Log Info
Title: Beast-Spawn?
Emitter: None
Characters: Ian Stoker, Adrian and Jerry Fein
NPCs: Unknown visitor
Place: Ian's Room, Steranko Institute
Time: July 2, 2010
Summary: A strange little creature interrupts a meeting between the boys.
Ian's pretty much been hiding out as of late. His door, normally open for all, has been locked on most hours. And when he isn't working, or performing duties as the Student Advisor, he's pretty much out of site. It really doesn't take a detective really to find out. He and Maggie are on the outs again, and by the sounds of it, a pretty messy yelling match at the pool. Stoker himself neither confirms nor denies - and to his credit, when he's out and about, he does put on airs to be alright! In his dorm room however, he's been back to the pen, writing furiously every chance he gets - often at night. The sleep wasn't coming again.
Jerry taps on the door. "Bro, it's me. Come on, you stay in there much longer we'll have to scrape mushrooms off your head. And no-one wants to do that. You wanna open up?" he says, leaning back against the door, thumping on it with his hand.
From a shadow in the hall behind Jerry, something crouches, concealed in the dark, and watches. Nothing more.
There's a click, and a few moments later, the door opens to reveal one Ian Stoker. All and all he doesn't look /that/ bad, except for the fact he is wearing the same shirt he was yesterday. Then again, he was a guy. "Please, Jerry," Ian replies back flatly, nodding his head to allow his friend in. A second later he adds: "I'm from the south. It'd be moss, not mushrooms. Half the flavor, but probably less likely to get you tripping." Yeah, the wry humors there, even if he doesn't add a smile. "Want anything to drink?" As he talks, he begins to close the door again, intention clear on locking it. Y'know, just in case.
Jerry shakes his head as he walks on in casually, giving his bro a pat on the shoulder as he passes him; he slips into a chair and whews, taking a moment to relax. "Didn't see you after work yesterday, and then nothing after dinner - checked a couple spots, no show. So.. what's up?" he says, stretching. "Or is it the same thing?"
As the door begins to close, the figure in the shadows takes its opportunity to dart forward with great speed, sliding in to the room before it is closed off and skirting the edges of the room to find a new hiding spot under the bed.
"Just haven't been the most sociable as of late. Noir's been talkin' something fierce lately, so that makes sleep a no go." Ian shrugs lightly, before returning to his perch of earlier - the well depressed corner of his bed. And it seems as if he was telling the truth about the insomnia, because the entire bed is covered with papers, some half written on, while others are brimming to the point the margins even have text. He's been doing a lot of writing. "And yeah, same thing. I broke things off with her after you guys left the pool. I was pissed - but man. Frustration with a situation seems a better deal right now than just …" Ian shrugs lightly sliding his head back. "I miss her, just as much as I am tearing my hair out cause she refuses to talk t'me. But I'm wondering if I should go say something. Apologize at least." Pause and a sigh. "Then that makes me think her flirtin' with that other dude and all that does is piss me off. Cruel cycle, ain't it?"
Jerry hmms and rubs his stubbled chin, thinking. He looks at Ian, eyes going to the pages, the bed, back to his friend. "Well, if Claire's reading is correct and she is sincere, then she's just doing that to make you pursue her more. God knows I've done that enough and it works really, really well except when it doesn't and people shoot at you, but that's the risk you take, you know?" He smiles a little, considering what to say. "She certainly isn't one to forgive and forget, though, and I'd have to ask myself if it was worth the good times. I've had to make that decision a couple times at least and it's never an easy one, and everyone winds up getting hurt." He sighs, runs fingers through his hair and looks back to Ian. "I just wanna see you with someone who didn't set off every alarm bell in my head, but hell, you've had this.. complex thing with her and I don't really, honestly know shit about her. So.. I've tried to stay out of saying anything. Sometimes it makes me feel like a bad friend, but you're the expert here when it's all done, y'know?"
Ian's door is shut and locked at the moment, though seconds ago Jerry was admitted by the recent shut-in. Ian, while not taking care of his duties as SA or trying to keep his job by actually showing up, has been holed away from the world and no doubt incredibly emo. There are pages and pages on his bed, some half-written and others so full of words or music of what-have that every bit of space is used up.
