On names...

[kevlar_diamond]

Penny wandered in behind Leela, the Bar showing behind them for a moment before she carefully settled into a kitchen chair. She'd learned today, she always learned, but usually it left her a bit more cheerful...

...today she just looked thoughtful as she traced lines in the air above the table, not touching the actual wood.

Comments

[there_is_a_me]

"Hallo, Penny." Spoon says on one of his trips to the fridge. He builds up a hefty meal of leftovers for himself and drops a Chenango Strawberry* apple on the table in front of her.

He's still trying to figure out her favorites.

"How're you today?"

*Medium to large fruit smooth, yellowish or greenish-white skin striped with crimson. Flesh juicy, mildly subacid, aromatic with a hint of strawberries. Skin smooth and tough.

[kevlar_diamond]

She reached out happily to take the apple, always content with that particular fruit, and offered Spoon a sweet smile. "Learned to spell Penny, and Ben. And Benny. Will play with letters, make more words, because sound same words have most same letters, only one or two change. Like puzzle" she reasoned.

She nibbled her apple a bit, then tilted her head to the side "Penance pretty name?"

[there_is_a_me]

"..." Spoon pauses, fork halfway to his mouth, and says, "Oh, luv, it's...not a name, really. Not usually. Penance means a punishment undergone to...to say you're sorry for something terrible."

He's going to KILL everyone who has ever called her that. Dead.

[kevlar_diamond]

....

....

....

"Oh" it was amazing how she could chime and click so quietly.

....

"Called that when free from...from...other place." she stared fixedly at her apple instead of Spoon "Might not remember bad things did?"

[there_is_a_me]

"It's a bloody terrible thing for anyone to call you." Spoon informs her, "How do you feel about Penelope? Pelagia? Penha? Peony? Perenna? That one means eternal. Pherenike means victorious one."

[kevlar_diamond]

"Oh..." she was actually very, very glad the team had come up with 'Penny' now. "My team...last friends...like me any way right? Jono give me apples, even when called Penance..." she mused.

"What Penha? Start like Penny!"

[there_is_a_me]

"It means beloved in Swahili." Spoon says after a moment of thinking, "An' I think that's a bloody good name for you, Penny. I think they did, luv. People going through penance are trying to make themselves better...you just deserve a better name than that because anything that you may have done you've paid for."

[kevlar_diamond]

Spoon was crazy.

This was why she didn't argue that 'beloved' wasn't exactly a fitting name. He wouldn't agree!

"Hope so" she managed at last.

[there_is_a_me]

Spoon raises his eyebrows at her and says, "You're loved here, lass. Makes you beloved. Penha Avalon Witherspoon."

[kevlar_diamond]

"Avalon?" she asked curiously, grateful for the distraction.

[there_is_a_me]

"It's a place" Spoon says, "that doesn't actually exist. The stories about it are of King Arthur living there. It's like heaven, in a way...and one of the possible root words is another word for apple. So it's kind of...heaven and apples."

[kevlar_diamond]

"Oh...okay!" she chimed happily. "So name kind of mean 'bee loved kind of heaven apple girl of Spoon'?"

[there_is_a_me]

"Or maybe Beloved Apple-Heaven girl." Spoon agrees, "Witherspoon is the family name, so it doesn't just mean me...it also means Cora and Ace and mum and da'. Even though mum and da' are Wells, we're all the same family."

[kevlar_diamond]

"I can like that...still use Penny though?" she was kind of attached to the nickname.

[there_is_a_me]

"Of course you can, luv." Spoon says with a grin, "That was the point of giving you lots of choices that sound like Penny, or that Penny could be taken out of. Lets you keep the nickname."

[kevlar_diamond]

"Good! I agree. Sign something?" she offered cheerfully. She knew about contracts, after all, she knew Emma!