Unarmed in a Battle of Wits (private w/Copperfield)

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Professor Zibaq finally caught a break today. He was done teaching classes for the day, and after such a stressful day, he needed to relax a bit. He brewed up some tea for himself before strolling over to a couch to sit down and unwind. Now this was what he needed. A quiet enough place to hear himself think, and the lavender chamomile tea really hit the spot.

Just what I needed... Simab mused as he took a sip of the dark golden tea, placing it back down on its saucer on the coffee table.

As the sun began to set, it unfortunately began to shine its rays through the window, and into Simab's eyes. His nictitating membrane over his eyes helped reduce the glare from the sun, but it was still quite bothersome. Begrudgingly, Simab stood up and began to close the blinds to the window, muttering a few hushed curses in his tribe's language as he did. Just as he was walking back to the couch, he heard a set of footsteps make their way towards the door to the staff lounge...

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Copperfield's sneakers pounded the floor as he made his slow charge towards the staff lounge. Classes were over today. Not because of normal scheduling, but because some of the desks in his room needed replacing. And it wasn't his fault.

Copperfield threw open the door and stomped into the lounge straight for the coffee pot, cursing under his breath the whole way. The stream of quiet expletives were stopped by a sigh and a prayer of thanks as he arrived at his destination, pulling out a mug from a cupboard and then the coffee. He grabbed the handle and pulled it out only to find it empty except the dregs. His eyes went wide. And empty. His hand and consequently the coffee pot began shaking as he gripped it so hard. "You got to be-...!" He raised the pot in the air and readied to smash it into the ground.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"WAIT!" Simab spoke, stretching out an open hand for him to stop.

"I made tea, if that will suffice. I hope you like this lavender chamomile tea. It helps to... calm the nerves..." he added as he made his way back to the couch, gesturing to the open space to his right for Copperfield to sit down. Looking back at the tall man, a small spark of recognition occurred in his eyes.

"You are Copperfield, right? The professor of Dust and Semblance Usage?" Simab inquired.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Copperfield froze, tense, as he was called to. He glared at the other person in the room, closed his eyes, and sighed. He let his hand drop, still holding the pot. "Tea..." He spat the word. "What I need is coffee, but I guess the last person to use it didn't think to set another pot!" He slammed the pot back into it's space. "But it's going to be several minutes before I'll have more, so..." He threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine, I'll have the leaf juice until this pot fills." He quickly set about making another pot, pushed the button to get it running, and stomped over to the couch where the man had gestured to. He still had his empty mug.

"Uh?" Copperfield replied oh so eloquently as the man said his name, turning to him. "Yeah, that's me. You're... Simon Bizaq, or... Sibam Zibabwe or... something, right? You teach weapons manufacturing and upkeep?"

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Technically, he's not wrong, but tea is more than just hot leaf juice... Simab thought. Had be been in his young adult years, the comment about tea being mere hot leaf juice might have been insulting enough to anger him, but Simab knew better than to get upset over a little comment like this.

Figuring he'd use his mug for the coffee once it was ready, Simab took another teacup and poured some tea for Copperfield, handing him the teacup and the saucer.

"Simab Zibaq, and yes, I do teach Weapon Crafting and Upkeep." he amended before taking another sip of his tea.

"So, Copperfield, what has gotten you so tense?" Simab inquired.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Simab poured him a cup and handed it to Copperfield. He started a little and took it, setting the mug down on the table. He was tempted to pour it into his mug anyhow, and honestly thought about doing so. But Copperfield also respected the customs of host, guest, and things like the Law of Hospitality. He followed those kinds of traditions more closely than he did the normal laws of the land. That is all to say that it would be rude to use a different cup than the one he was handed. If he had disliked Simab he might have done so anyway, but for now he had no real opinion of the guy. So he took the cup and sipped, testing it's temperature and taste.

It was actually somewhat good. Kinda. Maybe a touch too close to drinking the flowers themselves, that lavender was potent. He was also more accustomed to soda, sweet or bitter drinks. So something so herbal was... odd.

