Post by danielle on Sept 3, 2006 4:28:09 GMT -5
Rattling up the stairs with her suitcase in hand, Dani turned down the hallway that Marie had directed her down and found herself at what she thought was the right door. She'd run off with Simon before she'd gotten organised, but now that she was back had been told where she'd been staying and a slight reshuffle had happened with the younger kids. She still had to share a room, there just wasn't enough space for all of them, but it was with another girl her age, the girl who had come in before Simon's legs had appeared in the window.
Adrien? Something like that. Isn't that a boys name? Her inner monologue was just as weird as she was. At least, when it wasn't being critical of her it was.
She peered into a doorway, one that had two younger girls sitting talking on their beds, and smiled at them before moving on.
Hope that's not where I'm supposed to be.
Peering into the doorway across the hall, she spotted Adrien, who was putting things away. Dani noticed fresh sheets sitting on the end of the bare matresses, and wondered who had been moved around. No time for that now, though, she wanted to get herself organised before it got too late, and hang up a half decent outfit so that she could go putting in applications tomorrow.
Of course, a half decent outfit to Dani meant a clean pair of jeans, and a shirt that wasn't too interesting. Interesting shirts could put people off.
Blinking, she realised she'd been standing in the door for a while and smiled brightly.
"Hi, again!"
Adrien looked up, a book in her hand and a few others near her feet. She smiled. "Hey there. Are you my new roomate?"
The girl was certainly 'interesting' looking- which to her family and the church would mean she was a 'hood' or as her mother would say 'not the sort of girl you should be seen with'. To Adrien she looked artsy and fun. A lot like the kids at the university, for that matter.
"Don't be shy, I haven't sprayed my cooties everywhere yet." She chuckled and got up to shift open the closet, a few things hanging to one end of the rail and a shoebox up on the shelf, tucked away unobtrusively.
Grinning and walking over to one of the beds, Dani plonked down her suitcase.
"Cool. Yeah, I think so. You know, unless I'm in the wrong room again, but I don't think they normally get this many of us every day." That sentence sounded a bit odd, but she shrugged. "At least, I hope they don't get this many every day, or we'll be packed in like sardines." An interesting image. She wondered if she'd mind being packed in with Simon.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, but her tanned skin didn't show it quite so much as some people.
Unzipping her suitcase, she looked at the things in there and frowned. Most of her things were still back at home, or donated to thrift shops when she'd moved on. There was enough, though, and if she was going to get settled and be able to make some kind of contribution, she needed to unpack.
"So... I'm Dani. I think we met in the kitchen earlier." She made sure to qualify the statement in case she was hallucinating, which was entirely possible. She had taken off fairly quickly.
"Are you from around here?" Blinking a couple of times, she clarified, "I mean, you know, not from right here or anything, but from..." She waved her arms around a bit vaguely, then pulled out some clothes and reached for some hangers.
Adrien sat back down on her bed to finish unpacking her books. She laughed softly. Dani was sweet. Scattered and hyperactive, but it was almost nice. Adrien stacked her books on the windowsill by her bed in neat little rows.
"Yeah, just before you ran outside. I'm actually from Atlanta, so, not too far from home but just enough to feel comfortable, right..." her chuckle was a little subdued. Adrien got the impression from the getgo that talking about what had happened to them was not welcome. Which was strange, because she couldn't have been the only mutant who had the Cure forced on them. Or did everyone here actually CHOOSE to get rid of their mutation?
She realized she was staring at Dani and shook herself, picking up her bible and setting it on her nightstand. "How about you? Did you have to come far to get here?"
"Oh, I'm originally from Montana, but I travelled a lot after..." She trailed off. Marie and Lee had told her that most of them didn't like to talk about it. Dani wasn't a big fan of what her powers did, which is why she'd gotten the cure, but it seemed like it was going to be hard to talk about the past if she had to keep trailing off whenever the conversation drew close to the cure.
