Match & Sharon: Accidents Happen
Jan. 24th, 2024 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsMatch returns to the mansion after a day of work and finds his roommate but not Milton.
The lizards had been sold and Match had been allowed to keep his job. But there should have been one lizard still in the room. Milton's tank was glaringly empty, and Match felt his heart beating a mile a minute as the world seemed to grow a little blurry at the edges. "Cats," his voice cracked, he couldn't deny it, "Cats, have you seen Milton?"
Sharon, draped over the couch and skimming TikTok on her tablet, glanced up.
"I do not know to whom you refer."
“Milton Bernard, my leopard gecko, he’s like this big,” he spaced his hands in a rough approximation of Milton’s size, “he’s white with black and gray rosettes, and a pinkish belly. He was in that tank when I left for work. And now he’s not.”
"Oh." Sharon set the tablet on her lap and appeared to think for slightly too long.
"That was a named one?"
“Of course he was named, you kno-“ Match stopped suddenly, staring at Sharon. There had been something about birds when she showed up. And names.
Swallowing thickly, he asked. “Cats, did you… did you do something to Milton?”
The older girl, human features never particularly emotive, looked at him with an unreadable expression. "How was I to know which was named and which was wages? You had so many."
“Cats- Sharon,” Match pleaded, voice strained, “he was the only one left. I thought I told you I was leaving with the last of the sales today.” Had he? He thought. Heat began to rise as he tried to catch his breath. Was the room starting to spin or was that him?
Sharon stared at him for a long moment. Then she said:
"Oops."
“Whaddya mean ‘oops’?” Match was drawing into himself, heat output stopping abruptly as his shoulders got closer to his ears. There was fear on his face.
"Was not premeditated. I saw only something moving across the floor at speed." Sharon set the tablet aside and gave him a shrug. "I am Cat. I pounce."
It was almost as if the room had chilled in his confusion, spare warmth being sucked up by his presence.
“But he’s okay, right?” Even to his own ears, Match’s question sounded hollow.
There might have been a hint of uncertainty in Sharon's face as the change in temperature registered. Then, moving purposefully, the girl turned to drape her body over the armrest so she could fish around behind the sofa. After a moment she pulled herself back up and turned to face Match, tossing her head to flick the messy purple hair from her eyes.
"If is consolation," Sharon said, extending her cupped hand, "symbolic funeral may be held?"
She opened her fingers. Nestled in her palm was a fat, speckled tail.
She was met with silence as he stared at the tail in her hand. Static muffled everything. Tears welled in his eyes as he tried to breathe, taking a step back.
“Oh,” Match finally croaked, voice somehow cracking through the one syllable word as the tears came out followed by his attempt to understand. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shoulda told you-“ A hand shot up instinctively to scrub away the waterworks but unable to stop them it quickly turned to breathless sobs.
Sharon wasn't good at reading expressions, especially not when what they told her might have impeded something she wanted to do, but even the full force of her willful ignorance was not powerful enough to combat the sight of a teenaged boy openly weeping. An unpleasant emotion gripped her chest. With horror, she realized it was guilt.
"No! No! Is fake!" Panicked, Sharon scrambled off the couch and rushed towards Match, presenting the crying boy with the tail for closer inspection.
"Tail was dropped by the gecko being harassed by others, the one you put in private cage," she explained in a rush, as if the faster she spoke the sooner the consequences of her offense would be expiated. "I saved it for Science. See? Is not even same color. Is the result of tail autotomy only. No lizards were harmed. Milton is safe."
Confused crying answered her, as Match finally looked up at her. He tried to slow his breathing back down, to stop crying. He coughed, as he finally regained control of his emotions, to take shaky gulps of air as his face slowly turned to utter a hurt confusion. “Wh- What? But you said... You didn't," his words were blending together as he tried to figure out what to respond to.
Shuffling a small step back, he turned to stare at the empty tank, brows remaining drawn together. No. No Milton there, but Sharon had said he was fine. "Why would you say you pounced on him?"
"I did only as instructed." Now it was Sharon's face that screwed up in a paroxysm of betrayal. Accountability was far less appealing than the warm embrace of victimhood. "Namor said if revenge was to be had alliances must be poisoned and support structures destroyed. Husband was giving aid and comfort to the enemy."
Gecko tail still cupped in one hand, Sharon stepped back. Maybe spelling it out would make Match appreciate who had truly been wronged in this situation: her.
No, that didn’t make sense. Match slowly began to shake his head to convey that he didn't understand what she was saying. "Who? Alliances? Enemy? Is this because I was gaming more with someone else? Cats, what are you even saying?"
Sharon stared at him in disbelief. "The intruder who bit you. That enemy!"
