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 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:26 pm
It was a chilly afternoon outside the Barton Science Discovery Center, and Matthew Dioli was well aware of it. He also knew that within said establishment of learning, there would be lots of science-y things and lots of little people. He also knew that neither of those things were his idea of a good time, so, Senny was babysitting today.
The redheaded grad student entered hand in hand with Sabina, and the two shared identical looks of excitement. The foyer was a magnificent display of colors and questionable substances with five overlarge doorways along the semicircular wall, each labelled by one of the five senses. Amidst the large pipes of bubbling liquids and the abnormally fuzzy carpeting, the girls stood stark still to take it all in.
Sabina, the first to decide they had done too much looking and not enough doing, tugged the other's arm anxiously trying to lead her forward. Or sideways. Well anywhere really. "Come on come on come on!" she urged frantically.
"Oh, right," said Senny, gathering herself. It was difficult to notice when someone about two feet tall was trying to drag you somewhere. She shook herself back to the present and said brightly, releasing Sabina's hand, "Lead the way!"
So, with no idea what would lay past any of the doorways (illiteracy was quite a curse) Sabina made a beeline for that which was nearest, which Senny observed to be the TOUCH chamber. Inside, the ladies were forced to take another minute to catch their breath.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:15 pm
The room was strangely set up like it had come out a weird kid's show. The walls were patterned with thick strips of different kinds of fur and creature skin textures (all fake but made to look and feel real). There were bumpy ones and soft fuzzy ones and all sorts of other things.
There were also tables that contained all sorts of different substances. There were sticky ones, and stretchy ones, squooshy ones, and some funny green gel stuff that was sort of all of the above (and all of it was non-toxic <3).
Currently there was a small brown moose boy with rounded glasses playing with the gel. Most of the other kids were busy feeling the walls or worrying about this stuff but he seemed fascinated by the ooze. It was fun to play with!
Behind him, a tall thin woman with short spiky pink hair stood, hands in her pockets as she watched over the boy. Honestly, Ixxie thought this place was kinda neat and was enjoying watching Phineas play, but she wasn't much in the mood for investigating the stuff today. She was sort of tired and had the sniffles, which was a bit of a deterrent on all sorts of things.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:45 pm
This time Senny nudged Sabina, nodding her off and cocking an eyebrow. "Well, go on, you never needed telling twice before," she said before pursing her lips, holding back on vocalizing her concern with germs in this kind of room. Senny didn't feel like killing the mood.
And yes, typically Sabina didn't require telling once to pursue her fancy, but here she found herself overwhelmed by the mass variety. It was vital to choose just the right things.
The walls looked squishy, and pokey, and scratchy, and...well, it didn't really matter. They were too crowded for her taste, and so many of the other kids had a size advantage on her. Sabina threw her head this way and that to find something more suitable, soon spotting a most perfect something.
She scuttled over to a table with a lone occupant playing around with the most wonderfully colorful thing in the room. Sidling up right next to him so that they were actually arm to arm, Sabina at first said nothing. The boy had a funny head and kind of reminded her of a coat rack, but she was far more intrigued by the green goo before them. Though eager to touch, touch, touch, her hands were withdrawn to cover her mouth. She hesitated and threw a sidelong glance to the boy, for he looked like a knowledgable sort of boy, and asked conspiratorally, "S'it safe? Can I...Can I touch it?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:59 pm
"'Course it's safe. This is the touch room so everything in here's for touching and playing with." Phineas assured the other child warmly, smiling at her. The moose was a warm and helpful child, and he was an extremely friendly coat rack.
"Would you like me to move over so you have some more room to play? I can if you like." he offered warmly.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 6:29 pm
"Oh! I don't need much room," she said brightly, rolling her shoulders as if to display how little space she took up. So thrown off by the other's courtesy, Sabina found herself responding to him in reverse order. Or maybe it had to do with the trance the strange green stuff had her in. Whichever it may be, her hands were now gripping the edge of the table, and still not touching what ought be touched.
"I was just thinkin' that maybe," she explained, licking her lips unconsciously, "Maybe, maybe it was new-clear or something. And might maybe give me superpowers! Or...or..." Sabina searched for the word she didn't know, but gave a tell-tale look of interest at the appendages on the boy's head. Giving up the search, she asked, "What are those anyway?"
She was smiling with her eyes on the boy, but she really only hoped he (or anyone) might not notice how she hesitated with the ooze before her. Excitement was ever-present, but now that she was so close she found herself faced with an unfamiliar sense of forboding. Such a peculiar sensation, it was.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 6:49 pm
Phineas grinned. "Okay if you're sure." he said with a nod.
"Oh no, nuclear stuff is dangerous and explody and gives off nasty radiation that makes people sick. They'd never let kids near that. Or gel that makes superpowers, sadly, cause then they'd end up with all sorts of super powered kids - even bad ones - and there'd be trouble." the child explained sadly.
"What on my head?" he asked, pointing up at his coat rack. "These are my antlers. I have them cause I'm a moose."
