Under Construction: TOMU 2-36
Oct. 6th, 2011 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerin10/6/2011
3:00-3:30: 150 words
10/7/2011
2:00-2:30: 400 words (+250)
4:00-4:30: 700 words (+300)
6:00-6:30 1000 words (+300)
10/8/2011
Miscellaneous times: 2200 words (+1200)
[Beginning. Still thinking about the tone of what's to follow, so I thought I'd at least get an opening down.]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd. Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand.
[1 hour in.]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd. Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand.
[]
"I got your note," I said.
She looked rattled... whether she was startled to see me or fearful for some other reason, I couldn't see. I didn't have a lot of experience with her being nervous to compare this to.
"I didn't expect you so early," she said. "I hope you didn't cut class to be here."
"No, actually, I'm here now because I have class later," I said. "I like to keep my classes spaced out... it's just easier that way."
"You do have a tendency to get things done at the last minute," she said.
That would have been a great place to say something like Did you ask me here to talk about my study habits? or something, but it didn't really occur to me, so I just nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess I do."
"Ms. Mackenzie, did you send Twyla Jenkins to see me?" she said. She'd stopped addressing me with the formal title after I finished with her class... I hoped that the fact that it was back now reflected her was a comfort thing and didn't reflect a permanent loss of respect.
"I... sort of put the idea in her head that you might be able to provide some guidance, elementally speaking," I said. "I didn't promise her anything."
[]
"I'm sure you know I couldn't possibly discuss that with you," she said.
[1.5 hours in]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd. Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand.
[]
"I got your note," I said.
She looked rattled... whether she was startled to see me or fearful for some other reason, I couldn't see. I didn't have a lot of experience with her being nervous to compare this to.
"I didn't expect you so early," she said. "I hope you didn't cut class to be here."
"No, actually, I'm here now because I have class later," I said. "I like to keep my classes spaced out... it's just easier that way."
"You do have a tendency to get things done at the last minute," she said.
That would have been a great place to say something like Did you ask me here to talk about my study habits? or something, but it didn't really occur to me, so I just nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess I do."
"Ms. Mackenzie, did you send Twyla Jenkins to see me?" she said. She'd stopped addressing me with the formal title after I finished with her class... I hoped that the fact that it was back now reflected her was a comfort thing and didn't reflect a permanent loss of respect.
"I... sort of put the idea in her head that you might be able to provide some guidance, elementally speaking," I said. I wondered if that was the problem. Bohd wasn't just a full-time college instructor, she was also involved in cutting edge thaumatological research. Maybe I should have suggested that Twyla take one of her classes instead? "I didn't promise her anything, I just thought you could point her in the right direction..."
"Did you tell her anything else about me?"
This was getting even more confusing. It would have been obvious what she was driving at, except there was no reason for her to be driving in that direction. There was nothing I could have told her that wasn't public knowledge... if maybe not exactly common knowledge... and I hadn't even told her that.
"I didn't mention your ancestry, what I know about it," I said. "Though I thought it wasn't a secret."
"Not being a secret doesn't make it anybody's business," Professor Bohd. "What do you know about Twyla?"
"Not a lot," I said. "I didn't even know her last name until you said it. She's Khersian..."
"She's Khersian?"
She sounded surprised. I wondered at that... Bohd of all people wouldn't associate things like horns or being left-handed with demons. Maybe the confirmation of her Khersianity was making something Twyla had said or done fall into place?
"Yeah," I said. "I think she's kind of serious about it, but I've never noticed her being aggressive about it before. I don't think she has any particular problem with demons."
"She wouldn't," Bohd said.
I thought again of the fact that having horns and being left-handed didn't mean one didn't have demon blood... Bohd herself had both infernal and djinn ancestry... but it would be hard to explain all the prayer, in that case.
"What do you know about Twyla?" I asked her. "She's been trying to find out about her ancestors..."
"I'm sure you know I couldn't possibly discuss that with you," she said.
"You could discuss it with her," I said, "if you knew something."