And there is one thing neither man has noticed as of yet.. a stow-away skittered in with Jerry, now hiding in the shadows under Ian's bed, listening and watching. Quiet, hidden, and not ready to reveal itself yet.
After the "exciting" events of Saturday night, Adrian has been meaning to talk to Ian for a couple of reasons. He just keeps missing the older boy every time he's tried. He hasn't done much more than smile and offer a quick, 'Hey' to Tyche since then either. Not that he's going out of his way to avoid her or even doing it on purpose. He's just been busy. Work. Baseball. Classes. It would be impossible not to see her, considering they live in the same residence hall and have a class together, but he's limited his exposure to the Empath over the last few days. As far as dates go it didn't really go quite like he'd expected it to. The whole post-date drama when they got back to campus after nearly being drowned in the ocean has bothered him. Then there's the fuzzy memory and the big gaping hole in it and, well, all of that leads up to the young Mr. Young knocking on his Student Advisor's door. "Ian, you in there?"
"Maybe. More likely she really is pissed and is doing her old games again." Ian lets out another long breath. "We're different now, but not e'erything changes fast. She got her ways that are maddening and I gots mine. But." There's a shrug before Stoker looks up to Jerry again, regarding. "I appreciate your support man, really. And I know that Mags is a pill - Thing is though you're right when you say you don't know her. Hell. I don't know her as well as I want. She puts up a wall for that reason, and it ain't easy to slip inside. But when you do, even if for a moment…" There's a twitch at the corner of his mouth, almost in wistful before it's gone. "I dunno. It ain't simple. Never is." A moment later. "I think though that she ain't gonna let air go until something serious goes down. If we do end up together again though, I'm gonna have to smack you and a few others around until my bad words about her slip out a bit. And I'm gonna have to get her to … I 'unno, forgive? Accept? I got no clue what level it's at anymore. A bit o' harmony would be mighty nice though." It's about then he hears the knock. For a moment, Ian seems like he's going to ignore it, before he hears the voice behind. "Sorry dude, that's Adrian - one of the new…" Pause. Oh right. "Yeah, you know him." There's a twist to the door, and he opens, offering Adrian a nod. "Hey Adrian. What can I do for you tonight?"
Adrian is considering heading back to his room when the knob turns and the door opens. "I was just wanting to talk about the other night," he says, looking behind Ian into the room. Padded walls…? He notices Jerry inside and rakes a hand back through his hair. Oh. Yay. His favorite person on campus. "Hey Jerry," Adrian offers, before looking at Ian, "Sorry. Didn't realize you had company. I can just come back later."
Jerry considers Ian's answers, sacked back in the chair and trying to think of various ways things could go. "You certainly have that right; she's not going to reverse her position right away. I just.. hell, I hope it's not a game, is all. I hate that stuff." He looks up and nods as Ian gets the door. He waves to Adrian just as friendly as anything when the other boy pops in. "Dude, hey. It's OK; Ian's the RA." He looks to Ian, then. "You need me to run?"
With two backs to the bed, it apparently doesn't matter much that there is one set of eyes that could see.. and a small, black, clawed hand sneaks up from under the bed, attached to a thin, leathery-looking arm. It quietly rounds to the top of the bed, grabs on of the bits of paper, and snatches it down below.
"No it's cool man. Even if my door may be locked, it's open for Rider students if I'm here." Ian took his job as the SA very seriously, even if he was in the midst of a little EmoFest. Perhaps especially. In that case. "The other night?" Oh. The one where Tyche and Adrian came back to the dorm soaking, leading to … other events. "Yeah sure. We can now, or later." Jerry was there after all, and sometimes people didn't want to disclose everything to everyone. "Just as well. Want a Pepsi, Coke some-" He pauses then, nose flairing as if he caught a whiff of something. But in the end he can't put a finger on it, back to the bed and all. Jerry gets his reply a second later. "I hate games too. Don't think it's … quite that. But I don't know. Women. Y'know, with them everything ain't simple." A beat later. "S'up to you if you want to chill Jer. I'm sure there's funner places to be than with me bitchin' and moanin'. Like makin' out with Sasha." Yes. When miserable, live vicariously through friends! And he wasn't about to channel Sunday/Linus for that one. That would make him as diabetic as Adrian.
