Paranormal Activity 101, Tuesday, January 11th

[nojackassfile.livejournal.com]

When the students came into the room on Tuesday they might have noticed that it smelled strongly of old lady (or like a bunch of dried out flowers, rather), but Alaric was acting like he didn't notice anything. If you thought it smelled like old lady now, just wait until later.

"Okay, guys, today we're going to be covering vampires. I'm sure you all know what vampires are, but we're gonna go over the basics anyway for sake of easy test questions when the final comes," Alaric said with a smile. "I realize there are a few vampires in the room, but I promise to be as unbiased as possible. I know you're good people."

You know, when you're not killing innocent carnival workers or biting your golden retriever-like boyfriend, Caroline.



"Right, so, the word vampire usually refers to anything that gains it's life essence through the drinking of blood," Alaric said. "The word vampire wasn't really used until the early 18th century, but many cultures have had myths referring to human-like creatures that drank blood to live for hundreds of years before that. It's a popular myth to fall back on when you want to scare your kids, I think."

Now that the lame attempt of humor was done, Alaric quickly launched into a lecture about vampires, first going over the historical background of vampires in popular culture and then ditching the whole "myth" aspect and talking about the more scientific facts. What they looked like, where you're most likely to find them and the special abilities some of them possessed, such as mind control and (at least from what his research in Fandom's library told him) flying. When he got to weaknesses and how to kill a vampire he tried to cover all the ways you could kill a vampire in every universe he researched, making a point to tell everyone that your mileage may vary depending on what universe's vampire you were dealing with. But chopping off someone's head is usually a sure thing.

Then, yes, he talked about how some vampires were good and you should make sure that they were really trying to kill you and not just getting fuzz out of your hair before throwing holy water on them.

"Sorry if your wrists hurt from all that writing," Alaric said when he was finally finished. "The activity today will be relaxing. Or you'll burn yourself. Then you can relax after class."

He pointed to the tables in the back where there were tea kettles, hot plates, cups and that dried out purple flowers spread out among them. "Today we're all going to be making tea out of vervain. If you were paying attention in lecture you'll recall that where I'm from vervain and vampires don't mix well. Their skin'll start burning off if they touch it and if they ingest it they get quite sick. Humans that ingest vervain will be protected from vampires since one sip of your blood will have them on the ground wishing they were dead in the more traditional sense. If you choose to wear vervain on you, you'll also be protected from vampiric mind control."

"So today we're going to be making tea from vervain. It's not the tastiest thing in the world, but it's better than dying, right? I recommend you add a lot of sugar," Alaric said. "And, of course, vampires are exempt from the activity. Or if you just don't like tea. Then you don't have to do it either."



[OCD up]

Comments

Sign In

[nojackassfile.livejournal.com]

Looking undead. Or with someone undead.

Re: Sign In

[therewaslife]

Nobody Owens

Listen to the Lecture

[nojackassfile.livejournal.com]

As handwavy as it is.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[therewaslife]

Despite knowing a lot about the subject, Bod still took as many notes as he could since some of the knowledge was new to him and he appreciated any and all information about things like this.

He found himself wanting to ask Silas about some of these things, just to see what he'd experienced since he was one of the good vampires Professor Saltzman mentioned.

He did take a few glanced around the room but his gaze never lingered all that long anywhere. His mind was elsewhere and he was keeping his feelings on lockdown.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[trigons_child]

Vampires were all Raven needed right now. She almost fled the class, but forced herself to stay, trying to ignore her father's voice in her head demanding that she accept the power he offered and destroy the vampires in the class -- vampires? More than one? -- for the harm their kind had done to her. Despite her resolve, she realized it was becoming harder and harder to resist. The temptation was overwhelming, much as it sickened her.

She couldn't even bear to look at Sookie after her dream Sunday night.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe was definitely taking a lot of notes. She was intrigued by the idea that a plant could keep things like vampires away from you.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Despite her general air of 'yeah, yeah, this is all old hat,' Kennedy really was paying keen attention to the lecture; a perspective on vampires that didn't come from her world, much less from the Watchers' Council, was interesting, and probably useful.

You could tell she was interested by the fact that she was, oh, actually taking notes. A lot of them. Not color-coded or anything like that, though. God.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[vanillajello]

Oh, Kate took a lot of notes. She also kept her eyes on her notebook pretty much the entire time, leaning over the desk like she didn't even want to see anyone or have them see her.

