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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2013 21:46:39 GMT -6
In the three years that Hermes had attended this university, he became rather close to one of the professors, Cassie Darte. She had an air to her that he enjoyed being around, she wasn't bad to look at, and they both had the power of flight. Perhaps it didn't sound like much to base a kinship off of, but for Hermes, it was more than what he would normally stack up his friendships to. It was his senior year now. He was going to graduate in the coming months... He was in the big leagues, or whatever. Being a freshman had such a stark difference to now. Before there were so little worries, but now it was like your future was gonna slap you in the face. For Hermes, the future was unclear. That's what brought him to the door of Cassie's office today. Who better to talk about something like this than with a professor you trust? They knew all about what to do after graduation and about futures, right? Right? Clearing his throat, Hermes raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Hey," he started, sounding as aloof and relaxed as always, despite what was bothering him, "you in there?" In true Hermes fashion, he gripped the doorknob without waiting for a response and pushed on the door, opening it just enough that he could stick his head in. What if he walked into Cassie having an affair? Or worse, chewing with her mouth open? "It's me." TAG: @cassie |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2013 1:00:06 GMT -6
Every day it was getting harder and harder to get up and out of bed. She was too young for this, wasn't she? Barely cresting her third decade and already so disenchanted with life. It was hard to go out there and be faced with all of the ticking numbers, feeling an immense pang of guilt whenever she saw someone who had just a year or even a few days left on their timer.
Over the years she had tried to block the timers out. Focus on their face, on their eyes...but the blinking numbers caught her attention and it was the only thing she saw about most people. She had also tried researching...was there any way to turn the power off? Make it disappear once again into the depths of her DNA? Everything seemed impossible.
Thankfully she only had office hours today. When she was to give lecture, it was a bit tougher on her psyche to try and appear somewhat friendly towards her students when some of them wouldn't live to even utilize her teachings. How could anyone with any sort of emotions handle this? Cassie felt like hers had been shattered and that her heart was figuratively bleeding from the razor-like shards.
She was wallowing in her own thoughts for a while until a knock roused her from her mind, which was somewhat of a blessing. Cassie had been typing away at her computer for a while, but had stopped somewhere along the lines and had been staring into space, lost in thought.
"Come in," she muttered as the door opened, as the person apparently hadn't waited for her to let them in. It didn't matter too much to her, though, and even a slight smile tugged on her lips as she saw that it was Hermes Manos, one of her students. It wasn't often that she bonded like this with a student, but as he was in her program, they'd seen each other quite a bit.
"Oh, Hermes," she said as he entered the room. "I wasn't expecting to see you. Sit down..." Motioning to a chair across from her desk, she shut the lid on her laptop as she awaited for him to tell her what he was here for, and tried desperately to look at his face, the clock, the wall...anything but those numbers floating above his head.
@dee2
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2013 13:50:17 GMT -6
Hermes sauntered into the office, taking a quick look around at the walls, as if he was trying to see if anything had changed. Of course, he had been in Cassie's office before for numerous reasons, though nothing like this. This was definitely the most personal matter that he had ever come to her with. Regardless, Hermes plopped himself into the chair across from Cassie, giving her a soft, characteristic grin. "Yeah, thought I'd drop by," he said, the chair giving a groan as he leaned back casually. He eyed her desk, looking at the clutter of papers, her name plate, whatever that wasn't her eyes. It was hard to admit, but he felt... nervous. How does one even segue into a conversation like this? 'Hey, what should I do with the rest of my life'? "Hey, uh," he started, "what should I do with the rest of my life?" Wait, shit. Hermes' grin dropped from his face, eyes a little wide as he realized he had just thought aloud. A slight blush came to the apples of his cheeks and he fidgeted, turning away to hide it. "I mean," he murmured, bringing his hand up to mess with his hair but instead accidentally bumping the chain attached to his lip piercing, causing it to tug painfully. Hermes winced, making a tiny "ow" sound. For someone who generally looked so elegant, he was being rather clumsy at the moment. Now thoroughly flushed and with a pleading expression, he stared at Cassie. "It's my senior year and I don't know what I want to do anymore." TAG: @cassie |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2013 22:21:42 GMT -6
She blinked, a bit confused. That was a strange question to just...open up with, but Cassie supposed it wasn't uncalled for. Graduating was a little scary, and she remembered being nervous and feeling like she was lost when the that fated date grew closer and closer.