"I will be having no discussions with Ms. Jenkins," Bohd said. "It's quite impossible. I simply wanted to... I thought she'd come to... well, it was only after she left and I started piecing together everything she had said that I realized she'd mentioned you. I simply needed to ascertain the truth of what she said."
"What did she say?"
"Simply that she'd spoken to you. I had feared that might have been a pretext."
"You'd feared... Twyla?" I said, trying to make sense of this. I couldn't imagine a less intimidating person.
[This next bit is the result of writing in transit, while I was short on sleep and a little loopy from Benadryl. There is a lot of repetition in it of things that were said/established in previous chapters, re: social awkwardness and relating to people. As I bring it in to completion, I'm going to be working to make sure that there is more new information in the early parts.]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd, whatever it was.
It wasn't like I was giving up my chance to pick Eloise's brain forever... Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did take the time to head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card first. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand. Once I saw it, I couldn't really blame Dee for having read it... it was just a postcard-sized slip with Professor Bohd's info autoscribed on and my info written in.
Not that I would have minded if either Two or Dee had gone out of their way to read it in order to relay the message... opening up actual imperial post would be one thing, but a little card dropped in the intra-campus mail was another. I really couldn't see any harm in it.
Well, I could see Two taking it to far, if someone did convince her that it was okay. She tended to have a very dualistic view of things with little room for ideas like something occasionally being okay, or only being fine if it wasn't taken too far. Where a natural-born mind would at least have some notion that boundaries can be pushed to a certain degree with relative safety, Two would need both the border and its flexibility defined for her before she'd be comfortable with it. Under the circumstances it was probably best to let her stick with other people's mail being none of her business.
Of course, I was attributing Two's lack of flexibility to her golemhood, but Professor Bohd was what the golems called “bornfolk” and she had her own operational parameters that she worked best within. For that matter, so did I.
I had been to Professor Bohd's office before, twice when I was a student in her class and then intermittently during the summer term. Despite having turned down her offer to spend the summer assisting in her research, we'd still turned to each other for help with a few small things. As much as neither one of us preferred to relate to the other primarily as part-demons, she had found that my higher level of infernal energy made it easier for her to calibrate her apparatus so that it wouldn't be thrown off by her own demonic influence.
Such influences only ever made very tiny differences in the course of ordinary magic use, but Bohd was pushing back the limits of mortal knowledge. That could be a dangerous pursuit in the best of circumstances.
Each time we'd met before had been by prior arrangement. I thought we had a good teacher-student relationship, but that was it. She seemed to be fond of me. There were definitely times that she showed a warm regard for me, and she'd acted to protect me in the past. But as long as I was a student she could only interact with me as a well-liked student.
I wondered how much of that was her own original choice or natural inclination and how much of it was something she'd learned to do, to protect herself and any student she might think shows potential. As a demonblood working with college students... often people young enough to have parents who take a direct and active interest in their lives and well-beings... she would have to be beyond reproach and above suspicion. Keeping things strictly professional might have been a survival strategy to keep people from looking too closely at her when she'd been concealing her heritage, and to shield her from repercussions when and if it came out.
There were some teachers I'd had who were open and warm enough that I could imagine myself doing so if I had to. Professor Goldman, my freshman thaumatology instructor, had always spoken like everyone in the classroom was a good friend... or at least a well-regarded colleague. This despite the fact that he'd taught the biggest class I had yet seen. Professor Swain's homespun wisdom... if that was the right word... had a similar effect.
I'd still feel presumptuous just dropping in on either of them, but I'd be less worried about how either one of them would feel about it because I imagined they prided themselves on being accessible. Professor Bohd had her own reasons to be proud, but I doubted she counted personal accessibility as a virtue.
Armed with the little rectangular slip of paper that proclaimed she wanted to see me, I headed for her office. It was in one of the three higher arcana buildings, where the serious magical disciplines were studied... well, I supposed that diabolism, necromancy, and transportation were all fairly serious pursuits, too, but none of the other colleges begrudged them their own halls set a respectable distance back from the others.
