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 Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:14 pm
Sue was prepared to change his mind about this theatre stuff. It kicked a**.
Oh, he'd been skeptical at first, sure. He still regarded the entire art as a waste of time and oxygen, and any time he was in a room with one of the other cast members, he could just feel his masculinity being leeched away. Sue had bitched and moaned and whined all through his afternoon classes the day that the casting had been announced, but then had come a momentous occasion.
The art teacher (who had never been particularly fond of Sue) had approached him in class and smiled at him. She had looked at his work and told him, "Fantastic job, Mr. Gottschalk," - words never before uttered in such a worthless class as that - and then let him know that she understood the scheduling constraints he would be facing with his new responsibilities, and she would be happy to accommodate his rehearsal time.
The next class, the same thing. All the way down his schedule - all of the teachers, when questioned, agreed that they were willing to give him excuses whenever he needed to rehearse for the school production.
One thing was for sure: He was going to be the most well-rehearsed Fairy Godcat Understudy that the world had ever seen.
The only downside to this that he had found, in fact, was that he really was expected to be in the auditorium when he claimed to be rehearsing. This wasn't much of a problem, though. It seemed like half the cast was either afraid or alienated to him already, so all that he had to do was sit in the back of the audience and lounge around, and not a single person would question him.
It had been working out pretty well, too: Sue had been sitting around on his a** for fifteen minutes now, and not an interloper in sight. Maybe these theatre kids weren't as stupid as he'd thought, if this was what they got to do all day....
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:32 am
“No.”
Clickclickclick.
“No.”
Clickclick?
“No.”
Click.
Snuzzles grumpily burrowed into Andeon's hair, clicking it's dissatisfaction as his inability to eat the faces of students they happened to pass in the hallway. After only a few hours of public exposure, Andeon had quickly learned two things. First, Snuzzles had to be kept on a leash at all times. Second, if you glue a piece of carpet to the back of a strange buglike exoskeleton monster and say it's a mutated dog with enough conviction, people will eventually just give up and stop asking questions.
With his little carpet-shell in place, Snuzzles had taken to riding Andeon around like some sort of mount. They two were practically inseparable. They ate together, Snuzzles feeding primarily on bits of bacon Andeon slipped to him during breakfast and whatever he could hunt at night when Andeon let him loose in the girls dormitories. They bathed together, with Snuzzles running rampantly around the shower floor banging into walls repeatedly until Andeon opened the door. They even went to theater rehearsals together.
Of course, going to theater rehearsals did not mean actually rehearsing.
“Sup?”
Andeon slumped down in the seat next to Sue, regarding the rest of the auditorium with a pink-hazed stare of disapproval. Snuzzles clicked with interest, skittering down onto Andeon's shoulder to inspect the boy next to whom they were sitting. He clicked first in Sue's direction, next in Andeon's. And while Andeon attempted to ignore the chatty little bugmonsterdog, it became increasingly difficult when Snuzzles crawled up and wrapped his bony legs around Andeon's face and let out a low, pleading screeeeee as though to say, 'Pay attention to meeeeee.'
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:44 am
There's something on your... face. No, a little higher. To the left. Little bit more. Yeah, right there.
There were many social circumstances that Sue was not equipped to handle. This? This was so far outside of his range, his brain refused to process it. It was so much easier to pretend it was a kitten on Andeon's face. Yes, a little white kitten, with long laws and glowing red eyes and jaw unhinging and OH GOD NO THIS MENTAL IMAGE WAS NOT HELPING HIM AT ALL
And he said as much. Except it came out more as a choked, garbled, "Hhhhgghhhhaaaaaaaaaa," while his jaw went slack and his eyes went wide.
Clearly, Sue was just stunned to have one of the leads sitting in the back row, consorting with a humble little understudy like him. Clearly. Why, the way he was reaching for his backpack, he was clearly just going for paper and pencil to ask for an autograph, right?
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:09 pm
Andeon was getting accustomed to this sort of the reaction. While he had somehow managed to convince himself that his clingy, loud, screeching lil' buddy was just some sort of mutated kitten, others weren't blind stinking drunk upon meeting the little youma. Thus, convincing themselves that the facehugging crabmonster was just a small, innocent little thing in need of love and attention was probably a bit more difficult.
Reaching up to pluck Snuzzles from his face, Andeon turned the little youma into its back and scratched at the underside of it's tough little body with an index finger. It gave a pleased little clicking noise, folding its legs around Andeon's hand as though to claim it for his own, the way a baby wrapped their fist around an adult's finger.
“I think he was a science experiment. Weren't you, Snuzzles? Cutest science experiment in the world, yesyouis.” By the end of this, Andeon's voice had become a high-pitched cutesy tone, to which Snuzzles seemed to respond with a new round of gleeful clicking.
