The Way of the World [Open]|

[Lady Death Blossom]

Marina is thrown out of ehr house for being gay. She lives in the streets for a while, but is picke dup the the police. She ends up in a foster home where the daughter of the rich family seems to have taken an interest in her.

Name: Marina Renae Klaxon
Age: 16
Position: Bottom
Personality: Calm, quiet, introverted. Nothing special, no one who would be easily noticed.







"WHORE! Get out! Don't ever come back!" She felt herself being pushed out onto the rainy streets. She wore only a grey sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. She had no shoes, no socks. She groaned softly and pushed herself up, onto her hands and knees. Blood dripped onto he sidewalk from where she had bitten her lip. After a moment she turned back to look at the door. It had closed and she knew it would be locked. To her parents she was dead. It was as if she had never existed in the world. If only she had thought about coming out more carefully. perhaps she should have never told her parents until she was safely moved out.

She turned so she could watch the door form a sitting position. She hardly realized she was getting wet. She was in too much shock. Never go home. Never go home.

Her family had been so wonderful, so caring and so loving. They had always supported her plays, her art. Her mother had even helped her pick out a really good art college. Now there was no chance in hell a girl like her could ever afford anything like that.

She slowly stood. The pavement was cold and wet beneath her bare feet. She figured she would walk down town, maybe take shelter in some restaurant's side door. She sighed, wrapping her arms about herself and shivering. She must have been walking for hours and hours on end. She could feel a dark spot forming on her eye. Her mother had ht her good, that was for sure. That bruise wouldn't go away for a while. She would look like half a raccoon for a month.

She finally felt like she could no longer walk. her whole body vibrated with shivers. She slowly moved down an alleyway, her feet were getting cut by broken glass, she didn't notice. There, a door. It had a canopy like contraption over it. It would keep her dry for the night. Tomorrow she'd have to find some place to go.

She lived like this for a week, eating out of garbage cans, fighting rats and cats for sleeping space. Someone finally called the girl in. Police came and got her, she explained what had happened to them. They sighed at her, telling her that she should have come to them first. This made her feel silly. She was handed over to an agent. Her family was taken to court and both of her parents were put in jail. Her older sister, a college student, didn't want anything to do with her and claimed she had a drinking problem for her excuse.... Marina was then taken in by a foster family.

They seemed nice enough. They lived in a simple little white house with a pretty white pickets fence and a beautiful garden. there was a pool in the back. The place belonged to someone who had money to spare. What int he world would they want with some out cast runt like Marina?

The mother came out to greet her at the gates. She took a look at Marina's drab clothes and five suitcases. "Thats it?" She asked, lifting her chin and indicating the suitcases. Marina nodded.

The woman was beautiful, blond, lovely. She wore a pink tank top and white shorts. She wore white heels that could not be any good for her feet. "Well, we'll let Henry take those." A man seemed to appear from no where, a servant, Marina guessed. He took a suitcase from her hands. "We're out back. Come meet my husband and daughter. I'm sure you'll love them! We'll have to take you shopping later." There was obvious disdain in the woman's words. Marina guessed they were for her emo type clothes. She sighed softly and said "Yes, ma'am." Obediently she followed.

"My name is Anna. You can call me mom though." She waved a hand and giggled. Marina wondered how old the woman was. She was much too old to be acting like a teenage girl.

"Umm... yes Mrs. Anna," was Marina's reply. A sharp glare was directed her way and Marina changed her reply to, "Yes mom..." it felt weird, saying that word. Her thoughts flashed to her mother's face when Marina told her about her sexual orientation. Then, suddenly, there was a pool before her. A slightly balding, dark haired, good looking man stood next to a grill in shorts, a Hawaiian T-Shirt, and sandals.

"This is my husband, Bill."

"Call me Dad." he said with a wave. I hope you like burgers!"

"I'm a vegetarian," Marina replied.

