Doug & Darcy | Using our words
May. 20th, 2023 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs(backdated) Darcy and Doug have a chat about why she's so on edge after the Boston trip.
One of Doug's favorite things about being with Darcy was that it was just as easy to sit quietly on the couch together (what would be called 'parallel play' in very young kids) as it was to get dressed up to go out for a fancy night together. But since she'd returned from the road trip to pick up the newest young resident, and dealing with Quentin, she'd definitely been on edge. "Do you want to talk about it, or just spend some time decompressing?" he asked her as they cleaned up from a dinner of takeout.
"Cuddle?" she asked hopefully. "And.. both, maybe. I think?" It was indecisive to her own ears, but Darcy just leaned against Doug's shoulder with a sigh. "I don't know why it's bothering me so fucking much, it's not like I've ever given more than half a thought to that asshole's opinions before."
"Being stuck in a car with someone tends to create a pressure cooker." Doug could point to the road trip X-Force had just taken for an easy example. "So if you get along well with someone, it tends to be an easier time - sharing music, silly conversations. But if you're with someone who you don't get along with..." He trailed off, leaving the conclusion unspoken.
"You're right, although he - they - both were more tolerable once we were driving and out of the city. It helped that his taste in music isn't complete garbage." Darcy stretched along Doug's side as they got comfortable on the couch, turning her face into his chest. She was quiet for a few minutes, ruminating on what exactly had set her off so much. "It's hard to put into words why it actually got to me so much. I mean yeah, Mister Poor Little Rich Boy calling me useless was shitty, but Quire verbally shits on people for sport so it's... whatever, generally. His opinions aren't good enough to bother worrying about. Having to shove down my anger for hours, dealing with an upset kid and their guardian and being exhausted, hungry, and out of snacks on top of that? Definitely didn't help."
Doug rubbed his hand soothingly along Darcy's back, letting her talk through her frustrations. He was pretty sure the 'friendos' were also providing their own bit of background white noise to Darcy, since she was probably their favorite person after him. He'd had the nanites long enough that unless he was really concentrating on them, their input just tended to sit in the back of his mental processes. "Yeah, tired and hungry always tends to make those sorts of things worse," he agreed.
"He reminds me of Laurie." There, in the open, finally acknowledging part of why her hackles were always up around Quire. "A more cowardly version, since he's never followed his professed mutant supremacy convictions through, but in some ways that makes him more dangerous. It's easy to dismiss someone that you think is too cowardly to ever act." And give a coward some followers that spouted the same things and were willing to egg them on... "I don't know, maybe I'm jumping at shadows or projecting my Laurie issues on the obnoxious psi in the house but him and that Madin person together worries me. They've got some mutant supremacy views too, and I just... did someone on the team ever try and do a deep dive into their background? I know I didn't, but. Did any of us?"
"Oh fuck." Doug was normally a bit better at putting pieces together like that, but he definitely had his own blind spots, and Laurie's departure was definitely one of them. "I don't really get a Laurie vibe off of Quire," he said after some consideration. "I mean, he's a total prick, for sure. But that whole thing when he had to rebuild his body had him working pretty closely with other psis, and I think if they had noticed any supervillain type tendencies they would have said something." Madin was a bit more of a question mark, because they hadn't been at the mansion as long. "And it's not like we haven't got any other former Brotherhood at the mansion."
Darcy wasn't in the mood to argue, so she didn't. "Colbert has spent years proving himself over and over again, has he not? Were he spending large amounts of time with other people in the mansion that tended to spout mutant supremacy rhetoric or still frequently saying it himself I'd be concerned about him too. But he is not, and he does not." She took a deep breath, fingers tracing a path for the nanites to follow, and tried to let their simple joy in playing chase ground her. "I understand some of the anti-human sentiment from our more visible mutants. They can't slip under the radar the way I can. At the same time..." she trailed off. "That's my line in the sand. I won't be party to genocidal talk. Not even if I half-understand where the frustration comes from."
