Dreams Flood In (Open)

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon hated the winter. Sure he loved the snow on the ground and how everything looked slightly magical after a hard frost, but cold was not his friend. It seemed to worm its way deep into his very being, making his every muscle and joint ache no matter how many layers of clothing he put between his skin and the frigid air around him. It had been pretty bad back home but here it was even worse, the winters longer and colder than any that had hit his beloved Leeds in his memory.

In his classroom, however, it was lovely and warm. The heaters filled the room with a glorious heat that allowed even this pasty Brit to be comfortable in a long-sleeved shirt without half a dozen sweaters over it. He’d just finished his lunch and was contentedly full, feeling more relaxed than he had done for weeks. Granted he’d had a very definite reason to be stressed and worried recently, and that was still playing on his mind, but it was hard to care too much at the moment when he was quite so sedate from warmth and a full stomach.

There was still about half an hour until classes resumed and he’d have to get back to work, and Devon decided that a quick power nap wouldn’t hurt. Setting the alarm on his phone to wake him up ten minutes before the students were due to start arriving, Devon hopped off his chair and crossed the room, sitting on the large worktop over by the window. The warmth radiating from the heater beneath the worktop was magnificent, and Devon smiled lazily and stretched before shifting into his European badger form.

The warmth from the heater and the sun streaming through the window was glorious, and it wasn’t long before the art classroom sounded with the soft snores of a sleeping badger.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

It was cold! Raylaigh hated the cold! He was so void of fat and his bones were hollow so the cold had a tendency to reach all the way into his bones and he froze once it got under seventy degrees. Which made him again wonder with annoyance why they couldn’t have built Hammel in Florida or someplace warm! But no, they’d picked Vermont, AKA the coldest place on the planet! He needed something to help him warm up so he left the lunchroom a little early and the sunny skies had been calling to him all day. He didn’t make it more than two steps before he was airborne. Some people might complain, he didn’t have to fly from the cafeteria to his class, but really he had wings, so why walk? The small wings on his feet fluttered in the chilly air and the deceptively nice looking sky was frigid aloft. He was convinced he was frozen solid by the time he landed. On a patch of ice.

The flyer’s feet slipped out from under him and he landed on his back, knocking the wind out of himself. He gasped in pain and shock then took a while to catch air back into his lungs. He rose to his feet shakily and shook the snow off of himself. Most people didn’t even judge anymore, it was Ray, it was pure accident he hadn’t killed himself on accident yet. Already this morning he’d banged his head on a door frame and tripped over a plant. And it was only lunchtime. He rubbed his sore bottom and escaped the cold into the warmth of the school building. He was a little early, but his art class was his favorite, he always had some extra work he’d love to be working on. Art was perhaps the only class he didn’t mind. He was doodling in his notes in every other class anyways.

Ray opened the door and initially, thinking the room was empty dropped his bag and stretched out his back, the tall boy swatted his hand on a hanging project someone had put up. Oops. “Oh Raylaigh, we need to work on our landings,” he said to himself rubbing his backside. He closed his eyes as he stretched like a cat. When he opened them he spotted something. Something on the radiator. Ray had never seen a badger up close before so he froze on the spot completely unsure of what to do. How did it even get in here? Ray looked around. He didn’t see Mr. Wentsworth anywhere, he guessed it was up to him to get this thing out of here. He tiptoed closer to the badger and resisted the urge to poke it with a paintbrush. It looked like it was sleeping. God he hoped it wasn’t dead. It was right by the window. Ray crept closer, maybe he could be really sneaky and get the window open and shove it out before it even noticed… Of course quietly meant not accidentally elbowing over a can of paintbrushes. He scrambled to catch them before they spilled everywhere, but there went his sneak attack.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon often napped in his classroom, but he did usually opt for the hammock that was hidden under his desk. It was just the right size for his smaller forms to curl up in, and it was tucked away so that he didn’t get disturbed. However, it wasn’t near a radiator and curling up for a snooze in the sunlight streaming through the window was far too tempting to pass up. While he still retained all his human sensibilities (or lack thereof) in animal form, some urges were far more pronounced when he was anything but human. An otter gave him the impulse to play in the nearest water source, a tyra brought out an instinct to scale the nearest tree, and pretty much all of them were prone to snuggling down for a nap.

