ArchivedLogs:Teenage Mutant Ninja...

Teenage Mutant Ninja...
Dramatis Personae Anole, Peter, Sebastian, Shane
In Absentia	2013-06-04 '
Location <MOR> Welcome to the Freakshow
Wider and more spacious than many of the surrounding nooks and niches, this chill cavern is the central hub of the Morlock's underground network. With tunnels branching off in many directions, it takes a while to learn to /navigate/ from here to where you want to go, but there's generally plenty of more experienced people around to teach newcomers the ins and outs of the pathways. Here, though, is a safe place to come and relax, for what value of relaxation can be found among moss-covered walls and the occasional stagnant puddles on the floor. There's been furniture brought in, a mismatched assortment of crates, mattresses with busted springs, a few broken and subsequently repaired chairs, a folding table in a corner. Shelves along a wall hold entertainment; books, a smattering of board and card games, sometimes snacks. There's even electricity, wiring none too safe and visible in places where the wall has been broken open; the naked light bulbs flicker often and the lone outlet has had so many power strips attached it is undoubtedly a fire hazard. The twins and Peter did not arrive in the tunnels alone! They came accompanied by a pair of X-Men, one lean and kind of /overcharged/ with sunlight that shows more in the radiant /heat/ leaking from him than in any noticeable glow, one bigger and. Blue. Furry. But the adults have split off with their shadowguardian, leaving the boys in the company of a small green Morlock. Shane greeted Anole with a HUG, huge and squeezytight. Sebastian's -- also huggy. Somewhat less bonecrushing. "You know we came down here before," Shane is saying -- if the lack of light in the tunnels bothers /him/ it doesn't show, his huge black eyes are peering through gloom without toooooo much difficulty, "but that was after a crazy bloodmonster, um, do --" "-- you guys get a /lot/ of horrible monsters down here? Cuz I'm noticing a kind of horrible monster /pattern/," Bastian is finishing a little apologetically. They're very twinny today. Similar boots, similar black cargo pants, similar grey-green t-shirts. "Um." Anole has been so happy for hugs! All the hugs. He will dispense hugs like hugs are going out of style. Unlike the twins, he /can't/ see much down in the murk, but he also doesn't seem to care! Mostly because he knows these tunnels well; he leads them usually near the wall (sometimes climbing /onto/ it before he remembers the twins cannot follow that way!) to skirt the worst of the wastewater and pitfalls that often lurk more centrally. "... yeah," he is forced to admit, "it's /kind of/ monster central down here. But! But we have /knights/ to fight the monsters and I'm learning to /be/ one." "Knights are cool," Peter remarks, with absolute sincerity; the boy gave Anole a hug himself, after the twins, when he first arrived -- he's mostly been lurking in the background, though, hovering behind the twins. He came dressed in a loose fitting white t-shirt, blue-jeans, funny two-toed sandal socks, and -- a red hoodie, which he'd been keeping up until they arrived in the sewers. Once out of the city, the hood comes down, exposing his face along with those ridiculous Buddy Holly glasses of his. He's also brought those slick little plastic webshooters of his, and a black nylon backpack strapped to his back -- filled with... snacks? Books? /Who knows/. "Though, uh, I don't know if -- I mean. Is it safe? Living with a bunch of monsters..." Peter's tone trails off, as if considering whether or not he should be throwing rocks at this /particular/ glass house. "/You/ live with a bunch of monsters," Shane points out cheerfully. "We are /not/," Sebastian starts, a little disgruntled. "Mngh. Wait you're learning to be a knight? Does that mean you're --" "-- like a /page/?" Shane sounds kind of delighted at this thought. "Do you get armor?" Sebastian lifts a hand, stretching it out to brush fingertips lightly against the hard carapace on Anole's head, down to the scales at the back of his neck. "I think he /comes/ with armor." "Oh -- oh /man/ yeah! That's kind of awesome. Um." Splash splash. Shane might not be trying too hard to avoid the puddles, filthy though they may be. He has /boots/, he stomps in them with /glee/. "What about /weapons/ you know me and B know how to /swordfight/." He starts to drop back, juuust slightly, trailing back to notch himself in alongside Peter. "If there are any monsters, I'll eat them," he says, fierce grin not particularly visible in the gloom but audible in his voice all the same. His hand reaches for Peter's. "You alright? It's dark." "We know /fencing/ that's not really -- I don't think a fencing foil would /help/ much against --" Sebastian starts to protest, but then reconsiders: "Actually, yeah, everyone should learn swordfighting it's -- kind of awesome." "Sewer /squire/," Anole corrects proudly. "... I don't have a sword. Marrow sometimes has swords but they're kind of, um, made. Out of. Her." He stops