[TOY] Plaything

[skinstealer]

You consider your answer, the question bringing up all kinds of feelings you don’t know how to deal with or unpack…

But for the sake of your new friend, you’re going to try.

POLKA DOT: I…don’t really know. Hard to tell.
POLKA DOT: It’s a bit of both.
WILLOW: Both? How so?
POLKA DOT: Trusting people and being open- it feels right! 
POLKA DOT: …until it doesn’t.
POLKA DOT: And I don’t know where those lines are, it feels like.
POLKA DOT: I don’t know if I’ve ever been good at that. 
POLKA DOT: And right now…I just got here, and I keep getting scared the other shoe’s gonna drop any second now.
POLKA DOT: It’s too good.
POLKA DOT: I have room and board, a job, and now friends…
POLKA DOT: There’s gotta be a catch, right?
POLKA DOT: These things don’t come without catches. 
POLKA DOT: Like, is Laurie secretly evil-
WILLOW: No!
POLKA DOT: -or is the city going to foreclose us-
WILLOW: Well…I guess they could try…
POLKA DOT: -or will I fuck up and get somebody dangerous on my ass?
WILLOW: …I can’t guarantee that won’t happen…
POLKA DOT: Yeah, and it’s not unrealistic, because the fucking narrative’s got it out for us. Just looking to cause more drama for everybody…
 

Willow’s quiet at that, thinking over her own words.

WILLOW: …I was on the streets for two months before getting taken in by Laurie, I think.
WILLOW: Give or take a bit, it was hard to keep track of time until I got shown how to use my internal clock function…
WILLOW: I know from experience that the narrative…well…it likes to throw you into hard situations.
WILLOW: But I think, for you…
WILLOW: You found this place so quickly because you’ve already been through hardship, maybe…
WILLOW: And if you look at it from a perspective of what makes an “interesting story”, wouldn’t giving you time to build up resources before throwing you at new challenges be more riveting?
WILLOW: I don’t know if it’ll just….take it away again, but that’s the risk we take, just by being alive.
WILLOW: I hope for your sake, it’s a period of…stability before you go on “adventures”, at least from where the narrative’s standing.
WILLOW: That’s all we can hope for, right?