Scouting the School in Disguise

When Maudre had informed about it, Valdez had been quick to refure any illusion spell being performed on him (myeah, I suppose he didn't want to miss out on the deeply rooted hatred mostly everyone felt for him or something). This didn't matter much for the first night at the Magic School, as the rebels set up camp outside the school.

Now they had entered the castle however - where enough space for all of them had been magiced up* - and at the risk of some student (or teacher for that matter) attacking him on sight, Valdez could not show his face... hence, he could not leave his room.

Maudre had already warned him that he best shouldn't show himself, as she couldn't promise no one would try to hurt him, or worse, if they recognized him. Then, upon realizing that wise words would hardly be enough to keep Valdez from stubbornly doing whatever the hell he wanted, Maudre locked him in his room via a forcefield at the door.

After only one day of this house arrest (or, room arrest rather) Valdez was already bored out of his mind and was willing to agree to an illusion charm. He wanted an illusion that he could turn on and off again though, as he didn't feel like being with Mercedes in the form of 'some student brat'. So Maudre gave him a ring that carried the illusion in it; whenever Valdez would wear it, he would take his illusion form, and soon as he'd take it off he'd turn back to normal again. In exchange for this Maudre wanted some more blood of his, a trade that she proposed almost as if it wasn't something sinister to ask of someone.

After taking a couple small viles of Valdez' blood, Maudre left the room. Valdez noticed she seemed in quite a hurry to leave after giving him the ring, but he didn't think too much of it... not until he put the ring on and saw what kind of illusion it was!

He hurried over to the mirror hanging on the wall to see. There he let out a scream, loud enough to hear at throughout the entire dungeon. Maudre, having reached the stairs from the dungeon up to the main hallway, let out an entertained chuckle.

Well, he should've specified then, shouldn't he?



*Though the castle still looked equally big from the outside, the space on the inside had grown quite a bit. There now was an entire seperate wing for the rebels to stay, where they could choose single or double rooms to sleep. For the vampires, the dungeons had been expanded. Due to it's location, their rooms did look a little bit like fancied-up prison cells, but no one seemed to greatly mind. Then, for the horses and other animals the stables had been expanded, though this wasn't by much as they were already quite big - in the old days, it was very common for everyone, students and teachers, to own their own horse, hence why there was so much (unused) room there. The dining hall had also been enlarged, so that everyone could eat at the same time - granted they would have to sit a bit cramped and closely to each other but stil.

Claudia was busy exploring the dungeons, in the hope that it would help her with not getting lost later on. The scream reached her ears shortly before she heard someone chuckle. She was standing close by the stairs and just caught sight of one person leaving the dungeon. Curious she walked over to where she had heard the scream and tilted her head at what she saw.
"Is everything all right here?" she asked from the doorway uncertain to what had caused the scream.

Not expecting anyone to show up - not even really aware that he'd screamed so loud - Valdez turned sharply to the door, a startled look on his face.

And when I say "HE", I use that term loosely. As you see, Maudre didn't feel like prepping an entire illusion spell for Valdez, only just after she'd just offered to work one on him and he'd stubbornly refused. Also, she just loved the idea of messing with him a bit, and who could blame her? So now, Valdez had a ring with a very specific illusion charm; a sex change illusion charm.
So now Valdez looked (pretty much) exactly the same as always, but with an extra X-chromosome, instead of his usual Y-chromosome.

Having seen himself - not to mention felt (some things you just have to feel with your own two hands before you can believe them) the undergone changes - Valdez had let out a paniced but also enraged scream. This was were Claudia had come in. And now they stood there, face to face... and Valdez honestly didn't know what to say, or what to do... except praying to any and every God that she ("please, please, please Gods!") wouldn't recognize him.

Fortunately for Valdez Claudia didn't recognise the 'woman' that was standing before her as Valdez. She barely knew any of the vampires that had travelled with the rebels so she just thought it to be one of them. She looked at 'her' for a few moments, not really seeing anything that would suggest a reason to scream so she looked over the room. Again she was nothing that would present itself for the scream she had heard. A little confused she looked back at Valarie (;p).
"Why did you scream?" she asked and looked a little better at Valarie, "Have we met before?"

