Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 8a: Ryan's Derring-Do

[Ryan Jackson]

"Uhhh. Well if that doll wasn't yours, umm, by which I mean you didn't make it and use it. Then, umm, I, umm..." Ryan considered it for a moment, thinking furiously, and taxing his limited supply of forethought. "I dunno ... oh! How about a down-payment instead! Yeah, they totally do that when you buy a car or somethin' right?" Ryan had apparently latched onto the loan metaphor like a man adrift at sea clinging to anything that floats. "So, like, you tell me why we shouldn't trust Bran an' why we should stop talkin' to him. 'Cause if ya don't then we're prolly gonna end up going an' visiting the, umm, Caramels? No not them, the other ones with the "C" name, the, umm, Cimmerians?"

Robin snickered and Ryan looked at him in frustrated confusion. Boxter asked, "Son did you mean to imply you were going to look for Conan the Barbarian, or did you maybe mean the Chidereans?" Robin burst out laughing, and even Reaver smirked a little. Pritchard merely rolled her eyes, wondering how it was that the class clown would be the one that they had to deal with.

"Umm, maybe? Yeah, I guess so. I ... I wasn' really payin' attention. They wanted ta read books an' old magazines ... I mean, they ... aw crap." Ryan's jaw clicked shut and then he added, "So tell me why we shouldn' trust the Lesk; Bran that is, an' I'll get the rest of 'em to show up on Monday."

[Dawn OOC]

“Well, I hope you get them to show up on Tuesday, Mr. Jackson, at 7:00 p.m. in the Music room,” Boxter said. “Otherwise, you’ll have a long wait.”

“Yeah, yeah. Tuesday,” Ryan said, looking annoyed at being corrected. “Oh-seven-hundred. Got it.”

“Ah-” Whatever Robin started to say was cut off by Reaver speaking.

“The Lhesk we dealt with in the first Harvest were Brahn and Brihn, yes, the same you deal with,” Reaver said. “They agreed to teach me some of the arts of death and life. They did this because they understood that to kill the Council of Nine, the Caramine leadership and priestly order, they would need someone who could perform these arts. Someone young and impressionable. Someone they could control. They didn’t tell me the price I would pay. I trusted them and they screwed me over.”

“I’ve had the Lhesk keep the letter of their agreement,” Robin said softly, “while breaking the spirit of it. You can trust them to do exactly what they say they will do, and no more. You can’t trust them to tell you everything you need to know about anything. They’ve always hoarded information and kept it close to their chest. They give you what they think will guide you in the direction they want you to go.”

“They don’t care about us,” Boxter said, shifting in his chair. “They care about their people. The rest of the Omniverse can go hang so long as their people are safe and fed. You and the others are a tool to them, and nothing more.”

“That what you wanted?” Robin asked.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Continued from Books Are For Nerds

Sean and Swan made it upstairs in the attic without any problems, the kids seeing them giving them knowing winks but saying nothing. The attic was used more than just for storing things in Mars House, Sean knew, a wry grin crossing his face as he gave Swan a covert glance. Dammit! She's a... not-human... but she's pretty, athletic too.

Sean headed to the furthest room, giving the partially stuck door a hard shove, then carefully started moving things around to make a comfortable, hidden space for Swan and he to spend the night. Shit was too weird that he would risk Swan spending the night alone.

Pulling out a plastic bundle the size of a thick paperback book, Sean set on the ground and pulled a cord. With a soft hiss, the air mattress began to inflate. Sean watched Swan watching the mattress writhe and twist under it's own power as he pulled out his phone and began scrolling done the list for Ryan's number.

"I'll let you have the mattress and the sleeping bag, Swan," Sean offered, "I'll take the floor and the thermal blanket."

Swan gave him a smirk, prodding at the firming form of the air mattress. "That is hardly necessary. It is large enough for both of us, and comrades in arms often share blankets and body heat."

Okaaaay... "Okaaay... Um, Swan, after that pillow-book you mentioned, you startin' to remember stuff about where you're from, and what your people are like?" Sean gently prodded as he hit dial and held the phone up to his ear.

Sean ground his teeth, waiting for Ryan to pick up - you'd think having a phone on you, it shouldn't ring more than twice before it's answered, but it never seems to work out that way. Dude, hope this is just you bein' you and not something more.

[Dawn OOC]

"I have... pieces," Swan said. Her voice became muffled as she dragged the shirt over her head. Suddenly, Sean was staring at her bare back. "Like the library... I remembered that it should only be for royals. But it is always like a surprise, rather than something I summon." Her fingers undid the buttons and zipper of her jeans and then that and the underwear hit the floor.

