High school dances! At least this one isn't being held in a gymnasium, so there is no old sock smell to combat. The staff at Xavier's have done the great hall up right. The dining tables have been shifted to the sides of the room, with plenty of chairs; each table is draped in white linen with pink and red heart glitter sequins sprinkled over them for contrast. Huge swaths of white, pink and red fabric have been draped from ceilings to walls, making the entire hall look like the interior of a tent. From behind the drapes, lights flash and spin in time with the music of the local band hired to play at the event. The floor is also strewn with sequins, streamers and bouncing balloons. To the right, a line of chaperones and to the left, the punch and cake table--also being observed (closely) by a chaperone.
Things are in full swing at this point--the band is modern swing-style and there are kids on the dance floor, kids at the tables and kids mobbing the punch bowl. Kids everywhere!
No one is crying or on fire yet.
Yet.
YET.
Shane might be trying to remedy this. Not with actual fire. He's passed off a small flask of what is /probably/ decidedly /not/ punch to Lien, a girl in the year above him who has the noticeable -- or not noticeable -- tendency to often be invisible. He's not approaching the punch table because man, those chaperones are watching /him/ like a hawk every time he does.
But Lien is. Sans observation.
In lieu of spiking the punch himself, Shane is carefully sprinkling Daiki's hair with sequins. Daiki is looking kiiind of longsuffering at this treatment -- they don't at /all/ match the elegant blue tunic he is wearing -- but he's putting up with it. Shane isn't elegant, per se; really he's dressed much as per usual, for him. Pinstriped trousers. Vest cinched slim. Red dress shirt. He had a porkpie hat, once. Now he doesn't.
Just sequins. Which are rapidly adorning Daiki's hair.
And into this chaos comes Shelby. She's added a pair of silver ballet flats to her ensemble, because silver and a slinky rose dress just scream out to be placed together. Her hair has been brushed to smoothness and twisted up into a sloppy I'm-not-good-with-hair chignon, held with pins. Pretty as the dress is, and as proud as she is to be in real girl clothes though, she's most pleased with what she's chosen to decorate herself with--those library-stolen cherry blossom pictures match /perfectly/ and she's positioned the image up her arms and across her shoulders in mutant-style decoration. She's tucking a stray wisp behind her ear as she slides into the hall, keeping the door open with an unladylike push of her foot for the person entering behind her.
Rasa enters behind Shelby, wearing a black short sleeved blouse, a silver skirt with blue diagonal lines. Hir shoes are black ballet flats. The rest of hir limbs are covered, too: arms with over the elbow, satin black gloves, legs in leggings that are decorated with the night sky, littered liberally with galaxies. Ze's been convinced to brush hir hair, but ze's done nothing else with it. Shane's missing pork pie hat rests upon hir crown. Rasa gives Shelby a little nod as ze walks in, a bit of awkwardness in hir gait.
On the right, among the line of familiar faculty faces, is a more (locally) famous one. Alison is dressed for a Valentine's dance, even if she's just there to keep an eye on things. She's found an actual rose-pink gown that hugs her figure, belted modestly at the waist with a loose rhinestone chain, with shoes that are Cinderella-clear. On her wrist, a matching rose corsage provided by the Professor for all the adult females in attendance. She's talking animatedly with another chaperone, her eyes scanning those nearest the punch bowl, and those she's been warned to keep an eye on. "--hoping to get him on the show, but I don't think that's possible. Not from what this kid told me the other night." She looks around the crowd, making a pleased noise as she spies the similarly pink Shelby and abandons her companion to beeline in the newest student's direction. "/That/ looks amazing, darling," she offers with a wide smile that encompasses Rasa, as well. "I love the cherry blossoms!"
Then there is the somewhat creepy, somewhat new student, Ivan Dravovich -- occasionally referred to as 'Bugs'. It's not an insult; it's actually his preferred nomenclature. He is a chalk-white scrawny kid in a blue collar shirt and clip-on tie who hovers near the back of the room, eyes darting this way and that in nervous apprehension. Every few minutes, a spider can be seen crawling its way in and out of his hair. As if they were making a *nest*.
