The Most Adventurous Red Poppet and her friend Shamrock went to the Coast yesterday.
"Are we telling this story before the baking story?"
"Well there's not much story to tell."
"There were birds and it was sunshiney, and people rode giant boards on the waves. That's a story."
"Yes it is."
We're poppets and we approve this weather
The Documentarian
Almost everybody at the Satellite eventually finds their place. Danbo has been searching for hers. She’s not much of a “performer,” preferring to be quiet and observant, rather than flamboyant, or a leader.
One day, she happened upon a tiny camera. Intrigued, she spent some time looking through the viewfinder and wondering if she had the right stuff to be the Satellite’s filmographer.
She decided the best thing was to practice. First she had to find a willing subject, and who else would be better to ask than her BFF Spring.
Spring brought a little friend.
Danbo thinks she might have “it.”
*click*
.
One day, she happened upon a tiny camera. Intrigued, she spent some time looking through the viewfinder and wondering if she had the right stuff to be the Satellite’s filmographer.
She decided the best thing was to practice. First she had to find a willing subject, and who else would be better to ask than her BFF Spring.
Spring brought a little friend.
Danbo thinks she might have “it.”
*click*
.
Robots, robots everywhere
Since the arrival of the PME a couple of weeks ago, things have been quiet around the satellite. Poppets are busy with their own books and projects, as well as watching with interest the goings-on of the caretaker and her outdoor efforts.
"We're going to have new grass?"
"That's what I hear. Once the great big wooden structure is gone, there will be grass."
"And flowers?"
"Maybe there will be a nice track for the Persistence Engine."
"And flowers."
A few days ago, there was some excitement at the satellite, with the arrival of a new resident.
Little Red Ella Capitan was a little non-plussed at the new addition.
"I thought we talked about the robots."
This is a very sweet robot, Ella. He's a cleaning robot.
"He looks kind of dirty to me, but the Steampunks seem to like him."
The Steampunks were indeed interested in the new robot arrival, and might have been intimidating in their curiosity, except, well... it was a robot.
"Can you do projects?"
"How much can you lift?"
"Can you go up stairs by yourself?"
"What's in your pocket?" (This from mini-Pop, who is always looking for tiny things she can fit into.)
"What's your name?"
WALL-EEEE
"Wally? That's a GOOD name, we don't have anyone here named Wally!"
"Hi Wally! Do you want to see my engine?"
"Wally, what's in your pocket?"
Wall-E, being the kind of robot who gives robots a good name, obligingly opened his cargo pocket. Mini-Pop stood on the door and debated whether she might fit inside if she turned sideways.
The Steampunks unanimously decided that "Wally" was the most interesting and delightful thing that had happened to them in weeks. Little Red Ella was satisfied with their assessment, and carefully dismounted from her High Horse.
Welcome to the Satellite, "Wally."
"We're going to have new grass?"
"That's what I hear. Once the great big wooden structure is gone, there will be grass."
"And flowers?"
"Maybe there will be a nice track for the Persistence Engine."
"And flowers."
A few days ago, there was some excitement at the satellite, with the arrival of a new resident.
Little Red Ella Capitan was a little non-plussed at the new addition.
"I thought we talked about the robots."
This is a very sweet robot, Ella. He's a cleaning robot.
"He looks kind of dirty to me, but the Steampunks seem to like him."
The Steampunks were indeed interested in the new robot arrival, and might have been intimidating in their curiosity, except, well... it was a robot.
"Can you do projects?"
"How much can you lift?"
"Can you go up stairs by yourself?"
"What's in your pocket?" (This from mini-Pop, who is always looking for tiny things she can fit into.)
"What's your name?"
WALL-EEEE
"Wally? That's a GOOD name, we don't have anyone here named Wally!"
"Hi Wally! Do you want to see my engine?"
"Wally, what's in your pocket?"
Wall-E, being the kind of robot who gives robots a good name, obligingly opened his cargo pocket. Mini-Pop stood on the door and debated whether she might fit inside if she turned sideways.
