puttin' on the ritz ~ (open)

[DICK ♥ ASHTON]

The halls were eerily silent. Though, he supposed, he couldn't find much fault with it. Students were in class, and the silence left him feeling nostalgic. Which was odd, considering Dick had never felt so in his entire life. He wasn't one to reminisce on times gone by, or to even think about the past. It usually lead to pain and excessive amounts of drinking. But the school he was now apart of seemed otherworldly. It was something out of a fairy tale, or at least he thought that's what someone would say it was. And he couldn't help but wonder what his wife would have thought. Seeing these marble walls and stone buildings, feeling wealthy just walking down the halls and knowing that everywhere she would tread there would be magic.

Dick felt his lips lift into a smile, a moment later he cleared his throat and brought a hand to rub at the back of his neck. Glancing down he stared at the piece of paper that had slipped through his fingers and laid peacefully on the floor. The messy handwriting that was sprawled over most of it had brought him bad news. At least, news he didn't necessarily need to hear. The stranger was still hiding, still out there, still unknown. Dick had spent the better part of three days wandering around Elysian, watching every face that passed him, taking in every scar and tattoo, knowing he'd eventually see something familiar, something worth his time.

But, as of this morning, his freedom was being drastically smothered with students, classes, and books. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten through his first class. Seeing as it was the first day he noted a few things on the board, asked where to get the best whiskey and then left the class to their own devices until time ran out. Now he had a free period, and though he couldn't leave the school, he thought he might be able to mingle in the halls. Run into some teachers or staff. But, nothing. Just a note left taped to the door of his office.

Bending forwards, he picked the letter up, crumpled it into his fist and shoved it into the pocket of his suit. For a moment he let his mind wander again, allowed himself this brief lapse of time and space. Thought of sunnier days, and warmer faces. Then the echo of a door banging shut broke him from his dream. Footsteps slowly grew louder, and Dick forced himself to straighten up and stand. Grabbing the book beside him, he opened to a random page, pretending to read as he leaned against a wall.

The footsteps continued towards him, growing louder by the second as their bearer reached the small bench he had just been sitting on. Dick glanced to the side, towards the stranger, as inconspicuously as possible, curious as to who else was out in the halls. And wondering whether or not he should ask to see a hall pass.

[KENT ♥ WILLIAMS]

Kent didn't necessarily hate the first day of school, the first week and last weeks were always the easiest. The first day of school just tended to annoy him the slightest bit and he wasn't sure why. Maybe because it seems like the amount of kids in the school seemed to double, then as the school year settled down things got more routine. He had a new goal this year. At least one of his students was going to be able to perform a for psychological evaluation of another student correctly, without cheating and reading their mind. Kent thought it was going to be kind of entertaining himself, just to see how they all thought of each other. He loved toying with his students' minds. "Her room is just down the hall." He was explaining to some nervous-looking, first year faery. They nodded their thanks and Kent continued down his way. He was on his planning break, which he never actually used to plan anything. Kent had a vendetta against lesson plans, he thought they were useless. He would send them all up in flames if he could. He raised an eyebrow slightly as he spotted someone reading on a bench. Upon closer inspection it wasn't a student. "Reading anything good?" Kent stopped in front of the man. He had seen him one or twice, knew that he was a teacher, but couldn't recall his name to mind. It would come to him soon enough, maybe after the man started talking. Kent could only assume this teacher was on their planning break as well, maybe he didn't like lesson plans either. How many teachers really did? Maybe the French teacher...he smiled a little to himself and then shook his head a little. "What do you teach?" He asked after another moment. There should really be a list of teachers and what they taught. Okay actually Kent was pretty sure that there was, he just didn't want to dig for it. Maybe he could get Rose to pull it up for him, she was always better at looking things up then he was. She could do the research, he'd just focus on the Psychology. [bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true]

[DICK ♥ ASHTON]

The voice was decidedly male, but in this day and age, you couldn't rely on anything but your eye sight when it came to gender. And even then, sometimes... There just wasn't enough distinction. Not that Dick wasn't above asking people outright if they were a man or a woman, and to hell with hurting people's feelings. He was doing them a service. Focusing on more important things, Dick looked up from his book and assessed the man looming over him. Okay, it wasn't so much looming as it was standing, but everyone was a potential threat until proven otherwise. Or shot.

Sadly, this stranger's features didn't trigger any memories for Dick, and with a disapproving sigh he closed the book and glanced at the cover. He couldn't remember what it was he had grabbed from his desk, but looking at it now, he wished he'd grabbed something different. The black and yellow stripped cover of "European History for Dummies" stared up at him, taunting him with that stupid little happy face. Rolling his eyes he glanced up at the stranger again.

"European History for Dummies, well then, I guess my students don't have that much faith in me.

[/b][/color]" Dick tried to play it off as a horrible gift from a student, hoping he wasn't as transparent as he felt. The man was staring directly at him, then again there wasn't much else to look at. An eyebrow raised, he offered out his hand to the stranger. As long as he was here, he might as well play the part of Mr. Nice Guy. That and the guy was rather good looking, and only handsome people could touch Dick. And beautiful women.

