Hiding out {Mr. Wisdom}

[wisdom]

“Darling, they are referred to villains for a good reason generally. Wars, chaos, pillaging... That’s what they improve on. The way of the world, the only thing we get better at than killing is sweeping it under the rug.” It was another sad fact that Wisdom absently wondered if he should be off loading onto the blonde girl, it certainly wasn’t exactly falling under the category “things a teacher should say” he was sure. Still, Wisdom wasn’t one to cover the truth and shelter them with half lies about rainbows and buttercups, or whatever it was that you were supposed to spout these days.

“Yeah, that’ll turn out well.” He rolled his eyes. “If I teach you how to swear and insult folk, it’d be kind obvious who everyone would blame, eh? Not too many of us Englishmen around in the institute.” In fact there wasn’t any last time he checked, the school was largely comprised of Americans, with a few exceptions here and there of course. “Way bigger than you? Luv, he’s way bigger than everyone.” Wisdom himself was a good three inches below six feet, so the height difference between the two men was massive, and then there was the physical build differences... Yeah, Cain Marco was certainly on Wisdom’s not to piss off list.

[Chain]

”Villains equals dumbshits that need to be put down. I believe in equal opportunity, the dumbshit human villains need to be put down too. I know, I know there’s good in everyone, but I don’t think so. Not when it’s been that twisted and corrupted. Good can’t survive that. It’s like putting a child in hell and then expecting them to come out mentally stable and fully functioning.” It might be a bad way to look at things but Kelly believed that there was no hope for some people.

She gave him a look that said she wanted to smack him upside the head. ”We are going to learn it anyway. We just might repeat the wrong word at the wrong time. Kind of like sex ed, we are going to do it anyway, may as well know how to do it right.” Kelly put it that way for a reason she couldn’t help but tease him. He was a cross between laid back cool guy and uptight Brit. ”He’s like something out of legend, you know? Like a giant.”

[wisdom]

Pete frowned slightly at the girl’s view, but not because he disagreed with it, hell, Pete was a strong supporter of doing whatever it took to keep the peace, but rather that such a sentiment was coming from the girl in front of him. It both saddened and relieved him at the same time, an interesting combination to say the least. Sad that she was young and already accepting that you had to get your hands dirty to preserve order, and relieved for pretty much the same reason. Going though life with your eyes closed might be all well and good for some people,

He facepalmed at the comparison between teaching them how to swear and insult to that of sex education. This girl really was just going to be an utter nightmare to teach. “I’ll teach you the slang, but you have to promise to a) not to compare it to sex ed again, and b) try not to use it around the rest of the staff, eh? I do not need the headache that’ll arise from that.”

[Chain]

Kelly saw the look on his face and sighed softly. It kind of bothered her a bit. Here he was a man who’s probably seen and done things that would give her nightmares and he feels bad for her. But then she wondered how hold he was when he lost that innocent belief that all is right in the world. What was it she used to say when she was little? All she needed was her mom, dad, and chocolate chip cookies and the world was perfect. When had she lost that part of her? Probably about middle school, knowing her luck. It wasn’t that she was all pessimistic or what not, but somewhere down deep she was a bit of realist. One of the reasons she doesn’t believe in waiting for Prince Charming to rescue her, actually, she’d think it be kind of fun to rescue Prince Charming. Not that she was a feminist she’d just get a kick out of the irony of it all.

The girl started giggling at his reaction. ”Alright, I promise. I just did it that way to see what you would do. Although…. It is an apt description, tell us not to do it and we will. Best just to explain it so we know what we are getting into. I’ll try to not cuss in British around the other teachers. So, what other words can you teach me?”

[wisdom]

Pete had lost his innocence so long ago he could barely even remember the shadow of it, and whatever trace remains were promptly stamped out during his years at the beck and call of Her Majesty’s service. It was probably thanks to this that, despite slight feelings of guilt for doing so, he actually had begun mentally profiling the young mutant before him. Using people was a knack; a knack that Pete Wisdom had mastered over the years to an utter bastard level that it was almost second nature to him. Of course the idea of using a student was low even on his standards, but these were difficult times that required decisions to be made that would otherwise be ignored in favour of a lesser evil.

“Depends on what words you’re after, luv. We talking flat out insult, or just general passing remarks? Or are you just looking to spice up the odd conversation with a certain boy with a chilly disposition?” The last question caused him to tilt his head and smirk.

