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xp_logsClint and Darcy discuss the journal drama and work through their issues, as they have in the past.
Darcy hadn't checked the wormhole roster beyond what afternoons she was scheduled, but of course she couldn't avoid Clint forever. She suppressed a sigh as he flopped into the other chair at the monitor, acknowledging his presence with a grunt as she pulled up some files that'd piled up while she was out of state.
Clint thought about not bringing it up. He thought about just letting things stay as they were, but things as they were weren't actually tenable and he was tired of tiptoeing around his friends because their girlfriend was mad at him. Also, they needed to talk out the whole 'only not hating on Quentin because he's sucking your dick' thing Darcy kept throwing in his face. So he slouched in his chair and pulled up the real-time wormhole mapping program that Doug had helped with after Vi was set up with the basics and said, "Don't be like that, Darce," on a sigh.
"Don't be like what, Barton?" Darcy was being scrupulously professional, albeit chilly. "The homophobic, useless, odious, cow of a mutant your boyfriend accused me of being? Civil? Alive?" Her nails tapped out a staccato across the keyboard as she compiled data, one eye firmly on the wormhole monitor and the other on her laptop. "I am So. Fucking. Tired. of men telling me what I should or shouldn't be like. But go on, tell me what I shouldn't be like today."
Rolling the back of his head against the headrest on his chair, Clint stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before sliding himself up in his chair and spinning it so he could keep one eye on the program running its various algorithms and diagnostics while also facing Darcy. "Don't be mad at me for not throwing down on your behalf with Quentin like he's the enemy. Cause he's an asshole, he can be the worst, but I know more about him than most and while he was entirely out of line on the journals, everybody's emotions were running high."
"The only reason your buddy isn't the enemy is because he's too much of a coward to follow through on his convictions," she retorted. "He's certainly happy to spout his genocidal bullshit all day and I'm what... supposed to just smile and nod like 'Oh, that's so Quentin, isn't he just precious and edgy'? Fuck that shit. He's been saying this shit for years, he's been crossing the line with his behavior for years, and now he's actively threatening to kill me for not being his kind of mutant? And worse, I know he could if he either got pissy enough or somehow found the metaphorical balls to do it, because Kevin's been fucking training him. But I'm supposed to let that go because everyone here knows he's all yap no bite, just like a spoiled prize poodle." She hit the enter key with more force than required, muttering an almost silent "sorry" to her laptop immediately after.
"So tell me, Barton. Why shouldn't I be mad at someone with two working eyes and the ability to gather intel that supposedly has my back but is totally cool with just letting all that go in one and out the other because "both sides" even though only the side he's fucking is the one making the death threats? I'd say I get it, you know. I mean, I totally gave Laurie more rope when I was caring for her and then fucking her. But I still took her to task for being a shit, even if it wasn't in public. I tried to keep her from crossing lines until the day I realized she'd been crossing mine, and then I tried to make sure she couldn't do that to anyone else again. I failed." She shrugged, eyes glued to her laptop. "But I tried with everything I had. And Quire? He says far worse shit than Laurie did."
Looking at Darcy's profile, Clint just shook his head for a moment before letting himself flop back in his seat again. He turned his eyes toward the ceiling, focusing in on the tiniest crack he could find and following it to its end before taking a deep breath and saying, "You're right. I was on your side when it happened and I still am. Things got blurred for me a bit because I got pissed you kept bringing up how Q's sucking my cock, so I fucked off to Mexico for the weekend, which is a whole other conversation for us, but at the end of it all, you're right. I don't even wanna think about how many kids, LGBTQ+ or otherwise, have had to deal with 'go kill yourself' comments and been gaslit into actually doing it. I guess maybe I wasn't as loud about it initially because I've always viewed you as having that 'take no shit' attitude. It's like I kinda expected you to just... I don't even know.
"Like, go - 'okay, fine, y'know what asshole? I'm taking this to the Prof' or something. And that's not fair to you, I know. You don't have to meet expectations anybody sets on you, but... I guess I just wanted you to know that it wasn't any influence from the sex me and Q have that made me not bitch him out more. And I probably would've in person, except y'know. Mexico. So I'm sorry I didn't come through for you and I'm sorry it's taken until now for me to say it," Clint offered.
