Dax and Mouse:In the hallway
Dax led Mouse upstairs, they were almost to the nursery and she still hadn't talked to him, he was starting to feel very sad about it too. He stopped on the top step and turned, kneeling in front of Mouse, his hand still in hers. "Come on Mouse, give me a smile, I bet you're really pretty when you smile," what could he ply her with? Ice Cream? No, if he took her down to the kitchen, he'd be in trouble for sure. There wasn't much else he could offer, good food, but from what he heard she ate better than he and most of the workers here did. "What would make you smile? I know, how about tickles?" Dax reached his free hand out and tickled her under her little arm with his big fat pudgy forefinger. It wasn't helping and he looked sad, worried, why did he care so much what she thought of him?
"Tell me about you Mouse, what is there to know? Let me see, I'll guess, you were an..only child, and your Ma was one of the last to die from the virus, right? Or, are you a child of the ones left behind? Is Salene your real Mother? Let me see, that would make you, three years old? No..four? Five?" He knew he was wrong, she had to be older than that, but maybe just maybe it would...do something enough to make her talk, to tell him about herself. "How did you fall in with the Mall Rats anyway? I hear they are a hard Tribe to penetrate and join," Dax gave her a lopsided smile and waited for her not to answer him again. Pretty soon he'd have to take her back to the Nursery and leave her behind, he was stalling now, hoping they could have a long enough conversation that it would be too late to stick him in the conditioning room and maybe she could have some fun time not locked up in a room with a screaming baby.
"Tell me about you Mouse, what is there to know? Let me see, I'll guess, you were an..only child, and your Ma was one of the last to die from the virus, right? Or, are you a child of the ones left behind? Is Salene your real Mother? Let me see, that would make you, three years old? No..four? Five?" He knew he was wrong, she had to be older than that, but maybe just maybe it would...do something enough to make her talk, to tell him about herself. "How did you fall in with the Mall Rats anyway? I hear they are a hard Tribe to penetrate and join," Dax gave her a lopsided smile and waited for her not to answer him again. Pretty soon he'd have to take her back to the Nursery and leave her behind, he was stalling now, hoping they could have a long enough conversation that it would be too late to stick him in the conditioning room and maybe she could have some fun time not locked up in a room with a screaming baby.