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Kaleb stayed the previous night as Maximus' apartment breaking in the new drafting table and keeping him company while he's been busy working on, oh something save destroy, confound, or confuse all of humanity…or just Kaleb as its possible only witness. Miller Twin #2 took his coat off and looked, as always, like a tiny successful wall street banker as he was comfortable. In socks, and without fanfare he walked down into the room where Kellan was and sat. AND stared watching him. Echo blinked and looked around for other Kellens…Kell-i…Kellenses?! Brothers. *Hey* he greeted in his head out of reflex and habit of just having his brain latched onto like two magnets meeting up and hanging out.
It's true. Almost as soon as Kaleb walks in the door, the connection between the two is established and maintained, usually only broken when the two separate to go off and do their own things. Hey comes the response in Kaleb's head without Kellan looking up from his reading. There don't appear to be any more of him around at the moment, just the one. He must not have a lot of homework to do. Glancing up from the book then, he smiles a little bit and asks How's Max? without uttering a sound.
Kaleb set his messenger bag down on the floor against the couch with a hit of a subtued but thousand watt grin. He answered back with a chuckle, "He's good. really good actually. We, um, we talked last night for a while. Planned. Drew. He fell asleep on the couch to the sound of me scribbling so I stayed over. It was…it was perfect." Kaleb was focused on Kellan's work but finally looked up at him nodding in simple agreement. "We're happy… it's weird but ti's good." He was quiet and actually spoke even if it was harder,, and frankly with either of their powers? It was just tedious to him, "Kellan? Thanks."
Kellan grins a little bit and says out loud, "Good. I'm glad. I like that he makes you happy. You deserve it." He closes up the book that he was reading and stretches his arms over his head, bending one elbow and then the other and tugging it over his head dn then resting back against the couch, stretching his legs out comfortably. "And that sounds like a really nice night." He pauses for a moment and then raises his brows, "For what?"
Kaleb had no real modesty but he wasn't gloating he was… weirdly just content. We are in foreign territory here. "Heh, yeah, well." And that was Kaleb's mastery of the English language, folks. "Turns out I make him happy to. It's… it's good. Healthy. We kinda like… I dunno." His tongue traced his lower lip thoughtfully looking to Kellan using think-speak instead to push more of the concept through in its intent where Kellan could get the thought as it was. Yes. That. That balance between a frantic break in reality and total inspiration but not falling off the bridge as it were.
Kaleb's foot nudged Kellan's foot and he was, in a strange, raw sentimental state. Must be a leap year. "Just… being the most phoenominal brother ever." He paused and sighed looking back up to Kellan with a shrug, "I really… don't tell you that enough, and I miss just hanging out with you. Like we separated for ourtrips for our birthday last summer, and everything fucking changed like… by a lot. You started a life that's finally yours, all hell broke loose and we've been dealing with balancing everything and really it's made me realize something, I just really… miss hanging out with you." The Miller that never needed andthing shrugged "We're growing up and I'm afraid… I don't want that to get lost in the everything-ness." Yeah there was feeling. Kaleb's jaw tightened slightly but it wasn't anger that surfaced it was hunger. A wry grin warmed, "Let your asshole brother take you to lunch? You eat yet?"
Kellan sits on the couch, a school book on the side table next to him, talking to Kaleb. He raises both brows a little bit as Kaleb waxes sentimental, as though considering whether it might be a pod person or if he were really drunk and was talking to one of his own copies. That could happen. But it's a fleeting thought. There's a genuine little lopsided smile when he realizes Kaleb is being all sincere. "Yeah, I miss hanging out with you, too. But I mean, we kinda knew that was gonna happen, right? We graduated high school. Life was gonna change. We were going to start finding things that were our own to do. Growing up means we've got a lot more going on than we used to, and sometimes that's in different directions. But we're always part of each other. We're never going to lose us, not in the middle of everything, even crazy aliens trying to eat the planet or whatever." He pauses and then grins, "And yeah, speaking of eating the planet — lunch sounds good."
Kaleb has actually waited until Kellan was drunk to convince him he was one of the duplicates by wearing jeans, a t-shirt, his hair loose and just reading a book like nothing was up. This was not one of those times. Still, it was a rare time, again leap year, that Kaleb waxed honest. He was definiately in a weird place, but it wasn't a bad place. It didn't mean he cared much for the truths of of the growing distance. He looked back and squessed the nee of Kellan's jeans. "Let's not let that gap get too far." Checking the clock he hrmmed and said "Though Max would be over here already. Ideas for food? It's cold but we could kick over to Soho. They got some neat things. find… I dunno. Somethin new. I feel like we need to find an adventure that we know nothing about buuuut we're amid 'home ownership' which kidna qualifies. What we want for food that's not barbecue?"
