ArchivedLogs:Wall-Crawlin'

Wall-Crawlin'
Dramatis Personae Ivan, Rasa, Peter
In Absentia	2013-05-24 Ivan is sleepy, Peter is Shanesexual, Rasa is wall-crawlin'
Location
The train to Georgia consists of a somewhat long -- and potentially somewhat boring! -- ride. All the kids are divvied up neatly into their various little compartments; Peter + folks in one, Jackson + kids in another, etc. But that doesn't mean people aren't going in and out -- and /exploring/! Peter's definitely up for doing the latter. Since he's gotten on the train, Rasa and Ivan might notice he's been a lot more -- spritely! No need for crutches (despite depending on them heavily when he first arrived at the med-lab) -- nosirree. Peter's /probably/ terrified some of the train custodians (stewards? stewardesses? do trains have these things? Peter does not know!) with his antics, among which consist of /crawling on the ceilings/. This is probably /not/ a good practice, but Peter's been cooped up inside of a cage with serious injuries where they shocked him for so much as /walking/ on the walls. HELLS BE DAMNED if he's not going to do some ceiling crawling /now/ -- particularly since the train has such sturdy ceilings! So, that's what Peter is up to at this very moment -- crawling along the ceiling, seeking out an Ivan. And maybe a Rasa! He's wearing a white t-shirt (with Boba Fett + Darth Vader as Vincent / Jules from Pulp Fiction), black dress-slacks, a pair of black two-toed socks -- and, a new addition, a gray newsboy cap. It's the cap Shane was wearing when /he/ first came on the train, so -- apparently Peter managed to /acquire/ it at some point. In addition, his palms and knees are currently flattened to the ceiling as he /scuttles/ along, quickly and adroitly passing over the head of a wandering passenger who just -- stops, and /stares/. Like: 'WTF?!'. One Rasa Djalili is familiar with the strange looks that the passengers are giving people that don't quite look normal on this train ride to the DEEP SOUTH, but ze is not currently on the ceiling, so there is less glaring when ze passes the passenger that Peter spooked, moving from the restroom toward hir compartment once more, having very little issue with just sitting inside. Ze does notice the spooked nature of said passenger and looks a little confused until ze too looks up and eyes Peter. "Oh. Hello." It's less shocked and disapproving. Infact, hir tail, now a mellow shade of bronze, one of Rasa's default colors, swishes happily at the sight of him. "We are in here," ze notes, showing Peter the door, in case he doesn't now. "Ivan may be sleeping, but would you like to come in?" Ze is wearing layered tank tops with a gray hooded sweater, and blue sweat pants, shod in flipflops and without gloves for the time being. Ze opens the door and steps through. Inside, is just Ivan. He /is/ sleeping, somewhat uncomfortably mushed against his arm, which is in turn mushed against an arm rest. /How/ he's comfortable like that, it is likely to remain a mystery. The opening door causes him to kick a leg out, then pull it back in again. Hhhhbrl. Noises. Trains are made for sleeping. And he has a lot of it to catch up on from the last few weeks. Peter /crawls/ up to the doorway and just promptly descends. Feet / knees unsticking; he swoops down, briefly dangling just by his palms -- connected to the ceiling! -- which then release, leaving him to tumble down with a WHUMP into a crouch. Complete with a grin. His face is charcoal black, but with that funny metallic blue tint; he steps into the room and gives the door a careful nudge. *CLICK*. "Sure," he tells Rasa, before glancing to -- sleeping Ivan. Little quieter: "...sure. Um." Metallic blue shifts toward violet. "...I guess he was, really -- freaking out? While I was gone. Um, sorry." Rasa kicks off hir sandals and climbs onto one of the beds in the room and tucks hir feet underneath hir as ze gets comfortable. "He did so quietly, but yes. He was quite upset." Ze pats the mattress beside hir and scoots back to lean against the wall. "He was emphatically safe, which is why it was so weird that they went after him immediately, before he could even do anything, and restricted him to campus, and sort of... I don't know... Just watched him. It was very eerie around the school while you were gone. Everyone was talking safety like Summers and Walters were the wisest people in the world." Ze moves hir hair onto one shoulder and studies Peter. "But he was strong." Hhnh? Ivan finally awakes from his slumber, after his head drops a little lower than intended. Blearily he looks up, peers at his own arm, then /straightens/ when he realises there have been voices, attention /snapping/ to Rasa and Peter before he smiles - and draaaagcollects his sleepy self to stumble over. Hello. Neither of you have disappeared yet. This is