework, only calming down a bit when he remembered that the whole packet was due tomorrow. He wasn't even halfway done with it... Well, he supposed that was what happened when your first copy of the homework was shredded and you were only left with one day to do a two-day packet. He sighed softly, taking a bite of his food. It was pretty good, actually. But he supposed that he wasn't as biased against the Japanese cuisine as the rest of his family was. He smiled a bit to himself, now glad that he had come alone. He parents would have made this situation... awkward. Though the lack of adult supervision made the whole schooling thing awkward, too. He was pretty sure that the school knew that he was living in the States alone... but he couldn't be sure. It wasn't like they checked up on him or anything, and he hadn't gone to see the middle initials counselor in a while.

He glanced around as he heard the door open, surprised to see someone walk in. It wasn't even lunch rush or anything, and the room had been pretty empty for the past ten minutes. He blinked, also surprised at who it was. One of the teachers at Sabal. It was common to run into other students when he was in the city, but he normally didn't see teachers. Or freshmen, or that matter. It was kind of a necessity to have a car in a city like this, and Nicki only made it because he was so used to walking everywhere he went. It was a few miles from Sabal to Rangetsu, seeing as the school had to be separated from the rest of the city. Couldn't have citizens accidentally wandering in when the big animals were hunting, could they? That would be pretty hard to explain; why exactly the private highschool had predators lurking on campus. Nicki snickerd slightly to himself, amused at the thought. He would rather a civilian be eaten than for he himself to be.

But, yeah, he knew this teacher. He had been subbing for Nicki's science class when the teacher had a fever, and that had been a lot lately. Nicki respected his style of teaching; to ignore the misbehaving and stupid kids and focus on the ones that really wanted to learn. Too many of the other teachers tried to force the stupider kids to learn, and all that ended in was endless hours of sitting and waiting for answers. It frustrated him, when Nicki already knew the answer and the person that had been called on spent twenty minutes looking for the notes he hadn't taken. No, Nicki wasn't a nerd or anything, but he wasn't stupid either. He didn't like the classes, but when he knew the answer to he wanted to be called on. To show that he was better than the rest of the class. He wasn't exactly competitive, but he couldn't stand to be forced into groups. That was why he hated highschool so much; the endless sorting. He waved the Damien, grinning from ear to ear. This was one rare day that he was energetic and social, he might as well make use of it. "Mr. Hawkins!" he called, not so loud that he would disturb the other people eating, but loud enough for the teacher to be able to hear him. He motioned for Damien to come sit next to him, still grinning.

[Damien Gregory Hawkins]

Damien lifted his gaze from the screen of his phone at the sound of his name. His teacher name. He didn't look around right away, trying to come up with a plan of action first. It was undoubtedly a student, although he couldn't recognize the voice. And they were in a restaurant where he had already ordered, so he couldn't exactly leave. The man was anti-social, he just didn't much like the thought of helping some kid with their homework after school was over for the day. As far as he was concerned, as soon as the last bell rang he was out the door and ceased to be Mr. Hawkins. He'd already looked up, though, so there was no way he would get away with ignoring the kid now.

Turning his head to the right and then to the left, Damien tried to locate the origin of the voice. Before long his eyes landed on a small, waving boy. His brows drew together as he tried to remember who he was. He was a freshman at the private school, but not one of his own. Probably from a different class then, one that he was subbing for. Right, the moody Korean kid. And he wants me to come over. And he has homework. Perfect. Summoning his professional-looking, friendly teacher face, the falcon shifter pushed away from the counter, grabbed his glass of wine, and moved down until he was standing at Nicki's shoulder.

The closer he got, the more he remembered. Nicki was a very bright student, a little skittish, sometimes acted like he had something to prove, but was overall a good kid. Damien scanned the sheets of paper on the counter, now fairly sure that this boy, at least, wouldn't need homework help. He set his glass of Chardonnay on the counter and sat, waving a hand at one of the staff to indicate that he had moved, but not left. Focusing his attention on the freshman, Damien took in his attire without a word. People had a right to dress and act any way they pleased, within reason. A 5' something freshman probably had to go the extra mile to stand out. If panda ears were the new extra mile, then so be it.

