king of the clouds

Emma sighed as she wiped the water droplets from her arm, “That’s annoying. Did they give any sort of time or just a ‘whenever’?” Emma asked with a small shake of her head. “Maybe, it’s certainly better than water getting dropped on your head every five seconds. Has it been like this all week?” 

“What, you’re telling me you’re not a handy man as well? Psh, I’d expect to come in to see you up a ladder plugging something you probably should plug into the whole and saying it’s fixed.” Julian teased the other, looking to the window and shrugging whilst nodding, “Outdoors could be good, it’s a little chilly but all the more to make them work harder.”

“Hah– very funny, Narvaez,” he scoffed at the picture his coworker had painted. “The best I could do is slap some Flex Tape on it, but I don’t think that’d be enough,” Marcus sighed. “This may be hard to believe but I don’t actually what them to suffer. But they might have to until this leak is fixed, because right now it’s just a big fat safety hazard.”

Benji watched as the water dripped rhythmically from the ceiling, “It’s pretty overcast and if it rains you’re going to have even more soggy students on your hands.” Benji commented, looking to the drip and then back to the other, “I could possibly help- I mean it’d just be a temporary fix and I’m not sure how long it’ll last but it should stop the dripping.”

“Yeah I’m worried about that,” he admitted after the other pointed out the upcoming weather and the impact it could have on his classes. “Oh I mean... you’re welcome to give it a shot,” Marcus shrugged at the offer. “My powers only have the capabilities to make it worse so I’ve just decided to leave it until they come around to fix it. Well besides having buckets places strategically, but those need to be poured outside every now and again and it’s not the most practical.”

….

“Might be worth a shot, don’t you think? Break it more so that it becomes a bigger thing and they can’t ignore it anymore? Not that I’m suggested that because it would be wrong.” And Summer wasn’t the kind of person who would ever go out of her way to make someone else’s life harder, even if they weren’t able to get around to fixing something. “Punching bag. I don’t know, just feeling a bit antsy and it seemed to be the best option.”

“The chances of that working are very slim whereas the chances of me just ending up with a massive whole in the ceiling are much higher,” Marcus pointed out with another brief chuckle. “But the idea is certainly still appreciated.” He nodded in understanding at her response. “I see. Go ham on them then, sometimes it’s the best sort of therapy.”

….

Eyes darting up to the dripping water Summer did her best to hide the vague annoyance. Not at him but at the whole situation, the water had only been brought to her attention when a drop of it had gone down her back. Not that she was going to say anything to blame someone for that. “I mean, I can’t speak for everyone but I know it would be nice if I could come out of class dry?”

“Yeah, you might be onto something there,” he couldn’t help a chuckle of amusement after her comment. Marcus was sure his students would feel the same. “If I knew how to fix it myself, I totally would have by now. But I guess it’s just going to take a lot of me following the maintenance staff around and trying to get something done,” Marcus added with a light shrug. “Did you need something, or were you coming by to get some punches on the punching bags?”

“The maintenance staff here really are not the best,” Maggie nodded. “Our window has been broken since November and it’s still not been fixed. Granted it was my fault, but they don’t know that.” A mishap with a game of fetch with Cat had caused the ball shaped hole in the glass. “Oh, absolutely! Training should always be outside in my opinion. Sun on your face, breathing in the fresh air, no gym mats that smell like teenage boys– way better.”

“They really aren’t, huh? I’m not quite sure who I’d file a complaint to... but we might have to find someone more reliable around here,” Marcus mentioned with a light chuckle, “Otherwise the university has a proper chance at falling apart.” When the earth fairy expressed her enthusiasm about outdoor classes, he smiled, “Yeah it is a lot nicer outdoors, isn’t it? It’s just more practical to have them indoors when there’s snow on the ground or we’ve got rainy weather,” he explained. “I wonder if the other professors would ever consider taking their own classes outside, just to let you all enjoy the fresh air. Perhaps you could pitch it to them, especially since you seem so passionate about it.”