Donuts in the Staff Room

[Abellio Dadga]

He brought in glazed donuts.

Why? Well, no one could really be certain why the Headmaster did anything these days. But any of the staff that happens to wonder in would be slightly surprised to see Headmaster Dadga sitting at the long rectangular table, munching on a donut. This was largely because the Headmaster was usually locked up in his quarters or wondering aimlessly along the gardens.

But Abellio was waiting for his staff to come wondering in after classes. It would be lunch soon, after all. So they were bound to come in, notice the donuts and be eternally grateful. He didn't really have anything to say to them, he supposed, but it was always good to have your staff remember your existence. And it was always good to have yourself remember them.

And so he sat there, eating a donut.

[kalai]

Yes I think its getting better for the two of us
Yes I think its getting better in the worst way
I refuse to be afraid of almost anyone
Afraid of all the things they do or the words that they say
Lets live the way we want to live and hope they go away.

As the bell sounded, Niko made his way directly to the lounge. He really would prefer to get back to class with a few minutes to spare, and if he intended on seeming somewhat social in this new work environment, that meant also spending time with his colleagues. Even so, Nikolai was hardly expecting anyone to be in the staff lounge. But he couldn't really hold it against him, either. After hesitating for a few brief seconds in the doorway, he smiled and began walking toward the refrigerator to retrieve his bottled water. Yes. That was an essential part of the day. There was also some lunch, but the water was what he desired most. As he walked, the door shut behind him, keeping those many students at bay.

Now, Niko didn't dislike his boss, but nor did he really have any sense of admiration for him. And why was this? Because Niko rarely spoke beyond the polite 'hello, how are you sir?'. Sure, he'd had to go through an interview process, but that was a one time sort of thing. Beyond that, Niko really wasn't all that chatty, so he didn't exactly seem to be trying to meet his boss by any stretch.

"Good afternoon,"Niko greeted with a nod, stopping his journey long enough to acknowledge his boss before he turned back to the task and closed the distance to the fridge to retrieved what was rightfully his. This so happened to consist of the aforementioned water as well as a 'camping' style cloth lunch bag with fun things like chocolate pudding, a peanut butter sandwich, a 'sunshine cookie', a granny smith green apple, and shell free sunflower seeds. Okay, maybe not the most professional lunch, but it was a school wasn't it? Not like a corperate office. Ah well. No one was going to bully him over it in here, of that he was almost ninety percent sure. Besides, that guy had doughnuts. Niko was doing fairly well, his lunch wasn't all that bad, was it?

[Kyle Ehrlich]

Kyle was tired. This was nothing new but there was a problem: Kyle’s coffee pot wasn’t working. After trying to fix it scientifically (smack it) he decided to find an alternative means to fill his fix. He shrugged on his lab coat, grabbed his coffee mug, switched the sign on the door to “Out, call cell if you need assistance” and left the infirmary.

He wandered the halls aimlessly for a couple minutes, unable to remember exactly where his destination was. Finally, he found it: The Staff Room! Kyle pushed open the door and went straight to the coffee pot. He was completely oblivious to anyone or anything else in the room. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation; maybe it was the caffeine pill he slipped out of his pocket and into the mug; whatever the reason, the coffee tasted amazing. Kyle let out a sigh of contentment.

Kyle turned around and slouched against the counter. He took another sip of coffee and finally realized he was not alone in the room. A puzzled look crossed his face, which he quickly replaced with a sheepish grin. Kyle recognized the Headmaster, but he couldn't for the life of him remember the other teacher's name.

“Long day…” he said to no one in particular. He held up the mug in a half salute to Abellio, “Afternoon Headmaster” and took another sip. “Are those doughnuts fair game?"

[bridget]

Bridget pushed through the staff room doors eagerly, a real bounce in her step; lunch was one of her favourite parts of the day. No, it wasn't because she was fat- she knew she ate a lot, but she didn't see the sense in starting a diet just so she could run faster. She never needed to run, it'd just be a fancy addition to her tiny arsenal of skills. Sure, she ate a bit more than her co-workers at lunch, but it wasn't as if she lived for her food. No, she loved lunch because it not only give her a break from teaching and food, it was the only real point of the ordinary school day when she could get to know her colleagues properly. There was the morning staff briefing, but there was an unspoken pact or law saying that that affair was to be completed promptly and with minimal unneccesary talk.

