red and orange green and blue shiny yellow purple too

[Conrad Beecher]

Conrad burst into the house. "It's extraordinary!" he shouted to anyone within earshot. "Colors! Everywhere!"

[Tobias Blythe]

"It is not extraordinary," Tobias disagreed, following him in it. "It's weird."

[George Blythe]

George came up from the lab, where he had been peering at different things by candle light. "Colors?" he said. What he had utterly failed to notice was that his skin was a delicate puce. "They do tend to be everywhere."

[Antón Solucio]

Antón, who had been napping on the lumpy couch, woke with a start. "Bwuh? Colours?" He looked down at his arm and gawked. It was a bright yellow colour that turned into a deep purple in shadowy regions. "That's an amazing..." He traced the source of the arm to his shoulder, almost not believing that it was his. "That's my amazing arm!" He looked at the others in surprise. "And all of you are... This is extraordinary!"

[Conrad Beecher]

Conrad nodded, pleased. "Like I said," he stated, giving Tobias a triumphant look. "No one seems to know the cause, except everyone's putting the blame on that goo." He reached into his pocket. "I took the liberty of measuring it on my clediomythipath. It didn't help much." He frowned a bit.

[Tobias Blythe]

"Can you make it go away?" Tobias asked his dad. "I don't want to be green!"

[George Blythe]

"Parading Particles!" George said, looking properly at his multi-colored friends with some shock. "That's a prime example The Dorset syndrome, isn't it?" He said, rubbing his hand together. "I'm not surprised, Conrad, that doesn't really go deep enough to deted panphrigopic changes, does it?" He looked at his son for a second and gave him a grin, not really having registered what he'd said.

[Antón Solucio]

Antón leapt up and, walking over to Conrad, peered at the clediomythipath. "Mmm. Have you tried looking at it with a parodynamihuester? I didn't think of it earlier, but looking at what's happened, it could make sense. Could be the Dorset syndrome, too, though we'd have to test the ralihydroxamine to know for sure."

[Conrad Beecher]

"Right," Conrad said, looking puzzled for a moment. "You don't think it's an epidemic of some kind?" he asked after a moment. "And do you have any idea where the parodynamihuester is?"

[Tobias Blythe]

"Can you make it go away?" Tobias asked again, raising his voice.

[George Blythe]

George caught the comment this time. He frowned. "If it is the Dorset Syndrome, it'd be the only known case- but I think we'd be able to solve it in a couple of scenes." He smiled at his son. "Hey, you look like a badger. Conrad, I think I put it next to the cheese so that it could absorb some phrigiadens."

[Antón Solucio]

The old man paused and frowned. "I'm not sure where it is exactly. Or if we have an adequate power source for it." He grimaced. "I don't think I ever got around to putting a Solu-port on it. Surely it still doesn't run on batteries. Ah, fizzle. I haven't had a reason to use it for so long." He turned to George. "Is it next to the cheese in the kitchen or the cheese in the bathroom or the cheese in the attic?"

[Conrad Beecher]

"Wait," Conrad said, furrowing his brow. "I thought that was soap in the bathroom."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias gave his dad a horrified look. "I do not! And why is there cheese all over the house?!"

[George Blythe]

"Well, its, uh, not next to the cheese fermenting on Tobias's windowsill." George said with a huge wink. "I think we need skin samples. Does the whole town have it already?"

[Antón Solucio]

"I think we have some soap in there, too. What colour was it?" Antón shot Tobias a serious look. "You can never have too much cheese. And skin samples would be good. I might be able to makeshift a more powerful generator to run some tests, though that will take awhile."

[Conrad Beecher]

"We can probably just use our own skin samples," Conrad pointed out. "Seeing as we all probably contracted it from the same thing. Though I wonder why we're all different colors?" He glanced at Anton. "And it was green."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Who put cheese in my room!? Why is there cheese everywhere!?" Tobias's voice was higher pitched than usual, the green boy close to a total freak out.

