Hob is skipping along the sidewalk when he spies the new student and his family. Or rather, when he spies the sister. Seeing their loss and confusion, he makes a beeline for the group, his skunk's tail swishing in the air behind him.
"Greet the unseen with a cheer," he proclaims to them, then switches poets to address the Sluagh directly. "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! / Bird thou never wert, /That from heaven, or near it, / Pourest thy full heart / In profuse strains of umpremeditated art."
With an innocent smile he bows his head slightly towards the sister. "For she was beautiful - her beauty made / The bright world dim, and everything beside / Seemed like the fleeting image of a shade."
With barely a pause, his gaze returns back to the parental figures and the sluagh. "'O where are you going?' said reader to rider."
Bianca stares at Hob, mouth slightly open. "Um, okay," she says. "Thank you?"
Tevye smirks at his sister. "Close your mouth, Bianca. Or, if it must remain open, please introduce me to this gentleman."
"Why don't you ever introduce yourself?" Bianca asks.
"It's not proper, that's why. Please?"
Bianca gestures toward Tevye. "This is my brother, William Morris." She gestures back to Hob, but shrugs as she does not know his name.
Tevye extends his hand to shake. He whispers, low enough to remain unheard by his family. "Since she cannot introduce me properly, I shall do so. Tevye Tsarovitch."
Tev's father shifts his grip on the many items of luggage he holds. "Friends later, moving now," he says. "Can you direct us to Blackwillow Hall, young man?"
With a flourish, the skunk-pooka reaches into his tattered peacoat and produces a dog-eared card. Slightly lifting his faded blue fiddler's cap in greeting, he presents the card to the Sluagh: HOB MOPPLENAIL. Close at hand, the lad is handsome enough, but he looks like a shipwrecked sailor in his threadbare and patched coat and cap
( ... )
((OOC: Thank gods I have my wife to translate poetry. Not my language!))
Bianca leaned closer to Tevye. "What's he saying?" she asked in a piercing whisper.
Tevye shrugged ever so slightly. "It's not English, and it's not Russian, so I don't know" he told her. "I believe he likes you." He walks a little faster to walk beside Hob. "I apologize for not introducing my sister sooner. This," he sweeps an arm back towards her, "is Bianca."
Bianca raises a hand high enough to wave, then drops it again.
"Forgive her moment of taciturnity," Tev whispers. "She is only used to my own eccentricities, not those of others of our kind." He raises his voice a bit higher. "Oh, and these are my parents, Simon and Julia."
Tev's parents smile wordlessly.
"We hail from New Hampshire. I've come to study what the government demands, though I hope to learn a little more of my own obsessions." Tev lets further words remain unspoken, unaccustomed to conversations as long as he has just conducted.
What secrets this school must hold, Tevye thinks. He opens the door and looks into the closet.
The closet is indeed just that, a janitor's closet, but one that seems to be adjacent to the furnace room, with another door leading into there. That door is ajar, and from the closet one can see a narrow passage between the furnace itself and the wall. Distantly, the sound of a washing machine can be heard from that area, along with Hob's melody.
At a rough guess, the other half of the basement would be below the boys' wing.
Willy shakes his head as he follows. "Gee Hob, think you are showing the world the secrets of the school?" He chuckles as he keeps following the pooka around.
Hob's whistling leads them across the basement and up the backstairs of the boys' wing. He seems to be moving at a fair clip, even with the bags, and by the sound of things it does not take him long to reach the third floor.
"This way to the great egress!" they hear him bellow grandly.
The pooka waits mid-way down the hall of the third floor boys' wing. "Adventures make one late for dinner," he admonishes as the party reaches the top of the stairs.
Comments 54
"Greet the unseen with a cheer," he proclaims to them, then switches poets to address the Sluagh directly. "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! / Bird thou never wert, /That from heaven, or near it, / Pourest thy full heart / In profuse strains of umpremeditated art."
With an innocent smile he bows his head slightly towards the sister. "For she was beautiful - her beauty made / The bright world dim, and everything beside / Seemed like the fleeting image of a shade."
With barely a pause, his gaze returns back to the parental figures and the sluagh. "'O where are you going?' said reader to rider."
Reply
Tevye smirks at his sister. "Close your mouth, Bianca. Or, if it must remain open, please introduce me to this gentleman."
"Why don't you ever introduce yourself?" Bianca asks.
"It's not proper, that's why. Please?"
Bianca gestures toward Tevye. "This is my brother, William Morris." She gestures back to Hob, but shrugs as she does not know his name.
Tevye extends his hand to shake. He whispers, low enough to remain unheard by his family. "Since she cannot introduce me properly, I shall do so. Tevye Tsarovitch."
Tev's father shifts his grip on the many items of luggage he holds. "Friends later, moving now," he says. "Can you direct us to Blackwillow Hall, young man?"
Reply
Reply
Bianca leaned closer to Tevye. "What's he saying?" she asked in a piercing whisper.
Tevye shrugged ever so slightly. "It's not English, and it's not Russian, so I don't know" he told her. "I believe he likes you." He walks a little faster to walk beside Hob. "I apologize for not introducing my sister sooner. This," he sweeps an arm back towards her, "is Bianca."
Bianca raises a hand high enough to wave, then drops it again.
"Forgive her moment of taciturnity," Tev whispers. "She is only used to my own eccentricities, not those of others of our kind." He raises his voice a bit higher. "Oh, and these are my parents, Simon and Julia."
Tev's parents smile wordlessly.
"We hail from New Hampshire. I've come to study what the government demands, though I hope to learn a little more of my own obsessions." Tev lets further words remain unspoken, unaccustomed to conversations as long as he has just conducted.
Reply
The closet is indeed just that, a janitor's closet, but one that seems to be adjacent to the furnace room, with another door leading into there. That door is ajar, and from the closet one can see a narrow passage between the furnace itself and the wall. Distantly, the sound of a washing machine can be heard from that area, along with Hob's melody.
At a rough guess, the other half of the basement would be below the boys' wing.
Reply
Reply
Tevye's family, even more confused than he is, follows Willy.
Reply
"This way to the great egress!" they hear him bellow grandly.
The pooka waits mid-way down the hall of the third floor boys' wing. "Adventures make one late for dinner," he admonishes as the party reaches the top of the stairs.
Reply
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