sciencesquid | IC Inbox

Its getting somewhere, literally even. [Peter jokes easily enough in turn, smiling back at Otto encouragingly.] I tend to just picture holding something too, since I know how that feels in theory. Even if its different now.

[He peers down at the sunglasses again, but ultimately withdraws the tentacle with a quiet sigh.]

It's fine. I shouldn't grow too reliant on these things anyway. Before we know it, things will be back to normal.

Yeah, it won't last long, but... it's fun to experiment with. Who knows if or when any of us will be shades again? [Peter says easily enough, shrugging a little back.]

Hopefully never. It's not really for me, I feel. [He isn't actively suffering, but then, he only has the shadow tentacles. If he were to be a full Shade, it's hard to say just how he'd feel.]

I think if I were to experiment with something, I'd prefer... Pooka, or werewolf. Something like that.

I'm not sure what I think about shade. Its really different in a lot of ways I'm not sure how to wrap my head around.

[Peter snorts a little at that, his form shifting into a much smaller pooka travel form shape on the wall. A pocket sized rat.

The shadow rat clambers along the bottom of the wall, before starting to climb up, sticking to it easily.]

Good to know both you and Norman do wanna be Pooka maybe one day. Maybe both of you guys would end up rats too- or like mice? Squirrels?

[If Otto weren't very much aware that the shadow rat is Peter, it'd be the sort of thing he'd find a little unnerving. That's a very curious combination, after all.]

I expect I'd end up as a rabbit or a hare. A very big one. Or a beaver, if that's the sort of form a Pooka could take.

[The rat sticking the wall oh so casually and gazing at him with large white eyes likely doesn't help.]

I hope you'd be a rabbit, you'd be like really soft. [He has never touched a rabbit once in his life, but the mental image of riding on Otto's rabbit back is hard for him to ignore.] I think they could be beavers? Honestly, no idea.

[Yep, no, the white eyes don't help one bit. The eerieness of them is very unlike Peter.]

Hmm. Most rabbits are pretty soft, aren't they? And fast when they actually put enough oomph into it.

I've only pet one once, and it seemed soft- far as I remember. [He tips his head to the side curiously, pondering the very distant memory.] You could probably out run everyone as a pooka.

I could. Whether there's a need for that is a whole other matter. Unless you hope to host a pooka race?

I mean, a pooka race could be cool. [Now he's suitably distracted from whatever their original point was.] Though I think I'm maybe one of two pookas right now again. Everyone else did it briefly.

Does that make me winner by default?

[Otto hums quietly, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.]

I suppose it depends who's faster; you or Bruno. Or a sudden third challenger. [He's racking his brain, but he can't think of any other pooka. He doesn't know everyone in Ryslig, though. There's bound to be more of them.]

There is Ianthe, she seems... [Peter pauses trying to think of a short hand explanation.] kind of like she'd fight dirty to win. We met in the pooka pit Beat made, and she was cool, but also a little intimidating.

[Whilst Beat forced all the local rodents and others to interact in a pit. Perfectly normal.]

[Ah yes, the legendary pooka pit. Otto's heard of it, but didn't really stop by too much. He would've felt out of place there.]

Hmm... If she were to fight dirty, I'm sorry to say that I think she'd have both you and Bruno beat, then.

I mean, I could probably try and win! [Says the teenager who can't lie generally and is terrible at keeping to active trickery or being mean.] I could outsmart her or something.

[Alright, outsmarting is a fair point, but...]

Is outsmarting someone during a race not the same as cheating? I'm finding it hard to imagine a way in which a clever mind leads to a fair victory when sprinting. Granted, if she were cheating first, you'd have every right to fight fire with fire.

I mean, if its within the rules, it shouldn't count, right? [It is the pooka brain lingering even in shade form that makes Peter inclined to look for some kind of loophole.]

This is all theoretical anyway, and not even like the fun kind of theoretical.

Alright, fair enough. Let's just never arrange a full-blown pooka race, and this entire scenario will be prevented. [He pauses, and then:] Though, if I ever do find myself as a rabbit for whatever reason, I'll be happy to take you on one on one.

[Peter snorts a little at that, more amused by how wildly the joke went out of control for them.]

Honestly, if you ever become a pooka, who knows what you'd be. Everyone ends up being so wildly different. It makes everything kind of crazy sometimes. You honestly never know what you're going to be or just how its going to look or feel.

That's very true. [He raps his fingers against the cover of his book for a few seconds, then smiles widely.] Now I'm wondering what sort of merperson you'd make. A spider fish, perhaps?

[The shadowy rat drifts across the wall, just making the whole thing likely stranger than it already is.]

Is a spider fish even a real thing? I mean, I could end up not- spider-y for once. Maybe.

[Never.]

[Otto laughs, making zero effort to hide his amusement.]

It is a real thing. They like to bury themselves in the sand underwater, and if I remember right, they're very venomous. People tend to get stung by accidentally stepping on them.

[Peter's shadowy rat tail lashes back and forth in thought, ears flicking vaguely. Sure, he's a shade, but he has muscle memory of being a pooka buried in there.] You're making me really glad I don't like the ocean very much.

It sounds like a cool fish, but one that I'd step on and it'd be a really ironic death.

IC Inbox | Ryslig

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, OCTAVIUS. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 015.03.020.15 * OCTAVIUS has joined 015.03.020.15 <OCTAVIUS>** You've reached Dr. Otto Octavius. Please leave a message.