ArchivedLogs:Break-Off!

Break-Off!
Rasa wins :(
Dramatis Personae Peter, Rasa
In Absentia	26 February, 2013 Peter meets Rasa. 'do u lik ivan y/n'
Location <XS> Library
Xavier's librarian might hope the library is a quiet place to sit and study, but with a school full of teenagers that is not always the case. Nevertheless, it is certainly a treasure trove of knowledge, well-stocked with a wealth of books on its high shelves. Its reference section is vast, though its fiction is as well (much to the delight of many of its students.) The wide octagonal tables and smaller armchairs are often crowded with students, though the whispered conversations that often take place leave some doubt as to how much work is getting done at any given hour. As classes dismiss and students head back to the rest of the campus, a few head into the library for further studies while the information is fresh in their heads. Rasa is one such student, a messenger bag at hir side, holding the books ze needs. Ze is wearing a white tee shirt with a very striking replica of the Mona Lisa on the face, long black sleeves underneath. Hir hands are covered by white gloves and ze is wearing a pair of baggy cargo pants. Hir hair is pulled back into a pony tail, and from that tie, down across the top of hir ears, a thin, translucent veil covers hir mouth and nose in embroidered camouflage. Ze looks around a little and then finds a place to sit at one of the big tables, pulling books out of hir bag and starting to position them around hir, grabbing a notebook secondly and flipping through it to find hir notes. Peter is out like a bolt of lightning. He's wearing his usual Buddy Holly glasses; other than that, it's a red hoodie, a black and white t-shirt (with Darth Vader and Boba Fett in suits, guns drawn and pointed, standing in for John Travolta and Samuel Jackson from Pulp Fiction), blue-jean slacks, his school-bag, and his left arm in a sling. As soon as he's in the library he's glancing this way and that -- when he catches sight of Rasa... again, with the *bolting*. At least one librarian gives him a glare, but he hardly seems to notice. Suddenly, he's in front of hir, landing with a *thwump* on a chair on the opposite side of the desk. He doesn't even pull it out to politely sit; he just *jumps* and lands on it and now he's crouching across from hir like a frog: "Hi," he says. "I'm Peter -- Rasa, right?" He glances about, all shifty-eyed, like he's trying to make sure no one _sees_ him here. Rasa jumps in hir seat when Peter settles on the chair, hir eyes wide, hir skin mottling with white dots across a background of mauvey-red. When the jolt of adrenalin fades, as it does quickly, words appear scribbled across hir face, starting at hir forehead as if they were being written with a black marker, reading 'what the fuck, fuck, fucking fuck. Shit.' Ze clears hir throat and gives a more polite verbal response. "Hi Peter. Yes. I am Rasa." The color and vibrancy of the black on hir forehead fades back to human standard as ze takes a few deep breathes. "Can I help you with something?" Peter blinks, and proceeds to *gawk*. Staring at hir forehead with a semi slack-jawed expression. When it changes color -- and when words start appearing. Despite the fact that the majority of words are *curses*, he doesn't seem particularly put-out. "Whooooa..." he says. "That's *cool*." And then, blinking back down to make eye-contact: "I mean uh sorry, *sorry*." Another series of quick-looks around the room. "Um. Sorry for surprising you. I'm still getting used to not freaking people out, *usually* I would just walk up to the chair but they told me it's okay to do the hoppy thing as long as I don't, like, _break_ anything or scare anybody and I'm good at not breaking things but the not scaring people thing is something I'm still workinnnn..." Peter stops. Takes a breath. Counts to three, silently -- mouth moving. Then, he nods his head: "*SORRY*. Okay. Hi. Um. I'm Ivan's roommate. I think he's going to --" Again, with the FEVERISH GLANCING. "-- ask you out. And, like, he and some other people are kind of making a big deal out of it? But it occurred to me that you might be like 'thanks but no thanks' and I'm all like 'oh GOSH Ivan is like my only friend here' and, and --" Peter turns several shades of red after having just proceeded to _admit_ that. "-- and if that's the case I kinda want to let him down easy because he is SO serious about everything and -- and oh man I don't even know if I should be _telling_ you this because if Ivan finds out he might be _really_ mad with me but I also don't want him to be really sad." At first, Rasa blushes. The coloration does not look natural, instead looks like a light coming in behind and warming solid amber. Ze glows a little red orange as Peter stares at hir. When Peter makes eye contact and starts prattling on, more black words cover hir skin. Things like, 'I'm amazed that the chair can take the sudden