ArchivedLogs:Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...
Dramatis Personae Ivan, Peter, Rasa, Sebastian, Shane, Shelby
In Absentia	2013-03-07 Teenagers.
Location <NYC> 303 {Holland} - Village Lofts - East Village
This apartment is cheerful, in its way -- bright and airy, its floor plan open and a plethora of windows providing it with an abundance of light. The tiny entrance hall opens into a living room, small, though its sparse furniture and lack of clutter give it a more open feel. The decor is subdued and minimalist; black and white is the dominant theme, with occasional splashes of deep crimson to offset the monochrome, though of late bright coloured sealife has made its way into being painted on the wall. The couch and armchair are upholstered in black corduroy, the low wide coffee table central is black wood and glass-topped, and a few large pillowy beanbags provide additional seating by the large windows that dominate the back wall. Towards the back, a couple of doors lead off into bedrooms and bathroom, and to the right, the kitchen's tile is separated from the living room's dark hardwood floors by black countertops. Above the bedroom to one side, there is higher space; a ladder climbs up to a lofted area looking down on the living room. Standing in front of the partition between living and cooking area is a large fish tank: one lone Betta, blood-red, swims regally among several species of black and silver fish. A hallway beyond the kitchen leads further into the apartment. Another bathroom stands just into the hall and the farthest door leads to the apartment's final bedroom, the door usually kept shut to hold in the acrid fumes of turpentine and paints from within. It's afternoon! One would think all good students would be at school but SPRING BREAK means other plans. Hot beach parties! Girls Gone Wild! Or, in Shane's case, obsessively cleaning. It's hard to tell what he's obsessively cleaning, really, the apartment is already completely spotless. And yet. For lack of floors to sweep or dishes to dish or counters to wipe he has been opening windows to dust the insides of their sills. And then for lack of windows to clean he is opening the fish tank to scrape its already fairly clean glass walls carefully with a small razorblade. Occasionally fish swim near to risk an absent nibble at his hand. Each of these ventures is met with a sharp sniff. Maybe he's TEMPTED. Sebastian is obsessively cleaning, too. Not the apartment. He has commandeered the poor beagle, who has been dumped into the bathtub for BATHtime. Okay, maybe not /so/ poor, Obie seems to be /greatly/ enjoying the water. A little too much, covering the bathroom in increasingly large puddles as he lunges at toys, wriggles happily, nudges Sebastian with his Kong to try and get him to play. Throws his own Kong out of the tub, leaps after it to get it back. The soapy part of all this is entirely incidental. Obie snaps at some of the bubbles his shampoo has made, looking indignant when they taste bad. NO SHANE DON'T DO IT PETER WILL SAVE THE FISHIES. Outside, there are the usual city-sounds -- and another one, just barely audible. Well, two, actually. Okay, three: the sound of a THWP, someone's voice saying "now hold on /really/ tight", and what is likely a very prolonged 'aaaaaaaAAAAAH'. Followed by a *whump* as something heavy and Peter-and-Ivan shaped proceeds to land in a crouch on the fire escape. Peter is HOLDING Ivan, who is (probably) clinging to Peter for dear life after having just been *web-slinged* to the window. Peter, meanwhile, is politely knocking instead of just trying to open it. He /still/ prefers windows. Peter's got on his usual red hoodie, blue jeans, a backpack positively *JAMMED* with goodies -- and that obnoxious red ski mask and buggy yellow goggles. The red hoodie's got a crudely drawn SPIDER-LOGO on it; it looks like it was done in magic marker. He is pulling off his ski-mask, though. And probably consoling Ivan. Shelby heard there was going to be a party. Or, rather, heard that there would be /need/ of a party and hey ho, she's here with Rasa in tow! The week's "look at my arm" take was generous, so she's carrying a plastic shopping bag in her good