back in action

[scotch_egg]

WHO: Alec Hardy & You
WHERE: Kaisou University, around the city
WHEN: August 22
WHAT: Returning home
WARNINGS: None yet



Back from Peru two days before, Alec takes the Sunday to refresh himself before throwing himself back into Kaisou. Did anyone know he had left? No. Why would he tell them.


I.General Text
U/N: NO

What the hell is this?



II-Office Hours Alec spends the majority of the day in his office, getting papers sorted and things prepped for the coming year. The dog rests by his feet. Or rather a shadow in the shape of a whippet that appeared on the road to Macchu Picu and wouldn't leave his side. He's doing his best to ignore it. At a knock he'll say:

"What?".


II- Out on the Town In the evening, Alec can be found at his favorite cafe, sipping the tolerable coffee and scrolling through his phone. The shadow whippet once more at his feet. He looks exhausted though and as if he's about ready to fall asleep where he's sitting. And maybe his head does list a little, but it's fine, he's not sleeping he's thinking with his eyes closed.

Comments

Random Perfectly Normal Cell Phone Text

[serpentinthegarden]

[ This is a random and perfectly normal, run-of-the-mill, cell phone text for no reason in particular as since he didn't know Alec had gone he also didn't know he had returned. ]

Jerk.

completely random

[scotch_egg]

Ass.

[And then]

I got you a souvenir.

absolutely random

[serpentinthegarden]

From where the canteen? University leftovers?

[scotch_egg]

Lima.

Do you want it or not?

[serpentinthegarden]

Keep it. It's not like I have room for any cursed Incan jars.

Do you ever actually find anything on these unannounced trips?

[scotch_egg]

Fine.

[he'll bin it then. eventually]

Sort of.

[and he takes a picture of the whippet]

[serpentinthegarden]

You got a dog?

[ Color him surprised! ]

You never seemed the dog type to me.

Text; un: ShootingStar

[blurrier]

What's what?



....AH! Your profile pic!! Nanny???

[scotch_egg]

No.

You must be Yoosung.

And I mean this app. I didn't install it.

Is Anthony behind this?

[that shit]

[blurrier]

OH that makes more sense, you're his brother!! HI

It's the Libra app and yeah it installs itself, it did for me ummm around the end of May? And then I started having visions about another me. That might happen to you, too.

OH you'll probably also see lights in the sky at night!

[scotch_egg]

Hi.

[this boy sounds high as a kite. or perhaps he really has tapped into something. Being skeptical is part and parcel to the trade, so he doesn't believe him right away.]

Has Anthony been telling you stories? You know he does that.

[he's not going to ask sarcastically if Yoosung means stars, but it's a near thing]

[blurrier]

I definitely know he does that but it's been a lil while since he's told me a story haha

I'm serious tho, it's true!! You'll hear the same thing from everyone else on here, promise!

[scotch_egg]

[hm. interesting if true]

What kind of lights are they? Has anyone given any sort of scientific explanation? It better not be aliens.

Office Hours

[crystallinememories]

Luckily, his entirely too nerdy graduate student is very self-motivated, and only a little bothered by his habit of disappearing with no notice. But it seems Alec has returned, and with the school year starting up soon they do actually need to go over some things.

Raha will enter after the acknowledgement, messenger bag stuffed with books and papers slung over his shoulder. "Welcome back. I was hoping we could talk about what classes you're teaching this semester; I have been put in charge of one of my own but I can still help with TAing if you need it..."

Of course, Alec might be less inclined to focus on literally anything the young man is saying in favor of taking in his new appearance. Were his eyes always red, and when did he get those tattoos on his neck and marks under his eyes?

The cat ears and tail are definitely new.

[scotch_egg]

He likely will notice, though he's currently buried in paperwork, so he'll look up in a moment to take it all in.

"Hm. What classes?" He might need it, but he doesn't want to overburden the grad student. There is a lot going on as it is. "Your things are on the table."

And by things he means a couple books about the ancient architecture of South America, one book on exploring ley lines, and a bag of fresh Peruvian coffee.

"Read what you sent me, by the way. Section three needs to be redone. I'll have that to you by tomorrow."

There is a lot of red.

In the meantime, feel free to settle in, and don't mind the whippet of living shadow sniffing your ankle and wagging its tail as if asking for pets. There are no visible eyes, just uniform black, but it is definitely watching.

[crystallinememories]

"Two sections of Introduction to World History, is all." Which Raha could probably teach while sleeping, which..... is not totally out there as a possibility. (Alec has almost certainly found him asleep in an impossible place at some point or another.)

"Oh-- thank you!" See, this is why he mostly doesn't mind Alec just vanishing on him. He picks up the ley line book first and flips through with interest, before stashing all of them in his bag and settling in a corner to pull out his laptop. "I was struggling with how to frame that part... maybe I need to do a full rewrite of it."