As Sean spun, giving her privacy she didn't seem to want, he heard her snap out the sleeping bag as she said, "I do not remember, until I see something here and know that it is wrong. I believe that it is what I remember from being Caramine."

She paused, as Sean silently begged Ryan's phone to pick up so that he wouldn't have to listen to a naked girl moving around on the bed they would soon be sharing. "What is normal for sex here, Sean?" she asked suddenly. He could feel her black eyes boring into the back of his skull, much as he could feel her lack of clothing - all thanks to a vivid imagination. "From what was said in the Art Room, what I am accustomed to is very wrong here."

[Ryan Jackson]

“That what you wanted?” Robin asked.

He and the others were watching Ryan like some kind of trapped specimen. He was starting to wonder if he'd missed something, which was highly likely, and if he shouldn't reneg on the whole thing entirely, when his shorts started to sing. Ryan started, "Gah!", and slapped at his shorts trying to turn the phone off.

Robin laughed, "Go ahead, answer it. Not like it could totally blow your secret mission now."

Ryan scowled, and dug the phone out, "What the fuck Sean? What if I'd been ninjaing around or something? You tryin' to get my turned into a newt?"

"Dude if you were ninjaing why didn't you turn off your phone?"

"..." Ryan felt a little dumber than normal.

"It's not like you would answer it would you? Dude! Why would you answer it?"

"Shut up," Ryan snapped at the phone. "No wait, what did you want. Hurry up, I'm getting the stink eye over here." Ryan gave a nervous smile at the others. Robin was laughing and the freaky Owl girl was ... doing who knows what behind her veil, but Pritchard was indeed leveling the stink eye on Ryan. Boxter and Reaver both seemed mostly patient, if perhaps a bit touchy.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"Uh... Whuh?" Sean stammered stupidly, spinning around in complete bewilderment at Swan's awkward question before recalling her blatant nudity. To his credit, Sean did meet her eyes first... before stealing a quick glance down.

Sean was hardly a novice to the female form, there was the internet after all. He had had a girlfriend back home before being shunted down to Denver. He'd known Stacy for years and they had gone out for a year, fumbling their way through teenaged, inexperienced intimacy. He was a football star, muscular and handsome, he had drawn more than his fair share of female attention, from cheerleaders and more, and been flashed more than once. A smile flitted across his face as he recalled a delightfully aggressive make-out session with a pair of close friends, Donata and Kristine. Daaaayum! But Donata hid a huge rack under her sweater...

But none of them, not a single girl, had ever displayed such a nonchalant casualness for their nakedness either. Not in front of him, anyway. Swan had a slender figure, wiry and athletic, with small breasts, though high and firm and well-rounded. Her milky-pale skin almost glowed in the dim light of the electric lantern, several scars marring its smoothness...

"Dude! What. Do. You. Want?" Ryan enunciated sharply just as Swan began to reiterate her question, "Sex, it is not the same-"

"Whoa! Sorry guys, one at a time!" Sean protested, shaking his head and pulling his eyes off Swan, hoping he hadn't been staring as hard as it felt he had been. "Swan, I'll get back to you about sex in a second, I swear," Sean told her, not having a clue what he was actually going to say - unfortunately not covering the receiver on his cellphone - before turning back to it to answer Ryan.

"Blurgh, yeah, was just giving ya a heads up, Bro," Sean managed to say after a moment, running his hand through his hair and giving Swan an apologetic look without actually looking at her. "We found some stuff out on the Chiderans - the Amazon women? - so be prepared for a hike in the mountains tomorrow. We're gonna meet up in the Mural room at six a.m. befo - wait! Who's givin' ya what where?"

[Ryan Jackson]

"Yeah, yeah Cimmerians. Yeah sure mountains. What? Six a.m.? No. No, uh-uh." Ryan jabbered into the phone like a chipmunk on speed as the faculty watched in various states of irritation or mirth.

"Dude, everybody agreed to it."

Ryan shook his head as though Sean could see him, "No, dude, bad idea."

"Why? We're, like, critically in the dark about everything and-"

"No! Noooo. Trust me, I hear the word enough; no. We should, like, totally not do what you are suggestin' we do. At all."

"Why not? It'll get us away from Bitchard and those voodoo dolls, and-"

"That wasn't Bitchard's voodoo doll!" Ryan blurted into the phone and then realized who was in the room with him. He looked up and gave an embarrassed look of guilt, which cracked slightly when he saw Robin trying to not look at Pritchard or laugh. "Dude, I don't think we can trust Bran, not completely, plus he's like super creepy."

"Whatever dude, he's been helping us."

"Has he? Or has he been tellin' us what he wanted us to hear to get us to do what he wants us to do? Dude fine, six a.m. but we're not going through, not until you guys all hear what I found out. OK? Promise me."

