The Principal's Office

[tailor_made]

The door to the principal’s office is open at all hours, although you will only find Hester at the receptionist’s desk from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. This is primarily where you can have private conversations with her. Though there’s an actual office in the back, it is always closed and locked.

Comments

[tailor_made]

[That gives her pause, turning around to reveal the poster she's been trying to hang straight for the past ten minutes.] Little guys...? Oh! The rabbits, with the horns!

They were just magical figments, they weren't really real. So when the magic ended they disappeared.

[brokeforgood]

Oh. Stew wasn’t real? [He was just... magic? She seems disappointed, her voice small and drifting, before she remembers why she’s here.]

I have a more important question anyway. Those pictures you gave us. Do you have copies?

[tailor_made]

No, I'm sorry, Farrah. Not everything you see here is going to be real, not when you're dealing with this kind of magic. [The second question Hester noticeably hesitates before answering.]

I...do but Farrah, I'm so sorry about yours. I knew what it was but I didn't know the photo itself would be so graphic!

[brokeforgood]

Yeah, you should probably... Check, next time. It was a little upsetting, at first. [Her mouth twists in distaste-- she's still not sure how to feel about it, especially coming from Hester.]

But you don't have to apologize. Actually, I was gonna ask you if you could give me a copy?

[tailor_made]

A copy-? Why? [Hester frowns and pulls open one of the top drawers of her desk to pull out a small plate of iced sugar cookies she holds out to Farrah.] I don't think it's a good thing to linger over, Farrah.

[brokeforgood]

[Tea she can turn down-- but the cookies? No way.]

I gave mine to Salieri, when I first saw it. If I tell him I want it back, he's going to think I've gone of the deep end. Kind of like you, right now.

[tailor_made]

[The cookies are very tasty! And all different shapes- hearts, stars and horseshoes.]

I don't think you've gone off the deep end. I just think getting a second copy of a picture that includes your own corpse isn't, hmmmm, let's say "productive" or "healthy".

[brokeforgood]

Yeah, see, this is why I’m not asking him. [She sighs heavily.]

I need it back. I don’t even care about my own corpse being in it, though, thanks for bringing that up and also for confirming?

My sisters in that picture.

[tailor_made]

[She's on the verge of arguing- she doesn't want to retraumatize Farrah anymore than she already has- but the moment she brings up her sister Hester's resolve wavers and she glances toward one of her several desk drawers.]

...Right. Annleigh.

[brokeforgood]

Yeah. Annleigh.

It’s not the best picture of her, but... it’s the only thing I have. [She hadn’t been looking at Hester— but now she does, pleadingly.]

[tailor_made]

[Hester watches her for a long minute, her brows deeply furrowed while she tries to find any real reason to not give it to her...and she can't. Heaving a heavy sigh, she pulls open the draw and takes out a photograph. She starts to extend it to Farrah but stops, carefully folding it so that just Annaleigh is immediately visible, before she hands it over.]

I wish I could give you a better one.