Wallace poked his head out from beneath the bed. The noise had stopped. He shuffled over to the door, and stuck his nose into the main room. Nothing had changed; everything was still there. but now they were quiet. Strange. wallace shuffled over to Thing 1 (Rupert for those who don't know) and nuzzled his nose against its hand. Maybe it would go and get him some food.

By the time Sonya gets herself untangled from Wing-boy and on her feet, things seem to have calmed down a bit, and she takes a moment to survey the situation.

Naveed, while still basically being a jerk, is no longer throwing a tantrum.
Wing-boy, while still nervous, is no longer in full-fledged (pun fully intended) panic.
The dogs, while still dogs, have stopped their annoying caterwauling.
And Rupert -- well, actually, somewhat to Sonya's shock, Rupert has been something vaguely resembling the voice of reason throughout this whole strange little interlude. But he's lying half-dazed on the floor, which might explain it.

A sane woman would take the opportunity to flee. But she did tell Syn she'd gather all the information she could, and she really does want to know what Rupert was doing with this mutant kid in his apartment. She hadn't paid too much attention to Rupert's answer to Naveed's question at the time, but the phrase "I can’t let anyone else get thrown in that place" floats up into her memory.

Imagine that. He has a conscience after all. Even if he did shoot his pregnant girlfriend. She's not really prepared to forgive him for that, conscience or not... but it's still nice to know. And as she reviews his entire answer in her head, she realizes there are more urgent issues to be addressed, and everyone else seems too distracted or beaten-up to address them.

"All right, everybody needs to calm down, right now," she snaps in what she's come to think of as the 'Grandma voice' -- not shouting, Grandma never actually shouted, but people listened to her anyway. It's odd hearing it come out of this skinny white girl's mouth, but she doesn't stop to analyze it. "You, Wings, get back inside before one of Rupert's neighbors comes out to investigate the ruckus and sees you. Rupert, make whatever damn calls you have to make, before your 'fellow officers' show up and find out you've been keeping a teenaged mutant boy in your bedroom. Having a mutant girlfriend's bad enough for your rep around the precinct, don't you think?"

"And as for you..." Sonya's more than a little surprised at herself as she walks over calmly to Naveed, ignoring both the dogs (!) near Rupert and the fact that Naveed could take her apart without half-trying, and slaps him, hard. Not hard enough to hurt -- not that Teresa's body was capable of that anyway -- but hard enough to get his attention. "You ever pull that mind-control stunt on me again and I'll find a way to make you pay for it. Do you understand me? Sit down and calm down and we'll see what we can find out about Raina."

She could stop there, she realizes, but she's on a roll and, in a weird adrenalin-laced way, rather enjoying it. "And at least try to remember that your precious little sister is an actual grownup person with a mind of her own, will you? I don't approve of her taste in men either," that with a glare at Rupert, "but this whole overprotective big brother thing gets real old, real fast."

Nobody seems to have responded, which -- now that Sonya thinks about it -- was often the effect Grandma had on people, too. So she puts her fists on her hips and glares around the room. "Well??!?"

(( OOC: I know I'm g'modding a little, but it seemed narratively appropriate. If you have a problem with it, just let me know and I'll change it. ))

ooc: hahaha no it was great! Gives me a chance to show that Navi can be normal- when he isnt angry

ic:

Naveed blinked as a hand collided with his face. He listened to Theresa and started to register what she said and then he let out the loudest out of character belly laugh. It sounded sort of like an evil santa.

It took him a moment to control himself and finally after whiping at his eyes he grinned a sincerely toothy grin at the woman. He gave her a manly slap on the back, "I like you girl, you're alright. We could use an assertive gal like you back home... I didn't mean to control you... sometimes I can't control when it happends." he admitted. "sometimes I can" he stood back up with his arms crossed and a smile for a moment but one look at Rupert and his eyes went hard again.

"I make no promises about *him*" he snarled. "I'll leave his fate in Raina's hands. I'll do what she wants me to do."

Then he looked back up at the kid with the wings. "What an extraoridnary mutation." he said is pure awe.

ooc: awww poor Cal, yeah, totally. PAUSE until Rupe gets to reply.

"EVERYBODY QUIET!”: a command spoken conversely loud. Rupert struggled back into a seated position, rubbing at his shoulder as he went. Bruised, but no serious damaged. Yet. There was still time, this guy was just getting angrier, and it was minutes or less until the NYPD was at his door. As much as he liked his fellow officers, there were times when he’d rather not see their shinning faces.

