Training Wheels Of A Sort

[curiously_cora]

With Isabel gone and Angie, Coraline was fast running out of female grown ups to ask about breasts. She'd thought about asking Doctor Brennan but she'd probably end up using big long words that Coraline wouldn't remotely understand and whilst Doctor Brennan's scientic and detached demeanor was helpful she didn't think in this case it would help her

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[hollermehome]

There are a few things, it seems to Lisey, that have stayed the same in the transition from Maine to island, one of them being that laundry duty usually falls to her. It's not that she minds, really, or that Scott wouldn't do it if she asked; it's just that he's perfectly happy waiting until there are absolutely no clean socks left, and she can't live like that. Genius must burn too hot, she thinks with a smile as she scoops the now clean laundry into her muslin bag, to worry about things like the cleanliness of one's shorts.

As she starts to make her way up through the compound, with half a mind to see what's for dinner, she notices that the girl digging through the clothes box seems to be getting more and more frustrated. She's seen her around before, of course - but never in this state of distress. "Everything okay?" she asks tentatively, not knowing if the girl would rather just be left alone.

[curiously_cora]

Coraline shook her head. Everything was not okay. Everything was most definitely as unokay as it could get. Angie was gone, Isabel was gone and Adam was just plain embarrassing.

"Do you know why these have holes in them?" Coraline asked curiously, holding the crotchless panties out for the woman to see. She looked around to double check just in case there were boys around before dropping her voice down to a whisper. "I need a you know thing. For my thing."

Coraline made a vague indication of her chest area which whilst wasn't particularly large was no longer as flat as it once was.

[hollermehome]

"No idea," Lisey says, taking the panties distastefully between two fingers and tossing them back in the box. "Don't really see the point in them, if you ask me." It was really unfortunate that the clothing box couldn't be reasoned with, Lisey thinks, because she'd like to give it a piece of her mind for throwing things like that at kids, for god's sake.

"Ahh," she says, as the girl elaborates on why she's digging through the box so industriously. Suddenly, the piles of underthings make a little more sense. "Well, we'll see if we can't find something in here for you," she says, dropping her bag and starting to help sort through the piles of clothing. "I'm Lisey, by the way," she adds, realizing that she'd neglected to introduce herself.

[curiously_cora]

"Coraline. Coraline Jones, I'm an explorer." Coraline said, a little relieved that the older woman had decided to help Coraline with her plight. Coraline thought she recognised the name and she looked thoughtful for a moment before dismissing it. "I couldn't ask Adam, he's my daddy here. He's a boy and he doesn't really understand."

[moraldyslexic]

The last thing Lennox expected to find in the laundry room was a small, bra-throwing girl, but that was exactly what he got as he headed in with a bag of clothes and bedding to be washed. Raising an eyebrow as Coraline tossed a bra behind her, he loaded a machine with soap and their sheets, then wandered over.

"Jesus Christ, man, both of our heads could fit in this one," he said as he picked up one of the bras she'd discovered, holding it up in amazement.

[curiously_cora]

Coraline blushed a furious bright red and tried to hide beneath her catbag. She really, really didn't want to explain what she was doing. Coraline snatched the bra from his hand and tried to hide the evidence of what she was doing.

"Some women have very large... chests," Coraline said looking at the floor with interest. It was true that it could house both their heads and Coraline did find it amusing but at the same time horribly mortifying. She'd rather face the Other Mother then talk about her...bits.

[moraldyslexic]

"Oh, hey, no. Shit, I didn't mean to embarrass you," Lennox said quickly, feeling terrible at the way Coraline's face turned a really impressive shade of red. "I'm sorry, don't hide, it's cool. It's totally fine, I get it. I had to help Lily pick out one of her first bras and she totally yelled at me right in the department store because I was being a jackass."

[curiously_cora]

"Really?" Coraline asked curiously. Coraline couldn't imagine Lily being small anywhere- certainly not as a kid and certainly not in the chest area. Lily was very much a mum and the idea that one day she asked Lennox to help her with bras made her feel a little bit better. "I don't know what to do."

[gotacigarette]

The washing situation has got so bad that Eden's actually wearing one of Babe's t-shirts with jeans as she pads into the store-room on bare feet to look for some of her own. She gets into the room just in time to hear what the child says, and, for a moment, she just watches her. She's seen her before; she's familiar the same way Shari was, like Eden had caught a glimpse of her while leaning over Babe's shoulder to grab a piece of toast and never ever sitting down to breakfast.

