Left Foot, Green {Dory}

[Deleted]

Remy paused, staring at the room. He looked for several long seconds, taking in the whole scene before him. Then he took a few cautious steps back, checked the number on the door, checked the hall he was standing in, then he walked back into the room. Not quite satisfied, he repeated the whole process all over again.

In the end, he wound up standing a few feet into the room, which happened to be one of the cooking classrooms. He could tell, because there were cooking stations dotting the linoleum lined room, and there was a white board near the front for recipe writing. Really, you couldn't mistake this room for anything else (which Remy had slightly done, though, really, it had been more of a "try to find the right room" and less of a "gee, I don't know what a kitchen looks like. He was something of an expert).

Now though, it appeared as though a redhead had set up a game of Twister in the middle of the floor. At least, that's what it looked like to Remy. Considering that Remy didn't actually know what Twister was and everything, it really looked more like a redhead girl with her hands in strange positions on various tiles. He wasn't even completely sure there was actually an appropriate game mat down; for all he knew, she was using vegetables.

There was really only one thing to do in a situation like this.

Remy coughed into his fist, then called out: "Uh, hey, you do know you're in a kitchen, right? That looks, uh, like a really weird way to cook something. Is this a foreign thing?"

Considering the blue roommate and what Remy had encountered so far, he was almost willing to go with it. Almost; because there usually was a pattern to these things.

[Deleted]

Dory loved games. Of this she was sure. She had been trying to make a list of the things that she was sure of, but then she kept forgetting what was on the list and that she was making a list at all....it would have been a short list anyway. When she tried really really hard she could recall flashes of her morning, enough that she gathered that she'd been wandering around some huge building with toys and shiny and bright happy things. There was this game called "Twister" with polka dots on it. There was a box with wheels and a yellow duck that squeaked which she thought was really silly because ducks didn't squeak they.....well they didn't squeak that was for sure. A moment later Dory gasped audibly upon thinking of the word. QUACK! she shouted proudly then processed to search the area for something to write with. There was a marker on the counter next to her and she pulled up the sleeve of her left arm only to find that the skin she revealed was already covered with inked on words. Apparently she had begun making a list. Dory smiled, shrugged, and tattooed the words "ducks quack" right underneath "pants" in black permanent marker. Perfect!

Dory's attention was brought back to the game she had half unpacked when she nearly tripped over the box on her way to leave. Ooooh yeeeaaaah! she said, smacking the palm of her hand against her forehead. With renewed excitement she tugged the multi colored mat out of the container and flapped it open, giggling as the wind she created blew her long cherry locks about. She directed the plastic sheet to the floor like the pictured showed on the front of the box. The picture was very helpful, though not quite so helpful that Dory could grasp the concept of the game. She put her foot on on of the green circles like the boy in the picture and her hand on a blue space, then other leg on yellow. The only difference between her and the picture seemed to be the fact that he appeared to be having way more fun that she was in the awkward, uncomfortable position....and there were other kids playing. Thats it! she shrieked, so excited that she fell on top of herself and into a heap just in time for a boy to walk into the room.

Hey y- she started, standing and preparing to rush at him to make him join in the game. Unfortunately, or, perhaps, fortunately, she stopped short realizing that he was trying to speak to her. Completely losing all motivations up to this point she blinked at him when he finished, blankly. What's cooking? She said. Deciding that it sounded particularly exciting she continued I-I mean I don't think I've ever cooked before, is it fun?! she bubbled, clutching her hands in fists and close to her chest

[Deleted]

It seemed to be Remy's lot in life to be perpetually put in situations that were confusing for the poor guy. He stood there for a few moments, staring at the overly bouncing girl and wondering if he'd somehow ran into a clone of some kind. No, this one had red hair. That was important in distinguishing these people from one another. He wrinkled his nose and looked over her shoulder, trying to figure out what was going, not to mention how to explain all this.

"It's when you cook things," he tried, which sounded lame even as he said it. "You know, for eating and stuff. You put food over a fire. Well, actually you can mix lots of different foods and flavors together, so that they create these bursts of joy within your mouth, the tastes mixing and matching into a symphony of delight!"

All through the speech, Remy's voice was getting louder and more excited, until he was practically shouting at the end, and most certainly doing a pose that one could only call epic. It defied description, and in cases like this, it's better to trust in one's imagination. Not that it mattered a good deal, because the self-conscious rat was already relaxing his body and smiling sheepishly at Dory.

"Right, well, I'm Remy," he said, nodding, then pointing at the mat, "and that's not really something you use in cooking, and, uh, you're in the cooking area."

Again, he couldn't help but wonder how the kitchen wasn't a dead giveaway of this, but thought better to point this out again.

