Haller and Shatterstar - Mold Spores
Jan. 21st, 2024 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsCyndi decides to check in with Shatterstar on behalf of her host, Haller, and ends up helping him with a media preservation project
When Shatterstar found an abandoned stack of VHS tapes in the mansion he took it upon himself to transfer them to DVD. He had started by cleaning the tapes and had only just gotten around to starting to transfer the tapes. It was something to do to avoid schoolwork and he knew he needed a rest day from exercise. It was something to do to be alone.
"Wow, you actually know how to work a VCR? We had these things when David was a kid, and that was like sixty years ago. You ever touch a rotary phone?"
It was Haller's voice, but Cyndi's distinct inflections. The pyrokinetic was standing in the doorway, noisily crunching an apple with the unselfconscious air of someone who wanted to make absolutely sure everyone around her knew she didn't care what they thought. She raised her empty hand to Shatterstar in a two-fingered salute. "Yo."
It took him a moment to recognize Cyndi, and then another moment to remember her name. "Cyndi." He said with a nod. Shatterstar wasn't sure what she wanted but there was no way to avoid her. "It's a VHS tape- not a rocket. It's easy enough to figure out. Did you want something?"
Cyndi had the courtesy to swallow the apple before responding. "Nah, I'm up so I just thought I'd say hey. Jimbo's been kind of stressed and I know you and that Arthur guy are tight. You doing okay?"
"Of course. I'm fine," Shatterstar replied, Jack's advise about only trusting yourself still in his head. "And you all? I know Jim and Arthur are close too."
He still wasn't used to using Jim's name.
The pyrokinetic's eyes rolled. "Jim is making Choices. I stay out of their bromance, and the 'b-' is debatable. Things've calmed down since the inhibitor, though, so at least sleep is happening again." She twisted the half-consumed apple between her fingers and tilted her head. "Sorry about Jacky going off on you before everything blew up, by the way. Panic-move. You tripped David's daddy issues."
"It's whatever," Shatterstar deflected, wishing he had something to do other than let the tape run so he had an excuse to not be looking at Cyndi. "He wasn't wrong."
He was fine with the uneasy relationship they had fallen back into. Really. He was just worried about Arthur.
The alter's eyes rolled again and harder. "'It's whatever'," she mimicked, although the intonation slanted more towards gentle teasing than mockery. "Look, he wasn't wrong but he also wasn't fully right. Yeah, technically you're not owed explanations or whatever, but of course you're gonna feel some kinda way when someone you care about gets hurt because they have a weird martyr complex. There was a whole-ass adult on one side of that conversation and it wasn't you. That shouldn't have gotten to the point of property damage."
"I am an adult now," Shatterstar reminded her, though he didn't argue against Jack reacting badly. Everyone, in 'Star's opinion, acted poorly. But what stuck him was the comment about martyr complexes. Because Arthur's had gotten him in trouble. He let out a hiss of breath. "I just wish they would think first," he said, not realizing he was being a hypocrite.
"You and me both, dude. I'm pretty sure they actually make each other worse. It's like an infinite feedback loop of stupid." Cyndi shrugged and took another bite of the apple. "I get it, I guess. Fate of the innocent and blah, blah, blah. But living like that's got splash damage. Sorry you were in the front row for it."
"What can I say? I like having the best seats," Shatterstar joked in a deadpan. "Love getting the blood in my hair," he added, as if quoting a movie. (He was).
"Is that how you get it so luxurious? Gotta work wanton bloodshed into my haircare routine."
Cyndi finally wandered into the room proper. She went to crouch by a pile of VHS tapes so she could scrutinize the titles.
"Splash damage is why Jack said all that, y'know," she continued. "Just because you're a legal adult doesn't mean you're adult adult. You got enough crap to worry about without adding this idiot to the list. That was probably his way of trying to prepare you. Or warn you."