I was hoping she would be there. If she wasn't, I had some ideas where she might be... assuming that she was still on campus and she didn't have a class to teach in he mid-afternoon.[]
She was reading from what looked like an old lore book... not a subject I would have guessed she was interested in, but I did my best to withhold judgment. Imagining she didn't have any hobbies would be like imagining she didn't have any friends... just because she was all business in dealing with me didn't mean that there was nothing to her but business.
“Mackenize,” she said when she saw me. She'd dropped the formal title from my name at some point over the summer, by which point I'd no longer been her student for more than a semester. It had been a surprising change, though one I'd only noticed in retrospect precisely because she didn't make a big deal out of it. Still, it seemed like a big deal, once I noticed it.
"I got your note," I said.
She looked rattled... whether she was startled to see me or fearful for some other reason, I couldn't see. I didn't have a lot of experience with her being nervous to compare this to.
"I didn't expect you so early," she said. "I hope you didn't cut class to be here."
"No, actually, I'm here now because I have class later," I said. "I like to keep my classes spaced out... it's just easier that way."
"You do have a tendency to get things done at the last minute," she said.
That would have been a great place to say something like Did you ask me here to talk about my study habits? or something, but it didn't really occur to me, so I just nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess I do."
"Ms. Mackenzie, did you send Twyla Jenkins to see me?" she said. I hoped the reappearance of the title was another comfort thing and didn't reflect a permanent loss of respect.
"I... sort of put the idea in her head that you might be able to provide some guidance, elementally speaking," I said. I wondered if that was the problem. Bohd wasn't just a full-time college instructor, she was also involved in cutting edge thaumatological research. Maybe I should have suggested that Twyla take one of her classes instead? "I didn't promise her anything, I just thought you could point her in the right direction..."
"Did you tell her anything else about me?"
This was getting even more confusing. It would have been obvious what she was driving at, except there was no reason for her to be driving in that direction. There was nothing I could have told her that wasn't public knowledge... if maybe not exactly common knowledge... and I hadn't even told her that.
"I didn't mention your ancestry, what I know about it," I said. "Though I thought it wasn't a secret."
"Not being a secret doesn't make it anybody's business," Professor Bohd. "What do you know about Twyla?"
"Not a lot," I said. "I didn't even know her last name until you said it. She's Khersian..."
"She's Khersian?"
She sounded surprised. I wondered at that... Bohd of all people wouldn't associate things like horns or being left-handed with demons. Maybe the confirmation of her Khersianity was making something Twyla had said or done fall into place?
"Yeah," I said. "I think she's kind of serious about it, but I've never noticed her being aggressive about it before. I don't think she has any particular problem with demons."
"She wouldn't," Bohd said.
I thought again of the fact that having horns and being left-handed didn't mean one didn't have demon blood... Bohd herself had both infernal and djinn ancestry... but it would be hard to explain all the prayer, in that case.
"What do you know about Twyla?" I asked her. "She's been trying to find out about her ancestors..."
"I'm sure you know I couldn't possibly discuss that with you," she said.
"You could discuss it with her," I said, "if you knew something."
"I will be having no discussions with Ms. Jenkins," Bohd said. "It's quite impossible. I simply wanted to... I thought she'd come to... well, it was only after she left and I started piecing together everything she had said that I realized she'd mentioned you. I simply needed to ascertain the truth of what she said."
"What did she say?"
"Simply that she'd spoken to you. I had feared that might have been a pretext."
"You feared... Twyla?" I said, trying to make sense of this. I couldn't imagine a less intimidating person.
"I thought she might have been here with some sort of agenda," the professor said. "I can see now that I was mistaken and I overreacted."
"You might want to apologize to her."
"I think it's best if there's no further contact between the two of us," she said.
"What is she, Professor Bohd?" I asked. Any question of whether or not I wanted to involve myself in Twyla's mysteries was gone for the moment. I didn't exactly feel an overwhelming sense of suspense or anything, but... it was right there.
"She's a student, just like you."
"Then why can't you help her?"