"The redhead girl? You pretended to have hurt Milton because I - because I comforted her?" He asked in disbelief.
"Redheaded girl? Wait, she is orange?" Sharon's face darkened. "So much is explained," she muttered.
"Cats, answer the question." Match pressed, heat beginning to radiate off of him.
"She is forgiven too easily!" Sharon snapped, then caught herself -- even her righteous indignation could not withstand Match's tear-smeared face. Sulkily, the older girl wrapped her tail around her waist to stop it from lashing. "None here will affect proper discipline," she continued in a tone less upsetting to Match's tender sensibilities, "so must fall to me. But without authority to punish this is difficult. Social leverage was suggested to me, but I see now the flaws in this. I am sorry. Was not husband I wished to make cry."
Silence. Again. Match stared at Sharon, obviously not understanding her logic, the connection here. He didn't get anything, it felt like. "I don't understand. That sounds really mean. I... Where's Milton, Cats?"
"Is here." Sharon darted into her room and reappeared a moment later with the gecko in question. It was drowsing comfortably in one of the many plastic carriers that had accompanied Match and Jessica's reptilian remuneration, tail still attached and intact. Sharon offered Match the carrier in a conciliatory way.
"I would not hurt him really," Sharon said. "Milton is important to you. I respect this. I meant only to dissuade you from future contact with the invader. This I shall not attempt again. Is too high, this cost."
Match sighed in relief as the leopard gecko blinked at him, unbothered by what had happened and likely entirely oblivious. He'd known Sharon had said he was okay, but to see him, whole and healthy finally released the last of the heat of the room back. Looking at the tail still in her hand, he looked at Milton's own. "Oh, yeah, they aren't the same color... Thank you for not hurting him, he does mean a lot to me..." As he trailed off he looked at Sharon, the question remaining. Why had she pretended if she'd known?
"I think, uh... I think I'm gonna take Milton and game a little before bed."
"Okay." Sharon watched Match's retreat, then looked at the tail in her hand. After some debate she threw it away. It felt like a waste, but she'd collected it days ago, and since then it had been frozen and unthawed. Besides, it was mostly fat.
She had the feeling Match was still upset with her. It was an effort to convince herself she shouldn't feel bad about that, but she was working on it. He would get over it. Still, she allowed, that was one strategy she would quietly be excising from her list of options. Match reduced to tears might have been the worst thing she'd ever seen.
So much for Namor's advice.
The lizards had been sold and Match had been allowed to keep his job. But there should have been one lizard still in the room. Milton's tank was glaringly empty, and Match felt his heart beating a mile a minute as the world seemed to grow a little blurry at the edges. "Cats," his voice cracked, he couldn't deny it, "Cats, have you seen Milton?"
Sharon, draped over the couch and skimming TikTok on her tablet, glanced up.
"I do not know to whom you refer."
“Milton Bernard, my leopard gecko, he’s like this big,” he spaced his hands in a rough approximation of Milton’s size, “he’s white with black and gray rosettes, and a pinkish belly. He was in that tank when I left for work. And now he’s not.”
"Oh." Sharon set the tablet on her lap and appeared to think for slightly too long.
"That was a named one?"
“Of course he was named, you kno-“ Match stopped suddenly, staring at Sharon. There had been something about birds when she showed up. And names.
Swallowing thickly, he asked. “Cats, did you… did you do something to Milton?”
The older girl, human features never particularly emotive, looked at him with an unreadable expression. "How was I to know which was named and which was wages? You had so many."
“Cats- Sharon,” Match pleaded, voice strained, “he was the only one left. I thought I told you I was leaving with the last of the sales today.” Had he? He thought. Heat began to rise as he tried to catch his breath. Was the room starting to spin or was that him?
Sharon stared at him for a long moment. Then she said:
"Oops."
“Whaddya mean ‘oops’?” Match was drawing into himself, heat output stopping abruptly as his shoulders got closer to his ears. There was fear on his face.
"Was not premeditated. I saw only something moving across the floor at speed." Sharon set the tablet aside and gave him a shrug. "I am Cat. I pounce."
It was almost as if the room had chilled in his confusion, spare warmth being sucked up by his presence.
“But he’s okay, right?” Even to his own ears, Match’s question sounded hollow.
There might have been a hint of uncertainty in Sharon's face as the change in temperature registered. Then, moving purposefully, the girl turned to drape her body over the armrest so she could fish around behind the sofa. After a moment she pulled herself back up and turned to face Match, tossing her head to flick the messy purple hair from her eyes.
"If is consolation," Sharon said, extending her cupped hand, "symbolic funeral may be held?"
She opened her fingers. Nestled in her palm was a fat, speckled tail.
