Upside Down

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

"Are we still fighting?" Jasper asked his brother, his words coming out slight strained since he and his brother were walking around on their hands. They had been doing it for a while now and would say that they had at least been doing it for over an hour. Thanks to their time in the circus and their power, pulling such a feat off was not impossible for them. It was a little difficult at times to keep you balance and have to deal with seeing things upside down unless you tilted your head the right way. You also had to deal with the blood flow in your body being a little off, but again nothing that was too big of a deal for the siblings.

They were more so tired because they had been doing it for a while as their mode of transportation to the student lounge. There they planned to play some pool, just something to get out of their room and not be outside. "If you keep bringing up you know what, yes. I told you I'll handle it later and I don't want to talk about it anymore." Casper responded, with the same level of strain in his voice like his brother. The two of them took a break by still remaining on their hands but rested up against a wall for a moment so they would not have to focus on also maintain their balance.

"I know...I know...you know I would break up with Franck if you wanted me to. You know that right?" Jasper asked his brother as he looked over to him with a mixed expression. He just wanted the two of them to be okay. He could not handle that they had been fighting for about a week now; it was just odd for them. "I know you would. I don't want you to. That’s not the-the-" Casper was starting to respond but then he started to get ready to sneeze. It was pretty loud sneeze and had enough force behind it to cause him to lose his balance, falling into his brother who almost fell into someone walking past. "Ouch." The two siblings muttered out at the same time as they remained still where they had fallen.

((Tag:Nico Martell))

[Nico Martell]

Nico swore he wasn't following them. He definitely wasn't following them on purpose or anything along those lines. If he were, he probably would have chosen people who didn't seem quite so... freakish to him. Some mutants did seem perfectly okay with their conditions and position and all that. Some seemed to outright revel in it. From what he could tell, and what little he'd heard, the two in front of him definitely fit that latter part all too well.

They'd been on their hands nearly since the student lounge, and Nico had seriously considered just phasing through them or around them or something along those lines. He probably would have, if he'd been at all sure he could do so without ending up with another guy somehow stuck to his torso in some nightmarish monstrosity. Because Nico was fairly certain that was precisely what would happen if he even attempted it.

So instead, he'd followed, though trying his best not to. The sneeze had finally pulled his attention off the ground and he looked to them. He stood a few feet from both, looking at them, eventually reaching out with a foot to gently tap them, wanting to know if they were, like, able to move or something, he supposed.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The siblings had no clue that anyone was 'following; them, because Nico was basically not and they were in the upside down zone. The zone they needed to be in, in order to maintain life walking upside down without falling. Too bad the sneeze messed everything up and the siblings lay still on the floor as they tried to get out of the upside down world. That and because the floor was not exactly soft and the blow flowing properly thought their body again made them feel a little dizzy. The tap had the siblings opening their eyes and looking up at the boy who had touched them.

"Gee, so kind of you. Kick a person while they are down instead of asking if they are okay." Jasper responded as he slowly moved to sit up and mess with his hair a little; it was back to their natural blonde color again. "I would come up for an excuse as to why he didn't say anything, but I don't have any." Casper said as he sat up as well. Clearly this guy was a jerk, the only explanation as to why he did nothing more than tap them with his foot. That was the Emory twin’s logic anyways as they rubbed their arms from having been on them so long and remained on the floor while their bodies adjusted to being right side up again.

"Who are you?" Jasper asked, figuring that they could at least be the ones with some manners around this place. They were so nice, how could anyone ever say that they were up to no good or bad people? Well...okay the siblings knew why people could say such things but right now they felt like they were perfect angles.

[Nico Martell]

Life kicked you when you were down. Nico was tempted to say as much, to point it out to them, but he didn't quite feel the urge to address them just yet. They were going off, riffing off one another in a way that Nico had seen twins do from time to time. The latino watched with little interest, wondering just what he'd managed to step into this time.

They adjusted and flailed and managed to at least get right side up. At some point Nico had taken a step back to give them enough room to do so. His hands slid into his pockets, but that didn't prevent his legs from moving or anything else from working. The question came and he offered up a shrug. "Another student?" he tried.