"Really?" Anna raised her eyebrows. Marina nodded. "I'll have some one make you a salad then." Anna moved to give marina a hug, but Marina flinched and drew back. Before she knew it she was wet and float in the pool. Marina blinked back water and surprise as she swam over to the edge. That was about the moment she realized someone else was in the pool.

[Sophronius]

Name: Helen Marie Emmott
Age: 17
Position: Top
Personality: Calm and patient, though in a more devious way. Helen has a way of getting what she wants. She’s aggressive when it comes to having her way, unless she knows that there’s no way for her to win.



Helen sat in her room, on the bed. Her legs pulled up to her chest and her head hanging in the small gap between her chest and legs. Her girlfriend of two years had just left her for another girl, some slutty bitch monster. She had been crying into her legs for about an hour now, since she had gotten the phone call. It kept going through her mind, How could Susan do that? Leave me after all this time with a phone call. Leave me at all. What had started off as a little crush on her best friend had developed into love, at least for Helen. She had been in love with the girl, and she still was, but there was nothing she could do now, except feel sorry for herself.

It took about another hour for Helen to get herself under control. She stopped crying, though her eyes were still red from the tears, and finally lifted her head back up. There was a beeping noise that she had ignored for the last couple of hours, it was the sound of the telephone; she hadn’t turned it off after Susan called her, just dropped it, in shock, and started to cry. She picked up the phone and pushed the talk button, turning off the phone. She went over to the cradle, and placed the phone back in the charger, when her mother gave a slight knock and opened the door a bit, “Honey, your father and I have something to tell you.”

Helen turned to the door, her hair whipping across her face before floating back down. “What is it,” Helen responded, in a soft tone, trying to keep her emotions under control. Her mother opened the door more, and walked into the room. She sat down on the bed, motioning for Helen to do so as well, but the girl refused, standing by the telephone, looking at her mother. “Remember how we volunteered to take in kids in need of a family, honey?” her mother asked. “Yeah,” Helen answered in a stiff tone, she did not like where this was going. It had been about ten years since her parents decided to volunteer as a foster family, and back then Helen would have liked having a brother or sister, but now she didn’t want some little monster or perv teenage boy living in their house. She had gotten to the age where being an only child was, for the most part, heavenly.

“Well, social services called. And they said that there’s a girl that they were wondering if we could take in. She’s about your age; I think she’s a year younger. She’ll be here in a week. There’s a file downstairs, you can take a look at it if you want.” At least it’s a girl, Helen thought, but I still don’t want some sort of bit bitch living here. “Alright,” was all Helen said, she couldn’t argue with her mother, it might work sometimes, but this was something different. It would also gnaw at her conscious if she convinced her parents not to take this girl in. Her mother stood up, walked over to Helen, and gave her a hug before leaving the room. Helen was about to go down to read the file, but the phone rang, she hoped it was Susan, calling back to apologize, to tell her she was blind, but now she realizes who she truly loves. Helen grabbed the phone from its cradle and looked at the Caller ID, before throwing the phone onto her dresser, it was just a telemarketer.

She went downstairs, her father had already left for work, but she could see that he had just left, since there was a mug stained with coffee and a plate with pieces of egg on it, still sitting on the kitchen table. There was a manila envelope sitting on the table too. Helen picked it up, the little tab read, Marina Renae Klaxon; that must be my new sister, she thought. She did not read any more of it there, but instead, took it back up to her bedroom.

Sitting on the bed, she opened the folder, a picture of the girl slid out. Helen picked it up an looked at it, She looks cute, she thought. Discarding the photo, she read over the file, the story was bad, but Helen ignored the more harrowing facts; she was more interested in why the girl was kicked out of her house. Thoughts went streaming through Helen’s mind, she didn’t think that her parents would be that open, taking in a lesbian. She hadn’t yet come out to her parents, and though this was not a reason to, it was a little comforting to know that they might be accepting. There was also a more devious train of thought though, Maybe, if I start sleeping with this girl, Susan will want to come back. She’ll become jealous and want me again. She shook her head, No, I can’t do that, but there were two little voices in her head, one told her that it would bring Susan back, the other that it would hurt her ex-lover, and that that would be enough. Those two voices, after a brief contest, managed to convince her to use the girl, at least for a little while.

