Out of the Frying Pan... on At Home

Liesl Brockert

February 24, 2025 6:37 PM

Out of the Frying Pan... by Liesl Brockert

OOC: CW-Apologies, Liesl is a 17 year old pureblood girl and her knowledge of LGBTQIA matters is probably that of a third grader or someone who grew up in the nineties. Also, kidnapping. BIC:

Liesl slowly opened her eyes. Last night she had a terrible nightmare. Only she felt like she was only half asleep because she had more awareness than usual dreams. Things were more detailed but less so than when she was fully awake and aware. First she had eaten an awkward dinner with her parents and siblings, where nobody but Krisalyn wanted her there, and then she started to feel….weird. Not sick exactly but a bit tingly and then sort of out of it. Like maybe she was drunk but that made no sense. In her parents’ world, Liesl being a legal adult did not matter and they would never approve of her drinking.

And then, suddenly her siblings were gone, she presumed Krisalyn went to bed cuz she’d been very sleepy too, and Father was gone and it was just her and Mother and two big scary men that were the bad kind of scary. And then Mother was gone and Liesl was alone with the scary men who made her float and took her out of her house, and she’d hoped they’d come to take her to Hans or Uncle Cory. Like maybe her uncle got Adam to hire them-as the heir to the Brockert family, Adam had to have a way to hire scary goons-to intimidate her parents into letting her go where she wanted, especially when they didn’t want her around and Liesl didn’t understand why she was at her house in the first place.

But she didn’t remember anything after that. Some glimpses of unfamiliar places that could have been a dream. No recollection of her boyfriend, uncle, aunt, cousins, Karl or snakes. At the very least Liesl felt in her heart that she would have remembered any contact with Hans so disappointingly enough she doubted she was at the snake ranch right now.

Unless, of course, she’d been there too late and Hans was already asleep. Or they took her to her uncle’s which would be almost as good. She doubted that she was at home. Those scary men took her somewhere, unless it was all a dream.

Liesl looked around slowly, still feeling pretty groggy and disoriented, to find herself in a room that was definitely not hers. Any of hers. Not her room at home or Sonora or Uncle Cory’s or the snake ranch or St. Berylla’s . It was too…. pink and there happened to be a significant lack of skulls around. She would not put it past her mother to redecorate without permission, but the basics of the room were all wrong. Like where the windows were didn’t match any place Liesl had a room and there was pink floral wallpaper and bedspreads which was most definitely going to eliminate three of the four main bedrooms that she had as Mother had no control over decor at school or Uncle Cory’s or Hans’. However, she was pretty sure her bedspread had been different when she got home yesterday. Her bedspread most definitely did not have pink flowers on it.

Still, Liesl was groggy and disoriented and home was still possible. She might be imagining the window placement but she knew a few things for sure “This is not the snake ranch.” The Teppenpaw said, her voice heavy with sleep.

“No,it most definitely is not.” A voice spoke up.

Liesl screamed because the voice had startled her and might not even be real. She might be imagining things, although she felt more tired and groggy than anything. Maybe it was all a nightmare and she was still at school. It didn’t sound like Patience and the bedspread was wrong and the windows were wrong and it wasn’t yellow in here, it was pink but Liesl couldn’t help but hope everything that happened-her mother forcing her home, the scary men, Hans graduating-was a nightmare.

“Whoa, hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The voice replied.

Slowly Liesl opened her eyes and wiped the crust from them. She turned her head-which felt like it weighed a million pounds and her eyelids themselves felt to be a significant weight on their own-to see a short girl with shoulder length dark brown hair. And she was definitely not Patience Reed-Fischer. “Where am I?”

“The Caldwell School.”

“Oh.” Liesl replied. That sounded innocuous. “Why am I here? I go to Sonora and am done for the year. And our family patriarch doesn’t want us going to any other school so he’s not going to be happy at all.” Liesl did not know Clifford Brockert well, but he seemed fairly uptight and stuffy and not someone she wanted to piss off. After all, Liesl was very familiar with what happens when you pissed off uptight stuffy people.Granted, he was going to be mad at her parents and not her but still.

