The evening after the full moon had Mikhail a bit busy. He was going back and forth between his office and his room all day. After lunch he gave up whatever it was he was doing, because it didn't matter anymore. The man sat down in his office and slumped back in his chair, arms crossing loosely over his broad chest while his eyes stared out the window. A nice day, a walk might have been in order. If only he felt like moving.
In a few minutes. . .
Fifteen minutes passed and all Mikhail had done was pack away his laptop into his bag. That folding piece of technology was going to be the death of him. Really, it was. While it was from Russia, so was in Russian, he had no idea how do to half of the things he needed to do. Beyond being able to change the language over to English with a click of the mouse and opening his browser to write an E-Mail or read those ridiculous journals. . .he was lost. He didn't even know how to use spell check.
Sighing, the man hauled himself out of his seat and put the laptop over his right shoulder with ease. He decided just then to go visit Sydni and see how she was holding up. The night before had been rough on pretty much everyone. He had been particularly tired when he'd finally returned to normal and crashed on his couch. Mikhail had not even made it to the bed he was so worn out from following Sydni, keeping the younger wolves in line. Unable to crawl off of the couch and into the shower until noon, he felt much better after that.
Making his way around the school, he appeared at her office. "Sydni," he called after a rapping upon her door. "Is Mikhail."
---
Sydni was tired, too. The day after the full moon she always slept until about noon, which was very out of character for her since she usually rose at dawn. The stress of her worries only added to her exhaustion. Often mental weariness was more tiring the physical weariness. It used to be that Sydni could remember what happened on the full. She had reached a balance and she was able to remember what the wolf had done and thought. Now, though, she couldn't remember much of anything. She hoped she hadn't been much trouble for Mikhail.
Finally getting ready for life, she made her way to her office with Molly. She spent more time in the office than she did in her own room, often falling asleep there only to wake up at 2 or 3 and relocate to her room.
Molly had quickly made herself comfortable by the desk, but she got up suddenly and looked at the door seconds before there was a knock, and Mikhail's voice. Getting up quickly, she answered the door, with Molly right next to her. The pup whined and tried to get her nose around Sydni, who was blocking the door. "Sit," the brunette commanded, and once the pup obeyed, she moved aside so the pup could stretch out her nose and sniff at the stranger. She had learned not to bark or jump, and Sydni was pleased with her obedience.
With a tired smile, the scientist greeted her friend. "How are you faring?" she asked as she gestured for her to enter the office.
---
Was someone. . .crying? When Sydni opened the door Mikhail had a small crease in his forehead as a brow rose curiously. He had been about to ask about someone being in pain when he heard the command for the dog to sit. That made more sense, really, but he had no expected to see a dog in an office. Looking down at the four-legged creature, his eyes glanced back at Sydni at her question.
"Fine," said the aged man through a deep sigh that he exhaled while coming to kneel and hold his hand out for Molly to sniff further. While he'd never had a dog himself, he did like them alright. He felt a bit "at one" with them sometimes, because of the Lycan within. But on the whole, dogs made good pets. They were companions who loved you near unconditionally if you got the right kind of canine and treated it with care and kindness.
Mikhail had never been home enough for a dog. He worked far more than the usual eight hours at the mechanic shop. Sometimes he'd pull a whole day, open to close, so he didn't have to go home. There was nothing, and no one, there waiting for him. Why go back? Even he admitted to not being above drinking out of lonliness or hitting a bar now and then. Some days just looked really bleak.
"How is?" he asked up at Sydni with another glance, a tilt of his head. That morning--well, afternoon--he had chosen not to shave. No way was he coordinated enough yet to do anything like that. Not when he had been in his room, anyway. So there was a thicker blanket of hair upon his face than usual. It suited him, but the man definitely looked better with the light stubble after a shave.
---
The gentle greeting to her pet earned a soft smile. Molly for her part,skipped the sniffing and went straight on to the licking. She was a loving pup, and Sydni had never heard her growl, ever.
