5/30 Instance: Small World

[Starfish]

Timeline: After "Fermented Grape Escape".


Santo: "Get-the-door-getthedoorgetthedoor, somethin's slippin." There was a rather orchestral crash in front of the school's front doors where Santo, wearing ripped shorts, a hawaiian shirt and a straw hat, stood waiting for Melati. The crashing was the jamaican metal drums that rolled down the steps.

Melati: "Oi! My drums!" Melati watched helplessly as they tumbled down the stairs, making a massive ruckus. "Don't step on them. I'd help you, but I've got my hands full." Sitting astride on Santo's shoulders, she carried her cocktail in one hand, and the beach umbrella in the other.

Santo: "....urgh." he just groaned, slowly making his way back down the stairs, and steadily picked the drums up, waddling his way back up to the doors. "Did you have to get the alligator suitcases as well? Isn't that like pseudo cannibalism or somethin'?" he referred to the several suitcases he was balancing with his other arm. "You don' even wear that much clothin'. Why they so heavy?"

Melati: "Hey, be glad I stuffed the cutlery from the boat in there," Melati replied, swaying on top of the moving mountain while her tail worked by itself to keep the lizard girl balanced on Santo's shoulders. "Or would you rather have lugged around all the shinies piece by piece?"

Santo: "So this is the place?" he asked as he managed to open the doors with his foot. "Their front doors look like they might be broken." he added as one of the doors were hanging a bit skew on its hinges after he opened them. "Ain't like any school I've been to before."

Melati: "That's because it ain't like any other school anywhere." Melati uncurled her limbs from Santo's neck and climbed off the large mutant, using one of his thick knees as a stepping stone.

Melati: Once her clawed feet touched the ground, she tossed the umbrella aside, turned around, and flashed her rocky companion a wide grin. "No worries, I think you'll like it here." The faint sound of something exploding in the distance echoed through the old hallways.

Santo: Santo squinted, "....riiiight. Since our great escape from the villa, I'm starting to get the inclination that chaos follows you everywhere." he said. "Look at me. All that chaos, it's starting to wear on me." The big rocky guy had only become more rockier and bigger since italy.

Melati: "I've no idea what you're talking about." Melati tilted her head, a frown on her face, and put her hands on her hips. "You're looking better then ever, mate." She reached out to slap the side of his arm. "All that action is toughing you up."

Santo: "Aw shucks, and here I thought it was just all the drinking." he replied. "So you want me to drop all this here or... do I gotta sign up somewhere first?"

Melati: "Yeah, we should probably introduce you to the people who run the whole show, but there's no rush with that." She nodded towards the stairs. "Come on, let's get our haul to safety first, then I can show around."

Santo: "Lead away oh lizardy one." Santo said, "Wait... is your room like how you kept your room on the yacht?" he asked.

Melati: "Why? Was there anything wrong with my room?" Melati slurped on the straw of her cocktail as she led Santo up the stairs, looking back over her shoulders.

Santo: "Well... let's just say even I couldn't get it that messy even if I tried. Heck, after the pirates tried taking the yacht, your room looked cleaner for some reason. I'm just a little worried what might have been growing in there since you last slept there."

Melati: Melati frowned at Santo, a look on her face as if she had just heard the strangest thing ever. "Why would I want to sleep there?" she asked. "My room is there for keeping my stuff. I stay on the road and sleep in whatever bed I can find."

Santo: A very obvious look of thinking displayed over Santo's face. He tried remember actually seeing her sleep in her cabin on the yacht. "Dio mio, you're right. Can only remember seeing you sleepin' in other peopls' beds. Usually with them in them."

Melati: "Hey, it would be rude to kick them out of their own bed." She cracked a grin. "Besides, my mother always taught me to share."

Santo: "Funny, mine taught me not to put my feet on the coffee table." Santo replied. "Are we there yet? How big is this place? I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. My feet hurt. I need to go potty. Are we there yet?"

Melati: "Wow." Melati looked over her shoulder as she led the way down the long hall. "What did you say about how old you are again? You complained less when we were hiking across that island to get more booze for the ship's bar."

Santo: "Bah, don't know why I'm so grumpy lately. Guess it's because I haven't had a proper night's sleep in a long while. If it wasn't the fat arab guy's guards shooting at us, it's pirates trying to kill us, or those coast guards you tried to flee. Not to mention the constant giggling and partying from all the girls we rescued."

Melati: "Can't blame them from having a good time after getting out of that old fuck's place." Melati put on a sly smirk. "Besides, you were invited, too. It's not our fault you wanted to be a grumpy big boulder the whole cruise."

Santo: "I wasn't a grumpy boulder the whole way through. Was just grumpy during the late night cabin parties. You know, the ones where you declared everyone play reverse strip poker and ended up naked."

Melati: "I think you're the only person other than my mom who didn't like to see me naked." Melati laughed and stepped aside for the flickering hologram of an emu running down the hallway. "Is it the tail? Most guys like it, but some find it weird."

Santo: "Don't get me wong or anythin'. I do like seeing you naked. Is just that that's how far things can go with me." he shrugged. He checked the empty hallway. "Was there a giant ass bird running past us?" he asked.

Melati: "Oh yeah, you'll get used to that kind of stuff around here," the lizard girl replied, looking back over her shoulder as she led them onward. "Don't worry, this place doesn't only come completely free of charge, you also have unlimited healthcare and access to our own emergency room."

Santo: "Think they got a cream for dry skin?" he joked. "But really, what kind of stuff you talking about actually? How many ostriches are loose around this place?"