[George Blythe]

"Well, the growth of the mould in the different parts of the house can tell us all sorts of things about the physchic atmostpheres of the place." George explained, seriously. "Besides testing for poltergeists. Anton, that sounds great. When can we get started by?"

[Antón Solucio]

"Oooh, that was the cheese. And our samples would be a start. If they're similar enough, or if we can isolate the part that is the same, then we've got it." Antón confirmed, blinking oddly at Tobias. "Don't question the cheese." The old man then looked up at the ceiling and stroked his beard. "Well, if we use some solar energy, then we probably have enough parts. That'd mean moving a lot of equipment upstairs though, and we'd probably have to separate the panel from everything else with a shield. The alternative is going to the store and seeing what they have that we could use, possibly taking parts from more complex machines."

[Conrad Beecher]

"I wonder what they'd have at the grocery," Conrad mused. "We might need some lemons for this sort of thing."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias looked confused. "What're you going to do?'

[George Blythe]

George smiled at his son. "You'll see. I'll go get it, Anton, it should be done by now." he dashed up the stairs.

((out))

[Antón Solucio]

"Ooh! Lemons!" Antón exclaimed, grinning gleefully as George dashed up the stairs. "Excellent! I'll start sorting out parts!" He rushed down to the lab.

((out))

[Tobias Blythe]

Left with no one else to ask, Tobias turned to Conrad. "What're you going to do?"

[Conrad Beecher]

Conrad sniffed. "First thing I'm going to do, Tobias," he said, heading towards the hallway. "I'm going to get rid of that cheese in the bathroom. No wonder my hands have been smelling funny."

((orange oompa loompa out!))

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobais decided to follow Conrad's example and went upstairs to get rid of the cheese in his room.

[George Blythe]

((Later on, down in the La... basement.))

George held up a test tube filled with orange liquid and inspected it, before holding up a puce one and trying to compare them. His expression was rather confused.

[Tobias Blythe]

"Did you figure it out yet?" Tobias asked, coming down and sitting on the stairs.

[George Blythe]

"No." George said softly, not moving his eyes from the test tubes. "Do you think that these look as though they have the same sort of chemical make up? I mean evidently the colors are the same..." His forehead puckered. "I just can't make it out."

[Tobias Blythe]

"They look the same to me," Tobias said, shrugging. "Maybe the colors are different because people are different?"

[George Blythe]

George looked at his son curiously. "You know, that's not the stupidest idea." He thought for a second, then placed the test tubes in a holder before adding a little powder to each of them. "It could well react differently with every person's individual auraticanical membralen." He glanced at his son, and spoke with some pride in his voice. "I coined that term, by the way."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Of course it's not stupid," Tobias muttered, a bit insulted. "What's an...auracanonical mem...whatsis?"

[George Blythe]

"Well." George flashed his son a grin. "I'm not quite sure yet. But I think that there is something about people, you know, something individual, that leaves some sort of residue- like ghosts, or..." he shrugged. "It's a bit complicated. I didn't explain it very well."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Can you use it to make the colors go away?" Tobias asked.

[George Blythe]

George smiled slightly indulgently. "It's not quite that easy, Tobias. An auraticanical membralen is hard to detect and I've not a clue how you'd manipulate it."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias slouched down a bit. "Oh. Are you going to be able to make it go away?"

[George Blythe]

"I hope so, Tobias." George said slightly testily. "We can but try."

[Tobias Blythe]

"What're you trying? What happened to the thing with you were going to do with the lemons?" Tobias gave his dad a plaintive look. "I don't want to be green anymore."

[George Blythe]

"Look, we're doing our best, alright?" George glared at his son slightly. "The lemons only served to make the colors slightly paler. We're looking at other solutions now. And you moaning isn't going to make it go any faster."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias glared back. "I just want to know what's going on," he said defensively.

[George Blythe]

"Well now you know." George said shortly, crossing to the other side of the room to get something. He came back and put a short stick of paper into the orange test tube and stirring it a little.

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias responded with a sulky "Hmph," slouching back and crossing his arms.