"I doubt she would want my help," Professor Bohd said. "And while she is a student, she isn't a student of mine... I would certainly make an attempt to repair any misunderstanding if things stood otherwise, but in this case there is no need. Now, I'm sure that we both have things to do."
"You could at least..."
"I'm sure we both have things to do," she said, getting to her feet.
"Fine," I said. It sounded both harsher and more final than I'd meant it to. “I mean yes, I do. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Professor.”
[softening/thawing?]
“I lead an existence that is uncomfortable, in some regards,” she said. “You did what you thought was best, under the circumstances.”
[Seem conflicted.]
“I wonder if I might ask a favor of you,” she said. She tapped the closed book on her desk. “I checked this out of the library and now it seems I don't have any need of it. I wonder if perhaps you wouldn't mind taking it back for me?”
“...sure,” I said. It was hardly an unreasonable request, especially as I went to the library for fun most weekends anyway. But it was an unusual one for Bohd to make. It seemed even more out of character that she would hint I should read something instead of simply recommending it outright, but I couldn't figure out why else she would be giving it to me. The only thing I could figure out was that she'd decided to give me some information about or for Twyla after all... or possibly an explanation for her behavior... but she still didn't want to directly discuss another student's heritage or secrets with me.
“There is no rush to return it right away,” she said.
Yep... she was definitely assigning reading.
Thank you,” I said, tucking the book under my arm. I resisted the urge to ask what I should be looking for or to examine the book more closely right then and there. She was bending her principles as it was.
If nothing else came of this, Amaranth would be proud that I'd apologized, and pleased that the apology had netted positive results. And if the book... which was quite weighty... didn't seem to present me with an immediate and obvious answer to anything, I could always turn it over to her. We both enjoyed reading and could do it fairly quickly, but Amaranth practically devoured books.
3:00-3:30: 150 words
10/7/2011
2:00-2:30: 400 words (+250)
4:00-4:30: 700 words (+300)
6:00-6:30 1000 words (+300)
10/8/2011
Miscellaneous times: 2200 words (+1200)
[Beginning. Still thinking about the tone of what's to follow, so I thought I'd at least get an opening down.]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd. Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand.
[1 hour in.]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd. Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand.
[]
"I got your note," I said.
She looked rattled... whether she was startled to see me or fearful for some other reason, I couldn't see. I didn't have a lot of experience with her being nervous to compare this to.
"I didn't expect you so early," she said. "I hope you didn't cut class to be here."
"No, actually, I'm here now because I have class later," I said. "I like to keep my classes spaced out... it's just easier that way."
"You do have a tendency to get things done at the last minute," she said.
That would have been a great place to say something like Did you ask me here to talk about my study habits? or something, but it didn't really occur to me, so I just nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess I do."
"Ms. Mackenzie, did you send Twyla Jenkins to see me?" she said. She'd stopped addressing me with the formal title after I finished with her class... I hoped that the fact that it was back now reflected her was a comfort thing and didn't reflect a permanent loss of respect.
"I... sort of put the idea in her head that you might be able to provide some guidance, elementally speaking," I said. "I didn't promise her anything."
[]
"I'm sure you know I couldn't possibly discuss that with you," she said.
[1.5 hours in]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd. Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand.
[]
"I got your note," I said.
She looked rattled... whether she was startled to see me or fearful for some other reason, I couldn't see. I didn't have a lot of experience with her being nervous to compare this to.
"I didn't expect you so early," she said. "I hope you didn't cut class to be here."
"No, actually, I'm here now because I have class later," I said. "I like to keep my classes spaced out... it's just easier that way."
"You do have a tendency to get things done at the last minute," she said.
That would have been a great place to say something like Did you ask me here to talk about my study habits? or something, but it didn't really occur to me, so I just nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess I do."
"Ms. Mackenzie, did you send Twyla Jenkins to see me?" she said. She'd stopped addressing me with the formal title after I finished with her class... I hoped that the fact that it was back now reflected her was a comfort thing and didn't reflect a permanent loss of respect.
