Imploring

[Nick Persard, C.C.B.]

“I’m burnt out.” Nick said, his hands moving in the air as he spoke; fingers bending ever-so-slightly, palms curving and cupping the air, almost telling a story along with the words that issued from his lips. Clenching his hands into fists, he brought them down to rest on the desk; slowly, softly, his head bending low as he did.

It had taken him so long to admit it to himself; so long to fully understand that the reason he wasn’t sleeping at night, why his tremors persisted from his nightmares into his waking moments, why his jitters had gone from subtle shakings of a map into his being almost entirely unable to sit still. Even now, if he weren’t clenching his hands into firsts, he would be shaking so fiercely it would be impossible for the Headmaster not to notice it in him.

“I’m tired you could say….tired of knowing that the smallest slip up could lead to the lost of my life, and the lives of those around me. I’ve been working in the field for so long…” He looked up at the man sitting across the table from him.

Seeing the man made his thoughts stray to his own flaws and imperfections. His hair, once well kept and trimmed, proved shaggy and mussed. The once rich, deep brown now proved flecked with gray. His eyes, once fiercely bright were now dull and sullen. He smiled, a false smile, a mask he had worn for the sake of his continued employment up until then. But now, of all times, he felt it might crack. “I need to get out of the business for a while. Need to leave while my integrity is still intact, my performance flawless. I’m slipping, sir, but at the same time do not want to just take a sabbatical during which my skills will dull like a sword in its sheath. Please, could you perhaps find some use for me, and my curse breaking skills here at your great school?”

[Lord Rubeus Ruberagon I]

“Whether or not you prove to be useful remains to be seen, I don’t like your attitude one bit, running away from your current employment is not something I like to think a trait of someone who actually asks me for a job,” This interview was to be slightly different to every other that had occurred for staff at Koalingo. This fellow was not to be hired to be a teacher, but to be something else. And so, in front of him were lined four throne-like chairs, upon which were the four founders of Koalingo Academy.

All four of them.

“What skills have you to offer us, it is no secret sir, that we are…” he gestured to his companions and himself, “Well… let us just say you understand there is very little you can offer that not one of us here cannot already do, and we wouldn’t even be seeing you if we thought for a moment we had the time to take care of these things ourselves,”

Lord Ruberagon was not the nicest of the founders. But everyone knew that, and he didn’t appreciate being begged for a job. And that was what this man seemed to be doing. Lord Ruberagon sneered. He didn’t like beggars in any form; pure blooded or not.

“Though therein lies the reason we are here today, we are all stretched quite thin at the moment, and you are here to perhaps alleviate that, but do not think for a moment this means an escape from your responsibilities,” he looked at him with flames in his eyes, or was that just the reflections from the candles which burned brightly on the small circular tables between the founders and their appointment.

“What position do you actually hope to fill at Koalingo, or like leaving your current position, was it on mere whim that you thought to come here, a student returning to the school, don’t think for one moment your responsibilities, like your physical occupation will return to that of your school days, there will be no easy treatment found here,” he said lowering his voice, his eyes narrowing slightly, “And no escape,”

[Nick Persard, C.C.B.]

"The position I seek to fill is that of Constructor of Keys and Master of Locks." Nick said, his head tilting sideways, his hands retreating back off of the desk to fold themselves gently in his lap where he could hold them still. The man's voice, his temperament, reminded him of a mud-gollum he had once stumbled across in the South American jungle. Formed from the clays of the river amazon, it had seemed imbued with its very spirit; and proved a most difficult obstacle to overcome. It was interesting, nevertheless...

"Times are changing, m'Lord," Nick said respectfully, leaning back slightly in his chair to adjust his spine and alleviate the pressure from a pinched disc (compliments of said mud-gollum's club). "While there is hope in secrecy, we must recognize that secrecy can be overcome; even in the most powerful of enchantments. After secrecy comes locks, riddles, puzzles, and of course the uncounterfitable keys that control them."

Here he uncrossed and re-crossed his legs; his pin-stripped trousers that he had worn to the meeting fitting him quite loosely as though he had lost a fair amount of weight recently. "I have spent my entire career learning how to out-think the locksmiths of old, the keepers of hordes and treasures. If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's my ability to not only undo what others have put in place, but to create better, unbreakable versions myself based upon the flaws I see in their work."

[Lady Amberly Ameraid]

" Constructor of Keys and Master of Locks." Amberley Ameraid said as she sat with her piercing eyes boring into the mans mind. He was an Ameraid student, but he had also been at the school in a time when she was not present and so on that fact alone she had declared to herself that she had absolutely no interest in accepting him without scrutiny. Perhaps if he had been her student directly she could draw on past experiences. He had not however, and so she had to draw on her gut feelings and the thoughts that ran through his mind, and hers. She sniffed at his title, “Think that one up in the mirror did you?”

