sid n' sinny
fun in the fun house
fun in the fun house
Someone was chasing him. Sidney peeked over his shoulder as he ran, weaving through the thin, mirrored halls. Where was the exit?
If he could find that, he'd be safe.
The beast roared, and suddenly it was on top of him.
"I told you not to run ahead," Lex said, grabbing the Venus Fly Trap boy's around his waist and picking him up off of the ground. Sid kicked his feet and Lex grunted as the boy's boot made contact with some body part or another.
"But Unca 'Lexis, chasin' is more funner!"
"You can run around outside. If I put you down, do you promise to hold still?"
Sid nodded, his pale hair whipping Lex's cheek. Lex deposited him on the fun house floor and spun him around so they faced each other. He brought his handkerchief up to his nose. It was already spotted with blood.
"Wha' happened?" Sid asked.
"I ran into a wall," Lex replied.
"HA!" Sid slapped his knee and laughed about that for a long time, so long in fact, that Lex wasn't ready when the boy took off again, running through the mirror room as fast as his spindly legs could carry him.
And, of course, Sid ended up running smack dab into another kid. A red haired boy in jeans and a t-shirt was holding a small, green haired baby to look at the funny mirrors. They were right at the end of the hall and the boy's dark clothing prevented him from being noticed at first by the child.
Bailey blinked down, wondering vaguely why small children kept running into him. "Oh, hi...are you okay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the Venus flytrap.
Sid bounced back upon impact, landing on his backside and continuing to laugh, his breath hitching with the hilarity of the whole situation.
"He's fine," Lex said, coming around the last corner and down the hall, surprisingly sedate considering the fact that his favorite dress shirt now looked like someone had been killed in it. At least his nose had stopped bleeding outright. "I don't think he has any bones to break and he seems to like flinging himself around needlessly."
"I'm Sid!" the child said, standing up quickly and backing into Lex's leg with the suddenness of his movement. "Who's dat?" He pointed at the baby, then at the baby's leafy arms. "Coooool."
"This is Absinthe. He's my brother." the boy said, bouncing the tot a little. Sinny never had been particularly gifted with words but found himself gurgling a response to the child as well.
"Fan-koo."
"Well, we should get going, I suppose," Lex said, reaching for Sid's hand. These kids seemed nice enough, even if one of them was named after a hallucinogenic liquor, but it was probably a good idea to be outside when Sid decided to go wild again.
"Nuh uh," Sid disagreed. He took a step toward Bailey and looked at the mirror he and Absinthe had been focused on when Sid had interrupted them. He bent his legs, watching his body blob from 'normal' to 'super-midget-fat' in the blink of an eye. "What'choo do dere?" he asked. "Dat way's more mirrors," he said, pointing back where he had come from, his tone making it clear that he hadn't found them at all fun, even though he had been nearly hysterical with laughter moments before.
"Don't know yet. We've just come through from the mirrors and were looking at the last ones when you came by." Bailey explained, bouncing Sinny a bit so the tot could see himself change sizes - something that utterly delighted the monk. Sinny liked seeing himself get biiiiiiiiiiig and small, big small big small. He let out a shriek of amusement at it.
"Mm." Man, were these people slow! Sid wanted to run-run-run! He looked up as Sinny shrieked and Sid lifted a leg, grabbing his foot behind his back and hopping on the other.
"Sid," Lex warned. He pulled an apple juice box out of his back pocket and handed it to the boy.
Sid made a face. It was warm. "You's dun look like bruddas," he said, pulling the wrapper off of the juice box's straw and handing it back to Lex.
"That's cause we're both adopted. Mother found Sinny in a field after an explosion, and I came from outer space." the red child informed the hyper sprat. Honestly, some kids were so odd. But that was what made them interesting. Sinny was looking curiously at the juice box, all the while.
"Space!" Suddenly the pair were much more interesting in Sid's eyes. "Wassit like?"
Sid wasn't the only one whose interest was piqued. At the mention of the explosion that had preceeded the green-haired baby's entrance into the world, Lex was reminded of Sid's strange birth.
"I don't know. I was a baby." the boy said with a shrug. Truthfully, Bailey did know somewhat from his previous life, but at that time he was crazy so it didn't count much.
"Oh." Boring again. Sid noticed Sinny's interest in his drink and held it up for the baby to take.
"Did your mother tell you anything about the explosion?" Lex asked. "Was Absinthe injured in it?" He smiled the slightest bit, hoping he wasn't coming across as creepy. "I don't mean to pry, it's just... My employer was in a similar situation."
The tot gurgled happily and took hold of the juice box, sipping loudly.
Bailey laughed and pat the baby on his head. "Yeah, Sinny's got some burns on his arms. There was apparently a happy skipping businessman in a field full of hops plants and suddenly there was an explosion and he was off and running like he'd just won the lottery. Or that's how my mom and my brother described it. Sinny's got some burn marks but wasn't too freaked so I don't think he even knew there was an explosion. Or he came out of it. Either way."
Sid laughed too. "'S good," he said to the baby. "Better cold."
"Yes. Either way," Lex agreed. Well, besides the explosion, Absinthe's arrival and Sid's sounded nothing alike. Still, it was worth mentioning to Roxanna.
Sid reached up and grabbed Lex's hand. "C'monnnn," he said, crowding close and stepping on Lex's shoe.
Bailey laughed and pat Sinny on the head. "Um.....I hope you don't want the juicebox back. This little one is called the Droolmeister for a reason."
"Nah, 't's okay," Sid said. "Eeever'body should have juice." He began walking away from the mirror room, attempting to pull Lex's arm with him but getting nowhere with it until the man moved on his own. "C'mon!"
"Were you heading this way?" Lex asked. He felt sort of silly trying to herd children he wasn't responsible for, especially this one, who seemed rather grown-up on his own.
"Yes, most likely, if that's the proper direction of the fun house. We can't get out by going backwards. The only way to go back is to go forwards." the boy said with a nod, walking ahead into the next room, which seemed to be full of funny moving walkways.
"Ooo," Sid breathed. He let go of Lex's hand and scampered forward, kneeling on a nearby walkway and nearly getting his fingers caught by the edge of the conveyor belt. Lex kept his eye on the boy but kept his distance as well, at least until Sid started extending his tongue toward the dirty floor.
"Sidney..."
"Jus' kiddin'," Sid said, giggling to himself because he so obviously hadn't been simply fooling around. He reached down again and managed to grab what he had been trying to reach with his clumsy fingers. A plastic ring. He slid it on what passed for his thumb and stood, hurrying back on a bumpy walkway that was returning toward Bailey, Sinny and Lex. "Lookit," he said proudly.
Sinny leaned down to investigate the object, a small trickle of drool running down his cheek as he still suckled on the juicebox.
"Neat." the snake boy commented, though he was more wondering why a child would ever want to stick their tongue on a dirty floor like that, just for a ring.
Sid laughed and clasped his awesome, filthy ring to his chest. "C'mon again," he urged, reaching out a hand to Lex which the man ignored.
"Go on, Sid," he said. Unlike the plant child, Lex didn't get his jewelry from the floor. Rummaging around on the ground was a habit he would have to be sure to break Sid of, especially since it seemed more and more each day like Lex was going to be the one caring for Sidney during daylight hours.
The next room Sid burst into was preceded by a ramp and possessed a floor made entirely of transparent plastic. Underneath the room was a pit of alligators that were either really real or extremely lifelike. Lex had no comment. Outside, he had noticed a sign discouraging women from wearing skirts in the fun house, and this must have been the reason why.
in progress...