A deep flush came over Hermes' cheeks and Cassie couldn't help smirking. Apparently the young man was embarrassed at his sudden outburst. She hadn't properly smiled in a while, but the blonde's actions were a good enough distraction from her usual thoughts to allow her a few moments of happiness.
His antics definitely squeezed a chuckle from her throat, though it wasn't laced with malice. It was a little funny in spite of him, but it was also refreshing to meet with students who weren't so stiff and rigid. She was currently advising some freshmen and most of them were too terrified or anxious to even speak.
"That's a valid concern," she said once he calmed himself, though she found it hard to look directly at him with that desperate expression on his face. "Everyone is nervous about graduation. I know I was, and all of my friends were too." She had been scared to death about graduation, actually, but she didn't want to let him on to that. He looked afraid enough.
Brushing some hair out of her eyes and straightening her slightly tinted glasses, she peered at him and tried to ignore those ticking numbers floating above his honey blonde hair. "Well, what did you want to do? And...why don't you want to do that anymore?"
@dee2
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2013 13:36:13 GMT -6
Cassie's chuckle was enough to make the stress roll off Hermes's back. He smiled ever so slightly, at ease by the fact that Cassie wouldn't torment him over his bout of clumsiness. "Were you?" he questioned, reaching out to thumb at the corner of some papers in a stack. His eyes had a thousand-yard stare, absent and half-lidded as he let her words soak in. Hermes didn't really have many friends, at least none that he could have deeply personal conversations about graduation with. He had no reference level for how many other seniors were having a similar crisis to him. He could think of at least a few students who were big men on campus with righteous personalities. They must be itching to become superheroes - possibly famous ones to grace the front of newspapers. They wanted vibrant costumes and awesome capes. Should Hermes want something like that too? Cassie's questioning voice jolted him out of his stupor. His eyes widened with attention again, the pad of his thumb suddenly dry from rubbing it against the papers over and over again. "I guess I wanted to be a hero," he started, wetting his lips with his tongue. Hermes looked up at Cassie, scrunching his nose in thought. "Like my brothers.. But I don't have super strength like them. All I do is fly." And Hermes flew beautifully, he knew. His wings were large and elegant, and he had a wonderful penchant for his power. "You were a hero, huh?" he asked, with a hint of sarcasm because, duh, of course he knew who Cassie was. Madame Zephyr, zipping through the skies and saving the day... Or whatever. "Did you ever feel weaker than the others?" Perhaps it was out of line to ask such a thing, to question if a respectable figure has ever felt weak. Hermes stared at her in the eyes with a weighted seriousness. TAG: @cassie |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2013 12:14:24 GMT -6
"Nothing wrong with just flying," she pointed out with a bit of a smirk. Cassie would never tell anyone about the death sense. It would be weird to talk about, and everyone would start asking questions about how much time they had left...something she didn't want to talk about in the slightest.
So to everyone else, she was just able to fly. It was easy enough to hide. The secondary power had no physical manifestations; she didn't look or seem any different because of it. The only difference was a personality shift but...no one really asked about that. Maybe they were too reserved to do so.
Hermes' next question was an interesting one. Did she ever feel weaker than the others? It was something she had to ponder for a moment, and she turned her chair to the side a bit and looked at the wall...partially to concentrate on her answer and partially to get Hermes out of her line of sight.
"Sometimes. But I think all heroes feel that way. We can't all be Superman, can we?" she responded with a bit of sarcasm. "Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."
And that was the fatal flaw in the system, wasn't it? Heroes had their strengths and weaknesses...but individuality and sponsorship in the hero world was important. Teams of heroes were unheard of but they just made sense. It was a point of contention for the woman, but she didn't want to push that on her student. Not when he was so full of doubt himself.
@dee2
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