B is for Bew-building relationships

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"I am so bored!' whined Frank. This was not the first time she'd said those words since they'd been locked in a cell, nor was it likely to be the last. She flopped over, still more or less lying on the ground. That was also what Frank had pretty well being doing the whole time she'd been imprisoned. Her energy was at dangerously low levels, and what little she had went pretty much to, well, singing and attempting to bother her fellow captors. She went through various rotations with them, since they seemed to like to leave two of them in a room at a given time.

This moment's lucky contestant? Erika Bellefonte.

Frank rolled, looking up at Erika, smiling. "Hey, hey, Erika," she waved until Erika looked her way, then started singing:
"Do you wanna make out a little?
Come on, pucker up today
We never do stuff anymore
come across the floor
you know you wanna plaaaay"

And Frank ended by grinning wide enough at Erika that you could surely see the whites of her teeth even in the dim light of their horrible, horrible cell.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

It was actually sort of nice to see someone being positive around here. It was the kind of normality all of them sort of needed to cling to, and the fact that their 'light' seemed to be Frank Cox was actually rather hysterical. The girl seemed as cheery -- despite the fact that she was hungry, obviously -- as always and Erika happened to find it particularly adorable right now, whereas she'd normally find it annoying or overwhelming. Closing her eyes, Erika ran a hand through her hair before sighing.

Her eyes slid open again as Frank said her name, and then she started singing. Frowning, the brunette cocked her head to the side; Wow, the blonde truly was bored if she attempted at such a idiotic joke. They needed to find something for her to do, give her a pet rock to play with or something. That would keep her occupied for at least a little while, Erika assumed. Unless Frank was the king of girl who ate her pets, which wouldn't really surprise her.

''...I think you're the only person in the world who can think of something like that in a situation like this.'' It wasn't said with malice and the brunette's voice didn't hold any trace of annoyance. She doubted that would serve either of them any purpose. Pushing herself up, Erika walked over to the blonde and sat down next to her. Putting her arm around the blonde's shoulder, Erika pulled the girl into a hug and continued to give the crazy little ray of sunshine a series of awkward pats on the back.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"C'mon, people think of abusing Disney songs, like, all the time," insisted Frank. She wiggled a little closer to Erika as the other girl moved in, accepting the hug and attempting to give one of her own back. Erika, who had hugged Frank before, would undoubtedly notice that her friend had already lost some weight. The back pats did feel pretty good though, and Frank let out a little coo of appreciation, moving a little in a manner that wouldn't have been out of place on a puppy or something.

"I just figured that you'd be missing all your crazy fun times and stuff that you got into outside of here,' said Frank, shrugging. "I think that's actually their secret weapon here: they're gonna bore us all to death. They've probably put Trevor down in some big white room or something with absolutely nothing to do but stare at the walls. I kinda wish they'd do something," Frank kicked at her foot, digging at it a bit. "This waiting stuff sucks. You sure you don't wanna make out? Maybe a little? Y'know, just so we have something to do?"

She was dead serious...
...well, as serious as Frank Cox ever got.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Resting her head on top of Frank's, the brunette sighed. She could feel Frank's body had grown a lot slimmer, and considering the time (Which she assumed hadn't been too long) they had been here, that wasn't a good sign. ''Crazy fun times, huh?'' Erika mused, ''You know Frank, I don't really have that much fun. Those rumors aren't entirely true, but I assume you sort of knew that already.'' Erika pointed out with a chuckle. Falling silent again, Erika allowed her thoughts to wander to the other two, wherever they were. She chuckled again at Frank's comment before shaking her head, ''Let's play a game or something. At least that can get our minds off this and we won't be as bored, hm?''

And yes, she was completely and utterly ignoring Frank's comment about making out. Not that she didn't find the girl attractive, because in all her childlike adorableness, Erika couldn't help but to look at Frank like a twelve year old little sister and Erika wasn't exactly into incest nor pedophilia.

''Do you have any fun games we could play?''

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank shrugged, "Who wouldn't want something like that to be true though? We all kinda want to be awesome and get the attention and stuff and you get it. 'course I know better; I was your roomie for a while, remember?" Frank giggled at the memory, before ending by blowing out her lips. "It's just more fun to believe that what Dirty Laundry says is true sometimes, and y'know, I'm gonna have as much fun as I---Ooooh, oh, oh, games, I love games!" she slapped the floor, which seemed to make her flinch a little. She wiggled and rocked till she was in a seated position, then squirmed and scooted until she was facing Erika, a big, wide smile plastered all over her face.