"I'm adult enough to choose who I want to worry about," Shatterstar said, irritated, starting to take some of the more fragile VHS tapes that had more damage away from Cyndi. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was just that he didn't trust her. But it wasn't a personal thing- you just couldn't trust others, as Jack said.
"Okay, point. But adults do like to angst about that stuff. And then, y'know, not change what they're doing at all." Cyndi noticed Shatterstar's not so subtle confiscations and smirked a little, but didn't attempt to interrupt him. Sto responsible. She claimed one of the remaining tapes. "Oh, hey, it's the old-school Titanic release. They cut it in half when the ship started to sink. Smart. Part one is boring. Part two is a pretty bitchin' film."
"I've never seen either," Shatterstar admitted. Titanic wasn't the sort of film he was really worried about anyway- it was easy to get anywhere. "Didn't it come out when you guys were actually sixteen?" He said, not sure where the cruel comment came from- the reminder that Cyndi didn't get the chance to grow into an adult like he did.
It would be easier to push her away.
Cyndi's smile became wolfish. "Subtle. Pro-tip: If you wanna chase us off you gotta be meaner. Jack and I have spent like three decades giving Haller shit, though, so good luck finding new ground." She dropped from her crouch into a long-legged splay, resting her bodyweight on the heel of one hand as she gestured with the apple.
"Look, when we said you can't count on other people we didn't mean people don't wanna be there for you. It's just, like, shit happens, y'know? Like Oregon. Jimothy knew something might happen, because that's always a risk if you wanna suit up and play hero, but having our system blown apart and vegetating in the Medlab for a month wasn't even on his radar. Ditto Arthur. You've talked to the dude for three minutes so you know he's always gonna do the absolute dumbest thing if it means helping somebody else." Cyndi looked up from the apple to meet Shatterstar's gaze. "I know you get that, that sometimes the people in your life have to do things that take them away from you, and it's not really anybody's fault. But getting it isn't the same as feeling it. 'Cause David's been there, and what it feels like is being abandoned."
Shatterstar scowled at the criticism of his insult. He had always been better with actions than words and didn't, as Cyndi pointed out, have Cyndi's years of experience. His scowled deepened and the air hummed for a little as Cyndi seemed to imply that Shatterstar didn't know what it felt like to be abandoned- and maybe that was true. Shatterstar couldn't feel Benjamin's feelings, but they knew what feeling abandoned felt like. Shatterstar didn't even realize his misunderstanding of what Cyndi was saying as he took the breaths that Terry had taught him to control his power and stop the humming.
The last thing he wanted was to destroy the tapes he was spending so much effort cleaning and transferring. That, he knew, would be the final thing to send him over the edge. And that would be pathetic.
He liked Cyndi too much to seem pathetic in front of her. He had to keep himself together, even if over the past two months he felt like he was becoming unspun.
"You can all do whatever you like, I don't care," he said finally.
"Nah, you care about stuff. Fighting, movies, people -- when you care about something you're all in. That's why you're cool. Like, right now you're in here transferring like twenty 80s movies with off-brand Jim Henson muppets onto DVD just in case the world ends but someone really wants to see Critters." Cyndi grinned again and pointed two fingers to her own eyes, then at Shatterstar's. "I see you over there. Caring."
"I meant I don't care about what you all and Arthur do," Shatterstar said, but tugged on one of his braids in embarrassment at being caught caring about anything at all. In embarrassment at being called cool. "And Critters has some really impressive puppetry," he added defensively.
"Oh, that. Sure, if you say so." Cyndi took another bite of the apple to hide her smile. Being caught in the act of caring about something: a teenage boy's greatest fear. It was adorable. And it had stopped the vibrations before anything could explode -- surely a bonus for Shatterstar's preservation efforts. To spare the boy's pride and turned her attention back to the pile of cassettes. "And hey, nobody said off-brand can't still be good. Not everybody's got Muppet Money. You want some help with these, by the way?"
"I don't mind doing things by myself. I'm used to it."
