milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Antigone steps in from outdoors, finally wearing shoes. She'd sat on the grass for as long as the gray light lasted, and it's well past dark now. Tonight, she skips the tea and heads straight for the fire, dropping down into the armchair nearest to the warmth.

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"Oh."

Nine months at Milliways, and Nita still doesn't know how to respond to that.

"I'm sorry."

She smiles faintly.

"I was, too. But I don't know if I am anymore. As much."

"When did it happen?"

The smile fades.

"I ... before. Before I came. Felt like a long time."

Oops. Foot, meet mouth.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly. "How long've you been around here? I don't think I've seen you around before."

She shakes her head.

"Ten days, a little more. I'm not sure."

"Yeah, your time sense gets screwed up when you're living here."

She pulls her feet up onto her chair and considers the other girl. "You adjusting okay?"

A faint snort.

"That might be difficult to define."

She raises her eyebrows. "Yeah? How so?"

"First I have to know what you mean when you say 'okay.'"

"Have you gotten turned into anything or met an enemy you thought you were rid of for good?"

Would you like to be a blindworm? To know what true lack of vision is?

"No," she says slowly.

"Then you're not doing too bad," Nita assure her, with a smile.

"Will my enemies come here?"

"Some friends of mine have had enemies come here." She shrugs. "But it's a relatively safe place."

Antigone thinks of Serpentine's cold, cold eyes and Coyote's hot, smoky breath.

"Safe."

And Nita, in turn, thinks of Angie and Oberon and a body with a hole through the forehead.

She sighs a little. "Well, for a given value of 'safe.'"

Antigone rolls her eyes.

Nita shrugs, and tries to think of a graceful subject change.

"I think I might prefer it, anyway."

"The bar, you mean?"

"Not being safe," she replies, starting to smile faintly. "It makes everything mean more."

She raises her eyebrows.

"I guess it kind of does. Some of the time, anyway."

"When you have to earn every minute ... fight for it."

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