"I know the feeling," she says.

[curiously_cora]

"Do you?" Coraline asked holding a pair of what looked like PVC shorts. Coraline couldn't find anything practical or helpful at all. The shorts might make a nice brolly but that's it and she was sure that Adam would give her one of those looks if she brought them home. "Miss-Major Eden, can I ask you a question?"

Re:

[gotacigarette]

"Yes, I do," says Eden, and squats down beside the box, starting to root through it, saying a quiet prayer for plain black t-shirts.

"It depends on the question. And I think just Eden will do, don't you?"

[curiously_cora]

"Yes Ma'am," Coraline replied politely. Her parents had always taught her to be polite towards her elders especially those who'd served their country. And Eden was a Major. "How did you get those?"

Coraline pointed at Eden's chest awkwardly, blushing bright red at the question. No one had told her how it would happen just that she'd grow up one day and then boys would like her. And that Cain would probably kill the boys who liked her.

[off_the_ceiling]

"That is some collection you've got going on there," said Jess, surveying the impressive pile of undergarments, at least half of which she would've avoided at all costs, given the choice. She was pretty sure that one on top there was once worn by Madonna on stage. "On purpose, or is the box being difficult again today?"

[curiously_cora]

"I'm trying to find one that might fit. I mean that might fit me," Coraline said awkwardly, blushing deeply in embarrassment. Coraline just wanted her mother. She wanted her to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay and tell her exactly why this was happening to her. "But it is being difficult. I think I could fit two footballs in that bra."

[off_the_ceiling]

"I think that one was actually made for a drag queen," admitted Jess, getting a closer look at it as she knelt down on the floor near the box, near where Coraline was standing. "That's definitely not what either one of us wants. Listen, I need to find a new bra too, so why don't we look together?"

She wasn't planning on looking for a new bra today, but it wasn't a lie that she needed one. She'd arrived without, and the one she had on was already being held together be a safety pin.

[curiously_cora]

"What's a drag queen?" Coraline asked curiously, looking up at Jessica. Coraline recognised queen, most girls dreamt of being a princess but she didn't understand it's relation to dragging. Coraline smiled in relief at Jessica's suggestion, the thoughts of queens dragging people around almost forgotten in her mind. "Would you? That's really nice of you."

[polly_okeefe]

This wasn't my first time to the clothes box. Coming to the Island with just the clothes on my back required new clothes pretty much immediately. I hadn't really understood the sense of dread that some people had when they approached the box. Yes, it was magical, like the jukebox. But unlike the jukebox, it hadn't taunted me. It had perfunctorily supplied me with simple clothes from roughly my era

[curiously_cora]

Coraline stared at the girl yelling at the box, blinking at her in somewhat shock and confusion. Coraline didn't think the box was being that mean but perhaps from an older perspective it was. Grown Ups never did like telling her the truth about things she usualy had to ask Jim about it or sneak up on Johnny (her second favourite pasttime) and catch him looking at Girly magazines.

"I wouldn't give you shoes if you'd yelled at me like that, I'd probably give you buttons." Coraline said, giving the girl a small smile. "Though it would probably love the Salvation Army bin especially if Mister Harold was playing his tuba there. Harold's a character on a television show called Neighbours, my mum loves it-loved it."

Coraline picked up a bra holding it curiously as she tried to figure out which way it went and how to do up the fiddly clasps over her clothes.

[polly_okeefe]

I caught her self-correction about her mother, and winced. Though I'd spent Halloween playing the part of a twelve-year-old, I could hardly imagine how my twelve-year-old self would have reacted, being separated from my parents on this Island.

"Yes, I know," I replied, smiling at her mild rebuke. "Yelling at things gets you nowhere. But it feels good sometimes." Then, gently, I asked, "Is this your first time looking for a bra?"

[curiously_cora]

"I know, Lucy told me off for yelling at Coin. Lucy doesn't like it when we fight, when I fight I mean." Coraline said simply, getting the bra tangled up before she'd even put it on over her clothes. "Yes, normally mum would come with me shopping and buy something five sizes too big for me but I don't think that works here."

Coraline might have tried one of the bigger bras on and it just looked silly, though it was a good place to have pockets she could hide all sorts in their- weapons, food, water, maps.