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

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

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."

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As luck (or the narration rolling dice behind the scenes) would have it, Dylan finds himself in the library. He pauses, just inside the doors, taking it in, comparing it to the archive the Eye keeps in London, and then continues on, keeping an eye out for signs of life. And just so he doesn't creep up on someone and scare the shit out of them, he calls, "Hello? Anybody home?"

It takes a moment, but eventually a head emerges from his office, glancing around for the sound of the voice, before nodding with a small smile.

"Hi. Can I help you find something?"

"I was wondering more if I could ask you a couple of questions," Dylan answers, shaking his head. A pause follows and then he adds, "I'm one of the guys the headmaster called in for a job interview." And not just some random guy, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Mostly.

"Oh, yeah. Rhodes, right?" He shifts, before holding out a hand to shake the other man's. "Dorian Williams. Nice to meet you."

Dylan doesn't bother correcting him with his first name, like he did with Caroline, just Rhodes a little less formal and a little more familiar, considering his day job, than it would be with the title before it. He goes for the shake instead, that in mind, and as he pulls back, offers, "Yeah, you, too."

A beat.

"So, you liking it here, so far?" He did mention having questions, right?

"I've been here with Caroline and Ric since the beginning. I'll admit that there are days when Ric and I don't see eye to eye, but these are all good kids." And the kids make it worth it, at least in his mind.

"You get into it over what direction the school should be going in? Or ... ?" The kids are important, yes, and if he tells him the reason they don't always get along is because Ric thinks they need to be pushing the kids to be harder, faster, better, whatever, that's going to raise some red flags for him. He thinks the kids should understand what they are and what they're capable of, and know how to defend themselves, sure, but there's a difference between that and being a monster.

Did he mention he's still a little paranoid this is somehow going to bite him in the ass, hence him sniffing around a little? How about the part where, if this does turn out to be some kind of trap, he's going to get all of the werewolf kids out, even if he has to go down with the ship to do it?

"Depends on the day." It's not so much the direction that they disagree on, but more Ric not giving Dorian his space when he requests it. "Mystic Falls tends to be a bit of a hot bed for crazy, and you don't always have room to breathe when things start going down."

And also they've had differences on curriculum, but that's more Dorian being wary of how far these kids should go, while also acknowledging that when Ric is picking spells for witches, it's only going to go so far in protecting them.

"Yeah, so I've heard," Dylan answers.

A moment of pause follows, more than as he takes a moment to mull things over, and then finally, he lets out a breath of a laugh, though the sound is largely without humor. He shakes his head, too, before he explains, asks, "This place really is just a school for kids like us, huh?"

This place really is what Caroline says it is, no tricks.

Dorian smirks, before shaking his head. "Yeah, it is. And trust me, it's a mess sometimes because if you think human kids get into trouble, supernatural ones are just as bad. But they're good kids. They're just doing their best, and we're trying to help them do that."

"I can deal with kids," Dylan tells him, shaking his head faintly. "I got four of 'em at home." Never mind the fact that, again, none of the Horsemen are teenagers. Still, though. The point still stands. "I just -- I don't know. I guess I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, here."

For this to be some kind of trap, if not for him than for the kids. Either way. But this all feels on the level and he can't smell the lie on Dorian, so maybe not. Maybe this is real, vampire headmistress or not.

"I get that. But Caroline was a teen supernatural herself. She really does just want to do right by these kids."

The best she can, in whatever way she can.

"I guess it's up to you whether or not you want to buy in."

"Yeah," he drawls, thoughtfully. A moment of pause follows, a heavy breath out, and then he returns his attentions to Dorian where it had wandered to some middle distance. "Anyway, uh. I should probably let you get back to whatever you were doing before I barged in."

"No problem. Enjoy the rest of your tour."

And then he will go back to that research he was doing, but he doesn't seem too bothered by the fact that he was interrupted. Probably because the teenagers tend to do it all the time.

Now Dylan is free to choose his own adventure again: another teacher or poking at one of the students?