"How are you doing, Nicki?" Damien alternated between calling students by their first names and their last names. Often times he knew their last names more readily than their first, so he went by that until he remembered their given name. He took a sip of his wine, wondering absently if it was totally appropriate for a student to see his teacher drinking an alcoholic beverage. It didn't matter; this was still a free country. Besides, they weren't at school, just two people bumping into each other out and about. The fact that he didn't know any kids besides his students and some nieces and nephews wasn't the point. With a one-sided smile he asked, "You won't think less of me if I order another glass, will you?" He was joking, obvious from the fact that he still had half a glass left.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki smiled as Damien walked over, noticing the glass of wine in his hand but not commenting. Adults were entitled to drink, and it was a public place, so Nicki didn’t see any harm whatsoever. He stopped humming, slightly embarrassed of the specific song that had been running through his head. All songs had double means these days, and Nicki wasn’t so innocent that he couldn’t pick up on the fact that they were all centered around sex. He was innocent enough that he focused on the meanings that weren’t perverse, but he still felt uncomfortable humming when adults were around. But, hell, it wasn’t his fault. Even classical music was passionate enough that it could be about ancient civilizations having sex. Modern music just wasn’t as subtle about it, which was kind of annoying, but whatever.

The freshman had already realized that Damien would probably think that he wanted help with the homework out on the counter next to him, but he really didn’t. Nicki was just being oddly social today, really truly. He didn’t have any ulterior motives this time, though normally the student wouldn’t talk to anyone else if it didn’t have anything in it for him. Anyway, the homework wasn’t even for the science class that Damien had subbed in; it was for American History. He didn’t mean to be rude or anything, but he honestly didn’t think that Damien would be too much help with that subject. It was just the fact that Nicki had little to no time to finish the damn thing that he had taken it out in a public restaurant. He sighed, knowing that it was rude enough to be preoccupied while eating and even ruder to have out an alternate activity while talking to someone. Tucking the homework back into the schoolbag hanging on the back of his chair, he smiled up at the taller man. ”I’m good. A bit bored with all the homework other teachers gave me, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. What about you?” he responded, looking at the floor. Sure, he might have been overly social today, but compared to other people’s normal attitudes he was still socially awkward. He couldn’t talk to anyone while looking them in the face, he was just odd like that. And so many other ways.

The odd thing about teachers at Sabal was that they all seemed to be predatory. It made Nicki pretty nervous around them, but the knowledge that they would be fired if they killed him… honestly didn’t help much. He would still be killed, whether they were punished or not, and that fact upset him just a bit. It also upset him that he was constantly brooding on this topic, whenever and wherever, he was always afraid of being eaten. Sometimes he thought that he would do much better in a public highschool for normal humans, but he guessed that no one would allow that. After all, he still couldn’t control he whole shifting when panicked thing, and Nicki panicked a lot by nature. Even if he wasn’t in any danger of being eaten, he was still prey in the loosest sense of the word. He was a five-foot-one freshman in a building full of other students, even if said students couldn’t change into giant animals, he was still in danger of being shoved into a locker or something.

Nicki snickered at Damien’s little joke about the alcohol. Though his mother hadn’t approved in the least bit, his father had taken a very European approach to underage drinking, and Nicki had sometimes had a bit of his parents’ wine at dinner. He was honestly quite used to it, though he didn’t like the taste very much. What with him being so solitary, he wasn’t one to give into peer pressure, and would likely be a designated driver at parties as soon as he got a license. And as soon as he was ever invited to a party, of course. ”Nah, I won’t judge you. It’s a free country, just don’t get drunk or anything,” he said, giggling. Honestly, Nicki was acting a little tipsy himself. Probably because he hadn’t gotten any sleep last night.

[Damien Gregory Hawkins]

The man had to raise a disinterested eyebrow when the freshman shoved his homework back into his bag. He probably should have said something, but honestly, the teacher wasn't in the mood. Nicki could do whatever he wanted to do with his time. But if he suddenly discovered that he had a bird shift and wound up in his class he'd find an utterly unforgiving teacher. Damien wasn't strict, but when a kid fell out of his favor they were practically dead to him. And he made the bad kids do all the boring demo flights and extra work. There was something unquestionable about Damien's authority. He wouldn't think that his bored expression and disinterested air would garner much respect. However the dedicated students paid attention like he was a prophet. Which was a nice ego trip, admittedly.

