3/23 Instance: Shafted

[Slarti]

Current timeline.

Bobby: Bobby tilted his head sideways to read the titles on the DVD spines. "Ok, kiddo, so, what do you want to see next? Little Mermaid has fish in it too, so that might be right up your alley." He sat back on his heels, looking over his shoulder at Lorna and their little charge.

Lorna: "That's a good one." Lorna agreed, putting The Brave Little Toaster back in its case and sitting it down beside her.

Leech: Leech hunched his shoulders over his stuffed turtle, making sure his Buzz Lightyear stayed sitting on it's back. "Leech likes pretty girls." He crossed his legs up under him and made the turtle 'swim' up onto the old couch.

Bobby: "Don't we all." He gave Lorna a wink and hooked the case with a finger, catching it with a flourish and opening it up to pop the disc into the player. "All, right, so unda da sea we go."

Lorna: Lorna looked up from watching the Leech playing with the turtle and smirked over at Bobby and his wink. "I didn't think you thought about Ariel that way. Should I worry if we get a mermaid mutant?"

Leech: Leech looked over at Lorna with a slightly hurt expression. "Leech is here... Ugly-Man can have mermaid."

Lorna: Lorna tsked at the 'ugly-man' bit and just shook her head. "I don't think I have to worry about him and mermaids. They would smell like fish."

Leech: "Sewers smell better than fish," Leech nodded then frowned, "sometimes..." he added.

Bobby: Bobby just smirked at the whole exchange and moved to the sofa with Lorna. He replaced the brave toaster with himself and added the DVD to the short stack from their room on the beaten-up coffee table. "You know, that'd be pretty sweet to be half fish, I think."

Lorna: "Really now?" Lorna chuckled, leaning against him. "So, do I have a Halloween costume for this year I should be figuring out a way to walk in?"

Bobby: "Maaaaybe." The corner of Bobby's lip curled in a speculative look as he gave her legs the once-over. Then he grinned. "But seriously! I mean, to be able to breathe water and everything? Namor might be Waffle House-tastic, but he's got cool powers." He picked up the remote. "You're right about the smell though."

Leech: "Waffle House?" Leech looked up, confused. "You can make houses out of them? Jono was right. Mundies weird."

Bobby: Bobby lowered the remote slightly to look at Leech. "Make waffles out of... mutants? Oh! Houses?" He cocked his head. "That'd be a no to both. Though, we should so make you a gingerbread house next Christmas."

Leech: "Houses out of waffles... Ugly just said waffle house... Waffles should be eaten." He frowned harder. "Ginger...bread...house?"

Lorna: "It's more like a house where you can get waffles instead of a house made of waffles," Lorna grinned. "But yeah, we're definitely making a gingerbread house, with little gingerbread men to go along with them."

Leech: "Leech is confused." He huffed and went back to his toys, adjusting Buzz's laser arm to point at Bobby, shooting it while he pretended to watch the title menu. "Hit play!"

Bobby: Bobby clapped a hand over his heart, making a dramatic gurgling sound. "I would, dude, but you got my ugly a...ah...butt." He hammed for a moment longer before he hit the button, and the music blared to life.

Lorna: "Noooo!" Lorna cried mock dramatically before laughing, flopping an arm around Bobby. "Right, movie time!"

Leech: Leech frowned harder at Lorna's reaction to Bobby's 'death'. He grumbled under his breath but turned back to the movie anyway. Her tail was green at least..."Why do they all sing?"

Bobby: Bobby moved in closer to Lorna, working his arm behind her and leaning his head against hers. "Because it's in the script?" He realized that was hardly a good answer. "Because everybody likes singing. It's fun."

Lorna: "It's fun to sing the songs later too. You'll see." She smiled, reaching up to ruffle Leech's hair before settling back to watch.

Leech: Leech had to smile at the ruffling of the hair. She touched him! He put Crush on the floor and lay down, using him as a pillow and curling up around the Buzz figure. "Sometimes it hurts Leech's ears."

Bobby: "Well, depending on who's singing it hurts everybody's ears." Bobby chuckled, reaching for a bag of Doritos and offering them to Lorna. "But some songbirds you wanna hear." He gave her a sly grin. "You should ask Lorna to sing for you sometime, Leech."

Leech: "For...me?" He sat up and looked at Lorna with big eyes. "Polaris would sing to Leech?"

Lorna: Ah, Doritos. Lorna took them gladly, offering some to Leech as well. "Sure would. We'll watch the movie and you can ask me to sing a song from it with you. How does that sound?"

