swapgo
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Post by swapgo on Oct 17, 2024 20:11:26 GMT
If there was one word to describe Kyle's room, it was ambiance.
It was a very wide room, for a very tall reptile, with an entire wall dedicated to the bathroom and a walk-in closet, past that, 3 bare walls of warm colors, and a single desk. Margaret loved her dear adoptive son, but unfortunately, her house wasn't big enough for many activities, not that he did a whole lot of them. He's picked up a few new ones, of course, and they're all very compact thanks to the wonders of consumer-grade technology. Now there's not a whole mess of cables and a bulky television on the living room, just a single wall-mounted sleek screen in which to play something soothing while the evening went by. Robot went through great length to get Kyle some very functional, sharp clothes so that he looked pristine during his day to day traipses through the Arc, however, that didn't change the fact that he preferred to lie down, belly first, on the rug for hours on end, which meant that a concession was made for him to also have very loose "sleeping" clothes. He wanted the striped ones, but they got him some with darker colors so that the inevitable sheddings from the carpet weren't too noticeable, and those from Kyle proper were.
Usually Kyle faced the screen while in his meditative nothing doing, though this time he faced away from it. He is often absentminded in his playlist selection, just choosing whatever looks like it lasts a couple of hours and sounds stimulating enough, very rarely, it's exposes of internet personalities, but 99% of the time its just music. Music videos tend to have things though, like people dancing, or people fighting(?), or just a bunch of visual effects, but these ones had words, words that weren't in the music that was playing, except very, very rarely. Well, it was not in his habit to just keep searching for stuff, so Kyle accepted his fate and simply listened in, and let the good times go by. |
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Post by Countess on Oct 22, 2024 0:34:22 GMT
Evelyn is having a day. So much productivity, so much excitement, all the moving in, all the joy that is associated with change. Yeah, she had been working here for a while, but it was more of a transition period than a true time being a part of the Champions. Leaving the Protectorate was the best move for her, all things considered, and it enabled her to do what she loves most... teach.
Being who she is, not expecting or wanting "housewarming" gifts, she had made them for others. Personalized, of course, because everyone needs to feel special, right?
It is during her handing out of cookies, gifts, and other little bits assembled for her students and coworkers, that she hears a tune she knows deep... deep in her heart of hearts...
"Kyle?" Evelyn calls out, knocking on his door, a bit confused. Does he just like instrumentals? Evelyn can't help in, her head starts bobbing, and she jumps in. Who wouldn't? It is Biggie!
"Pink gators, my Detroit players
Timbs for my hooligans in Brooklyn
Dead right, if the head right, Biggie there e'ry night
Poppa been smooth since days of Underoos~"
Evelyn says, not needing the prompt at all. This seems to be a favorite of hers. The words blend into each other with the same inflection of Biggie himself, though her voice is far higher than his. She has utterly forgotten why she is here.
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swapgo
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Post by swapgo on Oct 22, 2024 1:39:36 GMT
Kyle doesn't talk much, but he does have a sort of raspy gargle that can be recognized as permision to come in.
Usually, his counterclockwise curl facing towards the TV means he doesn't need to make a lot of effort to look at his guest, whom he believes to be Evelyn. He probably wouldn't have bothered to budge had she not make such a staggering impression by breaking out into song, prompting him to crane his neck way back up to stare at her backwards. People's cadence tends to mean something, like if they're happy, or if he is in trouble, and he had no idea what this one was, actually, half of those words just didn't feel like they belonged in a dictionary. Kyle's tail swung around as he righted his prone body to his usual tv-facing position, his head facing Evelyn, yet his eyes firmly on the puzzle on the screen. Was she looking at this? Did this internet video hypnotize her for some reason? Why are some of these words replaced with asterisks?
Oh also she brought something with her, he thought. It felt rude to interrupt her to motion towards it though.
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Post by Countess on Oct 22, 2024 1:51:27 GMT
Evelyn knows the noise of permission, happily going into the room itself before rapping along with the karaoke. She seems so pleased by this, a wide smile and shaking hips that mean... something, surely. She laughs, looking over to Kyle with an exuberance that almost makes her shine. The light of her is just underneath her skin...
"Hey! You like karaoke?" Evelyn asks, and in typical fashion, she just keep stalking before any real answer. "I would have never pegged you, that is so cool! We should have a party, everyone singing... I think the others would like that, but we have to make it not super too much for Andi... maybe make it okay to do punk and metal stuff," she muses, hand on her chin, thinking. How do they get everyone interested, but doesn't hype it too much...? That is her failing, all she ever does is hype...
"Oh! Oh, right, I was here for a reason.... but Biggie..." she says, starting to go through her massive bag. She pulls out a little bag, beaming. "I made cookies for you! I really... didn't know what might be right for you, so I made weird ones? Really made of fruit and veggies and... honestly, bugs. I put bugs in it. Is that rude? Did I mess up?"