comforting. "Hello, Ivan!" Peter /chirps/. And then suddenly Peter is -- /scittering/ toward them, over the floor, /up on the wall/, up on the ceiling -- upside down, hanging down with his feet attached to the ceiling and his hands extending below his head toward Rasa's mattress, as if reaching for it. The hat plops off, of course; he catches it, his hair dangling. It is kind of thick and tangled and /looks/ like it is in desperate need of a cut. "I'm glad -- man. I'm glad. I was really worried," Peter says, casting a look back at Ivan, then over at Rasa, "that you guys might come -- /looking/ for me. Oh man, it was -- /brutal/ in there. They didn't even give you a /toilet/!" he says, as if this was the most terrible thing. "...plus at first they didn't even give the twins /meat/," he adds, a little more quiet. "But.. I did." Rasa replies quietly, looking a little sheepish, bronzing over a little darker. Ze waves Ivan up and onto the bed, guiding him to lay down again, if he wants. "It sounds horrible, Peter. I am very glad that you are not there anymore. ANd I'm very glad that no one is hurting you anymore." Ze is now digging around in hir pockets, finding and pulling out hir gloves. Ze slips them onto hir hands and stretches hir shoulders a little, before leaning back and staring up at Peter more comfortably. "I see you are crawling on walls better!" Ivan sees too, peering upward, before-- flop. Lying down next to a Rasa, half-sprawled. Nearly already asleep again of not for the fact that he's staring, sleepy-eyed up at Peter. It's to keep him from disappearing, you see. Nod. At Rasa. Wall crawling. Slowly but surely, his eyes slip closed again. Too comfortable. "Yeah I tried a bunch of nutso stuff in there you know I can run up walls? I can cling to people too basically I stick to anything. Me and Anole and the twins did a lot of -- sparring -- um. I mean, to learn how to -- not-die," Peter admits, turning slightly violet at this admission. At Rasa's mention of going off and looking for him, Peter frowns -- not disapprovingly! But with concern. "Yeah, you mentioned that," he says, before just -- whip! Throwing the cap over to a shelf like it was a frisbee and dropping, hands-first, on the floor. HAND-STAND. Peter rolls back to his feet, now in a crouch besides Rasa and Ivan's bed. "You said you went off and -- snooped around. Dangerous dude." "Yes, I know. I found a lot of trouble and dead ends for my efforts and now I am in a lot of trouble at school." Rasa frowns and shrugs. "But at the same time, I kind of organized the student body to look for you guys, dragged in the new kids and everything, and one of them found the signal on your webshooters, which ended up leading to you in the long run." Ze exhales quietly and watches Peter's hat, missing the drop from the ceiling. Ze looks back at Peter when he curls up. "It... is a learning experience, I suppose. You know you can come up here too." "Oh, yeah, I mean -- I heard that they found -- my webshooters, which is part of how -- they found us. I mean," Peter says, now shifting to a /much/ more stark violet; he reaches to grab the edge of the mattress and -- hup! -- up he goes, landing atop of it with those funny two-toed socks of his. It gives a little bounce beneath his weight. One hand reaches out to scritch-scritch behind Ivan's head as his own back slips toward a bedpost, propping himself against it, still curled up tight. "I mean, /thankyou/, I probably -- I don't know if they would have found us. I have a /lot/ of people to thank," Peter admits, a little sheepishly. "I wouldn't -- man," he says, the violet shade fading back to metallic blue, his tone softer. "Man, I don't even /know/ how I... they made the twins fight me," he says, just above a whisper. Still scritch-scritching at snoozy Ivan's head. "...they starved them, first." "You don't /have/ to thank anyone. We didn't do it for your gratefulness, Peter. We did it because it is what we do and we wanted you back. You and the twins." Rasa reaches out a hand to grab gently at Peter when he is scritching an Ivan, but is okay missing. "Do you want to talk about it? I mean, we could ask questions, but ... well, I don't know what to ask that won't actually push you into a bad mindplace." Ze watches Peter quietly, looking as if ze still wants to reach out to him, but allows him the distance. "It sounds like an unimaginable nightmare." Peter doesn't recoil from Rasa's grab; he seems, actually, quite happy to be grabbed! He gives hir a quick, darting smile. "I know, I still want to -- thank you though I mean. I mean --" Tug, tug. Peter gives Rasa's arm a pull, then, a little closer. As if -- DART. Suddenly, attempting a quick, fast /hug/. Careful not to touch skin! But, still. Peter's head, straight-to-shoulder. "/Thank/ you," he tells hir, squeezing. Before, slowly -- hesitantly! -- pulling