wip wednesday
some original writing. bc why not that’s why. also it’s pronounced nigh-oh
Cat finds her in the dark of the night, her shadow falling long across the arcing wall of the tunnel. She sits down next to Ngaio, offering her the second coffee mug in her hands. “So, what’re you in for?”
Ngaio looks back at her from the corner of her eye. The coffee is black. She’s fallen out of the habit of cutting it anyway, more from carelessness than conservativeness. It’s just a method of conveyance for caffeine. She says, “What do you think?”
“That hairstyle seems like it might be fashionable in a pseudo-military movement.”
“Big words, white girl. What about you?”
“Why am I here?” Ngaio watches her back, lets her silence stand as her answer. “Maybe I believe in liberty for all people.”
“I hope not,” Ngaio says.
“Why?”
“It wouldn’t be enough,” Ngaio replies. “Fighting for someone else. When it all comes down to the wire, I can’t believe that anyone will care enough about someone else’s rights to throw themselves on it.”
“I think you’re mixing your metaphors,” she says. “Lucky I’m bisexual then. Right?”
“Lucky,” Ngaio echoes. Whether it’s agreement is debatable.
“Do you think it’s going to come down to that?” Cat asks. “Laying on the wire.”
“Not prepared to die for the cause?”
“I’m twenty-four. Guess I’m still hoping to live a little longer. Aren’t you?”
“I don’t care.”
“About dying?”
“About anything.”
That earns her a look. Cat has a particular way of looking, too, with a careful kind of precision. She says, “Big words.”
Ngaio shrugs. “If you say so.”
