people lie, numbers don't

Sebastian Mann Fae | 23 | he/him civil engineering | senior Katmere University

[sebastian-mann]

phineaskaplan​:

“Oh, I’m not gunning for anyone’s job.” Phineas said, chuckling. He wasn’t really sure where he would end up settling down. Maybe he wouldn’t even teach at all, but move back to the lighthouse and just write books from the island, going off on research trips. The world was his oyster, and he had plenty of time to figure out what he wanted to do with his degree. Maybe he’d just be a student forever. “It’s get on Mom’s nerves sometimes, how much yarn Ma keeps around the house, but she’d never begrudge her the knitting.” Not when the sweaters made with the enchanted yarn were much more durable in his wild youth. Not to mention much more practical when the cold winter months rolled around. And then both their children ended up going to school in Alaska, so there was an even greater need for knitwear. “Yeah. It’s a real struggle sometimes. Not that I’m famous. But my family lives in a lighthouse? And once a month it’s open to the public. It was a struggle when my sister and I were younger.”

“I mean, what subject would you teach?” Sebastian thought challenging someone for their job was a funner way to think about it, but apparently this guy was non-confrontational. Or maybe he didn’t have his plans in order, which Sebastian never understood. How could people go to college without a firm idea of what they wanted to do? “A lighthouse?” Huh, you didn’t meet lighthouse keepers everyday. Well clearly this Ma and Mom were the keepers. Sebastian was an introvert, but a lighthouse seemed like extreme isolation. “So did you live on a little island off the coast of New England, cozy in your knit sweaters as the storms beat against the rocks?” His only point of reference for lighthouses was classic literature.

[sebastian-mann]

tuttifruittiaryamai​:

Arya could see the exasperated expression on the others face as she glanced at the posters and sighed adjusting her bag on her shoulders more properly

“Come on, I’ll help you out.” Arya said with a small smile as she went to the next poster she could see and tore it down “Maybe we can tear them up and give them to an art student to use for paper mache,” she said half joking though it would be nice to find a way to recycle the posters instead of just tossing them all. Just seemed like a waste to her. she tore down another and glanced over at him

“So, do you always go by Sisyphus or do you have a nickname?” Arya asked him raising a brow she had heard the way he had muttered to himself and chose not to acknowledge it them but seeing as they were working together now, names were usually a good thing. Seemed like an unusual name to her but with a name like Arya who was she to judge? she sounded like some Medieval witch or something. 

“Thank you,” Sebastian said as he moved to another tree to tear the next poster down. “You can if you feel like it,” he said with a shrug, not looking back at her. He sure wasn’t going to go through the work of tearing up all the flyers. He thought paper mache used a special paper, but wasn’t sure. He thankfully hadn’t had to take art since primary school. “I was just going to throw them in the recycling.” They were printed on regular printer paper, so that wouldn’t be an issue. The stickers might be an issue, but only a few posters had them.

Sebastian looked at her incredulously. After a moment he decided she was being serious, so he rolled his eyes at her ignorance. “It’s an allusion to Sisyphus, the tragic Greek figure. He’s forced to forever push a stone up a hill only to have it roll back down. I was referring to how taking these down would be a difficult task, and it may be for naught if someone just puts more up. My given name is Sebastian.”

[sebastian-mann]

phineaskaplan​:

“They say to dress for the job that you want, right? I feel like it’s the inevitable course that my life is going to take. Besides, my Ma made me this sweater.” Phineas said, looking down at the sweater and smoothing it out. Honestly, he really wasn’t all that sure of what he wanted to do with his degree, once he finished it. But teaching was a good option. Maybe not in Alaska, though. “Great. Happy to help.” Phin said. He leaned closer, so he could join him in squinting at the photograph. “It sort of looks like it was taken at that mixer that happened last month.”

“So, whose job are you gunning for?” Sebastian asked. He jokingly thought that he would take out the threat if this guy wanted the English professor job. Of course, there are other places to teach, but it was hard to find a position sometimes when people rarely died or retired. Sebastian snorted. His mother would never be caught dead knitting, nor would she ever make him something so sentimental. He sure did wear what she ordered him to wear, though. “That’s cute,” he said with the least condescension he could muster. He wasn’t trying to be an ass. He nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Then it could have been taken by anyone. The struggles of being famous,” he joked. It was kinda weird to have a father so well known. He wasn’t embarrassed by it or anything, but he didn’t announce to others his relationship to Professor Mann because he didn’t want them to form an idea of him from his father’s achievements--and personality.