Doug nodded slowly. "Totally fair." After all, he remembered vividly the attempt by the self-styled 'Apocalypse' and his Horsemen to take over Manhattan as a mutant-only land. He'd stood against genocide himself, though his confrontation with one of the Horsemen had arguably changed the course of his life, and not generally for the easier. "I tend to be pretty close to that line myself, though perhaps a bit more 'talk is cheap'." Quire, or Madin, or whoever, could say what they liked. But if it ever came to action, that would be something else entirely.
"Backing someone like that into a corner is a good way to end up with a fight you don't want," she replied shortly. "I've already had my head fucked with once, and it took almost a month to be calm enough for Jean to help me put it back together. But even then... I only let her in because it was the only way I was getting cleared to come back. And she's my friend! I trust her. The last thing I want is someone with the subtlety of a rampaging pink elephant in my mind." It was the reason she'd been working so hard on her shielding, both thoughts and emotions.
Doug reached awkwardly across his body so that he could hug Darcy with his flesh arm and not disturb the tracing along his nanite arm that was clearly soothing her. "I promise to have your flower and whatever else you need if that ever happens," he told her gently.
"Softie." Her lips quirked upward, though, and she shifted more on the couch until Doug was half-laying on her, his weight a grounding presence. She let out a soft sigh, some of the tension in her body melting away. "Better than those weighted blankets," she teased, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks for ...all of this, really." Her free hand waved vaguely at the room, indicating any and all of several things. The takeout, listening, just being there.
"Don't let it get out, it'll totally ruin my super-suave man of mystery vibe." Though Doug was pretty sure that most of the folks at the mansion had him read as terminal dork, and the Hellfire Club hangers on would always view him through the lens of their own ambitions and biases, no matter the complex reality behind his various personas.
♪ Be careful what you say, or you'll give yourself away ♪ she sang quietly, before burying her face in his neck and laughing. "Secret Gooey Man."
The tickle of Darcy's laughter against his neck made Doug shiver, but in a good way. "Somehow I kind of doubt I'm fooling anyone," he admitted. "But it's nice to pretend I am."
"Maybe not here, but then you've known half these people most of your life. A little harder to pretend that way, I think." Darcy couldn't shrug much in her position, but she managed a brief raise of a shoulder. "Can we just watch some mindless TV or a movie we've seen a dozen times and cuddle? I'm tired."
One of Doug's favorite things about being with Darcy was that it was just as easy to sit quietly on the couch together (what would be called 'parallel play' in very young kids) as it was to get dressed up to go out for a fancy night together. But since she'd returned from the road trip to pick up the newest young resident, and dealing with Quentin, she'd definitely been on edge. "Do you want to talk about it, or just spend some time decompressing?" he asked her as they cleaned up from a dinner of takeout.
"Cuddle?" she asked hopefully. "And.. both, maybe. I think?" It was indecisive to her own ears, but Darcy just leaned against Doug's shoulder with a sigh. "I don't know why it's bothering me so fucking much, it's not like I've ever given more than half a thought to that asshole's opinions before."
"Being stuck in a car with someone tends to create a pressure cooker." Doug could point to the road trip X-Force had just taken for an easy example. "So if you get along well with someone, it tends to be an easier time - sharing music, silly conversations. But if you're with someone who you don't get along with..." He trailed off, leaving the conclusion unspoken.
"You're right, although he - they - both were more tolerable once we were driving and out of the city. It helped that his taste in music isn't complete garbage." Darcy stretched along Doug's side as they got comfortable on the couch, turning her face into his chest. She was quiet for a few minutes, ruminating on what exactly had set her off so much. "It's hard to put into words why it actually got to me so much. I mean yeah, Mister Poor Little Rich Boy calling me useless was shitty, but Quire verbally shits on people for sport so it's... whatever, generally. His opinions aren't good enough to bother worrying about. Having to shove down my anger for hours, dealing with an upset kid and their guardian and being exhausted, hungry, and out of snacks on top of that? Definitely didn't help."
Doug rubbed his hand soothingly along Darcy's back, letting her talk through her frustrations. He was pretty sure the 'friendos' were also providing their own bit of background white noise to Darcy, since she was probably their favorite person after him. He'd had the nanites long enough that unless he was really concentrating on them, their input just tended to sit in the back of his mental processes. "Yeah, tired and hungry always tends to make those sorts of things worse," he agreed.