back. "It's fine. I don't think -- I mean, it was /bad/, but... I'm okay talking about it. I kinda -- /do/, I mean. I haven't... told my folks. They want me to, but I don't even know how to start, I mean they're still dealing with the fact that I've got /chitin/--" "Hugs are good, Peter. If you need more hugs, let me know. I'm just... being careful because... well, I kind of freaked you out earlier." Rasa gives a shy little smile as Peter starts to pull away, releasing him from the grip ze held him in for a hug. Ze is a little more quiet when he starts talking again, brows raised as ze listens, eyes turning a black color as he brings up his family. "I think... they'll support you, Peter. They are very nice people and they love you very much and they have already been with you to this point." The color of hir skin lightens a little bit. "But yea, I can understand wanting to not overwhelm them. Your new color is nice, by the way. Do you still feel things like skin, or does it dampen your touch sense?" "Yeah I'm sorry I just -- you don't usually -- I dunno," Peter says, a little sheepishly, "I mean I think the only reason it freaked me a little is 'cuz I've never seen /you/ like that. But man the twins do stuff like that all the time, it doesn't bother me, so like it's /fine/..." A faint hint of violet at the mention of his family, and: "Yeah just. Thereisalotofnewstuff," Peter says, glancing suddenly /very/ sharply at his feet. "...Ithinkisgonna, /maybe/ freak them out. A little. I mean I know they'll -- totally understand, I just don't -- yeah, /overwhelm/ them. One new thing at a time I guess? It feels -- a little /weird/, but basically the same. Really smooth though, kind of like a shellac..." "Yeah, I ... maybe have changed a bit." Rasa admits, looking a little sheepish, little lines of pinkish blush cutting through the bronze on hir cheeks, spiraling around itself to cover the sections of hir face that generally blush. "It's fascinating, you know. People's skins. The twins' skin is much thicker and obviously rough, but it's also tougher and maybe not quite as sensitive? At least on me. It might be different for them because their senses are different. I don't get everything when I borrow a person's body. Just... stuff inherent to their bodies, you know?" Maybe not, actually. "So, like, when you dried glue on your fingers?" "Oh yeah, their skin is -- y'know, the chitin actually makes it so Shane's skin totally doesn't even hurt, which is--" Peter stops here. And snaps from blue to violet to indigo in /rapid/ order, the latter spreading down his face and arms; even threatening to spill down his wrists. "...I mean, /yeah/ a bit like. Glue drying to my fingers. Did you ever copy anything from me?" Peter asks, trying to remember. Also maybe trying to /quickly/ shuffle the conversation away from, uh. SHARK SKIN WHAT WHO CARES ABOUT /THAT/ CERTAINLY NOT PETER. "No. I haven't really ever touched you before - you know, without something in between." Rasa shrugs a little. "I figure you'd let me know if you were okay with it. You're kind of adventurous like that." Ze smirks then, eyeing him. "Then again, you just turned funny colors talking about Shane's skin, so maybe you don't want me in your head right now, eh?" "..." Peter just /stares/ at Rasa. For several long seconds. Expression wide-eyed and nervous. Like he's just caught sight of a speeding car, headlights flaring in his face. /Still/ indigo. "...umIkissedShane," Peter admits, then, turning to stare out of a window, scratch the back of his head, and scratch /Ivan's/ head -- all at the same time. "...coupleoftimes. In there. Also again justfiveminutesago." Still dark indigo. Looking as casual about it as he can manage (which isn't very casual at all). "He's a good kisser," Rasa remarks, probably unhelpfully. "And he's a great guy. Please don't be embarrassed. I'm totally supportive." "IknowIknow," Peter says, and whatever casualness he's thrown up /crumbles/ as he proceeds to grab at his own face. Both hands. *WHUMP*. "I mean, I know you'd be -- nnngh I have no idea what I am /doing/. I mean I don't even think I /like/ guys -- I mean in that kinda -- he's just, just -- so frigging /pretty/ and when we were in there he was /so/ sweet and brave and awesome, and, oh my /God/ Rasa," Peter says, and now he reaches out to grab hir by the shoulders, SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE. Kind-of-light but also kind-of-HELP. "What am I going to tell my folks they are going to /totally/ freak about this. Do you /know/," Peter adds, as if his horror was only mounting, "that before I told them about -- /mutant/ -- my uncle thought I was /gay/? And I told him, NOPE. /MUTANT/! And now -- /now/ oh my God he is going to be /so/ confused! /I'm/ confused!" Poor Ivan, somewhere between/beneath them, blissfully sleeps. Oblivious to Peter's ensuing