capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

WHO:

blue_and_proud
WHERE: Charles' apartment!
WHEN: Perhaps early evening, today.
WARNINGS: None~!
SUMMARY: Charles and Raven exchange talk of teaching, until Raven can tell that Charles is keeping hawkward secrets.
FORMAT: Prose, probably. :)

Charles had anticipated his conversation with Raven, and he was tidying up his home with care as he prepared himself for her arrival. He'd made tea easily and already, and he was sliding his fingers through his hair and massaging his scalp as he waited. Dropping his hands, Charles quietly made his way over to his couch — crossing his legs and beginning to read a book to keep himself his company while he waited. He had forgone a continued night of house hunting with Erik — who'd insisted that they find their own place to live — and figured perhaps he could take this opportunity with Raven to tell her about their plans.

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Raven knocked twice, two quick raps, but was already pushing Charles' door open before the second knock had a chance to fade away. She'd called her brother after school to tell him she was coming by...a strange sort of sensation, considering how much time they'd spent together growing up, but necessary she supposed, now that they weren't actually living together.

...That was actually rather strange too, now that she thought about it.

But she was in a good mood and she wasn't talking to Charles nearly as much as she preferred, so she had decided she was going to go ramble about teaching to him. If only she knew what was coming...

"Hello!" She called in as she closed the door behind her.

Charles practically leapt up from his seat as he heard the knock, though he knew — in more ways than one, really — that he should have anticipated it. He felt rather foolish as he crossed the small apartment to greet her with an almost relieved hug. He had not seen her in what felt like ages, and he was pleased to after all that time. "Raven," he said then, chuckling somewhat.

"How have you been?" he asked then — he, too, finding it an unusual sensation to speak to her in a way as he would a colleague or old friend and not, well, his sister. "I was just about to pour the tea."

Raven shrugged as she crossed the room, letting her outdoor 'blonde' disguise fade into her natural blue state with a slightly relieved sigh. The clothing she was wearing stuck around, obviously real. "You know me, I'm always fine." She gave a little shrug and dropped down onto the couch next to him.

For a moment, she didn't say anything, and then she laughed. "Okay, this is strange. We should never be that stiff." She reached out to give him a little shove on the shoulder as if to make her point, and then leaned over to help him with the tea.

Charles cannot help but laugh at that and he stared at her for a moment, before he was shaking his head. "Ah, Raven!!" he cried, with a deep chuckle in his throat. He shook his head in her direction, though he certainly agreed with her words. "You're rather right," he said quietly then, before he was pleased with his tea prep and handing her her own cup of tea with a placated grin.

"You're always fine? You know there are moments when I could disagree with that statement," he said then, raising an eyebrow in his sister's direction with a skeptical expression.

Raven took the cup of tea, cradling it lightly in her hands as she sank back into the couch, her red hair brushing along the cushion behind her. She shrugged after a couple moments of though. "We get by, Charles. We're still here, and that's as close to being fine as anything is going to get. So..." It made sense to her, at least. Raven had been taking a very 'see what comes' attitude in the City, if only because of how little control there seemed to be over what happened here.

"It doesn't matter. Teaching is a much bigger worry right now."

Charles seemed to be considering her first round of words and he smiled patiently, seeming to agree. He quietly moved to meet her on the couch, taking a seat beside her as he did. He licked his lips and began to sip from his tea, long having become used to the temperature of it. "I suppose you are quite right in that regard."

He leaned back himself, closing his eyes momentarily as he crossed his legs at the ankle and made himself comfortable. "I can imagine. How are you getting on with it? I had—never imagined you would enjoy such a thing!"

Raven didn't quite know how to answer that, and her yellow eyes grew distant for a moment as she thought it over. "I like it." She finally said, grinning a bit awkwardly. "I mean, it's...strange. And hard. And it took me a while to get the kids to actually listen but...I like it."

She shifted some, looking over at him. "I think I mostly like it because of that moment when I'm explaining something, and one of the kids actually gets it. And I can see them suddenly saying something in french to themselves that they couldn't have figured out five minutes before that."

Charles smiled rather fondly at that. He was still entertained by the idea of Raven teaching, though he did enjoy it — it was nice to share thoughts with others on the subject, and his own passion for the profession ran quite deep. And, of course, we all know how much time Charles spends talking — and he could quite talk about teaching for ages.

He sounds almost reverent as he replies to her words. "It is a wonderful feeling, watching someone learn."

Raven gave a little nod, smiling absently. "It is." She took a sip of her tea, considering her brother carefully. "So what about you? How's teaching going?" Her smile faded into a bit of a grin.

"Better than that first network announcement you made that sent all your students scurrying in a panic, I hope?"

Charles couldn't help but laugh in earnest at that, throwing his head back a bit. It was both embarrassing and amusing to remember, and he was glad that he leaned more toward the latter now. He looked over at Raven once more and smiled. "Ah, yes, well. It's much more fulfilling, I assure you. I think, now that they've realised exactly where I am coming from—that it is not as shocking to them." he murmured, and he did look pleased with this development.

"It has been nice, overall. Though Erik... remains to acquire a job," he added, pursing his lips and looking pensive. "I think it's making him quite restless."

"Do they think they find it as fulfilling as you do?" She teased.

"That's why I started waitressing as soon as I got here. It was...something to do." Two hundred dollars wasn't a lot of money, but she knew she could've waited a little longer before finding a job. But after a couple days of sitting around, it had just felt...necessary.

Charles smiles, understanding. He shrugs his shoulders then and sips his tea, sighing as he seems to consider her words. "Well, you know they do not. But there will always be the single student who does, and it is quite worth it for that," he said, smiling genuinely.

Then he hums and considers what she's said even further. "I wish I could get Erik to do something even that menial, to be honest."

"I guess so," Raven liked seeing kids learn but she hadn't hit that 'moment' yet, as it were.

"How come he doesn't?"

Charles laughed a bit at that, and tried to imagine Erik in any rather menial role. He was sure he could imagine the man's displeasure at it in his mind alone; though that was not enough to convince him. Erik had said as much himself, at one point in time. "From what I understand, he has been doing commission work. Though I cannot imagine he would enjoy something too--ah, easy.

But he certainly needs a job."

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