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Owner Pose
Pippi     Oh there's no place like Home for the holidays, no matter how far away you roaaaam o/` croons a commercial on someone's radio as they pass over a bridge on a jog. Wearing an old sweatshirt, a head pokes out from beneath the bridge, looking up into the oncoming drizzle of rain before she blinks her eyes, shakes her head (with ears flapping), and pulls her hood back over her head. Her stomach grumbled in protest, as it is wont to do when the canine is bored before she heaves a heavy siiiiiiigh.

    "Gotta stay put.... gotta stay put... not even if I smell the hotdog cart am I supposed to leave this. Exact. Spot." Pippi tells herself, thinking out loud.
Alopex     Pippi was such a good dog, doing as told. She would be rewarded! A quiet rustling would be heard first before Alopex comes up just a bit behind the pup, "Did you see anything..?" she whispers, idly offering up one hot-dog with absolutley everything plus bacon on it. "Not quite a commander, but that'll be later," she whispers, moving up beside Pippi before looking in the same direction. "I'm not sure were going to see anyone tonight.."
Pippi     Hey, that smells like Bacon.
    Sniffsniffsniiiiif... sniffsniff -- "OH!" Pippi gives a jump when Alopex comes up behind her, and with a grin, accepts the hot dog. Mmmm. Bacony hot dogs. "Some guy out on a jog. Buncha rain. Some kids with some weird smoking thing." Pippi replies as she plunks down on a relatively dry place. "Anything good out there, 'Pex?" Pippi asks, looking up to the fox from where she was sitting and crunching into the bacon chilli dog.
Alopex     The fox gives a shake of her head, "Not tonight," she says after a long moment. "I don't think we're going to see anything tonight. The rain is keeping everyone indoors.." she trails a little, glancing upward more toward the sky than the bridge and anyone wandering around. "I think we need to find something a little more ... secure. Maybe should see what we can find tonight, instead. What do you think, Pippi?"
Pippi     "Sounds like a plan! Ooh! Ooh! What about a secret underwater base? Or an abandoned subway station?" Pippi gets more excited the harder she thinks about what they might find, her ears pricking up and her tail wagging against the wall "OOH! Or a mobile battlestation beachball with all this technological stuff from Dimension X run by an evil mutant brain! It can be called -- /The Think Tank/! See? 'Cause mobile station... brain... get it?"
Alopex     Stare. More Stare. Loooooong Stare. Smirk. "I get it," she muses lightly before glancing back around the area. "But, we need somewhere to -start- before we get to the, uh, Think Tank. How about we just pick a direction and wander and see what comes up. New York is a pretty big city, I'm sure there's something we can find, and something most people will overlook.
Pippi     ""I hope wherever we ind it, that Dominos delivers. I found a coupon!" Pippi states, and she rustles through her pocket and indeed holds up a Domino's advert. from 1994. It expired.

    But she's in high spirits, and pulling her hood up again, and glancing back and forth, she hops over a puddle and begins to strike out in a handy direction -- before turning right back around, returning, grabbing her backpack, and then hopping back over the puddle to strike out. "I've got a good feeling about this way! It's East, isn't it?"

    North.
Alopex     "Close. It's north, Pippi, but lets see what you find," Alopex calls before moving to follow, pulling up her own hood as she darts up behind the pup. Pippi always seemed to have a knack for spotting things even Pex skipped by at times. Maybe she could spot something even more handy this time around. "Considering we're in New York, I think Dominos will deliver just about anywhere.." no point in mentioning the coupon is expired. It was likely she could find another, somewhere. "Pizza? You? And here I thought you were on Champ withdrawl."
Pippi     "Not when you can order a deep dish double-stack extra-cheese Hamburger and Canadian Bacon and Sausage and Pork and Bacon Pizza covered in /hotdogs/ and /more bacon/ -- and it just /shows up to your door/." Pippi gives a grin as she starts up a hill, leaving the little game path as she pulls herself up on branches, careful to not launch herself -- or pull anything up as she goes. She comes to the crest of the hill, takes a deep breath, closing her eyes, centering herself on the smells of the area, and turns slightly to the east and continues on, along a ridge. "And they won't deliver to the bridge. I asked."
Alopex     The fox is -very- content to follow. She'd explored some of this area enough on her own, but nothing really stuck out to her. She just felt like letting the pup try. As she goes up, Alopex's eyes simply go up, "Oh, well that's another reason to not stay under the bridge," Pex quips. When Pippi starts to sort of find her center, the fox smiles. This may really become interesting..
Pippi     Pippi gives a grin. "It's a good reason, because if Domino's delivers everywhere but they won't deliver to the bridge then they're not going to deliver just ANYWHERE in the park now, will they?" she replies, her tail giving a bit of a wag. "But this new place, it's gotta be -- you know -- really hidden! So we might not want to have them deliver anyway. Hrrrm... maybe we can convince them to set up a rhen-dee-voooz point somewhere, like near the hot dog vendor?" Pippi questions hopefully, her tail giving a wag. She comes up over another hill, and down along a strangely shaped slope before her tail gives a strike against some vines, exposing a slender brick chimney as she comes around the edge of a giant beech tree, still clinging to its leaves.