Valerie ((omg, I can't believe I just said that XD)) looked at Claudia disoriented for a moment longer. As soon as she'd asked if they'd met though, showing that she really hadn't recognized him, (s)he felt confident that (s)he might get away with this embaressing moment.

((I'll just call him "her" from now on..))

So he seemlessly recomposed herself to a somewhat less freaked out state of being. "Oh nevermind," she said to Claudia, forging a smile, "this huge spider just crawled over my arm... startled me... that's all."
She realized it was a bit of a poor excuse, but it still outlasted 'I just noticed I have nice tits' as an explanation. So she hoped Claudia would just let it go - even though she was still dressed and groomed as a man, and in no way looked like the kind of woman to be afraid of spiders, even really big ones.

"Who are you?" she then said, hoping to keep Claudia talking for a moment, so she could think of a name to call herself.

Raising a brow at the poor excuse of having a spider walking over her arm Claudia was clearly skeptical. This was mainly considering the manly dressing and grooming. She just thought it was a, poor, attempt of getting more respect in this male dominant world.
"I'm Claudia," she answered, "and don't you dare threat me like a child just because I look like one. I don't care that you have dark hair, I will find a way to hurt you if you do. But what is your name?"

Valdez pulled a face and then couldn't fight a laugh. She put her hands in her sides - which were a lot rounder than she remembered them to be - raised her brow, and grinned at Claudia as she asked; "do you introduce yourself like that all the time? That's fantastic."

But then her amusement about Claudia's respons had cost her precious time trying to come up with a good female name. Her mind was racing to find a name, though her exterior didn't show, as she tried not to waste too much time before awnsering. Finally, she went for the only name that would come up; "I'm Lauryn." Then followed an invisable moment of self-loathing; has she really just named herself after her mother?! Was that really the best she could do?

But she managed on equally casual, as she 'curiously' asked; "how old are you then?"

Claudia shrugged at the question if she always introduced herself like that. Admittedly she had been doing it quite a lot with all the new people she was meeting. She thought for a few moments if she remembered having met a dark haired vampire called Lauryn before and concluded she hadn't.
"Nice to meet you Lauryn." she said and then rolled her eyes for a moment at the question of how old she actually was. She knew she could have seen it coming, but she had hoped that just one person wouldn't ask her that and just accept that she was an adult by mind.
"I'm about eighty, I didn't really keep count all that much... Why?"

Valdez frowned at Claudia rolling her eyes. Her face showing that she didn't think her hostile attitude was nessecairy, but also aproving in an odd way, she replied; "I'm just curious, that's all. No need to act that way- if I should wish to insult you, you'd know it, trust me."

Then she suddenly realised, perhaps she shouldn't put up the same attitude as before; for starters, she could see how people would act from a whole different angle now, right? Also, acting in exactly the same way would surely give him/her away sooner or later!

So she smiled apologetically; "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit on edge. All the changes of late..."
You don't know the half of it...

Then she smiled, a little reserved though, and remarked; "don't worry about me treating you like a child though. If I've learned anything in my days, it's not to judge a book on it's cover."
Really...! You don't know the half of it...

Claudia sighed and nodded. She could understand getting the same attitude back, but she appriciated when Lauryn apologized for it all the same. She gave her a faint smile in return.
"I'm sorry too, I pretty much suck at social skills," she sighed again and then thought of something, "I'm kinda exploring the dungeons... Want to join in or something?"

Valdez nodded ‘understandingly’, somewhat surprised about Claudia apologizing as well. She just smiled in return, by lack of a better respons.

Then Claudia said she was exploring the dungeons, and asked if she would come along. For a moment, she hesitated; on the one hand, being able to explore the Magic School was one of the reason’s she’d asked for an illusion in the first place. But on the other hand, Claudia might recognize her to be him if they spent too much time together. They had, after all, spent some time traveling together – even though they’d been less than best friends during that time.
But then again, what good was the ring she’d gotten if she didn’t dare use it? So she smiled at Claudia, nodded and replied: “I’d like that.”

