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Video; un: ilikehorses

[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.]

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Who says you have to go to school?

[Ed, no.]

[Oh no. Oh god, no. It was his Kryptonite. A tiny little child...

Okay, not so much with the tiny and little bit, but it was a kid, and Jensen had a huge soft kid-shaped hole in his heart for those of the age-deprived. He missed his niece, and she was... not his niece, but she was a she and she was young and what was she doing all alone?]

More of the homeschooling type? They might arrange that if you prefer, but generally, it's sort of a thing to make sure you can read and write and have the bare minimum of social skills. And they know where you are. I think that's the big one.

Linda.

[She says it with some level of dry disappointment.

Linda.]

Does Linda have some sort of authority, here? How old are you, anyway?

[He tends to get shit from a lot of kids for being an adult, so he's waiting for this to go south.]

Where I was before kids only went to school if they wanted to.

[He's not going to mention the whole abandoning regular school to study alchemy thing, nope.]

[What the hell is a studmuffin.]

... I can read and write. I was already taught. [Okay, and you can tell by her tone she needs social skills. She bites into a small donut and considers the world around her with a thoughtful frown.] Home-school?

Linda is — a 'case worker'.

[Linda tries. But she's way slower and way easier to avoid. She seems to completely ignore Edward's question about her age, though; she doesn't care to answer, because it's not important at all as far as she's concerned.]

Where was before?

[... Don't ask him that. He'll cry.]

Uh yeah. Homeschool. Happens for a variety of reasons. Kids are too smart for school and a parent can teach them from home. They're too sick to go. Religion. Whatever. But it does screw up the social thing quite a bit. Kids need things like recess and soccer. Maybe... horseback riding?

[Yeah, he'd seen her username too.]

[ Oh boy. Jon had seen her punch the kid and vanish. Normally, he wouldn't skip school but . . . it's not like his dad would say anything. He briefly considers suiting up and dismisses it. That's not what she needs, most likely. Jon easily slips by next to her, though he keeps his distance. He could weather any kind of punch she might give, but Jon isn't here to criticize or judge. ]

Are you okay?

A what-?

[He doesn't seem to care about her skipping his question, either.]

Purgatorium. The first place I was dragged into by some weird portal or whatever.

[Amestris doesn't have case workers, considering how orphan children seem to just run around everywhere.]

Back home I quit school as a kid and joined the military.

[Of course, living in rural farmville they probably would have left school to tend to crops relatively early or something anyway.]

[She's not sure what religion is, really. She doesn't get sick, so that's out. And parents... well. She immediately pushes away the image of Logan — of dad. She can't afford to think about what happened at home, because then... It's just easier to focus on this instead. She looks down at her shirt, as if that might've been where he got his intel, and then back at the screen.]

¿En serio?

Do we visit horses? In school.

[She whips her gaze in his direction, eyes still dark and stormy and fists still clenched. The green backpack she wears is a bit tattered; it looks like it's been through quite an adventure. She'd had her hair in a ponytail when she went in, but it seems she's disliked it enough to remove that hair band post-haste.

It's not the kid she hit, so her hands relax. She looks away from him.]

Estoy bien.

Si.

You might, if you go to the right kind of school. Or you could take day trips to zoos. Depends. I don't know if they have horses here, but you can always see. Maybe the school can set you up with riding lessons.

[Jake Jensen; helper of horse-loving girls everywhere.]

I mean, I never went to school and I turned out awesome, so like, I wanna say fuck it, but I think there might be laws about it here.

[maybe????]

[ He blinks before managing to parse that. Jon lacks the ability to learn languages at the pace his father does. But he's heard enough spanish to get the meaning, plus he's not too shabby at reading the tells of others. ]

It didn't sound good.

Did you find it hard at school?

[ Fitting in is difficult. Jon manages it but he's also had his off days. He kind of misses Terra. ]

Case worker. They watch the kids.

[It bothers her a little, but it also isn't so bad. Linda is at least well-meaning. She isn't Gabriela, who risked so much for her, who taught her and helped try to keep her feeling human instead of like some weapon. But she does try. So she doesn't hate her.

Laura's pokerface is hardcore, in the meanwhile.

No me gustan los soldados.]

... Military.

I don't like guns.

I break some laws.

[I SURE DIDN'T PAY FOR THESE DONUTS.

But also, she looks mildly pleased at the thought of never going back.]

Do I tell them this? 'Fuck it'?

That's what they're there for.

[TAAKO NO]

Depends how fast you are, cause I don't think they're gonna be happy with that answer.

Huh. I guess someone has to, if they don't have anyone else here. We didn't really have case workers in Purg, either. We all just watched out for each other, mostly.

[The closest thing Purg had to case workers was Ed and Yuuri, they kept an eye on the kids usually. At the last part he quirks an eyebrow.]

I don't either. Not that I've ever really used them... Perk of being a State Alchemist.

[That thing with Sloth didn't count, okay? Not like it was going to hurt her or anything.]

[She doesn't like admitting when things are hard; that much is certain. She's used to having to be the best of what she can do, and even if she and the others rebelled against it every step of the way, it doesn't change her frustration. They were never taught how to cope in the world. Los mutantes eran armas, and weapons didn't need to know how to be children.

But she's not want they wanted her to be. None of them are.

She looks at her shoes for a moment, pensive and - for a moment - unlikely to respond.]

People are hard.

[Taako yes.

She looks even more content, as she eats another donut. Boy, she's gluttonous.]

I'm fast. 'Detention' doesn't work.

[ Jon's expression softens slightly. He leans back, crossing his legs. There's no fear of heights in his eyes and posture. ]

Yeah, they definitely are. But I guess — if you can get used to school and people, it's easier to be out there. In the world. Because if you close yourself off, it just makes the world . . . smaller.

[She looks skeptical. Thoughtful. She's silent for a moment.

She's not sure what an 'alchemist' is, but she tucks it away for now.]

Do you hurt people a lot?

Sounds like you're sweet, then.

[School is for nerds, anyway.]

Pretty sure they're not gonna like, take away your housing just cause you don't go to school, so I can't see what they can do to you.

[this is the problem with a chaotic alignment.]

[Good boy, a+ response.

She gives a short nod, considering her options.]

I can go to school when they have horse day.

[............... you tried, you're getting there.]

Of course not.

[What an out of the blue question, from his perspective.]

Alchemists help people, that's why I'm on the Perimeter Guard here.

[A pause, right. Military. She had no frame of reference.]

Most of my work was research.

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