2019-11-01 - Slipper Sharing!

it takes about 45 minutes before a figure can be seen trundling up to Kass' trailer, a bag full of supplies in one hand, and slung over his back? Is a pack that looks like it has a few slippers stuffed into it! Dylan is sporting a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt, the latter of which has old, yellow and green paint splotches on it that he just hasn't managed to get out yet. Up the steps to her trailer he goes, and once present, his hand lifts giving a thud three times to knock on the door. A lopsided smile graces his features, beaming happily while he waits for whomever is home to answer.

The sound of stomping footfalls can be heard. As if there were something very big and heavy moving towards the door. They sounds pause at the door just before the chilling sound of a wolf's howl can be heard.

Then the door swings open to reveal Kass there with a grin on her face and those stompy werewolf feet slippers on her feet! There's also a dark grey tanktop and dark wash jean shorts to ensure she's fully dressed. She motions him in and offers, "Come on in! You brought the slippers!! Awesome! Set up in the living room, I'll grab some sodas from the kitchen!" She leaves the door open, turning to stompyfoot her way back into the kitchen from the drinks. The inside looks remarkably different from the rather old and rundown exterior. The living room, for instance, has sand colored walls decorated with heiroglyphics and painted oases around the windows. The glimpse of the kitchen shows pure 1950's with turquoise walls and appliances with black and white checked floor and backsplash. The hallway back seems to be a rainbow of color that swirls along the walls and ceiling.

Features scrunch up on the man's expressive face as he waits, hearing those rather big, heavy sounds. It isn't what he expected, but nor is it cause for concern. Maybe she just lives with a really burly fellow! But that all changes the moment she opens the door. A loud gasp can be heard, and immediately it is her feet that Dylan looks at, those eyes big and wide with delight. "I love!" He states unequivocally about how he feels on those slippers.

He heads in, remembering to shut the door behind him. The bag? He just puts it down out of the way, stating, "Can borrow!" given it holds not just the stuff she'll keep like the foam, but the hot glue gun as well. While she's busy in the kitchen getting the sodas, he's plopped down on the floor, his shoes pried off. It takes all of ten seconds before he is popped back up, and now it is his turn to show off. He starts to take a few steps forward, and while it isn't every step, it is enough to trigger the sound of a slipper shouting, 'It's GODZILLAH! Run for your liAAAAAHAHHH' before a squishing sound comes. Next is a horrified, 'I'm too young to die!' before it cuts off in a gurgle of death. On his feet? It isn't /godzilla/ feet. It's two slippers that look like a squished man on the left, and a squished woman on the right, their arms and legs flailing out limply beneath his feet where he's 'squished' them.

"Right? And they even do the wolf howl when you stop!! My favorite slippers." Kass calls back as she pulls a couple Cokes from the fridge. Hipbumping it closed, she stompy-stomps her way back into the living room to grin at his own slippers. "Oh wow. They're even better than I thought!!!" She hands him a soda with a grin, popping one open for herself and taking a swig. "Man. Those are super cool. I'm jealous. OH! Hold on, though! We can make this better!" She turns, stomp-running back to the back of the trailer, disappearing into the room at the end. There's some shuffling about and a thump and she calls out, "Okay! You ready??" Because slippers take precedence over arts'n'crafts.. for now.

It's like a whole world of delight for the man, his head craned down to wait for that howl that comes from them before his hands clasp together. "Cooooool," There is clear jealousy of his own, but equally giddy happiness as his head draws back up rapidly once a soda appears in the periphery of his vision. Fingers wrap around the coke, and when she asks? He of course inquiries the obvious. "What's that?" He shifts a bit as she heads into the back of the trailer, just enough to get another sound to accidentally come from his. No words this time, only an overly dramatic and long death scream. "I'm ready!" He coos out, big eyes wide and ready to see what comes out.

Stomp-Stomp-SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The all-too familiar sounds of Godzilla stomps and screeching can be heard coming from the back room, slowly getting closer as Kass makes her way back down the hallway wearing the biggest grin. Hers aren't slippers, but instead are sneakers with a decal of Godzilla on them, and his eyes even light up! She calls back, "Do yours, do yours!"