The Steampunks unanimously decided that "Wally" was the most interesting and delightful thing that had happened to them in weeks. Little Red Ella was satisfied with their assessment, and carefully dismounted from her High Horse.
Welcome to the Satellite, "Wally."
Persistence Mechanical Expert
The poppets have been dealing for awhile with a very frustrated and exhausted caretaker. Even though things have not really been going wrong, most things are just vaguely not right.
The Steampunks have been wearing their gasmasks around the clock, "just in case."
Things are beginning to look up, with the assistance of a very kind Doctor (the human kind,) and his two human Doctors-in-training. Poppets (and Robots,) have been acting up and getting silly, hoping the Photographic Machine will make an appearance. Poppets like to be Photographed.
The Steampunks are still a bit reserved, and had recently pointed out to the caretaker that there was still a tiny Unresolved Issue with their Persistence Engine.
Earlier in the week, a Persistence Mechanical Expert arrived to deal with the Unresolved Issue. She brought her own tools and parts.
The Steampunks have been wearing their gasmasks around the clock, "just in case."
Things are beginning to look up, with the assistance of a very kind Doctor (the human kind,) and his two human Doctors-in-training. Poppets (and Robots,) have been acting up and getting silly, hoping the Photographic Machine will make an appearance. Poppets like to be Photographed.
The Steampunks are still a bit reserved, and had recently pointed out to the caretaker that there was still a tiny Unresolved Issue with their Persistence Engine.
Earlier in the week, a Persistence Mechanical Expert arrived to deal with the Unresolved Issue. She brought her own tools and parts.
After a thorough walk around with one of the Steampunks, the Persistence Mechanical Expert suggested that the Issue could be resolved with just a touch of enamel, and that a full-scale overhaul was really completely unnecessary, and perhaps everyone should stop worrying so much, and that her fee could be paid with shrimp. And a BBQ party.
The Persistence Engineer was satisfied with the inspection.
Poppets go marching two by two
Hurrah! Hurr... Hey! what's all this then? I said "two by two." I'm seeing "fours" and "ones" and a couple of pile-ups. What's with the curve? We're supposed to be marching! In a line! Straight line!
I give up. You can't herd poppets.
This poppet would like to emphasize that point by pretending to be a cat. So there.
Can a Dalek Change Its Rivets, Part IV
On the first day of School, the Ambassadors - Dor and Dora - determined that the best idea was to start mini-Dal out with the regular reading group. It seemed that mini-Dal had much more indoctrination than education, and reading seemed to be the best way to introduce him to new ideas.
Baby Red was enjoying a rousing reading of "Red Fish Blue Fish," her favorite story - "It's so exciting! I NEVER walked with 10 cats on my head! How would you fit 10 cats on your head? I really don't think they stack very well. Maybe if you tied them with a string..."
Little Baby Blue was reading Wind in the Willows, which was of special interest to everyone, as it had just been released in Poppetvision, and nobody else at the Satellite had read it yet. - "There's a 'Ratty' in here. He rows a boat! I wonder if our RattyD knows how to row boats? I've never been in a boat. I would not like to crash in a car though, Toad seems a bit irresponsible..."
It turned out that mini-Dal was quite a good reader, and had, in fact, read a great many books about machines, and engineering, and tactical planning. The Ambassadors decided that, given his background in science, but relatively little knowledge of social dynamics, it would be good to start him on classic fiction. He settled right in to the reading, and things were very quiet for awhile. The Ambassadors left mini-Dal and the poppets to their reading, and wandered off to do paperwork and drink tea.
Soon, though, Dora grew concerned.
"Dor, darling, do you smell something?"
"No dear, what is it?"
"It smells like smoke! I think there is a fire in the dojo!"
The ambassadors hurried in to investigate the smoke smells. Mini-Dal was standing in front of a small firebowl, where a blaze was crackling merrily, with his "classic fiction" as fuel.
"Dal, what are you doing?"
I READ OF FIREMEN. IT SOUNDS LIKE A FINE JOB. I WANT TO BE A FIREMAN SO I'M PRACTICING.
"Oh dear."
"What book did you give him?"