MELTDOWN. "Look, first of all," Rasa reaches up and rests hir hands on Peter's, protected by hir gloves from unintentional telepathy, "you should know that being attracted to one person does not change your sexuality. Perhaps, you are mostly heterosexual, but there's just something about your feelings and attraction to Shane that makes you that, plus Shanesexual." Ze doesn't remove Peter's hands from hir shoulders, but does try to keep him from shaking hir too much. "And second of all, maybe they won't freak out. Maybe they already know and that's why they asked you earlier. You were just too distracted with being MUTANT, that you didn't notice the other stuff." Rasa gets up and moves to the other side of the mattress so that ze is not shaken over Ivan's sleeping body, scooting in to sit next to Peter. "You... are you, Peter. Nothing has changed. You're just finding out new stuff about you and it's wonderful and exciting. People who truly love you will not have problems with you... being you. C'mere." Ze pulls him into another hug. "It is going to be okay." "Are--are you sure that's how this works?" Peter asks, eyebrows crumpling as he considers what Rasa is saying. "Like -- I thought -- I dunno -- are you sure being /Shanesexual/ is a thing?" Peter asks, sounding a little /hopeful/ about it. "I guess I could deal with. I mean." STILL INDIGO. When Rasa pulls him into that hug, though, he calms down -- wrapping, /squeezing/. Careful not to squeeze /too/ hard, but still hard. Chin-to-shoulder. "...he... saved me," Peter says, softer now. "When I fought them -- oh," his voice drops down to whisper-soft. "Oh man, Rasa. He --" Fingers curl up to hir shoulders. His throat constricts; his chest suddenly heaves. "When I -- fought them. He tore his own brother's throat open." His face just, whump -- buries into Rasa's shoulder -- precariously close to hir neck. "Ohmygod. I thought he was /dead/. I thought he killed his own brother. To save me." Peter draws in a ragged breath. Rasa is quiet for a while, listening and holding Peter, rubbing his shoulder as he speaks, confiding in hir. "Have you talked to him about it? I mean, you are pretty upset about it. It's a huge thing, but it might be good to know what it means to both of you, so you have a sense of..." Hir voice suddenly trails off as there's a sudden rush of images in hir mind, the feel of Peter's skin so very different than ze expects, that ze doesn't fully realize when Peter's face slides accidentally against hir neck. Just as ze was trying to imagine what that must have /looked/ like, suddenly ze knows. Ze gasps for breath and tenses up, hir body underneath Peter's body suddenly growing more rigid as ze too forms chitin. << oohhh... hiiii. >> There's definitely an 'oh oops! feel to hir mental voice. Surprise! Concern! and Oh god! emotions following. "I don't even -- how do you -- he /tore/ -- God, Rasa," Peter mumbles weakly, compressing his mouth against hir shoulder. "I don't--" Oh. /Oh/. Something funny is going on here, apparently. There's -- oh, Rasa feels /weird/ all of the sudden. And tense. And -- OHCRAP. << ohcrapohCRAPohcrap! >> Peter snaps back from Rasa, almost jumping to the other side of the bed -- eyes wide. "I'msorryI'msorry--" In that brief moment of contact, though, ze'd probably get -- a /buttload/ of intense, violent imagery -- through Peter's eyes, Peter's memories. Peter, getting /clawed/ -- thrown -- hurled to the floor. Sebastian, /herding/ him like he was a running rabbit, toward Shane's waiting teeth and claws. The screams of the crowd, roaring for blood. Calling for the twins to /eat/ him. Peter, experiencing stark terror. Begging them not to kill him. Shane, finally listening. Managing to pin Sebastian through his hunger-frenzy. Asking Peter to finish it. And Peter, not being strong enough to do it. Guilt and horror and fear curling deep into his gut when Shane's mouth descended for his own brother's throat. RasaPeter reaches out a hand and grabs RealPeter's foot, as it is the closest bit of him right now and clings to it, hir eyes closed and hir other hand balled up in a fist. Hir eyes stay closed for a long time, the bits around hir face making it look like the teen is cringing. "No. It's okay. Not even... the worst... I've... had." Ze needs a bit of support though, so keeps clinging to Peter's foot, still very tense. "Just... god. It's... I can't ... I'm so sorry, Peter. I'm so sorry we didn't find you sooner." A tear leaks out one eye, hands shaking. "I, fuck, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be. It's just... I /know/ you all. I ... Don't feel bad. I just.. have to sort it out." Peter /creeps/ tentatively forward as RasaPeter clings to his foot, reaching out -- much more gently -- to touch hir(his?) shoulder. "...it's fine," he says, his tone a little soft-tense, trying to help steady