whole new world

[campanas]

Pen wakes up at about four in the afternoon. It takes her a few seconds to remember why she's here, but then she remembers and starts looking for Cindy.

Comments

[manofmyword]

He sets down the large box. It says K'Nex on the side and has colourful pictures of mysterious objects.

"Mmmmarkers," he says, pulling the first thing out of the plastic bag and handing it to her. "Colouring books," second. "Books in general." An almost random selection of five that looked like fun. "And a helicopter!"

The helicopter is in a cardboard box of its very own, and it is the last thing in the bag.

[campanas]

"What helicopter?"

[manofmyword]

"I'll show ya," he says cheerfully, grabbing a knife to cut open the box. (It's the Joker's apartment. There is always a knife.)

He makes short work of the sticker holding the box shut, and then he takes out the little plastic helicopter with its little remote control, and he supplies them both with batteries, and he shows Pen how to make it go.

[campanas]

Pen is enthralled!

[manofmyword]

"This is a toy one," he adds, "but there's bigger ones that people fly around in."

[campanas]

Pen catches the flying helicopter and peers into its windows. "Heeee," she giggles.

[manofmyword]

He grins.

"And there's this stuff," he adds, giving the K'nex box on the floor a gentle, indicative kick. "It looked fun."

[campanas]

Pen sets the helicopter down and starts picking at the box. She is not particularly familiar with corrugated cardboard.

[manofmyword]

The Joker helps open this one too!

[campanas]

And then she investigates the plastic things, and observes the picture on the box, and starts snapping them together, giggling.

[manofmyword]

He leaves her to it and goes to make a pie.

[campanas]

Pen sings and builds things and tries to land her helicopter on the things.

[manofmyword]

The pie is peach. It smells tasty.

[campanas]

Pen wants some pie!

[manofmyword]

She can have as much as she wants!

[campanas]

She wants one big slice and then one itty bitty second slice. And then she goes and colors her coloring books.

[manofmyword]

And he cleans up after the pie.

And then he says, "I'm gonna go out again. You wanna do my makeup?"

[campanas]

"Yeah!" beams Pen, hopping to her feet. "I paint you pretty."

[manofmyword]

He beams. Into the good bathroom they go!

[campanas]

Pen arranges the necessary supplies, and sits him down, and hops into his lap, where she sits crosslegged and starts painting.

His ordinary makeup isn't tidy enough for her lack of dexterity to make much visible difference, except there's more smears of pink where the white and red mix, and she draws a smiley face on his left cheek.

[manofmyword]

He examines himself in the mirror and giggles.

"Perfect," he says, hugging her.

[campanas]

Hugs! "So pretty!" she asserts.

[manofmyword]

"Mmhm!"

[campanas]

"Where you go?" she asks.

[manofmyword]

"Mm, out. Nowhere special. Just gotta talk to a few of those unfriendly people I hang around with."