[PRP] Gotta Go Fast (Ignatius x Arrakis)

[Seiana_ZI]

Ignatius may have not won the entire House Cup (though he was convinced he must have done very well) but he ranked first in the obstacle course (nailed it, naturally) and the ghosts came out on top (jack yes) and so he was walking around with a bit of a strut.

Okay, a lot of one.

And also he wasn't very good at this walking thing so he was more like speed walking with a strut but who was really counting--

His speed strut eventually led him to catch sight of the admittedly familiar at this point Arrakis in the courtyard. That guy was also fast, even if only third fastest. Perhaps he enjoyed runs too? It was a simple enough assumption, and admittedly he didn't have a running buddy. Brenley was too nerdy and Piper didn't want to mess up her awesome hair--to be fair, it was pretty awesome. Not that Ignatius minded running alone, but hey.

Ignatius cupped his hands around the sides of his mouth and threw a shout to the other side of the courtyard, "ARRA!"

Not that he had ever called Arrakis a nickname before, considering they mostly met in dreams and at carnivals and weird misty villages, but why the hell not.

Amasis

:T I tried

 

[Amasis]

Arrakis had been in the courtyard, minding his own business, creeple-watching for the most part and exploring. He was still a bit wound up from the events and needed time to cool down and calm down if he was going to be able to get any kind of work done for his classes. He was still a bit giddy from the adrenaline rushes of earlier, and it showed in his pacing back and forth, a little bit of bounce in each step.

"Arra!"

The yell caught Arrakis by surprise, and he jumped more than a bit as he looked around for the source of the sound. It was a familiar-enough nickname, something his brothers called him fairly often, but he definitely hadn't been expecting to hear it here. Perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised, then, when his eyes found Ignatius trying to get his attention. He paused, bemused, wondering what had possessed Ignatius to call him by a nickname. It wasn't that it necessarily bothered him--it didn't--but he hadn't been aware Ignatius felt familiar enough to use one. Their run-ins were... infrequent, after all.

He jogged over to the boil, deciding that he might as well go and say hello. Maybe Ignatius would have an idea for how to get rid of all the nervous energy Arrakis was still feeling. "Hey!" He waved back when he was close enough. "What's up? Great job out there, by the way!"

Seiana_ZI

Hey, it works

 

[Seiana_ZI]

Trying to figure out what possessed Ignatius to act in any way that he chose to at a given time was a bit like trying to figure out why humans acted so weirdly. That was to say, impossible.

He seemed excited that Arrakis actually came over, bouncing a bit on the toes of his feet. Of course, he always seemed excited. So was the life of being far too high energy.

But of course, Arrakis had to truly endear his presence by remarking on Ignatius' great job. The grin on Ignatius' face was almost wicked as he stretched out and flexed, showing off about as well as he could. "Why thank you! I am the fastest boil alive, of course." He was exaggerating. Probably. Maybe he actually believed--

"You ain't so bad yourself. Fairly jacking fast, that is. Not as fast as me of course, but fast." This was supposed to be some weird sort of compliment. Perhaps it would be best if Arrakis just accepted that as is and moved on-- "Are you a runner because I doubt that was beginner's luck." He didn't really phrase it like a question.

Probably because he was assuming the answer was obviously yes.

Amasis

 

[Amasis]

Ignatius did, indeed, always seem excited, so Arrakis didn't really pay any attention to the boil's level of excitement as he made his way over. Ignatius had shouted an impromptu nickname from across the courtyard to get his attention, after all. Was this really anything out of the ordinary?

Arrakis observed with visible amusement as Ignatius showed his "appreciation" of the compliment by flexing and showing off. Fastest boil alive! Arrakis didn't really take him seriously, was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to, though he could be wrong--was there really any way of verifying that Ignatius wasn't, after all? Well, probably--there had to be others like him, and they would undoubtedly also be fast, right? So they-

The compliment caught Arrakis off guard, colour rising to his face as he tried to laugh off his embarrassment. He did indeed accept it as a compliment, seeing Ignatius' followup as exactly the truth--he wasn't as fast as Ignatius, so why get upset at having it pointed out?

"Well, sort of," he shrugged once he had a chance to recover from being caught off-guard and process the not-a-question that followed the compliment. "I dance. You could say it runs in my family. Running is fun and a good way to warm up, and with a big family group activities like running kind of end up, y'know," a circular sort of gesture with both hands as he searched for the word, "happening."

Arrakis rocked back and forth on his heels a bit, crossing and un-crossing his arms. "Plus it helps me wind down before bed, too. I wouldn't say I'm more than a hobbyist, though." Was he being honest or modest? Probably a bit of both.