This was probably why she'd picked this particular class, but ugggh. She didn't want to deal with any of this now.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[inneedofcoffee.livejournal.com]

Well, that was a new one. Garlic, sure. Holy symbols, sure. Having to count rice if it was thrown, sure.

But a vampire harming tea? Very new to Maladicta.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully was typing away, as fast as she could. And trying to resist the urge to show off. Or even throw the teacher off his stride.

She'd save the notes for later.

Make Tea

[nojackassfile.livejournal.com]

Try not to catch anything on fire, even if it would be impressive considering you're using hot plates.

Re: Make Tea

[therewaslife]

Bod had burned soup before so he wouldn't be too surprised if he set something on fire while making tea. Still, he went about making tea, going through the steps carefully and wincing a few times at the rather pungent aroma.

Still, it would be helpful to know so he kept at it despite wondering if this particular set of clothes would smell forever.

Re: Make Tea

[trigons_child]

Raven knew how to make tea, and the prospect of a tea that made her unappealing to vampires was very intriguing. The taste was terrible, but tolerable with sugar and honey.

Re: Make Tea

[awakestheghosts]

Due to some influence since she had been in Fandom, Chloe was quite adept at making tea.

Ugh. Needs sugar.

A lot of sugar.

Re: Make Tea

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

Caroline would not be catching anything on fire. She intended to just boil water and not actually touch the vervain if she could manage it. Drinking it was clearly beyond her level of participation here.

Re: Make Tea

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen had taken careful notes throughout the lecture and had no difficulties making the tea. Nor in drinking it really. She'd had far worse on other worlds. Still, it would not be high on her list of things she wanted to drink.

Re: Make Tea

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

Bobby was thinking hard as he waiting for his water to boil. If a normal person was allergic to something like vervain, wouldn't that make it unfair to wear it around them? So...why was it different with vampires. Or was it. It was a lot to think about.

Re: Make Tea

[vanillajello]

Kate hesitated for a moment before deciding to make some tea. What the hell, couldn't hurt, even if the smell was... not good.

She looked like she desperately wanted to be somewhere else the entire time, but that just went with how bad the tea smelled, right?

Re: Make Tea

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Please, Kennedy could make tea. How hard was it? She wasn't that much of a stranger in the kitchen that she could burn water.

Although after getting a whiff of that vervain, ew, she kind of wished she could beg off on account of not being allowed near a stove of any kind. She could totally live with this not being a workable thing in her world, if it smelled like that.

Re: Make Tea

[awesomebigsis.livejournal.com]

Ellie had made plenty of tea, so this was no problem for her. Making tea that smelled terrible was new, though. She wasn't sure anything could make the taste less awful.

Re: Make Tea

[notmyownage]

Claudia was pretty skilled at setting things on fire, but she refrained, today. The tea came out kinda weak, considering Claudia wasn't the best at patience with these sorts of things, but she gave it a test sip.

"Oh, that's disgusting."

Re: Make Tea

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George was brewing the tea, but she had no intention of drinking it.

She wasn't a vampire, and she was sure the vervain wouldn't do anything bad to her. But it smelled like ass and she wasn't really in any danger from vampires, so ... fuck that.

Talk to the TA

[nojackassfile.livejournal.com]

Who probably loves today's lecture.

Re: Talk to the TA

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

What was the opposite of love again?

Caroline spent the lecture silently seething at her desk, spinning the ring on her forefinger anxiously. She was totally thrilled with the idea of everyone and their mother having access to vervain and knowing just the right way to burn her to death from the inside out with it. Totally thrilled.

Talk to Alaric

[nojackassfile.livejournal.com]

He was there, but not drinking tea. Vervain was gross and he was immortal anyway.

Re: Talk to Alaric

[puppywithatutu.livejournal.com]

Oh the glare Alaric was getting as Caroline approached him, her arms crossed. Okay, maybe it was just a bitch face. "Are you seriously trying to kill me? Because saying I don't have to touch the vervain is the same as saying, 'oh Caroline, why don't you just scream out to the whole class that you're a vampire and see who lines up for snack time!'"

Maybe she should have whispered that... Good thing it was the end of class.

OOC

[nojackassfile.livejournal.com]

The tea is gonna be really gross, just sayin'.