Speak of the devil. Kaleb can hear him. The way his feet come off the elevator with confidence, the perfect thump thump of his genetically flawless circulatory system, and the 4 hummed notes that are a section of some tune he heard on the way over. Then. Knock! Then. Open anyway without waiting. He lets the door swing, steps in, then taps it in the direction to close itself. "He-loooo." he greets with a flap of one hand outwards.
Kellan pulls himself up and gives Kaleb a sudden hug, squeezing him briefly and half-grinning. "You're stuck with me forever. Get used to it." It's his way of saying that there's no way that the gap is ever going to get that far. Then he considers lunch and says, "We could go down to SoHo. Honestly, I'm kind of in the mood for soup, something warm and comforting. Comfort food if you will." He glances up and over toward the door and says, "Heya Max." He makes his way over to grab his shoes to begin pulling them on. "Got any thoughts on lunch? I want soup. Kaleb votes no bbq."
Kaleb didn't get the door, but the jaunty collage of sounds made one Max with kept his amusement. Right now though he was hugging his brother. He knew Max got that sometimes a guy just needs his brother. Assured, he let him go but stopped Kellan for just a moment with a light tap to his shoulder… and fixed his hair. He knew that he would get only a - not even a fraction of a second before being swatted away. Shit! Mindlink was still on "Kell jsut… hold still!" but there was laughing inside his brother's head of mirth. Outside the quiet sonic walked over to Max, tugged his scarf, fizxing that, and patting it back down grabbing his coat again sliding his shoes on. "I know you're not a wild fan of barbecue. And soup… really sounds good though I might be picking up your hunger? Either way that kinda sounds like a win. Max come with us?" There was all affection in that fussing if one spoke 'grantie' as emoted gestrues.
Before the door swings fully closed, a hand stops it and pushes it open. "Hey." Teddy says, looking into the apartment but not stepping inside. He's abandoned his letterman jacket for a black leather bomber though it's only partially zipped up so reveals a black silk buttown down shirt. The black jeans and sneakers complete the look, if 'look' it is. "Heya. Catch you at a bad time?" he asks, checking out the coats and the stranger.
"Yes. Soup actually does sound good." When the door doesn't click shut, Max turns to push it again but there's a person there. There is, instantly, a guarded expression, like he's waiting for Kaleb and Kellan's reaction before he launches an attack at the totally nice fellow. Max is wearing a nice, black suit, but his hair is unruly curls at the moment.
Kellan grins when he sees Teddy at the door and looks surprised, "Heya. How's it going? We were just about to grab lunch. Come with us. You've already got your coat on." He smirks at Kaleb trying to straighten his hair. The slightly more ruffled twin is in a pair of jeans and boots he just pulled on with a long-sleeved green turtleneck. He grabs his own black wool pea coat and tugs it on before starting toward the door. "Max, Teddy, he's a friend. Teddy, Max."
Kaleb looked from Max to Teddy as Kellan did the speaking. Now Echo, was standoffish on a good day. It just so happend he seemed in rare form today and if there was any question about Teddy being in that inner circlewiththe 'apartment family' the following statement of startling honest would clear all that up. "Teddy? Hell good to see you." He followed it up pointing, "Boyfriend, teammate. Let's hunt soup." Well that was brief and ripped the bad-aid right off. Today wasn't a day for dancing around shit apparently.
"Lunch?" Teddy considers briefly before nodding. "Sure, why not. I haven't eaten yet." Meaning in the last couple hours. "Hey Max. How goes?" Pause. Boyfriend? When did that happen? Damn, he's been out of the loop lately. Wait. Teammate? "He… knows about you then?" About us, he should say since Kaleb just otued him. Not that he seems to mind.
Maximus arches a brow at the introductions, then looks Teddy up and down and nods. "Knows about /what/?" Max asks curiously as he brushes his hand down his front and buttons his coat back up. Then he looks to Kaleb, "There something I need to know about? Is he your ex?" Blink. Then a smile curves over his face and continues until it is a little too broad.
Kellan just kind of looks between the three, not sure what to say about all that, and so he says, "So, anybody know a place with really good soup in SoHo? I'm going to call the car." He then exits stage kitchen to grab the phone and ring up their driver to be waiting for them outside when they get downstairs.
