(Previous)
Judith blinked at the kiosk as it played out their wait time. What joy! With a grin, she scuttled over towards the toys, and she pulled up one of the seats, admiring the playset closest to her, the bead maze. They immediately began pushing and proding the multicolored bulbs through their respective trams.
She thought for a moment, then she maneuvered the beads all to one side. She sat back, satisfied with the neatness, a stark contrast to her laboratory. She hummed a chuckle, then grabbed one of the dinosaur toys. She rested her elbow on the table with her other arm, then with laze, made the small dinosauria gnaw at the beads, like a large lizard terrorizing a town.
She smiled to herself, completely forgetting where she was or what she was supposed to be doing…
After approximately thirteen minutes a heavyset scientist walked behind Judith and cheerfully spoke at a fast pace. “I’m glad you’re having fun!” Professor Veronica Ratcliffe’s wide smile made it clear that she was genuine.
“Y’know, a lot of watchdogs like to act like they’re above playing with these nifty gizmos.” She paused to giggle. “But they usually play with them when they think nobody's looking!”
Then she walked over to the inner set of doors, scanned her key card, and ushered her visitor inside. The Lab Animal Breeding and Care Facility Ratporium was far larger than other laboratories. Yet it made good use of its space with tightly packed shelves loaded with everything required to keep lab animals.
Meanwhile Professor Ratcliffe had been spouting rat facts with every step. Some were about using them as experimental subjects. Some were about why they were cute. Some were frankly a little disturbing. Her cheery tone remained despite the darker “fun facts.”
The main lab, the one were test subjects were kept, was an elevator ride up. It still had some shelving with goods & smaller cages but much of the floor space was filled with large pens.
Professor Ratcliffe finally stopped talking about rats to put the rat riding her pocket in the “Nice Rat” pen. Then she exchanged it for the rat most insistent on getting in her hands before
“So what brings you here?” The professor asked as she sat at her desk stationed near the middle of the pens. She gestured at the stool next to her with her shoulder while getting her tablet out.
“Has anyone else on your project requested rats? If so: What were their names? And if not...” Professor Ratcliffe paused to smile at her newest patron. “What’s yours?”
