Office Hours, Monday, October 13

[tyler_gone]

Tyler woke up with the most fantastic crick in his back from being dead sleeping in a closet all night, and crept out as stealthily as he could. He rubbed his neck, half expecting his fingers to come away stained with blood, but found no wound. And, given his distinct lack of a craving to bite anybody's throat and his (pale, but present) reflection in the mirror, he had to assume he was still human.

It had to be a case of the Fandom weirds. There was no other explanation for it, let alone his encounter with Tony or his odd urge to apologize to that chick from radio. Right. Fandom got weird, he slept with Tony. It wasn't him, really.

It was break week; did he need to be in his office? He decided he didn't care and went in anyhow. Who knew, he might even be able to make himself useful.

Which, for much of the day, involved Googling his fingers off about human sacrifice cults and vampire lore.

His readings in the latter made him very hopeful that Eliza just had a case of the weirds; it would be hell getting a vampire out of his basement.

[OOC: Open office.]

Comments

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron hadn't forgotten the message he'd gotten from Tyler, but it had taken him a bit longer to work up the right mindset to actually call Tyler. He'd been thinking about just talking to him when he went to Fandom for Homecoming, but having changed his mind on that last minute, a phonecall would have to do. Which would be why Tyler's telephone was ringing.

[tyler_gone]

They did that sometimes, phones, and Tyler picked it up absently as he perused a web page on ways to kill vampires so they stayed dead. "Yeah?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Yo, Tyler," Cameron said, trying not to think that this was slightly weird. Not that it was the first time he'd called Tyler. "You rang?"

[tyler_gone]

"Mitchell, hi," Tyler said, slightly more warmly. "Nah. Not in ... " he couldn't even remember the last time he'd called Cam. "What's up?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Um..." Cameron blinked. "Maybe you forgot or got bit by a gremlin? I got a message from you like two weeks ago. It was a bit weird...." Understatement.

[tyler_gone]

"Gremlins have left me alone," Tyler frowned, wondering if his phone had done it on its own. But that wouldn't explain the message. "I can't think of a reason why I would have called you, sorry."

Something occurred to him, and a tickle ran down his spine. "When did I leave the message?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"22nd, I think," Cameron frowned. "You said something weird about being in town for the weekend and about your evil twin. It didn't make much sense."

[tyler_gone]

"Twenty-second," Tyler repeated, turning his calendar back to September. Not that he really needed to. "Yeah, it wouldn't have. Um, there was this thng where a whole island full of people we hated tried to take over our island. You-know-who decided he needed to come along and hang out."

"And of course if I know something, he knows it, so ..."

"Sorry." The word felt weak.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Fandom at its best?" Cameron asked and he rubbed a hand across his face. Somehow Sam had failed to inform him of this, but he'd figured it meant Tyler hadn't blown up the island. "So he's gone again?"

[tyler_gone]

"The island's in a mood," Tyler answered. "He was back, people swapped genders, then last weekend I thought I grew up in a cult and got seduced by - someone" and he wasn't going into details on that "before being killed by a vampire. But yeah, he's gone. Might even be for good, though I know better than to say anything like that for sure."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

He made a mental note to ask Sam if she swapped gender because it seemed like the thing to do. "Why do you think that?"

[tyler_gone]

"'Cause things are all quiet," Tyler answered. "And ... okay, there was this tournament, right? And we had to fight our enemies. And we ended in a draw and ..." the connection must have gone funny, there. Tyler couldn't possibly have been mumbling something about hugging.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

No, Cameron couldn't quite believe the whole hugging thing either. "I think I missed the last part?"

[tyler_gone]

"We hugged at the end?"

Tyler added, "Have I mentioned things have been really weird here lately?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

He shouldn't laugh, so it was good Tyler couldn't see him grinning. "It's Fandom, it goes with the territory. It sounds like a good thing." The... ending, not the weirdness.

[tyler_gone]

"Ultimately it probably was," Tyler mused. "But if he comes back, no way is he coming to teach with me. My students thought he was a creep."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron paused. "He taught your class?"

[tyler_gone]

"Co-taught," Tyler said dismissively. "Don't worry, nothing blew up."

Not that his other self had been terribly careful about preventing that end.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Good to know," he said. "And he really was creepy. I'm glad he's gone."

[tyler_gone]

Tyler thought about debating the point, but he realized this was someone who had tried to kill Cam. No point in expecting warm and fuzzy feelings, and it wasn't like his own emotions were entirely kind, no matter how much hugging had marked the end of the tournament fight.

"Yeah, well," he said, a bit sharply, "he is. Sorry he decided you needed to know he was around to start with."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Not your fault," Cameron said. Not really anyway. "I'm just glad nothing got blown up."

[tyler_gone]

"Me too. You know, someday I'll have been on this island and sane long enough that people will quit worrying about that," Tyler remarked. "I talked to Principal Zoe about a science fair and she wanted to make sure we weren't going to make weapons to use on each other."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I think it's one of those things you just have to work for," Cameron said, because it probably was. "And Principal Washburn's a smart woman." Pretty too.

[tyler_gone]

"Very much so," Tyler agreed quietly. "You didn't come back for Homecoming, did you?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"No," Cameron said as quietly. "I'm... sorting through some things."

[tyler_gone]

"Feel lucky you missed it," Tyler said, with feeling. "Dance was fun, but ... I mentioned the part where I got attacked by a vampire, right? Whole island went insane the next morning. You should get someone to send you a tape of radio."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I'll ask Sam," he frowned. "It wasn't Angel, was it?"

[tyler_gone]

"God no, I haven't seen him in ages," Tyler said. "This teacher I rent my basement to. She's from 1800 or so. I hope it was just an island thing and she's not really a vampire, they're hell to evict."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"You might want to check," Cameron advised. "Or call Angel... Don't we have any more slayers running around?"

[tyler_gone]

"... I don't know," Tyler said, chewing it over. "The only one I know for sure is Faith, and she's gone."

"I could just throw a bucket of holy water at her and see what happens."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"That's why Fandom has a church, isn't it?" he considered it. "Better try it on yourself too. Can't be too careful."

[tyler_gone]

"I put extra garlic on my sub at lunch," Tyler offered. "And I've been checking in the mirror every time I pass one. I think I'm clean."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Smart," Cameron agreed. "The whole losing your soul thing tends to suck."

((So sorry. I completely zoned out yesterday.))