be students, be teachers -- Malana

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Malana seemed oddly cheerful for someone who had just lost their mother, but then he supposed that she was fairly young, and might not really comprehend the concept of death yet. Losing a parent when you were still a baby and losing a parent when you were an adult were two very different experiences. Undertaker hadn't been his biological father, but Paper had a feeling he would have considered him like a father figure had he not died so soon- yet it was hard to miss someone you didn't remember clearly.

  As Malana crashed into the deck beside him, he turned towards her. Chasing one's own tail was part of growing up, he recalled, but he still had a feeling she might get herself injured someday with her constant bouncing around. Maybe that was for the better- injury was a heck of a teacher. As she spoke, he tilted his head to the right, exposing his left ear to her voice. "Papercutter, that's right," he answered, with a nod. "How have you been liking it here?" It was a banal question to ask, but he had a feeling she wanted conversation, and that was the best he could come up with.