Harland must have gone over the report a hundred times, by now. He leaned over the sink in the shared bathroom, rinsing his razor off, and then staring at his cleanshaven face in the mirror. He rubbed it with his other hand, grimacing. He looked so young again. It was entirely strange.
☆≼Humans. Your disguise is so simple,≽ Coyote scoffed, amused by his internal suffering as he mourned the loss of the facial hair he'd had forever.
"I feel naked, Coyote," he said, depressed.
☆≼Maybe we should keep it off. It was a weird shape, anyway,≽ Coyote continued, seemingly indifferent to Harland's suffering.
"...mo thoin," Harland muttered to him, grumpily. He went back to his room, tossed the hand towel onto its hook to dry, and looked at the file once more.
MISSION REPORT location - Forks, Washington profile - harland leander belle as roiben frost; dublin-born and raised, emigrated from Ireland this month. age 19. Senior. profile - alistaire rahal-nazari as xander dmitri; substitute teacher--
There, Harland stopped reading, because he always started to laugh when he read the rest. It was bad enough. He looked out his window, and said, "Frost... Roiben Frost. Mr Frost," he winked at his reflection and laughed anyway, shaking his head.
Time to dress the part.
If he had been more well-versed with pop culture he might have known that the fictional vampire teen books of one infamous writer were, in fact, set in that very city.
He texted Alistaire.
text to alistaire from harland
text to my heart See you in class wink
Time to head out.
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:27 pm
It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to being promoted (in fact, he'd been waiting for it, had been looking forward to finally transferring), but what Alistaire wasn't looking forward to was the whole undercover thing. He was not young enough to pretend to be a student, not that he would have anyway, so he was prepared to pretend he was a substitute teacher instead. A pair of charcoal gray slacks with a matching tie, white dress shirt, black vest, and a black suit jacket buttoned up the front, as well as his normal black gloves; his hunter coat was hung neatly in his closet to be left behind.
He happened to already be at the portal when Harland texted him, leaning against a wall.
face your demons
Text to Harland Leander Belle:
Already here and ready to go.
He waffled for a moment on adding something else, but since he couldn't think of anything that wasn't a sickeningly sweet emoticon or a ridiculous term of affection that was highly uncharacteristic, Alistaire just sent the first text and waited.
kuropeco
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Face your demons
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:09 pm
He picked up his phone to see that Alistaire was already there. Of course Alistaire was already there. Leaving his Division coat on his bed, and the mission report on his desk, Harland tossed on an athletic shirt in white and over that a Dublin Letterman Jacket to both hide his muscle and explain it away if it did show. Naturally, he was a senior into sports.
Heaven help him if someone asked him about sports. He'd just start to ramble off in Irish, he supposed. The cover story was a merciful blow; he didn't have to learn to hide his accent, something he'd purposefully avoided before. He would have been laughably bad at it.
A pair of jeans completed the effect, and instead of his very telling cowboy boots, he tossed on some old canvas hightops. He hoped that was still a thing.
☆≼If they had sent me, our mission would be done already,≽ Coyote said, smugly.
As anxious as either of them could be about returning to a highschool, this time as a grown man, he was even more anxious because he had never taken to the places in the first place. Now, he'd surely be fine; even back then, if he'd managed to bear the things he saw a little better, he would have been fine, too. It was not his brain so much as the social constructs that felled him every time.
Everyone else there had families, reasons to be there, futures, hope. At the time, he didn't have any of that. Now, he couldn't even count his joys. They came accompanied by sadness, sure, but here he was, doing better than he had ever imagined.
He shot Alistaire a quick text, before jogging to the portal. He sent him a text as he did.
kuroopu
text to my heart Ta bron orm, mo choi; forgive me for keeping you waiting.
