Baba Yaga and the Book Report (Cici)

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar and Cici had very nearly taken over the student lounge, surrounded as they were by shoe boxes of varying sizes and piles of construction paper and tinsel and pipe cleaners and bottles of paint and scissors and glue and not one but three tubs of tiny plastic toys -- one of plants, one of animals, and one of people.



"So....what should we make Baba Yaga's hut out of?" Sunar mused, looking over their assorted supplies. "Tooth picks for the chicken legs, I think? But what about the hut? Popsicle sticks?"



He rummaged through the supplies until he found the box of multicolored toothpicks, peering at them critically. "Yellow, I guess?"

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

Cici glanced at Sunar. Then at the mess that they were making. Normally assignments were really boring, however they had been lucky enough to be able to choose partners, and Cici had practically pounced on the boy. She considered him a very close friend, and found his vibrancy and optimism towards things rather refreshing. Plus, he was always a laugh to be around, and she felt totally at ease with him. Particularly as he never minded how she liked physical contact, and was just as huggy as she was!

Looking at his thoughtful expression, she playfully poked him in the cheek. "Don' think too hard 'r you'll hurt yourself." She joked, smiling softly. Then, at his question, she herself donned a thoughtful expression as she put a hand on her chin and tilted her head. "Pops'cle sticks sounds good. N' yep, yellow works! Bu' for the' pops'cle sticks...do they have any brown 'r undyed ones?" She asked, peering at them.

As she found some appropriate Popsicle sticks, she laid them out side by side and grabbed some glue. Then, she decided to use pipe cleaners and laid two of them across the Popsicle sticks, one near the top and the other near the bottom then stuck them down to hold the sticks together. "Will this work...?" She quietly mused to herself, and turned to Sunar. "Is this OK?"

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar clapped appreciatively at Cici's ingenuity. "Yeah! That looks great! Do you wanna paint the hut? Color it with markers....?" 

He dug through his box of toothpicks as he talked, carefully pulling out yellows -- he grabbed a blue one by accident, but rather than putting it back in the box he rolled it in the palm of his hand. 

"Do we want to do toothpicks with  construction paper flames for the torches leading up to the door, or do you think we could try something else? Beads? Christmas lights?"

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

At Sunar's question, Cici tilted her head in thought, then looked around their work space. They had already made this big of a mess, why not go all the way with paint? "Paint, yeah nah for sure," the short girl said with a little grin and moved to grab some newspaper to spread on the ground so that she could paint on top of it. She grabbed some of her paint and began to pour a bit onto an ice cream container lid. 

As Cici was squirting paint, she turned to grab a paintbrush and, experiencing a momentary bout of dizziness that came as a side affect of her flight, placed her hand on the ground to steady herself. The incredibly wet and...sticky ground? With a light gasp, Cici realized that she had put her hand in the paint. Wrinkling her nose, she looked up to realize that Sunar hadn't noticed.

As an idea struck her, a mischievous smile spread across the young girl's face. He asked her a question, and she thought for a moment before answering, "How 'bout red 'n' yellow cell'phane?" Then she leaned over to the coffee coloured boy and smeared a large dollop of purple paint over the tip of his nose. Normally, she wouldn't do something that could so easily upset someone else, but she was close with Sunar, enough so that she felt comfortable enough to be cheeky and do something like this. Laughing, Cici said, "Sorry, Baba Yaga told me to do it! He thought purple would suit you, and he was right!" She said softly, giggling. 

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar was too busy contemplating whether or not they should go simple or complex with the lights to notice that his fellow worker had just got paint all over the palms of her hands. Instead he squinted at the beginnings of their little witch's hut, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. 

"Red and yellow cellophane?" He repeated, trying to recall whether or not he'd seen any such thing in the art room. "We'd better ask if we can borrow so---ahhh!" 

He yelped, feeling the cold sticky wetness of paint against his nose. 

"Hey!" He laughed once he realized what Cici had done. "Purple?! Well what if Baba Yaga told me you'd look good in....ummm...." 

He snatched up the nearest paint tube, glancing at the cap before squeezing it at her and finishing, "Green!" 

[Cianna "Cici" Rivers]

As the green paint hit her face and oozed down her neck, Cici gasped at the feeling. Momentarily glad that her hair was piled in a messy bun atop her head, a large grin spread across her face and she laughed, then, smushing her hands in the purple paint once more, and scraping the green off her neck, pulled herself into a crouch, intending to jump at Sunar and cover his cheeks.

Unfortunately for the girl, she overbalanced and, instead of jumping at the boy, she tumbled forward, and crashed into the ground between them. Luckily, she didn't land on any of the construction, and groaning, Cici realized that she had gotten even more paint on herself. With a wry smile, she shook her head; trust her to fail so badly when trying to turn someone into a rainbow. 

Propping herself up onto her elbows, Cici looked up at Sunar with a sheepish grin. "I yield! Baba Yaga 'n' you h've proved too migh'y foes for me t' battle!" She gasped dramatically, then laughed loudly and poked her tongue out at the boy. Sitting up properly and glancing down at  herself, she looked at Sunar with an apologetic smile. Neh, Sunar, imma jus' go 'n' wash ma hands, all good? Be back in a sec!" Standing up and being careful not to use her hands lest she get more paint everywhere, she quickly ran over to the taps and scrubbed her hands. She didn't really care about the paint o her clothes; they weren't nice or new clothes, and she was sure she could wash it out. With that, she dried her hands off quickly and returned to Sunar and Baba yaga.