(Untitled)

[goingtodorking]

It's really the saddest thing that Karen's ever seen. The little lizard's got little feet and a bright green stripe all the way down his back. He's pretty, but he's also very dead. He's so dead that he's got a little blue tongue lolling out of his mouth. Garm looks very guilty, sitting there with his bandanna around his neck. ShorHor's fallen

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[mutant_gi_jesus]

Cable was meditating, crossed legged, under a tree next to the boardwalk. The aim of meditating, in general, is to clear your mind of all worldly concerns. So a lot of people, when meditating, weren't too aware of their surrounding. Cable always was, even without his telepathy, it was one of those instincts that a lifetime of fighting gives you.

So he heard the girl and her dog approaching and opened his eyes in response.

She was holding a dead lizard in her hands. That wasn't exactly something he'd expected. And it made him curious enough to want to talk to her.

"Hello," he said.

[goingtodorking]

"Oh, hello," says Karen, coming to a halt just in front of him, looking down at the little lizard curled in her hands. She wonders if she ought to push his little blue tongue back in his mouth or something.

"What're you doing?"

[mutant_gi_jesus]

"Right now? I'm talking to you," Cable replied. "What happened to the lizard?"

[goingtodorking]

"Yes, but what were you doing before you were talking to me was...um...what I wanted to know," she says.

She looks down at the lizard in her hand.

"Garm thought he was a ball," she says.

[assured_of_this]

It's been awhile since Nate has talked to Karen, although he's seen her around; even on a place as strange as the island, spunky little girls with miniature horses aren't exactly common. He smiles upon approach and arches his brows curiously at her carefully cupped hands.

"Hey, Karen," he greets, and affords the dog a cursory glance. The dog is new to him, but he'll wait for a proper introduction. "What have you got there?"

[goingtodorking]

"Oh, hi, Nate," says Karen, tipping her head bac to look at him, the lizard still carefully cradled in her cupped hands. She wonders if she ought to do something about his little blue tongue.

"What do I do about his tongue?" she asks. Nate looks like the kind of grown-up who might know these things. He does teach at the school and everything.

[assured_of_this]

Under the circumstances, Nate thinks that's probably one of the easier questions Karen could ask; he's never had to explain life, the universe and everything to a little girl before, and wonders if the conversation will eventually meander that way.

"I think his tongue is okay like that," he assures her, peering down at the dead lizard. "He's in lizard heaven now, he won't be worrying about how his tongue looks. Are you going to give him a funeral?"

[goingtodorking]

Karen sighs and nods.

"Yes. So that Garm doesn't feel too sad." She looks at the big dog for a moment. "He's big and kind of silly and sometimes he does things by accident. He didn't mean to kill him."

[giftless]

"Hello Karen." Edmund and Honour caught them heading in the opposite direction on the boardwalk. He'd felt like a swim today, but any sort of distraction was welcome, especially from the little girl. "What have you got there?"

[goingtodorking]

"Oh. Hello, Edmund," says Karen, automatically making a beeline for him. "A lizard. A dead lizard. Garm thought he was a ball."

[giftless]

Edmund frowned slightly. "So what are you doing with it now?" he asked. "Do you collect them or something?" Sort of an odd hobby for a girl, but Karen was clearly one of those more modern children.

[goingtodorking]

"I'm going to bury it," she explains, holding the lizard in one hand and unsconciously reaching for his hand with the other.

"Because Garm killed it, and that's...um...that's pretty sad."

[dumbassbastards]

"Karen?" says Rollie, slipping into step just behind her. He doesn't know when it happened, and he'd always scoffed at parents who said they had it, but somehow he seems to have developed a sixth sense for when Karen's up to something. "What've you got there?"

[goingtodorking]

"It's a lizard," sighs Karen, pausing and holding her hands up to show him. "He's dead. Garm thought he was a ball and, well, now he's dead."

Garm looks guilty as he plods over and nudges Rollie in the hip with his nose.

[dumbassbastards]

"Karen, we've talked about touching dead things," says Rollie, petting the dog's head reflexively. "You need to go wash your hands."

[goingtodorking]

"No!" protests Karen, obstinate as she sometimes can be, chin tilted sharply. "We have to bury him first. Because Garm killed him and it was an accident."

[palmthemoon]

He'd been looking for Karen but saw ShorHor first, the little horse looking unusually contented during his afternoon nap. In a few moments, he caught up to Karen on the boardwalk and Garm right there beside her.

"Hey, Karen. Lunch is ready, time to go in for a bit and eat."

Shadow had a feeling from the look on her face that sandwiches were going to have to wait.

[goingtodorking]

"We have to do this first," says Karen, lifting her cupped hands solemnly to show him the dead lizard.

"We have to bury him. Garm thought he was a ball."

[palmthemoon]

Shadow bent down obligingly and grimaced when he saw the little dead thing cupped in her hands. Must remember to get her to wash her hands before she eats lunch.

"Garm," he said reproachfully at the dog and shook his head at him. Not that he could be too mad, not really. Garm was a dog and that means once upon a time he was a wolf, too. His teeth weren't just for show. "You leave them alone. Be a good dog."

[goingtodorking]

"We have to bury him," insists Karen. "Because he was a real live little creature and Garm will feel really really bad if we don't."