Leech: Leech blushed a tiny bit and he was glad he was green already so it didn't show much. He took a handful of chips and shoved them in his mouth. "Lee-ca-sin," he shook his head. "Nn-nn."

Bobby: "That makes two of us then." Bobby laughed, glancing at the mermaid on the screen. That shell bra was impressive for a kids' movie.

Lorna: "Well, you can request a song anyway." Lorna smiled, deciding that she needed some more Doritos and glanced over to Bobby, noticing he seemed a little bit distracted.

Leech: Leech bounced a little and climbed on the couch next to Lorna with a smile. "Sing what she sings," he pointed at the movie. "Leech thinks Polaris is better."

Lorna: Anytime she needed an ego boost, Lorna was going to go see Leech. "Okay then, will do."

Bobby: "Of course she's better." He rolled his head back to look at her. "And she even looks better in shells." Bobby ramped up his innocent grin.

Leech: Leech tilted his head, confused, then looked back at the movie and his eyes went wide. "Ohh..." He blushed again, but couldn't help the teeny grin.

Lorna: Giving Bobby a nudge, Lorna couldn't help but give him a smirk as well. Yep, Halloween costume was definitely decided really early this year.

Leech: Leech watched Lorna nudge Bobby and he gave a sigh, scooting back to the floor and curling up to watch the movie.

Bobby: Bobby watched Leech retreat to the floor and jerked his chin at him, looking at Lorna meaningfully. That kid had a bad case of puppy love. 'D'awww,' he mouthed, wrinkling his nose.

Lorna: Lorna nudged again, giving Bobby a half glare for making her want to laugh. 'Be nice now.' she mouthed back.

Bobby: Bobby made a slight noise of protest, covering it with a laugh at the singing crab. 'I am!' Telepathy would be real damn handy about now.

Leech: Leech sent a glare up to them at Bobby's laugh then went back to the movie. There needed to be more green fish...

Lorna: Lorna just shook her head lightly, smirking a bit as she again turned her attention to Ariel bemoaning her lack of legs.

Bobby: Bobby bravely fought the smirk trying to find its way onto his face. The music turned a little darker and he looked back at the screen. Oh, look, the old squid lady. "Now her? Her you don't want singing for you. Even if you want legs."

Leech: "Leech has legs. Why would Leech want something Leech has?"

Lorna: "Well, if you ever see an octopus woman singing at you just make it a point not to ask her for anything."

Leech: "She could help me rebuild the sewers and find more family... She is like Leech."

Bobby: Bobby sat up a little at that. "She's not a mutant, Leech. Sorry." It was moments like this he remembered why the kid was really at the school. "And besides, she's evil. You don't wanna ask evil people for things, because it never turns out how you want."

Lorna: "Yeah, not a good person to ask for anything." Lorna patted Leech's shoulder but wanted to make a face, thinking that this was a terribly fitting conversation.

Leech: "But... Leech needs to find more family," he frowned at them. "Jono would want Leech to keep the Fringelocks going. It's important, he said. It's good for us to have a place to go."

Lorna: "You have a place here. Don't think it'll work?"

Bobby: "This is a nice place, yeah? There're mutants already here." He exchanged a glance with Lorna.

Leech: "No," he sat up, a bit defiant for an eight-year-old. "Leech has a job to do. Leech needs to help others like him."

Lorna: "And that's what this place does, Leech. Except we're not hung up on what people look like." She gave him a smile, looking back to the movie again.

Leech: He frowned harder, his back ramrod straight now. "Leech doesn't like it here. Leech wants to go home."

Bobby: "Leech, your home isn't there anymore. That's why we're trying to make you happy here in a new home. You don't have to eat mold and you have Disney movies." He ran a hand through his hair. "And Lorna's here. You like her."

Leech: "Leech would play with the mold... It was fun to poke." His shoulders fell a touch and he took a deep breath. "Leech misses his family. Jono would not like Leech living here."

Lorna: "Of course you miss your family." Lorna rubbed his back. "But don't let that keep you from liking the place you are either."

Leech: "But Jono would be disappointed and angry with Leech if he knew where Leech is now..." He looked up at Lorna with big eyes. "Leech has to go back some time."

Bobby: "Surely Jono would want what's best for you, and right now... that's us, buddy." The big yellow eyes were pathetic, but if he wanted to poke mold he was sure they could just get some out of McCoy's lab. It might even talk.

