The Oblivious Proposition (Private w/ Madam Haze)

Harvey opened the door to the lounge slowly, making sure that he was not interrupting anyone's private conversation. Upon finding that it was empty, he walked in and opened the refrigerator. Looking around, he finds his drink from earlier, but his sandwich seemed to be gone.

His eye twitched, this was something that he'd expected to only happen in story form, but for it to happen to him? He sighed and grabbed his drink, just a soda from the fast food place he'd run through earlier today. Sitting at the table, he sipped his drink through a straw while pulling out his scroll.

He had some emails to sift through. Mostly spam, some correspondence between the teachers here at the academy, a news feed about some privateer getting annihilated on the beach, and some case he'd need to take charge of that was happening on Bellmuse. That made him a little bit disappointed if he was being honest with himself, as he enjoyed travelling to a high profile case in a different kingdom. He shrugged and exited to the home screen of his phone taking another sip from his drink, and playing Flappy Nevermore on his scroll until either he felt hungry enough to go get food or something happened to occupy him.

Just as Harvey sat himself down, getting into his game, with a resounding slam the door would reopen. Red eyes scoured the room from it's entrance, a brows burrowed and nose wrinkled, she turned to look at the plastic work-surface. Crumbs, dirt and ingredients left scattered. A cutting board with clear stains of tomato, perhaps even blood. Her brow twitched, looking to the carpeted floor, filthy. Probably infested. She looked to the couch, potentially locking eyes with Harvey but looking past him, leather meant it wasn't stained... but a world likely existed between those cushions. On the table crumbs were spread, imprints from mugs.

She raised her right hand, pointing to the ceiling, a wisp of purple vapour expanded from the forefinger; mingling with the ceiling before rapidly expanding; creeping along the walls and eventually the floor. It would rise again, first engulfing the coffee table... then the fridge, then it would consume the couch. It wasn't as though Harvey himself would be engulfed, but if he remained seated he was at real risk of inhaling some dangerous vapours and likely become afflicted. Almost as quickly as they engulfed the surfaces however the poisons would fade; draining out the door and suddenly becoming someone else's problem. The room was now changed, all the dirt and grime had been replaced. A thin layer of grey-black ash now coated most every inch of the room, the strong scent of cleaning fluids. She appeared content at this, brow relaxing, opening the fridge (everything outside of a container appearing in a husk like state) she drew forth what looked to be a can, if Harvey was a peruser of alcohols he'd may know this to be a canned wed wine. With all this knowledge... it wasn't unthinkable that, if the sandwich had been left out, Haze may have simply thought it unsightly and purged it.

She didn't sit with him on the couch, that would be weak and social, no instead she stood next to the fridge; cracking the can and reaching into her bag. She drew forth what could be easily identified as a jewellery magazine, thumbing through the pages as she drank. She was dressed in her normal attire, long formfitting dress with a slit down the left leg. She wore heels, long black gloves, a golden tiara atop her head and yes; she had a cape draped over her right shoulder. Over her left was a handbag.

Haze's HP/Aura:

Harvey was unperturbed by the noise of the door slamming, he still, however, directed his attention to the door to assess the offending harasser. He recognized the woman as Haze, the very same from orientation day, and something of a senior here as far as staff goes. This gathered his attention long enough for his scroll to buzz and inform him that he had crashed, and hit a game over just short of achieving a personal best on his game.

He simply blinked once in mild irritation at the denial of gratification, but elected to change to a game that would be less demanding of attention. He began to fiddle with a puzzle game, a memory game he used to test his limits these days. However, while he was playing, he began to notice the rapidly encompassing gas that plagued the room.

Eyeing Haze through his periphery, he stood up from the couch after assessing the whole situation. Although he had no relationship whatsoever with the woman, he had no reason to assume that she intended to harm him or maim him at this present time. He had no awareness as to what she WAS doing, but his self-assurance on what she wasn't doing was good enough for him.

Upon the clearing of the smog, he'd drop himself back onto the couch. Playing his game in silence for several moments, Harvey's eyes wandered to appraise the actions and savoir faire of this 'newcomer'.

He regarded her with a cautious disposition, removing his glasses with a free hand and placing them on top of his head. "Hmm, reading while standing? I suppose that would allow your mind to be more considerate of the material and enjoy it more... Either that or the concept of being seated with a complete stranger could be considered repugnant."

The statement that was said was contrasted evenly by a slight smile from Harvey. "Which is understandable, but I digress." he took a breath to assimilate the scene into forming an appropriate continuation. "May I be so bold as to ask you how your day has been so far, Madam...?"

