Sugar, Sugar (open!)

[Wraith]

It was only the second time she'd cried in recent memory, and both times, there'd been someone there to hold her. Maybe she should be re-thinking her bleak outlook on life. But she laughed a little through her tears. "There's plenty wrong with me. Just not that." She sighed shakily, leaning on Script's shoulder, and suddenly, she couldn't stop talking. At this point, it was practically an emotional breakdown.

"I think I'm in love with her. And I haven't told her, and Goblin doesn't know she exists, and I don't even know if she's still seeing boys, and it's hard because she's not exactly the most...serious person, and I don't know if I should even talk to her about this stuff or just enjoy things the way they are, which is kind of wonderful. Except that she lives with this couple, the married ones, and helps take care of their kids and stuff, and the guy, Tristan, he's a good friend, but his wife doesn't even like me, and I know I don't have any place there, but I want to...I want to, and I never will, and I don't know what Goblin would do if I moved out anyway."

And with that, she lapsed into a confused and horrified silence, resting her head on the shoulder of a girl she'd met about fifteen minutes ago.

((Off to bed! G'night!))

[Script]

((Night!))

Script nodded along, stroking her hair and absorbing the information. She let the silence go for several moments before asking carefully: "Well...are you looking for advice, or did you just want to say it out-loud to see how it felt?" Script could give pretty good advice, and the poor girl seemed to need a third-party perspective on her rather...dramatic life.

"You wanna come back to the kitchen? Cookies and milk make everything better." She pulled back enough to give her a friendly smile.

[Wraith]

Wraith smiled weakly. "I'm so sorry, I don't even know where all this came from..." But she did, of course. She had never in her life been ashamed of liking girls or thought it was wrong--only one thing about it had been driving her crazy lately, and that was the fact that there was no one to talk to about it. Her brother had enough worries of his own, and Tristan...she loved the guy, but he just wasn't the kind of person a fifteen-year-old girl confided in about her love life.

She pulled out a handkerchief, fixed herself up as best she could, and got to her feet. "Cookies, milk, advice--anything," she said, following Script back to the kitchen in a bit of a daze.

[Script]

Script guided her into a chair, immediately moving to pop a tray of cookies into the oven a minute to warm them. "So, what's her name? What she like?" She took the cookies out of the oven and set them on a plate in front of Wraith, along with a glass of milk. Because she remembered how it always made her feel better when her mother did it, Script stood behind her and began brushing through her hair lightly with her fingers, braiding bits of it idly.

[Wraith]

She sipped the glass of milk and leaned back in the chair, automatically relaxing as Script played with her hair. "No one's done that since Tara when we were kids." She thought about the question, giving Script one more nervous look. But Goblin trusted her. He'd never been wrong about anyone, including their own parents. And from what Wraith had said so far, she could figure the rest out anyway.

"Her name's Kennedy. She's...kind of odd, I guess. But not like I am. She's happy all the time--it's like nothing ever ruffles her. She says that's not true, but I've never seen her ruffled. She's always kind of...bouncy and excited. Like a little kid. I think she might actually believe in fairies, and possibly Santa Claus." She smiled to herself. "I'm different when I'm with her. Not broken or sad or scared of everything. She makes me happy," Wraith said simply, closing her eyes.

[Script]

Script nodded along, trailing her fingers over Wraith's scalp soothingly as she listened. "That's what a good relationship does. It makes us better. You mentioned you didn't know if she was serious...Do you want to be, ya know, exclusive or whatever, with her? Have you thought about maybe telling her how you really feel?"

This is what Script liked best. She liked mediating, being the voice of reason in other people's problematic lives. If she found it ironic that she was never the voice of reason in her own life, she didn't say so.

[Wraith]

Well, of course she'd thought about it, but... "I'm afraid to ruin it." What were the chances of ever finding any girl who liked her again, let alone someone like Kennedy?

[Script]

"Aw, honey, you can't let yourself worry about that. If you want to be together, you oughta tell her." She brushed her hair gently. "It might not be easy, but love never is." And since Script was already feeling the early springs of it, she thought everybody should.

[Wraith]

Wraith nodded wearily. "I'll talk to her. And Goblin. He, uh...doesn't actually know about any of this." She opened her eyes and smiled at Script, nibbling at one of the cookies even though this was going to wreak havoc on her stomach--she'd already had two cupcakes, for God's sake. "You're good at getting people to open up. And eat. As long as your motives are pure, I guess I can approve."

[Script]

She let herself laugh warmly. "I do in fact have good intentions. Though if you could brag about my baking, i'd appreciate it. I'm thinking of maybe starting to sell it." She moved to sit in the chair beside her. "And I won't tell Goblin any details about what we talked about, if you don't want me to. I'm hoping you and me can be friends." She smiled at her. She really did like the girl. Sure, she was a little rough around the edges, but a lot of people around here were like that.

[Wraith]

"That would probably make you the first friend I've got in this place," she admitted. She thought of Ershey and Mush, but that had been strictly a business arrangement. She'd never thought of trying to socialize with them afterward. It had seemed safest, smartest, to keep her distance. And the idea of trusting people was so new. "I'll definitely brag about your cooking. Especially if...if you think you could maybe give me some tips sometimes? I'm, uh...trying to impress my girl's landlord's wife." And she came very close to laughing at the absurdity of that sentence.

[Script]

Script grinned at her. "Sure, I can show you a couple things. The great thing about baking is if you just follow the recipe, you should be all right. Here, start with this." She grabbed a napkin and a pen from her pocket, writing down a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. "This one's a good one. Easy peasy."

[Wraith]

"Thanks. So much. For everything." Wraith gave Script a look of serious gratitude, which changed to one of fearsome determination as she accepted the napkin. She had murdered three cops, blackmailed a fourth, found a long-lost sister, and come out to her brother's girlfriend--she was damn well going to master this cookie recipe.

[Script]

She nodded at her, appreciating the look of determination on her face. "You're gonna be okay, Wraith. I can tell." She smiled. "And you've still got that bag of goodies to take home and impress 'em with." She laughed a little, then titlted her head. "Speaking of which...have you decided what you're gonna do about Kennedy?"

[Wraith]

"Well...I guess the first step is finding her." Wraith frowned slightly, wetting a rag in the sink and starting to wipe crumbs off the counter, because it helped to have something productive to do. "She wasn't home the last couple times I dropped by." Which was why she'd ended up trying to bond with Nevada in the first place. "She's probably just visiting her grandmother, though...and when she gets back, I guess I'll just...start talking to her and see what comes out."