"I know all sorts of games we could play! Even while we're all like stuck here and I can't really move or junk 'cuz I start to get dizzy after a while but that's okay I can always just pass out a little and you guys can like poke my face or something but what should we play... there's have you ever---oh, wait, we don't have anything to drink or something. I mean, we could play it anyway, but it might get a little boring without the drinky part. There's the whole twenty questions thing, or one of us could think of a animal or something and the other could try to figure it out or we could just sit here and braid each other's hair or something. I bet your hair is really hard to braid, with all those curls and stuff; don't you have a twin sister? Like, Anna or something? I didn't think she had that hair..." Frank actually stopped talking for a bit, mostly because she'd managed to get good and distracted by Erika's hair, because of course she did.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

   Erika had always found Frank to be quite the peculiar being. Her optimism seemed to be never ending, which was incredibly endearing and refreshing. The world could surely need more Frank Coxes. There was no doubt about it. ''I guess,'' the brunette began with a sigh, ''But really, I've began to think that the attention and fame that follows isn't all it is cracked up to be,'' she added with a meek smile, once again turning her attention towards the adorable being next to her. Frank was a child at heart, and it was just so immensely adorable. It almost made this entire scenario get a little more normal, if not even safer. To see Frank being her usual self (All things considered) helped Erika's own mood.

   Arching her eyebrow, the telekinetic waited for the younger girl to finish speaking before even considering the idea of opening her own mouth, ''I have a twin sister, yes. Her name is Elsa; We're identical, so she has the curls too, but she straightens them out most of the time,'' Erika explained. It was a shame so few people knew about Elsa, because truth be told, she was the Bellefonte worth noticing. ''And I'm okay with whichever game you feel like playing, so you can decide.'' Anything to pass the time, right? And it wasn't like Erika had all that much to hide, anyways. At least not to Frank.

   And even if Frank couldn't keep her mouth shut, it wasn't like most of her secrets, or lack thereof wasn't splayed all over a blogger's site anyways. Anything was better than the silence. The silence made her think, and in a situation like this, her mind tended to get pulled into dark places and that wasn't somewhere she wanted to be.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

The attention and fame wasn't all its cracked up to be? "I guess that's probably true; I dunno. I like it when people pay attention to me," Frank shrugged. She was tempted to say something about the whole grass being greener on the other side or something like that. It sounded lame even as she thought about it though, plus, Erika had already started talking about something else, going into detail about her twin sister. Elsa, yeah, that made sense. Frank knew it had something to do with that super cool Disney movie, and she guessed that "Elsa" sounded more like "Erika" and that their parents had probably done the whole twin name thing that sounded alike.

"It must be super cool having a twin!" she said, sighing. "I totally don't though: I'm an only child and all, but I think you already know that. I know you've got a bunch of siblings, but I'd think a twin would be kinda cool. You could swap places and all," Frank paused then, remembering that they were supposed to be thinking about games to play and the like. She drummed her fingers against her stomach, scrunching her face.

"I guess we could also play two truths and a lie. That's where you," she turned and looked at Erika, her face dead serious, "tell two truths and a lie. Like this: I was raised by my butler," she raised a finger, "I once ate a midget," second finger, "and I can speak fluent French," a third finger, and she nodded, turning and grinning at Erika. "That way we can play and learn about each other, so I can tell people off when they're all like 'Erika does so and so,'" Frank finished with nodding sagely, feeling very Yoda- like at the moment. She'd probably start talking like the muppet at any moment now.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

''It is,'' Erika responded with a smile. ''But it's also a little stressful at times, because some people can't tell us apart, and that's not exactly a good feeling, you know?'' At times, Erika was actually a little envious of the people that had no siblings; Of course, she adored her own to death, and sometimes she didn't at all, but constantly being compared to one another was tiresome. Especially when it came to Elsa. It made Erika feel insecure, and she had always, and would probably always be a little bit afraid that people would replace her, or not know them apart. Sure, it was hard when they were identical, but Erika still liked to believe that there was something different.

''Alright, that sounds like a decent game,'' Erika nodded. She would probably have a hard time coming up with anything, all things considered, but Erika was determined to make Frank's stay a little bit better, so if this was how she had to do it, this was how she would. Smiling, Erika leaned in to give Frank's shoulder a pat. ''Thank you. That means a lot.'' Leaning back again, Erika rested the back of her head against the wall before sighing, ''Okay,'' she nodded, ''I'll start.''

