ArchivedLogs:Bug Club

Bug Club
Dramatis Personae Peter, Kai, Ivan
In Absentia	2013-04-25 '
Location <XS> Rec Room
School this may be, but life for Xavier's students certainly isn't all studying. Outside classes, this is a popular spot to find students in their downtime. An enormous tribute to slacking off, this room is a wealth of fun and relaxation. Comfortable armchairs, couches, and beanbags offer plentiful seating scattered throughout the room, and the cushioned windowseats by the high windows offer a cozy nook to curl up and look out on the grounds. The room is often filled with the noises of gaming -- whether it comes from the big-screen television (tall racks of DVDs beside it, if nothing can be found on the multitude of cable channels), tricked out with consoles from retro to the latest releases, or the less electronic clatter and thump of the pool table, air hockey, or foosball. For those a little more subdued in their gaming, the cabinets hold stacks and stacks of board and card games, ranging as classic as chess and go to as esoteric as Dixit, Catan, and Gloom. Today has been an unusual one; shortly after class, Peter's /folks/ arrived - Aunt May and Uncle Ben! - and accompanied Peter down to the med bay, where there was apparently /much/ talking, discussing, and plottings. It wasn't until an hour ago that Peter finally emerged - giving both of his folks big hugs before they left! - and proceeded to slump into a chair in the rec room, booting up a game of BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY. Peter is currently in the process of being the /shit/ out of Dr. Freeze. Or, mostly just running and hiding from him. As Batman. He's dressed in his black hoodie, blue jeans, sneakers, glasses - and has his crutches propped up on a nearby table. His injured leg sitting up on a nearby stool. Unusually for Peter, he does not look especially /happy/; he looks, in fact, somewhat taciturn. He has also been - maybe just a little! - /avoiding/ Ivan for the past two days. Hop. Hop. Hop. There's not any /reason/ to be hopping, but that's apparently how Kai has decided to make his way around, today. Slow, methodical hops that carry him into the rec room. He's barefoot, as usual, and in jeans and a button-down blue checked shirt that's a size or two too large for his thin frame. Hop. Hop. Hop. It's a delicate situation, this hopping, as the young teen carries a notepad under his arm, and his BIG BOOK OF BUGS book, both of which threaten to spill from his grasp every time his feet come down. Hop. Hop. Ho -- oh, and now he's at the back of the couch, where he gives the top of Peter's head a long look before he hops again. This time, it's to the back of the sofa, catching it with his knees and awkwardly teetering over Peter's right shoulder. "Peter. What are you playing?" Truth be told, Ivan is an easy person to avoid, since he usually relies on people being in their predictable places so he can bother them freely or follow them around as desired. But Peter has not been in his predictable places. And this is /very confusing/. As such, when Ivan arrives in the rec room, dressed in a brown and yellow striped shirt, jeans and sneakers while holding a yellow and black book with the letters 'COACHING AND MENTORING FOR DUMMIES', he looks sort of... tired. Like he may have walked through the /entire school/ at an increasingly fast pace just to find this one, not-particularly-happy looking person. But he does not approach Peter. No. He makes a calm, collected little beeline for chair in one of the rec room's corners that faces Peter and Kai, sits down, and stares with the book closed on his lap. Just stares. Silently. "Batman," is Peter's distracted, offhand response; he is currently in the process of PUMMELING Mr. Freeze with Batman's fists. Pummel, pummel. KNEE-STRIKE. Punch, punch, KICK. SLAM. Punch. Then, back to running away and hiding as the lumbering robot-person says something about 'VENGEANCE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD'. Peter doesn't look up to Kai as he approaches. He doesn't even look toward Ivan; does he see him? It is hard to say. But as Peter plays, he has an intentful look on his face - furrowed brows, set jaw, almost a /scowl/ except Peter is not good at scowls so it comes off as more of a frustrated semi-glare. Mr. Freeze is launching ice missiles, now. "Oh." Kai watches the gameplay with a curious furrow of his brow, giving Ivan a bright smile when he enters the field of vision. Then he tumbles in a roll over the back of the couch (he may or may not jostle Peter while doing this) to land (mostly) in the soft cushions, his book and notepad clutched to his chest. He giggles as he comes to rest, looking at Ivan as if to verify that he was, in fact, watching said somersault. Then he's twisting his neck to look at Peter. "Don't you like this game?" He furrows his brow again. "I thought games were supposed to be fun." There is not much of a change in Ivan's expression (or lack thereof) when Kai performs his somersault. Either he just hasn't noticed, or he has other things on his mind. Maybe those other things are his book! Because the next thing he does is open his book right in the middle and prop it up onto his knees to start reading from. There