Stomp-Stomp-SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

"Godzilla sneakers!" He nearly shouts with delight, and then Dylan starts to march in place. Stomp stomp stomp, 'I'm going to get squ-' followed by a sound of a human being squished, just in time to match with those skreeeees of Kass's footwear. The timing of it all finally has him breaking down, a warm, belly rumbling laugh coming, and after a moment of wobbling, he tumbles over onto the floor. Thankfully his soda wasn't open, but no one is going to want to open that any time soon! "Soooo gooood," He declares in between bits of laughter, until finally it all dies down, and the man has managed to catch his breath again. Mostly.

Kass Godzilla stomps her way back into the living room to the accompaniment of Dylan's Godzilla slippers, the grin on her face breaking into a round of laughter that has her thumping against the wall lightly and leaning there with shoulders shaking and clutching the can of soda to her middle to keep it from spilling. When she finally manages to calm down, she slides down the wall to sit on the carpet, toeing off the sneakers carefully and flashing him a grin. "Chuck Taylors are more my thing usually.. but when I saw these I had to have them. I got the biggest boys' size I could so I could keep growing into them. They're still like, half a size big, but man are they worth it!"

"Totally worth," He repeats what she's said, though as always, it stops at just two words. Up and down his head bobs, or it tries to give his haphazardous fall upon his side on the carpet. With a touch of a struggle, he manages to get back upright into a seated position. "All slippers," He explains of his collection, though clearly there is a seed planted about looking into other venues. The second pair he pulled is brought out, and these? Are bunny slippers. But not just ANY bunny slippers. The mouths on the front are open, revealing rows of fake sharp teeth, making them the rabbit from Monty Python! He sits them out so she can see, even as he explains, "No noise," Not that they need any, really!

"Totally," Kass nods in agreement as she scoots farther into the living room while he pulls himself back upright. As he pulls over his collection, she sits cross-legged, wearing a grin as he pulls out the first pair, "Vorpal bunny!" Because who doesn't know that rabbit?! She gives up a delighted laugh and nods. No noise, the bunny is silent but deadly! Scooting over a bit more, she pulls another pair out from under the couch and tugs them on. "Duck feet!" And they are indeed duck feet slippers.. but when she steps on them, a strip around the edge lights up! "Light up slippers.. for when you need to go to the bathroom in the night!"

"I remember!" She surely mentioned those lights, for recognition is written all over his face, and there is a look of envious delight at those ducky slippers. A lopsided smile graces his features, but he? Has no more slippers to share. This time. "Have... fifty." He says of his collection, taking a stab in the dark, even as he pulls out a sketch pad and pencil, flipping it over to a fresh, blank page about halfway through. "Costume!" The lightbulb goes off as to the reason he is actually here, and a sheepish smile casts upon those expressive features of the artist as he looks expectantly to Kass. "Stuff. Gun," He motions to the bag he had dropped off to the side earlier, before he inquires, "Help? More?" It's that last word that has his features scrunching up when he hits the brick wall of his two word limit, hoping that all at least made sense to the woman, mostly.

Grinning, Kass slips out of the ducky feet and holds them out to him, "Here." Then she's scooting towards the bag to start pulling out supplies. Grinning at the sight of the feathers and fake fur and the squishfoam and hot glue gun, she shakes her head, "Nope!" Glancing back up at him, she shares the grin with him, "This is perfect. Here, let me go grab the costume and we can match the fur color!" She pops up and start back to the bedroom, scooping up the Godzilla sneakers and taking them with her. Kass doesn't seem to have any issue understanding the two word sentences, she doesn't even seem to notice it really. When she comes back, she's got two pieces in hand. It looks like a furry bikini, essentially, with big tufts of cream/red/orange fur sewn to the base, and there's shoe covers too, that seem to mime the strange feet of the Fireys, if a bit larger in scale. "Okay! So there's gonna be bodypaint too, but this is the costume. And then we have the mask.. and I have a beak to add to it, too. It even works! Well, kinda.. there's a couple wires that will get hidden under fur and feathers and lead to a button on my hand that I can press to make the beak open and close."

Of COURSE Dylan has to try them on when they are offered to him, though he does test to make certain he won't stretch the poor things out, given their differences in sizes. He just ends up admiring them, peering at the insides and outs. "Yes. Matchy!" Paint, fur, feathers! He's clearly trying to puzzle out how it all works, considering, but then those dearly beloved things are put down, his own stuffed away into his pack as he starts to sketch, waiting for her to return. "Beak," It's a delighted thought, his eyes going wider as he looks it all over, and in he leans to look over those shoe coverings with intense interest. "Foam for?" He inquiries, trying to determine just what she has in mind to use that squishy stuff for. "Be hot?" He wonders, head tipping to the side as he considers options to help with that, at least when she'll be inside.