[Chain]

Kelly smirked at his question and tilted her head from side to side. ”All of it. Wait, about the certain boy, what did you have in mind?” Her arms folded across her chest as she studied him. He had been studying her for something she was smart enough to know that so she decided to return the favor. The young blond was a hell of a lot more perceptive than people gave her credit for. There was something about Mr. Wisdom that screamed secrets but then anyone could probably pick up on that. She wasn’t really interested in his secrets but she felt that just maybe they could become friends, non creepy friends of course but like they could meet up and hang out after she graduated kind of friends. ”Do I measure up? Whatever it is you are assessing me for?” She wondered if that would shock him. But then again she had spent several years working on assessing people she had to know who was going to use her to climb the social ladder. May not seem like much out in the real world, but in her world it saved her peppy pink ass.

[wisdom]

Pete chuckled softly and tilted his head to the other side, “That depends on what you have in mind of talking to him about, luv.” Of course part of him chimed in the back of his mind that he probably didn’t really want to know what the cheerleader had to say to Bobby. Stiil, He’d agreed to teach her the slang, but he wasn’t about to just spout of a list of words that she'd probably never use.

He wasn’t surprised when she called him on studying her; he hadn’t exactly been discrete about it. Maybe if he’d put a bit more effort into it it might have been a different story, although Kelly seemed a lot more observant than you’d normally expect a high school student to be. Her gift naturally put her in the support category, and with that keen ability to perceive the world as it was... She was a natural for an intelligence role, albeit with a little fine tuning here and there. Whether or not she would be an asset to the team he was trying to put together was debatable however, especially considering her age. “Measure up? Hmm, I’ll let you know when I make up my mind, luv.” He smirked once more and turned her question back on her, “What about me? I meet your expectations, or am I falling short of the mark?”

[Chain]

Kelly smirked at him. ”You wouldn’t want to know. At least not all of it, but just kind of chatting him up. Telling him he’s cute, showing him I’m interested, that kind of thing. He’ll probably look at me like I’m a dumbshit, but I’m used those looks.” She shrugged a bit and then grinned. It would be kind of cool if she could learn a few new tricks. In her own way Kelly liked to learn, it just might not be the normal subjects taught at the school.

The tiny blond gave him a full blown dimpled smile. If he was still assessing then he didn’t go by stereotyping, which meant she wasn’t being judged on looks alone. Bonus. When he asked if he passed, blue eyes narrowed a bit and she nodded. ”Actually you do. I like the fact that you don’t pat us on the head and sugarcoat stuff. Let me know if I pass, alright? I’m really curious about it now.” Kelly didn’t think that Wisdom was a good teacher in the traditional sense. But something told her that in the untraditional, unorthodox sense, Mr. Peter Wisdom would be one hell of an instructor.

[wisdom]

“So you want to let him know that you think he’s the dog’s bollocks, eh?” He smirked and shook his head, “Luv, just tell him you think he’s a bit tidy and you like the Baltic, and otherwise just chat him up the way you normally would. We might have some different terms, but when it gets down to it the basics are the same. ‘sides, a lot of what we’d use has a whole different meaning this side of the Atlantic, so it might be best if you avoid certain aspects, eh?”

Dimples, the girl had dimples. If he hadn’t already been talking to the girl for the last however long he would of automatically assumed she fell into the stereotype of blonde cheerleader based on that smile alone. It’s probably what made her real personality and mind such a surprise. “If you pass, sure I’ll let you know.” He smirked and winked slightly to show that he was joking with the last statement, of course he wasn’t entirely. If she didn’t cut it, well she didn’t cut it. Not much to be said otherwise, it was an either/or kind of world, do or don’t. Fail or succeed. Had Pete known that she was considering him a great instructor, even if it wasn’t in the conventional sense, he’d probably had laughed and told her she might want to work on her assessment skills a bit more. As far as he was concerned, he was taking to teaching like a duck to blender. Messy and quite likely to end up with someone getting arrested.

[Chain]

The girl just started giggling. ”Dog’s bollocks… I love that. Oh god… I’d be giggling too much to be able to do anything.”After a few minutes the girl finally calmed down and took a breath. ”Yeah, I think I’ll just stick with wazzocks and bloody hell. Maybe bollocks for good measure. I’ll just smile and wink like I normally would, it should be enough of a clue.” The slang just seemed to tickle her and then she realized she might have offended him. ”I wasn’t meaning to be offensive in case I offended you. But it’s kind of like… I’d be giggling too hard to even try Spotted Dick.”

Kelly nodded when he said he’d let her know. Then she studied him for the longest time. ”You know, you have so much more to teach than history. You have that laid back, no nonsense attitude that a lot of kids can relate to. You don’t treat us like infants but you don’t treat us like delinquents, no matter how much you might want to, that’s saying something. So, no selling yourself short, as the man said, ‘It’s not how you start but how you finish.’ Got that?” She poked him once in the chest to prove her point.