"I mean. You've come through more than some other people. You said in the moment it wasn't cool," Darcy conceded. "I also know that Kyle and I were assholes, and I regret going straight for the asshole option instead of trying diplomacy first. I regret the way I brought up relationship blinders with you. It probably would've been fine if we were talking like this and I could explain, but text wasn't a good venue for equating beer goggles to dick-sucking ones. I mean, I think you have bad taste this go round, but generally I'm happy for you to be in a relationship that makes you happy. Or a FWB. Whatever it is, regardless of gender. So I apologize for that. I used bad wording and it came across a lot more shamey and gross than I intended, and if there's a next time I'll choose better wording to get my point across."
She shut her laptop's lid and pillowed her arms on it, looking over at Clint. "I think part of why I'm still upset - like, a little less at you, now that I've had space and over a week to think about it - is that people are talking about how over the line Kyle was and a little about me, but not even mentioning Quire making death threats. And not just making them, but doubling and tripling down on them. And you and Jean are the only two that have openly questioned that, and even you "both sides'd" it. Intellectually, I know there's not much that can be done as a consequence. But it'd sure be nice if the people who are seen as leadership would acknowledge that he did cross a line. That I have a little support, that people are paying him closer attention, something. Anything. I wouldn't get away with threatening to kill someone. Maya got taken to task as a teen for running her mouth like a fool. Laurie got slapped down when she crossed the line. Why is this place giving Quire a pass?"
"I... well, for me at least, it wasn't a pass so much as a... like, he lost his dad recently? I don't even know who might know that. And it's all kinds of complicated because they weren't close but at the same time like, that's his dad, y'know? So like, that kind of informed how I approached the situation. Way more than the fact that he and I fuck sometimes. And there's other stuff, too, but that's what I was trying to kinda say on the journals without actually saying it, cause I didn't wanna blast his personal stuff all over where everybody could see it," Clint said. "It's like how I wasn't gonna put the fact that you got run outta your plans in DC when somebody put your x-gene status on blast?
"But like, being completely unbiased as best I can be, Q should probably be getting kicked out of the mansion entirely, Kyle shouldn't be a teacher anymore, and I don't know that there's anything legal they could do with you, you'd know better than me, but at the very least you should be off the journals and Madin should be in mandatory therapy and also off the journals..." He shrugged, tipping his chair back. "There's a lot that should've or could've been done differently all over the place. I'm just... sorry about a lot of it."
"I mean, if we kicked everyone off the journals because they said something insulting, there'd be 6 people on there and it'd be the ones that basically never use the system. I am sorry that I didn't try diplomacy with Madin first. But I'm not sorry I told them to put up or shut up and outlined the steps that could be done to do that. People I know and like here and in the District have worked hard to make that community center a welcoming place and a success, and I had an angry, emotional kneejerk reaction to someone I don't like dropping angry, emotional falsehoods about it so they could throw an attention tantrum. And I... I am not advocating for Quire getting thrown out of the mansion. I think people should take his threats more seriously. I find his fast, aggressive ramp-up of anger against me - going from general to pointed attacks and escalating to violent threats - to be extremely alarming. I would find them alarming pointed at anyone, because it's basically out of the incel handbook. And incels are extremely dangerous, angry cowards that egg each other on and should be watched carefully."