Nicki wasn't likely to gain another shift any time soon though. Wasn't he supposed to be some sort of rodent or a bunny rabbit or something? Whatever it was, it definitely contributed to his nervousness around physically larger and more intimidating individuals. He hoped that the freshman felt safe around his teachers, at least. Ian was an avian, a predatory one, but he didn't hunt and kill in his shift form. He could, he even taught arial hunting, but he made sure to specify to the few students in that class that it was just another level of mastery, not necessarily a skill that they should use day to day.

Leaning against the back of his chair, Damien stretched out his arms. "I was never a fan of homework either. Trust me, it just gets worse and worse. The best advice I can give you is to not fall behind. Or make some really smart, meek friends." Again the joking tone filled out his voice, and the fleeting smile flashed across his face. Rubbing the back of his neck, the teacher said, "I can't complain. Easy day of school, nice weather, I've got one of my niece's birthdays coming up..." He didn't elaborate, knowing that teenagers were instantly bored when they had to listen to stories and details about other people's kids. He smiled thinking about it though. Damien reveled in his role as the "fun uncle." His siblings were so uptight and strict that sometimes he pitied the kids. He'd turned out fine though, so he couldn't judge too harshly.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki glanced up at Damien, confused. He hadn't missed the raised eyebrow; the pika shifter was more perceptive than people gave him credit for. ”What, you want me to take it out again? I can do it later,” he grumbled, probably misreading the man's reasons for raising his brow. It could mean a million things; Nicki just assumed that he was silently commenting on the fact that he had put his homework away. And even if he was, Nicki had probably read the comment wrong. He never spent much time around other people, so you really couldn't blame him. It wasn't like he had much practice understanding facial expressions. He had, what, two friends? Maybe less; he wasn't sure if his roommate counted as a friend or not. They shared a room, sure, but it wasn't like they had chosen to be together. Well, whatever.

The freshman didn't have much of an ego. Seeing as he was constantly pushed around, it was kind of impossible to have one. Nicki was surprised that he even managed to keep a shred of his self-esteem around him, like he was clutching at a worn and bitten piece of fabric. He was already skittish by nature, and he didn't think that constant fretting and stress would help with anything. No, he knew that it wouldn't help with anything. Even once he was in his senior year, he would probably be so scarred from the past three grades that he would still be expecting to be beaten up. And maybe he would be beaten up in senior year; he was short, it was easy to assume that he was many years younger than he really was. Hell, some people in the streets had told him where the elementary was, though he thought that they were joking. They better have been joking. If they weren't, someone was getting hurt. Well... Nicki wouldn't hurt anyone, because he couldn't. Emotionally, he just couldn't raise his hand to hit anyone, unless he was really mad. Physically, he had amazing stamina but no power behind punches. He would just get himself hurt if he tried to fight. Maybe he could get someone else to do it for him, but that would just hurt his pride worse than any punch could.

He groaned softly when Damien said that it would just get worse. ”Yeah, that's really helpful,” he said, scoffing. 'It'll just get worse' was almost as bad as 'deal with it'. Like he wasn't already trying that. ”I'm smart...” he said, pouting slightly. He was only a tad bit offended, but Damien had only ever subbed for one class he was in. It wasn't like the teacher knew everything about the student. Actually, Nicki was glad that Damien didn't know much about him, it was better that way. But it hurt to think that Damien hadn't noticed that he was smarter than the average student. Sure, he got bad grades, but you couldn't judge him on little letters that showed up on a computer screen, right? His brain was perfectly capable of working, he just didn't have the motivation to carry out the action. ”And why do they have to be meek?” he asked to change the topic. Nicki was... meek. He would never admit it to himself, but he was. He was a complete and utter wimp, and there was no denying it. Well, you couldn't deny it if you were anyone but Nicki, because Nicki himself somehow managed to delude himself into thinking that he was just as confident as any other student. Of course, was just meek in some ways; in other ways he wasn't. Nicki would do absolutely anything someone told him to do without commenting or complaining, but only if they were the extremes on the bar. Simply put, he would only follow those who he loved or those who terrified the shit out of him.

