Video; un: ilikehorses

[shoplifter]

[Laura's been trying to adjust. Part of her wonders if coming here wasn't a grave mistake — she'd come thinking there are more like her, people who would accept her more willingly, and in a way, that's true. However... There are a few... annoyances. Grievances. Her rather overworked case worker Linda has been making sure she goes to school. Today isn't the best day for school, though. She's quiet and 'weird' and the other children usually aren't fond of her and her quiet but present danger.

And for Laura, well. She doesn't do well with anyone 'teaching' her. She's had too much of 'teaching' the last eleven years of her... eleven years.

She may or may not have punched another kid in the eye.

She may or may not have ditched school.

And now she sits on the top of a rather tall and dangerous brick-ish wall in the city, her feet hanging precariously off the edge. Close by, the shadow of a tram wooshes by, and somewhere out there, Linda the Case Worker is having a heart attack. Laura, however, seems more puzzled and annoyed than anything. She sits with a potentially stolen bag of mini-donuts, her favorite glasses pressed up on her forehead and her lovely albeit mildly damaged unicorn shirt clear and vibrant.]


Why do children have to go to classes? 

I can learn outside of school.


[There are mean children that exist. She's never ran into children who are so exclusionary; after all, mutants had to stick together.

And teachers aren't bad, but something about the set-up bothers her, in ways she's not sure how to explain.

Maybe it's harder to blend in than you'd think. Not that she had gone into this with any high hopes.] 

Comments

[buildsomething]

[A girl after his own heart.]

That's the idea, yeah. Doesn't much help if nobody's interested in socializing with you, but hey. I guess you also get to learn disappointment?

[So helpful, Tony.]

[shoplifter]

Sí.

They don't like when you hit other kids.

[Which is a disappointment, because some kids deserve to get punched in the face.

Kids can be really mean, you know.]

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[buildsomething]

[One eyebrow goes up, but Tony just looks kind of amused.]...yeah people generally don't like that. Was there any reason for the punching or just seemed like a good idea at the time?

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[shoplifter]

["You don't got a mom or dad?"]

Quizás.

["Did they run away from you because you're a angry little freak?"]

Sometimes people just need it.

[buildsomething]

Entiendo. [He's definitely not going to argue that point. Even if he's the one who usually needs it.

Not a great habit, to get into, though. He can think of a couple people he'd really like to break out of it, come to think of it.]

But it can be way more fun to figure out how to destroy them verbally instead.

[shoplifter]

[She quirks her eyebrow at him.

Do go on???]

[buildsomething]

[That gets a flash of a grin as Tony warms to the subject.]

It's like this. You punch somebody, they know they made you mad. If they're just aiming for a reaction, that means they win. You figure out how to verbally shred them, though, then you keep the high ground and you don't have to hurt your knuckles. Win-win.

[Somebody had not been a large, or popular kid once. You learned to fight back in interesting ways when all the other students were years older.]

[shoplifter]

[She looks pretty unsure of this method.

Even Logan wasn't a talker in a fight; he'd just lop off limbs.]

... I don't hurt my knuckles.

[Because that's clearly the most important thing to say first.]

Is this how you fight?

[buildsomething]

[Okay, so she's possibly had a little too much experience punching people. That's a thing.]

Sometimes. Depends on what the fight is. If I tried to punch everyone who pissed me off, I wouldn't get much else done.

It's not worth it if they're just being assholes. But I figure if you're trying to protect yourself or someone else? Do all the punching you want.

[Is that shitty advice? He can't even tell anymore.]

[shoplifter]

[Laura cocks her head and tries to consider what's said here. Usually, she has a hierarchy — if they're rude, you punch, you hit, you throw them. If they're trying to hurt to kill, she guts them or takes their arm, so they can't hurt anyone. It seems logical, seems like a good way to go about it.]

...

Only punching?

[buildsomething]

[That makes him pause.] What's the alternative?

[shoplifter]

[She stares for a moment.

Then she holds her hand up, makes a fist, and allows her twin claws to shoot from the skin between her knuckles. A stray sliver of blood rolls over the back of her hand. Hurts every time, but it's always protected her, even if it's the cause of her troubles.

Sure, Logan lectured her on using them on clerks in stores.

But she's not using them to scare anyone now, right?]

[buildsomething]

[Both of Tony's eyebrows shoot upwards. Holy shit, was that in her hand? How are they even collapsing back in without restricting her range of movement?

...which is not the issue here.]

Okay so, maybe don't...stab people unless they're trying to kill you?

[shoplifter]

[She withdraws her claws back into her forearms, then adjusts her cool shades.]

Or someone else.

[This is important to consider too, right?]

[buildsomething]

Or someone else. [Yeah, that's important.

Meeting lethal force with lethal force is not something he'd want to teach a kid, but it seems like someone else got there first. The least he can do, then is try to help her find the right reasons.]

And hey. Maybe the whole school thing will be less boring if you think of it like a secret mission to observe children in their natural habitat.

[shoplifter]

[Laura sticks her hand into the donut bag, frowning.

She's not sure the concept of a 'mission' sits well with her, life story considered.

But...]

I've been... trying to.

[buildsomething]

Yeah? [He props his chin on one upturned fist as he watches her.] And what have you observed? Besides the fact that people need punching.

[shoplifter]

Hamburgers taste good. You have to raise your hand to go pee. Teacher voices make me sleepy.

[A pause.]

Most of them aren't bad people; they want to help, but they just don't always understand.

[buildsomething]

Yeah, that sounds about right for the general population.

[In spite of everything, Tony does genuinely believe it. The outliers, however...Well, they're the reasons he still has the armor.]

What's it they're not getting?

[shoplifter]

[Laura glances at him, more cautious.]

Things are just different.

[She hesitates, unsure how to explain it. How do you?]

For normal people... They don't understand what walls do.

[buildsomething]

[Honestly, Tony's not really getting it either. But she doesn't look too happy with trying to explain, so he's not going to push it.]

Well I don't know about you, but this is a pretty different kind of place in general for me. Maybe we've all got to work on understanding things.

[shoplifter]

[She glances at the bag in her hands, a bit grudgingly.]

I'll try if they do.

[buildsomething]

Fair enough.

[He flicks her a quick smile.]

Tony, by the way.

[shoplifter]

... Laura.

[She supposes a name is a sensible offering.

But she seems to be particularly unused to it.]