etrayalogs | OPERATION: YOUTHFUL DISOBEDIENCE

[ He's giving Krouse a playful grin while the other is talking. It almost seems like he's making fun of him, but there's a bit of nuance to it. Something about the look in Fabian's eyes is too goodnatured for that to be the case exactly here. Instead it seems like he's just egging the other on a little - like he's saying, without words, yeah right, I totally caught you worrying!

But he'll be good and not actually voice that sentiment. Instead he allows Krouse to finish what he's saying, and then even stays quiet enough for Gorgug to be able to pipe up without Fabian talking over it. He even turns his head to look at his half-orc friend, the grin on his face turning more encouraging. Of course Gorgug is down for all of this. Fabian can't imagine anything else, after all the stuff they have already been through together in the past. ]

Yeah! [ He easily says to that last part of what Gorgug says to agree. ] I am fairly sure that everyone involved in this mission has dealt with dangerous matters in the past anyway.

[ That sure counts for the Bad Kids - but Fabian has heard stories from some of the other people involved in the mission he knows.

It's why he looks over at Krouse to voice: ] I mean, it's the same for you, right?

[ He hesitates out of habit, but the ship of normal has sailed some time ago. With these two, it's almost cheating, anyway - their take on normal experiences encompasses a much more colourful lifestyle than the average person back on Earth. ]

Yeah.

[ With a new acceptable level of honesty calculated, Krouse shrugs and lets his shoulders stay loose when they drop. He gives Gorgug a subtle nod after that, so he can know the reassurance isn't going unappreciated. It's nice of him, which is a pretty typical Gorgug sort of thing to be. ]

Comes with the powers territory, back on good old Earth. You never know when a villain is going to unleash a horde of carnivorous fist-sized bugs on downtown.

Curfew enforcing robots don't seem so bad in comparison, really. Assuming that's all we're finding. Given the noises outside at night, probably not, but hey - maybe that's all piped in to keep us pacified, right? It'd save on clean up.

[ Oh?? Gorgug here is the one learning about Krouse, though what he says doesn't make him startle or overly surprised; it's a kind of curious sort, hearing Krouse say that and looking at him with a oh, so he's got one of those kind of worlds, too.

Similar to theirs, but maybe with less non-humans. (The superhero kind?)

It doesn't distract him either from their conversation, which: ] Killing is a strong response--if they're as effective as people say they are, they could take over avenues. Riz says there's got to be a reason, and-- I can believe it.

[ He can go along with it, certainly. They need to find ways to stay safe out there, attract as little notice as possible, but Gorgug's attentions do find him turning to Krouse specifically. ]

What powers do you have?

[ Fabian?? Do you know? ]

[ Dang, Krouse really is living a life more similar to theirs than Fabian had initially imagined. Having to deal with villains - okay, he'd never call it villains, but semantics aside it sounds like what they do as well. Cleaning up all sorts of dangers.. even if the Bad Kids are often the ones provoking said dangers in the first place.

Still. Very similar. Maybe that's why Fabian doesn't seem all that surprised to hear Krouse speak of this stuff - it's rather familiar to them too, after all.

Instead he only speaks up when Gorgug asks that question. Sure, he could stay quiet and let Krouse do all the answering, but.. this is Fabian. Of course he's not going to shut up. ]

Unlimited uses of Teleport. [ That's a pronounced capital T. Gorgug will know that he's talking about the spell. ] Or, well..

[ It's not like he's forgotten the time when Krouse first explained it to him, Fabian having made the same assumption after the initial brief explanation. So with that memory he adds, looking over at Krouse with a slightly cheeky grin: ]

I'm certain you can give him a more detailed explanation.

[ Krouse chuckles at Fabian's interjection, tapping ash off his cigarette one more time before he takes a last drag, exhales, and stubs it out inside of the old coffee can that had been set up here by some long ago fellow smoker. ]

Nah. I think you covered the explanation.

[ He gets to his feet, rolling his shoulders back, then ticking his head from one side to the other as he turns around. ]

What you want is a demonstration - right, Gorgug?

[ His grin flashes almost as brightly as Fabian's, but like a light in a darker part of the spectrum. Not malicious, really. Just not as cheerfully forthright.