He seems busy with something in his little corner of the room, occasionally scanning the rest of the gym even as he keeps his hands hidden behind his back. He looks like he's concentrating.
"Rasa! Shelby! You both need sequins." And so Shane abandons bedazzling his boyfriend in favour of hopping up and heading over to the others, handfuls of SHINY in each closed fist. He drizzles some over Rasa's -- his! -- hat. Some over Shelby's hair. Some for Alison, just for good measure, chaperone be damned. "You look good!" He could be speaking to any of them. "I think someone covered the wall in spiders." This /might/ be an exaggeration, but he says it looking Ivan's way. "Those little pink-toed tarantulas would fit right in with the decor."
"See, the trick to dances," Shelby asides to Rasa as she lets the door swing shut (and as if she were a great expert on this, ha), "is to remember so much shit is going on that no one's gonna see you anyway. It's just like clubs. You gotta /work it/ to be noticed." Encouraging words, or at least the best she's able to muster given the lingering awkwardness between the pair. But it's an effort. When Alison closes in on them, the teenager brightens--even more so when she /recognizes/ the woman. "Oh shit, I totally saw you on TV! You're like..." It takes her a moment but in the end, she is successful in dredging the name from memory--thanks to humming quickly through the intro music to Alison's show. "Alison! Oh my god, thank--" You? Where'd the glitter come from? It takes Shelby a moment to figure it out and she's laughing--until spiders are brought up. "Holy fuck, are you serious?"
Rasa nods to Alison when she comes, not at all star struck, and clearly oblivious until Shelby starts to make a big deal about it. She blinks at the chaperone and tilts hir head to size her up. That is, until the sequiny confetti starts raining down from above. Ze tilts hir head to catch some on hir cheek. "Here, Shane. I think this matches your outfit better." It's hard to tell if Rasa is following Shelby's advice at all, but ze does seem more comfortable in the dark and flashing lights. Spider talk catches hir attention and ze looks over toward Ivan as well.
Alison laughs as she's recognized, and waves a hand. "Oh, please don't," she says cheerfully. "When I'm on school grounds, I'm just another former student, okay?" She blinks as sequins rain down, and flashes a smile in Shane's direction. "Thank you!" she says with a laugh. "I always approve of more sparkle." As if to illustrate the point, she's suddenly showered with glittery sparkles of light that float down like luminous snowflakes to wink out of existence near the floor. Shane's comment brings out the chaperone in her, though, and she turns to look at the boy in the corner, the lights winking out almost immediately. "I don't see any spiders." she says in the tone adults use when suspecting teenagers of duplicity. "What's that boy's name?"
Ivan talks so little that it's often mistakenly believed that he can't speak at all; the boy's preferred form of communication is with wordless shrugs, nods, and shakes. He stays away from others--never really mingling--so it's probably a bit of a surprise that he even showed up!
When Shelby and Rasa enter, Ivan clasps his hands in front of him, at his waist. Dozens of spiders--so tiny they can scarcely be seen!--proceed to weave their way between his fingers and knuckles, many retreating up his sleeves. His eyes focus on the group--locking on with the steely focus of a man preparing to voyage headlong into danger. He sucks in a breath--straightens his shoulders--and begins to move toward them.
As he walks, a pack of spiders skitter up through his hair, catching bits of it in their webbing--working together to use their combined weight, leaping with the hair tips in toe, pulling them in different directions to give him a perfect, shiny part.
"Holy shit /cool/," Shane says, of the light sparkles, "Have you met my dad? He teaches here. Art. He's way glittery. Sometimes," he says, with a flutter of fingers that mimic the sparkles floating downwards, "he sparkles. Hey, Bastian's looking for a dance with you, he's suddenly come over all shy though like maybe everyone's going to laugh at him? But only Dennis has laughed at him he looks /awesome/ in his skirt so you gotta dance." Once again, he doesn't /actually/ direct this to Rasa /or/ Shelby. Kind of both of them. He does grin, though, as Rasa catches the sequin-confetti on hir cheek. "Pfff I've got some! It's /all over/ the tables. /There's/ spiders," he says this in a very /duh/ tone of voice, pointing towards Ivan, "that's Ivan. YO. Ivan. /Sup/, dude. You wanna dance?" Maybe with him? Maybe with one of the other Pretty Young Things he is surrounded by? Hard to tell.