He might try one of the students, now, for all that he's not sure going that route will get him too far. Teenagers aren't likely to talk to adults on the best of days, then add in the fact that he's a stranger, who's snooping around, and well, yeah. He's not sure how this is going to go, but he feels like he needs a kid's perspective on all this, too, so he is going to give it at go.

Dealer's choice as to which kid he ends up talking to.

Well, one will come looking for him then. A brightly smiling student rounds the corner, smelling faintly like death - standard for a vampire - and he flashes Dylan a bright smile.

"Mr. Rhodes? Ms. Forbes sent me. She's getting a little tied up with administrative things but I can pick up the tour and take you if there's anything else you want to see." Then after a pause, he holds out a hand. "Milton Greasley. Most people call me MG."

Dylan is a little put off by the combination of sunshine and death that this kid apparently is, but he takes it in stride or at least tries to, going for the handshake when it's offered. Unlike he did with Caroline, he doesn't correct MG with his first name, weird as it is not to. He probably shouldn't let the students call him by his first name, right? Right.

"Nice to meet you," he offers as he takes his hand back. A shrug follows, and then, "And I'm still trying to get a feel for the campus, so ... I don't know. Take me somewhere you think I should see?"

He doubts that'll gain him entrance to any secret, evil torture chambers, if there are any around here, but maybe he can give this place the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's more curious, now, as to what the students here value.

MG pauses, glancing around before peering over his shoulder to the library behind him. "Well, since you've already seen the library ... " He glances around, and inspects Dylan, before tipping his head back. "Do you want to check out the spell craft labs?"

"Sure," Dylan agrees, flashing him a smile. Once they're headed in that direction, and at idle, he asks, "You do magic, too?"

He's never seen a vampire do magic, but -- well, he's pretty sure that, excluding Hope, no one's seen a werewolf do magic, either, and yet here he is. For all he knows, he just hasn't run into the right kind of vampire. For all he knows, all vampires are the 'right' kind for magic, he just never got so far as to let them try anything on him, in a fight or otherwise.

"Oh, no. The only way that we know so far that you can be both a vampire and a witch is if you were a siphon before you turned. I think it's safe to say that I had zero talent in the magic department."

He doesn't seem all that bothered by it, though. Being a vampire is hard enough. He hadn't known anything about the supernatural world before he became one.

"But, sometimes I'll volunteer to be target practice or help Josie or Lizzie with their spell work. They, on the other hand, are actual siphons, and vampires are handy magic batteries."

"Fair," Dylan allows.

A pause follows, as the kid continues, and then he snorts. That's -- slightly horrifying, but then again, this is a man whose own magic, beyond just being a werewolf, was hard won by his pack. Hands off his magic, please.

He is sort of morbidly curious in spite of himself, however, and so, after a beat, he asks, "That kinda thing tire you out? Being the Energizer Bunny or whatever?"

"Yeah. I mean, they don't take that much. Kind of like a sugar crash in the middle of the afternoon, you know?"

Granted, they could desiccate him if they really wanted to, but Josie and Lizzie are his friends. They wouldn't do that.

"Plus it gets us used to it, in case they need to siphon us in the field." And by in the field, he means in case something goes wrong in Mystic Falls.

Because this is, at the end of the day, Mystic Falls.

"You guys do a lot of field work?" he asks. Yes, he knows the town can be dangerous and not everything can be avoided, but how much effort does the staff put into protecting the kids, he wonders.

"Oh, no. Usually the monsters come to us. We wound up with a couple of artifacts that were essentially monster magnets."

He's not sure if that's good or bad.

"But one time, this girl went missing in town and they thought it might be supernatural in origin so they sent us undercover at the local high school to try and see what we could find and get locator spell materials."

It's like they were spies. It was badass. But it also ended in the girl having being eaten by a giant spider creature and soul-vomit on all of their shoes.

"How'd that go?" Dylan asks, getting mixed signals from his body language. He gets that he enjoyed feeling like secret agents, but -- he shakes his head a little, frowning. He's not that much of a mind reader. Not when it gets that complicated.

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