at the brush of fingertips, butting his head up against Sebastian's hand. "But there's not /going/ to be any monsters, I'm not taking you anywhere near --" He turns to look back towards Peter. "Oh, oh gosh, do you. I have a flashlight if um. I just don't like, when Nox is -- I could." Pause. "... does your /school/ teach /swordfighting/?" His eyes are basically currently taking up his entire face. O.O. "If /you/ guys are monsters," Peter announces, somewhat oblivious, "then /I/ am." He pauses, before quickly adding: "...is Shelby a monster? She scares me sometimes." Peter quickly takes Shane's hand when offered, moving to kind-of follow him, close behind. He hasn't tripped /too/ many times, but every so often an unusual pit or puddle will find him and -- kersplash, grumble. He squeezes back. "I'm okay, but -- oh dude do you have night-vision," Peter asks, as if this thought might have just occurred to him. "I was /wondering/ how you guys are just--" Peter is now /lining himself up/ to follow Shane. "S'okay, I'll just -- follow you guys close," Peter mentions to Anole, before grinning in the dark at his sudden wide-eyed expression of sword-fighting. "Yeah. Shane and Sebastian both -- I might try it, too. S'got a lot of rules, though," Peter says, like this is a /problem/. "At least I think it does. I actually don't know much about it." "Naw, Shelby's not a monster," Bastian answers, though he sounds amused at it; pretty much on top of this Shane is contradicting: "/Totally/ a fucking monster, yeah." Admittedly, he doesn't sound like this is an insult, really. "Oh!" Bastian glances back apologetically at Peter. "Yeah, we --" "Nowhere near as fucking good as our pa he's got the mad /laser/ vision," Shane is saying; Bastian interjects the reflexive correction, "infrared," before Shane finishes, "... but it's a lot darker underwater, we're just. A little better I guess at --" He shrugs. "Dark." "Who do you squire /for/?" Sebastian asks. "Who knights you? Can you -- do you have Sewer /Lords/?" "Be a Sewer Archduke," Shane suggests. "Archdukes just get assassinated," Bastian shoots down this idea. Shane keeps hold of Peter's hand, navigating the dark. "They teach swordfighting yeah. The instructor is basically the hottest teacher ever except, I guess, for Pa." "I think I'd want to be a Viscount," Anole decides, "but I think Masque is probably already the Archduke." Up ahead, the gloom is becoming distinctly less gloomy. The warm orangey tones of firelight flicker out into the tunnel from the mouth of a much larger cavern. There are voices, too, and the smells of people; quite a few of them, too. Anole's pace speeds, kind of eager as they approach the heart of the Morlocks' home. He stops short of the actual cavern, though it's easy enough to see in now, the host of mutants trickling in and out, lounging, playing cards, eating. Someone has brought in a haul of day-old bagels and donuts. /Feast/. Someone else is roasting questionable meat over a trashcan fire. Probably somewhere among the smells are a few familiar-ish ones, Masque and Marrow and the plantier-earthier Jim. Anole is mostly just looking kind of puzzled at Shane, though. "... hottest? Um -- did you just say -- your /pa/ --" His brow creases. "Sewer Lord sounds like a terrible band-name," Petter contributes, helpfully (?!), continuing to follow behind / beside Shane, occasionally giving his hand a gentle-but-firm squeeze when he needs him to slow down a bit. "Oh hey, light --" And then there are /people/, and Peter stiffens a bit in surprise; a moment later, though, and he's grinning. "...whoa, you guys -- you really /do/ live... wow. You got a whole -- community down here...!" Anole's mention of Shane's comment makes Peter turn violet. "...Shane and Sebastian are, uh. Adopted," Peter offers, by way of explanation. He soon adds: "Also Shane's kind of clueless when it comes to social taboos." This sounds like a criticism, but it also sounds amused; in the light afforded by the cavern ahead, Peter's still grinning. "Their pa /is/ really pretty, though. I don't know if you remember him -- he's got an eyepatch? Really colorful." "Oh come /on/," Shane is puzzled by Anole's puzzlement! "/You/'ve seen my dad /tell/ me you wouldn't tap --" "... wow," Bastian is cutting in /hastily/, "you guys really -- this is a whole -- /wow/ I didn't think the sewers got so, um, /home/y." Shane chuffs out a SCOFFING breath at the others' concern. "Look, social taboos are kind of dumb most of the time." He pecks Peter on the cheek and then tugs him ahead into the room. "... no really uh, this is rad, your home is --" He's looking more at the other /people/ than the surroundings, eyes kind of huge-wide as he looks at all the, "-- freaks." Bastian says this more in /awe/ than in criticism. "I mean everyone here's --" He flushes darker blue as he trails the others inside. "Y'wanna start a band," Shane asks the others offhand. "The Sewer Lords?" "No!" Anole insists, "I don't -- I mean /yes/ I know your dad he was just here yesterday, um, he got me a suit for the dance," he explains to Peter, "he seems