The woman, this time, warned her of the casting of a reading spell, which prompted Pleasance to not resist the more experienced magic user. She felt somewhat more comfortable, compared to how she'd come into this office, and so felt freer to be more honest in any event.
To be fair, the mention of an impossibly rich and old husband was more a young girl's boast, the kind that some of the shallower and less magically talented girls tended to entertain, if only in jest. Pleasance for her part had been one to joke about it herself but had been giving more thought to how she'd maintain her lifestyle outside of school, bereft of both inheritances. Perhaps her brother would care to support her, or not. But she'd prefer to live outside his influence if it were possible. If that meant living rough in a luxury apartment for a while, then so be it. It'd still be a step up from the tiny roomed dormitories that the upper forms lived in, with shared bathrooms.
Pleasance wasn't certain of her plans outside of school. This was part of her anxiety over her inheritance, lacking guidance or a way forward past school that allowed her a certain level of luxury and as little work as possible. Yet that was not entirely realistic, and deep down she knew it. And if Vivian pried further into Pleasance's subconscious, she'd find a spirit that was more willing to adventure and thrill than was obvious just by speaking to her, and hearing of her 'aspirations' toward comfort, ease, and abundance.
Pleasance giggled in a timely fashion as Vivian teased her about the word 'punishment'. Mostly a mechanical response as expressions of amusement went, yet she meant it well enough. Her eyes went wide again at the sight of the window flying open, not for shock of it happening but it was unexpected. Yet she remained calm and seated, enjoying the newly fresh air tinged by the smoke of pipeweed.
"Oh, I love the smell of pipeweed." She spoke frankly. Her parents, as frugal as they tended to be, had enjoyed at least some vices. Smoking pipeweed was among them. When she asked them why they smoked, they simply told her that it took the edge off of magic addiction. She'd grown up in a house that was filled with the smell of the floral herbs and other samplings of dried leaves of tobacco. She inhaled deeply as Vivian blew the smoke out the window.
Vivian began to muse on the nature of politics, and how she'd gotten involved in it herself. The fact that she believed Pleasance would have an affinity for it engendered an interest in the younger woman herself, which was compounded by her interest in the woman sitting in front of her. "It sounds like quite an adventure, leaving school, and going out into the world. Was there a lot of paperwork involved as an assistant? I've heard that politicians sometimes hold parties of patronage to various issues and interests... Sometimes just to fund their campaigns for a better position!"
Politics did seem like a racket that Pleasance would want to get involved with, sooner or later. Given the unrealism of her daydreams, she thought she would follow Ms. Rush's advice.
"Diplomatic immunity?" Pleasance asked, genuinely curious. She knew some things about politicians and the lives they've led, as her parents had hosted some among them in their home when she was a girl. By dint of their proximity, she'd been granted some knowledge by osmosis. But immunity sounded like something she ought to know about.
Pleasance turned her head to look out the window a moment, and then turned her eyes to look at Ms. Rush, "So you went into politics, but you're in Brunnhold but not as a teacher." The younger woman pondered this for a moment, wondering what might've brought Vivian to this calling as a part of the University staff. It granted her a certain authority over her younger charges, it seemed, and perhaps even the elder faculty. And what better way to mold a new world to your whim than by shaping the bricks that would be laid on the foundation of the old. She hummed to herself, "Will I ever get to watch you punishing other students? While I serve my demerit I mean."
She was excited by the prospect, yet also humbled by Vivian's choice of letting her into her office, to help with the work she did. She wanted to ask, but was anxious of pushing her luck, whether she had many occasions to punish her classmates. If anything they did ever warranted a harsher punishment. Was expulsion the worst punishment?
Pleassance leaned back in her chair, and crossed her legs as her hands rested on her lap. She would certainly like to know how she might avoid expulsion. Did the behavioral expectations of students extend beyond University grounds? So many questions, yet Pleasance wasn't sure of the best way to broach them, when they'd already discussed so much.