“So, have your meows all ready for when the main kid beefs it?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:01 pm
... Science experiment?
The backpack - barely lifted two inches off the ground, certainly not ready to wield yet - hesitated, hovered. Sue still seemed transfixed by the monstrous creature, but it was what Andeon had said that had his attention more than anything. Science experiment?
Sue took another look at Andeon - as it, at Andeon himself, not just the thing that liked attaching itself to his body. How much did he trust this guy's opinion? And, when the answer came up not a damn bit, the next question was: How much did he want to believe it anyway?
Slowly, Sue pulled up his backpack to his lap and left it there, where it would be quick to grab in his defense. Just in case, you know?
Settling himself in his redefined space (meaning, pressed as far on the arm of the seat opposing Andeon and his terror-critter), he answered the question at last. "Haven't thought about it much. Doubt they actually want me on the stage anyway, and hell. I can out-meow anybody else in this school, so even if they did, what's there to it?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:54 pm
Snuzzles seemed completely oblivious to Sue and his backpack, thoroughly enjoying having his stomach scratched. The little youma twitched on occasion, his long legs spasming, at which point Andeon realized that the thing had apparently fallen asleep.
“Awwwww, he's having a dream,” Andeon cooed, “Cute little ********- what? Oh. ******** if I know, it's like they think that s**t is hard.”
Andeon shrugged, leaning back into the chair, “Do you know who they picked for the female lead? Jancie Fitzpatrick. I have to confess my love to Janice “Backwards Trap” Fitzpatrick. I have to look Janice “Born-a-dude” Fitzpatrick in the eyes and tell her how beautiful she is. Can you believe it?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:27 pm
Sue thought this complaint over slowly, taking his time (and being distracted by Snuzzles, who had him gripped equally now with fear and fascination.) He didn't know Janice well - had just seen her in the halls from time to time, nothing else - but he did strike him as a bit, erm....
"I think the casting lady's got an agenda." Sue's eyes went dark, distrustful. Casting an inappropriate female lead? Casting Sue at all? There could only be one explanation, and this had "conspiracy" stamped all over it.
Speaking of conspiracies, though.... "You really think it's a science experiment?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:41 pm
“******** no,” Andeon barked with a laugh, looking down at the content little monster. No way in hell was it a science experiment. Or a kitten. Or one of the other dozen things he had been trying to pass it off as over the past week. No matter what it was, though, it was his. For reasons Andeon could not explain, he felt compelled to take care of the little thing.
“I don't know what the ******** it is,” he shrugged, watching Snuzzles little legs twitch happily, “But he showed up one night and has been following me around since then. He gets... oddly cute after a while. And he can fetch, which is just cool as hell, dude. I'm going to train him to bring me booze.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:48 pm
"He kind of...." Creeps me out, was what Sue had been thinking, but he frowned and changed his wording. "Reminds me. Of something. I saw."
Sue liked to think of himself as a tough guy. No man could make him say uncle, so on, so forth. But there were some things even he didn't like tangling with, and when it were things that were just not meant to be understood, well. You know.
This topic of conversation was making him feel vulnerable, uncomfortable. And Andeon, well... he didn't seem like the sort of guy that was worth a damn in the matters he wanted to talk about, anyway. Better to move on to something else.
"So what's he eat?" And it had better not be cats.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:06 pm
While the graphics and shiny, alluring plastic of his PSP were nice, it wasn't his DS. It wasn't his Scribblenauts. The DS hadn't really been the prodigal child of his game systems, but there was something to be said about losing something so beloved to...possession, or whatever it was.
At least the PSP wouldn't turn him into a creepy, expressionless monster. He hoped.
Today had gifted him with a bit of free time, so he'd wandered towards the auditorium in hopes of having some important stage-hand business to do. His gaze focused intently on the screen, he simply walked in the direction of voices, hoping that they might be able to give him some idea of what his responsibilities were.
A quick glance at the people conversing helped him register that he'd at least seen them before. But something required a double-take. No. No. His PSP didn't even have to be possessed to be dropped at his feet this time.
"Why are you guys hanging out with a headcrab!? YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SHOOT THOSE." Somehow, this question seemed more important than asking how the headcrab was here in the first place.
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:13 pm
The soft sound of humming was accompanied by the gentle thump of feet as Piper skipped her way down the hallway directly connected to the auditorium. Unsurprisingly, her eyes were closed and her head was tilted upwards towards the ceiling, her attention not upon the world around her but the fantasy land she had created in her head. Ponies and flashing lights swirled in her head along with whatever tune she was destroying with her terrible recollection.
