Chapter 4: Blue's Clues

[nanocerancowboy]

[ACTION - A (Mayfield Fire Station, Morning/Late Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[ACTION - B (Any Residential Streets, Late Afternoon/Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[ACTION - C (458 Stone Street, Morning OR Evening, LOCKED TO HOUSEMATES)]

[On the weekend, one Caboose was busy trying to mark directions to his house all over Mayfield, in crayon.]

[ This included

Comments

Action C

[duck_duck_laser]

[Dakki had missed Gat that morning. She worked out EXTRA-HARD... and got all gross and sweaty so she was zip past him and zip out of his way and really? It was a pretty Gat-less day. Why worry too much? He could take care of himself.

Uh... but when he gets home?]

Gat? That you?

[Dakki has come from the kitchen, wearing oven mitts and holding a still-warm pie.]

Welcome home! How wa....wuh... uh.

[Wait wait wait what was that on his back?]

[nanocerancowboy]

Yeah, it's me. Howdy.

[He sounds just a little flustered as he passes by, though he stops when he hears Dakki verbally tripping over herself. He sighs slightly, looking over his shoulder.]

... It's still there, ain't it?

[duck_duck_laser]

[Still holding the pie, Dakki side-shuffles around to get a better look at Gat's back. And the blue scribbly writing on it.]

Not caboseses.... house? What's a caboseses?

[Confusion. Utter confusion. She sets the pie down, removes one oven mitt, and runs her finger over it. Waxy? It's waxy?]

I'll... help you get that scrubbed off.

Joining in on the C Train, where's the Caboose~?

[dclassreyvateil]

♪ BGM: Comedy (R)

[Aurica walked by the living room, having fed Chen and wanting to do something. The cat was helping her mood, but she was still mostly distant with people. Unfortunately, her "parents" weren't of any exception, as she was keeping to her room most of the time she was in the house, unless housework or cooking was to be done.]

Oh...hi Gat, [She looked back and forth between the two.] Dakki, what's the matter?

[She also mostly dropped the Playing House act since those weeks ago...]

He's off writing on more things!

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat turns about, hearing Aurica's voice. Looking a little uncomfortable in his posture, as well.]

Uh-howdy, Aurica-

[Gat's actually not sure what's stranger; that Aurica has stopped treating Gat and Dakki as her parents, or that she had even been doing so in the first place.]

[He looks back over to Dakki.]

I ain't sure. I was workin' on fixin' them bullet holes an' other damage from th' outbreak last month, then I found some fella writin' on my back.

[A beat.]

Is that what it says? "Not caboses house?"

[spinningorange]

(Yummy yummy kitty food, yummy yummy for Chen's little tummy...after having her fill, the cat decides to stroll through the house. It didn't take her long to see the rest of the family in the living room, all of them taking an interest in Gat's back. Chen did the same as she tried to decipher it.)

What's a caboses and why is it written on your back? Was someone pranking you?

[duck_duck_laser]

[Dakki's quite engrossed with thoughts relating to getting the writing off of Gat's back. She does glance up and smile at Aurica, though.]

Someone went and wrote something on Gat's back when he wasn't looking. It's kind of in an awkward spot.

[She looks to Chen, and suppresses laughter.]

Mmhmm. I think we can all confirm it. You are "not caboseses house. With an extra 'es', I'll have you know."

[nanocerancowboy]

I ain't sure what a "cabose" 'sposed to be, unless that was th' fella's name. He seemed kinda ... slow.

[There's a hesitance in Gat's voice when he says that. He doesn't like looking down on humans, but there was definitely something off about Caboose.]

[dclassreyvateil]

[The stiffening in Aurica's balance, though light, was fairly noticable. Half of the time she didn't really know what to say to her not!parents besides small talk. There wasn't much to say, after all. Day in, day out.

She forced a small smile back though, just to be nice. Neither of them deserved a cold shoulder. She just didn't know what to do with herself.]

That's creepy. Why would they want to do that...

[The girl looked down, following Chen with her eyes, which reminded her of that thing she had to do.]

If you need help getting that off Gat, let me know. [She then begins to walk out of the room to go elsewhere in the house.]

[duck_duck_laser]

[This situation is much too strange for Dakki to keep maintaining the awkward. Forget small talk, they've got to get some graffiti off the "man of the house".]

I guess he wanted to be really sure that everyone knew that you weren't cabose's house.

[It is getting very hard not to laugh. Dakki bites her lower lip, looks away, stifles it...]

Let's try soap and water, first. Aurica, can you get the scrubbing brush from beneath the sink?

[She's picking the pie back up, and heading for the kitchen. And giving a little head-motion to indicate that Gat ought to follow.]

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat shrugs in response to Aurica while Dakki gives her own take on Caboose's motives. After that, he'll turn to look over at Dakki and follow her into the kitchen.]

I ain't sure how he managed to sneak up on me like that. I wasn't even aware he was writin' on me until he was pretty much done.

[dclassreyvateil]

[Well, she wasn't expecting to be immediately needed, but she'll just have to fetch what she wanted later.]

Okay. [She follows and bends down to grab the ... what?] You mean the Squeaky Cleaner? [Aurica then grabs said scrubbing brush and holds it up for confirmation.]

[duck_duck_laser]

The...? [And then Aurica holds up the brush and confirms it.] Yes! That's it. Thank you!

[Meanwhile, Dakki has plugged the sink and is running the hot water, and has tossed both dish soap and a rag in there. She just fills it enough to get some soapy water to work with.]

Right! Aurica! I'll rub, you scrub!

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat just stands there with his back facing the two of them so they can get to that graffiti Caboose left on him, glancing over his shoulder a few times. He chuckles at Aurica's name for the scrubbing brush, shaking his head slightly.]

[It's pretty clear from his posture, though, that this whole thing is embarrassing to him-but at least they didn't suggest he go to a car wash.]

[dclassreyvateil]

[Regardless of how weird the whole situation was, nevermind Mayfield itself, there was something Aurica felt comfortable in: being able to name things without them being ridiculed or looked at funny. Even Lyner gave her odd looks from time to time.]

Alright, here I come Gat. [Scrub-a-scrub-scrub, she might as well be singing a song about Scrubs even if she has no idea about that slang.]

[duck_duck_laser]

[We don't want no scrubs~ Dakki isn't having much luck with the soapy rag, but the hot water is at least softening up the wax. Aurica's scrubbing is much more effective!]

Ah! It's coming off!

[Any odd implications to this scene are passing RIGHT over Dakki's head. Hey! It's just a family effort to clean up a mess, that's all... and it's nice to have Aurica helping. This is a bit more talkative than she's been for a while.]