Ted groggily woke up. Right. Today he'd be working on the electric fence idea. But first...
Making sure Tortoise had enough food, he shuffled out of the principles office, trudging down to the teachers lounge to get some coffee. On the one hand, he recognized that his relationship with the foul brew was basically the beverage equivalent of stockholme syndrome. On the other, he was so tired and sore that he didn't CARE.
He passed by room by room, reaching the lounge and opening it up. Trudging in past the table, the mini-fridge, and the gorgon, he stepped next to the sink and coffee maker and began setting it up, cleaning out the filter, filling up the pot, and waiting for it to be filled. After that, he began to wait, and wait, and...
Wait. Ted was missing something. He knew it. Taking a moment, he tried to collect his thoughts. Yes, there was definitely something he wasn't registering here. The gorgon tilted its head at his confusion.
Suddenly, it clicked. Oh right, the gorgons here.
He blinked. Wait, what?
The gorgons presence finally registered to Ted, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. Oh dear lord, the gorgon is in the teachers lounge.
The gorgon flinched at his sudden movement, raising its claws, and Ted froze. Right. Going to need to handle this...delicately.
"Sorry. You, um. Scared me. Quite a bit. Coffee?" He asked, giving his best attempt at a non-confrontational tone. The gorgon tilted its head at him once more, its gaze blank and uncomprehending. Ted sighed.
"Right. Probably doesn't speak english. What was I thinking? Probably wouldn't like coffee either." He slowly stood up, walked over to the sink, grabbed a paper cup from next to it, and filled it with water. Walking back, he set it on the table, slowly pushing it towards the gorgon. "Here. Water."
The gorgon stared at the cup for a moment, before gingerly picking it up, sniffing it for a moment, and taking a cautious sip. Satisfied that it wasn't poison, it downed the drink in one gulp.
Ted nodded. "Right. Friends? Friends." He pointed at himself. "I'm Ted, for the record. You probably don't understand that, but at this point I'm mostly just talking to assuge my deep, deep terror at the fact that you somehow got in despite me putting up barricades and the fact that while I was sleeping an incredibly dangerous monster was in the same building."
The gorgon continued to stare at Ted, who slightly deflated. "Right. Um. I'm just gonna...go...do...stuff." He stood up, and exited the room, wobbling somewhat. Right. Ix-nay on electric ence-fay. With spaggeti legs like this he wouldn't get anything done.
Really, the question was, what was he going to do about the large super-predator that was in the building. Did he leave her there and ignore her presence? Did he try and convince her to flee? He sighed.
Right, she didn't...SEEM...to be hostile. He'd just lock the door to the principles office to keep her away from Tortoise and try to...just...go about his day. Keep an eye on her. He staggered back to the principles office, before realizing something.
He hadn't gotten any of his coffee.
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Ted sat uncomfortably in the library, TRYING to read. Unfortunately, it turned out that while he might be able to crunch reports under surveilance, reading for leisure under surveilance was a different kettle of corn.
It turned out the gorgon was...rather poor at hiding. Points for effort, though. It hid behind one of the shelves, watching him intently. Ted...wasn't quite sure WHY it was so interested in him, but at this point it was begining to bother him.
His gaze went back to the book he was reading. Some teenage romance novel featuring vampires and werewolves. He vaguely remembered it being somewhat famous a few years back.
It was honestly sort of bad. Not grotesquely so, but still fairly poorly written. He sat the book down and picked up the next novel in the pile, still extremely cognizant of the fact he was being watched.
The question, of course, was WHY. Was it trying to judge whether he'd be easy prey? Was it attempting to judge whether Ted was a threat to her territory? Was it just curious?
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The last one wasn't all that farfetched: some birds tended to do something similair, spying on things they found interesting. Especially corvids. Of course, the gorgon was a horrible snake monster, not a nice, friendly crow or raven.
He sat his book down. Right, this wasn't working. He stood up. Okay, if he couldn't enjoy himself reading, he'd try the computer lab. That might have something to take his mind off of things!
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He was still being watched. Ted grin and bore it as best he could. Right. Computer. He sat at the teachers computer, and booted it up, watching as it loaded.
