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rainbowfic2015-08-19 11:40 pm
starphotographs) wrote in rainbowfic2015-08-19 11:40 pm
Alien Green 23
Name: starphotographs
Story: Universe B
Supplies and Styles: Graffiti (Summer Carnival, Lilith Fair Second Stage: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/emilieautumn/fightlikeagirl.html), Canvas
Characters: Kelsey (POV), Rilla
Colors: Alien Green 23 (Your kung-fu is best.)
Word Count: 466
Rating: PG
Warnings: Choose not to warn.
Summary: Rilla fights back.
Note: Title is the title of the song, because perfect.
Fight Like a Girl
People who describe difficult things as “no walk in the park” have never walked through the park with Rilla.
“Jesus, watch where you put your big dumb feet!”
Before I could stop her, she swung her cane right at the offending person’s ankles. Then she missed, and staggered forward. I caught her, mostly, but I shifted so far off balance that it was easier just to meet gravity halfway and sit down. We plopped in the grass. I took out my phone.
“Rills, I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
She’d landed with her head in my lap, and normally would be content to relax there for a while, but this time, she shot bolt upright. No one does indignation quite like Rilla.
“…Well, why the hell not!?”
“Because you always fall over and make an ass of yourself.”
She laughed.
“You think I care about bein’ an ass?”
That was actually a pretty good point.
“No, not really. But I always have to catch you.”
Rilla spread her arms, and fell back on the grass.
“So catch me, then! I mean, you just did.”
If you can call that “catching,” I guess she was right.
“Sort of.”
She kept staring up at the clouds. I lied next to her. The grass was still soft, not itchy like it would be in a few weeks. Rilla sighed.
“They treat us like shit, Kelse.”
“Who does?”
Shrug.
“Just… Everyone. They think they can just like, step over me because I don’t walk fast enough. Or talk like you’re not around because you can’t say anything back… And I know you can, you’ve got your phone, but they think your phone doesn’t count. Or when I listen to audiobooks, that doesn’t count. It’s not just about not being able to do things, because even if you can, it has to be exactly the right way. Otherwise, it won‘t count. And who gets to decide what counts? They do. Not back-door people like us.”
“Back-door people” was an expression of hers, and it was a pretty broad term. It encompassed everyone who had to learn their own way of doing things. In Rilla’s world, back-door people were smart, and everyone else was spoiled, dull-minded trash who never had to be original. Harsh, but I couldn’t really disagree. When she explained it to me, it didn’t even seem like a new idea. It had been sitting wordlessly, in an overlooked corner of my brain, for years.
“So you whack them with your cane?”
“Eh, when they bug me, I do.”
I gently elbowed her arm.
“People always bug you.”
She smiled.
“Yeah, well.”
We didn’t bug each other, and that was enough. That, and the white clouds drifting above us.
Each in its own shape, and in its own good time.
starphotographsStory: Universe B
Supplies and Styles: Graffiti (Summer Carnival, Lilith Fair Second Stage: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/emilieautumn/fightlikeagirl.html), Canvas
Characters: Kelsey (POV), Rilla
Colors: Alien Green 23 (Your kung-fu is best.)
Word Count: 466
Rating: PG
Warnings: Choose not to warn.
Summary: Rilla fights back.
Note: Title is the title of the song, because perfect.
People who describe difficult things as “no walk in the park” have never walked through the park with Rilla.
“Jesus, watch where you put your big dumb feet!”
Before I could stop her, she swung her cane right at the offending person’s ankles. Then she missed, and staggered forward. I caught her, mostly, but I shifted so far off balance that it was easier just to meet gravity halfway and sit down. We plopped in the grass. I took out my phone.
“Rills, I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
She’d landed with her head in my lap, and normally would be content to relax there for a while, but this time, she shot bolt upright. No one does indignation quite like Rilla.
“…Well, why the hell not!?”
“Because you always fall over and make an ass of yourself.”
She laughed.
“You think I care about bein’ an ass?”
That was actually a pretty good point.
“No, not really. But I always have to catch you.”
Rilla spread her arms, and fell back on the grass.
“So catch me, then! I mean, you just did.”
If you can call that “catching,” I guess she was right.
“Sort of.”
She kept staring up at the clouds. I lied next to her. The grass was still soft, not itchy like it would be in a few weeks. Rilla sighed.
“They treat us like shit, Kelse.”
“Who does?”
Shrug.
“Just… Everyone. They think they can just like, step over me because I don’t walk fast enough. Or talk like you’re not around because you can’t say anything back… And I know you can, you’ve got your phone, but they think your phone doesn’t count. Or when I listen to audiobooks, that doesn’t count. It’s not just about not being able to do things, because even if you can, it has to be exactly the right way. Otherwise, it won‘t count. And who gets to decide what counts? They do. Not back-door people like us.”
“Back-door people” was an expression of hers, and it was a pretty broad term. It encompassed everyone who had to learn their own way of doing things. In Rilla’s world, back-door people were smart, and everyone else was spoiled, dull-minded trash who never had to be original. Harsh, but I couldn’t really disagree. When she explained it to me, it didn’t even seem like a new idea. It had been sitting wordlessly, in an overlooked corner of my brain, for years.
“So you whack them with your cane?”
“Eh, when they bug me, I do.”
I gently elbowed her arm.
“People always bug you.”
She smiled.
“Yeah, well.”
We didn’t bug each other, and that was enough. That, and the white clouds drifting above us.
Each in its own shape, and in its own good time.
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