I13DT: Ruminating

[Will Stanton]

Will was in the sauna, still thinking.

He had actually let himself melt this time, with everything below mid-chest falling down into a pile of clay. If this bothered him, he didn't seem to show it. If he NOTICED it, he didn't seem to show it.

((open))

[Cecil Langdon]

Cecil walked in and made his way towards the Sauna and started to get in when he noticed Will's 'condition'. "Um, Will, are you okay?"

[Will Stanton]

"Yeah...it's good for the back muscles," he said, eyes closed.

He currently had no back muscles, per se.

[Cecil Langdon]

"What I mean is, you've kinda let yourself go, quite literally."

[Will Stanton]

"Oh, I'm sorry. If you're embarrassed, get me a towel, will you?"

[Cecil Langdon]

"It not that, just wondering if you'd fallen asleep in here or something."

[Will Stanton]

"Sleep? No. No, I'm wide awake. Definitely.

Good for thinking."

[Cecil Langdon]

"The sauna?"

[Will Stanton]

"And letting yourself go, but the steam and heat helps, too.

Kinda like being ironed, but in an open space," he observed.

[Cecil Langdon]

It seemed to take a bit before that fully registered in Cecil's head.

"Wait, did you just say 'ironed'?"

[Will Stanton]

"Yeah.

Of course, with the ironing, you get more pressure too, and that can be good. It's a bit more confining and a bit more restraining, which is nice. To get that here, I'd have to expand significantly."

[Cecil Langdon]

"If you say so, wouldn't work that way for me." Or anyone else.

[Will Stanton]

"Well, that's because you have flesh. It burns, it sweats, it reeks, it decays. It's covered with pores--do you know how many pores the human body has? Like, at LEAST five. Nasty stuff, when you think about it."

[Cecil Langdon]

"As if what ever you are made from isn't gross at all."

[Will Stanton]

"It's hygienic, microbe free, and soothing.

C'mover here and see, if you don't believe me."

[Cecil Langdon]

"I... think... I'll just stay over here."

[Will Stanton]

"I know what you're thinking, Cecil. You're not alone; I see it on everyone's faces when they look at me."

[Cecil Langdon]

"What, that you're... weird?"

[Will Stanton]

"That I'm a freak. That's the grapevine, right? Even the other shifters look down their nose at me. But as long as I play the part of a good little humanoid, two arms, two legs, one head, it's OK. I can pass, so I'm allowed into the club, isn't that right?"

[Cecil Langdon]

"I think your taking this a little too hard. Just because someone thinks the things you do are weird doesn't mean... they think you're inferior to... more normal people in some way."

[Will Stanton]

"Ah, yes, 'more normal'. Walking on air, stopping bullets with your mind, that sort of thing?"

[Cecil Langdon]

"That's not what I meant."

[Will Stanton]

"No, you mean normal like everyone else here, right? In this little menagerie of the strange and bizarre, I'm a standard deviation out. And that makes people uncomfortable."

[Cecil Langdon]

"No, what I mean is, just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to. If I was doing my stage tricks like the invisible bicycle or others all the time around campus, people would think I'm weird too."

[Will Stanton]

"And just because it makes you uncomfortable, doesn't mean I don't have to stop it.

You know what? I'm the captain of the fucking X-Teams. I don't need anyone to tell me what I can and can't do; I've proven myself time and again.

If people can't handle that I'm different, you know what? Tough. People are uncomfortable because I'm hanging out in plastic? They can kiss my ass--but only if I have an ass to kiss at the moment."

[Cecil Langdon]

"Whatever." Cecil says as he gets up and walks out.

[Will Stanton]

Will put his arms behind his head, and melted a bit more into a puddle of clay.