As she quickly scanned the room, she saw Niko with his cute little lunch bag, near the fridge, her current destination, and Kyle with a mug of steaming coffee. Five years in France had made Bridget detest all but the finest coffee, so she rarely ever drank it her, meaning she spent a lot of time in the Dream World. "Wotcha' boys," she said cheerfully to her colleagues. Then something caught her eye. The headmaster, seated at the table. "What on earth's he doing in here? Maybe he's been in the gardens again," she thought, happy for him if that was so. It was true what they said; nature revitalised him. His wife had been just as connected with nature, her more senior co-workers had said.
"Good afternoon, Headmaster," she said with a smile, though her inflection and smile were slightly dampened by her thoughts. "Those doughnuts look nice. Mind if I pinch a couple?" she added on with a smile, this time restored to her normal playful cheek.

[Abellio Dadga]

Abe observed the history teacher as he walked in and gather together his lunch. Interesting. Very interesting, indeed. Nixon was making no effort to talk beyond acknowledgement, but the Headmaster was alright with that if only for the reason that he himself was a distant fellow. But what was interesting was the lunch Nixon had. It was juvenile in nature, but it matched up with his Dream Form. He wasn’t supposed to know that, he was sure, but Abe had a knack for figuring out what Dream Forms belong to which of his students or staff. It was probably because he was able to observe them without them really knowing that it. He returned the pleasantries to Nixon and continued to eat his doughnut.

When Kyle Ehrlich, the nurse, walked in, Abe light up a little. He liked Ehrlich. He was a bit reclusive and liked to grow things. And of course, Abellio valued these features as they were ones that he possessed as well. Ehrlich walked in as though in a daze, or perhaps singularly focused. After he poured himself a cup of coffee (and slipped in the caffeine pill, which Abe did not miss) he seemed to snap out of his daze and realize that there were people in the Staff Room other than himself.

”Are those doughnuts fair game?"

[/i] Ehrlich asked, holding up his coffee as though in a salute.

Abe smiled and held up a doughnut in a returning salute-like gesture. ”Of course, of course. I can’t eat them all by myself, though they are quite fantastic.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the French teacher, Mademoiselle Pratchet waltzed into the room in that jolly manner she generally had. She of course asked if she could have some doughnuts and he told her, ”By all means.”

He was very amused and quite pleased that he decided to supply them with doughnuts after spending some time in the garden this morning. It really was good to be around the staff. It reminded him that people were very much important. All sorts of people and not just the students.

”How are you doing with your classes and students?”[/blockquote]

[kalai]

Yes I think its getting better for the two of us
Yes I think its getting better in the worst way
I refuse to be afraid of almost anyone
Afraid of all the things they do or the words that they say
Lets live the way we want to live and hope they go away.

Speaking of dream forms, though it was silent, the headmaster had a point. Niko had a bit of a childish streak as it were, but he didn't normally notice this. Nor did he know the identity of anyone in the dream world. Truly it didn't seem important to him, though that may be in part to the fact that he couldn't figure it out even if he tried. In the dream world, effort was a scary thing.

Niko had thought he'd come in here and be social but as other people entered he found himself focused on his lunch more so than conversing. Something he told himself to try to rectify- a lot of good that did. He took a bite from his sandwhich, allowing them to talk amongst themselves as they pleased. He didn't notice the cafine pill but did notice the coffee. Nice. Now, when the French teacher came in, Niko's attention was immediately diverted. A lot of energy, it seemed. He looked in her direction with a smile, intent on being polite. As for doughnuts in general, it wasn't that he didn't want to take what was offered to him, just that he had enough sugar in his lunch as it was. And he really wasn't about to ask for one, anyway. He was more of the 'I have what's mine, you have what's yours'. Maybe if he knew them better, but otherwise no.

When the headmaster asked the question, Niko's attention went to him immediately. Who was he talking to? Well, the question seemed to be open, so Niko ventured to answer it. After all, he was rather fond of his students.

"Great. They're very great kids. I admire them, truly. And I haven't had too much difficulty, just a bit of pushing to find limits."Niko shrugged passively before falling silent again. It got him thinking about his students in depth. He did admire them, and they were, overall, good kids. And the class was enjoyable. It was relaxed, and it never got too quiet which was all Niko could ever ask for. It wasn't loud, oh no, but it was never dull and silent. Time spent talking was time spent being enthusiastic, getting them excited. And there wasn't a lot of 'sit and read ten pages'. More like,'Alright, read this paragraph, then I'll quiz you, and you write the answer on your paper.'. They got the information and they were involved. Another trick was to ask the question, but say 'what do you think?' to give other students time to ponder it. Really, though. Even the 'pushing' they did wasn't all that horrid. More like understandable and somewhat necessary to form their roles as teacher and student respectively. Nothing he'd hold against them.

