tvd / nysm } { the salvatore school for the young and gifted

[vampireboulevard]

Nestled just on the outskirts of the tiny town of Mystic Falls, Virginia is the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. As far as most of the town is concerned, the school is exactly how it's marketed - a boarding school for rich and gifted students - but a few are aware of it's real origins.

A school for young supernatural students, so that they can grow up somewhere where they didn't have to hide.

The headmaster is actually much older than she looks, having not aged a day since she was seventeen, but she's learned to dress herself up to fit the part. Her long hair is swept up into an elegant twist, her pant suit is perfect and polished, and her makeup is appropriately adult. Still, there's not a lot that can hide the youthfulness of her features no matter how hard she tries.

She's standing at the front of the school, watching as the car pulls up in front before flashing the man who arrives a bright smile and wave. Once he emerges from the car, she waves and makes her way closer to shake his hand.

"Mr. Rhodes. Welcome to the Salvatore School."

Comments

[onebehind]

To say that Dylan has mixed feelings on being here is an understatement.

On one hand, through centuries of careful breeding and ritual and so on, the wolves of the Eye of Horus are not entirely the same as your average werewolf. He actually does have an allergy to silver, for one, and his bite is contagious, for another -- it's how he managed to bring the Horsemen in, despite none of them, except Jack, being werewolves to start. Not to mention the fact that, as far as the first change goes, they don't actually have to kill anyone, to trigger it -- though that's a secret they guard fiercely. Your first change happens, if you were born into it, when you hit puberty, or if you were bitten, on your first full moon after. Even if it's not the case anymore, his hands were clean, when this all started for him.

On the other, though, the pack mentality most other werewolves have is still going strong in the Eye, and -- fuck, the kids here are just kids, and probably don't understand a whole lot of what's happening to them, or are having trouble dealing with the aggression that comes with all of this, or whatever. The list goes on, really, and he feels the need to be here, to try and help, and so here he is.

On the other other, he hates leaving the Horsemen alone, never mind the fact that they can take care of themselves, and really, he can see them whenever he feels like. He hates leaving his day job at the FBI, where Fuller is still learning to deal with all this shit, because oh, yes, he bit him, too, the whole thing a mutual decision, after Fuller found out what he was, to give him a little extra survivability, when he, personally, has been shot twice in the last few months. He hates the fact that, while he has arrangements made for nights of the full moon, he probably won't be able to join the Horsemen there, because what kind of teacher would he be, if he fucked off, when the kids probably need him the most. He hates that there are fucking vampires here. He --

-- well, you get the picture.

Regardless, however, he manages to summon up a smile of his own as he gets out of the car, and moves to meet her halfway, taking her hand in his for the shake, once they're face to face.

"Dylan," he corrects as he steps back. "And yeah, thanks." It looks more like a summer camp, here, than his mental image of a 'boarding school', but he's not going to tell her as much.

[vampireboulevard]

"Caroline then. I figured we could start with a tour, and I can answer any questions you may have, and we can go from there?"

She knows that most werewolves have issues with vampires as a general rule, and she can't say she blames them. Vampires have largely treated werewolves like garbage, due to the fatal nature of their bite. But Caroline is trying to change that, to teach them to coexist when they're young and hopefully help build a brighter future.

"I'm really glad you showed an interest in our school. The werewolf students could really use some good role models, and ... understandably when you're a vampire running a supernatural school it's hard to get a lot of werewolves to trust you enough to even come in for an interview."

And she doesn't begrudge them that. "We do have a working relationship with the Crescent wolf pack in New Orleans, which is where a good portion of our wolf students are from, but we also have a lot of students who have only just turned or were mostly alone so helping deal with these changes is our number one priority."

[onebehind]

"Sounds good," Dylan agrees, gesturing for her to lead the way.

A snort follows, at the idea that she's been having a hard time getting any werewolves to come in, and while he doesn't comment beyond that -- well, it's really not hard to tell that he's not surprised. He might not be here, himself, if the Eye hadn't already looked into this place and assured him that, despite being run by a vampire, it was safe. He mutters an apology as they continue on.

"How many kids you got, total?" he wonders, after a beat. Whether he's just talking about the werewolves, here, or the entirety of the student population is up for debate. She can answers however she likes.