"I... sort of put the idea in her head that you might be able to provide some guidance, elementally speaking," I said. I wondered if that was the problem. Bohd wasn't just a full-time college instructor, she was also involved in cutting edge thaumatological research. Maybe I should have suggested that Twyla take one of her classes instead? "I didn't promise her anything, I just thought you could point her in the right direction..."
"Did you tell her anything else about me?"
This was getting even more confusing. It would have been obvious what she was driving at, except there was no reason for her to be driving in that direction. There was nothing I could have told her that wasn't public knowledge... if maybe not exactly common knowledge... and I hadn't even told her that.
"I didn't mention your ancestry, what I know about it," I said. "Though I thought it wasn't a secret."
"Not being a secret doesn't make it anybody's business," Professor Bohd. "What do you know about Twyla?"
"Not a lot," I said. "I didn't even know her last name until you said it. She's Khersian..."
"She's Khersian?"
She sounded surprised. I wondered at that... Bohd of all people wouldn't associate things like horns or being left-handed with demons. Maybe the confirmation of her Khersianity was making something Twyla had said or done fall into place?
"Yeah," I said. "I think she's kind of serious about it, but I've never noticed her being aggressive about it before. I don't think she has any particular problem with demons."
"She wouldn't," Bohd said.
I thought again of the fact that having horns and being left-handed didn't mean one didn't have demon blood... Bohd herself had both infernal and djinn ancestry... but it would be hard to explain all the prayer, in that case.
"What do you know about Twyla?" I asked her. "She's been trying to find out about her ancestors..."
"I'm sure you know I couldn't possibly discuss that with you," she said.
"You could discuss it with her," I said, "if you knew something."
"I will be having no discussions with Ms. Jenkins," Bohd said. "It's quite impossible. I simply wanted to... I thought she'd come to... well, it was only after she left and I started piecing together everything she had said that I realized she'd mentioned you. I simply needed to ascertain the truth of what she said."
"What did she say?"
"Simply that she'd spoken to you. I had feared that might have been a pretext."
"You'd feared... Twyla?" I said, trying to make sense of this. I couldn't imagine a less intimidating person.
[This next bit is the result of writing in transit, while I was short on sleep and a little loopy from Benadryl. There is a lot of repetition in it of things that were said/established in previous chapters, re: social awkwardness and relating to people. As I bring it in to completion, I'm going to be working to make sure that there is more new information in the early parts.]
As much as I would have liked to stick around after Professor Swain's demonstration ended to ask Eloise more about her work and see if she'd let me examine how the interface was created, I knew how easily that could become my excuse for not dealing with the thing with Professor Bohd, whatever it was.
It wasn't like I was giving up my chance to pick Eloise's brain forever... Swain had suggested we'd be using the map for at least a week, and even if it wasn't a fixture of the classroom for the whole semester I could still talk to Eloise about it at a later date.
I did take the time to head back to Gilcrease Tower to retrieve the card first. What I'd said about Bohd and her ability to relate to people within certain contexts also applied to me... I found it hard to face just walking over to a professor's office and knocking on the door without something like an engraved invitation in my hand. Once I saw it, I couldn't really blame Dee for having read it... it was just a postcard-sized slip with Professor Bohd's info autoscribed on and my info written in.
Not that I would have minded if either Two or Dee had gone out of their way to read it in order to relay the message... opening up actual imperial post would be one thing, but a little card dropped in the intra-campus mail was another. I really couldn't see any harm in it.
Well, I could see Two taking it to far, if someone did convince her that it was okay. She tended to have a very dualistic view of things with little room for ideas like something occasionally being okay, or only being fine if it wasn't taken too far. Where a natural-born mind would at least have some notion that boundaries can be pushed to a certain degree with relative safety, Two would need both the border and its flexibility defined for her before she'd be comfortable with it. Under the circumstances it was probably best to let her stick with other people's mail being none of her business.
Of course, I was attributing Two's lack of flexibility to her golemhood, but Professor Bohd was what the golems called “bornfolk” and she had her own operational parameters that she worked best within. For that matter, so did I.