"EVERYBODY QUIET!": a command that did not stop Rupert from taking out his phone and sending a text message. Which would be great, if he could think of anything to say in concise text form that would avert the catastrophe heading their way. He shoved the phone back into his pocket in frustration. This would be a lot easier if he wanted all of these freaks to get locked up. Being a zealot was so low stress: really, why’d he ever stop? It was hard to remember, when a mind-controlling freak was tossing you around your own apartment. His hand brushed against something else in his pocket: when it came back out, it was holding a small notepad and a pencil. He flipped past crime scene notes to a clean page.

"No I have absolutely no idea where the camps are. All I have heard was that they were bad and a place I obviously don't want to go to."

The man’s back was to him while the kid answered. Stupid, since Rupert wasn’t feeling any obligation to be non-violent with the guy. It would solve things so neatly to just brain him with a table leg while his back was turned. Instead, Rupert started furiously scribbling a note to the effect of ‘hey, loud freak, let me talk so I can save your ungrateful violent ass’. Frankly, it was just as well that Rupert couldn’t speak right now: he’d just be ranting. Raina’s big brother here wasn’t the cream of Campbell’s mushroom soup.

"Okay, you can talk now." He looked up from his note, almost annoyed to have his furious scribbling interrupted before he was done. Since he could talk now, they were rather a wasted effort, too. Wait: he could talk now. It was something he would no doubt regret later. Rupert opened his mouth—

Then something extraordinary happened. The young woman came to her senses, and big time. With authority and dignity out of synch with her appearance, she began speaking wisdom which left him speechless with agreement. It was a hard thing to do. As he listened, and—that’s right, freak: slapped!—watched, he scratched behind LG’s ears. Good puppy, good. He really could have done without all the glares tossed his way, to be honest, but what was a recovering zealot to do? At least Little Miss Grandmotherly Sage had leveled a glare at all of them equally, at the end of her impressive show of dominance.

Rupert stood up, brushed off his pants lightly, and met Big Brother’s latest snarl with a sweet smile. “Fate in Raina’s hands. Got it. Now, if we’re done with the disturbing belly laughs, the violence, and the shouting, could you all just shut up for a minute while I make this call? Thanks.” He took out his phone, and paused before dialing. “Actually,” he amended, using the phone to gesture at the large man, “you can shut up,” he bobbed the phone over to Ian, “you can just hold on a second,” final point: at the young woman, “and you are amazing. Please, though, hold off on anymore apt lectures for just a minute.” With another sweet smile at Raina’s older brother—Rupert had never been noted for his forethought in stressful situations—he hit the speed dial to dispatch, turned away from the assembled group, and prayed that they’d keep their traps shut. Especially since he was about to make a very important, very livid call that he needed to be very believable.

“Delores, listen, did—Yeah, it’s me. Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. A little bruised, but fine. Listen—some of the freaks we haven’t bagged yet. Delores, I’m fine. Did you call up the Stalkers, along with the beat officers? I love you, Delores. You deserve a raise, seriously. Redirect them along 65th Street heading West; a dark red, four-door volvo, maybe early 80’s. Three suspects: a,” he glanced at Raina’s brother, “short Asian male, early forties, close-cropped black hair, wearing a white beater and black sweat pants. Some kind of force manipulator—he tossed me across the room without touching me. Yes, I’m fine. Are you getting this? Good. Second suspect is a,” he glanced at the young woman, “tall African American male, mid-thirties, shaved head, wearing a grey hoodie and jeans. Power unknown. Last suspect,” he glanced at Griffin, “cat mutant. Female; very short; child height, even; age unknown. Ears, tails, the works—fur is black, wears a black hoodie to cover the ears and loose black pants that the tail can tuck inside. Didn’t seem to have any powers, besides the deformities. They were trying to figure out the location of the camps. Crumbled like pansies when I finally got to my gun, but you never know what the freaks will do if they’re desperate. Who’s in the patrol cars? ...You tell them I said to be careful and watch each other’s backs, all right? And let those damn Stalkers do most of the work. Thanks, Delores. No—don’t bother; I’m fine here. I broke my coffee table with my shoulder, but that’s as far as damage goes, for me and the apartment. I’m fine, I fine! Don’t waste officers on me—catch the freaks. I’ll be at the station in a half hour or so to give my report; my puppy ran out when they opened the door. Have to go catch the little guy. ...Yes, I’ve got a puppy. Black Labrador. ...Yes, I’ll bring pictures. What? No, I’ve still got Flipsy. What? What’s wrong with Flipsy? Hey, only real men own poodles. ...Uh-huh. ...Thank you, Delores. Thanks. Yeah. See you later. Bye.” He hung up, and pointed the phone at Raina’s brother one more time, his own voice just above a whisper.

