Log: Garrison and Maya
Mar. 12th, 2018 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs Maya and Wade visit Harry's for Wade to conduct some business. Maya decides to spend some time talking to Garrison.
Maya slid into the chair beside Garrison, acknowledging Wade’s glance as he talked to his contact a few meters away. She was close enough to him that he’d be able to intervene should anything weird happen, but not so close as to interfere with his conversation. Besides, when she’d seen Garrison, she’d wanted to say hi. She hadn’t seen the Canadian around the mansion lately, what with school and extra-curriculars and everything else her weird life entailed.
“Hey.” She accepted the glass of Coke Harry passed to her, obviously an order from Wade and took a sip. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”
"Hockey is getting close to playoffs. There are literally a dozen games I need to follow every day. It's important and fulfilling work." Kane said, eyes never leaving the screen above them.
Maya's body had aligned itself into a perfect copy of Garrison's position almost the moment she'd relaxed into the seat next to him, something she still had almost no control over despite complaining to the GenX trainers about it being like the world's weirdest and most pathetic game of 'Simon Says'. One in which she had no control over which actions she followed and most of the time the 'Simon' in question didn't even know she was doing it.
They'd suggested she talk to someone like Doug, or possibly Meggan for suggestions or simply the perspective of another power set that might help her. She'd done as she often did in situations that made her uncomfortable, she'd ignored them for the much more preferable pastime of pretending her powers didn't exist. It wasn't going particularly well for her lately.
"Sounds like important stuff." Maya's comment was mild given her usual proclivities, more an invitation to further conversation than a sarcastic or caustic remark. She felt out of place sitting here. Twitchy, she might have said. "You watch a lot of sports."
"Yes. Because sports are honest. Two teams face off, one wins. It's nice and clean and simple. An imperfect metaphor as a contract to life, but it will do for now."
"So, only team sports?" Maya's normal responses to trauma weren't going to work here, she knew that. She also knew she was the last possible person who could do any good for the man. Still, she had Wade to wait for and a coke to drink, so she might as well talk to one of the few people in the mansion who she actually respected. She could do that much, at the least. "Do you ever watch things like ice dancing or speed skating?"
"I'm Canadian. Not only am I required by law to watch the Winter Olympics but I've met quite a few of our skaters. I had drinks with Clara Hughes. She drank more shots than I did."
"You've met Clara Hughes?" Maya's eyes had settled on surprised and suddenly interested, her entire demeanor going from disinterested caution to excitement in the space of a second. "What's she like? Does she like speed skating more than cycling? Did you get an autograph?"
"Here's the deal. You are allowed to ask one question at a time. Otherwise, I will answer only one in the run on sentence at random."
“Did you honestly just shame me for being excited about something for a change?” Maya gave him an incredulous look, as she turned back to her drink of coke. “And people call me rude. Let’s start with the easy one then, what’s Clara Hughes like in person?”
"I'm not your teacher or guardian, so your development growth is secondary to interrupting my hockey viewing." Frankly, not enough people let Maya know that she wasn't the only show in town. "Clara is very nice. Honest. Five minutes in she was telling stories about her wild teens in Winnipeg and how she's amazed she ended up an athlete instead of a teen mom. She still drinks shitty rye though."
“I promise not to look to you for any ‘being a good human being’ instruction in the future then.” Maya glanced up at the hockey with a scowl, taking another drink of her coke. “This isn’t about that whole thing with Amanda, is it? I know you two are friends.”
"We aren't going to talk about that. Because it is not a conversation either of us are going to enjoy." Kane said, finally glancing away from the television. "But, if you're wondering why I seem more interested in hockey than a chat with you? It's because you haven't shown me a reason to want to spend time with you. There's plenty of adults who fall over backwards to act like older siblings or surrogate parents for you to hang with instead."
“I don’t need an older sibling or a surrogate parent. I have a father, and grandparents, and they’re all the family I’ll ever need.” Maya’s normal first response would have been to argue his assumption that he could tell her what to do but given the current uneven footing she was on with almost everyone she kept it to herself. She was silent for a long time after that, watching the Hockey game beside him as she finished off her coke. “People aren’t all one thing or the other and I don’t think you’ve looked very hard.”
"Nope. And you've given me no reason to think it's worth it to try." Garrison shrugged. Maybe he should be nicer to her but after month after month of one blow up or another with the kid, she could be someone else's problem. If he didn't have a girlfriend in a coma, a job increasingly in friction with SHIELD and an increasing dangerous world, maybe he'd be more patient. But she wasn't his problem and he saw no need to make her one.
“I’m talking to you aren’t I?” Maya rarely indulged in passive aggressive bullshit, even when she felt like it. She wasn’t someone who thought the world unfair, or that she was hard done by. Life was life, you got what you got. If Garrison had no time for her, she wouldn’t keep trying beyond what was reasonable but that didn’t mean she didn’t care. “You seemed like a cool guy the last time we talked, and then you mostly disappeared. Is it so weird that I might care why?”
"Did you ever consider that it might not be any of your business? That if I want to talk about it, I'm going to do it with friends and people I trust, not someone that thinks just because she sat herself down that she's owed something."
“I didn’t ask for details.” Maya sighed and played with the ice in her glass, shrugging her shoulders after a moment. It wasn’t up to her in the end, whether he felt her worth the effort to know or not was his choice. Just because she wanted things, didn’t make it so. Her therapists had been pretty damn firm on that lesson. “Look, I’m not here to push you to be my best friend ever. Wade’s gonna be awhile but I can go find somewhere else to sit if it’s really bothering you that I’m here or I can shut up and just watch the game with you, your choice.”
"Hockey. If you watch closely, you might learn something."