[sebastian-mann]

tuttifruittiaryamai​:

Arya couldn’t help but stare at the poster herself, it was completely ridiculous to think that birds weren’t real. There were shifters who could turn into birds weren’t there? She was a bat so she was probably the closest she could come if not.

“It’s gotta be a prank,” Arya said shaking her head at the ridiculousness of it all as she readjusted the bag on her shoulder as the other tore it down.

“How could anyone, in a school with shifters and who knows what else, how can birds not be real?” She asked shaking her head with a long sigh “God i’m going to need an asprin after reading that.” 

sometimes she swore that peoples literal stupidity would give her headaches though she wasn’t sure that was actually possible, what was worse was up ahead she spotted another of the ludicrous posters.

“If you’re gonna tear that one down, you might have your work cut out for you.” Arya pointed out as she gestured towards the next poster she approached it and ripped the poster off the pole flipping it over in her hands before tearing it in half.  

“I hope it is,” Sebastian replied. He didn’t really get pranks, even though his people were infamous for them. Thus, he had been the butt of many pranks but only pulled a few in his childhood with friends. If he wanted to make someone look stupid, all he had to do was be smarter than them; there was no need to be sneaky about it.  “Exactly. “ He turned to address her. At least someone here had some sense. “And the technology is so new. My parents met long before humans figured out flight at all.” They were no longer together, but his point was still true. Sebastian let out a long, dramatic sigh at the sight of the other posters. “You got a long road ahead of you, Sisyphus,” he muttered to himself. These people would probably just put more posters up. It wasn’t his job to stop the spread of stupidity, but Sebastian felt obligated to at least remove the posters that had his father’s face on them.

[sebastian-mann]

nickymeadows-walsh​:

“It doesn’t add more than two seconds to take the steps needed to go around me. It’s not like there’s anything blocking you from going around me on either side.” Nicky said, waving his arms out to emphasize all of the empty space around him. “You might not appreciate it, but it’s important to me and I’m sure there are many students whose day could be cheered up by seeing one of the first blooms of the spring. It’s not like we live in the most warm or welcoming place.” Sure, the school did what they could with spells to keep the school liveable. But no matter how much they did, at the end of the day they were living on an island in Alaska. Winters were long, cold, and dark.

Sebastian dug his heels in, being stubborn for the sake of it. "If you really cared about the landscaping, you wouldn’t want people wearing more paths into the grass.” He smirked, proud of his argument. “Is all life precious to you, or just the beautiful flower?” The fae scoffed and let his eyes turn black. “We Winter fae really do not care for spring. If anything, my queen would want me to destroy the early signs of the Summer Court’s power.” Absolute bullshit, but he was happy to add to the intrigue of the fae courts. And he must be picking up some of his father’s dramatic flair. What would really help his standing with the queen would be to gather more information on the giants at Katmere.

[sebastian-mann]

nicasiacastellanos​:

          She had never gotten sick before, and she doubted that she’d be sick now just from not sleeping. She didn’t know what it felt like to get sick, but that made since considering that she stayed underwater most of the time. “I don’t get sick. That’s not a thing that happens to people that spend time underwater.” Of course that wasn’t entirely true, she spend a lot of time above water. He didn’t need to know that though. No one needed to know that. “I wasn’t going to blame you anyway, kólos,” she said, hoping the Greek would confuse him. “That sounds very boring.” Honestly Nicasia didn’t care if she wasn’t that smart. 

Okay, so she was seafolk. All paranormal species were much healthier than humans, but Sebastian was going to call bullshit that people from the water didn’t get sick. The ocean was as nasty as the atmosphere. “Not even a little fish flu? Or perhaps some mercury poisoning?” He didn’t know that term or even the language of origin, but he was definitely going to look it up later. It was probably an insult. Moving past it, he said, “Glad we’re clear on that.” She had no reason to blame him for anything anyways, except perhaps for annoying her right now. “It’s truly fascinating if you understand it. What are you doing that is so entertaining?” 