“Now, children,” he scolded, “can we use indoor voices from here on out? That isn’t going to work twice.” Honestly, he was surprised it worked once. That’s what years of credibility will get you, he supposed: a free ticket to lie your ass off to the people that take trusting you fore granted. It did not feel very good.

Thing 1 stood up. was he going to get food? Wallace stayed very close to its ankle, but Thing 1 didn't actually go anywhere. Instead, it made noises at everything else in the room, and then at itself. Humans were strange things. Maybe Bird would be more sensible? Hopeful, and completely oblivious to everything that had just gone on, Wallace skittered over to Bird, and put its front paws on its foot. He looked up at Bird, and gave the cutest puppy-dog-eyes he could manage. He hoped that the message 'food please' would get across, or else he wasn't sure what he would do. It's not that he was particularly hungry or anything. He just liked food.

"So why are you lying for everyone here?" asked Naveed after a moment of silence. "I don't see how you have anything to gain by helping these mutants, and personally I could care less who or what goes in or out of those camps so long as I get Raina." he paused reflectively looking down at the puppy at the winged-man's feet. He had always liked dogs, and he couldn't help that his opinion of Rupert went up a few notches when he realised he owned them.

"Is there anything else you'd like to tell me before I go to get Raina?" he asked implying that he was planning to break into the camps alone and probably cause a lot of trouble. Then again, this was a mind controlling mutant they were dealing with. It seemed like without the propper reason and fast- he could just make them forget this convesation even happened and tramp off to be the hero.

ooc: lol isn't it annoying how opposite he is to Raina. Ahhh thickheaded mutants. I loves 'em. And Cal, great post. Sorry everyone posted so much I think we're all excited to be in an active thread! Let's keep an eye on it guys!

Ian stepped over the broken coffee table nd sat down on the coach. He then folded his wings across his back and hung his head in his hands. He was way overstressed and he knew it. First he flew all the way to New York City only to find out there was rampaging robots everywhere. Then he's up on a church roof trying to find out if some guy is gonna turn him in or not. Then he's lying to get himself to a safe place, and finally there are rampaging guys bustin down the door. He was beginning to think he was better off on his own.

"Is there anything else you'd like to tell me before I go to get Raina?"

Ian looked up at the man and made a sarcastic smirk.

"I honestly hope you don't plan on going by yourself. I highly doubt you would get very far no matter what your power is. You'd be better off looking for someone to help."

Ian shruged and went back to his own thoughts. Like it was any of his buisiness anyway. Turning his attention back to the little black puppy he noticed the pleading eyes on his face.

"Rupert I think your dog is hungry. You got any food for him?"

Getting up from the coach he streched his back and wings working out the kinks from that little hallway spell. His panic had worked itself down and now he was trying to keep himself busy until something else went down.

Had Sonya made a list of Naveed's likely reactions to her outburst, she's not really sure what would have ended up at the top of the list. Pummeling her senseless, maybe, or ordering her to jump out the window. She is sure that an approving burst of laughter would not have been on the list, and it takes her a while to realize he's serious about it.

> "I didn't mean to control you... sometimes I can't control when it happens."

Yeah. Right. I can't always control when I hit you with a brickbat either, jerk. She doesn't say it out loud, though... she figures it will either earn her another violent outburst or another condescending fake-apology, neither of which will get her anywhere.

> “...and you are amazing. Please, though, hold off on anymore apt lectures for just a minute.”

Sonya nods at that, a little dazed. Wow. Impressed both of them. Imagine that! She makes a mental note to tell Grandma the story before she remembers, with that sinking feeling in her stomach she's almost gotten used to, that she can't ever talk to Grandma again. Or Mom, or anybody.