Over the next few days, Helen’s anger and sorrow waned. Though she was still devastated by Susan’s departure, the pain was lessening, and her desire to use Marina had lessened. She had looked over the file a few times, lingering on the picture of Marina, and by the day of the girl’s arrival, she was conflicted in what she wanted to do with the girl, she wasn’t sure if she still wanted to use her, or to what ends.

Her mother had told her that the girl would be coming today and that they were going to greet her while outside by the pool. Her father was already outside cooking on the grill, and her mother was making herself up to go outside. Helen slipped on a small, yellow bikini and a pair of large sunglasses and went outside, down to the pool. She pulled over a lounge float and began to drift around the pool, soaking in the sun, keeping an eye and ear open for her foster sister. Helen saw her mother go out to greet the girl, and she slid off of the float, placed her glasses on the side of the pool, and sunk down into the water, so that only her nose, eyes, and ears were above water. Helen watched Marina interact with her parents, and saw her fall back into the pool as her mother tried to hug her. She let out a little giggle, the water bubbling around her mouth, before she stood up, the water level reaching just below her bosom. She took a few steps toward the girl, the water level rising on her body. She swam over to the girl, keeping low and moving slow, she was trying to sneak up on her as she was at the water’s edge. When Helen got close enough, she threw her arms around the girl’s neck, her head lying next to the girl’s neck, she spoke in a soft voice, as if she were speaking just for Marina, “I’m Helen. And I think I’m going to like you.”

[Lady Death Blossom]

She would have screamed had not she more self control. She shivered violently for a moment. Someone was touching her. And it wasn't in a horrible way. She had forgotten in her week of street solitude, in that moment that had caused her to have this black eye, what a hug really meant, what it really felt like. She relaxed, allowing this human contact. She turned her face to the side, slightly. She wasn't sure how exactly she was to reply to this... compliment? So she said, "My name is Marina... It's kind of cold in here... and I'm not dressed for swimming..." she said. her voice was soft and slightly raspy from it's disuse. She gave a weak smile and pulled from Helen's arms.

She climbed out of the pool with an easy jump onto the edge. Anna was there to help her up. Marina found a fluffy white towel shoved into her arms. Marina began ringing out her dyed blue hair. She was thankful that the social services had allowed her to take care of her mousy brown roots. She hated her hair as every girl does.

Anna was talking about the sort of life Marina could come to expected. Marina didn't really care. She only had to stay here for the next two years. After that she could take care of herself. She was no longer in shock from loosing her home. She could easily get a job and get her own apartment. Going to art school was out of the question. It never occurred to her that her rich foster parents might want to pay for such things. What a cushy life Marina was about to lead.

"Helen, why don't you show Marina to her room? I'm sure that will give you girls some more time to get acquainted!" Anna said, moving to wards her husband. She was obviously going to talk to him about new clothes for their charge. Bill would probably say something about giving the girl her space and individuality.

((sorry it took so long, my mom made me do a million and one things...))

[Sophronius]

((Don't worry about taking time to answer posts. But I am sorry about mine, I'm having a little bit of a problem with muse, though I should be good soon))

Did this girl hear anything besides my name, Helen thought as the girl pulled away and jumped up, onto the pool’s edge. She pouted a bit as the girl dried off, obviously not interested in Helen at the moment, but that would change. Helen watched her from the water as she dried off; she was the perfect, cute little girl, except for that black eye, which was a bit of a turn off. But even with it, Marina could still be fun, though. As her mother started talking, Helen kicked against the side of the pool and drifted over towards the shallow end where the steps were. Her mother called out, telling Helen to show her foster sister to her room. A small, but wicked smile formed on Helen’s mouth, though she quickly tried to hide it. As she stood up and exited the pool, her perfect figure glistening in the sunlight, Helen answered her mother, “Alright, I just need to dry off a bit first.”