[George Blythe]

George watched the test tubes, determindly not paying attention to his son. In fact, he started to whistle a little song that was probably something to do with neuroscience.

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias pushed up off the stairs, starting to wander around the lab/basement. He quiet accidentally jostled the table George was working at as he passed by.

[George Blythe]

"Marauding Martians, Toby!" George said angrily, as the puce colored test tube's contents spilled on the table. "I thought you wanted this to work out."

[Tobias Blythe]

"It was an accident!" Tobias protested.

[George Blythe]

"Well, just try to be more careful." George said, furiously mopping up the spilled experiment. "This isn't just a basement, you know."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias snorted, rolling his eyes. "No, instead it's a basement with a bunch of weird glowing stuff in it."

[George Blythe]

"Laboratory, Tobias." George said sternly. "And I expect you to treat it as such."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Basement with weird stuff," Tobias repeated stubbornly.

[George Blythe]

"The proper word is Laboratory, Tobias, will you ever grow up?" George said agitatedly, throwing a cloth with the soaked up liquid into the trashcan before turning back to the table with a sigh. "You realise I'm going to have to start all over again?"

[Tobias Blythe]

"Basment," Tobias muttered. "Er--completely all over a again?" he asked, feeling a slight tinge of guilt.

[George Blythe]

George grunted. "I might be able to do it on only the one." He glanced at his son's elfin hue. "Unless you want to give me a skin sample."

[Tobias Blythe]

"What would you need for it?" Tobias asked warily.

[George Blythe]

"Just put your finger in here." George held out a test tube with some sort of liquid inside. "It might sting a little."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias eyed the test tube. "What's in it? And define 'a little.'"

[George Blythe]

"Just purified water, a little acid and some window cleaner." George said. "And by a little I mean a little. Like you got stung."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Acid? Is that safe?" Geroge's answers were not as reassuring as Tobias had hoped.

[George Blythe]

Only a very little bit." George said. "You gonna do it? There's no point if you're going to hang around about it, I need to be monitoring the other."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Did you do it?" Tobias asked. "Do you still have all your fingers?"

[George Blythe]

"Yes and yes." George said, putting the test tube in a stand. "It's there if you're going to." He turned back to the other. "Interesting."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias drifted closer, trying to get a good look at his father's hands to make sure that they really were all in one piece.

[George Blythe]

George held the test tube up to the little light that they had, incidentally showing his perfectly intact fingers. "Is that looking any different to you?"

[Tobias Blythe]

"Maybe a little? It's hard to tell." Tobias studied his dad's hands and then glanced at the other test tube. "You promise it only stings a little?"

[George Blythe]

"Sure." George said. "You know, I think it's slightly cloudier. Which would be a good thing."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias looked back at the tube George was holding. "How come? What's the cloudiness mean?"

[George Blythe]

"Well, it would mean that whatever makes us these colors is reactive with air. So should be fairly easy to treat." George frowned. "Uh, unless its badly reactive."

[Tobias Blythe]

"What happens if it's badly reactive?" Tobias hesistated for a second ebfore askign his next question. "Would having another sample help figure out if it's badly reactive or not?"

[George Blythe]

"I hope so." George said. "I'm going to need to carry out more tests on this one anyway." He glanced at his son. "Having more samples always helps, this could be an anomaly for all I know."

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias nodded. "I'll give you a sample. All I have to do is stick my finger in?"

[George Blythe]

"Thats right." George confirmed, returning the test tube to its holder and starting to rifle through a pile of papers with scribbled notes on in various handwriting.

[Tobias Blythe]

Tobias stuck his finger in the tube, pulling it out again quickly. "Ow."

[George Blythe]

"See? It's fine." George turned to his son and grinned. "Thanks."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Fine. Sure," Tobias mumbled, wiping his finger off with another cloth. "I'm going to go wash my hands."

[George Blythe]

"Right." George said, concentrating on the test tube. "Have fun."

[Tobias Blythe]

"Good luck with your test things," Tobias said, heading up the stairs.