Meanwhile, Rupert has called his precinct -- His secretary is Delores, she files away in case she needs the information -- and fast-talked them out of sending a squad car. A moment later Sonya can hear police sirens driving past the building, and breathes a sigh of relief.

That's when she notices the dog.
Correction: dogs.
Giving Wings the They Never Feed Me expression. Staring mournfully at Rupert.
Being perfectly well-behaved.
Perfectly well-behaved...
Dogs.

It's OK, she tells herself, feeling her breathing accelerate and her palms sweat. I've got control of it now. I won't suddenly shift. I won't. I haven't in months! Nothing to worry about. And has to touch bare skin anyway, right? Nervously, she sticks her hands deep into the pockets of her jogging suit and backs away from Wings and the lab.

The pockets.
Of her jogging suit.
Her electric blue jogging suit.
With white stripes.
And pockets.
Somewhat worn around the knees.
Very familiar, she's been jogging in it every morning for about two years. Ever since Danny gave it to her for Christmas.

Except none of that ever happened and I don't own a @!@#!!@ jogging suit!

She startles a little when she backs into the wall, and begins to sidle slowly to Rupert's bathroom door, careful to keep both of the dogs in her line of sight.

> "So why are you lying for everyone here? I don't see how you have anything
> to gain by helping these mutants, and personally I could care less who or
> what goes in or out of those camps so long as I get Raina."

Sonya rolls her eyes at that as she edges towards the bathroom. Just how dense is this guy? Rupert had already said he doesn't want to see anyone else locked up in the camps... especially Wings over there. Granted, she can't quite remember exactly how Naveed had worded the order... something like 'Give me a reason not to kill you,' she thinks, which didn't actually obligate Rupert to stick to true reasons... but it seemed plausible enough. Apparently he really was turning over a new leaf.

Either that, or he's running a long con.

> "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me before I go to get Raina?"
> "I honestly hope you don't plan on going by yourself. I highly doubt
> you would get very far no matter what your power is. You'd be better
> off looking for someone to help."

Much as Sonya appreciates the boy's sarcasm, she winces at his choice of words. Oboy. I hope he doesn't take that advice too seriously, given that we're the nearest 'someone's around.

"Actually, it might be interesting to watch. But I'll bet money that your mind-control doesn't work on machines -- right, Naveed? Rupert, will you explain about Stalkers to this guy? I'll be right back."

With that, she ducks into the bathroom, shuts the door behind her, and looks at herself in the mirror.

Sure enough, electric blue jogging suit. She was wearing it when she left Calley's apartment to go jogging this morning. She'd been half-awake, she remembers, just letting the body do what it was apparently accustomed to doing while half-awake... which apparently involved putting on a jogging suit she doesn't own.

This... is weird.

"So why are you lying for everyone here?" Raina’s exceedingly dense, not entirely intelligent older brother started out. "I don't see how you have anything to gain by helping these mutants, and personally I could care less who or what goes in or out of those camps so long as I get Raina."

Rupert opened his mouth, and shut it.

"Is there anything else you'd like to tell me before I go to get Raina?"

Slowly, he raised his hands to his head, and began to message his temples.

Ian opened his teenaged mouth, and proved that he, too, was smarter than Naveed here: "I honestly hope you don't plan on going by yourself. I highly doubt you would get very far no matter what your power is. You'd be better off looking for someone to help. ...Rupert I think your dog is hungry. You got any food for him?"

“Yeah,” he said simply; “there’s some in that cabinet over the stove, first shelf.” He had to keep it in the upper cabinets: Flipsy had long ago figured out how to open the lower ones. The only things safe to store in those were plates and canned soup.

Rupert looked at the larger man again, opened his mouth, and... shut it again. Slowly, he shook his head.

Ian wasn’t holding up well, and understandably so. It had been a hellava day for the teenager to process. Hopefully, such a normal task as pouring food for two dogs would help him cling to normality. Normality was a very nice illusion.

The woman wasn’t doing too good, either. If anything... she seemed to have flipped from totally in charge to completely loosing it. It was a disturbing, and sudden, change. She looked paranoid of everything from the puppy and the poodle to her own track suit. He could sympathize with her, as well—it looked like she’d been out jogging, probably just over at the park, when this guy came up and started controlling her. He watched her duck into his bathroom, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. That raised a question that he’d forgotten in all this chaos: how did she know where he lived, or who he was? She had very distinctly used his name, back when he’d opened the door. Raina’s, as well: she’d known they were dating. Who was she? Was she a mutant, or a human? If she was a mutant... he had a slight migraine starting that told him who she just might be.

