Young Minds (Open, Multiple Threads Encouraged)

[meansfamily]

Lilo was sitting in the lobby. She had a bowl of cut pineapple beside her, and her legs tucked under her dress. She was reading a book on dermatological conditions, and every now and then would dogear one of the glossy pages. She read quietly to herself, from time to time plucking a bit of fruit and munching on it. Only a few times did she have

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[rubicks_complex]

House was heading... he didn't know where he was heading. Somewhere. Anywhere just to get out of his room, and to find himself a distraction. Hiding out in his room after that disastrous date with Cuddy the night before was getting old, fast. Brooding over it only made it worse.

He was just starting to cross the lobby to head towards the front door, and he glanced down fleetingly to the person sitting on the seat with the book. He looked towards the doors again - and then did a double-take when he realised the person was a little kid. A girl. House slowed in his step and glanced around him quickly before looking back down to the kid again.

He took the opportunity to assess her while she was engrossed in her reading, wondering if this was Lilo. He noted the book, the bowl of fruit, the fact that she looked Polynesian. So, this was the kid Cuddy was clucking and sprouting feathers over.

He lifted his cane and used the end of it to nudge her book forward so he could see the cover, and cocked his head to the side to resd the title. He raised his brows.

"The Papillon-Lefevre Syndrome," he read out. He dropped his cane away and thumped it on the floor. "Little out of your league, isn't it? Little League should be more your thing."

[meansfamily]

Lilo stared at the man who'd moved her book. He was walking with a limp, and using a cane. Something must be wrong with his leg. And he was pretty smart. He knew what she'd been looking at just by the picture.

"Are you a doctor too? Were you a war doctor? Did you take shrapnel in the war?" She turned another page in her book, wrinkling her nose at a particularly gory picture of pyoderma gangrenosum.

[rubicks_complex]

House peered at Lilo curiously. She sure asked a lot of questions. Observant ones, too. Shrapnel? What normal kid at her age - which House guessed to be about... six? eight? - knew what shrapnel was?

"Too?" House echoed. He eyed her book again, pointedly. "Is there a midget doctors convention happening that I wasn't aware of?"

He knew what she meant - was he a doctor as well as Cuddy (and whomever else she'd met in here who was a doctor). But seeing a kid reading a book on dermatology wasn't exactly the most typical thing to see a kid doing. Then again, he thought as he watched her turn the page over and make a face at the picture, she was probably only looking at the pictures.

"I only answer one question at a time. And for every question you ask me, I get to ask you one. Quid pro quo; Latin for 'something for something'."

He craned his neck to look at the picture she was studying. "Mmm. Necrotic ulcers. Tasty."

[meansfamily]

Lilo put the book down, sighing. "I'm not a midget, I'm new. I'm only six. Well. Six and two months." She pointed at the information on the disorder, puffing out her cheek. "It's good to know that it's usually not fatal, but it sure does look like it hurts." She moved her dictionary and scooted over so he could sit next to her.

"I know what quid pro quo means. I rented Silence of the Lambs about 800 times last year. You can ask me things."

[rubicks_complex]

Six years old? This was one precocious kid. He was without doubt this was definitely the Lilo that Cuddy had mentioned. He doubted there'd be any other kids around the hotel, either. And Cuddy was definitely right about this kid being resourceful.

"Yeah, those kind of things sting a bit," he agreed dryly. He watched her make room for him to sit down beside her, which he wasn't going to mutually agree to at first - but then she mentioned having seen Silence of the Lambs. 800 times? House wasn't at all the doting type when it came to kids, but that didn't mean it didn't concern him that a kid her age was watching that kind of movie. Sure, he believed in teaching kids to have an open mind - but there was also too much a kid could be exposed to. Especially seeing he knew she had no parents, according to Cuddy, and therefore had no one to monitor the things she did.

He grunted quietly as he took a seat next to her, trying not to appear as interested in her as he actually was, and rested his cane between his legs. "Eight hundred times? Did the lambs stop screaming after the eight hundredth time?"

He looked across at her, giving her a look equal parts curious and mildly concerned. "You're a little young to be watching movies like that."

[meansfamily]

"You've gotten one? Is there something wrong with your immune system? Do you have Gulf War Syndrome?" She smiled a little to herself as he sat down next to her, offering him a bit of the book if he wanted to look on with her.

When he mentioned that she was too young to have seen the movie, she smiled. "Nani - that's my sister - she covered up my eyes in the gory parts. And she muted out the swear words. So really, it was just Anthony Hopkins making funny noises for an hour or so. But when I grow up, you bet I'm going to watch the unedited version. Don't worry. I watch kids movies and stuff. Blue Hawaii is my favorite movie. Long live the King." She flipped another page, humming a little bit to herself.

"You never said if you took shrapnel. Even if you didn't, that's what I'd say. You'd probably get more dessert."

[rubicks_complex]

He remained quiet as the kid reeled off her new round of questions, and rested his chin on the handle of his cane as she then explained about her sister covering the kid's eyes through the movie.

"Blue Hawaii?" He pulled a mock impressed look. "Compelling stuff."

He watched her flip the page over, snorting wryly to himself. "I never said because you never gave me a chance to say anything. Besides, it's not really any of your business. As for dessert..." He lifted his chin away from his cane. "People always feel sorry for cripples. You can more of anything, being a cripple."

He studied the kid, a small, amused smile on his lips. "You're Lilo, right?"

[meansfamily]

"I don't feel sorry for you. And yes. I'm Lilo." She figured however he'd hurt his leg must've been bad, but when you were sick you either got better or you didn't. And if you didn't, you worked around it. She knew a girl at school who was in a wheelchair, and sure, she had to take the elevator, but she was still way better at math than Lilo.

"Are you making fun of the King? I know what sarcasm is. I have an older sister."