A/n: ~ So summer is over and fall has begun, but that won't stop me from writing! Haha, I could go more into my rant but you all know me by now so I'll just jump right into it! Have fun! And can I say? This is 25th fanfiction! I'm so happy :) I'm a quarter way to one hundred and its all thanks to you wonderful readers who keep encouraging me to write more and explore! So thanks so much! My accomplish is just as much yours as it is mine! :)

:: Dedications to… everyone? :) Oh and I guess to Stork & Piper fans who don't get enough creds!

Talcum

October 12, 2011

by: Her Head in the Clouds

Stork walked down the hallway to the only bathroom on the Condor with a grimace on his face and a towel over his shoulder - it was a terrible misfortune and displeasure to him, knowing he had to share bodily germs with five other people. If he could have it another way, and believe me if he could, he would've taken Piper's leech crystals and blown out a section of the flying cruiser and remodel it into his own private ensuite.

Stork smirked briefly at the thought - cream white decor, white bathroom tiles, a crowfoot bathtub with gold handles and... a stand-in shower with three rainforest shower heads and a glass casing. You could almost see the steam and feel the clean from a bathroom that squeaky! It would have been a dream come true!

So when he opened his eyes and the dream bubble popped in his face and he stood outside the brown, metal casing of the bathroom's shaft door, he felt grumpy all over again.

"Another day, another dream. At least Piper's considerate," he mumbled to himself. That was to say, that Piper, was the cleanest out of all the boys... well, second to him in his opinion.

In the early months of the Storm Hawks banding, one bathroom called for serious scheduling. Finn was nonchalant , Junko was passive, Aerrow was encouraging, and Piper backed him up sternly. But Stork? He was adamant; adamant on following in line of a teammate who's shower schedule and routines wasn't detrimental to his own hygiene. So he observed for the first couple weeks...

Taking the shower after Finn was like entering a water park. There was water in spots of the bathroom he didn't know water could reach and be knew! - he went and inspected. And plus, the bathroom always smelled like petroleum jelly when Finn was done and that didn't sit well with his Merbian nose. So he scratched Finn's name, indefinitely, off his list.

Then he tried using the shower after Aerrow. For the most part, the Sky Knight was moderately clean and kept the bathroom moderately clean - was it suspicious? Well, to Stork everything was suspicious so he held unspoken doubt as to how clean Aerrow could be... Not to mention, by sheer surprise, even by the Merb's standard, Aerrow took way too long in the shower. It was ... strange to say that, being that Aerrow was the most agile, quick-thinking of the team; one would think his hygiene routine would move lightning speed as well. But he didn't, and he took longer than Finn on more occasions. Maybe he stood in the shower minutes on end lost in deep thought about Cyclonia or about Sky Knight responsibilities... maybe he fell asleep... or maybe, he was just as much a nut about cleanliness as Stork was.

But Stork didn't buy the last one. So with all that suspicion, mystery, and uneasy confusion as to how Aerrow was in the bathroom, the Merb knew that being uncomfortable would not put him next in line to the Sky Knight.

Then he quickly jumped to Junko and Radarr because after witnessing them and giving them a vote of confidence, he figured they might not be so bad or as complicated as human were with shower routines. For the most, they weren't, to his liking; the Wallop and the Sky Rodent were faster in terms of minutes, they left less traces of a mess when they finished up (especially surprising for Junko due to HIS size!), and they didn't use any weird products like gel, deodorant and body spray, because they didn't need it. Stork could say that they were his two beat candidates - yeah, he COULD say that. Were it not for all the fur Radarr left in the drain and all the bath toys Junko left in the tub when he was done. No amount of hygenics could put Stork behind either of them - his reasons were beyond explaining but, you could guess where they lay.

And so that left Piper. With her being a girl and all, one could easily think that she would take one of the longest and have all these strange products and smells lying around when she was done, he almost frowned in fear the first time he decided to use it after her. He had been thinking it like a bandage, mentally preparing himself with a 'well, let's get this over with,' and marched in like a martyr. It was all he could do nonstop himself from imagining long hair in the drains and fruity body spritzers choking up the air - because that was what girls were known for.

Instead he was pleasantly surprised. No fruity smells, no deodorant lying around, and nearly spotless, dripless clean. Piper was a monk in his standards for there was NO way she could be this clean! He suspiciously though she went all out like this because she knew the anal, germaphobe-obsessive Merb went in right after her. But then, then that was Piper being considerate, she was always considerate, and she wasn't like most girls.

That, and he was pleasantly surprised to know she liked baby powder. Of course that didn't sit well with him being him- talcum powder leads to chronic lung problems and dry skin inflammation should one be sensitive. Thankfully he wasn't, he was just being his cautious self. He just liked knowing the fact that Piper used it after showers because it made the bathroom smell like... like... well, he wasn't about to say something mushy or anything. So Stork settled on Tynki. Yeah... The bathroom smelled nice and reminded him of Tynki.

So when he grumbled, "Another day, another dream. At least Piper's considerate," and the bathroom shaft would open, his bitter thoughts would temporarily fly away from his mind and he'd smile slightly and take his towel from his shoulder, because the room smelled like baby powder and it was nice.

Like Tynki.

~ Well there you go! I actually liked how this turned out. But sorry if it was too short! Haha, I know it seems weird that Aerrow might be the weird one in the shower but hey! Just 'cause he's great doesn't mean he has issues – we all do! Lol so live with that! And yes, Tynki! I wanted a Tynki-reference to come in my stories for such a long time but I couldn't think of anywhere to write him in until now. I might write more Tynki into my future stories now that I've seen how easy it can be... Well, I hope you liked! Until later, stay gold!

Much love, Abby~