Just when one thought she'd skip her way entirely down the hallway and smack straight into the wall on the opposite side, she fumbled mid-skip instead and went stumbling to a stop. Her hands reached out, splayed over the wall next to her, and she took a deep breath. "I should be more careful," she muttered to herself, leaning her weight onto the wall. Only, it wasn't a wall at all, but a door! And it gave way and swung open as soon as she leaned against it, depositing Miss Piper indelicately upon the floor of the auditorium.
"Ooph," she grunted, not at all feminine, with her back on the floor. She took that time not to get up as quickly as possible and save herself the humiliation but to instead examine this strange new place - it was especially interesting from an upside-down angle. She tilted her head back and began to survey everything in silence, laying half in the door and half out of it, until her eyes met a curious color. "That looks like eggplants," she said aloud, tapping the heel of her foot against the floor.
Why did she remember eggplants from before? Oh, right, Sue!
She pushed herself up to her feet, not bothering to pause and adjust her sweater, and skipped happily over to the row of seats where he was sitting. "Hey Sue, Sue!" she was calling before she'd ever really reached him, oblivious to both the other students and the strange little creature with them. She plopped down into a seat, her demeanor suddenly turning serious as she leaned in quite close to the purple-haired cat-lover. Then, she turned her neck towards him at an awkward angle in an obvious display in his direction. "Does my neck look any better?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:09 pm
“I have no ******** clue, man,” Andeon laughed, shrugging his shoulders, “I just let him loose in the girls dorm in the morning and wait for him to come back out. He seems to like beef jerky, though. Don't you,” he looked down at the little monster with an almost parental smile, picking up that baby voice again, “Daddy's little ******** likes to steal his beef jerky, doesn't he? Yeshedoes. Yeshedoes!”
Andeon's eyes went wide at the new kid's comment, seemingly appalled by the very though, and he might have made some snappy comeback were it not for the sudden intervention of some random girl who seemed insistent on showing Sue her neck.
“What the hell did it look like before?”
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:43 pm
"You gotta shotgun?" Sue called back to Quinn. Really, if he did, Sue might give it some proper consideration. But armed with only a backpack and the memory of how ******** up the last creature he'd seen at this school was, well... he wasn't looking to piss anything off without some reassurance that it wouldn't be fighting afterwards.
Sue seemed at first affronted, then despairing as Piper came over to display her neck. Really? She was really still on that? He just... he couldn't imagine where her head was at. Clearly, her gift was making people's heads explode by means of rampant stupidity.
"Still kinda curvy," he told her - but then in a hushed whisper, added, "but you know, my friend's pet here is magic. It gives wishes when it's kissed. You could try that...."
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 9:38 pm
Though hesitant to take his eyes off of the headcrab lest it decide to attack, Quinn took notice of the girl that entered the room. She appeared to be AFK, and returned just in time to avoid smashing into the wall repeatedly.
Er, no, that wasn't right.
Whatever the case, he watched her curiously, a way glance still occasionally fixed on the enemy headcrab. It seemed relatively docile right now, which meant it could be vulnerable. "No, but if you get it with our melee weapons, we should be okay," he responded hastily to Sue, preparing himself for action.
The new arrival produced something far more interesting, however, when she tilted her neck up for display. Clearly there were more hallucinations going around, even without the involvement of possessed video games, because he...didn't see anything. Frowning, he leaned around for a better angle, but couldn't find a problem. He resolved that it would probably be better to just stay silent on the topic, since telling her that it was okay could lead to misdirection and a lack of proper medical treatment. And everyone knew that was how zombies were made.
Thoughtfully, he looked her over, wondering if she was infected.
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 9:55 pm
It was only as the other boy spoke that she realized there were people here other than dear Sue, and she tilted her head back up to look at the boy on the farther side of her friend. "Well, I didn't actually see it, but Sue said it looked like a question mark," her serious face had turned rather grim at this point, but it was almost comical in a way given the subject matter.
As Sue spoke, however, her attention immediately snapped back in his direction, as if she were hanging on his every word. Not because she had some misplaced crush, as it might appear to others, but because she actually thought he had some kind of expertise in deformed necks. "Still?" she groaned aloud, leaning closer to him a pitiful expression on her face, "but Sue, I ate a lot of Jello!" It was only as he presented a new cure to her that her face brightened and that same wide-eyed joy lit her face again.
Sadly, that also meant that she wanted to get a good look at said friend's 'pet', which meant she took to leaning across Sue with absolutely no respect for his personal space. Getting up and walking over to see the pet would have been more logical, but Piper just wasn't a follower of logic. "Where would I kiss him though?" she asked, head tilting slightly to the side in her confusion. Normally, she would kiss pets on their heads, but she wasn't exactly sure where his head was.
She seemed to have completely missed the third boy who was watching her like she might turn into a zombie at any moment. Being that up until now he hadn't said anything directly to her, Piper was doing what Piper did best - completely missing important details!
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