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It has taken some training, but Vic actually spends some time not in the kitchen making sure everyone is fed. Sometimes he's even not doing homework, though school has kept him busy, and so has work. It's his day off, his studies are studied, and he sprawls in a chair in the living room in jeans and a t-shirt, watching TV. His brow is a little bit furrowed, like he's concentrating. Only Vic could make relaxing look like it takes this much deliberation.
Kellan had been out for a run and had come back in, cold and shivering, and had dipped in to take a warm shower and thaw out. He comes out of their bedroom with his hair still a bit damp and touseled but half-dried, in a pair of jeans and a light, dark blue sweater. He wanders up behind Vic where he's slumped watching TV and asks, "Are you trying to solve the mystery? Guess the plot twist? Or figure out what they were thinking with their poor fashion choices?" he asks as he leans over the back of Vic's chair, arms folded on the back of it.
Jeb still hasn't gotten to meet everyone in the apartment that he'd casually moved into suddenly. Work, school, Jebediah's frequent fighting that kept him out late, all of that contributed to them never meeting. All he knows about Kellan and Vic is what he's heard from Jay. They like to kiss each other and share a bed and happen to both be guys. News which Jebediah took surprisingly well considering his upbringing. They were just /people/ like mutants were /just people/. Who cares who they want to kiss?
Today, as he's scouring through the 'apartments available' ads in a few different papers, he stumbles upon the pair of them in the living room as he's on his way to fetch some coffee from the kitchen, wearing a shirt a size too big for him and tattered jeans. "Oh." He says as way of greeting, startled at not being alone. "V…Vic and Kellan?"
Vic looks up at Kellan and smiles. All that consternation fades away. "Photons," he says. "I understand them in theory, but I don't really get them. They're both particles and waves? That's madness." He sits up a little so he can angle for one of those frequent smooches. "Hey, you. How was your run?" Then Jeb comes in, and he glances over. "Oh! Hey. Yeah, I'm Vic. This is Kellan." The looks, the accent, he ventures a guess, "You're Jebediah?"
"Photons.." Kellan echoes and then nods. Legit, it seems, he decides, that photons could indeed make one's brow furrow. He does lean down to give a quick kiss to Vic before saying, "Was good. It was cold, but good." He grins and then hears someone over his shoulder and looks over. He grins at Jebediah and says, "Heya. Yeah. You're Jay's brother, right?" He pulls away from the back of Vic's chair to offer a hand in greeting.
Jebediah nods, almost nervously when they ask his name and ask if he is indeed Jay's flesh and blood. "Ah mean, Ah know it's hard to tell because Ah'm so much better lookin' than him, but we did have the same mama and daddy." Jebediah teases but even that comes out nervous as he folds the paper, 'Apartments for Rent' has many, many sections circled in in pen as he reaches out to take the hand offered to him from Kellan. "You really are twins. Look just like Cabbage."
Vic grins broadly at Jebediah. "It's nice to finally meet you," he says. He sits up, turning in his chair to face Jebedian, and his quick gaze finds the paper. He can't read it from where he sits, but he sees it's got several circles drawn on it. "Looking for a job?" he asks. "Sorry I haven't been around much. Work and school's eating me alive, but it's worth it."
"Yeah, we really are. He's just the better dressed, grumpier one," Kellan says with an easy smile as he gives Jeb's hand a firm but friendly shake and then releases it. He seems a little curious at the nervousness, but he doesn't ask, instead giving the other Guthrie a little bit of space, leaning against the back of Vic's chair once more. "I've been kind of wrapped up in school, myself."
"Jobs?" Jebediah asks and looks down at the paper hidden in his arm. "Oh, ah.. no. Ah'm looking for another place to live. Think Ah've kind of overstayed my welcome and Ah also think my brother might want his own bed back. And y'all might want your own lives back too." He says kind of quietly, hiding the paper behind his back when it's pointed out. "Yer already so much nicer than Asparagus." He teases a little at Kellan mentioning that Kaleb's the grumpy one. "Ah think you're both pretty well dressed."
