Multipup -- the "But the experiment went horribly wrong" edition

[mm_adiva]

Comments

[eatinghearts]

44 likes being outside, too.

The horses smell tasty, but she probably couldn't eat a whole one by herself, and 91 isn't here.

She doesn't really mean to sneak up on Echo, but the grass is tall and she is not and she moves silently out of habit. So one moment there doesn't seem to be anyone around, and the next, there is a soft rustle and a little face peeking out between the tall stalks.

[doingeverything]

Echo looks up at the rustle, surprised.

"--Hello!"

[eatinghearts]

"Hello," she agrees.

[doingeverything]

"I didn't hear you come up."

[eatinghearts]

"I'm very quiet."

[doingeverything]

"Clearly," Echo says, amused, leaning on the fence.

"You're Four-four, aren't you? I remember."

(The shine on remembering things hasn't worn off yet, quite.)

[eatinghearts]

"Yes."

She doesn't smile again, but for a moment it almost looks as though she might.

"You're Echo."

[doingeverything]

"That's right," Echo (Susan) says, grinning.

[eatinghearts]

"I went out through the forest again," she says.

"And then I came back but it wasn't in the same place."

[doingeverything]

"So you're not Bound here? You can go and come back?"

[eatinghearts]

"Yes."

"Does it do that? Keep people?"

[doingeverything]

"Sometimes. It did that to me for a while."

[eatinghearts]

"Oh."

Gravely, "I'm sorry."

[doingeverything]

"Thanks," she replies with a smile. "It was okay. It was good for me to be here instead of . . . instead of the alternative."

[eatinghearts]

She tips her head to one side.

"Yes," she agrees, after some thought.

[doingeverything]

"Do you like it here?"