It was blissfully warm on the worktop and it hadn’t taken long for Devon to fall asleep curled up into a black and white ball of fur. However, a sudden loud noise very nearby woke him up with a start, the badger letting out an undignified and rather pathetic squeaking noise of surprise. Devon quickly tried to scramble to his feet; tough claws skittering against the wood as he almost fell off the worktop in the process.

Trying to regain his bearings, Devon looked over in the direction the noise had come from and saw Raylaigh stood there, looking much taller and more intimidating than he usually did. Devon tried to speak to him and cursed internally when the noise came out as a guttural barking sound instead. Well, this was going to be awkward to explain later.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh winced as the clattering sounded like a bomb dropping in the silence of the room. It seemed to go on forever, and Ray could only stand there was watch it go. Really, who knew that paintbrushes could bounce so much. His attempt to catch any ended up leaving him with only one in his hand. He heard scratching and looked up to see he had roused the badger. The flyers eyes widened and he braced himself. Now he had no idea what he was going to do. He’d woken the beast and for all he knew it would leap at him and tear off his face. Obviously, Raylaigh knew just about nothing about badgers. It sounded like it had some wicked claws though. The flyer looked at the creature and froze wondering if maybe it wouldn’t see him if he didn’t move.

Without thinking logically, when it turned and looked at him Raylaigh lifted the paintbrush and held it out as a weapon. He was sure he looked terribly intimidating. Especially since the tip of the paintbrush gave away quite clearly how much he was shaking. Should he make a break for the door? Ray didn’t move, he just stared as if afraid moving would provoke it to attack. Human or not, Raylaigh had no doubt that that badger could probably mess him up. At least… Well, there were too many things to hit if he – shit it moved! The flyer twitched, holding the paintbrush with both hands.

Intimidating was the last thing Raylaigh thought he probably was. Especially when the thing barked. Raylaigh yipped and threw the paintbrush. He closed his eyes and as a result it clattered uselessly against the window. Part of that might also because the skittish flyer jumped and with it came his wings and Ray’s clumsiness came out with a vengeance as he cracked his head on the ceiling (thankfully one of the tiles that gave a little bit when he banged into it). It did cause him to land again and thing time he didn’t keep his feet. Dazed, he thanked whatever god there was that no one was going to witness him being defeated by a badger.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Shit shit shit shit shit. Devon’s stream of internal cursing only increased as the boy brandished the paintbrush, the badger-shaped art teacher consciously backing up a step with eyes wide. Only he could have a nap time that turned into so much chaos. Most people had naps and the worst they got was waking up with a cricked neck, but nooo, he had to accidentally provoke terror in one of his students and panic in his own sodding classroom. Even with the obviously shaking paintbrush the student was currently a very intimidating sight, Devon knowing that if Ray took it upon himself to actually try and attack there was not a damn thing Devon could do to stop him without potentially accidentally hurting him. He couldn’t even just shift back right now because no kid unused to shifters should ever have to see that, and also because there was no guarantee that all his clothing would be in the right place when he re-formed.

Even though it was actually nowhere near him, Devon still jumped to the side when the paintbrush was launched vaguely in his direction. His large claws clattered against the desk, making yet more panicked noise, and his curse turned into yet another guttural bark as Ray spooked and hit himself against the ceiling. Ye Gods, if this was a taster of how the rest of the afternoon was going to go, this was not promising! Devon moved to the edge of the worktop and looked down to make sure Ray was conscious, which he thankfully was, before moving over to where one of the stools was and dropping down onto the seat.

