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Description

A bunch of drabbles about Andre's first week of work

---

"Zing-zing, no! You CANNOT swing on the monkey bars," Whimsy scolded xeir student probably for the umpteenth time. He was quite possibly the most hard-headed student in the entire class. Despite falling on his back multiple times over the past couple months, the boy still insisted that he could make it across the monkey bars with his one hand. If he had a bit more of an appendage, maybe, but his arm had stopped forming just above the elbow when he was in the womb.

"BUT I WANT TO~!" Zing-zing screamed at his teacher, stamping his feet.

"Hey, Zing-zing!" Andre cut in, holding a ball. "Will you play with me? I want to kick the ball around, but I don't want to play alone."

"Yes, can you?" Mx. Beehive requested. "Andre is new, so he hasn't had a chance to make any friends yet. Can you be a friend to Andre so he's not playing all by himself?"

Zing-zing regarded the adults before hopping down from the ledge (thankfully sticking the landing) and walking towards Andre.

"Thank you so much! Come on; let's go to the dirt patch over there."

"I'm kind of glad that Andre was assigned to our room," Mx. Beehive stated once the two were out of earshot. "I think it will do Zing-zing some good to have a physically disabled adult in his life."

"Yeah." Granted, Whimsy was physically disabled with xeir undersized wings, but it didn't really hinder xeir day-to-day life the same way Zing-zing's right arm did. The boy probably didn't have any other physically disabled people in his life, because if he did, he wouldn't be so hell-bent on proving he's capable, or beat himself up so much when he reaches his limitations.

The two teachers watched as Andre was teaching Zing-zing how to dribble a ball between his feet. Of course, being all of five years old, the boy wasn't quite as coordinated and kept accidentally kicking the ball with his toe, or just missing the ball all together.

"I can't do it!" Zing-zing declared, doing his best not to cry, his tail twitching in frustration.

"Kiddywink, it's okay," Andre assured him, crouching down to the boy's level. "This is your first time doing it. Trust me; I didn't get it the first time either."

"But--! But you have two hands! I only got one!"

"Which part of our body are we using though? Are we using our hands or our feet?"

Zing-zing took a moment before muttering, "...our feet."

"Yeah, and when I was your age, I had trouble learning how to dribble too. Now, we don't have to keep dribbling if you are too frustrated. Would you rather we kick the ball like normal?"

Zing-zing wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I wanna dribble," he stated indignantly.

And so the two worked at it. Every once in a while, Zing-zing would stamp his feet or slap his tail into the dirt, but there were no more tears. Finally; "Andre, I did it! Did you see that? Did you see me? Did you see what I did?"

"You are rocking it, kiddywink!"

"Does it ever annoy you when kids will listen to one adult but not another?" Mx. Beehive muttered darkly. She and Whimsy had been trying to encourage Zing-zing to kick the ball around during recess, and had offered to play with him, but he always refused their requests.

"YES." Whimsy replied.

***

  "Is it just me, or has Naomi been acting passive-aggressive towards Danni lately?" Mx. Beehive noted, watching the kids play during their station time.

"It's not just you," Whimsy nodded. Xe tried to think of what might have triggered it, but nothing came to mind. Danni and Naomi almost never interacted (probably because Naomi was loud, and Danni tended to gravitate towards the kids who knew how to use an Inside Voice), but that didn't mean Danni was being intentionally cruel. She had a "do no harm, but take no shit," kind of attitude when it came to her classmates. However, these past few days, Naomi seemed to be going out of her way to purposefully mess with Danni.

When Danni was building a little enclosure for the dragon figurines they had in class, Naomi purposefully walked into it with a smug smile, then continued to walk on without so much as an "I sowwy." Danni looked at the pile of blocks and figurines before decided it was time to clean it up. When Danni was reading in the library station, Naomi walked over and smacked the book out of her hands before walking off. Again, Danni just looked at the book, picked it up, and returned to her spot in the story; reading as if nothing happened. When the students were called to the rug, if Danni happened to reach her spot before Naomi, Naomi would go out of her way and walk a little too closely to Danni, possibly in an attempt to "accidentally" step on her. However, the little cyclops was not the most graceful creature in the class; it usually resulted in her stumbling over and landing on her face, then crying about it.

