Shatterstar and Madin, late

[xp_madin]

Shatterstar finally manages to corner Madin for a conversation he's been wanting to have for the last month or so.



Shatterstar had been wanting to speak to Madin for some time after the Journal Incident, but hadn't had any luck finding them. So when he found Madin in the kitchen in the wee hours of the night (morning), Shatterstar physically cornered them, boxing them in slightly with his height. He didn't want them to slip away before talking to him.

"I want to talk to you," he said.

Madin whirled to face him, knocking their cup of hot chocolate over as they turned. "Oh, Jesus fuck." He was really tall close up.

Shatterstar moved to grab a paper towel, aware that he towered over Madin. He did move to clean up the spill he caused though. "I want to talk to you," he repeated, giving Madin a hard look to ensure they didn't walk away while he was cleaning up.

Madin picked up a second towel, mopping up the liquid dripping down the side of the cupboard and setting the cup to rights. "Okay, sure. Have a go at me. Everyone else bloody has."

"I think you're right, or mostly right. I wanted to tell you that." Shatterstar said slowly, like he had planned what he was going to say and Madin's reaction made him have to adjust his script. He tossed the wet paper towel away.

Madin blinked in confusion. "Hang on, what?“

"I think you're mostly right," Shatterstar repeated. "I wouldn't know about being a visible mutant, but being perceived as a mutant has made my treatment in juvenile hall and hospitals different. People without powers wouldn't get it."

Of course, Shatterstar was something else, but the body he was in was mutant and powers were thought to equal mutant most of the time and even explaining that he was something else to other mutants didn't really work.

Ohhhh. Madin nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I can see that. Sorry, I thought you were gonna have a go like everyone else did."

Shatterstar frowned and tied his hair back as he thought, revealing the large star shaped port-wine birthmark over his face and his cloudy eye. "That wasn't right of them. If they had a problem they should have said it to your face. It would have been more honorable that way."

"It's not even that, bro. It's just. Fucking hell. Just. Stand up for something. Do something." Madin continued, "I guess it's either work for the bad guys or the people who don't actually stand for anything." They stopped, slightly horrified. Star, of all people, wasn't the one you talked to about this. Maybe he wouldn't ask questions.

Shatterstar did not catch the implication that Madin had worked with the "bad guys" before. "What do you stand for?" He asked. He didn't know what he stood for yet, other then his own system's safety, but he liked the fact that Madin did stand for something it was something he admired about them greatly. "Like, what do you want done?"

Madin laughed bitterly. "Mutant rights. I want a world where we have full access. Full rights and autonomy and humans don't have the right to make decisions about us, because they're always going to sell us out."

Shatterstar's eyebrows furrowed. "I would like that, I think. I don't want to be incarcerated or institutionalized again." He wasn't sure how much those were because he was a mutant, but he knew his mutation hadn't helped him in either case, especially not in extending his juvie sentence.

Madin nodded. It might have been projection but they could feel - or at least imagine - the emotion that underpinned that. "Fucken aye." Awkwardly, they continued. "Look, mate, I don't really think it's time for hot chocolate. You're alright. Want to get fucked up? Or uh, we could do some swords, I guess, instead."

"Yes," Shatterstar replied, reacting as if the weight of a serious conversation was physically lifted off of him. "To either or both."