~Teacher's Lounge~

She was sitting upside down on the couch, legs propped up on the back and head dangling off of the edge while eating a piece of chocolate cake. The teacher looked, well, nothing much like a teacher if you judged her merely by her height and her choice of clothing... With her black skinny jeans, tennis shoes, a purple sleeveless top and fishnets, one could so easily believe that instead of being twenty-four, Maiko was really eighteen. That was evidently not the case. She was a first year teacher, fresh out of college and already seeming completely comfortable in this school setting.

Her green eyes seemed to take in the surroundings, but in an almost absent way. Eating cake upside down was actually a lot harder than she made it appear. More than once she had to actually try to swallow so she didn’t get cake stuck in her sinuses. Her skin was olive complected and her hair was dark brown- but it was nowhere near black. She released a soft groan, growing more and more bored by the second. As she groaned, she choked on a piece of cake, causing her to do a backflip off the overly-stuffed couch and smack her head right on the coffee table, knocking over a pot of coffee and spilling it all over the rug.

”Oh, crap.” She muttered under her breath, eyes widening. This commonly used phrase was immediately followed by a string of rapid French cuss words. ”Great, just great...” Mai desperately searched for a towel or cloth of some kind before a coffee stain could set.

Jarus entered the lounge just in time to witness Maiko's accident. He winced as she banged her head on the table, and he made his way toward her as she began to try and clean up her mess.

"Pardon," he said before laying a hand on her shoulder, so as not to startle her. "But perhaps I can be of assistance." He gestured slowly with one hand, and the liquid spreading over the table slowed to a stop, some of the drops halting in midair on their way to the floor, then slowly began to gather together, swelling into a sphere about the size of a tennis ball. Once all of the coffee from the table had been collected, he looked down at the soaked spot on the rug and made a slight lifting motion with the same hand. Dirty coffee began to rise from the carpet in droplets, and the stain slowly shrank until there was nothing but dry rug left. The sphere was now slightly larger than a softball.

Jarus grinned at her, then sent the sphere slowly floating over to the sink, where he let it splash down. A quick flick of his hand turned on the faucet, and the spout swept back and forth, washing all of the dirty coffee down the drain.

She slowly looked over her shoulder and up at Jarus, blinking. Her first thought was immediately something along the lines of: "Oh crap, I'm screwed." But when he began to assist her in a kind way, without showing off- that thought immediately vanished. Mai allowed a wide grin to grace her features, reaching her eyes and causing them to almost sparkle. This was not one of those blank, forced smiles, but a genuine one that just lit up her entire face. Her eyes quickly darted to the sink, watching as the coffee went down the drain, and at this she wolf-whistled.

"Now /that/ is what I call talent." She commented, jumping up to her feet in almost a spastic way. "You're telekinetic." It wasn't a question, but rather a comment. As she spoke more, her French accent grew more and more pronounced. Her th's sounded more like a 'dz', and instead of an iambic stress on words in the English language, each syllable was stressed equally. Every time she paused, there would be a downward stress on the syllable.

"Oh Jeebus Cracklepop." Mai's eyes widened as she looked up at Jarus, standing on her tippie-tippie toes. To most people, that would hurt. But to her- it looked natural. The height difference was almost amusing, and it had now become conscious to her. "You're what, 6'1? 6'2? About a full foot taller than me. That's not fair. Do you hit your head on hanging lamps by any chance?" Wow, talk about random conversation.

Jarus blinked. Here was a woman full of conversation. Random, too. He liked her already.

"Thank you," he said simply. "I've had a lot of practice." And he had. He'd been developing his telekinesis since he was about sixteen, so he should at least be competent with them. And while he wasn't one to brag, he thought that after ten years, he was probably a good deal more than competent.

"Um, yes, six-foot-one," he replied in answer to her question. The observation, along with the strange exclamation, made him smile a little, a small smile of amusement. "It is commonplace for people to reach this height where I come from." He blinked again, realization dawning on his face. "Oh, but how rude. I am Jarus Gal'sen, the new Alchemy teacher." He offered his hand, not able to extend it much because of her close proximity, his skin a dull gray under the fluorescent lights.

"Oh! I'm Maiko Marie Biladeau-Yukawa." She introduced herself in almost a formal way, though where she grew up, it was common to give out your full name. "But just call me Mai- to students I'll be professor Biladeau. Heh, I'm a first year teacher, you know- I teach non-magical combat." Her eyes widened. "Oh, sh-nap. You teach alchemy? That's brilliant. I've never been smart when it comes to alchemy... Or potions... Or anything involving plants really. If you put something green in my hands, there's a fifty percent chance that it will die within the hour." With her tone of voice, it was difficult to tell if she was joking or completely serious.