I had been to Professor Bohd's office before, twice when I was a student in her class and then intermittently during the summer term. Despite having turned down her offer to spend the summer assisting in her research, we'd still turned to each other for help with a few small things. As much as neither one of us preferred to relate to the other primarily as part-demons, she had found that my higher level of infernal energy made it easier for her to calibrate her apparatus so that it wouldn't be thrown off by her own demonic influence.
Such influences only ever made very tiny differences in the course of ordinary magic use, but Bohd was pushing back the limits of mortal knowledge. That could be a dangerous pursuit in the best of circumstances.
Each time we'd met before had been by prior arrangement. I thought we had a good teacher-student relationship, but that was it. She seemed to be fond of me. There were definitely times that she showed a warm regard for me, and she'd acted to protect me in the past. But as long as I was a student she could only interact with me as a well-liked student.
I wondered how much of that was her own original choice or natural inclination and how much of it was something she'd learned to do, to protect herself and any student she might think shows potential. As a demonblood working with college students... often people young enough to have parents who take a direct and active interest in their lives and well-beings... she would have to be beyond reproach and above suspicion. Keeping things strictly professional might have been a survival strategy to keep people from looking too closely at her when she'd been concealing her heritage, and to shield her from repercussions when and if it came out.
There were some teachers I'd had who were open and warm enough that I could imagine myself doing so if I had to. Professor Goldman, my freshman thaumatology instructor, had always spoken like everyone in the classroom was a good friend... or at least a well-regarded colleague. This despite the fact that he'd taught the biggest class I had yet seen. Professor Swain's homespun wisdom... if that was the right word... had a similar effect.
I'd still feel presumptuous just dropping in on either of them, but I'd be less worried about how either one of them would feel about it because I imagined they prided themselves on being accessible. Professor Bohd had her own reasons to be proud, but I doubted she counted personal accessibility as a virtue.
Armed with the little rectangular slip of paper that proclaimed she wanted to see me, I headed for her office. It was in one of the three higher arcana buildings, where the serious magical disciplines were studied... well, I supposed that diabolism, necromancy, and transportation were all fairly serious pursuits, too, but none of the other colleges begrudged them their own halls set a respectable distance back from the others.
I was hoping she would be there. If she wasn't, I had some ideas where she might be... assuming that she was still on campus and she didn't have a class to teach in he mid-afternoon.[]
She was reading from what looked like an old lore book... not a subject I would have guessed she was interested in, but I did my best to withhold judgment. Imagining she didn't have any hobbies would be like imagining she didn't have any friends... just because she was all business in dealing with me didn't mean that there was nothing to her but business.
“Mackenize,” she said when she saw me. She'd dropped the formal title from my name at some point over the summer, by which point I'd no longer been her student for more than a semester. It had been a surprising change, though one I'd only noticed in retrospect precisely because she didn't make a big deal out of it. Still, it seemed like a big deal, once I noticed it.
"I got your note," I said.
She looked rattled... whether she was startled to see me or fearful for some other reason, I couldn't see. I didn't have a lot of experience with her being nervous to compare this to.
"I didn't expect you so early," she said. "I hope you didn't cut class to be here."
"No, actually, I'm here now because I have class later," I said. "I like to keep my classes spaced out... it's just easier that way."
"You do have a tendency to get things done at the last minute," she said.
That would have been a great place to say something like Did you ask me here to talk about my study habits? or something, but it didn't really occur to me, so I just nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess I do."
"Ms. Mackenzie, did you send Twyla Jenkins to see me?" she said. I hoped the reappearance of the title was another comfort thing and didn't reflect a permanent loss of respect.
"I... sort of put the idea in her head that you might be able to provide some guidance, elementally speaking," I said. I wondered if that was the problem. Bohd wasn't just a full-time college instructor, she was also involved in cutting edge thaumatological research. Maybe I should have suggested that Twyla take one of her classes instead? "I didn't promise her anything, I just thought you could point her in the right direction..."
"Did you tell her anything else about me?"
