ArchivedLogs:Sewer Scavenger Hunt Scheming

Sewer Scavenger Hunt Scheming
Dramatis Personae Ivan, Shelby, Shane, Sebastian, Rasa, Eric
In Absentia	2013-03-17 '
Location <NYC> Tompkins Square Park - East Village
Small but popular, this tree-lined park is a perfect centerpiece to the eclectic neighborhood it resides in. Home to a number of playgrounds and courts from handball to basketball, it also houses a dog park and chess tables, providing excellent space for people watching -- especially during its frequent and often eccentric festivals, from Wigstock to its yearly Allen Ginsberg tribute Howl festival. oh, the park. The nice, calm park. It's nearing dinnertime for a lot of people, but the ambient noises of children and people playing in the courts still hangs over the day, helping to urge along the feeling that nothing terrible is going on at all and today is just another lovely, lovely day. So why is Ivan here then, dressed in a creativityless black coat because it IS still sort of chilly, pacing back and forth with his hands stuck deep in his pockets? His hair sticks this way and that in certain places, and below a furrowed brow, his eyes are darkened as though he hasn't had a lot of sleep lately. Anyone looking close enough may also notice a spider (or two, or three) skittering between the collar of his coat and his hair, and though that is not exatly unusual, the frequency and number of them /are/. There's a bench that be occasionally sits on, only to get back up again two seconds later. This may be the most he's moved of his own volition in years, twitchy and on edge. Rasa appears in the park at a run, skittering down the stairs from one of the entrances to the apartment buildings near by. Ze is still pulling a hat on over hir head when ze arrives, a crease of worry carved into hir brow. Hir skin is a dark color, like coffee in the sunlight, but with a metallic sheen. Ze slows down once ze is inside the park's gates, looking around to spy out where Ivan is before running the rest of the way over. "Hey Ivan. You sounded upset. Are you okay?" Hir eyes pick out the spiders and hir frown increases. Ivan is startled by Rasa as ze greets him, as though he hadn't been the one to ask for hir to meet him there in the first place. But then he remembers, oh right. He had. Alright. Breathe. "/Hello/." This comes out more as a reflex than anything else. He stops his pacing to look at hir, expression still riddled with concern. But he says nothing. His eyes dart back and forth for a moment and his hands come out of his pockets to start a gesture, but that-- doesn't help much either. Okay. His hands drop back down again, and he puffs out his chest as he inhales very deeply indeed, looking downward at the ground with newfound determination. It's TALKING TIME. Talking time with his Russian accent pulling even more strongly at his words than usual, it seems. A side-effect of nerves? "I am very worried because Peter has not come back and he went missing Thursday evening and he has been reported missing but I know they may not /find him/ because," Pause for another inhaling, "because some times he does things like getting into a lot of danger for people so he can /save them/ and some of those times he gets hurt and maybe he has repeated this and got more hurt than usual or maybe there were bad people and I do not know what to do about this." His hands curl into fists as spiders skitter back and forth across his neck (and one particularly daring one across his face), and he looks back up to Rasa with the concern on his face /doubled/. WHAT DO. Rasa's jaw drops slowly as Ivan begins to explain what is going on, hir eyes forgetting to blink for a while. Ze draws in a breath as ze clears hir throat and takes a few seconds to digest all of this. "Have a... has anyone told Professor Xavier?" is hir first comment, hir hands rubbing absent-mindedly against hir thighs, hir frown deepening again. "If his disappearance has been reported, I guess he knows and people are looking." There are more furrows in hir brow. Soon, hir brow is so furrowed, it appears ze has grown extra skin to commit this furrowing, hir frown beginning to take on comic proportions as well. "I... don't know what else to say. People have been told. Maybe we should help look for