He trailed a bit, intentionally trying to lead into the question of her name, which he already knew, but he felt it more appropriate to ask anyway given what he can see of this woman's stature.

Haze didn't even look up from her magazine as the man began to speak, she couldn't identify him and she certainly didn't care to ask his name. She honestly didn't care to listen with any will, just letting his words glide in one ear (be scanned to be sure they were free of insult) and being allowed to pass through the other. As he finished the Goddess looked up from her page, he had done something to tick her off. "You don't know the name of Madam Haze? You have failed to recognise the most powerful and beautiful lecturer in the school? Well her day was not going well until this altercation, now it's going extremely poorly. I walk into this staffroom for the first time in months only to find it a disgusting mess, and another member of faculty opts to insult me? What do you even lecture?"

Truth be told Haze wasn't even all that angry, she was establishing dominance. As disgusting as this staff room had been she was looking to claim it as her own abode, make it abnormal for other lecturers to even enter the place. If she could do that she could redecorate, tear down those horrid stained shutters and rip off that disgusting blue and white wall paper to replace them with some of the finer things. She could throw out that awful old couch and replace it with some fine leather... but to share it with others would be such a waste. She bore down upon him with her red gaze, "I was the first lecturer to the stage at the initiation, I'm sure you have not forgotten me."

Harvey contrasted her listening skills quite starkly, going as far as to analyze every syllable of every word that she spoke. Her body language spoke just as loudly as her words. He could gather from this her level of vanity, as well as her propensity to elevate herself to a level above any company she shared. It didn't take a psychologist to read that, but this would be a relative learning experience for himself.

Harvey smiled, and elected to engage with her in this chess game of semantics. "My apologies Madam, I do remember you from the orientation speech, but my assumption was that you would prefer to more properly introduce yourself with the eloquence that your words could muster more efficiently." Harvey put his phone away and crossed one of his legs over top of the other. "My ignorance rendered no intentional offense. As for myself, I instruct Criminal Investigations, Criminal Psychology, and Interrogations."

His words were fairly respectful, but he could tell that his seated position was not optimum to speak with this person. He stood up and leaned against a wall, putting himself about equal distance from both Haze and the couch now. She was a few inches taller than him, but he could assume that her heels were most of the cause of that.

"But, I am certain that is mundane to you. I do agree that the faculty room was in a state before-hand, but that is well and past now. Might I also ask what issues could possibly be imperative to cause negativity on the likes of you?"

Harvey crossed his arms and cocked his head as he put all of his weight against the shoulder on the wall he was leaning on.

Haze stared down at the man. He was... trying at least. This mortal understood this place but not how to act within it, he should have been grovelling at her feet and waiting to hear how her day was; not asking how it was going and expecting some kind of response. Her nose crinkled, she turned it up at him; "A total pen-pushing class then, writing and reading... how dull. You must really hate your life, dealing with brats and you can't even beat the snot out of them for a valid reason. If I have a problem student I can assign a remedial class and knock their ego down to match their position as a mortal."

"My negativity is brought on by such foolish questions as that, but beforehand it was raised by students simply being in my way, I put up with their unfounded narcissism and stupidly for so long. Children who think they can hunt Grimm and fight anyone beneath the cracked moon, I'd have sent them crying back to the mainland were I a student here. None of them train hard enough, their confidence is unfounded. It takes years of effort and victory to earn status worth of hiding in my own glory's shadow. They're pathetic." Haze wasn't... entirely incorrect in this statement. She had won various awards in single combat competitions, she had done exhibition matches and she had performed public demonstrations fighting Grimm. These were however in the past, it was unclear just how well they matched to her current demeanour.

Beating students? How incredibly en colère.... Not only was this apparent Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but possibly something appearing to be outright Sociopathy from his studies. Her confusion regarding his field of study, however, made him think a bit more deeply.

"Hmm, I get to get out of the classroom for most of my classes. There is a great deal of importance in field practice so... They spend a surprising amount of time away from the academy."

Harvey realized that she wouldn't care at all only after he finished speaking, but he didn't show his relative disappointment outright. Instead, he took a drink of the last of his soda, before tossing it across the room and into the garbage can. He postulated on the students naivety and their relative assuredness, which he too had notice since coming here.

"A bit cocksure and stubborn yes, but..." he paused and brushed his hair back a bit, closing his eyes as he mire himself in thought. "They are only kids, and hold a great deal of potential if we can apply it. Many of them are older than I, yet they have a lot to learn, and that's a good thing."