The question drew a strained expression from Sydni and she looked away. "Fine," she answered noncommitally. "Would you like anything? Coffee? Water? I have food, too," she explained, gesturing to the minfridge she kept in her office. For herself, there was a wrap half-devoured on her desk next to her open laptop.
---
After letting Molly lick at his hand, one coming to scratch behind her ear, Mikhail stood at his full height again and walked into the office behind Sydni. "Ah, coffee?" he gave a small smile while putting down his bag on a guest's chair. "No food, not hungry yet. But coffee good." American's still had weird coffee, but it was slowly growing on him. Slowly. And at least he managed to stay awake with a few cups. Though he could generally keep himself awake without the caffiene, the drink made it a lot easier.
"Tired?" he asked casually. He could read it on her face an through her 'fine' answer that had not really meant "I'm well" or "I feel like shit." Yet it did not mean "fine" either. Mikhail knew the answers, he'd used them many a time himself.
---
To his answer, she nodded and went over to the coffeepot and poured a cup for him. "Cream, sugar," she explained, pointing to the fridge, and then to the container next to the coffeepot. Taking a seat once he seemed settled, she saved the project she had been working on and closed it out so she could give her guest her full attention. Molly, for her part, took to following Mikhail around. She wanted to make friends.
Nodding to his question, she looked up to meet his eyes, a guarded and strained expression on her face. "Yeah. You must be, too," she answered.
---
Cream? Sugar? No way. Mikhail took the mug from her with a gracious nod before sitting himself down and taking a sip. It was delightfully hot and he felt it travel all the way down his pipe into his stomach. Best feeling he'd had all day, honestly. After a second sip he found his eyes still on that dog. Sighing into the rim of the mug, he reached a warmed hand down for her to nudge at while holding the drink with the other.
"Ah, been worse." There was a small smirk on his lips as he gave a barely-there shrug. "New ground mean new approach. Was rough, but ack. Could have been badder."
---
"I hope I wasn't too much trouble," she murmured. There had been a time when she would have trusted herself to be on relatively equal ground with him. Not as a dominant wolf, but as one who could have helped him watch the students. Now she thought herself a burden.
Sydni smiled slightly at his grammar faux pas, but she had no desire to correct him. His accent, and even his botched English, was attractive to her. She had a feeling that he was there to see her about something, but she'd let him get to that when he was ready.
Molly appreaciated the hand left out for her and made it her goal to nuzzle and lick him as much as she could. It was the best way to make friends.
---
He was only there to make sure she was well. Mikhail had mulled over the idea of telling her about his meeting with Fenrir, but he had decided not to. Their conversation wasn't something he really needed to share. The only thing he should tell her was that she was safe, or as relatively safe as a vocalized promise could be. Fenrir said he would try to be better, less loud and domineering, which was all anyone could really ask for. Requesting more of that man was like telling him to change completely.
"No, no," replied the Russian before taking a quick sip of his coffee. He liked to drink it fresh and hot, warm or anything less was just unpleasant. Iced coffee? What sort of sin on mankind was that? Coffee was meant to be hot!
"Not trouble." Mikhail would never, ever, call Sydni a burden. He would not call any other wolf a burden, be he/she a jerk or the quietest thing on the planet. No one was that much of a pain to warrant such a title. Besides, if you didn't have those who bordered on "burdens," where was the challenge? It was last night that Mikhail had realized he was growing sloppy with his own control over the wolf because he hadn't had anything to try to keep in line. Having Sydni and the students to focus on really brought back a lot of his old ways from when he had first learned mastery over the animal.
It had felt good to be that in control. While it had taken him about an hour to get into that state, once he was there his wolf and him were, escentially, one. They understood the fact that they were more or less the dominant male in the situation and had to be on the lookout for everyone. And so they had.
---
Sydni had known they talked, after Fenrir's public note. And aside from scaring her, the note had enraged her. Not that she would ever want to be with Fenrir, but implying that she wasn't good enough for him?! Her wolf had been enraged as well. That was one reason why her wolf had wanted to pursue him, challenge him outright. She wanted to show that she was his equal. But her human self felt it best to stay far away from him. He had pushed her enough that she had turned violent. No way that she wanted to do that again.
