Voice with possible action. (kinda forward-dated a little maybe?) username: ilikehorses

[shoplifter]

[Well, look. Whenever she gets invited to Alphonse's future birthday, she's got a lot to think about.

She must consider this: there will be cake, that is a certainty. Cake sitting on a table, like in Transigen... in front of a deceptive cartoon painting on the wall; ways to trick outsiders into thinking the place is kind to its patients... She's learned at that facility that cake is a staple of birthdays, or rather, from the nurses. Birthdays involve singing, and they all learned the words for Delilah. All for Delilah. But they weren't allowed to have those parties, not after the first and last time; she never bothered asking about them again, because... she knew there would be nothing beyond the question. It wasn't difficult to tell what blowing out the candles and leading them away meant.

She had whispered happy birthday to Delilah on the way out, though.

Really, she's not sure just how normal those birthday choices even were. Outside of the walls of Transigen, what is a birthday like? Is there still cake? Still the concept of presents, or singing? Did the nurses want to try and do something nice but ultimately fantasy? Like Logan had said, ice-cream for bedwetters. She's curious to learn, though. So again, she uses the network for her own gain: this time, birthday information, instead of school.

(I'm sensing a pattern.)

Her voice is casual, but interested. She's not about to ruin the surprise, but she does need to know what she's getting herself into, here.]

What sort of presents are you supposed to give people, for their birthday?

... Toys, no?

[What the hell do adults like to get, for presents? A long pause, and she's not terribly sure of herself.]

Are there fireworks at birthday parties, too?

[Another thoughtful pause, yet again.]

... How do you tell what day you were born? Is it on a special paper?

[Okay, okay, last question there. She bites back more questions. Easy, Laura, easy.]


[ ADDITIONAL ACTION.]

[If you would like to find her out and about, she is wandering the shops for things that might be nice to give to the birthday boy, especially the department stores. Laura also puts on a cool hat and goes to leave without paying for it, of course, so she can be found getting approached by a very unhappy security guard there who is calling out something about a shoplifter. Look ma, it's my username!

... What? Just because she's getting better at being in the real world doesn't mean she's learned the virtue of paying for things.

Her dad stole cigars. She totally saw him do it. Cigars and a phone charger. 

Or maybe you'll find her violently shaking one of those coin-eating candy machines. Stupid thieving machine - she tried to be nice about this and use real money, and see where it got her? Never fear, she pops claws from her knuckles, long and adamantium-silver, and she slices the top of the candy machine clean off, so she can reach inside and take handfuls for her pocket. Man, living the dream over here. Don't bother asking where Linda is, we all know there's a repeating pattern of juking her.]

Comments

[shoplifter]

[God, people around here are the oddest. Every time she suspects mutantism, they come out with something that's not at all close. Alchemy is a strange, strange thing. She doesn't bother wiping the blood off her knuckles, nodding instead when she's content with her pockets full of sweet treasure.]

I'm not used to needing money.

[alchemyfreak]

Well, around here not using money can get you in trouble. You’re only going to confuse people if they find out you’re not using it when you have it.

[Confuse people was an understatement, she was going to get in trouble if she kept that shit up. First things first though, and that was getting the hell out of there so he is going to start walking away from the scene before someone shows up to discover the odd scene. Especially a security guard that might have seen the video of what happened. Whatever, the machine was fixed and candy was fairly cheap around here so it wasn’t really much of a concern of his as long as they didn’t get in trouble.]

Let’s go.

[A beat as golden eyes fall to the blood on her hand.]

Did you hurt yourself breaking that thing?

[shoplifter]

[She's not remotely worried about getting caught or anything; the guards here wouldn't be able to hold her, she's 99% confident. But at his question, she tucks her fisted hands into her pants pockets without concern for them.]

... No, I'm fine.

Where should we go?

[alchemyfreak]

[She gets one last skeptical look at fine, but he's not going to push it.]

Somewhere not here. Do you live in the communal building? We could head back that way, unless you have something else in mind.

[Honestly, just about anywhere sounded good right now. Especially if she wasn't injured and didn't need medical attention.]

[shoplifter]

[She gives a nod, appeased by the change in conversation.]

I live there. Don't you?

[alchemyfreak]

Yeah, with nine roommates.

[He'd heard there were shared and private floors, but since he didn't live on one, he hadn't bothered to get too much information on them.]

Have you eaten? We could get food on the way.

[shoplifter]

[Oh, good turn of conversaiton; Edward knows the way to her heart.

With a little smile and a nod, she is more than ready to follow him.]

Do you like them? Your -- room-mates.

[alchemyfreak]

They're all right. People come and go so much I don't always know who even lives with us, anymore, but it's easier to make friends when you see them every day.

[Food is always the answer, he's smart like that. Have a smile in return, Laura. Kids smiling was always better than the alternative. Now to find somewhere suitable to take a kid for a meal that was on the way.]

What do you like? Burgers, pizza?

