minutes early, wh

as practical, not anxious, and anyone who suggeste

opened it, and arranged my n

ranged them

put them back, and somewhere in the middle of that I

and no particular promise, and I felt inexplicably the same way, unsettled in a manner I coul

This was a rout

students, careful conversations about potential and tra

about this one tha

buzzed on

king. Be

tened my blazer, and looked

s perfectly, prof

through the

which also meant nothing - and I smiled at him and said good morning and

cus Blackwoo

only describe as sheer, grinding stubbornness, b

ow what I h

one in hand, wearing the look that parents wore when they'd been

t expect

t appearing to try - not aggressively, not loudly, just with a kind of settled, eff

e that made you feel faintly that the world

im and something in my chest did

tended my hand. "Than

something moved through the point of contact that had no business being there

d back faster th

d his head.

tic shock, the carpet in here

said no

in a way I found deeply inconvenient, like they wer

throat and op

so I can be candid about where things stand academically, and then we can bring

is expression shifted - recognition of something, or th

icked shut

quieter witho

ame aware of this in a w

y one of the most engaged students I've had in this particular class. His first major paper showed real critical thinking - not just comprehension, bu

top

readable attention, his hands resting on the tabl

the outside - aware of the pace of your own breathing, of the fact that you had broken eye contact twice in the last thirty seconds, o

he table and my thoughts came

d deep and clean, like pine and cold air and something underneat

e words were perfectly legible an

Mon

even and it landed s

oked

tly, "we need to addres

e very still.

tension you're carrying right now in your shoulders." He paused. "I'm not saying this to make you uncomfortable. I'm s

was ver

Black

rcu

g in this conversation to behave the way I told it to. "I appreciate you coming

drama, without any of the weight a person usually puts behind a sentence like that,

red a

d a measured, organized, evidence-based

e premise that things were what they appeared to

-five in the morning with a student's parent and my hear

id carefully, "do yo

of a man choosing his next words like he

something from a story," he said. "I'm asking you

hich he appeared

ghtened

ave been for my entire life, as was my son before his wolf fully surfaced this year, which is the root of what you'

quite believing what

he bond recognizing you. It is as real as anything else in this room, and it i

ed because yes this man might be hot

hing as a werewolf in real life so yeah if this is a

pening his mouth. He was speaking in my m