Vic says wryly, "You've been no trouble at all." He's barely had time to spend at home, so of course he's not been the least bit inconvenienced. "But I understand wanting your own place, not sharing a bed with your brother, even if he's a very nice brother." Tilting his head, he asks, "Who's Asparagus?" He tucks his legs under him on the chair, like the floor is lava, though in truth he's just getting comfy.
"Kaleb," Kellan supplies for Vic. "Cabbage, Asparagus.. vegetable nicknames." He grins a little bit over at him and then he says to Jeb, "I'll be honest, I knew you were around but I didn't know you'd actually moved in. Shows you how much I pay attention to who is living in my place these days. First Kaleb moved himself on in and it kind of went from there." He chuckles "You're fine as long as Jay doesn't mind since it's his space you're crashing in. I don't mind at all. My life lately has been running around and school, which is probably why you haven't seen me at all until now. So clearly we seem to be getting along just fine."
"Ah think it might be a little bit of Jay wantin' some control on his life again and a little bit of wanting Rutabega not to come apart at the seams because he's already spreading himself so thin. Working himself too hard. Ah think maybe it's just a little of everyone wanting control over their lives again and Ah completely get it. Was a little sore about it at first, but Ah understand now. Jay says he wants me to try the school but Ah'm not… a school learner.. Ah don't play great with others and Ah don't know if they'd let me in on account that and on accounta Ah ain't smart.. and Ah just don't know." Jebediah rants a little with a heavy sag of his shoulders. "Sorry to unload that on ya when we ain't barely spoke. Guess it was just all stuck in there."
Vic says gently, "Hey, it's all right. You gotta get it out, and it's not burdening us any. You can always visit, and I bet the independence will be groovy once you get settled in." With a rueful twist of his lips, he adds, "I learn better by doing, so then I went and decided to study history. It's all books. But going places, too, so there's that." He perks up and asks, "So what sort of stuff do you like?"
"The school's pretty cool, but we've all got our own way of learning, and you never know — I bet that they would help you out if you wanted to go. But if you don't, and you'd rather do something else, then that's cool too. Just know you're always welcome around to visit and all, even if you get your own place," Kellan says as he rocks a little bit back and forth from heels to toes and back again. He grins at Vic and says "At least you get to travel and see cool places?"
"Thank you, for sayin' Ah could still come around. Ah… Ah'll miss my brother a lot. And Lettuce too. But my brother most. Ah.. Ah get real scared that maybe he'll decide he ain't gotta see me no more, you know?" Jeb says, a moment of weakness shattering through his exterior to these complete strangers. "But Ah mean, on the bright side, no one will be around to tell me what to do. Ah can start fights every night and no one will look at me disapprovingly. Steal everyone's left sock." He rings the newspaper together behind his back. "Um. Well, Ah like music. Ah like fightin' obviously but Ah don't think that's a life skill ah can actually use. Ah.. Ah really like /craftin'/ now that Ah started doin' it."
"Oh, I doubt he's going to say decide that," Vic says. "Jay's a good guy, very family oriented." He idly takes Kellan's hand in his. Home is a safe place for affection, and he takes advantage. "Who do you fight?" he asks. "And what kind of music? And crafting?" Then he ducks his head and says, "I'm not trying to interrogate you. I'm just interested is all."
Kellan looks a little bit surprised at Jeb and for a moment he goes over and gives the boy's shoulder a squeeze, gentle, and looks at him. "If there's one thing that I've seen about Jay, it's that he doesn't let the people he cares about down, and he's good to his family. I can't imagine that he'd ever give up on you, or not want to see you." Kellan smiles encouragingly to Jeb, and then he steps back over toward Vic, settling on the arm of his chair and slipping his fingers through the other man's as he lets Vic ask the questions, seeming genuinely interested in the answers.