The second Harland caught sight of Alistaire, he slowed to a sort of jog, then stopped and walked towards him. He was as handsome every time as he had been the time before, and all of the sights of him overlapped every single time Harland looked. All those feelings. The shower, the night in his room, the time they had played a children's game to try to help-- every angle, every expression. Alistaire was beautiful, in the way that deadly things could be.
Harland would likely never admit that particular thought aloud.
Harland wolf whistled at Alistaire, and took a quick glance around, nodding into some shadowy corner and waiting, hoping Alistaire would follow him-- "It'd probably be indecent of me to try t' sneak home with ye every night while we're on our mission, an' equally indecent t' stay around yer class in the hopes of gettin' some extra assignments," Harland explained, "but it's goin' t' be more 'n a little rough to keep from kissin' ye if ye insist on bein' altogether so handsome all the while," Harland said, gravely, reaching his hands out for Alistaire to try to pull him in and against his body in the shadow.
A kiss for good luck. Why not?
A kiss for any excuse at all. Then he'd be ready. Then he could be Roiben Frost, senior, Irish jock-- and, more importantly, get to the bottom of whatever was exploiting the school and making students disappear.
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:33 pm
As Harland approached, Alistaire opened his mouth and then promptly shut it again, staring wide-eyed at the approaching figure because Harland had shaved. He had never seen Harland without his trademark scruff, and the effect was slightly jarring, as though he was momentarily someone else.
"Yes, well," said Alistaire, a little flustered, and allowed himself to be pulled into the corner without much protest, his still-gloved hands moving to rest against Harland's upper arms. Ever since that night, (the night he kept trying not to think about in his head while by himself, because thinking about it anywhere else made him flush so red he thought he might melt), he'd become less and less resistant to the other's shows of affections, even if they were in public, and it was starting to be a problem.
Or maybe it wasn't, because Harland was very warm and very inviting, and it was just so easy to lean against him and let himself forget the rest of the world for a few moments. He still hadn't quite managed to remove the gloves entirely from his wardrobe, but at least he wasn't as averse to being close to Harland as he had been.
He may or may not have almost smiled, lifting a hand to curl it around the back of Harland's neck and draw his face down, Alistaire pressing his mouth to Harland's for a gentle, yet still passionate kiss. He leaned back after a moment, licking his lips.
"You look very different without that beard of yours," Alistaire murmured, in some amusement, and slid his fingers along Harland's now smooth jaw. "And don't stick around my classroom, that's too suspicious," he added sternly, before kissing Harland again quickly and firmly and moving away entirely and stepping towards the portal.
He paused, and then said, in a very quiet voice, "If we can get through this mission safely, I'll owe you a prize."
face your demons
kuropeco
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Face your demons rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:53 pm
If it was any consolation, he wouldn't have dreamed of pulling Alistaire into the dark for this kiss if he: 1) wasn't constantly afraid they would die and every kiss was his last, and 2) he wasn't fairly sure no one would see them.
Harland liked the way Alistaire's gloves looked, if that was any consolation. He didn't always like what they signified, but it never bothered him that every day they went back on. He knew that Alistaire was progressing, changing, and that so long as they kept at it, they'd probably continue on that way.
He hoped.
Harland had no intention of ever trying to do something like this in front of anyone else, though. That, he suspected, would be too much for the two of them. He leaned his face in and kissed Alistaire warmly, reaching one of his hands up to carress the back of Alistaire's neck.
He withdrew reluctantly, though smiling like Alistaire had given him something he loved, would wither without, just with a single kiss. Which, in fact, was relatively true.
"Different better, or different worse?" Harland asked, and it became suddenly apparent that was how much Harland cared about Alistaire. He would shave his scruff off entirely, instead of sculpting it into clean and strange lines, if Alistaire asked him.
Harland laughed, and tipped an invisible hat to Alistaire, acknowledging his stern voice. He leaned into kiss Alistaire back, and almost seemed to stumble when Alistaire pulled away.
