worth an oat

[alicornucopia]

In this soup kitchen sits a nun in partial habit, sipping water and frowning at a desk. It is very irregular for adults who aren't volunteering to be at the soup kitchen. It is very irregular for expensive electronics to be in the soup kitchen. The volunteers do seem to know her; they call her "Carlotta".

Comments

[alicornucopia]

Well, maybe he had to pee too. The girls' bathroom is far away compared to the nearest one of the more numerous boys' rooms; she just goes in the boys', it's the middle of the night and she can't see where she's going well enough to relish the chance to dance down the corridors.

[pythbox]

Oat is not peeing, at least not in that bathroom. He is still not in his bunk when she comes back.

[alicornucopia]

...Huh.

Zzzz.

[pythbox]

In the morning, Oat appears to wake up with everyone else, as small and socially dysfunctional as ever.

[alicornucopia]

"Where were you last night?" Bella asks him while they all are going to breakfast.

[pythbox]

"I couldn't sleep."

[alicornucopia]

"Where'd you go?"

[pythbox]

"If I tell you, you might be able to find me there, and then I won't be able to sleep there either."

[alicornucopia]

"...Why?"

[pythbox]

"I can't sleep if there's anyone nearby, or might be."

[alicornucopia]

"I wouldn't come bother you in your sleep."

[pythbox]

"But you could, if I told you where I was going to be."

[alicornucopia]

"So you need it to be a secret? What if the teachers notice?"

[pythbox]

"I don't know."

[alicornucopia]

"Oh." Pause. "I'm not totally sure you thought through going to Battle School very hard."

[pythbox]

"I don't think you understand what my alternatives were."

[alicornucopia]

"What were they?"

[pythbox]

"Mostly death."

[alicornucopia]

"Mostly?"

[pythbox]

"There were some chances to survive available, but none better than this."

[alicornucopia]

"What are you going to do if it doesn't work and you have to go down?"

[pythbox]

"At worst, the same things I was doing but better fed and better educated."

[alicornucopia]

"Hm," she says dubiously.

[pythbox]

"I don't understand you."

[alicornucopia]

"Why?"