"Actually, it might be interesting to watch,” she was saying. “But I'll bet money that your mind-control doesn't work on machines -- right, Naveed? Rupert, will you explain about Stalkers to this guy? I'll be right back."

Well that seemed as good of a lead-in as any. Rupert opened his mouth, and finally managed to speak to this charming Naveed who so unfortunately shared Raina’s genetics. “The camps are guarded by multiple armed men, mutants, and Stalkers—those are a kind of highly advanced, very well armed robot specifically designed to fight your kind. You’d be a moron to try and take the place on by yourself.” Even more of a moron than you already are. Congratulations: you’ve officially trumped me as the most self-serving jackass in this apartment. “Listen, I know you want to get Raina out. I honestly don’t care if you believe me, but I want to get her out, too. This is bigger than just her, though. What you—” The words just wouldn’t come. He shook his head again, closed his eyes, and counted to ten. Opened his eyes: try again. “What you did, just now, endangered more lives than you can imagine. You nearly got Ian and yourself caught, and the young lady, if she’s one of your kind. If you break into the camps and—by some miracle of idiocy and chance—actually do manage to get Raina out, you will be making it harder for every mutant in that place. Security will be tightened even further than it already is. Escape will become almost impossible. Now do you want to stop and consider your actions, or are you going to keep kicking over other people’s sandcastles like some dumbass kid?” He thought he’d done rather well, speaking like he wasn’t broiling on the inside. Right up until that last sentence. His anger management councilor was right: practice really did help.

He could do without so much practice, thanks.

Naveed crossed his arms and ignorantly snorted. "I can tell the guards I am one of them." he stated. "They will believe me, I can walk right in and tell them I am taking Raina for one reason or another and leave with her." he looked at wings "I'll admit it's a waste for beings with such potential to be sent to the camps but I believe in survival of the fittest. Raina would have survived no doubt if not for someone in this room."

He thought a moment and then added: "I dont care if it makes life harder here. I will take Raina back home. She is the princess of our land and we will rule. What happends here is of no concern to us. It's all useless anyway."

He said these words with complete intent. He meant them and it was hard to argue with him even with all of the holes in his plan- was he deranged or completley sure of himself? Was there something else they didn't know?

He missed his sister and hated the idea of her in a prison. if he, or even Rupert for that matter could even imagine how much she changed...


He paced back and forth. "If you put Raina in there it is your responsibility to inform me enough to get her out. Tell me more about these Stalker Bots." he ordered. (ooc: is this still Ok? let me know if he goes to far order wise...)

Sonya misses most of Rupert's lecture while getting herself under control, washing her face and running her hands under cold water until they stop shaking.

Meanwhile, she confirms two things. First, she's not wearing this strangely worn-in jogging suit over the black garment she never goes out without, she's wearing it instead. Second, the jogging suit has two startlingly well-concealed holsters in which her guns are comfortably and imperceptibly nestled. Both facts as implausible as they are incontrovertible.

Once her brain starts working again she remembers Calley's collar, and her thought that a garment like that would be useful. Could it be...? It seems like an absurd bit of magic... then it occurs to her that she's keeping company with a winged man and the world's most moronic mesmerist, and shelves her skepticism. Instead, she stares at the worn patch on her left knee for a moment and thinks fix yourself! as loudly as she can.

Nothing happens.

"Oh well. It was worth a shot," she mutters. She's still not sure what's going on with this jogging suit, but it's not really the most important thing going on. The conversation in the living room is audible through the door...

> "I can tell the guards I am one of them. I can walk right in and tell
> them I am taking Raina for one reason or another and leave with her."

That gives Sonya a moment's pause. Would it work? It wouldn't fool the robots, of course, but could the robots override the other soldiers? If Naveed just commanded them all to lay down their weapons and throw open the gates, what would the automation do? I bet Calley's technogeek friend would know, she muses.

> "I believe in survival of the fittest. Raina would have survived no
> doubt if not for someone in this room."

