Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made

[Tom Harriman]

Tom half-considered protesting the Mister in his introduction, but frankly he didn't feel like drawing any extra attention to himself. Sure, he'd just had his molecules disassembled and rearranged. Sure, he had no way to know if he was the real him, or just a perfect molecular and quantum copy of a Tom Harriman who had been vapourised on the other side of New York moments before. And sure, absolutely everything around him had changed in an instant, and absolutely no one could possibly expect his brain to cope with that much sensory shift without any kind of prior warning.

But come on. He used to jump out of planes for a living. Why was this kind of jump so much harder for his body to fathom? Frankly it was embarassing; the fact that Clarity's half-pint kid could cope with it just fine only made it worse.

Managing to gather his faculties together, Tom straightened up; and while he clearly wasn't back at 100%, he did a pretty decent job of faking it. He mustered a small smile; but it was one to make him feel better, not one to reassure Clarity, who it was aimed at.

"Last time I was here, I didn't use a door either," he pointed out. A grimace swept across his features. "And being the mysterious guy sneaking around unauthorised in a school full of kids isn't exactly something I'm comfortable with. Don't I need to -" He trailed off, waving a hand vaguely. "- I dunno, sign the visitors book at the front desk, or something like that?"

[Chartis]

As a rule of thumb, Clarity tried not to scrunch her face. She wasn't as young as she used to be and those fine lines that proved so didn't need any help in sticking.

Now though, she couldn't keep from pinching her brow together.

"Ridley, close your eyes," she sighed, and once he had done so, she socked Tom's shoulder with a tight-knuckled fist. Clarity fixed him with a no-nonsense stare. "Stop being ridiculous. You're not sneaking around unauthorized, I've brought you here. Try to keep from breaking, maiming, and otherwise experimenting needlessly with things, most especially people, most especially people who our students, while you're here and you'll be fine."

A little too late, she realized that the gentle sarcasm might have gone right over Ridley's head and - yes, there it was, that wide-eyed suspicion beaming from his face and aimed right at Tom.

Clarity smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Rids, that's almost completely a joke. Mr. Harriman is a good guy," she elbowed Tom in the side, a not-so-gentle prompt for him to put on his best 'I come in peace' face, "and actually, he needs to see your father. I'm running late for an appointment; be a dear and show him the way, would you?"

Before either could protest, Clarity winked, deposited a diplomatic pat of approval on each of their shoulders, and disappeared in a snap of disturbed air.

[Ridley Rhee]

The laborious sigh that rattled from Ridley's lungs was teeming with an old, old patience, worn thin almost to the point of breaking.

"I really hate it when she does that," he explained to Tom, shaking his head.

The boy rocked back on his heels, his hands clasped neatly at his back like he'd seen his dad do. "Well, come on. I'll give you a tour first - I do the best ones, because I skip the boring stuff."

[Tom Harriman]

You and me both, Tom mused silently, but kept the thought firmly to himself. Clarity may be gone, but he knew better than to say anything in front of her child that might eventually make it's way back to her.

Abandoned with only a small child for company, Tom tried to size up the young boy, watching him play at being a grown-up. It was endearing in a way: one of those evolution imperative things that children had cooked up to stop primitive parents getting annoyed and abandoning them. He felt suddenly lost and confused; while sure, he'd been a teacher for a while there, the kids that he was used to dealing with were older, en masse, and were there for the specific purpose of learning a specific set of things from him.

How the hell was Tom supposed to interact with one youngster on their own?

He fought the urge to sigh, instead shrugging his shoulders in surrender. "Sure thing, kid. Lead the way."