doesn't seem to have been a bookmark there. Maybe he /magically/ opened it up on the right page. Maybe not. The latter seems a tad more likely seeing as he doesn't actually /read/ from it so much as he just continues to peer at Kai and Peter from over the top of the book, eyebrows sloowly pulling closer together. When Kai jostles Peter, Peter briefly pulls back - not so fast as to indicate displeasure, but! - it is clear Peter is currently /tense/. When Kai settles back in and starts asking questions, Peter's responses are... unusually to-the-point: "It's fun. This is fun. I am having fun." Peter seems to be /brooding/. Maybe he's just getting into the Batman character. As Detective Ivan sneakily looks Peter's way, there might just be - the slightest! - flick of eyes toward Ivan as Peter plays. Hinting that Peter does, in fact, know he's there. It's soon accompanied by a mutter: "...hi Ivan um." Peter crawls through the ventilation shafts under the floor, sneaking up on Mr. Freeze. "...need to, uh, talk to you. Maybe. I dunno." SNEAK, SNEAK... *JUMP*. Mr. Freeze gets a beatdown. "You do not look like you are having fun," Kai says, worming his way back onto the couch and pulling himself into a sitting position. "You look mad about something." He glances to Ivan for confirmation, frowning when he's met with Mister Incognito and his book. "Ivan," he starts, but then Peter is talking, so he closes his mouth, dropping his books into his lap and pulling the bug book open to a picture of a dung beetle. A piece of notebook paper folded in the seam notes the particular interest of this image. Still, he remains silent, flicking his eyes up and in Ivan's direction when Peter finishes. "Hello Kai." Ivan's voice comes back, barely loud enough to carry all the way to the greeting's recipient. No smile, though he does at least have the courtesy to pretend to be reading now that he's been looked at. A few seconds later, then, even quieter, "Peter." He rises from his chair, but continues pretending to read! He holds the book out in front of him as he does his best to look /casual/ in slowly wandering over. While fake reading. And oomf'ing as he bumps into the corner of a foosball table on the way. "I am not mad. I am - /brooding/. Like Batman. I am getting into /character/, Kai," Peter explains, brows still /ever/ so rumpled. "It is very important to... Ivan, what are you /doing/ you are not supposed to read a book and /walk/." This, at least, sounds a bit more like Peter's manic ranting energy; a moment after that, though, he's frowning - and pausing the game. And then - !! He is /rolling up his pantleg/! Very slowly and carefully, but very persistently. The cuff slides up his ankle, up over his calf...! Kai frowns. "You said you were trying to be like Superman," he says, rubbing his chin. "Superman does not...{what was that word you used}.../brood/. He is nice, like you and Ivan." He waves at the screen, where violence ensues. "Batman is not nice." When Ivan collides with the table, he sits up, frowning deeply. "Ivan! Are you hurt?" He watches the other boy with concern, until Peter begins the big reveal. Then he's shifting his attention to the slowly-revealed leg, tilting his head and.../listening/ for a moment. Ivan is not reading and walking! He's pretendreading and walking, this is a very important distinc-- what is going on. Both pretendreading and pretending the foosball table bump didn't hurt a little bit is promptly abandoned when Peter pauses the game and reaches for his leg. The book is closed and dropped onto the sofa, before Ivan sinks down onto the floor in front of it to crouch and cock his head in curiosity in the direction of the leg. Now that he's closer, both Peter and Kai may notice a larger amount of teeny tiny spiders on him than usual, restlessly crawling in and out of his hair and the neck of his shirt. "I am not hurt. Peter, are /you/ hurt. Again." Flat tone, but definitely a question. "Sometimes you have to be Batman because sometimes Batman makes the choices /no one else can/," Peter announces, as if he has just unleashed the ultimate BRAIN-EXPLODER on Kai; like, he expects Kai's mind to be /blown/. The. Fuck. Up. But the statement is given while Peter is busily tug-tugging up his pant-leg. "No, it's not - Dr. McCoy took, like, a biopsy, and it's not /numb/ and it doesn't /hurt/, but..." Up the pant-leg goes - up to the carefully aligned bandage around the injury. Lower thigh. There's a dark blotch that extends out from beneath the injury, now - kind of like an unusual birthmark. But much bigger than it was the day Ivan saw it. "...anyway we talked today about whether or not I wanted to have it surgically removed," Peter explains. "And - he said - Dr. McCoy mentioned - it might not help. It might just come back, or do something /worse/. And, as far as he can see, it's not - causing any pain or discomfort and, it might be best to just - see how far it'll go. It's... chitin," Peter finally relents, and then - to Ivan, but also incidentally to Kai! - "I might be turning into a bug." It is hard to determine how Peter feels about this. His tone is actually quite neutral - with just a hint of surrender to it. Kai's mind /is/ blown, as evidenced by the deep V his eyebrows