[Kyle Ehrlich]

Coffee and free doughnuts? Even if he would never admit it out loud, Kyle was feeling something along the lines of eternal gratitude to the Headmaster. This was exactly what he needed to wake up. He nodded to Bridget in what he hoped was a polite manner and grabbed a doughnut from the table.

For a moment, he contemplated sitting down at the table. So far, Kyle had kept mostly to himself. He didn't dislike his coworkers, but he wasn't sure if he wanted friends just yet; things seemed to be going just fine at the colleague level. He paused, finishing the rest of his coffee. He stared into his empty mug for a moment, pretending to think, "Hrm, I'm out of coffee. Should I sit down or should I go get another cup now so I don't have to get up later?"

Kyle returned to the coffee pot and poured himself another cup. "Nick? Nicholas? Nikolai! That's his name" He leaned against the counter and munched on his doughnut, listening to Niko describe his students. Kyle enjoyed listening to the teachers talk about how the students act while in class. It was a side of the students he rarely got to see. If someone tried pushing Kyle's limits, he could always threaten to give them a shot or withhold them from a school activity. Most of the students did not seem to view him as a teacher anyways. “Which is fitting seeing as you’re not actually a teacher.”

"Nothing really to report on my end." Kyle paused to sip some more coffee. "Only had a couple cases of colds, some allergies, and scrapes and bruises. Usual kid stuff. Everyone seems to be healthy for now." Kyle knocked on the counter top and smiled to himself.

[bridget]

Bridget grinned at the Headmaster's responce. She grabbed two doughnuts- yes two -.- - from the box, and duly thanked him, before setting to work on the first. She continued on to the fridge and grabbed her lunch. She then turned around to face the chatting staff and sat on the worktop (with some difficulty), continuing her mini-feast. Niko's needed inspiration did they? Everything in order for Kyle, it seemed.

She realised it was her turn. 'Oh, nothing really going on. Same hard-workers putting in effort, same lazy ones giving cheek. A lot of the "but we'll never go to France" complaint.' She grinned at the universal bane of language teachers, especially Latin teachers, who, from what she heard, got a bit of stick involving 'time-machines'.

'How are things with you?' she said suddenly to the Headmaster, realising yet again that the Headmaster was another human being and that they had extra cause to be chatting with him. Maybe she should speak to the others when the Headmaster was away in his quarters again about the matter. 'They'd probably brush it off as silly. They'd probably be right too. He's beyond help,' she thought sadly.

[Jeremy Fox]

Jerry was one who liked company and therefore he hardly ever spent lunch breaks alone in a corner. The morning had been rather uneventfull but not unpleasant, the usual mix of little ups and downs, but the latter hardly ever got him off track until there was something a little more severe. And besides, with the rest of things running rather smoothly, there was nothing he could complain about on a day like that. Especially, as he noticed with the trace of a smirk when he entered the staff room, when there was free food around. Or at least free it looked.

“Hello guys.” he said, striding in and dumping a small pile of more or less worn issues of “Hamlet” in the remote vicinity of his part of the desk. “and gal.” he added when he noticed Bridget who had already helped herself to a couple of donuts. Seeing the headmaster in here was not the most usual sight, but he didn´t mention that.

[Metella Pope]

Metella sulked in. She hadn't slept in a while because of the motorcycles. Coffee machine was first on her mind until she saw headmaster. And that's when she remembered. She didn't comb her hair this morning. she raked her nails through her head and headed for the coffee. "Afternoon." She whispered loud enough for the Headmaster to hear if he was trying as she blew fast him in her blue suit.

A cup was in her hand and she sipped then stuck out her tongue like she had seen Maxone do last week. Sh blinked furiously as she reached for the ice dispenser. 2 pieces landed in her hand and she placed them in her cup. Then the almost clawed hand reached for the half and half and hazelnut flavoring and she poured them in,eyes closed. she inhaled deeply like she was on a Folgers commercial and then smiled. "Salve, that's good stuff."

She noticed a box of donuts and placed her hand before her back in order to keep it from snatching at one. "Could I?" She murmured to herself. Michal loved donuts... A lot. there were donuts at there wedding... That had been nice. A cake made out of donuts. That was funny. She indicated to the box with finger and whispered louder than before. "Could I have the pleasure?"

[Jeremy Fox]

Jerry had helped himself to a donut with chocolate glazing and a coffee by now, sitting at his usual place, his feet stretched under the table. It seemed like people weren´t too talkative today, some of them even looked rather hungover. Which went for Metella in particular. He chuckled faintly as he watched her. She looked more asleep than awake. "Not slept too well, Metella?" he asked when he noticed she was clawing to her coffee and donut as if her life depended on it.

