Veterinary Research [emily, Bow-wow]

Bow-wow

The warehouse was practically begging to be explored- it was probably the most fun someone could have in a prison. Rifling through boxes, admiring its contents, or in Bow-Wow's case, reclined against one box in particular, trying to get himself out of the stupid straightjacket that was totally cramping his style.

As if he even knew what style was in the first place.

He wriggled his arms, stretched in a surprisingly uncomfortable looking position, almost like an escaped asylum patient trying to free themselves from their confines, grumbling with the effort.

Emily Lewenhock

Emily was idly browsing the games available for anything of interest to a prisoner(??)—choking hazards, at best—when she heard stirring on the other side of the room. Or, well, somewhere in here. Even at her height (which seemed pretty middling here so far, oddly enough), visibility wasn't great with all the shelves. Nothing sounded alarming, though, so she'd just…

"Hello?"

Peeping around one corner, she finally located the… totally normal guy in a straitjacket who totally wasn't made up like some fast food and/or children's playplace mascot practicing a new extra painful-looking form of yoga.

"………."

Oh she was staring. She was going to stop doing that now. She just waved awkwardly and ducked back around the shelf like that hadn't just happened.

Bow-wow

Well- that was certainly awkward.

Whilst Emily wouldn't be able to see it, under the mask, Bow-wow's face was bright red after that.

That was… embarrassing, humiliating, all things in-between. And yet, he stood up, giving up on his task of freeing himself from the straitjacket and following where Emily had ducked away.

"HI!" He greeted, still sounding out-of-breath from the effort of trying to remove the jacket. "Sorry about that ma'am! I didn't mean t'frighten ya!" He leaned against the shelving with a far more casual wave.

"I just ain't really a big fan of these restrictive kinda clothes!" Coming from Mr. Mascot suit over here?

Emily Lewenhock

Oh no the furry Hamburglar was following her. It wasn’t like Emily had anywhere else to be—that she could actually get to, at least, which she was not thinking about right now—so she didn’t have much of an excuse to leave.

“Oh, no, you’re fine. Not frightened so much as…” Weirded out? Not really something you actually said to people. “…taken off guard?”

“I’d say I wasn’t exactly expecting to see some masked stranger on the other side of the warehouse, but I’m not sure anything expected has happened since I woke up here—we woke up here, from the sound of it.” As far as she gathered from all the reactions from other cells earlier.

Ain’t a fan of—oh no the furry Hamburglar was a nudist. What. No. Why was that her first thought. It didn’t mean—she needed to stop calling him that anyway.

“Understandable. My name’s Emily. You’re…?”

Imagine if he actually said The Furry Hamburglar. Imagine.

Bow-wow

Bow-Wow is entirely oblivious to Emily's insistent train of thought. And the fact she considered the option he was a nudist over the fact he just wasn't a fan of straitjackets. Although, with how he'd phrased it… I can't say I blame her!

"No, that's totally fair, ma'am!" He waved his hands quickly, seeming a little embarrassed over the situation as a whole. "I ain't really flexible enough t'try and wiggle outta this thing, so that was probably jus' embarrassin' t'watch…" He rubbed at the back of his neck, looking more dejected than he had in any conversation he'd had so far.

"Oh, yeah, I know the mask is kinda… offputtin' to some people, but it's kinda my thing! My name's Bow-Wow!" His totally real, legal name! "Nice to meet ya, Emily!" He offers his hand for a handshake.

Emily Lewenhock

"I promise I wasn't watching that long. Minimal embarrassment." Sure, that was reassuring.

"I've met people with worse 'things,' that's for sure." Bow-Wow, huh? Furry confirmed. He even knew the "shake" trick. Good boy.

Trying not to make herself laugh, she accepted the handshake. At least he wasn't wearing gloves, too. Made this part much more normal.

"Unfortunately these things seem pretty designed to stay on. Have you tried going in the shower room yet? The changing room is, ah…"

"…best experienced for yourself, honestly."

Bow-wow

Very reassuring. Especially combined with that facial expression, Emily!

"S-Sure thing, ma'am!" Bow-Wow stammers a little as he accepts her reassurance. His words are far too quick for someone who totally believes that she wasn't staring at him for ages.

Glad for the acceptance of his handshake, he is at least… glad she's more receptive than some people have been to his shtick. He was admittedly kind of used to people's… opinions of the whole, mask thing, but… for once he didn't necessarily feel majorly judged.

"No… can't say I have!" How bad could it be, huh? "Maybe I should go try it out." He says the latter part somewhat to himself, before turning his head back to Emily.

"Wanna come with? I gotta know!"

Emily Lewenhock

Don't worry about Emily's facial expressions, they're fine. She's fine. Everything's fine.

What, she was already getting ma'am'd? Maybe she'd missed a little too much beauty sleep lately. Nothing worth fussing over right now, just—egh. The last thing she needed to do was think about exactly why she'd been missing sleep. Moving right along.