[wisdom]

Pete refrained from making a comment about her loving dog’s bollocks, a mature step he was somewhat proud of. Of course, had she been anyone but his student... Well, it might have been a little different. “Trust me luv, I’m not offended in the slightest. You can find it funny all you want, I find you yanks and your slang pretty amusing myself.”

He arched an eyebrow at the girl’s spiel about how he had more to offer than just the things he taught in the classroom, an eyebrow that rose even more at the prod to the chest. “Luv, I might have more to teach than who did what and when, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to do so. And as for selling myself short? Darling, trust me when I say that I know my exact worth to the pound, and to the penny.” He shrugged slightly, and reached for another cigarette from the box in his jacket pocket. “But I agree with you on it’s how you finish, but sometimes you have to watch what you do in between time if you take my meaning. Some occasions the ends don’t always justify the means.” That wasn’t to say that he still wouldn’t do half the things he did in order to get a good “end”, it’s just that justifying it to the world and to yourself were two separate and distinct things that never seemed to correlate. ‘Maureen Raven,’[/i] the name came unbidden to his mind, serving to prove his point and cause a brief spark of guilt to flash before it dissipated back to the dark recesses of mindscape. Good ends were never achieved through good means in these dark times, and Pete Wisdom knew all about such a fact.

[Chain]

The giggles finally subsided a bit and she nodded. ”That’d be something I’d love to do one day. Like compare slang see if any of it is the same. Like snogging? That makes me giggle because I cannot figure out how making out is snogging. I mean some of them I can understand, but you know?” Kelly had her own illogic thirst for knowledge she was very much into the trivial things that most people don’t pay attention to. She always thought that was stupid because it was that trivial stuff that usually gave you the answer.

Kelly rested her arm on his shoulder and her chin on her arm and looked at him. ”It sucks when you’ve done things you can’t make up for, and I’m sorry if that’s happened to you. I wish I could help you deal with it like the rest of us there’s some serious potential in there somewhere. Maybe you just need someone to help you tap into it?” The blond wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug that she made damn sure looked like a daughter giving her daddy a hug. ”We’ll be alright Mr. Wisdom. We’re stronger than they think.” Funny thing is Kelly didn’t know if she was talking about them all as a whole or just the two of them.

[wisdom]

“Snogging?” Pete frowned, “I’m not too sure where the word snog comes from either, it’s just one of those words that has cropped up and stuck around, no different from the Ozzie’s calling it a Pash really.” He hadn’t really thought about it in all honesty, it was just one of those things that were called that. “But I get what you mean, sometimes what half you kids come out with takes me a few seconds to work out what the bloody hell you’re talking about.”

He arched an eyebrow as the girl placed her hand on his shoulder, an eyebrow that rose further as she began to try to comfort him. ‘Great, Wisdom,’ that familiar voice chimed in again. ‘Get so wrapped up in your own recollections that you have to be comforted by a little girl... Aren’t we the sensitive one.’ The voice was, however, hushed by the petite girl’s next actions, an action that surprised both it and Wisdom to a stunned silence. He stood there for several bewildered seconds before shifting slightly out of her grasp. “Heh, thanks? You don’t need to worry about me, luv. I might not look it, but I’m pretty sure I can look after myself, eh?”

[Chain]

Kelly gave a real laugh and was glad a Brit didn’t know either. ”I don’t know how they get half the phrases either. Some I can understand but most of them make no sense whatsoever.” When he stepped away she winced. ”That wasn’t supposed to make you uncomfortable. And of course I have to worry about you because you are my teacher.” She gave him a funny look and sighed softly. ”Everyone needs friends to watch their backs no matter how young you think we are.” She really hoped he didn’t think she was trying to come on to him. She stepped back until her back hit the wall giving him as much space as possible.

[wisdom]

Pete frowned slightly as she backed off completely, fighting the urge to facepalm at having inadvertently hurt her feelings. But it was probably for the best, the less attached to him the safer she’d probably be. He was a proverbial bad penny, and trouble always seemed to find him and the ones that cared for him.

“Darling, trust me when I say that I’m not the sort of person you’d want as a friend.” There was no hint of self loathing in his tone of voice, rather it sounded as if it was just one of those simple facts of life. Of course, in many regards it was a simple fact of life when it came to Pete Wisdom, he’d lied, betrayed, and even killed people who’d believed him their friend, even if in some cases the belief was mutual. “And trust me, I learnt quite a few years back how to watch my own back.”