    "Careful, there's a drop right here."
Alopex     Following along, Pex seems a little surprised by a few things. For one, there's a chimney right there, and for two.. well, she certainly found -something-. "Maybe..." she replies to the inquiry about delivery to the hotdog vendor, "... Is this hill..." she trails a little, suddenly very curious as she moves around. "... What -is- this..?"
Pippi     "Huh?" Pippi pauses, and she turns to watch Alopex move, the much more investigatively savvy fox getting her attention. HEr ears prick up. "What is it, Pex?" she asks, coming a little closer as she snifs the air. "Huh -- smells a little like..." sniff, sniff -- "Vanilla? Vanillin? Ah... OH! It smells like a book store! An old book store. But really distant." sniffsniff...

    And Pippi sticks her nose /right in the chimney/.

    "...oh. A bit like a really old campsite too." sniffsniff. "Except coal."
Alopex     "Well... a chimney usually means a building but.." she seems a little curious, glancing between the chimney and the tree. "Take a look around..." the fox suggests, "Maybe there's a door.. a little further down," she's a little distracted, but its because she isn't sure what they found, yet. She isn't looking around the tree as much as trying to get an idea of what the area around the chimney looks like.
Pippi     A little digging would find that the leaf litter up here is mostly Beech, but not deep. There is hard roofing tile beneath it -- who would build a hill out of roofing tile?

    Sniff. "Weird." the canine replies, and she begins to back up a little, giving a soft hrrrm sound. her ears flicking, but not really paying much attention when her foot hits air.

    She gives a yip of surprise, windmills her arms as her eyes go wide and she tilts over, her weight carrying her down as she tumbles in the air, her body turning, folding against itself and then striking the ground in a half-roll before she flops on the ground, which is made of cobblestone.
Alopex     ! The sudden fall catches Alopex's attention. After Pippi lands, the fox is a little more careful as she follows, "Pippi, are you alright?" This whole thing wasn an enigma. Was there a building under there? Was it -that- grown over? .... Oh this could be perfect. "I think we may have found something... if we can find a door.." she says, noticing the cobblestone below them both. "This was a path to.." her eyes trail the road one way, then the other..
Pippi     Pippi is on her back, blinking "I'm okay." she starts, and then she tilts her head back. "I found a window."
Alopex     "Well then.." the fox muses, standing up before offering the pup a hand. "You found it, you get to look first, then! Call it a reward, if you like. I doubt there's anything dangerous." Famous last words.
Pippi     Pippi gives a whimper at that, and her tail curls slightly as she accepts the hand up, and hesitantly goes over to the window. She takes a deep breath. She puts her eyes to the window. She squints.

    "... I see...." she squints /harder/. "I seee..."

    Flump. "Nothing. It's too dark."
Alopex     "Oh, well, I suppose that could be a problem," the fox DOES say, as she wanders over to the same window. "Well we won't find anything out from out here..." she considers, "You looked, so if you want I'll go in first," and if allowed, the fox would head right on in. Curiousity killed the cat? Well this fox was pretty curious, that much is certain."
Pippi     The window was actually part of a larger bit -- a door. A door that opened into this semi-circle courtyard of cobblestone, painted weathered green and lined with the brownish stains of rust from nails. There is an aged, darkened bronze placard by the door that reads: "PROFESSOR DUNSTABLE'S MUSEUM OF CURIOSITIES: Open Most Days Ten to Four, Sundays Closed. Ring Bell for admittance."
Alopex     "Oh... it's a door.." informs Alopex before waving for Pippi to follow, "I think we may have something, this place looks... promising!" A little energ never hurt, especially in and out of the rain. "Careful where you step, it doesn't look like anyone has been in here for a long long while.." she says before slowly moving further in.
Pippi     CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK --

    THe door's movement and the fresh exchange of air causes a ripple of dust to rise up. The place smells old, and what light there is coming through the door shows a desk area. It has a brassy plaque that reads REFERENCE & ADMISSION. An ancient chair was left upsidedown atop it, as if someone had been planning to come back.