"What did you find out Ryan?" Sean asked.

"Just promise you'll wait for me, an' hear me out," Ryan was scrabbling at straws and trying to figure out how to get everything out in the open all at once.

"Yeah, sure, I promise. Art room, tomorrow at six. In the morning!" Sean sounded doubtful, but he agreed.

"Yeah, sure, ass crack o' dawn, great. 'Kay-thanks-bye." He clicked the phone shut before Sean could object and looked at the four faculty members. He laughed nervously, "Heheh ... heh ... Umm ... So, how's tomorrow mornin' at six sound to y'all?"

[Dawn OOC]

“Dreadful,” Robin said drily. “It’s a Sunday. I never get up that early on a Sunday.”

“No, the mornings do not work at all,” Pritchard agreed. There were white lines around her lips from the force of being tightly pinched together.

“Fine so you lose some beauty sleep. Hate ta break it to ya but most of ya are way beyond that,” Ryan blurted, then winced. “Look jus’ sack up an’ be there trust me.”

“You don’t understand, young man,” Boxter said, his expression of exasperation familiar to Ryan after years of seeing it. “Some of us can’t be there.”

“What are you doing meeting at that hour anyway?” Pritchard asked, her eyes narrowing. “You said something about the mountains and… Cimmerians?”

“The Chiderans, I think,” Boxter pointed out.

“Uh, no, uh, look. Jus’ uh, be there at six, ok?” Ryan was rapidly getting in over his head.

“We can’t,” Robin said, looking frustrated. “Owela can’t be out during the daylight; moonlight hurts her. She can’t be out in the sun… neither can I,” he added reluctantly.

“I’ll go,” Pritchard said. “Amos and Giles can come as well.” She gave Ryan an icy glare. “Is three of the five enough?”

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan took an actual step back from Pritchard, "I dunno? Is it?" He looked around, being all but surrounded, he felt like they were closing in on him in the tiny room. "You wait till Tuesday morning ... wait, why'd you say Tuesday at seven a.m. if you can't go outside?"

"Because we said seven p.m. Ryan. You apparently heard it wrong," replied Robin.

"OK well, if you wait 'till Tuesday any time it'll be like two days later, and, umm, that would be bad. Sooo ... yeah, tomorrow, six a.m., in the art room." He added with a grin, "Can one of you bring donuts?"

"Mr. Jackson!" Pritchard grated, her voice taking on an irritated edge.

"What? Seriously it'll be like six in the morning. Shit, nobody should be up that early unless it involves ... no, fuck that, nobody, not ever." They glared at him, one and all. "What? Not like I had a choice. They all apparently hate thier pillows an' like being awake before the crack of dawn. Totally. Not. My fault."

"If you want donuts you can go to the cafeteria and-"

"An' wait until seven a.m. when it opens? I'm tellin' ya, there's no reason to be awake that early. It's like they're, I dunno, anty donic or sumthin'." The stared at him without comprehension. A look of murder stole into Pritchard's eyes and lit a pair of tiny bonfires. "Hullo? Like they can't have fun or something?"

"Do you mean 'anhedonic'?"

"Umm, sure, maybe?" Ryan shrugged, and didn't allow miscomprehension to prevent him charging ahead. "Anyways, so like pick up some donuts or somethin' 'kay?" He moved toward the window again. "'Kay? Donuts. Six a.m. Art room. Tomorrow. Yeah?"

"Mr. Jackson?" Pritchard said after an obvious attempt to control her temper. "What are you doing?"

Ryan, one foot on the window sill, the pane open to the top, looked back. "I, uh ... I was gonna go ... should I? I mean I figured ... was there somethin' else? Like somethin' that can't wait 'till tomorrow?"

"Mr. Jackson, kindly use the door."

"But tha, window's right here an' ..." Ryan paled at the look Pritchard gave him. "An' I'll just shut this for ya, an' let myself out."

[Dawn OOC]

“Good night, Ryan, I’m sorry I’ll miss our meeting tomorrow,” Robin said, waving at him as Ryan headed for the door. “Another time.”

No one made any attempt to stop him as Ryan headed for the door, receiving farewells – of varying politeness – from all in the room. Then the door shut and he was alone with a security guard. The man pointed away from the building, back toward campus. “She said to see you gone.”

“I’m going!” Ryan said, holding up hands before walking away. The man – if it was a man – watched him go, right until Ryan ducked into the trees and disappeared from sight.

In the shadows of those trees, a form appeared and looked at the spot where he’d been, then at the house.

Click to reveal..

3 xp

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean stared down at his phone, disgruntled, the dial-tone barely audible. Ryan was up to something and while he might have had the best intentions, foresight wasn't exactly one of his strengths.