hand. Is is full of things that are very, very bad for you--beef jerky and Slim Jims, cheeze puffs, Twizzlers, chocolate-covered raisins, and a few novelty party items like Silly String and a box of noise poppers. The other arm of her jacket is empty, since her left arm is still in a sling and glove. "You're gonna have to knock," she says as she ambles down the hallway to the twins' front door. "I'm all outta hands." Out on the fire escape, there is yet another thud as Ivan proceeds to sloowly loosen his grip on Peter and just ends up on sitting unceremoniously next to his dorm buddy to wait for a window to open. He's dressed in a white dress shirt and dark jeans, looks a little lost, wide-eyed, and a little like he will never, ever agree to hitching a websling ever again. Oh god. Heights, not his favourite. He has decided. Rasa follows after Shelby quietly, watching her thoughtfully, or at least hir eyes appear thoughtful as the rest of hir is covered in winter gear - scarf and hat and gloves peeking out from under hir coat, with heavy jeans around hir legs, with a flash of something colorful about hir waist. When asked, the teen approaches the door and knocks, waiting quietly to be admitted. Ze is carrying the luggage for the pair, a nice little suitcase bangs at hir knees. "It is okay that I came, right?" "Tsssss," Shane hisses, teeth baring at the window as his head swings towards the sudden noises. "Shit, what the fuck." He pulls his arm out of the fishtank, dripping water along the floor as he heads to the window to open it. "/Dude/ I have a fucking door," he grumbles to the pair on the fire escape, and then, "Take off your shoes I just cleaned the floor." Sebastian, at least, says hi. Calling it out from the bathroom as he wrestles slipperydog back into the tub. Except then there's another knock and he turns, distracted, as Obie worms his way back out to go skidding, soapy-wet, out of the bathroom and towards the door, tail wagging furiously and a streak of water and suds behind him. "/Jeez/, Obie, it's not Pa." Obie's already dropped his Kong by the door, playbowing towards the door EXPECTANTLY. When Sebastian goes over to open it to let in the pair of teenagers instead, Obie picks his Kong back up, looking confused now about what to do with it. He drops it. Noses it sadly. "Ivan it's okay," Peter informs him. "I mean, I have /never/ dropped anyone." He also mentioned earlier that he's /never/ webslinged someone before, so this is probably not very soothing news. The ski mask and goggles are getting shoved roughly into his hoodie's front pocket when Shane moves to open the window -- Peter blinks owlishly at him: "Oh hey Shane! Yeah I know but you can't, like, /websling/ to a door," he responds, and he's already undoing his shoelaces, kicking his shoes off. "Oh this is Ivan -- have you met him? Ivan, this is Shane. He's got a twin brother, Sebastian. You can tell the difference because Sebastian doesn't curse." "The more the merrier. I wouldn't've asked you to come along if it wasn't okay." Shelby's tone is light as air but there's something else lurking in her eyes, which she keeps averted from Rasa. Something like fretting. Since she /hates/ fretting, her demeanor is kept glossy and bright. "It's gonna be fun, huh? Keep it fun," she says, seconds before the door swings open. The grin comes on like she flipped a switch. "B! Heyyyy, and Obie, who'sa good puppy, yes you are...we brought stuff! I know you're big on raw but Slim Jims're okay, right?" In she goes. "Hey Shane...Jesus, Pete, you being a bad influence on Ivan?" Ivan looks relieved to have the window open, taking his time to push one heel against the other in an effort to kick his own shoes off, somewhat clumsily and shakily. But it's fine. He's calming, with the help of Peter's words (somehow!) and the fact that they're not in mid-air anymore. When he finally gets back up, it is with one shoe in each hand, but he doesn't yet move to advance inside, apparently waiting for Peter to do that first while he forces a helpless little smile. Someone feels out of place. Rasa performs the ritualistic shoe-removing and coat devesting as ze enters the apartment, making sure to close the door