"He reminds me of Laurie." There, in the open, finally acknowledging part of why her hackles were always up around Quire. "A more cowardly version, since he's never followed his professed mutant supremacy convictions through, but in some ways that makes him more dangerous. It's easy to dismiss someone that you think is too cowardly to ever act." And give a coward some followers that spouted the same things and were willing to egg them on... "I don't know, maybe I'm jumping at shadows or projecting my Laurie issues on the obnoxious psi in the house but him and that Madin person together worries me. They've got some mutant supremacy views too, and I just... did someone on the team ever try and do a deep dive into their background? I know I didn't, but. Did any of us?"
"Oh fuck." Doug was normally a bit better at putting pieces together like that, but he definitely had his own blind spots, and Laurie's departure was definitely one of them. "I don't really get a Laurie vibe off of Quire," he said after some consideration. "I mean, he's a total prick, for sure. But that whole thing when he had to rebuild his body had him working pretty closely with other psis, and I think if they had noticed any supervillain type tendencies they would have said something." Madin was a bit more of a question mark, because they hadn't been at the mansion as long. "And it's not like we haven't got any other former Brotherhood at the mansion."
Darcy wasn't in the mood to argue, so she didn't. "Colbert has spent years proving himself over and over again, has he not? Were he spending large amounts of time with other people in the mansion that tended to spout mutant supremacy rhetoric or still frequently saying it himself I'd be concerned about him too. But he is not, and he does not." She took a deep breath, fingers tracing a path for the nanites to follow, and tried to let their simple joy in playing chase ground her. "I understand some of the anti-human sentiment from our more visible mutants. They can't slip under the radar the way I can. At the same time..." she trailed off. "That's my line in the sand. I won't be party to genocidal talk. Not even if I half-understand where the frustration comes from."
Doug nodded slowly. "Totally fair." After all, he remembered vividly the attempt by the self-styled 'Apocalypse' and his Horsemen to take over Manhattan as a mutant-only land. He'd stood against genocide himself, though his confrontation with one of the Horsemen had arguably changed the course of his life, and not generally for the easier. "I tend to be pretty close to that line myself, though perhaps a bit more 'talk is cheap'." Quire, or Madin, or whoever, could say what they liked. But if it ever came to action, that would be something else entirely.
"Backing someone like that into a corner is a good way to end up with a fight you don't want," she replied shortly. "I've already had my head fucked with once, and it took almost a month to be calm enough for Jean to help me put it back together. But even then... I only let her in because it was the only way I was getting cleared to come back. And she's my friend! I trust her. The last thing I want is someone with the subtlety of a rampaging pink elephant in my mind." It was the reason she'd been working so hard on her shielding, both thoughts and emotions.
Doug reached awkwardly across his body so that he could hug Darcy with his flesh arm and not disturb the tracing along his nanite arm that was clearly soothing her. "I promise to have your flower and whatever else you need if that ever happens," he told her gently.
"Softie." Her lips quirked upward, though, and she shifted more on the couch until Doug was half-laying on her, his weight a grounding presence. She let out a soft sigh, some of the tension in her body melting away. "Better than those weighted blankets," she teased, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks for ...all of this, really." Her free hand waved vaguely at the room, indicating any and all of several things. The takeout, listening, just being there.
"Don't let it get out, it'll totally ruin my super-suave man of mystery vibe." Though Doug was pretty sure that most of the folks at the mansion had him read as terminal dork, and the Hellfire Club hangers on would always view him through the lens of their own ambitions and biases, no matter the complex reality behind his various personas.
♪ Be careful what you say, or you'll give yourself away ♪ she sang quietly, before burying her face in his neck and laughing. "Secret Gooey Man."
The tickle of Darcy's laughter against his neck made Doug shiver, but in a good way. "Somehow I kind of doubt I'm fooling anyone," he admitted. "But it's nice to pretend I am."
"Maybe not here, but then you've known half these people most of your life. A little harder to pretend that way, I think." Darcy couldn't shrug much in her position, but she managed a brief raise of a shoulder. "Can we just watch some mindless TV or a movie we've seen a dozen times and cuddle? I'm tired."
