Just Another Day

[Ancalagoner]

Professor Ozpin was a fairly business-minded individual most days. Oh, don't get this narration wrong, he always had time for his students. However, he also was a very busy man; as the Headmaster of Beacon, there was a never ending pile of paperwork that needed to be completed. Bills to pay, salaries to confirm, contracts to re-evaluate, missions to draft, missions to assign, requests for aid, commendations, hate mail, official treaties, student petitions, inquiries...all of it passed by his desk at some point, all of it required a signature (if only to prove that he had, in fact, seen it), all of it were things he had to read thoroughly to make sure he knew exactly what he was signing, and some of it required actual responses. With such a titanic workload, it was odd to think that he had any free time at all.


Ozpin usually spent most of the day doing such paperwork. It was boring and irritating, but it had to be done for the sake of Beacon and its students. Such a meager sacrifice as that was the absolute least he could do for both. He would gladly give more if the situation required it.


That being said, the Headmaster was still only human. There was only so much of that he could stand before he felt like he was going insane, and when those times popped up, he liked to clear his mind with a walk around the academy. He never had a destination in mind; half of the fun was seeing where he'd end up. More than that, it was extremely calming for him to see the students go about their days. It helped to give him...perspective.


Today was a day just like any other. It was just another day in the life of Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon.


To him, that made it more precious than all the gold in all the world.

 

[mammon.]

Ophelia Marie Tempest, a girl known well for her pastel pink hair as well as being leader of her team ORES, was returning to her dorm after a walk through Vale. It was normal of her to go on such promenades, as she often times needed to clear her head of any worry or distractions that could cause her any doubt.


No matter how many steps she'd take, however, she would always fight the battle in her mind. A burning question that practically tore her apart: Was she truly fit to be a leader?


Granted, her childhood wasn't one like any other, and each night haunted her in her dreams... Not so much dreams anymore, each and every one of them was a damned nightmare.


Her mother had said so herself that Ophelia 'saw the darkness before light could take hold', but that was a story for another time, another place... Not now, though it did contribute to her worries. No matter what, she hid the darkness behind a veil of sunshine; a smile, a nod, and a cheerful response.


I'm not ready to go inside just yet... She thought, sighing softly and quietly making her way over to a bench, where she sat and proceeded to read one of the many books she'd brought along with her upon arrival into Beacon Academy.


They were a distraction, and a help even, to take her mind off of things even for just ten measly minutes.

 

[Ancalagoner]

Ozpin wanderings took him all around the campus, eventually leading him to the student dorms. He didn't often visit this section of the school, as he'd rather the students enjoy what freedom they could be allowed, and making it seem like he was policing the halls would therefore be counterproductive. Even so, he supposed that it was inevitable that his wandering should eventually lead him here, considering its aimless nature. Hm...well, it seemed the dorms were doing rather well, all things considered. There were no missing walls or sections of roof that he could see, at any rate.


There was, however, a student sitting on one of the benches out front and reading a book. Ah, Ms. Tempest. A clever enough girl, though her performance in previous assignments suggested that she suffered from some self-confidence issues. She was also one of those students that hid themselves behind a mask, though her mask of cheerfulness was infinitely preferable to how some of the other students handled their emotions. He had to admit, she must be rather practiced in it; he doubted many not skilled in interacting with others would even notice she was wearing it at all. It hadn't taken him long to spot it, though.


Ozpin had worn far too many masks himself during his time to miss the signs of another doing the same.


Granted, he'd never thought to invade her privacy by directly analyzing what could be hiding behind that mask. That would just be rude, after all. He'd decided to allow her her secrets, confident that her friends would give her the help and support that she needed throughout her time at Beacon. He had yet to be wrong about such things.


That being said, there was no harm in helping things along, was there?


He approached the bench, his cane in his right hand and ever-present coffee mug in his left. "Good afternoon, Ms. Tempest. I apologize for interrupting your reading; I simply wished to ask if I could take a seat?" He used his mug to gesture to the space on the other end of the bench, kinda close (because it was, y'know, a bench) but well out of her personal space.

 

[mammon.]

Ophelia slowly was drawn into the world of her book, her mind getting wrapped around the mystery of a character, as well as the rest of the story that gradually seemed to build up with every turn of the page. It was all so wonderful...


Her blue eyes quickly flickered up at the sound of a familiar voice, taking a moment to pull herself out of the ocean of non-fiction, the 'fanta-sea' as she jokingly called it once. Soon did the words click, as well as who the person was, and she slowly nodded with a still distant look in her eyes.


"Yeah, that's alright.." She finally managed to find her voice to speak in a soft tone, crossing one of her legs over the other to leave more space.


"Go right ahead, Mr. Ozpin." The girl nodded, slowly trailing her eyes back down to her book, turning to a new page. She felt that she had nothing interesting to say, she wasn't too much of an outgoing person.


Ironically, Ophelia could sing on a stage as she did when she was a child, melting her anxiety away for a few moments, similar to when she read, but then come off stage trembling terribly. Those moments were rare, when she could leave at night to go to Vale for some time alone.


Although she was slowly immersing herself back into the 'fanta-sea', she kept her ears open for anything to prevent herself from taking too much time to snap back to reality. The pinkette felt stupid if she did, and it was almost as dreadful as the nightmares she suffered from.