bakerstreet | get your drunk ass in here

[Pandora has taken over a corner booth, several notebooks sprawled around her, along with a stack of books that have been assaulted with tabs of different colors that jut out from the top. There's a half-eaten stack of pancakes to one side, swimming in what looks like every flavor of syrup they have. Every so often she jots things down in one of the notebooks, sipping from a tall glass of soda.]

[Busy or not, she has taken up a whole booth. That empty seat is practically screaming to be used.]

[Leslie spends a lot of her time as she waited for her order watching the woman with the huge array of books and notebooks, kicking her feet as she does. Whatever she's doing, it seems to be interesting, but it's hard to make out the titles of the books from over here and impossible to see what is in the notebooks.

After her meal arrives and she notices a couple walking in, she takes the excuse to take her food and move over to the empty seat to get a better view. Sure, the Denny's isn't entirely full, but it's full enough that she can say she should move from the two-person table she'd been sitting at and move to a (sort of) one-person seat. Sure, her brother was going to be sitting in the other seat, but something important had come up that meant he'd left her to have her meal while he rushed out and wouldn't be back for another hour. Sure, she could call someone to pick her up, but she'd ordered the food already, after all. And, anyway, these are all excuses to get a closer look at what the woman is working on.

Leslie is small (looks around 9-10, is actually 12) and her arms are not in the least bit strong, so she doesn't bring everything over at once. So, across from Pandora, a glass of orange juice is scooted on to the other side of the table in an empty spot in the paper sea. The head accompanying it disappears for a bit, before the same kid comes back with a plate of pancakes and hops up onto the seat with a "hup" sound, leaving her plate of pancakes in her lap so as not to disturb the work. This results in a fair bit of awkward movement as she does her best to properly use the silverware on a target on her lap that is approximately the same size as said lap, but eventually she chews away on her pancakes, getting a look at what it is that Pandora is working on as best as she can from the wrong side of the table.]

[Hmmm. I don't remember ordering any orange juice. That's the first thought that enters Pandora's head as the stranger appears then departs again. Her return with the pancakes at first prompts her to tilt her head to one side, ears tipping forward. Those seconds of confusion might give Leslie a chance to check out the books splayed across the table. They're an odd mishmash, to say the least. Volumes on interior decoration, electrical wiring and plumbing are stacked atop books on physics and astronomy. There's even a Cooking for Dummies thrown into the middle of it all.]

[The notebook itself looks like a couple of lists along with different kinds of designs sketches, all scribbled in some of the most atrocious handwritten ever known to man.]

[It takes longer than one might expect, but it finally dawns on Pandora that she's no longer the only one at the table. She goes ramrod straight in her chair, ears shooting up, then snatches up the debris of her studies.]

My apologies! I hadn't realized you wanted to sit here!

[Everything gets consolidated to a few precarious stacks and voila! There is, in fact, a table under it all. She pulls her own pancakes (or more accurately, a pile of syrup saturated mush) in front of herself. Well, she probably needed a break anyway.

I get a little carried away when I'm in the middle of a project, and I wasn't expecting quite so many people here today.

[She leans forward again, this time her nose working up and down.]

Are those regular pancakes, or...?

[It's hard to tell, especially with maple, blueberry, strawberry and butter pecan wafting up from her own plate and dominating any other smell.]

[Is she...building a house? With, um, astrological alignment in mind? The physics and astronomy book is giving Leslie trouble.]

It's okay, I --

[She intends to tell Pandora that she doesn't mind all the papers being spread out, but the sudden flurry of activity in reorganizing the table surprises her into trailing off. Goodness, that's a transformation of the table. At the question, Leslie's eyes briefly shift to the left before she returns to looking at Pandora.]

Um, yes. They're just regular pancakes.

[And yet, strangely, she doesn't put her plate of pancakes on the newly cleared table. In fact, she scooches forward until she's somewhat precariously balanced on the edge of her seat (her feet don't touch the ground at this height) to bring the plate on her lap even further under the table. The plate with, in fact, some Jr. Birthday Cake Pancakes (pancakes with multicoloured sprinkles baked inside, topped with a spread of vanilla cream with even more of the sprinkles on top of that). She is far too embarrassed to eat them openly in public, even if it was her brother who ordered them for her before he left. She's 12 years old. She shouldn't be eating from the kids' menu. (It's an opinion her new family is still in the middle of trying to shake from her.)]

[She tries to divert attention by looking over at the stack of notes and books.]

I really only came over because I was curious about what you were working on. You had a...lot of different books.

[Read: how the heck do these subjects go together.]