very --" His cheeks flush deeeep green and he looks down at his bare toes. "-- I mean," he amends quickly, "he's your dad dads aren't allowed to, um, be. Hot." He scurries in after the others, smile returning as he looks around. "Yeah! We're pretty much all freaks," he says with a laugh, "it's, um, it's nice, I. Hey! Do you want some food?" He looks excited all over again that he can even offer. "I /saved/ some just for you and! I even picked up some /soda/." He is practically squirming with the announcement of this indulgence. "I don't think I know how to music, is that a problem?" Anole adds, and he sounds genuinely uncertain as to whether or not this is a prerequisite. "Sometimes," Peter agrees with Shane's assessment with a grinning little 'hee hee' as he is dragged into the room, head swiveling this way and that to take everything in. "But you should at least /know/ about them...!" At Anole's mention of Jax, Peter brightens. "Oh, he did? Oh, /food/, jeez, I mean -- I brought some snacks, but just. Like," a flick of eyes toward the twins, "just like slim-jims in case--" Peter might have recently developed an /obsession/ with bringing meat products whenever he is going anywhere with the twins. "--soda would be awesome, though. And maybe, uh, food. This is -- you guys got a whole /thing/ down here..." At the question of whether or not knowing how to music will be a problem, Peter just grins: "S'okay, neither do I. We'll just be drummers." Oh, Peter. /Someone/ doesn't have a high opinion of drumming. Or maybe Peter just thinks drumming is what Animal does. "Okay," Shane will accede to Anole's blushing easily, "s'OK you don't have to think that --" He trails off here, though, looking at Sebastian. Looking /around/. Slowly, his lips curl back, spreading into a bright-wide smile. "Anole," he says, slowly, "I know we said you should come to our school but," "-- can we come live here?" Bastian actually sounds pretty serious. Shane curls his arm around Peter's waist, and his lean in against Peter's side does not seem overtly flirtatious or overtly anything at all except a steady weight tucked in against the taller boy as he looks around, still wide-eyed. "We music," Bastian adds. "We could totally have a band." "-- You saved food for us?" Shane sounds surprised at this. "Really?" Anole's eyes widen, too. "I mean really you'd want to -- I mean of /course/ you could -- wait. You'd really want --" Now he's looking at the twins kind of like they might be pulling his leg? Maybe? But he gives the others a quick smile and -- "Yeah! Right food I can -- right." He leaves them where they are, darting over to climb straight /up/ a wall, speeding up high and disappearing through a tunnel about halfway towards the high ceiling. At the mention of the sharktwins living /here/, Peter kind-of-tenses; he's still swinging his head around to just, /absorb/ it all -- but there's a certain clench to his shoulders at the idea. When Shane wraps an arm around his waist, though, Peter's head descends to give him a soft peck somewhere in the mass of that spiky hair. "You, uh. Wouldn't, /really/ -- would you?" Peter's own arm drops around Shane's shoulders, his eyes drifting back to some of the people here. "...it's nice, though. Cool that -- I mean. I'd have to," back to violet, "uh come down to visit you guys it'd be... a heck of um, a commute." He seems to be genuinely worried that the twins both might decide to drop the Xavier thing and move in with the Morlocks. Shane just stays where he is as Anole scurries off, still watching the activity in the room. Peter's question draws his eyes upwards, though, and for a moment his cheeks darken, gills flaring. "Oh --" He bites his lip, looking away to the rest of the room. "Be a long commute for classes, too," Sebastian says slowly, "... but it'd be nice to, um. Be. Somewhere where --" "-- we're looked at like, uh, people and not animals," Shane finishes. "-- like equals," Bastian clarifies, quieter. Shane just closes his eyes. His cheek rests against Peter's side, his arm tightening slightly. His gills keep fluttering. ZOOM. More zooming! Anole is scurrying his way back /down/ the wall, this time with a kind of heavy canvas grocery bag hung about his neck. He takes the wall at kind of a quick scamper, hurrying back towards the others but pulling up short as he gets near enough for conversation. His brows crease. "-- isn't that, um. The whole -- /point/ of your school?" he asks, uncertainly. "I mean you guys don't seem like --" He blushes, hopping down to stand upright. "We should build tunnels," he says with a laugh. "Between here. And your school. /Um/ OK but that would still be crazy far to walk so -- maybe. Kind of. Pointless." "Some of our teachers can teleport," Peter ventures helpfully as Anole returns, grinning just a little. His arm around Shane's shoulder sinks to curl around his flank, fingers drifting to trace down the familiar length of his gills, trying to calm their fluttering; he squeezes in response to Shane's tightening arm. "Though they probably wouldn't want to lug everybody back and forth all