His answer made her smile slightly. It was kind of him to say so, but she doubted that watching over her had made his night easier. It was too bad that Sydni couldn't remember her behavior. Her wolf had been very well-behaved, looking after the other, younger lycans. She had kept them in line - any behavior that had been unacceptable had earned a quick and decisive rebuttable from her. Since Fenrir had not been there, there had been nothing to make her behave badly.
---
Clearly this man was a bad influence, but he was only different. His choices were harsher than that of Mikhail's or Sydni's, so he seemed bad. Mikhail did not think him completely wrong in the head, either. He could agree with much of what the pure werewolf said, because he was sure he was right. That, however, did not make it just.
"Have today plan?" he asked to segue out of the tense topic at hand. There was no reason to continue to discuss something that was going to continuously happen month after month. In fact, Mikhail preferred not to talk about it at all. It was a life that existed with his, yes, but that didn't mean he had to converse about it. Let it be equal but separate.
---
True, if Sydni had a calm conversation with Fenrir, then she might see him a little differently. She'd still have to tell him in no uncertain terms that joking about what he did was totally unacceptable. But the lycan was generally a very understanding person, and could see others' point of view with a little bit of an explanation.
"Just some correcting and planning." She wasn't going to mention her homework. It had been scary writing how much she wanted to kill Fenrir, because that was exactly what the wolf wanted. She had hidden the name because she didn't want Heather reporting her to the director. She needed to be here. She couldn't afford to be kicked out. "What about you? You don't have many classes, right?"
---
Shaking his head, Mikhail leaned back into the chair completely. His legs stretched out in front of himself, crossing at the ankles. "No. One. Spend rest of day with student in personal lesson." The rest of his days, which had little to do really. Boring days came and went, he hung around his office waiting for his students to come for their lessons or hoping someone would come by.
Or trying to figure out the internet.
The internet alluded him. It didn't matter than he had grown up with the creation of the computer. He had hardly used one in that time. They got them eventually at the garage, but all he had to know was how to type in a name and where to go to make orders and so forth. Total pain in the butt.
---
"They're lucky to have you as a teacher. And I wish I could give my students that kind of individual attention." She sighed then thinking about her students. She wanted them to do well, and some were struggling. It really troubled her, even though she knew it would happen.
Well, Sydni was definitely a part of the wireless generation. She was practically attached to her computer by an umbilical cord. It was how she kept in touch with friends from college, and even some of her colleagues. Though, she hadn't been that chatty as of late.
---
Not sure as to what to say to that, Mikhail gave a small shrug. He wasn't sure he would call them lucky. They might have been better off with him as a professor, maybe, but he wouldn't say they were lucky. Luck, in this world, did not exist. A lot of things didn't exist, actually. But we won't get into that because, by some poor saps standards, this school and it's children should not exist, either.
"Ah, do what can," he finally said. "Is hard. They not come. Waste their time, not mine." He gave yet another shrug, sipping from his steaming coffee before putting the mug down on the desk for the moment.
"Teach. . .science, yes?" Mikhail had had to pause to remember. Well, and figure out how to say the damned word that was not spelled anything like it sounded so he had to remember both. Stupid English language. "Ah, do tutor hour?"
---
Sydni frowned when he said they didn't come. It was too important for them not to. It wasn't just them they were putting in danger; it was everyone outside, too. "Perhaps. But it's dangerous for them not to," she finished softly.
"Yes, I do. I've never taught before so it makes me nervous. And I do have office hours, but I'm here so often, it's kind of a moot point. Students could come by at pretty much anytime I'm not in class and I'd be here." Yes, the English language was confusing. That was what happened when you stole a little from a bunch of different languages and stuck them all together. Confusion.
---
"I not taught, either," said Mikhail. He leaned forward to pick up the coffee he had just put down and held it in his hands before taking a slow sip from it. "Is. . .strange. Learn to teach I taught self skill, but is not same as teach others." He sighed softly. "I not sure how. I make up as go."