behind hir as Obie is there and wet and having of a Kong. Ze sets down hir luggage and watches the dog nose the Kong sadly. Ze leans over and picks it up. "You want this back, 'Bastian?" Ze tosses the Kong over and over again in one hand, a tiiiiny smile pulling at the corner of one side of hir mouth, "or should I toss it in the other direction and we can rewash all the floors together?" CHAAAOSSS! Ze then looks down and asks the same question of the canine. "So, what do you think?" "Ohshit, Obie, I /just/ -- stupidass dog," Shane grumbles, as the dog skids past. "Man I will eat the fuck out of /all/ your Slim Jims. I was about to start dipping into my pa's fishtank. Hey. Ivan. I gotta thing. You're gonna love it. And just wait till my little brother gets home he's going to be your biggest fucking fan you know there's also more ways to tell us apart than cursing? Like Bastian has prettier dresses. Rasa I swear on my mother's grave if you throw that thing down the hall I'mm'a make you mop the floors again yourself." "Our mother's not even dead," Sebastian says, in some confusion as he steps back (with his Totally Pretty Skirt swishing against his knees out of Obie's damp reach.) Obie is wriggling again when the Kong is picked up /despite/ Rasa not being Jax, more sudsy dripping on the floor as his eyes track the toy, tongue lolling out of his mouth. "I love Slim Jims. Pa left us basically enough food to feed ten armies but it's mostly really healthy. Though there is like, a giant pile of cookies and brownies, too. Oh, gosh, if you threw that in the /tub/ it would be pretty much the best thing." Peter, clad in socks and a hoodie, *JUMPS* in ahead of Ivan. Sock-clad feet hitting carpet with a whump. He is wearing... are those gloves? Yes. Peter is wearing those weird red-and-blue gloves of his. And Ivan's (probably) got on a pair of over-sized WRIST-WATCHES. "I just wanted him to see what it's like," Peter replies to Shelby -- a little meek -- before adding: "Oh man is that -- hello, Rasa!" WAVE. "IVAN! Ivan RASA is here," he announces, as if Ivan was incapable of seeing this himself -- and as if this was *INCREDIBLY* relevant information that needed to be conveyed immediately. "Dude, you've just been invaded by like, /all/ the fun, this place being clean don't stand a fucking /chance/." And Shelby doesn't care! Because she wisely chose to bring Slim Jims. The grocery bag whumps to the floor, spilling goodies everywhere as she goes for the zipper of her coat one-handed. "Throw it," she asides in a stage whisper to Rasa. Ivan perks up as he's talked to, uncertainly peering at Shane over Peter's shoulder before he follows him in. Again, clumsily, hitting a knee and elbow on a windowframe in the process. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that he IS, in fact, wearing slightly weird-looking wrist-watches and he's so careful not to hit THEM on anything. He's already inside and looking around to try and find a place to leave his shoes when Peter launches into frantic waving and guest-announcing. The forced smile from before grows ever so slightly more genuine, though whether this was purely from the announcement that a Rasa is present is hard to tell- his gaze flits restlessly between all the faces in sight, save for perhaps tiny fishfaces. No greeting from Ivan. Too busy staring. Rasa is obliging to the hosts of the house, but only after ze displays a blue tongue at Shane and makes a fake throw toward the hallway. When the dog is keyed up to run the wrong way, Rasa takes off in stocking feet toward the bathroom, skin turning bubble gum pink with childish glee. "Woooooo! Come on, naughty doggy. Let's get your ass back in the water where you belong." For once, Rasa is loud and carefree, wagging hir arms in the air as hir socks sop up some off the dog mess as ze goes. "HI Peter! Hi Ivan! I'm on a mission. I will be with you shortly." When ze has a clear shot, ze tosses the Kong into the bathtub, hand poised on the door to close the dog in when he enters. "Ze throws it I will fucking /bite you/ Shelby." Cuz everything's Shelby's fault. Shane's teeth bare when Rasa starts to tempt Obie the /wrong way/, but he relaxes again, even allowing a quick smile