Meetings and Plans

Posted on Tue Feb 7th, 2023 @ 1:57am by Duke Drake & Rebecca McMillen
Edited on on Tue Feb 7th, 2023 @ 2:42am

1,610 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: 1. Year One
Location: School Office
Timeline: Thursday August 27, 1992

Dr. Drake shuffled through the stacks of files on his desk, and sorted them into three stacks. Teachers, Students, and possible candidates. He was anxious to finally open the school, it had taken years of hard work and planning to make it happen. He'd been working all morning along with Rebecca and decided it was time for a coffee break. "Rebecca," he called loudly to the smaller office beside his, "Let's grab some coffee when you get to a stopping point."

Rebecca, to her credit, was helping sort the files and folders as best she could. File here, sign there, stamp over there. Several times she had to stop to just rest her eyes, golly she was going to need glasses at this rate. At the Doctor's call she called back, "Oh coffee sounds delightful." she rose up, making her way to the door to poke her head in, "And can we do it *away* from these desks? If I have to see one more official stamp while relaxing I might actually eat my desk." she giggled.

Drake laughed, "Of course, these things are making me go cross eyed " he said as he walked towards the lounge. "I have a feeling we're gonna be using a lot of coffee once the teachers begin arriving tomorrow. It's just surreal that we are on the verge of opening, for so long it just felt like a far off dream, but it built up like a snowball to the point where it seems like we are barely ahead of the ball."

Rebecca walked alongside, glancing around at the empty, silent manor. "It's so quiet. Won't be for long, though." she had a smile on her features, even being relaxed enough to let her thin tail sway behind her with each step. "They sell coffee in bulk, right?" she joked. Of course they did. Though, at his final reference, she gave a giggle and almost tapped him on the shoulder. "Look at you, making snow references. Like you've seen snow." she teased.

"Snow? I've seen White Christmas a hundred times, though they don't make snowballs in it, I've watched enough Looney Tunes to be an expert," he joked back. "In all seriousness did you see the news this morning? There was another anti mutant protest outside city hall in New Orleans."

Rebecca gave a giggle and a smile at his mention, "Oh, just Christmas?" her smile slightly faded, "I... I don't celebrate Christmas." she was silent for a moment, "But hey, no need to be a grinch about it, right? And snowballs are easy. Just keep packing and throw. Or roll, if you're making a snowman."

They reached the kitchen soon enough, and the mousey assistant started up the coffee. Fresh grinds with a touch of cinnamon in the mix. "I did see it. I didn't want to keep watching but I felt that I had to. I had to see it for myself." Though, she knew well the cruelty humans were capable of. "We're okay out here, though." she sounded hesitant. Questioning.

"I hope so, I've heard rumors about a Trask Industries project related to robots for hunting mutants, but the government is trying to keep it quiet. Have you happened to pick up anything through any of your contacts?" the doctor asked seriously.

She shook her head, "No, nothing with that name." she poured a cup of coffee for herself and one for the doctor, "Sweet, or black and bleak?" she asked, sweetening her own and adding some creamer. Light and sweet. A small sip, and she closed her eyes and smiled. Her tail tip did a little twitchy twitch.

"Black will be fine," he replied before changing the subject again, "Do you know if the last of the textbooks arrived for the health classes? Oh and the um, things for the computer room, to make it talk to other ones. You know what I mean right?"

"So, ummm, textbooks yes. Computer equipment, well we got *something*... actually a lot of somethings, but I don't know the first thing about that. All I know is there's a computer part called a mouse, but not the kind I can relate to." the silly mention made her smile behind the coffee mug.

"I put the text books in the room that we we set aside for those classes." she confirmed, "So, yeah we got that taken care of. Anyone on the roster good with computers?" she asked, now hiding her face behind that mug.

"I interviewed someone whose powers worked hand in hand with their technical abilities. I made an offer so I should know for sure this afternoon," Drake explained before sipping his coffee. "Besides if you or I had to teach that class we'd be in big trouble! Especially since you can't talk to that kind of a mouse."

"Oh that's great. Think they could look at the wiring on the second floor? There's a few bulbs up there that flicker and the last thing I need is to wake up in the morning and think we're haunted." a pause, "Cause I will squeak. Scream. I mean scream." she motioned to him with her coffee, "You be quiet. I said 'scream'."

Drake chuckled, "I can ask but maybe we will get lucky with an electrical control powerset. I don't recall seeing one, but you never know who will show up." He took a sip of coffee before continuing, "I think I'm just going to order a pizza for lunch if you want some. It's not healthy but I wanna plow through the last of the paperwork and do one more walk through of the school to make sure everything is ready."

"At this point, I'll take 'Licensed Electrician' if 'Electrokinetic' isn't available." she offered with a soft smile. "This place will be full before you know it." her tone was encouraging. She didn't want to think of the vision in jeopardy before it even had a chance to shine.

"I'll never say no to pizza." Rebecca gave a giggle, pushing off the desk to wander through the kitchen. "YES, extra cheese." she sighed, as though it even needed to be asked, and as though she had answered a dozen times today. She might have been mousey, but she never wanted to consider that it actually made her a mouse.

"Extra Cheese is a no brainer for you Mouse-y, I'll get it ordered and then go on a walk about. We can test out one of those 2 way radios also while I'm away from the desk," Drake said looking forward to pizza.

"Oh har har har." she said flatly, and searching through the drawers for the aforementioned 2 way radio. "Ok so, where did you put 'em?" she turned up to look at the Doc. "So where did you leave 'em?" she inquired.

"So first question I have is, do we have to go get the pizza, or is there someplace that delivers out here?"

"The radios should be in the closet between our offices, and yes we can get delivery out here, I just tip extra," Drake said. "I wish more food places delivered out here."

"Ahhhh, okay then, I'll be right back." she turned and made her way out, that thin tail of hers slowly swaying with each step. She'd return a few minutes later with a pair of handheld radios. "I set them both to channel nine." she handed one of them to the doctor. "So, I'll go off to the other office to test it."

"Ok I'm headed to third floor, I imagine reception in the basement will not be too good with a ll the steel down there," as he walked away he stopped at his desk and ordered a large pizza before heading upstairs. "I'm in the Study Hall can you Read me? Over."

She waited until she couldn't hear the echoing footsteps going up the stairs before really paying attention to the radio. Turned out it was a little louder than she expected. "Eee! Umm, oh umm loud and clear." she paused, then remembered. "Oh, sorry. Over."

"Good, we know those work. We can give one to each staff member as they arrive," he replied as he walked around the third floor then headed to the second floor.

"Probably best to do it at a single staff meeting once we know who is staying and who is leaving. No point in giving away free radios to the first hundred callers. You also forgot to say Over." she giggled. "Over."

"You're probably right about that like usual," Duke replied before pausing and closing his eyes. He pictured the pecan Grove outside at the north corner of the property. It was supposed to be the operational edge of the radio's range. With a bampf the room around him disappeared and the Grove appeared. "Can you still hear me? Over."

"Welllllll, I wouldn't go so far as to say Like Usual but I do have a pretty good winning streak." she teased over the radio, idly flicking her thin tail before gently taking ahold of it. "You... nda fuzzy, yea... ha... but it's ha... ear you clearly. O...."

When the signal was broken up, Drake teleported back into his office, "Thanks for testing these Rebecca, I think we're all set for the arrivals tomorrow, and I'm in my office now, over." He stepped out of his office and placed the radio back on the charger in the small closet. Tomorrow would be the fulfillment of several years of dreams, planning, and hard work, yet Drake was excited to face the new challenges it would bring.


#End

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