fridgetothefire | 021 ☣ Open floodspam + stuff for Erik

[She wakes up early, even though there's no sunrise coming through her window, no harsh, glittering mountain vista, and no chickens to feed for the last two years. She spends a few minutes - three, maybe - excitedly exploring her room, treasuring the weird feeling of belonging and safety and freedom it gives her. But that doesn't last long, so she pushes out the painted door and immediately goes next door.

He's not her father, but he is, and it's weird. But she knows how she feels, and she trusts herself, trusts her instincts. She knocks on the door, excited pounding with all the strength in her little fist.]

Daaaaaaddy! Daddy wake up!

Hallways

[Anya is six, though she looks closer to five to anyone used to children raised on modern nutrition. Her hair is in little pigtail braids, a little less neatly pleated on one side, because she did them herself and she's not ambidextrous. She wears skirts with the hems let out, and stockings, and a blouse whose sleeves don't quite cover the ridged, shiny burn scars that skate up the outside edges of her arms like defensive wounds.

She roams the halls looking for her friends - because she has friends now, she's sure of it, a steady warmth in her chest even if she can't remember the details, eager to investigate everyone she comes across in case they make the little compass needle resting there twitch. She runs in short bursts, short braids trailing behind her, then pauses to bend over and gasp for a minute, still not used to the new limits on her lungs, or simply living in hope that if she pushes them enough, they'll eventually give.]

Wait up!

Library

[She flits around, stares at the shark in fascination for ten minutes at a stretch. She climbs one of the wheeled ladders and tries surreptitiously to ride it, almost - but not quite - falling off. She trails through the shelves, staring in glee at the bewildering array, even more impressive than the one in the fortress. She might end up falling asleep over a very large illustrated compendium of Oz, dwarfed by the large armchair she's nestled in.]

Deck

[She's sitting on the railing, ankles tucked around the lower bar, perfectly steady in her perch, head tipped back, staring at the stars as they go by. It's strange and beautiful and endless. She loves it.]

Common room

[The plastic knitting needles are almost as long as her forearms, and her lip is trembling a little. The hat she had half-started is a bit beyond her current capabilities, and the more she tries to fix what she's done, the more it becomes snarled. She can do it, though. She's not going to cry.]

[OOC: replies will come from

flatscamp.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good way to think about it. Who you seen so far?

Daddy and Felix and Miss Jean and lots of people! And you.

[You're the best. Snuggles.]

[Lua doesn't move, willing to let Anya stay there: this completely unguarded affection is really sweet even if they'll both be a little embarrassed when Anya's nineteen again. Most of the time, when kids show up, they have no idea what's happened. This is why unaffected wardens always use the "summer camp" excuse.]

So you know me?

Um. Maybe.

[She looks embarrassed. She can't think of names.]

You're nice though. You take care of me. Right?

Yeah. I do. You're a real good kid.

[If Anya doesn't remember a name, she'll have to give her one.]

It's Lua. Been looking, wanted to have you come with me for a bit.

[She beams at the compliment, hugs Lua a little tighter. Someone said she was good!.]

Come with you where?

[This is not at all reluctant. She just wants to know things!]

[Lua eases back a little, taking Anya's hand. She wants to make a fix or two, having been the kid who had to do her hair herself, before they might go.]

Going up to the pool, couple friends of mine, a lot of kids. You don't have to get in if you don't want.

I want to come! It sounds really fun!

[Something slackens in her smile, a sign of relief that she'll be able to watch her for at least a little bit.] Let me do your hair, see if you got anything better for a pool, we can go.

What kinds of things do you need for a pool?

[She mostly just played in the creek in her dayclothes, to her mother's eternal exasperation.]

Could just go like that, but if you got anything that's gonna weigh you down less... [She shrugs.] I never picked your clothes out.

[She starts to lead her on, wanting to just chat with this version of Anya, get to know the kid-that-was better.] You happy to see your dad?

Yeah! He spent the whole morning with me and we made pancakes and he taught me to draw a little and I'm going to practice a lot and get even better!

[So much time. And he looked at her and carried her around and never called her weak even once. It was amazing.]

Edited 2013-08-11 02:58 (UTC)

[Lua knows this isn't what Anya really expected, what her Erik turned into, and there is no way she'll spoil this for her. She isn't telling her it's only for a couple days, who that Erik is. It hurts, listening to this, but she just keeps smiling. It isn't far to Anya's room.]

I'm-

I'm really glad. I know he wants to be good to you.

I had to show him how to make the blyntsi right.

[She giggles a little.]

But that's okay! We're good at different things. And we'll get better!

He's always had girls to cook for him. Somebody like you can help.

[Her smile tightens a little, with just how excited Anya is. Watching her think this is going to last forever, and then seeing her back to herself in a few days...]

You'll get better at drawing pictures. [They've made it, by now, to Anya's, and she looks around for anything new; she'd been dropped a lot of things that the Admiral gave her, but wants to make sure nothing's going to be trouble for a little kid.]

[There's clothes in her size in a neat stack, and otherwise the room is unchanged.]

I want to! Mama taught me how really well.

[There's nothing new that she can see, and she isn't going to try and search and make it look like prison.]

You can teach him a lot. You get dressed, I'll do up your hair, then we can go.

[She wants to go see her friends too, to be honest.]

[She pulls the cape-turned-curtain across the alcove of her bed and changes into something vaguely more pool-suitable, then bounds out, fetching Lua the brush and comb and tugging her over to the windowseat to do it.]

[Lua really hopes that this Anya hasn't figured out what her curtain really is. That's a lot of questions neither she nor Erik are probably prepared to answer. She sits down next to the girl and combs her braids back out, careful as she does so.]

You usually do this yourself?

Some days. Most days.

Should have known. I keep ending up with little boys to watch, or grown girls, never had a girl before you.

Really?

[It's just kind of mild curiosity, mixed with a child's surprise that there's anything someone as amazing as Lua hasn't done.]

[She tries to remember how tight she wanted her braids as a kid, making sure she doesn't pull.]

Yeah. Last time we had a lot of kids, I had a five-year-old boy for three days, a kid who grew up with a nanny. And the last girl I had before you, she was older than me.

So you let me know if I'm treating you like a baby, all right?

[She laughs.]

Okay, I will!

Good. You're a smart kid, so I need to let you be smart.

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flatscamp - 2013-08-14 05:13 (UTC) - Expand

surrenders - 2013-08-16 23:18 (UTC) - Expand

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