Rooftops [Mads]

[Kieron Sharpe]

Kieron didn’t really mind the early shifts. A lot of people complained about them, but he would much rather be at work early and have the rest of the day to himself than have the more pleasant parts his day split up into useless chunks due to working in the middle of it. Besides, it was generally quieter in the mornings, once the overnight patients had woken and had their breakfast, and he got fewer hassles than he usually had to deal with on the day shift.

This morning was cold and crisp, and as Kieron went on his ‘lunch’ break he decided to head outside for a little while. It was still fairly early and most of the kids would be having their breakfast now, so he decided to head down to the training field. It had been a little while since he’d had a chance to have a proper stretch and work out the knots and kinks, and he could feel the ache mounting in his shoulders and upper back. Soon the ache would turn into flat-out pain if he didn’t deal with it, so yes, a stretch out was definitely in order.

Munching on a packet of salted hoppers, Kieron shivered slightly as he stepped out of the warmth of the building and into the early March air of the training field. He pocketed the hoppers before shrugging off his jacket, the shivers renewing as the cold air made its way through the large slits cut into the back of his coveralls. He concentrated and after a few moments large dark brown bat wings sprouted from his spine, growing out through the slits in the coveralls to their full 22ft span. The feel of the cold air against them was uncomfortable, and Kieron began beating them slowly to try to get some circulation going. Even with the languid pace of the wing strokes the current created was enough to send small pieces of dropped litter and fallen leaves skittering across the ground, and Kieron nudged his sunglasses further up his nose so they wouldn’t accidentally get blown off.

Despite the cold it still felt so good to get to stretch them out, and a lazy smile crossed Kieron’s face as he sped up the wingbeats until he was flying a few feet above the ground. After making a lap of the training field, Kieron headed up to the roof of the shed where some of the sports and training equipment was stored. Landing carefully on it, Kieron sat down with his wings spread out wide behind him and retrieved the packet of chocolate hoppers from his pocket, resuming eating his lunch with a pretty view out across the campus.

[Chase Campbell]

It was too damn early for this.

Chase wasn't a fan of mornings to begin with, but with the weather slowly warming up in the mornings, he was trying to take advantage of it. During the winter he had a hard time being cooped up, and though he tried to make up for it as best he could at the cabin, in reality nothing really felt as good as a solid run.

After getting to Hammel early to do some lesson planning, eventually the call of outside was just too strong to handle. The trainer had gone down to the changing rooms by the pool, changed into track pants, a t-shirt, and a light hoodie before heading outside. He had some time before his first session, and he needed this.

As hard a time as he'd had hitting forty, the hardest had been the hard truth that he couldn't move like he used to. Things were getting stiffer and a little sore, especially if he didn't actually, you know, stretch before doing something like, oh, running.

Chase managed a few slow, easy laps of the training field before he felt the familiar burn in his calves. It always came faster early in the season as he got himself back in the habit, but that didn't make it any more pleasant. After a few more minutes, it was becoming clear that it wasn't getting better, and he should probably quit before he actually damaged himself. He'd had enough damage done to his body a few years ago, and really didn't want to repeat any of the injuries.

He'd seen Kieron fly overhead not long ago, and knew he was currently on top of the shed. After dropping to a cool-down walk, he came to a stop near the shed and leaned his shoulders against it. The cold wall felt good on his overly warm back. "Hey Kieron. How's it going?" He liked the nurse well enough. He was a good kid, after all.

[Kieron Sharpe]

From his perch on top of the shed, Kieron could easily enough watch the comings and goings. Granted there weren’t very many at this time of the day, but he had always been a fan of people watching. The day to day habits of people had always fascinated him, and was the inspiration for a great many of the things he ended up writing when the muse took hold of him. Granted he often twisted them into something either far more fantastical or far darker than they were, but they still formed a very solid foundation. For one, he had never understood why so many people seemed to enjoy going for a run first thing in the morning.

