I am NOT lost!

[kane]

Kane let his mind wander as he ambled through the hedges that formed the school's labyrinth. The beginning of the school year was always a little hectic, but Kane had enough years under his belt to be used to it. It just called for the occasional small break from everyone else. Usually he walked in the woods, or took a trip to the tavern for an adult-type beverage. Today, though, he thought he'd solve the labyrinth and probably walk through the fountain.

He turned a corner and found himself facing a dead end. Confused, he stopped, frowned at the offending plant wall, and then turned around. Now that he was paying attention, he realized he didn't recognize that wall either.

"Well...crap," Kane muttered, pivoting to glance once more at the dead end behind him. "How did I get here?" Talking out loud to himself was a habit he had picked up when on the run, ironically to keep himself from going insane. There had been jokes when he first started teaching about him being crazy, whispered behind hands when he passed. It had bugged him a little at first, but he let it go, figuring they'd die out eventually. The rumors only got worse. It wasn't until he addressed and explained - to some extent - to the class why he did it, that the whispers simply became simply jokes. Jokes that were often made to his face. Kane figured, since the kids took it so well, there was no need to stop. "That's west...I must have taken a wrong turn early."

[maxwell]

Hands shoved into the pockets of his khaki pants, Maxwell casually made his way through the twists and turns of the Labyrinth. One of the beautiful things about time travel was the specificity of it. He could pop into any given past at will, and the knowledge he picked up there was often applicable to his immediate future. For instance, not long ago he'd returned to a time when the hedge maze was still growing, its organization not quite complete. Now he could manipulate the difficult pattern with ease, often wandering the trails when he needed a little peace and quiet.

Now was one of those times. It wasn't rare for the history professor to be off on his own. There had been a time in his life where he was social, engaging, and made the effort to be friendly. But that part of him had been left in England. There was a lot about Maxwell that had been left in England. This shell of a man that wandered about, only his thoughts for company, was a vague shadow of his former self. He didn't wear heartache well.

Which is why crossing someone's path caught him a bit off guard. He'd been passing one of the many dead ends, when a voice pulled him out of his musings. Turning his head, it tilted slightly in one direction as he spied another professor. His steps slowed, feet almost shuffling as he debated what to do. Should he offer a bit of help? Or, should he keep up his cold front and continue walking, avoiding another social interaction? Whatever he decided, it had to be fast because the only way the other man could head was in his current direction.

[kane]

Rather than try and find a way out of the labyrinth, Kane had turned once again to glower at the first wall, as though it might suddenly split open to show him the way. So far, it hadn't. "C'mon, can't I get a break? Just this once? I'll stop...okay, I won't stop drinking. But I'll make the effort to pretend like I will if that'll get me out. Whaddaya say?"

He would have gone on - not that he actually thought the plants would listen, but he figured it was worth a try - except he heard the shuffling footsteps behind him. Turning, he saw another one of the teachers passing the opening at the far end of the plant hall. He was a British man, judging from the one or two times Kane had heard the man speaking to one of his class. (Outside of classes, Kane wasn't sure if the British man had ever even spoken to anyone.) He was about Kane's own height, dark-haired, and there was something about his eyes that Kane thought looked...guarded.

As to his discovery of Kane and his predicament, it appeared that the man had just glanced in, and Kane made a split-second decision. He raised a hand to catch the man's attention, and called out as he moved. "Hey! Do you happen to know where you're going? I got distracted and took a wrong turn and now I've got no idea where I am."

Hopefully this guy wasn't as anti-social as he appeared. Because, otherwise, Kane was in trouble.

[maxwell]

A hand waved in his direction and Max forced himself to stop. Crap. He'd been spotted. And he'd been asked a question. And now he couldn't just keep walking because that would be rude. Maxwell was always anything but rude. Well, he was never intentionally rude. The aura of depression that clung to him often made him standoffish and that in turn got interpreted as rude, but he couldn't exactly help it. The woman he'd loved for more than ten years had shattered his heart into tiny pieces. He was far from over Samantha, and the effect the divorce had on him was hard to keep a secret.

Which is why he offered that nervous half smile that never reached his eyes in greeting. Pulling on hand from his pocket, he ran his fingers through his hair. It was a nervous habit, one that had developed as a means to relieve frustration. On the bright side, it gave him something to do while he stood there, feeling rather out of place as he waited for the younger man to approach. It had been years since he'd last felt such strong alienation, back around the time he'd made his decision to stay in the future. Now he felt just as foreign: a regular fish out of water, a true Brit in America, the professor that did not socialize. He had yet to introduce himself to anyone beyond the headmistress and the students in his sections, and now he had no choice.