Then he reaches out to tag Fabian's elbow where he stands a step higher than Krouse does, swaps their places, and casually kicks backward at the rough location of 'just above where Fabian's knee should be now'. Not hard enough to actually hurt, and definitely not hard enough to try to knock him off-balance. Just a friendly little tap. ]

I swap things. Multiple practical applications.

Edited 2024-09-02 03:59 (UTC)

[ His interest was already there with endless teleports, so does Gorgug want a demonstration?

It is safe to say Gorgug wasn't against an actual demonstration. Read like a simple fool, and Fabian pays the price for it.

And, you know, teleporting doesn't mean doing what Krouse did--or it's not what Gorgug is expecting to happen to Fabian, the shift between their places where his head is swapping to look between the two, and he's probably as startled as Fabian.

But is he as loud? No. We know Fabian is going to be loud about what just occurred, and how Gorgug will not get his time to say anything. ]

[ Don't call Fabian out like this.

Not even when the call out is right. Because it is. Fabian does realize what just happened even as he's surprised by the sudden shift anyway, and there's no way in hell he's going to stay quiet about being the victim of this little demonstration. Even less so when he feels something against the back of his leg, and he knows who that has to be. ]

Krouse! [ The loud yell practically echoes all over the staircase..

He turns around on his heels, spinning with the flexibility and fluid movement of a dancer, and moves a few steps up the stairs around Krouse with a speed that's impossible for a regular human, Fabian's feet faintly glowing with magic. The moment he's a step above Krouse, he reaches out to put the other in the kind of headlock only a total jock would give to a total nerd. The sort of thing you only see in high school movies. ]

You want to fight with the captain, huh?! [ Granted, the headlock is nowhere near tight enough to actually hurt or be a fight in any way.. It's probably just dumb playfighting.

Sorry that you have to witness this, Gorgug. Then again, this is probably the exact same stuff you've seen in the Owlbears' dressing room before and after games.. Boys will be boys.. ]

[ Krouse is taken aback by Fabian's grace and speed, even having seen it in practise before. It's not a thing he thinks you get used to quickly, that perfect fluid flow.

For all that Fabian is more than slightly a goofy, overly enthusiastic ball of energy condensed into annoyingly handsome pointy earred form, when he moves like that, he's almost awe-inspiring.

And very difficult to avoid being headlocked by. ]

Hey, dickhead -

[ Krouse laughs, struggling in Fabian's grip with the same level of intensity it's being applied with, wrestling with more intent to jostle lightly than break free. It's been a minute since he did this with anyone, but Fabian seems thrilled to grab and ruffle anyone who shows even a hint of willingness, and - well, apparently, Krouse is willing to entertain it. ]

Gorgug, avert your eyes -

[ He attempts to fling himself back to knock Fabian in a wall-ward direction, with the additional intention of stopping short if, by some miracle, he can actually move Fabian in any direction whatsoever. It's not a genius idea to roughhouse on stairs. Someone - him, undoubtedly, not Fabian, who would do some stupidly cool looking backflip to safety - could get hurt. ]

[ It's like they're at a bloodrush meeting than a super secret spy mission meeting.

Krouse tells him to avert his eyes, but while he gives Krouse the grace to turn his head, his eyes are very much not averting--he's nosey, okay, he wants to see what happens. This isn't the first time Gorgug's watched Fabian in competition with another while off from the planet of Spyre, and apparently, this is going to keep being a thing.

It's okay, fellas, Gorgug isn't going to interrupt you. If there's anything he's used to, it's to fucking around happening right in front of his salad, as he stands there holding bags like he just came from a supermarket. But there's something of a small smile on his lips, and--he's definitely rooting for Krouse, internally.

👀 ]

[ Fabian doesn't seem to mind the resistance at all. If anything, it just seems to get him into the mood even more, laughing when he realizes that Krouse is struggling - though not too intensely - against the hold. This is exactly the sort of male comraderie that Fabian loves, and something about it makes him look so much more alive in this moment than he had earlier on during this mission.

Thankfully Krouse's struggling is not too intense though, since it gives him plenty of opportunity to look over at Gorgug as well, realizing the other is not averting his eyes at all.