Kieron had never been the athletic sort to say the least, and early morning exercise had always baffled him. Just why anyone wanted to start the day by getting out of breath and tired and sweaty was completely beyond his understanding, and was yet another one of those little quirks of life that fascinated him purely because he could not wrap his head around it. Flying didn’t count into that, of course. Were it up to him he’d fly everywhere he went. Sadly, the world was not always so open-minded and he did fear that if he tried that, one day he’d end up getting called a thread and being shot down by a police helicopter or something.

The nurse gave a smile as Chase approached, folding his wings closer to his back so they didn’t make quite so imposing a shadow on the ground below. “Hello Chase; it’s going well, thank you for asking. I’m just on my break. How are things with you?”

Kieron stood then, walking over to the edge of the roof so he could look down and actually see the person he was talking to. He took a seat on the edge of the shed roof, letting his legs dangle below him and silently thanking whoever it was that decided that the equipment shed needed a roof that could support the weight of a grown man. Kieron really had come to love this perch over the years since he’d been a student here. He looked out over the grounds, with the sun hanging low in the sky on the horizon. “Looks like it’s going to be a really beautiful day.”

[Chase Campbell]

Chase didn’t normally care for, or even function during early mornings. If he had his way, he’d spend his days sleeping until at least ten. Sadly, his training sessions were often scheduled earlier than that. Fortunately, at least he had something in common with his students then. Both would rather be in bed than in the training rooms. But this morning he’d not really had a choice about the early start, so he’d figured he’d take advantage of it.

Chase had always been athletic. As a teenager he’d lived for soccer, and as an adult he’d taken up running to stay in shape, as well as coaching the soccer team for Hammel. He swam in the lake in the summer, and sometimes took Nikki to Hammel’s pool during off hours if it was too cold yet for the lake, or if James wanted to join them. Running this early in the season actually felt good, with the cool air combating the heat generated as he ran.

“Good, good,” he answered honestly. Things were, really. “I had to be up here early to do some file prep, and thought I’d take advantage of the spare time.” Really, he was glad for the company now. It would make cooling down that much more tolerable. Chase didn’t often like to stay still, not unless he was glued to a baseball game on television, so cooling down from a run was always a little tough. Talking to someone helped.

“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” Now the sun was actually up and making everything glow. It really was a pretty time of day. Too bad he didn’t see it often. “I’m not usually up this early. It really is pretty.” Stretching his arms a little, Chase looked up at Kieron. “How’s it going in the infirmary? No one’s tried to kill each other so far today, have they?”

[Kieron Sharpe]

Kieron never used to be a morning person, but he had become one more over the past few years. As a student he'd been like many others, preferring to sleep in late and detesting when he had lectures first thing. That had left him in recent years though, and he had come to enjoy the relative peace that existed first thing in the morning, when most of the rest of the world still slept. It was a quiet that simply could not be found later in the day, and he had come to look forward to the weeks when he was on the early morning rota.

Nodding in understanding, Kieron gave a small smile down at Chase. “I can understand that; while you're up anyway you might as well make the most of it, huh?” For as much as Kieron enjoyed the peace of the morning, he was not opposed to pleasant company. While he didn't know the trainer perhaps as well as he should, Kieron had always gotten along well enough with Chase and didn't mind sharing the breaking of dawn with him.

Kieron let his wings stretch out low behind him, their vast span all but completely covering the roof of the equipment shed. The early morning sun felt good against the leathery membranes, and Kieron indulged in the feeling. With the sun lower in the sky he could take full advantage of its softness, but as the day wore on he would have to retreat inside, lest he end up trying to walk around semi-blinded. He absent-mindedly nudged his sunglasses back up his nose. “It really is. I love being out here at this time, before all the mad rush starts.”

