Shouldn't You Have a Goatee

Log Info

Title: Shouldn't You Have a Goatee
Emitter: -
Characters: Adrian Young, Jonathan Stevens, Linus Young
NPCs: -
Place: Steranko Institute - Student Center
Time: June 5, 2010
Summary: Linus' "evil twin" Adrian has arrived on campus, and gets introduced to weirdness from the start when he meets Jonathan.

"No, no problems. They just dropped me off a little while ago," a dark-haired young man is saying into a cell phone as he steps out of Rider Hall, "Nope, I haven't seen him yet, Mom. It's cool. I didn't need a welcoming committee." Adrian Young, fifteen, rising Sophomore, and for the first time in his life feeling a little like a fish out of water. He lifts his free hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight and get his first real good look around this place. The Student Center looks like a good place to start exploring. "I'll tell him when I see him. Uh huh." There's a pause and the young man makes a face, cutting his eyes at the phone. "Yeah, I just checked it an hour ago. I'll be fine Mom. I got this covered. I'll call you later… you too. Bye."

Squaring his shoulders, Adrian makes his way through the doors of the Student Center. The driver that had dropped him off - a recently graduated senior - had given him a very short verbal tour of the place, noting that Adrian would get a proper orientation later so there was no sense in having to hear it all twice. Fine by Adrian. He'd just as soon get a feel for how things ran on his own.

Summer time at Steranko is a bit quieter than during the school year. Not everyone goes away for vacation, but many do. One who hasn't, currently, is sitting at a table near the snack bar. She's got a pizza on the table, even at this time of the morning, about a third of the way gone, a large soda, and is leaning back in a chair with her feet propped up in another. Her tail is slipped through a hole in the back of her chair, the tip lightly twitching in time to the music of an arcade game further back. She turns a page in the book she's reading, balances it against her thighs, and then grabs another slice of the pizza.

Adrian bypasses the map and bookstore, having spotted the snack bar and arcade almost immediately. The map, he didn't need to look at to find direction for his aimless wandering. And the bookstore was to be saved for later, when he actually knew what books or supplies he was going to need. But a soda and a video game were appealing. Making his way up to the counter, Adrian can't help but pause to stare briefly at the cat girl. For someone from Cleveland, he handles the shock of his first face-to-face with an obvious neohuman well. He only stares for that brief second and then realizes that he's gawking and recovers with a wry smile and looks back at the server behind the counter. "Uh, Diet Soda, please," he says, waiting for the drink.

Jonathan works her way through her slice of pizza, occasionally opening her mouth wide enough that her sharp little fangs are visible. She gets down to the crust, then wipes grease from her fingertips with a couple napkins before turning the next page her in book. Now she starts gnawing on the crust. She doesn't seem to notice the boy's arrival, or see his staring, but she does hear him place his order, and glances over. Thinking that it's Linus, she nods politely in greeting. "Morning," she offers.

Adrian gets his soda and hears the greeting from the unusual-looking young woman. "When in Rome," he murmurs softly to himself, then taking a sip of his soda starts making his way towards her. After all - a friendly greeting is like an invitation! And seeing as Adrian doesn't know anyone here outside of his brother, he's all for getting immersed in the social life around here as soon as possible. "Morning," he returns, pulling out a chair next to her. "Whatcha readin'?" he asks, taking a sip of the soft drink. He doesn't introduce himself yet, gotta break the ice first and all that. "Mind a little company?"

The tigress tilts her head a bit at the 'When in Rome' comment, but doesn't say anything to it. She gestures to the chair, indicating he's welcome to take a seat. "As he speaks some more, though, she looks a bit puzzled, head tilting back the other way in query. "Hm? Oh, just a book on knights," she says, holding her place with a thumb while turning it to show the cover, a modern depiction of a knight, rendered in a style similar to Ye Olde Tymes. "And, uhm, You Linus?" she asks. "Something happen to you?"

Adrian twists the chair around, once his company is accepted and stradles it backwards, resting his arms over the back of the chair instead of the table. Who gave Linusthe self-confidence pills this morning? "Knights. Cool," he says, giving the book an interested look. The question directed his way, however, has Adrian smiling around his drink straw. "Nope. I'm his evil twin," Adrian says candidly. He's amused by it, though has no idea just what Linus has been saying about him around here. The young man holds out his hand, another obvious sign that he's not his brother, no fear of neohuman contact here. "Adrian."

Jonathan nods. "Kind of a history buff," she says about the book. She's got just a touch of a drawl to her voice. At the evil twin comment, Jon studies him for a long moment, trying to figure out if he's guessing or not. "Shouldn't you have a goatee?" she asks after that consideration. She reaches out to take the hand in a friendly grip, the fur on her hand soft. "Jonathan," she introduces herself. There's a puzzled look on her face, and then suddenly the soft fur on her hand is no longer there. Where once there was a tigress, now there's a rather taller boy sitting in her place, no fur, no tail, clothes fitting him somewhat better, except for the sandals. "Wha…what?" he says, eyes wide. "Did you…" And then a look of discomfort bordering on pain. "Ow, ow." He takes his hand back and sets the book on the table to reach down and undo the straps of his sandals.