But even that just makes Fabian laugh again, calling out with that true jolly Fabian Spirit in his tone: ]

Gorgug, you're looking! You are totally looking! [ CALLED OUT, BRO!!

He would be a lot more offended if he knew there was rooting against him going on here, but he sure isn't expecting that. After all, why wouldn't Gorgug root for him, right. They're bros, right. Bros before.. o-other bros!! Yeah!!

And while Krouse does manage to move Fabian right that instant - maybe exactly because he is temporarily distracted by Gorgug - Fabian doesn't stop when Krouse does. It's like he's given himself momentum in the middle of his excitement about all of this, and for a moment it definitely looks like he's about to drop down the stairs due to no fault of his own--

But there's no need for another display of Krouse's powers. The latter was absolutely right to assume that Fabian would be fine even while playfighting in the middle of the stairs, since rather than falling down the stairs like a sack of potatoes, Fabian actually does manage to flip before he lands safely next to where Gorgug is standing.

He may have broken a bit of a sweat, but he looks incredibly proud - almost annoyingly so, really, Fabian looks like he's about to sparkle or something along those lines - and puffs out his chest when he realizes what he just did. ]

See, you can also be incredibly cool without teleporting powers.

[ Fabian, dude.. Did you feel like you had something to prove?? ]

[ Krouse did not pull off a backflip. Krouse also did not break a bone, so he's going to call that a win nevertheless.

A very small win, in light of watching Fabian pull off that Cirque du Soleil parkour flip up the stairs, but it's cool enough Krouse can't even feel like he's been shown up. It'd be like feeling outclassed by van Gogh in a sip and paint class.

He sits on his ass where he fell two steps down from where they were, his tailbone smarting, and snorts. ]

Some of us need the teleporting powers to make up for not being gifted springs for joints. A tragic oversight on my ancestors' part.

[ He shifts upright properly, suppressing a wince, and folds his arms loosely over his chest. ]

But at least now Gorgug knows you can do a flip. I'm sure this will be tactically vital information if we get transported to a nineties style breakdancing competition where the old community centre relies on us putting on the best b-boy performance this town has ever seen.

Gorgug, you can be our MC slash secretly talented last minute member of the dance crew. I'll cover team management. Fabian, you're the protagonist of the movie.

[ How dare he be called out for looking? Which does make Gorgug stop, or sharply turn his head like he's going to, but the thing is: he wants to see! His lips even pouting together for the internal struggle of his want versus Krouse's want, and really, this isn't that serious.

But sometimes, you get caught up in heightened emotions from the silliest of triggers, like Fabian calling you out.

It's fine though. Here he is, being the simplest, less impress guy in this part of the building, still with bags in his hands while these two goof off. He pays attention as Fabian comes beside him, but watching to see that Krouse is fine. Gorgug knows Fabian's fine, will be fine, even if he does crash and burn (which happens more often than the athlete-slash-dancer likes to be counted).

He'd clap for the pair, if he had the hands available for it. Or if it felt like an appropriate moment--one of his friends' would clap, surely. They love to clap at impromptu times.

Instead, what he offers is: ]

Oh no. [ Dread. Krouse, you just inspired dread. Gorgug sounds anxious. ] Can I be team management? You're both-- you'd be a good dancer. You look like a dancer, Krouse. I don't dance. If we get teleported or it's a mission, you dance.

[ Please, thank you. (This, too, is not a scenario that should be taken so seriously...

A half-orc really doesn't want to dance!) ]

[ Krouse does look like he got a little hurt, but Fabian doesn't really sweat it. It's the sort of jostling around that he's gotten really used to. Not just because of his participation in team sports, or the constant battles he's part of back home as part of an adventuring party, but also just because this is the way he was raised. You don't sweat small hurt like that, and it's better for Krouse's dignity if he ignores the way the other winces slightly compared to him calling it out. Especially when Krouse doesn't seem seriously injured, or anything along those lines.

Though.. someone here sure seems suddenly very affected, and it's not Krouse.