"'I'm used to it' is doing a lot of work there. Why've you got the tapes open?"
Shatterstar chose to ignore her first sentence. Cyndi and anyone else listening could make of it what they would. "I'm cleaning dust and mold off the reels and insides of the casing so they don't get on the tapes."
Cyndi glanced at the nearest open cassette. "Oh, yeah? Lemme see here."
The alter lifted a case from which Shatterstar had already removed the reels and examined it. Fine white specks had gathered in the corners.
"Hm, mold spores are pretty small," she mused. Setting the apple core down on a nearby table so it couldn't contaminate the scene, the alter extended a hand and closed her eyes, running her mind across the sleek surface of the plastic. An instant later the dusty spores lifted from the surface of the cassette and seemed to disappear. Cyndi opened her eyes and nodded in satisfaction.
"Figured," she said. "Solids aren't usually my thing, but that stuff's pretty easy."
"I thought you did mostly just water?" Shatterstar's tone was accusatory, but he nodded approvingly at the display. He backed off from where he had begun to guard the other fragile tapes from her.
Cyndi shrugged. "Nah, I'm limited by size, not substance. Mostly I work in stuff that can be measured in angstroms. Like, molecule-small. Water and oxygen and stuff. Mold's like . . . microns, probably? That's ten thousand times as big. It's actually right at the edge of what I can get my brain around, but I tapped Jacky a little for help. He does the heavy lifting, but I got better control."
"Well." Shatterstar said after a moment. "If you want to help, you're welcome to. You can consider it training for big objects." This was the closest he could come currently to asking her to hang out, but he thought the message was clear enough- they had missed them.
The alter grinned. "Man, anything that gives us an excuse not to be telepathic for a while is a win for me." Cyndi bent forward to peruse the tapes, bringing her even with Shatterstar. Lightly, without even turning to look, she gave the boy an affectionate punch in the arm.
"Okay. So, what first?"
When Shatterstar found an abandoned stack of VHS tapes in the mansion he took it upon himself to transfer them to DVD. He had started by cleaning the tapes and had only just gotten around to starting to transfer the tapes. It was something to do to avoid schoolwork and he knew he needed a rest day from exercise. It was something to do to be alone.
"Wow, you actually know how to work a VCR? We had these things when David was a kid, and that was like sixty years ago. You ever touch a rotary phone?"
It was Haller's voice, but Cyndi's distinct inflections. The pyrokinetic was standing in the doorway, noisily crunching an apple with the unselfconscious air of someone who wanted to make absolutely sure everyone around her knew she didn't care what they thought. She raised her empty hand to Shatterstar in a two-fingered salute. "Yo."
It took him a moment to recognize Cyndi, and then another moment to remember her name. "Cyndi." He said with a nod. Shatterstar wasn't sure what she wanted but there was no way to avoid her. "It's a VHS tape- not a rocket. It's easy enough to figure out. Did you want something?"
Cyndi had the courtesy to swallow the apple before responding. "Nah, I'm up so I just thought I'd say hey. Jimbo's been kind of stressed and I know you and that Arthur guy are tight. You doing okay?"
"Of course. I'm fine," Shatterstar replied, Jack's advise about only trusting yourself still in his head. "And you all? I know Jim and Arthur are close too."
He still wasn't used to using Jim's name.
The pyrokinetic's eyes rolled. "Jim is making Choices. I stay out of their bromance, and the 'b-' is debatable. Things've calmed down since the inhibitor, though, so at least sleep is happening again." She twisted the half-consumed apple between her fingers and tilted her head. "Sorry about Jacky going off on you before everything blew up, by the way. Panic-move. You tripped David's daddy issues."
"It's whatever," Shatterstar deflected, wishing he had something to do other than let the tape run so he had an excuse to not be looking at Cyndi. "He wasn't wrong."
He was fine with the uneasy relationship they had fallen back into. Really. He was just worried about Arthur.
