daybreakacademy | better to beg forgiveness, bad dog.

Entry tags:

better to beg forgiveness, bad dog.

Who: Cliff and open, outside of one prompt.
What: Secret werewolf newbie getting ready for secret times and secret crimes.
When: The days around the full moon (Sept 2nd), night of Sept 5th for closed prompt.
Warnings: Profanity, mentions of underage smoking and drinking, inexpertly devised heists.

[ W A X I N G . ]
[The full moon’s coming, and while there’s the mounting anxiety of not being sure what he’s all going to do even under the care of people that knew how to deal with this shit, it’s also always a time where Cliff could feel his heart race with the need to go, do, see. He’s taken to walking briskly or jogging about campus during the day when he wasn't in class, barely holding back from a run, so that he can get a better idea of where things were or what different smells meant. It would be important to have these things in mind when he was able to meet up with Coco for their secret mission. Excited as he is for it, it would have to wait a few more days…

In the meantime, he can practice sneaking out through his window rather than risking alerting someone down the hall as he went by, or scaling the walls of the dorms. Definitely tougher than the siding back home, and his fingertips were going to get calloused, but it was infinitely more fun. Especially with this restlessness.

Clifford sits at the edge of the roof a lot, too, eyes scanning the night sky and lighting up as the moon -- almost full, almost dangerous -- hit them. Almost literally! His usual golden light brown eyes reflect back with an eerie glow like the beast he would be forced to turn into soon. Times like these, it was hard to mind too much or to keep to his human form.

Being a wolf racing through the forest, energized and unburdened, is something on his mind more and more. Schoolwork was increasingly hard to focus on, even as he slouched elaborately in chairs around the dorm, library, and cafeteria, curled around his studies. Same sentences over and over until he gives up and drapes open books -- usually about the Outlands, curses, or various once-mythic races -- over his face with a loud groan.]

This shit is impossible. Man, I need a smoke…

[Missing them wasn't exactly helping with how much tension he had. He thinks about asking any adult that wanders too close, but in the end if a faculty member approaches, Cliff will sit up again with a nervous,] Uh.

[Maybe it's about his underage smoking, but...whatever he was reluctant to bring up seems to be a bit more pressing.]

[ W A N I N G . ]
[Comparatively, the days following the full moon have Cliff in a stupor. He falls asleep more often than not for brief periods during his earlier classes, and when he rubs the weariness from his eyes he's scrambling to ask for notes to figure out what the hell he missed. It wasn't just for his sake that he picked the classes he did, after all, so even if he didn't have his stepdad peering at his grades as an excuse to get on his case, he wanted to try. Unfortunately, this meant bringing some attention to himself by hurrying to catch classmates before they disappeared into the sea of students.]

Oh, hey. Listen, I didn't get what that was about, can I see what you wrote?

[ W I N D O W P A N I N G - closed to relevant parties. ]
[Finally, it feels like it's time to act. He doesn't have to worry about getting too worked up and transforming, he’s not exhausted as fuck, and he’s itching to help Coco get to the bottom of things so he can see more of her smiles and make it so she doesn't have to cry anymore. The office visits he'd made as part of getting settled into a new school were used as wisely as he could. It wasn't going to be easy by any means with how much he still didn't know, but he's as ready as he can be without making her wait on him -- and she should have the information on the infirmary that they’d need for that part of it.

His explorations have given him another perk: he knows where to find her. Thanks to her talking about her hawk not-roommate, Cliff’s been able to keep an eye on the bird that comes and goes by window from the Aube dorms. Convenient that it was open, even if it wasn't convenient that it was a third floor room. He grunts softly as he pulls himself up to the ledge, grateful for the practice he'd decided to do. He peeks first, light glaring off his eyes and making it easy to inspect the room even if it’s dark. It would be real bad if some rando were in here, or if he came at a...uh, bad time.]

Hey! [His voice is a harsh whisper, but there's an excited current underneath it, too. Crimes! Crimes! Crimes!!] Coco?