Sadly the drop between the seat of the stool and the floor was a big one for an animal as short but heavy as he currently was, and Devon knew this was going to suck. However, he also knew that if Ray recovered quickly from his bump and started trying to throw things again that would suck even more. Sucking up his anxiety as best he could, Devon dropped down from the seat and tried his best to land on the floor in a way that wasn’t going to break something. His left paw hit the ground hard and he yelped in pain, but he manage to recover enough to half-run-half-limp in the direction of the (thankfully open) paper supply cabinet. If he could just get in there, he could shift back to his normal form safely and hopefully end this slapstick catastrophe.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Seriously! Where was Mr. Wentsworth when Ray needed him!? If Ray knew more about badgers he might not be so freaked out but he didn’t know how it had gotten in, if it was about to attack him or anything. If Ray were smarter he might have left and tried to find someone who did know what they were doing. Raylaigh couldn’t imagine how pathetic he was looking. A bony kid with a paintbrush weapon. It was laughable. The badger could probably sit on him and defeat him. Sure Ray should also be considering that he’d come upon a shifter, he did, after all, go to a high school for meta humans and well, shifting was one of the common powers. But honestly, who just decided to nap in their animal form? In the art room no less!

The ceiling came into contact with his head and he was on the ground before he even really knew what had happened. “Ow…” He moaned and reached a hand up to feel his head, he didn’t feel anything wet, which was a huge relief. He opened his eyes to catch the badger looking down at him and the flyer froze where he was. “Oh please don’t eat me,” Ray whispered, “I’m all bone.” Not even useful in that effect as it turned out either. The badger would be sad to discover there was actually no marrow in his bones to be consumed, which effectively made Raylaigh the worst meal ever. He relaxed when the badger moved on and Ray scrambled to his feet and zipped himself across the room as far from the badger as possible. His dizzy head didn’t make that easy and he fell against the table then the window. Ah! An escape!

Ray stopped with one leg hanging out the window when he heard a thump then a yelp. A yelp that sounded like pain. He turned and for a moment of terror realized the badger was on the ground, but then he realized it was limping. It seemed to be moving toward the cabinet. Ah-ha! Ray pulled himself back into the room and waited. The badger looked sad limping along and part of Raylaigh felt pity for it. Maybe it was just as scared as he was. badger made it into the paper supply cabinet, but as soon as he did Raylaigh flew at it and slammed the door shut behind it. Whew, Ray breathed leaning up against the door, his heart racing. One would think he’d encountered a man eating tiger. Okay, Ray thought, Now what?

[Devon Wentsworth]

One thing was for certain; this would definitely teach him not to nap out in the classroom. Well, not out in sight anyway. There had never been any of this chaotic mess when he’d napped in the little hammock under his desk before. Perhaps it was also time for him to make a point of telling all his students that he was a shifter and that yes, sometimes there would be a badger or otter or ferret in the classroom and it was nothing worth panicking over. Of course, everything was always so much clearer in hindsight, and that did nothing at all to help him now. Ah, crap.

Thankfully Ray seemed more set on escaping rather than attacking, which was great because Devon had absolutely no plans to attempt to maul any of his students in self-defence. If he could just make it into the supply cabinet and Ray left the room, he could shift back and they could both go about their day like nothing had happened. There was of course still the option to shift back anyway, but Devon really did want to avoid that if at all possible. One day he would get the hang of shifting with his clothes without fault, but until that day he desperately wanted to avoid the slight risk of accidentally flashing a student. The floor came up altogether too fast and Devon had felt the shooting pain fly up his paw, but he managed to limp his way over to the cabinet while Ray seemed to be making a break for it. The cabinet was dark and altogether far too enclosed, but it would only take him a moment to shift back and sort himself out. He wouldn’t even have to shut the d--

No sooner had Devon limped through the door then did it slam behind him. Memories came flooding back at him, of a gym storage closet, and suddenly the normally reassuring scents of paper and ink were too close, too dark, and the whine of tormented anguish that left the badger could only be described as pitiful. In terror Devon threw himself at the door but he merely bounced off it; it must have been locked from the outside or something shoved against the door. In his mind he could hear them laughing at him, their voices fading as they walked off and left him alone in the dark. Again he rammed ineffectively at the door before clawing at it, but doing little more than leaving deep welts in the wood. After a few long moments the clawing and whimpering stopped, to be replaced with a quiet knock on the door as a now human Devon muttered in distress, his voice almost begging. “Let me out. Please let me out.”