That gets a laugh out of Sonya -- survival of the fittest, where "fitness" is measured not by success but by Naveed's preconceptions. That's a new one on her. And the more Naveed talks, the clearer it is that, while he may be powerful, he's not clearly an ally... nor is Rupert clearly an enemy. She could probably surprise them both by kicking the door open and firing... but she'd get at most one shot before being taken down, and it's not at all clear which one of them she should target. Besides which, things seem to have moved past the kill-or-be-killed stage.

So, with a final deep breath, she steps back out of the bathroom. The dogs are huddling around Wings, who is wrestling them for a bag of dog-food, and Sonya moves as far away from them as she can while waiting for Rupert's answer.

Ian tipped the bag of dogfood in his hands over and watched as the kibbles started to fill the pan. He was trying to ignore the conversation going on between Rupert and that other guy. This was just way to much for him. Crazy guys on a one way rampage to the camps and survival of the fittest. He just wasn't equipped to handle this kind of stress. He was about to stray off from the task at hand when he suddenly felt a ball of fluff attack his face. He refocused on Flipsy he was wagging her tail waiting for the food.

"I see you, I working on it just give me some time. I gotta save some for you little freind too."

By this he meant the little black puppy that was alway darting in and out avoiding trouble. He liked that puppy it was so energetic. With out thinking he started to stretch his wings. He was doing the normal exercise he did falpping them up and down and turning them a little. He really was trying not to focus.

"Ok I think thats enough for you too."

He titled the bag back up and returned it to its place. He then casualy walked back into the room and over to the window. Ignoring everyone around him and focusing on the sky.

The young woman was paranoid of two dogs who might reach her knees if you stacked them, Ian was staring out the window and clearly convincing himself that the rest of them didn’t exist, and Naveed had put on his hiking boots and achieved new heights of idiocy.

This left Rupert in an unexpected position: he was the most rational person in the room. Well. That couldn’t be good. He took another count to ten and a deep breath to make sure he was up for this new position. There were images in his head. Images that would not help this situation. As the Most Rational Person, it was his job to not hurt the situation. What he really wanted to do was punch this self-serving delusional control-freak of a freak in the stomach, and say ‘Stalkers hit harder than that. What else do you want to know about them?’

What he did, ten seconds later, was keep his hands at his sides just like a Rational Person should. “I already told you about the Stalkers. Thank you, truly, for listening. Now, please think about what you are saying. Obviously, none of us can stop you if you choose to single-handily commit suicide in front of your sister. Listen: how are you going to get in there? Do you really think that some random person approaching the camps isn’t going to attract suspicion? The place is in the middle of nowhere. Someone comes that the guards don’t recognize, they’re well in their rights to assume that person is a mutant, and one that’s there to try something. Let’s assume you manage to get in hearing range. You seriously think all the guards are going to line up to listen to you? They’re spread all over the camp. Again: if they see a stranger walking around, and the other guards acting suspiciously accepting of this fact, it isn’t going to take a genius to piece things together. Now let’s picture a miracle whereby you to get every single camp employee under your thumb. There’s still the Stalker bots. They act independently, do you understand? No one at the camps is giving them direct orders, and they are intelligent. Some of them you won’t even see, and I don’t mean that as an insult to your powers of perception. They’re invisible until they strike.” He took a deep breath. His tone had been controlled this entire time: he’d be topping his own personal record if he could finish off this rant without... ranting.

“Raina will be freed. It will not be by you, though. It will not be by any one person. There’s a mutant resistance that I’m working with.” He tactically omitted the fact that he’d only met one of their members, once, at a bar, while he was beyond wasted. “Once everything is in place, I’m staging a jailbreak, and the resistance will handle taking all the camp residents into hiding. Raina will be freed then. Everyone else will be freed, as well. Please, give me some sign that you understand the situation you and your sister are in.” Honestly, Rupert was wondering if the man wasn’t, well, just a little... mentally deficient. It would really explain a lot.

Food! Wallace was instantly at the bowl, and eating like there's no tommorrow. Flipsy joined in, and they rushed to try and get more than the other. Once the bowl was cleared, Flipsy wandered over to her bed, and sat down. Wallace looked around the room, and saw that there were two things he hadn't interacted with yet. One was very large, and interacting with Thing 1. The other was blue, and the other side of the room. Wallace decided the blue one looked more fun, and dashed for her.

(OOC: sonya, if you don't want Wallace rushing over and being cute/scary (depending on whether you're afraid of dogs lol), then let me know and I'll go annoy Naveed instead )