[sebastian-mann]

phineaskaplan​:

“That’s a piece of garbage.” Phineas agreed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think that you were in trouble or anything. Do you want help looking for more?” He offered, feeling bad that he’d upset someone who was just doing the right thing. And it really was an awful flyer, and now that the knew that they were posted around campus he felt like he should help get rid of them. “Maybe, but it also could just just been from the background of another photo. Not that I agree with it!” He said, holding his hands up when he realized how that might come off.

“Then don’t look so much like an old cooky professor,” Sebastian joked lightly. The guy didn’t look too old--not that that meant much in their world--but the sweater really sold the professor look. And Sebastian would know, though his cooky professor dressed much more extravagantly. “Yes, we must remove all of these. He nodded seriously, hiding that his annoyance was perhaps a bit too personal. Looking closely at the photo again, he tried to make out details around his father. “You have a point, this doesn’t seem to have been taken in lecture.” Maybe someone went through Professor Mann’s Facebook? Dad loved posting on social media.

[sebastian-mann]

nickymeadows-walsh​:

“I’m aware that I’m blocking the path. I said to go around me.” Nicky said, shifting so that he was a bit more comfortable. This position really wasn’t good for his back. Dominick was going to be insufferable when Nicky inevitably complained. He’d help him, but he would be annoying about it. “It’s not like I’m sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, so you really can’t get mad at me. There’s nothing in your way that’s stopping you from going around me on either side. And, you see, I can’t move.” He shifted so that the other student could see the delicate bloom the he was protecting. “If I move then it’s going to get trampled, and that’s just a shame.”

“Is it really that hard to tie your shoe?” Sebastian said in annoyance. He gestured at the students around them. “We can go around, but we shouldn’t have to. The shortest distance between two points is still a straight line.” The boy knew he was absolutely making more of an issue of this than was socially acceptable, but he hated weaving around people. They already walked slow enough despite their longer legs, so he it was even more annoying when people slowed down in confusion around obstacles. Sebastian snorted in disbelief. “Seriously, a little flower? What type of bleeding heart hippie shit is this?”

[sebastian-mann]

dainhart​:

          Dain had been doing weird research for their show which was normal. They liked the weird stuff they had to look into for their show. Some conspiricies are strange and they wanted to highlight some of the more obscure ones on the air. Honestly they didn’t know how popular their radio show was. It was fun getting to look at different experiments. “What’s fucking ridiculous?” they asked, tilting their head and trying to figure out what exactly about the poster the other was talking about. “Oh. I’m interviewing one of the bird society people tonight on my radio show. You should listen. Haven’t spoken about Mothman yet. Wait… is that professor Mann?” They’d never seen the man before. 

“There’s a whole society of them? Where do they meet, reddit?” A whole group in on this theory was even more crazy than a one-off wacko. “Oh, so you run that one show on the school station,” Sebastian realized, recognizing the voice. He enjoyed listening to podcasts and radio shows as background noise as he worked. He probably would have listened tonight anyways, but now that he knew tonight’s topic, he’d pay attention with some skepticism. Sebastian raised an eyebrow wearily. “Yes, that’s Professor Mann. What about it?” He didn’t mind the joke--he was mostly sure it was a joke--about his dad being the Mothman, but it was going to be weird talking about it to a conspiracy nut.

[sebastian-mann]

phineaskaplan​:

“What did that flyer ever do to you?” Phineas asked, coming to a stop next to the student. He’d just been minding his own business when movement out of the corner of his eye had caught his attention. He hadn’t looked at the poster before he’d spoken, but now he glanced at the poster and understanding dawned. “Oh.” It wasn’t like it was a flyer for a school sanctioned event, which is what he’d originally worried about being torn down. Honestly, he had no idea what the flyer was on about, but it was clear that it was garbage and not sanctioned to be there.