Lorna: "Yeah, you don't have to worry about what he would think about it right now. If he would be disappointed and angry then he wouldn't really have been thinking about what is best right now."

Bobby: Well, most likely Jono would be mad the kid wasn't sucking mold in the sewer, but that's because he was a crazy bastard. Bobby decided a few more chips would help him to not share that opinion.

Leech: Leech sighed and turned back around to the movie, hugging his stuffed turtle and his action figure to him as he pulled up his knees. "Leech will try to not be so sad. Leech is sorry."

Lorna: "You can be sad all you want, just try to be happy here too without worrying what he would think." She ruffled his hair again, giving him a better smile.

Leech: "He would want me to keep the Fringelocks going. Leech should be the new leader." He frowned, pursing his lips and wrinkling his nose. "Leech doesn't want to."

Bobby: "You know, there are lots of things you can do to make a difference for people like us right here." In about 10 years. "There're lots of ways to be a leader for mutants. But right now I wouldn't worry about it."

Lorna: "Yep, Bobby's got it." Lorna hoped he did anyway. It was good to keep some optimism going after all. Especially with current company.

Leech: Leech turned his head to look up at Bobby, "People like Leech, you mean. You are a mundie. Leech isn't."

Leech: He shifted around to look at Lorna then, "Polaris is like Leech..."

Bobby: "Sorry, but I've got the same x-gene you do, kiddo."

Lorna: "We're all in the same boat, no matter what we look like."

Leech: "That's not what Jono said."

Lorna: "Well, that's what I say."

Leech: Lorna got a harsh scowl at that, at least harsh by eight-year-old standards.

Bobby: A smart-ass comment probably wouldn't help, would it? Bobby shifted on the sofa and made a mental note to Google 'brainwashing.'

Lorna: "But you can work that out for yourself. Doesn't matter what either of us said."

Leech: "Leech wants ..." he paused for a minute and frowned, forgetting what it was called. "Yummy stuff people eat with movies... Yellow like Leech's eyes."

Bobby: What was yellow? Popcorn was only yellow if a puppy got to it first. Or Kyle. "Some of those Skittles match your peepers pretty well. And there's green ones too." He sat up and opened the bag on the coffee table.

Leech: "What's skittles?" Leech peered at the bag and reached in for a couple, coming out with a green and yellow. His face lit up, "Look! Like Leech!"

Lorna: "Yep, like you. Eat up, they're really good." Lorna stole one of the green ones herself.

Bobby: Bobby picked out a green one himself. "Why don't they make blue ones? Blue got the shaft. Very not fair. Blue's a good color too." He demonstrated by turning on his own puppy dog eyes.

Leech: "Shaft?" Leech tilted his head and took a teeny bite from the yellow one. "What's shaft?"

Bobby: "It means they just ignored it." Sort of. "We'll have to teach you some slang, buddy." He gestured at the gaming table to the side of the lair. "Get you some slang, some board games, fit in some Wii... you'll have a good time."

Lorna: Oh good save. Lorna fought the impulse to snort at Bobby's definition. They were going to have to be careful just what slang they taught him. They taught Johnny ass pretty quickly though.

Leech: "So... Leech got the shaft too a lot. Yes?" He finished the yellow and ate the green in one bite. "We? Isn't that what this is? 'We' time?"

Bobby: Bobby nearly inhaled his skittle. "Not anymore, kiddo. And yep, this is ‘we’ time, but there's a game called that too. We can play it the next time we have ‘we’ time. That cool?" Bobby nodded at the television. "Besides, we got Ariel right now."

Leech: Leech tried to stop from grinning as he felt another blush creep up. She was pretty for a cartoon... And that green tail... He laid down on his stomach on the floor, propped up on his elbows to watch.


[Edited on 24-3-2009 by Slarti]

[Elfdame]

I haven't had time to keep up with all the doin's ... do remember li'l Leech from the Instances in the sewers ... is he a NPC, or just doesn't have a bio yet? He's too cute for words, slang or otherwise.

[fourpawsonthefloor]

NPC

And yes, very cool instance you three!

[Esynthia]

I haven't had time to keep up with all the doin's ... do remember li'l Leech from the Instances in the sewers ... is he a NPC, or just doesn't have a bio yet? He's too cute for words, slang or otherwise.

Yup, as paws said, he's an NPC. and thanks! it's fun to play an 8 yr old kid. LOL

[Elfdame]

I shoulda KNOWN it was someone whose other characters I loved! Well done!

[Esynthia]

LOL! Thanks!