Katie Holt alias Pidge Gunderson… This was not her day. On some "goo-planet" that lacked intelligent life she had lost her helmet, tripped over a rock and found to her distress that the goo stuck to whatever life form it came into contact with. How had she found that out? After she tripped over the rock she fell into a great big pool of goo.
Enter Akhenaten O'Callaghan nicknamed Aten. Lean, Pidge's height, red hair, ruddy skin, brown eyes, square jaw, pretty non-descript in appearance. He had heard the splash and found Pidge in the pool of goo and goo on the grass, the trees, the rocks… It had pretty much gotten everywhere… Including into Pidge's uniform.
For Pidge this could not have been worse. The goo was keeping her mouth shut it was keeping her in the pool for all intents and purposes she was trapped. Then she remembered what Coran had said.
"Exposed to light the goo hardens in three daboshes. When not exposed to light it takes nine."
Pidge's eyes widened. The sun was up, she had to get out of this goo and Aten looked hesitant to get into the goo. He just stood there at the edge of the pool looking at the distance between him and Pidge. If he had a tape measure Aten would have discovered that the distance between him and Pidge was three feet and two inches but a tape measure had not been on his person when he unexpectedly ended up being transported from earth to who knows where in the universe.
Already Pidge could feel the goo hardening. She let out a muffled groan and Aten just knelt down, trying his best not to fall into the stuff himself and pulled her out.
To say that pulling out Pidge was quick and easy would have been untrue. Aten pulled and pulled until he successfully pulled Pidge out of the goo. By the time he had successfully pulled her out, the goo had successfully hardened over Pidge's mouth.
Aten was quick to take the tool Coran had given him out of his pocket. When Aten saw it he had asked: "A laser pointer? I used one of these to play with my cat."
"It will remove the goo if it hardens." Coran explained. "Also it won't harm you so no worries."
He started with the goo on Pidge's arms and legs. Pidge glared at him for not starting with her mouth but Aten just gave a shrug. Once that was done he then got the hardened goo off her mouth.
Immediately, Pidge ran behind a tree. Aten stared as he saw her uniform and clothes thrown out from behind the tree and land on the grass. "Aten, hand me your shirt and start to work on getting the goo off my clothes and uniform."
"No, you aren't a Great Big Sea fan!"
"Aten, it is either I stand here behind this tree in my underwear or you hand me your shirt to wear. I don't care if it is a Great Big Sea shirt just give it to me!"
Aten groaned, took off his shirt and walked over to the tree. With his back to the tree he held out his hand for Pidge to take his shirt. The moment he felt her hand touch his wrist he exclaimed: "Hands off!"
"Sorry." Apologized Pidge and this time managed to take the shirt from his hand. Apparently she had her back to the tree as well. When she emerged from behind the tree wearing his Great Big Sea shirt she looked at him and said: "You have a bit of a pot belly. Is that the real reason you didn't want to hand me your shirt? Are you embarrassed about it?"
Aten didn't answer he just started removing the now hardened goo from Pidge's stuff. It was amazing how much faster the goo hardened when exposed to light.
The two didn't talk. It was just a moment of awkward silence. Once the goo was removed, Aten gathered up Pidge's stuff and handed it to her.
"Here… The goo is off."
"Thanks." She gave him a kiss and walked behind the tree leaving a very confused Aten.
"Now what was that for?" he asked while she got dressed.
"You said 'hands off.'" Replied Pidge. Indeed that did not qualify as hands on. Once she was dressed, Pidge emerged from behind the tree and handed Aten his shirt. "Now to find my helmet…"