The Green Goo Investigation

[Nico Martell]

Let her? Nico didn't see any reason to object, though some part of him was wondering why she hadn't just started with that. The shoe left his hands, and he let his arms fall to the side, watching her carefully. Whatever the stuff she'd selected was, it apparently really went after gunk, as the woman was already sliding gloves on and readying it. For a brief moment, Nico considered stopping her: he didn't want his shoes melted away after all.

Instead he stood, watched, shifted and then watched as she went to work. Nico moved a step forward, almost as if to offer help, before seeming to decide otherwise and retreat. His hands kept at his sides as he watched the strange goo slide off his shoe, leaving it more or less normal, if decidedly moist.

The question drew Nico's attention away from the shoe and to the woman. He blinked, his mind taking a few seconds to process it. "Yeah," he said, adding a slight shrug, "got a few," not many though, he looked back at the shoe, considering. He pointed. "That one's going to be okay?" though he supposed that the school would just go ahead and give him another if that wasn't the case: they'd given him this first pair after all.

[Tamara Sulik]

Had Nico been able to wash this goo off with water alone, she would have seen no reason not to let him. But those products and perhaps a bit of maternal instinct played on her and she was now the one scrubbing it off his shoe like she would have likely done for her son and even more likely no one else. The chemicals in that stuff were burning her eyes a little, bringing her back to less nicer days when she had to use that stuff daily for her work. At least this task would take Tam much less time.

She noticed Nico shifting near her as she worked on his shoe. He was not saying a word though, merely watching. So Tamara did not say a word either, merely scrubbed. And then the job was done but it was clear she would not wear this shoe in its current state. The feeling of a wet shoe might not be the worst but it sure was not pleasant.

And so she asked if he had any other pairs. He would need at least one more, as they had one for the uniform and running shoes for gym class. But she still asked. And he assured her he had more than enough. He then inquired about this one. “Yes, yes, it is fine,” she assured him, even looking at it for any part that might have melted down or holes it could have created. There were none she could see. She handed it back to him. “Next time though, try to watch where you’re walking,” she told him. This brought her back to the puddle of goo and she sighed, knowing she had to look it up again. She seemed to be debating the right course of action for a moment only to notice he was still there. “Right. So, you’ll be fine going back to your room and get new shoes I suppose?” He was not going to talk any further to her, she could tell, so she was ready to leave him now and go back to work.

[Nico Martell]

Yes, the running shoes, which he'd actually worn from time to time. Nico had shoes of his own too: not all that used. They took your shoes when you went to juvie, held them while you did your time, made sure that no one wore them. Just put the sneaks in a box until your feet could hit pavement again, as free as the rest of you.

"Understood," Nico said at her comment. He hesitated for a moment longer. Something about this one felt different. Sure, there was the same authority that Nico got from most of the staff here, this sort of confidence that said they expected the students to react and to be, well, obedient on some level. But that whole mothering thing... mothering. Huh. When had Nico last been mothered? Almost made him want to respond with the Spanish he and his own madre used with one another.

"Si," came out with that thought, answering Tamara's question. He nodded. "I'll be fine," he continued in English, albeit with an accent. He took a step away, pausing, hesitating to make sure that there was nothing else the woman needed of him, looking at her with dark eyes that had just that bit of understanding to them, reading that motherly interest one last time.

[Tamara Sulik]

This boy, as he did the whole time she talked with him, answered with a single word or barely more than that to show he got that she talked to him. She should be annoyed by this but at this point she just didn’t want to care anymore. Obviously he didn't know what happened and if he did, he was not going to tell her anything. Others might however. Even if she found no one to tell her, she still had to make sure no one walked into this as well or decided to toss it at people. It had to be cleaned up.

She heard him say he would be fine and she figured they were done. He would leave, return to his dorm, get new shoes and be on his way as if nothing happened. That was the logical outcome. Instead, he stood there, as if hesitating. It took her a moment to notice that but when she did, she blinked a few times as she stared back at him. “Is there anything else?” she asked him. Her tone was not as bossy as it was when she first addressed to him. But she still wanted to know quickly if there was anything he wanted to tell her because she had other chores to do.

[Nico Martell]

Was there anything else? Nico heard the question ring for a second and paused to consider it. There were plenty of things he could complain to a dorm monitor about. He'd certainly witnessed enough of them firsthand. That wasn't even considering what his roommates had a tendency to get up to. Well, at least one of them, at any rate.

but as usual, Nico opted for silence. He gave her a short shake of the head, then raised a hand and nodded, trying to show his respect in the way he could. She'd been level enough, even if it was just her doing her job. Probably just the old habits from the old neighborhood insisting that you treat the woman with respect or something like that, or maybe the ringing voice of his madre in his ear. Nico wasn't really the type to stand there and analyze what was going on between his ears.

He just turned and left, slouching back toward his room and trying to remember if he knew anyone who could actually spread green goo everywhere.