No, it's Gorgug, taking something seriously that.. really probably shouldn't be taken seriously. Even Fabian could tell that Krouse was talking about the more hypothetical of all scenarios, in that way Krouse sometimes likes to ramble. Fabian thought it was kind of funny - and not just because he's the protagonist in this hypothetical scenario, though it helps! - but apparently Gorgug's brain is going a different direction entirely. ]

Yes! Let Gorgug be team management if he wants to be!

[ Look at this. Fabian, a supportive friend. Helping out his anxious pal by-- ]

I mean, you should dance, Krouse! You're the one who came up with the idea! [ .. oh, okay.

So he's instead just teasing Krouse.

It's mostly because he thinks Krouse can take it better - especially in this moment, when poor Gorgug is looking so anxious over nothing. Maybe Fabian and Krouse joking about stupid stuff will get his mind away from that, Fabian figures. ]

Or are you saying you don't want to dance with me?

[ Krouse is over the indignity and potential bruising of falling on his ass like an idiot on concrete steps already. He's now facing fresh, exciting new possibilities for indignity and bruising as he glances skyward and wishes he still had his cigarette.

He shoots Gorgug a look of slight solidarity, his mouth twisting up in something short of a grimace. Fabian will get this out of Krouse eventually now that it's come up. Might as well bite the bullet and throw himself into the category of the nerds. ]

I'm saying I don't dance. [ He shrugs. ] I'm starting to be concerned our dance crew might not get off the ground, boys.

[ That's a joke. Very much a joke. He swivels his eyes to Fabian firmly anyway. ]

I don't think we're actually going to be facing a dance or die situation in the future. And if we do, why should we worry? Your moves alone should cover it. [ Krouse raises an eyebrow. ] ...unless...

Unless you don't think your moves are bad enough to to hold up solo under the pressure?

[ Is that how people who talk about dance moves talk? Krouse thinks it sort of sounds like that one movie about breakdancing he watched half an hour of over a lunch break on a spirit day, once, so. Close enough. ]

[ Someone here doesn't have crystal recordings of him as an awkward, gangly dancing kid that his parents took when at a faire and it shows.

But a lifeline is thrown his way when Fabian agrees to his better suited position, Gorgug nodding (too) frantically in his taking Krouse's job before he's even had a chance to partake in it. But maybe he could share, when Krouse admits to his own inadequacies in dancing (in that he doesn't do it), though--you know, his other plan is a lot better.

The one where Fabian should be their solo dancer. Or goading Fabian--they can both work pretty well, even though Gorgug doesn't particular feel like doing the goading part. ]

You're really good. [ He will go for the simple encouragement route, nodding less frantically this time. But a thought does seem to occur to him, as he asks a second after: ] --Do we actually think this is going to happen? A dance.

[ Sorry, but one of them really is getting swept up in the moment, here... ]

I mean, considering everything else that happens here? It might just. [ He doesn't seem particularly weirded out by the idea. Look, if this place is forcing them to live weird fake lives for some reason, then a dance competition looks absolutely normal in comparison. ] .. it might even be more fun than anything else we have done.

[ He sure would enjoy it, anyway! The first thing he might enjoy in this place altogether!

And yet Fabian doesn't sound all that enthusiastic. He doesn't look the part either. It doesn't have anything to do with dancing insecurities - he thinks he's a great dancer, thanks, Krouse!

It has more to do with what the other two are saying. It's like they're draining the energy straight out of Fabian. All the movement and loudness he had going on a few moments ago is suddenly gone, and he sulks and kicks at the stairs underneath him as he says: ]

I can't believe neither of you dance.

[ He knows bros abandoning a bro when he sees it!!! ]

[ It should be refreshing to watch Fabian come down from the constant glittering cloud of joie de vivre and jocktimism that characterize his every waking moment. The guy would benefit from getting a solid sulk on more often, in Krouse's deeply uninformed opinion.

But the sight doesn't bring Krouse anything but a reluctant sense of...not responsibility, per se. He looks at Fabian for a second, then at Gorgug, then Fabian, then Gorgug. He settles on Gorgug, already looking faintly apologetic. ]

Listen, [ he says, like an idiot ] if it becomes critically necessary to a mission that you have back up dancers, then...sure, man.

