Doug and Topaz
May. 1st, 2020 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated. After therapy, Doug and Topaz talk about X-Force and the job offer that Marie-Ange gave her.
Noodles post-therapy with Dr. Grim had become something of a tradition for Doug and Topaz, regardless of whose appointment it was. (Somewhere along the way the 'keeping you accountable' thing Doug was doing had become a two-way street.) As they sat, Doug could tell by the way Topaz was fidgeting with her utensils that something was on her mind. "Hard appointment today?" he asked.
"Life choices are being questioned," was the first reply. Then, after a long moment. "Not sure how far the rumor mill goes, but I talked to Marie-Ange and Amanda about joining the spy lot."
Doug raised his eyebrow. He hadn't actually heard anything about it from Marie-Ange, but that was hardly surprising. Her secrets could keep secrets of their own, and so on. "Forget the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, Angie just believes in telling each finger what it needs to do and no more sometimes." It was said with fondness, though. Doug knew who his partner was, after all, and this time around they had agreed to go into things with eyes wide open and no illusions.
"Right, the middle finger might betray the index finger." Topaz twirled her chopsticks for a moment, thinking. "She hired me, though."
"Hm. Not entirely surprising." For all that Marie-Ange had similar opinions to Remy about the nature of the work X-Force did, the difference was in that she knew better than to think that she could go it alone with only a select few. (Although hell, given Remy's skills, he might have been able to manage just him and Wisdom, Doug admitted to himself.) So rather than actively try to chase people off with horror stories, Marie-Ange would hire people after making sure they were aware of what they were getting into.
"You think?" Topaz was still turning the conversations around in her head - Amanda, Marie-Ange, and Grimm. "I'm not reconsidering or anything, but I keep expecting someone to call me out."
Doug grinned widely. "See, that doesn't surprise me either," he told the witch in a gently teasing tone. "But as to the previous, yes. You've proven a number of times that you're capable, and Angie's always been the pragmatic one." Doug knew himself well enough to know that while his power certainly lent itself to tactical thinking and the like, he'd be a terrible choice as an actual leader.
"Shouldn't question it, I guess." She focused on her noodles again, tilting her head back and forth. "I think this means I've got to be an adult now. That's weird."
"I mean, the fact that you recognize that you shouldn't necessarily second guess when people think you're competent and capable of doing things is a very good first step." Yes, it was rather meta-referential, but Doug was nothing if not the king of meta references. "And the secret about being an adult is that nobody ever really -feels- like an adult. Generally we're all our own worst critics." He definitely spoke from experience there. "And when you think about it, from the outside people don't see all the doubts and worries in your head, they just see you doing things and getting through life."
He leaned back and cocked his head. "Huh, I guess all that money I'm paying Dr. Grim is going to good use," he observed with a twinkle in his eye.
"At least you know it's worth it." She finally took a bite of her food. The getting through life thing had been going a lot better, at least. "So what, pretend I know what I'm doing so people think I'm competent? I guess I've already been doing that..."
"Look at us, all learning from our therapy and stuff," Doug mumbled around another mouthful of noodles. "We deserve cookies or something."
"I suppose noodles are too common to be a proper reward." Topaz tilted her head, thinking. "Cookies sound good, though."
Noodles post-therapy with Dr. Grim had become something of a tradition for Doug and Topaz, regardless of whose appointment it was. (Somewhere along the way the 'keeping you accountable' thing Doug was doing had become a two-way street.) As they sat, Doug could tell by the way Topaz was fidgeting with her utensils that something was on her mind. "Hard appointment today?" he asked.
"Life choices are being questioned," was the first reply. Then, after a long moment. "Not sure how far the rumor mill goes, but I talked to Marie-Ange and Amanda about joining the spy lot."
Doug raised his eyebrow. He hadn't actually heard anything about it from Marie-Ange, but that was hardly surprising. Her secrets could keep secrets of their own, and so on. "Forget the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, Angie just believes in telling each finger what it needs to do and no more sometimes." It was said with fondness, though. Doug knew who his partner was, after all, and this time around they had agreed to go into things with eyes wide open and no illusions.
"Right, the middle finger might betray the index finger." Topaz twirled her chopsticks for a moment, thinking. "She hired me, though."
"Hm. Not entirely surprising." For all that Marie-Ange had similar opinions to Remy about the nature of the work X-Force did, the difference was in that she knew better than to think that she could go it alone with only a select few. (Although hell, given Remy's skills, he might have been able to manage just him and Wisdom, Doug admitted to himself.) So rather than actively try to chase people off with horror stories, Marie-Ange would hire people after making sure they were aware of what they were getting into.
"You think?" Topaz was still turning the conversations around in her head - Amanda, Marie-Ange, and Grimm. "I'm not reconsidering or anything, but I keep expecting someone to call me out."
Doug grinned widely. "See, that doesn't surprise me either," he told the witch in a gently teasing tone. "But as to the previous, yes. You've proven a number of times that you're capable, and Angie's always been the pragmatic one." Doug knew himself well enough to know that while his power certainly lent itself to tactical thinking and the like, he'd be a terrible choice as an actual leader.
"Shouldn't question it, I guess." She focused on her noodles again, tilting her head back and forth. "I think this means I've got to be an adult now. That's weird."
"I mean, the fact that you recognize that you shouldn't necessarily second guess when people think you're competent and capable of doing things is a very good first step." Yes, it was rather meta-referential, but Doug was nothing if not the king of meta references. "And the secret about being an adult is that nobody ever really -feels- like an adult. Generally we're all our own worst critics." He definitely spoke from experience there. "And when you think about it, from the outside people don't see all the doubts and worries in your head, they just see you doing things and getting through life."
He leaned back and cocked his head. "Huh, I guess all that money I'm paying Dr. Grim is going to good use," he observed with a twinkle in his eye.
"At least you know it's worth it." She finally took a bite of her food. The getting through life thing had been going a lot better, at least. "So what, pretend I know what I'm doing so people think I'm competent? I guess I've already been doing that..."
"Look at us, all learning from our therapy and stuff," Doug mumbled around another mouthful of noodles. "We deserve cookies or something."
"I suppose noodles are too common to be a proper reward." Topaz tilted her head, thinking. "Cookies sound good, though."