him." Ivan seems just as clueless, lifting a hand to drag it across his face in exasperation and just barely avoiding squishing a spider on there in the process. "I was not sure who to tell." He replies again, meekly and looking somewhat guilty for having even brought it up. "Or where to-- do the looking. I do not know many places and I do not know if they will be... helpful. And I have only you and Shelby and maybe teachers but they can not know that... Peter... is doing these... things." He stops a little awkwardly, distracted and now staring at Rasa's face while cocking his head to the side. That is intriguing. His brain still in talk:ON mode, he mutters without thought, under his breath and flatly, "Your face is incredible." Not a second later, though, his mouth shuts again, jaw clenching and eyes widening slightly. Act cool, Ivan. Maybe ze didn't hear it. Yeah. Rasa blinks at Ivan a little confused, and reaches one hand up to touch hir face, but fishes out her cellphone with the other hand. "Do you know where Peter was? Where we should start looking to get started?" Ze seems content to ignore this comment about hir features for the time being. When the cellphone is dragged out, ze begins to text. "Because we can to there... maybe... and try. Trying is good, right? Helping works that way? Maybe you can ask all the spiders and bugs." And a text is sent. (Rasa --> Shelby) Shelby. Peter is Missing. I am in Tmkns park with Ivan. We may go look. My face may be falling off.' (Shelby --> Rasa) wtf (Shelby --> Rasa) u sur pete isnt just liek off makin webs? y is ur faec fallin of? (Rasa --> Shelby) Ivan hasn't seen Peter since Thursday. My skin is sagging. Falling off soon. Ivan thinks it is incredible. Peter should not be gone this long. (Shelby --> Rasa) ...u tuchd NE snaks l8ly? fuk did ivan kno wher pete wuz gona b? Ivan sighs, very audibly, in relief. PHEW. That was close. As if the accidental comment has convinced him that this Talking thing might not be the best idea, he sways left and right for a moment, as he thinks, then shrugs and shakea his head at the same time. When he realises he will have to talk again, his eyes dart to the bench nearby and he squints at it as if he's making sure to actually know what he's saying, this time. "I do not know. But I looked in newpapers. No fires - that is what Peter does a lot - so that did not hurt him." His next sentence is spoken even more quietly than usual, any spiders left on his neck scurrying hurridly down into his coat as his expression knots back into concern. "... There is also the sewer monster." Rasa receives new text messages, one of which ze replies to immediately. Then ze looks up at Ivan. "Oh. But the Sewer Monster is dead, right? That was in the news too. If Peter was there, they would have found him." Ze receives another message and ze considers quietly. "I don't know. We can try and figure out where that is..." As ze speaks, ze is writing out a message again. And... sent. (Rasa --> Shelby) Ivan thinks he went after the sewer monster. I have touched no snakes. (Shelby --> Rasa) WTFWTFWTF shit im soooo guna beat hiz ass wut teh hell wuz he thinkin sewerz r BAD NEWZ aaaaugh stupid boyz FUK (Shelby --> Rasa) kk ask ivan hwo gud he iz w/ bugs can tey tell him wher pete is if tey find him? i kno sum tunnels (Shelby --> Rasa) also u shuld go to medlab u kinda need skin Ivan nods a single but enthusiastic nod at the sewer monster being dead. They WOULD have found him. Probably. He goes quiet now, seemingly out of verbal input and all full of unspoken worries. He lets himself fall back onto that bench to sit hunched over with his hands fidgeting inside of his pockets. Speaking of worries, though-- "Who--..." He starts, looking up to Rasa to stare at hir fingers as ze types another message. "Are you telling someone?" "Shelby," Rasa admits quickly. "She says she knows some tunnels but wants to know if you think you can talk to spiders to help find Peter or not." Rasa looks up from the three consecutive texts ze receives, focusing hir gaze on Ivan. Hir face firms back up over time, but the intensity of hir gaze turning hir eyes a lighter hue though. Then another serious question: "Is my face still falling off?" Ivan relaxes a little. Shelby. That is okay. Shelby already knows about