Fancy Meeting You Again

Mulan sighs, "They do have a few nice perks right?" Mulan attempts. "Some things are pretty decent. Like the dinner date."

"They wanna get our hopes up again." Chel warned, but sighed. "But I suppose you take your happiness when you can."

"Yeah," Mulan agrees, "I guess you're right."

"I just hope the food's decent." Chel chuckled half-heartedly. "Maybe some cake and wine. All the good shit, y'know?" She'd almost forgotten what real food tasted like. How long had they been here? Everything seemed to blur together.

"Me too, my body can't take this lack of protein. I can feel my muscles falling." Mulan shudders at the actual thought. "Wine? you think I'd be allowed to drink that?"

"After all that's gone on here? I don't think it's likely they'd care about underage drinking." They sure as hell didn't mind torturing them.

"I dunno, they are still law abiding people." Mulan reminds.

"Law abiding my ass." Chel scoffed, "Cruel and unusual punishment is against the law. They're criminals too. They just won't admit it."

Mulan never thought of it like that before. "I suppose you're right Chel." Mulan smirks. "I'm sure anyone older than me must be smarter."

"Age doesn't matter. I learned everything about human nature when I was child." Chel blurted out. It was only after the last word that she realized she let on more about her past than was wise.

"Me too. By the time I was thirteen I learned everything like that." Mulan frowns. "My life wasn't the brightest. If you know what I mean."

"I hear you." Chel said after a few moments. "Things could've been different, if... Well, nothing I can do about it now." Except wait for the end.

Mulan notices Chel's silence and senses her hesitation. "There's nothing I could've done . I mean the end was my fault." Mulan sighs and closes her eyes.

"My end was my doing. I'll say that much. Might've been harmed in the beginning, but I dug my grave deeper alone." Chel sighed, bring her knees to her chest. "It's been nothing but a long line of bad choices." Where was some alcohol when you needed it? If this was gonna be a pity fest, she wanted the good stuff...

"Our lives sound... almost identical. Like twins." Mulan says. "It's comforting to know I'm not the only one."

"Two bitchin' peas in a pod, carina." Chel chuckled, her voice hollow. "Ain't no one like us." It did help to know that someone could identify with her. It was...nice to not be so alone here.

"Sí. Dos chicas con el Devil. I don't know how much worse this place will get." Mulan replies.

"Even worse. They'll do their worst until we break or die, whichever comes first." Chel explained, running a hand through her hair. "But I'm willing to bet that for most of us, it's death first."

"Definitely for me." Mulan agrees. "..Don't you fear death? Chel?"

Chel didn't speak for a little while, too caught up in her own thoughts. Then she said, "I'm only alive now because I promised... I promised to live. I won't break that. Not on purpose." She closed her eyes, and saw David's pleading face. "But I... I've been wishing I was dead for a long time now."

Mulan deciphered that for a moment. "I'm alive because they want me to live with what I've done." Mulan flips her hair out of her face. What she'd give for a ponytail holder. Mulan pulls her hair in front of her shoulder and begins to braid it. "But I don't want to die. As awful as life seems to be, death is just.. So boring. What would you do? I wonder if you're actually reunited with those you've lost." She tosses the braid back over her shoulder.

"Only one way to find out, right?" Chel shrugged, "And for some, death's just going to sleep at the end of a very long day..." And she'd had a long day indeed. But she knew Korso was just going to drag this out, make her wait. Hopefully she'd go out like the badass she was.

"I don't know if I wanna find out." Hair slips out of Mulan's braid, falling into her face. "I don't know what I want. I know that I don't want to be alone anymore. But beyond that, the rest is like a huge- unreal, abyss. Like once I fall over... there's no going back. To everything." She pushes the escaped hair behind her ear. "Everything I've ever done. And it scares me. More than being alone forever. With no one to count on, or to love... I just wanted to be normal you know? I just wanted to have the life all the other kids. Even at this age I still wish I'd be filling out college entry exams." Mulan leans her head back against the wall. "What was your teenage life like Chel?"

Chel could understand where she was coming from. She'd felt like that before for years, ever since her cousin had put her in his car in the middle of the night.

"My teen years were... well, the first couple of years I was a prisoner. Not in a real prison, though." Chel slowly admitted. Maybe she could trust Mulan with her past. "I'd been sold as a child, by a cousin. Had a kid when I was fourteen. Killed her father to save us both. Gave her up when I knew I couldn't support her. Then it was just work, work, work, go to an empty apartment to pass out and get back up for more work." Those years had been hell. But she'd made it through. Only if because she didn't know what else to do. "Then I met my husband. He...made me feel safe, even if his lifestyle wasn't. I was happy. I was finally happy again. But...he died a few years ago. Cancer. Doctors didn't catch it in time and the treatments didn't work." The smell of antiseptic and sickness came back to her unbidden. She remembered the too bright lights, the hollow words of the doctors and nurses. She'd been given a death sentence that day, same as her husband.

"What about you?" she asked, eyes closed, head tilted back.

Mulan's face softens, "Sorry Chel." When Chel asked about her own past, she felt her stomach completely disappear. Something inside her mind snapped. No one had asked her that before. So she began to laugh. Hysterically. Tears fell down her cheeks.