"Well, I wasn't that far off when I heard about the place, anyway." She was still confused about who the rogues were that it was named for, but that question seemed like a bit of a stupid one to ask. Not that it was likely to stop her - Dani's mouth often ran ahead before her brain could catch up.
Hanging up a bunch of shirts and the one dress that she owned, Dani wondered if there were any of the hangers with the clips. She couldn't see them, so with a shrug started folding her pants into the normal hangers. It'd do, and was better than leaving them scrunched up in her suitcase.
"What books have you got there?" It was a way to steer the conversation away from what she'd been told was awkward, and also a matter of interest. Dani only had two books with her - and one was a journal - but she had a bookshelf full at home. There weren't many things for a person like her to do, so she'd become a loner by default and read a lot of books when she wasn't playing video games.
Adrien smiled shyly, running her fingers over the tops of her books. It was too bad she didn't seem to want to talk about what had happened. Likely too fresh. It was for her too, but she felt a deep need to talk about it to someone who would understand. Maybe after she got to know people better.
"Mostly contraband," she laughed a bit. "My parents weren't too keen on fiction, but once you're in college, you kind of HAVE to take English Lit, ya know?" It occurred to her Dani likely hadn't a clue what she meant, but that wasn't uncommon for her. It seemed everyone ended up more worldly than her at a much younger age.
"Douglas Coupland, David Sedaris, some classics. Nothing really that great. But you're welcome to borrow any of them if you like." She smiled. "I love to read. If I end up with a decent job I hope I still have time. I know when I was in school I definitely didn't. So you've travelled a lot?"
Blinking at the idea that parents wouldn't want people reading books, Dani wondered just what kind of family Adrien had.
"I might take you up on that. Trying to get a job, so I might not have time either." She shoved a delicates wash bag full of underwear into the cupboard and looked down at her suitcase. The toiletries bag went down under the bedside table, her books went on top of it, and the small purse in the front pocket was hung off the bedhead. Only a stray button was rolling around in the suitcase now, and Dani had a vague thought that another pair of shoes might be nice.
Pushing the suitcase onto the top of the cupboard and trying to ignore the stones that were still stuck in the wheels, Dani turned back to Adrien and shook out her sheets to start making the bed.
"Yeah, thing were a bit awkward back home, because everyone knew still and..." She took a deep breath. Might as well just come out and say it, if Adrien really didn't want to talk about mutation she could just remember never to mention it again.
"Well, my... powers... weren't exactly nice. People didn't forget. It was easier to move and get a fresh start." It wasn't easy to be normal when you never really had, though. "I liked travelling. Might pack up and keep moving one day, but I want to see what it's like here first. You finished college then, or...?"
"No... I quit before I graduated." She wasn't about to blab her own story when Dani had just offered a bit of hers.
"If you don't mind me asking... what were your... powers? I've never talked to any other mutants before. Cured or otherwise." Her hands folded in her lap. She tried not to watch Dani so avidly, but she was fascinated. It sounded as if the girl had a bad experience back home. It wasn't like she wanted to wallow in someone else's pain, but... she knew how that felt. To be looked at like a freak. It didn't mean she wanted the Cure, but still. She could have done without the shame.
Simon had quit too, and she wondered how often that happened to people in their situation.
Looking at Adrien for a moment, Dani nodded. She wasn't ashamed of her powers, they just hadn't brought her anything good.
"Illusions." Pausing, she realised that it could sound good when put like that. "But not nice ones, only... scary ones." It wasn't as bad for her, looking from the outside, but the people that they were directed at experienced the thing as if it was real. "Couldn't control it. Made life... difficult." She tucked the sheet around the matress and didn't elaborate any further.
Adrien whispered. "Wow. You know... I think my church would have had even MORE of a problem with you than me." She smirked. "Crazy."
"So I'm assuming you... chose?" She blushed, pretty brightly even. The whole thing was so uncomfortable, and she wasn't sure why. It was painful for her to talk about, but she wasn't ashamed- refused to be ashamed- of what had happened to her. Her family and the church they were a part of were crazy. Not her.
