the hunt for vanilla bean [vincent]

[miller]

It was an odd feeling, to have nothing on his schedule.

Well, ‘nothing’ wasn’t quite correct. There were a handful of Biochem papers to grade, a lesson plan to finish for his powers class, and, oh yeah, that whole find-a-cure-for-his-dying-wife thing. But Miller’s efforts in that last area were exhausted at this point, and quite frankly, the rest of his school-related tasks were not nearly as important to think about now.

Dean hadn’t been in Silas’ teacher’s lounge for nearly a year. There had simply been too much on his plate, what with developments at LifeCore, Jenna, and the Academy, to lounge. Not that he was here to do that now. No, Dean Miller was opening the door to the teacher’s lounge solely for the purpose of a hot cup of coffee. After a 2-day run of sitting in his office, he had cleaned out the Math and Science department’s supply of Fresh Vanilla Bean. He was here now, his mind still preoccupied with his talk with Daniel that had ended not twenty minutes earlier, but for the first time in a while, he nearly felt relieved. At this point, there wasn’t much more he could do other than wait for Daniel to report back to him.

Miller entered the room, a white lab coat billowing out behind him, and a regal blue LifeCore embroidered on the breast pocket . He had about an hour before he had to be down at the lab and was in dire need of caffeine to keep him competent. “This will be the last time I do this for a while,” Dean mumbled to himself as he headed over to the cupboards. He used his ability to swing open the cupboard above the lounge’s coffee pot, and reached up to rifle through packets of coffee mix. These all-nighters would have to stop. Even though it was difficult to put down your work when you were on a roll, Miller understood that he would not be able to keep up a stream of quality research when he was running on such little sleep. Now that a plan of attack was set in motion, Dean could finally get some rest and not feel guilty about it. Still, there was always that impulse to keep going—he would just have to learn to subdue it until there was news from Daniel.

The professor rifled with the coffee packets until he found his precious Fresh Vanilla Bean and began hastily setting up the coffee pot. Once he’d finished, he turned around to face the lounge and leaned on the counter tiredly. Dark eyes gazed over the couches in the corner and the board-game cabinet next to them; Dean could remember at the beginning of his teaching career enjoying a drunken game of Mouse Trap with a few of Silas’ other professors after-hours. His eyes glossed over. Funny what a few years could do. Mouse Trap sounded absolutely infantile right now.

He brought his hands up to his face in attempt to rub the need for sleep out of his eyes. The noise of the coffee maker finally beginning to drip almost caused him to smile.

[vincent]

Vincent Monroe was rather distracted as he walked through the halls to the teacher's lounge, his hands filled with folders that had the files of the students in his classes. He didn't need much for the two elective classes he taught, but intro to power control had him working with virtually any student who came through the doors of the school after he assumed his job. This meant that even though he would take time in class to learn about them, he needed to look over their files for any of those little 'red flags' that might pop up, the type that didn't normally mean a problem student, but rather what kind of power that they had so he could be prepared for how to work with them.

He had chosen to grab a bite to eat at the lounge while looking over them instead of being in his office. He was most of the way through and while his work ethic was admirable, he was already due for a break and actually seeking something of a distraction. Right now he looked rather disheveled, his hair in it's odd mess and his button down shirt slightly wrinkled with the sleeves rolled up and untucked. He had every appearance of the studious teacher who was too caught up in his work for the time being.

Giving a wave of his hand, the door to the lounge opened up and he walked inside, still looking over the files. The amount of variety in abilities never ceased to amaze him, which was why he was three quarters the way through the files instead of only about a third like he had planned. As he entered a pleasing aroma reached his nose and he looked up from his files and noticed another man in the room.

It was yet another person he had never met before, not really a surprise as he hadn't even been at the Academy for two full weeks. He still had only met a few members of the staff so far, and probably not even close to half of them.

"Well, I guess I really shouldn't be surprised to find someone else here." He said warmly as he closed the folder in his right hand and lifted the left one up in greeting.
"Vincent Monroe, a pleasure to meet you. I must say from the smell you have a good taste in your stimulant of choice." He said in the way of greeting as he set the folder on one of the tables and walked over with one hand extended."

[miller]

Dean lifted his face from his hands at the sound of the lounge door swinging open. He propped his chin on his fist and crossed his arms, observing the other professor.

He looked young. That put Miller off right away, as it seemed that many of the younger teachers at Silas had some sort of superiority complex. Undoubtedly, this one would be just the same, probably thinking that just because Silas harbored students who could squirt water from their ears, they didn’t have to take their teachings seriously. The disheveled look of the other man kept Miller from judging too harshly, however. It was obvious he was absorbed in whatever it was that he was reading—almost so much, that he hadn’t noticed Miller—and that reminded Miller all too much of himself.

Dean’s eyebrows raised slightly as the man began talking but his expression didn’t brighten any more than that. He didn’t have much energy for polite conversation right now, but the other man’s mention of his coffee was nearly enough to keep him going.

His gaze rested on the folder the other professor set down. Student Files? Like a switch, his interest was piqued. It wasn’t peculiar for a teacher to be reading up on his students, in fact, Dean had just been doing the same for the last few hours in his office. But with Silas’ enrollment rate, there was no way he’d be able to get through each student, which was part of why he had Daniel as his scout. It hadn’t occurred to him until now to get another teacher’s perspective on any outstanding students with equally outstanding abilities. That ‘ability’ field in the student profiles never quite translated very well from paper to real life, anyway.

Ripping his eyes from the folder, he met Vincent’s greeting with a short handshake. ”Dean Miller,” he said simply. There was a slight pause before he started again with a, ”Ah…” and looked up toward the ceiling, closing his eyes, seemingly trying to recall something. ”Monroe…”, he repeated, letting the name roll off his tongue. His eyes came back down to Vincent. ”Our new Intro Control professor. I remember the email about you.” The email had been sent out to the existing staff to announce the arrival of anyone new. Dean tried his hardest to seem polite and look interested, but with Vincent looking to be maybe half his age and apparently new in the teaching field, it almost seemed a waste of conversation. Come back when you’re something, kid.

”I remember stepping in as a substitute once. I think we had at least four injuries that day, a few explosions,” Dean mentioned, his eyes glancing back to his now half-filled coffee pot, then up at Vincent. He forced a laugh, and a bitterness seeped through. ”You’re in for a treat with that one. Most of them haven’t got a clue on how to contain themselves, it’s a shame.”