December and winter brought many things back to Lyre and Animalia. Some was wanted, in the form of snow and the expectations of Christmas break which wasn't that far away. To Eliza Marigold, however, there was one thing that was definitely not wanted, a push State Department official who insisted on not only getting full access to the grounds but to also be able to interact with the classes and teachers. In theory it was in relation to "supervising" Elizaveta Nozdrin during her time in Animalia and Lyre while on a student visa sponsored by Horizon that would allow her to participate in their tests for research into finding a cure for Regressive Hypersexuality Disorder. As far as Eliza knew, immigration and naturalization was possible in the future, provided no proof of Kremlin connections surfaced.
"I know you've been assigned to monitor things with regard to Miss Nozdrin's time in the country and keep up "friendly" Russian and American relations," Eliza said slowly to the man that was seated across from her desk and angrily tapping on the armrests of his chair, "But your primary role, Mr. Striker, has also been to serve as a translator."
"And that is why I am here," Julius Striker answered with narrowed eyes, "her English is not good and will NEED a translator to help her through with things and to make sure that she says nothing inappropriate. You wouldn't want her to call a teacher a bitch would you?"
"As an insult, no," Eliza answered, "while there are plenty of things at WSA that are different from other schools... we do want our teachers to be respected by students, and thus any action of disrespect will be dealt with in accordance with the rules."
That was more a reference to the student that brought a STIHL leaf blower with him to school shortly after the first snow fell. It wasn't much, but it had been enough to cover the ground and the sidewalks. The custodial staff had it shoveled away before school started, but one student decided on an elaborate prank with a leaf blower and ended up catching Eliza in the face with snow blown by the leaf blower when she came out to see what the noise was. The student got one day of detention and the garden tool was confiscated. It wasn't the biggest thing of the winter, but it was something that reflected school rules and procedure. Julius Striker raised an arm as if to say something but was cut off as Eliza raised her own hand in response.
"But we did administer a basic test on the English language in terms of words and grammar, and have worked with Animalia Ambassadoria as well," Eliza spoke, "Ms. Nozdrin's English has greatly improved since she arrived in Lyre/Animalia. In this, she isn't needing immediate translations for everything."
"But..." Striker began to argue, which Eliza scowled as Eliza seemed to get the sense that Striker was serving some purpose for more than just translating for Elly.
"Mr. Striker, am I to assume that the present US administration has tasks for you that go beyond just translating for Ms. Nozdrin?" Eliza asked, privately suspicious that the present administration's eagerness to appease Russia had also carried with efforts to eventually try and bully Elly into decisions that would reflect that mentality.
"No, of course not..." Striker tried to backtrack.
"Then, you will have no problem staying in the office with the office staff or finding something else to occupy your time with while Ms. Nozdrin is attending school here," Eliza answered, "as it would not be good for her mentally to have someone standing over her like some proverbial watchdog when she has proven to have improved with her English. Especially as from the paperwork that was delivered to us... most of your tasks that would relate to her treatment as a foreign national do not actually require you to stand over her like "big brother." The school and Horizon will offer their reports on her progress and she will be free to make her decision with regard to whether or not she seeks to immigrate to the United States or return to Russia when the terms of her visa expires. That is all."
"But..." Striker again began to argue.
"I said "that is all," don't make me ask security to escort you from the premises," Eliza instructed.
"You can't threaten me!" Strike growled.
"I'm not," Eliza answered as calmly as she could manage, "I am merely looking out for the safety and health of the students under my protection, which would be damaged if we are to have a man from the State Department looking in an exchange student. Which to my knowledge has never even been needed before. It will only create suspicion of her, which will cause trouble, which is the last thing either of us wants."
It was at this point that Julius Striker backed down. She sighed and then lifted up a paper cup and took a sip of the water within it as the man left. She judged him dedicated to his job and all that had likely been instructed to him from the present administration, which to a certain extent that would work with what Elly had volunteered with with regard to Horizon and its research. However, Eliza was responsible for the health and security of all of WSA's students and she wasn't going to put them in jeopardy because Striker wanted to do a specific job. And Eliza would stand by her decision no matter how many times Striker tried to argue.