"Safe it is, then," Harland said, suddenly feeling his heart beat faster. His skin grew warm, and flushed. "I'll be nearby always," Harland promised. "Just pinin' for a hot teacher, I guess," he said, "like any other student." Harland laughed, and entered the portal.
--
Once they had gotten settled in, and Harland had showed up at the school as Roiben Frost, and picked up his class schedule, he wandered through the halls thinking it's pretty quiet in here. In his very first class, he didn't pay any attention at all, though he was pretty sure all eyes were on him for half the class. It was an eerie, uncomfortable feeling.
Shortly after class, one of the girls who sat by the window and literally never stopped looking at him cornered him in the hall on his way to his next class.
"Hi," she said. "Well, good mornin'," Harland greeted her, with one of his sunny smiles. "I'm Mary," she said. She didn't seem to understand smiling, so Harland's smile grew even more awkward. "Nice to meet ye, Mary; I'm Roiben, like the bird, but spelled differently," he said, reaching his hand out to shake hers. "You have a really firm grip," she said. "Uh, well thank ye," he said. "Where are you from?" "Dublin," Harland said. He was trying to keep all his sentences short, and also trying to walk around her, but she was very determined to follow every single step. "When did you get here?" "Yesterday." "That's really fast, you got enrolled really fast," she said, sounding a little accusatory. "Ah, well, we had this planned for awhile ye know, made contact with the administrative offices an' had me enrolled so I wouldnae miss a day o' school," Harland said. He sighed, as if that was very trying on him.
He looked around, as if praying Alistaire would show up and save him from this weird, awkward girl.
"Are you a vampire?" she asked him, suddenly. Harland, taken aback, dropped his books and when he leaned to pick them up she helped too, and he looked at her, pale and concerned, "What?? Do ye have vampires here, then?" "This is Forks, Washington. Everyone knows we have vampires. Unless you're an Alien!" she said, accusing him, one finger pointed out. She grabbed the last of his books and handed them over. She giggled. "Just kidding. Seriously, though, I keep an eye out for spooky stuff, and you're pretty spooky. Here's my number if you want a study-buddy," Mary said. She handed over a slip of paper, like she had planned this in advance.
"Thanks, Mary. I'll be sure t' do that," he said, grabbing his books and trying to politely walk away to his next class.
Turned out she had that, too.
kuroopu
kuropeco rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-4)
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:50 pm
He actually wouldn't have minded staying another few minutes for a few more kisses; but Alistaire was under the distinct impression that they would not actually get started on the mission if they were to stay there, wrapped in each other's arms, and besides, this was their promotion. It was important.
"Better...in a neutral way," said Alistaire with a faint smile, touching Harland's face again. "It doesn't look bad."
A pause, and then, his face slightly flushed, "But I like you better with it."
He was getting more and more loose with what he said to Harland. Alistaire ran a hand through his hair and flashed him a sideways glance, giving a little nod, though his expression turned from wary to exasperated at the last of Harland's sentence.
"Student-teacher relationships are forbidden," he said dryly, just to tease him, but then they'd stepped into the portal, and it was time to work.
------
Alistaire learned very quickly that he did not miss school whatsoever.
"Yes," he said flatly, and as politely as possible, to the thin and balding man standing in front of him - a Mr. Parikett, by the tiny silver name badge pinned to his worn tan suit. "Yes, I have been made aware of such things by the other teachers, though it's good of you to inform me."
Mr. Parikett wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. "Just be careful, Mr. Dmitri," he said, in a wheezing sort of voice. "We don't want any trouble around here, you got that?"
"Yes, I quite get it," said Alistaire, hoping he caught the hint, but the principal gave him a suspicious look. Fortunately for Alistaire, however, acting stoic and unfazed was one of his specialties, and he merely raised his eyebrows at the man, adopting a mildly curious expression. "I'm just here for a few days, Principal, don't worry about me."
"We don't want any, erm," A pause, as Mr. Parikett fumbled with his handkerchief. "You know." Another pause, and a meaningful stare with watery blue eyes. "Incidents. Reports."