[Deleted]

"It's when you cook things"

Dory blinked. Luckily he continued or else Dory would have been totally lost, oh wait, she was still totally lost even after he explained. Food, well she knew what food was, even fish eat, but what the heck was fire? Whatever was going on, however, it sounded exciting and Dory gladly shared in his growing joy over cooking. There were some pretty big words in there that Dory couldn't decipher, but, regardless, she beamed at him and uttered in sheer amazement: Wooooooooooow

Here eyes glowed with anticipation, but then suddenly decided she better write this down for future reference. Grabbing the same sharpie marker she lifted up her sleeve, shocked by all the things she'd already written there. She carefully scribbled a few words while audibly sounding them out. Dory was still working on reading a writing human. ccooooooo kkiiinnnggg iiiissss fffuuuuuunnnn... THERE she proclaimed proudly Now I'll remember! said she with a tone of confidence, despite the low odds of the statement. She peered back up at Remy once he spoke his name. She offered him another bright smile upon noting that he seemed a bit shy. Hello Lemy, I'm Dory said the redhead, approaching him and sticking out her hand, oblivious to the fact that she'd just said his name all wrong.

[Deleted]

Woooooow indeed. Yet again, Remy found himself staring, trying to figure out what exactly he should be doing or saying here. She reminded him so much of Emile that he almost wondered if his brother hadn't been magically transformed into an overly perky redhaired girl. Then again, there was still that very possible notion that he'd run into a clone of Max. Except Max seemed cuter, not that Remy knew or cared about such things.

"Oh wow, that's a lot on an arm," he said, leaning forward and watching as she scribbled. Leave it to Remy to utilize his miraculous gift of stating the obvious. He leaned back as she finished, flashing the smile that again brought comparisons to the ex-rat's mind. However, he was quite aware of the fact that none of these comparisons were bad. Emile was his brother and confidant; Max had been a fast friend. Ergo this girl should fall into the same general grouping.

"Actually, I'm Demy, Rory. I mean," Remy shook his head, "I'm Remy. You're Dory. And, uh, what is that, anyway?"

He nodded to and pointed at the game mat, which still lay there, completely unexplained and simply demanding attention.

[Deleted]

Dory let her hand fall back to her side when Remy started correcting her and unintentionally let a few chuckles spill over her lips. jeez she began with a tone of gentle teasing you can't even remember your own name and here I thought I was bad she joked, nudging him playfully with her fist. Remy was a good person, Dory could tell. If there was anything Dory could do right, it was judge character...or so she thought. Dory isn't stupid by any means, she's just naive and ignorant and forgetful. It's these three traits that get her into trouble so often, but, truth be told, if she didn't suffer from short term memory loss she'd probably be a bright young woman with such a mind for creativity that she could really go places and be successful in the world. Unfortunately, she does have this crippling disability that constantly prevents her from being able to complete anything or work up to any goals. But she is not dumb. All the information she gathers in the world is there, she learns, she just can't remember. Perhaps someday she could even get better, but no one sticks with her long enough to help any.

Remy directed Dory's attention back to the game mat and her face lit up with renewed eagerness. Thats a game she said instantly. She then froze for a second, gasped, and grabbed Remy by the shoulders I remembered it! she said gleefully, shaking him. Its a game where you...something she drifted for a second in thought, but then snapped back a flash But it's a game! I remember! A fun game! she cheered. She let a beat pass before continuing in an semi hushed and rushed tone Do you want to play?

[Deleted]

"A game," repeated Remy. He looked down at the mat, considering. It did look like it might possibly be used for a game or something, really. But Remy couldn't say for certain what the game would be. Even then, that really didn't explain what it was doing here, in a kitchen. Remy turned to Dory to say exactly this, only to discover the girl already cheering and heading toward the mat.

Yeah, something was up. With her brain. But she seemed nice enough, and Remy was willing to go along with it.

"Alright," he said, shrugging. He took a few steps forward, pausing just short of the mat, looking down at it, considering. "Just one game though, because this really isn't the place for it. Then we can pack it up and move somewhere else."

Remy paused, nudging the mat with his foot, as if he expected it to do something. There were colored circles and what looked like a spinning device with weird stuff. So... you put your limbs where it said? He looked at Dory, then at the game, then finally just asked:

"So, how do you play?"

[Deleted]

Dory was so excited that her new friend decided to play the game that she seemed to seize up in an apparent attempt to keep herself from exploding. With her arms clenched close to her body and her hands up close to her nearly manic grin, she flexed her fingers in and out in strange sort of unnatural spasms. Yey! she finally squeaked, regaining her mobility enough to quickly run in place for a moment or two. Dory couldn't remember the last time she was so excited, though that really didn't come at any surprise. This was going to be great! Just great, fantastic even! Games were so much fun! At least...she thought they were...only one way to find out, anyway!