"Are you looking for the entrance or the exit?" he finally asked, accented voice soft but calm (and holding a touch of monotone). He thought it was a simple enough response, polite and informative despite being a question. Beyond that he said nothing else, refusing to open himself up. Maxwell had become a hard man to get to know; hopefully that would fade with time.

[kane]

It appeared this British guy was as anti-social as he first seemed. It didn't seem that he even wanted to stop to talk to him, though he did. There was no returning words at first, just a sort of smile and a hand run through his hair. Kane tried hard not to frown as he strolled forward, but he didn't think he'd been very successful. Through force of will and the continued thought of giving the benefit of the doubt had cleared it by the time he stopped in front of the other man. He had the feeling - whether it was imagined or not, he couldn't be sure - that his presence was making the man uncomfortable. Part of him wondered absently if this was a personal thing (if Kane had done something he was unaware of), or if it was just being in contact with another human being.

The man finally spoke to Kane, asking him for his destination. Kane chuckled slightly and shrugged, spreading his hands as he spoke. "I'm goin' to the middle. I think I'm gonna lie in the fountain." In Kane's experience, the fastest way to make someone else relax was to be as relaxed as possible yourself. So he continued smiling as easily as he could when he extended a hand to the Brit, "Name's Kane, the mythology teacher. You're new this year, aren't you? I don't think I've seen you around."

[maxwell]

The man, Kane, was friendly enough. But it didn't ease Max as much as he would have liked. The whole making friends thing had become a lot more difficult over the last few months. Depression did that. He had so strongly withdrawn himself from the rest of the world that his social skills had gone rusty. He could be polite, yes, but he was detached. His mind seemed elsewhere (which it was), and it was hard to tear down the barriers his subconscious had put up.

He extended his own hand, grip firm but gentle in the common greeting. That much, at least, had not changed in him. "Maxwell Goddard. I teach history." Kane had pretty much hit the nail on the head when he mentioned how new the time traveler was. An ironic thought really, considering that by now he should have been well into eighties. Again, his response was more out of politeness than any want to converse. But he did manage to put himself out there a bit, opting to not run from the idea of human contact now that it had pretty much fallen into his lap. And he kept the half smile, mentally talking himself into trying to relax. He couldn't avoid the other staff members for ever, but maybe he could at least learn which ones were worth steering clear of.

"It's a year of firsts, really. Up until a few months ago I was still living in England. It hasn't been the easiest adjustment." He paused, and then motioned for Kane to follow him. "It'd be, um, easier to show you the way." And with that he fell silent, not willing to open himself up any further. He was thankful for the ability to use his move as a scapegoat. It was a pretty big adjustment, and a difficult one at that. America was far from his beloved homeland, and pairing it with the divorce really hadn't helped his moods.

[kane]

Kane couldn't help a small smile as the man seemed to relax a little and offer his name. (Whatever the cause, at least the guy didn't seem so...bothered. Kinda.) Maxwell Goddard...old fashioned British, by the sound of it. "England, really? That's a long way to move. Mind if I ask why?" Kane knew he was treading on dangerous ground here. There were several people on campus who had pasts they preferred to keep secret, and some could take questioning...a little hard. Still, Kane figured he had to try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained - wasn't that the saying?

"You know, you're name sounds British. It's big...hard to remember. Speaking of, can I call you Max? My tiny, American brain...you understand, right?" He smiled as he continued to speak, determined to make the man laugh. Or at least make his smile reach his eyes.

The man's offer to show him the way was welcome, and he nodded, motioning the man on before falling into step beside him. "Actually, I was going to invite you to join me anyway. to the center; not necessarily in the fountain. I asked the P.E. teacher the same thing once, and she didn't take well." Kane chuckled slightly at the memory, clearing his throat slightly before continuing, "Though, in her defense, it didn't come out the way I had planned..." He knew there was no point to his chatting at this point, but he didn't think the other teacher would do much talking himself, and he didn't want to hear the silence. Besides, maybe a little pointless conversation was what Max needed.

[maxwell]

Max had always been good at keeping his true feelings restrained. Then again, he was British. The English had always had a somber manner about them, not giving into the wild, manic passions that had come to be praised as the American go-getter. So when his discomfort with the first question crept up on him, it was shown in more subtle ways. His biceps tightened, he ran a hand through his hair again, and his breathing was slightly more controlled. The reasons for his move were the last thing he wanted to discuss. Thankfully, he had long since worked up a number of back up plans in case someone dared to ask.