“It’s blatant misinformation and conspiracy, for one,” Sebastian defended, turning to the newcomer. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be one of the faculty to get him in trouble for removing flyers. Or maybe most of the faculty would find his little moth dad funny. He held up the poster so the other could see it. “Also, some student had to really be creeping to get this photo of Professor Mann.” Mann wasn’t looking directly at the camera and it seemed candid. At least Sebastian hoped it was a student who did this. Oh he really hoped Dad didn’t post this stupid joke.

[sebastian-mann]

nicasiacastellanos​:

          She didn’t really like the idea of being so behind in her classes, but coming from a place where she couldn’t exactly write papers and turn them in for grades. Too much. This school was too much. Sure there were resources around campus for people that were struggling, but the problem was that Nicasia felt like she shouldn’t rely on them. She wondered if her brother did. “All of this,” she pointed to her work, as if that answered the question. “Human bodies need sleep sure. I can go a while without sleep though.” Nicasia looked at the student in front of her. “What exactly are you studying?” 

Sebastian said, “Clearly,” and leaned over to try and see what she was working on. He was definitely not about to tutor a freshman, but he was curious what had her all stressed out. “Eh, I’m not your doctor,” he said with a shrug. “If you feel like shit, that’s on you.” He had pulled plenty of all-nighters himself, but at this point he was well aware of his limits. The engineer displayed his diagram of foundation for a building on a steep slope with a smirk. “Just saving the world from rock slides.” It was surely more complex than whatever the other student was working on, but not everyone could be as smart as him.

[sebastian-mann]

percivalkim​:

          Percy loved staying up late. He didn’t like the nightmares he got when he fell asleep. Even if he’d had therapy ever since the death of his parents, Percy still would occasionally see their deaths in his dreams. So he avoided sleep as much as he could. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to do that, but he didn’t care. His doctor always seemed annoyed at him; he was at least in shape. Setting the book down at the table, he expected to be left alone. That was part of the reason that he stayed so late the at the library. He almost wanted to roll his eyes. “No. My father is dead and owned a very big company.” Which Percy would eventually take over. “I choose to study law.” 

So that was not the answer Sebastian expected, but we wasn’t about to apologize and feel sorry for not knowing his father was dead. “Ah, so you're expected to take over the company.” Honestly, Sebastian should relate to the guy for taking his own path like he did. Engineering was nothing like either of his parents did. “But why would you choose law?“ Both business and law sounded miserable to Sebastian, with having to deal with people constantly in a power struggle. He was confident that he could succeed in those fields, but it would be exhausting.

[sebastian-mann]

Sebastian stared at the poster tacked to the tree in confusion. BIRDS AREN’T REAL: Wake Up, Katmere! It proudly proclaimed. Below was a picture of a pigeon labeled GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE DRONE. This really was a stretch as far as conspiracy theories went. How could anyone, especially paranormals, fall for such a baseless idea? They’ve lived to see governments rise and fall, and seen birds way before any electronics existed. The worst part of the poster, though, was probably the sharpied in -but Mothman is! next to a sticker of his dad’s head photoshopped onto a shadowy mothman figure. He rolled his eyes and moved to remove the poster, declaring, “This is fucking ridiculous.”

[katmereunihqs]

WELCOME TO KATMERE UNIVERSITY, SEBASTIAN MANN!

Name: Sebastian Mann Age/Year in School: 23, senior Gender & Pronouns: cis male, he/him Major: Civil Engineering Species: Fae Faceclaim: Nick Robinson

HEADCANONS

Sebastian spent much of his childhood in the Winter Court with his mother. He never really fit in the Court life, but he knew how to be a perfect son, seen rather than heard. Looks meant everything to his mother, so he knows well how to style himself and act appropriately. His father, the infamous Mothman of Katmere, is also very dramatic, so Sebastian takes some cues from him as well. 

Sebastian has a very analytical mind, preferring numbers to his father’s stories or his mother’s gossip. He is very academically gifted but often feels like his parents were never proud enough because he wasn’t good at the right things. He has learned from Court life to always be collecting information on people, but he takes no pleasure in gossip or spying. He would have rather spent his time reading books on human engineering and thinking about how to make the Fae lands safer and more practical than have been attending parties and gossiping.

