07/15 Instance: Frisky, Friendly Otters and Other Such Thing

[steyn]

timeline: after Bringing Ben Back

rachel: Rachel muttered curses under her breath as she tried to focus on disabling the security system before time ran out. She was starting to really wish she'd just run a combat simulation just so she'd have been able to kick people in the face, but she hadn't practiced in how long? Not that it could be considered training since she wasn't in her uniform. She shook the hair out of her face while she tried to make a quick decision on which wire to cut, slightly wishing she'd pulled it back before she'd started.

Ben: Ben twirled as he walked down the long metal hallway to the DR, snapping his fingers and singing. "Cuz your kisses lift me higher! Like a sweet song of a choir, you light my morning sky, Burning Love!"

Ben: As he got to the large door he acknowledged the large blinking red light as he had when he met Eve. He could wait. She was, so going to be the first person to know.

rachel: She whirled around as her time ran out and slammed her fist into wall while the scene around her disappeared. Still cursing, Rachel slumped to the floor, holding her fist for a moment. She took a deep breath and hesitantly flexed it, which really hurt, but it wasn't broken.

Ben: The light went green and Ben flung open the door. "Rachelllll!" he hollered into the large gaping room.

rachel: She looked up at Ben through her bangs, taking another deep breath before she spoke. "What?" she tried to contain the amount irritation in her tone as she pushed herself off the ground and made her way over to the control to search for another program.

Ben: Ben pointed to her. "Guess!" He offered. "Guess, 'cuz you can't, but you should, 'cuz it's awesome!" He was clearly ecstatic. "Hold off on the programs for just one minute, hell I'll even train with you if you guess right."

rachel: Pausing in her search, Rachel glanced back at him and let out a sigh, "I don't need you to train with me and just tell me." Okay, so she'd told Josh that she was fine. Really...she wished she would've decked his brother when she had the chance. She really still shouldn't be pissed about the whole thing, but Josh was still upset...

Ben: Ben threw up his hands. "Sometimes, you are no fun!" He smirked as he continued. "Okay...so you know Rogue's roomie? The Freshman?"

rachel: "It's part of being the emo kid," she rolled her eyes, "And yeah, Neena."

Ben: "Dude! Her and me were like kicking back on my web out there?" He pointed to a random wall, not really sure if that's what side of the mansion he spun his web or not. "You know, that web that I bounce on?"

rachel: "Get to the fucking point, Ben," she snapped and chewed on her lip, feeling slightly bad. Not Ben's fault... "...Sorry. Just in a bad mood." Rachel moved to lean back against the wall, facing him, so it at least looked like she was listening, "So, what happened with your icky webs and Rogue's roomie."

Ben: Ben cringed at Rachel's snap. "It's okay, I'm sorry, here's the point." He took a deep breath. "Wewereticklingthenshefelloverandweendedupkissingandohmygoshitwasawesome!"

rachel: "Ben. If you don't slow down, I might scream..."

Ben: Ben flashed a grin. Then in an obnoxiously slow voice he said "Iiiiii kiiiissssed heeerrrrr...." Then he pretended that his facial expressions were also in slow motion, wiggling his eyebrows about and pretending to be falling.

rachel: "...Or I might punch you in the face, so you won't be kissing anyone for a while. Well, if I could hit you..." she added as an afterthought, turning back to the programs. "And, good for you, by the way."

Ben: Ben frowned. "My only problem is, I don't know how to square it with Nate. We were like... sort of over. I mean I left, that was that. It sucked, but like... I don't know I came back different you know? I keep going through in my head what the hell I was thinking when I decided to up and go to friggin Japan, and just change!"

rachel: "I don't really know what to tell you..." Rachel ended up just choosing the damn wall that Remy had made them climb when they first started training with him and started the program. Eyeing the brick wall, she pulled her gloves out of her pocket and yanked them on.

Ben: Ben looked at the wall and then back to Rachel. "For serious?" He jumped on it and stuck to it. "You could get some laser cannons or something going too man, jeez, make it a challenge!" He turned to her and remained clinging to the wall.