as the dog /zooms/ after hir, tail wagging. He skids. Crashes into a cabinet in the bathroom. Undaunted, continues on, leaping into the tub with a SPLASH to grab the red toy and then making to leap back out again. Shane watches this, amused, and then moves over to snag a PAIR of Slim Jims from Shelby's spilled stash, unwrapping one with his teeth and chomping a bite. "Oh right. Ivan. Thing." He disappears into a bedroom, returning with a large spider -- constructed of metal and K'nex. One red eye and one green eye. Suction-cup feet. "Look, it's like spider on steroids." Sebastian whirls in a little half-circle as first dog and then Rasa go charging past, and his smile comes easier. "Watchit, he's slippery," he advises Rasa, with a laugh. "Hey, Peter, do you think we could, like, make glueguns for /Jerusalem/?" He edges closer to Shelby, almost absently reaching to unzip her coat and then stooping to scoop the groceries back into the bag. "OhmyGod Ivan I totally forgot they have a ROBO-SPIDER," Peter exclaims, clapping his hands together as Shane brings out Jerusalem -- still wearing the gloves. "But you probably can't control robo-spiders," he adds, sounding a little disappointed. "But -- oh. OH. OhGod, I totally -- I /totally/ could do that," Peter says, his voice taking on a certain /firmness/ -- schoolbag chucked to the ground. Hands digging inside. RUMMAGING. "I mean, I've been experimenting and --" QUICK GLANCE AROUND THE ROOM. To confirm who here knows about his secret identity and who does not. He thinks Rasa is the only person who does not know. God, he is /terrible/ at secret identities. "-- and I built Ivan a pair," he adds, quieter, now. "No you won't, cuz Bastian won't let you," Shelby informs Shane, over the shoulder of the named twin. She too sticks her tongue out at him, making the count two so far for the evening. Then she holds still for unzipping before wriggling out of the coat to throw it on the pile. "Thanks, B...there's a bag of jerky at the bottom too, you can have...ohgod." Without meaning to, she's echoed Peter. "/More/ of those web things. That's just what we needed...Silly String is soo much better. Ivan, Rasa, you want some Twizzlers?" she calls out as she crouches to help collect the unhealthy groceries. Whaat. Ivan's attention is GRABBED, and grabbed /good/. After a bit of shuffling and lowering his shoes down onto the floor, he finally leaves Peter's side to go ambling toward Shane instead. Or more specifically, toward what he's holding. He's so focused on it that Shane might as well not even BE there for the time being. The expression on his face is somewhere between confused and impressed as he angles his head slightly, studying its every part and detail as his hands clasp together behind his back. For what it's worth-- Jerusalem does not seem to listen to any potential mental commands he may be giving. It is beyond Ivan to /make it/, and for a moment, he actually looks ever so slightly disappointed. But then Twizzlers are mentioned! He does not yet answer, instead peering over with confusion now much clearer on his face. He is clearly not too familiar with Twizzlers, and gives a doubtful shrug. "Err, you guys didn't want me to actually finish bathing him, do you? I um... haven't actually done that before." Rasa looks sheepishly at the twins as ze closes the door with the dog inside the bathroom. Ze frowns as everyone starts to do OTHER STUFF. Ze then rolls hir eyes and squeezes hir way into the bathroom to attempt this cleaning and drying of the dog. Hopefully everything is obvious and ready. Ze starts to strip off hir shirt and gloves until ze is only in a camisole and jeans. "Come Dog, In the tub. I must put the water on you." "I dunno, you could just leave him soapy," Shane suggests to Rasa, "he probably won't even notice, he's basically functionally retarded. But, I guess, the floors." He puts the robospider down on the floor, returning to the fishtank to reach inside. Not to grab yummy snackfish. Just to grab his /razor/ out of the tank and set it atop the lid instead, lest any fish try to eat it. "Heeeey if Jerusalem gets webthings can I get webthings too?" "Oh!" Sebastian says, apologetic, "Oh, um, no, I, I can