Sebastian transferred to Katmere when the university opened for Fae students, as his Fae college in Norway didn’t offer engineering, leaving him with a physics major. Since he transferred his senior year, Sebastian will have to do a fifth year of undergrad studies. He lives now with his father, a professor at Katmere. Sebastian was already very familiar with the campus and professors from all the times he visited his dad. His dad’s ridiculousness is a bit embarrassing, but he has learned to develop a sense of humor from being near his father. Nicknames for the boy have included Mini Moth and Mothman Jr. It really is great that his dad is such a beloved figure on campus, but Sebastian wants to be able to stand on his own two feet rather than get things just because of who his father is. Still, Sebastian is under a lot less pressure and expectations at Katmere University than he ever was in the Winter Court under his mom’s exacting gaze.

PENNED BY: ALEX (SHE/HER)

[nicasiacastellanos]

location: library

time: afternoon 

status: open

          Nicasia was finding that the whole college experience was different than she expected. She went from stressed about classes to bored with classes in a matter of minutes. Was that normal? She wasn’t used to school actually being stressful, since school back home was just her dad. Her hair fell over her face and she knew that she looked like she hadn’t gotten sleep in at least a couple of days, which probably wasn’t far from the truth. “Is all of college like this?” she asked, looking at one of the other library dwellers by her table. “I haven’t slept in like four days.” 

[sebastian-mann]

Sebastian held his breath as he drew the connecting line in the diagram. He ignored the nearby student’s comment until he was confident in the angle. Setting his protector down, he put his feet on the cross-bar of the table and pushed so that his chair was leaning back. “You’re going to have to be more specific. But eventually most bodies will just sleep anyways. Not that I would recommend that.” He tried to determine her species, but nothing of her physiology or accessories stood out. Well, he sure noted her vibrant hair, but that color wasn’t natural on anyone.

[percivalkim]

location: library

time: late night

status: open

          Percy liked the library at night when that many people weren’t around. It meant that there were less people staring at him and that was a good thing. Before coming to Katmere, he wasn’t really in the public eye, so it was strange, these last four years, having to be in public at all. Even if Katmere was technically on an island and only supernaturals were around, it was still strange to be in the eye of people that weren’t the staff at his manor and people he saw at the dojo. Whenever he could, Percy tended to stay up late and go to the usually crowded areas at the university when they weren’t so crowded. He kept his head down. Grabbing a book from the shelf that he thought he needed, Percy took a seat at one of the tables. “Law in American History, Volume III: 1930-2000. Boring.” As if he wasn’t the one that decided to study law. He could have studied Business. 

[sebastian-mann]

Sebastian didn’t like staying up all night to work, but he was used to it at this point. He was still going to have to take a 5th year for the necessary engineering courses, as they wouldn’t let him take more than 18 hours a semester, but he couldn’t afford to slack this semester if he wanted Summa Cum Laude. Sebastian grabbed the text he needed--Building Bridges Across Water and Society-- and headed to sit by the windows, which was still a preferred seat in the middle of the night. There was already someone else sitting there, and he heard the comment calling his study boring. He glanced over the student and could feel the money dripping off of him. “Do you need to take over Daddy’s law firm?” he quipped as he took a seat two tables down.

[nickymeadows-walsh]

Nicky knew that he was a bit ridiculous, sitting with his giant frame awkwardly hunched over in the middle of the courtyard, but what else was he supposed to do? If he moved someone would surely trample the early spring flower that was doing its best to sprout. It would be a shame if somebody stepped on it, but it was too delicate to dig up, and it would be a shame to move it, anyhow. It would be better left where all the students could admire it, but it wouldn’t even that the chance if someone stepped on it.

“I’m okay, I promise.” He said, not looking up to see who it was that was approaching him. “Just go around me.”

[sebastian-mann]

The quad was a main thoroughfare through campus, and everyone cut across it, so much that there were a few established paths through the grass. Which left Sebastian quite confused and annoyed that someone was just sitting hunched over where people needed to walk, disrupting the flow of traffic. “Hey, you’re blocking the path,” he called out as he approached. “This is the quickest way to the student union.” It was only when he got close that it was apparent just how big this student was. Even squatting, this giant was taller than his fae form, and it stung Sebastian’s pride.