Ben: "And by the way, I feel awful about Rogue still... Did I mess up? Was I like the lovable drunk and now I'm just Captain Sassypants of the U.S.S. Sass?"

rachel: "Not everyone can stick to the wall," she rolled her eyes again as she gained a decent hold and started making her way up the wall. "I'll take the latter over loveable drunk. And no, you didn't. Sometimes, you have to do things for yourself if you think it'll help. If Rogue can't deal with that, then it's her own damn problem."

Ben: "Computer?" Ben chirped. "Could we get some water, possibly some crocodiles?" There was some beeping and burping, similar to R2-D2, and suddenly the floor became a swamp and the brick wall randomly in the middle of it.

Ben: Crocodiles from the shore saw Rachel struggling and began to swim over, slowly and methodically. Ben grinned and sat atop the wall. "Don't be sad emo kid, crocodiles like you!"
rachel: "You goddamn motherfucking asshole. Fuck you," Rachel snarled, flipping him off as she pulled herself higher with her other arm. "If I fucking die, I'm going to kick you ass from beyond the fucking grave."

Ben: Ben cackled. "I'm not gonna let 'em get you!" Ben saw one reach up for her. He flicked his wrist and hit it right in the eye. The reptile gurgled and pulled itself back down below the surface as the other roamed around the wall in a circle. "Though that doesn't mean you should take your time."

rachel: "If I fucking wanted to hurry, I would've fucking asked Remy to fucking be here." She resisted the urge to use her teke to shove Ben off the top of the wall and into the pit of hungry animals. "I'm not in the fucking mood for this shit, Ben."

Ben: Ben frowned. "Computer, can we get some fiercely friendly otters instead?" As one large croc reached up to take a chomp to Rachel's foot it turned into a playful otter which slapped against the wall and chittered as it swam away.

rachel: Rachel bit down hard on her lip, part of her hoping it'd bleed. She continued to make her way up the wall with a scowl. At least falling into water wouldn't hurt as much as the ground...or she was pretty sure it wouldn't.

Ben: Ben smiled at her and shrugged. "So what's wrong, because clearly something is."

rachel: "Nothing. Just in a shitty mood."

Ben: "Tell." Ben said as she struggled up the wall. "Because it's clearly bugging you, and that's my job."

rachel: She paused, glancing down and guessing that she was about halfway before resuming her climbing. Maybe she could just do this until she passed out. "Josh and I went out for our anniversary."

Ben: "That would upset you?" Ben asked. "Ooorr did something go wrong?"

rachel: "No, it was really nice," she frowned and just quickly climbed the rest of the way as carefully as she could. Rachel pulled herself up to sit next to him, staring down at the ground. "Josh had roses and everything...well, not real ones, but whatever. We went to Broadway and went out to eat. Kinda went out to eat..." She pulled a glove off, picking at one of the fingertips, "Met Josh's brother..."

Ben: "Oh..." Ben felt like he was supposed to know more about Josh's brother than he did. "...You guys exchange hellos?"

rachel: "Sadly," she muttered, bitterly. "He's a fucking bastard. Should've punched him in the damn face."

Ben: There it is, Ben thought, that I should've probably known. "So why didn't you?"

rachel: "Josh would've gotten to it before I could, and I didn't really want to get kicked out before I got my food...even though I never got it anyway. Settled for being a bitch instead."

Ben: Ben smiled at her. "Violence wouldn't solve a dispute between brothers anyways I'd think."

rachel: Rachel just shrugged, "Not so much that I would've minded meeting Justin. ...He was just purposely messing with Josh about his family and his brother and stuff. He also hates mutants. Josh is still upset, which
puts me in a foul mood." She inspected her hand, not too worried about her knuckles since she'd just climbed the wall and mentally kicking herself for bringing up Josh's family, other than Justin.