help --" He's still cleaning up the rest of the groceries, but once they're in the bag he transfers the whole bag over to the coffee table. "WaitShane'sgettingwebthings? Ohmygosh me /too/?" He sounds so hopeful. But he's being /good/! And heading back towards the bathroom where Obie is excitedly wriggling his way out of the tub again. Or, well, almost. He starts to wriggle out, drops his Kong, slides back down to get it, starts to wriggle out again, drops his Kong again. It's a vicious cycle. The dog shampoo is on the edge of the tub, though he's already had a liberal application of it, and there are a number of folded towels on the sink. Sebastian crouches down beside Rasa to PUSH Obie over onto his side. Obie's tail thumps harder, splashing water with each wag. "It'd be easier if he hated bathtime, maybe. He just sits around pitifully shivering in a corner when he doesn't like things." Peter is still rummaging. He produces a small box -- it looks like a soldering kit. Along with a few metal cartridges, and mechanical knick-knacks -- the disassembled pieces of several cheap watches, wind-up alarm clocks, and valves. He's mumbling as he sifts through them: "I, uh, actually I'm really /low/ on cartridges," he explains apologetically -- both to Shane and Sebastian. "I gave three to Ivan, and three to Hive, and the only place I know of where I can get /more/ is, uh, Oscorp --" Shifty-eyed glance. Like Peter's /thinking/ about getting more. But not just right now. He makes no move to seize up snacks; Peter's actually not a habitual snacker. His family has wisely kept him /away/ from sugar. "Don't fall in!" That is her sage advice to the dog-washers. Shelby has liberated the bag of Twizzlers and shown herself to the couch, where she stretches out comfortably. The bag is torn open with her teeth before being dropped into her lap so she can fumble a couple of strips of licorice out--she's adapting well! The red strands are wagged temptingly at Ivan. "S'good candy. Try one," she urges. "It kinda sticks in your teeth, but..." She stops then and turns a rather narrow look on Peter. Saying nothing. Because. Ivan seems, for all intents and purposes, oblivious to Peter's intentions. Or maybe he's been made aware of them already! But right now the licorice seems much more interesting, and he reaches out to grab, very carefully, one of the strands. It is stared at for a moment, before he returns to staring at the ROBOT SPIDER with the licorice now sticking halfway out of his mouth. Approved. Both of these things. Very gradually, he accepts this new environment as Good(tm) and visibly relaxes a little, sitting down on the floor next to his new K'nex friend. "Squirming happily is better than misery, I think, in the end. You can just imagine tickling him." Rasa is very careful not to bump hir exposed skin against Sebastian's as ze reaches over to wave a hand at the water. "Do I turn the shower on? Let the water out? um. Is it a scooping thing, where I dump water over him?" Ze looks to Sebastian for guidance. "Sorry to take you away from the others." If ze is getting wet, ze doesn't seem to mind. Ze does keep the Kong in the tub to keep the dog very much there. "Psh fall in Obie'll lick you to death." Shane chomps down on his Slim Jim, ambling over to lean fishtankwet arms against the back of the couch. "Oh, right, he's got a remote," he tells Ivan, "on the desk just in that door." He nods towards one of the bedroom doors, but then stops. And /stares/ at Peter. "The fuck is that look for." His eyes are suddenly narrowed. "You better not eat all the Slim Jims!" Sebastian calls out to his brother, but most of his attention is on squirmydog. "Drain the water," he says, nodding towards the plug, "and /then/ we turn the shower on." It's on a handheld hose, and he has to actually stand on the rim of the tub to be able to stretch tall enough to get it out of its holder, webbed toes curling against the tub to keep his balance on the wet surface. "You like dogs, hm?" Peter blinks. TWO people are looking at him! BOTH with narrow-eyed looks! "Wha--huh? What? I am -- why are you looking at me like that I think I'll see if Sebastian and Rasa need any help," and then DART, he is