Sticky Stuff

All characters copyright the usual suspects

Used with Permission

A sharp peppermint smell struck the rabbit Katrina Schmidt, making her nose wrinkle in reaction as she approached a dilapidated wooden structure. This was a temporary workshop that her hearts desire, the shrew Alpha Rote, had rented for the four day Spontoon Holiday break. Normally first years were limited to one, perhaps two days free but Alpha had so impressed their tutors with discovering their grades that the Juniper dorm had been given all four days off. Though sadly Nancy Rotes dorm, again in the red points wise, had been given but half a days pass, one Katrina knew that the two Mrs. Rotes had enjoyed to the fullest. Her own heart sped up as she thought of the things those two must have done. “Cool child” she ordered herself. “To desire another’s wife is a great sin.” At eighteen she had never been in love, thus had no real control over heart as yet. Finally she stopped at the wooden structures only door, taking a deep breath of that spiced air. “Cool yourself” she again ordered herself, feeling her heart slow to near its normal beat. Only then did she open the door, to be assaulted by a near solid wall of chemical scents.

Inside the Cranium Island Honorary Mad Scientist was busy mixing chemicals. Around the buildings interior were dozens of oddly shaped blobs of differing shades of purple. Some sagged from the walls, two slumping even as the rabbit watched. Others simply stayed in place. “You are being attacked” she asked sharply as she grabbed a nearby length of iron pipe..

“Is not. Is experiment” Alpha answered, turning to smile to her friend and classmate. She waved one purple stained paw at the multi-shaded blobs. “Allfailure. Nance complainhard ground. I trymake something forher” she continued in that fast-slow way of speaking she had slowly fallen into since arriving at Songmark. “All fail. Notdangerious.”

“I see” Katrina replied, gently pressing the pipe against one motionless blob. It crackled like cellophane, collapsing under the gentle assault. Moving her pipe to one of the slowly flowing blobs she found that it stuck tightly. Pull as she might the pipe would no more than slightly stretch the sticky material. Finally admitting defeat she released the pipe, watching as its weight oh so slowly forced one end back to the ground. Now understanding what these blobs were she made her way most carefully to the waiting shrew. Carefully she pointed to the two pots Alpha was working on. “Explain to me please” she instructed the smaller woman.

Alpha grinned, it was her favorite reason for being with Katrina when Nace wasn’t available. The Southern born rabbit was always asking questions and Alpha loved to explain. “Is simple oxygenreaction” she started, then took a deep breath. This would cause her the traditional headache later, but with Nance and Katrina it was a headache she gladly accepted. Slowing her speech to near normal levels the shrew continued. “Three compounds. Mix together is stable. Gooey but stable. Mix forth compound makes quick reaction.” She paused, already her head ached with the near glacier speed of speech she was forced to use around her classmates.

“A reaction then” the rabbit supplied. “Your forth chemical is then nothing more than a catalyst. Correct?”

“Yesyes” Alpha answered, happy that Katrina was smart enough to make sense so quickly with but a little data. Just like her Nancy she thought, but in a different way.

“I see” Katrina continued. “Then the differences in mixture determines both properties and color. How though do you clean this disaster up?”

Alpha simply nodded in agreement. “Big disappointment” she admitted. “Dissolve in water. No matter what do, even breathenough dissolve away.”

Katrina smiled at the answer. A simple way to clean up and Spontoon had nothing but enough water to clean this mess up. Why, ten steps from the door was a bit of beach no one was using at present. They could just throw the stuff in then throw buckets of water on the more gooey remains. “Very good child, now what are you honestly looking for?”

“Make mattress. Carry separated in bottle, use thin film membrane separate. Break bottle on ground. After foam have soft mattress.”

Katrina looked around her. There had to be nearly forty blobs of different consistency on the walls. Noting a pail of water she picked up an empty jar, dipping it into the pail. Only then did she approach that pipe stealing blob and slowly pour the water onto it. As she watched the purple blob slowly dissolved as the water touched it, until with a clatter the old pipe fell to the floor. Turning to another blob she breathed heavily on its surface. With a sound of crackling embers the blob seemed to pull away from her breath. As she watched the reaction a rather evil thought came to her. Taking the jar back to Alpha she carefully asked a series of questions, then giggled at the answers. “Hon. I want to try something, please?”

“‘kay” Alpha agreed. “What?”

“I want you to mix your fastest expanding foam that grabs things like that pipe and hardens like rock very fast. Can you do that?”

“Sure” Alpha agreed, turning to her book of experiments.

“Then I want you to throw it at me.”

Alpha stopped, turning in stunned confusion towards her friend. “Why” she asked, dumbfounded.