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

How the hell was Ray going to explain to Mr. Wentsworth that there was a badger in his art closet? And what was he supposed do now that he had the badger trapped? If he left the door then he’d risk the badger getting out, but at least even his small weight is enough to keep the door tightly closed. It also sounded like the creature had hurt itself, and as much as Ray favored his own skin not being damaged he would have hated for the badger to stay hurt. Maybe he could let someone know if they came along. They would have to call Animal Control right? And they would have a vet. Right? Ray’d never been in a situation like this he had no idea how he was supposed to handle it, or even if he were handling it appropriately.

There was a whine from behind the door and Ray felt a vibration through the wood and he pressed his back against the door. It was a good thing badgers weren’t that big or else Ray would probably have been flung across the room when the door was battered. Raylaigh was starting to feel bad for the little thing, whining and scratching. “I’m sorry,” he said, not sure why he was talking to the badger, “I can’t let you out.” Ray closed his eyes and wished he could close his ears against the sounds. Maybe he should start calling for help? He inhaled breath in preparation for calling out to see if someone in the hall would hear and come help him figure out what to do with the badger that had decided to nap in the art classroom. Suddenly a voice came from the closet.

Raylaigh nearly leapt out of his skin, the air he’d been breathing in came out in a sudden yelp as he jumped away from the door. A knock came again and a pleading voice. Ray hesitantly pulled the closet door open and stared for a moment. Now, Raylaigh wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and it took him a while to get over the shock of seeing Mr. Wentsworth. Naturally Raylaigh asked the most important question first. “Mr. Wentsworth… what are you doing in the closet?” Wait… Mr. Wentsworth wasn’t a… was he? The flyer put two and two together after a moment of silence. Mortified, Ray’s face blanked and colored brightly as he stood staring at his art teacher too afraid to move. His mouth dropped open and then moved up and down like a fish out of water as Ray tried to figure out how to say something that wouldn’t either embarrass him more or get him sent to detention.

[Devon Wentsworth]

There were not many things that Devon feared. Sure there were the usual everyday things that everyone was anxious about; losing a family member, going bankrupt, getting fired and the like, but overall he was pretty level headed and not easily spooked. However, his claustrophobia had plagued him since his schooldays and had never shown any signs of abating. That was of course not helped by the fact that he’d never actually done anything proactive to try to combat his fear, preferring instead to just avoid the situations that triggered it as much as possible. All it had taken was the shutting door to bring back all the fear and terror of his childhood, of getting locked in that gym closet by the bullies that had tormented him for so long.

When Devon shifted to and fro he was lucky in that his clothes changed with him and he knew that many people were not so lucky in that regard. It wasn’t always foolproof of course; sometimes his jeans would be back to front or he’d have a sock on his hand or something, and he almost always couldn’t find his earring. When he changed back into his true form this time he hadn’t cared about the state he was in. The only thing that mattered was getting out of that art cupboard. When it felt like a decade had passed the door finally opened, and Devon all but leapt out into the safety of the openness of the art classroom. His shirt was on back to front but frankly he couldn’t care less. He was free, and that was all that mattered.

Staring back into the supply cupboard, it took a long moment for Devon to gather himself enough to look over at Ray. The teacher’s usually fairly pale skin was even moreso than usual, his grey eyes wide and breaths coming in short pants. The look on Ray’s face was not a fun one, and after a moment that felt like a lifetime Devon cleared his throat, trying to settle himself back down. “Well, uhh… I guess… We both learned something today, huh?” Now the adrenaline was starting to wear off Devon could feel a mounting throbbing in his wrist, probably sprained from when he’d dropped down off the stool. He rubbed it slowly, trying to ease some of the pain. “I’m… I’m sorry I scared ya. You okay, Ray?”