[There was probably a sub shop around here somewhere, too.]

[shoplifter]

[Oh! She looks much more interested in this trip.

You've got her full attention, Edward.]

Someone said I should eat pizza.

[Apparently, Ivar has good recommendations.]

[alchemyfreak]

[Ivar has very good recommendations.]

You should. There's all sorts of options, meat and vegetables you can add to it. We'll get whatever you want, how's that?

[shoplifter]

[She gives a nod, and away they go.

Carrot-broccoli pizza it is. Hope you're ready for poor life choices, Edward.]

[alchemyfreak]

[She can order whatever the hell she wants, doesn't mean he's going to eat it. He is going to look at her like maybe she needs more guidance than he thought at the suggestion though.

Naturally no pizza place in their right mind is going to sell that in single slices, so they have a full carrot-broccoli pizza that she can take home to finish if she actually likes it. He's not judging.

Once they're there, the food is ordered and paid for he tilts his head curiously. He's more or less ready to pay for something else if she doesn't like it.]

You wanna eat here or take it back to the communal building?

[shoplifter]

[This child is a garbage disposal, so you're in luck; that money won't be wasted.

Especially if you just pour a lot of ranch on this bad boy. She looks at him, pleased.]

I don't mind either.

... It is nice outside, though.

[alchemyfreak]

[Have a grin at that Laura, handing her one of the drinks he grabbed.]

You want anything else with it? There's stuff over there, salt, pepper, cheese...

[Probably ranch dressing, he's not really checking. She seems just close to feral enough to appreciate the less mundane so when she mentions outside he shrugs.]

You ever sit on the roof? Communal building's got a great view.

[shoplifter]

[OHOHOHO. She looks particularly interested.]

I like the roof a lot.

It's -- quiet there.

[And empty. Anxious mutant children can hide away from society there.]

[alchemyfreak]

[And we have a winner. The grin stays as he responds casually.]

Usually. Before I came here I had a friend, we used to sit on the roof together a lot. Especially at night, when the stars are out.

[They couldn't really look at the stars on the Lower Level, and doing it in Riverview hadn't even occurred to Ed since he had no one that would find it important. It made him wonder idly if the stars would even be visible from a place like this, a moon with so much modern technology the light pollution was more than he'd ever seen.]

How about it? What do you say we take this up to the roof, enjoy some quiet.

[shoplifter]

[She smiles a small but genuine smile.]

I'd like that. I've liked looking at stars.

They're -- relaxing, sí?

[It's a new freedom, one she never knew people took for granted.]

[alchemyfreak]

They are.

[He actually pauses at that once they're outside, glancing up idly.]

Have you done it here?

[It seems like a stupid question, to not even know if it was possible here. He offers sheepish shrug, walking again, still smiling although not the grin that was there before.]

Where I was before... We didn't always get to see the stars.

[How did one explain this?]

Sometimes we had to stay in a place where the sky was blocked out. No stars, no sun. I guess that made it something extra when sitting on the roof meant actual stars, you know?

[shoplifter]

[She nods.]

What blocked them? The place where you were. What blocked the stars?

[Maybe it was very cloudy there. She's noticed clouds are pretty good at that.]

[alchemyfreak]

[Oh boy. Right.]

Where I was before there were two cities, kind of like here. Except one was... on top of the other, instead of outside the wall. There was a plate over the Lower City, so when we sat on the roof all we saw was the plate above us... We had a lot of restrictions, so we couldn't always get up to the city that had the stars. There wasn't really much light at all down there, day or night.

[The irony of what Ed doesn't know about Laura's history at this point.]

[shoplifter]

[She considers it quietly, comparing it of course to home -- but not mentioning it.

Not yet.]

It must have been a cold place. The sun is... so warm.

[alchemyfreak]

It could be, but you'd be surprised-

[He actually laughs as if just realizing how absurd the whole thing is.]

Even without the sun we had heat waves and droughts during the summer. Which sometimes meant forest fires started and came into the city. We couldn't exactly go into the forest and stop them before they spread...

[shoplifter]

[Her eyes widen slightly. She couldn't imagine the whole forest she'd been in at home to be engulfed in fire.]

How did it go out?

[alchemyfreak]

[Oh boy, maybe not the best thing to mention. Laura's not exactly a normal child and she can handle a lot, but that doesn't mean she can handle everything.]

Well, we put it out in the city. I guess the forest just burnt itself out in time.

[Yeah, that was a good save, right? Better than his theory that the gods probably took care of it. Also, because if they could do that, why did they let it burn long enough to get into the city in the first place? Whatever, he never really thought about it, eventually the fire stopped and everyone was safe again and that was that.]

[shoplifter]

[She thinks about it, imagines what it must've been like. She had seen explosions and had seen fire -- the heat of it, the way it paints things. He doesn't want to imagine it being everywhere at once. Oh, but she needs to... say something about it, right? Say something nice? Normal social interactions involve that kind of thing, so...]

... I am sorry. For the burning.