They shouldn't be too much of a difference. Kass has fairly large feet for a girl and the sizes are meant to be pretty generic to begin with. He should be able to step into the ducky feet with little issue. She, meanwhile, flops back down and carefully plugs the hot glue gun in while setting it neatly on the coffee table. Pulling the fur and feathers over, she can't help but grin, 'Yes! They match! I mean, its not perfect match but its so close nobody will be able to tell!" She grabs up a pair of pinking shears and starts measuring the mask for its fur. Glancing up, there's a grin, "The foam is for the mask. Fireys have really kinda smooshy and bumpy faces, and the eyesockets are really deep, so I have to try to use some foam to sorta.. make it look right. Then I can add the beak to the bottom of the mask and it should sit real nice over my nose and at least part of my mouth. I've got some prosthetics glue around here too for the night of cause I'll have some fur and feathers mixed in with the bodypaint." She glances at the outfit, considering his question before shrugging and grinning, "No more than I usually am at work, I don't think. I always use bodypaint when I'm at Cabaret. It makes me feel like I'm fully clothed even if I'm not."

"Mostly paint," He concludes then about the outfit as he seems it all starting to come together, rather than something that will mostly be fur and feathers. "Foam not..." His hand lifts to give a wobbly back and fourth as to his usefulness in helping with it, features scrunching up in a look of apologetic disappointment. "Painting. Especially," It's the sketch book he holds up, a big, brilliant smile blossoming to those features before he plunks it back down, nose twitching a bit as that glue gun begins to heat up. A low 'hmmm' of thought comes from him, watching to see if there is anything in particular she needs assistance with. A small pause, and on those ducky slippers go on his feet, toes waggling back and fourth in delight. "Need help?" He inquiries in general. "Going school?" is asked when she mentions work as he wonders if she's paying for college, though no assumptions are made from that tone of voice.

"Its okay! I can handle the foam. Can you start decorating the top and bottom with some of the feathers? That will super help out and let me focus on the mask." Kass flashes a grin towards Dylan before starting to lay out the foam, carefully shaving bits off with an xacto knife. She glances up when he puts on the slippers, chuckling, "They look way better on you than me. You should keep them!" Then she's looking back to the mask and starting to lay out the foam across the satin covering. His last question has her shaking her head. "No, I don't even know if I actually graduated from high school or not. I mean, like.. I have a piece of paper that says I did, but I don't remember going to any of the classes after they sent me to the asylum. But maybe I did? Its hard to know. I know I know things that I don't know HOW I know them.. so I guess I learned some stuff along the way. Last I can really remember was.. algebra for math, biology we were gonna dissect a frog that week, I had an English paper due on some stuffy old book or another..." She shrugs lightly and shakes her head, "And then The Fight happened... and then I got put int he asylum.. and then I was back home again. They released me, I just don't know why, or what happened in the years between."

"I couldn't!" He squeaks out when she says he should keep them, though he does clamber up to his feet after he carefully puts away his sketch pad and pencil. It's over to the glue gun and feathers, and this? He has a steady, ready hand for, listening even as he sets about on the tasks necessary to attach them to the costume at hand. "That sucks," He offers up with true sympathy, a sorrowful smile cast to her at that particular plight. "Not remembering," His head just shakes a bit, a puff of air blown out as if he tries to just picture it, a low hum of noise produced as he focuses for a minute or so on his work. "The Fight?" He asks, with that particular point latched onto it. There are more questions, but there is a pause between each, as if some reset button in his brain is being pushed, "Enjoying work?" Another pause, and this time there is a faint look of frustration as he works through it, "Fitting in?"

Tsking, Kass flaps a hand at him and grins, "Course you can. Gifts are gifts. You accept them." Then she's looking back to the mask and carefully laying the foam over the lines of hot glue she'd painstakingly applied to the mask. Pressing lightly on the foam with her fingers to make sure it sets against the glue, she pulls back to give it time to harden and cool. Instead, she looks at Dylan while he works and sips her soda. "Yeah, it sucks. I missed ten years. No sweet sixteen, no eighteenth birthday, no twenty-first... just.. from thirteen to twenty-three. With all this knowledge and stuff that I don't even know how I learned it." The Fight. She clears her throat and glances down. "Yeah, uh. It was a big thing at the time. I know I brought it up, but if you don't mind, I really don't like talking about it. Kind of a painful event to remember." Then he's asking other questions and she's nodding, "Oh yeah. I mean, not the work itself so much. But I don't think anyone really aspires to being a cocktail waitress. But the people are great. Cam and Mee took me in like.. right away. Sort of adopted me and made sure I was good."