Biting her lower lip, Erika thought about the different things she could say. Once she decided, she nodded again, ''I've never been in love -- actually in love.'' Truth. ''I'm an old, romantic soul.'' Lie. ''I never tell people how I really feel.'' Truth.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"I suppose, but I don't know how anyone would have trouble keeping you two apart. Aren't you like--" but Frank's question was lost as Erika agreed to her game, thus distracting the easily distractible. Frank was tempted to point out that she'd technically just asked a few things to Erika, but she figured that she didn't need to be a party pooper about the rules; Erika had offered to play, after all, so cooperating was the least she could do.

Frank listened intently, staring hard at Erika as the other girl bit her lip and worked out her stuff. Love, old soul, and tell people how she really felt... "Hmm, that's a toughie. You've totes been in love before, like, I can tell. I think I've been in love too, but it's not my turn, is it? Hmm, so that leave the old soul thing and the telling people how you feel... that last one? You never tell people how you really fe---wait, does your sister count as people? If she does, then I'm totally changing my answer to that other thing, because yeah," Frank nodded, "I'm sure you tell her everything. Oh, probably all your lovahs too, well, lovah, I guess, since there's just one?"

This last was a question, even ending with Frank tilting her head and looking at Erika, blinking owlishly, obviously a little uncertain as to the right answer there.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

''I don't have to tell her, she reads my mind,'' Erika said, smiling a little. ''And I've never been in love. Not really. I mean, I thought I was once, or maybe even twice, but...'' She trailed off, shaking her head. Frank's question had Erika frowning. Lover, huh. She wasn't entirely sure if either of her 'lovers', if they could be called that, classified as such. Sure, there was Everett, whom Erika had more or less called things off with, and Felix, who Erika had realized she didn't share feelings with. No, she didn't have a lover. Not really.

''You're the only lover I need, Frank,'' Erika said, smirking - or at least attempting to. ''One of these days, we're going to get married, and we'll have the best, biggest and most fantastical wedding the world has ever seen. There will be lots of food, good company and best of all? We can build our own harem.''

It was an amusing thought to say the least. Though, it didn't leave any sour tastes in Erika's mind. Unless the brunette was in a very cranky mood, she enjoyed having Frank around. The girl was a breath of fresh air.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Hmm, you would make an appealing ladeh lovah," agreed Frank, nodding in consideration. No, she didn't make note of the fact that her "flawless" logic had included that Erika had been in love when the other girl had insisted otherwise. She was far more focused on the idea of a wedding and a harem and stuff.

"Ooooh, my wedding is gonna be super awesome and not at all boring and crappy like most weddings. I've got it all planned out! Well, mostly planned out. I mean, I'm still young and stuff. But we can totally hook up and build a harem of sexy slave-boys. We can enforce a speedo only dress-code and have them all wear dog collars or something," clearly this was something that Frank had considered in the past. She tapped her lips, realized something, and since this was Frank, immediately said it:

"My turn! For the game. Uhhhhh," Frank laid down for a moment, already feeling more than a little tired. "I've only been drunk, like, once," true, "I wrote my butler every week while I was in England," true," "aaaand I've slept with a girl," and false, though Frank had done some sloppy, ugly kissing with one once or twice, mostly at parties.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Laughing at Frank's choice of.. Wording, Erika had to admit that despite the circumstances, Frank knew how to make a situation look a little bit better. "Thank you," Erika said, reaching out to give Frank's hand a light squeeze. "Really."

Erika opened her mouth to comment on the wedding idea, but wasn't given much chance to do so as Frank's mind seemed to drift elsewhere, which in truth, wasn't all that surprising. This was Frank after all, and this was what Frank did. It was also one of the reasons Erika had come to enjoy the girl so much. Ever since their first meeting on S.S Anne, Frank had been a needed fresh breath of air, and even though the blonde could prove to be extremely annoying, she never threw Erika off.

In fact, Erika could easily admit to being a little smitten with the girl. Not in the love or like aspect of the word, but as a friend. A friend she held dear and close.