Elsewhere, Lien has sidled up to the punch. Invisibly. She's pouring in her booze -- Shane's booze -- as someone else is dishing out a glass, so the extra splash is easily overlooked in the ladle's ripples.
Quite uncharacteristically, Shelby has gone silent. Ever since spiders were mentioned. She's as quiet as Rasa herself while Ivan draws closer, and the observant would have no trouble in seeing the way she's begun to gnaw on her lower lip as spiders enter Dangerous Proximity. She manages to shake herself out of it, somewhat, at the talk of dances, but only to mumble, "Huh? Oh, yeah. Rasa's all over that."
"I thought you were going to go turn Daiki to the way of girls," Rasa teases lightly, speaking up when Shelby starts to go quiet. Ze is definitely tickled by Alison's display, hir skin coloring with bright white points the fade and disappear as ze observes all the sparkly things. "Annd... Shane, I meant you could have your hat back, but apparently, I got distracted." Ze reaches up to take off the hat and cradles it in hir finger tips for a moment, glancing over at Ivan's approach form time to time.
Alison offers Shane an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but I don't know very many of the newer faculty," she admits, reaching over to give Shelby an encouraging elbow-squeeze. "This is the first school function I've been back for in over a year." Ivan's approach is watched with interest, the camera-ready smile she turns on the boy unwavering. "/That/ would be handy," she says, of spider grooming, when the boy gets near enough. "You have no idea how long my stylist keeps me in the chair. They must save you loads of time." A manicured hand is extended towards Ivan, and the brightness of her smile ratchets up just a notch. "Ivan, is it? I'm Alison."
Politely, Ivan shakes his head to Shane. He doesn't even look over to him--quite intent on completing the task at hand! Then, Alison produces a hand, giving him a greeting--but again, Ivan merely shakes his head! As if, at this current moment, he cannot even stop to shake a hand...! Whatever he's up to, he's clearly been trying to work up the gumption to go forward for quite some time.
Soon, he's standing in front of Rasa--eyes narrowed, his expression one of intense determination. He lifts his hands, still clasped together, and brings them apart--fingers spreading. At once, an intricate pattern of webbing--each individual strand connected to one of his fingertips--emerges. Dozens of spiders clambor along it, working in perfect harmony to connect and reconnect the strands as he moves it. The exposed web has, at its center, words written among the threads. It reads:
'MAY I'
Then, he moves his fingers, folding the web, causing them to collapse upon themselves--a new pattern emerges!
'HAVE THIS'
And then, once more, thumbs wiggling:
'DNACE'
"Yeah, Dai can't go straight for you if you don't -- uh, you okay?" Shane's squinting at Shelby curiously. "You're like /way/ wicked quieter than usual. You don't have to dance with Bastian if you don't /want/ to." He quiets, though, as Ivan approaches, grinning /broad/ and toothy as the spiders start spelling. "Holy fuck they're going all Charlotte's Web -- uhhh. Dude, you /gotta/ teach your spiders to /spell/ though. But man /that's/ the best invitation I've seen in forever. Almost the best. Be better with more literate bugs."
"Fuck, this is the first school function I've been to in like /four/ years." There is no real point in Shelby mentioning this, other than relief from spiders giving her a rush of senseless energy. Clearly her talent is not tact--she's already giving Rasa plenty of space by edging closer to Alison. She should be impressed; instead she is keeping a very close eye on Ivan's fingers. What if one of those beasties were to go rogue? "...shut up," she mutters to Shane. "Hey Daiki, wanna go see if I dance better than Shane?"
"OH. Me?" Rasa is so busy staring at his hands that ze fails to notice that Ivan is staring at hir. Since Shane doesn't seem to want his hat back (who could blame him with Ivan's distraction), ze places it back on hir head and wets hir lips nervously. "Sure. Just - don't touch my skin. It's better for everyone, okay?" What might have been construed as a note of how grossed out ze is, doesn't ring true tonight. At Xavier's, a warning not to touch someone's skin could come hand in hand with nasty consequences.