He smirked. ”It was a good day or school for you. Think of all the kids that had to sit through your classes.” Nicki included himself with those other kids, seeing as Damien had subbed for science today. It wasn't that Nicki disliked Mr. Hawkins, it was just that... well, he liked other classes much better. Like Choir. He loved Choir whenever he attended it, which honestly wasn't all that often, seeing as he normally ended the school day early and went on a walk around campus or something. But, yeah, there were classes that he preferred over science, even when Damien was teaching it. He just didn't see the point in it. Earlier versions of human life had survived just fine without mathematics and sciency-type stuff, so why was this generation pushed so hard to learn it? He knew that if he asked he'd just get an odd look and a short answer, so he kept silent.

Nicki blinked at Mr. Hawkins, having to tilt his chin to look him in the eye. ”You have a niece? That's cute.”

[Damien Gregory Hawkins]

Damn it Ian, school your expression a little better. You don't want to make the wrong impression. The man sighed, kicking himself inwardly. He didn't think that the freshman had responded the way he ha because he was an authority figure. It wasn't like his opinion mattered. His expression had indeed been misread, but he attributed it more to the ever brooding and disapproving look that he couldn't shake than to Nicki's judgement. He waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, I honestly don't care. I'm here to eat, and so are you." To further illustrate his point he leaned forward and took a bit of his salmon.

Ian stared at his wine glass pensively. He recalled Nicki's statement with a smirk. Getting drunk on wine at dinner, alone... that would just be sad. And no, a fifteen year old didn't count as company when it came to drinking. He turned his head to look at said fifteen year old again. His advice on homework clearly had gone unappreciated. Oh well, it was the truth. You had to learn dedication early and stick with it. Surprisingly enough, Damien had been a respectable student. Despite his laziness and boredom with school, he still managed to plow through his workload. It had helped that his parents were rigid and strict with their rules. Actually, that probably had contributed the most.

The mumbled comment made the teacher look closely at Nicki's face. He hadn't meant... "I know that. Give me some credit, Michigan. I am an actual, full-blown teacher. I know how to read people." He kept his voice gentle, fighting against slipping into the lecturing tone that was sure to make the freshman tune him out. He wanted Nicki to hear him and know that he meant what he said. The fact that he had bothered to say anything was a good sign, even if Damien had never meant it that way. It helped to know your own strengths and not let people get you down. "As for the meek thing... I was just joking. It would be hard to make a bully do your work for you, wouldn't it?" Damien honestly didn't know about Nicki's issues at school. If he thought about it he would probably guess, but he was a teacher, and things like bullying always went on when people like him weren't in sight.

Getting back to his early dinner, Damien shot a sidelong look at the freshman. Swallowing, he said, "Excuse me? My classes are excellent. Compare me to the drone you normally have. And don't try to defend her. She's a drone. And it's not like chlorophyll and mitochondria really give you a lot to work with." He laughed out loud, being careful to control his volume. He knew that he had an easy job, relatively speaking. Some days he felt like stalking out of the classroom or the field, where ever he happened to be teaching, and just leaving the students with 40 minutes to do with as they pleased. That wouldn't go over well with the school board though, so he persevered. Science and math were both dull classes at times; he much preferred teaching flying.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki looked up at the taller man, confused. He had said that he wasn't mad about Nicki putting his homework away, so he must have read his expression wrong. Nicki sighed softly. He was always doing that, and with people his age it tended to get him into more trouble. That was kind of annoying, but there really wasn't anything he could do about it. He couldn't learn to read faces unless he had more friends, and he couldn't make more friends unless he learned to read faces and avoid trouble. Well, he could always sulk around and watch other people having conversations, but he could be smelled by most of the other students if he was in a fifty-foot radius, so the lurking in the shadows option was out. But, of course, there was an opportunity sitting right next to him, wasn't there? If he could learn how to read the stony and terrifying Mr. Hawkins, he could learn how to read anybody. Or at least he could learn the theory. ”Why'd you raise your eyebrow, then?” he asked, not trying to be rude, even though it may have came out that way.

He smiled slightly at the comment about giving Damien credit. ”Hey, classes are big. Not everyone can pay attention to every single student.” Nicki didn't want to explain how he knew that. It wasn't like he had experience teaching or anything, but highschool classes were pretty big these days. ”And I know for a fact that you yourself ignore most of them,” he said, smirking. Mr. Hawkins was an interesting teacher, and Nicki had taken to watching him instead of listening to the lesson itself. The freshman curriculum was pretty much just a review of middle school with a few twists squeezed him here and there; it wasn't like he would learn anything new if he actually did listen to what Damien was saying. So, yeah, he had taken to watching Damien instead, trying to figure out why he was ignoring the... less able kids. It made Nicki happy that the class moved faster and everything, but wasn't the whole point of school to teach the stupid kids things they needed to know? Nicki just didn't get it.