Were they trying to keep her away from her siblings and cousins? While she could see them wanting to do that, it still didn’t make sense that she’d have to go to school during the summer.

“Um, it’s not that sort of school.” The girl replied. “It’s….for bad girls who need remedial…training. I got here yesterday.” She explained.

“I’m bad?” Liesl asked. Oh dear, was it true? Because she liked horror she was somehow bad. Like an inherent evil that her parents saw in her and that was why she liked horror and stuff.

But she didn’t feel like a bad person. Of course, nobody was perfect, including her but she didn’t do anything to make anyone feel bad, like making fun of them in a mean way. She was generally nice to people, even people like her brother. Even if someone was like Eustace, she’d rather avoid them than be outright nasty.

The other girl shook her head emphatically. “No, no you are not. Neither am I. Neither are most of the girls I’ve met.”

This place sounded like a place for girls like Topaz,not girls like Liesl. Except nobody had done anything bad according to what the Teppenpaw’s presumed roommate was saying. ‘Why don’t they put actual bad girls here? I have this cousin who terrorizes everyone. She turned her first cousin into a total wreck. I mean, she’s an adult now but when she was younger, why didn’t they do it to her?”

“That one I can’t answer. I don’t know your aunt and uncle-”

“Cousins. Father’s first cousin’s child.” At this point, Liesl probably needed to explain as she was likely confusing her roommate. “I”m Liesl Brockert, of the Western Brockerts.”

“Yeah, I kind of wondered when you specified her torturing her first cousin when you just said cousin to describe the bad one but had to make sure.” Her roommate replied. “People know your family is big and complicated, probably nobody more than you yourself.” She introduced herself. “I’m Louisa Bradford of the South Dakota Bradfords. You may call me Lulu, at least in our room. Out there,” Lulu nodded toward the door. “We will have to do the whole Miss Brockert and Miss Bradford thing despite I know your family doesn’t like it much because of how many of you there are.”

That sounded like a bad sign, but it’s not like Gwendolyn was going to be here or anything. Her parents actually loved her and didn’t have an issue with the person she was. Nor was she actually a psychopath like Topaz. Same with all the other Brockert girls although Liesl realized besides Gwendolyn and her sister and Alma and Libby most of the other girls in her family at Sonora didn’t have the last name Brockert right now. So at least it wouldn’t be confusing.
Still, it did seem overly proper, and formal. Just the sort of place Mother would approve of actually. Which meant that Liesl was probably not going to be very happy here, even though her roommate seemed really nice.

Which made Liesl wonder. Lulu didn’t seem bad at all. Then again, Liesl really wasn’t either but Mother thought she was. “Why are you here?”

At this point, her roommate looked down at the floor and mumbled something.

“Excuse me? I didn’t understand you.” Liesl replied. She didn’t want to push but she was confused. Actually she was super disoriented in general.

Lulu looked up and sighed. “I’m going to have to get used to telling people I don’t know well, because they will probably make me. I said I like girls. I mean, romantically.”

“Oh.” Liesl replied. “That’s not bad. Do you just like the same gender as you or do you want to be a boy? Like, there is this guy at my school, Yaniel, who used to be called Yarielis, and this other guy at my school, Lenny likes to wear dresses and stuff.”

“Uh, no, that’s something different.” Lulu replied. “I am a girl who likes girls. A lesbian”

“Okay.”Liesl replied. Desmond and her parents would probably have a huge problem with Lulu, as Desmond seemed to have an issue with Lenny although that might be because Lenny stood out whereas Yaniel and Xavier did not really dress outside the norm when not in uniforms.The Teppenpaw, however, did not have an issue with them, regarding their…differences. She was different too, and maybe it wasn’t the exact same but she knew what it was like to be so, and to be mistreated for it. Even though she had never seen anyone be mean to Yaniel, Lenny or Xavier, other than her how her own brother having an aversion to Lenny.Besides, her uncle had taught her to be kind and empathetic even if she hadn’t had the experiences she had with her parents and brother she would have been okay with people’s sexual orientations and gender identities.