Nico barely waited a beat, already expecting a followup question. He knew he should at least try to head the tedious one off, spare them that much at least: "Nico."

Ta da: name. And what else did you owe a pair of weird strangers who did odd things in the hallway anyway?

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Hands were going into pockets, a step back was taken, and the boys saw it all because when it came to dealing with others they watched them closely. It was necessary to see how someone would react to the things they said or did, so they noticed almost everything. Was the guy intimidated by them? That would be nothing new for the brother. Many people could not handle a double dose of someone, especially when they looked alike and it was not because of a power but just from birth. When Jasper asked who he was, the responded they got had less then satisfied them.

Already the guy got one strike for being a smart ass but two could play at that game. Or in this case, three. There was going to be a follow up question, along with some statements but the guy ended up giving his name which calm that down pretty quick. For now. "So you are not a mute but your manners are not the best, we can work with that." Jasper said as he moved to fully stand up now, extending a hand to his brother. Casper took the hand and rose up to his feet as well, now the six foot and one inch tall boys; that were still growing, were standing up.

"I'm Casper and this is my brother Jasper." Casper introduced them, pointing to himself first and then to his brother. "Were you following us?" Jasper then spoke up once the whole introductions were out of the way. After all, the guy had been behind them when they fell so he had to be following them. Right?

[Nico Martell]

Not mute, but he might as well be. As for manners, well, Nico just shrugged at that. He was already starting to get a vibe with these two, the sort that hinted that it was best to keep your head down and respond only when they demanded it of you. Probably didn't help that they actually loomed over him, which was sort of impressive, given how tall Nico happened to be.

Casper and... Jasper. Well, at least they all had something in common: clearly their parents were not creative when it came to names. Nico just nodded with the introductions, wanting to make it clear that yes, he did hear what they were saying and was following along with the conversation. Oh look, and then the question he'd been dreading.

"More we were heading the same way," he offered. He turned and pointed back the direction they'd come from, then turned, following the path with a finger before extending it out and over the twins' shoulders. He raised his brows, clearly indicating that he was more than willing to continue along that path should they just kindly step aside.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

This guy was not really one for words and it was slowly starting to bother the boys the longer they were around him. Which had not been very long, so it was more so rapidly bothering them then it was slowly bothering them. They wanted; needed people to react or else they lost interest or didn't really know what to do. What were you supposed to do when someone was being a lifeless fish? Leave. He even just shrugged at the whole no matters then which had Jasper starting to glare at him and Casper let out a sigh as he and his sibling worked on adjusting to this different kind of personality.

They would not being the Ghost Boys if they did not at least give it an effort to trying to get a reaction out of the guy. Nico at least answered their question, even if it was not in any way special besides just saying he was just going the same way. Jasper gave his brother a look, not wanting to deal with this at all, especially when they had just not been in the mood for many things and being hyper sensitive of late. Casper just gave his brother a look back and looked back at Nico who seemed to want to get going. "What’s the rush? Have to pee? Meeting up with your boyfriend?" Jasper asked, smirking a little.

Yes, he was pretty sure Nico had to be gay because only a gay guy would think that long hair style was cute. Like Jasper was one to talk; he was bi, and he and his brother also had long hair but the way they wore it was not like the way Nico wore it. Which they thought was gay and not gay as in homosexual but gay as in lame...and a little homosexual. "Stay and hang out for a bit, or at least let us join you." Casper spoke up.

[Nico Martell]

Have to pee? Nico shook his head. He kept shaking it as they asked about his boyfriend. Nico was tempted to offer up the whole "not gay" bit as well, but he was fairly certain that they were just saying that to get something of a rise out of him. Either that or they were testing to see if he wanted to flirt. Nico didn't particularly care if people flirted with him; he'd long since learned to ignore people when they talked anyway. What difference did it make what they were saying? He did wonder what made people continually jump to that wrong conclusion though.

Oh look, an offer. Nico looked from one twin to the other, considering for a few moments. What was the harm, really? What was the worst that could happen? "Got nothing better to do."