Darcy let out a sigh. "I'm a data analyst, Clint. It's not the only thing I am, but I crunch statistics on a daily basis. I worked for a progressive member of Congress who is still pro-gun control implementation. Your boy is literally going down a checklist of red flags for gendered and domestic violence and stalking. He's using harassing or threatening behavior. He feels entitled to treat his victim - me - without regard or respect. Probably because people don't call him on his shit and hold him accountable, but I digress. The belief that some people are not as worthy as other people - in this case, humans, passers, and other mutants that loudly disagree with him. The belief that we deserve it - that Kyle and I deserve to be taken down "like rabid dogs" because we had an argument with someone. Almost 20 million women in America have been stalked, dude. And over 50% were stalked by an intimate partner or someone they know." She shook her head, trying to keep calm. It was hard around this topic, especially when she felt so unsupported. "So this guy lives in the same house as me, and he's a fucking pink elephant in a china shop about his subtlety. And he's been taught how to shoot psychic bullets. That doesn't even touch on the other things a motivated telepath could do to someone to make them kill themselves. Sleep deprivation, nightmares, hell, he could just go in and shred my brains in my sleep and be gone from the mansion before anyone noticed."
"Yeah," Clint said, the back of his chair digging into the base of his neck as he nodded slightly. "Yeah, I know. And it doesn't help that... I dunno, I guess I know he wouldn't actually do that. Or at least I trust him enough to believe he wouldn't. Not when you've seen more of that incel-type behavior than me. I wasn't lying when I said that was the first time I'd seen him post things like that. I mean, the first time I met him he was all 'fuck the po-leece' and shit, but..." Sighing, he just shook his head. "I haven't talked to him about anything else. I've been kind of ignoring everything in favor of work. And research."
"Yeah, I get it. Inez is keeping out too. She doesn't like drama, and I want her to make her own opinions on her new boss, not taint them with mine. She doesn't deserve to have a bad time because Quire's got problems with me." She propped her hands under her chin and sighed again. "And like, maybe he was just talking shit. Maybe I am actually worried for no reason. But I'd rather be worried and prepared over nothing than dead. Learned that one working for Jane. I don't... look. I'll be honest, if you see something worthwhile in Quire, then go after it. I can't tell you not to, I fucking gave Laurie a chance. It burned me, but for a little while we were really happy." She swiped a tear from her eye. "And if he burns you, I'll be there like you were for me. And if he doesn't, maybe in time the two of us could come to some middle ground. But for now... just don't be too upset with me if I ask you if he's going to be with you at something and choose not to go if he is. I just can't with him right now. But down the line... we don't have to like each other, but I can be civil and professional if he can, okay? I won't tolerate the insults, but I won't start shit on purpose."
Reaching out, Clint offered Darcy his fist for a bump even as he turned his head so he could look at her again. It pinched his ear against the back of the chair, but he didn't bother moving to fix it. "We're not like. Together-together or anything like that. I've just. Been around when he needed to talk. And then came the fucking. And whatever feelings I briefly caught and have mostly managed to sort out. But like I said. You're one of my ride or dies, so while I appreciate you being willing to be civil somewhere down the line, I kinda need to figure out how I'm gonna handle things now. Like. It's not okay that he just flung death threats around like confetti. And honestly, kinda makes me wonder what people like Sue and Hope and Inez are doing, still working for Q at XFI when he's done stuff like that in public and apparently more often than I ever knew or realized. So there's... things I gotta figure out. But I'm grateful you're even willing to consider a middle ground with him just cause he sucks my dick sometimes." He gave her an amused, if somewhat rueful, half-smile.
"I get it." Darcy reached over, bumping his fist with her own. "But if he was just being a dick in the heat of the moment, and you two usually have a better rapport than that? Don't let us being each other's people get in the way of talking it out if you want. I've got some plans in my head for dealing with him and the whole situation that don't even involve shooting him first - which, y'know, with work now he's actually damn lucky that Kevin doesn't think he's a threat, because Kevin eliminates threats to his people. More about protecting myself and making his online life very unpleasant for a while, because I am a petty bitch. But us? We're good, I think, if you accept my apology for being an idiot and asshole about wording things."
"We're good," Clint said, still half-smiling. "Apology accepted and everything. Now, we should probably actually pay attention to the wormhole before it does something crazy and we gotta scramble. We're lucky it's Sunday, otherwise we'd both be getting headaches from the construction work being done. Who knew it'd take so long to safely dig out the areas we need for our new containment area?" Technically, he did, since he was the one who'd handled the construction people the last time the Chapel needed renovations, but this was taking longer than he'd expected, even.