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh stood with his mouth hanging open in shock and embarrassment. Was it too late to ask for a new power? Invisibility would be awfully nice right now. His art teacher came bursting out of the closet like it was on fire and he didn’t look well at all. His shirt was on backward and Ray couldn’t imagine why. Besides there wasn’t enough time to dwell on that, Ray was going to get detention for sure! And from Mr. Wentsworth no less! Mr. Wentsworth was hands down his favorite teacher, mainly because he seemed to be the only one that didn’t think Ray was a complete dunce. And Ray had locked him in a closet! “I’m sorry!” He blurted as his teacher seemed to gather his wits about him. Ray didn’t like closets any more than anyone else but he certainly never freaked out about it. Then he supposed he’d never been locked in a closet before, not for lack of Kyle trying.

Raylaigh nodded, though he wasn’t sure what he’d learned, other than that he shouldn’t automatically assume that animals were people too, which he kind of figured wasn’t the intended lesson for this moment. It did give Ray a thought though, if people could be animals, maybe animals could be people? “I’m sorry, Mr. Wentsworth, I had no idea!” He said and ducked his head and looked down at his feet, he couldn’t believe he’d just locked Mr. Wentsworth in a closet! This was one of the rare moments when Ray’s own stupidity seemed even to him a little unreal. Ray shook his head jumping a little, still a bit skittish about his teacher exploding form the closet. “Why are you apologizing?” He asked perplexed, “No, yeah, yep yep, fine! I’m so sorry! Mr. Wentsworth I didn’t mean to lock you in the closet.”

The flyer peaked at his teacher half expecting an angry reaction, but there was none. Ray cued in quickly to Mr. Wentsworth rubbing his wrist. Ray had known that look before and he knew the rub on a pained joint when he saw it. “Did you hurt you paw – I mean wrist?” He quickly corrected himself turning red with embarrassment. He took a hesitant step forward and then back again, nervously prancing unsure of what he should do next. Holding out a hand he offered a smile. “Can I take a look? I’m kinda the expert on breaking things…” He visibly winced at the epic fumble he was making. How did that sound? Not only was it true, but now that he thought about it, he’d single handedly acted as a wrecking ball for the art room and brushes and pens still littered the floor. Ray collided his hand with his forehead, playing it off as brushing his hair out of his eyes.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon was generally pretty open about most things when it came to his life, but he tended to avoid talking about his power. Not just with his students, but with people in general. Back home in Leeds the percentage of meta’s was significantly lower than Pilot Ridge and there had been absolutely none in the school where he had taught, so chatting about it just wasn’t the done thing. Added to that was the members of his family who were distinctly anti-meta who he had been hiding his nature from since he manifested, and it had just all amounted to him never really openly discussing it. In hindsight, he realised, he should definitely have told his students that yes, sometimes there probably would be an animal in the classroom.

Giving a small nod of his head and trying to force on a sympathetic smile (though it probably looked just as awkward as it felt), Devon tried to reassure Ray. “Hey, it’s okay. I know ya didn’t know. I mean, it coulda been a real badger, and those guys get savage when cornered.” For as much as Devon loved the animals that he could shift into, he knew that all of them were brutal in the natural world. Even the least weasel, the smallest predatory mammal on the planet, routinely hunted rabbits up to ten times their size. Not to mention mink and honey badgers, both of who had reputations that far preceded them. There was a reason that, in England in days of old, farmers who took part in badger baiting had to cripple the poor badger before setting the dogs on them. Devon would not blame anyone for being wary of any member of that family tree. He managed to give a soft chuckle. “Thanks for not actually being able to hit me with anythin’.”