And of course, another shrug.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The guy was not really reacting to their jibes or really reacting at all, but at least he was answering their questions. Well, if you counted just using your head to answer all the questions and not actually adding anything to be able to make a conversation off of. This was something the siblings could not function with and Jasper was certainly losing his patience rapidly as the guy was about as interesting as a wooden plank. "Brother, this guy is worse than a dead fish. At least a dead fish smells and you can poke at it. He is just, there." Jasper said, turning to talk to his brother but he didn't even attempt to speak quietly or to cover up that he was talking about the guy.

Normally this was something they did on accident but Jasper was doing it on purpose to see if that would get some sort of actual reaction out of the guy. He did at least speak on something that they supposed they could count as an acceptance but it was more of a ‘cause he had nothing better to do'. Asshole. The siblings were both thinking at this point as they looked at him, with Casper trying to figure him out and Jasper tempted to see if hitting the guy would get a reaction out of him.

"So...does that mean you are going to let us join you or are you going to hang out with us for a bit?" Casper asked since the guy left it vague on which he was going to do out of what was asked of him. "Or if you don't want to, you can go back to your dry life." Jasper muttered under his breath, not amused by this stump.

[Nico Martell]

A dead fish? That was a new one. Albeit, it wasn't that far away from the various things that Nico had been called in the past. Wet blanket came to mind almost immediately. He'd just never heard it quite in this context. But clearly he'd failed somehow with one of the twins (he'd cry about it at home later).

What did it mean? Nico tried not to look frustrated, sighing a little. He raised a hand up to brush back some of the hair. "Whichever?" he offered, lowering the hand and looking from one sibling to the other. Dry life? Yeah, Nico supposed. Which was why he seemed to constantly drift to people like these guys. If nothing else, they generally made life more interesting. "If you guys want to, I'm up for whatever," he offered, adding another shrug.

And that was pretty well how he'd ended up in jail in the first place, come to think of it.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Jasper really didn't like this guy, even less when he didn't react to being called worse than a dead fish. This guy was boring, like a tree. No worse than a tree. He was a board, a plank. That was going to be his name from now on. He still didn't really give much in the way of a response when Casper asked which one did that mean he wanted to do. Another answer that didn't really say what he wanted to do and left it to the brother’s choice. While the siblings liked to be in control, it was more so when someone actually cared about things, and was not like this.

"You have to give us a bit more than that Plank. If you don't want to be around us, then you can go do whatever." Jasper spoke up, not satisfied. He was only going to tolerate this guy for so long before he was just going to leave and Casper to likely follow. Casper probably was not upset because he always had a limited amount of interest in people who were different compared to the masses. However; while he was interested in Nico, the guy was being boring and not even giving an actual reaction to anything.

If the siblings did in fact have to feed off of people’s reaction; like the behaved, they would have been starving to death by now. He was up to whatever, huh? The siblings could find something fun there if he was honestly up forever. "Alright, then we are going to the girl's locker room. There should be a few in their changing around this time or soon." Jasper pointed out with a smirk as he turned to start to head in the direction. "Let’s go have some fun, unless you want to check out the guy’s bathroom. We can do that too." Casper added, motioning for Nico to follow as he followed behind his brother.

[Nico Martell]

A bit more? Nico was tempted to flash a cheesy smile and some raised thumbs or something along those lines. Why exactly were there requirements for hanging out with these two? Were they that popular or something? Perhaps in their heads they were, which generally was enough for people. Nico reached up to pull some hair back, eyes flicking from one to the other. At least one did seem marginally more interested in associating with him.

Brows went up at the mention of sneaking into the girls' locker room. "You do realize they're usually on guard for that," Nico pointed out, again looking from one to the other. He knew through personal experience, having been called as a lookout a few times. "There's also the cat," he looked away. That had been an interesting encounter that he definitely didn't want to repeat. The cat... intimidated Nico for some reason, at least enough that Nico wasn't keen on running into him again.

"But yeah, sure, sounds like fun,' He offered, adding a shrug. It did, to some degree. Or, more accurately, it sounded like the sort of thing that Nico knew people wanted to say was fun. Plus, at this point, he had a feeling that he was going to be dragged along regardless, so he should at least act like he was somewhat willing to be dragged.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The brothers would have been actually pleased if he gave them a smile, pretty much they would have been happy if he gave them anything besides just being a plank. How could anyone just stand around with no expression on their face or at the very least react to what they were saying about or to him? Like was there anyone out there that just took whatever people said to them and didn't get upset? Perhaps a computer but even then you could program it to have a 'personality' or at least that was what they heard. Honestly they didn't care about the latter but they did care about the fact that this guy was dry.