[She's really curious about those pancakes, because she can detect some sort of intriguing aroma. She's also confused as to why she's not putting them up on the table. Wait, she doesn't think Pandora's going to steal some of them, does she? No no... that couldn't be it. If the girl had such a low opinion of Emejre, she wouldn't be sitting at the table in the first place.]

[And that curiosity doesn't last long. At the question, she beams then turns to go through the stack of notebooks. No, not that one. Not that one either. This one's blank. Aha! She jengas out one from the bottom of a stack, which wobbles briefly but stays upright. Leafing to the front page, she turns and puts it in front of Leslie.]

A few of my friends and I just bought this building.

[One might be tempted to call the structure in the photos a rat hole, but that would be offensive to rats. There are chunks of wall missing, parts of the building stripped down to mere wood and metal framework. The floor in every picture is strewn with debris. Yet Pandora is practically glowing with pride.]

It's way more space than we need, so I want to turn most of it into a science center. Something that makes learning fun for people, kids and adults.

[Her ears droop as she bites her lower lip.]

Everyone else thinks I'm way too ambitious... but our home needs a place like this.

[Leslie leans forward and...did this woman get scammed? This building looks beyond condemned. Or is this normal for real estate?? She doesn't exactly have her finger on the pulse of the construction industry....]

[The expression of uncertainty on her face (from both the photo and the chance of getting buried under a paperlanche) fades away when she hears about Pandora's plans into a little excitement. She'd been taught some things about science, but she's aware now of how many gaps there are from her childhood. For one, her old family would never have allowed her to "waste her time" on something like astronomy, no matter how incredible the night sky might look.]

[And, well, she can definitely sympathize with taking on something that seems impossible at first.]

It...does look like it'll be difficult, but -- it's not like you have a time limit on making it, do you? If you keep working at it...every building was started from nothing at one point.

[She brings her hands together in front of herself.]

I think a place like that is a wonderful idea. I don't think you're the only one who would want it to be built.

[Sadly it's not unusual to find buildings in this state where she comes from, though this one is run down even by those standards. Still, it's not about where you start but where you finish, right?]

[Pandora would have recognized the "wasting your time" sentiment all too well, had she known. That's a big part of the reason she's so passionate about this idea. It took her a long time to find the joy in science and discovery again, and she hates the idea that it could be taken away from anyone else.]

It will no doubt take a great deal of time, but I believe I have the patience to see it through. I have been told by my friends that I can be quite stubborn when I put my mind to something.

[She smiles wryly.]

I'm not certain they meant it as a compliment, but I take it as one.

[Though the smile quickly dissolves into a look straddling the line between panic and embarrassment, and she rubs at the back of her neck.]

O-oh! I should have introduced myself before I launched into all that, shouldn't I? I'm Pandora.

[Meanwhile, while Leslie spent her life up until this year living in what could be considered poverty, the environment around her was on the rich end of things in a peaceful country, so she's not used to it affecting the buildings. (It's complicated.)]

[At Pandora's sudden panicked embarrassment, Leslie looks startled.]

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, too, when I interrupted your work. My name is Leslie.

[She holds out her hand for a handshake, even if she falls notably short of reaching halfway across the table even when she stretches her arm as far as it will go.]

I think it's important to be -- well, to be determined when it comes to accomplishing goals like this. I'd love to be able to go to a center like that, so please remain stubborn.

[Complicated histories are something Pandora knows all about. Perhaps the most important takeaway from her life is that walking into a Denny's for the first time was like a desert traveler stepping into an oasis, only instead of water it was every bad food choice imaginable.]

It's nice to meet you!

[Pandora's easily able to cross the distance. She's just beyond the outskirts of gangly, not surprising given half of her DNA comes from animals who live to climb. As soon as she releases the handshake, though, she sighs and shakes her head.]

To be honest, I'm a little stuck with the layout and what I should include. We really can't start any kind of construction work until we know what's going where... stubbornness alone isn't going to get it finished, and it's all starting to jumble together and I'm losing some of my focus.

[She sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose.]

So... having company is nice.

[Leslie nods. She’s been learning these days just how comforting it can be to have someone with you and how helpful it is to talk through problems with a good listener.]

I understand that. Your mind only has so much stamina, and it looks like you’ve been trying to do it all at the same time. Maybe it would be easier if you picked one of the topics at a time?

[She looks at the dangerous piles with their eclectic collection of books as she picks her knife and fork back up. Now that she knows what they’re for, she can kind of see why they might all be relevant at the same time: it would be easy to shuttle back and forth between seeing something in the science book and checking if an exhibit or activity could be supported by the architectural books, and then a new idea of what could be possible to build might send Pandora back into the sciences to see what could make use of it.

