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

[spellslots]

I can understand you, bubbale.

[Well, he can pick up bits of it, enough to get the general picture. Cisco's been teaching him Spanish for about a month now, which is more than long enough for Taako to get a grasp of it.

He's good with languages.]

And that's like, life. You never know who's the asshole and who isn't, you just gotta learn to trust your gut and be ready to bail if things go south.

[shoplifter]

[She scrunches her nose.]

Laura.

[Apparently that takes presidence here.]

[spellslots]

[Why do so many people take issue with the terms of endearment.

Still, if they're doing names:]

Taako. That's T to the double A-K-O.

[shoplifter]

... Like a taco.

[spellslots]

Mmhmm, except they don't exist where I'm from. That's just my name.

[Also they gave him magic powers.

It's a long story.]

[shoplifter]

It's a... nice name.

[Tacos are great. She got to have them once.

Funny, she's Mexican, but... she mostly only knows dishes in passing. In Transgien, they always gave them very specifically portioned meals. Vegetables, fruit, carbs. Proteins. Things to make sure their favorite little weapons were in peak performance. They didn't much appreciate the birthday cake for Delilah, thought she's pretty sure it wasn't because of the food.]

What kind of food do you have?

[spellslots]

Thanks.

[He's not too bothered by people's opinions on his name, but he can still be polite.]

A lotta different kinds, the stuff I grew up on is what someone from earth would call provincial. Herbs and garlic over spices, heavy on the poultry, real heavy on the sauces, uh - homey food, I guess?

[Comfort food, though Taako tends to do his own twists to things.]

[shoplifter]

It sounds good.

[She's mostly been stealing snacks, so. A normal meal like the one she had with the...

She doesn't want to think about that family. It's a sad story.]

It's good to have things that... remind you of home.

[spellslots]

[Taako hums an affirmative.]

My home planet's pretty much like, super gone. But Lup - my sister - she's my home anyway.

[That's sappy as hell and not the sort of shit he'd say around an adult, but kids are different.]

[shoplifter]

El hogar está donde está el corazón.

... 'Home is where the heart is', sí?

[spellslots]

Sí. It's always just been the two of us for centuries, so we've always just made home.

[shoplifter]

... You're very old.

[spellslots]

Elves live for a long ass time, about eight hundred years if we're lucky, but I'm not halfway there yet.

[shoplifter]

... I might get very old, too.

[It's a curious little thought to her. She's never really... considered the fact. That her healing could potentially sustain her once she's reached maturity, and that her chances of adamantium poisoning is so much lower than her father -- her father, who had lived far longer than any normal human man.]

[spellslots]

Are there other people who will?

[There's a reason that Taako spent his first century not getting attached to anyone aside from Lup, and it's that so many races never live as long as elves. He can't imagine outliving everyone.]

[shoplifter]

[... She shakes her head.

There are so few mutants left, and she's not sure if any of her friends will...

She hates the thought.]

I don't think so.

[spellslots]

That's rough, bubbale.

[Taako's advice to himself is always don't get attached, but that's a shitty thing to say to a kid. Even he knows that.]

Have you thought about sticking around here for a while? There's more than few thugs who're gonna live for a long time.

[Loki, Cain, the other Asgardians.]

[shoplifter]

... I was thinking about it.

....

But I feel... wrong... leaving my friends behind.

[spellslots]

[That's something he can get. Taako is selfish except for the six people he considers his family, and he can't imagine ever leaving them. But his situation is not Laura's.]

Sometimes you gotta think about yourself first, that doesn't make you a bad person or anything like that.

[shoplifter]

Is that what you do?

[spellslots]

Yup, gotta look out for number one, no one else is gonna do it.

[He doesn't have any shame about this; for a century, everyone they met was unlikely to survive the coming twelve months, and the only way to cope with that without breaking down was to stop caring about anyone but himself and the crew.]