Adrian returns Jerry's smile with one of his own. Hey, he said no hard feelings, but that still doesn't mean that he's going to be the other boy's biggest fan. Those things take time to really get over. "One of your girlfriends came into the Pharmacy the other day. Talked my ear off about you the entire time she was there," Adrian says, "But really, you don't have to go if you two were talking. It's not a big deal. I appreciate it Ian." He glances down the hallway towards Tyche's door and he wrinkles his nose. "It can…" Adrian turns to look back into the room just in time to see that hand reach out from under the bed make its snatch and grab. The boy's sentence trails off and he just stares for a moment before he finishes his thought, "…wait." A beat then. "Do you know you have a monster under your bed?"
It has to be said: that makes Jerry smile, knowing he's being talked about. He quirks a smile. "Which one?" he says. "Nah, I only have one girlfriend, really; Sasha really.. talked about me for that long?" he says, obviously curious. "Nah, I wanna stay if it's cool? I.." Adrian's statement causes him to look up and laugh a little, but then he sees Adrian's expression and… well, you never know in this place. A ripple of violet light zips over Jerry's body, and he stands up gracefully, ribbons of energy gently rotating around his center of mass. "Do tell?" he says, glancing at the bed. "Ian, you know we don't get to have pets," he says. Smiling. But still looking where Adrian is looking.
There's a sound, finally, from under the bed when Adrian mentions a monster. A sound of alarm, of fear? No! An indignant stiff. The sound that follows is a voice not unlike what Saul Tigh would sound like if you took his voice up a few octives and applied more sandpaper. "I am /not/ a /monster/." Still, whatever or whoever it is, they stay under the bed. More russling of paper is heard, along with bits of tearing. It sounds vaguely like.. chewing?
"…I don't have a pet," Ian murmurs a bit confused. Well that's after the blank look he gives Adrian. After all, that almost sounds like a joke! Still when Jerry activates his shield, Stoker slowly turns to the bed, hackles rising slightly as the .. thing makes a sniff. "And just what are you?" Without much preamble, Ian leans and /Lifts/ his bed up, ignoring the dangerous sounding creaking the supporting legs make. And he just /hoped/ the thing wasn't chewing what he thinks it's chewing!
"I think she said her name was Megan? Blonde hair, blue eyes, friendly smile, southern accent? She's going to be a Senior in the fall… but yeah, she had nothing but nice things to say about you. Who was I to burst her Prince Charming Jerry bubble?" Adrian says. He takes a small step back away from the door when Jerry powers up, his own expression going wary. It becomes even moreso when the thing under the bed speaks and… "Woah." The word is breathed out in a quiet tone when Ian just lifts up the bed.
Jerry's energy ramps up with a soft whine, rotating pulsing spots of eye-hurting dark violet clustering around his fists, the only thing holding him back is that those sheets of paper are valuable to his buddy. He just narrows his eyes at the thing under the bed, holding back - for now.
As the light of the room chases away the darkness under the lifted bed, the intruder upon their little manly pow-wow is revealed, scurrying out from the former hiding spot to instead stand near the window, back hunched. He stands about the height of a toddler, spindly arms and legs covered in leathery black skin, hands and feet tipped with short talons. His body proper is absolutely COVERED in thick, wiry, dirty hair, equally as black as his skin. The hair extends up to his almost perfectly round head, ears buried somewhere in all that mess, two large yellow eyes peering at the lot of them and a mouth that seems to slit the breadth of his head, brimming with small, sharp, pointy teeth. Teeth currently chewing up a bit of paper. "I am a LORD, puney mortals." Chew chew, indignant SNIFF from a nose also buried somewhere in the fur. Ian may recognize him.
"Well then, Lord," Ian murmurs, grimace making his features a bit more menacing than they were a moment before. But the young man forces them a bit smoother as he glances at the thing. He's seen him before, once. Somewhere else far away. "I would say you have quite a deal of 'splaining to do. Like for one, why the hell you're under my bed!" Once the thing is out of the bed's trajectory, it is dropped with a hunch, an uncomfortable crack not long following. Oh yeah, Stoker was. Not. Pleased. But even more so… "By the love of god, if that is what I think it is, there will be no hell dimension you can run back to before I get my hands off you and… AND…" GROWL. "GIVE YOU A FUCKING BATH."