He actually gave them more than three words, not much but it still felt like it was the most he said since they met him. All they had to do was bring up the girls locker room, was that the angle they had to go with everything? Talk about girls and doing naughty things with or around said people of the female persuasion. "That is what makes it fun. If we could just walk in there to check the girls out without the risk then there would be no point to it." Casper responded, the twins not really worried about it in the slightest. "If we wanted risk free, we go on the internet to look up ladies." Jasper added. "Well, risk there is a virus." Casper responded to his brother. "Oh...true." Jasper responded back to his brother.

The siblings walking ahead to their destination the whole time, expecting Nico to still follow despite what he was saying about a cat. "Oh you mean that staff cat person thing? We have not actually met it yet." Casper said to Nico, the siblings pleased that the guy seemed up for it all the same. "There you go, not just say it with a mischievous smile or actually sound like you are looking forward to it and then I'll stop thinking of you as a Plank." Jasper said as he turned to reach back to try and pat the guy on the shoulder, a bit roughly.

"Also, if we run into the cat, we can just punt him." Jasper said, turning around and made a kicking motion as if he was kicking a football through a field goal. Casper just chuckled a little, picturing what it would look like to see a cat go flying.

[Nico Martell]

Ah, the risk made it fun. That was definitely something that Nico had heard before, and it was pretty well what had gotten him in trouble time and time again. He had a sneaking suspicion that these guys were likely the type to drag him right back into trouble. Yet Nico still found himself falling right into step with them, and, well, honestly agreeing with their assessment to some degree. Things were more enjoyable when there was a certain amount of risk to them. Plus, Nico definitely agreed to the assessment regarding real life girls versus virtual ones, even if he'd already been lucky enough to experience more than just a peep show.

Of course, none of this showed on Nico's face. He just kept right on following, listening to the twins as they mostly had a conversation with one another. Nico did nod as they asked about the cat staff. Apparently neither of them had actually encountered him before. Nico had, but it hadn't really been traumatizing or anything like that. He wasn't certain the cat wasn't going to follow him, but that was relatively low on his worry list, right along with being continually called a "plank" by these two.

They really weren't great at talking to people who didn't share their face, were they?

"Probably best to just take off," Nico replied, adding another shrug. "Cat can't move that quickly," and punting it would just result in more trouble. Nico did crane his head slightly, curious as to which locker room the twins were angled toward. he was also trying to remember if there were classes going on or sports. Somehow, he didn't fancy running into the handful of girls that played lacrosse or something.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The brothers still were not getting much out of the guy; Planck, and it was slowly starting to bother Casper now. They were talking about checking out girls here and clearly were talking about naughty things when they spoke of virtual ones vs the real deal. Still here Planck was not really reacting but he was following them. That could still have been because he 'didn't have anything better to do' or maybe it was because he was interested. Or perhaps he was the type to just want to be a witness so he could rat them out later.

It was because Nico was not reacting that they didn't know his intentions and that meant they could not trust him. The brother's didn't like not knowing someone’s objective behind what they were doing when it involved the siblings. So it was expected that with each step they were wondering if they should do this with the guy or just forget about it and go back to their room. It was not like they had this planned until they met the guy and wanted to get a reaction out of him. It was indeed true that the siblings were best at talking to one another, but they thought they did pretty well with Franck. It was just that Plank was not giving them much to go off of or really say anything.

He did speak up about how the cat did no move quickly and how they should just take off. Boo. Well it was true it would avoid them getting into trouble but it was hard to ignore how fun it would be to possibly punt the feline. They wondered how far he would go and if they could kick him so hard it would knock him right into his human form. Was that even possible? "Eh, maybe we will do that then." Jasper spoke up. They moved on still, getting to the girl's locker room, checking the time, and then looking to Nico. "You first." The brothers said as they gestured into the girl's locker room.