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Post by swapgo on Oct 22, 2024 2:07:57 GMT
Car-A-Okay?
Kyle sort of looked down for a moment in contemplation, how was he supposed to know if he liked something that he had heard of today? Whatever it was, Evelyn clearly liked it, Evelyn felt warm when she felt warm, and she felt warm right now. He is supposed to respond to things, maybe not knowing was okay in this. Evelyn had seemingly decided for him that he did, and loved this discovery so much that she would invite everyone to sing, or something. She seemed convinced that everyone but Andi would be in on it, would he be there? He doesn't have much of a singing voice, he stared away and sort of tapped his lips against one another as a weird way to confirm that.
He lazily looked at her again as she revealed she brought him snacks, that's very nice of her. Usually he would just loaf there, but the mood was somewhat disturbed, it would be best that he simply ended it for the time being and resumed after clearing his head. Kyle twirled his body belly-up before sitting cross-legged on the mat to be at a more even height, reaching forward to pick the small bag. He let out a subtle squeak at Evelyn's inventiveness, he hasn't eaten (many) bugs in years, and he definitely hasn't been served any (the cat offered him a bird once, Margaret sternly asked him to refuse), so he wasn't sure, but he appreciated the gesture. A sniff confirmed that at least the baking was of good make, it was hard to go wrong with that. Kyle decided would pull out a sample while he puzzled out this screen and this Kara Oki situation.
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Post by Countess on Oct 23, 2024 22:15:35 GMT
Evelyn smiles even brighter than before, a feat onto itself. "Yes!" she says, pumping a fist in triumph. "Alright! Okay, okay, I already have a million different ideas..." she says, starting to pace a little. She pulls out her phone, starting to google things, make plans, start a checklist, make a guest list-
"Wow, oh my god, I am so sorry," Evelyn says, already noticing her faux pas, putting her phone away with a bit of a blush. Just like Kyle, it seems like she communicates for more through body language than words. That is really saying something, because Evelyn loves to talk. "That was wildly rude of me... I can plan that in my own time. Well- want to plan it with me? Could be fun~" she says, immediately offering to include him on everything, anything. It is just who she is. If Evelyn could, she would give everyone a vote in elections. No one deserves to feel left out, right?
"Oh- not into bugs?" Evelyn asks, cocking her head to the side a bit. "That's okay! I have one without bugs, I had just used it as a means of making flour, it is very rich in protein," she says, nodding her head. "I found a place that sells crickets, and I ground them all up," she continues, making a face, showing she did not like this process. "It wasn't until after that I learned there are places that do sell bug flour...." she adds, giving a shiver.
"So! Karaoke, it is like... You just sing the song instead of singing along. It is really fun, and people usually aren't great at singing, so it gets a lot of laughs... in a good way! It is a shared.... excitement and embarrassment? Putting yourself out there, and everyone else doing it, too?" she says, almost like it is a question of if he understands.
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swapgo
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Post by swapgo on Oct 24, 2024 19:19:37 GMT
Plan, the meeting, of the thing he wasn't really aware of what it was, uh. Well as long as she explained the whole thing to him that would be fine, he thought, it's something new to learn.
By the time Evelyn was apologizing for offering him bugs, Kyle was already just swallowing an entire cricket biscuit. He couldn't really tell it was an insect cookie, it just tasted like cookie, but it felt pleasant in his throat and that's all that matters. He carefully tied up the bag and leaned all the way to his desk to place the rest there. It's not very often that he gets smuggled snacks, let alone snacks made with him in mind as opposed to a bag of Doritos, he wants them to last.
Kyle shuddered as the bout of silence of the background video snuck on him and played upbeat piano again, prompting him to turn around and look at the thing in action. He visibly squinted as he saw the letters elaborate how he was meant to sing about...being exhuberantly fecund to the point it was a liability. Is this a real song? Maybe it was made for this because Evelyn did mention something about it being exciting and/or embarassing. Kyle swung his tail to the other side as he looked back at Evelyn, pointing at the screen, was she going to sing this for him?
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Post by Countess on Nov 7, 2024 4:12:05 GMT
Evelyn's countenance brightens as she sees him eat the cookie. "If you really like it, I can always make more," she says, nodding enthusiastically. "I can even show you the recipe, and we can make them together!" she says, starting to get excited about that possibly happening, even as she is also trying to plan a karaoke party for the rest of the Champions. Roy will totally sign off on this, right? Not that she needs his permission, if anything they need Robo's... Right? Nah... it is all just team building! Perfectly normal, no permission needed.
The song changes, and at first she doesn't notice. It is perfectly in the background, and she is perfectly manic in her planning of making everyone on the team happy forever...
"Mmm?" she hums, a bit of a question in the sound. She follows his pointing tail, and it takes a couple moments...
