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]

"I know, right? It's awesome!" She took her cookie back and then dunked it into her milk again, not caring anything for germs or whatever. With her other hand she shoved the plate at him so he could proceed in dunking his own cookies.

[ingenue_bait]

Erik took one carefully and began to dunk, with the seriousness of a scientist. He studied how long he could leave it in the milk, and how much saturation he preferred. It was most satisfying, and his small figure looked very intent.

"Mother's keeping something from me," he said plainly, after his first cookie. "This isn't horrible or dangerous at all."

[fucktonofcoffee]

Deb was reminded more than a little of her brother as she watched him make those measured dunks into his milk. She wasn't as careful, and ate two cookies to his one; there was no one here to tell her that she was going to get fat.

"Why would she say it was horrible and dangerous? That don't make any sense." Deb said for not the first time, watching him.

[ingenue_bait]

Erik shrugged his bony shoulders.

"I saw a monster in the mirror once," he said simply. He had a feeling that monster was himself, but... it was hard to say that part out loud. "She said it wasn't safe for me out there."

[fucktonofcoffee]

"Really?" Deb chewed on the cookie and talked with her mouth full. Even as a kid she really didn't have all that good of manners.

"What kinda of monster? Was it scary?" She dropped her voice. "Was it like a zombie?"

[ingenue_bait]

Erik was on the point of nodding, when he hit an unfamiliar word.

"I don't know what a zombie is," he said. "But it was very scary. Not like you or Mother at all."

He squirmed uncomfortably, skirting so close to reality.

[fucktonofcoffee]

"Zombies are scary." She said the words with the solemnity of a kid who'd watched Night of the Living dead once when she wasn't supposed too and had nightmares for weeks because of it.

"They're like dead bodies that come back to life and wanna," her voice dropped low. "Eat brains. And when they bite you they turn into a zombie too!"

[ingenue_bait]

Erik suddenly felt a cold, hard feeling in his stomach. Suddenly the cookies seemed made of lead.

Maybe he was a zombie.

"What if they don't want to?" he asked, his voice almost trembling. "What if they just wanted to... be like people?"

[fucktonofcoffee]

Debra looked at the kid who was almost trembling and she frowned quickly. She.. didn't do good with feelings but she could see that the kid had something going on. "If they don't wanna eat brains, then they ain't zombies." A pause and she took a bite of her cookie. "We ain't zombies cause we're eatin' cookies and there ain't no blood."

[ingenue_bait]

Erik silently looked at her for a moment. It seemed to make sense. He nodded.

"Oh. Well... that's good, right?" He took another bite. "You're real smart."

[fucktonofcoffee]

There was a quick and surprised grin when Erik said that Deb was smart. Most of the time the only reason that word got applied to her was when someone was using it to talk about her mouth. Coloring, Deb shrugged. "Yeah, it's good. Don't need no damn zombies here."

[ingenue_bait]

Erik was glad he wasn't a zombie. He was also glad to meet someone like Deb--he wasn't quite sure about her, actually, but his uncertainty was not painful. In fact, his native curiosity was coming out.

"Does no one wear a mask where you're from?" he inquired.

[fucktonofcoffee]

"Only when they're trying to do something bad like rob a store or kill people or something." She chomped happily on a cookie for a moment. "Or when they're sick, like I said." A pause. "Or sometimes if they're famous and don't wanna be seen." Another pause. "Or on Halloween."

[ingenue_bait]

"Oh," Erik said quietly, subsiding. He knew why he wore it--had known since the mirror incident. But he didn't want to believe it. "I'm not any of those things."

[fucktonofcoffee]

"Oh. Hmm." Deb was curious, but she didn't want to be one of those people who her mom had told her about, so she just took another bite of her cookie.

"Does this mean ya don't ride bikes?" The words were said like it was the saddest thing in the world.