The Technical Mind [Finished]

[seraaches]

H.P. wasn't certain what he thought of Nico becoming an artist or something like some kind of Ville en Miir resident. Not that he disliked the Villes, per say, but they certainly weren't that. Like, at all. He thought it might be, like, not true to their heritage? Maybe? Maybe it would be okay.

Kyri pricked her ears towards the older girl. "Someday I'll have hands," she told Thalia cheerfully. "I hope to do some kind of research." She wiggled her tentacles in the air. "I can get some stuff done now, though. Are your tentacles very handy?" She tilted her head to one side, mind whirring now. "What's your specialty? I can't seem to pick one. I think its the Josiggy in me." She frowned, as though displeased by being a mix, though it generally didn't bother her too much.

"I like being Josiggy," H.P. complained at his sister.

[Bee]

"Some of my half-siblings are Josiggy," Thalia supplied happily. "They're all very sweet!" Mad as eels, though she tended not to think of that as a character flaw. Eir ate people of course, but he wasn't Josiggy so it seemed neither here nor there at the moment, and Ira, who was Josiggy and probably also ate people, was more retarded puppy than rabid dog. Even though Ira was actually a horse. Could horses go rabid?

And suddenly she'd lost her metaphor. She didn't go looking for it.

She looked at Kyri contemplatively. "I don't really have a specialty either. I like to do a little bit of everything." Which was pretty much the story of her life, now that she thought about it: boundless enthusiasm with little direction. "Especially if a little bit of everything explodes. You should come over sometime and look at my lab! You might see something you'd like to do."

[seraaches]

"Oh!" Kyri gasped, the edge of rapture in her voice. "Could I?"

"What?" H.P. gasped, shock edging through his voice like a razor. "No, I don't think that'd be--"

The deer poked her brother exceedingly hard in the ribs with a tentacle. "Thalia is obviously a responsible adult," she told her brother haughtily. "You needn't be rude."

"I'm not being rude," the canine muttered under his breath, face tentacles wriggling unhappily. "I'm being cautious.

Kyri loftily ignore her brother, deciding that she wished she was related to Thalia instead of him. "Do you think," she inflicted just enough wistfulness into her voice. "Do you think, we could go now? We aren't needed home for hours yet, and I would so love to have my specialty. . . "

"I think we're needed home now," H.P. said quietly, but his ribs hurt now, and he didn't want to get jabbed again.

"You can just go home then," the deer snapped at her brother.

H.P.'s ears went back and he actually debated it just then. But, no. Images of a quartered and dissected Kyri floated through his mind and he shuddered. "No, I'll go with you." Even his voice sounded subdued.

"Just don't be a nuisance," she hissed quietly at him before smiling winningly at Thalia yet again.

[Bee]

Thalia punched the air enthusiastically with as much of a fist as a tentacle was capable of making. It was good to see love of science trump such silly things as caution and restraint; or, alternatively, one sibling asserting their will over the other. She contemplated what she could show Kyri first and what she could show Kyri next and what they could do once everyone was seen and a moment later it all got jumbled up into static so she decided to just let it all roll when they got there.

"All right then," she said, happily. "To the Thalialab! You're going to love it, Kyri. And don't worry, H.P.," she assured the boy, because it would be great if he were just as included and happy as Kyri, "it's not possible to be a nuisance in a lab. I find a purpose for everyone!"