His brow furrowed as he noticed a ton of programs whose name he didn't recognize. He clicked on one to open it up, blinking as the screen was filled up, showing a logo, and another, and another, before reaching the programs main menu.
Seems to be some sort of...game? Ted furrowed his eyebrows, somewhat questioning why a teacher of all people would have this installed. Well, I supposed computer teachers goof off too. It had been....years and years and years since Ted last played a video game, all the way back when he was a wee eight year old and a completely snotty brat.
Well, might as well see how the mediums changed. He clicked start, and began playing.
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Ted stepped away. Well that was...an experience. It wasn't BAD, but certainly not Teds cup of tea.
The game itself had been a relatively simple game revolving around plundering the enviroment, primarily through digging, and using the resources accrued that way to manufacture better gear and items with which to better plunder the enviroment.
He glanced up, noting that the gorgon was still staring at him from the doorway, still trying to hide. Ted frowned. This was begining to get silly. He stood up, and heard his stomach growl. Right, he HAD been missing lunch recently what with all his escapades. Might as well go make some nice, healthy pasta!
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"Ooooooh when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, thats amoreeeee!" Ted sang as he made his plate.
Some delicious, creamy alfredo sauce. Nice, long fettucini. Some canned chicken for protein. Some mushroom. Adding it all together, one got a delicious, hearty meal, fit for a king! Ted forked a solitary noodle and slurped it up, closing his eyes. Thank GOD for pasta.
Finishing putting together his plate, he sat down at one of the cafeterias many tables and began scarfing it down, savoring the delicious, tasty dish.
It was that at this point the Gorgon approached him again, getting...rather close. Ted flinched, and sat down his fork. "Um. Do you...need something?" He said, deeply uncomfortable with the gorgon being all up in his metaphorical grill.
The gorgon merely stared at him, until he heard a noise coming from her. A very familiar, rumbling noise. Ted sighed. "Right, hungry. Of course." He bent down and quickly grabbed another plate and plastic fork, putting a large seriving of pasta onto said plate and setting it next to him. "Bon apitite."
He then continued focusing on his own meal, occasionally looking over at the Gorgon who seemed to be...trying to use the fork he provided?
It seemed she was trying to emulate his eating habits, though clearly she had never been taught how to use a fork, fumbling with it clumsily. Ted shrugged. At least she seemed to be enjoying his cooking (even if none of it was from scratch).
He quickly finished his meal and stood up, before noting that he apparently had a FUNK, no doubt accrued from his multiple days of hard labour and running around. He glanced at the gorgon. She seemed to be preoccupied with the food. Right, might as well take the brief reprieve to get a shower in.
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"You say black, I say white, You say bark, I say bite~" Ted sang in the shower, scrubbing himself down. Sure, he'd have to put on the same set of clothes he wore prior to the shower, but he'd be somewhat cleaner. And honestly, the hot water felt good on his skin. Lathering his hair up, he did a small piroette...
Only to see a familiar set of yellow eyes staring at him. Ted reacted how any person getting peeped on in the shower without permission would react.
He chucked the shampoo bottle at her.
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Ted was begining to get incredibly annoyed. After he had beaned the gorgon, she had taken the hint and stopped spying on him...
For all of twenty minutes. After he had emerged from the shower she had continued shadowing him. He was still at a complete loss for why.
Eventually, he decided enough was enough, and instead approached her. She blinked, and tensed up. Ted raised his hand...
And brought it down on her shoulder, causing her to flinch. "Right. I apparently have a skill that lets animals understand me. I have no clue whatsoever if it works for gorgons, but here it goes: please stop stalking me. Its getting annoying. If you want to rest up in this school, its fine. Just, please, give me a little privacy?"
Gained Skill Monster-Talk! +1 CHA!
Monster-Talk (Unique) Rank 1- The ability to understand and be understood when attempting conversing with monsters and intelligent non-humans.
Okay. That...apparently managed to work, somehow. Ted was relieved. Now he wouldn't have to deal with being spied on constantly.
The rest of the day proceeded much better. Ted managed to get some progress done reading, did some exercising, and nary did he catch a glimpse of the gorgon except in passing, who seemed, from his observation, to be exploring the building.
Well, that was one problem solved, at least.