Claudia smiled when Lauryn said that she would join her with exploring the dungeons. Though her bodylanguage betrayed that she was also slightly awkward about it. She gestured Lauryn to follow her as she turned around and walked back into the dungeon's hallways.
"So... why are you dressed as a man?" she asked after a little while, trying to keep a conversation going.

Valdez - I mean 'Lauryn' - felt relieved when Claudia smiled, pleased that things were going well without much difficulties. But just as she thought she'd gotten off scot-free, Claudia asked about the men's clothes.

Then again, maybe Claudia had just asked because of how obviously uncomfertable she was wearing them; she hadn't noticed when she was just standing in her room, but now that she was walking she'd noticed for one that she was significantly less broad, and also a bit shorter than before, when she was still he. Her coat was sitting rather loosely, flapping around her torso a bit unpleasently, though that was managable... the worst were the the trousers! There was way too much space in the wrong places, and way too little in the others..!

She looked at Claudia, smiling a little awkwardly; "the clothes I was wearing when I joined the rebels were not suited for walking long distances in. This was the only thing they had for me, on such short notice. I wanted to ask for new clothes here, but I haven't yet come around to it."

After saying that, she couldn't help but give herself a small mental pat on the shoulder; that was the first descent lie since this unexpected sex change!

Claudia nodded understandingly, believing the lie. She had seen enough rebels to know that there was a big lack of proper clothing. It did gave her a thought though.
"Well we are in a castle filled mostly by witches and wizards," she said, "if you want we can try to find one that can possibly help with making your clothes fit better?"

'Lauryin' looked at Claudia for a moment hessitantly; she wasn't sure why, exactly, she just felt that was a bad idea. She couldnt'really wrap her finger around it though, nor could she think of a valid reason for her personage to dispute this idea, so she just nodded.
Realizing she had just looked very sour, she explained: "I just wished I had someting more lady-like."

After feeling extremely awkward about actually having spoken those words, she turned her head away for a moment, both for privacy as for a moment to think. Then she asked, feighntinh interest: "why did you join the rebels? And when? I never saw you around."

Claudia couldn't help an eyeroll at the 'something more lady like' comment. She hated 'lady like' clothing, it seemed to be especially designed to make women incapable of moving freely. Admittedly it wouldn't surprise Claudia in the least bit if that had actually been the main thought when the new fashion idea had been introduced.
"Actually I have yet to join the rebels," she answered honestly, "people just assumed because I travelled with them the last few yards. The main reason I'm here is because a man called Valdez is somewhere in this group. And me and two other vampires where travelling with him. He visited the rebel camps reguraly and when he didn't come back for two days I thought it best for us to travel to the rebels camps as well instead of falling behind even further. So here I am, what about you?"

After a moment of having to fight of a huge smirk, just as his/her name was mentioned, 'Lauryn' went back to nodding undestandingly.

"You say 'yet' though... are you planning on joining?" she asked, sincerely curious, "or are you just looking for... whoever he is?"
She used the pause awaiting the awnser of that question to 'forget' awnsering Claudia's last question - by which I of course mean, she was hoping Claudia would forget, and she wouldn't have to awnser.

Luckily for Lauryn Claudia wasn't really paying close attention to her bodylanguage or facial expressions. She was more occupied with her surroundings and specifically remembering the way.
"I'm not sure," she answered with a shrug, "haven't really been putting much thought into it to be honest. Partly because the main reason I'm here is looking for Valdez. But I still am curious to your reason for being here?"
Now Claudia did turned her face to look at Lauryn as directly as possible while walking in an unfamiliar surroudning and not wanting to risk walking into anything.

'Lauryn' couldn't help but look a little surprised; was she really looking for him? Why on earth? Weren't they all just glad to be rid of him?!

But then her train of thought was interrupted by a repeated question, and it was a good one! Why would she be here, actually?
"Well," she started in a reserved tone of voice, "would it suffice to say that after I'd become a vampire, I was completely cast out and left for dead?"