[vampireboulevard]

She smirks at the snort, before shaking her head. "It's okay. I've been trying to get werewolves to trust me my entire tenure as a vampire, and I know it's not going to happen overnight. Even with you. I just appreciate that you were willing to trust me enough to hear me out."

She has a lot of work to do before she reaches her dream of inter-species cooperation. But she's willing to put in the work if it means a safer world for her daughters, and other children like her. And with that she will lead her way into the doors of the school, letting in the sounds of dozens of students who are moving through their day to day. And as they pass, aside from the occasional magic spell being practiced on one of the community tables, they seem mostly like average teenage students.

"We have about a hundred and fifty students, most of them witches. Our most robust program is our elementary program, started when our daughters were children. That's why it's mostly witches, most vampires and werewolves aren't turned that young. But as we started expanding to a high school curriculum, we have more diversity. Also I feel like I should clarify that when I say werewolves, we're mostly referring to the seven cursed bloodlines. From what I've been told, your type of werewolf is different?"

She doesn't ask to be critical, she's more asking to be clear. She doesn't want to assume that everyone's experience is the same, and she wants to make sure that she can properly brief Dylan on her own students' needs and histories.

[onebehind]

"Your guys and my guys haven't exactly had the best track record together," Dylan says by way of agreement. And despite not being the same as every other werewolf here, werewolves in general are still his guys, if only because, "I think we share a common ancestor, somewhere."

Even if they're older as a group, on the whole, the Eye haven't always been werewolves. They were witches, first, and what happened to them was meant to be a curse, too, even if they've evolved beyond it, more or less. For the most part, even if changing is the worst pain he could possibly imagine, even if he'll never go to a fancy dinner party, because silver, it's seen as a gift, now, offered as one. He wouldn't have bitten Fuller, if it wasn't, not to mention the kids.

"But yeah," he continues, irregardless and after a beat, "we're a step or two removed from the standard." He wonders, briefly, who's been talking and why. He has visions of, if not Caroline specifically, then some vampire, somewhere, capturing one of them and torturing them for information. He tries to put that out of mind, tries to tell himself that whoever she touched base with, to get him here in the first place, probably filled her in on a little, but he doesn't quite manage.

He manages to keep himself from shaking his head before he asks, "How much do you know about my pack?" He's not going to give away all of their secrets, if he doesn't have to.

[vampireboulevard]

"Not a huge amount about your pack specifically, just enough to know that you can turn people with a bite, where the werewolves who are here can't."

Which is really all she needed to know, to know that they were different. And she hasn't dug too much in, as nosy as she would like to be, because she knows that some information needs to be earned, and she wants to show that she can be trusted to wait for them to bring some of the information to her.

"Our usual type of werewolf is exclusively genetic, with a curse triggered when they kill someone. For most of our students, it was either an accident or self-defense. Some of the students knew the risk, some didn't. A lot of our werewolves are orphans that were adopted or in foster care, and they didn't have anywhere else to go."

And as she says that she'll pause at the entrance to one of the gyms where the school "pack" hangs out. There's a lot of rough housing and other athletic activity, and the students are mostly male, but there are a few girls in there, who give as good as they get. There's no real cohesion to the group, and there's one student who's on the outside of all of them, sitting on the bleachers and seems intently involved in his homework.

[onebehind]

"It was genetic in my case, too," Dylan tells her, almost absently. "My old man was a werewolf."

And what a clusterfuck his childhood had been, as a result -- especially considering the fact that, while he wasn't exactly an orphan, his father died before he could explain things to him, and his mother had no idea what to do with him, beyond stay away on nights of the full moon. She'd known what Lionel was, yes, but she'd been human, herself. He would have killed for someone to help him through this shit when he was a kid; again, he wants to be that someone, for these kids, now.

"But yeah, my bite passes the curse along," he finishes.

A pause follows, as they reach the gym and he takes a moment to look over the kids. When his eyes fall on the one student sitting by himself, he nods to him, asks, "What's his story?"

[vampireboulevard]

No matter what the circumstances, no supernatural creature seems to have things easy. Even witches, that can be mostly family oriented, struggle with situations where parents are killed, or in the case of the French Quarter witches, can give too easily into tradition. They've all had to work together to make their lives better, and she never wants a child to feel as alone as she or Tyler did when they first turned, or like Bonnie, who felt like they had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and no one to help teach her how to carry it.

