It's the start of a typical day. Ninian enters the Golden Deer classroom, ready to look for a seat toward the back and out of the way. But then she sees him and freezes. Crimson eyes widen and she clutches her books tightly to her chest. For a moment she thinks about fleeing but her feet remain frozen in place.
She can't just stand there. Class is about to start and the other students are staring. But she can't bring herself to do anything other than stand there staring.
Linus was not happy. Really, truly, this was the last place he wanted to be.
How was he supposed to know he was getting signed up for a teaching gig and not those tin can knights of whoever?! They really ought to make it more clear! Now he was stuck playing babysitter to a bunch of stuck up brats, and the unfortunate normal kids that got lucky (or unlucky) enough to get into this school.
"Honestly, why do these kids even wanna be here? Stuffy clothes, stuffy rooms, everybody givin' ya dirty looks if ya ain't pussyfootin' around--"
And that's when the students started filtering in. Linus did try to keep his seething and grumbling to a minimum, but he knew he was pulling a face from some of the expressions he was seeing. Most just mill about to find a preferred spot, others attempt politeness with a greeting that Linus mostly ignores outside of a flick of his gaze towards the speaker.
Then the girl steps through the door. She looks much the same as he remembers, even if he never really got much of a look at her back then. But it was hard to ignore the combination of striking red eyes and ice pale hair. She seemed about as hesitant and timid as he recalled, like a doe stepping out warily into open ground.
Like prey, knowing how vulnerable she was.
She spots him just as he does her, and he can practically smell the fear coming off her as she freezes. Fight, flight or freeze-- she really picked the wrong one if this was her response to something she deemed a threat.
The other students are cluing in on the fact that something is up, hushed murmurings not as quiet to trained ears when in an echoing space such as this.
Ugh, this is such a pain in the ass...
Linus rolls his shoulders, trying to budge the unpleasant look on his face as he approaches the girl. She's at least close enough to the entrance of the room -- and most everyone else has settled somewhere, sitting or still standing -- that Linus can sort of use his body to shield her from most of the other students' curious stares. He's looming, and he knows he's scary but he can't exactly help what other people see.
"You stayin', or do I gotta get you back to wherever you feel safe so neither of us have a problem?" Linus huffs out, keeping his volume low for once. He didn't want to scare her more than she already was -- imagine that? first day, give a student a heart attack -- and he also didn't want the nosy brats behind him to listen in.