Down he looks at those duck slippers, peering at them with a certain amount of greedy envy at the thought of them staying on his feet, "I couldn't," He repeats, though he sounds far more uncertain this time around. He pauses in his work, letting the glue set up while he heads over to grab his can of soda... and the vorpal bunny slippers. These? Are put on her couch, as he states, "Yours now." And then it is into the kitchen he goes, opening up the can over the sink so when it fizzes up from it's previous shaken state, it doesn't get everywhere. "Doesn't define," A hand lifts to point towards her when she says that she has missed ten years. "Words don't..." And then he points back to himself, as if he doesn't let whatever his own problem is be what defines him. This gets a beaming, broad smile, and not a bit of pushback comes when she says she doesn't want to speak about it. A sip of his coke later, and around he comes to take back up his station. "Both great," He says of the pair that took her in right away, head bobbing up and down without a bit of surprise as to their behavior. "Any aspirations?"

"Too late. You're wearing them, they're yours now. That's how the magic ducky slippers work, you know." Kass looks up briefly with a grin before reaching to start arranging fake fur and feathers across the mask. She blinks as he puts the bunny slippers on her couch, then grins at him, "Awwwwwww, thank you! I love Monty Python. My dad's best friend, he's from England, he got my dad to start watching it, and they used to let me watch too. Flying Circus, Meaning of Life, Holy Grail... I loved those times..." There's a brief flash of sadness before she banishes it away and smiles once more. When he enters the kitchen, he'll notice that she's hand-painted a bunch of band logos onto the cupboards. Mostly 70s/80s bands. "No, it doesn't define me.. but it scares me. If they take me back there, I might not get released again." Giving a nod when he mentions how great Cam and Mee are, she chuckles, "Yeah. They were giving me hugs that first night and I just didn't know what to do. But its getting better." She pauses at his question, then nods, "I'm trying not to break things anymore. Just fix them. Create instead of destroy. Its so easy to break things but... its not good. I don't like doing it."

"Always watchable," He concurs with the litany of their work, though there is another sheepish smile that comes to the corners of his mouth when he catches that touch of sadness. The glue gun is picked up, applying feathers and more to it as he listens, those bands soaked in, but likely music at this point? Is too much for the short spoken man to express to her. "You'll succeed," Dylan is clearly an optimist, for they aren't just words, but they are heartfelt and certain, full of confidence and warmth. "Out hug!" Comes his response to what she has to do, and this is an experience he's already gone through with this particular bunch of people at the cabaret. "Hug happy." His head tips to the side as he listens to her aspiration, and this earns a nod of approval from him, that lopsided, silly happy smile blossoming to his mouth. "Great aspiration."

"Thank you, Dylan." Kass offers with a genuine smile for him before she lifts her can for a sugary swallow of soda. Setting the can aside once more, she goes back to arranging feathers and fur, continuing to shift the fur around the upper half of the mask as if just not quite satisfied with how its laying. Finally, she makes a small snip with the shears, then tries again, smiling this time. Glancing up at him, she blinks. "I don't know how. I haven't been hugged with any sort of regularity since I was... five? Six? Something like that. I barely know how to handle getting a hug!" She laughs to cover how bad it must sound and shrugs, "I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually." Working on the mask, she gives a small nod, "Its the most important thing I can think of. So.. I fix things when I can. Sometimes people don't seem too happy when I fix them but I guess I'll figure that out too."

"Welcome!" Comes his cooing word in reply, before up a hand lifts... with a feather stuck to the tip of a finger. He shakes it before it comes off, gliding back down, and after he's removed the dab of cooled glue from his flesh, he plucks it back up and returns to doing his part of the work. It's when she doesn't know how to hug that he blinks a few times, just staring at her, before finally offering his bit of advice, "Both arms," Out they go in the air, wrapping around an imaginary person at back height, as he offers out, "Like this." And then one hand strays down, lower still, to the spot where a butt would be at, and now he gives a bigger, more warning look to her that truly looses some of it's severity given the exuberance with which he delivers it, "Not this." A wobble of his head, before he adds, "Unless like." Yeah. Sure. She'll figure that out, maybe! A beaming smile is cast afterwards, and the glue gun pulled back up as he hums along, "Nooo worries." He says about the last, confident she'll manage that, too.