create. "That does not make sense," he says. "Who has given him this power?" His eyes narrow. "Did he /take/ it?" There's something vaguely approving about this, and even the way Kai's lips curl after speaking seems more admiration than anything else. It all fades, though, when the injury is revealed, and he leans forward to peer at it. "Doctor McCoy is very smart," he says, when Peter finishes speaking, and he looks up at the other boy. "Do you /want/ to be a bug?" If Ivan's expression may have been interpreted as mild annoyance at having been /ditched/ earlier, it changes to something else entirely now. Something reluctantly but unmistakably /sad/. He reaches out for the strange blotch on Peter's skin without question or warning, aiming to press the tips of his fingers against it. Meanwhile, spiders creep downward from his hair into his shirt, some venturing bravely along an arm only to dart back into a sleeve again a few seconds into their journey. When Kai speaks, he shakes his head instantly, as if to answer for Peter. Not something he has done before, almost needless to say. "Peter, I do not like it." "Batman's this rich dude, his parents are dead so he fights crime," Peter explains, helpfully! To Kai. But his tone is distracted. When Ivan answers in Peter's place, Peter does not contradict! Maybe he's already getting a little buggy; maybe Ivan's /already/ in his head. But his mouth goes a straight, lips thinning. When Ivan touches - he finds the 'shellac' is unusually smooth - harder than skin, but still bends and flexes. Like flexible, polished metal. It's even got a bluish-black metallic sheen to it. Almost /glossy/. "I know," Peter mumbles to Ivan, almost offhandedly. But, he adds, his voice a little more optimistic: "Dr. McCoy says it might not keep spreading. Maybe I'll just have - a weird /leg/. Also, he said, so far, it's - benign. Not messing anything up. I mean, it feels /weird/ but it's not numb or painful or anything." Kai frowns at the response, and he sinks back, jutting his lower lip out thoughtfully. "I hope, then, that it does not spread," he says slowly and earnestly. "But it is a pretty color. Like the back of a cricket." His eyebrows lift as an /idea/ suddenly occurs (or maybe it's suggested) to him, but another glance at his friends clamps his mouth shut. "Peter is not a cricket." Ivan notes, voice now firmer as his attention shifts momentarily to Kai. Just in time to catch the eyebrow lift, which only seems to further Ivan's concern. When his eyes land back on the bit of Peter's leg he's touching his fingers to, his shoulders draw forward. Spiders skitter further across his arm, one or two dropping off the side on rapidly spun safety lines before they ever manage to reach the boy's hand. His fingers press. Poke. They lift, then press down again. Then, once more, "... Not a cricket." It's hard to tell, from his fairly flat tone of voice, whether he's displeased about the suggestion, or simply /correcting/. The prodding seems to get a slight, lopsided grin out of Peter; this is apparently something he /himself/ has done numerous times. Poke, poke. Prod. Poke. It feels /weird/; not quite how skin should feel. All smooth and... slippery. Except, also - at the moment - dry. He watches the spiders go. Absently, to Kai, he amends: "Yeah Dr. McCoy said, um, it's an unusual coloration. Blueblack, kinda metallic. He was talking about - removing it, 'cuz it doesn't go any deeper than the skin - but, he's worried that it'd just come back even /stronger/." Then, to Ivan: "No I mean, but I /jump/ really high. But I do not think - a cricket. /Maybe/ a spider," he says, his tone distant, looking off, suddenly thinking about this. "...I didn't want to tell you because I thought you might get really worried, um, sorry. But - I think it will be okay? Dr. McCoy is having me check in /every/ day to make sure nothing goes wrong and he's talking to other doctors and figuring out - he calls it like some sort of 'action plan', things to do in case various things happen like he was talking about stuff like what if it messes with /sweat/ glands or..." Peter trails off. At least he's nattering again; Peter can't sustain a good long brood for the life of him. Kai's brow furrow again at Ivan's adamant denial, and he shrugs as he falls back into the sofa, watching the examination thoughtfully. Peter's natter goes mostly around him, and after a moment, he seems to check out. Maybe. "Ivan worries because he is a good friend," he offers quietly, pulling his book back into his lap. He focuses on that as he speaks on, his voice dropping a bit. "You would be a good spider, though. Like Piotr, with the jumping." "Ivan worries," Ivan echoes in a tone /just/ short of neutral due to a worried sort of tremble, "because friends are not supposed to turn into pets." Finally, his prodding ceases. He rises from the floor, to sit next to Kai, but his eyes remain on Peter. Expression of concern gradually mixing with something decidedly /not pleased/. "Oh... oh, right. 