Copperfield let out a growl as he was reminded about the class. "One of the kids decided to test the pressure threshold of a Fire Dust Crystal. With a hammer. The whole section of the classroom now needs to get repaired, cleaned, and we need two new desks. Almost turned into a repeat of Mistral, stupid kid almost got me fired. Again." He just threw back the rest of the tea like an herbal shot of whiskey.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"Good grief, what a bad string of luck that was. You definitely needed the tea! Simab chuckled warmly, trying to lighten the mood with some humor.

"Reminds me of the one time some trickster thought to hide a tiny Combustion Dust crystal in the mold of a weapon I was casting. I wasn't paying attention, and when I poured the molten metal into the mold, the explosion forced me backwards into the chalkboard. It knocked almost all the desks over and blew the doors off their hinges. Students on the opposite side of the Academy felt the rumble from the explosion. Miraculously, nobody got seriously injured." Simab explained, using gestures for emphasis at key points of the story.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

"I need more than just the tea, but Vera is out with her son today." He grumbled, frustrated and missing her.

Copperfield sat and endured the lavender after-taste as Simab told his story, eyes widening a little. "Sounds less like a prank and more like attempted murder to me! Good that nobody was injured though. Find out who did it?"

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"Whoever did it clearly thought it out surprisingly well. I guess the only thing they didn't consider was the size of the explosion. Whatever evidence was there... exploded, and nobody admitted to it, which gives me the idea that the rest of the class was oblivious or in cahoots with the perpetrator." Simab reasoned, stroking his chin goatee.

"If the perpetrator focused their intellect in a more positive direction, they'd definitely be at the top of the class. Besides, it'll take a bigger explosion to hurt me!" he chuckled before finishing his tea. Simab grabbed the decorative kettle and poured himself some more tea before turning to Copperfield.

"You want some more? You seemed to enjoy it." Simab offered.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Copperfield nodded along, coming to the same conclusion.

"No no, the aftertaste is enough to last me a while." By now the coffee pot was starting to fill. The professor took his mug over and with a deft movement, took the pot out and placed the cup under the tiny hot stream. He waited for it to fill his mug before he replaced the pot, allowing it to fill up more, and put a handful of sugar packets in his coffee. "The upper-crust didn't blame you for it?" He asked as he mixed the sugar into the delicious liquid.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"More for me then." Simab replied, taking a fresh sip of the delicious tea and relishing in its flavor.

"When I explained the situation to them, they were pretty understanding. Apparently, it's common for mishaps to occur in the Weapon Crafting and Upkeep classrooms, but usually not to the same magnitude. They just told me to be more careful, and ever since, I've always checked the molds before pouring the molten metal into them." he explained.

"I take it that the upper-crust tends to blame you for any mishaps?" Simab questioned, sipping his tea again.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Copperfield tightened his lips and nodded with a snap of his figners. "You got it. Dust and Semblances are things you can study the theory on for only so long, you have to get hands-on to really understand how they work and how you can make them work for you. One day back in Mistral..." He let out a breath. "Look, suffice to say that half the room caught on fire. I tried to put it out. I ended up freezing the room instead, miscalculated how much energy I'd need to put into it. Water damage coupled with the charring meant that whole room had to be rebuilt from the ground up. I got fired."

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"That's very unfortunate. It's just a fact of life that mishaps and malfunctions occur, one that many higher ups are reluctant to accept. Thus, they try to fix things via... staff rearrangement to prevent it from happening again. I can't exactly blame them for it, but your feelings are justified." Simab replied before mentally backtracking a bit.

"Say... you mentioned a woman named Vera before. If you don't mind my asking, is she special to you?" he inquired.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Staff Rearrangement... That was one way to put it. He moved back to the couch and laid back in it, like he was trying desperately to sink inside. Then Vera was mentioned. He blinked and looked at him. "Vera Noire. She's a teacher here, Grimm Studies. And, yes. Special." He was the sort that kept things mostly private. He took a sip of his coffee, made a small groaning sound that was near lust, and drank some more.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Copperfield seemed to be tight-lipped about his personal life, and understandably so. Despite his curiosity, it may be best to not press for more information. He figured that settling for a middle ground would suffice. Slyly, as Simab took a sip of his tea, he took a quick glance down towards Copperfield's hands in search of a wedding ring.

Not married... Simab mused as he set his teacup down. Despite the calm demeanor, Simab's thoughts were active and buzzing with queries as to his situation with Vera. Perhaps when Copperfield felt comfortable he would divulge more information to him. Maybe he could get Copperfield to be more open about other aspects of his life...

