if anything, jack wishes there were more people like rory in this school. quiet, unassuming and keeping to themselves. he can enjoy this coffee with her, which is more than he can say for most people.
“ garbage, ” he repeats as he fills out the crossword. “ just in the mornings. something to do. ” and a great way to deter people. “ you? ”
“yeah, i love them. i guess i’m kind of a word nerd genetically,” she said, given how much her mother cared about language. “but it was ilse, my nanny, who really got me into them. i guess for awhile it was the only thing she let me do in english. she even made me watch the german version of jeopardy,” rory laughed. “which isn’t great. no offense to frank elstner, but i prefer alex trebec.”
london’s eyebrows raise without a moment of hesitation. “FREAKY?” she shakes her head in disagreement. “if your mom is like olivia, i’m actually JEALOUS.” and there’s a little truth behind that. though she LOVES her mother, she isn’t anything like the women she’s seen, looked up to, in the spy world. a southern belle who didn’t know spy’s EXISTED until meeting her father, a true driver’s ed legend ( but also a raging dick at times ) .. “a tv mom is like, slang if you will, it’s just a way of showing love to a strong female lead of your favorite movie or tv show that you ADMIRE or LOOK UP to in a mother figure sort of way…you can also have a tv dad, mine is DR. PHIL.”
rory couldn’t help but laugh - girls there who knew her mother often were jealous, both when she had been a student and the ones who were students now. “have you ever seen a case that olivia benson couldn’t solve? try to imagine all the things i wish my mother hadn’t easily figured out about me.” granted, there were some good things about having a world-class spy as your mother, but only being able to lie to her every one in five times wasn’t one of them. she nodded, trying to imagine dr. phil as a father type. “i think i know what you mean. mine would be keith mars.” she laughed and shook her head. “i didn’t even realize until after i said it, but he’s a detective, too. maybe i should cut my mom a little slack.”
There’s enough tension in the room to suffocate a fish underwater. Jack narrows his eyes as they land on the person standing before him and lets out a small sigh of frustration. He takes a moment to think to himself before settling on a conclusion.
“You’re fine,” he says, gesturing towards the seat opposite him, encouraging them to sit down despite himself. Turning the newspaper around, he points the pen to a particular empty row in his daily crossword. “I’m stuck.”
rory inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. she happened to be excellent at crossword puzzles thanks to nanny number four, and helping him solve one would delay her having to participate in an actual conversation.
“garbage. soppel with seven letters is garbage,” she noted, smiling. “do you do a lot of crosswords?” he didn’t seem like the typical puzzle type, but then again, rory didn’t really know what type he was.
it’s nice to know someone competent is playing his role on the gallagher side of things. and flattering, if he’s being honest. though a legacy himself, he’s not an elitist about it or anything. he simply feels that people like him, like rory, have a different sense of what it means to know what your future will hold even as a child, to have to grow into someone else’s shadow. he sees her turning a corner in the hallway, and catches up to her in a few large strides of his long legs (because a light jog would be undignified). “rory!” he greets, walking alongside her and matching her pace. “where are we off to, hm? student to discipline? or inspire? can’t quite say which i’d prefer right now.” in a way, there’s some competition over student, whether they choose rory or hal as their mentor, but it’s all in good fun. / @aurcrabcrealis
hearing her name, rory turned her head, smiling as she sees hal walk towards her. the concept of working with blackthorne alumnus had seemed daunting at first, but having him in the same role she was in had made it easier to see them all as more human. “as entertaining as i’m sure it would be to watch you discipline a student, i was sort of hoping i would have an inspire kind of day. i’m just not sure how.” she lowered her voice and looked around to make sure no students could hear. “i’m not actually going anywhere. the secret to aimless wandering is to look ahead with purpose.” maybe it wasn’t wise to admit that, but it came out faster than she could think of a lie about where she was going. “where are you off to?”