The freshman leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. Make a bully do your homework? He had read about something like that in a book... except it had been a group of kids out on the street that had gotten a bully to protect them from other big kids. Nicki wasn't one for groups, and he didn't have any cinderblocks to threaten anyone with, so that plan of action wouldn't work. ”I suppose so... but I can do my homework just fine alone,” he said, eyes flashing with a bit of hurt as he looked back at Damien. He had said that he knew Nicki was smart, yet he was still insisting that Nicki had a problem with his homework? Or, at least, that was how Nicki saw it. Distrusting as he was, he also assumed the worst in what other people said. Another reason that the kid didn't have many friends.

Nicki grinned. ”Well, compared to Ms. Drone your classes are great. But only the nerds really enjoy school. Admit it, even you would rather be outside all day instead of teaching.” It was just another guess, but Nicki thought that it was pretty accurate. Teenagers these days were disrespectful and noisy to the extreme; any teacher would want to get away from it sometimes. He raised his own eyebrow at Damien. ”And why would I defend her?”

notes The book he's referring to is Ender's Shadow, btw

[Damien Gregory Hawkins]

Staring at the freshman that sat beside him, Ian was momentarily tempted to ask if he was a robot. Or an alien. Sent to Earth to study human behavior and then report back. Brushing away the foolish and potentially offensive thought, the man instead answered with, "It was just a wordless acknowledgement of what you were doing. Commenting to myself and deciding that your free time is your own." He couldn't really spell it out much clearer than that. This kid was going to have problems in the future if he always tried to analyze every subtle change in expression whenever he was talking to someone. Damien didn't get annoyed though. He could tell from Nicki's tone that he was just curious, not being confrontational. He wasn't sure how he'd respond if the freshman started to come across as rude and confrontational. Well, that wasn't going to happen for now, anyway, so he let the thought pass.

As the conversation progressed, Ian found himself wishing that he had Nicki as a permanent student. It was a shame he was a pika and not an avian of some sort. As moody and socially awkward as Nicki was, Damien liked bright kids. Damien didn't ignore the slower kids, just the delinquents. If you weren't interested in him, he wasn't interested in you. It didn't return the best grades, but everyone was happy. He hadn't missed the strength of Nicki's attention in the classes he had subbed, although he doubted it had been because of the riveting material they were covering.

The avian shifter's gaze focused suddenly on the freshman when he commented on Damien's teaching style. It was one thing to acknowledge it to himself, but an entirely different thing for a student to point it out. "Do you know what my shift is, Nicki? I'm a falcon. I don't miss anything that goes on under my watch." He didn't bother to take the edge off of his words with a follow-up comment, preferring to let his message hit with full strength. His eyes were indeed sharp. Despite the impression he might give, Ian was aware of everything that went on in the immediate vicinity. Students may get away with not participating, but there was a reason that his classes went without any disruptions.

The man pushed his plate away and sipped the last of his wine. His homework comment had referred to laziness rather than incapability, but he could see how the freshman might have interpreted it that way. He simply shrugged and let the topic drop. He had to smile when Nicki spoke next. Even me? Right, because adults are supposed to stay inside and work. He knew it wasn't meant like that, though, so he just laughed quietly."This is true," he said pensively. "Although, I do get to teach the majority of my classes outside anyway. So, like I said, can't complain. It would be terribly inconvenient to try to teach flying indoors. Absolute chaos." He smirked, picturing how the class would go. All the bird-shaped outlines on the windows, feathers everywhere... No, being outside was definitely a necessity. "I see your point, though. I do love my free time." It was true. He loved going home to his apartment, wrapping himself in the absolute silence and solitude that came with living alone. No one to pester you with questions or non-critical injuries from failing to take off or land properly. Some people just weren't cut out to have avian shifts. Often the knowledge that there was an empty apartment and a cold drink waiting for him got him through the last part of the day.

