Rumours Are Nasty Little Things

[Takuya Blaze]

Takuya looked around the Professors common room. He was sick of that gossip magazine and the frustration that came with it. This time they had decided to target him directly, and he was sure as hell going to punish whichever students were behind it once they had been found. It annoyed him not knowing who was taking it into their own hands in order to make people from the school feel like poop and it was a focus of most of the staff to find out who was behind what was going on, because nobody would stand for it. There was mostly mixed reactions from the students. Some of them broke down and cried about it when nobody else was around, others broke down and cried when everybody was around, and others laughed. He kept a close eye on the ones that laughed, because that could either mean that they had no heart, or they were directly involved in the making of the newsletter. Takuya sighed, remembering how Cyndi had wanted to talk to him after the last issue and the accusations on himself, none of them were true and they were far from it. He had told her that he'd meet her in their common room, and so here we was. He hoped that she wouldn't be too long. He had something else that he needed to talk to her about after this was over and done with.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

These days it took Professor Kingsley a while to get anywhere. Not only was she moving much more slowly due to all of the additional weight around her mid-section but she was frequently bombarded with requests to feel the baby kick or to rub her stomach for good luck. The professor had found it amusing at first, but it mostly annoyed her now. Most things did. The professor finally was glad to escape the hallways and enter the quiet space of the professor's common room. She looked around, her eyes quickly falling on Takuya. Cyndi nodded her head to the man and then took a sip out of the water bottle she always carried around. "Good. I'm glad you're already here" she said by way of greeting. Theirs was a purely business relationship. She didn't think he knew much about her other than the most obvious things and she knew almost nothing about him. She did know a few things though, enough to not believe the vile things that had been said about the man. "Sorry, I have to sit" she began as she walked past him to the table and took a seat.

"I have something more important to talk to you about, but I want you to know that I think the magazine is full of crap. But, we've got to be careful. Both of us. The last thing I want is the Minister appointing some politician because she thinks we aren't competent. Especially not that dreadful deputy of hers." The professor didn't mince words. Whatever her feelings were about Takuya's past lack of communication, she didn't believe any of the nonsense from that magazine. The Minister didn't know Takuya and considering the importance she had placed on education during her campaign, Cyndi was worried she would see the need to step in. "And, I think we really have to step up this investigation. I want the student or students behind Rumor Has It expelled. Things are really getting out of hand. I see students crying, people looking over their shoulder all the time. It's too much already" she declared. She hoped the Deputy Headmaster was in agreement. The professor rubbed her stomach in the spot where the baby had begun to elbow her

 

[Takuya Blaze]

Takuya raised an eyebrow at what Cyndi said. He would have thought that she, knowing the least about him, would have been the first to think that something would have been up or maybe even something would have been somewhat correct. But, alas, he wasn't complaining. If the staff figured that it was all a lie, then why not believe that he had hope? He sighed very deeply. The whole situation was trying his patience and he wanted nothing more then to just get the whole situation sorted, and punish the students that are responsible for the entire ordeal, and punish was a euphemism in this situation. Takuya wondered if Cyndi had any leads who the person was, or people, the latter being the more likely case. He cocked his head. "I agree. We need to pinpoint this problem and try and find the source of it all. It pains me to see what it's doing to the school, and we need to do something to at least attempt to find out who it is, or who they are." Takuya said, knowing that if they didn't stop it now then someone from outside the school would eventually come and just complicate matters more then they needed to be complicated. "Thank you for ignoring the 'rumours'." Takuya said, smiling slightly.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Cyndi noticed Takuya's eyebrow raise and she bit back a response. Did he want her to say something else? Cyndi wasn't sure, but it seemed that Takuya was at least grateful that she was siding with him. "Well, considering the things that the magazine is saying about the professors, it was pretty easy" she said, a smirk crossing her face as she looked down at her stomach. "I'm the only professor they were actually telling the truth about." The magazine had actually foretold her pregnancy several weeks before it had been confirmed that she actually was pregnant. She knew that the writer of the magazine had likely been shocked when he or she had found out that she was in fact with child.

Looking back up at the Deputy Headmaster, the professor spoke. "There's actually something else I need to speak with you about." She hadn't told anyone yet, but it was time for her to do so. "I'm going to be leaving the school" she stated and then hastily added, "I'll be back, of course, but I'm going to take a semester off from teaching. I'll be back to do my Head of House duties and Deputy stuff after a few months." The professor had thought it over for a long time. She didn't trust Takuya enough to stay gone the entire semester and she knew she would miss her students, but she just wouldn't have the time for everything. Not with a newborn in the house.