"I'm Dick, I'm the new European History teacher.[/b]" His accent was slight, and a little muddled. From his upbringing in England to his time living in Australia, his accent had been affected by a few others and in time had just been changed. Dick had tried, and failed, to put on an American accent, and decided to just keep his own to give more authenticity to his teachings. And by teachings he meant reciting Google and whatever books could keep his attention.

"And you are?" There had been a booklet he'd received on his first day on Elysian, with faces and names and other things to help him get around easier. Which was currently being used as a coaster to keep his desk from being stained by whiskey and gin. And as much as he'd like to be able to surprise people by knowing their names, he just wasn't the kind of person to care enough to even remember their names after being told a dozen times.
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[KENT ♥ WILLIAMS]

Kent smirked slightly as the man checked the cover, the eyeroll hadn't gone unnoticed, obviously he hadn't even known what book he had picked up. "Maybe not." He laughed and shook hands with the man. So his name was Dick, which meant his actual name was most likely Richard. Out of sheer habit Kent surmised quickly what Dick was European, though the accent more of a mixture of different accents, so it was hard to place exactly where he was fun. At least he wasn't one of those teachers that pretended to be European just to make it seem like they knew what they were teaching. "It's a pleasure. My name's Kent." He let his hand fall back to his side. "I teach Psychology, down the hall." He vaugely waved behind him. One could only assume he was referring to one of the classrooms in that general direction. "So what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Kent wasn't sure just yet, but so far there didn't seem to be anything particularly special about this new teacher. Except, people didn't come to Elysian Island just because it was a nice place to live (it wasn't really a bad place to live but Kent knew there were plenty nicer and safer places for people to be). His attention was divided for a moment by a student, obviously lost, running down the hall. Kent shot him a look and the kid quickly stopped running and looked back to his map, waiting until he has passed the two teachers and then continued running. Kent shook his head and ran a hand over his face. "I hate the first day of school." He laughed, focusing on Richard again. [bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true]

[DICK ♥ ASHTON]

So what brings you to our neck of the woods?

Dick hated that question. Almost as much as when people asked him about his past, or if he was married or had any children. It was just something that bit at his insides and made him want to stab something. Or shot something, or hit something, as long as something or someone was bleeding, he felt better. There hadn't been much time for planning once Dick found out where the vampire was hiding. In fact if it hadn't been for his friend, Dick would have shown up on the island in his underwear with a bottle in one hand and a gun in the other.

Thankfully, Frank had been there, like he had for a few years, to help him through his issues and times of... ill choices. Frank had also made Dick sit patiently as he tried to come up with a plausible fake history and degree for him. Which was easier, considering Dick hadn't made much of himself and most of his family was dead, leaving him little ties to the real world and a fantastic new past. Something Dick still hadn't memorized.

The hardest part was getting rid of the previous European History teacher so Dick could show up in the school's time of need and take over the position. Kidnapping and then paying someone off to just disappear might seem easy, but let's just say Frank isn't in the mood to do many favors for anyone right now. A sigh escaped past his lips as he stared at Brent... Rent? Spent? Kent..? Bloody hell.

"I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

[/b]" Short, simple, to the point. Hopefully, Fent, wouldn't try to pry anymore, though knowing most psychologists, he probably would. And then Dick would have to try and keep his story straight, and remember things, and... It was just too much on a sober head.

"I've never been one for school, really. I-I mean, aside from the many, many years I spent at... Uh, university, learning and what not.[/b]" Smooth, Dick, smooth. Another eye roll threatened to take over as the older man tried to keep himself from sounding like an idiot. "What about you, Trent, how long have you been here?[/b]" Change the subject, that's a good idea.

Bloody... was that his name..?[/i]

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[KENT ♥ WILLIAMS]

He was in the right place at the right time..interesting way of putting it Kent mused silently as he watched the man. He was hiding something, but everyone was hiding something. He nearly asked what sort of situation it had been, but held his tongue. Maybe some other time, when he had a better read on this new teachers. Kent raised an eyebrow as Richard answered his neck question. Not one for school, but really how many teachers were? That wasn't what caused him to think. It was the second part, the way he said, maybe it was just the way the man talked. Kent had no room to really judge on first tries. "None of us are big on school I think." He laughed. "I didn't even go to school with the intent of coming back to school." Then the man asked him how long he had been here, and called him the wrong name...but Kent let it slide for the moment. He wasn't one to get bent out of shape over a wrong name on a first meeting. "If you're asking about teaching, three years." Three years, but four in total that he had been back on the island since bringin Rose here. Four years away from a human-majority and able to be himself most of the time. Kent didn't hate Gretchen for leaving, he wasn't happy about it but he kind of admired her for being able to stay in the 'real world' with normal people. Maybe he should try contacting her some time just to make sure she was okay. Rose would like to at least talk to her again, Kent was sure of that. The woman hadn't even bothered sending a letter to her first, and as far as he knew, only child. Then of course, he had been here before when he was still a child, before high school. Most of his life was spent on this island when he really thought about it. Kent blinked and shook his head. "Four in total though." He didn't need to know about his childhood times. "Also, it's Kent, not Trent. Though Trent is a nice name." He mused and shook his head again. [bg=000000][atrb=border,0,true]