(Untitled)

[felon_spice]

It's much easier the second time for Zoe to convince SARAH that they should take a trip to Milliways without her father.

Now there's a teenage girl sitting at the bar, watching all the people around her and trying to figure out if she can scam anyone into getting her a beer.

[open for tags with Zoe only; SARAH modded with permission, but her

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[cutting_edgex23]

X, who has just come in from the lake and is consquently slightly damp, shifts her angle of approach in order to head in Zoe's direction.

She only looks a little awkward when she stops and says, "Hello."

[felon_spice]

"Oh, hi," Zoe says, recognizing the girl. "Um... it's X, right?"

What kind of weird name is that anyway?

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes," X says, still looking a little wary.

Regular teenagers are like an alien species. Or maybe X is the alien species.

"X-23 is my designation."

Beat.

"You can call me Laura."

It comes out closer to a question than anything else.

[felon_spice]

"Okay, Laura," Zoe says. "Why do you have a designation?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I am an X-man."

And here X looks a little more wary.

"And an experiment."

And she'd say she isn't one anymore, but X does not think like that.

Not yet, anyway.

[felon_spice]

"An experiment? Like something that Global Dynamics would do?" Zoe wonders.

[cutting_edgex23]

X tilts her head, watching Zoe carefully.

"I do not know."

Beat.

"Does the company experiment on people?"

[felon_spice]

"I don't know," Zoe admits. "But... they do all sorts of weird things up there."

She shrugs. "Why did people experiment on you?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"Oh."

X is silent for a little while, considering.

Then--

"They wanted a weapon."

Beat.

"And to make money."

This next pause is a little longer.

"I do not want there to be more of me."

[felon_spice]

"They tried to turn you into a weapon?" Zoe looks disturbed by this and frowns.

[cutting_edgex23]

"No."

X's reply is prompt.

"They made me."

Because that is enlightening.

[felon_spice]

"They made you," Zoe repeats. She takes a moment to puzzle through that one and her frown deepens. "So you don't have a family?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X's hand lifts to her throat, fingers brushing against the locket she wears.

It is not exactly deliberate, but--

"I have friends. And teammates."

Beat.

"It is okay."

[felon_spice]

"No it's not," Zoe says. "I mean, it's good that you have friends and everything. But the people who did that are not nice."

[cutting_edgex23]

"I know," she says, and she does.

"I left."

Beat.

"You are friends with SARAH?"

[felon_spice]

"Yeah, I guess so," Zoe says. "Are you?"