[or rather, the bird dude that could direct him to Coco, for the time being, but he hasn't realized that yet. He comes in before he can get an answer though, it isn't good for his hands to just be hanging on for long like this.]

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< Usually when something comes creeping up on me while I'm sleeping, I'm about to get eaten. And I'm probably not the only one around here, so maybe don't go sneaking into rooms in the middle of the night. >

[The saltiness will continue until he gets a real apology, oh yes.]

< ...No idea. What is going on? >

I wasn't creeping up on you. Your window's open!

[Prepare to stay salty for now, Tobias...

Cliff's attention jerks towards the door with an oh shit as the footsteps thump their way closer and closer. He's half-ducked back through the window, getting ready to jump down to the ground, but when he hears Coco's voice he looks back over with eyes both bright with light and hope. It's the girl! Make bird stop being mad at him.]

Hey! Keep it down, I'm ready to -- [uh. Hmm. He glances back over to Tobias and jerks his thumb at him. He shouldn't spill the beans without a second thought, given the situation those beans were tossed in.] He cool? You're staying here, so he wouldn't narc about our, uh, plan we talked about the other day?

[Even if he's pissed at Clifford... Everyone loves Coco enough to let her have a little crime, as a treat, right?]

I should keep it down? I'm trying to convince Mamá I'm still in México with a friend and you two are shouting!

[Her cheeks go pink with unhappiness but she has no more ire than that.]

Lucky I hung up on time. Anyway, I didn't mention it but I'm sure it's fine. I'm ready too.

[She looks apologetic to the bird.]

I'm sorry for this. For waking you up. Really.

< You didn't wake me up. >

[Well, he's not in any danger. He'll have to settle for that. Such is life. He preens at his feathers, soothing himself, then looks back at the pair of them.]

< Do I even want to know? >

[He goes to protest that he wasn't shouting, but it doesn't seem like it's going to matter. Cliff glances between the pair, arms crossing in front of him.]

We're gonna go do bad stuff~ For good reasons. I'll take care of her, so you don't need to go getting your feathers in a ruffle again. Oh -- but leave the window open, we might need it.

[Though...Coco probably couldn't climb the sides of buildings like he can. Alternate entrances and exits are always good, though!]

If Coco wants to give you the details, that's her business.

[She frowns at Tobias' sullenness, and then some more at Cliff. She can't help the slight protest.]

Please don't taunt him.

[And then to Tobias;]

It's better you don't know. Then you can't get in trouble if we're caught. I'm sorry, Tobias.

[This time, the fault really is hers.]

Just... know that's important and we'll try not to wake you up again.

[He puffs up a little, bristly, but says nothing. God knows he's heard worse about himself. Let it go. Ignore the dude completely.]

< You'd be amazed at what people get away with here. Don't worry about me. But, uh. Good luck. >

[Again he goes to protest and cuts himself short before he can even open his mouth. Is what he said that bad...? Just seemed like the usual playful teasing he'd give and get from his buds back home. Ugh, it was so much easier to talk to someone one on one -- or, if he were smart, he'd realize that when you're not being an asshole with friends, you're just being an asshole. Unfortunately, he's not.

Still, he...tries, a little bit, with a,]

Uh, thanks. Sorry about waking you up.

[And then he's back to swinging his legs out the window, apparently set on this mode of exit.]

Are you good if you go out the front? [They were all pretty noisy, oops...] I can catch you, if you follow me.

Thank you.

[That's said to Tobias. She doesn't say a thing regarding what one can get away with. She's not sure if she believes it or not, and if she did... she's not sure it would be a good thing. She doesn't actually know what's behind this, after all. Or who.

Cliff gets a smile for his efforts. As far as she's concerned, it's enough. Though she's balking a moment later.]

Out the window? You want me to jump?

[She could go out the front, easily, and it would probably be better. But--]

Yes.

[It comes out with a grin.]

< Just... don't scare me again. > [He says, grudgingly. Surely he wasn't being that unreasonable.

And then:] < Please don't literally break a leg. > [Hmm. They don't want him to come along, fine, but it bothers him to not do anything. As always.] < You could use the blankets and sheets? I'll pull them back in after you. >

Knock on the sill next time, got it.

[Because he is absolutely going to be coming in through the window next time, if he comes again. Sorry, guys.

Coco's enthusiasm gets him grinning again, and he waves off Tobias's concern. If the hawk had voiced (or...whatever) his misgivings, Clifford wouldn't say no to an extra set of eyes, but the suggestion offered is seen as pointless worrying.]

It'll be fine! I do this all the time. Have some fun, Tobias. [Usually it's second story max, but he isn't so stupid as to try this for the first time when he's on a mission with a cute girl. Then, to his favorite person in the entire school:] Just wait until I say so, and try to fall more horizontal so it's easier on you.

[Aaand bye, he's slipping off the ledge without a care. True to his word, he's fine! He lands a bit like a frog, hands used more for balance than for the impact, and then he straightens out and turns. He dusts his hands off on one another, then looks up, smile wide, moon glinting off his eyes, and arms open and ready.]

It's fine! Hasta luego, Tobias.

[She waves and goes to the window, eager for the stunt that could break both their necks. She spots him just as she lands and grins wider. So he's that kind of magic! Or just really talented.

She sees him rise. She thinks she sees his eyes glint. She sees his open arm.]

Ready?

[She's climbing through the wind, twisting so she can roll out rather than jump. There's a moment where her instincts protest, but she shoves them out the window too. The moment he says so, she's out, falling, unable to help herself from letting out a cry and glee at once.]

[As confident as he is -- and he's pretty positive he can pull this off without a hitch -- seeing someone else go out a window that high up is something that makes his stomach lurch. But he's here, adjusting to get the right position beneath. He catches her with a soft oof! and a step back, but doesn't otherwise seem too thrown. She wasn't that heavy, it was just a matter of her building up more speed than Kevin did when he usually tackled Cliff, demanding to be touted around, and he swings her along in a circle to go with the motion and hopefully make the catch less painful for her.

Cliff completes his clumsy circle with a soft a nicker broken by attempts to shush her.]

Coco! You're going to get us caught before we even do anything!

[It's teasing, though, and he quickly moves to set Coco to a stand before waving up at the window. Totally fine, time for crime. Later, bird. There's a bit of a jaunt to his steps as he shoves his hands in his pockets and puts a bit of distance between them again.]

I've got a pretty good idea of where to find 'em. They typed it up, but I saw them put shit away in a cabinet, too. Probably easier to find a key or bust a lock than figure out a teacher's password...

[Also he could steal the files instead of just looking at them. He feels like a printer would take too long and be too loud.]

[The catch renders her breathless, but the spin sends her into helpless laughter. She's beaming and that smile only falters when a memory pries at her, one of her father spinning her just the same. Thankfully, it doesn't ruin the moment.]

I'm sorry! I've never jumped so high before!

[She tries to catch her breath as he sets her down. She feels dizzy with adrenaline. Good. She'll need that soon enough.]

So we just need to pick the lock, find his file, and get out. That's great! Shouldn't be hard at all...

[She pauses and blinks up at him.]

Oh. Your eyes really do glow. How pretty.

[The moment it slips from her mouth she looks away with a flush.]

[He wonders if she knows that picking a lock is something that's actually pretty hard, even if you watch youtube tutorials and spend hours getting frustrated at a standard clip-on lock repurposed to be solely used for practicing. Well, things will get figured out, because there's no way they can fail with the rush he feels and sees her feeling, too.

Maybe he'll try to blame the way his heart skips on that, and definitely not at all to do with her complimenting him. Just! Focus!! Being called pretty wasn't even something to get excited about, idiot, because masculine bullshit or whatever.]

Uh, yeah. Sometimes. When light hits 'em a certain way, I guess.

[don't ask him, it's just always been that way... he'd pretty much stopped questioning it.]

I can see pretty good in the dark, too, so we shouldn't have to mess with lights or anything. Unless someone else is around for some reason, we should be able to get in and out without making a huge things about it.

[She won't ask. He didn't want her knowing his power, so it wouldn't be fair to. She'd just have to take her guesses through whatever she ended up witnessing herself.

He takes het comment in stride and she's relieved. Though, she frowns for another reason.]

Are your eyes good enough to read in the dark? If not, I can try a spell for light that might be dimmer than a full light...

...if I don't just burn off my eyebrows again...

[wow don't guess, that's rude. and scary for him.

He slows a little to look over at Coco, raises a hand to cover above her eyes from his view, and grins. It's terrible, but he sort of wants to see that.]

Oh, definitely can't read good enough in the dark. [And definitely didn't have a phone he could set to dim or a lighter in his pocket, nope. Coco was his only hope. Mhm.

Being honest, though, it would depend on if the office was in total darkness or not, but that would be telling. He'd rather tease.]

[Sorry, Cliff. She sympathizes for cowards, but she's not going to slow her roll for them. All will be swept up in her current unless they've got a stronger one.

When he slows and looks at her like that, she flushes again.]

Ay, Déjalo. [She waves his hands away.] I'd like to see you try and do better.

[But, really, he probably would do better than her. It would just figure. If she weren't so happy and relieved to see him, so worried for the fact that he was a withered thing, she might have been jealous of Papá for managing it. The memory hurts and she fights the instinct to push it away, instead holding it fast to herself to preserve him longer in her mind.]

[Well, since she's asking... Cliff digs into his pocket to produce the lighter, neglected the past week or so with Cliff not having any cigarettes on hand.]

Abracadabra. [He flicks the wheel and ta-da! A little flame that leaves both his eyebrows intact.] You're so lucky you have me around. Don't make shit too complicated with this magic stuff all the time. Thought a half-magic like you would know better than the underestimate the normal way.

You're the one who said we couldn't use the lights...

[It's a muttered grumble, not meant to be heard. She's being sullen, for he's won and she knows it. Now she feels twice as foolish.]

Come on, lets go.

[Sorry girl, but keen werewolf hearing doesn't exactly do you a solid. He opens his mouth to say something, but decides better of it and instead puts out the little flame and sticks it back in his pocket. Kind of striking out with his attitude tonight... Well, it was something to take seriously. Maybe she thought he wasn't.

He'll just nod and make his way with her over to the right building, keeping to the shadows as best he can and pausing now and again to close his eyes and listen for any signs of something coming towards them. So far, so good. Down the halls and over to the office he'd seen too much of when he'd arrived, stuck with the responsibility of getting his information in order and figuring out his schedule. At least his promise to Coco had given him something interesting to do during that time, and it gets him to move confidently down the hall.

Then he stops and frowns.]

Oh. Night staff. [Of course there'd be night staff? Some people were nocturnal, taking classes right now, and they'd need someone to take care of any administrative problems they ran into. Well...] Do you think you can get them away from here for a while?

[When he falls silently, she quickly starts to feel guilty for being so put out. She could have probably handled... everything better. Now it feels to weird to break the silence, especially when they really should try for quiet.

When he stops suddenly in the middle of the hall, she nearly runs into him. It's quick feet and a close save that keep that from happening. She looks at him confused but the explanation comes quick. And it has her pale.

Oh no. How was she supposed to lure the staff away? More importantly, how could she do so without drawing suspicion back? She glances a few rooms back, at one of the empty ones. She goes to it and bends to her shoe, untying a small little pocket pouch from her sandal laces. She unleashes it into the classroom and runs like she's thrown a grenade. There's no boom, but there is a strange light that flashes. Then she goes for the room of night staff.]

¡Perdóname! Something's wrong! Class 5b is all flipped!

[Leading the staff out and along, she hopes that Cliff has the good sense to hide.]

[Maybe later he'll get to ask her about what the hell she did and how she came up with such an excuse immediately, but for now he should really focus on the task at hand. He waits for the adult to pass before he comes out of the hiding place he was indeed smart enough to duck into, does a quick scan of the area for any other obstacles, then sprints to the cabinet he'd seen his papers disappear into after meetings.

