CLOSED ♔ two of a kind and no one home

[behindcloseddoors]

WHO || Elena, Kyp, Spike
WHAT || Elena takes some lessons from the doppelganger
WHERE || Chicago, the Waldorf hotel
WHEN || July 13th, onwards, evening
HOW || Actionspam

[ With a surprising amount of overall support from the team, Elena gets the opportunity to return to the Waldorf without having to sneak around her teammates, to continue her 'doppel-lessons' from Kyp.

Of course, she doesn't get to go alone, and Spike has volunteered to play guard dog. The hotel is relatively quiet as they arrive this fine evening. ]

Comments

[notaroundme]

[Elena sticks close to Spike as they move inside the building, not because she's particularly afraid, but as a show of solidarity. She doesn't want her new trainer to think that she's not allowed to be here, when it turns out that the reality of the situation is much more the opposite than she imagined.

Going back on anything he said would be a bad idea, basically.

She moves through the lobby, heading in the direction of the room where they had their last chat, though she glances around for any familiar faces (spot 17).]

[bigbad]

[Spike is glad she's staying close, though in his case, it's mostly because he doesn't trust anything about this situation. He genuinely supports Elena's efforts to learn to use her powers and find a teacher, even an evil one, but they're deep in enemy territory. He won't forget that.

He keeps his eyes open (spot 20) and his ears even more open (listen 28) as they walk towards the room.]

[imposturing]

[ nothing out of the ordinary, whatsoever, yo. :) COAST EEZ CLEAR. ]

[notaroundme]

[They make it through the lobby without incident, acting like they totally belong here.

She heads to the designated room, opening the door with the keycard he gave her last time. She holds the door open just enough to let herself and Spike it before shutting it behind them.]

[imposturing]

[ kyp's standing at the dresser, tying his tie and looks over, skeptically examining spike ] You brought a date?

[notaroundme]

He's here to make sure that the one who goes back to the hotel is really me.

[She shrugs her shoulders as if it's nbd.]

[bigbad]

And to bite you if you try anything evil. [Really nbd.....]

[imposturing]

[ he gives elena a look, like 'really? this guy?' ] I'll be on my most non-evil behavior.

[notaroundme]

[Hey, don't knock Spike. He's like family. She nudges the vampire with her shoulder.]

See, it'll be fine.

[bigbad]

[He raises his eyebrows, clearly not convinced.]

We'll see.

[But he's not going to stop them from training. Provided nothing evil seems to be going on, at least...]

[imposturing]

We need to start by building up your body's reflexive resistances, which means initially exposing it to magic until we can kick in your instinctive responses.

[notaroundme]

O-kay.

[The amount that Elena knows about using/understanding magic? Pretty much zero.]

What kind of magic?

[In other words, are we starting the pain training already too?]

[imposturing]

Thinking the worst already? [ he smirks, amused, and it's unclear whether he picked up her unvoiced thought or whether he just guessed it. out of a bag on the dresser, he pulls out a tiny canister of what looks like department store pepper spray. ] Nothing like that.

[notaroundme]

Can you blame me for being a little nervous?

[She moves further into the room, eyes on the can.]

[imposturing]

If this is the most terrifying thing you've ever encountered, I'd be surprised. [ he looks down at the canister and taps it. ] Magic in a can. The modern world is full of wonders.

[notaroundme]

[A corner of her mouth perks at that, and she nearly laughs.]

I said nervous, not terrified.

[Okay, wait what?]

You can just...put magic in a can?

[imposturing]

I can't, but mages can.

It's a sleep spell. You can buy 'em almost anywhere you can get mace these days. A good way to stop a predator. [ smirk ] Good for our purposes too.

[notaroundme]

[Have a look, because that was totally a generalized you.]

I guess I don't get out much.

[Too busy saving the world from evil bad guys lol]

So, essentially, I should be able to build up some sort of natural resistance?

[imposturing]

[ wow it wasn't, even. HE SPENDS HALF HIS TIME AS A LADY NEVER 5GET. ] That's the gist, yeah. But it takes an effort of will from you. Me knocking you out a hundred times won't do it.

[notaroundme]

[sobbing]

It doesn't sound as simple as just...trying not to fall asleep.

[imposturing]

It isn't. What you're trying to do is actually drop your own defensive reactions. You have to try not to try, to allow your body to wake up its natural defenses.

[notaroundme]

[She's not entirely sure she understands entirely, but she at least gets the idea that dropping her own instincts will be difficult.]

So I have to not try to resist, but not fall asleep either.

[Sounds counter-productive, but okay.]

If I do it right, it should just...work?

[imposturing]

Probably not the first thing. Your magical reflexes are weak. It's gonna take some drilling.

[notaroundme]

[Yeah, this is going to be a matter of trial and error, she's pretty sure.]

Alright, might as well give it a go and see what happens, I guess. Practice makes perfect and all that jazz.

[imposturing]

You might want to stand next to the bed in case you -- [ he mimes falling with his hand and then uncaps the stuff. and once she's in place, he squirts her right in the face. annnd she'll have to make a will save... ]