Helen walked over to where Marina was still drying off, accepted a large towel from her mother, and began drying herself off. She was a little bit taller than Marina, and it made her feel as though she had a right to use the girl, that being bigger than Marina gave Helen power over her. But it was just a fleeting thought; there were more to it than that, more reasons that Helen would be able to use the littler girl.

After she considered herself dry enough, Helen asked the girl standing next to her, “Do you want to go up to your bedroom now?” with a small smile upon her lips. She walked over towards the sliding glass doors, giving a wave that motioned Marina to follow her up to the room. There was more Helen wanted to do in that room than get Marina situated for her new life, though she would not be able to do it right away, the middle of the day while her parents were home and outside was not the right setting for what Helen had in mind.

[Lady Death Blossom]

Marina peeked out from under the soft towel at Helen. She had a beautiful body, that was for sure. It was hard to find women who looked as good as Helen did. And for a moment Marina thought of Helen as the woman who had started a war. The most egotistical woman who had ever lived, breathed, and stolen the hearts of thousands of men. Helen of Troy. That strong willed woman who thought only over her own happiness and well being, who thought only on the men she seduced, was seducing, and would seduce. She loved the war, she loved watching men slit their best friend's throats for her... A nasty woman, but unearthly beautiful.

But this thought only came to the blue haired girl for a moment. She set the towel on a fold out chair, as Helen had done. She took off her baggy sweatshirt to reveal a black tank top which was much more suited for the weather. The top hugged her figure nicely, and showing just how pale a person's skin could get.

"Yes," she replied and followed the red head into the house.

Blue eyes looked over the house. Large and astoundingly personality-less. It had nothing to offer they eye in anyway to please it. It was just another richly furnished home. They had probably hired an interior decorator. She hoped they would let her do things to her own room as she saw fit. That would be her sanctuary for the next two years.

She sighed softly when they came to the room. Never in all her years had she seen so much pink in one place. The walls were pink, the curtains were pink, the bed spread was pink, hell, even the furniture was pink. Disgust obviously showed on Marina's face. "They don't expect me to live in this room.... do they?" she asked. Her voice soft, raspy. She was ready for another smack, half flinching back from Helen.

[Sophronius]

Helen watched as Marina took off her sweatshirt. The tank top was a much better look for her, showing off every little bit about her body. It served to just give Helen more of a reason to have the girl as her own. As her little china doll, with that pale as white skin. The only flaw in this was her voice, it was soft and raspy, but not in the way of the expert seductress; it was as if it had turned raspy from underuse. Hopefully, that would fix itself.

She guided the girl through the house, the white walls, with the egg-shell furniture, and the ivory curtains. Helen had always thought it a bit dull, but she didn’t really care about the way in which the house was decorated, with the exception of her room, which had been painted in with every color of the rainbow by Susan and her in an alcohol fueled mischief. Her room had simple cast iron furniture and black bedspread, though the true focus of the room was the walls. Helen had forgotten what the bedroom they were putting Marina in looked like, until she took her foster sister inside.

The reaction of the girl was priceless, and was exactly what Helen would have said if she had to live in here. She giggled a bit and turned to face Marina, as she had been in front of the girl and was herself a bit dumbstruck by the pinkness. She covered her mouth to hide her laughter, “I’m sorry about the… pink. I just remembered, we decorated this room when I was four, and back then I was a pink princess.” Her laughter subsided, and she took a few steps towards Marina, her voice came down from the high the laughter had brought, it was in a lower, more deliberate tone, “If you don’t like it, you could sleep with me.” She slid her hand down Marina’s arm as she spoke, looking into her eyes.

