Something Slender (and Awful) - in a McDonalds bathroom

[x-asgardian.livejournal.com]

The boys have their own stall, and are no less freaked out - Billy is not confident about his artistic abilities at all.



Clint wasn't usually one for using profanity, but he looked at the design of ink on his arm, then slanted a glance toward the locked McDonald's bathroom door and muttered, 'This is fucked up." He'd never, in his entire life, thought he'd wind up somewhere like this - letting one of his best friends try to replicate a weird fake tattoo on his arm because some creepily tall, silent, generally scary guys were following them around and no one believed them. "Isn't the point of going to the mansion that people believe us when improbable stuff happens? Because this is kind of improbable and it's freaking me out."

"Quiet a minute. I'm trying to get this right-dammit," Billy stopped, hand paused above Matt's arm, as the design smudged. He scowled at the mistake, reaching for the wet paper towel by his side. "Sorry about this. I suck at drawing," he apologized as he began trying to wipe away the small area without having to start again. "Don't let it smudge," he called over to Clint, before going back to work.

"You better not be drawing offensive stuff on me with that stuff," Matt said, trying to lighten the mood. The stuff smelled like wet grass and he didn't like how it felt on his skin, but he tried to endure it anyways, "You guys both missed Genosha, but that was some fucked up shit. This is completely different," he paused a moment, "but no less fucked up."

"Well, that depends. Are you offended by giant penises?" Billy set his pen aside and leaned back, examining his work, glancing between the paper sketch in hand and the ink on Matt's arm, then comparing it to the one he'd attempted to sketch on his own forearm. "Yeah those things freak me out too, but if they don't believe us, we just gotta do this on our own. 'Kay I think they're ready. Give me your arm," he said, calling over for Clint to join them.

Walking over to the other two boys, Clint sat down and held out his arm for Billy to draw on with the henna and fought the urge to glance at the door. There wasn't much he could say to that, given it was true. If the adults didn't believe them, what were their other options?

"Depends on whether it's my giant penis or someone elses," Matt retorted, "This stuff feels so weird. It's not going to feel like this until it goes away, right? I don't think I like it," the smell wasn't so great either, but he could stand that a little better. It was just the cold and slimy and now slightly hard feeling he didn't care for as it dried.

"I don't know," Billy snapped back, the strain of feeling responsible for their safety starting to wear on him. "It's not like I do these every day. But unless you've got a better idea, stop complaining." Billy took Clint's arm and compared the design he'd started to the one on Matt and his own arm, added one last line he'd missed, then set the pen aside. "What to say, what do I want," he mumbled, before settling on the chant. He wrapped a wrist around both boys arms, and started to chant. "I want to keep them away. I want to keep us safe. I want to keep them away. I want to keep us safe."

Clint put his free hand on Billy's shoulder in an attempt to show solidarity even as he attempted to make himself chill out. Topaz and Billy were good at this magic stuff. Or better than he ever had any hope of being, at least. They could handle this - totally. He listened to his friend's chanting and ignored the way the hair on his arms was standing on end.



The other group of girls are skeptical. Well, Madelyne Jennifer Pryor is skeptical, and not amused, and just not having any of this. Her friends are clearly cray.



They were lucky - it wasn't crowded in the McDonalds they'd chosen as their staging ground. No one else was in the bathroom with them, so they hadn't even had to wait for it to empty - it was just a matter of keeping watch. Topaz had taken half the group into the stall with her - more simply couldn't fit, and they needed to keep an eye out in case someone thought they were doing drugs or something in there. Their voices were hushed - too quiet to really overhear clearly - they just got little bits and pieces of disjointed uneasy conversation.

Sue leaned against the sink, her eyes watching the door occasionally flicking over to the stall where Topaz had taken the other girls. "Do you think this is really going to work?" she asked, directing the question at the other watchers in a hushed tone. Normally the blonde was a sceptic in matters of magic, but after hearing the others stories she felt like she was being stalked; a feeling she decided she didn't like one bit.

Maddie paused tapping on her iPod long enough to shoot Sue a Look. She could get Tandy and Molly and Topaz believing in whatever ~magical~ whatever they were convinced was out to get them. Tandy and Molly both had very vivid imaginations, and Topaz was a witch, so of course she instantly thought of magic. But Sue? Sue was Miss Science. Of everyone here, she should have been the one looking for more plausible reasons for what was going on.

Or really, what they claimed was going on. Maddie still wasn't convinced that anything was going on. They were all drinking the Kool-Aid, as far as she was concerned. She certainly hadn't experienced any of the symptoms everyone else complained of.

"Seriously, Storm? Seriously? Seriously."

Renee leaned against the wall and shoved her hands in her pockets. She wasn't sure what they were supposed to do if anyone did come in but she'd rather be out here than in there. "I'll just be happy if it makes everyone else less freaked out. It's just a little henna but if it does the trick and maybe keeps the boogeymen away too then there's no harm in it." She wasn't entirely convinced it wasn't some kind of mutant that had been stalking her and Molly and if that was the case then no amount of fancy artwork was probably going to keep them away.

Sue turned to Maddie, tightly controlled fear visible in her eyes. "They're stalking me...us again" she whispered softly before shaking her head and sighing. "I don't like the powerless helpless feeling; someone, something is out there hunting us. We've all seen it. Maybe it's just a mutant, or maybe it isn't, but doing something is better than nothing isn't it?"

"Seen what, exactly," asked Maddie, a bit snappishly. "I can't tell if this is some big practical joke you're trying to pull, because if it is you totally suck at it, or what. But I haven't seen anything unusual. So, I mean, whatever.

"Besides, Henna makes me all itchy, anyways. Y'all can do whatever you want, I'm not putting that stuff on my skin. I'm a very delicate flower."

"Something was definitely trying to follow Molly and me," Renee offered with a small shrug, mostly speaking to Sue. "It followed us around the corner and was always right there. I refuse to believe it wasn't on purpose." She realized how paranoid that sounded but that was the only answer that made sense. "I don't know if it was someone stalking or just screwing with us or maybe even trying to get our attention for like, a good reason, but it didn't feel right." If it was just someone being a jerk then the henna wouldn't make a difference anyway but why not put it on? She honestly felt like that was the best possible outcome and then they could all just go home and joke about temporary tattoos for a few days.

"You don't have to put it on, we're not going to hold you down or anything."

"And there was someone...something at the diner with me and Matt," Sue added, "He couldn't hear the ...whatever, only smell dead flowers. The guys just appeared and disappeared, like Mr Wagner." She turned to look at Maddie, "One I could accept as a joke, but for this to happen to everyone? There's something more here, someone knows who we are and is targeting us specifically." She gestured to the stall, "It's making people feel better to get the tattoos, and that's not a small thing." Sue knew that the thought that they were actually doing something to fight back was making her feel better.

Maddie rolled her eyes and sighed in a dramatic fashion. Clearly this was all just some big practical joke they were trying to pull, probably to try and get her back for all the ones she had done. Or to try and one up her. Either way, it wasn't fooling her at all. Amateurs. All of them. Personally, she was rather disappointed that all of her endeavors to this point had not worn off on her classmates.

"All right," she deadpanned. "You got me." Her free hand, fingers spread wide and palm flat, twisted back and forth in the air, flailing with mock fear. "Oooooh. I feel all cold and empty inside. Oh no! It's gonna get me! Ahhhhhhhh!"

"Oh look," her voice returned to normal, "it looks like Topaz is ready for you guys." She motioned to the stall door, where she could hear her classmates stirring. Then, turning to the two girls before her, she said, "Remember. Hugs, not drugs."

"Okay?"