Seiana_ZI

 

[Seiana_ZI]

The blush from Arrakis took Ignatius a bit off-guard--he hadn't really been attempting to cause embarrassment, but it seemed to amuse him nevertheless, a bit of a quirk of a grin forming on his lips. It lessened in a few moments, though, and Ignatius mostly pretended he hadn't really noticed.

Mostly.

Big family? Ignatius didn't really have a big family himself. Obviously his parents and his sibling, and then there was his grandfather of a fire elemental. Maybe some uncles. At Ieast one had permanently dissipated. It took him a while to understand that was really what happened--wait, what were they talking about again? Oh, right, running buddies. The running thing.

(Ignatius might have not truly been the fastest boil alive, but he might have been one of the most distractable.)

"Hobbyist, really? Little surprising you're that fast but maybe you're just talented," that might have been another attempt to draw some embarrassment. "I run a lot but not many can keep up. So I mostly run alone, which is fine but. You wanna run together?"

Amasis

 

[Amasis]

Arrakis was glad that Ignatius didn't point out his embarrassment too much, though that grin on Ignatius' face hadn't gone unnoticed. Reflexive blushing wasn't something necessarily new to Arrakis, but he was used to being teased horrendously about it. That big family he'd mentioned sort of included that with the territory. A bit of a grin? He could deal with that. He'd just pretend he hadn't seen the grin just like Ignatius was half-pretending that he hadn't seen his embarrassment.

The distraction was something Arrakis noticed with amusement, wondering idly if he should introduce Ignatius to one of his in-laws. For now, though, he said nothing about it. The second attempt at embarrassing him was also successful, even as Arrakis tried to play it off with a laugh into his shoulder, head ducked down for a second. As Ignatius came back to the original topic of conversation, however, Arrakis tried to do the same.

"Well, it gets me out of the large, crowded house, too." Ah, run together? "P-pardon?" That had not been something Arrakis had been expecting, and he took a moment to think it over. Well, more like he took a moment to process the request. "Well, you're probably still faster than I am, but, uh... sure! Sure." Ignatius would probably have to hold back for him, but Arrakis was willing to give it a shot. He'd done well enough to get the request in the first place, right? Right!

Seiana_ZI

 

[Seiana_ZI]

Jack, he did not envy creeple who lived in one house with a bunch of other people. He needed his own space to sprawl, no matter how much he loved being around other creeple.

No, living a dorm was not lost on him, though to be fair at least he had his dorm room entirely to himself. And there was also plenty of space outside...

Ignatius didn't hide his delight in the continued embarrassment this time, nearly cackling when Arrakis stuttered at him. "I can just slow down a little," he winked, not letting on that he kind of just wanted someone to run with. Back home, everyone wanted to race around. Here, as much as he liked it in Halloweentown and at Amityville, not so much.

"Sweet. You prefer mid morning or evenings then?" Not that Ignatius stuck very well to schedules. At all. He glanced out to the courtyard for a moment and pondered just suggesting a run now...

Amasis

 

[Amasis]

Arrakis was pleased that Ignatius was willing to work with his undoubtedly slower speed, the wink keeping rosiness in his face even as he considered the question he'd been asked. "Ah... evenings?" He shrugged a little. "I wake up a bit early and run when I first get up, so that might be a bit too early for you." He was teasing, promise, as he hazarded a grin. "Though honestly, sometimes I like to run just to clear my head, so if there's a time during the day, that might be good, too." So long as he wasn't in class or trying to comprehend an assignment for homework, obviously. He hoped Ignatius wouldn't regret extending the invitation when they actually got to running, but he'd seen him in the contest so he had to have some idea, right? If Ignatius hadn't liked what he'd seen there, he wouldn't be so willing to group up with him now.

Seiana_ZI

short post oops

 

[Seiana_ZI]

"Hey, man," Ignatius shook his head. "I can get up early. I am the earliest of early spiders."

He was entirely, one hundred percent, bonified lying through his teeth. That was probably why his straight face ended up lasting all of a couple seconds before he snorted and shook his head. Getting up early? Nah. He'd wake up at the more fun times of day.

Antsy as always, Ignatius started swinging his arms around and bouncing a bit on his back and front toes. "I run all the time, so if you wanna run and you want company, give me a ring. Trust me, I'll show up." His face suddenly perturbed. "Wait, do you have my number?"

Probably not. Bouncing subjects at a million miles an hour, Ignatius pulled out his skellyphone. "Here. We can Sneakchat too."

