Just Another Night at the Lab [Closed]

[Kari Muffin]

"So the ultimate conclusion that can be drawn is that, all parents are weird in some way shape or form. It seems to be an unbreakable rule. No matter what you do or say your parents will never understand you, and you will never understand them." Rocky said matter-of-factly before taking a sip of his coffee.

That was still too hot. The raccoon made a sudden squeak as he fanned his tongue with a free hand. As many times as Rocky had done this before he never got used to losing the feeling in his tongue. The numbness always spread so quickly, and he wouldn't be able to taste anything for days.

Aw... maybe he would be able to taste the ice cream tomorrow? He could hope. The raccoon's eyes were watering when he spoke again. "I should look before I drink, eh?" He said before blowing on the drink some more in retaliation.

[danishweasel]

"That's what it looks like. You'd think that sharing the same genes and habitat, there would be some shared understanding between parentals and their kids. Maybe it's the generation gap or some-"

Ataxia yelped as she heard Rocky's surprised squeak. Thankfully, her coffee was still on the table waiting to cool. In this case, it was probably best that she didn't have thumbs, seeing as the way she had jumped hearing Rocky, the scalding coffee most likely would have ended up on her head otherwise.

"Oh, I made the coffee too hot...Hang on, hang on!"

She raced to the fridge, nearly colliding with it as her paws skidded across the linoleum floor. Ripping it open, she shoved various vials, bottles, and boxes out of the way.

"Ice...ice...Ice! Here!"

She gripped the bag of ice in her teeth, hurrying back and dropping it in front of Rocky to take some to cool off his coffee as well as his tongue. Xia would have gone as far as nipping up the ice for him, but it would have been a bit awkward seeing as...well, no thumbs.

"Sorry, I really should have put the flame down some. It doesn't need that much heat to make a pot of coffee...Are you okay?"

[Kari Muffin]

Rocky graciously took the ice that was offered to him, putting some in his coffee and then putting two or so pieces in his mouth. "Thank you," he said through the mouthful of ice.

He let it sit for a while before he spoke again. Why, whenever he burnt himself he never thought of ice? It was one of those rules you were supposed to follow in the lab safety manual or something. He sighed at his own stupidity. Good job Rocky, you never did pay attention to lab safety in Chemistry class did you?

"I'm fine. I burn my tongue more often than not. At least I didn't burn anything else this time," He grinned as he took another look at his coffee. Iced coffee was an invention that fell short of being perfect. He'd live though. The raccoon took a sip of his coffee. It was a nice lukewarm temperature that he could stand. "Thank you for the ice and coffee."

[danishweasel]

Ataxia smiled sheepishly. She should have warned him about the coffee being hotter than normal..that's what comes from making coffee on a Benson burner: no readable regulation in the temperature. She should have thought of the ice in the first place...

"I really should put a thermometer in there next time to gauge the temperature. Maybe I can learn how high the flame should be to make a drinkable pot of coffee...one that doesn't has to sit for a few hours before attempting to drink."

She carefully shook the bag a bit to get a few bits of ice to land on a part of the bag away from the rest before nipping them up and putting them in her coffee. She then placed the bag back into the freezer section of the fridge.

"I know all about burning things too. My hazard shower is well used. Sometimes, the mane can get in the way when working with the Benson burners, and well...it's a good thing my fur's mostly black already. Though there hasn't been a singe for a while. I've been doing better recently. Oh, and don't worry about the ice or the coffee. It's about time I made a pot tonight anyway."

[Kari Muffin]

Never make coffee with a Bunsen burner. Rocky checked that off on the list of things not to do when he was bored and didn't feel like working. "You could always tie your mane back..." Rocky said trailing off. How exactly was she supposed to do that without hands he wasn't sure. Even when he only had an animal form he could easily manipulate things with his paws. Scissors and such were difficult, but he still managed.

Dog paws were different though. He was pretty sure they weren't as flexible and couldn't manipulate things as well as raccoon paws. Then again Rocky had never been a dog and this was all in theory. "Well, I have to say it's a good thing you haven't burn yourself in a while. It's never a pleasant thing. I thick electrical burns are some of the worst though, then again my wings wouldn't work at all if I hadn't burnt them a bit."