It's jarring for him to be touched by someone who looks so much like Kaleb when Kaleb never really touches anyone besides Max and Jay.. and well, probably Kellan too because that's his brother. He smiles a little, warmed by the reassurance that Jay wouldn't suddenly realize that Jebediah is an unneccesary part of his life, the way that Jeb was so sure he would. "Thank you. Both for tellin' me that. And well, Ah have been doin' this word burnin' thing. Ah can shoot electric plasma from my eyes… that's my mutation." He explains. "Ah learned to channel it and narrow it to burn designs into wood. Ah really like doin' that."
Vic's eyes widen. "That's a cool trick," he says, "and a groovy thing to do with it." He rests his cheek against his hand clasped in Kellan's. His loose curls are disheveled, and in his sock feet, he is quite the loaf. Friendly loaf, though. "That's the coolest mutation I've ever heard of." Quickly, to Kellan, he adds, "Yours is cool, too. Just, wow." Vic, pro-plasma. "I'm just strong and fast and telekinetic."
"Hey," Kellan says, "That's pretty cool. I cans plit into multiple individual copies of myself and I can split my mind multiple different ways so that I can do all kinds of different things at once like read my history homework and make dinner and go for a walk and sit in on a class for Kaleb all at the same time." He then laughs when Vic says that Jeb's mutation is the coolest one he's ever heard of. He doesn't seem to take it personally, and gives Vic a little nudge at the clarification, grinning.
"You can make multiple /intelligent/ copies of yourself?" Jebediah asks, incredously. "And Telekinetic means you can move things with your mind right? Wow! Wow! You guys are really cool!" He forgets for a moment this talk of moving out to swoon over the other two men in the room.
Vic ducks his head and says, "It's kind of cool, I guess. Still, laser eyes. And you can see, so, like, can you see when you're shooting plasma beams? What's that like? Sorry, if this is invasive it's okay to tell me to can it, man. It's just really interesting." He grins then and looks up at Kellan with pride. "My guy's powers are pretty cool, yeah."
Kellan nods his head, "Yeah, I currently have one copy that I've had around for a couple of weeks now who is currently on a bit of a road trip. I'm aware of everything that's going on but it's in a separate part of my mind, so while I"m there, crashed out in a hotel in Chicago, I'm also here talking to you." He grins a little lopsidedly at Jeb's reaction. He then grins down at Vic and says, "So are yours. This is an apartment full of cool."
"That's… that's incredible, Kellan. Ah can't even fathom, yer.. yer so damn /cool/!" He exclaims, stammering and stuttering about it, he even seems to bounce a little in place. "Doesn't that put a strain on you.. like.. mentally? Do you get tired easily? You ever confuse yourself as to where you are?" He can't help but ask every question at once. "Ah can still see while Ah'm shootin' em, yeah. If Ah close my eyes, the beam stops. It's good that Ah can see so I can control where Ah wanna focus it. Ah can narrow my eyes to make the beam smaller."
Vic's eyes narrow reflexively as he thinks about focusing the beam. "Wow," he says. The questions directed at Kellan cause Vic to grin and press a kiss to the back of his boyfriend's hand. When he looks up at him, there's unrepentant affection in his eyes. It's pretty disgusting, how schmoopy it is. "Those are good questions," he murmurs. "I don't think I've asked half of them."
"So.. yes and no.. I mean.. I can maintain up to four of me doing normal stuff like everyday thinking, talking, driving, learning a class, that sort of stuff, and it's not really a thing. I mean, I'll get tired, all of me will get tired, pretty much like normal. But if I start ramping up how many things I'm trying to do at once, try to make more copies than that, try to do like really advanced calculations or have to study intensely for something that's hard for me, then yeah, I start getting tired real fast and I need to recharge," Kellan says and then he says, "But also my brain's usually doing several things at once so it makes it really hard for me to sleep.. and that means that wipes me out almost more than having the copies do.. so usually I only make copies when I need to, and I just do things as one person most of the time. This road trip is an experiment, to kind of figure out how far I can maintain the link.. what might happen if I get too far. How long can I keep a copy going for independently.. " He then grins a little and shrugs his shoulders, "I'm still figuring it all out, myself." Then he nods and says, "That's really neat. Can I see some of your etchings sometime?"