Until the girl gave a slight flinch. Helen didn’t know what to do with something like that. Was the girl that terrified of her, of everything? She had flinched like that when her mother tried to hug her. Helen backed off, taking a few steps away from Marina. Her conscious got the better of her, a feeling of guilt came over her; she had been trying to use this girl, who had been abused, for her own fun and ends. She looked down and away from Marina, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have,” was all she said.

[Lady Death Blossom]

Marina shook her head. "No... it's all right." Her large blue eyes studied the room for a long moment. She still had the remnants of a blush on he pale face. "I just forget sometimes... that people can be nice." She looked back at Helen with a reassuring smile. "I think I'll survive this pink monstrosity. What I brought with me, mostly, was the things from my own room at the old house. The only things my mother was able to sell was most of my clothing. The things I had in my room were old, mostly things that's worth was only to me. Like there's this old, dark lamp. It's got a chip missing from it's shade, like someone threw it against the wall. It also has a violet bow attached to it. My friend and I..." she trailed off for a moment, a glazed look coming over her eyes. She shook her head after a moment and continued "My friend and I were walking down the street and in this alley way the lamp just sat there. I pointed it out to her. She said it was cool. She picked it up and she took it with her. Next month it was my birthday. She gave me the lamp. She had repainted it black and had decorated it with blue butterfly stencil things. And the violet ribbon... It came from a very old dress she had once worn when she was little. She swore she would never get rid of that dress... for sentimental reasons... but she gave me the ribbon from the waist. But the lamp wasn't very pretty. My friend has no artistic ability what so ever. I'm surprised the silk ribbon didn't sell." She laughed lightly. And her voice seemed to loose a bit of it's raspy quality.

She moved into the room. She could appreciate the architectural design of the room. "You were a pink princess huh?" She asked, turning around, an extremely amused grin on her face. "You know, I've never liked the color pink, even when I was a little girl. I preferred lilac, purple... and black." She gave a sort of lopsided grin. "I wasn't particularly appreciated by the other girl's for my lack of girliness." She stretched, and went to the window. She opened the pink curtains to reveal a very plain looking window. She liked it. It looked out over the back into what could be a park of sorts. She smiled and opened the window. She leaned against the sill and said "So...."

[Sophronius]

Helen listened to her response, it was so sad. She forgot that people can be nice! Helen thought, her mind at a loss to think about it. Helen was shocked into silence and motionlessness. She stood there as the girl went on and on, telling the story of the lamp and of her friend. It reminded her of Susan. But the way she laughed it off at the end, that might have been the worst part. Doesn’t she realize how sad this all is? Helen thought to herself again.

She watched as Marina moved through the room, she joked at Helen a bit, for her previous girliness, though it did not really bother her, Helen’s mind was still on the story she had just told. That was what had piqued her interest. The girl’s movements also held her attention a bit, as she moved over to the window, so elegant and graceful, even if that was just in Helen’s mind.

Taking a few steps over towards the window and Marina, Helen began to speak while gazing out the window blankly, the sorrow that she was now feeling made itself evident in the timbre and tone of her voice, “I know what you mean,” she turned her face to Marina’s, “about sentimental things like that. My ex… there are a lot of things of hers still in my room that I don’t think I’ll be able to get rid of. It’s probably just because it’s so recent, but all of it’s just has too much memory in it. We painted my room together, all sorts of random lines, handprints, and some sentences and pictures, and I don’t think I’ll ever go over it. But I shouldn’t be talking about things like this, it’s just… you’re the first person I’ve talked to about it.” She moved her hand up to wipe away the few tears that were starting to form, she laughed a bit as she spoke again, “It’s sort of crazy to open up like that to someone that’s basically a stranger. But I felt like…” she stopped, not wanting to say too much. Helen walked over to the pink bed and took a seat on it looking towards Marina. She did not look at the girl, but instead at the floor and the bed, she tried to joke back about the pink, but her words still held the same timbre as before, “And don’t make fun of me for being a little pink princess. Every little girl loves one of those things, even if you say you didn’t.”

