maskormenacelogs | AGE PLOT SHENANIGANS

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AGE PLOT SHENANIGANS

WHO: Everyone and anyone!
WHERE: De Chima, various
WHEN: Around 6 PM EST, March 25th
WHAT: Age plot kickoff!
WARNINGS: Cuteness.

[ LET'S GET THIS PARTY OFFICIALLY STARTED! Opening events so we don't do too much comm flooding (although people are welcome to make their own posts for the event). You're welcome to toplevel with your character if you'd like to have them show up somewhere else for this plot.

Current toplevels:
Spring Festival in a De Chima city park
De Chima #1
De Chima #1, later (Minato)

The age plot will run from March 25th through Sunday, March 29th. More deets available at the plotting post. ]

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[ Her response is not unkind, but it's very firm. ]

Rubbish. Giving up is giving up. Anything less isn't.

You can't let yourself not do things that are perfectly sensible and quite good for you just because it feels like something you oughtn't do.

[Miles doesn't answer immediately, and he remains quiet as he thinks over Kitty's words. After a moment he finally tears himself away from the cracks in the sidewalk and looks at her properly.]

What about you? Are you going to school here?

[He's speaking more slowly now, more carefully, and his voice actually resembles a polite tone now]

[ And Kitty takes a moment to respond as well. Going to school there...She feels a little twist of regret. She'd like to. She'd like to learn more, to go to university, to be someone...learned. To spend a few years just learning things. But she's looked at the sorts of things they learn in university. Kitty's clever, sure, but cleverness doesn't make up for never having gone to a proper school. Having spent all her time on crafting pottery and taking in propaganda instead of analyzing texts or learning history or learning what on earth algebra is.

Her voice is a little quiet. ]

I know I don't look it, but I'm a little too old for school. [ Then, pushing down her unhappiness to try to pretend to be brash and confident: ] I read a lot, though, so that's definitely worth something.

[Miles furrows his brow, giving her a funny look]

You can't be that old. And even if you are, nobody's too old for school. Like... my old teacher, Mr. Pierce, he went back to school just so he could be a teacher. He was old. So if he can do it, you can do it.

[ Ouch. Way to demolish her convenient excuse, kid. Kitty hesitates, and tries to come up with a lie he'll swallow, and can't find one. So she finally gives a little shrug and says, her manner less blithe and more bitter than she'd want it to be: ]

Well, school's also really different where I'm from. Most of what I know, I taught myself, so it's different from what's in the classrooms here. Teachers wouldn't know what to do with me. There wouldn't really be a place for me.

[ Then, fiercely: ]

Which is completely fine. It saves me time.

[And now she's angry again? Why is she so angry about this? Miles pauses, not sure what to make of it]

Well... [Keeping his tone quiet now, and while he's staring at her, he's no longer giving her funny looks] You won't know until they try, right? And schools still have libraries, and books you can't get on your own. So if they can't teach you, then you can still teach yourself.

[ He's...right about that. She guesses. But the thought of it - Kitty's spent her whole life being sneered at and scoffed at. She's always been treated like an ignorant commoner, and at home, that was always fine. She could pretend to be dull-eyed and simple, and she could privately gloat about how much she was underestimated and how she would change things. But here...Here, she's gained a reputation for being clever. There are people who genuinely respect her intellect, and that fact is completely intoxicating. It makes her so happy. The thought of going to school, and being so hopelessly ignorant, and having people look at her with the contempt they showed her back home, of everyone losing that respect for her -

She doesn't know if she can take that. ]

Um - maybe.

[ Abruptly, she points at a cafe she's never been to before in her life. ]

That place is really nice. That one right there. You should try it some time.

[Miles is about to say something, but once Kitty points out the cafe, he loses his train of thought entirely. There's one thing on his mind now: food]

Oh. Erm... do you want to go here, then?

[She was dragging him to get some lunch, right?]

What?

[ Which is a stupid response. What does she mean, what? It's a natural question, and logical, and one she ought to have expected. Get with it, Kitty. ]

Erm - I mean - Yeah, let's...go there.

[ Smooth. ]

Here, come on.