Wondering what the comment about the church meant, Dani nodded.
"Yeah, when you don't know if just walking down the street you'll start making aliens burst out of people's chests, things aren't fantastic. I wanted to be able to talk to people without having to worry." She frowned as she spread out the blanket and sat down on it. She probably wouldn't need it - Caldecott County was much hotter than she was used to - but it seemed strange to her to leave the sheets out in the open.
"So you... didn't?" The odd question had provoked Dani's curiosity - which was, admittedly, easily provoked, but she tried not to stare. Instead, she focused on unlacing her combat boots and taking them off, so that she could sit with her legs crossed. Not the kind of thing she would do with dusty boots on clean sheets.
Adrien shook her head. "My family forced in on me. They thought my powers came from Satan." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and sighed, a little nervous, but it was nice to say it out loud. "They knew I was a mutant for years, but always kind of... forbade me to use my ability when I was in their house. They'd rather I not at all, because they thought it was a sin. I've been exorcised and all. Bathed in holy water..." she shook her head, more sad than angry. "I know that must sound completely freaky." Adrien smiled a bit. She was used to being considered a freak just for being charismatic christian, let alone being a mutant.
"I think a lot of christian mutants have experienced the same thing. We could practically start a home just for them." She smirked.
Ohhh. One of those churches.
She was a bit confused - why, if God created everyone, would the church think the devil was involved with mutations? Wouldn't it make more sense to see powers as a gift? Unless it was something like hers, but then Dani didn't believe in the christian god anyway, so it was a moot point.
"Actually, I've heard it comes from your dad." The comment was perfectly innocent in intent, though Dani wasn't sure if she'd managed to get that across. She hurried into another sentence just in case.
"What... what could you do?" Her mind was concocting all sorts of terrible scenarios that would lead to such treatment by Adrien's family and church.
Adrien laughed. "From the dad, really? Like genetic? That's awesome. If that's the case I'll have to write home." She chuckled again, seeming to have a good attitude about the whole thing.
Her sigh was a bit sad as she thought of her powers. "I could, um..." she made a motion with her hand to demonstrate. "Move... really fast. Break the sound barrier kind of fast. It was great." She smiled sadly. "And pretty harmless really. I miss it."
"I can totally see what you'd want to be rid of your mutation though. Do you miss it anyway or are you thrilled to be rid of it?"
"Nah, I'm glad it's gone. I think, you know, if I could control when it happened things'd be different, but..." She shrugged. "Yours sounds pretty cool though, can see why you'd miss it."
Dani played with her hair for a moment, unsure where to go from there. Speaking about her mutation had been awkward, and she started to understand why some of the people here might want to avoid the subject. Still, it wasn't exactly easy when you were trying to talk about your life while ignoring a great big chunk of it.
Life goes on. All that Dani could think to do about the matter was create a new history by living life to the fullest now that she was in a situation where she could. Well, aside from the fact that she was inept socially most of the time.
"So you mentioned you were looking for a job? There's a few places in town hiring, I went and picked up forms for a bunch of places today." They were in the plastic bag with her jeans and the shirts she'd bought, which she realised she hadn't unpacked yet. They'd probably need washing, anyway - as would the shorts she was wearing, which were brand new, but it had been so hot. "What kind of work are you looking for?"
Adrien looked out the window a moment, wondering how Lars was doing what with his company going belly up and all. Turning her attention back to Dani as she asked a question, she smiled.
"I'm not sure. Waitressing, likely. The hours are good and the money comes in daily, which I think should be good around here. Groceries alone must be hell for those ladies. Aside from that I don't *really* have a preference. Do you have a car? If not I'd be happy to run you back into town when you want to turn those back in."