This was getting even more confusing. It would have been obvious what she was driving at, except there was no reason for her to be driving in that direction. There was nothing I could have told her that wasn't public knowledge... if maybe not exactly common knowledge... and I hadn't even told her that.
"I didn't mention your ancestry, what I know about it," I said. "Though I thought it wasn't a secret."
"Not being a secret doesn't make it anybody's business," Professor Bohd. "What do you know about Twyla?"
"Not a lot," I said. "I didn't even know her last name until you said it. She's Khersian..."
"She's Khersian?"
She sounded surprised. I wondered at that... Bohd of all people wouldn't associate things like horns or being left-handed with demons. Maybe the confirmation of her Khersianity was making something Twyla had said or done fall into place?
"Yeah," I said. "I think she's kind of serious about it, but I've never noticed her being aggressive about it before. I don't think she has any particular problem with demons."
"She wouldn't," Bohd said.
I thought again of the fact that having horns and being left-handed didn't mean one didn't have demon blood... Bohd herself had both infernal and djinn ancestry... but it would be hard to explain all the prayer, in that case.
"What do you know about Twyla?" I asked her. "She's been trying to find out about her ancestors..."
"I'm sure you know I couldn't possibly discuss that with you," she said.
"You could discuss it with her," I said, "if you knew something."
"I will be having no discussions with Ms. Jenkins," Bohd said. "It's quite impossible. I simply wanted to... I thought she'd come to... well, it was only after she left and I started piecing together everything she had said that I realized she'd mentioned you. I simply needed to ascertain the truth of what she said."
"What did she say?"
"Simply that she'd spoken to you. I had feared that might have been a pretext."
"You feared... Twyla?" I said, trying to make sense of this. I couldn't imagine a less intimidating person.
"I thought she might have been here with some sort of agenda," the professor said. "I can see now that I was mistaken and I overreacted."
"You might want to apologize to her."
"I think it's best if there's no further contact between the two of us," she said.
"What is she, Professor Bohd?" I asked. Any question of whether or not I wanted to involve myself in Twyla's mysteries was gone for the moment. I didn't exactly feel an overwhelming sense of suspense or anything, but... it was right there.
"She's a student, just like you."
"Then why can't you help her?"
"I doubt she would want my help," Professor Bohd said. "And while she is a student, she isn't a student of mine... I would certainly make an attempt to repair any misunderstanding if things stood otherwise, but in this case there is no need. Now, I'm sure that we both have things to do."
"You could at least..."
"I'm sure we both have things to do," she said, getting to her feet.
"Fine," I said. It sounded both harsher and more final than I'd meant it to. “I mean yes, I do. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Professor.”
[softening/thawing?]
“I lead an existence that is uncomfortable, in some regards,” she said. “You did what you thought was best, under the circumstances.”
[Seem conflicted.]
“I wonder if I might ask a favor of you,” she said. She tapped the closed book on her desk. “I checked this out of the library and now it seems I don't have any need of it. I wonder if perhaps you wouldn't mind taking it back for me?”
“...sure,” I said. It was hardly an unreasonable request, especially as I went to the library for fun most weekends anyway. But it was an unusual one for Bohd to make. It seemed even more out of character that she would hint I should read something instead of simply recommending it outright, but I couldn't figure out why else she would be giving it to me. The only thing I could figure out was that she'd decided to give me some information about or for Twyla after all... or possibly an explanation for her behavior... but she still didn't want to directly discuss another student's heritage or secrets with me.
“There is no rush to return it right away,” she said.
Yep... she was definitely assigning reading.
Thank you,” I said, tucking the book under my arm. I resisted the urge to ask what I should be looking for or to examine the book more closely right then and there. She was bending her principles as it was.
If nothing else came of this, Amaranth would be proud that I'd apologized, and pleased that the apology had netted positive results. And if the book... which was quite weighty... didn't seem to present me with an immediate and obvious answer to anything, I could always turn it over to her. We both enjoyed reading and could do it fairly quickly, but Amaranth practically devoured books.