It was true. The man had never been taught how to deal with his wolf, he had learned himself after years of depression and error. He wanted it which was why he had come through. But did some of these kids want it? He was willing to be not. If they wanted it as badly as he had, they would come to their lessons. Maybe they thought, because they were in the "advanced" class, they were good enough not to need his help. Well, Mikhail wasn't sure how the system had been built before his teaching here, or Heather's. Who was to say they had accomplished anything at all in the previous classes?
At least some of his students came to the sessions and worked with him. Some seemed to genuinely want this kind of control, but others wanted something he feared to teach. One girl wanted to learn how to resist the shift. Well, he could do that, too. It came after mastering how to change outside of the moon, which Mikhail did with relative ease these days. He just was not sure a little girl was ready for that kind of responsibility. Denying the shift was a bad, bad idea.
---
Sydni nodded with sympathy. She had the content knowledge, too, but she had definitely never learned how to impart that knowledge to others. It was one thing to share her passion with someone who wanted to know; it was quite another to teach a group of students who had varying levels of interest and ability. And she was responsible for them all. "Yeah, same here. I have a lot of books on teaching, though it's a bit different for you I think. If you wanted though, I bet you could look them up on the internet to see if they're available in Russian."
Luckily, Sydni wanted nothing so dangerous as to shift outside the full, or resist the change altogether. One thing she had learned in her faith was the importance of balance. Everything in her faith revolved around balance. And totally resisting the wolf was not seeking balance. Perhaps that was why it had been such a struggle for her at first. Honestly, however, if Mikhail had not been there for her last night, she would have been forced to do something drastic. She didn't know how much she would have needed to take to knock herself out for the night, but the alternative was unacceptable. If it came down to experimenting on herself, she would have done it.
---
Self experimentation was just a bad idea, as well. So many things could have gone wrong and Mikhail would have been very upset. Fortunately, because he was there and not absent, she had been spared from such horrors. He gave a nod and a tilt of his head in agreement. He could look something up, but teaching was not something you could read in a book. Mikhail, clearly, did things his own way. Life was trial and error, books were only trial and error by someone else and were not guaranteed help.
He'd rather walk through the project himself and see what came of it. Already he had learned a few things to do and not do. "We will see," he mused and drained his coffee. The mug was set back down and he shrugged. Molly was still by his hand and he turned his attention toward the cute pup for a moment.
"What is name, hm? Do have name?" he gave the smallest of smiles while leaning down to pick her up and put her on his lap. Mikhail was not the greatest man in the world, he was not perfect or 100% right, but he had his moments.
---
It was a bad idea. And harming herself was not the worst of it - the opposite could have happened. Maybe her wolf would have gone more crazy and she could have been more dangerous. That was the main reason she was reluctant to try it.
Sydni lived by books. They were one of her greatest pleasures. But she did agree, books could only teach so much. That was why she was so concerned about teaching. She really needed the practical training, but books were all she had.
Molly wagged her tail energetically at the attention. And while she was still a pup, she was a big pup, almost full grown. The Shephard/Akita mix would be a large dog, and already she was a big animal. She hadn't been picked up in a long time, but as soon as Mikhail set her down, she settled onto his lap, rather awkwardly, and began washing his face, or at least attempting, too.
"Molly. Charlie and I found her at the last school, abandonned. She's a wonderful pup." She had trained her herself.
---
Oh, Mikhail quite liked this dog. Though he did frown when she started licking him. Being given dog-kisses was just one of those things most people didn't like. The man didn't mind her weight or being big, because he was large enough to compensate. Yet his arms did wrap around her gently, in something like a hug, and held her away from his face. "No kiss. No. I pet. You enjoy." And so that was how it was.
"Molly," he mused after being told her name. "Is good name. I like."
---
At the admonishment, Molly ceased licking his face, though her tongue kept going. She understood "no", and she was good at obeying when she understood what the no referred to. And the only thing she was doing was licking, so that had to be the reason he said no. But she couldn't help showing her love, so the tongue kept going.
At the compliment, Sydni smiled. "Thank you. It fits her. Very sweet." She had always thought that anyone who was kind to children or animals had to be a good person. Aside from his kindness to her, this solidified her positive opinion of Mikhail.