With the adrenaline starting to wear off the aching in his wrist was starting to intensify. In future he’d have to make sure there was an easier way down from the worktop before he tried to have a nap. If there was an ‘in future’ for that, anyway. “You can say paw, I don’t mind. It’s accurate for what it was at the time.” He looked up at Ray when the student offered to have a look at his wrist, and he gave a small shrug. “Sure, I don’t see why not. It’s not broken; it doesn’t hurt half that much. Just think I sprained it or something.” Before he held his wrist out, Devon pulled both his arms inside his shirt through the sleeves, wincing slightly as he had to bend his left wrist to get it inside the shirt. Once there though, he could easily enough spin the shirt around without taking it off so it was on the right way again before popping his arms back out of the sleeves. He then held his hand out slightly towards Ray. He didn’t expect the kid to actually be able to do or say anything, of course, but hopefully the gesture would help them both calm down a little.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh still couldn’t believe it. This felt like it came directly from one of those Middle School chapter books ‘My teacher is a Badger!’ or something. Granted, Raylaigh did go to a meta human school it did make sense that there might sometime be something unexplainable going on. Ray had wings on his feet for heaven’s sake! Sometimes Ray’s stupidity even surprised him. It was a wonder he wasn’t failing at life right now. He didn’t think his face was ever going to cool, this was just completely embarrassing! What the hell was he supposed to say now? He’d thrown a paintbrush at his art teacher! The awkward smile from Mr. Wentsworth was met by and equally awkward smile from Ray, thought the boy’s smile could probably be liked more to a cringe than a grin.

“I’m sorry,” Ray said again, as if Mr. Wentsworth hadn’t heard him correctly. Ray laughed and scratched the back of his head nervously. His eyes closed and made little grins of their own. “Ah, you know if only the PE teacher felt the same way,” he said peaking at Mr. Wentsworth to see if he appreciated his attempt at a joke. It was a bad one, Ray acknowledged but anyone who knew how he was in gym would definitely get the joke. He was good at basketball but just about anything else was a recipe for disaster and well since he wasn’t allowed to play contact sports he hadn’t had a lot of chances to practice throwing things anymore. He was definitely rusty. He’d had to sit out of dodge ball ever since his broken shoulder incident and even baseball had been shut down when a slide for base ended with a concussion after a wall collision. “I’m glad you’re not a real badger,” Ray said, realizing how strange that sounded and was so caught off guard by the fact that his thoughts came out his mouth that he didn’t finish his thought. Basically, Ray was glad because he didn’t think he could take a squirrel much less a badger.

Ray ducked his head, he’d been hoping Mr. Wentsworth didn’t hear that. “Sorry,” he muttered again anyways, feeling like there was no limit to the amount of times he could say ‘I’m sorry for shutting you in a closet’. Maybe he’d get a card? Ray stepped forward then watched with fascination as Mr. Wentsworth spun his shirt around. Ray gingerly took his teacher’s wrist in his hands and probed it with his fingers. He’d gotten awfully good at figuring out whether it was a sprain, strain or break. Definitely not a break, Raylaigh didn’t think Mr. Wentsworth would be so calm. “Why was your shirt on backwards?” Ray couldn’t stop himself from asking. He didn’t look up from his teacher’s wrist and rather winced in sympathy and also jealousy. For a badger that was probably a pretty significant drop, in his shoes Ray probably would have broken it, damn his brittle bones.

“I think I can help,” Ray said brightly finally looking up at Mr. Wentsworth before darting back to his bag and digging around a bit. “When you’re me, you don’t go far without a wrap. Would you like to borrow it, Mr. Wentsworth?” He said and held out a roll of cloth. Ray didn’t always go to the infirmary, it was embarrassing when he had to go nearly once a week so he’s started watching and now he was pretty good at keeping sprains from getting out of control. “I hope it’s not going to stop you from…” He stopped realizing with horror that he’d sprain the art/ teacher’s wrist. Something that Mr. Wentsworth no doubt used pretty frequently.

[Devon Wentsworth]

After over a year teaching in his school, Devon realised now that he should have known better. He should have explained his power, and that yes sometimes there would be a badger or ferret or something hanging out in the classroom. Especially in winter, since he tended to spend so much more time shifted when it was cold. Otter fur kept him warmer than any coat he’d ever owned, and since when he got cold he got cramps and aches, yeah, the lure of shifting and sleeping in the sun was often irresistible. He sighed internally. Yep. Soon he was going to actually have to tell them all, assuming Ray didn’t go parading it all around the corridors first.