Ben: Ben shrugged. "What's wrong with Josh's family? I mean I know some of us here had difficulties at home when their abilities manifested, but I didn't think he was one of 'em. Never said anything about it atleast."

rachel: "Fuck," she mumbled and sighed. "I...I dunno. It's hard to explain without telling you things that Josh should be the one to explain..." Glancing up at him for a quick second, she ran her fingers through her hair, "There's a lot of...issues...that Josh blames himself for, and Justin provokes him from what I saw, and that makes everything worse. We don't really talk about his parents..."

rachel: Rachel gnawed on her lip, still irritated. "It's just really hard because I can't really do anything to help..."

Ben: "Sure you can," Ben said. "You can be there for him, that's a good place to start." Ben was tempted to jump off the wall and get Josh in here himself so he could calm him down. "Why do we not speak about his parents again?"

rachel: "Well, I know that and I am. It helps a little, but still...doesn't fix anything...not that I expect it to." Rachel let out another sigh, starting to remember why she hated talking about things like this. Though, talking about Josh was easier than talking about herself. Kinda. Except that she knew more about him and most of it she couldn't tell anyone.

rachel: "We just don't. Family is kinda a sore subject for both of us, so we just don't talk about it."

Ben: "You know what's cool?" Ben asked. "No matter how hard our lives are at home, we can still come back to this place and consider it family. Even after all my fights and arguments, drunken rampages, and sexual deviations, I still feel as attached to you fools as I do my mom and aunt."

Ben: "As long as he always has this place to come back to, and as long as we're always here to take him back, even if 'here' becomes wherever our lives take us after this school, Josh and you will do just fine. Even with the crappy family situations."

rachel: She raised an eyebrow, looking up at Ben to give a faint smirk, "You make it seem like I'm going to be stuck with Josh for the rest of my life." Not that it would be a horrible thing. Not like any other guy was going to put up with her. "Still not exactly happy, by the way. Figured I should warn you before you try to feed me to the otters or something."

Ben: Ben smiled. "What the feisty friendly ones?" Ben made kissy sounds and called to them. "Otters! Oh otters! Come eat some Rachel!" They came over to the wall chittering and squeaking. "Awful cute aren't they?"

rachel: "Pffft, not really. They probably just want to eat my fingers or something, and they're slimy. Call them off, so I can climb back down. Well, part of the way. Plan on dropping the rest of the way."

Ben: Ben shrugged. He pushed Rachel hard in the back and off the wall. As she screamed her way down he shot some web at her back and caught her, holding her up. "Computer, could you please make the water and the otters go away please?" They did. "Thank you."

rachel: "Bastard!" Rachel screamed, cringing at the high pitch of her voice, "I hate heights, so you shove me off a wall? Thanks."

Ben: Ben laughed. "Face your fears right?" He lowered her down until her feet gently touched the wall. "Besides, you threw me into one, so I get to push you off one." He said to her winking. Leaping down he decided to go easy on her for the rest of the time.

Ben: "Other than that though your anniversary was good right? Because although anti-anykinds-of-people piss me off, I wouldn't let it spoil my anniversary."

rachel: "I've been working on that. I climbed the damn thing, didn't I? ...Though, not for the first time and definitely not as fast as I could." She sighed and called out for the computer to end the program. "Other than that, it was perfect," she nodded. "Anyway, you know how to pick locks? If not, wanna learn?"

Ben: Ben laughed. "Sure, why not. Though I'm pretty sure if I ever come across a door that's locked, I can just kick it open."

Ben: He pointed to his head. "If it's dangerous, I'll know." He said winking.

rachel: Rachel rolled her eyes, "Hopefully, you won't be on infiltration then since we have this whole thing about being sneaky. Busting doors in doesn't accomplish that, last I checked."

Ben: "Knowing the powers that be though, I'll be thrown on it as a way of making me 'pace myself' and what not. If anything my Spider-Sense is an asset to you guys!" He threw up his hands in mild frustration and then sighed. "Let's get this going."

[Edited on 16/7/2008 by steyn]

[Esynthia]

Rogue's gonna work with Rachel on her flying. so she could have flown up to knock Ben off the wall even after he had the web on her. ><