Rise and Shine

[Cavalier]

Cav frowned a little at that, thinking. "He's real handsy...and worse. But Script's got one thing on her side -- she's not a street kid. Rumor has it her dad was at the hearing?"

--

Script nodded, licking her lips. "I...I just have to get in good with him. Maybe he'll--he'll say stuff around me thinking I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut..."

[Goblin]

Goblin nodded. "I don't think he's really anyone important, though. But she could say he is." He gave the pillowcase a tug. "It's...actually a good thing that the warden...likes her. Good for the plan, I mean." There was a tinge of sarcasm in his words. He was really starting to hate the plan.

--

"Right. Good thinking," Footsteps said encouragingly, glad to see Script showing some initiative. "But listen," she added firmly. "Don't let him touch you, all right? No one's asking you to go that far. If anything like that happens, you let us know right away. We'll figure something out." She hated that Script was in this situation, that anyone ever was, but she knew the only way to deal with it was to keep their heads.

[Cavalier]

Cav nodded. "Don't matter if her dad's important or not, so long as he's around. They can't do anything too bad to her. Somebody'll miss her." He tried to give Goblin a sympathetic look, but it made him uncomfortable, so he cleared his throat and looked away, tucking in a corner of the sheet under the bed. "How the hell'd you end up with a girl like that, anyway?"

--

Script nodded. "Right. Okay. I can do this. I can." She tried with all her might to be brave and smart and tough. Like Sebastian would have wanted her to be. "Okay."

((I'm thinking I'm gonna PM Rae to do a threat with the warden??))

[Goblin]

((Yes! Aahh, I hope nothing too bad happens to her. Also, I love Cav and his attempts at sympathy.))

Good question, Goblin thought, shrugging. "I was a newsie, she moved into my lodging house, I found her in the kitchen one day making brownies...and she really, really liked me, for reasons I have yet to figure out."

--

"That's the spirit." Footsteps smiled, expertly hiding her considerable worry. "You'll be fine, I know it." She glanced quickly at the door; the other girls would be back soon to start their chores, and she had a feeling the warden would be coming for Script.

[Cavalier]

((I PMed her! And, haha, yeah, he's not so good with the sharing.))

Cav's stomach grumbled at the thought of brownies, but he arched a brow, something clicking in his brain at the way Goblin phrased what he said. "So...you didn't like her?"

--

Script nodded, biting her lip and muttering. "I should make my bed or something..." Her own eyes glanced at the door. It was really only a matter of time.

[Goblin]

"I liked her. I just didn't think I'd be good for her. Which was obviously a sound opinion, 'cause...look where we are."

--

"Make up the top bunk, then," Footsteps told her. "You'll be safer there. You don't mind, right, Bitter?" she called.

Bitter and Yankee had eventually settled down to a peaceful card game. Bitter looked up and rolled her eyes. "I would like to see those puntas try to come after me."

[Cavalier]

Cav smirked, then shrugged, fluffing his pillow as best he could. "Well, she's got it bad, that much is obvious." He was quiet a minute, thinking." Ya know...if you're afraid bein' with her is a bad idea...maybe ya oughta, ya know...let her go..."

--

Script smiled appreciatively. "I think I'd feel safer up top. Muchas gracias, amiga." She set to work on making the bed, smoothing a hand over the sheet. She sighed a little wistfully. "I miss my kitchen."

[Goblin]

He sighed and leaned against the bed. "You think that hasn't occurred to me? But if I did that, she'd fall apart. And if she falls apart in here, she's dead. And besides..." Besides, I'm in love with her, goddamn it. "I dunno. I'll talk to her when this is all over."

--

"Your second day, and you're already starting in on food," Yankee joked, coming over to help Footsteps tidy up their bunk. "Don't worry, happens to the best of us." She gave Script an eager look. "So...what'd you useta make in your kitchen? Details, please."

[Cavalier]

Cav arched a brow at him, but only nodded. "Guys like us don't do so well with girls like her." Or like Footsteps. "Nice girls, I mean."

--

Maggie blushed. "No, not 'cause I'm hungry. Because cooking makes me feel better. Baking, especially." She sighed, wishing she had a bowl to mix something, anything, in. "Everybody likes my brownies best."

[Goblin]

He shook his head in agreement. This was quite a depressing conversation. Not that he'd expect anything else in the Refuge. "'Steps isn't like Script, though," he pointed out, searching for a bit of optimism. "She's been on the streets, she can take of herself. And she seems to like you."

--

Yankee closed her eyes and put one hand on her heart. "I remember brownies," she said dramatically.

Footsteps and Bitter exchanged an amused look. "I miss walking," Footsteps said. "Outdoors, I mean. How 'bout you, Bitter?"

"Coffee," the Spanish girl said at once, finally getting up to do some cleaning.

[Cavalier]

Cav hesitated for just a second, then shrugged. "Who said anything about 'Steps?"

--

"I was never big on coffee, but I make some amazing hot chocolate. And Sebastian only asked me out because of my cookies." And to pawn me off on some other guy. But whatever. She started to make the bed below hers that would now go to Bitter, as a kind of thank you.

[Goblin]

Goblin smirked. "Just me, apparently."

--

"There ain't nothing wrong with that motive," Yankee said. "If I met a guy who made me cookies, I'd snap him up in an instant."

"And snap his head off two days later," Bitter scoffed, picking up a curtain that someone had torn down during a fight and fixing it to the curtain rod again.

Yankee scowled at her.

"Come winter, I'd do anything for a good cup of hot chocolate in here," Footsteps said to Script with a weary smile, wishing her friends wouldn't bicker.

[Cavalier]

The corner of Cav's mouth turned down slightly. "Footsteps is just a girl I know. That's all. She likes everybody, so it's not like her likin' me is special."

--

Script bit her lip thoughtfully. "Maybe if I'm nice to the warden...he'll let me use the kitchen. Let me make him something...and let me bring back something for all the girls..."

[Goblin]

"You won't know unless you say something to her," Goblin pointed out, concluding that the bed was more-or-less made. He looked around for anything else that needed cleaning, and randomly wished for a cigarette.

--

"Yes! This is a good plan!" Yankee announced.

"It really is," Footsteps agreed, "and not just 'cause Yankee's obsessed with food. It'll get you on his good side and...be a good distraction, you know?" Baking the man a cake was certainly better than various other options.

[Cavalier]

"And what exactly would I say?" Cav frowned. "Relationships are stupid and cause nothin' but trouble. Look at you and Script. How much easier would this whole thing be if you weren't stuck on her?"

--

She nodded, her brain already planning how she'd smile in just the right way, move just the right way, speak just the right way to get him to let his guard down. And to get into that kitchen. And then a vaguely-hysterical thought entered her brain, and she said absently, and a little amused, "Maybe I can poison him."