"The move came with the job. I thought my, talents, might be a bit more appreciated here at Silas. Positions like this one are hard to come by." His voice was a little tight, and he showed no humor at the attempted joke, but he had accepted the fact that company came with conversation. It was kind of nice, really, talking to someone that wasn't all business or lecture. A part of him missed this sort of connection with another human being. Unfortunately, that part of him was constantly dwarfed by the part suffering heart break. "Max is fine. I'll admit, you're the first faculty member I've actually met. I've spent more time trying to figure out floor plans than I have making introductions."

[kane]

Kane realized his mistake almost immediately. Not that Max had taken a swing at him or anything, but there was a tensing up. On top of that, a hand run through the hair meant something with most people - boredom, frustration, anger...a bizarre mix of two or more. But, again, Max made no move beyond that. In fact, to Kane's surprise, he got an answer. Kane let the attempt at humor pass, not sure if he was supposed to laugh or not anyway.

"Most of the teachers here have a similar story." He didn't expound on his own, it hadn't been asked and he wasn't used to spilling his guys about the past. "It's a good place to work. You see some weird stuff though, after a while." Not that much of it surprised him anymore. And he wondered suddenly how much Max had seen; how would he handle the school's oddities? Something Max had said pulled Kane abruptly from his thoughts and he frowned slightly, "I'm the first? No one visited you at your house? I got this crazy old lady - she's gone now - who brought me a bag of these cookies the size of your head that were hard as rock. If you didn't get something like that..."

The topic of houses and seeing people made Kane's mind wander to families. Kane had only his parents and sister, and the house was quiet a lot. Silence, as he'd demonstrated via chatter, was occasionally bad for the health. "Max, you got any family? Wife, kids?"

[maxwell]

Weird? Okay, maybe Max wasn't as stuffy as he usually came off because he actually cracked a smile. It wasn't a large one, but it was more natural than the polite one from before. So Silas Academy was "weird." Well then he'd fit right in in that respect. Not that he was going to comment about it, but he was technically eighty-nine years old. He'd just skipped a good portion of his time by choosing not to return. By now his parents were long dead (not that he couldn't visit them in the past), and his younger sister was in a nursing home.

It seemed both he and Kane had wandered down the mental path of family. Turning left at one of the hedges, they were slowly making their way closer to the center of the maze. But the history professor was not enjoying this new line of questioning. It was exactly the sort of discussion he had been trying to avoid. Maybe if he kept his answer short and curt he wouldn't be bothered too much. Again his hand was run through his hair, and he didn't look at Kane as he spoke. "I don't spend much time at the house if I can help it. And my daughter's still in England, with her mother. What about you?"

His voice was strained as he spoke, a lingering sadness to it that matched the vacant look in his eyes. That damn divorce was tearing him apart from the inside out. He couldn't even refer to his new residence as home. It was simply the house, a residence provided by the school for him to live in. He still hadn't unpacked a lot of his belongings. And forget meeting the neighbors. When he was home (which was rare) he never bothered to answer the door unless it was work related. Most of his free time was spent developing a mental map of the campus or at the coffee shop in town.

[kane]

Kane couldn't help the feeling of having won a small victory that Max's smile caused. It wasn't any massive grin, and certainly not a laugh. But it was a good start. Besides, now that he'd gotten the guy started, maybe he could get him to laugh.

Of course, then he saw Max's reaction to his question and he mentally kicked himself. He wondered which part of the question had bothered him. Max hadn't expounded on either part, and that made Kane a little nervous. Because he wasn't sure if he should press it or not. The comment about the house had seemed...too off-handed. Kane thought there might be a reason Max was avoiding his house, but... but it was the comment about his daughter was what struck Kane as weird. It was too short. Most dad's (Kane though, anyway) bragged about their kids when they got the chance. But he had gotten only her location, "with her mother."

That was the other part that struck him as odd. Not, "with my wife." Kane frowned, watching the maze in front of him as he thought over what that could mean. He had decided to ask, gently, about it when he saw the movement at a branch off a little way ahead. She was a very average-looking woman, not very tall, brunette, with non-descript clothes. She was only there for a second, passing from one side to the other in just a split second, before Kane killed the illusion. The urge to swear loudly was only checked by the fact that it would draw attention to the whole fiasco. And he didn't want that. In fact, he was busy praying that Max's wife was an extraordinarily beautiful blonde, or that, even better, Max just hadn't seen the woman.

"No, I'm not married. Never have been." His words came out a little rushed, and he took a small breath to slow them as he continued answering Max's question. "My parents are back in Colorado, and my sister's at school in Oklahoma."