"Ah," said Alistaire. "No, of course not."
The principal seemed unconvinced, but let him go after a few more seconds of staring, much to Alistaire's relief.
Quote:
2. The principal calls you into his office and gives you a speech about how recently there have problems at the school, but that there is no need to worry. It becomes clear he suspects you are an undercover reporter. You see him periodically throughout the rest of your mission, nervously checking on you.
face your demons
kuropeco
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Face your demons rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:37 pm
It turned out Harland couldn't sleep without knowing if Alistaire was okay. He'd nodded his head at him a few times in the halls, and it looked like he'd gotten placed in Alistaire's class-- That made it a little easier to communicate, but Harland had to wait until he could at least pretend his paper was something Alistaire had asked for in class as homework. The next day.
For now, Harland lay in bed trying to fall asleep, without Alistaire. He felt like he'd made no real progress.
He was definitely not going to text Mary.
-- Day Two --
He headed off his day with Alistaire's class, and looked like he hadn't slept at all. He didn't dare say or do anything weird, and mostly leaned back in his chair staring out the window, but when he was able to hand in his paper he had written the most vague apology note at the top ever.
He was concerned it could be seen by someone else.
Sorry, Mr. Dmitri, I lost my paper when a girl bumped into me yesterday. She said this school was for vampires and full of weird stuff. It was a strange conversation. Her name started with an M
The assignment was entirely blank apart from that, and a frowny face. It was in Harland's hand-writing but was not signed.
He had seriously flexed his self-control not to sign the page with an x. "Have a good day, Mr. Dmitri," Harland said, on his way out, shouldering his bag and glancing at Alistaire with the most fleeting of sunny smiles.
His heart still sped up anyway, as he headed out the door and to his next class.
At lunch, Mary had managed to find him. She was complaining about a bunch of weird scales stuck to her skin after P.E.
"It's just, I dunno how they got there, maybe the cafeteria is skinning fish into the pool?? I mean that sounds ridic but like it's possible right?"
Harland was not really listening to her, just nodding and making mhm sounds. He caught a glimmer of scales on her skin as she picked them off.
"Sorry, Mary, forgive me-- I was thinkin' of somethin' far off. Where'd ye get those?" "In P.E.," she said, sad he wasn't paying her much attention.
He was looking across the lawn at a weird guy sitting there, because it looked to Harland like the kid was covered in scales but not doing anything about it. Was it just a trick of the light?
kuroopu
kuropeco rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-4)
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:29 pm
It was very difficult to pretend that he didn't know Harland Leander Belle, and even harder to try and sleep while not knowing whether he was okay, but somehow Alistaire managed, and the next day was back at the front of the class, looking somewhat disgruntled. He kept casting surreptitious glances at the redheaded figure at the desk in the back, and when the paper was handed in, their fingers brushed together, just a little, sending ripples of warmth up and down Alistaire's spine.
"Good day, Mr. Frost," he said, as neutrally as possible, but his face was faintly pink.
Alistaire studied the note carefully, frowning slightly. Vampires? That would certainly have reason for them to be here in the first place. The rest of the essays were relatively uninteresting, and he shoved them all aside, not intending to grade them at all because that would have taken too much time and effort and besides, he wasn't really a teacher anyway.
The bulletin board just outside the teacher's lounge had a notice on it for reporting infestations; Alistaire gave it a questioning look, slowing and backing up several paces so that he could read it again, and a frown creased his forehead.
"Something the matter, Mr. Dmitri?"
It was Parikett. Alistaire forced a smile.
"Not at all," he said lightly, and continued onward to his class, dodging the suspicious principal and hoping that Harland had had more success than he had.
face your demons
kuropeco
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Face your demons rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:04 pm
Harland couldn't help but remember the moment earlier that day when he'd at least gotten to brush Alistaire's hand in passing-- gloves or not, it made his face warm with the thought of what the prize could be. As he was lying in bed awake, he scratched at his face and realized his facial hair was growing back in. That was a bit of a problem. A highschool senior with this much beard potential was probably more than a little suspect.