[Lady Death Blossom]

She listened carefully to Helen. Her head was cocked to the side, like a small dog paying attention to her master. When it seemed Helen had finished her story Marina went to sit with her. She looked at the ceiling and finally spoke. Her words were soft, careful, sounding more natural, most of the raspy note gone. "I guess I sort of have that effect on a lot of people. My friend, my very best friend, we were sitting in a health class and we had to do this project about the effects of smoking on the body. I invited her over to my house so we could work on the project together. I took out some cookies I had baked earlier that Saturday and she took one bite and spilled out her problems to me. I couldn't help but laugh at how silly it was. This was later of course, when I had finished reassuring her. I helped her quit smoking though." She grinned lop-sidedly. "We were inseparable after that... The odd thing is that she and I never become romantically involved. It was another girl, from another school completely. We met in a coffee shop, the one where I used to work. I forgot when I was thrown out. It can be really shocking when you loose everything you've ever known in an instant." She sighed and looked down at her feet, swinging them.

"But about your ex, if she left you at all, she really wasn't the one for you. That girl wasn't for me. We dated for a month. We decided it would be best to leave each other. We both looked at the situation and realized that we weren't really meant for each other. Sure it was pleasant, but the relationship was purely sexual. When we weren't alone in her room or mine we had nothing to do or talk about." She flopped back on her new bed. "But I suppose I tend to have the sort of personality who takes things a little easier than others..." This was not completely true. Sure the small things she could handle, break ups for example. But the parent she had loved and known for so long, something that she thought she could trust, someone she had truly loved... It would be hard for her to trust again, it would be hard for her to love. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Don't worry. I'm sure, despite you're pink princess days, we'll get along just fine..." She giggled, raising a hand to her lips in modesty.

[Sophronius]

Helen listened intently to what Marina had to say to her. At first it was a bit of her history, something like what Helen had told her, but not quite as intimate. Then she gave a bit of advice, it was truthful, but it wasn’t what she wanted to hear; But she was, Helen thought after Marina said that her ex wasn’t right for her, but she held her tongue. The girl kept talking, about what had happened with her lover, though she didn’t mention what had happened to her best-friend. Her giggling lightened Helen’s disposition a bit, though not enough as far as Helen was concerned. She let her head fall slowly onto the girl’s shoulder, she didn’t want to stop letting her feelings out, not know that they were there. It might have been that this girl did have some quality that made people open up to her, or maybe Helen just needed to tell her story to someone who wouldn’t be able to judge her, who didn’t know about her past.

“I know what you mean, about her not being the one for me. But I… I love… I loved her. More than anything. And we got along so well. And… and.” Tears began to pour out, it was the first time she had cried since she got off the phone with Susan a week ago, “I still do. I just feel like… like there was or is something I could do to fix it. May… Maybe if I wasn’t so controlling, in bed. If I was… I don’t even know. She always said she was happy, that she loved me. When I talked to her the day before she broke up with me, the last thing she told me was…” her tears came out faster, and her words were interrupted by sobs, “She said… she… loved me.” She grabbed onto the girl, pulling her close. It felt awful, reliving what she had gone through a week ago, but it felt natural, like it was something she had to do. She could never tell her family about it, not only couldn’t she come out to them, but she wouldn’t feel comfortable talking to them about it no matter what. She didn’t have many friends, Susan and her had been inseparable since they were little, and over the past two years, they had drifted apart from everyone else, it had just been the two of them. Helen wanted to get control over herself, she thought she must have looked pathetic, but she was completely unable to. It had been building over the past week, and she wasn’t able to stop the flood once she had opened the gates.