[maxwell]

A silence seemed to fall between them, one that was slightly uncomfortable. But the silence was better than any more prying questions. It gave Max some time to gather his thoughts and clear his head. He needed to reevaluate, well, everything. The distance between himself and his daughter was eating at him, and until he figured out how to get her to Silas without further incurring Samantha's wrath he just didn't want to talk about her.

Both hands found their way back to his pockets, posture slumping with the weight of his problems. A movement in the distance caught his eye, a young woman making her way through the maze. One moment she was there, the next gone, vanishing into the many tangles of the Labyrinth. Max didn't so much as smile, disinterested in another's business. Everything, everyone he loved was back in England. It was simply bad luck that he had met Kane now; meeting someone else was the last thing he wanted.

Speaking of Kane, Maxwell shifted his eyes to glance at his silent companion. The man seemed somewhat distressed. And then he started rushing his words, spouting out information on his own family. A light shrug was the only acknowledgement Max gave. Then the silence fell again, just as uncomfortable as it was before. Because he had nothing he wanted to add, and he certainly wasn't going to elaborate. That topic had closed him off, shut him down. It was only when they turned another corner that he finally spoke, nodding his head in the direction he was indicating. "The center's just up ahead, a left at that wall."

[kane]

If Kane's mental kicking could cause actual physical damage, he'd have crippled himself. Not only had he managed to completely kill the conversation, but Max was back to what seemed like polite (if that) disinterest. Kane sighed and rubbed a hand across his mouth in frustration. Hated when he did stupid things like that. On the other hand, it opened up a wealth of new questions about his coworker. And, Kane decided as Max made a comment about the approaching center, he was going to ask those questions. Enough of this tiptoeing around.

"Look, Max, I dunno if I did something to make you so...polite to me. I'm not really used to it, I'll admit it. Most people either humor me, think I'm crazy, or punch me. Sometimes all three. But not this...barely reacting. And if I didn't do something and you just don't like people, then why help me out? You could have just pointed me in the right general direction and continued on your...not-so-merry way. Or just kept walking." He frowned and shook his head, running a hand over his mouth once more. Maybe this guys was starting to get to him; it wasn't a habit he normally entertained, but watching Max run his hand through his hair must have pulled it back to the surface. "I don't know what's up with your family, and you don't have to tell me, but for Pete's sake, smile a little. It might actually make you feel better."

[maxwell]

His right hand clenched in his pocket, and he pulled it out to run it through his hair again. But then he stopped, hesitating, pausing. Steps halted, body turning so that he could look squarely at the younger man. It was clear to see that Max had caused some sort of upset within him. He was ranting and annoyed, and it was all because Max couldn't keep his act together. He was running hot and cold, trying to be civil but unable to do so. Maybe he should go see a psychiatrist, or get a prescription, or something. Because lately it seemed like no matter what he did, someone ended up getting hurt. Depression did nothing but hurt.

His eyes were lifeless, empty, cold. Pain had worked its way into his expression and for a long moment he just stared, hard. Kane didn't get it. He'd never been married, so he wouldn't get it either. He couldn't possibly understand the sort of pain that came with the end of a fifteen year relationship or the heartache that accompanied not being able to see your daughter every day. He couldn't possibly know what it was like to have everything he cared for ripped away by a few sheets of signed and initialed papers.

Maybe that's why his own indignation boiled beneath the surface. He wasn't normally one to snap at people, but it happened from time to time. He'd been known to throw inattentive and misbehaving students out of his classroom (not physically of course). Which is why little thought went into what he finally said, voice detached and somewhat strained, not to mention a little sarcastic. "I got divorced less than three months ago. I apologize if my manners are off." Raw emotion, something not quite anger but just as hurtful, simmered in his eyes as he finally turned away, hands shoved back in his pockets as he again started walking towards the center of the labyrinth.

[kane]

Kane's self-righteous indignation was punctured by Max's short answer. The worse part was that Max hadn't yelled at him, hadn't even made an ugly face. If anything, the man's face had looked...emptier. Except his eyes. His eyes would have made Kane flinch, if he hadn't spent years on the street. As it was, he shifted slightly in place, guilt flushing through him. Okay...so that had been stupid. Max made no attempt to continue, but turned away from Kane and continued toward the wall he had earlier indicated.

"Max, wait." Kane moved to join the man once again, his voice a little more subdued now. "I'm sorry." It probably wasn't enough, he knew that. He also wasn't sure what more he could do. Kane had never been divorced, had only ever even considered marrying one girl, and so couldn't begin to fathom how Max felt. He could guess at a possible solution, though. Voicing it, however, was now something Kane did hesitantly. All he could do was hope that his foot remained out of his mouth this time. "Look, let me buy you a drink to make up for it. It kinda seems like that might be what you need anyway."