"Oh. Oh, no no no no," Evelyn says, laughing away the possible embarrassment. She's taught kids for years- she can shake off things like this rather easily. "No- so, this is definitely not appropriate for me to sing to the Champions," she says, shaking her head. "Yeah, it hits the notes of embarrassment, but it is not okay for an adult to sing this to children, nope, noooope," she says, still shaking her head. "It also isn't appropriate for me to sing it to my coworkers. I might get in trouble with HR... do we have an HR?" she asks, thinking.
"Oh, I hope it isn't Dinah..." she murmurs.
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Post by swapgo on Nov 8, 2024 18:15:52 GMT
Kyle wondered how Evelyn enjoyed the cookie he was eating.
It was like he kept one eye on Evelyn and one eye on the screen, as the latter continued to get groovier and depraved-er. Evelyn said it's not OK for her to sing that, can no one else, then? It seems to exhude confidence at the very least. Are there children amongst the Champions? Is he one of them? Margaret talked to him about how big and grown up he had become since she adopted him, he didn't think he was a child, children are, like, small, and they are not allowed to stay up until after 9, and he is big, and watches grown up movies (and largely thinks they are boring), and also doesn't see anything weird with this not good for children song. All of this internal pingponging was only relayed with a few head twitches here and there and also his tail kind of realizing that it was sore and finally thumping to the floor.
Well, if Evelyn thought it wasn't approppriate then it wasn't correct. Kyle planted one foot upright on the floor and very quickly rose to full height, taking a singular step to reach for the controller and just fastforward a bit for something that's hopefully a bit less problematic, whatever that meant. He stared at the screen for a moment and opened his mouth, entertaining the idea of giving this a shot, though slowly closed it again in apparent confusion, why were these letters frustratingly slow this time? And also what is an H R? Isn't that the Alien guy?
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Post by Countess on Nov 11, 2024 23:12:57 GMT
"Oh! Well- I honestly already tried one cause... well..." Evelyn starts, looking a bit sheepish. "I don't know if you like things the same way I do, much like I don't know if anyone likes anything the same way I do... But I had to make sure it wasn't like... you know, the worst," she says, making a bit of a face. "They were good! I just couldn't get over the idea it was... you know... bugs," she says, face getting a little green. "I know they are a great source of protein, and many cultures around the world eat bugs, I just... can't. When I was a kid, and I watched The Lion King, there was a lot of bug eating, and I... well, I was a kid, and I thought it was okay..."
Evelyn gets a distant look in her eyes as she shudders. "It was not okay."
She moves away from that memory. "Oh! I really... think of anyone that is nineteen or younger as a kid. Comes from being a teacher," she explains. "Maturity is hard earned, but the kids here are my students. The song was one of a..." Evelyn starts eyes rolling as she thinks. It isn't an attitude, but her looking around as she tries to weigh how to impart this on Kyle. She definitely makes sure the door behind her is still open. "... overtly sexual nature. It just isn't appropriate for me to sing that to people I am mentoring, or working with. If I was with friends, ones I don't have the relationship I have with say... you, Batgirl, or Arsenal... it would be okay. Does that make sense?" she asks, head moving to the side in a question of her own. Her saving grace here is that she is educating him on something.
"Oh! This is a good one," Evelyn says, beaming as she listens to the intro. "And- HR is Human Resources. It is like... People that work to make sure everyone is treated fairly and appropriately in a company," she continues to explain, glad that they have moved on. "Can- can you sing?" she asks, curious. "Or... hum?"
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swapgo
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Post by swapgo on Nov 12, 2024 0:20:33 GMT
Weird, when you're small is when you need this kind of stuff, that's how it worked out for him at least, human person stuff.
Kyle thought that being a kid was more of a sliding scale thing, like, at some point they'd let you sit on the couch, then at some other you get to stay up late, and then at some other you have to make food and move furniture. Kyle looked down to one of his hands and seemingly did some sort of math, trying to discount the kinds of people you know but you wouldn't sing this song with, I guess...the cat? And, like, people you don't really know and/or like? Strange idea. It didn't make much sense, what Evelyn said did, and he kind of remembered to nod to her to inform her than it did, but he once again stared at his fingers for a moment before moving on to what he meant to do.
Given that explanation, Kyle wondered who dealt with people like him or Weld that weren't a human resource, and also if this was a company, he thought it was like...the cool people club, and not a place where you do office things. Kyle was very quick to nod that he could not sing, given this conviction, it was interesting to him that he sought to try anyways. Humming is, something he hadn't considered, does that count? It's, like, the nonintrusive singing right, when you have a tune in your head but you don't want to do the Disney Musical thing. Kyle closed his mouth for a moment, seemingly deeply in focus as his left hand tight gripped the desk he was leaning on. People do the thing with their mouths closed right that's why it's not singing, no matter how much his tongue moved it was no good. His throat puffed up and he exhaled and hissed, definitely making a few guttural noises here and there, but it felt like cheating to open his mouth and all that. How does it go from here?