At this particular moment, Danni was in the Art Station, writing something down on a paper. The two teachers watched Naomi notice Danni, make a beeline towards her, sit down beside her, grab a fat black crayon, and reach over Danni's arm to scribble all over her paper.

"Hey! No!" Andre exclaimed, being the closest adult. He stuck his prosthetic arm out, shielding Danni. Naomi, of course, immediately recoiled at the sight of his arm. Danni just flipped her paper over to the backside. "You don't draw on other people's papers."

"AAAAH! NO HANK YOU! NO HANK YOU!" Naomi screamed.

"Her pronunciation is getting better though," Mx. Beehive noted.

A part of Whimsy wondered about Danni's lack of reactions towards Naomi's pettiness. Did it just not bother her, or was she not aware of the passive aggression? I don't want her thinking it's normal to be treated that way. She needs to have a level of self-respect if she's going to make friends someday. Otherwise, she's going to be taken advantage of. Whimsy hated to imagine Danni being one of those kids who would let schoolyard bullies get away with their nonsense.

***

Andre was to supervise the Special Art Station; something Mx. Beehive and Whimsy had made up for the time being. The two planned a little farewell party for Raine-beau at the end of the week, before he and his family moved away. Given the boy's love of jellyfish, it was agreed that everyone would make a jellyfish craft using a semi-circle piece of foam paper or cardboard (depending if the student wanted to color or paint the jellyfish, or glue things onto the jellyfish) and little strings hanging off the bottom for the tentacles. Of course, Raine-beau was no super-sleuth, but Whimsy and Mx. Beehive still wanted to make it a surprise for him.

It was certainly interesting, seeing what sort of jellyfish the children came up with, but what was even more interesting was seeing Sesame so focused on something. Unless it was mealtimes, the girl was a bit la-dee-dah about most classroom activities. Whimsy honestly expected Sesame to do the bare minumum so that she could go back to doing regular station work, but no. Xe popped xeir head out of the classroom to check on Andre and Sesame at the little table the teachers had set up out in the hall for Special Art.

"Wow~ You put beads on the tentacles, and now you're gluing pom-poms on the jellyfish?" Andre observed, glancing at Sesame's progress. "You're a hard worker."

"I like craffs I can feel," Sesame replied, squeezing some glue out onto another pom-pom. Whimsy was rather impressed with the girl's progress as well. She wasn't just randomly putting pom-poms on the jellyfish. She would actually use her hands and feel were the line of pom-poms ended, and stick a pom-pom in the next spot. She even paid attention to the edges of the jellyfish so that she wouldn't accidentally glue it to the table.

"That makes sense," Andre nodded. "What kind of textures do you like?"

"... I don't like stuff that's just flat, 'cause then it's hard to know what it is."

Maybe we could slowly introduce some new materials to the art station, Whimsy considered. Of course, things like pom-poms and beads were great for practicing fine motor skills, but all xe thought about was the kids knocking over the bins, and then the resulting clean-up. However, Sesame hadn't purposefully dumped any bins full of toys on the floor in a good while (not after learning she would be responsible for cleaning her own mess). She never showed an interest in the art station before; Whimsy always chalked it up to her not being an arts-and-crafts person. It didn't really occur to her that Sesame WOULD enjoy making something, if only she could feel what she was doing. We have Andre now. He could sit with the kids that want to work in the art station; make sure they aren't fooling around with the beads or the pom-poms. Maybe we could get origami books for kids, or some clay, some sticky string, OOH! and maybe stencils...

