fandomhigh | Detention [6/3]

The danger shop is divided into four sections. The first is just an open space with hardwood floors and windows high off the ground, somewhat resembling the open floor of a high school gymnasium. The second is a row of desks, like one might find in a typical high school classroom. The third looks vaguely high school cafeteria-ish, and fourth, furthest from the door, looks like, of all things, a basement, filled with basement-y things like old, forgotten souvenirs, with a cracked, cement floor.

Artie sits at one of the desks as the students arrive.

Students for detention:
~~Belthazor~~
~~John Connor~~
Hermione Granger
Phoebe Halliwell
Molly Hayes
Lilly Kane
Paige Matthews
Dawn Summers
Jamie Madrox (self-inflicted)

[ooc: the OCD is up! Detention will be running from 9 am to 5:30 FHT, or when the final activity has been completed successfully, whichever comes first.

ETA Artie-mun is now going afk. Afternoon activities are slowplayable this evening as long as everyone is amenable to that. Have fun, peeps. Talk to Artie thread can be slow played, too, Molly and Hermione.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bel looked around. "Well, Phoebe, Piage, and Hermione are all witches, not aliens," Bel said. "I can tell. So that leaves Molly. Maybe she's an alien."

"You can tell who's a witch?" Dawn asked, then scolded, "See, now that would be a secret. And Molly's a mutant, not an alien."

"Yeah," Bel said. "I can feel witches. I was trained to sense them."

"Just witches? And how were you trained?" She very carefully didn't ask him why he'd been trained to identify witches.

"I can sense other demons, too," Bel said. "Like I knew what Angelus was right away. I got trained to feel a witch's magic so I can tell the difference between a real witch and a new age wannabe right away."

"interesting," Dawn said, making mental notes and wondering what would happen when he met Willow. "How do they feel different? And can you tell species of demon?"

"If I'm familiar with a kind of demon I can usually tell," Bel said. "But there's so many of them out there that sometimes I just get a vague demon sense but don't know what type. Witches...I'm not sure how to explain it. They, um, kinda make me feel tingly."

Dawn blinked and her eyes widened. "Tingly?"

"It's hard to describe," Bel said. "I just feel it when a witch is near. Or a demon for that matter. But a witch tingle is different from a demon tingle. A witch tingle is, um, sweeter? Like how you feel when you have a sudden craving for sugar." Probably not the best mataphor to use, considering.

Dawn understood all about cravings for sugar. It didn't make her feel better, but she was still trusting Bel, so. "So you could turn that around and hunt demons, theoretically?"

Bel nodded. "The only problem is they'll feel me coming, too," he said, "but they probably won't think another demon is coming to kill them right away, though."

"So...if you were to hunt with people who weren't witches...you could act as bait?" Dawn said, trying to think strategically.

"Possibly," Bel said. "Demons, at least where I'm from, tend to be territorial, so if they sensed another demon nearby they might come to investigate. Or if they were looking for me in particular, but the Underworld thinks I'm dead right now."

"Why do they think that?"

"They think I died with my mother when Piper vanquished her," Bel explained. "But Angel knocked me out of the way in time."

"Isabel told me a bit about your mom," Dawn said, looking down at her hands, unsure what to do with them, "and I'm sorry you had to go after her. That must have been difficult. And good for Angel."

"Kinda," Bel said, "but not really. I hated her. She was never really a mother to me. She thought I was weak because I was half human."

"Do you think that?" Yeah, okay, probably too personal. "Er, you don't have to answer, obviously."

"Sometimes," Bel admitted. "I used to all the time."

"If anything, I would think it gives you an advantage. You know how humans think, so it's easier to destroy them," Dawn said, "I'm pretty sure that Angelus and Spike used to think of it that way. Er, not that I ever talked to Angelus about this."

"That's why I was sent to Fandom High," Bel said. "To get in touch with my human side. I buried it for so long. But it kinda backfired. I got too much in touch with it."