Still, she lets the particulars of werewolf genetics fall to the side for a moment when Dylan addresses a specific student in the room. "That's Rafael Waithe. He's new, both to the school and to being a werewolf. He had his first full moon just last month. He was also in the foster care before this, so we anticipated he would be a little slow to warm up, but he's making good progress so far." The true adjustment had been being separated from his best friend, but they're adjusting to the compromises there, slowly but surely.

Rafael looks up at the sound of his name, supernatural hearing and whatnot, and he turns towards where Caroline is speaking. She gives him a small wave, which he returns, but he doesn't move from his spot on the bleachers, just eyeing the unknown adult next to her and listening to where the conversation goes from there.

If the other wolves notice Dylan, they don't seem to care, too engrossed in their game.

[onebehind]

For a moment, Dylan gives all of his attention to Rafael, one corner of his mouth ticking upwards into a tentative smile as he makes eye contact. A nod follows, then he turns back to Caroline, the smile fading as something sympathetic creeps in behind his eyes.

"I got ... five kids, at home." He uses the term 'kids' loosely, includes both Merritt and Fuller in that number, despite the fact that they're grown men. They're also new to being werewolves and they're his, even if they're not his, so they count. "One of 'em was in the system, too. Two of the others ... " Probably should have been, given how abusive Daniel's parents were and how neglectful Henley's were.

He shakes his head faintly before he continues, "I know how rough it can be." A beat. "And I know, personally, how much it sucks, losing your friends." Considering his mother cut him off from all of his father's friends, from other werewolves. He wonders how much different his life would have been, if he'd had them to help. "But, at the risk of sounding like one've those self-help motivational posters, it gets better."

He'll find his family, his pack. Dylan did.

[theloophole]

They come back from break, and there's a new civics teacher.

Normally, that wouldn't be quite so separate from history, if this were a normal school, but at the Salvatore School, history also comes with a nice helping of the history of the species, so it's good to divide it into two separate classes. But when Hope walks in to the classroom and realizes that the new teacher is also the guy she was somewhat rude to way back when, she blanches, before winding her way to the back of the classroom.

Probably for the best she makes herself as inconspicuous as possible.

She is an attentive student, if nothing else, and when the class ends, she waits for the rest of the students to leave before making her approach.

"Mr. Rhodes?"

[onebehind]

Dylan, having gone back to his desk to start gathering his things, looks up as Hope approaches. When she addresses him, and despite that earlier rudeness (he probably wasn't the nicest, either, for all that he was still unsure about all of this), flashes her a smile as he turns to face her.

"Hey, yeah," he starts, congenially. "You need something?"

[theloophole]

"I just wanted to ... apologize. For starting us off on the wrong foot." Hope may not be the greatest at making friends among her peer group, but she at least tries to respect teachers. "I was having a bad day, but that's no excuse for me to take it out on anyone, especially a guest."

[onebehind]

Expression taking a turn towards something unreadable, Dylan takes a moment to study her. When he seems to find what he's looking for, he shakes his head gently, dismissing the apology. "It was kind of a tense day for everyone. I wasn't really at the top of my game, either."

He appreciates the apology, accepts it and forgives her, but she didn't necessarily need to apologize to him. He would have been fine without it. He remembers how moody teenagers can be, and doubly so when they're like him, have things to deal with beyond just teenager things.

[theloophole]

"Fair enough. But so few people like me around here, I try to at least stay on the teacher's good side."

She's kidding. Mostly. She tends to make things harder than they need to be by virtue of being Hope, but that's not the point.

[onebehind]

"People really give you that much crap about your heritage?" he asks, never mind the fact that it wouldn't really surprise him. Her surname gave him pause, too, even if he got over it fairly quickly. Kids aren't always so forgiving, though, he knows -- not to mention the fact that, like Hope said, she's not easy to get along with, beyond.

[theloophole]

"Not me, exactly. For a while they didn't even know I was a Mikaelson. I went by my mom's name."

For better or for worse, the students approach her like any other student. She appreciates that much about them if nothing else. But when it comes to her father, that's a whole other story.

