hadriel | 001 [video]

[Have a wide-eyed teenager fussing with her phone. The video is a little shaky. She's sitting in one of the apartments, Barnaby's head in her lap, and seems to be sincerely cheerful despite waking up someplace far from home. Miriam waves.]

Hi! Looks like we're all stuck here for a bit, so I figured I'd introduce myself and what not. It kinda sucks right now, but that doesn't mean I don't wanna meet you guys! Anyway, I'm Miriam, and this handsome dude is Barnaby.

[Barnaby sneezes.]

He's my guy, so don't shoot him or anything. He won't do anything bad.

Two things.

First, uh, I know it's a long shot and all, but anybody seen a lady named Bethany? She's really tall and she's got brown hair and she's my mom, so it'd be really cool if I could find her. Maybe she's not here, but I gotta ask.

Secondly--

[Miriam holds up a crude drawing to the phone. It's the logo for the Sons of Plunder - a human skull with blue roses for eyes.]

--anybody walking around wearing this? Asking for a friend.

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Anywhere! Everywhere. I just wanna go someplace that doesn't have a ceiling. [Miriam sighs wistfully.] But I'm not big enough yet. You gotta be eighteen to get trained, or be really tall and pretend.

[She's unfortunately tiny.]

You want to see the sky.

[ That’s obvious enough. It seems like such a small thing to want. He suddenly feels irritated that she’s been brought here, that she’s exchanged a cage of metal for one of rock. ]

Eighteen can’t be far off. What are you now, sixteen?

[ He’s guessing about that. She is tiny, in fairness, but not so terribly young. ]

Yeah! [She grins.] Yeah, I really do.

[Something she can touch, and not just stare at through a layer of glass. She's seen pictures, even movies, but that's not the same. It doesn't have that warmth, that -- energy.]

I look sixteen? That's awesome. I'm probably fifteen, though. Dunno for sure.

[But that's what she's been sticking with for a while now, so that's what she's going with.]

[ Damen isn't always wonderful about placing that sort of thing, though apparently this time he's not far off. ]

How is it that you don't know what age you are?

[ Surely her mother would have known. They couldn't have been separated for that long, could they? ]

Can't remember my real parents. But they left me with Gilly and said they'd be back. He was pissed. [Miriam giggles at the thought.] Oh, uh, my mom's not my first mom, you know? She just looks after me. Kinda like Gilly does. They had to guess how old I was, so there you go.

[ This girl has known too much loss. Damen watches her for a moment, before nodding. ]

My mother died when I was born, while giving birth. I never knew her. My father raised me himself, and some…months before I came here, he passed away as well. We make the best with what we have.

Is there a day that you called your birthday? When is it?

Yeah, I guess. And family's not always blood, you know?

[She brightens.] Yeah! August 6th. What about you? How old are you, anyway?

True. Sometimes it's more reliable when it's not.

[ Says Damen, thinking of how Kastor had betrayed him, while Nikandros had stayed true. Which of them had made the better brother? ]

I'm twenty five. Don't I look it?

[ He's large for 25 - tall and broad. At least that probably means he's stopped growing. ]

Ain't that the truth.

[Not that she really knows. All Miriam's family has been by circumstance and not DNA.]

Dunno, man, you're kinda --- huge. And you got one of those faces where it's hard to tell.

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