"I don't know, maybe you felt some sort of compulsion to stick up for one of your teachers. How was I supposed to know if you had any loyalty to your educators?" The shifter laughed again, comfortable with this informal atmosphere. So far he didn't think anything he had said would come back to bite him later, which was definitely a positive.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

So maybe Nicki really was an alien, because he couldn't resist asking Damien more questions. Wasn't that a trait that teachers liked in students? Curiosity? The fact didn't cross Nicki's mind as he blurted out the first thing that did come to it. ”Like a mental note or something? Why didn't you just say something out loud?” Yeah, he was definitely acting like an alien. Maybe not a robot, though; robots couldn't experience human emotion, right? He didn't analyze everyone that he came across, which was good. Otherwise, Damien was right, Nicki was going to have problems if he acted this was around everyone. It was just the public space and the good food that made him so comfortable and talkative, maybe the hiking he had done earlier. Well, not hiking exactly. Wandering through the city like a homeless kid, but at least his legs had been moving. Nicki had always loved exercise of any kind, and had briefly thought about joining the track team before deciding against it. Teams of any sort were a turn-off for Nicki.

The freshman wished pretty much the same thing that Damien did; that Nicki could be his full time student. Or rather, Mr. Hawkins become Nicki's full time science teacher. Nicki was perfectly content with his shift, and he didn't want to change it to an avian. That would just cause all sorts of unnecessary things, like learning how to fly and such. He liked Damien's style of teaching, no matter how many little jokes Nicki could make at its expense. But Nicki just really didn't want to be a bird, sadly. True, wit him being a pika, he was constantly bullied, but that would happen anyway. Being a pika was just fine, it was the insane amounts of predators in the school that was the problem. Well, that was how Nicki saw it, even if some other students and teachers disagreed.

Nicki's posture stiffened noticeably when Damien told him what his shirt form was. The student had guessed that it wasn't something cute and harmless, but didn't falcons eat small animals? Yes, yes they did. He watched Damien warily, wondering why exactly he had told him that. Was he trying to terrify the small fifteen year old? Because Nicki was definitely terrified. ”Watchful. Okay,” he managed to say, his voice a little higher than usual as he leaned back in his chair, his food pretty much untouched. He shook his head violently, not caring what Damien thought of it. It was silly of him to be scared, he knew that, but it was just an automatic reaction. When you learned that someone had the potential to hurt you, you got scared, right? Right. Nicki took a deep breath a tried to relax, knowing that if the man had wanted to hurt him he could have done it a long time ago. The innocent sentence had just been said to point out that Damien could keep his eye on everyone, not that he was planning on having his shift eat Nicki. He was just being silly with all this paranoia.

Nicki smiled at the thought of thirty birds trying to learn to fly in one classroom. He didn't think it would be chaos; just interesting to see. Maybe a bit of a mess to clean up at the end of the day, but not bad in the literal sense of the word. ”Chaos... but cool, at the same time,” he murmured, still caught up in his thoughts. The kid giggled slightly at one of them, then looked back up at Damien. ”Of course. Who doesn't like free time? It would be weird if you didn't.” School; there was no point to it in Nicki's immature mind. It was just a big building that was designed to trap hundreds of kids under the pretense of teaching them. Obviously, the real reason was to turn them into mindless zombies that would one day be used as adults. Weren't adults mindless zombies, too? They just worked and worked all day, what was the point? It was so much simpler back in a time Nicki didn't remember, when people lived in clans and shared all the work equally, with no such thing as currency to worry about. Why couldn't modern people do that?

He snorted, rolling his eyes at Damien. ”Educators? It's not like we learn anything terribly useful...”

[Damien Gregory Hawkins]

Damien blinked. Really? This such a fascinating topic that I need to go into more detail? Running a hand through his hair, the man leaned back in his chair and thought. His expression took on the characteristic brooding appearance as he puzzled out a way to answer Nicki. "I didn't exactly make a note of anything. I just.... noticed. And I didn't say anything because I really, truly, don't give a damn. Honestly. I said that before." He was going to try and think of another way to put it, but stopped himself. He didn't have to explain himself to a 15 year old boy. He could do with his facial muscles as he pleased. Take that back to the Mothership, kid.