Peter Doing Things and might want to help and oh no what if things are even worse than he suspected what if Peter is DEAD after Ivan ENCOURAGED HIM to be a superhero and oh god. His tired eyes widen once more and he sinks lower and lower, shoulders popping up and arms lifting to be folded straight over his head as it slowly lowers onto his knees. "Spiders are not very intelligent." Comes a muffled reply from under the arms of the increasingly curled up Ivanbundle. "I do not think they will be of much help." He tightens further, as if wanting to escape into the bench altogether, very, very quietly adding, without even looking, "Your face is beautiful." Rasa moves to sit next to Ivan, reaching out a hand to comfort him, but turns instead her hand to hir phone to text. "I see. You have no lucky asking them what they see? Okay." Ze continues texting. "We may need to ask for other help too, but going into the tunnels is good?" Ze begins to look tired too, and once hir message is sent, ze reaches out to squeeze his shoulder. "I am sorry. Please do not be upset. We will find him." (Rasa --> Shelby) Ivan says spiders are no go. My skin is supposedly beautiful now, so no medlab. Maybe twins can sniff for Peter? Can they help? Shelby pages: wut sagging is butiful? russins r weird. leme ask wuz gona hook up w/ them later sec The squeeze is met with a twitch, if only because he did not expect it. "Some times," He starts as a few spiders drop from the bottom of his coat and onto the floor to scatter into different directions. He sounds just about on the verge of breaking down, but braces himself to carry on in a slightly less pathetic tone of voice. "Some times I can see. But they do not /remember/ very long. The salticidae-- jumping spiders have good eyes." He pushes himself back and lifts both legs off to the ground to curl up even further. But despite the earlier twitch, he leans ever so slightly toward Rasa, absently mumbling in Russian, "{Thank you.}" (Shelby --> Rasa) bastian sez u shuldnt go on a spiderhunt w/ skin falin off Rasa sends one last text message and puts hir phone down, leaving a hand on Ivan's back, turning it into an arm wrapped around his shoulders when he leans toward hir. "Shelby's going to ask the twins to help. Maybe they can sniff." Ze looks up toward the apartment that ze came from. "Maybe you'll find a way to pay attention for your spiders. Who knows. We all got stuff to try." (Rasa --> Shelby) My skin is fine now. Ivan is now falling apart. Hurry? (Shelby --> Rasa) n a cab now b ther soon duno if teh twinz r comin tell ivan 2 put on his big girl panties "Maybe. I will try to learn." The Ivanbundle on the bench responds, before squirming to turn his head in the middle of the ball of elbows and knees and coat to look vaguely in Rasa's direction, though his eyes are directed, rather thoughtfully, to the ground instead. Hir arm around him did not get the same twitch that the squeeze did. If anything, it seems to calm him, somewhat. "I think it maybe is my fault." A cab pulls to the curb outside of the park, dispensing one (1) Shelby. After paying off the driver and orienting herself to the pathway, she sets off. There's a pack slung over her shoulder, the strap held with one hand and a cellphone in the other. Two functioning hands, yay! Her thumb is briskly typing out a message as she plunges into the park, alternating peering at whatever message she's firing off with looking around for... "Dudes!" Rasa continues to hold the Ivanball for the time being, providing comfort while gazing off into space. "How is it your fault? Peter... is very much himself. He does what he is going to do no matter what. He can't even be asked to be calm in a library well." Ze draws in a deep breath and watches the air curl around hir exhale, looking over when Shelby announces her presence. "Shelby." Ivan seems skeptical of this wild theory that it may not be entirely his fault that Peter is gone, one hand moving to dig its fingers through his hair and hold his head. Even when Shelby arrives and greets them, Ivan is far too deep into Everything Is Terrible county to look up, but he does offer a halfhearted wave with his other hand, consumed with worries but otherwise bundled contently under Rasa's arm. Rasa is treated to a critical study