weight so well without breaking' 'Well, it's too late. you did scare me.' And 'is being startled the same as being scared or frightened?' They calm as Peter calms. Rasa's eyes widen when he brings up Ivan, perhaps to the point where hir eyes look a bit like Ivan's and then hir nose starts to shift to be a bit like his as well. This trend may have continued, but the young metamorph's emotions are triggered once more and hir face turns paper white. The words 'oh god no' splats upon hir face in yellow and leak down hir neck like egg down the side of a mixing bowl, pooling out of site. "I... Uh. A bit deal? I... um. I don't really ... date." More 'oh god oh god oh god oh god's scroll across hir fles, but the shade is silver against white and therefore hard to read. OhGod zhi's panicking. OhGod ZHI'S PANICKING. Now PETER'S panicking. OhGodOhGodOhGod! "OhGod please tell me I haven't ruined everything forever," Peter says. "OhGod I shouldn't have told you, should I? OhGod," he repeats, and now he's clasping at his head. It's clear he's not reacting to what Rasa's saying -- but rather what hir skin and face is *doing*. "OhGod Ivan is going to HATE me! OhGod, ohGod, okay, SLOW breaths, calm down Peter, calm down..." Peter does this for a while. He *does* seem to be calming down, although he's also rocking back and forth. "Okay, okay, okay. Um, I mean it is _totally_ cool that you don't date but this has nothing to do with me spazzing out here right? Like I'm not totally ruining this for Ivan, right?" Then: "Oh MAN your skin is crazy cool, you're all white but it's writing silver now, I mean it looks like you can't control it which kinda sucks but that's still pretty cool I have kinda the same problem except it's with my mouth so I guess it's not the same at all because I can just close that." Which he proceeds to do. "Oh, gosh. Please don't die." Rasa leans across the table, halfway toward Peter, one gloved hand reached out toward him, but afraid to touch him as he rocks himself and attempts to calmo himself. "Oh, gosh, please don't die." Ze draws in a deep breath and gnaws on hir lip, worry creasing hir forehead and drowning out some of the other words until they are faded. "What is ruined for Ivan? What is this big deal? I don't want to hurt Ivan. He's my friend, I think. Please don't explode or fall over." Rasa is quite content to be concerned about Peter until he flips on a dime /again/ and starts talking about hir mutant. Rasa then melts. Ze turns soft and starts spilling onto the floor in a lump like all of hir bones have turned to rubber and hir skin, while maintaining its surface tension has lacked definition. Hir clothes stay on, but highly awkwardly. Ze crumples into a ball under the table. "It's, I mean, I was just worried that maybe you were going to not date him because of _me_ and I was screwing up his chances, but I think... anyway, I think... I think... ..." "...ohGod." Peter just *stares* as Rasa... melts. "OhGod." Frantic, glancing this way and that, searching the library for other people. For *witnesses*. "OhGod, did I just -- ohGod." Then, very quietly, bobbing his head under the desk to watch as zhi continues to crumple: "...please don't be dead." "I'm not dead," replies Rasa's small voice from under the table. "OhthankGod," Peter responds, and his relief is almost *palpable*. "Oh man, oh *man* I thought -- oh man this is -- it's the skin thing, right? You're changing based on emotion -- oh man it's because you're totally embarassed, isn't it, because I'm talking about -- OhGOD I NEED TO SHUT UP." Peter *snaps* back to attention, legs kicking out beneath him, sitting in his chair like a normal person. He proceeds to seize hold of the desk with both hands hard enough to make the timber *creak*. His teeth grit, and he *stares* forward at the spot where Rasa was previously with an intense, steady stare. Then, through his gritted teeth: "Everything. Is. Normal. Let's. Start. Over." Rasa move slowly in the silence before and after Peter's proclamation of normal, taking deep breaths hirself and trying to remain calm. Sloooooowly, ze begins to be a solid form again, but it is a very slow recovery. At length, one hand, then the other, slithers up and takes hold of the edge of the table, gripping it. A head slowly rises after that, hir hair looking rather plasticine for the time being, hir flesh burning red, hir eyes and the flesh around them very white. Ze takes in Peter's posture and his stillness. Hir body contorts and shifts, pushing hir bum back onto the seat of the chair in a strange fluid way. Her shoulders and torso lifting into view shortly after. Hir arms stretch out and hold onto the table in a similar fashion to Peter, but with less strength. Red begins to dissipate and soon, ze is left with a natural human skin tone, if a little gold tinged in places. "Hi. I'm Rasa." Peter tries. Oh, he _tries_. Not to stare, and gawk, and make 'oh man that's so cool' noises. And, for