Jeb smiles when Vic mimics what he would have to do to narrow his focus. he wonders if that's subconcious. "Are they just like… images? Or do they need maintenance too? Do you need to eat and drink in all four bodies? Or just the original?" He asks, the questions roll off his tongue so easily as he wonders about absolutely everything when it comes to Kellan's power. "Ah'm sorry, Vic, askin' so many questions of Kellan and not of you, Ah'm just real curious. Of course you can. Ah made a sign for Lettuce out of a wood pallet, says 'life doesn't start before coffee' and looks like a coffee stain around it."
Vic grins as he says, "I'm pretty easy to understand. Grr, strong. Woosh, fast. There's a little more to it than that, but not much." He uncurls his legs so he can guide Kellan to the chair. He's happy to provide a lap and be furniture for his boyfriend. "I can see Kaleb liking that sign," he says. "It speaks to one of his fundamental truths."
"If I keep them around, yeah they are discrete individuals, so .. usually I just create and dissipate them within a couple of hours so they don't need much maintenance, but like, being in two places at once and having a distinct second for some time now? I have to eat and sleep and do all the things that I would need to do in one body in two separate bodies," Kellan explains in answer to the questions asked. He laughs a little bit at the sign made for Kaleb and says, "That sounds about right." When Vic pulls him into the chair he kind of slides off the arm and settles kind of into the chair next to him, though he's careful to watch Jeb for signs of discomfort. He's generally careful around others and their comfort level, particularly Jay's since he lives there.
"That must be so hard. To sleep, to eat, to do something in one place to upkeep a second body that's so far away. Ah can't imagine the strain that must put on you. Yer incredible, Kellan, really incredible." Jebediah doesn't seem to be all that uncomfortable with the pair sharing a chair, at least not outwardly. Inside his head sirens whir for a little, telling him that two men shouldn't sit that close but he swallows that, repeats what Jay said. They're just /people/. "Ah wanted to do somethin' special for Kaleb and Ah don't have a lot of extra money to spare. Ah made it with a pallet Ah knicked off a store."
Vic is so clueless. Kellan is the aware one when it comes to displays of affection at home. In Vic's defense, he's not even a year old yet. People fascinate him, he loves them, but he doesn't always understand them. He does glance Jeb's way though, as he sees Kellan doing it. Oh, right! Sometimes affection should be a bedroom thing. When Jeb doesn't seem outwardly bothered, Vic wraps his arms around Kellan. "I think that's a perfect gift," he tells Jebediah." He laughs and says, "Do you know how many times he's tried to have that coffee pot replaced? It works just fine."
Kellan shrugs his shoulders and says, "My brain can split multiple ways, so it's only like I'm doing it once per consciousnes.. it's really hard to explain, but really it's not too bad. It's only if I start doing that multiple times with multiple copies that it would really wear me out." He then grins, "That's really nice of you."
"It's really hard to explain and Ah'm not the brightest but I think it sounds absolutely amazing. Yer /so cool/, Kellan. Can Ah still come over and ask you a million questions when Ah go away?" He asks, and its almost like he's pleading, a happy little puppy full of endless questions. When Vic wraps his /arms/ around Kellan, Jebediah has to tell his face not to twitch actively. It's just like Jay and him hugging, it's no different than if one of them were a girl. It's /fine/ and it is.
Vic grins and hides his face against Kellan's arm as Jebediah continues to ask questions. "You're pretty cool," he tells Kellan, somewhat muffled, but then Vic looks up at him. "I always knew that, though." He offers Jebediah a friendly smile, but doesn't interrupt further, content to watch the conversation.