as Shelby slides onto the other side of the bench, Ivan between them. Her backpack is swung into her lap, the cellphone shoved into a pocket so she can go for the pack's zipper. "Ivan," she says as if there weren't a crisis going on AT THIS VERY MINUTE, "you're gonna do a shitty job of helping out here if you don't pull it together." Everything she needs to know is read from body language--and something productive is offered when she pulls a Dollar Store flashlight out of the backpack and prods him in the arm with it so he'll take it. There are a few more visible in the bag, as well as a stash of crinkly plastic bags all holding different sorts of candy, a box of rolling papers, a couple of notebooks and a set of Crayola colored pencils. Rasa meets Shelby's scrutiny with a somewhat pleading expression. Ze certainly wishes to have some /help/ with this Ivan ball. Once the other girl has arrived, ze pulls hir arm off of the boy and begins to stand up. "You found a flashlight? Did you know we were going to do this, or did you have one already?" This is fascinates Rasa, but ze keeps it to hirself. "So, ... um. I actually know nothing about where to start. I do not know how I can help either." At the prodding, there is a smatter of Russian muttering that sounds equally as sad as it does annoyed, but Ivan does eventually unfurl, feet landing heavily back on the floor and his arms dropping to his side like a dead fish. The flashlight is accepted with a bit of a clumsy fumble, and subsequently stared at with sleep-deprived eyes. Then, those eyes are lifted to Shelby and Rasa in turn, and both of them get a weak smile. People. People who help, but also people who talk at each other. This means he can go back to only occasionally talking when someone asks a question. The flashlight gets- a hug? Squashed under both arms against his stomach as he listens. "I /always/ carry a flashlight, 'cause you never know. I grabbed a few more though, I was getting some snacks when you texted me and said 'sewer'," Shelby explains, offloading a flashlight on Rasa as well. A third is stuffed into her jacket pocket before she zips the bag, slings it onto her shoulder and joins them in standing up. "'Cause fuck if I'm going into tunnels without /light/, man. You know how creepy it is down there? You guys ever /been/ in the sewers before? It is /Not Fun/. Fucking Pete. I swear to god he better not be dead, so I can kick him in the ass." That should be /wonderful/ for Ivan's morale. "S'he seriously in the sewers, what the /fuck/, man, that's the worst place to fucking superhero. They already killed that stupid bloodthing, right?" Hi, here is a SHANE, certainly not /dressed/ for sewering. Neat slacks. Dark dress shirt. Pale vest. Polished shoes. "People should give a fucking heads-/up/ before getting kidnapped." He's not coming alone -- he has a brother in tow! Also a cop. But not an on-duty one so possibly not an Immediately Alarming cop. Just a musclepony. "So what the fuck is up, again?" "Is your skin okay?" Sebastian asks this quieter, with a worried glance at Rasa. He's /slightly/ more dressed for sewering; at least, he's in jeans. Sneakers. A (pony-eared!) Fluttershy sweatshirt. He /has/ had his hand in a firm grip around Shane's elbow, but he leaves this off to drift up to the group, bumping his shoulder up against Shelby's. "He's not going to be dead," he says. Confidently! In tone, at least. He mostly just still looks worried. "Your Pa?" Apparently, no one has clued Eric into what exactly is going on. He gives Shane and Sebastian a puzzled look. "Kidnapped? Arrested, maybe, alright, but kidnapped? The fuck are you talking about? Sewers?" Whatever conversational leap they had made from what they were talking about before their arrival is too much for him. He gives up and gives Shelby a little wave, eyeing the others curiously. "Heya." Rasa accepts the flashlight gratefully and clicks it to check it before turning it back off. "Flashlights are good. It was a convenient text then. Good. I am glad. I suppose when the twins get here we can go." Ze frowns a little, still concerned. "Do we just open up a manhole and jump in?" Then there are twins. Rasa stops talking and blinks as Shane's curses seem to be a continuous stream, picking up where Shelby left