    Papers scatter, along with a few spiders, and the odd little leaf scoots along in the wind.

    Pippi slides beneath Alopex's arm, sniffing curiously but a bit apprehensive.

    "It smells like old books in here."
Alopex     The pup gets an idle petting as Pex takes in the room, "Mm... We're in a sort of small museum. There may have been some pretty peculiar things in here... maybe still is." A glance is given the door, then the room again. "Don't suppose there's a flashlight in your backpack, is there?"
Pippi     "Peculeear, huh?" Pippi inquires, and she fishes into her backpack for a moment, and pulls out two flashlights -- a handheld for Alopex and a headlamp for Pippi -- who holds it in her mouth so she can weild Stick. Just In Case.
R    "Hrrmrrmmr... sromm hridsh wbrenth..." she pauses and removes the flashlight "I don't think there's any movies about kids wandering into museums and being terribly ended."
Alopex     "Didn't get to watch a lot of movies, sadly. Maybe we can fix that.." Pex says, starting to move further into the building, the flashlight flicking down from time to time just to watch for anything sharp like glass, nails, or stray LEGOs.
Pippi     "I only got to see snippets -- Alex couldn't watch scary movies." Pippi replies quietly, securing the lamp to her shoulder via her collar and jacket, and she pokes hersel around, turning over some papers with the end of Stick. She gives a huff as she glances up. Her head tilts a moment as she stays close to Pex, half scared, have guarding her.
Alopex     The pup would still get the occasional pet or scritch with from the fox's free hand as they wander further in, "Mm.. I imagine animated things would be better for someone like that, hmm?" pressing onward! The flashlight dances all about as the fox tries to take in all the little details, looking for anything interesting, or possibly even a fusebox! ... she could hope there was power. She had doubts there would be any, though.
Pippi     There's a box marked "CAUTION! ELECTRIC!" off to one side of the room. Pippi is wandering away slightly, curiosity overcoming her desire to stay close, but she doesn't wander off too far. She hops over the desk, scattering a few papers as she snuffs around the air, drawing herself up and exploring, turning and shining her light back towards the door when she backs into something.

    It rattles.
Alopex     When Alopex's flashlight finds the 'CAUTION' box, it has her attention, but not so much that the 'rattling' causes her ears to swivel first, followed by her head and gaze, "That was a strange sound.." and then the flash light seeks to find the source.
Pippi     Rattle, reattle.

    The light finds Pippi first, who shines her light back at Alopex's feet as she squints her eyes.

    And then a hand comes down and lays itself across Pippi's shoulder.

    It's bones. Completely bones. And Pippi glances down. Her ear pin back, and slowly, slooowly she turns -- only to find the grinning face of a skull!

    "ALLLOOOOOPEEEEEEX!" she cries out, and /BOLTS/ right back to Alopex's side, skidding behind the fox, clearly shaken!
Alopex     Light vs light! Having Pippi's shining right into her eyes, Alopex's other arm rises up to try and give herself some shade, only to see -something- drop onto Pippi's shoulder. That, added in with the canine's sudden yell and bolting toward her causes the fox to drop her flashlight!

    The hand that WAS holding the flashlight goes for the blade at her back instantly, but when she hears nothing after Pippi skids to a halt, her head tils, ears facing toward where the noise was. She squints, then wonders... "Pippi... take a second look..." she isn't completely sold, as the grip on her weapon tightens ever so slightly. Just in case.
Pippi     Pippi gives a whine, from where she's crouching behind Alopex, and then she raises her flashlight up to show A SKELETON!

    ... one that's just sort of loosely wired together. It's covered with dust.
Alopex     It's a reaaaaaally long moment before the ninja slowly releases her grip on the blade at her back. A cautious step is taken forward, she retreives her flashlight, and then slowly moves toward the dusted skeleton that looks like it should talk in papyrus font, or something. Eventually, right next to it, the fox -lightly- taps the skeleton's skull with her free hand. Dust. "I don't think it's alive." ...... Was that a joke?
Pippi     "No bones about it." Pippi states, though she's creeping up behind Alopex, slowly, and she exhales. She knocks against the ribcage with Stick, sniffs at the skeleton for a moment, and then exhales.