Phineas, hoping to maybe coax Sabina into playing with the gooey stuff a bit more, lifted some up, letting some ooze out between his fingers and offered it out for her to poke a bit before sticking her hands in the miniature tank of it.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:19 pm
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Sabina conceded with equal sadness; super powers would have been awesome. Frowning, she watched as the boy let the goo drip from his hands, and her head tilted with the fall of the ooze. It was so, sooo tempting, but all she could do was narrow her eyes at it. For lack of thought, she said mechanically, "My name's Sabina by the way."
"Soo," she added slowly, willing herself to look away from the offered mound of goo and pretend she couldn't see it. Once successful, she was quite able to find her recent train of thought. Speeding up, she continued, "I really can't get my own ant-thingies? Maybe you could teach me to be a moose! You'd be a real good teacher."
Sabina nodded eagerly, it was a very true statement and this moose thing didn't sound too shabby either. Her hands, meanwhile, inched toward the mystery goo. It was so close! And Mr. Moose Rack seemed okay after. Maybe she should poke it. Just once. In minute. Or two...
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:27 pm
"I'm Phineas." he introduced himself politely.
"And no, sadly you can't get your own antlers. Moose are animals, they come that way. You seem to be a different kind of critter all together. You probably have features I don't have." So far, of the kids he'd met while venturing out to play had wanted to know if they could grow antlers like he could. How funny.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:58 pm
"Aw," she sighed sady, pouting her lip slightly at the news, "I want to be a moose though. You know lotsa things and have somewhere to put your candy without it getting hairy!" Sabina eyed him woefully as if he had chosen things to be this way. He did have a point, yet again; why, she'd yet to find someone with a tail just like hers. If anyone asked, she'd try to teach them though!
Sabina returned to the goo. Perhaps...perhaps she was being played the fool! He could be using that reverse psych'logy thing so only he would get antlers. Outrageous!
Casting an accusing glance at the boy next to her, the sugar glider girl plunged her hand into the alien substance, abandoning previous caution entirely. Wrist deep in goo, she didn't feel any moose-ier, but she did feel slimy. And slippery. And cool, like pizza that's been sitting out too long. And all there was left to do was laugh! Mouth wide open, nose scrunched, and dark eyes alight, she laughed and threw the other hand in too.
"This is amazin'!" she declared wondrously when her laughter softened. More curious than ever, she asked, trusting the boy to have an answer, "What IS it Phinny?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:08 pm
Phineas honestly didn't know how to explain to the sugar glider that she simply could not be a moose. "Maybe you could find fake antlers at the store to wear?" he suggested. "That's all I can think of."
Phineas giggled. "I don't know what it is exactly. They actually didn't list what this stuff was around here. Just some sort of goo they made in the labs to play around with I guess."
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:10 pm
Sabina's desire for moosedom faded as rapidly as it had come, or at least for the time being there was something much more important. She wiggled her fingers around in her sizeable mound of goo while listening to Phineas. He was decidedly already the smartest friend she had, and therefore a great candidate for her latest scheme.
Her plan came quite suddenly, and while it did not warrant haste, thoughts that come quickly feel like they deserve to be acted on quickly. So, holding onto one of Phineas' goop engulfed hands with both of her own, she looked up at him and declared, "Well we gotta find out what's in it! Everyone should know so they can have their own."
Wildly excited at this prospect, Sabina hadn't a moment to consider that little moose boys probably don't like little moose girls so close to their face. Let alone little non-moose girls.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:21 pm
"Sounds like a fun idea!" the boy agreed with an enthusiastic nod. Luckily for Sabi, he was careful when he nodded so as not to hit her. And he was also the type who didn't mind having someone close to his face so that was okay.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:44 pm
Sabina's eyes grew with excitement, a partner in crime! Excellent. Still, there were some small matters that had to be dealt with. Unfortunately for Phineas, she was not nearly as careful as he was, so when she snapped her head around her short hair managed to whip him smartly in the face.
"Hmm," she mused, scouting out her keeper and forming a plan simultaneously. In a corner of the room, Senny was chatting animatedly with a parent, observing some knobby things on the wall there as she did so. Also excellent. Unable to find any other mooses...meese?...whichever, she asked in a hushed voiced, "Which big people is yours?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:30 pm
Phineas pointed nearby to where Ixxie stood. She was mostly just chilling out, not really trying to pay too much attention to anything. Though, her short pink hair and heavily tattooed arms sort of stood out.
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:40 pm
An impressed "ooh" escaped Sabina's lips; the little moose's guardian was her exact idea of cool. And so bright! But there was little time to dwell on this. Sabina's concentration need lay solely on giving the two ladies the slip.
"Perfect," she nodded, her eyes shrewd and narrowed. She pocketed some of the green substance surreptitiously and explained with cool patience, "We gots to get out of here if we're going to find out what's this is. They prolly keep all the testy machines somewhere else, away from all the peoples and this place is a death end; only one way out." She eyed the large doorway back into the foyer and melodramatically echoed the line that was usually said at this point in her Papa's crime drama films. "You with me?"
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