#ars-ningyo

``Peter, Im waiting.`` The polished-up young father stated. They had been sitting like this for a good few minutes already. The headmaster`s tea was lukewarm by now. ``I don’t know why you would disgrace the face the good Lord bestowed upon you by putting that… bit of metal in your nose like a livestock animal. We are not animals. We are scholars here. You, of all my students… Your cousins are troublemakers at times, but I thought you were different.`` He sounded impatient, defeated. Peter smiled serenely, crossing his legs like a society lady. ``Father Superior Bismark, I don’t want to sound insubordinate, but I fail to see how having a septum piercing changes anything. It doesn’t affect my classmates’ ability to study. I always sit in the front, after all. So nobody can see it regardless.`` The boy answered, eyeing the cup of tea. He wanted it, even though it was cold. He liked iced tea, like how it was commonly served in America. The headmaster looked as if he was about to object, but Peter continued before he could speak up. ``I want you to think of it as a sort of reward for me. After all, it would be unfair to ask for an exception if I was an ordinary student. But I would hope that being solidly at the top of the class would come with a few benefits.`` The priest looked a bit frightened. He didn’t know why, but this boy`s words were convincing him, even though he had come into this student-teacher meeting with a strong conviction that he would set this little trespass straight. He had an image to uphold, having become the head of this prestigious school earlier this year, at the age of thirty. Now, he was not too sure he had the will anymore. Still, he was able to find his voice again. ``But I still don’t understand why. You never answered my question.`` He objected, making Peter laugh a little. He smiled good-naturedly, but there was something off about it that chilled the headmaster deeply. But he found himself smiling back sheepishly. ``I don’t know. Call it an impulse. I’ve been experiencing some personal growth lately, and I felt it was appropriate somehow. Sort of a present to myself for starting on a new branch of my education.`` ``Oh yes, that’s right… You’re graduating this spring, aren’t you?`` Bismark looked somewhat relieved. This wasn’t some teenage rebellion at least. He didn’t know how to handle that. He still could remember being a teenager, even though he was still pious as ever at that age. ``That I am. It’s frustrating. Could have been sooner, but I just so happened to be born too late. I think it’s better to be older than all my classmates than younger though. Wouldn’t you agree? It gives me some… advantages…`` The tone of Peter`s voice had Father Superior Bismark just as uncomfortable as his smile. What was going on? This was just a simple conversation and yet, he felt his heartbeat increase in speed. He reached with a shaky hand for his chamomile tea, but made a face when he found that it was cold. When did that happen? ``You`re eighteen?`` He asked, just for clarification. ``Yes. What of it?`` ``N—Nothing. I was just a bit lost.`` ``Lost?`` ``Uh… Perhaps you should return to class, Mr.Rutherfield.`` The headmaster looked away, setting down the tea cup with a purposeful loud clatter. This was not Peter`s fault. There was something wrong with him. Maybe he was ill. But he couldn’t leave until school was over. ``Now I am the one who is lost. Am I permitted to keep my piercing, or no?`` The boy stood, wavering closer to Bismark. ``Uhm…`` Looking up, the older of the two struggled to regain his grip on the responsibilities of his job. ``Well, we do have a dresscode. If there are inspections from the board…`` This response made Peter frown a little, and he knelt before his headmaster, their eyes locking together. ``Please. It is very important to me. Don’t make me beg. Because I will if I have to. I`ll do anything. That’s how much it means to me.`` His voice was half-playfully teasing, half-serious, as he looked up through his lashes at the other. Father Superior Bismark gaped at him like he was witnessing somebody sign a check of charity that he felt guilty in accepting. But in his head, he was seeing a possibility quite removed from his usual mental routines. This scenario he could nearly see reflected in Peter`s eyes. His eyes… something about them... The source of all this strangeness was behind them. ``Please, Peter, just go back to class. I don`t feel entirely well. You keep your piercing. Just don’t tell any of your classmates that I will let them do the same.`` He pleaded. And his student obeyed, standing and moving to take hold of the door handle to the office. ``Thank you, Father Superior. But by the way, it`s Faust now. Please, call me Faust…`` And with that, he left the room, the headmaster making the sign of the cross behind him.