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

[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?"

[pythbox]

"... What?"

[alicornucopia]

"What did I say that was confusing? What are you trying to figure out about me that you can't?"

[pythbox]

"You're having some sort of reaction to my decision to come to Battle School and I don't know what it is or why you're having it."

[alicornucopia]

"Well," she says, "you know a lot more about your circumstances than I do and there might be a very good reason you don't want to go into more detail, but if what I know were all there is to know it still seems like you could have found something better for you to do."

[pythbox]

"Something such as what?"

[alicornucopia]

"There are other schools that look at test results like the ones Battle School wants, and even if you were starving you got to take the tests somehow."

[pythbox]

"Why would it be better to go to one of those?"

[alicornucopia]

"They might have private rooms or be easier for a very tiny child to get around in. Up here if they find out you need a stepladder for something you can only have one if they launch it into space or already had one around and that's not a problem on Earth."

[pythbox]

"I think you are judging schools on the wrong criteria."

[alicornucopia]

"Well, you don't seem to like anything about Battle School, either, so I'm not sure why another school would be worse and you could sleep without having to worry about what if a teacher notices."

[pythbox]

"I don't like anything about anything. Other schools would have an easier time getting rid of me and wouldn't feed me as well. I was not, actually, offered a choice of which school to go to; but that is why I didn't ask for one."

[alicornucopia]

Bella nibbles her lip and shrugs.

[pythbox]

"What are you talking about?" says Sindri.

"Bella thinks I should not have gone to Battle School."

"...Uh, why?"

"I'm not sure."