A tale from school "Professor Scarecrow? Is that straw poking out between the buttons of your shirt?" The questioner was a teenaged Munchkin sat at the front of the classroom, his chemistry textbook open in front of him, with a couple of stray pieces of straw lying on the pages. The rest of the class was quietly reading the text in front of them, which provided them with the theoretical background for the experiment they'd be carrying out shortly. "Yes," sighed the Scarecrow. Having a brain was definitely a big improvement on not having a brain, but he was starting to wonder if he shouldn't have asked the Wizard for a meat body as well. Though, when he considered it, that was something he couldn't really have thought about without a brain. "I... I slept in a barn last night." A ripple of giggles ran through the class and the Scarecrow decided that he was glad he couldn't blush. "Right, class," he said. "You've had long enough. Get into your usual pairs and set up the equipment for the experiment. You have ten minutes, and then I'll check your set-up before you begin the experiment." Chairs scraped across the floor and a low hum of chatter arose as the students milled around, fetching glassware and reagents from the cupboards and assembling them on their desks. In the midst of the noise there was a tap on the door, and moments later a tin head poked round. The class ignored it -- Professor Scarecrow was odd, but the Tin Janitor was just weird. "Tinnie?" said Scarecrow. "What's up?" "Toto called," said the Tin-man. His voice was squeaky as though his throat had gone rusty again. "Do-ho's left the office apparently. He doesn't know where she's going, so he's warning everyone." "She's nominally Dorothy," said the Scarecrow. "Don't encourage that wretched canine and his vulgar vulgarities." The Tin-man sighed. "I can't help it," he said. "No-one told me that having a heart meant having emotions as well, you know. Life was a lot easier when I was just a mechanical killer." "Yes, well," said the Scarecrow, unwilling to sympathise too deeply. He remembered far too well what Do-ho -- Dorothy he corrected himself severely -- had had the Tin-man do on the journey to meet the Wizard. "I think tempering the killing with understanding is valuable, you know?" "Easy for you to say," said the Tin-man. There wasn't enough flexibility in his metal frame for there to be bitterness in his words, but the Scarecrow could imagine it. "You got a genius level intellect." "And you got a heart that could encompass the world," said the Scarecrow. "Go and lock the school gates. The last thing we need is Dorothy on one of her crusades getting in here. Remember what happened to the Ozmites?" They both shuddered. "Right class," said the Scarecrow as the Tin-man closed the door behind him. "Let's see your apparatus. The aim of this experiment is to turn straw into flesh, and we don't want it going wrong...."
Greg - I was not expecting a continuation (of sorts) but I am terribly pleased to find one! You brought Scarecrow and Tin-man into things naturally, without forgetting about Toto and Do H... Dorothy. Now I shall hope for Lion's arrival next!
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A tale from school
"Professor Scarecrow? Is that straw poking out between the buttons of your shirt?" The questioner was a teenaged Munchkin sat at the front of the classroom, his chemistry textbook open in front of him, with a couple of stray pieces of straw lying on the pages. The rest of the class was quietly reading the text in front of them, which provided them with the theoretical background for the experiment they'd be carrying out shortly.
"Yes," sighed the Scarecrow. Having a brain was definitely a big improvement on not having a brain, but he was starting to wonder if he shouldn't have asked the Wizard for a meat body as well. Though, when he considered it, that was something he couldn't really have thought about without a brain. "I... I slept in a barn last night." A ripple of giggles ran through the class and the Scarecrow decided that he was glad he couldn't blush.
"Right, class," he said. "You've had long enough. Get into your usual pairs and set up the equipment for the experiment. You have ten minutes, and then I'll check your set-up before you begin the experiment."
Chairs scraped across the floor and a low hum of chatter arose as the students milled around, fetching glassware and reagents from the cupboards and assembling them on their desks. In the midst of the noise there was a tap on the door, and moments later a tin head poked round. The class ignored it -- Professor Scarecrow was odd, but the Tin Janitor was just weird.
"Tinnie?" said Scarecrow. "What's up?"
"Toto called," said the Tin-man. His voice was squeaky as though his throat had gone rusty again. "Do-ho's left the office apparently. He doesn't know where she's going, so he's warning everyone."
"She's nominally Dorothy," said the Scarecrow. "Don't encourage that wretched canine and his vulgar vulgarities."
The Tin-man sighed. "I can't help it," he said. "No-one told me that having a heart meant having emotions as well, you know. Life was a lot easier when I was just a mechanical killer."
"Yes, well," said the Scarecrow, unwilling to sympathise too deeply. He remembered far too well what Do-ho -- Dorothy he corrected himself severely -- had had the Tin-man do on the journey to meet the Wizard. "I think tempering the killing with understanding is valuable, you know?"
"Easy for you to say," said the Tin-man. There wasn't enough flexibility in his metal frame for there to be bitterness in his words, but the Scarecrow could imagine it. "You got a genius level intellect."
"And you got a heart that could encompass the world," said the Scarecrow. "Go and lock the school gates. The last thing we need is Dorothy on one of her crusades getting in here. Remember what happened to the Ozmites?"
They both shuddered.
"Right class," said the Scarecrow as the Tin-man closed the door behind him. "Let's see your apparatus. The aim of this experiment is to turn straw into flesh, and we don't want it going wrong...."
Greg - I was not expecting a continuation (of sorts) but I am terribly pleased to find one! You brought Scarecrow and Tin-man into things naturally, without forgetting about Toto and Do H... Dorothy. Now I shall hope for Lion's arrival next!
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