The alter's eyes rolled again and harder. "'It's whatever'," she mimicked, although the intonation slanted more towards gentle teasing than mockery. "Look, he wasn't wrong but he also wasn't fully right. Yeah, technically you're not owed explanations or whatever, but of course you're gonna feel some kinda way when someone you care about gets hurt because they have a weird martyr complex. There was a whole-ass adult on one side of that conversation and it wasn't you. That shouldn't have gotten to the point of property damage."
"I am an adult now," Shatterstar reminded her, though he didn't argue against Jack reacting badly. Everyone, in 'Star's opinion, acted poorly. But what stuck him was the comment about martyr complexes. Because Arthur's had gotten him in trouble. He let out a hiss of breath. "I just wish they would think first," he said, not realizing he was being a hypocrite.
"You and me both, dude. I'm pretty sure they actually make each other worse. It's like an infinite feedback loop of stupid." Cyndi shrugged and took another bite of the apple. "I get it, I guess. Fate of the innocent and blah, blah, blah. But living like that's got splash damage. Sorry you were in the front row for it."
"What can I say? I like having the best seats," Shatterstar joked in a deadpan. "Love getting the blood in my hair," he added, as if quoting a movie. (He was).
"Is that how you get it so luxurious? Gotta work wanton bloodshed into my haircare routine."
Cyndi finally wandered into the room proper. She went to crouch by a pile of VHS tapes so she could scrutinize the titles.
"Splash damage is why Jack said all that, y'know," she continued. "Just because you're a legal adult doesn't mean you're adult adult. You got enough crap to worry about without adding this idiot to the list. That was probably his way of trying to prepare you. Or warn you."
"I'm adult enough to choose who I want to worry about," Shatterstar said, irritated, starting to take some of the more fragile VHS tapes that had more damage away from Cyndi. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was just that he didn't trust her. But it wasn't a personal thing- you just couldn't trust others, as Jack said.
"Okay, point. But adults do like to angst about that stuff. And then, y'know, not change what they're doing at all." Cyndi noticed Shatterstar's not so subtle confiscations and smirked a little, but didn't attempt to interrupt him. Sto responsible. She claimed one of the remaining tapes. "Oh, hey, it's the old-school Titanic release. They cut it in half when the ship started to sink. Smart. Part one is boring. Part two is a pretty bitchin' film."
"I've never seen either," Shatterstar admitted. Titanic wasn't the sort of film he was really worried about anyway- it was easy to get anywhere. "Didn't it come out when you guys were actually sixteen?" He said, not sure where the cruel comment came from- the reminder that Cyndi didn't get the chance to grow into an adult like he did.
It would be easier to push her away.
Cyndi's smile became wolfish. "Subtle. Pro-tip: If you wanna chase us off you gotta be meaner. Jack and I have spent like three decades giving Haller shit, though, so good luck finding new ground." She dropped from her crouch into a long-legged splay, resting her bodyweight on the heel of one hand as she gestured with the apple.
"Look, when we said you can't count on other people we didn't mean people don't wanna be there for you. It's just, like, shit happens, y'know? Like Oregon. Jimothy knew something might happen, because that's always a risk if you wanna suit up and play hero, but having our system blown apart and vegetating in the Medlab for a month wasn't even on his radar. Ditto Arthur. You've talked to the dude for three minutes so you know he's always gonna do the absolute dumbest thing if it means helping somebody else." Cyndi looked up from the apple to meet Shatterstar's gaze. "I know you get that, that sometimes the people in your life have to do things that take them away from you, and it's not really anybody's fault. But getting it isn't the same as feeling it. 'Cause David's been there, and what it feels like is being abandoned."
