Who let the frogs out? (RP)

- Persephone -

"Bactrianology is the study of camels." The precocious child corrects you, the 'duh!' clear in their voice. "We did them in school. And you can't put a frog in a fishtank. It will drown. My sister told me." The know-it-all does not stop you from looking, but also does not slow their progress towards the water's edge either, they are intent on depositing the creature into the environment, no matter how much damage it might do.

If you happen to recall the needed details from a distracted elective from years ago, you might suspect that this not a local frog, you don't recognise the breed.

What do you do?

- Benji -

You are being harassed by blonde women from all sides, but maybe Persephone's question about 'native habitats' and 'belonging to ecosystem' combines with Yasmine's babbling about frogs yesterday to cause concern?

Maybe spreading the contamination from St James Park to Hyde Park as well should be avoided? Do you care, though?

What do you do?

Benji remembers how difficult it was to catch that other frog in Jacob’s shop and so he is fairly certain that, if these children release the frogs in the Serpentine, they’ll be virtually impossible to catch again. And they will have to catch them—environmental concerns aside, how else will they figure out what these frogs have to do with the fae?

"My, you certainly are clever!" he says to the know-it-all child. "But I wouldn't release those frogs in the lake, if I were you. There are pelicans and other predators there that might eat them. You should let them go in one of the fountains instead. They will be safer there and they’ll have plenty of bugs to eat too."

- Benji -

"That's a good idea." The kids agree, changing course as if they had planned that all along. "Are you doing Shakespeare in the Park, or something?" One asks, looking at your clothing.

The fountain was closer, and they were growing bored with the rescue mission, anyway, so they plop the frogs in the shallow water of the overflowing fountain with a statue of a child wrestling a fish.

"Thanks for that." The statue says sarcastically, 'looking' down at the creatures that he is sure is going to poop in his pond.

Only those aligned with the statues ever seem to notice them 'speaking', so the kids are completely ignorant of the interaction and watch the frogs hops happily into the water.

What do you do?

"Sorry about that," Benji says, approaching the fountain after the children have gone. "We’ll have them out in a jiffy."

Shaking off Emma’s grip on his arm and passing her his umbrella to hold, Benji rolls up his sleeves and casually hops up to perch on the lip of the fountain, to better catch the frogs. Before he does, he looks up at the statue and then back over his shoulder at the road, just barely visible through the trees and says, "Actually, come to think of it, you didn’t happen to see a car vanish into thin air as it was driving down Piccadilly a couple weeks ago, did you?"

- Benji -

"What!? Car!? What do I care for car!?" The statue, who you believe calls himself 'Greville' —though no one else does— exclaims. "Can't you see I am busy here? I'm trying to drown this damnable fish named Dolphin! And now I am surrounded by a veritable incursion of frogs! Get rid of them! Off with their legs!"

Greville's ire seems (in)directed at more than just the two frogs you have have before you, but they are always a little rambling and hard to understand.

What do you do?

"Dolphin, did you see a car?" Benji asks the stone fish. He doesn’t really expect a response, but his recent interaction with the horse statue, Still Water, has made him curious about the other non-human statues around London.

To Greville, he says, "An incursion of frogs? Do you just mean these two or have there been others?"

- Benji -

How is a dolphin-fish like a horse? Neither give you more than feelings. Is what comes to mind when you interrogate the poor, beleaguered, animal portion of the statue.

"In the Hyde, no. But they approach." Greville answers you cryptically, he shoots a meaningful look towards the huntress statue on guard nearby, as though she may be partially responsible for for the delay. You know she does not speak.

Between five fully grown people you can manage to capture two frogs in a small, shallow basin... if the others help.

What do you do?

"Hm? Oh, yes, I’m fine. Greville was just saying that the huntress has been defending the park against an incursion of frogs," Benji says, waving a hand in the direction of the Huntress Fountain. "Clearly the fae are up to something, but what? Anyway, we probably ought to catch these two before they hop away, don’t you think?" Perched on the edge of the fountain, he spots one of the frogs resting just below the surface of the water and makes a sudden lunge for it.