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[behindmothersback]

I have learned so much in this place, Father. I go to school now and have a job and do all kinds of things that real girls do. But there's still so much to do and tonight I hope to have another experience that I've heard so much about. I've watched movies and read books and nearly all of them talk about slumber parties as if they're the quintessential coming of age experience.

I want to have these experiences, things I never would have done had Mother succeeded.

So tonight I've planned a night with my friends, and invited them to invite a few of theirs. I have cookies and ice cream and pizza and games and scary movies to watch and I truly hope that everyone enjoys themselves. There are pillows and sleeping bags all over our living room and I have to thank you for allowing me to overrun the apartment like this.

I do hope we all have fun.

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[behindmothersback]

When the doorbell rings, I answer it with a smile and pay the pizza delivery man a nice tip. I'm in such a good mood. I have friends here and everyone seems to be having fun. It's everything I wanted it to be.

Taking the food into the living room and set the pies down on the coffee table. "There are all kinds of sodas in the fridge and I have vegetarian pizzas here, too. Does anyone want anything else?"

[arrowette]

"I think I'm good," Cissie said, already up and heading over to the coffee table. Sure, it was a really good scene going on in the movie they were watching but there was pizza. Surely everything could be forgiven for the tasty pizza.

"Do you need me to get plates or napkins or anything?"

[behindmothersback]

"Oh, yes please, they're in the kitchen over there." I check the pizzas and sort them out. I had to ask what the most popular ones were, I certainly don't trust my own tastes in these things. "Plates and napkins both, I bought disposables. Is that alright?"

[arrowette]

"That's perfect," Cissie reassured her. "It makes cleaning up so much easier and you won't have to worry about trying to get dried cheese off dishes. I've done that, it's really crappy."

[behindmothersback]

"That's what I was thinking. I'll clean up of course, I wouldn't leave this for Father, but this is much easier. People dispose of so many things here, it's a bit shocking, but it is easy." I never remembered things like this in Rapture, I imagine there might be something like these, but... Mother would think it wasteful. Mother would think this whole enterprise was a waste, she spent so much time keeping me away from the others.

"We didn't have pizza where I used to live. I rather like it."

[arrowette]

"That must be hard to get used to," Cissie said once she'd come back with the plates and napkins. "I mean, coming here's bizarre enough and then having to adjust to a different time period? That can't be easy."

[behindmothersback]

"Sunlight and skies were difficult. Food has been interesting at least. I've liked trying different things. Father took me for sushi once." But despite all the strangeness of this place, I'm finally feeling at home. I enjoy the sun now and even the open spaces do not bother me as much as they used to. "I was born and raised under the ocean."

[arrowette]

"The ocean? Really?" Cissie'd heard a lot of stories about a lot of places that people had come from but under the ocean was a new one. "I have to say, I haven't heard that one before."

[behindmothersback]

"No one here has. Apparently, it's very rare, although it was rare back home. Rapture was a secret city. You had to be invited to live there, or be one of the workers that built it and once you were there it was, well, forever. Leaving wasn't allowed. The people above the ocean would have found out." I don't think about that much. My life had been tied to Rapture in such a different way than others' had been, it was hard for me to consider it. I couldn't imagine volunteering to live in such a place forever.

[arrowette]

That sounded interesting - and more than a little bit sinister, Cissie thought. The name seemed familiar, though, but she couldn't figure out just why.

"I was going to ask what was so secret about it but then, that kind of defeats the purpose, right?" Cissie said. "I'm guessing you never got to go out of it or anything like that?"

[behindmothersback]

"The man who built Rapture didn't want interference from the outside, it was that simple. No oversight, no rules." It's hardly a secret, I've even read some things, in philosophy and some political texts here that tell me Ryan was hardly unique in his views. Just unique in how he expressed them. I wonder, could there ever be a place that could live by Ryan's rules and survive? "My first time above the ocean was when I woke up on the train. I was born in Rapture and there were times... well, I thought I might die there."

[arrowette]

No interference from anyone else, that sounded more than a little familiar to Cissie. She would have bet anything that the guy probably was Evil with a capital e.

"That must have been really weird," Cissie said. "Waking up on the train and realizing you weren't underwater anymore."

[behindmothersback]

"I'd been heading to the surface, but yes, it was much more jarring than I anticipated. I... I'm still a little nervous in open spaces. Not as badly when I arrived, but... Father works in an aquarium and sometimes I go to visit him, just so I can stand under the tanks and watch the water above me." I'm a little ashamed to admit that, but I feel like it's safe. Like it's something she would understand.

[arrowette]

Cissie nodded in complete understanding. Going to the aquariam to look at the water over her felt like it was her safe space. It was how the archery range was for her in a way - a place where she could go and lose herself for a bit and know that she would be okay at least for a little while.

"I bet," she said. "Do you miss being there at all?"

[thecautionarywhale]

"Please tell me there's meat pizza too?" Juno looks up with almost-panic in her mind. She doesn't mind vegetarian when it's all that's offered, but there's something about pepperoni, sausage and bacon on a slice of pie that he loves.

[behindmothersback]

"There are all kinds. I may have ordered too much, but I didn't want anyone to feel left out." I move the cardboard boxes and set them out, lifting each lid to check what's inside. "Here you go, this one is pepperoni, and there's another with sausage and mushrooms. I asked the shop to give me the most popular options."

[thecautionarywhale]

"You are a champion," Juno says, bouncing up to grab a paper towel and a couple of slices. "Seriously, nice planning. Good party. I like it."

[behindmothersback]

"I'm really happy. I have to confess, I've been quite worried. I've never done anything like this." I never had friends to invite to a party before. Not even Amir, because I had to visit him in secret, behind Mother's back.

[thecautionarywhale]

"I've had sleepovers, but not like this. Usually they were just my friend Leah and me." Juno pauses long enough to take a bite of pizza, chewing and swallowing quickly. "I haven't been to something like this since I was a kid. And then it wasn't like this."

[behindmothersback]

"What was it like?" I'm interested in all kinds of things people do, especially in childhood. As you well know, I had none of my own and can only listen to the stories of others. Those stories, sometimes I like to pretend it was me, laughing and playing and attending school with friends.

[thecautionarywhale]

"Okay, I guess. Usually we'd watch a couple of movies. I'd always try to make them watch the scary ones, but no one ever wanted to. I dunno. I didn't really fit in with those kids." Juno hadn't ever minded that, though. She stuck out, but she'd always been pretty okay with that, with being who she was. "There would be some stupid games. Truth or Dare and someone would be dared to go and kiss the dog or someone's brother or something. Then their parents would tell us to shut up and go to sleep, pretty much."

[behindmothersback]

"Truth or Dare? What kind of game is that? Can we play that tonight?" I don't know what other games to play other than, well, board games. Which I have if others are interested, but I'd rather something much more traditional.

[thecautionarywhale]

"Oh man. It's well... It can be pretty awful. I mean, you get to dare someone to do something or if they pick truth you ask them something, usually embarassing." There might be a fun way to play the game, but she's never seen it. "Stick with boardgames and pizza."