"You know... You seem like a really nice person." Mai blurted honestly, stating exactly what she thought. "A little old-fashioned in a gentle-man-ly sort of way. I like it. I don't understand why more people can't be as courteous. I mean, would it REALLY kill somebody to hold the door open for a mother carrying twins? No." She shook his hand, a nice, strong, firm handshake. She felt a little awkward though, for she was a lefty rather than right-handed.

"Where /do/ you come from, if you don't mind me asking?"

"A pleasure to meet you, Mai."
Jarus just listened as she went on, her talkative nature making his smile broaden a bit. She was very friendly, and somewhat strange, though in a fun and interesting way.

"A port town called Genu Harbor, on the eastern coast of the continent. Food is a big part of my family, as well as the culture of the area I grew up in. Alchemy is not too different, when it comes down to the basics." He let go of her hand, a humorous expression coming to his eyes. "Are you any good at cooking?" he asked.

"Are you any good at cooking?"

The question made her smile look amused, like she was about to laugh, but of course the laughter did not come. Good at cooking? Well, that was a stretch. She could cook some French meals wonderfully, but most other things ended up terrible. "Well. I burned tea once, managed to set cookies on fire, and my fudge ends up clumpy. If you call that good cooking, then you must be part caveman." Mai let out a light, breezy laugh. "My brother flinches when I mention inviting him over for dinner. He hates French food, which is the only thing I really can cook- and the food he loves, I ruin for him. Ahh, the Pizza fiasco was just..." Mai shook her head, not sure if she should continue.

"Okay, for his birthday, he wanted me to make Pizza. I had no idea what pizza was, so I went through recipe books and they basically said you could put 'anything' on a pizza. So I basically had pizza dough, cheese, tomato sauce..... And ramen with sprinkles. It was terrible." The story seemed to amuse her, and this story was obviously one among many.

Jarus's eyes lit up as she went into her story, and he laughed softly at her description of the bad pizza.

"Ramen with sprinkles, huh?" he said thoughtfully, putting a hand to his chin. "I'll have to try that sometime." He gave her a pat on the shoulder with his left hand and jerked the thumb of his right over toward the door. "Speaking of food, I was just about to go make myself some lunch. Worked up a good appetite practicing in the field. Would you like to join me?" he asked hopefully. It wasn't often that he got to cook for someone else, and making meals for the school's sick headmaster didn't really count. And he could always count on his cooking to impress women.

”Oh ew, trust me, you never want to try that in your life. I would rather be poked in the eye with a sharp stick then eat that sad excuse for food.” Mai shook her head. When he patted her on the shoulder, she jumped a little as if startled. Her eyebrows furrowed, causing a slight wrinkle to form in the middle of her forehead. She had just finished eating chocolate cake, but that didn’t mean that cake was a good meal... And besides, it hadn’t filled her up at all.

Mai stood on her tippie tip toes, ”I would love to join you!” she exclaimed, ”But it feels like I’m mooching off of you if I don’t do something in return.” Her eyebrows furrowed again, ”Oh, I know!” She rummaged deep into her pockets of her jeans and pulled out three little balls with pins stuck inside them. Mai put them into Jarus’ hands and gave him a half-smile. ”Explosives. They may look tiny but they pack a punch. Well, the red one is more dangerous... The other two are just more flashy than anything else.”

Jarus looks in surprise at the explosives, arches an eyebrow at Mai, then tilts his head back and laughs. Once finished, he looks back down at her, a smile on his face. "An interesting method of payment, though I ask for none. However, I will accept, as these intrigue me greatly," he says jovially, sliding the grenades into a pouch hanging from his belt. Then he opened the door and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

Mai anime-sweatdropped, an awkward expression on her face. "Well.. err... I guess it was a little weird, but it's either give you homemade explosives, knives, or.... Pocket lint." She murmured, looking a little bit embarrassed. She fiddled with a strand of curly hair- pulling it until it was straight and letting go so that it would spring to her head. It was then she noticed that he held out his arm for her- like a complete, old-fashioned gentleman. With a sweet smile, Mai accepted his arm, skipping in a cheerful manner.

"Some offers don't require equivalent payment," Jarus said, his voice that of a teacher, but friendly at the same time. "That's what friendships revolve around: giving without needing payback." Jarus paused for a moment, then shook his head and continued. "Apologies. School hasn't even started yet and I'm already lecturing," he said as he opened the door to the Alchemy lab for her.

"Wow, you're a nifty dude. Seriously." Mai blinked, "So we're friends now? That's great! You know, for some reason I tend to scare people away, and only the creeps really want to be my friends... OF course I don't think you're a creep so that's a plus." She played with her hair some more, "I don't really mind being lectured at." She admitted, "My dad used to lecture a lot; and my grandpapa lectures. It's actually really good if you actually listen. I've been told I lecture as well, but I think I ramble more than anything. Like now. Maybe it's time to be quiet, eh?" Her eyes widened, "This is a nice class, man. It's very clean and professional looking. I'm guessing you teach Alchemy here?"