***

The time had come; Raine-beau's final day of school before moving away. The boy's mother had brought an assortment of muffins for the class. Whimsy and Mx. Beehive had agreed to hand them out at the end of the day. Naptime was cut a little short, but no one seemed to care much. (Except maybe Danni. Whimsy caught her looking at the clock on the wall when the teachers started waking everyone up, a puzzled look on her face. Did she know how to tell time? If she could, she was willing to let the deviation from their schedule go.) Once everyone's napmats were put away and everyone's bags were packed up, Mx. Beehive had everyone gather on the rug, making a circle with their hands. (Zing-zing shoved someone out of the way so that he could hold Andre's prosthetic hand. Whimsy was willing to let it slide for the time being.) Raine-beau stood in the middle with a polite smile, no doubt confused about what was going on. On cue, Mx. Beehive and Andre sang the farewell song, with Whimsy keeping xeir voice low. (Xe was not the best singer.)

"Join together to say farewell

  Raine-beau is leaving, we wish you well

  Part of our family

  We love you

  In our hearts we remember you

  You are one in our circle of friends

  Even when you go

  Our love doesn't end"

"Here is a farewell gift from everybody," Whimsy stated, handing Raine-beau the envelope full of his classmates' jellyfish crafts. The lad opened up the envelope, glanced inside, released a squeal so high-pitched, Whimsy didn't even know his little voice could do that, before clasping the envelope to his chest like a mother holding her newborn. Raine-beau smiled brighter than the sun, his body trembling with joy. Then...

"Raine-beau peed!"

Were you a dog in another life? Whimsy wondered jokingly. It wasn't enough pee to completely soak his pants, but it was just enough to soak his crotch. Raine-beau didn't seem to notice or care about his slightly loss of bladder control. He was still wearing his blissful smile, staring at nothing in particular.

"Happens to the best of us," Andre stated, breaking the circle. "Raine-beau; come here so I can change your clothes."

"Come here so I can change your clothes," Raine-beau echoed, still grasping the envelope to his chest while he allowed himself to be guided out of the classroom and to the restrooms.

"Alrighty~ Everyone to your seats. Raine-beau's mama brought us all muffins."

***

"So, how did I do on my first week?" Andre asked once all the students had gone home.

"I suppose you'll do for now," Mx. Beehive replied jokingly.

Description

A bunch of drabbles about Andre's first week of work

---

"Zing-zing, no! You CANNOT swing on the monkey bars," Whimsy scolded xeir student probably for the umpteenth time. He was quite possibly the most hard-headed student in the entire class. Despite falling on his back multiple times over the past couple months, the boy still insisted that he could make it across the monkey bars with his one hand. If he had a bit more of an appendage, maybe, but his arm had stopped forming just above the elbow when he was in the womb.

"BUT I WANT TO~!" Zing-zing screamed at his teacher, stamping his feet.

"Hey, Zing-zing!" Andre cut in, holding a ball. "Will you play with me? I want to kick the ball around, but I don't want to play alone."

"Yes, can you?" Mx. Beehive requested. "Andre is new, so he hasn't had a chance to make any friends yet. Can you be a friend to Andre so he's not playing all by himself?"

Zing-zing regarded the adults before hopping down from the ledge (thankfully sticking the landing) and walking towards Andre.

"Thank you so much! Come on; let's go to the dirt patch over there."

"I'm kind of glad that Andre was assigned to our room," Mx. Beehive stated once the two were out of earshot. "I think it will do Zing-zing some good to have a physically disabled adult in his life."

"Yeah." Granted, Whimsy was physically disabled with xeir undersized wings, but it didn't really hinder xeir day-to-day life the same way Zing-zing's right arm did. The boy probably didn't have any other physically disabled people in his life, because if he did, he wouldn't be so hell-bent on proving he's capable, or beat himself up so much when he reaches his limitations.

The two teachers watched as Andre was teaching Zing-zing how to dribble a ball between his feet. Of course, being all of five years old, the boy wasn't quite as coordinated and kept accidentally kicking the ball with his toe, or just missing the ball all together.

"I can't do it!" Zing-zing declared, doing his best not to cry, his tail twitching in frustration.

"Kiddywink, it's okay," Andre assured him, crouching down to the boy's level. "This is your first time doing it. Trust me; I didn't get it the first time either."