Considering nothing at all has been said about his obvious changes, he's momentarily relieved that he won't have to explain it-- that is, until he spots the shadow dog. "Ah, um-- where... did that come from?" You don't seem like the person to adopt a random dog, if that was all he saw it as. And Raha had very much been under the impression that even though Alec researched the paranormal, he wasn't actually part of it.

[scotch_egg]

"Good, then you can take the Intro course and Myths and Monsters, or whatever the fuck the dean wanted me to call it. It's your focus. I don't care what you call it. I'm thinking of developing a course on cryptids."

He types that in his notes. Then takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. Christ, he's tired and jet lagged as all hell.

"That thing met me on the road to Machu...Picchu..." He trails off as he looks up and notices the changes.

Well...that's something. Alec makes a mental note to look up more information on...animal-kin or furry people or whatever the kids are calling it these days and folds his hands on his desk. He's never really good at this sort of thing, but he owes it to his best student to give it a go.

"Are you having a mental health crisis?"

[crystallinememories]

Raha is currently trying to figure out how to deal with the shadow dog, and eventually just... holds his hand out to it. And curls his tail very much out of its reach for good measure. (And it does seem to move weirdly naturally.)

He looks up at Alec again, now all the more confused. "No?" And then after a moment's pause, because he's worried about the answer-- "Why?"

[scotch_egg]

The dog will wag its tail and give the hand a lick, but as it's a shadow, it won't feel like anything in particular.

As for Alec, he considers his next words carefully:

"You've...changed your style... a bit." Drastically.

Wildcard: outside Moxxie's apartment

[not_a_possum]

Alec might be snooping around. It wouldn't have been difficult to find out where Professor Lansky lives once he asks his various colleagues. Or maybe he just happens to be passing by. Either way, he'll see a little red imp in a suit and a red bow tie climbing up a bush outside Professor Lansky's apartment window. There's an orange and white cat sitting on the windowsill watching the imp climb up who seems completely undisturbed when he ends up perched on the outside of the window, opening it and petting the cat for a moment before he comes inside, closing the window again before he and the cat both jump down into the apartment.

[scotch_egg]

That...doesn't look right. He wishes he hadn't wandered by here in the evening. He'd been meaning to go home and sleep, but as this was on his way, he'd decided might as well. Only to see the man's house getting entered by a bloody--cosplayer...

Or perhaps something more?

He comes up to the window and, feeling like an idiot, knocks on it. He's not just going to go in. The shadow whippet seems to have no such worry and trots right through the wall to sniff around, tail wagging.

[not_a_possum]

Moxxie hears the knock on the window and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Why is someone knocking on his window? He realizes, with a growing pit in his stomach, that he didn't lock it, but he's afraid to go to where the window is and try to lock it because he doesn't want whoever or whatever is out there to see him.

Then he suddenly sees his cat arch his back and hiss at something. Moxxie turns and sees--

"What the...shit!"

He suddenly backs up, startled by the fact that there's something in his home other than him and his cat. Then he notices that this weird shadow that seems to be a dog is wagging its tail. Maybe it's okay.

"Um...good...doggie?"

[scotch_egg]

The dog barks. It's a strange ethereal sound that seems to be absorbed by the air but echoes between the ears. It seems to want to lead him to the window.

Alec, for his part, knocks again and wonders if he should try the door or investigate through the window himself. He doesn't actually know if this is some fae creature or the professor himself, turned weird and shifted by...whatever the hell was going on.

[not_a_possum]

When the dog barks, the cat runs and hides under the couch, and Moxxie just stares, watching it for a minute. It's trying to lead him to the window. Where the knocking is. Okay. He's nervous. He doesn't know what's making the knocking sound and he really doesn't want to be led to his untimely demise, but considering the shadow dog was able to just come in on it's own, Moxxie doesn't really think hiding in here is really going to help.

He considers grabbing a gun before he follows the dog, but looking at the weird, wispy nature of the dog...he doubts it would do any good if the dog's owner was made of the same stuff.

Tentatively, nervously, Moxxie follows the dog, peering around the corner to look at the window, expecting some ghoulish horror when he sees...a guy?

Wait, he looks familiar. Does this guy teach at Kaisou? If he does, it's not someone in his department and not someone he's ever actually spoken to, but Moxxie's pretty sure he's seen him around the school before.

"What are you doing here?" he shouts, still unwilling to go any closer to the window. Just in case.

[scotch_egg]

"Uh..." Well... this is awkward. For all he knows he's gotten the wrong place or is having a mental episode. The dog jumping back and forth between himself and the apartment definitely adds credence to the latter idea.

"I'm looking for Professor Lansky?" Even saying it aloud seems foolish, but it's said.