...Leslie is still entirely lost as to what cooking has to do with it, though.]

Maybe if you focused only on what topics you wanted in the science center, it might jumble together less? Though science is a very big category on its own....

[She probably shouldn’t use her own ability to focus on one task for extended periods of time as a baseline to think about what people she doesn’t know can do. She had that kind of focus drilled into her from a young age, but she also has no idea that it’s not something everyone can do and has no way of knowing where Pandora falls on this matter.]

[While Pandora loves her friends, it's strange that Leslie's arguably given her better advice thus far. Maybe there's something to be said for an outside perspective. But... it's also possible the kid is more mature than any of them.]

That's a great point. I suppose I'm used to multitasking given the sort of work I did growing up. And this requires far more practical skills than I learned in the labs.

[She picks up one of the other notebooks, looks at a crude sketch and frowns.]

I'm certain this will sound arrogant, but I'm not used to struggling so much with something. Not when it comes to just thinking about things, at any rate. Perhaps if I knew what people might be looking for--

[And with that, her eyes go wide, ears straight up. Then she laughs, rapping one hand against the side of her head.]

Duh! I've got a potential visitor right here with me! You said you'd like to go to a center like this, so what sort of things would you want to see in one?

[She’s a bright kid.]

Huh? Oh, hmm.

[She wrinkles her forehead in concentration. She wants take this seriously, but she's never seen a science center or really thought exactly what would be in one. She kind of just had some vague, sparkly, science-y aura in her mind, but as for specifics, she's going to have to think.

As she thinks, her gaze lands on the pile of books. Physics and astronomy, huh. She speaks almost distractedly:]

I always wanted to learn about the stars. I love looking at the night sky, but my old tutor...didn't teach anything about it.

[She doesn't shrink in on herself much, but her shoulders curl in slightly as she hears the crisp voice of her old tutor and the swish of the switch in her head. "If you have the time to be thinking about such nonsense, I mustn't have given you enough to do."

But then she has a realization and her rate of speaking speeds up.]

Ah, but I don't know how easy it would be with out an observatory -- [wait, that's the wrong word] -- I mean, planetarium, and that seems pretty big and expensive. Um. I was also wondering about why earthworms come up when it rains the other day.

[At the mention of the night's sky Pandora immediately perks up, unable to hold back a huge smile.]

Oh, I love looking at the stars any night when the sky is clear enough to make them visible. I grew up with a star display projected on the ceiling of my room, though I didn't see real stars until a few years ago. Father--

[She catches herself there, the old habits still lingering after all this time.]

I mean, the scientist who raised me... felt studying constellations was a waste of time. Everything needed to be practical. But not everyone is raised in a lab and forced to learn, and stars are an easy gateway to get people excited. I believe we might have a way to create a planetarium... though I'm uncertain if it will work.

[She scribbles down a few notes as she listens, nodding as she speaks.]

We could have a small biology area that shows the different ways animals interact with an ecosystem, and maybe even create a little earthworm colony! I admit I don't know too much about them, we never spent much time studying invertebrates.

Oh, and I wanted to make an experimental kitchen! One of my friends says that all cooking is chemistry, and they're right! And who doesn't like to get a little messy in the name of science?

[She's almost bouncing in her seat as the ideas continue to flow.]

[Leslie’s expression turns sharp as Pandora corrects herself. Someone she used to call family who she now calls by an impersonal title, who forced her to only learn practical things. This sounds unnervingly familiar. But Pandora seems to be forging on ahead without pause and Leslie herself tends to avoid talking about her own trauma, so she doesn’t say anything about it for now as her expression slowly relaxes again.]

It might be hard to show off an earthworm colony, though, since they’re below ground most of the time. ...Would it be possible to use more above-ground bugs to make a micro, um, micro — [The word she’s looking for is microcosm, but as bright as she is, there’s only so much that can fit in a 12 year old’s brain. (What is also missing is knowing earthworms aren’t insects, but zoology was another subject she wasn’t taught during her homeschooling.)] — a, um, small scale ecology in a tank? Since they’re small on their own...but maybe the populations would have to be bigger.

But cooking.... [She runs through what she knows of both cooking and chemistry (which is more the latter than the former).] I guess they are kind of the same. And people would get to eat what they learn. That sounds like fun! So that’s why you had a cookbook, too....

[She cuts off a piece of her “plain” pancakes on her lap with her knife and fork. What appears above the table on the way to her mouth is littered with rainbow sparkles, both baked into the pancake and on bit of the cream on this piece that looks suspiciously like icing, but she’s gotten into thinking about this too much to remember she’d been trying to claim they were ordinary pancakes.]