First he checks if they did the bare minimum with regards to security, flinging arms along the sides of the cabinet to check for keys held by a hook. No such luck, which he might have been relieved about if he wasn't crunched for time, here. Cliff turns to look at the desk area next, looking not just for keys but to see if the computer had been left up and ready to use. It is -- looks like someone was going through their email -- but he still hesitates to go over to it. There was sure to be a number of programs the information could be stored in, and he had no way of knowing which one...

No. Better to stick with the physical copies, especially since he'd be able to take them along with him. He rests his strength against the sturdiness of the cabinet by giving the handle a hard yank, but all that does is make a metal clunking sound. Given enough effort he could maybe force it, but it would be even more obvious that someone had been messing around in here if he left it busted and bent. Instead, he curses under his breath and reaches into his pocket again.

Carl had confiscated his set of lockpicks during a routine search of his things, but he has another, faster way of dealing with it, even if it was less elegant. He pulls out the little pocket knife he'd managed to get by his stepdad's scrutiny and starts gently stabbing into the lock of the drawer beneath the one he'd seen his own files disappear into -- N and R weren't that far apart, but there were a lot of students around here and "Norman" had been pretty far in. One last glance over his shoulder as he gets the blade to finally fit into the little space, and then he turns it like it may as well have been a regular key.]

Rivera, Rivera... [Her dad, first. That mattered more. He sees a few possibilities with that surname, and maybe he should have asked what her dad's first name was so he didn't have to waste precious seconds like an idiot, but that just would have been the smart thing to do, huh? None of that for this boy! Out of his options, narrowed further by sex and birth year, "Héctor" seems the most promising.

Okay. Now for the other one... Despite his better judgement, he flips through a series of other names in search for the S's, holding Héctor's file in his teeth so he can use both hands properly. He doesn't even know if he's hoping to find "Schaeffer" or not, or what he'd do with that information, but he's just so close to where it would be... Already the search has eaten up his attention completely. Come on, fucker. Don't waste his time, come on.]

[ Ekkehardt doesn't usually leave the infirmary until late at night. When he does, it's for errands or emergencies - or because he's actually at rest, once every two days.

This is not one of those two days. He's sensitive enough to sound that he can hear discrepancies where they shouldn't be, and he steps quietly in case it's some kind of new invasion.

It isn't, as it turns out. Just a student looking for something, with a file already held between his teeth. ]

Did you want a photocopy of those, or do I have to make more printouts? [ His tone is lightly amused. Frankly, he's not surprised this isn't more common, students trying to sneak their own medical files.

He tilts his head a little, watching him. He's holding a mug of what seems to be coffee, judging by the smell, but he doesn't seem to be in any rush. ]

Either way, I'll be using paper, but I suppose I have no other choice.

[It's an invasion. An invasion of rudeness, as evidence by Cliff's muffled expletive that causes the folder to slip. He scrambles to catch it again, hugging to to him as he tries to figure a way out. The calm demeanor makes him freeze up, more tense than that should elicit even with the surprise of getting caught in the act, and his eyes go darting to the exit, up to Ekkehardt, and to the exit again.

If...he became a wolf, then he wouldn't have to worry about the file being taken away from him -- he had no idea where things like that went, but the only thing he'd noticed staying between forms was, bizarrely, his tongue piercing. But solving that problem comes with two other, bigger ones: Coco might see what he is, and...this person doesn't smell like how he looks. More reason to believe that I suppose I have no other choice was a warning more than anything, as per usual.

The papers crumple a little as he tightens his hold around himself, trying to work it out. He needed to get these to Coco, but she couldn't be seen or she'd be sent back home and it would all be for nothing. She'd never get to do anything ever again... Cliff might get punished, but it wasn't like they could send him away, with what he is.]

I just --

[But with no one else around, did it matter what he said? His eyes glint as he brings them up to the man again, guilty, wide, and catching light.]

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