Office Hours (Open to all)

[firstbornrichards]

When: Friday afternoon
Where: X-Mansion, Franklin's office
What: Franklin has open office hours.

Franklin Richards had taken to teaching like a duck had taken to water. He'd shown up with half of his planning for the year finished already, though as a famous general had once said, "no plan survives contact with the enemy". He'd had to do a lot of adapting on the fly, but it was good. It kept him busy and made him feel useful as something other than some sort of ridiculous fount of all power.

He'd adopted an open-door policy pretty early, because the truth was, sometimes he liked being interrupted from marking and other paperwork. If anyone had any questions or concerns, he was there to help them out. If someone wanted to drop him off some coffee, well, that was extremely welcome.

Franklin liked coffee, a lot. People who gave him coffee tended to get their requests granted much more quickly.

The door was open. Who would come in next?

And would they have coffee?

Comments

[firstbornrichards]

"Greybeard? Already. Sheesh." Franklin took one of the candies for himself. That was funny, he could've sworn the turtles loved candy ... perhaps it was just this one that did not.

"Would you be able to keep this book for Pete, for when he's next around? I haven't seen him in a little while and he asked for it." He took a book and handed it to the turtle.

Is that how you did it? Franklin didn't know. He wasn't used to turtle-oriented multiple personality disorder. Or whatever exactly it was.

[fourshelled]

Athos reached over and took the book. His mask covered the disappointed sneer at reading the title. None of the turtles were much for book-learning, which was why none of them attended classes. That was all Pete.

"Want the sod?"

[firstbornrichards]

"Well, I wouldn't mind talking to him sometime." Franklin replied. Pete had actually done a very good job on his last assignment and Franklin wanted to tell him that, but he'd been out of his class for almost a week. No doubt because the turtles had other plans. It made giving positive reinforcement a real pain.

"Though it's not very nice to call Pete a sod."

[fourshelled]

"Rube then," he corrected himself blandly. The ninja turtle stretched and rolled his head a bit. He took in a deep breath. As he let the breath out, his blueish green skin turned pinkish and then faded to more of Pete's skin tone. His mask and gear became part of his body as it shrank and contorted to Pete's normal shape.

In a matter of moments, a red-haired teenage boy sat in Franklin's office. He wore a t-shirt and jeans. He blinked at the book sitting in his lap.

[firstbornrichards]

Well then. That was an interesting little development. He hadn't expected Pete to be 'called' up so suddenly.

"The book you were wanting to borrow? Right there." Franklin managed a small smile. He dug the assignment out of his briefcase and handed it over. "I also wanted to congratulate you on your work. Your writing's come a very long way since we started in September. Wonderful use of expressive language."

If only the boy were a bit better at expressing himself personally, but he could imagine how that was a little difficult. He pushed the candy dish a little further forward.

"Candy?"

[fourshelled]

"Oh. Uh, thanks." He ran a finger along the book's cover. Then he picked it up and held it to his chest. Maybe this would keep the turtles away. They avoided school things like the plague anyway.

He looked up and took the assignment back with his free hand. "I tried a little harder."

Pete set the assignment on his lap to help with the schoolwork guard. He reached into the candy bowl and stopped himself from grabbing half of it. He plucked out a couple pieces instead.

[firstbornrichards]

"You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it." Franklin tried his best to be reassuring and non-frightening. Hopefully Pete wasn't dwelling on the exact nature of Franklin's matter and space-manipulating abilities. It wouldn't do to have him terrified of his little old history teacher.

"I look forward to reading more of your work." Hopefully Pete actually showed up in class a little more often. The turtles were interfering with his academic development! How was he supposed to attain all the state curriculum outcomes when he wasn't able to be around half the time!

All the same, he couldn't really be too hard on Pete for patchy attendance. He probably showed up whenever he could. Sharing bodies with a turtle must have been hard.

"And before I forget, I'm organizing a field trip to the Ellis Island museum and Statue of Liberty, if you want to go."

[fourshelled]

"I-I might." If the turtles left him alone enough to read. Pete wasn't really thinking of what anyone's powers were. Just that they were mutants and that scared him. His own powers scared him. Even more now that he got the drift his was freak among freaks.

"I'll... I'll try to be there for the next test... thing." Pete swallowed a little. For some reason, the turtles let him go to class when there were tests or important things. Otherwise, it was occasionally a crapshoot.

"Oh? Uh. One of us will make it. Don't know who would sign the..." He trailed off and got intent on graded assignment on his lap.

[firstbornrichards]

"Administration will see to that." Franklin frowned when he saw Pete staring at the assignment. At least he was staring at an A. But he had a real sinking feeling about what that sudden aversion meant. He could feel his heart and stomach sink like a rock.

Franklin went over from the other side of his desk to the chair beside Pete, putting his hands on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Pete." He didn't want to say too much about it openly, especially if he wanted it kept private. "But you know you're not alone here, right? If you ever need or want to talk about anything, or need help, we're here."

It was a lot easier to talk about the War of American Independence. But the fact was, they would never just be an ordinary school with a few extracurricular powers-training classes. Pete was, sadly, far from alone on that score.

[fourshelled]

Pete rubbed at the A a little. Like he was trying to make sure it wasn't a converted F. He hadn't gotten many good grades before he came to Xavier's. Then again, he hadn't had a need to throw himself into academics to avoid reality either.

He glanced up at Mr. Richards with watery eyes before looking down.

"No, I'm alone," he said quietly. "No freaks as bad as me."

[firstbornrichards]

"That's not true. You're not a freak, and there's nothing wrong with you. And your challenges, hey, that's what we're here for." Franklin looked at Pete for a moment. He hadn't had his parents abandon him, but he knew what it was like to lose them.

"We care about you, okay? All of us, teachers and students alike." There was no denying Pete had some pretty serious challenges, but he needed to realize that he wasn't completely on his own. Though honestly, he wondered if letting the turtles have free rein like that was the best thing.

Though was it fair to them to suppress that?

[fourshelled]

Pete swallowed and shook his head slightly. He didn't really expect any of the people here to understand.

He took a breath in and his skin turned more pinkish. The pinkish tone got purplish blotches as Pete's body shifted and changed. His clothes melded into the form as it expanded.

Then Porthos was sitting in a chair with a book held to his chest and an assignment sitting on his lap.

"Whooooooa."

[firstbornrichards]

Franklin had to stifle a whispered curse.

"... hello." He sighed and took out the candy bowl, offering it to the turtle. It really wasn't the turtle's fault. "Candy?"

[fourshelled]

Porthos gave Frankin a crooked grin. He didn't even seem to notice the stifled curse. "How's it hangin', teach?"

He cocked his head at the offered candy. "Shibby! Don't mind if I do."

He set the book in his lap, on top of the graded assignment, and grabbed some candy.