Ray’s attempt at a joke brought a soft chuckle from Devon, and he gave a warmer and slightly more honest smile. “Well, I for one am glad. Tryin’ to explain away pencil-shaped bruises would probably have been kinda awkward.” Not that this situation wasn’t already awkward, but Devon knew it could have ended up so much worse. At the very least, at least Ray had let him out of the cupboard before his fear had escalated into a full-blown anxiety attack. That would have been far, far more difficult to handle and then to explain away. Ray’s admission that he was glad Devon wasn’t a real badger brought a far more genuine laugh to his lips, and the art teacher nodded. “Y’know, I’m glad of that too. It’d make teachin’ far more complicated.”

Devon stood still as Ray examined his wrist, trying but not quite succeeding to suppress the flinch as his fingers found a tender spot. “Well, sometimes when I shift back, especially if I’m rushin’, I can’t always control exactly how all my clothes end up.” His right hand reached up to his left earlobe, and he frowned when he found it empty. “I’m forever losin’ my earrings ‘cos of it. Damn, I really liked that one too.” Perhaps he would come across it in the next few days in the cupboard somewhere, but he wasn’t betting on it. Far too often when they went they never made it back again. He dreaded to think just how much money he must have spent over the years replacing them.

When Ray announced he could help and darted off to his bag, Devon gave a few test flexes of his fingers and wrist, grimacing slightly as the shot of pain told him that had been a really dumb idea. Yeah, that was gonna suck for a few days. He looked up when Ray asked about the wrap. “Uh, sure, if ya don’t mind? It’ll stop me tryna use it as much, if nothin’ else.” Devon gave a small shrug at Ray’s half-finished statement and put on a small smile, noticing the sudden look of unease on his student’s face. “It’ll be fine, I’ll just lay off the sculpting for a few days.” And the shifting, and the drumming, and the baking. Yeah, the next few days were going to suck massively, but he just kept telling himself that it could have been so much worse. Besides, if nothing else, now he’d get to have some amusement coming up with an exciting story to tell Ferris and Rome to explain how he’d ended up with a lame wrist.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Now that Ray know, it was a good bet that he would tell the people he knew and soon the whole school would know. Raylaigh was a gossip, he didn’t meant to be, he just loved talking and telling stories and this one would inevitably come up when he ate dinner tonight and started with ‘you’ll never guess what happened today’. Hey, Ray was proud to have a story to tell in which he didn’t hurt himself! Not that it was a good thing that Mr. Wentsworth did hurt himself. Ray didn’t mean to spread secrets, he was a terrible secret keeper. If he knew something it was a pretty safe bet to know that other people knew it as well. It seemed the only secrets Ray was good at keeping were his own. Soon Nao and Alex and soon after that other people would know that Mr. Wentsworth sometimes slept as a badger in his classroom.

Ray giggled, finding himself less nervous as Mr. Wentsworth laughed. At least it didn’t seem like a vicious laugh. There was no malice in the chuckle and Ray didn’t think that he would hit a student so he at least had that going for him. “Yeah, but hey it makes for a good story,” Ray offered with a shy smile. Ray laughed more fully, surprised at his teacher’s joke. Ray wondered momentarily if that was possible. Were there badgers out there that could turn into people? That was getting a little too twisty for Ray’s mind but he was fascinated by the transfiguration. It brought the same curiosity that he had with his own power, like how did he have wings on his feet. He’d seen the x-rays and felt their lift and their strength but he didn’t understand where they came from, nor where they went when he concentrated really hard and they receded into his calves. That wasn’t a pleasant experience and having them pop back out wasn’t nice either, which was why Ray dealt with having them around all the time.

Ray looked up from Mr. Wentsworth’s hand and cocked his head curiously. “That must be annoying,” he said with a curious look on his face and he bit his tongue before he asked the stupid question. It was probably not a question his art teacher would want to answer, after all if Raylaigh had shifted without clothes he would try to forget about it. Ray’s expression brightened. He’d seen Mr. Wentsworth’s earring but never really thought about it. Ray wasn’t going to lie, when he saw that Mr. Wentsworth had an earring as well, he’d been really excited. Ray only had one on his left ear, when he got it he didn’t realize that the whole ‘left’ and ‘right’ thing mattered, he’d gotten it on his left ear because that’s where he thought it looked best. “That sucks,” he agreed with a frown. He didn’t think he’d changed his earring in months, he didn’t like changing it, it was just better to leave it. “Maybe it’s on the floor somewhere,” Ray said, “I’ll help you look, if you want.” Okay now Ray was sucking it up, but Ray liked him and he didn’t want Mr. Wentsworth to hate him.

