fandomhighdorms | At the entrance to the Underworld-- uh, basement of Fandom High.

Rogue wanders down to the basement, nervously fingering her cross. She figured now was as good as any to wear it. "Hey, Parker." She gives the other girl a very scared smile. "Is she really as crazy as I hear?"

"I think assuming she's less crazy would be suicidal. She's teaching Psychology. At Fandom High." Parker flicks on the flashlight and sighs. "Kind of says it all, doesn't it? Let's go."

They take the first right hand turn, and Parker marks the wall with ink pen. If Principal Connor wants her to scrub it off later, she'll do it. Anything not to get lost down here.

Rogue follows Parker, silently agreeing. Anyone who volunteered to teach here had to be a little nuts.

She's a little jumpy, to say the least, her slightly more acute than normal hearing picking up very strange noises. "Um, aren't there those gremilin things down here?"

"You're thinking of the squid. And that's what the flares are for, among other things." Parker is starting to wonder if this was such a good idea. "You got any weapons on you?"

Rogue pats herself down, hoping she brought something. "Um, I have a pocketknife? And, well, I can incapacitate people with my skin, but it doesn't work on animals. And I don't know about vampires."

"Knife's better than nothing. Damnit. Should've asked one of the magic types, or super strong types to come with us." Parker grimaced. "Christ, when did my life turn into one of Broots' computer games?"

*Rogue's more acute hearing picks up soft, wordless humming off to the right in the direction of the pool*

Rogue turns quickly, stopping in her tracks. "What the hell is that?!" she stage whispers to Parker.

"What is what?" Parker listens. "I don't hear anything!"

"That, that humming!" She pauses, straining to hear it. "I know I heard something. It's coming from over by the pool." Her eyes get very big in the darkness and she clutches her cross in one hand and her knife in the other.

Okay, this is becoming every horror movie Parker wished she hadn't watched. The one thing about those that she learned was: wimps die first.

"Come on. Let's... just find it," she says, gritting her teeth. "Her. It. Whatever."

Taking a moment to light a flare in case they needed it, Parker stepped forward, hanging onto Rogue's arm.

"And what shall you do when you find it?" asks the woman, stepping into the doorway from the room with the swimming pool. "Take it away from its home? Or ask it a favor and barter your soul?"

Parker jumps. The semi-sane question after all that atmosphere is jarring. She studies the psychology teacher after she gets her breathing under control.

"Professor?" she asks. "No, I-- we don't need you to go anywhere with us."

The staring is really damn creepy.

"And maybe we did have... a little favor to ask you...."

Rogue stands there, stunned by Drusilla. She decides it's best to let Parker do all the talking.

"Voices in your head," says Drusilla. "Whisper to you in the night. Older men." Her eyes widen. "Naughty men."

Rogue's eyes widen. "How...how did you know?" She rubs her gloved hands together nervously, slowly working the fingers of one out.

Drusilla moves too quickly for either Miss Parker or Rogue to see and snatches at Rogue's wrists. "No, no, little girl," says Drusilla chidingly. "You don't want me in your head. I'm naughtier than any of them."

That wasn't expected. How the hell did she move like that?

Parker's hand fumbled for her lighter, and closed around the holy water she'd taken to carrying. "Let her go," she said, hoping her voice wasn't shaking. "This was a mistake--"

Drusilla laughs delightedly and steps back, clapping her hands in glee. "Revenge, and suffering? And a favor to match?" Her grin is wide, and carries an edge to it. "What game shall we play?"

Okay, the twists and turns here are giving me a headache. Regaining her resolve, Parker smiles, lips tight.

"The game is 'Who are you?' Rogue has the pieces; she got them earlier. We just need to move them around. So to speak."

I can't believe I just promised a favor to this crazy woman, she thought. And again, as she had earlier in the week with River: _{And she just heard that, maybe. Oh, crap.}

Rogue is terrified now. The crazy pysch teacher has her by the wrists, and is staring into her eyes with that creepy, all-knowing stare. "I don't want any of them in my head," she whispers. "It's not my fault."

"Of course it's not," croons Drusilla, oblivious to Parker's terrified look. She lets go of one of Rogue's wrists and brushes her hair back in an almost maternal fashion. "Not your fault they hurt you and try to break you in two." She leans forward and whispers in Rogue's ear. "You're stronger than they are. They're merely shadows."

Hesitating, Parker holds off on the holy water, not sure what's going on. Rogue had said she could take memories, or knock people out-- but shadows? Others? This is all beyond her.

(deleted comment)

(no subject)

crazyvampchick - 2005-09-16 23:37 (UTC) - Expand

There are tears about to spill over Rogue's eyes. "In the day, they're quiet, but at night...the dreams are so ... real. Surgery and needles, molten metal, gas chambers, death, tattoos of numbers... I can't make them go away at night."

Drusilla nods knowingly. "Monsters always come out at night, but these are monsters that have blown away." Her gaze becomes slightly unfocused as she reminisces. "Seas of corpses, screams of the dying, fire burning and scalding." She seems torn between sadness and...delight? "Gone. All gone. Except here. We shall have to work at that."

OOC: Are you having fun with this? Because I didn't want Dru to have to touch Rogue because that would just damage Rogue too much mentally. So I thought I'd play up Dru's telepathy instead.

Rogue nods. "Yes, I think that would be good. I just...want them to be quiet." She swallows nervously, wishing she had just stayed in study hall. She tries to compose herself, wiping away the lone tear from her face.

"Are you sure?" Parker hisses. "Look, we can leave now, I have a back-up plan, you don't have to do this, whatever it is!"

"Shut up, Parker!" Rogue hisses back. "This part is easy. I just...wasn't expecting her to ... see the others." She looks at the other girl. "It's a long story. I can tell you later."

She takes a deep breath. "Ok. So, will you help us?"

Biting her lip, Parker nods. "Later. Okay." And that's a conversation we will *definitely* have.

Very uneasy, she watches Dru pull out out a scarf....

Drusilla pulls a kerchief out of her pocket and hands it to Rogue. "We shall, but later," she whispers loudly. "Mischief's afoot."

Parker feels ill. God, it reminds her of things that happened at the Centre. She hangs onto Rogue's arm, no knowing what to say.

Drusilla turns to Parker and tilts her head, looking at her curiously. "No one will cage you," she says. "Not without your consent."

The hairs on the back Parker's neck stand straight up.

She nods, speechless, still clutching Rogue's arm.

Drusilla smiles again, this time with a sparkle in her eye. "Revenge?" she prompts, gleefully.

"He mocked me, and ruined my shoes, and lied about me, and never apologized," Parker answers, furious all over again with Crichton.

Tommy Chang, her ex-boyfriend who'd been in the Yakuza, had explained this to her, and it had made perfect sense: it was all about face. And you could disregard that in the real world, but at Fandom High, where she didn't have magic powers or super strength or anything else, Parke was willing to do one hell of a lot to save face.

"Later tonight, we want you to hypnotize-- or, um, whatever it is you do-- someone we'll bring you."

She smiles grimly.

"With a couple of changes...."

_{[ooc: all to be revealed later tonight!]}

(no subject)

crazyvampchick - 2005-09-16 19:46 (UTC) - Expand

"It," says Drusilla. "Silly girls, why would I go with you?" The look in her eyes is focused and sharp.

A thick tentacle slithers questioningly through the door near Drusilla's head. She pets it absently, then tickles it and gestures it back towards the pool.

"A favor? When I was young, men gave me favors and we danced through the night. Now I dance through every night and they sit quietly in their graves."

Think you're so smart, Parker? Look for a hypnotist, get a... vampire?

Gulp.

"How sweet of them," Parker gushed. "And, I, we, would certainly owe you something, if you... helped us." She frowns, tries to think of how to appeal to a person who keeps the squid (!!!) like you'd keep a puppy.

"I just want a certain someone... to suffer."

Rogue mutters to Parker, "I swear, if I get killed because of your crazy revenge scheme..."

"My family will pay for the funeral and I'll owe you a karmic debt in the next life, I know, I know," Parker whispered back. "Do me a favor and don't mention dying again. She might think we're hinting at her!"

Parker isn't sure *what* the Professor is, but if she's human, Parker plans to eat her Gucci purse.

If she lives through this.

meep!

The humming changes to a soft tune. "Run and fetch, run and fetch," sings a woman's voice. "The lamb is caught in the blackberry patch."

Now even Parker can hear it, and is hanging onto her nerve by her manicured nails. "Just... keeping herself company." She looks at Rogue out of the corner of her eye. "Right?"

Rogue takes a deep breath and tries to channel Logan. It doesn't really work, but his reassuring voice in her head calms her down slightly. Clinging to Parker, she walks toward the voice. "Okay, you have to hear that. She's singing now."

Parker listens, and nods, her eyes widening even more as Drusilla steps out of the shadows and asks her a question.