[ He adjusts his shoulders against the wall behind him, sighing. He's not roping Gorgug in, but he's maybe kicking a ladder down. Or, more accurately, offering him the opportunity to join him in jumping into a well. ]

Maybe you can show me a move or two.

[ Can Fabian really say he doesn't believe Gorgug dances with his full chest there?

He understands the energy behind it, though, or the suffering of energy behind it. Just like he sees the way Krouse looks at him, and can interpret it as a search for camaraderie in aiding a mutual friend. Still, even while Krouse is being a true bro in this moment, Gorgug wears an expression that's utterly conflicted. He knows that as a pal he should jump into this well, but: ]

...is there a kind of dance where you don't move or-- bring any attention to yourself?

[ Gorgug needs to question the depth of the water in the well first. ]

[ Fabian looks from Gorgug to Krouse and then back to Gorgug again before he shakes his head. ]

Look, I can tell neither of you two are into it, alright.

[ Not that it isn't nice of them to offer. Or.. nice of Krouse to offer, considering that Gorgug seems determined to read through the entire terms and conditions of what's on the table here before he fully commits to offering.

But still - for as dumb as Fabian can be at times, he's not that dumb. He can tell this much, okay! ]

It's not as if you have to get into something just for my sake. [ Especially when they're this reluctant! Fabian is pretty sure he's never seen anyone this reluctant to dance, of all things! Come on, you two, it's a totally normal thing!! Don't you know toxic masculinity is dead? ]

I just thought it'd be nice if we had something we could do together with the three of us. You know, as bros. [ Bros!! Surely Krouse and Gorgug understand that much, right. The importance of the concept of brodom. ]

[ 'Bros'. The very concept strikes an appalled anti-chord in Krouse's nerdy soul, dissonant and aghast. But on the surface, he smirks, rolling his eyes only a regular disrespectful teen amount.

They're not bros. Stair wrestling, joshing around, and hanging out aside. Or the time Krouse showed up to a party for Fabian. Or how Krouse helped Fabian clean his house and brought him brownies. And he's definitely not bros with Gorgug, because Gorgug understands that a 'bro' is not a thing a person in their right mind wants to be.

And yet. ]

There are other things in the world besides dance, man. Like Bloodrush. Maybe we prefer getting our thrills on the field.

[ They already do do things for Fabian's sake that aren't dance, which is a sort of funny thing to be realizing as he says it out loud. Krouse shoots Gorgug another help me out, man look. Surely Gorgug, whose most famous sports-related anecdote Krouse knows about is bleacher-destruction related, loves the wholesome activity of what Krouse is increasingly convinced is barely disguised gladiatorial combat for teens. ]

[ Oh no, they're having this. It's not a bad talk, per se, since wanting to do things with your bros--it's a good thing, Gorgug likes the idea of that. But they've been here before, haven't they?

It's mainly when Krouse shoots him that look again that Gorgug gets a tinge of worry, and he tries thinking, because--he doesn't actually want to suggest bloodrush. Do they have enough people for bloodrush? And he's erring on the one hobby he knows Krouse has that isn't smoking...

Well. ] What if we tried drinking again? It can't end badly this time--you're a dad. [ Fabian. You. You're the dad. ] You can buy alcohol, and, this place--can we get edibles? Are there drugs here?

[ Gorgug's looking at the pair of them for this answer, like they would have better chances of knowing. But Fabian is a cop now. ]

[ Bloodrush is actually a really good suggestion. But before Fabian even has a moment to get really excited about it - maybe thankfully so, for both Gorgug and Krouse's sakes - Gorgug is already speaking up. Fabian is a tad surprised by the other just moving right past the sport entirely, but.. maybe he's just worried about them tiring themselves out with something like that ahead of the mission?

Clearly it's just that, right.

So Fabian is instead taking in Gorgug's secondary suggestion. And he doesn't seem to disapprove of it, really. ]

Sure, we can do that. There are drugs here. [ Don't ask how he knows.

(It's because he caught Aelwyn selling them.) ]

Would you be up for that, Krouse?

[ Sorry, bro.. This is how you become part of.. the bros...!! ]

OPERATION: YOUTHFUL DISOBEDIENCE

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cw: talk of alcohol and drugs usage