Damn, balls, damn.

[fucktonofcoffee]

Who: Deb and open. Multiple threads encouraged.
What: Miami girl hates the snow
When: Morning.
Where: The porch of the boarding house.

Comments

[ingenue_bait]

Erik had woken up in a strange house. The fact that he'd never woken up anywhere but his own attic room was exciting--and scary--enough. But when he went downstairs and found that there wasn't anyone else there, that was almost liberating.

He could do anything.

Mask firmly in place, Erik--a small, too thin boy of eight or nine--wandered out into the world. It didn't look at all the way he imagined. Mother's rose garden wasn't here, and everything looked wrong. Too much wood, not enough stone. The buildings weren't styled like the ones in the books he snuck up to his room to read. But he was too excited to truly be scared. He was free.

At least until he saw the girl on the porch of the big house. He'd never seen another child before, and he ducked behind the wall to watch her for a minute. She talked funny, and after a moment, he giggled.

"What does it suck?" he asked innocently, stepping out.

[fucktonofcoffee]

Deb startled at the boy who was speaking to her, and her immediate reaction was to go onto the defensive. She didn't like to be laughed at; it reminded her of her brother and the people who had laughed at her for being skinny and gangly.

"'Cause it's damn cold." She muttered, looking at the mask that the kid was wearing. Maybe it was some thing that snow kids did, Debra decided, something coming from the weather that was based up North. After all, people wore ski-masks and maybe this was the same sort of thing?

Shoving her hands in her pockets, she kicked at the snow again. "Duh." She added, feeling that the word 'damn' in the middle of the sentence hadn't been quite enough for her.

[ingenue_bait]

Erik's clothes were not quite suited to the environment, but he hardly minded. Still, it didn't help the impression of a very skinny child.

"You talk funny," he said. She hadn't answered his question but he decided she wasn't going to. "Are you a girl?"

If this is wrong, yell at me and I'll redo.

[fucktonofcoffee]

When he said that she talked funny, she scowled, but there was an accent on his words. Maybe he thought she should be speaking French or something. Whatever language he normally spoke, it wasn't Spanish; she knew bits of it from growing up in Miami of course, but yeah.

"Duh. I'm a girl." She said the words with a little roll of her eyes. "Ain't ya ever seen a girl before?"

I can't see how it would be!

[ingenue_bait]

Erik blinked behind his mask.

"No," he said, a little intimidated by her. "Only Mother, and she's a lady."

[fucktonofcoffee]

"Ladies are girls too." She studied him for a moment. "Hows come ya've got a mask on but no coat? Ain't ya cold?"

[ingenue_bait]

That hadn't been what he'd meant, but it was difficult to explain. And overwhelming. She was so different from what he'd expected. So different from Mother.

"I suppose so," he said, unconcerned. "I always wear it. Mother says I must."

[fucktonofcoffee]

"That's dumb." She said quickly. "Why would your mom make you wear a mask...?" The question dropped and then Debra looked at him with new, fresh eyes.

"Are ya sick? I know we had to wear one of those things over our mouths when my mom was sick." She wrapped her hand over the lower part of her face, showing how the thing looked.

[ingenue_bait]

"No," Erik said slowly. "I am not sick." In fact, the bottom part of his face was uncovered, but he fidgeted with his clothes thinking about her first question.

"She says no one should have to look at me," he said plainly. "My papa has never even seen me."

[fucktonofcoffee]

"Your mom is a bitch." The word was said with surprise, and then she blinked a bit as if she couldn't believe that the curse had come out of her mouth. A guilty look was cast around, and then she recalled that there were no parents here to get angry with her.

"Why hasn't your dad ever seen ya?"

[ingenue_bait]

Erik shifted uncomfortably. His mother was beautiful, but... perhaps there was something in what the girl said. But he'd seen himself, just once. It had been enough to give him nightmares.

"I don't think he wanted me to be born," he said matter-of-factly.

[fucktonofcoffee]

Okay. This kid was screwed up. She felt bad for him, really. She wanted to bite his parents for being mean to him. No one should ever think that their parents didn't want them to be born. Debra had a brother who had been adopted, and she knew that it happened.

"Uh... are you hungry? There are cookies in the kitchen."

[ingenue_bait]

Erik brightened at that, cocking his head.

"Oh, yes," he said. "I'd like that. Mother was wrong--you're not horrid at all."

[fucktonofcoffee]

Debra looked a bit offended at that, and she blinked, but she took a step back toward the house. "Why would she think I'd be horrid?"

[ingenue_bait]

"She never lets me out," Erik said simply. "And she must have a reason--she's very beautiful."

[fucktonofcoffee]

"Haven't you ever heard the term 'beauty is only flesh deep?' Being beautiful ain't no reason to do nothing. Or to be excused from doin' something. And it sucks she never lets you out."