off. (Yes, Rasa wasn't actually listening to Shelby and started talking over her.) Ze looks to Sebastian when he speaks to hir and raises a hand to hir face to poke at it. "It is still attached. I am well. I think it was just very sad." Rasa's coloration happens to be a dark brown with a metallic sheen, the color of coffee in the sunlight - and hir skin is still very much attached and in the correct places - currently. Shelby slides her good-as-new arm around Sebastian's back and adopts a comfortable lean against him, free hand curled around the strap of her backpack. "Yo," she returns to Eric. "Papers said the bloodthing is dead but I guess Pete didn't get the memo. Ivan said it's been since...what, Thursday?" She looks to the boy for confirmation. "There's a sewer entrance under one of the bridges over there," she goes on, tilting her head to indicate the other side of the park. "Some of the street kids pried off the grate, they go down there to shoot up or whatever and you /totally/ didn't hear that from me, dude." Three guesses as to which of them this remark was meant for. "I figure we get down there, sniff him out, get him back up to and we're good to go, easy peasy." Ivan's gaze flits between Shelby and Rasa when more people join the scene, rising from the bench to stand if only because everyone else is. The flashlight is slipped into a pocket of his coat, and his face-- goes very pale. That, in combination with how tired he looks makes for a very socially uncomfortable looking Ivan. Everyone knows about Peter? Everyone knows. Oh no /everyone knows/. He scans his immediate surroundings in a somewhat panicked manner, before deciding that Rasa will be the best Peter-substitute for now; he moves, sideways, then back, then sideways again, to stand slightly behind Rasa with as straight a face as he can manage. Not here. "Cool. Yeah. We should make it fast," Shane says, with a brief glance in the direction of his apartment building, "I want to check in on my pa soon." This /also/ seems a little uncharacteristically worried for Shane, but he's already glancing across the park in the direction Shelby's indicated. "-- Not my /pa/, dumbass," he corrects Eric -- something in his tone makes 'dumbass' more amiable than insulting. "A friend of ours went /missing/, we're gonna find him. He's kind of a fucking moron," and this time it /is/ an insult! "so he's probably in trouble again." "We're good at tracking things." Sebastian hooks his arm back around Shelby, curling around her waist with only the /teeniest/ bit of hesitation! It's almost like he's comfortable with it! "But, yeah, Eric says --" He bites down on his lip. "We should hurry. The sewers probably aren't fun to hang out in anyway." Through this hes eying Rasa. Concerned. Like maybe ze might shed hir skin right there. "Okay," he agrees, "are you still sad? Cuz I could -- give you a hug or something." Hey, it works for his dad! "Shouldn't you leave that to the professionals?" Eric says, raising an eyebrow. He doesn't flex, but he might as well, by the tone in his voice. "I mean... how long has he been missing? We searched a good section of the sewers after they found that... thing in the sewers. Besides, they don't let even us go down there without an escort from NYW. Too easy to get lost." "No, no, I am okay." Rasa assures Sebastian, hands out almost defensively, but hir eyes shift from Basian to Shelby, shyly. "It is sadness for Peter. So, all we have to do is find him and... then it won't be a problem." Ze slips hir flashlight into a pocket and glances back at Ivan before speaking up. "The police already know about Peter as he's been gone a while. If you do not wish to be involved, you can go. He's our friend. We're looking." Ze eyes him and looks to Shane. "Ready?" "He gives good hug," Shelby says of Bastian, to Rasa. "You should totally say yes." She even lets her hand slip down to give Bastian a pat on the rear to encourage the aforementioned cheering up. Go. Make Rasa happy. "It's been like four days," she goes on to tell Eric, wrinkling her nose at his lack of support, "That's plenty long enough and it's not like we're /normal/ people. The twins can sniff us a way out if we're lost, and Ivan is gonna be /killer/ useful down there, you don't even know." As for herself? Well, she