Darcy hadn't checked the wormhole roster beyond what afternoons she was scheduled, but of course she couldn't avoid Clint forever. She suppressed a sigh as he flopped into the other chair at the monitor, acknowledging his presence with a grunt as she pulled up some files that'd piled up while she was out of state.
Clint thought about not bringing it up. He thought about just letting things stay as they were, but things as they were weren't actually tenable and he was tired of tiptoeing around his friends because their girlfriend was mad at him. Also, they needed to talk out the whole 'only not hating on Quentin because he's sucking your dick' thing Darcy kept throwing in his face. So he slouched in his chair and pulled up the real-time wormhole mapping program that Doug had helped with after Vi was set up with the basics and said, "Don't be like that, Darce," on a sigh.
"Don't be like what, Barton?" Darcy was being scrupulously professional, albeit chilly. "The homophobic, useless, odious, cow of a mutant your boyfriend accused me of being? Civil? Alive?" Her nails tapped out a staccato across the keyboard as she compiled data, one eye firmly on the wormhole monitor and the other on her laptop. "I am So. Fucking. Tired. of men telling me what I should or shouldn't be like. But go on, tell me what I shouldn't be like today."
Rolling the back of his head against the headrest on his chair, Clint stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before sliding himself up in his chair and spinning it so he could keep one eye on the program running its various algorithms and diagnostics while also facing Darcy. "Don't be mad at me for not throwing down on your behalf with Quentin like he's the enemy. Cause he's an asshole, he can be the worst, but I know more about him than most and while he was entirely out of line on the journals, everybody's emotions were running high."
"The only reason your buddy isn't the enemy is because he's too much of a coward to follow through on his convictions," she retorted. "He's certainly happy to spout his genocidal bullshit all day and I'm what... supposed to just smile and nod like 'Oh, that's so Quentin, isn't he just precious and edgy'? Fuck that shit. He's been saying this shit for years, he's been crossing the line with his behavior for years, and now he's actively threatening to kill me for not being his kind of mutant? And worse, I know he could if he either got pissy enough or somehow found the metaphorical balls to do it, because Kevin's been fucking training him. But I'm supposed to let that go because everyone here knows he's all yap no bite, just like a spoiled prize poodle." She hit the enter key with more force than required, muttering an almost silent "sorry" to her laptop immediately after.
"So tell me, Barton. Why shouldn't I be mad at someone with two working eyes and the ability to gather intel that supposedly has my back but is totally cool with just letting all that go in one and out the other because "both sides" even though only the side he's fucking is the one making the death threats? I'd say I get it, you know. I mean, I totally gave Laurie more rope when I was caring for her and then fucking her. But I still took her to task for being a shit, even if it wasn't in public. I tried to keep her from crossing lines until the day I realized she'd been crossing mine, and then I tried to make sure she couldn't do that to anyone else again. I failed." She shrugged, eyes glued to her laptop. "But I tried with everything I had. And Quire? He says far worse shit than Laurie did."
Looking at Darcy's profile, Clint just shook his head for a moment before letting himself flop back in his seat again. He turned his eyes toward the ceiling, focusing in on the tiniest crack he could find and following it to its end before taking a deep breath and saying, "You're right. I was on your side when it happened and I still am. Things got blurred for me a bit because I got pissed you kept bringing up how Q's sucking my cock, so I fucked off to Mexico for the weekend, which is a whole other conversation for us, but at the end of it all, you're right. I don't even wanna think about how many kids, LGBTQ+ or otherwise, have had to deal with 'go kill yourself' comments and been gaslit into actually doing it. I guess maybe I wasn't as loud about it initially because I've always viewed you as having that 'take no shit' attitude. It's like I kinda expected you to just... I don't even know.
"Like, go - 'okay, fine, y'know what asshole? I'm taking this to the Prof' or something. And that's not fair to you, I know. You don't have to meet expectations anybody sets on you, but... I guess I just wanted you to know that it wasn't any influence from the sex me and Q have that made me not bitch him out more. And I probably would've in person, except y'know. Mexico. So I'm sorry I didn't come through for you and I'm sorry it's taken until now for me to say it," Clint offered.