Tapping her chin, Erika listened as Frank threw her comments out into the air, and she had to admit, guessing which wasn't true was extremely hard, because it was easy to imagine Frank doing all three. "Uhm," Erika began and licked her lower lip. "Tough one," she laughed, "Buuut, I'm going to go with the Butler one." That seemed less like Frank, right? Then again, there was no such thing as 'less like Frank'.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank watched her friend carefully. Of course it would've been easy to picture her doing everything; Frank was pretty good at this game, having had, like, loads of practice and stuff. Plus, the game helped her stop thinking about the fact that she was pretty sure her stomach and her backbone were becoming bosom buddies now, which suuuucked. In fact, it sapped a lot of Frank's normally boundless energy. She giggled as Erika finally gave an answer, then shook her head.

"Nope! My butler and I are super tight, it's like weeeeird. Plus, he was British or something," Frank shrugged, "and, like, the first few letters were pretty much 'dear Jeeves. It totally sucks here in England. Tell my parents they're stupid and I wanna go to Montana. Send more candy. Luv, Frank," somehow, the misspelled word seemed to come through in what Frank said. Magic Frank powers, most likely. She giggled again, then looked back to Erika.

"It's the girl thing. I, like, have made out with some and stuff, and girls can be, y'know, super hawt, but I've never really slept with one or anything," Frank paused, then giggled. "I guess that's my round. I suppose I could ask you the same, but you're supposed to be sharing, so it's totally not fair if I'm all like 'tell me all your lovahs,' she giggled again, before sliding back on the floor, mostly because all the giggling and talking must've left her a little lightheaded there. It definitely wasn't the lack of food. yeah, definitely not that.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Arching her eyebrow in an equally surprised and amused manner, Erika nodded slightly, "Wow, really? That must be cool," she admitted with a faint chuckle. "Do you still talk to him? Your butler, I mean." It struck Erika just how little she actually knew about the girl that sat next to her; Frank was the kind of presence everyone knew about, but when it came to details about the young girl's life, things seemed to get a little hazy. At least for Erika.

"Huh," Erika said, nodding again, "That's actually kind of surprising, yet not surprising at all," she mused, "I mean, in one way, it would make sense if you were this totally inexperienced virgin, because you're just so extremely adorable, and adorableness often leads to people thinking it means being innocent too, but on the other hand, it's not really that surprising that you've been out there, you know?" She wasn't sure if she made any sense, though, few things seemed to around the younger girl.

Licking her lower lip, Erika sighed, "Alright, alright," she laughed, "To be honest, I'm not nearly as experienced as a certain blog makes me sound," Erika admitted. "Sure, I've had my fair share of drunken fooling around, but I've only had sex with two people, and only two times," she added with a soft smile. Now was as good a time as sharing as ever, right? "Once when I was sixteen, and the second time after I turned eighteen. You remember those rumors about me dating that cook? Well, they were half true. We never really dated, because seeing as how I'm a student and he was a cook..." Erika trailed off there. The memories was still raw, and the relationship she had had with Everett, could it be called as such, was messy to say the least.

From their random meeting on the training field to their argument that had lead into him kissing her, and then the trip at S.S Anne where he had almost drowned and then ran off to France... And the mess with Ellen and Ellen sending him into a coma. Things had sort of escalated from there between Everett buying her a house and Erika kissing Felix.

Man, she had really fucked that up good, huh.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"weeeeeird," said Frank as Erika explained her love life. Of course, Erika had already pretty well admitted it, at least in generalities, but now Frank had specifics to examine. "I mean, not that you've only slept with a few guys. That's, like, normal I guess or something," she shrugged, "but, like, it's weird that I'm the one who's had more experience and stuff. I'm not, like a slut or anything, and nobody around here seems that interested in sleeping with me for some reason," which didn't really bother Frank, and that lack of bother even showed in her voice. She almost stated it matter-of-factly, as if it was just the way things happened to be here, nothing more, nothing less. "But I've had a few. No relationships with staff though," she grinned and leaned over to give Erika a nudge. "Must've been fun though, right? Forbidden love and all that stuff."

Frank leaned back, looking at the ceiling, wondering for a few moments. "Wonder if I'm ever gonna end up like that," came out, because of course Frank's mind couldn't hold a thought without letting it pass her lips. "Eh," she shrugged, which was sort of weird, being that she remained on the floor, "things are fine, I guess. I've got, like, tons and tons of friends, so that's something," she looked over at Erika, beaming. She leaned and poked her friend again. "you're supposed to be plaaaaaaaying the gaaaaame," she practically sang, "unless you want me to serenade you again. I think there's still a few songs from the extensive folio of My Little Pony that I haven't done for you all."

And that twinkle in Frank's eyes said that she would, in fact, do precisely that, likely with little motivation or reason.