So much for having a handle on the not staring thing. When the tigress that Adrian was just shaking hands with is suddenly a boy, Adrian pulls his hand back with a blink. "Woah. Gender bender mind warp," he says, eyes widening. He puts his soda down and just shakes his head, clueless that HE is actually the reason for the sudden discomfort of women's sandles on a boy's feet. "That was, uh… a neat trick," he remarks, "Glad that I didn't go all chivalrous and kiss your hand though. That would've made this awkward." He adds, taking a sip of the soda.

Adrian is stradelling a chair, arms over the back of it where he is sharing the shocked Jonathan's table. The pair are near the snack bar.

The straps get undone and the sandals fall away, imprints of the straps left on the ankles and feet. "That wasn't a trick! I mean, not a trick of mine. I haven't been able to change back." Jon stands up slowly, looking ill at home in his body. He bounces on his feet a bit, grinning crookedly. "Oh wow. Oh wow, that feels so good. Uhm, yeah, kissing my hand, that would've been…" He shakes his head. "Uhm, okay, long story, short form, I'd gotten cursed, see. Turned into that tiger girl. This is what I'm -supposed- to be." He slides his hands over his mercifully flat chest and down his sides. "I'd forgotten what this was like…" He then grins a little bit. "Hang on, be right back." He then heads towards the restrooms, gleefully stepping into the -boy's- restroom.

Enter: Linus. He's at the snackbar, getting a slice of pizza. He takes the usual precautions, as well. Making sure he's not too close to the guy in front of him. Not too close to the guy behind him, careful to make contact with nobody. NOBODY. Not even the lunchroom staff. You never know in a place like this. You just never know. He slides his mealcard onto the counter. He won't even hand the card to the cashier. They have to pick it up themselves.

Adrian is calm about it all. Outwardly. After all, he was expecting this place to be, well, strange. His diet soda is picked up again and after a few swigs of it, he's collected himself enough to respond. "So, you've been a dude trapped in a girl's body. Maybe the curse is broken?" he says, ever the optimist and ever so unaware. The young man actually snickers at the reaction of the other boy to his, well renewed boyhood. "Hope it all comes out okay," he says, lifting the soda as his unusual tablemate heads to the boy's bathroom. Just in time for Linus to be exiting the snackbar line. Adrian isn't hard to miss, the table he's at well within view. But he's facing the other direction. And cue the phone ringing - a chipper techno beat - and he pulls it out of his pocket. "Hewwo, yew have reached Tops China, would yew like to place a to go order," he says into the receiver with a fairly bad Chinese accent.

After a few moments, a smugly satisfied Jon returns to the table. "I just peed standing up," he feels compelled to share as he resumes his seat. "Don't ever take that for granted." He lifts his soda to take a sip, belatedly thinking to not say anything further while Adrian is on the phone. He spots Linus getting something to eat, and if he looks their way, will offer a wave of greeting.

Linus walks towards the tables and then spots HIM. He grips his plate so tightly he nearly drops it. Eyes dart left. And then right. And then left again. It's like he's looking for the cameras. When Jonathan waves to him, Linus just sighs and heads over. "Heeey. Adr'." If Linus sounded less enthusiastic, he'd sound dead. He looks at his pizza, not the table. "I heard you were coming in, but not so… soon." Stare at the pepperonis, Linus. NOT your brother. To Jonathan, he just nods sheepishly. Clearly he doesn'g recognize Jonathan without boobs.

Adrian laughs. Not at his phonecall, but at Jonathan and the fact that that sounds just like something Hunter would say… well, if Hunter had been stuck in a girl's body and… anyway! "I won't." Of course, post laughter at the joyous news, Adrian is rolling his eyes at the phone. "Hi, again Mom. Nope. Still fine. Nothing's exploded or caught on fire yet," he remarks. "Still haven't seen hi—you know what, speak of the devil! Hey big brother." Big brother. Irony. Because side-by-side Adrian is actually the physically larger of the two. And Linus is only a few minutes older. Adrian thrusts the phone in front of Linus's pizza-staring face. "Mom wants to talk to you." Hah!

Jonathan grins at Linus, picking up on the lack of recognition, and knowing the reason for it. "Jonathan," he introduces himself. As a boy, he's quite a bit taller, with blond hair instead of red. Leanly built. Still got the same accent, though. "Something happened to change me back, but dunno what exactly." He doesn't get deeper into it, just yet. Not while the phone's getting passed around.

