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 "I believe you." Laura took another bite of her ice cream. "But physical strength wasn't the only thing I was talking about. Feeding your body can also improve mental strength and sometimes that is all you need to win in a fight." Grabbing the lid and walking across the kitchen to get a paper towel to wipe her lower lip. "Or maybe sometimes we eat it because it tastes good, like this ice cream. I never had it before but I like it." "I eat what I please. Food made for me, but food I hunt also. I am Self Sufficient." Sharon continued to watch the younger girl suspiciously. "You are fed here and outside also. Douglas Ramsay was your escort? This departure I witnessed. A buffet, was this not food enough?" Laura gentle put down her ice cream as it was her most prized position, her mood shifted significantly - almost into hostile territory. "I can tolerate you watching my every move. I can even tolerate you being rude and I will answer this only once. My mutation means I have heightened metabolism. So yes, it wasn't enough." Her eyes narrowed at her as if Sharon had become her next prey. "When you are locked up for your entire life then you will also understand the love of food I have. Don't insult or question if I have had enough food. Besides asking a girl that implies she is fat, and you are shaming her." Laura's entire body relaxed and she picked up her ice cream again. "You have a weird flex." She said as she scooped up more ice cream. "You aren't self sufficient when you come to the kitchen looking for food that was supplied by someone else. You are a scavenger at that point." "Hunting consumes energy. I am merely efficient." The rejoinder almost disguised the way the hairs on the back of her neck had raised at even a glimpse of Laura's anger. Sharon attempted to recover. "You have been locked up all your life," she said, "but 'fat shaming' is known to you?" "Then I don't understand your flex." Laura looked down at her ice cream. "Friends at school. People come in all shapes and sizes and it is important to accept people for who they are and not what they look like. We don't know their history or what hell they've been through. I beat up people for far lesser words than what you said to me. It is my only reason for being at school, to socialize and learn the norms of my peers. Inside the mansion and outside of the mansion." She looked at Sharon again, "I don't know everything about how it all works, but I do know that words can hurt people more deeply than a cut." Sharon just stared. All the words sounded right, but something about how they were said felt as if they were being repeated without full understanding. Sharon thought Laura must be drawing from: a catalogue of aphorisms provided as a blueprint to navigate the world. Was this a trap, to lull prey into a false sense of security? Camouflage, so that her true nature would go undetected by those strong enough to challenge her? Her tail twitched in small, tense twitches. 'Words can hurt people more deeply than a cut,' Laura had said, but Sharon knew what was hidden in the heaviness of her step and the corded muscle of her forearms. Laura would enjoy her ice cream elsewhere. "Enjoy your hunt." She opened the window that was over the counter and without another word she dropped down. It wasn't a far fall, as they were on the first floor. Taking another spoon full of ice cream she walked off into the darkness. |