[While Pandora hasn't yet learned to be guarded with her history, excitement over the science center and getting actual feedback lets her brush past it all. For now, at least.]

I've seen displays that use transparent walls for animals like naked mole rats, though I don't know if it would work very well for worms. But there needs to be something celebrating insects! Too many people are scared of them, yet the vast majority are harmless. And rather fascinating! I'm certain we could find at least a few species that would thrive in such an enclosed environment.

Well... [She glances to the cookbook, grimacing.] Admittedly, I am not a good cook. [A brief pause.] I have been banned from the kitchen several times. I was hoping I could learn more so I don't have to rely on others in that regard.

[Her head tilts to one side as she catches sight of the pancakes. Her eyes get wide as she sees what they are, a rush of pure excitement that seems at contrast with her late teens appearance.] Oh my goodness, that looks delicious! I had no idea they made those kinds of pancakes here!

[No clue that Leslie was uncomfortable about that. The whole "never taught social skills" thing comes back to haunt her again.

[Leslie jumps at the sudden excitement, though she is able to swallow the piece currently in her mouth.]

It's on a special menu. My brother ordered it for me.

[She's...not lying.... Well. She might as well put the whole plate in all its cake-like glory onto the table at this point.]

It might help the people who are scared of insects to see them in the enclosed environment. They wouldn't have to worry about being touched by them while they can watch them. At least, I think that will help. I don't mind them myself.

And, well. Everyone starts out not good at cooking, right? You just have to have a good teacher and the time to practice. [A pause.] I think. I've never cooked anything. And if you're banned from the kitchen, it's going to be harder to learn.

That's wonderful! He sounds like he's very kind.

[She's transfixed on the pancakes for a second or two. It's less than Pandora has a sweet tooth and more that she has a mouth full of them. Then again, after spending most of her life eating nutritionally balanced, high protein and zero taste gels, she's got a lot of catching up to do food-wise. But she tears her attention away and has another bite of what's mostly syrupy mush at this point before continuing.]

That helped me with snakes. I used to hate even seeing them, but seeing them through glass helped. Which is good, since there are a few of my people who are part snake. It's sort of like science itself, people are scared of things until they have a chance to get exposed to them.

[At her response about cooking, Pandora becomes even more animated than before.] See, that's what I've been telling them! How am I going to get better if I'm now allowed to even help. [She folds her arms over her chest, lip jutting out in a pretty impressive pout.] You cause one little fire and they never let you live it down.

He is. He's very kind. [A pause as she sees how Pandora is eyeing them.] ...Would you like to try it?

[She absolutely gets a life of bland food leading to a fondness for sweets.]

Is it really the same thing for the phobia, to have snake traits on a person rather than an actual snake?

[She is asking with honest intent -- her own biggest non-human phobia is fire and she hasn't met, like, a fire djinn yet.]

Um. [Leslie is suddenly less sure about encouraging her.] Did you not have supervision of any kind?

[One of her ears flicks at the question.] I feel guilty since I've already had so much food, but... yes.

[Thank goodness for super fast metabolisms!]

Well, it depends. Some Emejre like myself appear very similar to humans just with animal traits. Others look closer to their precursor species. My best friend told me he knows someone who's just a really big talking snake. I could handle meeting him now.

...I think.

[It's amazing how, with the ears flicking back, the eyes spots arching upward and the way she can almost hide behind her bangs, how well she can blend embarrassment and pouting, which is exactly what happens now.] Of course! I just... when he stepped away for a moment I wanted to be efficient and keep working. How was I to know it was that easy to start a grease fire?

[This is the danger in giving someone a lot of technical knowledge and ignoring practical skills.]

[Leslie does her best to muffle a giggle at how enthusiastic Pandora is about sweets, but, once it has passed, she carefully cuts off a portion with a good dollop of cream and holds it balanced between knife and fork as she holds it out.]

I...guess I would also find that surprising....

[She'd probably think very large snake first and only realize she wasn't in danger when the talking started. ...well, maybe unless they wore clothes. Would a big snake who is a person wear clothes? It feels rude to ask.

Meanwhile, she looks horrified by the story of the grease fire -- on top of regular horrified by the level of destruction, Leslie is deathly afraid of fire. She does her best to not imagine the results too much.]

I see why your roommates ban you from the kitchen now. Do you understand now why you need to wait for the person supervising you until you've learned a bit more?

get your drunk ass in here

Pandora Drake | OC

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject