Day 44: Arts and Crafts Room, Second Shift

[gothamsfuture]

Astor hadn't talked much after introducing himself, which hadn't bothered Terry. With all the crap their little hospital of horrors piled on the patients, he couldn't blame a guy for not wanting to open up to some stranger. Plus, not talking meant he could get a decent meal in, and then check out the bulletin for the latest in Landel's news and

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[host_club_honey]

Honey seemed to be one of the few people who actually enjoyed Arts and Crafts. When the nurse led him into the other room, he was practically beaming at the chance to play with all the different crafts. As tempting as it might be to try fingerpainting again, he'd promised Mr. Pennyworth that he'd work on those bat symbols. And with all the glitter they already had on hand here, he might even be able to save the ones he'd pocketed earlier. They could always be good for something at night. Like maybe making a trail like Hansel and Gretel. So no one got lost!

He sat at the nearest table, picking up the yellow construction paper and sketching out several messy attempts at the bat signal before he finally got one that might be recognizable. The scissors were next, the perfect size for his small, childish hands. The fact that even cutting paper was a difficult task for the plastic scissors never dawned on him.

Once he had one completed, he just had to trace it lots of times on other papers and then he could get the glue sticks and start glittering! Takashi's shooting star idea was fun too. Maybe he could start up some games like that on the bulletin so everyone could play?

[for the fuzzy blue guy!]

[fuzzy_diablo]

"Oh come on," Kurt whined as his nurse all but pushed him into the Arts and Crafts room. "This is kid-stuff! Can't I go, I don't know, take a nap or something?"

"Now Kurt," his nurse chastised him with a friendly smile on her face. "Art is very therapeutic for people of all ages. Perhaps you could draw something. Or fold some paper. Or paint something," she suggested, sitting him down next to a kid Kurt hadn't seen before. He sure was using those safety scissors like a pro... Not as though Kurt could use scissors normally.

Once his nurse had left, Kurt had an idea. He pulled over a piece of paper, carefully dipped the palm of his hand in fingerpaint, and pressed it to the page. He lifted his hand and frowned. Five fingers. Two more than should have been there. He wasn't sure why he was surprised, though. Everything else had suggested he had five fingers during the day and three at night. Maybe he'd been expecting the illusion to be just an illusion surrounding his own body. Apparently not.

"Euh..." Kurt turned to Mr. Safety Scissors. He was starting in on tracing now. "Excuse me?" He held up the page with the handprint on it. "Does this look okay to you?"

[host_club_honey]

The nurse brought over a friend and Honey made sure to smile at him when he sat down. He would've said more, but the other boy looked really intent on his fingerpainting. It wasn't until he held up the handprint on paper that Honey heard him speak. He looked from the print to the boy's face for a moment, just in case it was a trick question. But maybe he just needed some ideas for what to paint.

"It's a really good start," he said, trying to sound encouraging. "But there's lots more space on the paper."

[fuzzy_diablo]

"More... space?" Kurt looked at the page again, then back at the kid, then back at the page. Well, he hadn't said, 'Wooooah, two fingers!' or 'Your hand looks weird' or something like that. So this was failed experiment number... he'd lost count.

He looked forlornly at the page, frowning a little and looking around at the table of supplies. More space on the paper...

"Euh..." Kurt leaned over to the kid again. "What should I put on the paper? I didn't really think I would put anything else on it..." Logan would laugh if he could see him now... Arts and Crafts Failure Seeks Advice from 10-Year-Old. He would've never heard the end of it.

[host_club_honey]

He seemed really confused. Maybe this was the first time he'd fingerpainted. How sad! Or maybe he just didn't feel creative today.

"Mm, well you can't put whatever you want! Like trees and clouds or bunnies or kitties or whatever things you like." He smiled encouragingly to the other boy.

"I'm Honey by the way. What's your name?"

[fuzzy_diablo]

Trees or clouds or bunnies or kitties... somehow, Kurt didn't think many of those things belonged on a piece of paper with a giant blue handprint on it. ...but it had just been an experiment, and a failed one at that, so why not?

He pulled over a package of markers and pulled out a blue one. Maybe he could draw some cats on the fingers. Like the print was a tree or something.

"I'm uh, Kurt. Kurt Wagner," he said, suddenly feeling like his name was extremely depressing next to a name like 'Honey'. Nightcrawler was even worse next to 'Honey'. He flashed an awkward, and what he hoped was a friendly, smile. "Nice to meet you."

Kurt uncapped the marker and delicately began drawing a few cats crouched on the tips of the painted hand. ...Maybe some glitter would spruce it up a little. He grabbed some shiny blue glitter and lightly tapped it on the page. He had to do it before the paint dried, right?