"Fahrenheit 451"
"That may not have been one of your better ideas, darling. Dal, dear, how much of the book did you read?"
I READ 3 PAGES. I LEARNED: 'IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN.'
"Hmmm, well, you see, that wasn't exactly what I wanted you to get from this book... Oh dear."
EXTERMINATE? mini-Dal whispered his comfort word to himself.
He got the impression that things had gone wrong, again. He was beginning to like these strange little creatures, and for the first time in his nuts and bolts and fissiony existence, he felt accepted instead of feared. He didn't want to disappoint the Ambassadors, and he also hoped he wasn't going to be scolded, or made to wear his mitts again. The mitts itched.
"Dal, dear, the Ambassador and I would like to apologize for starting you off on a complicated classic. I'm sorry the book is burnt, but we don't burn books. We read them."
"Sometimes we argue about them in book club, but we don't burn them."
BOOK CLUB?
"Nevermind dear. We can worry about book club later. Right now, lets get you something else to read. Here we are: Grimm's Fairy Tales!"
"Dora, I don't know if that's such a good choice for unsupervised readings, either."
"Oh Dor, silly goose, what harm can it do? It's a classic!"
A discovery
Yesterday, Little Red Ella and Patina P. Poppet took a walk down to the creek. Along the way, they spied something in the dirt.
"What is it?"
"I think it's a treasure chest."
"A Treasure Chest? How fantastic! I'm going to open it!"
"Wait! You can't open it, maybe it contains a curse!"
"Pah, I'm not afraid of any old curse."
"Well, maybe there are bones in it."
"Bones? Goody, I can make a windchime out of them and hang them in the garden."
"Yucko. Also, intriguing. But maybe there are SPIDERS in there."
"Spiders?"
Patina P. backed up a few inches.
"I'm NOT fond of spiders, especially hairy spiders with eight eyes and loooong fuzzy legs..."
"I KNEW it! You HAVE been spending too much time with Pollyanna Poppet."
"Nothing wrong with that, she's nice."
"I rest my case. Now, what are we going to do with this Treasure Chest?"
"I say, let's OPEN IT! Maybe it will be jewels, and gold, and dollars!"
"What would you do with dollars?"
"Why, I'd buy Poppetropolis, they have a Merry Go Round now."
"I do NOT think Poppetropolis is for sale."
"Well, then I'd visit, and have coffee in the rooftop Cafe. I'll bet that's fun."
"Hmmm... yes, that could be fun. Okay, let's open it."
After a bit of struggling, Patina P. and Little Red Ella managed to unlatch the Treasure Chest. It did NOT contain what they expected.
"Well, I guess it's KIND of like bones..."
"Yucko. Why do people do things like this? Poppels are NOT that foolish."
"Yuh-huh, sometimes we are. But I agree that old teeth don't seem much like Treasure. At least there should have been some Peppermints in there."
"Yeah, or Junior Mints!"
"What are those?"
"I dunno, our human likes them."
"Silly human."
"Yeah. Silly human."
Swimming?
Patina Poppet: "I don't understand the point of this. Back home on Poppet Planet, swimming was done in a LARGE puddle of COOL water."
Birthday Poppet: "I know, what is the point of a little puddle like this? And hot water?"
Little Purps: "It's too steamy in here. I can't see."
Little Orange: "Oh, I want to try this 'swimming.' How is it done?"
Poppet Day Poppet: "I know, you just jump in from a thing called a 'diving board.' Or else somebody can throw you."
Poppet Lavender: "I'LL throw you!"
Patina Poppet: "How do you know all of this?"
Poppet Day Poppet: "I've been swimming before."
Little Blue: "You have not! You got your topcoat then got stuffed in a mailer, just like us!"
Poppet Day Poppet: "Okay, fine. One of the House Reds told me before I went on transport."
Patina Poppet: "hmmmph. Hearsay. Well I don't think there's room in this little puddle anyways. She's hogging up the whole thing with her giant feet and her giant..."
Birthday Poppet: "BE NICE!"
Patina Poppet: "Okay. Sorry."
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