At Chase's question Kieron gave a soft laugh. “Not yet, but there's still time.” He glanced down at the watch on his wrist. “If they can leave it another two and a half hours until I'm on my way home, I'd really appreciate it.” It was no secret among the staff that actually knew Kieron that he did not enjoy his job. It was never really an issue because despite his loathing of it, he worked his ass off and was damn good at what he did. The day he started to fail, then they could call him out on it. Until then he would keep doing the job he hated while wearing the mask of a smile.

[Chase Campbell]

If anyone asked James, Chase knew exactly what he would say if presented with the question of whether or not his husband was a morning person. Mornings were only every acceptable after ignoring the alarm clock for a snooze session or six, and copious amounts of coffee were consumed. Event his morning when he’d known he hadn’t really had a choice in the matter, he’d had trouble getting going. There had been more than one insistent call from James before he’d actually rolled out of bed, feeling more zombie than human.

Thankfully, coffee had aided in the transition back to human.

Well, sort of.

“Yeah. It’s been too cold to run recently anyway, so it was kind of nice. Muscles are paying for it now, though.” God forbid he ever actually stop and remember to stretch before running. Especially after such a long break. It was probably going to be a long day full of advil or something to keep him moving. Sigh. “Do me a favor and don’t get old. It sucks.” He’d been saying the same every since he’d hit forty, but this was one of the first real times he was feeling it.

“Yeah, James likes it early too. Something about it being really peaceful, and all the colors in the sky looking like a painting.” Yes, it was peaceful, and pretty, but Chase would still be happiest lying in bed and sleeping for an extra half hour or so.

It wasn’t really so funny when Chase had known several students to go at it physically to the point of injuries. He’d broken up his fair share of fights since starting, and was often one of the first ones called in due to his power. It was a lot easier to break up a fight when one participant was rendered incapable of continuing due to being held in place and mentally coaxed into dropping the issue. “Most of them aren’t even fully functioning for another two hours anyway. I think you’ll be safe for today.” Regardless of Kieron’s attitude, Chase still trusted him to do his job. If Niko ever got hurt at school, he knew he’d be well looked after.

[Kieron Sharpe]

There was a part of Kieron that longed to see the sunrise over his homeland. His family had left Ireland when Kieron was still a boy, long before he had manifested and been moved to Hammel, and he didn't hold very many memories of it. The few memories he did hold were muddied and faded, as memories were want to become over time. He hoped to one day see the sun rising over the glens and dales, the light making the morning dew on the grass glimmer like emerald. For now, however, he contented himself with the school and the stunning backdrop of the mountains that had become his home.

Kieron gave a small sympathetic smile. “I would advise you to stretch and warm-up more before running, and make sure to cool down properly before stopping, but I feel you know that anyway.” That had always been Kieron's way; casual advise delivered non-committally to try to prevent the other person feeling like they were being talked down to. “If you're feeling it too much later, you can always pop over to the clinic for an ice pack to calm any straining.” At Chase's advise about not getting old, Kieron laughed softly. “That is the plan.” He indicated to his wings. “I'm not looking forward to the osteoporosis or arthritis or whatever it is these things are going to give me.” Kieron adored his wings, he truly did, but the thought of what they were likely to wind him up with when he was older was something that frequently made him fearful to the point of nausea.

Nodding in agreement, Kieron let his shaded eyes gaze out across the school grounds. “He's right; there's just something... magical about the morning. I think the birdsong helps with that.” He gave a quiet chuckle. “Well, when I haven't just scared them all off, anyway.”

Of course it was never funny when kids fought to the point of breaking each other, but it was something that just happened. No amount of magic could prevent the fighting permanently, and Kieron didn't feel bad about preferring to not be there when it happened. That, however, never stopped him from acting like a professional and getting the job done. No one could ever accuse him of being unreliable or untrustworthy. He gave his all even when the odds were very much not in his favour. Hell, the turn-around he'd managed to make with Sam Rixon was proof enough of that. “I think so too. Well, I hope so, anyway. Hopefully your day will go butter-smoothly too.”