smallgayjew (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smallgayjew) wrote2011-10-02 06:30 pm
smallgayjew) wrote2011-10-02 06:30 pm
[Milliways]: Acing the Interview
It's his best suit, and Posner is very aware that it is better than a lot of his classmates'. His father was a furrier rather than a tailor, but the career still had certain perks.
Still, when he sees some of the other boys there for interviews, the public school boys, the boys whose fathers and brothers and uncles and grandfathers went to Oxford, probably even to Magdalen, he feels more than he ever has before the distance between them. He and Akthar have never exactly been close, but he sticks to Akthar's side today as much as he can.
Once the door closes behind him, though, and he finds himself facing a room full of dons, he's all alone. He tries to remember all the advice he's gotten--from Irwin, from Hector, from Totty, from Moist--but he's sure he forgets some key points he meant to talk about or topics he should have avoided.
When he leaves the room, he feels...numb. Part of him thinks he did well. Part of him has no idea how he did. Part of him still thinks this must be a dream.
"They liked my Hitler answer," he tells Akthar as they stroll through the grounds afterward. "Praised what they called my 'sense of detachment.'" Thank you, Irwin.
After that, it's easier to let it slip from his mind, at least for a little while, to take in the grounds instead, noticing things he hadn't when he was here with Moist.
"It's like a stately home," he observes. "My parents would love it."
So does he, to be fair.
***
It is about four miles to the bogs. He wouldn't mind if it weren't for the fact that all the boys that he passes on his way there are so...posh. So not Sheffield. So not Cutlers.
Their manners are atrocious. They treat the college servants like secondhand citizens. They behave as though they deserve to be here, and it only serves to make Posner feel that much more keenly that he doesn't belong here. As much as he wants to be here, as much as he sometimes believes he will be happy here, it isn't where he belongs.
He resolves right then to become the sort of person who does belong here.
He also resolves never to become like the public school boys. He isn't proud of coming from Sheffield, but he promises himself never to forget that he does.
[ooc: All dialogue is from the Fox Searchlights film The History Boys.]
Still, when he sees some of the other boys there for interviews, the public school boys, the boys whose fathers and brothers and uncles and grandfathers went to Oxford, probably even to Magdalen, he feels more than he ever has before the distance between them. He and Akthar have never exactly been close, but he sticks to Akthar's side today as much as he can.
Once the door closes behind him, though, and he finds himself facing a room full of dons, he's all alone. He tries to remember all the advice he's gotten--from Irwin, from Hector, from Totty, from Moist--but he's sure he forgets some key points he meant to talk about or topics he should have avoided.
When he leaves the room, he feels...numb. Part of him thinks he did well. Part of him has no idea how he did. Part of him still thinks this must be a dream.
"They liked my Hitler answer," he tells Akthar as they stroll through the grounds afterward. "Praised what they called my 'sense of detachment.'" Thank you, Irwin.
After that, it's easier to let it slip from his mind, at least for a little while, to take in the grounds instead, noticing things he hadn't when he was here with Moist.
"It's like a stately home," he observes. "My parents would love it."
So does he, to be fair.
***
It is about four miles to the bogs. He wouldn't mind if it weren't for the fact that all the boys that he passes on his way there are so...posh. So not Sheffield. So not Cutlers.
Their manners are atrocious. They treat the college servants like secondhand citizens. They behave as though they deserve to be here, and it only serves to make Posner feel that much more keenly that he doesn't belong here. As much as he wants to be here, as much as he sometimes believes he will be happy here, it isn't where he belongs.
He resolves right then to become the sort of person who does belong here.
He also resolves never to become like the public school boys. He isn't proud of coming from Sheffield, but he promises himself never to forget that he does.
[ooc: All dialogue is from the Fox Searchlights film The History Boys.]