“olivia benson is my TV MOM.” a grin right as she peels her icy blue eyes away from her iphone screen. has she been binge watching SVU all day? absolutely. it was the ONE show she managed to keep up with. “tell me you LOVE her as much as I do?”
“i do love her,” rory concurs, smiling wistfully. “but honestly, she reminds me so much of my real life mom that it’s a little freaky.” she wasn’t sure if she should ask her question - she didn’t want to age herself too much - but she also wasn’t sure if they were talking about the same thing. “actually, what is a tv mom?”
@gallagherstart : ‘ but know what still absolutely fucking BAFFLES me ? ’ they’ll ask the passerby , anything to escape the grasps of someone asking them how they were doing one more time . seriously , they were going to therapy , was that not ENOUGH ? ‘ the uniforms . i get that it’s super lax , which is awesome if this was like … HIGH SCHOOL . but this is college . all of y’all are full ass adults . wearing uniforms . like … bitch , what !? ’ and oops , there was the southern slip once again . maybe following hudson to imogen and cassie’s old room wasn’t the best idea .
though rory was deeply concerned about the safety of the georgetown students, she wasn’t concerned about giving up any information that would threaten the safety of gallagher. most of her job was to act like a normal person who was in no way affiliated with espionage. sometimes even she forgot that she was a spy. rory laughed at the girl’s remarks - she had a point. “it’s an old school, i think it’s just a part of tradition. when i was here the uniforms weren’t quite as casual. i’d like to think that wasn’t that long ago,” she mused. “a lot of people have a uniform or dress code at work. if you think of it like that i don’t think it seems as strange. and it saved me from four years of girls wearing nothing but velour sweatsuits and ugg boots,” rory added with a chuckle. looking back, the fashion of her youth was disturbing at best.
other libraries would have said not to put back the books , but at gallagher it was almost assumed that you would. the librarians would give benji a bad look whenever he came out with an armful so he felt the need to put them back from where he got them. not too many people were concerned with reading , it worked out in his favor when he decided to attempt to deciipher the dewey decimal system. why couldn’t it be alphabetical ? decimals were the bane of everyone’s existence and benji was no different. “ who decided the dewey decimal system was the way to go , “ he muttered to himself as he struggled to put a book back into his shelf — maybe it was because it didn’t go there. blue eyes caught glimpse of someone staring , “ nothing to see here – just putting a book back. “
“melvin dewey?” rory suggested. “although admittedly i don’t know why he decided to organize his library this way. but it’s really not that bad. you just have to remember the ten main groups, and then you know which section of the library to go to. i’m looking for baudelaire, which would fall under literature, and that’s in the 800s. french literature is the 840s, and french poetry is 841. but even if i just knew to look in the 800s, i would have to look through one tenth of the library instead of the whole thing.” it suddenly occurred to rory that the boy was asking a rhetorical question, and her long winded response could be unclear even to someone who actually wanted an answer. being a teacher was still totally foreign to her. “what book did you read?”
⌠ LEIGHTON MEESTER, 33, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, AURORA “RORY” RIVERS! originally hailing from GALLAGHER, this alum specializes in LINGUISTICS, CULTURE, & ASSIMILATION. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of notes scribbled in the margins of old books, designer dresses with the tags still on, dancing with a handsome stranger, a faint smell of roses and cedar, not recognizing your own reflection. it’s the (gemini)’s birthday on 5/26/1986, and when they were still in school their most requested dish was LEMON BARS from the school’s chefs. hopefully their presence can help ease the minds of gallagher students.