"Call it a hunch, but you don't strike me as a typical Valean. You're originally from somewhere else, yes?" Simab asked.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Copperfield nodded and took another swig of the coffee, smacking his lips a little to savor the caffeinated taste. "I've been around quite a bit. Born in Atlas and went to Huntsman school there, worked around Mistral mostly, had some trips into Vacuo and Vale on jobs, and now I'm here." He took a look at Simab.

"You yourself aren't Valean. The name, skin tone, I'd say... West Vacuo?" He guessed.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"I think so, it's hard to be certain though. It's one of those things you don't really keep track of in that type of environment." Simab replied. He thought briefly before speaking again.

"You are more well traveled than many of the scholars from my tribe. Now that is a rare feat. I'm sure they'd have many questions for you." he added before sipping some more tea. Looking over at the teapot, Simab picked it up to check its contents.

Low. Might need to brew some more at this rate... he mused as he placed the teapot back down.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Right, nomadic tribes in Vacuo are, well, nomadic. They just keep moving.

"Yeah well," he slouched some more, remembering thos past days. "When you track down the origin of diseases and organizations and get tied up in political and criminal strings... you end up traveling all over the place." Just thinking of those years made him ache and tired. A number of scars lit up with phantom pain. He drank some more coffee. "Maybe I should write a book someday, I don't know. What about you? Surely you had some adventures before teaching."

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"Fair enough." Simab replied.

"Adventures? Yes, I have a few." he began, thinking of one of the better ones.

" Oh! I remember this one assignment like it was yesterday! I was probably twenty four at the time, there had been mysterious tremors by a local village in southern Vacuo. Being a rakish and impetuous youth at the time, I took the job without a second thought. I tracked the source of the rumbling to be a fifty foot Blind Worm, and it was hungry. I fought with the Grimm for a solid three hours under the hot sun before some unexpected backup came to the rescue. It was a team of alumni from Shade Academy. With their help, I was able to kill the Blind Worm. Then before I could thank them for their help, they turned on me once the Grimm was dead. Turns out they were Huntsmen turned assassins looking for a big score. I at least had the foresight to knock them out and bring them to the authorities for a hefty sum of Lien. Needless to say, I had a wild time with the money I spent that weekend!" Simab ended the tale beaming ear to ear, laughing heartily and vivaciously as the memories came flooding back to him.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Copperfield continued to sip on his coffee as he listened and provided comments. "Blind Worm? Those are tough." "Assassin's, huh?"

"Wild time? Go visit some Vacuoan girl-clubs?" He joked and smiled. From personal experience he knew that brothels, or clubs that fronted for such, existed around those parts. Exotic dancers, girls who could talk to you about problems, and relieve stress in very physical ways. He hadn't used their services before, mostly because everytime he himself had visited it was to get answers out of someone, and the only offers he got were ones intended to ensnare him with gorgeous women. But if you weren't the target for the owner of the club to kill and leave out in the desert, he imagined it would be a fun time for a bachelor with a lot of expendable cash.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"Yes, I may have indulged in some... debauchery in my younger days, maybe a little too much." Simab spoke, chuckling a bit before finishing off his tea.

"But those days are behind me now. I have a greater sense of responsibility and duty now that I have... learned from my mistakes..." he added, remembering the echoes of some decisions that seemed trivial at the time.

"In your travels, have you ever encountered my nomadic group, the White Mystics? Well, formerly nomadic I should say." Simab inquired.

[Professor W B Copperfield]

Copperfield could only chuckle. Seeing Simab with a drink in one hand and a woman in the other, make him a few years younger... He could see it. And he wasn't about to throw stones from his own glass house. He had been reckless before too. Maybe a little too much.

"White Mystics?" Copperfield rubbed his chin. "Not the group as a whole, no. But I did run into a merchant who claimed to be from the group. Sold me some interesting Dust crystals at the time. Saved my ass in a pinch I got into later that day."

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"That must have been Ahmar, he is a good man." Simab replied, recalling information pertaining to Ahmar.

"He didn't stick to the traditional migratory patterns of the White Mystics, he instead went on the path most taken in order to sell his Dust crystals. He always had a knack for business." he continued before taking the pot over to make another batch of tea.