Dory nodded enthusiastically when Remy only promised her one game. Okay, sure! she agreed, not really understanding what he meant by saying this wasn't the right place for it, but still overwhelmed by the idea that he was even going to play one game with her. He looked like he needed to play a game, he wasn't smiling nearly enough. Dory liked to see people smile. She wanted to see Remy smile a real, genuine great big smile with teeth and everything; those where the best kind of smiles. Dory relaxed her stance as her mind clearly switched gears and she was just considering if Remy was ticklish or not when he asked her how to play.

Dory blinked blankly, as she often did. Play what? she said with a friendly smile. Dory liked to play, but he really needed to be more specific about these things.

[Deleted]

Remy had half followed Dory, and now stood, looking down at the Twister board with some trepidation. There was just something really weird here. Shouldn't there be pieces or instructions or something? The girl seemed excited though, and Remy figured that she would be able to explain to him how it work, or, at least, she could probably show him or something. Really, as long as they were having fun...

Except the girl had apparently spaced out that Remy had even asked. Remy stood there, blinking for a few seconds, not quite comprehending that she didn't quite comprehend what was going on here. He extended a finger, pointing at the mat on the floor. "Uh, we were going to play something. On that. I think."

Remy retracted the finger, then his eyes drifted between the mat and the girl. He eventually ended up pointing at her. "Are you okay? I mean, there's nothing wrong with your head or anything?"

[Deleted]

Oh a game! I love games! Dory chirped as Remy explained the situation. Why didn't you say so in the first place?! she said, giving his arm a friendly nudge. Gee it was awful nice of him to just come in and offer to play a game with her. People here must be really nice like that. That was good, Dory liked nice people, and happy people...actually Dory liked most people regardless of their personalities. Even if they were a big 'ol grumpy gills she was happy to spend time with them and see if maybe she could change their mind about the world. It was undoubtedly Dory's absolute favorite thing to make people feel good. Even being aware of her memory problem she'll always put on a positive air and hope its contagious. She knew enough to know the world has too many dark things and sad fish...er...people and she was going to do her best to change that. Now Remy didn't look like a particularly sad person that needed her help, but he wanted to play a game and everyone's lives could be improved by a good game! He was going to be a good friend, she could tell.

And then he asked about her head and Dory's glowing personality seemed to dim with the falter of her smile. A look of concern riddled her features. For all the good she wanted to give the world this mind of hers didn't do anything to make it easier. She wanted to make people happy, not frustrate them with repeating herself over and over again. A flash of images flickered through her head as the emotion of this moment woke all the times it had been felt previously to now. This always happened, she remembered. She'd meet someone and think she'd made a new friend and then her bad memory would confuse them or scare them or irritate them and then they were gone and she was all alone...again. Well thats okay though, she could be alone. She couldn't remember that she felt alone most the time anyway, so she thought that was okay, but she didn't want to cause people distress in anyway. She certainly did not want to cause Remy any negative emotions, he seemed so nice!

Oh no, I'm sorry Dory rushed, giving him a sort of awkwardly sorry expression. I...yes she let out a airy laugh in spite of herself and then tapped her temple with her finger as she continued I suffer from short term memory loss she said carefully, positioning her arms at her sides, her palms at her shoulders and facing up toward the ceiling to further communicate how sorry she was for troubling him.

[Deleted]

Remy seriously thought about mentioning that he had, in fact, said something about the whole game thing to Dory, or maybe mentioning how it had been her idea, but that didn't seem like the right direction. For the observant ex-rodent could tell that there was something going on in the girl's head. Something fluttered across her face for a moment, then passed, then seemed to flutter again or something. Remy felt his finger uncurling and curling as he tried to figure out how exactly he should address this whole situation.

The girl finally admitted what her issue was: short term memory loss. Remy nodded; that made sense, what with the repeating and all. "That's weird," he managed. He paused for a moment, then looked at the mat, then at the girl again. "So, um, it's just like..." he trailed off. Then he looked down at the mat.

"You were going to show me how to play this game," he said, pointing. No need to talk about the whole memory thing. What did it matter, really? It wasn't like it was going to prevent her from enjoying things, except maybe some short term things, and really, shouldn't it go into her long-term memory eventually? She seemed to enjoy things in the moment, and that meant she could enjoy food.

As far as Remy was concerned, that was more than good enough.