leaving behind his tools and his backpack (which is full of SALTY snacks -- PRETZELS and CORN-CHIPS and a bottle of vinegar and also what few remaining WEB-SHOOTER cartridges he has left), hopping like a grass-hopper across the room, making a B-Line for the bathroom -- shoving his head in quite promptly. "HEY. Uh. Is -- is the dog okay? Everything going okay? I'm just checking to make sure everything is okay." Peter's the /best/ at being non-suspicious. Shelby doesn't glance up at Shane because she's still staring at Peter, but she directs a remark towards him. "I think he's thinking about going and setting another horde of murderdrones loose on the streets like /last/ time," is her comment. "Can we like, agree to /not/ do anything dumb for awhile? Like maybe just for tonight? Or maybe for spring break? 'Cause yeah, I only got so many limbs." And there he goes. She rolls her eyes. "See? Total guilty conscience." Takes one to know one. Ooh, a remote! Ivan is just about to get up, pushing a hand down onto the floor, before something is brought up that he seems to have been previously unaware of. He frowns, sits right back down, and stares helplessly up at Peter mid-fleeing, then straight at Shelby. "... Murderdrones?" He finally speaks up, Russian accent still as strong as ever. Someone hadn't put two and two together yet, looks like. Rasa leans back and watches Sebastian stretch up tall - though splitting hir attention between the teen and the dog. "I Guess. They're fuzzy. I like them pretty okay, when I know they are nice. I haven't really had much experience with them yet." Ze pauses and then asks, "does your skin make you better at gripping things when wet, or are you more likely to be squirmyslimy when wet?" There's a second of thought then ze turns red. "Um, if you don't mind me asking." It is then that Peter sticks his head in suddenly, and the red Rasa turns ruby dark. "Why would anything be not okay?" Shane would probably taunt Sebastian about how he is currently /doublefisting/ Slim Jims, but he's still glaring after Peter. "What the shit, man, don't /do/ that. Cuz, like, there's going to be enough dying and I am /so/ down for doing /no/ stupid things cuz holy shit if we all get back to school in one piece I'll be pleased." Shane sounds oddly serious about this, turning so that his gaze can track Peter's hopping path to the bathroom. "Murderdrones like crazyass fucking killing machines." "No, I'm not really slimy, just kind of, uh -- wet? It's still kind of rough even when when it's not great to -- eeeeep!" This is what he says when Peter's head appears in the door, as, despite his claims of unsliminess, he slips off the rim of the tub, windmilling arms flailing as he plunks down towards the water with a /splash/, his skirt abruptly a good deal clingier. "Eeepumwhatwhat you're not bringing murderdrones /here/ are you?" His eyes are wide. "If Shane is talking /positively/ about going back to school /and/ he and Shelby agree something is dumb it's probably like /really/ dumb." His quick scramble back upright and away from Obie's sudden excited licking brushes an arm up against Rasa's. "I don't know," Peter responds to Rasa, and then he gives hir a big thumbs up. "Everything's cool in here, right? Everything's cool." He swings his head back out to face Shane + Shelby + Ivan, thumb still up. "Guys! Everything's cool in there. I just checked." Sebastian's comment hits home; if both Shelby AND Shane are telling you a bad idea, well... maybe he should stop and think about his life. "Um. I'm not -- I mean, I'm just looking into stuff," he explains apologetically -- first to Sebastian, then to Shelby and Shane as he pops back into the room. "I'm running out of cartridges and I want to know more stuff about Oscorp but I'm not gonna do /anything/ dangerous for a while so don't worry about that." "He didn't tell you? S'how we met. Me and Pete. I was minding my own business and then /BAM/. There he is being chased by murderdrones, and they almost killed me." Shelby leads a charmed life, truly she is. She sighs and nibbles on more licorice, also looking towards the bathroom. She and Shane are of one mind in this. "Then I stole his phone and hid it in my bra," she