“Times are changing Mr… what did you say your name was again, I must not have been listening the first time?” she knew he had not introduce himself. And she knew that he probably thought they would all know who he was, but then she also found it quite rude not to introduce himself anyway, “Times are changing and people are changing, people often change,” she looked sideways at Elwyn Emerindyl without actually moving her head. Things were coming to the point she was most eager to discuss.

“How do you expect to make it known whether or not we can trust you,” it was blunt, ye, but appropriate also. “I have spent a great deal of my life in the study of personalities, knowing ones enemy is a point of which one should pride themselves in perfecting, I don’t like that you employ occlumency against me,” she said adding, “while it is of course what I would expect of someone who wishes to be a part of the school secrecy, I don’t enjoy you feeble attempts against me, and I don’t like you,”

Cold. Hard. But true.

“No one can gather information from one of us, why then would we bother giving it freely to you?”

[Nick Persard, C.C.B.]

"And nor do I like you." Nick said, equally frank, knowing full-well that she would be able to tell if he were lying anyway. "And as I have said, three times while you sat there rolling your eyes contemptuously at me, my name is Nick Persard, Chartered Curse Breaker or C-C-B if you prefer the acronym. My registry number for my charter is 01379, and my bank vault currently contains more horded gold than the entire country of Spain has in its coffers."

"As they say in the business, 3% of a lot, is still a lot." He smiled, choosing to be insufferably warm in response to her icy regard. "And that is precisely the reason you would consider giving information freely to me. As I already have plenty of gold; the only real reason I choose to stick with the business is the challenge and sense of adventure...which, I will admit, is wearing. That said, none could possibly come up with any amount of money to bribe information from me."

"Secondly, I am a master of my trade. (Hence the title.) What master locksmith is going to go through the trouble of rendering his own invention useless?" He asked, raising his shoulders in question, the palms of his hands upturned slightly with the words. "That would be silly, and as a wise charms professor once instructed me, we are not, by nature, silly people."

"Third and lastly, I employ occlumency continually, by force of habit. When you are in a need-to-know only business you cannot afford to let your guard down, even for a moment. The fact of the matter being that you can easily peer around it should make the matter moot before it even formed a complaint on your lips. It is a silly thing to point out, and I am beginning to suspect that you may in fact, secretly, be a sillier person than you let on. Henceforth, you need a serious individual such as myself." Still he smiled his cheery smile, perhaps to addled by sun and magic to really comprehend whom he was saying all of this to. That, or perhaps he just was a masochist with a psychotic death wish and was trying to get a fix.

[Lady Sylvia Saphricorn]

"Not to be the one to point out the obvious here, Amberley, but the fact that neither of you like one another is of little regard, we are not in the business of hiring friends, we are however, in the business of protecting… the children,” it would have been laughable to believe that Lady Saphricorn might not be able to employ occlumency also, but she had let it slip that they were here to protect something though it would also be laughable to think that they would be considering hiring this many if they were not.

“I for one find your CV to be quite extensive and somewhat impressive Mr. Persard, but you do appreciate of course, that one part of what Lady Ameraid has impressed upon you, while so eloquently put,” she said giving Amberley her own sideways glance, though she also turned her head to look directly at her as she did so. “- Was however a point highly regarded by all of us here, and of course, in the interests of the Ministry of Magic, we cannot hire you if we cannot trust you, and in that, you must agree to an… examination of sorts,”

She knew she would be somewhat offended if someone had told her they were going to examine her to see if she was honest, but all the same, she didn’t think he would be ignorant enough to believe they were about to let him into the castle, and into their secrets without a proper examination of his abilities both to keep the information to himself, and work with complete unwavering loyalty.

“If you should find these terms unacceptable I am afraid we cannot do business with you, however, I would like you to know that when the decision is being made, I am more then happy to cast my vote towards proceeding with your employment and let you know only that it would be a disappointment to see you turn us down, but ultimately your decision,” she said looking at him and not paying heed to the amounts of money he claimed to have. She didn’t believe money had anything to do with it, there were far better ways to profit from anarchy, and money was nothing when it really came down to it.

“And besides that I like your attitude, I like a man who speaks his mind, you were right to let Lady Ameraid know exactly how you feel about her now,” her voice trailed off at that moment, “She’d get it out of you eventually,”

[Nick Persard, C.C.B.]

"Of course I would consent to an examination." Running a stray hand casually across his chin, while simultaneously dropping his occlumens. The sensation was strange! Why, he must have gone eight-months straight now without ceasing! His mind felt so iopen and vulnerable. Somehow, it seemed both thrilling and terrifying! He tried to keep from betraying too much of his unease, but nevertheless winced slightly as the occlumens faded. "That goes almost without question."

"Even were I not applying for such a trusted position, I should hope you took such regard with anyone whom would be working around your students. Allowing a murdering psychopath to roam about the halls would not only be dangerous, but I should think be bad for future enrollment prospects."