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Post by Countess on Nov 12, 2024 0:44:21 GMT
Evelyn just gives Kyle a smile. It is a difficult concept, even for adults like her. She can see him doing the mental math. "If you are ever in doubt, ask me or Roy, yeah?" she settles on. "It is all about making sure everyone feels comfortable," she continues. "The last thing anyone here wants is for anyone to not feel good hanging out together, right?" she says, making it simpler. "But you are right, sometimes things aren't so clear cut. Age isn't the same thing for everyone, so I just try to err on the side of brain development being done or nearly so and if I have a position of authority over that person," she says, knowing that likely isn't helping.
Move on, Ev!
"Well, Human Resources is just the name, but it applies to everyone associated with the company. You, Weld, me..." she says, hoping this clears things up. Whenever she talks with Kyle, she always worries she makes him more confused than before.
At his "humming", Evelyn smiles and claps along with the beat, head going from side to side. She isn't the type to care if something is "good" or "bad", but rather the effort put into it. "Hey! That's awesome!" she says when there is a space for her to do so. "You can open your mouth! Whatever you want, whatever works, whatever feels fun," she says, grinning. When she gets excited like this, there is a faint glow to her skin, something just below the surface.
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Post by swapgo on Nov 13, 2024 17:23:54 GMT
What sounds fun? Uh, so far none of this feels fun, it is kind of exhausting, but most fun things are exhausting so we'll get there eventually.
Kyle took some deep breaths, somehow winding himself out for a spell by essentially breathing extremely inefficiently for the last dozen or so of seconds. OK so he hasn't figured out this humming thing, but Evelyn was still into the whole ordeal, maybe, he couldn't tell. Was she clapping this slow sarcastically? Or is it just because the song is this slow? He had stopped paying attention to the song for a moment, and Evelyn is a nice person, so surely its the latter. Kyle scratched his beard as it pleated back to regular size, OK so maybe he can't hum yet, can he do something else?
The lizard opened his mouth slightly, unsurprisingly, it made no noise, and exhaling didn't really make noise either, at least, not for long. If he tried to carry a tune by doing this he would pass out, even with this slow pop song. But he did feel a sound, it just didn't last very long, maybe he could just not release it. He hissed briefly and flinched, before hissing again, a drawn out, grave, static-y noise that didn't amount to much, maybe his tongue needed some realigning?
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
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Post by Countess on Nov 14, 2024 16:32:31 GMT
Evelyn can tell Kyle isn't really enjoying himself with this. She doesn't take it personally- especially when he is trying so hard. Not everything is for everyone, and it just means she will have to try harder to find the Thing that everyone on the team can enjoy. Karaoke still sounds fun, however, so she will try to get most of the team together for it.
"That was something!" Evelyn says, beaming at him. She starts to glow a little brighter, the room getting warmer. "A little weird, but aren't we all?" she says. "I liked it, anyways." Eve is honest in that assessment- she's a quirky person here to be positive and kind, not really interested in sandbagging anyone. Uplifting is so much more interesting, anyways!
"So... if Karaoke isn't for you... but you like music... have you considered making your own?" Evelyn asks, musing that. Oh man, could the team form a band?! They would be so friggin cool!
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Post by swapgo on Nov 14, 2024 22:06:47 GMT
Kyle appreciated the encouragement, he also appreciated the fact that his terrarium seems to get more comfortable just from Evelyn, uh, "vibing" here, if he understands that word correctly. It did make his throat sore, but he wasn't thirsty at the moment, maybe later.
He slowly closed his mouth but left it slightly ajar as Evelyn suggested making music, tilting his head in consideration. Did he like music? Certainly TV Cable and now The Internet had no shortage of things he could ponder on while resting, but he actually gave one of those long thoughts he did about whether or not that was a true statement, trying to gauge whether or not he liked music because it was enjoyable or because it was longform entertainment on the internet that didn't require him to pay attention to it with his head, and was free (Kinda, the Youtube Music subscription is very welcome). At the end of the day since he was an enjoyer of silence for so long and also of old VHS movies and had since changed to mostly music, he had to conclude that, yes, he liked music.
No, he hadn't considered that though. He knew about writing, that's more like it. Margaret wrote romance dramas and mysteries, and he read them, and he didn't understand them, even though he understood the words in them. Kyle dabbed his hand across the table as he some steps towards his notebook. It was full of notes, of things he had learned, of rules and norms he was told, and of new ways to prepare food, but not really writing, for as much as he did it, and it entertained it, he didn't feel like he "understood" it. He looked at Evelyn expectantly, did it sound like something he could understand?
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