    "It's dead, Jim."
Alopex     Another moment, then a nod, "like a door nail," the fox says before deciding to take a second look at the CAUTION box over yonder. "Well, I thought we'd find something interesting. I imagine that skeleton counts. Good find." she offers, encouragingly, before giving Pippi a ruffle and then moving back to the box that she thinks may have electricity to it. First she'd open it, and then, well, she hopes there's something to throw! A switch! To cackle like a mad scientist, or something! Who knows.
Pippi     The switch is one of those great big switches, set in the off possition. It has a brassy fork to it, and the ON is highly stylized.
Alopex     "Well, that certainly is exactly what I wanted. . . And did not expect to actually be here," muses the fox as her hand moves to the lever, "This is the point one of us can start cackling and yelling about life, right, Pippi?" SHE THROWS THE SWITCH.
Pippi     "If that sack of bones comes to life I'm blaming you, Pex!" Pippi calls back, edging a little closer to the fox.

    THE SWITCH IS THROWN! IT CRACKLES! IT POPS! SPARKS FLY!

    And the lights go on, ancient bulbs humming to life at the sudden influx. A few pop to sudden death after so long, but must stay on, illuminating the first area of the museum -- the reception and reference desk. There is a giant re-enforced glass set of many doors housing ancient looking books -- and a collection of shrunken heads! EEW!

    The skeleton is marked "THE HUMAN SKELETON" -- handy.

    The reference desk is horse-shoe shaped, with an opening in the back. A banker's lamp hums to life, and behind the desk there are two hallways. One leads to OFFICES the other to EXHIBITS & DIRECTOR'S OFFICE.
Alopex     SUCCESS! "Power!" Energetic? A bit. This was the first time since the dojo that Alopex had found a place that had -electricity-! "I.. we really found something, Pippi," she states, more calmly than a moment earlier. A glance is given each of the halls, and then she smiles back toward Pippi. "Which way do you want to go first, hmm? With the lights on I don't think it will be quite as dangerous." A bulb POPS. "... we need to replace... well basically all of them, I think.."
Pippi     "Oooh. Fancy LED. C-Can I get pink ones? 'Cause Pink's a cool color." Pippi asks, suddenly excited. "Does this mean that we have a lot of space? Can we invite people over? OOOH! We could have a TV show here! Think of all the beanbag chairs we could fit in here -- like, like like -- at least thirty!" the canine squeals, and with the lights on, danger abided, and suddenly with rooms to explore, she immediately goes to the left, towards the offices -- and then goes to the right, to the exhibits, then to the left again -- bounds to the right, and then stops, sniiiiiffs -- "There's something down this way that smells interesting!"
Alopex     That energy was a wonderful thing to behold. It was almost infectious! Even Pex's tail was swaying, slowly, at all of this, "Maybe. The front room here should probably be neutral, but if there's enough room for us to have our own areas, you are free to do what you want with it." Left, right, left, right... pause? "Then that way first," the fox agrees, starting forward.
Pippi     Pippi, indeed, heads down the hallway to the right, towards the exhibits. THey walk beneath a canopy painted to look like the Sistine Chapel, with God reaching out to touch Adam. The canine glances up, fascinated -- and then the exhibit hall opens up. A mish-mash of oddities before them -- more shrunken heads. A well preserved African Lion (a proported man-eater, if the placard was to be beleived), a collection of rocks and gold from exotic places like 'Oregon' and 'Estonia', a duck with bat wings and vampire teeth. A large organ. And at the center of it all?

    There is a Dinosaur Skeleton. With added parts to make it into a dragon. A unicorn skull (complete with ibex horn attached to a pony's skull). Proportedly the Carbuncle off the Seaserpent of Chesapeak Bay.

    ALl of it illuminated by a massive chandelier, which a placard by the wall says is from the Opera Populaire, of Paris fame.
Alopex     A few steps, a few sights seen, but once they're in the exhibit hall, Alopex can't help but stop, pause, and even gawk a little at everything that is contained within. This was ... incredible and very unique! Insanely so. "I .. can't believe someone left this all behind.." she says outloud, believing she only thought it before slowly moving forward again. Her attention is torn between many of the exhibits contained within the room. Even the chandelier gets a long look.

    "I think we found a home, Pippi.."
Pippi     Pippi is busy exploring, snuffing about the lion, and petting him on the head, and then wandering around the rest of the room. "F-Fah... fangz... from.. Nos... Nof..." she tries to sound out the latters of some of the descriptions in a case, and she shifts her weight, deciding to skip it over, her tail drooping slightly -- words were never the strong suite -- but she's interested enough in all the STUFF. There are more books here. The cases have fiji mermaids and mermaid's purses, oddiites from the sea. A pair of Walrus Tusks.

