petal_storm | Did you know you were my hero?

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Did you know you were my hero?

Who: Orchid and Jaeger
When: Age six or so.
What: Two children in an orphanage are lonely.

She eyed her fingers a long moment, liking how they were staying purple this time. She liked when she was purple, it felt...right. And the doctors the orphanage took them to said her skin seemed to hold more and more chromatophores as she aged. Soon, no doubt, she'd stay purple. She liked that idea. "Better?" she asked softly, fingers soothing in circles along Jaeger's temples.

They were in the attic, a place they went when it was raining so it was less intelligent to sneak out officially. The sound of rain was obvious up here, a pounding wash that made her sigh and breath deeply, "spring rains are here..." she crooned softly, fingers still working. "I missed them..." Some days it seemed there just wasn't enough water in the world, or her room. Jaeger was working on something to fix that though, and the doctors were tired of seeing her for dehydration.

Perhaps it was her meds, those seemed to have a dehydrating effect, and they weren't helping Jaeger's headaches much honestly. "Can you open the shutters?" she asked him softly, tucking a stolen blanket around him tighter. It would get cold with the slats open but the damp would be so nice...

...she hated to ask him to use his powers when he had a headache but if she didn't give his brain a path for the use it would start throwing things around and that...

...that didn't seem right honestly. But they managed yes, they tried to test their powers together instead of in labs because labs...

...labs scared her. And she couldn't really tell people WHY. She didn't need them to decide she was properly crazy because she had some very...bad memories in her head. "And I don't think we're eating enough," she admitted quietly. "We're burning too many calories when we use our powers, could be part if the headaches. I'll start growing things for us in a corner plot..."

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"Jaeger!" she noted sharply, "I TOLD YOU YOU COULD WAIT IF YOU COULD BE QUIET. Pay attention." Panicking at the boy never helped after all.

"Go away! You can't see what's right in front of your face! They DID THIS TO ME!"

"STOP THAT. You had headaches BEFORE they started testing Jaeger, that's why we were LOOKING for doctors!"

"Not like this!" He growled.

"And I have been listening boy, which is why I offered the ER instead of their labs," she snorted. "If you're done with your tantrum that is."

"They'll find me there."

"With no authority to remove you so the paranoia is pointless," she pointed out. "I know you're strong, I know you're scary if you want to be, but that doesn't mean you get to shake the word whenever something frightens you."

"Yes they can." he growled. "You don't get it."

"You are still HERE." she countered firmly. "With us as authority, NOT them, which means they cannot touch you in an ER without us present. I know you've decided everyone but your Orchid is an idiot but you should actually pay attention, TALK to people, and FILE REPORTS WITH DETAILS if you're scared."

"I've told you they weren't doctors before. I told you about the medicine you didn't listen. So fuck off. I'll figure this out myself!"

"You've told me, and we've checked EVERYTHING we can check. I've even had pills from your bottles sent of to be tested Jaeger. If you can't work with us you know an eval team is going to take you away from this facility!" And it was frustrating that his refusal to work WITH her was going to make him leave!

"You have the power to make them stop. And you haven't. You dont' NEED proof you won't find to make them stop coming." He growled. "I won't go anymore. I refuse to. And I'm not taking any more of those fucking pills."

"Jaeger, I've told you before that you have to be tested because of the law on power uses, and you've insulted, chased off, and generally harassed every other testing agency out there. I need proof to show they aren't a valid agency when everything in their documents says they are, because the state needs to free up funds to find you a private testing agency if this one doesn't work out. And you WILL curb your language you KNOW the younger children pick up on your swearing," she sighed.

"I'm not a goddamn labrat! YOU DON'T TEST ANY OTHER CHILDREN! I will not suffer any more fucking testing. FROM ANYONE! You people think we're dangerous? Yeah this testing is going to MAKE me dangerous. So fuck off, leave me alone, and let me live for christ's sake! None of the "normal" kids have to get poked and prodded every week! Fuck the law! Its inhumane and fucking stupid and opens the door to all kinds of these fake places trying to harvest kids!"

"They do, Jaeger, you just don't pay attention to anyone but Orchid, WHO ALSO GETS TESTED."

"And we shouldn't have to. Its barbaric and inhumane! You wanna know how you get kids like the ones on the news? YOU TREAT THEM LIKE LABRATS AND TREAT THEM LIKE THEY"ER DANGEROUS UNTIL THEY BELIEVE THEY ARE! YOUR FUCKING LAWS MADE THEM DANGEROUS!"

"YOU CAN BE A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST WHEN IT'S NOT GOING TO SHUT THIS FACILITY DOWN JAEGER. We are federally funded. We have to obey the law. Laws aren't changed by angry children or tired adults who deal with them!"

"Yeah... you don't give two shits about us. You just want your goddamn money." He growled. "I refuse to get anymore fucking testing. I will stop anyone trying to force it on me. End of discussion. I will not be yours or anyone elses cash cow or prize. Deal. With. It."

"Jaeger, it's not a matter of 'gee I get rich from you'. I don't. We don't. We make barely more than your average SCHOOL TEACHER. You aren't here to earn money, you're here in hopes you can be placed in a permanent home, but the funding in general for all the children here, goes away if we violate laws and I've told you this before. There's nothing to 'deal with'. You won't cooperate with federal law then the state will take you away from us and place you in a different facility. Most days it seems that's exactly what you want since you hate us, and hate being here, so much."

"I SHOULDN"T BE HERE! I HAVE A FAMILY WE BOTH DO!" He snarled tearing up.

She...gathered him into a hug, careful of his head, "we've looked honey. You know we've looked, for both of you. We've run the genetics tests to see if anyone on record is yours..."

"They wouldn't have left us! They wouldn't have!" He sobbed. "I just want to go home. My mother would kill anyone doing this to us!"

"I know honey, and it makes you so mad you want to break the world. I don't think either of you were alone on purpose, at all. I think something bad happened and I wish I had all the resources in the world to find out what I'm sorry."

"No you're not!"

"Yes, I am Jaeger, why do you never believe what people say about how they're feeling? Is it because Orchid isn't here?"

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