[Lady Death Blossom]

Marina allowed the girl, Helen, to hold onto her tightly. She didn't seem like Helen of Troy any more. That woman was strong but had probably never cried in her life. She had probably never had her own heart broken but broke many other's. Marina ran her fingers through Helen's hair, hugged her, smiled, almost like a mother. She seemed to understand a little bit. "Anyone can say i love you..." that's what her friend had once told her. "But it takes a lot more to prove it..." Marina wanted to laughed right then, but felt it was probably best not to do so.

She closed her large, blue eyes and just allowed Helen to cry. What she had not realized was that she herself had said those words out loud. She had, just as she had forgotten that people were nice, forgotten that thinking and speaking are two different things. she often spoke to herself when alone for that week, to stay sane. So occasionally she forgot that she spoke what she thought with out intending to.

Marina looked at the ceiling for a moment. It was, miraculously, white. She was glad not to look at pink for an instant. She could remember laying in a room with a white ceiling and lilac walls covered in pictures, posters, anything imaginable, until the lilac walls were almost covered. That had seemed so long ago, so much longer than two weeks. She sighed softly and returned her attention to Helen. "Sometimes it's best to cry. Crying doesn't make a person weak. It can actually help, to cry every so often. When we got older we often forget how good a nice, long cry can feel. When we're older we feel that crying is the sign of a baby because we most often see little kids bursting into tears and such..." Now she laughed lightly. "When we get older we forget a lot of the simpler things, I've noticed. Like baking cookies with your mom in the middle of the day, the sun shining through the window and lighting up one's mother like some sort of angel..." She trailed off and glanced at Helen "Of course, You've probably never had to cook anything in your life. Your butler probably did it." She stuck out her tongue, her voice teasing.

[Sophronius]

Marina’s arms felt good around her, they comforted her and made her feel that things would be better. Though it didn’t mean that Helen was over her problem, it just helped her get control over herself, a small amount of control. She stayed there, holding onto Marina and with her head on her shoulder, and listened to her. Again, Helen realized that the girl was right about love, and saying it, but she had thought that Susan had shown her love, she knew that at one point, Susan did love her. Helen also knew what Marina was saying about crying, though she had not necessarily acted in accordance with that. As her talk of crying shifted into things that seemed more like problems Marina had in her life, what with the loss of her family, Helen just sat there, listening to the girl’s voice. It calmed her, and she was able to stop the flow of tears and stop sobbing.

After the girl mocked her a bit, Helen let go, and sat upright, wiping any tears from her eyes, though her face still held the expression of sorrow. She ignored the mocking for the time being. Helen looked down at the floor as she spoke, “I know it’s good to cry. It’s just that, I didn’t have anyone to cry to. After I started dating or going out with…” She interrupted herself, “None of those words are right. After we became a couple, I guess that’ll do. After we became a couple, everyone else sort of faded away. I had never had many friends, besides Susan, and after we became a couple, it was pretty much just us. And I couldn’t cry to my mom.” She looked Marina in the eyes as she continued, “She might seem nice enough now, but she doesn’t have a soul. Also…” Helen trailed off, her eyes returning to the ground; she muttered this last part, “I haven’t come out to my parents yet.” She felt bad admitting this to the girl that got kicked out of her home because she came out, it made Helen feel weak next to Marina, it was an odd feeling for her; she couldn’t remember ever feeling weaker than someone else.

[Lady Death Blossom]

Marina smiled. She also sat up, and stretched. "Your mother has a lot she doesn't show. Your mother is a little more intelligent than she pretends to be." She sighed and went back over to the window, putting her hands on the sill so she could stare out into the trees. After a moment she turned around. "One day, when you're really comfortable with yourself being what you are you will also tell them. Don't worry about things so much. If you do then you never go anywhere in life. You end up sitting on your bed wondering if you'll get hit by a car of you go outside, or if you'll ever make it through school, or if you'll be with the one you love forever... And if you stay there doing that... well, you don't ever go anywhere. You may never get hit by a car but you'll also never get to see your friends outside of your house. If you worry about your grades and constantly study you never actually see the big picture. Minute details do not make the whole. In fact, minute details are often missed.... And if you worry about being with the one you love you'll shrink away from her, and she'll wonder what she has done... Or you'll cling to her and she will want the space you were afraid to give her."