"But when your dad is the big villain in origin of the species, you hear a lot of stuff you don't always want to."

It has a way of pissing you off because even if it wasn't intended to hurt her, it's not how she remembers her father. Those two people can be hard to reconcile.

[onebehind]

Dylan can understand that. His father wasn't the boogeyman little werewolves, witches and vampires are told to fear in the night, but -- still. Lionel Shrike was something of a local celebrity and then he fell from grace, and while the Eye still holds him in high regard, still treats Dylan, now, like some kind of royalty, he didn't have the Eye, when he was a child, and mortal children can be cruel. He understands intimately.

Gesturing for her to take a seat where ever she likes, he leans back into his own desk, just shy of sitting, himself, before he asks, "You ever hear of a guy named Lionel Shrike?"

[theloophole]

It doesn't take much persuading for Aunt Freya to let her go hang out with Dylan's pack. She might just be excited that Hope has another stable werewolf in her life - and a werewolf-witch at that. All it takes is a promise that Hope will spend at least full month of the summer here in New Orleans, her spring break is hers to do with as she chooses.

Her fingers drum against her thigh as they go, nervous energy filling the space. She knows that this is fine, and none of these people know her, but that doesn't change the fact that she doesn't exactly have the best track record with making friends.

But she wants to try.

"Is there anything I should know?" She glances back at Dylan. "Any ... rituals or niceties?"

[onebehind]

"Don't be a dick?" Dylan suggests wryly, shrugging. Not that he thinks Hope would be (though he wouldn't put it past her to be standoffish, if only by virtue of being a teenager), but now that she's asked, he's drawing a blank. He doesn't think there's anything she needs to know.

"Seriously, though," he continues after a beat. "You'll be fine, and I'll be right there with you." Mostly. There are some people that should be there that are about her age, the younger three of the Horsemen among them. He might let her hang out, if and when they hit it off, but he'll be close enough, if something comes up that starts making her twitchy. She's not in this alone.

[theloophole]

"Damn, you've exposed my grand plan. I was planning to be awful and just make a terrible impression on your pack."

She's kidding. Mostly. Being a Mikaelson means you are fully capable of being an asshole at times, but she's intending to do her best to be on her best behavior. But she takes the reassurance for what it is, and smiles back at him in return.

"I know I should get used to meeting other packs if I'm going to take my Mom's place one day but I haven't really done much. Unless you count the one at school."

[onebehind]

"You still have time." To get comfortable meeting people. She's only a kid, after all. "But hopefully, this'll be a step in the right direction, as far as getting you comfortable goes."

It can't hurt, at least.

He shrugs, either way, and as they pass through a grouping of trees, there's a flicker of something at the edges of her vision, mother of pearl and shifting, like a soap bubble, and then all at once, there's the sound of voices and music somewhere both nearby and distant. The party, it seems, was being hidden from anyone who might just stumble into it. Dylan gives her a moment to come to terms with that, knowing how disorienting it can be, if you're not expecting it, and to ask questions about it, if she has any.

[theloophole]

She does spin in surprise, auburn hair flying as she takes it in, before raising an eyebrow back at him curiously. "A cloaking spell?"

It has to be, but she's never met one this complete before. In theory, the Gemini Coven had something like this, but she's never seen it in person.

[onebehind]

Dylan nods.

"In theory, no one should be out here but us chickens, anyway -- " Because the Eye owns this particular plot of land in all directions for several acres. " -- but this is a little bit of added security, so if someone does stumble in, we're not the reason they find out that werewolves and magic are real."

Ain't nobody got time for that.

[theloophole]

Indeed. The Salvatore School could probably use something like this, especially around the full moon. Hope might feel a little less self-conscious about going for moonlit runs if that were the case.

"It's smart. And a little guaranteed privacy is never a bad thing."

[onebehind]

"Definitely not," Dylan decides, starting forward again, tentatively. He'll let Hope be the one to decide when they head on in, in earnest, but it can't hurt to nudge her in that direction.

Either way and after a beat, he asks, "The school doesn't have anything like this going for it, does it?"

Clearly, he's had the same thought. Maybe that could be something else he brings to the table, assuming everyone's interested in something like that.