Nodding, Dani said, "No, I don't... That'd be nice, thanks. I didn't really look in any of those places - don't always do so well with customers, y'know? But I'm sure you'll be able to find something." She smiled at the other girl. So far, things were going well. She'd only made a few people think she was freaks all day, and no-one had told her to leave yet, so Dani counted it as a good first day.
Yeah, things actually did go that badly normally.
Adrien? Something like that. Isn't that a boys name? Her inner monologue was just as weird as she was. At least, when it wasn't being critical of her it was.
She peered into a doorway, one that had two younger girls sitting talking on their beds, and smiled at them before moving on.
Hope that's not where I'm supposed to be.
Peering into the doorway across the hall, she spotted Adrien, who was putting things away. Dani noticed fresh sheets sitting on the end of the bare matresses, and wondered who had been moved around. No time for that now, though, she wanted to get herself organised before it got too late, and hang up a half decent outfit so that she could go putting in applications tomorrow.
Of course, a half decent outfit to Dani meant a clean pair of jeans, and a shirt that wasn't too interesting. Interesting shirts could put people off.
Blinking, she realised she'd been standing in the door for a while and smiled brightly.
"Hi, again!"
Adrien looked up, a book in her hand and a few others near her feet. She smiled. "Hey there. Are you my new roomate?"
The girl was certainly 'interesting' looking- which to her family and the church would mean she was a 'hood' or as her mother would say 'not the sort of girl you should be seen with'. To Adrien she looked artsy and fun. A lot like the kids at the university, for that matter.
"Don't be shy, I haven't sprayed my cooties everywhere yet." She chuckled and got up to shift open the closet, a few things hanging to one end of the rail and a shoebox up on the shelf, tucked away unobtrusively.
Grinning and walking over to one of the beds, Dani plonked down her suitcase.
"Cool. Yeah, I think so. You know, unless I'm in the wrong room again, but I don't think they normally get this many of us every day." That sentence sounded a bit odd, but she shrugged. "At least, I hope they don't get this many every day, or we'll be packed in like sardines." An interesting image. She wondered if she'd mind being packed in with Simon.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, but her tanned skin didn't show it quite so much as some people.
Unzipping her suitcase, she looked at the things in there and frowned. Most of her things were still back at home, or donated to thrift shops when she'd moved on. There was enough, though, and if she was going to get settled and be able to make some kind of contribution, she needed to unpack.
"So... I'm Dani. I think we met in the kitchen earlier." She made sure to qualify the statement in case she was hallucinating, which was entirely possible. She had taken off fairly quickly.
"Are you from around here?" Blinking a couple of times, she clarified, "I mean, you know, not from right here or anything, but from..." She waved her arms around a bit vaguely, then pulled out some clothes and reached for some hangers.
Adrien sat back down on her bed to finish unpacking her books. She laughed softly. Dani was sweet. Scattered and hyperactive, but it was almost nice. Adrien stacked her books on the windowsill by her bed in neat little rows.
"Yeah, just before you ran outside. I'm actually from Atlanta, so, not too far from home but just enough to feel comfortable, right..." her chuckle was a little subdued. Adrien got the impression from the getgo that talking about what had happened to them was not welcome. Which was strange, because she couldn't have been the only mutant who had the Cure forced on them. Or did everyone here actually CHOOSE to get rid of their mutation?
She realized she was staring at Dani and shook herself, picking up her bible and setting it on her nightstand. "How about you? Did you have to come far to get here?"
"Oh, I'm originally from Montana, but I travelled a lot after..." She trailed off. Marie and Lee had told her that most of them didn't like to talk about it. Dani wasn't a big fan of what her powers did, which is why she'd gotten the cure, but it seemed like it was going to be hard to talk about the past if she had to keep trailing off whenever the conversation drew close to the cure.
"Well, I wasn't that far off when I heard about the place, anyway." She was still confused about who the rogues were that it was named for, but that question seemed like a bit of a stupid one to ask. Not that it was likely to stop her - Dani's mouth often ran ahead before her brain could catch up.
