(Untitled)

[goingtodorking]

The days which come right after parties are always the same: Rollie gets grumpy and Karen gets bored. Karen gets really bored. Karen gets so bored that she's standing in the corridor squinting up at the signs on the board, with her head on one side and two fingers in her mouth

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[frakkup]

Kara's eyes widened, chicken leg held frozen halfway to her mouth. "Uh," she said, putting it back down on the plate. She'd expected adults to see the sign, those she knew and those she didn't, but somehow Kara hadn't considered that a child might ask her these kinds of questions.

"I am, actually." The girl was small and fair. Kara had to try very hard not to see Calliope in her place. Gods willing, her daughter would never know to ask. "I'm an addict. It means I have a hard time giving things up, even when they're bad for me."

[goingtodorking]

Karen's face screws up for a minute while she thinks about it. Things that are bad to a six year old aren't the same as things that are bad for an adult.

"...Like...telling lies?" she hazards as a guess.

[frakkup]

"Could be," Kara nodded. She lowered herself to a knee, trying to find something on her plate a child might like. "Feels good to lie sometimes, right? But that doesn't make it okay."

[goingtodorking]

"Sometimes I tell Ben lies," says Karen. "But Ben's a stupid boy who kicks me so that's okay."

She takes a little huffing breath, thinking about her next question.

"What did you do that was...um...bad for you?"