She was met with silence as he stared at the tail in her hand. Static muffled everything. Tears welled in his eyes as he tried to breathe, taking a step back.
“Oh,” Match finally croaked, voice somehow cracking through the one syllable word as the tears came out followed by his attempt to understand. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shoulda told you-“ A hand shot up instinctively to scrub away the waterworks but unable to stop them it quickly turned to breathless sobs.
Sharon wasn't good at reading expressions, especially not when what they told her might have impeded something she wanted to do, but even the full force of her willful ignorance was not powerful enough to combat the sight of a teenaged boy openly weeping. An unpleasant emotion gripped her chest. With horror, she realized it was guilt.
"No! No! Is fake!" Panicked, Sharon scrambled off the couch and rushed towards Match, presenting the crying boy with the tail for closer inspection.
"Tail was dropped by the gecko being harassed by others, the one you put in private cage," she explained in a rush, as if the faster she spoke the sooner the consequences of her offense would be expiated. "I saved it for Science. See? Is not even same color. Is the result of tail autotomy only. No lizards were harmed. Milton is safe."
Confused crying answered her, as Match finally looked up at her. He tried to slow his breathing back down, to stop crying. He coughed, as he finally regained control of his emotions, to take shaky gulps of air as his face slowly turned to utter a hurt confusion. “Wh- What? But you said... You didn't," his words were blending together as he tried to figure out what to respond to.
Shuffling a small step back, he turned to stare at the empty tank, brows remaining drawn together. No. No Milton there, but Sharon had said he was fine. "Why would you say you pounced on him?"
"I did only as instructed." Now it was Sharon's face that screwed up in a paroxysm of betrayal. Accountability was far less appealing than the warm embrace of victimhood. "Namor said if revenge was to be had alliances must be poisoned and support structures destroyed. Husband was giving aid and comfort to the enemy."
Gecko tail still cupped in one hand, Sharon stepped back. Maybe spelling it out would make Match appreciate who had truly been wronged in this situation: her.
No, that didn’t make sense. Match slowly began to shake his head to convey that he didn't understand what she was saying. "Who? Alliances? Enemy? Is this because I was gaming more with someone else? Cats, what are you even saying?"
Sharon stared at him in disbelief. "The intruder who bit you. That enemy!"
"The redhead girl? You pretended to have hurt Milton because I - because I comforted her?" He asked in disbelief.
"Redheaded girl? Wait, she is orange?" Sharon's face darkened. "So much is explained," she muttered.
"Cats, answer the question." Match pressed, heat beginning to radiate off of him.
"She is forgiven too easily!" Sharon snapped, then caught herself -- even her righteous indignation could not withstand Match's tear-smeared face. Sulkily, the older girl wrapped her tail around her waist to stop it from lashing. "None here will affect proper discipline," she continued in a tone less upsetting to Match's tender sensibilities, "so must fall to me. But without authority to punish this is difficult. Social leverage was suggested to me, but I see now the flaws in this. I am sorry. Was not husband I wished to make cry."
Silence. Again. Match stared at Sharon, obviously not understanding her logic, the connection here. He didn't get anything, it felt like. "I don't understand. That sounds really mean. I... Where's Milton, Cats?"
"Is here." Sharon darted into her room and reappeared a moment later with the gecko in question. It was drowsing comfortably in one of the many plastic carriers that had accompanied Match and Jessica's reptilian remuneration, tail still attached and intact. Sharon offered Match the carrier in a conciliatory way.
"I would not hurt him really," Sharon said. "Milton is important to you. I respect this. I meant only to dissuade you from future contact with the invader. This I shall not attempt again. Is too high, this cost."
Match sighed in relief as the leopard gecko blinked at him, unbothered by what had happened and likely entirely oblivious. He'd known Sharon had said he was okay, but to see him, whole and healthy finally released the last of the heat of the room back. Looking at the tail still in her hand, he looked at Milton's own. "Oh, yeah, they aren't the same color... Thank you for not hurting him, he does mean a lot to me..." As he trailed off he looked at Sharon, the question remaining. Why had she pretended if she'd known?
"I think, uh... I think I'm gonna take Milton and game a little before bed."
"Okay." Sharon watched Match's retreat, then looked at the tail in her hand. After some debate she threw it away. It felt like a waste, but she'd collected it days ago, and since then it had been frozen and unthawed. Besides, it was mostly fat.
She had the feeling Match was still upset with her. It was an effort to convince herself she shouldn't feel bad about that, but she was working on it. He would get over it. Still, she allowed, that was one strategy she would quietly be excising from her list of options. Match reduced to tears might have been the worst thing she'd ever seen.
So much for Namor's advice.