Melati: "Those were no real birds." Melati shot Santo a toothy grin. "Couldn't you tell by the way they spazzed in and out of existence? The whole grounds are covered in these very fancy projectors that give one hell of a light show. They can make pretty much anything appear."

Santo: "I just assumed it was a mutant doing it. I think I can spot your room, it's the one with the pink glitter, right?" he asked, pointing with just a slight nod.

Melati: "Hey, how could you tell?" Melati chuckled and showed Santo another grin, before she led him around another corner. "Nah, just kidding." The green-skinned girl nodded straight ahead, where something seemed to have grown through the walls.

Melati: "See the one with the weird stuff leaking underneath the door? That's mine."

Santo: "Aww, your green thumb isn't just a skin condition, it's a talent for growing stuff too." Santo replied while he lugged all the luggage and paraphernalia along towards the door that probably should have a biohazard sign hanging on it.

Melati: "Yeah, but don't tell the faculty about it," Melati said as she carefully opened the door by kicking it with the sole of her foot. "They might not agree with every plant they find in here." She leaned the unhinged door against the wall and stepped inside.

Melati: "And here we are!" Melati turned around to greet Santo with open arms and a wide grin. "Welcome to Casa Mel!"

Santo: "Wow, cozier than I thought, and look, there's the shady shrubbery you were just talking about. It looks a little on the dead side now." Santo informed, and dropping everything on the floor. Or on the stuff that was covering the floor.

Melati: "Aw man, look at you poor thing." The lizard girl bent over and poked the dried up husk of a plant with a clawed finger. "Don't worry. I'll have Broo smuggle some more of those mutant hormones out of McCoy's lab, and you'll be as good as new again."

Melati: She looked over her shoulder. "You can drop everything on the... yeah, there's just fine. So, make yourself right at home."

Santo: "I don't think that's physically possible... oh... huh... the only place that's clean enough to sit is the bed. That's strangely convenient. Just don't shine a blacklight over it, right?" Santo said, carefully sitting on her bed, the poor thing creaking under all the weight.

Melati: "Yeah, sorry about that. Didn't get to clean in a while." Melati balanced over a pile of old clothes and old fast food boxes. "I'd offer you something to drink, but if I were you, I wouldn't trust anything other than the stuff we still have in my suitcase."

Santo: "Don't worry," Santo said, leaning over and grabbing a rather wide and squat looking case. He popped open the lid and inside the treasure trove of beer. "Warm beer's better than no beer."

Melati: "Damn right, mate." Melati curled the tip of her tail around the neck of a bottle and pulled it over, while the reptilian mutant flopped down in Santo's rocky lap. "I like the way you think." She popped the cap with her claw.

Santo: "So... guessing we're realy good friends now, huh?" he asked, then drank from his bottle. He gave a grumbling belch afterwards.

Melati: Melati seemed to ponder that question for a moment, before she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we made it all the way together without anyone having killed the other," she replied, looking up at Santo with a wry smile. "So, I'd say, to really good friends." She held up her bottle.

Santo: "Sweet." Santo said, lifting his in return and tapped his bottle to hers. "Cin-cin." he toasted and finished his bottle in one very long gulp, followed by an even bigger belch than before.

Melati: The big guy's belch made Melati close her eyes while she still downed her own beer, before the lizard lowered the empty bottle and gave her best shot to top Santo's impressive performance.

Santo: "Damn woman, you got had some heavy duty practice to get that out." Santo replied, laughing afterward. "You know what I miss the most about beer? Getting stinking drunk on it. When I was young, buddies and I, before I changed, some buddies and I used to steal beer from my uncle Vito, and we'd get so stinking drunk by the end of the day. At least beer and alcohol still taste the same."

Melati: Melati chuckled and fished for another beer. "You stole beer from your uncle Vito?" she asked, leaning back against Santo's arm as she took another swig. "That's funny. I used to buy my beer from someone called Vito. Old Italian guy. Has a bar down south by Salem."

Santo: "...Ha, that's him, hope you didn't cause him too much trouble though. He's a nice guy most of the time, just don't ever get on his bad side. He's a bit of a respected guy with the family." Santo warned with a gravelly smirk.

Melati: "Heh, me and the other students always wondered about that." Melati grinned to herself, pulling up her legs to tuck her feet underneath her thighs. "Thanks for the warning. Not that I plan to piss him off. The old fella has always been cool with us mutants from Xavier's."

Melati: "Never checked us for IDs, and there was always a round on the house for us." Her grin grew bigger. "I remember that one night where he had to get his shotgun when those Friends of Humanity goons decided to stir up trouble."

Santo: "Oh damn, yeah, never mess with his bar, it's his home away from home. His drunk filled baby. " Santo finished his second bottle in no time. "That reminds me, that shotgun of his, you ever see those little scratched in notches on the bottom of the barrels?"

Melati: "Yeah, wondered about those." Melati took another swig. "Never felt like asking him about them, though, because I guess they don't count the number of geese he hunted."

Santo: "You know Vito's just his middle name, right? Before he retired, he used to be known as Shotgun Sal." Santo added, waggling his eyebrows. "How crazy is that?"

Melati: Melati arched her eyebrows and gave Santo a look long. "Hey, I'm a mutant lizard who just sailed across the globe after escaping from some evil guy's harem on a stolen yacht and now enjoys some beer with the talking rock whose uncle probably murdered people for the Mafia."

Melati: She put on a lopsided smile, tilted her head sideways, and raised her bottle. "Does that sound crazy to you yet?"