Hanging up a bunch of shirts and the one dress that she owned, Dani wondered if there were any of the hangers with the clips. She couldn't see them, so with a shrug started folding her pants into the normal hangers. It'd do, and was better than leaving them scrunched up in her suitcase.
"What books have you got there?" It was a way to steer the conversation away from what she'd been told was awkward, and also a matter of interest. Dani only had two books with her - and one was a journal - but she had a bookshelf full at home. There weren't many things for a person like her to do, so she'd become a loner by default and read a lot of books when she wasn't playing video games.
Adrien smiled shyly, running her fingers over the tops of her books. It was too bad she didn't seem to want to talk about what had happened. Likely too fresh. It was for her too, but she felt a deep need to talk about it to someone who would understand. Maybe after she got to know people better.
"Mostly contraband," she laughed a bit. "My parents weren't too keen on fiction, but once you're in college, you kind of HAVE to take English Lit, ya know?" It occurred to her Dani likely hadn't a clue what she meant, but that wasn't uncommon for her. It seemed everyone ended up more worldly than her at a much younger age.
"Douglas Coupland, David Sedaris, some classics. Nothing really that great. But you're welcome to borrow any of them if you like." She smiled. "I love to read. If I end up with a decent job I hope I still have time. I know when I was in school I definitely didn't. So you've travelled a lot?"
Blinking at the idea that parents wouldn't want people reading books, Dani wondered just what kind of family Adrien had.
"I might take you up on that. Trying to get a job, so I might not have time either." She shoved a delicates wash bag full of underwear into the cupboard and looked down at her suitcase. The toiletries bag went down under the bedside table, her books went on top of it, and the small purse in the front pocket was hung off the bedhead. Only a stray button was rolling around in the suitcase now, and Dani had a vague thought that another pair of shoes might be nice.
Pushing the suitcase onto the top of the cupboard and trying to ignore the stones that were still stuck in the wheels, Dani turned back to Adrien and shook out her sheets to start making the bed.
"Yeah, thing were a bit awkward back home, because everyone knew still and..." She took a deep breath. Might as well just come out and say it, if Adrien really didn't want to talk about mutation she could just remember never to mention it again.
"Well, my... powers... weren't exactly nice. People didn't forget. It was easier to move and get a fresh start." It wasn't easy to be normal when you never really had, though. "I liked travelling. Might pack up and keep moving one day, but I want to see what it's like here first. You finished college then, or...?"
"No... I quit before I graduated." She wasn't about to blab her own story when Dani had just offered a bit of hers.
"If you don't mind me asking... what were your... powers? I've never talked to any other mutants before. Cured or otherwise." Her hands folded in her lap. She tried not to watch Dani so avidly, but she was fascinated. It sounded as if the girl had a bad experience back home. It wasn't like she wanted to wallow in someone else's pain, but... she knew how that felt. To be looked at like a freak. It didn't mean she wanted the Cure, but still. She could have done without the shame.
Simon had quit too, and she wondered how often that happened to people in their situation.
Looking at Adrien for a moment, Dani nodded. She wasn't ashamed of her powers, they just hadn't brought her anything good.
"Illusions." Pausing, she realised that it could sound good when put like that. "But not nice ones, only... scary ones." It wasn't as bad for her, looking from the outside, but the people that they were directed at experienced the thing as if it was real. "Couldn't control it. Made life... difficult." She tucked the sheet around the matress and didn't elaborate any further.
Adrien whispered. "Wow. You know... I think my church would have had even MORE of a problem with you than me." She smirked. "Crazy."
"So I'm assuming you... chose?" She blushed, pretty brightly even. The whole thing was so uncomfortable, and she wasn't sure why. It was painful for her to talk about, but she wasn't ashamed- refused to be ashamed- of what had happened to her. Her family and the church they were a part of were crazy. Not her.
Wondering what the comment about the church meant, Dani nodded.