[Metella Pope]

"First night in the Dream World... pretty... interesting." She was going to mention motorcycles, but she was probably the only motorcycling man in the Dream World. She grabbed the coffee cups harder as she realized her hand was trembling. "Great coffee here... really good." She muttered under her breath.

She was a generally shy, and sleepy looking person. She never spoke normally only muttered or whispered, even if she wanted others to hear. She also had a addiction with donuts, and ate them... alot. a whole lot. (ok i spell doughnuts like this. Is that a British/ American thing?)

[Kyle Ehrlich]

Kyle barely noticed when Metella or Jeremy entered the room. The caffeine was just beginning to kick in and Kyle was still in a haze. He absently munched on his doughnut and listened as the two talked.

“Interesting is one way to put it.” Kyle half laughed, half scoffed. He took another sip of his coffee, then just stared into the cup, remembering. “My first time in the dream world, I got lost in the mists. I didn’t quite have a handle on my dream from yet, so we were constantly battling for control.” He had won out in the end, but realized he didn’t know how to fly. The resulting plummet to his death was not something Kyle liked to dwell on.

Ah, there it was. The caffeine finally hit him full on. Kyle smiled as the warmth flooded through his system. He finished off his coffee and turned back to the pot. Only half a cup remained, which Kyle quickly finished off. Muttering a quiet, “Excuse me,” Kyle wove back and forth between the assembled staff, emptying the coffee grounds, cleaning and drying the pot, then refilling the grounds. Kyle nodded in satisfaction to himself as the aroma of fresh coffee began to fill the room.

[Metella Pope]

Metella nodded. "Let's also say, that the DreamWorld is more like a nightmare sometimes." She leaned on a counter, her leg propped behind her. "Ok, who makes the coffee." She knew the school made a Dream World of it's own, but this coffee is magically beyond compare." She smiled and took another sip.

A then the donut was placed in her mouth. "Dang. That's good"

[Jeremy Fox]

Jerry had listened for what they said, smiling inwardly.
“It´s all about control.” He said when Metella took a sip of her coffee. “It´s something that has to be learned, but this place enhances your possibilities and abilities. What you need is to know that you can do it in the Dream World. That you can fly for instance or… that you can do magic, whatever.” He took a bite of is donut and some time until he spoke on. “if you´re not in control, if you´re not aware of dreaming in itself, things are foggy. And they can turn into a nightmare more easily.”
He had read about dreaming a lot, long before he had come here and some of the theories about so called lucid dreaming seemed to apply even here. And having been a sporadic lucid dreamer since childhood due to that knowledge had made things like getting along and getting used to the dream world much easier.

[Dr. Robert Peterson]

Robert could hear the sound of his laced leather shoes against the polished hard wood floor. It seemed to echo down the corridors even with the bustle of students enjoying the reprieve that the noon hour offered. Class had been exceptionally long for the counselor. He was not getting through to some of the students exactly what the ego was and even less why it was important.

Dr. Peterson was not a Freudian. He had studied many schools of thought and had come to the conclusion that inclusion was the best way to approach a psychological analysis. Each school offered its own keen insights into the workings of both the conscious and the subconscious mind and each provided plausible answers to a vast array of questions. Yet none of them seemed to be the conclusive answer to life’s entire myriad of questions.

He sighed as he came to a halt before the wooden door that led to the teachers lounge. Glancing down he insured he had not forgotten the leather briefcase that held his class notes, lap top and more important, at least at this moment, his lunch. Turning the brass knob he hoped he would find the room a vacant void just awaiting him as its only occupant. Such hopes were far from reasonable considering the time of day and the room in question. He paused there, poised between opening the door and having his hopes dashed or standing awkwardly in the hall. Finally he decided it would be better to merely turn the knob and enter than stand looking indecisive in the hallway.

As the door slid open he stuck his foot almost timidly inside and than glanced around. Busy as usual, he thought to himself

It was the presence of the headmaster that caught his attention first, the man who so seldom ventured into the more frequently occupied areas of the building. The man was more of a recluse than Peterson and that took an effort. Yet it was not just the one individual that had found their way into the lounge. There was the history teacher he had caught a glimpse of earlier that day and the nurse… Ehrlich he recalled based on the memo that still sat on his desk. Others were there as well though he was even less acquainted with them.

“Good afternoon,” he offered with a nod and a faint grin.

Taking a chair at an adjacent table he merely sat his case on the table and concentrated on opening the shiny combination locks that once released would allow him access to the brown paper bag that contained his afternoon morsels.