"But--! But you have two hands! I only got one!"

"Which part of our body are we using though? Are we using our hands or our feet?"

Zing-zing took a moment before muttering, "...our feet."

"Yeah, and when I was your age, I had trouble learning how to dribble too. Now, we don't have to keep dribbling if you are too frustrated. Would you rather we kick the ball like normal?"

Zing-zing wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I wanna dribble," he stated indignantly.

And so the two worked at it. Every once in a while, Zing-zing would stamp his feet or slap his tail into the dirt, but there were no more tears. Finally; "Andre, I did it! Did you see that? Did you see me? Did you see what I did?"

"You are rocking it, kiddywink!"

"Does it ever annoy you when kids will listen to one adult but not another?" Mx. Beehive muttered darkly. She and Whimsy had been trying to encourage Zing-zing to kick the ball around during recess, and had offered to play with him, but he always refused their requests.

"YES." Whimsy replied.

***

  "Is it just me, or has Naomi been acting passive-aggressive towards Danni lately?" Mx. Beehive noted, watching the kids play during their station time.

"It's not just you," Whimsy nodded. Xe tried to think of what might have triggered it, but nothing came to mind. Danni and Naomi almost never interacted (probably because Naomi was loud, and Danni tended to gravitate towards the kids who knew how to use an Inside Voice), but that didn't mean Danni was being intentionally cruel. She had a "do no harm, but take no shit," kind of attitude when it came to her classmates. However, these past few days, Naomi seemed to be going out of her way to purposefully mess with Danni.

When Danni was building a little enclosure for the dragon figurines they had in class, Naomi purposefully walked into it with a smug smile, then continued to walk on without so much as an "I sowwy." Danni looked at the pile of blocks and figurines before decided it was time to clean it up. When Danni was reading in the library station, Naomi walked over and smacked the book out of her hands before walking off. Again, Danni just looked at the book, picked it up, and returned to her spot in the story; reading as if nothing happened. When the students were called to the rug, if Danni happened to reach her spot before Naomi, Naomi would go out of her way and walk a little too closely to Danni, possibly in an attempt to "accidentally" step on her. However, the little cyclops was not the most graceful creature in the class; it usually resulted in her stumbling over and landing on her face, then crying about it.

At this particular moment, Danni was in the Art Station, writing something down on a paper. The two teachers watched Naomi notice Danni, make a beeline towards her, sit down beside her, grab a fat black crayon, and reach over Danni's arm to scribble all over her paper.

"Hey! No!" Andre exclaimed, being the closest adult. He stuck his prosthetic arm out, shielding Danni. Naomi, of course, immediately recoiled at the sight of his arm. Danni just flipped her paper over to the backside. "You don't draw on other people's papers."

"AAAAH! NO HANK YOU! NO HANK YOU!" Naomi screamed.

"Her pronunciation is getting better though," Mx. Beehive noted.

A part of Whimsy wondered about Danni's lack of reactions towards Naomi's pettiness. Did it just not bother her, or was she not aware of the passive aggression? I don't want her thinking it's normal to be treated that way. She needs to have a level of self-respect if she's going to make friends someday. Otherwise, she's going to be taken advantage of. Whimsy hated to imagine Danni being one of those kids who would let schoolyard bullies get away with their nonsense.

***

Andre was to supervise the Special Art Station; something Mx. Beehive and Whimsy had made up for the time being. The two planned a little farewell party for Raine-beau at the end of the week, before he and his family moved away. Given the boy's love of jellyfish, it was agreed that everyone would make a jellyfish craft using a semi-circle piece of foam paper or cardboard (depending if the student wanted to color or paint the jellyfish, or glue things onto the jellyfish) and little strings hanging off the bottom for the tentacles. Of course, Raine-beau was no super-sleuth, but Whimsy and Mx. Beehive still wanted to make it a surprise for him.