@gallagherintro
(hit me up here or on discord @ scoops troops#4933 to plot!!)
aurora’s mother, madeleine merchant, came from a long line of respected spies. she went to gallagher in the late 70s/early 80s and studied seduction & flirtation and linguistics, culture, & assimilation. she was known as a master or disguise, though madeleine always fit best in high society, the world in which she had grown up. aurora’s father, richard rivers, was also a spy, but came from a much more modest background and his occupation was kept secret from the rest of his family. richard went missing during a mission when madeleine was eight months pregnant with rory. he hasn’t been seen since april 29, 1986, so if you see him, let me know.
becoming a mother didn’t change madeleines lifestyle. she had the means to supply rory with the finest nannies and tutors that money could buy. (madeleine had rory’s nannies replaced every three years, which was what she believed to be the appropriate amount of time for rory to become proficient in their native language. though she will say english is her first language, she was learning french at the same time. by the time she graduated from her spy prep high school, rory was fluent in english, french, spanish, italian, german, japanese, and cantonese. it’s excessive).
rory was a quiet child, especially in contrast to her mother’s outgoing personality. she was always hiding behind her mother’s skirt at cocktail parties and sneaking away to read. she spent a lot of time with her nannies, and learning how to cook or play different instruments. she lacked her mother’s self-confidence, but she did pick up other things from her mother, most importantly the ability to fake it and be whoever she needed to be in any given situation. she watched her mother as she went back and forth between different personas at ease, and over time rory became a natural at putting on masks and transforming herself as if she were playing a character. there was never a debate about whether or not she would be a spy, but if she’d had the chance to try out a different career, rory would have made an incredible actress. such a good actress that she found herself forgetting which traits were really her own and which were part of an assumed personality.
her real personality is quiet and unassuming. she’s always been a wallflower and would rather not speak if she doesn’t feel she has something important to say. she’s very warm and sweet and honestly just pretty soft. but often times in social situations she’ll put on a more bubbly persona, because that seems to make people more comfortable.
rory studied the same things as her mom at gallagher: seduction & flirtation and linguistics, culture, & assimilation. she basically studied lca throughout her entire childhood and it’s an area in which she thrived. seduction & flirtation was somewhat more difficult for her because of how shy and self-conscious she can feel, but it’s something she became good at when she’s pretending to be someone else.
after gallagher, rory did a lot of traveling and has worked for a handful of different agencies. she’s not of the same caliber as her mother, but she has built up a reputation as a competent field op with an uncanny ability to blend in when undercover. her missions are most often recon. very few people in the spy world know how shy she naturally is. they do know that madeleine merchant is her mother and that has definitely given her a leg up. yay for nepotism.
when she was contacted about coming back to gallagher, rory jumped at the opportunity. she loved her time there and hopes she can have a positive impact on the current students’ experiences.
other stuff about rory: she’s an amazing baker. she can play the harp, violin, and piano, but really you should hear her sing. she’s ambidextrous but prefers her left hand. her favorite color is purple. she reads in 90% of her free time. she has died her hair so many colors its a miracle she has any left. she’s an avid journaler. she’s a terrible driver. she definitely has some abandonment issues relating to her father’s disappearance, her mother’s frequent work trips, and her nannies being replaced even though she totally loved them. she doesn’t have a great relationship with her mom, but they do love each other.
i feel like i’m missing so much but i was supposed to go to bed an hour and a half ago
wanted connections!!
students:
mentees, kids majoring in lca who she can help
students who are super confident and intimidate her even though she’s a grown ass woman
students who are shy and remind her of herself so she wants to help them but they’re both shy so it’s hard
students from spy families who have heard of her mom and are disappointed that she isn’t more like her
alumni:
people from her time at gallagher!! friends, roommates, rivals, anything (she was there 2005-2009)
people from spy families who she’s known her whole life (idk where she grew up so i might just wait to make that fit a connection). but she also travelled a lot so the where doesn’t necessarily matter. maybe they get along, maybe they don’t!
people she’s worked with or come across while working. could be friends, could be someone she just can’t manage to get along with, could be someone who she met while they were working at rival agencies
gimme that angst!! exes, something where they were never a thing but they were something ya know, a flirtationship, they both think the other isn’t interested so they never make a move, opposites attract, enemies to lovers, slow burn, all of the above
and really anything, that is just all my brain can come up with because it’s 3 am what the fuck am i doing