Feeling satisfied with his decision, Damien's expression brightened and relaxed again. Honestly, the freshman hadn't been this talkative in school. Withdrawn was what he'd been. Maybe the strain of a day filled with classes that clearly didn't interest him had taken their toll. In any case, Nicki seemed to be in a much better mood at the moment. Ian wondered if he had any friends. Had he been a Guidance Counselor he might have asked outright. Actually, were counselors allowed to ask things like that? Ian surely couldn't remember, and he didn't speak much with the counselors at Sabal Palm. Which reminded him, wasn't there a staff meeting coming up? Fuck. No work thoughts. Slouching down in his seat, the man mentally waved away those pesky responsibilities, resolving to savor the moment.

And then he went and terrified a student. It wasn't completely obvious to the casual observer, but being right next to Nicki made it pretty hard to miss that his comment had unnerved him. Prey animal. Right. Should have kept that in mind. Then again, part of him thought that it was good that his point had hit home. It was a very small, cold, and cruel part though, so he found himself looking away from Nicki. It wasn't shame that prompted it, just a desire to give him a moment to chill out. Dragging his gaze along the trim around the ceiling, Ian couldn't help but wonder if Nicki was a special case. His shift was a prey animal, but it seemed to affect him more strongly than the average shifter. As a falcon, Damien only weighed around 3 pounds, but he had no problem around people whose shift tipped the scales into the hundreds. He also knew some other people with herbivorous shifts, and they handled social situations normally enough. The freshman was probably naturally skittish. The pika shift probably just compounded the problem.

The man shugged. "Cool, if you don't mind mid-air collisions and students going into shock from slamming into windows." If Damien had known Nicki's thoughts of adults... well, he wouldn't be surprised. However, he'd feel obligated to explain that he did, in fact, have a life outside of work. "As a teacher, I should feel obligated to try to convince you otherwise." But, he didn't. Not in the least. Well, he might as well give it a half-assed try. "There's some useful stuff scattered throughout the curriculum. The shifter classes, at the very least, are important. You need to learn control over your shifting. Some of the math has practical applications, science teaches you about the world, history... well... forget that one... English keeps you literate. Really, school is meant to exercise your brain while it's still developing." He wasn't overly proud of his explanation, and he doubted something so underwhelming would change anyone's mind, but he had stayed honest, at least.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

To Nicki, it truly was a fascinating topic. Damien’s facial expressions were… odd, to the Korean kid that acted so much like an alien. The corners of his mouth turned down a bit at Damien’s response, but he finally ended the stream of questions that had been pouring out of his mouth since Damien had raised his eyebrow. It wasn’t that he was trying to annoy Damien, it was just that he was… well, curious. Yes, in a very annoying way, but you couldn’t blame him for that. He was annoying by nature, small and rabbit-like, skittish, but he asked a lot of annoying questions when he was comfortable in a situation. So, really, his endless stream of speech was a good sign. A sign that he liked Damien, no matter how much it seemed like he was an alien trying to understand the human facial features. He nodded, still frowning at Damien’s response. Damien didn’t care about him? Maybe he was just reading too much into it, like he had with the shift comment. Trying to understand, instead of just going along with the flow. That was what you were supposed to do in school, right? Just sit there like a vegetable and absorb information like a sponge, waiting until you were an adult so you could actually make use or yourself in this world that didn’t make any sense.

Nicki hadn’t been to see his counselor in a while. He didn’t want the help of some person that was paid to sit there and ask you about your life under the pretense of helping. It wasn’t like they actually wanted to help, after all. Weren’t the counselors just in it for the money? Nicki knew that he would be. Then again, he couldn’t imagine himself sitting still for hours and listening to kids talk. He scraped his shoe against the floor, having to reach quite a bit to get the tip of it to the wooden tiles. It was pathetic, how short he was. He wanted a growth spurt, but he just wasn’t getting one. It made him angry, how everyone else his age was almost six feet and he was just… tiny. Like a bug. Like a pika. Like a damn animal that he didn’t want to be, and he was skittish like one too. Mind and body were separate things for him. There were the instincts to run and hide and clam up that he would have had even if he didn’t change into a rabbit-ish thing, and then there were his coherent thoughts that were telling him that he was stronger than that, that he could fight, that he didn’t have to run from every single thing that scared him. The mind was the one that was on a rant at the moment.