the most part, he manages to continue looking PERFECTLY NORMAL -- or, at least, like someone trying very _hard_ to look perfectly normal. His body is completely tensed up -- teeth grit -- his stare looking like he's trying to bore a *hole* through Rasa's head. But once zhi manages to pull hirself together... he relaxes. Just a bit. And then... "Hi. I'm... Peter." Very. Slowly. Fingers keeping a white-knuckled grip on that table-top. "Nice. To. Meet. You. Rasa." Another breath, slow and steady. Good so far. _Baby_ steps. Rasa sniffs and inhales, hir eyes resuming their normal shades a ze releases hir grip and folds hir hands in front of her. "So. Peter. I have heard tell of some big deal about some date that I am supposedly going to be asked out on. Who is making a big deal about it? Is Ivan really going to have a horrible time of it if I inform him that I just don't date? Will he still be my friend?" Ze swallows and wets hir lips, skin gaining more metallic hues the longer ze speaks. When Rasa speaks -- and lays it all out -- Peter visibly calms. A lot. His grip on the table relaxes; he sinks back into the chair -- and he huffs. "Oh, man," he mumbles, and it just starts rolling out -- still fast, but more evenly paced: "He can be really hard to read sometimes, you know? And he's putting a lot of effort into this. But I think if -- you just, like, take him aside, and tell him you don't want to date him but you totally want to be his _friend_ he will be okay with that. He'll probably be kinda depressed and disappointed and stuff at first but you seem like a really cool friend to have, I mean how many friends can--" STOP. Peter's mouth snaps shut immediately. "YES," Peter says, and his voice is now very monotone. "I. Think. He. Will. Still. Be. Your. Friend." "I am sorry that my appearance causes such... um." Rasa looks to the left and inhales again, trying to process words in the light of Peter's strange behavior. "A stir. I, um, can - well, try to keep it a little less visible for the time being." Ze looks down as ze gets lost in thought and rubs at hir cheek a little. "Please don't worry. I'm not not dating because of you. I'm just... not... sure of stuff, so I don't really want to date right now." "Oh it's not--it's just I don't--I think it's *neat*," Peter admits, picking the most neutral word he can find for fear of triggering another transformation. "But I mean I can understand why *you* wouldn't think it's neat, um... and, uh, I bet if you tell Ivan that--that you're just not sure about stuff, and not ready to date people-- he will *totally* understand, and I bet he will even feel less depressed about it. Ivan is _really_ awesome." That last sentence is spoken a bit lower than the rest; as if Peter fears he will be overheard by a spider listening in. "He's great. I really like spending time with him. But it feels like there was this dance and now there's dating and I'm still not able to be one thing very long." Rasa exhales and bears Peter's enthusiasm about hir mutation quietly. "Thank you for telling me. I will have to find a way to tell him so he will not be hurt. I really don't want him to be hurt." Peter relaxes when zhi thanks him for telling hir. "Ohman, I am *so* glad I told you, then. I was terrified I was gonna screw everything up _forever_. Christmas canceled. North Pole closed. All of Santa's elves out of work. Basically, apocalypse." Huff. He relaxes, flumping back into his chair. Then: "Well I mean dude really wants to date you, _pretty_ sure no matter how you tell him he's gonna be let down... but, I mean, if you're honest, and just tell him the truth I am totally sure he will be cool with it." Then, a glance toward the clock. "I, oh man, I should be heading back to my room before Ivan gets _suspicious_. I am totally supposed to be healing and not off being sneaky. It was really nice meeting you, Rasa! I'm, uh, glad you aren't dead." "It's an apocalypse if there are no Christmas presents?" Rasa blinks at Peter awkwardly. "Then, I am afraid I have been living in an apocalypse for many years now." Rasa listens quietly as Peter explains again, nodding solemnly in response. "It was nice to meet you too, Peter. I will be sure to talk to Ivan soon, okay?" "Oh no it's an apocalypse for the _elves_," Peter explains. "I mean they're elves who live in the North Pole. Where _else_ can they work?" Peter has thought this metaphor out very deeply. A little *too* deeply. Then: "Okay, cool -- oh, OH! Oh, man, do _not_ tell him I told you. I mean I know I just said you should be honest but not _that_ honest because holy jeez he would send his spiders out to eat me in my sleep or something. Not really but he'd be _so_ ticked, and -- um, I should go. Bye!" Peter *BACKFLIPS* out of his chair. In the next instant, he's sprinting for the door -- chased by librarians who have no chance of catching him and will probably give him a tongue-lashing the next time he slips into the library.