Shatterstar scowled at the criticism of his insult. He had always been better with actions than words and didn't, as Cyndi pointed out, have Cyndi's years of experience. His scowled deepened and the air hummed for a little as Cyndi seemed to imply that Shatterstar didn't know what it felt like to be abandoned- and maybe that was true. Shatterstar couldn't feel Benjamin's feelings, but they knew what feeling abandoned felt like. Shatterstar didn't even realize his misunderstanding of what Cyndi was saying as he took the breaths that Terry had taught him to control his power and stop the humming.
The last thing he wanted was to destroy the tapes he was spending so much effort cleaning and transferring. That, he knew, would be the final thing to send him over the edge. And that would be pathetic.
He liked Cyndi too much to seem pathetic in front of her. He had to keep himself together, even if over the past two months he felt like he was becoming unspun.
"You can all do whatever you like, I don't care," he said finally.
"Nah, you care about stuff. Fighting, movies, people -- when you care about something you're all in. That's why you're cool. Like, right now you're in here transferring like twenty 80s movies with off-brand Jim Henson muppets onto DVD just in case the world ends but someone really wants to see Critters." Cyndi grinned again and pointed two fingers to her own eyes, then at Shatterstar's. "I see you over there. Caring."
"I meant I don't care about what you all and Arthur do," Shatterstar said, but tugged on one of his braids in embarrassment at being caught caring about anything at all. In embarrassment at being called cool. "And Critters has some really impressive puppetry," he added defensively.
"Oh, that. Sure, if you say so." Cyndi took another bite of the apple to hide her smile. Being caught in the act of caring about something: a teenage boy's greatest fear. It was adorable. And it had stopped the vibrations before anything could explode -- surely a bonus for Shatterstar's preservation efforts. To spare the boy's pride and turned her attention back to the pile of cassettes. "And hey, nobody said off-brand can't still be good. Not everybody's got Muppet Money. You want some help with these, by the way?"
"I don't mind doing things by myself. I'm used to it."
"'I'm used to it' is doing a lot of work there. Why've you got the tapes open?"
Shatterstar chose to ignore her first sentence. Cyndi and anyone else listening could make of it what they would. "I'm cleaning dust and mold off the reels and insides of the casing so they don't get on the tapes."
Cyndi glanced at the nearest open cassette. "Oh, yeah? Lemme see here."
The alter lifted a case from which Shatterstar had already removed the reels and examined it. Fine white specks had gathered in the corners.
"Hm, mold spores are pretty small," she mused. Setting the apple core down on a nearby table so it couldn't contaminate the scene, the alter extended a hand and closed her eyes, running her mind across the sleek surface of the plastic. An instant later the dusty spores lifted from the surface of the cassette and seemed to disappear. Cyndi opened her eyes and nodded in satisfaction.
"Figured," she said. "Solids aren't usually my thing, but that stuff's pretty easy."
"I thought you did mostly just water?" Shatterstar's tone was accusatory, but he nodded approvingly at the display. He backed off from where he had begun to guard the other fragile tapes from her.
Cyndi shrugged. "Nah, I'm limited by size, not substance. Mostly I work in stuff that can be measured in angstroms. Like, molecule-small. Water and oxygen and stuff. Mold's like . . . microns, probably? That's ten thousand times as big. It's actually right at the edge of what I can get my brain around, but I tapped Jacky a little for help. He does the heavy lifting, but I got better control."
"Well." Shatterstar said after a moment. "If you want to help, you're welcome to. You can consider it training for big objects." This was the closest he could come currently to asking her to hang out, but he thought the message was clear enough- they had missed them.
The alter grinned. "Man, anything that gives us an excuse not to be telepathic for a while is a win for me." Cyndi bent forward to peruse the tapes, bringing her even with Shatterstar. Lightly, without even turning to look, she gave the boy an affectionate punch in the arm.
"Okay. So, what first?"
no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 01:23 am (UTC)"It's whatever."
"I'm used to it."
"I don't care."
A teenager who cares too much using deflection as a shield.
I always adore Cyndi, and her trying to protect Star from the adults in his life is excellent readings. "What it feels like is being abandoned" is an extremely good, and correct, line.