hir. Other hand moving, now, to grab the other arm. /Squeezing/. "Man you've had worse than -- /jeez/, Rasa," Peter says, half-grinning at hir, a little tired, a little amused. "What the /heck/ have you been doing while I've been -- mmnnf. I didn't mean to -- share /that/ much -- I should be more careful. It was all... really, really intense." His breathing is still ragged; his own eyes are shining, just a bit. But no tears, NOT YET. "...I didn't tell anyone about that," he adds, much more quietly. "...that was. Um. It was probably... pretty close. To the worst thing. That happened to me, there." Slow breath. /Squeeze/ RasaPeter. "Look, when you're feeling better about life, I'll tell you all about it, but right now, you've probably had enough doom and gloom for a while, right?" RasaPeter feels Peter start to support hir... him, and blinks his eyes open. He reaches out and pulls him into another hug, not letting him go. His grip is MUCH tighter now. "That's... pretty bad. I am so sorry. You... shouldn't..." There's a small whimper and then he releases real Peter. "I can't really... All I want to do is apologize to you, for what those asshole motherfuckers did to you. All three of you. ALL of you." "/Wow/," Peter says, half-grinning at RasaPeter, "it is so weird seeing you-like-me, I mean. Kind of cool but /weird/." His eyes, still gleaming; /APPARENTLY/, trying to lighten the mood. But this kind of fails when RasaPeter gives him a hug; Peter returns it, fierce and /vicious/ and. Maybe even so hard it starts to hurt -- except RasaPeter's chitin and muscles may leave him impervious enough to harm to scarcely feel that tightening strength. "...it's okay," Peter says, looking down when Rasa releases. "I mean -- I'm not even angry at them. I guess that sounds weird, maybe? But -- I don't know." His eyes flick back up to RasaPeter. "...the twins've been through a lot worse, you know? I think -- almost-killing-me -- that was probably the worst bit of it for them. Everything else was, man," he says, shaking his head, "they just thought it was all /dumb/." "Don't ever change, Peter Parker. Sometimes, I think the best part of you is your heart." RasaPeter's face starts to shift a little as ze smiles. Ze retains the chitin for a while, but the features shift back into hir own. "At the same time... that you know the twins have gone through worse, that doesn't make what you went through ... not bad, okay?" Ze pauses when hir attention shifts slightly, hir tail slipping out behind hir (newly reformed and coated in segmented chitin!) to dance about in delight. "I want to..." and then ze does. Ze turns away and starts gripping the wall, harnessing a strange mixture of Peter's strength and Kurt's abilities, pulling hirself off the mattress and onto the wall. "Cool." Peter -- blink-blinks. Owlishly. The wetness evaporating from his eyes, slowly but surely. Both at the comment of -- /heart/ -- and at the process of chitin extending over hir tail. And /then/, again, as ze -- proceeds to /wall-crawl/. "...oh. Oh," Peter says, grinning -- /almost/ clapping his hands together, but then glancing down at Ivan, still sleeping and -- bringing his hands together much more /quietly/. "Oh you can -- oh /man/ wall-crawling is so awesome, Rasa. Seriously you will wonder how the heck /anyone/ ever lives just walking on the /floor/. But --" A brief flicker of worry! "--you should take it slow, I mean. I don't know if you -- copied my weird reflexes or /danger-sense/ stuff. But, /still/ it is so cool." "No, Professor Xavier says that I only get things that are inherent in the body itself. There are things I can copy the appearance of, but I won't actually have the real thing. Pretty much anything you'd say is 'preternatural' or 'supernatural,' I can't actually touch. There's a lot of stuff I can fake still because my body is a metamorph's body... it shifts with what my mind tells it to do. So I might be able to look like I have great reflexes in time, but really, it'd be training and concentration." When Rasa reaches the ceiling, ze hangs out in the corner, testing out how CEILING CRAWLING would work. "Being upside down is amazing." "It is pretty amazing," Peter agrees, and now he is up off the bed -- carefully laying Ivan's head down, not wishing to jar the slumbering teen! -- and up, on his feet -- then /up/, on the ceiling. WHUMP -- first, his hands, then he's pulling up and his /feet/ -- and, there he is, crawling right beside hir. "You gotta be careful with ceilings though, 'cuz -- TURNS OUT -- a lot of them aren't designed to support your weight. S'why I love trains man ALL the ceilings here will. C'mon I'll show you around you can come /EXPLORE/," Peter offers, and then -- they are wall-crawling away. AND INTO OUR HEARTS. (but not really because ew that's gross) (Heartspiders are detrimental to the heart's health.)