Oh What a Beautiful Morning?

[Pietro Maximoff]

((OOC: This is set after the Mutant Rights Rally but before Pietro's police examination.))

::It was not early as far as Pietro was concerned; dawn had broken, and he had run his first security sweep. Breakfast had been served, and he had stayed in the kitchen long enough to drink juice and eat toast, which was to say not particularly long at all.

His written exam was soon, and he had the pass for it ready, as well as his materials. It was basic, as far as he was concerned. Perhaps he had an advantage. He was more concerned with the rest of it, the oral exam and background checks. The psychological examination. The physical would be fine; that didn't concern him.

He was out by a tree, which had been nicknamed Michael-Sydney, although he had no knowledge of why. If he learned Magneto was involved, he would stop using it. It was good for climbing; better than that, its branches were perfect for chin ups, which is what he found himself doing at the moment.::

[Shade]

In many ways, Shade had quit with the Brotherhood, severingthe memories connected to it, but Michael-Sydney was a difference - if he could be called anything connected to Brotherhood at all that was. Strangely enough however, one of the oldest memories she had about this tree was the sight of Rogue and Magneto sitting in its shade when she had crept onto the grounds for the first time, but the tree was more connected to Rogue than Magneto for her. She simply liked the place and would come there once in a while to drowse, read or for one of her unfortunately relatively rare chats with Rogue. Good old times.

She had come out onto the grounds about half an hour earlier and was now sitting with her back against the tree, her laptop in front of her, but on the other side of the tree so Pietro would now have seen her when he approached the tree. A textbook on Roman antiquity was lying open on the grass her laptop was on her lap, another book to her right and a pencil between her teeth. She had stopped typing a few minutes ago and was checking some details on one of the pages, so not even the sound of typing had give her away so far. Immersed in her work, her mind shuffling and rewinding lesson plans, she was as of now oblivious to Pietro and his exercises.

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro's attention, at present, was focused on his thoughts, and the drive to push his limits. Each of his muscles were solid; he could feel them all, name each of them, and knew he had worked them well. Still, remaining in peak physical condition was necessary to him. After what was in reality several minutes, he became aware of a person beneath the tree, under where he was. The leaves masked the person's identity from his sight, and thus he began with what was a friendly attempt from him.:: "Hello."

[Shade]

It would happen now and the that she got so occupied with something that she nearly forgot the world around her and if someone spoke to her in such a moment, Shade would usually be rather startled. Just as now. It didn´t mean she was a nervous person, nor that she was on edge about anything, but when Pietro greeted her she flinched slightly, her powers kicking in from instinct for a moment, making her vanish for just a second before she identified the voice and reappeared. Pietro. She had not seen him for months and they had never been on too friendly terms even though the last conversation had lacked the hostility of their first encounter. Shade reckoned he did not think too highly of her and accepted it because it was somewhat similar in turn. They had had a bad start and even though she was usually not someone to be pouty about things, all the conversations they had ever had had always been somewhat... off. At least for her understanding. Still, that didn´t mean she couldn´t exchange some words with him.

Her head turning rather abruptly as a reaction to having been startled, she made out his form above her in the tree. "Hello, Pietro." she said in a voice as friendly as it would be with anyone but not accompanied by the grin she would give someone close to her and took the pencil from between her teeth to underline a short passage in the book before placing the pencil aside.

[Pietro Maximoff]

::She vanished, for what to Pietro was too long a time. It told him she was Shade. Rather than run off, however, he reappeared, and there was no humor in her voice. Not some childish game. He must have surprised her, such that she had the need to use her abilities for protection. They were good instincts for life, as cynical as it was to think so.

He held himself up for a prolonged moment, to try and better see her and what she was doing to so occupy her. He noticed an edge. Of a book or a notebook, it seemed. It was summer still, although that meant nothing. He had spent enough years cumulatively at the mansion to know that course planning began during the summer. It was easier to speak of that than idle pleasantries, asking how she was or answering a similar question should she ask it. Or talk of the weather. With Ororo ill, it was more natural than it tended to be.:: "What courses do you teach this semester?"

[Shade]

Shade noticed he seemed to be fine with just a general conversation and shrugged inwardly, not minding a little chat even though when she spoke to him, her instincts were never totally at ease. She did not mistrust him, she was pretty damn sure he was absolutely loyal to the people around here and what they stood for, but still... it wasn´t any supsition he would notice in her behaviour however.

She browsed to another page before she abandoned that task from politeness. "Same has last semester." she said. "but with a different focus. Antiquity´ll have a go at it this time."

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Passion for a single subject was nothing which had gripped Pietro,which had led to his life's direction, or lack thereof. However, certain subjects had interested him more than others, and mythology and ancient cultures had been one of them. Perhaps it was caused by his earliest memories of Sinti folk tales. Eventually, he had let that part of him wither and die, with the rest of his childhood, but he knew enough to "talk shop.":: "Greco-Roman, Celtic, or later?"

[Shade]

"The first." Shade gave back, rather okay with the fact that this seemed to be a topic that allowed them to converse in a manner that did not have them watch each other like hawks. "but a little stronger into the Greek direction. Classical Greek that is."

[Pietro Maximoff]

"Traditional," ::Pietro said, and it was neither an insult nor a compliment. Merely an observation, as he remembered his education was similar. It might be state-mandated; Pietro had never bothered to learn what was left to Uncle's discretion as HeadMaster, and what was preordained by bureaucrats.::

[Shade]

His voice sounded pretty much neutral at the statement so Shade saw no reason to feel offended by it. "Yep." she said, giving the textbook a glance. "unfortunately there is no time to teach a broader range, so some unlucky cultures keep falling out of the frame."

[Pietro Maximoff]

::Pietro remembered that vividly from his days as a student. Uncle had called it ethnocentrism; Magneto had called it bigotry. It led to Hank reading and passing the information on to the rest of them.:: "The children have exams?"

[Shade]

"There will be an exam to end the term." Shade nodded, leaning her head against the tree to look up at him. "it´s necessary for them to get the qualifications they´ll need for later studies." It was not meant in a way to lecture him or point out the obvious, but rather spoke of the slight annoyance she usually felt at the restrictins that were dicated by a tight curriculum. It left little space for straying, little space to have a look over the rim. Antiquity, after all, shoud not be narrowed down to those few aspects. Maybe a project would be doable, she pondered, to at least straighten out that problem a little.

[Pietro Maximoff]

::It was an ambiguous answer, but Pietro's question had sounded ambiguous, likely. Unless following his train of thought from the inside, his questions rarely synced with what he wished to know.:: "State-mandated?"

[Shade]

"Yes." Shade said, inwardly making a face. "most of it." Her answer had been referring to the simple fact that preparing the kids for their exams often was the priority which was a pity really since she was of the opinion that learning history was more than just memorizing dates and names. "I might have a little time to put in something Celtic or others. There is much more to ancient cultures of course, but since the class is European history I at least don´t have to turn down most of the world."

[Pietro Maximoff]

"You should do a lesson on the Roma," ::Pietro suggested. Not that he had authority over her or any academic matter, but it would do the children well to learn about other oppressed cultures. Perhaps it was his ethnic and personal connection.::