Seeing as he apparently literally couldn't sleep without Alistaire somewhere nearby now, Harland stretched and got out of bed to go shave.
He spent the rest of the night watching cartoons almost muted and pouring over history of the school and trying to piece together where that exchange student might've come from and what the scales could be. He frowned.
-- Day 3 --
The next day, Alistaire's class, Harland handed in another "assignment" with an equally weird note. He was trying hard to communicate his investigative results without appearing suspicious. Surely if Alistaire needed to talk to him, he could mark the paper in red and hand it back? Or would that have looked weird-- honestly, Harland had literally no idea what was normal in highschool in the first place. It had been so long, and he'd hardly stayed.
The note, today, said, "I think I remember reading something in the school paper or somewhere around the school about a weird exchange student who wasn't even really supposed to be at the school and I guess it was like a horror story or something. I was going to write this paper about that, but I feel like whoever was responsible wouldn't want me to copy their work for other people to read. So I didn't do my assignment again.
Sorry, Mr. Dmitri. sad"
Harland paused his hand over the paper again, looking up at Alistaire, some of his sunny hair falling into his face. He smiled, but it looked more mischievious than apologetic, and he cleared his throat as he realized and headed back to his desk, slouching into his chair and staring out the window again.
It was too hard, and weird, to look up at Alistaire over at the desk.
The second he made it out of Alistaire's class, he'd leaned against the lockers, rubbing his head and feeling weird. "Feel like I'm about t' start hallucinatin'" he mumbled.
Mary chose that exact moment to pop up, her eyes narrowed. She didn't say anything, at first. "You never texted me," Mary finally said, hurt.
"Sorry, neighbour; I've been a littly busy," he said, with a weak smile.
She hmph'd at him and wandered away.
What was he supposed to say? I'm in love with Mr. Dmitri, who you think I have just met. Harland thought about what Alistaire had said a few days ago at the portals, about no student-teacher relations. That made him smile, at least.
As soon as Mary was gone, Harland stalked out onto campus to eat his lunch on the lawn. There was no one else there; it was overcast. There was, however, shortly the exchange student.
"I saw you watching me," he said. "Maybe you're mistaken? Never seen ye before in my life," Harland said, with a shrugged shoulder. It was true enough he didn't feel bad for saying it: he had never seen the student before coming here, anyway.
The student looked around frantically, and then revealed a series of fangs. He had totally been joking with the vampire stuff, so had Mary, but this was a weird vampire thing that totally didn't look like Harland would have expected-- it seemed to be some kind of aquatic vampire which would explain teh scales, too. Ridiculous.
Harland didn't think twice. It was fight or die. He summoned Coyote, flexing his gauntlet-clad fingers. He wished desperately Alistaire was here.
kuroopu
Face your demons rolled 2 8-sided dice:
1, 5Total: 6 (2-16)
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:21 pm
It caught him off guard. He realized that the creature had waited until he was alone, regardless of whether it did or didn't know he was here with backup.
"So ye've been drainin' th' kids here, then, an' disposin' of 'em somehow?" Harland said, with a grimace.
"They're just a ssssnaccck, and then I give the resssst to my friendssss back home," the thing said, smiling and looking more and more like a lantern fish.
[[ Harland's Stats ]]
HP: 37/40 Dmg Dealt: - Charge: -
[[ The Exchange Student ]]
Mob: Creature Student (your choice of species/race) HP: 40/40 Auto Damage: 3 Special: If you bring their HP between 1-5 then you may capture them and bring them back to Deus. Otherwise they dissipate when they hit 0.
Face your demons
Magnetic Detective
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Face your demons rolled 2 8-sided dice:
7, 2Total: 9 (2-16)
Face your demons
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:24 pm
"Can their bodies be found?" Harland asked, his heart heavy for the missing kids.