---
After a few moments passed in which Mikhail merely held Molly, his hand lightly rubbing behind her head at the base of her neck, he sighed and looked at his computer. "Ack, I have write notice. Should go do. Must send to students." He frowned and looked at Molly somewhat apologetically before putting her back on the floor where she belonged.
"Will not get at rate I type," he mused jokingly. "So slow." With that, he stood up and began to reach for his bag so he could leave and go get his work done. Had he been writing in Russian, because his computer was built for that language and each key had been assigned one of the letters to that alphabet, this would have gone much faster. But there was no program that he had found that could take something all in Russian and translate properly into English. So he had to write it himself in English. Mikhail was not familiar with the keys, having only just learned to use an English keyboard recently, and his spelling was poorer than dirt. Still, he tried his hardest.
"See later?" he asked, half standing while putting the bag on his shoulder.
---
"Notice? About what?" When he expressed his difficulties with typing, she offered, "I could help. I'm a fast typist. I learned when I was in school." Plus, she genuinely liked helping, and she especially wanted to help Mikhail. It would be good to return the favor.
Molly stood when he set her down, happy to be near her new friend. He was so nice!
"Of course," Sydni answered. She really liked being around him. His company was enjoyable.
---
Turning his face back toward Sydni, he gave a shrug. "For class. Is to remind for practice, private lesson, homework." Well, in theory, their homework was practicing the focusing techniques he taught both in class and individually. Some of the students calmed and centered their thoughts in different manners, and Mikhail wanted to make sure they worked on it. Not that he would know since he couldn't exactly check this piece of homework. But the students also had to write about their creature. What they were like, what they looked like if they knew. Mikhail approached this with the idea that, perhaps, rather than building a wall with their were-animal they could build some sort of bridge like he had. His wolf and himself were "friends." They understood one another.
He knew the fact that this was a big hope would probably only remain such and never become reality. It didn't matter. He was teaching these kids to control what they knew to be monsters. Not once had Mikhail looked into what Heather had taught them. He didn't care. She taught differently, he was sure, so he had told his students to remember what she had said, but add onto that what he told them. It was complicated, and he was sure because of his English-gap it was hard to understand.
That was why he had private lessons. He could speak an answer any questions his students had one on one.
"Would type for me?" he asked curiously. "Is nice thing to do. Sure want to?"
---
Sydni wanted to have that relationship with her wolf, too. She was done fighting. Obviously, that had not worked. To be honest, though, she felt a little betrayed - she had thought they had created a bridge, arrived at an understanding. It was a terrible thing about which to be wrong. But she was willing to try again. Even if every full moon filled her with true terror.
"Of course. It's not difficult. Just dictate to me, tell me what you want to say, and I'll type it up. Any questions you have about computers I can answer. Well, about Word and email and stuff. I'm not really technologically inclined," she finished with a shy smile.
---
Taking out his laptop, clearly pleased, Mikhail opened it upon his lap and logged in. After it started up and the main page opened, he handed it over. The machine didn't look much different than any other laptop, aside from the way the keys were marked. Each key had a Russian symbol upon it, however, in the top right corner was a smaller English letter. The numbers were in their proper place, as were all of the usual keys. However, the larger keys upon the sides had no English upon them for their was no room. They merely read "delete, return, shift, tab, caps lock, shift" in Russian.
Having nothing opened, Mikhail's background was in plain sight. It was a black and white landscape, lightning shooting across the sky. A default set into the computer itself--he had no idea how to change the wallpaper either. Or his user icon that the PC had prompted for.
"Okay," agreed the Russian as he leaned back in his chair. He gave Sydni a moment to get ready before raising his brows in question, nodding, and then starting when she gave her signal. His message wasn't all that long, but had a very strict air that needed to be kept to. Mikhail didn't want to sound like some pushover of a teacher as he would not take any shit from any student. No matter their age or sex, he didn't care. If you gave him lip and he was your official, you sure as hell were not getting off with a simple warning.