[danishweasel]

"I've gotten around a lot of things not having thumbs. Grabbing things, opening and closing, just about everything that needs to be done. But tying my hair back, still haven't gotten that one down yet. See?"

She lifted up a paw as far back as it could go, which was to about to her forehead.

"The arms don't really work well for that sorta thing. Sure, I can tie something in front of me with a combo of my teeth, paws, and a bit of time, but since I have to get back behind my head...not much I can do there. No big deal, though. Just have to watch myself."

She couldn't help but cringe at the mention of electrical burns. Sure, she had been zapped a couple times from various accidents of her own doing, but not so much as to cause burns.

"I can only imagine. Getting the shock is bad enough...but why is it that you had to burn the wings to get them to work?"

[Kari Muffin]

"Well, the way that I did it. I slowly increased the electrical voltage until they worked. Unfortunately I had to increase it a lot more than I thought originally and ended up burning myself in a wonderful bit of smoking glory." He said looking at is coffee slightly embarrassed.

"And I've never had much mane to tie back regardless of having hands or not," he shrugged. "I imagine if I ever bothered to get a human form, which I probably won't I'd have a short cropped mane or... hair. It's called hair in human form isn't it?" Words were always a fun thing to play with. What applied to human form and what didn't? He did pay attention in grammar school, but that knowledge had been long washed over by all of his studies in flight and such. If he had remembered teachings from grammar school he would remember how to be properly sociable like a "normal" person.

[danishweasel]

The thought of it made her shudder. She understood the concept...sort of, but it still sounded risky. Not to mention painful. She was glad to see that the experiment was a success, but the possibility of something going awry was uncomfortably high. ...Like she could talk.

"Well, it worked, and I guess that's all that matters, right? Even if there was some...singeing involved."

She smiled as she shook her mane away from her eyes and took a sip of the coffee.

"Manes are nice and all, I guess, but they do tend to get in the way a lot. And since mine tends to grow out fast, it gets into everything. It's why I have to rinse out in the detox shower so much, but I guess that's not such a bad thing, all things considered."

Ataxia snorted at the idea of a human form. What was wrong with what they were? Certainly she could see the benefits of being able to walk on two legs from time to time and the thumbs were an added plus, but she saw bipeds with those traits.

"I'm not sure what it's called. Never really looked into the whole human bit. Personally, I think it's overrated. Just for show."

[Kari Muffin]

"Magic. That's the main reason why anyone has them, I've been told. That... and in Theofilus's case it makes paperwork easier. Bird hands are sometimes difficult to use apparently." Rocky took another sip of his coffee.

"I think they're quite overrated, but I imagine they have lots of uses. I never thought getting my biped form... er well... my not-quite-biped form would be of very little use besides making cutting and such easier. It helped with a lot of things actually. Though... I had to make some of the spaces in my lab a lot bigger than I expected. I guess you just shouldn't judge before you either obtain something or see it in use." Having extra limbs seemed to do that. The raccoon's tail swished. He still was slightly upset over this little "accident" that Loreta had been so kind enough to cause.

She'd pay for that someday. He didn't want to dish out revenge, but some things jut had a way of smacking you in the face later. Loreta had been waiting for a smack for a long time.

[danishweasel]

"Magic, huh? I guess being able to have a larger range of movement would help with that. Though even with paws, I didn't have too much problem with paperwork. Just use my typewriter and adjust the margins a bit so I'm not biting down on any of the words. Hmmm, then again, birds have hollow bones, and they might not be able to put as much pressure on the keys...I suppose the whole form issue depends on the person."

She ended it with a shrug before she started thinking too much out loud again. It had been happening a lot lately...either it was the late hour or the fact that there was someone to talk to that talked back. Or a mix of both.

Rocky's comments about his not-so-biped form reminded her of her previous curiosity, one she had pushed to the back of her mind before out of politeness. They had been talking about a lot of personal things...it should be safe to mention it now.

"I was sort of wondering about that, actually. How did you end up with that form? I had first expected it was some kind of biped form, but then you mentioned it came from an experiment...What were you testing?"