a time to be thankful for.

[awooligan]

Who: Cliff and open.
What: Working to get rid of boredom and bad thoughts.
When: It’s November, man.
Warnings: Underage smoking, minor theft, probably profanity, idiot teen feelings.


[ a - OPPORTUNITY. ]

[Cliff might not be ready to wear the wolf on his sleeve, as it were, but several full moons in and he's starting to feel like there's a stable enough routine in place that he can think about branching out. It’s okay to be faster and stronger than a normal sixteen-year-old here, and there's no one that knows him anyway that would be taking a good long look at what he's doing. There's a good chance he wouldn't stand out at all, even in a sport. Not the most interesting thing to do with his time, really, but it's refreshing to be able to think of it as an option.

What he should probably do is find something more than a basic combat class… If he's going to be useful at all for the end of the world, he can't rely solely on instinct and google when it comes to throwing, taking, and dodging punches -- and that's not even mentioning the fact that what's coming probably won't be doing a lot of punching at all. Magic defense class… Still a strange thought. Aiming to be more than just defensive is even stranger.

Cliff frowns around a cigarette as he flips through the papers he's collected. Some were posters hoping to entice new club members or to make special note of an upcoming workshop-type event, some were little barebones booklets giving the description of classes like the selection book he was given when he first arrives, and a couple are even handwritten notes from thoughts he'd had when he was meant to be paying attention, since digging out his phone hadn't been a safe option. He has the opportunity, now… How much of a point is there? He sighs out a mouthful of smoke and sets the papers aside on the school bench in a messy, fanned pile. Take it away, wind!! He doesn't need these!]

Man, what am I doing… This is just more work, and for what? Even this one is just… What, do I think she’ll notice me, or something? Stupid.

[Well… At least learning Spanish is one of the options that's useful in a practical sense, and not just personal. Still. Way to make himself feel like a loser!]


[ b - PACK IT UP. ]

[Now that he isn't sharing his room with a girl that hates the smell of cigarettes and whose opinion matters to him, Cliff is free to indulge in as much smoking as he wants. Or, well… He would be, if money and law allowed.

Off in a foreign country and without his usual friends to plot out a diversion -- and being busy with something worthy of a soap opera, honestly -- his shoplifting game has gone sorely neglected. Managing to steal cigarettes on his own would be an impossible feat, but little things are easy enough. Some candies, rubber bracelets… Nothing expensive or obvious. The biggest challenge is the box of poptarts, which he ends up breaking down and hiding in order to slip the silvery packets out of sight. They'd be broken up, even if he's being careful, but free poptarts are free poptarts. Can't complain too much.

But he wants the cigarettes, and when he isn't out practicing or relieving his boredom, he’s idling around pretending to text on his phone. Just in case some wild upset happens that he can take advantage of, or (the more likely scenario, somehow) someone a little older that likes him enough for some reason swings by to help him out. If all else fails…]

Guess I could ask those guys. Worked out okay before…

[Feels weird when it isn't something he feels like he has no other option for.]


[ c - AWARE OF DOG. ]

[Once word of the dogs being understood is let out, Cliff packed up his things and headed back to his dorm. On a definitely unrelated note, there seems to be a large, wolf-like dog with deep russet fur running around campus and looking to play. Maybe he snatches up a sandwich or bag to play keep-away with, or he simply jumps into the familiar play bow pose, face expectant. Or he’s just walking along until he slows to a stop nearby, curious and watching, before:]

Hey. What's up?

[Maybe you weren't aware of it or you'd been fine earlier, but now? Now you've caught the benign infection. There's no other explanation for hearing a boy’s voice, clear as day, coming from the animal.]

[ KITCHEN MOONLIGHTING - closed. ]

[He's got the ingredients and the determination on hand, and he's got a number in his phone. Time to use all of them and hopefully not fail miserably or risk embarrassing himself. Prospects...are grim, on that front, to be honest. At least he can feel secure in the knowledge that the one he's contacting is far more embarrassing than him at all times.]

hey it's cliff
does tonight work?