Feeling like she had to reciprocate, Liesl replied “Um, I am not sure of why I’m here or much of anything right now. I’m kind of out of it and woozy. I really want to go back to sleep”

“No,no, they’re going to come by soon to get us. Do not do that.” Lulu warned her.

Liesl nodded,which made her slightly dizzy. “I think I’m here because I do not fit my mother’s expectations of what a pureblood girl, especially her daughter, should be. I like horror and snakes and stuff. Also, I doubt Mother likes my boyfriend, but she pretty much didn’t know until they picked me up from school as I didn’t tell her or my father or brother. I’m pretty sure my brother told her, he cornered my cousin about it, and it wasn’t like I was discreet when saying goodbye.” Maybe that was part of the problem. Liesl being emotionally effusive with her boyfriend and not acting with a strict sense of propriety at all times.

“Yeah, they were probably planning to send you here long before that.” Lulu replied.

“Oh.” It was probably not about Hans then, or at least not him and Liesl being a couple, which was good because otherwise Jason might blame himself for the predicament she was currently in. He might anyway, but hopefully Uncle Cory would explain to him that it wasn’t his fault. Liesl would never blame him anyway, and even had it been about Hans, it wasn’t his fault that Desmond cornered him or was a tattletale. Plus, her relationship wasn’t a secret, she just didn’t really…talk with her parents or brother.

Honestly, Liesl wondered if people even realized that she and Desmond were siblings. They didn’t talk to each other like ever and she was pretty sure he didn’t advertise the fact as she knew he was as ashamed of her as her parents were. They didn’t even look all that much alike, with her blonde and him having darker tones physically.

Lulu spoke, which sort of made Liesl focus again, as she was still trying not to nod back off. Despite the bedding not being to her taste, the bed was starting to appeal to her more and more, and all she wanted to do was plop back down on the pillows. “Hey Liesl? Thanks for not being….nasty about me liking girls.”

Liesl shrugged her heavy shoulders. “I really can’t see a problem with it, but I’m sorry if you’ve had others being mean about it.” Truthfully, none of the kids at Sonora were nasty to her about how she was, unless one counted Desmond, who technically qualified under that description. “And at my school, it’s not…unusual. Like, I mentioned Yaniel and Lenny, neither of whom I know well, but that’s not…personal. I just have different friends than they do. Like, the people in my house in the year below me-which includes Lenny- are this group-I hesitate to call them a clique, because they’re all really nice-and Yaniel and my cousin Christopher sometimes hang out with them too.I mostly hang out with my boyfriend, and sometimes my relatives.” Which reminded her. Hans had graduated. When she went back, she would be alone. She’d have Krisalyn and Jason, but that wasn’t fair to them. Not to mention that Liesl was honestly worried people would judge her for only hanging out with Beginner students. Too bad Lulu couldn’t come back with her. “I actually really like Lenny though, he’s not afraid of being himself.” And Desmond wasn’t a fan, which might speak well of the younger Teppenpaw’s character.

Suddenly, the seventh year froze as a horrible thought entered her mind. She was worried about going back to Sonora and being without Hans, but what if she wasn’t going back? What if she had to spend her seventh year here? True, she’d have Lulu at least, but she had a sinking feeling that this was not a place she wanted to be, and even alone, Liesl was pretty sure she’d rather be at Sonora. “How long are we staying here?”

“I don’t know," Lulu solemnly replied.

A knock sounded on the door, making Liesl’s heart also feel like it was knocking inside her. She liked scary things, but not these kinds of scary things.

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