evening shenanigans (open)

It was getting dark out, and Basil lurked, enjoying it. The two tall guards at his sides eyed him suspiciously, and he smiled the brightest smile he could, making them shift their gazes along with their feet. He was happy. So happy, giddy. Oh, it was like he was floating! Was he? No, no, still on the ground, which was almost a disappointment. But he was too elated to be disappointed! Joy, this was joy. A monster, being able to prance about in the presence of other monsters, that was joy. Basil had a small fit of giggles bubble up. He continued to ignore the pair of suits. He'd really tried to include them in his joy earlier, but his attempts at playful roughhousing and hugging were not welcomed. He'd live. He was grinning like a maniac, and not even worried about his teeth going sharp in the excitement. Joy.

As he was escorted into the office, he hummed a tune, strange and whistling in some places, and certainly never the same consistent melody. It was too much of a special occasion for that. He bounced on his toes, with a hyperactivity that must be strange to see on a seventeen year old. People were looking at him, and he was thrilled. He could taste interesting things in the air, interesting people. He wanted to wave to everyone in his line of sight (and maybe add a few new eyes to his body, so he could wave to even more).

There weren't that many people around, though, not compared to in the day- it was almost time for the office to close. It was all purposeful, him getting there at the latest time acceptable. It was better to have him introduced to people- and the area, in general- more slowly and carefully, they'd said. Briefed him on, really. There were a lot of repetitive lectures, and Basil only needed to hear things once, just as a fact. And it all sounded very boring and un-fun. As soon as the escorts ditched him, he would probably do a little dance. Even if they weren't going to leave soon he'd probably do that.

Basil's two dear overly-stiff pals got up to the desk, and started chattering. A lot of this stuff had already been explained, but they had to do it again. And again. And again, but just a tad more specifically this time, just in case, plus a mountain of paperwork- and a guidebook. It was actually pretty damn funny when it wasn't him they were doing this to, Basil decided, leering a bit at the poor person working the desk. Along with all the warnings about dear spooky unstable Basil, they were taking care of a lot of the other stuff involving his stay there. Basil listened, but only really had to put half his focus into that. He wandered a bit away from his (temporary, soon he'd be free! well, sort of) keepers.

Basil found what he was searching for. Another grin stretched his face, this one to a bit of an unnatural extent, and he dived. In a tangle of long, skinny limbs, he made it into a particularly comfy looking chair. He was in a weird state, one leg tucked in, one dangling off an arm rest with his sideways position, arms lazy and settled on his middle, head on the other arm rest.

It was perfect.

Basil watched this whole display with a great deal of amusement. He also had a creeping sense of interest and satisfaction, as this random girl didn't seem to be at all uncomfortable in his presence, despite the heavy aura that hung around him and the not at all conspicuous escorts he currently had.

That's a lot of pink, he thought, peering at the girl. Interesting voice, too. She looked a few years younger than him, but he didn't mind that much. He grinned sharply at her, then down at the hand she offered. He was torn between shaking it vigorously and giving her a high five. He ended up doing both, in that exact order. "Salutations to you, pink kiddo. Very pink. Like what you've got going with that look, keep it up. Mashimo, huh? Could just call you pink. I'll think on it, maybe switch back and forth. We'll see." He rambled unashamedly, although did so quite smoothly. Then, he tilted his head owlishly. "Hm! Ditching. That was exactly what I'd been planning, lovely idea." He stood abruptly, somehow managing to straighten up his lazy limbs, nodding absently. "Where are we ditching to, then, doll? An Adventure?"

Basil shot back a glance to his pair of guards, who were still explaining various things to the poor person at the desk, and shrugged. They could handle that, he'd check back in later. Or maybe whatever he needed would find its way to his new living accommodations. That seemed plausible enough. He was too antsy to stay in one spot any longer- especially when some kind of strange quest had been presented to him, in the form of a little lady that was increasingly resembling a machine. Was that a permitted type of student, here? Anything goes when you admit an eldritch abomination, he supposed, though still curious. If that was the case, it might be why she seemed to not at all register his utter shadiness.

He snickered at her clumsiness.

"Sure, lead the way. Digging what, exactly? What are we looking for here? Treasure? Corpses? I'm in, whatever it is." He was unaffected over the fact that she seemed to be making all this up as she went along. He liked improvisation, and this whole display was entertaining.

Basil trailed along after his new pink friend, shadows creeping along around him, not so much looking concerned as calculating. "Slow down, kid. Love the peppy attitude, but I'm not sure you're even understanding my communication attempts here. Do you need like... a robot doctor? You glitching out? Am I going to have to teach you english? ... D'you need a new memory card? Help me out."

He oggled all the damage that was being wreaked upon the poor building. "If anyone asks us to pay for the repairs, we're going to run. I am a responsible role model for children, and will not allow one to be held accountable for their actions on my watch. No siree."

He smiled, crossing his arms and looking at Mashimo. "I'm going to drag you to an electronics store if necessary." He said this in a reassuring tone, but it could almost be taken as a (probably) unintentional threat.

Basil mused upon the situation he was in. "Alright kiddo, maybe I should be treatin' you more like... some kind of weird toddler. Not that I've even spent that much time around anyone that age. Usually, I go near 'em and they start bawling, so that's not very helpful. Anyway. Maybe you need some educational cartoons to watch. I dunno. Any, uh... new data I could offer you might be of the unsavory sort. Man, throwing such an innocent apearin' mind at me seems like a real recipe for disaster."

He grinned widely. "And by that, I mean an intensely fun time, right Pink? Whatcha say, wanna learn horrible secrets and get into trouble with big brother Basil? Great idea, thanks, I knew you'd agree," he went on, keeping the conversation up by himself and acting as though he wasn't. "If I'm right, this is fantastic. I can teach you to steal and dance and-" he kept babbling, throwing in a random sounding jumble of weird ideas.

He blinked, and reached out to ruffle Mashimo's hair distractedly. "I wonder where your keeper is, or where you even came from. Hunh... Well, unless someone comes along looking for you, you're welcome to follow me around all you want. Like a mechanical puppy. Something like that."