[ WILDCARD. ]

[And so on and so forth, general hanging out or getting to plans, all the prompts getting shorter and shorter, you know how it is. Plurk is goblinhood for communication!]

Comments

a

[stavros]

Oh, are you looking to try and join extracurriculars?

[Kokoro looks over from where she was inspecting a flyer for... who's trying to start a "Rock-Paper-Scissors Club?"]

We do have a great wealth of options.

[awooligan]

[The heck is a Rock-Paper-Scissors club... Cliff is bored and curious, but not nearly desperate enough to find out. He slides some of the papers to cover a few others, and frowns up at the girl. She's familiar, but just barely... Someone else that went to go help rescue Héctor, and he's seen her in some classes, he's pretty sure.]

No kidding. Are half of these even for real?

[stavros]

With a large school and a lot of resources, nearly everything is. I'm not entirely sure what they do in the People-Watching Club aside from sit there.

[awooligan]

[don't like that one, either]

Wait, what? That is insanely creepy, do they know that? Here I was worried about sticking out, I didn't even think about people that watch others just for shits and giggles.

[stavros]

I understand not. Then again, I don't think I understand a lot of things, and I've been going here since I was little. Though I think everybody worries about sticking out no matter where you go.

Kitchen Moonlighting

[unpocoloco]

[He has to laugh a little. It just seems like such an ominous text without the context. He would still swear it's a simple recipe but Cliff had seemed so nervous about it and he doesn't want the boy to just give up.]

Hey, chamaco.
Tonight's fine.
Am I headed to Lumiere or Aube?

[awooligan]

[stop getting in his case about it, Héctor!!!! what do you know...]

lumiere
first floor so I'll just wait outside no big deal

[unpocoloco]

I won't be long.

[And indeed, he isn't. He has to marvel at the way things have come around. He remembers trying to sneak up to this building, stay hidden but from living people and from monsters in the dark. Now, he can walk freely and no monster can reach him. There's still a red-headed boy outside, probably smoking, but not his old dear friend. Instead, a friend of his daughter's.

He lifts a hand in a wave.]

[awooligan]

[you stop that

And surprisingly, Cliff is not smoking! This is mostly because he doesn't have as easy access to cigarettes as Maverick did, but still. It counts.

He gives a lazy wave back before holding the door open, hands retreating back to the pockets of his hoodie.]

Hey. You put on your cooking fingers today? [Does this qualify as cooking... He doesn't know nothing.] Tonight, I guess.

[unpocoloco]

[He laughs.]

Oh yes. I made sure to pull out the fingers specifically made for cooking. [He waves a hand.] Today, tonight, same thing, right? You've got all the ingredients, sí?

b

[spelleton]

[ Ekkehardt likes to come down here just to (attempt to) take a break; if nothing else, to do as his assistants often insist he do and get a change of scenery.

It's on one of these little trips that he spots Cliff. Rather than hail him loudly and directly at a distance, he wanders up to him casually.

He'd been meaning to offer the boy his compliments for the whole escapade, regardless. Now seems as good a time as any. ]

Ah, hello, Clifford. [ His voice is warmly polite. ] I'm not interrupting anything, am I?

[awooligan]

[Well, that's someone older that he's passingly familiar with, but even if Ekkehardt's sort of helped him out in the past, he doesn't think his chances were too good on a doctor buying a minor cigarettes... Cliff lowers his phone and looks the man over.]

Oh, yeah. Can't you see how busy I am?

[There's still a certain wary edge there, but it's simple teen defensiveness rather than the frozen tension from the last time he'd been confronted alone. What's up...]

[spelleton]

You're certainly looking deep in thought. [ He tucks his hands in his pockets. He's glad to see Cliff hasn't frozen at the sight of him...a small but significant step. ] Anything I might be able to do to ease it, or is it something better left alone?

[awooligan]

[Cliff raises an eyebrow, but unfortunately, asking isn't even a little bit tempting, with Ekkehardt's profession.]

It's not a big deal. [For once, other people might agree.] No one to hang out with right now, so I'm killing time, that's all.

[Like teens in malls. He's got half of it right.]

Why? Think I'm causing trouble?