Soon, she found herself astonished by how truthful that lie really was. Afer a moment of that she continued; "I have little more to do at the moment than fight for my right to be again..."

Meanwhile, Lauryn's eyes were also scanning their surroundings, though not as much for the route as for the people on it. Better he'd not meet anyone familiar! Speaking of which... where were Gavyn and Francis??
"So," she aksed casually, "where are the other two vampires you spoke of? Are they here too?"

Claudia could relate to being cast out and left for death, sort of. She nodded at the question if it sufficed in saying that Lauryn was busy with fighting for her right to be. She let out a deep sigh though, the subject being a tad depressing for her.
"Probably still in the dungeons," she answered, "possible still even sleeping... Why?"

Lauryn shrugged; "I was just curious," she gave as a casual explanation, "I don't know a lot of people so..."
Then she had to bite her tongue; she'd almost automatically added that she'd be curious to meet more people. Fortunatly she held that back just in time though... Now that she'd thought about it, she didn't at all feel like meeting any familair faces, at the risk of them remembering why they were familair faces in the first place.

The fear of being recognized got her back to thinking about better ways to disguise her 'new self'. An idea that kept popping up was that of more feminine clothing. She figured, the more feminine she was, the less likely to be suspected of being a man. Then again, the idea of wearing a dress was endleslly awkward to her...

Snapping out of it she continued the conversation with Claudia; "so are they nice to you...? Not treating you like a child and whatnot?" Then after a brief pause; "or are they the reason you are slightly.... uhm- overly defensive?"

Claudia started to get a little confused and with that suspicious to yet another vague answer. Combined with all the other vague things it was starting to get just down right suspicious. Especially because he didn't ask to meet new people.
"The people I travel with now are fine," she answered, "they don't threat me like a child. It was the person I travelled with before."

Something in Claudia's reaction hinted that something was up, though Lauryn couldn't comletely figure out what or why. Was she on the her after all?? And just now, when she was priding herself into doing so well...

"Is something the matter?" she so asked, just baltently ignoring what Claudia had said. Honestly, that was partialy because she didn't really care about hearing about Claudia's previous whatever-you-call-it again.

"I don't know," Claudia answered looking at Lauryn with a slightly tilted head, "But I do know where we can probably get you some feminine clothes. Follow me."
And with that Claudia started walking towards the room Mercedes had been assigned. She knocked on the door and when she heard a 'Come on in' from the other side of the door she opened it and went inside.
Mercedes looked up from repairing some of her own clothes. She smiled at Claudia and was just about to ask why she came for a visit when she saw that she wasn't alone. Mercedes looked at Lauryn for a few moments confused, seeming familiar and then when making the link her eyes went huge.

Lauryn smiled satisfied when Claudia said she knew where to get her some feminine clothing. Maybe if she had some clothing to match her appearance, she'd feel more confident about not being recognized, and could focus on more interesting things.

She followed Claudia as she led the way through the halls, towards someone's room. As Lauryn (or well, Valdez) had been room-bound ever since arriving, (s)he didn't know who's room it was they were heading for. So it wasn't until a familair voice told them to 'come on in' that (s)he realized how much (s)he didn't want to go into that room.

This would count as a good time to come up with a very good reason not to go inside there. But unfortunatly, al he could really think was 'you've gotta be kidding me..., an appropriate but unhelpful thought. O well, maybe she wouldn't recognize him. Claudia didn't either so...

As they came in, Lauryn already had little confidence in that previously mentioned thought - perhaps 'hope' would be a better word - and Mercedes confused expression did not help. But then her eyes widened, and in that short exchange of looks it became clear that she knew.

Lauryn gave Mercedes a sharp and meaningful look, something in between warning and begging. Not completely intentionally, her gift transferred the accompanying thought, namely; 'not a word to Claudia!' This message Mercedes could hear in her head, in a familair voice that didn't seem to suit the appearance if it's source.

Speaking out loud now, a hessitant smile on her face, Lauryn adressed Mercedes: "hello, I'm Lauryn."