Kaleb might have stopped dating Lorna and just changed tracks entirely it seemed. At TEddy's questions and plinking Kaleb gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Entirely, and saved our ass a couple times." He went to step out and blinked not expecting that question to come up and it confused him because it didn't make sense. "Wha- No, Teddy and I never dated. Only ex- of mine you know is the one that introduced up and the one's wedding we're goin to. He means about me being a Mutant. C'mon. Soup." He wrangled them out and down down down locking the door. Catching up he said to Kellan, "Heard about this place called the 'Tin Cup' from I think… Julie or Ninette. I forget but they said it was really groovy and has something called soba." He didn't understand Japanese noodles so it was lost on him but it sounded interesting.
Kaleb answers Max's question so he doesn't need to. But… "Call the car?" Geeze. "What's wrong with the subway? Or just walking?" Still, he just shrugs and heads out into the hall. "Okay, good. Makes things easier not having to hide stuff. You a mutant too, Max?"
|ROLL| Maximus +rolls 1d20 for: 19
Maximus takes a few paces out into the hall, before answering anything. Then, rather bluntly, his oddly accented voice carefully and tactfully describes why they are not taking the subway. "There are…/people/…on the subway." Then a pause. "And its noisy. Kaleb is a god of sound, and it loves him, too much." Another flash of a grin and he cocks his head. "No. I am a genetically engineered, partly alien, royal." Teddy gets another look, possibly seeing if the guy has a tail hiding somewhere, or any obvious traits.
Car called, Kellan returns and rejoins the others, seeing that everyone is still getting along. Good. He grins a little sidelong at Max and then Teddy, shrugging his shoulders. "It's cold and wet and the car's warm?" Then he makes to head down the steps, waiting for the others to follow along after him.
Kaleb grinned wih amusement knowing Teddy was either going to get the patence of genetic nobility… or the Joan Collins response. Alright it was a good day. He glanced back to Teddy and Max hasing things out climbing in the car looking to Kellan arching an eyebrow. There was a grin. "Remember when we were like 7 or something and we went to Europe with mum and dad but I got sick so we stayed at the hotel and we tried all the foods on room service without telling them?" Super nostalgic. "Hey, thanks Max." He looked to Teddy, "Also it'd be wrong to not judtify teh services of others. and… alll of the other reasons and it's cold and someoneleft out far." Far meing measurable by teh subway doesn't pull up under the awning.
Teddy pauses to look over at Max and give him a once over. "Partly alien? Huh. You'd think they'd have more to do than having sex with human women." A shoulder lifts in a shrug at Kellan's explanation but he doesn't argue. Cold's not something he worries about. "So, this place we're going to. It has more than soup right? Cause I wouldn't mind a burger or sandwich or something solid."
"It was a really really long time ago…and I do not think sex was involved. Just…some alien experimenting with their own DNA and things. You know…the horror stories ingrained in the human consciousness are /true/." Here, Max chuckles. "What did you say earlier, Kellan? Noodles? I think you can probably get chicken just about anywhere." He muses and stands closer to Kaleb. There's a brief and private grin at the man. They are coming off a very relaxing evening so he's…high on peace. "You know I am going to have to ask, at some point, what you can do." He mentions to Teddy. Then he follows after Kellan.
It doesn't take long to make it down to the car and then get into it. Kellan grins over to Teddy and says, "Pretty sure if they have soba they probably have other stuff, too. Various noodles, probably beef and chicken stuff. I don't think they'll have burgers, but you never know." He hops into the car and waits for the others. Then he grins at Kaleb and says, "Yeah, and most of the mini bar." Then he shrugs "Not like they noticed." Then the moment passes and he says, "So what have you been up to, Teddy? What's new?"
Kaleb piled in the car next to his brother giving Max a grin. Echo was in a weird point in his life, but ist was zen and he wasn't kicking that gift horse in the nuts. "Yeah Ted, ya missed a bit, but if it help you've been missed too. Kellan got smarter, Jay got courage, Vic got a home and I got a goddamned heart apparently. It's like the wizard of oz but without everyone having to live around really short people. Okay his dry humor didn't go anywhere. He knocked on the window and paused having an actual real conversation withthe driver before telling him where they were going or at least confirming it. He settled back in his chair announcing, "Never going back to using Human help if I can help it. ." Oh his pro-Mutant crusade didn't slow, it jsut started creating jobs instead of war.
"What horror stories are those?" Teddy asks curiously. Though at Max's question, he shrugs lightly. "Shapeshifter." he answers easily before looking at Kellan. "Nothing, really. Just work, work, work. Training to move up the company ladder and all that. But it pays the bills, right? Anyway, I'm sure I'll find something." Kaleb's Wizard of Oz analogies gets a grin. "Does that make Billy Toto?"