If he didn’t mind mind-air collisions and students going into shock from slamming into the windows? It wasn’t like he would be participating in such activities, anyway. ”Yeah, then it’s cool,” he said, staring out the windows that sat on either side of the door. It wasn’t like pikas could fly, do he didn’t exactly understand the concept of slamming into windows. There wasn’t really an on-ground equivalent, right? Apparently, flying came with a lot of dangers that running around on mountains didn’t. You couldn’t really slam into anything it you were focusing on the ground in front of your paws and could come to a complete stop pretty fast. Then again, you couldn’t fall of cliffs if you could fly. Nicki giggled slightly at the though of a bird falling off a cliff. A full-grown bird, not one that hadn’t learned to fly yet. That would be amusing, really, it would.

He sighed as Damien’s little explanation of school. ”Okay, okay, I didn’t ask for a rant,” he said, rolling his eyes. There wasn’t any use to school, Nicki knew that, and Mr. Hawkins couldn’t convince him otherwise.

[Damien Gregory Hawkins]

Damien wondered if he'd offended the kid when he suddenly grew quiet. It was a little unnerving, having him go from talking endlessly to silence. Whatever he'd said that had affected Nicki, he was completely unaware. Teenagers were exhausting. Maybe Damien just wasn't cut out for teaching. All knowledge he had had about teenagers had evaporated when he turned 20. The 15 years following that had only served to further bury all understanding of adolescents. Ian suddenly felt old for a 35-year-old. Looking at the diminutive freshman sitting beside him only heightened the feeling. You're being ridiculous. Suck it up.

Damien leaned forward against the counter. "Hey! Can I get a beer?" One was promptly placed in front of him. The avian grabbed the bottle by the neck and took a sip. He knew that this was probably not appropriate. Still, it took more than a glass of wine and a single beer to get the man drunk.

Talking about flying inevitably led to thinking about flying. It was really a liberating feeling, shedding the hefty, ungainly human body for a lightweight, streamlined form. Sure, you had to deal with being smaller and much more fragile but once you go used to it it wasn't that much a drawback. He'd been shifting for three decades, so he was more than comfortable switching between bodies and perspectives.

He turned to look Nicki in the eye, a trace of his sharp falcon eyes visible in the intensity of his gaze. He swirled the amber liquid around in its bottle, trying to think of a way to reply that wouldn't intimidate the freshman. "I believe the word you're looking for is 'lecture'." Shrugging, Damien turned to look straight ahead. If he had actually been ranting, his tone would have been a little more... alarming. "All the same, you can think whatever you want to about school, as long as you keep going." Smirking, he said, "Besides, if you drop out then that's one less smart kid giving me a reason to come to work every day."

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki didn’t comment as the man ordered another beer, though a small smile did play across his lips as he looked at the floor. It wasn’t very easy to see that Nicki might have been annoying Damien a bit, but he guessed that he was. He annoyed everyone, he knew that by now. It wasn’t any use denying it, even though he denied so many other things. Like his height and the fact that he couldn’t punch anybody, his bad grades and the fact that he was lonely. He wouldn’t admit any of those to himself, kept them locked up in a little box and threw away the key. Of course, other people seemed to notice them anyway, but that didn’t make him believe them any more. He was wrapped him a little world created by his lies, and he was quite happy there. Sure, he would be even happier if he cleaned up the mess that he had created, but he didn’t know that. It was like discovering a chest of silver, completely oblivious to the one of gold right next door, so easy to reach. Why look for more when you thought that you had everything? He ran his fingers against the edge of the chair, the meal sitting next to him already gone.

The freshman knew that eventually he would have to fish out his wallet from the bag hanging on his chair, pay, and leave, but why couldn’t he hold it off a bit longer? He was happy to talk to Damien when he wasn’t masquerading as Mr. Hawkins, it interested him. The alcohol interested him too, and his eyes flashed towards the bottle of beer, but that was something he didn’t comment on. Here in America underage drinking wasn’t legal; not that the little rule stopped most teenagers from throwing parties specifically meant for getting drunk. It was still amusing to watch Damien drink, though Nicki had no idea why.

Rant, lecture, whatever. ”There’s no difference,” he said, shrugging. Well, at least, Nicki didn’t see any. He smiled a bit more when Damien said that he was smart, but didn’t respond. He was working hard to keeping himself from blushing, because that would just be odd. He shouldn’t blush at something a teacher said, because that would be taken the wrong way, right? He blushed at everything everyone said, but some people saw it differently than others. But no matter how hard he tried, his cheeks wouldn’t listen to him. It was like they had minds of their own, and their only goal was to embarrass him. Dammit.