'Cuz--" Peter's brain makes /connections/. Ivan. Bugs. Bugs in his terraria. "Right." Peter reaches, then, tugging down on his pant-leg, letting it slide back over his knee and calf; tucking it out of his shoe. "Man don't worry Ivan I am not gonna be anybody's /pet/. And it'll /probably/ stop, I mean, mutations are /weird/. But it's fine, I mean, I am pretty much in the best place possible for this, right?" He holds his hands out, palms up. "I mean, if I weren't here - if I were back home, still? I would be /so/ freaking out. I would be the freaking-out-ist. But here..." Then, as if it was somehow relevant: "Dr. McCoy finally said he'd set up a program for me to practice catching /knives/. One where the knives aren't actually, like, real? But you can catch them." If /that/ makes any sense. "You guys should try the DR sometimes there is /so much/ awesome stuff in there. Oh my /God/." "Pets are friends," Kai points out. "You are friendly to your pets." He nods at Peter. "I do not think Peter would be a very good pet," he says, flipping his book open to the picture of the dung beetle again. It gets a tap, perhaps to draw Ivan's attention to it. Most of what Peter says goes past Kai, honestly, but he listens politely, turning to frown at the other boy when he does understand, finally. "Why would you want to catch knives?" he says. "Knives should be avoided." He taps the scar on his chin, and nods sagely before tilting his head. "What is a dee arr?" The acquisition of Ivan's attention is slow in coming. He seems to have gone into quiet mode again, though his face makes it all the more evident for those who know him that though his mouth has stopped working, his brain has not. He's /thinking/ double time. But the tap causes him to look toward the book, and he narrow his eyes at it. Yes, dung beetle. It's all your fault that things are confusing. ALL OF IT. The spiders previously headed for the ground-- are still on the ground. They don't stray far, but the spiders still on Ivan's arms dart back and forth like they might want to join the escapees. "Danger Room. Holodeck. It's--" Peter frowns, suddenly hitting an impasse. Not sure how to explain this to Kai, except - he gestures to the video game, and then adds: "Like a videogame, except much more /real/. Like, you can run around inside of it and everything. It's totally nuts." Ivan's silence is something Peter's used to - but in this case, it seems to daunt the young mutant. He frowns a little, reaching over to give Ivan a tiny little nudge with his elbow. Nudge, nudge. Nudge. Nudge. "Ivan," Peter says, just a /bit/ worriedly. "Ivan don't worry. I'll be /fine/, Ivan. Nobody's dead." This seems, for Peter, to be an excellent measure of just how things are going. Nobody dead? /EVERYTHING'S FINE/. Kai frowns deeply. "If it has danger in the name, I do not think it could be /very/ good," he says with a nod. "Although I would like to go into the rolling game Ivan and I played yesterday." He taps the dung beetle again. /There's/ the connection. But Ivan' expression gets a worried look, and Kai leans over to peer at his friend. "Ivan. Do not be worried," he echoes Peter, nodding in his direction. "He is not worried, and it is /happening/ to him." He smiles. "And he will have to join our club, now, yes?" He lifts his chin to beam at Peter. "We are making a club. For people who like bugs. Ivan will be the leader, and teach us." Because this has /totally/ been decided. Ivan looks a /sullen/ thing next to the beaming Kai, peering up at Peter only to curiously tilt his head and let out a slow, steady sigh. But Kai changes the subject, and he seems content enough to embrace this, nodding just once, but firmly. Yes. Yes there will be a club and yes it will be fine. Even when he points at the picture of a dung beetle, though, his look of intent worry stays. Tone, flat. "Do you like this one?" "Pffsh, it is the /least/ dangerous place in the school. It's just /scary/ but, I mean, like --" Peter cuts himself off. Not sure if he should go into that, just yet! The mention of a club gets eyebrows raised; he peers at the dung beetle - then at Ivan. Then at Kai. Then: "I like bugs," Peter admits, then: "Yeah I -- could join a bug club. Um. If that's... alright. Ivan does have, like, a bajillion bugs. Like /all/ of them." "Scary is not /better/," Kai points out, frowning deeply. "Foom comes when I am scared, and that is too much danger." And that wraps up /that/ subject in a neat little bow. No Danger Room for him. He nods at Ivan's question, his brow twitching at the flat tone. "I do," he says. "Because it rolls up its food like our game. I watched one on the computer. One of the other students showed me how. On the YouTube." When Peter confirms that he's willing to join the club, Kai beams, and reaches for his notebook. "I am making a list," he says. "Of people. It helps me to learn my spelling of strange words." He flips through the notebook, finding a page that says BUG KLUB in big block letters at the top, with 'Ivun' and 'Kai' listed in similar (if smaller) writing. Then he slowly inscribes 'Peetur' under his name. "Ivan is leader, so he should have the most bugs. But maybe we can have our own, too." He turns to Ivan, eyebrows lifted. "You would help us pick out nice bugs, right?" The conversation continues much in the same vein, with Kai pointing out various bugs and questioning their quality as possible pets. It seems the first official meeting of the Xavier's Bug Club is underway.