Second little lie ♰ I got a pretty little mouth underneath all the foaming

[beingdifferent]

[The first thing the feed catches is a head full of unkempt black hair. The camera shakes as the girl it belongs to pulls back, pretty face marred by an ugly expression. Her lips are thinned and drawn downward, her narrowed eyes burning with a mad light. Everything from her neck down is wrapped in the sterile white of a straightjacket. She's hissing under her breath before growling a phrase in a foreign language -- Estonian to be precise. Those who speak it would catch what it means: "So afraid of a little girl!"

After screaming out her accusation she breathes hard, collecting her breath, before leveling another withering glare at the communicator and switching to English.]

Let me out.

[OOC: Esther is 16, just the same size as she is normally but physically looks like a teenager since she's not in disguise. She's also currently on loan from the Saarne Institute, and will become very unpleasant if she's let out of her straightjacket.]

Comments

[jumpeduplittleshit]

You can't be serious. A straightjacket?

[beingdifferent]

Does this look like a joke?

[jumpeduplittleshit]

What's wrong with you?

[beingdifferent]

What's wrong with you?

[jumpeduplittleshit]

I'm not the one in a straightjacket.

Christ, how old are you? [Because this is very weird.]

[beingdifferent]

Old enough to know how useless you are.

[justplaying]

[Victor's calmer now. Cleaner, at least, just this side of human, so he watches her carefully with no little amount of interest. Gaze too sharp, and he whistles in commiseration.]

You too, huh?

[beingdifferent]

[Whistles. That's too carefree a sound to be heard in the Institute's halls, especially around Leena Klammer's ward. It surprises her enough to keep her from thrashing and look at this... fellow prisoner.]

Where do they have you?

[justplaying]

Nowhere. I got out.

[It's a fierce grin he gives her, a dangerous one.]

[beingdifferent]

[But not one that scares her. She's smiled that way herself.]

Then get me out.

[justplaying]

[Hers probably doesn't have sharp teeth, but even so. Like recognizes like.]

If I knew where you are I might think about it.

[beingdifferent]

But you'd only think?

private

[versusnurture]

[Abigail's eyes widen, but, you know. Also kind of fascinated. And who can blame her.]

What did they do?

private

[beingdifferent]

[By this time Esther's red in the face and sweating from her efforts, her lip bleeding from biting too hard in frustration. She pulls helplessly at the restraints and shakes her head hard.]

They put me in here! Help me!

private

[versusnurture]

If I do, are you going to hurt me?

private

[beingdifferent]

Not if you don't make me.

private

[versusnurture]

That sounds like wordplay.

[A beat.]

Where are you?

private

[beingdifferent]

It isn't playing.

Shut away in the cell where they always leave me.

spam

[surrenders]

[Lua knows how dangerous this is, but also knows the kid needs to calm down. She doesn't get what's happened with Esther, how she somehow looks grown-up instead of a kid, but she's got this sense of what's fair and what isn't and letting her rage about something that hasn't happened isn't right. She eases the door open, Jean and the new guy with her to make sure nothing goes too wrong, and bends a little to child-level.]

Hey. This isn't home. It's gonna be all right.

[burnmythoughts]

[The first thing Jean does is a surface scan, so she knows what she's working for, and - ]

Oh.

[It's barely a breath, soft and pained.]

She needs help, Lua.

[They knew that already, but - it's something else, to know exactly what the girl is feeling.]

Her name is Esther.

[beingdifferent]

((Conflating this thread in!))

[Damn straight it's dangerous. Esther is so busy struggling she doesn't even notice the women who enter until Lua speaks. She freezes, sweaty hair hanging in her reddened face as she tries to catch her breath.]

Of course this is not home!

[surrenders]

[She knows Esther's face by now, it starts to come together, and Jean in her head isn't an intrusion when she's used to other people coming inside it. She looks to her quickly, like she might need a little bit more, since she can't speak without moving her lips, and then turns to Esther.]

Breathe real slow, all right? Whoever locked you up isn't here. We're here to make you safe.

[burnmythoughts]

[Jean works as fast as she can, but she's careful, trying to pry apart the rage and turmoil to see what causes them. It's like sifting through hot coals.]

She's sixteen. She - they're holding her, somewhere. [(Saarne.)] An asylum.

[Which they could have guessed, but confirmation is always better than assumption.]

as I just slide in here real fast don't mind me

[tactical_alert]

[There's a lot about this situation that Malcolm doesn't like, but he's new, and others would know better. And doing...something about this girl is better than just leaving her to rot in her room. He stands by the door, prepared to do...something. Whatever these women need of him. He probably looks more like a guard than anything, and though he doesn't say anything, yet, he's definitely interested in what's going on and why.]

Video;

[little_red_wolf]

Who did that? [It looks uncomfortable, and wrong...]