“I can do that.” Maya smiled a little, a small hopeful thing that was gone in a second as she turned to the screen. “But I still think that guy in the red deserved to go to the sin bin for that hit.”
Maya slid into the chair beside Garrison, acknowledging Wade’s glance as he talked to his contact a few meters away. She was close enough to him that he’d be able to intervene should anything weird happen, but not so close as to interfere with his conversation. Besides, when she’d seen Garrison, she’d wanted to say hi. She hadn’t seen the Canadian around the mansion lately, what with school and extra-curriculars and everything else her weird life entailed.
“Hey.” She accepted the glass of Coke Harry passed to her, obviously an order from Wade and took a sip. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”
"Hockey is getting close to playoffs. There are literally a dozen games I need to follow every day. It's important and fulfilling work." Kane said, eyes never leaving the screen above them.
Maya's body had aligned itself into a perfect copy of Garrison's position almost the moment she'd relaxed into the seat next to him, something she still had almost no control over despite complaining to the GenX trainers about it being like the world's weirdest and most pathetic game of 'Simon Says'. One in which she had no control over which actions she followed and most of the time the 'Simon' in question didn't even know she was doing it.
They'd suggested she talk to someone like Doug, or possibly Meggan for suggestions or simply the perspective of another power set that might help her. She'd done as she often did in situations that made her uncomfortable, she'd ignored them for the much more preferable pastime of pretending her powers didn't exist. It wasn't going particularly well for her lately.
"Sounds like important stuff." Maya's comment was mild given her usual proclivities, more an invitation to further conversation than a sarcastic or caustic remark. She felt out of place sitting here. Twitchy, she might have said. "You watch a lot of sports."
"Yes. Because sports are honest. Two teams face off, one wins. It's nice and clean and simple. An imperfect metaphor as a contract to life, but it will do for now."
"So, only team sports?" Maya's normal responses to trauma weren't going to work here, she knew that. She also knew she was the last possible person who could do any good for the man. Still, she had Wade to wait for and a coke to drink, so she might as well talk to one of the few people in the mansion who she actually respected. She could do that much, at the least. "Do you ever watch things like ice dancing or speed skating?"
"I'm Canadian. Not only am I required by law to watch the Winter Olympics but I've met quite a few of our skaters. I had drinks with Clara Hughes. She drank more shots than I did."
"You've met Clara Hughes?" Maya's eyes had settled on surprised and suddenly interested, her entire demeanor going from disinterested caution to excitement in the space of a second. "What's she like? Does she like speed skating more than cycling? Did you get an autograph?"
"Here's the deal. You are allowed to ask one question at a time. Otherwise, I will answer only one in the run on sentence at random."
“Did you honestly just shame me for being excited about something for a change?” Maya gave him an incredulous look, as she turned back to her drink of coke. “And people call me rude. Let’s start with the easy one then, what’s Clara Hughes like in person?”
"I'm not your teacher or guardian, so your development growth is secondary to interrupting my hockey viewing." Frankly, not enough people let Maya know that she wasn't the only show in town. "Clara is very nice. Honest. Five minutes in she was telling stories about her wild teens in Winnipeg and how she's amazed she ended up an athlete instead of a teen mom. She still drinks shitty rye though."
“I promise not to look to you for any ‘being a good human being’ instruction in the future then.” Maya glanced up at the hockey with a scowl, taking another drink of her coke. “This isn’t about that whole thing with Amanda, is it? I know you two are friends.”
"We aren't going to talk about that. Because it is not a conversation either of us are going to enjoy." Kane said, finally glancing away from the television. "But, if you're wondering why I seem more interested in hockey than a chat with you? It's because you haven't shown me a reason to want to spend time with you. There's plenty of adults who fall over backwards to act like older siblings or surrogate parents for you to hang with instead."
“I don’t need an older sibling or a surrogate parent. I have a father, and grandparents, and they’re all the family I’ll ever need.” Maya’s normal first response would have been to argue his assumption that he could tell her what to do but given the current uneven footing she was on with almost everyone she kept it to herself. She was silent for a long time after that, watching the Hockey game beside him as she finished off her coke. “People aren’t all one thing or the other and I don’t think you’ve looked very hard.”
"Nope. And you've given me no reason to think it's worth it to try." Garrison shrugged. Maybe he should be nicer to her but after month after month of one blow up or another with the kid, she could be someone else's problem. If he didn't have a girlfriend in a coma, a job increasingly in friction with SHIELD and an increasing dangerous world, maybe he'd be more patient. But she wasn't his problem and he saw no need to make her one.
“I’m talking to you aren’t I?” Maya rarely indulged in passive aggressive bullshit, even when she felt like it. She wasn’t someone who thought the world unfair, or that she was hard done by. Life was life, you got what you got. If Garrison had no time for her, she wouldn’t keep trying beyond what was reasonable but that didn’t mean she didn’t care. “You seemed like a cool guy the last time we talked, and then you mostly disappeared. Is it so weird that I might care why?”
"Did you ever consider that it might not be any of your business? That if I want to talk about it, I'm going to do it with friends and people I trust, not someone that thinks just because she sat herself down that she's owed something."
“I didn’t ask for details.” Maya sighed and played with the ice in her glass, shrugging her shoulders after a moment. It wasn’t up to her in the end, whether he felt her worth the effort to know or not was his choice. Just because she wanted things, didn’t make it so. Her therapists had been pretty damn firm on that lesson. “Look, I’m not here to push you to be my best friend ever. Wade’s gonna be awhile but I can go find somewhere else to sit if it’s really bothering you that I’m here or I can shut up and just watch the game with you, your choice.”
"Hockey. If you watch closely, you might learn something."
“I can do that.” Maya smiled a little, a small hopeful thing that was gone in a second as she turned to the screen. “But I still think that guy in the red deserved to go to the sin bin for that hit.”