says a moment later, remembering. Because it's funny. "Boobs freak him out like /whoa/...hey! Everything okay in there? What'd you do, Pete, push someone into the tub?" Clearly she is not buying the everything's all right song. "Fuck the cartridges. They're /toys/." Murderdrones and killing and boobs? Also SPLASHING 'round a corner. Slowly but surely, Ivan's state of being seems to slide right back into primarily confused and concerned, shoulders sinking. "But-- the cartridges help him be a /hero/." He attempts meekly, looking up toward Peter again as if now somewhat unsure of this. << Oh god, you're so upset. >> Rasa's voice appears in Sebastian's head when he touches hir arm, a flush of color fading behind it. And just as suddenly as Sebastian touches Rasa, there are two Sebastians. One is wearing a tub full of water and a dog, but the other is wearing Rasa's clothing and is steadily being marked upon in Rasa's fashion, words in Sebastian's handwriting, about his pa and everyone getting killed and however Sebastian imagines a murderdrone looks shooting across a cartoon scene of people running away - and also bravely facing down. The Illustrated Sebastian backs further away from the mess of dog, water and sharkboy shyly. "We're fine!" comes Sebastian's voice from the illustrated figure. Oh my. Now the copy looks confused. "You are okay, right?" "Getting shot by murderdrones'll put an end to his hero shit pretty quick though. /Shit/ you okay?" Shane scoots over at the thumpsplash, just in time to see -- two Sebastians? He blinks, rapid, first one set of eyelids and then the other. "Woooooah what the shit hey, Bastian, I'm ditching you, the other you makes prettier pictures." Despite the joking he's looking a little confused. /Eying/ his brother and /eying/ Rasa. "You make a pretty us," he decides. "Sorry!" Bastian says reflexively, still standing in the rapidly draining tub as he scoots back against the tiled wall. He's holding the showerhead in his hands kind of defensively, staring at Peter. Then at Rasa. "I -- I'm -- okay -- I'm sorry for all the --" He waves, not towards the writing on hir arm but towards his own head. "We're supposed to be having a good night that means no murderdrones." He says this more fretting than accusing. Peter is half-way in the bathroom, half-way out -- when Shelby mentions boobs, he blushes furiously. When she mentions his webshooters being /toys/, he responds: "They aren't -- they're -- /not/ toys," he says, and there's obvious defensiveness in his tone. "They're -- uh." Shane is darting past him to look in the bathroom -- and Peter is peering over one of his shoulders. Instantly, the notion of his webshooters being toys is forgotten -- eyes *popping* wide. "HOLYCRAP that's AWESOME," Peter announces. "Ohman you can turn into /PEOPLE/. Do you have like his gills too? Do they /WORK/?" If everyone else is going to cram into the bathroom and doorway, Shelby will too. She rolls herself to her feet and trundles over, going up on tiptoes to look over Peter's other shoulder. What she sees is startling, to say the least. "Holy shit!" is her first thought. Her second, once she's had a moment to compose herself, is to flick a look over the wet-skirt wearing True Sebastian. Her gaze hovers in the hip region. ".../I'm/ having a good night. Two boyfriends? Hell yeah. Just wish I still had two hands to take advantage," she comments, grin crooked. What -- what is happening. Ivan does not understand! He looks around him as everyone moves to stare into the bathroom, then finally and very tentatively rises to his feet as well to beeline over to Peter and Shelby, peering out from behind both of them with brows knitting together. Even looking straight at Sebastian and Rasa he seems to have trouble understanding what't going on for a moment, but once he does, his eyes widen and his shoulders pop up together with the realisation. Oh. Quietly, risking being drowned out by all of the other more enthusiastic responses, he finally offers, "... Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm going to have to say no murderdrones too." Not that the same same voice is going to count for a second vote for people who can't see the dual Sebastians. Rasa turns his attention back to the tub and the dog and now knows how to help rinse the dog. "Can't we just take the cartridges back to the lab at school and see if Professor McCoy can give us the chemical compound so you can safely risk your life without ... um... risking your life?" Rasa finally looks over at Sebastian. "No, it's okay. It happens. You're fine. I just don't generally let people touch me because it gets... weird like this. Sorry." Sebastian's thoughts start to fade from the clone's flesh, but when Peter starts asking about gills, they /flaaaare./ "Shit. I have gills." Rasa blushes a very normal Sebastian blush and turns to stare in the mirror. "Yeah, um, why don't you just let some sciencetype study that shit, uh, Ryan's roommate is some kind of fucking chemistwizard, he could --" Shane stops at this, though, frowning towards the door abruptly at the thought of Liam. "Well, okay, yeah, he's probably like dead. You should totally mack on both the Bastians," he tells Shelby, "and see who blushes to death /fastest/." "He's a biochemist, I don't know if they -- well, maybe he could." Sebastian /determinedly/ does not frown at the mention of Liam because Liam is /totally coming back/ that's not worry in his expression at all. He offers Rasa a small smile. "Yeah, you have gills. They're kind of stupid, sometimes they try to breathe for you even if you're not in the water. Or mine do anyway." He /preemptively/ blushes at Shelby and Shane's comments. "/Guys/ we should watch a movie," he says instead hastily. On a laptop because Jax doesn't own a television. He's one of Those People. Despite himself, Peter /instinctively/ elbows Shane. Not, like, hard. It's a reflex or something. HE HAS NO CONTROL OVER IT. It occurs at the precise moment where Shane says the words 'like dead'. "Gills are awesome," Peter informs Rasa, then: "And yeah I guess I could I mean I totally should just see if it's possible to synthesize it, annnnnd you know you could do some /awesome/ stuff with that power if you learn to control it, like you can just *GROW* gills, and... oh movie yes RIGHT I brought some DVDs I brought Princess Mononoke I don't know if anyone likes that but it has giant wolves who eat people and stuff I also brought a BATMAN movie." Because everyone loves Batman. "Sexy, sexy gills." Shelby is gesturing at the original Bastian, waving him out of the tub. Possibly to get him within groping range. "A movie sounds /awesome/. Wanna lay with your head in my lap, B? Bastian? BastianS?" Apparently someone has taken Shane's challenge to heart. "Or vice versa?" She grins at them before quitting the bathroom to go lay claim to some of the Slim Jims, and more Twizzlers, before the rest of the horde descends on the treasure trove. A can of Silly String ends up tucked inside of her sling for ambush purposes later. There's something entirely /disapproving/ about Ivan's expression when the possibility of macking on Bastians is implied, and it deepens even more when blushing to /death/ is mentioned. For the first time in a long while, though, he seems to want to uncharacteristically hide his opinion about something, decidedly backing away from everyone else to slink back toward the spot on the floor that he had previously claimed. Quiet once more, expression back to blank as he attempts to clear his brain for movie watching. Rasa leans in to turn off the water and grabs a towel once Obie has done his cursory shakes of water-ridding. "Go on, pick a movie. We'll be out as soon as we get the dog dry - unless you guys want to mop the floors after he gets loose again?" Rasabastian's blush does not fade. "Shelby," he hisses. "Are you really hitting on your roommate? Is this a thing?" Shaking his head, Rasabastian towels the dog off furiously. He brooks no argument as he takes the whole lot, mostly dry dog too, back to the living room and peers at them all disapprovingly as he goads them into starting up the animated feature. Only after the giant wolves start playing on the screen does Rasa begin to melt back into hir normal self, keeping hir gills a little while longer before letting them disappear as well, by the end of the flick. (Continued in Logs:Later_That_Night)