She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck and turned to look at Helen. "Look at me, I'm going on and on like I'm some sort of therapist. half of what I've said hasn't even made sense!" She laughed, throwing her arms in the air for effect.

After a moment she said "I smell the burgers. I think they're done. And maybe they'll have a lovely, wilting salad for me." she giggled, and headed toward the door. "I'm glad you shared so much with me. I hope we can always be close like this. It will be good to have a friend."

[Sophronius]

It felt good to have let it all out. Helen was far from over her loss, but it felt a little better, whether it was the actual crying or knowing that now she had someone to help her feel better, it didn’t matter to her. She listened to the girl go on again, realizing, maybe for the first time, that a lot of it was rambling. She thought she understood what Marina meant by the smothering and distant thing at the end, but it didn’t seem like what she had done with Susan, they had always “smothered” each other, since they met in kindergarten; it wasn’t like their relationship really changed that much. Helen thought to protest, but an argument with Marina was the last thing she wanted right now. Talking more about her depressing love life could wait.

It was a bit of a relief though, to hear that Marina didn’t know most of what she was talking about. Helen was worried that the girl might think her dense if she just ignored a lot of it, though parts of it made sense. “It’s okay, going on and on. I can’t believe that I said as much as I did,” she felt a little embarrassed and blushed, her voice was a bit more up to its normal volume and tone from where it was at before, “It’s not really like me, it’s just with… There’s a lot of stuff going on right now and I guess it all sort of collided, or…” She didn’t know what she was saying, so she looked away from the girl she had up until now been keeping eye contact with, “Thanks. Thanks for listening to me. It was really nice of you and I think it helped a lot.”

Helen didn’t particularly want to go back down to eat with the family, but it was something that had to be done. And she should put up the façade of a happy family. “All right, let’s go down to a meal,” Helen responded. She didn’t really know what to say to that last part; she felt the same way, but it was odd to hear it out loud. She had already gotten to the doorway when she looked back at Marina with a smile on her face, it was much brighter than just a few minutes ago, though her eyes were still a bit red from the crying, “We’ll be close like this, Marina, of course. But come on, we should probably have already been back downstairs by now.” There was something in the back of her mind stopping her from saying anything about having a friend; it would be good, but Helen just didn’t want to talk about having friends. She had an inkling of why, but didn’t want to say it to herself, much less out loud.

[Lady Death Blossom]

Marina walked calmly beside Helen. She was thinking about how she could help her new friend regain her love. She sort of thought that might be how Helen would want it. She sort of like the idea of getting her friend together with another person. She had no thoughts for her own love mostly because she was afraid to let herself be let down again. She walked onto the patio and looked at her sweater. It was nearly dry by now but it was so hot out that Marina had no real desire to put it back on.

Bill and Ann were sitting at a table talking in an animated way. Bill waved at them, which signaled his wife to shut up with out saying anything. "Hey girls! What happened, did ya get lost?" he asked with a laughed. Marina smiled weakly, shy still.

"What do you think of the room?" Ann asked, truly wanted marina's opinion. Marina had no desire to hurt the woman and so replied, "It's very... pink."

"You can always paint it." Ann waved a hand at Marina. Marina smiled brightly.

"Really, thank you, that's so kind of you." She moved to sit with her new 'parents' for the next year or so. There were the burgers. There was hamburgers and ketchup and mustard. And a little wilty salad. Marina giggled. There were about five different salad dressings sitting on the table. she selected some sort of oil based dressing, and poured it over her salad. "Thank you..." She said in a small whisper. It was still heard. Bill and Ann seemed to be happy that they could help this girl.