the time." He glances at Shane, then Sebastian, then back to Anole, and -- "...you think, uh. Would it be -- um. Weird, if -- do you guys allow for, uh, sleepovers?" Peter is turning violet at this very notion. "When there's a break, maybe, or over the weekend, or..." Violet threatens to go darker. "They -- it's, kinda -- it might be fun. Relaxing," Peter adds, meekly. "Yeah, it's -- the point of the school," Sebastian answers, his tone oddly cautious. Shane just relaxes against Peter's side, eyes fluttering closed as his gills calm. "Tunnels would be awesome," he agrees, with a small crooked smile. "Maybe lay down tracks. Put those, mmm," "-- trains?" Sebastian suggests, more amused. "/Carts/. Like mines --" Shane's eyes snap back open. "/Sleepovers/." He sounds suddenly charmed by this idea. "Holy shit, /can/ we?" His voice is sliding back towards excited. "I bet my pa would be OK with it at least." "If you guys are! -- He'd probably even bake you ridiculous amounts of food for us to bring." Sebastian glances over at Peter, nose crinkling up in a sudden bright (toothy! for once) grin. "You're blushing," he points out. "Why blushing, it'd be fun. We could --" Shane suddenly stops, uncertain. "... what do people do at sleepovers?" "Sleep?" Anole suggests, but he doesn't actually sound serious about this. "Would you guys really want to spend the night?" He /bounces/ on his toes at this. He unhooks the bag from around his neck, offering it out to the others. There is an eclectic assortment of food inside. A six-pack of Coke cans. A salami. A bag of potato chips. Some oreos. A few packs of beef jerky in varying flavours. A pack of Skittles. He seems kind of proud of this haul as he holds it out. "I don't think they really sleep, um, I guess we used to -- play games?" He suddenly looks nervous about the sleepover idea. "I -- I don't -- have a lot of games here," he tells the others apologetically. "I've never, uh. I mean, once, with Ivan, at /my/ place," Peter admits, still flushed. "But never in the -- I mean -- it'd be... interesting," he decides, watching as Anole unloads what looks to be a mother-load of food from that bag. The bag of potato chips -- THWP. Score. Peter's arm is still squeezing Shane, but now the other one is extending out, a silver cord snapping to smack the bottom of that bag and -- yank! -- he's caught it with a minimum of bag-crumpling. Maybe jostling a few of the chips, though! "S'fine, we can make our /own/ games," Peter decides -- if he had reservations about the sleepover idea a moment ago, they seem to be rapidly vanishing. "Plus, we can see if you can use my thwippy things," Peter suddenly just -- decides! "I mean, you aren't -- super-strong or anything, but you got crazy reflexes so maybe you can. Uh. You gotta be /super/ careful though, because -- well you do it with your tongue so I guess you should be okay," Peter says, brow crumpling at the thought. "/Woah/ score!" Sebastian takes the offered bag, draping it over an arm and pulling out one of the bags of jerky. He tears it open with his teeth and pulls out a fistful before offering the bag to his brother. "We don't need games," Shane assures Anole lightly, "your place is awesome I bet we can find /lots/ to -- ohmyfuckinggodyes. Anole. You are going to be a /flying/ lizard." "Should've brought ours with us," Bastian says around a mouthful of jerky. "But yes I'm pretty sure /flying/ counts as an awesome game." Shane grabs a handful of MEATS. Chompchompchew. He doesn't stop leaning against Peter's side, though. "... we doing this /now/?" he wonders. "Cuz it's gonna be pretty much the best sleepover." "... have exams tomorrow," Bastian says with a frown. "Maaan fuck your exams /flying lizard/. Anyway I bet Pa will pick us up and get us to school /anyway/ he's all. Teachery." CHOMP. Mmmjerky. Shane is enjoying this stay already. "I'd like -- now," Anole agrees, working back towards excited again when it is clear he is not being /judged/ on his lack of available games. He watches Peter's snagging of the potato chips with a sudden grin. "You'd really let me try those?" More wriggling. "... if you're a flying spider and they're flying sharks and I'm a flying lizard I -- I feel like we /have/ to be able to make a better band name out of that." "I -- we can talk to Jax, I think --" Peter pauses, trying work the schedule out in his mind. "Um. If we can't, we can do it this weekend, at least." And then -- POP. Peter's arm swings off of Shane just long enough to get the back of chips open; then, he's chucking a few into his mouth with a CRUNCH -- and rewrapping his arm around Shane, even as he lets the bag dangle from his other arm. At Anole's wriggling at the idea of trying the webshooters, Peter grins -- swallowing back the chips. "Dude, if you promise not to kill yourself? We'll make you a set of your own." At the mention of flying sharks, spiders, and lizards -- and their relation to band names -- Peter's eyebrows rumple for a moment, before offering -- rather meekly: "Teenage mutant ninja animals?" HEY. It's the best he can do on such short notice, okay?