"Hope we don't regret this, eh?" Sean said, giving Swan a half grin, which froze as he saw her sitting there, the sleeping bag thrown negligently over her lap, but otherwise, nude.

"We will deal with what comes, as we have been," Swan replied firmly before straightening expectantly. "Now, will you explain the sexual mores of this world?"

"I, uh, yeah, I will, it's... uh, I've called Ryan, but I have to call the others too," Sean answered with a burst of inspiration. It wasn't that he was embarrassed - really! Honest - it was just that he needed time to figure out how to explain it. "Ravi, and I have a future sister-in-law to warn."

"Of course, that is more important, and commendable," Swan readily agreed, then shifting over on the air mattress to make space for Sean. "I can wait some moments to sate my curiosity. Here, sit down, perhaps you can show me how your device is working, allowing to speak over such distances?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, 'kay?" Sean stood there for several moments, Swan watching him with her depthless eyes, her head tilted to a side, a slight curve to her lips. His hesitancy was rather endearing. He seemed to believe nudity automatically led to pillow-play or procreation.

Finally, Sean peeled his shirt, pants, and socks off, leaving his brawny figure clad only in a pair of plain, grey boxer-briefs. Swan eyed him with frank, though none sexual appraisal. It was rather odd, sort of like how he was studied by the team doctor during tryouts. Nonplussed, he slid under his half of the sleeping bag.

"You are very modest, Sean," Swan observed, arching a dark brow in an eminently feminine gesture that apparently crossed planar boundaries, amusement tinging her voice. "Very surprising in such a well built young man of obvious physical prowess."

"Alright, alright! Fair's fair!" Sean relented, exasperated. He reached beneath the sleeping bag and shimmied out of his boxer-briefs, then held them out to Swan as visual evidence. This was just going to make the night that much more awkward - he had never found sleeping totally naked that comfortable... other than when sharing a bed with a girl. Which he wasn't doing - well, technically he was, just not in that way.

Before his thoughts could spiral around even more, Sean pulled out his phone and began showing Swan how to make a call. It went a bit slow, since written English was a trial and the screen on his phone was small, as he went through all the steps as he dialed Blaize. If he had the money, he'd consider investing on a touch-screen, smartphone.

All he got was Blaize's phone, which actually suited him fine. Speaking to his father's hot girlfriend's equally hot younger sister with a naked Swan laying next to a naked him would have been rather awkward. He seemed to be dining on baked awkward a lot lately. He left Blaize a short message, saying not to worry if she didn't see him for a few days and if she could cover for him if the administration started asking questions, then handed the phone over to Swan so she cold make the call to Ravi.

The call went fine until it wasn't, Sean taking the phone back when Swan starting saying too much and he could hear the rich amusement radiating out of the phone. "...Oh, fuck you, she's curious, okay? That's it. Have a good night."

"And you. Have a lovely night."

"Riiiight..." Sean hung up and tossed the phone on top of his discarded clothes, then interlaced his fingers behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. He could feel Swan's steady regard and how he was tenting the sleeping bad through a perfectly normal, healthy autonomic response, admittedly aided by sharing a bed with a naked, if alien, girl. At least she wasn't bringing of sex again...

"Sean, do you fancy any of them?" Swan asked in a low, light voice.

"Eh?"

"Ravi, he is what we would call decadently beautiful, astonishingly so, but Ryan possesses an exuberant charm, very athletic. I am thinking he is having a very firm bum."

Sean shot up straight, coughing as he began to choke on nothing but spit. "Whuh? *cough!* What?! No! No, I don't fancy any of them. Okay, they're friends - most of the time - but that's it! Nothing more!" Sean took a few deep breaths, gathering himself to be able to look at Swan with dying of embarrassment. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just, I like girls."

Swan smooth brow crinkled with confusion. "This is what I am finding difficult to comprehend. Men and women couple to purely to procreate, a necessary duty. Pleasure is found with those who know what your body desires, between men and men, and women with women. Yet, here, I am understanding it is not so? Men and women couple for pleasure as well, even when a child ensue unwanted? How can you keep a proper frame of mind when there is always that possibility?"

Sean groaned.

"There isn't always that possibility, the pill, con-" Sean stopped, this was just going to end up leading to more questions. "It's complicated - okay, not really, just... different, I guess, with more variance. Most people are attracted to only the opposite sex, but some prefer the same sex, and some even like both- Y'now, you should probably hear this from someone of the same gender. Ask Ms. Dorn to explain, she'll be happy to, I'm sure."

Swan watched Sean, who seemed unaware of the redness of his face, a slightly mischievous curve to her lips. There was a place and time for pleasure and procreation, and unlike the Daltonites, she was raised to believe they should happen separately.

"Very well, Sean. I shall."