Pangolin Common Room, Monday Morning

[janet_fraiser]

Janet was sprawled on a chair, reading a book and avoiding unpacking her stuff over in B1. Also, avoiding dealing with anything. And wondering how long it would be before it looked reasonable to go back to 239/240 to move the espresso machine down here for the week.

Then again, this was Fandom. Caffeine addiction and weird stuff did have a high

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[fatalvoyage]

Tempe wandered into the common room from B3, nose in a book, and plopped down in a rather squishy armchair across from Janet.

Unfortunately, she managed to sit right on top of something spiky. It could be a porcupine, it could be a hairbrush. Whatever it was, it hurt.

"Ow!"

[janet_fraiser]

"Careful there," said Janet, closing her book and marking the spot she was at. "What did you sit on?"

[fatalvoyage]

Tempe reached behind her, picked up the spiky thing and examined it.

"Hairbrush," Tempe replied, wincing. "Really, really pointy hairbrush."

[janet_fraiser]

"That looks more like a torture device than a hairbrush," said Janet, sitting up and leaning forward to examine it. "By the way, hi, I'm Janet Fraiser."

[fatalvoyage]

"Maybe the person who uses it has really tough hair," Tempe said, experimentally poking the spikes before handing the brush over to Janet. "Though I'd hate to think about what that brush would do to someone's scalp, once it got through the hair."

"Tempe Brennan. Nice to meet you."

[janet_fraiser]

"I suppose anything's possible here," said Janet, taking the brush. "I don't think this is Parker's, and I know it's not Liz's. Either it's someone from the other half of the cabin, or it showed up in the middle of the night and it's trying to take over the planet one scalp at a time."

"When did you get in?" asked Janet. "You must be the last of the new arrivals."

[fatalvoyage]

Tempe definitely giggled at that. "It would certainly be an effective weapon."

"Saturday afternoon, though I honestly don't remember getting off the plane. One minute I was sitting there, watching the lightning, and the next I was standing in front of the school."

[janet_fraiser]

"It's also not out of the realm of plausibility," said Janet. "Maybe it's a mind-control hairbrush? Or a species of aliens that's a strange hybrid of porcupine and styling product?"

"That's Fandom for you." Janet leaned down and put her book on the floor. "So where are you from?"

[fatalvoyage]

"From what I've experienced here at Fandom already? Anything really is possible here. People shimmering in out of nowhere? Seen it. Zombie attacks? Heard about it. What's next, an attack of the mutant snow monsters?"

Tempe paused to take a breath. And she was being sarcastic with that last bit. Honestly.

"Illinois, originally. From a suburb of Chicago. You?"

[janet_fraiser]

"No, we've already had the snow monsters," said Janet seriously. "Along with the attack of the inflatable giant gremlin at graduation. Personally, I'm hoping for an alien invasion next."

"I'm a transplant from Colorado Springs High School," said Janet. "Chicago's a nice area. Did you get to a lot of the museums?" Her chief memory of Chicago had been the cross-sectioned cadaver at the Museum of Science & Industry on a long, long ago trip with her family.

[fatalvoyage]

Tempe's eyebrows raised. She barely resisted the urge to say 'Cool' with the awestruck expression of someone who knew she'd never be bored at this school. "Aliens? That would definitely be a change. The most interesting that ever happened at my old school was a kid being arrested for murder. And drug dealing. And conspiracy to commit public nudity. Come to think of it, that was a pretty interesting day."

"Colorado Springs? Wow. What made you decide to come here? Or were you, like me, plucked out of an airplane?"

"I spent most of my childhood going to museums. There was never a place I felt more at home than in a museum."

[janet_fraiser]

"Aliens would definitely be a change for some people, anyway," said Janets, grinning at Tempe's excited look. "Though we have a few students that are aliens, so we already know that not all aliens are the type to invade. And there aren't many boring days around here, but you'll learn that soon enough."

"My uncle signed me up for Fandom High," said Janet. "He, um--" She ducked her head sheepishly. "--thought this place would settle me down a bit. Maybe you were kidnapped by aliens and sent here?"

"I love museums," said Janet. "But the problem with going to them these days is that you have to travel a little too far to get there." Maybe she'd wait to get to know Tempe a little better before asking why she felt more at home in a museum than with her family.

[fatalvoyage]

A positively exuberant look took over Tempe's face. Oh, the interesting people she was going to meet. Magic and aliens? And mutant snow monsters? What other completely improbable things were going to happen here? What else would she encounter at this school that could have stepped right out of her imagination? "Being here kind of makes it seem like anything is possible." And when you grow up with the family life that Tempe had, knowing that you're not limited is an incredibly freeing feeling.

"My grandpa actually tried to send me away to school. That's where I was headed on the plane. But somehow, I'm thinking it wasn't here that he intended to send me." Unless there was much more to Grandpa than met the eye...

"Me too. I think someday I'd like to work for one. Or maybe own one," Tempe replied dreamily.

And if Janet had asked Tempe about her family life, Tempe probably would have answered. But it would have been in a completely unfeeling, clinical tone that belied exactly how much it had affected her.

[janet_fraiser]

Janet grinned, sharing in the excitement. "Anything is possible here," she said. "That's one thing most of us who've been here any length of time have learned."

"Maybe the paperwork got mixed up?" suggested Janet. "That seems to happen a lot around here. Anything is possible, sure, but the office workers are a little disaffected."

"When you own your own museum?" asked Janet. "What kind of museum would you want to own?"

[fatalvoyage]

More grinning. Tempe hasn't grinned this much since she was 6. "I think I'm glad I ended up here then," Tempe said. Then she craned her neck toward the sky. "Thank you, kind aliens!" Yep, they'd definitely slipped something into her lemonade last night...

"I suppose it's always possible. They did seem to be expecting me when I showed up, though."

"Something anthropological, probably. I'd want to be surrounded by bones. Maybe I could reassemble skeletons. Find out how people died," Tempe responded.

[janet_fraiser]

Janet giggled. "I'm glad you ended up here. And in the same cabin. So what workshops did you sign up for? Or did the aliens sign you up for them?"

"I sometimes wonder about the office workers," said Janet. "I really wonder."

"I love forensics," said Janet. "Though anthropology isn't my strong suit. I'm more interested in biology and chemistry. But in a way, they're all intertwined."