"I mean. You've come through more than some other people. You said in the moment it wasn't cool," Darcy conceded. "I also know that Kyle and I were assholes, and I regret going straight for the asshole option instead of trying diplomacy first. I regret the way I brought up relationship blinders with you. It probably would've been fine if we were talking like this and I could explain, but text wasn't a good venue for equating beer goggles to dick-sucking ones. I mean, I think you have bad taste this go round, but generally I'm happy for you to be in a relationship that makes you happy. Or a FWB. Whatever it is, regardless of gender. So I apologize for that. I used bad wording and it came across a lot more shamey and gross than I intended, and if there's a next time I'll choose better wording to get my point across."
She shut her laptop's lid and pillowed her arms on it, looking over at Clint. "I think part of why I'm still upset - like, a little less at you, now that I've had space and over a week to think about it - is that people are talking about how over the line Kyle was and a little about me, but not even mentioning Quire making death threats. And not just making them, but doubling and tripling down on them. And you and Jean are the only two that have openly questioned that, and even you "both sides'd" it. Intellectually, I know there's not much that can be done as a consequence. But it'd sure be nice if the people who are seen as leadership would acknowledge that he did cross a line. That I have a little support, that people are paying him closer attention, something. Anything. I wouldn't get away with threatening to kill someone. Maya got taken to task as a teen for running her mouth like a fool. Laurie got slapped down when she crossed the line. Why is this place giving Quire a pass?"
"I... well, for me at least, it wasn't a pass so much as a... like, he lost his dad recently? I don't even know who might know that. And it's all kinds of complicated because they weren't close but at the same time like, that's his dad, y'know? So like, that kind of informed how I approached the situation. Way more than the fact that he and I fuck sometimes. And there's other stuff, too, but that's what I was trying to kinda say on the journals without actually saying it, cause I didn't wanna blast his personal stuff all over where everybody could see it," Clint said. "It's like how I wasn't gonna put the fact that you got run outta your plans in DC when somebody put your x-gene status on blast?
"But like, being completely unbiased as best I can be, Q should probably be getting kicked out of the mansion entirely, Kyle shouldn't be a teacher anymore, and I don't know that there's anything legal they could do with you, you'd know better than me, but at the very least you should be off the journals and Madin should be in mandatory therapy and also off the journals..." He shrugged, tipping his chair back. "There's a lot that should've or could've been done differently all over the place. I'm just... sorry about a lot of it."
"I mean, if we kicked everyone off the journals because they said something insulting, there'd be 6 people on there and it'd be the ones that basically never use the system. I am sorry that I didn't try diplomacy with Madin first. But I'm not sorry I told them to put up or shut up and outlined the steps that could be done to do that. People I know and like here and in the District have worked hard to make that community center a welcoming place and a success, and I had an angry, emotional kneejerk reaction to someone I don't like dropping angry, emotional falsehoods about it so they could throw an attention tantrum. And I... I am not advocating for Quire getting thrown out of the mansion. I think people should take his threats more seriously. I find his fast, aggressive ramp-up of anger against me - going from general to pointed attacks and escalating to violent threats - to be extremely alarming. I would find them alarming pointed at anyone, because it's basically out of the incel handbook. And incels are extremely dangerous, angry cowards that egg each other on and should be watched carefully."
Darcy let out a sigh. "I'm a data analyst, Clint. It's not the only thing I am, but I crunch statistics on a daily basis. I worked for a progressive member of Congress who is still pro-gun control implementation. Your boy is literally going down a checklist of red flags for gendered and domestic violence and stalking. He's using harassing or threatening behavior. He feels entitled to treat his victim - me - without regard or respect. Probably because people don't call him on his shit and hold him accountable, but I digress. The belief that some people are not as worthy as other people - in this case, humans, passers, and other mutants that loudly disagree with him. The belief that we deserve it - that Kyle and I deserve to be taken down "like rabid dogs" because we had an argument with someone. Almost 20 million women in America have been stalked, dude. And over 50% were stalked by an intimate partner or someone they know." She shook her head, trying to keep calm. It was hard around this topic, especially when she felt so unsupported. "So this guy lives in the same house as me, and he's a fucking pink elephant in a china shop about his subtlety. And he's been taught how to shoot psychic bullets. That doesn't even touch on the other things a motivated telepath could do to someone to make them kill themselves. Sleep deprivation, nightmares, hell, he could just go in and shred my brains in my sleep and be gone from the mansion before anyone noticed."