Linus' eyes widen at said Phone. "No, I… not right now. Tell her I can't, you know. Talk. Really." Against what is clearly his better judgement, Linus sits down at the table, making damned sure not to come into contact with anyone. Even Adrian, whom, by now, he should know is supposedly safe. At any rate, clearly Linus ins't taking that call. He turns towards Jonathan, "Jonathan who?" He doesn't get it, clearly.

Adrian shrugs as Linus declines the phonecall and puts the phone back to his own ear, "He can't talk right now. He cloned a mute. Sure, Mom, I'll tell him to call you when he gets the chance." Slapping the phone shut, the boy tucks it back into his pocket and turns a full-on grin at his twin. Without warning, Adrian balls up a fist and attempts to slug Linus in the arm, "Isn't this great? They said I've got powers too."

"Jonathan Stevens?" Jon repeats. They did meet, after all. Though, maybe… "Uhm, you might remember me with fur. And tail. And boobs," he adds, miming hefting an imaginary pair of them. Oh so nice that they're only imaginary. So nice to not have those moving around there… He looks thoughtful. "Powers? They say anything about what kinda powers?" he asks. Pieces are starting to line up in his head. They haven't yet clicked into place, but are very close to doing so.

Getting out of the way of Adrian's fist is actually more a function of his newfound paranoia than anything else. Afterall… the guy has powers. He cringes away from him, "God. Yeah. Yeah, it's awesome, Adj. It's better than cable." He glances at Jonathan, "Wait. You mean that… cat… person?" Impossible. He stares at Jonathan, "No. That can't… really? Holy shit." His eyes widen a little, and then he exales. "OK. You know, it's a lot like 4chan in here sometimes. What -do- you do, Adrian? Mom didn't say. She was too busy talking about us sharing a bunk bed or something. I think she actually got sad when I told her we have singles."

"What was it like to, you know, have…?" Adrian makes a gesture as if hefting his own pair of imaginary boobs, "Had to be weird." Without missing a beat, Adrian casually reaches over and picks up Linus's pizza, taking a bite out of it, and puts it back on his brother's plate. It's fairly apparent that he's used to just doing things like that, though the avoidance of physical contact from Linus just gets an eyeroll. "Dude, nothing's ever happened when I touched you before. Quit being so paranoid," he says as a segueway to the question of powers, "Don't know. They didn't say." He laughs, washing down the bite of pizza with his soda, "Yeah, she did seem disappointed. Best news I got concerning this place was that I didn't have to share a room though. When they told me I was coming, my dreams of having a room all to myself were briefly shattered and then miraculously restored."

"That's me," Jon confirms for Linus. "Or was me, anyway. Heh, should I go back to /b/?" he asks. "Or is that a reference to, wazzit, Rule 34? The one about gender bending?" He nods to Adrian. "-Very- weird. They…they move a lot. Really damned distracting. Especially if you try to do anything like running or something." He drums his fingers on the table for a moment, thinking back over the last several minutes. "Okay, Linus, you copy powers when you touch someone, right?" he asks, then looks at Adrian. "I think I'm starting to guess what your power is."

Linus shifts his eyes a bit to either side when Jonathan starts talking about Rule 34. It's unlikely there's a question over his newfound discomfort over this revelation. Though he does manage to ask, "How did you ever leave your room?" in a lower voice. To Adrian, he shakes his head, "Well I don't know. If you do something and I… you know, I shot up about 2000 feet into the air the other day because someone touched me." He exhales, smiling weakly, "I'm not taking any, you know. Chances out here." He peers back at Jonathan, "Yeah. I… wait." He turns towards Adrian and touches his arm, completely against everything he just said. There's a certain possessed look to him. Like he just has to do it.

"Yeah? What do you think they— Oh shoot! Is that really what time it is? I was supposed to be at my orientation meeting ten minutes ago." Hastily Adrian jumps up, finishing off his soda. "I gotta get back to Rider Hall—" he just stares at Linus as he's grabbed and then playfully swats his brother in the back of the head. "You're so weird sometimes. See you later." And then, Adrian turns to walk out of the Student Center, calling over his shoulder, "Nice to meet you Jonathan. See you around!"

Jon's already gathering her—no, his thoughts to answer Adrian's question when the other boy jumps up. "Catch you later," he says to Adrian. As Adrian leaves the area, Jon feels a little uneasy, an uncomfortable sensation in the gut, and then his powers return, along with their drawback, as he shrinks some, though grows in select places. "Aww, hell," she says, glancing down at herself, reaching up and poking at a breast lightly. "Yeah, that's what I Thought, though. Looks like you copy neohuman stuff, he shuts 'em down."

Linus blinks, "I… yeah, okay. Okay. Sure." Linus is without words. He raises an eyebrow. "Rider hall. That's…" He exhales. "Sure. See you later." As Adrian leaves and Jon suddenly turns back into a girl, Linus just peers at her. "Okay. I mean it. How do you ever leave your room?"

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License