"I get like.. I get the mechanics of it but.. I'm just trying to get to like.. a point where I'm not freaking out or shrieking or jumping when they hug me. I'm getting better though! Last time Cam hugged me it was just a small jump!" Kass seems inordinately proud of this fact, and given that Cam is like a hug ninja, she may have reason to be! Still, she watches the demonstration, then blinks, then looks at Dylan, then blinks again. "There's BUTT GRABBING in hugs?!!?" She seems genuinely shaken by this for a few moments before finally just taking in a big breath, a big swig of soda, then lets it all out in a rush. "Okay. Okay. There's way more to hugging than I thought. I didn't.. man."

"Oh." He sounds almost sorrowful that his demonstration wasn't helpful at all, and the last of the feathers are stuck down before the whole thing seems to go a touch sideways. Those blue eyes go as wide as saucers as he tries to explain, which in and of itself is quite a difficult thing to process. "Bad hugs!" He assures about the butt grabbing, though he pauses a moment as if to add on something. He thinks better of it in the end to not confuse the situation, head bobbing up and down as he declares, "No butts." A warm bit of laughter comes when he finally gets around to soaking in the part of Cam and her hugging, a low 'mmm' of understanding coming. "She's sneaky."

"Bad hugs. Okay. Okay, I have think about that. Good hugs and bad hugs. I didn't think there WERE such things as bad hugs. Okay. I can do this." Kass seems to mostly be talking to herself as she tries to process it all and get it settled in her head. Letting out a breath, she looks back to Dylan and offers, "Hugs were a lot simpler when I was little. Never any butts in those hugs. Wait. No, I remember one time I went to hug my grandmother and I guess I hugged her too hard and she farted... and I thought it was the funniest thing ever. And so did she. And we were both laughing a lot.. but nobody else was."

Laughter spills from Dylan at the description of that moment, his eyes forming little half moons with the expressiveness of that moment. "Good hug," He concludes, given the humor it had created and the memory, and then he puts the glue gun down. "Will leave," He explains, even as he starts to shuffle over towards his bag, plopping down to peel off the ducky slippers. In they go into his bag, along with his poor squished human ones. "Have class," This draws a frown to his features, a low breath pushed out, "should go." More of his stuff is put away, and then on his shoes are tugged, before he makes a vague gesture towards the costuming stuff, "Text if..." you need more, one would guess. "You're good." He concludes, though just on what, or why, isn't elaborated. It's a simple, sincere statement.

Kass nods along with him, grinning, "Good hug." She blinks when he says he's going to leave, then nods, "Oh sure! Sorry, I forget some people are still in school sometimes. Here, would you like some water or another soda for the road?" Kass pops up and heads towards the kitchen to grab him something to take with him. Looking back, she smiles, "I will, but this should be plenty, and thank you for helping." The final statement has her stunned for a moment, then a warm smile spreads across her entire face. "So are you."

"Art major," He explains about class, a warm smile creasing his features as his shoes are tugged back on. "Water please!" He coos out with delight and a thankful tone as he pops back up to his feet, tugging that bag back upon his back. When she says it should be plenty, his head bobs up and down, before offering another reason she might want to, "Slipper exchanges." That drink is taken and held in his hand, "Hug advice!" Even, though who knows what horrible bits of insight she might get via texts with him on that. "Thanks." He murmurs, a bit of a sheepish smile overcoming him before a hand lifts, raking through his hair. "Take care!" And then he's turning, moving to the door to open it. It's one last glance over his shoulder, that big, beaming smile, and then out he slips.

Grabbing a bottle of water, Kass turns back and smiles broadly, "You're taking art? That's amazing! I just.. I paint things that I want to paint." She motions to the trailer around them then grins, "I show you pictures sometime. Most of my art is outside..." Handing him the bottle, she flashes a grin and gives a nod, "I'll text you soon, one way or another! Take care!" Then she waves from the doorway as he heads off before turning back inside to keep working on her costume.