Amasis

Pfft you're fine

 

[Amasis]

Arrakis believed him at first, too. His eyebrows had risen a bit and he'd opened his mouth to reply with his surprise when Ignatius' laughter made him realise the jig was up. Whuffing air out through his nose, he couldn't find it in him to be any kind of upset at the brief fib. He chuckled a bit, trying to actually imagine Ignatius getting up early. He didn't know him very well, true, but he could guess from what he did know. Alright, Ignatius was not likely to be company for his first run. Duly noted! Despite his following sentence, Arrakis didn't think it'd be right to try and drag Ignatius out of bed for an early run and- oh!

"Ah, no, no I don't!" Arrakis slapped at his pockets for a moment, trying to remember which one he'd put his skellyphone in. If he was bothered by the sudden change of subject, he didn't show it. "Hey, Sneakchat would be good too. My brothers just use it to send me pictures of them making faces in my room or messing with my things." Finding it in his back pocket, Arrakis pulled out his skellyphone.

Seiana_ZI

 

[Seiana_ZI]

Ignatius' brows raised. "Messing with your things? Maybe you should get some voodoo dolls." Was he kidding? His voice seemed oddly even--

That might have been because he was busy swiping Arrakis' phone, though. Within moments, he managed to get into the reaper's phonebook, and was taking a silly selfie to use as his label in the phonebook. Then, after noting Arrakis' skellynumber in his own phone, he handed it back.

"Smile!" And without warning, Arrakis too found himself having pictures taken, used as a label in Ignatius' phone.

"I think I am the funniest of Sneakchatters. And the coolest. I can play some Tesla coils."

Yup, he was all over the place.

Amasis

 

[Amasis]

Seiana_ZI

Arrakis had been about to say that, no, voodoo dolls wouldn't be necessary, that it was just them taking his things and putting them in improbable situations--like the one picture of action figures he'd had since kidhood making off with their mothers' kitchen utensils--when he found his phone in Ignatius' hands. A wordless sound, the start of speech, died in his throat as he regarded Ignatius with some level of startled amusement. He took the skellyphone back and looked at the picture, laughing at it. He was still laughing, putting the phone back in his pocket, when he heard the command to smile and heard the shutter sound. Well, at least it was a smiling picture, right?

"Tesla coils?" That wasn't an instrument he was familiar with, and the question slipped out before he could stop it. Ah, well. His face coloured a bit, and he hoped Ignatius wouldn't think he was some weird country bumpkin. "How do you play those?" Yes, pretend that was his true question. He'd, uh, totally known tesla coils could be used as an instrument. Totally.

Shhhh.  

[Seiana_ZI]

"Yeah, you know, Tesla coils? Produces high-frequency currents? If you mess with the break rate you can make music. I can send you a video."

Ignatius was talking like this was kind of obvious, but then again, considering he was glowing and there was lightning patterning on his skin, it probably was at least obvious to him.

In the meantime, he was typing something out on his own skellyphone and sending it out to the number he had just taken down. Once he did that, he looked up and grinned a bright blue grin. "There. I can send tiny clips in Sneaks and stuff when I'm playing with them."

For a few seconds, he rolled his eyes up, bouncing to the rhythm of a song he was hearing in his mind, but not aloud. He swayed his head back and forth, humming a few spare notes. Ignatius missed hearing tesla coils so often. There were a lot in his hometown, standing strong as towers above the sands--

Ignatius briefly frowned, but that didn't last long, and instead, he looked Arrakis in the eyes. "Say, you wanna run now?"

Amasis

 

[Amasis]

Hey, in his defense, he knew what Tesla coils were. Just... not that they could be used to make music. Arrakis didn't miss the tone Ignatius took, the 'isn't this obvious?', and it brought a faint flush of colour to his cheeks for a different reason than before. Ignatius being so distractable and all-over-the-place did present Arrakis with a distraction himself, however, and it wasn't like he'd missed Ignatius' very, ah, electric qualities in the first place.

There was probably something that was perfectly obvious to Arrakis that Ignatius wouldn't immediately understand.

Probably.

"I look forward to that," he replied, accompanying his words with a grin and meaning both of them. Tesla coils as music! If Ignatius was alright with it, he'd have to show his family back home--they'd get a kick out of it too. His skellyphone buzzed and he pulled it out to glance at it, but glanced up when he felt Ignatius do the same. As their eyes met and Ignatius asked about the run, Arrakis slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"Sure!"

Seiana_ZI

 

[Seiana_ZI]

Ignatius was visibly relieved when Arrakis accepted the offer, but he didn't let relief remain his expression for long.

Instead, he was back to grinning like a hyena or a cheshire cat, turning his attention to the courtyard. He took a few backwards steps, facing Arrakis as he did so and gradually increasing his speed. "Catch up!" And he was off, swinging around and dashing away.

It seemed Ignatius had some awareness of his speed, at least, because he didn't run off at a blistering speed.

Amasis