"Yeah," Clint said, the back of his chair digging into the base of his neck as he nodded slightly. "Yeah, I know. And it doesn't help that... I dunno, I guess I know he wouldn't actually do that. Or at least I trust him enough to believe he wouldn't. Not when you've seen more of that incel-type behavior than me. I wasn't lying when I said that was the first time I'd seen him post things like that. I mean, the first time I met him he was all 'fuck the po-leece' and shit, but..." Sighing, he just shook his head. "I haven't talked to him about anything else. I've been kind of ignoring everything in favor of work. And research."
"Yeah, I get it. Inez is keeping out too. She doesn't like drama, and I want her to make her own opinions on her new boss, not taint them with mine. She doesn't deserve to have a bad time because Quire's got problems with me." She propped her hands under her chin and sighed again. "And like, maybe he was just talking shit. Maybe I am actually worried for no reason. But I'd rather be worried and prepared over nothing than dead. Learned that one working for Jane. I don't... look. I'll be honest, if you see something worthwhile in Quire, then go after it. I can't tell you not to, I fucking gave Laurie a chance. It burned me, but for a little while we were really happy." She swiped a tear from her eye. "And if he burns you, I'll be there like you were for me. And if he doesn't, maybe in time the two of us could come to some middle ground. But for now... just don't be too upset with me if I ask you if he's going to be with you at something and choose not to go if he is. I just can't with him right now. But down the line... we don't have to like each other, but I can be civil and professional if he can, okay? I won't tolerate the insults, but I won't start shit on purpose."
Reaching out, Clint offered Darcy his fist for a bump even as he turned his head so he could look at her again. It pinched his ear against the back of the chair, but he didn't bother moving to fix it. "We're not like. Together-together or anything like that. I've just. Been around when he needed to talk. And then came the fucking. And whatever feelings I briefly caught and have mostly managed to sort out. But like I said. You're one of my ride or dies, so while I appreciate you being willing to be civil somewhere down the line, I kinda need to figure out how I'm gonna handle things now. Like. It's not okay that he just flung death threats around like confetti. And honestly, kinda makes me wonder what people like Sue and Hope and Inez are doing, still working for Q at XFI when he's done stuff like that in public and apparently more often than I ever knew or realized. So there's... things I gotta figure out. But I'm grateful you're even willing to consider a middle ground with him just cause he sucks my dick sometimes." He gave her an amused, if somewhat rueful, half-smile.
"I get it." Darcy reached over, bumping his fist with her own. "But if he was just being a dick in the heat of the moment, and you two usually have a better rapport than that? Don't let us being each other's people get in the way of talking it out if you want. I've got some plans in my head for dealing with him and the whole situation that don't even involve shooting him first - which, y'know, with work now he's actually damn lucky that Kevin doesn't think he's a threat, because Kevin eliminates threats to his people. More about protecting myself and making his online life very unpleasant for a while, because I am a petty bitch. But us? We're good, I think, if you accept my apology for being an idiot and asshole about wording things."
"We're good," Clint said, still half-smiling. "Apology accepted and everything. Now, we should probably actually pay attention to the wormhole before it does something crazy and we gotta scramble. We're lucky it's Sunday, otherwise we'd both be getting headaches from the construction work being done. Who knew it'd take so long to safely dig out the areas we need for our new containment area?" Technically, he did, since he was the one who'd handled the construction people the last time the Chapel needed renovations, but this was taking longer than he'd expected, even.