[Deleted]

Dory continued to look apologetic and shuffled her feet awkwardly a few times. She tried to keep some sort of a smile on her face, though she had a feeling she'd just made things rather awkward around here. She didn't like it at all. She suddenly felt the pressing need to make things happy again, maybe crack a joke or do a dance or something. It wasn't likely that she would even remember being sad in this moment, but he probably would and literally could not stand the idea of being the cause of a unpleasant moment in his life that he could remember for a very long time. She wanted to bring light to people's lives, not awkward.

Dory nodded and shrugged when he said that was weird and was just about to yell BANANAS or something just as crazy in a desperate attempt to bring up the mood when he continued and saved things by mentioning the game again. Her face lit up again with that dazzling smile of hers. Not only was he willing to play the game with her, but he'd brushed past the subject of her disorder without too much effort at all. He could have just as easily mad fun of her or freaked out and ran away, but he didn't! He wanted to stay and learn how to play the game she'd pulled out. Suddenly overwhelmed by the joy she felt from his kindness she rushed over to attack him with a giant hug. Well, you know, as giant as a five foot two inch girl could make happen.

I hope I don't forget you she said softly, before pulling away and quickly turing her attention to the mat beside her. Dory took and deep breath as she stared at it, placing her hands on her hips and trying to decide what to do next. Well its got to tell us how to play sooomewhere she said, changing her voice and inflection in a rather comical way, ending her thought with a few chuckles.

outfit.

[Deleted]

The sudden hug made Remy stiffen, but the expression of shock quickly faded into a moderately broad smile. Nice to know that he hadn't screwed up! He was always worried about stepping the wrong way around people, what with the rat thing hovering overhead. He also had the sudden, inexplicable urge to cook Dory something nice, like cupcakes or homemade ice cream or something.

The girl was bounding toward the game again, circling it, and Remy watched. He nearly groaned when she said she didn't know how to play, though again, the expression quickly changed into a grin, one that was barely suppressing a laugh.

"Aren't there directions?" he asked, stepping closer. He rummaged around, but it looked like if there had ever been clear, written instructions, they'd been long since lost. One could blame that on the owner, or one could blame it on Fate, whichever really fit the circumstances better. "So, uh, it can't be that hard, right? There's the spinner," he pointed, "and there's the mat..."

Remy stared at the two, chewing at his lip as though he'd been given a particularly difficult math problem to solve.

[Deleted]

Dory hummed in thought as her gaze shifted between the two objects Remy had pointed out. She rested her cheek on her hand so her face squished up slightly as she tried hard to connect the two. Now, although Dory was ignorant and forgetful, she was surprisingly quite clever. She noticed the pictures on the spinner, as Remy had called it, then looked down at her feet, then back at the pictures, then drew her hand away from her face to look at it. Dory let out such an extremely dramatic gasp that she had to flail her arms a little bit to keep from falling over upon making a connection.

The pictures! The pictures ahhh! the pictures! she cheered as she picked up the spinner and shoved it in Remy's face. Just in case he wasn't understanding what she was understanding she dropped to the grown and held up her leg next to the piece of cardboard so that her foot and the picture of a foot lined up. And then the colors! she announced. She stood and pointed at nothing in particular as she stared at the mat and paced around, trying to work it all out in her head like she was solving a massive detective case. She noticed that the colors on the wheel matched those of the dots on the mat. What. iiiiiff... she turned on a dime and pointed at Remy now, excitement growing in her eyes. What if the colors on the winner... she paused for a mili second what if the colors on the spinner... tell you she closed the space between her and her new friend and grabbed his hands before continuing WHERE TO PUT she began jumping up and down, clearly positive that she had just discovered something amazing YOUR...WHAT-CHA-MA-CALL-ITS she yelled as she pointed to his feet and then shook one of his hands to indicate that she was talking about his limbs. I don't remember what they're called but I did it! Thats it, isn't it?! THIS IS GONNA BE SO GREAT she shrieked at last, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him slightly.

[Deleted]

What else was there for Remy to do but nod and smile nervously as Dory prattled? Spinner in face: smile and nod. Colors; smile and nod. Where to put your whatchamacallits (limbs, from what Remy could tell); smile and nod. Gonna be great; smile and nod. Shake aggressively; smile and nod.

"Did you want to go ahead and go first then?" suggested Remy. He walked cautiously around the board, as though he expected it to attack him. From what he could tell, they likely took turns doing exactly what Dory suggested. Remy was still getting over the whole-body shake and all, but he was pretty sure he could figure this out.

Remy tried and likely succeeded to take the spinner from Dory. Reaching up, he flicked the little arrow, watching it spin for a bit. Soon enough, it would land on a color and a limb. Remy leaned forward, read it as best as he could.

"Left foot, green?" he said, looking to Dory and waiting for movement.