[spelleton]

Quite the opposite, actually! [ He leaves off things like 'I was looking for you' to spare him any further nerves. ]

I wanted to congratulate you for your recent efforts. It takes a significant amount of courage to risk so much for a friend. [ A pause, then: ]

Though if you're going to steal from my office again, perhaps be a little more subtle about it. [ His tone is mildly amused. ]

A

[hawkwardness]

[Is Cliff used to a show off bird dropping out of the sky with absolutely no warning yet? Because it's fun, and he's doing it, and he's never going to stop. He flares his wings at the last second, landing on the back of the bench.]

< Hi. Are you going to join a club? >

[Reading over someone's shoulder from a hundred feet up is the second best thing next to flying... and he's earned the right to be smug about that too.]

[awooligan]

[Not just yet... At least he isn't too startled or bothered by it, even if he masks his surprise with a frown. Tobias... Why do you do this...

And why do you have to ask questions!!]

Man, I don't know. [He picks up one of the sturdier papers and starts folding it back and forth, back and forth in an accordion fold.] I thought about it, but it's all pretty lame. Anyway... I probably shouldn't keep treating this like real school, now that I don't have to prove I'm not slacking off to Carl, you know?

[hawkwardness]

[Hmm. He tilts his head...] < The 'non-humans' club is really just our secret gaming sessions. Not being human isn't a requirement either, it's... kind of devolved. >

[...That's an understatement.]

[awooligan]

[Cliff brings a leg up to wrap his arms around, a layer of protection to put between him and Tobias's suggestion. Even if it's just a label slapped onto a group of friends hanging out, it makes his stomach twist to think about being part of that label, and at the fact that Tobias had the idea in the first place.]

Yeah, no thanks.

[hawkwardness]

[...Oookay. He'd be tempted to roll his eyes, if he could.]

< It's not what you think. Vivi's the only one who isn't human there, besides me, sort of. It's just a joke, anymore. No one's going to assume anything about you. >

A

[imyoubut]

That's quite a collection of papers you have there.

[It's very likely Cliff didn't hear any footsteps. This particular member of the faculty can be quite stealthy when she wants to be. Partially because she likes to keep the people here on their toes and partially because startling people is funny.]

Looking to make the most out of your time here?

[awooligan]

Uh!

[Even with heightened werewolf senses, he doesn't hear her until it's too late, and half-turning in surprise makes him tear a line in the paper he's currently looking at. Heck. He's quick to drop it, as if that might undo the damage.]

I...don't know. I guess?

[He's still startled about how quiet she was and is trying to do math, only he doesn't know what math it would be and he's bad at math anyway. It makes responding to her question like a normal person more difficult.]

[imyoubut]

[There was probably some magic trickery involved in her stealth. Wouldn't be the first time she used her skills for less than noble actions. Though even if magic was involved, Cliff should be able to assume that there was more involved than a spell or too.]

Ah, I see. Certainly no harm in being unsure. A new student, perhaps?

[She responses with an amused grin, but with less mockery and more light teasing. Though it does fade as she tries to look a bit more professional.]

Either way, I should introduce myself. Urtz Cromwell, Professor of Magic 101 and Practical Uses for Magic in the Modern Day. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance.

[awooligan]

[bold of you to assume that cliff can critically think about magic even when faced with someone who is clearly not human]

Uh, sure. I mean, you too. I'm Cliff.

[Practical, modern magic, huh... Sounds useful and cool, but he's pretty sure he doesn't have a magical bone in his body. That's why it had been crossed off his shortlist, bumped for something less hands-on. What a bad decision on his part -- wanting to be informed but stuck in like five social studies classes. No wonder he absorbed nothing.]

I've been here since the end of August. I wanted something fun to fill the time, but now I'm realizing it's like taking another class. [Except for the sports.]

[imyoubut]

Even classes can be fun if you take the right ones. But I'm hardly the best consultant on the matter, given I was privately tutored.

[She wrinkles what seems to be a vague outline of a nose, but otherwise doesn't comment on the matter further.]

Either way, perhaps I can be of assistance? What sort of topics interest you?