There's a laugh, but its not about the Wizard of Oz, which he's probably never seen. Maximus smiles though, "That's amazing, because we have recently been working on a machine to disrupt shapeshifting. Though…its for a specific sort, of course. Not /you/. Coincidences, right?"
"Wait, I got smarter?" Kellan frowns over at Kaleb a little bit. "I was always smart. I just started taking more classes at college." He smirks just a bit. Then he laughs at Teddy a little bit, "Well he is kind of eager and excitable sometimes..?" Do not tell Billy he just said that, his eyes say. Then he nods to Teddy and says, "Sounds busy. I've been studying a lot, really." There's a glance over to Max when he mentions the machine to stop shapeshifting. "That has to do with the aliens right?" Kaleb had told him a little bit about the aliens. He says to Teddy "There are aliens. And they're super cranky, and there are aliens that are hiding on Earth who are like shape-shifting stealth aliens." Yeah, he hasn't been too involved in all of that.
Kaleb squint at Kellen, "I said 'er'." He blinked and squint back. "It implies, somehow in your case, a broader expanse of knowledge… mainly cause you pulled my classes for that month I was unwell." Unwell… shot. Whatever. His foot nudged Max's foot and offered Teddy. "Max's gift is super-genuins. we've been working on the project." He looks to Max and offered, "Not quite the same type of shapeshifting buuuuut we could make sure it /doesn't/ work on him if he's game?" Oh god the engineer and architect were planning. Kaleb actually stopped himself. He looked to Kellan with the look of 'I'll attempt to behave'. I thiank that's the restaurant there."
"Yeah, the Skrulls." Teddy says, nodding. "They were fighting the Kree while also trying to take over various government agencies by infiltrating and replacing key people. What do you have to do with them?" he asks Max. "And how would you do that, Kaleb? Shapeshifting is shapeshifting."
"It has to do with an instability in their cell structure. Its genetic and commonly shared across the species. Its different than a shapeshifting as a mutant. Its possible the device could also affect another shapeshifer, but it won't once we've tuned it to resonate for Skrulls. Then, only Skrulls will be affected." Maximus leans back in the ride, comfortable, and unquestioning of either of the brothers' ability to get them where they needed to go. He just…tags along like he's asked. "We are assisting Jean Grey…and the Kree have been…potentially harassing my people. So, we'd like to see them gone as soon as possible."
As the car pulls up outside their destination, Kellan hops out and heads in to get them a table for four somewhere in the back, a 3/4 circular booth that they can all comfortably sit in away from the noise of the front of the room. There, he waits for everyone to gather and then slides into his seat, grabbing a menu and pondering what there is to ponder on it.
Kaleb croaked quietly keeping eyes on the noodle place. "Yeaaaaah Jean volunteered our team to do something about it and the Kree and the UN kinda told her get it done sooo this is our angle right now. Max and I are backboning the researcha nd design team aaaand we should probably avoid this one in the restaurant. By all means when we get home? Sure." He slid out and paused like he was waiting for possible bombardment and… there it was. He pulle d the small case from his inside breast pocket and instead of reading glasses it was earplugs. Max wasn't joking, Echo could hear everthing and sometimes that shit was just overwhelming. Kaleb went and sat across from his brother looking around the place and they had a areity on the menu, but specifically they had a soup bar fromvarious origins inclusding some sweedish meatball thing, and asian veggie. Other side were burgers and hot sandwiches. IT really did look like a win. "Kell, can I pick your brain later abou… somethin? I asked Jay and he didn't know but, I mean I guess open to the table." He had no humility to begin with and he trusted them to tell him if an idea was completely brained or not.
Teddy gets out with the others, giving Max and Kaleb a dubious look. "Or so you hope. Hearing a lot of assumptions without anything to back them up. Like the one that I'm a mutant. I'm not. And working for aliens seems like a really bad idea." But then they're in the restaurant and he follows suit and looks over the menu.
"I /suppose/ it was an assumption based on you being on his team and the fact that I can't even enter the school without 12 permission slips. Jean is going to provide a Skrull. We will test and tune the device on them, and then use it." Which, honestly, is akin to saying they are going to torture a captured Skrull, and then boot all of them off the planet using this crazy device. Max steps out of the car and looks over to Kaleb. "Now we all have to know what is on your mind, Kaleb."
When everyone at the table clearly knows way more about what's going on than he does, Kellan once more retreats into silence, and just listens to the conversation going on around him, and contemplates lunch. It's only when Kaleb asks about picking his brain that he says, "Sure, then just nods when it's opened up to the table." He fiddles a bit with his menu, tapping it between his fingertips, attention shifting from one table-mate to the other.
