Adolescent Discussions

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koshka_icon.gif mynama_icon.gif

Scene Title Adolescent Discussions
Synopsis Two of the teenagers escape the confines of Bannerman's walls and find they have similar thoughts.
Date January 21, 2011

Bannerman's Castle


The weather is significantly warmer than it has been, which is part of the reason why Mynama has escaped whatever duties she may have been given today that would have kept her inside Bannerman Castle.

Not that she would wander too far.

Bundled in the same coat and fingerless gloves she was wearing on November 8th when she was arressted without reason, Mynama stands a good ten feet from a small stand of trees. She glares at one of them, slowing raising her arm and then quickly moving it in an arc to fling an unfolded pocket-knife at the trunk. It bounces, scraping off a bit of bark before it lands in the snow. Mynama curses under her breath, the warmer air masking her face for the moment.

From the look of the trunk, it's been going like this for some time. Mynama trudges toward the trees, plunging her hands into her pockets on her way to retrieve the blade.

Going outside seems to be a popular idea, given the warmer weather, walls are simply too confining when it's nicer out than it has been in days. And besides, no one's told her she has to stay inside. And so encased in a simple ski jacket and scarf, Koshka, one of the new kids brought in by Brian, has found her way following various tracks through the melting snow.

Though not looking for anything in particular, her tendancies are more to get out and explore, Koshka doesn't immediately notice Mynama. The trail she's following leads roughly toward the knife-throwing girl, but it isn't until the plop of the tool into the snow that the younger teenager takes notice. With blue eyes lifting from whatever musings haunt her, she watches Mynama's actions, eyes turning to follow the older girl's knife retrieval.

It's when Mynama straightens, knife in hand, that she notices Koshka. She's undoubtedly seen the younger girl before somewhere in the castle, but that doesn't mean much. She stares at her a moment - the proverbial deer in headlights - before her eyes narrow.

"Need something?" she asks, her voice sharper than the undoubtedly dull knife blade, and coated with some flavor of European accent. Slowly, Mynama straightens up the rest of the way, drawing herself to her full height and willing that Koshka wasn't sent to bring Mynama back for some chore or another.

Looking slightly abashed herself at being caught staring, Koshka does the first thing that comes to mind and cracks a weak grin. She's been around the castle long enough now that she's not terribly worried over those she hasn't properly met yet. Her gaze drops briefly, enough to touch on the pocket knife, then jumps back up to Mynama's own.

Koshka's shoulders lift to respond to the question. "No, I was just… walking. And stuff." She hesitates, then takes a couple of steps toward Mynama. "Saw… er.. heard your um… I'm Koshka."

Mynama is quiet for a moment before she nods, flipping the knife closed against her thigh in true juvenile miscreant fashion. "Mynama," she says, smiling slightly. "I've seen you too," she adds, taking a step herself to bridge the gap in the snowy wilderness. There is still a measure of insecurity, though. "Those crotchety hags in the kitchens didn't send you to find me, did they?"

"If they are, they didn't send me," Koshka answers. Her grin loses a measure of its uncertainty, venturing a shade toward cockiness. She tips her head downward slightly, eyes slanting toward the castle as though the aforementioned hags might be following her all the same. You never know. "Don't think anyone saw me come out here."

The older girl laughs lightly, leaning a shoulder against the tree as she follows Koshka's glance back to the looming castle. "Good," she finally says. "So what's your story, Koshka?" It's likely to be the same song and dance of any of the teenagers currently living on the island. "Other than skipping out on folding sheets or washing dishes in icy cold fucking well water?"

"That what they make you do," Koshka asks with a glance back to Mynama. She usually ends up peeling potatoes, or helping with the younger kids. Then she shrugs and gives her head a small shake. "They found me, tucked me away someplace else for a while. Then that place got jeopardized so I got moved again. —You?"

"I fell down at a riot," Mynama says with a shrug. "Fell down because some asshole pushed me. Next thing I know, I'm cuffed and getting put in a damned van." She leaves out the part where Monica Dawson, who had made an effort to help her, also got pinched. The man doesn't like Sisters. "They broke us out on Breakneck Road, or whatever it's called.

"And yeah. Or whatever. I just can't take it today. You can't…breathe in there."

Koshka makes a face, nose wrinkling in a sympathetic grimace. "That sucks. I avoided the riots but just before Christmas got into a little tangle with Humanis First. People at the hospital were talking about foster care before I was sneaked out." Closest run in she's had with the law, being glued to two people and landing in the hospital for it.

Another look is sent toward the castle and then back to Mynama. "It's hard to find space in there sometimes. But at least it's safe."

"Yeah, but for how long?"

Mynama kicks at the snow with her boot, the fuzzy tassles bouncing against the fur trim. "We've got our heads in the sand, and sooner or later, someone's going to shoot us in the ass, 'cause it's hanging in the air." It's a bad analogy - the Ferrymen are more careful than that, and Mynama knows that, even if only the back of her head.

"Used to be that I couldn't wait to get away. Now, home doesn't look that bad."

With a sigh, Koshka nods her agreement to Mynama's question. She'd thought the Garden was safe, afterall, and the quickly moving military presence proved that wrong. "I feel like there's something… more that could be done. You know? More than just sit here and hide." And do all the grunt work that goes in to keeping the place alive. The younger teenager offers a shrug.

"Yeah," Mynama comisserates. "I don't want to hide the rest of my life. Hell. I can't do anything. My blood just shows up positive on that test. I was excited - I wanted to be SLC-positive." She shakes her head and takes a step half-toward Koshka and half toward the castle. "But not if it means I can't live."

"I know, right?" Koshka, with all the casualness of an adolescent, falls in somewhat alongside Mynama and begins toward the castle. "I never took the test, just happened one day and… Hell, I don't mind it. It's come in handy."


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