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Arguments between WSA's staff and pushy officials wasn't the only thing that was going on at WSA as the school moved through toward the end of its "fall/winter" semester before the Christmas holiday, which was ultimately a good thing. As the expectation of end of semester finals were coming, which always had the habit of filling students with dread, there were other things that were more positive, and Rebecca's art classes proved to be a scene for some of those sorts of projects that gave students a break from the stress and fear of finals and so on.
Students had "final projects" to work on that were to fill out things like shading, shape, color, and other building block requirements for art classes, but most of those had actually been finished. With that done, Rebecca had offered a sort of "free project" to fit the coming Christmas theme for the holiday season. The base requirement was to capture spirit of the holiday season and was left open for each student to then design the picture in their own style, so long as there was nothing erotic. It could be abstract, it could be realist, it could be any style that her students wanted. Students that completed the project would get extra credit and their works would go toward a community art show.
The prospect of extra credit got many students interested, and Rebecca calmly walked through the classroom as she listed to the sounds of pencil moving over paper, or crayon over paper, or some other medium being used. She actually enjoyed students enjoying art and exercising some measure of creativity. There were a few that were pretty good, though it seemed like most of the pictures that her students seemed to draw, color, paint, or shade generally seemed to relate to some of the more typical images of Christmas. Some were religious inspired with scenes from the manger in Bethlehem, others were more with the cultural depictions of Santa Claus, some showed families together opening presents or eating big meal with the Christmas tree in the background.
Some of those got her thinking on her own Christmas break. Her extended family and grandchildren were supposed to be coming, and she looked forward to having them and letting her grandson meet Gannondorf. Of course they'd met him before, but back then, Gannondorf was just a retired racehorse and hadn't been uplifted yet. Now, he was an Animalian and had managed to fill a hole in her heart that had felt empty since her husband had died before the Animalia Virus outbreak. A part of her was happy for her grandson's reaction and another part was nervous that she would be seen as betraying the memory of the man she'd married before Gannondorf.
However, one art project wasn't quite the same as the other ones. It was largely doodled out by hand, but Rebecca found that the female student had depicted a group of soldiers in various uniforms standing in a field that looked as though it was covered in snow. The lines that Rebecca could see gave the indication that the ground was torn up. It wasn't exactly "Christmassy" with regard to what was often associated with the holiday. The closest thing to that was that the three in the center appeared to be sharing a drink from a bottle of some kind.
"Interesting..." Rebecca commented as came up and noticed some of the pictures that the student was using as references seemed to date back to the First World War, "can I ask... Miss Moira, what was your inspiration?"
The young teen looked up with a small smile, "well... my younger and brother like all the "Great Snow War" things that Animalia and Lyre have put on... they've often come back with stories... particularly in relation to how they start it and its run up until Christmas in coordination with the Christmas Truce... and well... I guess that is what I was going for. A scene from that truce, where everyone was together and despite their nations being at war with each other... they got along and were civil with each other. It may not be a traditional Christmas scene... but after looking into a bit more... it is rather touching."
"It can be," Rebecca commented, though admittedly she didn't know much about World War I's "Christmas Truce" until after Animalia used it as part of the "Great Snow War" in giving kids away to have fun with winter and in a way learn some other potential life lessons at the same time.
"I'm not done though," Moira answered, "I'd want to add something... something that would give some sign that it was Christmas that they were pausing their fighting for."
"Well... you've put in a fair amount of detail for light sketching and penciling work," Rebecca commented, "Do you plan to add color?"
"Once I can figure out an image that would show that it is of the Christmas Truce and not one of the random live and let live truces," Moira figured, "I won't get docked points if I don't color it... will I?"
"It's extra credit and I left this project quite open ended," Rebecca assured, "free to provide whatever message you wish to send. And you CAN add a title for the work... just in case you feel you're running out of time."
"Thank you," Moira commented.
"You're welcome," Rebecca smiled and moved on.