    "I wonder what happened."
Alopex     "Hard to say.. I may do a little digging after ... well after we get settled.." Pex was certain. This could work, for as long as they could make it work. "What do you think, Pippi? It's well hidden, we barely found the entrance ourselves, it has power, it has ..." a motion toward the room, "A lot of interesting things in it, and room for us to probably improve on."
Pippi     "... I think we need to call this place 'Home' so that some other superhero doesn't move in. Think it's haunted? OOH! I hope it's not! I'm scared of ghosts..." Pippi states, and she pokes her nose into a hole in the wall, sniffs "This was a heating vent. I bet you the grate's around here somewhere. They heated this place with /coal/. Yeech."
Alopex "Coal? ... we'll have to figure something else out.." she ponders, but it was a challenge to be addressed lat-- ... Sometime soon.. Winter was coming. "I wouldn't object to that. I guess it may be a little to big to call a fox den, eh?" She walks around the dragon/dinosaur skeleton once. She has no idea it may have been cobbled together.
Pippi     Mostly poorly; there are beef bones and crocodile bones, camel bones cast in plaster and that head is not supposed to have pointy teeth and that is definately teeth and not eye spikes, but to the unpracticed observer, it's a dragon, with a fifteen foot wingspan.

    "I wonder if anyone could loan us space heaters... or... ah... does... does the cold bother you? 'Cause I know you're an /Arctic/ fox..." Pippi pipes up, but then gives a disturbed look, "... but I'm a housepet. I'll need a /lot/ of blankets."
Alopex     "I can handle cold in certain amounts, but I am not opposed to getting some space heaters and blankets and beds and more blankets and pillows and possibly a fridge." ... "If there isn't one in here already, somewhere," she realizes as they hadn't looked down the -other- hall yet. Her gaze slips back over to Pippi. "We'll get what we need, it may just take some time."
Pippi     "... does... does this mean that I'll get a bed? Like, a real bed?" Pippi inquires, leaning back a moment and looking to Alopex. For a split second, Pippi could see only that tiny barred window that illuminated just the barest slice of the cell, and no sun. No smells except fear. Nothing.

    And her gaze rests on Alopex, nervous for even asking.
Alopex     That gets the fox's gaze to soften a little. The wonder of this new place is still well within her, but that question reminded Alopex just where Pippi came from. She wanders around the 'dragon' skeleton, right up to Pippi, and actually gives her a hug, a tight one, then she settles back, "Yes, you most -certainly- get a bed."
Pippi     The smaller canine very, very carefully raises her arms, and very, very gently hugs Alopex back. She takes a deep breath. She exhales, and Pippi might be crying, but it's hard to tell because her hood's flopped up over most of her head.

    "I was so scared when I thought you were gone. I tried to find you. I tried /so hard/. And I tried to be brave and stay hidden like you were teaching me but I messed up. But I... I never gave up hope that you'd come and find me. That you would be there still."

    There's a sniff -- but the snuffle is more of a sniffle, and the canine gives a shake, mindful of keeping her grasp very, very loose.

    "I guess I jus' get scared that I'm going to be too much trouble an'... you'll leave me too." '
Alopex     This pup had been through far too much from the experiments. Where Alopex got to be trained by the foot into the warrior she had become, Pippi had no support and was nothing but a lab animal to them. It was a -very- different experience, but one she could, in some way, understand. The time between her change and being the Foot was ... taxing.

    "I'm sure you did your best, Pippi," she says, offering a pat on Pippi's shoulder, reaching up to pet her in a reassuring way, "I tried to leave a clue for you as to where I was. I just didn't have an option but to run. I had every intention of finding you again, and I'm sorry that it took so long. Now, though? We have each other, we have a -home-, now, and I will do everything in my power to never leave you behind again, alright?"
Pippi     And it was the first time since getting out of Lamda the second time that she felt safe enough to cry, because good dogs don't cry. They carry. She breathes out in a huff, and then raises her head, wiping her arm across her eyes and muzzle and taking a deep breath. "I... I'm okay." she states. "WE're home, Pex. We're /home/."
Alopex     That gets another smile out of Alopex, "Sure are... and we still have to explore the rest of it, BUT, if you're hungry or something, we can see if someone delivers out here.. And if not? Whatever, I'll just go get it." It was a wonderful feeling, having a place to call home again. Oddities or not, since to the rest of New York City, mutants were as much oddities as everything else in the Curio.