He suddenly cracked his neck and looked at Haze. "If we at the top of our field have access to them, then we can teach them before they set in those false habits as a clean slate, and those mistakes which they make will only present more assured and ingrained lessons for them to remember.... Mistakes are the best manner of learning, as it will ground the students and allow them to be more rounded and open-minded in our career. A truly invaluable trait to hold."

Harv pushed himself off of the wall, and rested his hands in the pockets of his blazer. "We have a responsibility to groom them and correct their mistakes, as they are too young too not be ignorant of them. So we set the example, and allow them to follow in our footsteps."

This guy thought he was smarter than he was, constantly talking in such a long and bizarre manner. Haze anger was slowly but surely building, but it would be improper for a Goddess to show such so plainly with a frown. As he pushed back his hair, closing his eyes, and even as the wimpy man cracked his neck Haze felt an overwhelming compulsion to roll her eyes and roll his head... from his shoulders. Even as he pushed himself off the wall, did he have to keep moving so pointlessly? A quick smack upside the head should fix that. Haze took a long sip from her can, "Everyone holds potential, the best and only real way to force it out of students is forcing them into damaging or dangerous situations, beating them down so they'll grow angry and try to take down the top beings. It was how I learned and thus how they should... not that they'd ever be able to top me."

"Experiancing mistakes is nothing when compared to experiencing defeat. A mistake may lead to defeat, but a proper beat down should show them how weak they are and how much stronger they need to get. People are not elephants, when you tie a baby elephant with a rope as long as you use the same rope even the adult elephant will not believe they can break it; despite their ability. With a students, to make them get stronger, you need to use a stronger and stronger rope. I need to beat them down more and more so they can rise further. Get them to think smart, not just strong." Haze explained. "If you tell them how to overcome their flaws they'll never overcome the deeper ones, so you've got to make them feel truly useless. The weak flee, the strong will grow past it. They'll all learn their place regardless."

The woman's agitation was clear, though the more that Harvey thought about it, the less he actually cared about getting a date with her. Her attitude was repugnant, and her philosophies flawed. However, Harvey wanted to poke just a bit more before he took his leave. He was certain that this woman likely "learned her place" long ago, yet she doesn't know where she really belongs. He felt sorry for her, really, even if she didn't herself.

Harv suddenly pulled his glasses out and put them back on his face. He didn't intend to prod MUCH more, but enough to get a final reading on this woman.

"Learning. It's not the same as knowing.... Not everyone holds potential, because some are not equipped for the flames of conflict, not mentally. No, some are simply destined to live a life of passivity. And yet that's simply pragmatic for our society, more so than repetitive failure to break the spirits of those who have only just arrived and DO have the potential simply because they were taught to embrace their horrific defeats time and time again without being encouraged to get back up. If they could get back up from something so traumatic, then what purpose would they have for being here for as long as they must when they should be focusing on physical ability, for to recover from such trauma shows such acute mental strength that we as instructors would be worthless."

Harvey took a breath off of his long rant before pulling a cigarette from his pocket and into his mouth, not yet lighting it. "Such strength does not belie the wills of children and only now have we learned to master it as adults. Such will belongs only to the willful and yet, it's so random in society that we cannot decipher which individuals hold the keys for such growth, thus we must find it and guide it."

Harvey didn't move from that spot any further, instead glaring coldly from behind the lenses of his glasses.

Haze wasn't mad as she was... confused. This man... he didn't think talking like this was normal did he? Not only was she frowning up toward him, but talking formally; and not in the meek informative manner the Goddess was so used to. Well, it wasn't a manner she was used to, rather the manner she demanded to be addressed. "They are here to fall in a safer environment, rather than fall and die at the hands of Grimm. They should be grateful, falling to my testing gate rather than falling in the field and being consumed. It is foolishness to think all who walk through these doors do so. If they are not prepared then they cannot grow stronger." Haze smirked down at him, utilising her height to loom while the little man tried to act tough; "I'm not here to crush coal into diamonds. I'm here to polish diamonds, let them shine brighter than they thought possible. If I polish coal it'll just break down, reduced to dust. It's a waste of time, the strong are here to get stronger. The weak are here to learn they're weak, give up, or keep trying till they are strong. That's all there is too my method. That's how you find those worth guiding."

Haze drew forth a cigar, making the man's cigarette look pointless by comparison. "I once sat in the position of coal, my parents bought me into an academy with no true experience, I know that better than anyone that the weak must make themselves stronger in response to a crushing. Now I shine brighter than the sun, I destroyed those who crushed me. Further crushing will only do the strong good."