Kaleb sat and dropped the sound down around the table save for when the drinks order was taken. He blinked at Teddy. "What the hell?!" well no one ever said Kaleb wa eloquent or at all good with words, btu that was Echo for 'I did not know that, thank you for sharing'. "Oh then again… I guess your brother's not." Apaprently this was new enws to Echo. he shrugged, "Well I lounge corrected but we will think highly oof you anyways." Especially in mised company. "I'll admit I'm fucking curious now." Still he looked to Kellan and bit his lip nudging his food lieke he's promising no more business at the table."
Kaleb ordered his drinks and waited and asked his brother again, "Kell, soo… remember that album Jay got from Doug over Christmas? THe Zombies one?" He paused as an aside having not shared that one with Max, "You'd hate it." There was a faint grin not holding Max's dislike of rock music against him, "Well… they're in town and I found out that event lady that mom knows reached out to me and" The natty dressed Miller got blunt, "I wanna go… I don't think I can handle being in the venue."
"No idea who Jean is or what school you're talking about so…" Teddy just shrugs, more interested in lunch right at the moment. Glancing up from the menu, he gives Kaleb a curious look but then returns to trying to decide what he wants to eat. Though he's listening, he's not quite sure what the problem is.
Maximus listens curiously to Kaleb, then glances over at Teddy, then back to Kaleb again, "Because of the amount of sound? Or because of the clientell?" Because apparently to Maximus, it could be either of those things.
Kellan reaches over and gently kicks Kaleb with his foot, "So, about those soba noodles." There are days when he's not subtle, and now is one of those times. But when Kaleb mentions the concert and wanting to go, and not being able to stand the venue, Kellan looks thoughtful for a few moments, as though mulling something over in his head before he says, "I think I might be able to help with that, actually."
Kaleb looked to Teddy and said, "Hey, if you want to hang out tomorrow on your lunch I can fill you in on the unpleasant stuff in brief if you want." Teddy was his speed of people: that said he was pretty damn direct. He didn't finish the thought but Kellan knew Kaleb better than Kaleb ever kew Kaleb to the point of once asking him why doesn't he just pursue building design instead? That he didn't have to explain everything to him came as zero surprise and likely why he gravitated to asking. He hit Max with the bullet points: "Small, loud, concrete, screaming girls." The math was there. For a sound sensitive sonid it spelled 'potential seizure trap'. Heis full attention went back to Kellan very curious about his ideas here.
Noodles, meat, not a lot of liquid. Perfect. "Mary Jane." Teddy suggests. "Take some with you then have a toke or three when you start feeling like slapping someone."
Kellan leans his elbows on the table and says, "Well, I mean.. the problem is all the sensory input that goes into your ears, how sensitive it is, right? So.. what if you could go to the concert and listen to it with someone else's ears?" He points to his own. "You can go, pop in your ear plugs so you can't hear anything. I'll go with you, hang out, and I can just.. project the concert into your head… but since it'll be filtered through my hearing, it won't contain all the everything."
Maximus widens his eyes and looks at Kellan and Kaleb and seems…surprised and pleased. "Now that sounds like an excellent idea. The /perfect/ solution. I like it."
Kaleb snickered to Teddy with a wry grin, "Nah man I don't smoke." He nodded sidelong to Max. "He's allergic and I'm a control freak besides." He admits it at least. "It's a volume issue. Sensory overload concern." Which should satisfy as breveloquently as possible all questions, but Kellan had… potentially a perfect solution. He didn't even get into the immediate military uses this offered because the Zombies were playing tomorrow night. Kaleb jsut stared at Kellan for a moment. "That's…mad brilliant, Kellan. That'd… I won't even make you and Jay mad at me even." He blinked at MAx and the words sounded nonsensical unless one knew his roommate had wings. "The bird won't molt." He looked back to Kellan and hesitated to ask, "You… you'll go?"
"Yeah, sure, of course I'll go. Nab me a ticket, and I'll do it in a heartbeat. How many terrible dinners and functions did you go to for me? Dude, I can go to a concert for you. It's not like I don't like the music, either, so it seems like the perfect solution," Kellan echoes Max, glancing over at Max for a minute and grinning. "So yeah, let's do it."
Maximus nods faintly and supportively. He doesn't offer to go, himself, possibly just knows it would be a polution nightmare, or, aware that Kaleb wouldn't be able to chat with him anyway.
Kaleb grinned getting renewed confidence in this. He may not have to give up concerts after all. He was excited and were he not sitting or among the unwashed masses possibly be dancing in the living room. There was, however, mad cackling with glee inside Kellan's head even if the younger twin looked subdued on teh outside. The words could not be more sincere. "I'll do that. Thank you."