"Yeah, when you don't know if just walking down the street you'll start making aliens burst out of people's chests, things aren't fantastic. I wanted to be able to talk to people without having to worry." She frowned as she spread out the blanket and sat down on it. She probably wouldn't need it - Caldecott County was much hotter than she was used to - but it seemed strange to her to leave the sheets out in the open.
"So you... didn't?" The odd question had provoked Dani's curiosity - which was, admittedly, easily provoked, but she tried not to stare. Instead, she focused on unlacing her combat boots and taking them off, so that she could sit with her legs crossed. Not the kind of thing she would do with dusty boots on clean sheets.
Adrien shook her head. "My family forced in on me. They thought my powers came from Satan." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and sighed, a little nervous, but it was nice to say it out loud. "They knew I was a mutant for years, but always kind of... forbade me to use my ability when I was in their house. They'd rather I not at all, because they thought it was a sin. I've been exorcised and all. Bathed in holy water..." she shook her head, more sad than angry. "I know that must sound completely freaky." Adrien smiled a bit. She was used to being considered a freak just for being charismatic christian, let alone being a mutant.
"I think a lot of christian mutants have experienced the same thing. We could practically start a home just for them." She smirked.
Ohhh. One of those churches.
She was a bit confused - why, if God created everyone, would the church think the devil was involved with mutations? Wouldn't it make more sense to see powers as a gift? Unless it was something like hers, but then Dani didn't believe in the christian god anyway, so it was a moot point.
"Actually, I've heard it comes from your dad." The comment was perfectly innocent in intent, though Dani wasn't sure if she'd managed to get that across. She hurried into another sentence just in case.
"What... what could you do?" Her mind was concocting all sorts of terrible scenarios that would lead to such treatment by Adrien's family and church.
Adrien laughed. "From the dad, really? Like genetic? That's awesome. If that's the case I'll have to write home." She chuckled again, seeming to have a good attitude about the whole thing.
Her sigh was a bit sad as she thought of her powers. "I could, um..." she made a motion with her hand to demonstrate. "Move... really fast. Break the sound barrier kind of fast. It was great." She smiled sadly. "And pretty harmless really. I miss it."
"I can totally see what you'd want to be rid of your mutation though. Do you miss it anyway or are you thrilled to be rid of it?"
"Nah, I'm glad it's gone. I think, you know, if I could control when it happened things'd be different, but..." She shrugged. "Yours sounds pretty cool though, can see why you'd miss it."
Dani played with her hair for a moment, unsure where to go from there. Speaking about her mutation had been awkward, and she started to understand why some of the people here might want to avoid the subject. Still, it wasn't exactly easy when you were trying to talk about your life while ignoring a great big chunk of it.
Life goes on. All that Dani could think to do about the matter was create a new history by living life to the fullest now that she was in a situation where she could. Well, aside from the fact that she was inept socially most of the time.
"So you mentioned you were looking for a job? There's a few places in town hiring, I went and picked up forms for a bunch of places today." They were in the plastic bag with her jeans and the shirts she'd bought, which she realised she hadn't unpacked yet. They'd probably need washing, anyway - as would the shorts she was wearing, which were brand new, but it had been so hot. "What kind of work are you looking for?"
Adrien looked out the window a moment, wondering how Lars was doing what with his company going belly up and all. Turning her attention back to Dani as she asked a question, she smiled.
"I'm not sure. Waitressing, likely. The hours are good and the money comes in daily, which I think should be good around here. Groceries alone must be hell for those ladies. Aside from that I don't *really* have a preference. Do you have a car? If not I'd be happy to run you back into town when you want to turn those back in."
Nodding, Dani said, "No, I don't... That'd be nice, thanks. I didn't really look in any of those places - don't always do so well with customers, y'know? But I'm sure you'll be able to find something." She smiled at the other girl. So far, things were going well. She'd only made a few people think she was freaks all day, and no-one had told her to leave yet, so Dani counted it as a good first day.
Yeah, things actually did go that badly normally.