"Sure. Maybe with two of us we'll have better odds of actually noticing what's going on in there."

Off to see the wizard… She was almost tempted to offer an elbow, but that seemed a bit too silly. She probably wouldn't look like the childish one next to a guy in a cartoon dog mask, but… still.

Bow-wow

Once again entirely oblivious to the fact he'd caused Emily some kind of crisis with his words, Bow-Wow nods enthusiastically to her suggestion that both of them might be able to solve the secret of… whatever was going on in the shower changing room.

"Maybe if one of us can like… hold the door open, we'll be able to see what's going on!" Whatever that is, he… doesn't actually know yet. But nonetheless, without thinking, he grabs onto the sleeve (vaguely near her hand) of her straitjacket and begins trotting off in the direction of the showers.

"So, we're allowed to just go in there? And then… somethin' weird happens, you said?" His brow furrows, and he taps at the cheek of his mask thoughtfully. "Interestin'. Ladies first?" He gestures to the door.

Emily Lewenhock

"Right… Might look a little suspect to be peeking into the changing room, but at least I could verify your story." As long as any vigilantes asked questions first and punched later. Given some of these guys… Well, they probably wouldn't care anyway. But you never knew.

She blinked at the—okay he wasn't actually taking her hand. Still an odd gesture for someone over the age of six, but that was fine. She kept pace with him easily.

"I mean, I'd be cautious given the type of room, but we're not locked out or anything. And yeah, it'll be easiest to see for yourself exactly what it is, I think."

She nodded at the invitation and entered the changing room with the door kept open behind her.

Nothing happened.

"……Hm."

Bow-wow

Ah… He hadn't thought about how weird it might look. But, well, they're both committed now… so… no need to worry, right?! As long as nobody got the wrong idea and decided to tackle him to the ground or anything.

He watches with noted interest as Emily goes to enter the room, even leaning forward, assuming that perhaps he'd missed something barely-visible and that there was really something else going on in the room.

"…I'm guessin' there's supposed t'be somethin' happenin'?" He tilts his head, before letting go of the door, and allowing it to close. Then, he presses his ear to the door.

"DID IT WORK NOW?" He calls in, entirely unsure if she even would be able to hear him through it.

Emily Lewenhock

Whether or not Emily could hear Bow-Wow through the door was anyone's guess, but he could hear… something. A sound that wasn't so much mechanical as… well. Some other type of sound. Something that felt a bit off. But it was a little too faint through the wall to get a better grip than that.

Even after that moment subsided, Emily hadn't replied. When Bow-Wow opened the door again, though, there she was. Still seeming a bit lost, no longer still in her straitjacket.

"…."

Her eyes darted to the open doorway, and she took swift steps over—then came to a sudden halt before she reached the threshold. Frowning, she reached a hand toward it instead, only to pull it back at about the same point.

"……Hm."

Bow-wow

Huh… that was… strange.

Interesting. Now, Bow-Wow may not be a scientifically minded kind of guy, but even he could acknowledge that it was strange, this entire… contraption?

"Hey- Uh- you good, ma'am?" He blinks at her.

"I heard… some weird noises when you went in there! And-- HUH? Your jacket! It's… gone?"

"B-But, anyway! When ya went in there, I heard weird noises… like…" He tries to recreate the sound as best as he could- "It wasn't a machine kinda noise!"

Emily Lewenhock

Though Emily still looked bemused, she nodded.

“All fine. Not hurt or soaked or anything weird. Besides the jacket thing, of course. I… don’t think I can just walk back out, though. Went through the shower-side door easily enough last time, so I guess it’s one way…? Not by any normal mechanism…”

She reached toward the outside doorway again, only to lower her hand again.

Her brow furrowed at the (Bow-Wow noises), but they didn’t seem to register as familiar.

“Can’t say I heard anything like that, but as it stands I guess I can’t say I didn’t?” It was still a little hard to explain.

She took a few steps back into the room and inclined her head. “You ready to try coming in?” Observing someone else would be easier, she figured.

Bow-wow

"It's… kinda like it's stoppin' ya doin' it…somehow?" Almost like it was pushing her arm back down through… something like magnets, perhaps. Well, there seemed to be no scientific explanation for any of this!

"Okay, yeah, I'm ready!" Bow-Wow follows Emily in, trying hard to focus, but quickly finding himself victim to the same befuddlement as everyone else. "…Huh. That was…"

He squints.

"It… didn't feel like anythin' grabbed me, but… I… my head's all woozy? I don't get it…" He sighs, "It doesn't make sense."

Emily Lewenhock

Emily clarified that, if anything, she seemed to be stopping herself, though she couldn't really explain it further.

When Bow-Wow stepped in and closed the door, Emily found herself dazed again as well. Really unable to contribute anything as an observer. How frustrating.