"Dude, if that thing starts wringing its hands and saying 'my precious'…" Adrian says from the doorway. "You know, there are better ways of getting more fiber in your diet." Rather than eating paper. Adrian's eyebrows raise and the boy's tongue darts out to moisten his lips. "I think you made the mistake of pissing off someone bigger'n you, your Lordship."
Jerry smiles tightly, even as he keeps his cool by seeing the little.. demon? Gnome? he's not sure. "I see you're acquainted," he says, carefully looking at Ian. "Adrian, might wanna back up a bit," he says, as Ian growls. "Gimme the word and I blast him into parts."
The creature shrieks as its eyes go even more wide than they were, and it scampers up on to Ian's desk with inhuman speed. "Do not touch me, Beast Spawn!" As it hisses, showing off most of those sharp teeth, a rather disturbingly long tongue snakes out to lick at one of its eyeballs. Like a lizard. "I would like nothing better than to EAT each and every one of you," he growls, crouched, ready to fight if that is what it comes to, "But I come now in peace. And.." He shifts, glancing away, then back at Ian. "The Animus does not wish you to be eaten. /Yet/."
He also hastily swallows the paper in his mouth.
"Not so much aquainted, as seeing it once before," Ian mutters lowly, teeth clenched in annoyance. Still, he holds his hand up to forstall Jerry from doing anything too hasty. Though, really, when the paper being eaten? Awfully, AWFULLY tempting. Grumble. "And Adj here has a point. Ain't easy for a chiwuawa to eat a Rottweiler if you catch my drift. And- " Pause. Wait. "Beast Spawn?" Whatever the meaning of that may be, it's enough that Ian's face goes a little bit paler. "Wh-. What do you know about that?" It was one of those things he had found hitting a wall with lately, the information about his condition. However. "The Animus?" No he didn't know the name yet either. "Just why are you here? Other than threatenin' me and mines, and eating songs I worked ALL NIGHT on writing."
Adrian shakes his head. Back up? No way. Though his choice to stay put is more out of stubborness than anything else. "I'm good," Adrian says. He balls up his fists, clenching and unclenching them. He's not rushing in to confront the creature (That kind of craziness is reserved for the other Young twin) but he's not going to retreat and abandon Ian and Jerry. "Name calling. Yeah, that's going to get you far here, Frodo," Adrian retorts, "I think maybe you ought to be worried about me getting my hands on your creepy little… gross, did it just lick its own eye?"
Jerry looks pointedly to Ian. "I can get it, unless you think it can throw a small bus. give the word, bud," the youth says, the light settling around his hands and forearms.
Catch his drift? Those big yellow eyes squint. "Not at all." Truth! He has no idea what the hell he was just told, and he doesn't care. The creature looks briefly at the fleshbag dubbed 'Adj' and straightens up a little more. "You have addressed me with proper manners, Aa-dja. When I rule this place, I shall allow you to serve as my underling!" Clearly, he thinks this should be taken as a gracious compliment to Adrian. He also fails to understand that 'Frodo' is an insult. Perhaps an honorific of this world he is not familiar with! Jerry is looked at and promptly dismissed, and its back to Ian and his insepid questions. What does he know? Suddenly, the thing looks INCREDIBLY pleased with himself, grinning in a most unnerving fashion. "Ooooh, Beast Spawn. What does Her Majesty see in you? Stupid smelly thing." And here, we get to the Why He Is Here. "You have ruined /everything/ with your stupid smelly Beast-spawnness! She hunts down my subjects and it's your fault, so," Her jabs a finger towards Ian. "/Fix it/!"
Ian cannot help it. He just /blinks/. "Okay, no need to blast Jerry." Because obviously, this thing was harmless. And insane. Still, it is able to pass along some key information, enough so to allow Ian to let out a long breath. "Maggie." The Animus? Well, she did show him some of the powers she had acquired, as well as the artifact on her back. Perhaps it made a deal of sense. But, "Everything huh? I suppose I also managed to increase the deficit in the economy in Hell-Land, perhaps even in my selfishness, caused a once-in-a millenium sandstorm as well?" Snort. Stoker rolls his eyes, before he backs against the wall to lean. "And I'm glad to see that you only have the best intentions for my relationship at heart, furball."