He paused, and cocked his head one way, and then the other. "You are one of those individuals whom most people find it very difficult to dislike, aren't you m'lady? I could see why this would earn you some enmity from you peers who actually have to work to be half as pleasant as you are naturally."

[Headmaster Elwyn Emerindyl]

“Excellent, you will be pleased to know you have past the first section of the examination,” Elwyn Emerindyl said from where he was sitting alongside his wife. He did not need to employ legilimency to see through the mans thoughts, and was quite sure of his loyalty, “In the moment you dropped your guard this room has gathered every piece of information it could from you, you will appreciate that it will take some time to sort through and rest assured in any and all information discovered from this will be kept between the four of us,”

“You are indeed correct that each staff member hired for this store undergoes the same scrutiny, which will also become a part of your duties if you are indeed to become head of school security,” Elwyn said as he looked at the man through his piercing emerald eyes. He had managed to stay silent for the most of the interview, listening and watching,

Elwyn was always able to pick up a lot more while doing so, rather then asking questions himself. He would probably never understand it, but each of the four founders had just tested him in one way or another, and he had given them the answers they had wanted or the sign was for the founder who did not like the answer to stand and leave the gathering. As that had not happened it appeared all was well.

Elwyn nearly chuckled at the compliment paid to his wife, it was true and he had to agree with every word, but he was also sure that he could appreciate the cleverness of someone who employed tactical compliments. “You are welcome to remain in the castle until a decision has been made, please accept our sincerest apology that we must be so thorough with this examination of your minds collection, though I think you can appreciate a mind knows many things, and to sort through them is to… well catalogue a very extensive library,”

“Before this occurs though, are there any other questions you would like to ask, or anything else you would like to say before we end this first session of your interview?” Elwyn smiled a genuinely friendly smile as he watched the man before him. He remembered him as a student, and probably trusted him more already then any other founder, though he would not let his memories of the young man cloud the issue. He had a lot to lose if they made a bad choice in head of school security.

[Nick Persard, C.C.B.]

Nick exhaled, a long great sigh escaping him, causing his cheeks to puff slightly as he did. He had made it through the majority of the interview relatively unscathed; which given the extreme competency of the panel was quite the accomplishment. He was quite pleased that he had chosen to be up front with them regarding his situation and his personal thoughts and feelings. "No, m'Lord Headmaster, I don't believe I have any questions for you at this time. Most of what I need to know about Koalingo should prove true from my time as a student; and whatsmore any information regarding what I would be securing would not be releasable until your examination is complete."

Rising, he took his worn, gray traveling clock that had been lain across his lap and folded it across his outstretched arm. "Thank you for allowing me to remain in the castle for the time being. Given the circumstances, I believe I shall take advantage of your fine library, since it's been so long since I last visited. If you should need anything else from me in the time being I will be most happy to assist." Giving them all a short bow, he turned and strode quickly from the room, the soles of his leather loafers quietly carrying him out of the door and, after closing it behind him, down the stairs and hallways to leave the four to discuss what they would.

[Lady Amberly Ameraid]

“Was that completely necessary?” Amberley said as she rose from her chair and moved to the front of her colleagues. She had her arms folded in front of her and her long pale fingers tapped her forearms. She didn’t really appreciate being spoken back to like that and hoped the fellow would be able to contain himself when he would be considering her one of his employers.

Though as much as she was annoyed with him, she could not help but have some respect for his ability to be upfront. He seemed to realise there was nothing he could hide from her anyway and so she was pleased to know he would never try to hide something from her.

“Well I suppose you’re going to hire him anyway, or badger me until I agree, and I must say I am somewhat pleased with the amount of students from my house who are returning to take positions here,” she said trying to explain off her reasons for agreeing that he would be perfect for the role. He did have an impressive Resume, and why she was as concerned about his obvious weakness in wanted to use Koalingo as an escape from his previous employment, she could not help but feel slightly eager for his established position in the school.

“And I suppose you are expecting me to disagree with it, but I have already scanned his mind and understand he will be quite loyal,” she said as if she had made up her mind completely and could not logically turn the man down.

“Very well Elwyn, Sylvia,” she started flashing her lavender eyes at them before retreating to a dark violet colour, “I will cast my vote in favour of having the man employed here at Koalingo Academy, and will not disagree with the decision any further,”

“So long as he learns when it is prudent to hold ones tongue regardless of said feelings….”

[Headmaster Elwyn Emerindyl]

“Very well…’ Elwyn said as he too had come to a decision, the choice had now been accepted by three of the four founders, and though he did not doubt Lord Ruberagon would also agree with the choice to hire Nicholas, it seemed hardly important enough to continue discussing it. Three votes in favour of his employment was more then enough and so Elwyn completed the interview with a serious, “We are in agreement, Nicholas Persard is now a staff member of Koalingo Academy,”