"I mean, sure. I"m not going anywhere. You can ask me questions whenever you like," Kellan laughs just a little bit, asn though seeming surprised that Jeb might think he'd say otherwise. He then laughs over at Vic and says, "So are you, you know." He then looks over toward Jeb and says, "Vic can help give me energy if I'mf eeling drained, and if I can't sleep, he can take energy from me and help me get exhausted and sleep."
"How does he do that? Which of his powers can make him do that?" Jebediah asks and then he slowly lowers himself to the floor, propping his chin up on his hands, wanting Vic to tell him everything about Vic now. "Is the telekinesis? Ah thought he could only move things with his mind."
Vic shakes his head and says, "Nah, it's, like… I'm not really a mutant, I just pass for one. I've got this life energy inside me that is me, and I can extend it past my body when I want to, or I can draw it in and pull in energy with it. Give and take, see? When Kel's got all his wheels spinning and needs to get some sleep, I just pull some of that energy off."
Kellan nods his head in agreement with Vic and says, "It just makes me feel real tired and I can finally pass out." He grins a little lopsidedly, leaning back against Vic comfortably as he explains. "It's really cool, actually."
Jebediah cocks his head to the side when Vic mentions that he's not really a mutant. "What does that mean? Are you an alien? My friend Doug said that some of those exist here. Is that what you are?" He asks, wide eyed, like a kid in a candy shop.
Vic shakes his head and says with a quiet laugh, "No, I'm from Earth. I'm a mote of cognizance made from magic, inhabiting a body whose previous occupant didn't need it anymore." He says it with such simple sincerity, like it isn't complete gibberish, honest. "It's just easier to live as a mutant than try to be different from everyone else. I like belonging."
"The previous occupant of the body was brain dead. He was gone, but the body was alive, and so Vic's, sorta OldVic and NewVic blended a little bit, some old memories, and a new consciousness.. he's pretty amazing," Kellan says as he glances over at Vic and gives the arms around him a squeeze.
"A moat of what? Isn't that like, when there's a bunch of water surrounding a castle or something. Ah don't know what some of those words meant, to tell ya the truth. So.. what.. how did you exist before you were in this Vic's body?" Jeb is struggling hard to wrap his mind around this concept.
Vic grins at Kellan, sheepish as he says, "I dunno, I'm all right." He gives Kellan a squeeze in turn. "You explain it better than I could." He then holds up to Jeb a finger and thumb denoting something small. "Like a dust mote, only made of magic. As for how I existed?" He shrugs. "I didn't. There was no me, then there was."
"Kind of imagine a ball of energy, just sort of crackling and hurtling through space," Kellan says, "Like this little ball of lightning with nowhere to go and no way to like, interact and talk and be on a personal level.. a person.. and then bam.. he found a body, and then he could person… because the energy was now the person."
"That sounds real cute when you explain it like that. Like Vic was the most adorable thing in the world whirlin' through space til he found his body." Jebediah teases a little with a smile, settling his chin against his hands.
Vic ducks his head and grins at this talk of him being cute. "I guess I was kind of like this cosmic energy that had the potential for unspeakable power and destruction." He worries his lower lip between his teeth, then says, "But I picked being human, because all that other stuff sounds like bad news. I like being human. I like sunshine and coffee and waking up every morning. I like sleep!" Oh how thrilled he looks about sleep. "And Kellan and everyone else. I definitely made the right choice.
Kellan grins and says, "Yeah, he's still pretty cute even after finding his body." He then falls quiet and nods along as Vic explains a little bit more to Jeb.
Jebediah smiles when Kellan agrees that Vic is still cute now. They are just like anyone else, Jay was right. He hopes one day that he finds someone that looks at him the way Kellan and Vic look at each other. "That's kind of amazing. I think I should finish my apartment hunting though. I was going to steal some coffee and then go visit a few of these. Thanks for talking to me and it's nice to finally meet you." He says as he slowly rises to his feet as goes back to his quest for caffeine