Katrina looked up from unbuttoning her Songmark blouse. “My own experiment my friend” she answered. “For my own amusement?” She sighed softly at a thought. “You will want to examine me again, as you did that first time. To insure than nothing about me has changed won’t you.”

“Yes” the shrew admitted. “To be certain.” She then turned back to her work. On Cranium island scientists using their own bodies in experiments was not heard of. Often fatal, still there were always a few insane ones. That Katrina trusted her this much, it brought a warm feeling to the shrew. After all, other than possibly smothering Katrina the material wasn’t dangerous no matter how she mixed it. Having the bucket of water ready would insure that her new experimental... subject, would not depart the living. Subject Alpha forcibly reminded herself. She was not her mother or her father. She would not call her friends animals. As she already had a baseline of Katrina, examining her again after the experiment would prove completely that her compound was completely safe.

Finding the page she wanted Alpha began carefully mixing her chemicals until they reached the right consistency. When she was ready she turned towards Katrina again, to find the rabbit completely undressed. It was a sight that made the shrews mouth water, but her science quickly overloaded her baser instincts. “Where to throw” she asked.

Katrina thought for a moment, it was after all a very important question. Visually measuring those blobs that had remained somewhat round in shape she made her decision. “My stomach, if you will please.” She watched as Alpha poured the two beakers together, then threw one beaker at her without any attempt to mix the contents. Purple material was expanding, withering like a live thing out of the beaker even before it hit Katrina directly over her navel. Upon impact it stuck, still foaming from its attached beaker. Quite deliberately the rabbit stuck both of her paws into the growing mass, then tried to remove them.

It wasn’t going to happen she realized quickly. The now very warm and growing purple mass was stuck not only to her fur, but the skin beneath. It quickly reached its maximum size, about that of a medicine ball while steam billowed from its surface as it cooled rapidly. Quite cooly Katrina examined her situation. Her arms, up to the elbows were sealed in a purple mass that stretched from almost her knees to her breasts, having by gravities force moved downward more than up. She could not move her legs above her knees without serious pain and her arms were completely immobile. Balancing with only the movement of her knees was difficult yet the mass that held her could not weigh as much as her own purse.

“Very good. And this also dissolves with water” she asked Alpha.

“Yes. But why do” the shrew asked.

“In a moment child. This is completely safe, correct?”

“Yes.”

“No rash, no pulled fur, no burns. It was rather warm you understand.”

Alpha returned to her notes, her back to the waiting rabbit as she read them carefully. “Temperature one hundred fourteen degrees” she reported. “Good hot shower.” Turning around she was abruptly struck by the image before her. Diligently she held certain words back, now had it been Nancy she thought. “Not certain about other problems.”

“I see, then as I am truly confined, a situation I find most uncomfortable I am afraid. Would you please help me out to that beach in order to remove this?”

After cleaning the mess off Katrina, a chore that took over half an hour, the two discovered one serious problem. Alpha’s sticky mass had stained Katrina’s fur and skin the exact same shade of purple it had been. “Soap and water” Katrina asked hopefully.

“Alcohol” Alpha corrected. “I go buy, you wait in shed.”

Thus it was that late that night a rather frizzy rabbit and a chemically stained shrew approached their tutors. Again using herself as an example Katrina demonstrated Alpha’s rather unique material. After several hours of amused examination of the entangled rabbit the four women gave their go-ahead to a certain experiment. Later that night, after again cleaning herself Alpha and Katrina returned to that little shed. Both to finish cleaning it up for its owner and to prepare for Mondays school day.

Thus it was on a bright sunny Monday morning, when it came time for paw to paw combat training that several third years found themselves in rather embarrassing situations. For Katrina had managed to slip their special surprises to all the first year dorms as well. Though many of the third years either dodged, or were only hindered by the strange attack the most embarrassed of all was a certain mouse. One who had been struck directly between her legs by Katrina herself. In reaction she had entrapped her arms, her tail and her legs.

As she lay quite uncomfortably in the dust thinking murderess thoughts even after Miss Bland had explained that everything was perfectly safe, and that the first years were responsible for cleaning up the mess, Katrina walked up to her. She kneeled down, brushing long hair from the mouses face. Waiting until the mouse stopped her murderous stare Katrina smiled. “You and I child. We must talk.”

And thus it was that several shells passed from paw to paw while several third years found themselves scrubbed down by first years. It was of course a learning experience, one none would forget. Later that day Alpha Rote once again found herself standing before a certain female fur not attached to Songmark. “My, you are the surprising one” the woman noted. “And your use for this rather interesting material?”

“Was forfun” the shrew admitted. “Nothingelse. Was Katrina’s idea.”

“I see...”

Thus did Alpha found her bank account suddenly the richer, as did Katrina. Only of course as long as they kept their mouths shut about a certain formula.