brought the flashlights and the candy. The teen sets off in the direction of the grate she'd pointed out. A plastic packet is pulled from her pocket and waved around in general offer. "Anyone want a Twizzler?" Ivan's hands disappear into his pockets, and he perks up slightly at Rasa's little speech. Shelby, too, seems to bring a bit of colour back to his face, and he even looks a little /proud/, studying everyone's face for a second with newly gathered up confidence. Once Shelby starts moving, he does as well, smiling quietly to himself and throwing a brief glance back to Rasa in particular. The Twizzler offer is met with a grabbyhand in its general direction. Gimme gimme. "Yeah, we make a good team." Shane assures Eric, with a /pat/ on the -- well, ass. Obviously not for perving he just isn't really tall enough to comfortably do casual shoulder-pats. "Hugs are great, Rasa, I totally prescribe all the hugs you can get. And you should listen to me cuz I'm a doctor. C'mon, I don't get a flashlight?" He doesn't succeed in sounding actually put off about this, just turning to saunter after Shelby across the park. "Next time, bring Slim Jims." Sebastian blushes a little, at the swat, but he steps forward, shyly offering Rasa an arm. Not actually hugging, though, because, well, she said no! But it's an offer for her to either take or not take before Sebastian follows. "Twizzlers are murder on my teeth," he admits, "No amount of floss helps with that. Have you been in the sewers before, Ivan? I bet there's /so many/ people to talk to. Or, um, not people." He blushes deeper. "-- You don't need a flashlight," he tells his brother, puzzled. Eric raises his hands, as if on the wrong end of a gun. "Just sayin'." he shrugs his shoulders, glancing between Shane and Sebasian. "Don't go far. I'll go talk to your Pa, and if he has my vivisected corpse in his apartment, I'm fair sure that his inspectors won't take that well." he jokes, eyes twinkling. More seriously, he ruffles Shane's hair. "Be careful, y'all. Come back soon." Rasa moves with the group, allowing Sebastian to wrap his arm around hir, shrinking a little to make it a comfortable position, one arm wrapped around his waist. Ze reaches a hand back to Ivan, willing to hold his while they walk. "I am okay with out candy right now. I will possibly want some later. Now my stomach is unhappy." A strand of licorice is slapped back into Ivan's hand before Shelby pulls one out for herself. "You can have the Slim Jims /after/ you find Peter," she informs Shane loftily. Then talking is put on hold because Bastian is right, these things get in the teeth something awful. Om nom nom. She's leading the little group--with a last wave back at Eric--in the direction of the decorative bridge she'd indicated. As promised, there is a grate set near the ground, large enough for children, small teenagers and maybe sewer crocodiles to get through. The dirt around the grating is littered with the usual New York City park refuse, which Shelby scuffs away with a foot before crouching to tug at the metal wiring. It pops off with nary a protest and is set aside, leaned up against the concrete. Snapping her flashlight on and shining it inside shows a short tunnel and then a rebar-style ladder leading down, down, down. Ivan gives a quick shake of his head at Sebastian's question, before his eyebrows knit thoughtfully as he pulls a hand out of his pocket and stares at it. One finger, two finger, three finger, four, five. Counting possibilities in his head. There's a TON of different insects down there! He actually looks pretty excited, for a moment, before it quickly fades away again when he remembers why they're going own there in the first place. The But then-- there is a hand reached out to him. A Rasa hand. He doesn't even /think/, and after stuffing half a Twizzler into his mouth, gladly obliges. His smile grows, still, his mind caught in a momentary bubble of 'what were we doing again?' as he walks along. "We're always careful," Shane assures Eric with a /toothy/ grin, and /his/ parting caution is: "Don't bone my dad." And then he's off with the others. Not even hesitating before climbing down the ladder, just to show how /very careful/ he clearly is. Down into the dark dank. A-spider-huntin' they go.