“Sure, go for it,” Ray said with a smile. He didn’t need it right now and hopefully he would keep not having to need it for at least long enough for Mr. Wentsworth to feel better. “I’m sorry,” Ray said his wings drooping and giving away his shame. Sometimes his own stupidity got him into situations like this. Ray hung his head a little bit. Why did he always do things like this, do or say something stupid and ruin it every time. He leaned back against one of the desks and looked down at his feet. There were still paint brushes and pens all over the floor. Ray crouched and started gathering brushes and replacing them into the cup that held them. Ray peaked up at Mr. Wentsworth, this probably wasn’t the greatest time to ask but before he could stop himself he blurted out. “Mr. Wentsworth, what did your parents say when you went to art school?” Ray was holding onto a small glimmer, and inkling of hope that if Mr. Wentsworth thought it was a good idea he could still go for it. He would have to start gathering his best works for a portfolio now if he wanted to send it in somewhere next winter.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon gave a slightly easier smile and nodded in agreement. “It’ll make a good story, yeah, I suppose. Certainly more interesting than the usual routine, at any rate.” Devon’s mind was already racing, trying to come up with a way to spin it so that it came out slightly more in his favour. He didn’t class himself as a liar as such, but he was always the one to attempt to twist the facts somewhat to make things slant better in his direction. In this case it probably wouldn’t be necessary, save to Ferris and Rome, but to them it would probably evolve to be far more high-adventure fantasy than realism anyway. Devon pondered for a moment, then looked back over at Ray. “Could we maybe… keep the gettin’ outta the closet bit between us though, ey? Not exactly proud of how much I hate ‘em, if you get me.” Word of the art teacher’s claustrophobia wasn’t exactly something that Devon wanted spread around the school.

Shrugging when Ray mentioned that the clothes hiccups must be annoying, Devon watched him working on his wrist. “Eh, you get used to predicting it after a while. It can be a pain, but it’s not too bad compared to some. There’s some that can’t do that at all, especially people still learning. I think I’m lucky in that sense.” He did nod in agreement though when Ray said that him always losing his earrings sucked. “It really does. That’s more a problem than the clothes thing.” When Ray offered to help look for the missing earring, Devon looked up with a warm smile. “Sure, if you don’t mind. I’m not keepin’ my fingers crossed for it though; sometimes they never show back up again.” In truth, there had been many times where Devon had seriously considered just saying sod it and not bothering with the earring any more, and just let it heal over. However, it was such a vivid reminder of his youth, of the mad and senseless summers with his big brother at the festivals, and he just couldn’t let it go like that. He would cling on to those days as stubbornly as he could for as long as he could.

It was easy to see that Ray was genuinely sorry for what had happened, and it sucked to see him kicking himself like that. “Hey, don’t worry about it. These things happen, right? Especially in here.” Devon gave another couple of flexes of his fingers, feeling the twinge of pain again but this time the movement (and therefore the pain) was limited due to the bandage. The kid could wrap a wrist, Devon had to give him that. He started helping Ray pick up the flung debris, looking up at the apparently out-of-nowhere question. He couldn’t help but give a laugh. “Uhhh… Between you and me, I think mum was just happy I wanted to stay in school, I guess. I was never the best of students; I think she worried I’d end up behind the counter in McDonald’s or somethin’.” He figured that honesty was the best policy in this case, and he didn’t mind Ray knowing that about him. In fact, it would probably take less than twenty minutes in his classroom on a normal day for someone to realise that the art teacher was probably not the most serious of people as a kid, if how he was now was anything to go by. “She was proud of me, though. I know that much. Why’d you ask?”