[ She reaches out her hand for him to take. ]

[He looks at Kitty, then at her hand, and then back at Kitty, only this time he's staring at her like she grew a third eye. Honestly, how old did she think he was? He stuffs his hand in his pocket, his only act of defiance as he follows alongside her]

So, what kind of stuff do they have here, anyway?

[ Wow rude. Kitty frowns a bit, and sort of twitches her shoulders, and gives a huff. Fortunatelyly, her crabbiness gives her a decent cover for a non-answer: ]

It's good. Cafe food.

[Cafe food isn't an answer, he wants to say, but he doesn't want to look like he doesn't know what cafe food is. He'll see when they get inside, however. He huffs to himself, annoyed by Kitty's attitude, but that doesn't stop him from rushing to the door to hold it open. Manners are important, even if the person you're showing manners to is kind of a jerk.]

[ And Kitty opens the door, and -

Yeah. Okay. This...is...a hookah bar. There are relatively few cushions and couches about, and the few people in there are lazily smoking pipes and looking at the two kids with skepticism and vague alarm. Kitty stares back a moment, and then looks at the kid, and then looks up again and then chokes - ]

Um - sorry. Sorry -

[ And then awkwardly she flails her arm out to shove the boy back from the doorway and then slams the door in front of them. When she looks over at him, her cheeks are pink. ]

I - they've...changed. I think.

Hey!

[He was tryig to open the door for her, and she shoved him out of the way! R U D E. Though, from little he saw, it was clear that this was no cafe. He looks at the building, and back to Kitty, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as he puts the pieces together in his head. There's only one explanation, and that is...]

You're lost, aren't you?

Wh...what?

[ She goes even pinker. ]

No! I know...exactly where I am. The cafe is just different! That's all! It's changed from last time!

[Yyyep. She's definitely lost. He's not going to rub it in, though]

Well, let's go somewhere else, then. Come on.

[Aaand he's going to walk back to where they were, backtracking until he can find someplace familiar]

[ She gives a cluck of frustration and jerks her head. ]

I said I know where I'm going! Look, my flat's a half-mile that way. Stop going back to the park. That's not even a nice park.

[He stops instantly, his body going stiff, before he spins around and scowls at her. Come on, you don't have to yell!]

It's not a bad park.

[Not that he cares much about the park either way. Right now he's being petulant and argumentative for the sake of being petulant and argumentative]

[ She clenches her fists, anger rising up in her - and a desperation, too. This...goes...maybe...a little beyond the thing with the cafe. ]

It's stupid. And don't...Don't act like I don't remember things. All right? I know where I'm going.

[ Kitty takes a breath, trying to force it down. ]

[Okaaay, this is. Weird. He stares at her for a moment, still tense, nausea settling in his stomach. He's not scared or afraid or anything like that, but he's feeling the very specific discomfort one feels when when they know that something isn't right, but they don't know what isn't right about it, exactly.]

So... where are we going, then?

[ You know you're having a bad day when you've got a little kid staring at you like you're a serial killer. Kitty rubs her hand over her eyes, and takes a deep breath, forcing all of her aggression and frustration way down into the boiling bubbling pit of anger that seems to be simmering away in her belly. It's fine. It's all fine. ]

We can go to the cafe where I work. They'll give us free stuff there.

[The mention of free food makes his eyes light up instantly. Normally he wouldn't be so desperate, but his hunger's getting worse and worse, especially since that last "cafe" was a bust. Besides, the normal rules about taking food from strangers doesn't apply here. Employees don't count as strangers.]

And it's not a problem?

[ She shrugs. ]

They'll probably give me sh...

[ ...uh. ]

Grief. For not being able to work yet again. But no, it won't be a problem. The owner likes imPorts. He likes having them show up. He'll be happy to have us.

If you say so...

[He shrugs, not wanting to argue it anymore]

But it's kind of weird, isn't it? How many people like us, I mean. I know that there are heroes out there, but most of us haven't really done anything.

[ Kitty grunts in acknowledgment. Where her older self would have been a bit more kind, a bit more gentle, her younger self's short temper leads her to a brusque: ]

They're always happy to use people who might be advantageous.

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