It was certainly interesting, seeing what sort of jellyfish the children came up with, but what was even more interesting was seeing Sesame so focused on something. Unless it was mealtimes, the girl was a bit la-dee-dah about most classroom activities. Whimsy honestly expected Sesame to do the bare minumum so that she could go back to doing regular station work, but no. Xe popped xeir head out of the classroom to check on Andre and Sesame at the little table the teachers had set up out in the hall for Special Art.

"Wow~ You put beads on the tentacles, and now you're gluing pom-poms on the jellyfish?" Andre observed, glancing at Sesame's progress. "You're a hard worker."

"I like craffs I can feel," Sesame replied, squeezing some glue out onto another pom-pom. Whimsy was rather impressed with the girl's progress as well. She wasn't just randomly putting pom-poms on the jellyfish. She would actually use her hands and feel were the line of pom-poms ended, and stick a pom-pom in the next spot. She even paid attention to the edges of the jellyfish so that she wouldn't accidentally glue it to the table.

"That makes sense," Andre nodded. "What kind of textures do you like?"

"... I don't like stuff that's just flat, 'cause then it's hard to know what it is."

Maybe we could slowly introduce some new materials to the art station, Whimsy considered. Of course, things like pom-poms and beads were great for practicing fine motor skills, but all xe thought about was the kids knocking over the bins, and then the resulting clean-up. However, Sesame hadn't purposefully dumped any bins full of toys on the floor in a good while (not after learning she would be responsible for cleaning her own mess). She never showed an interest in the art station before; Whimsy always chalked it up to her not being an arts-and-crafts person. It didn't really occur to her that Sesame WOULD enjoy making something, if only she could feel what she was doing. We have Andre now. He could sit with the kids that want to work in the art station; make sure they aren't fooling around with the beads or the pom-poms. Maybe we could get origami books for kids, or some clay, some sticky string, OOH! and maybe stencils...

***

The time had come; Raine-beau's final day of school before moving away. The boy's mother had brought an assortment of muffins for the class. Whimsy and Mx. Beehive had agreed to hand them out at the end of the day. Naptime was cut a little short, but no one seemed to care much. (Except maybe Danni. Whimsy caught her looking at the clock on the wall when the teachers started waking everyone up, a puzzled look on her face. Did she know how to tell time? If she could, she was willing to let the deviation from their schedule go.) Once everyone's napmats were put away and everyone's bags were packed up, Mx. Beehive had everyone gather on the rug, making a circle with their hands. (Zing-zing shoved someone out of the way so that he could hold Andre's prosthetic hand. Whimsy was willing to let it slide for the time being.) Raine-beau stood in the middle with a polite smile, no doubt confused about what was going on. On cue, Mx. Beehive and Andre sang the farewell song, with Whimsy keeping xeir voice low. (Xe was not the best singer.)

"Join together to say farewell

  Raine-beau is leaving, we wish you well

  Part of our family

  We love you

  In our hearts we remember you

  You are one in our circle of friends

  Even when you go

  Our love doesn't end"

"Here is a farewell gift from everybody," Whimsy stated, handing Raine-beau the envelope full of his classmates' jellyfish crafts. The lad opened up the envelope, glanced inside, released a squeal so high-pitched, Whimsy didn't even know his little voice could do that, before clasping the envelope to his chest like a mother holding her newborn. Raine-beau smiled brighter than the sun, his body trembling with joy. Then...

"Raine-beau peed!"

Were you a dog in another life? Whimsy wondered jokingly. It wasn't enough pee to completely soak his pants, but it was just enough to soak his crotch. Raine-beau didn't seem to notice or care about his slightly loss of bladder control. He was still wearing his blissful smile, staring at nothing in particular.

"Happens to the best of us," Andre stated, breaking the circle. "Raine-beau; come here so I can change your clothes."

"Come here so I can change your clothes," Raine-beau echoed, still grasping the envelope to his chest while he allowed himself to be guided out of the classroom and to the restrooms.

"Alrighty~ Everyone to your seats. Raine-beau's mama brought us all muffins."

***

"So, how did I do on my first week?" Andre asked once all the students had gone home.

"I suppose you'll do for now," Mx. Beehive replied jokingly.