(no subject)

[x-scorpion.livejournal.com]

Early in the afternoon, Cammie and Lil discuss mothers, names and beating things up in the gym.

Cammie was finally venturing out of her room for more than food. She was pounding violently on a punching bag. It felt good to get some of that aggression out. The loud thumping on the bag was like a good song. Repetitive. Stress relieving. Ass kicking in a way that didn’t mean she had to hurt people.

It was therapeutic.

Dressed in her normal workout gear, Lil sauntered into the gym, high ponytail swinging. "Heya, Cams," she greeted after tossing her stuff in a corner. "Haven't seen you around much." Of course, that was partially her own fault; preparations for Jean-Paul's birthday, the prom and then Hungary, the giantess was beginning to realize when she preferred not to have a social life back home.

“Yeah, been busy,” Cammie said, punching the bag, “At least, that’s one way to put it. What’s up with you?”

"About the same," the taller woman admitted, starting to loosen up some by stretching out her arms. There were still some aches and stiffness from the mission but nothing that would keep the Amazon off her routine for long. "Saved some psis, got shot in the head. You know, same old boring shit. You?"

“Sounds fun. Nothing since I got the fingers in the mail,” Cammie said, punching the bag harder, “That’s about all I’ve been up to.”

"And that's what you call busy?" Lil laughed a little then gave a shake of her head, not quite sure what to make of the contradiction.

“When it leads to debating the best ways to kill a birth parent, yeah, it is,” Cammie said.

The blonde made a noise of understanding. "See? You didn't mention that before," she pointed out and stepped over to the free weights. "Come up with any good ways?"

“I think I stopped sometime after the image of beating her to death with a whiffle bat. Because nothing could ever be so ironic,” Cammie said, those kids’ bats were made with safety in mind, “Unless I could kill her with science. I’d like to do that too.”

Lil let out a little whistle. "Well, that's... something. Gotta love irony to add a little flavor to murder." A half smile and the giantess picked up two twenty pounders, not quite feeling up to starting heavier just yet.

“Yeah, I love to do it by hand – that’d be the best, as far as the irony fairy is concerned – but somehow I don’t think that’d work,” Cammie said, the left hooks the bag was getting now were simply vicious.

Putting the weight back down, the Canadian turn to observe the green-haired girl; watching her with a small frown pound away at the exercise equipment. "Lemme guess, you got her face in your head right about where you keep landing your punches?"

“Pretty much,” Cammie said stopping. “And I always thought I’d have other reasons for hating my birth mother.”

"Other reasons?" Lil asked, her brow drawing. Hating one's mother was something she'd never quite understood, given that most of the memories she had pertaining to the woman who'd given her life were all very pleasant. Save for the last year of them. "I don't follow, sorry."

“It’s a long and fucked up story. But trust me, my birth mom has committed more crimes than just an unpronounceable name.”

The blonde ponytail swung when the taller woman shook her head. "My mother named me Lillian Rose if that helps any. I sound like a Victorian hooker whose mother spent too much time in the garden."

“I think I’m butchering this, but Thanasee,” Cammie said. “I can’t even figure out what the hell it’s supposed to mean.”

"Beats me," Lil said with a shrug of one shoulder. "Bet you can look it up in some baby name dictionary thing on line though." She knew they were out there; had been forced by Madison to sit with him a browse them one night when they'd been discussing starting a family.

“I did,” she said shortly. “Nothing. On anything. On any site. It’s an unpronounceable mystery name.”

"Huh," the giantess said, her lower lip sticking out a bit in a pout of concentration. "Maybe she did what the Hollywood stars do and make up their own names for their spawn. Like Moxie CrimeFighter."

“You see, I could live and die happy if I had a name like that, but no…” Cammie said, shaking her head.

Going back to the weights, Lil started into her sets of curls. "Your name is Carmilla. It's what your parents named you - you know, the people who raised you. What does it matter what this woman who you met, what once, twice, decided to call you?"

“Because maybe there’s some super secret message in there that I need a decoder ring for,” Cammie returned, stretching.

"Or she was high," the Canadian offered another explanation.

Cammie snorted, “Mom did say she was an oddball in college.”

"Aren't most people who go to college oddballs?" The ones she remembered were. If they weren't brains, they were partiers - or in the case of Garrison's sister, both.

“Wouldn’t know,” Cammie said, “I didn’t even finish high school. This whole thing… well, I guess I kind of imagined something else when I thought of my birth parents.”

"Parents are rarely the superheroes we think they are when we're kids," Lil replied between reps. "And you're beginning to sound like you belong on stage with red wig and a buncha kids in wigs."

“Oooh, that’d be fun. No, I don’t want to sound like that, I guess it’s something that you have to be adopted to understand, as stupid as that sounds. Though maybe I’ll just give up this guessing game and call Mom – the one who raised me – and see if she wants to come down here sometime,” Cammie said with a shrug.

"Yeah, guess I wouldn't understand it with my mom being dead and all since I was eight," the giantess said offhandedly, eyes focused on the weights as she worked on her biceps. "You should have your mom come down. All the ankle-biters had their families here, don't see why you shouldn't. Plus, there are less people around here now; less weird shit to have to be worried about happening."

“You kidding? I’m not tempting fate; I’ll have her meet me in town,” Cammie said with a laugh.

Lil chuckled in return, nodding her agreement. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Who know what could happen here?