Alison is clearly impressed by the web-request, and she smiles widely as she brings one hand to her chest. "That was beautiful," she says, closing her eyes. She's showered in light again, only this time, it's tiny pink and red hearts that flutter down around Shelby and her. "It was just /charming/, no matter how it was spelled." When Rasa accepts, she claps her hands lightly, and waves as teenagers start peeling away. "Have fun!"
Rasa is slight of build and wide eyed, with long lashes surrounding amber-hazel eyes. Hir skin is a pale bronze, lacking the sun's kiss to turn it into a healthier shade. Hir hair is dark brown and wavy, cut shaggily around hir shoulders to keep it from getting too long. Ze is of an average height, somewhere in the middle between five and six feet.
Ivan is *mortified* by the error. At the sight of it, his eyes widen with shock; his cheeks burn a brilliant shade of red! The spiders scatter--as if they could sense their leader's horror. A few even jump ship, springing off of him and bolting for the far corners of the gymnasium floor! But not many. He looks up to Rasa in the next instant--crestfallen--as if expecting that the misplaced letters has already assured his mission's failure.
So he's quite surprised when Rasa responds with a 'sure'. His blush doesn't fade, but his horror shifts for confused joy--which is immediately subdued beneath a determined, responsible nod. Yes, of course. And the bugs--oh yes. The bugs sometimes creep people out, he remembers. So... so he should send them away. Yes!
And, so, before stepping forward to dance with Rasa--pausing a moment to figure out how he can dance without making any skin contact--a near *flood* of bugs escapes from him. Spiders, mostly--although there are a few centipedes and millipedes in there. They all *rush* out from him in a single instant, becoming a thick, black, coat-sized carpet that scampers across the floor--nearly brushing past Shelby's shoe as they move for the nearest wall, disappearing into cracks and crevices. TO WATCH THE TEENAGERS DANCE.
"And the best one," Shane adds, "they're all the best, though. You should see Halloween around here. I'm getting punch." He claps Shelby on the shoulder, grins at Rasa and Ivan, grins /brighter/ at the fluttering hearts around Alison. "You /really/ should meet my dad." And then he's ambling off for (now-spiked!) /punch/, stepping /carefully/ around the rush of crawlybugs and seeming like he, at least, is quite unbothered by them. Some of the shrieks and squeals from /elsewhere/ in the hall suggests oooother people, notsomuch unbothered.
The shower of sparkly hearts would, at any other time, be a delightful diversion. But there are /bugs/. Shelby /hates/ bugs. Pale already, she all but blanches when the carpet o' insects goes rushing by her toes. On second thought... "Iforgotsomethinginmyroom," she chokes out before /fleeing/. And so ends her brief attempt at high school normalcy.
"It's okay, I'm mostly covered," Rasa says encouragingly, eyes trained on Ivan now with the look of someone very much trying not to stare at someone else. Ze smiles nicely and reaches out a glove covered hand to Ivan to lead him to the dance floor portion of the hall and away from poor Shelby's sudden escape.
"Oh, Ivan," Alison says, daintily sidestepping the rush of bugs with just a lift of her hem. "Single-file." She frowns after Shelby, and looks as if she might follow, only squeals from victimized...er, victims bring her attention in /that/ direction, and she moves off to deal with potential calamity. Before it becomes, well, an actual calamity.
@emit Ivan is so red-faced and smitten that he doesn't even notice the chaos his bugs cause. They're probably scarcely under his control anymore, anyway; instead, he ambles out on the dance floor with Rasa, cheeks as red as apples, struggling *way* too hard to not make skin contact and also not step on any toes.
Ivan is so red-faced and smitten that he doesn't even notice the chaos his bugs cause. They're probably scarcely under his control anymore, anyway; instead, he ambles out on the dance floor with Rasa, cheeks as red as apples, struggling *way* too hard to not make skin contact and also not step on any toes.
Shane is gulping at a punch. Grabbing another. He's bringing it to Daiki, though he watches Shelby's flight with a frown. He's got drinking to do, though. Possibly also dancing. Maybe just more bedazzling. Who knows.
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