It just smiled at him. It had far too many teeth for its face.
Harland and the creature exchanged cursory blows.
[[ Harland's Stats ]]
HP: 34/40 Dmg Dealt: 3 Charge: 1/3
[[ The Exchange Student ]]
Mob: Creature Student (your choice of species/race) HP: 37/40 Auto Damage: 3 Special: If you bring their HP between 1-5 then you may capture them and bring them back to Deus. Otherwise they dissipate when they hit 0.
Face your demons rolled 2 8-sided dice:
4, 6Total: 10 (2-16)
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:25 pm
Harland and the creature were fighting in silence, now, and Harland was trying to analyze its movements for any weakness.
The weird thing about its fighting style was that it seemed to match him, blow for blow. Everything he did, it mirrored him. He tried to swing a punch from his other fist.
It worked, just barely.
[[ Harland's Stats ]]
HP: 31/40 Dmg Dealt: 4 Charge: 2/3
[[ The Exchange Student ]]
Mob: Creature Student (your choice of species/race) HP: 33/40 Auto Damage: 3 Special: If you bring their HP between 1-5 then you may capture them and bring them back to Deus. Otherwise they dissipate when they hit 0.
Face your demons
Magnetic Detective
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Face your demons rolled 2 8-sided dice:
1, 8Total: 9 (2-16)
Face your demons
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:28 pm
No matter what he did, now, the thing followed him. He couldn't break out of whatever it had over him.
☆≼Don't let it get in your head, cowboy. There's only room for one of us in here, and it's me.≽
Coyote silently communicated the memory of the prize to him, spurring him on.
[[ Harland's Stats ]]
HP: 28/40 Dmg Dealt: 3 Charge: 3/3
[[ The Exchange Student ]]
Mob: Creature Student (your choice of species/race) HP: 30/40 Auto Damage: 3 Special: If you bring their HP between 1-5 then you may capture them and bring them back to Deus. Otherwise they dissipate when they hit 0.
Face your demons rolled 7 4-sided dice:
4, 4, 1, 1, 1, 4, 4Total: 19 (7-28)
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:33 pm
"Can't lose to ye, ta bron orm," Harland said, with a cold smile, "Actually, that was a lie; I've no sorrow upon me to end ye for the damage ye've caused to these families, this place," he said, quietly, his anger knotting his brows and making his skin hot.
He hadn't been here in time to protect the other kids.
He'd see to it he protected the future of the ones who remained, at least.
Harland launched his hookshot directly at the thing, his expression grim as he watched the metal talons sink into its flesh. It made a gurgling sound.
[[ Harland's Stats ]]
HP: 25/40 Dmg Dealt: 15 Charge:3/3 Using Battle Cry 1/2.
[[ The Exchange Student ]]
Mob: Creature Student (your choice of species/race) HP: 15/40 Auto Damage: 3 Special: If you bring their HP between 1-5 then you may capture them and bring them back to Deus. Otherwise they dissipate when they hit 0.
Face your demons
Magnetic Detective
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Face your demons rolled 2 8-sided dice:
1, 4Total: 5 (2-16)
Face your demons
Magnetic Detective
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:38 pm
"There's no doubt in me now that none of ye should exist here," Harland said, quietly, coldly. He felt something in him ache, but in Harland's life there had always been a clear divide: the heroes, the villains.
The ones who saved the day, and the ones who let their selfishness obscure all else.
It raked its nailed on his bare skin as he tried to push it away.
[[ Harland's Stats ]]
HP: 22/40 Dmg Dealt: - Charge: Used Battle Cry 1/2.
[[ The Exchange Student ]]
Mob: Aquatic Vampire HP: 15/40 Auto Damage: 3 Special: If you bring their HP between 1-5 then you may capture them and bring them back to Deus. Otherwise they dissipate when they hit 0.
