xp_logs | Sharon and Shatterstar

Shatterstar introduces Sharon to the wonders of DBT and therapy worksheets. (A guide book for human behavior!)

Shatterstar was careful to be extra light on his feet as he searched for a hint of purple fur, hoping to be able to sneak up at least slightly on Sharon. His hearing wasn't on her level, but it was better than a baseline human's so he felt like he might be able to at least have her not realize he was actively looking for her. He had a folder under his arm after an idea that was too good for him to willingly credit to Benjamin had come to him.

Sharon clearly needed lessons on relationships as much as he had in the past.

There- out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of purple and moved to corner her so she would at least have to pass him if she tried to escape this conversation. (Somewhere in the back of his head, Benjamin was rolling his eyes. Friendship isn't a battlefield, we've done enough worksheets to know that, the alter teased).

Sharon, in the form of a house cat, froze in mid-step. She was feeling calmer now, but still disinclined to deal with people attempting to lecture her. After Sooraya's talk any additional efforts seemed redundant. This was Shatterstar, though, not Kyle or Sam, and he clearly wanted something of her. Sharon regarded him with her unblinking yellow gaze for a moment, then relented and shifted into human form.

"You wish to converse?" she said once she was at eye-level with him.

He hadn't actually thought out how to approach this subject with Sharon. He looked at her for a moment before saying. "You don't have to be a human with me if you don't want to. You know I understand being something else." It gave him an opening, their mutual otherness. He could allow himself to be awkward and unsure of himself around Sharon and did as he looked through the folder. "I... Being a person is hard. We both know this," he said as he started pulling out a few of the sheets he thought might be relevant.

"Yes. This is known." There was no question about that. Sharon gave a sigh and curved her tail across her body so she could take it in her arms and wrap it over one shoulder. "Right now is fine, this form. An effort is being made. What have you brought?" she asked, her natural curiosity winning the battle with her attention span.

"There are guides about it," He said, showing her one of the DBT skills sheets- a fact checking guide that had once been filled out out by Shatterstar's painstaking, elementary handwriting. Sticking out under it were more worksheets- one for FAST and one that looked like it had once been crinkled and thrown then flattened out after titled "Conversation Do's and Don't's". He tugged one of his braids, clearly embarrassed to have these materials even as he tried to share them. "I don't know why they don't just give them to everyone. It would be much simpler then," he said, deflecting.

Sharon accepted the sheets for inspection. Her large yellow eyes skimmed the papers, expression unreadable.

"FAST," she read aloud from one of the worksheets. "'Fair, Apologies, Stick to Values, Truthful'." She looked back up at Shatterstar, seeming surprised. "You are correct. To have these steps laid out in such a concrete fashion -- this is useful. Where were these acquired?"

"I was in the hospital for a good while before I came here," Shatterstar said and somehow saying it to Sharon did not feel humiliating. She would see it as the training it was, he suspected. Or at least, the training he thought of it like. "I can make copies for you. I was coming to offer this."

"Gesture is appreciated. I shall accept." Sharon lingered a moment longer on the worksheets before returning them. Her tail uncurled from her shoulders and returned to its usual relaxed position. "Independent study is attractive option. Counseling was suggested to me, but this does not appeal. Already I know so many people. Why should I speak to another?"

"And they always want you to talk about yourself even when the problem is with others!" Shatterstar complained in agreement. It was a relief to be able to speak to Sharon again since she had seemed to start avoiding him out of nowhere. He liked his other friends, but they didn't have the mutual understanding he and Sharon did.

"Is no value in talking to one who does not know me. By what right should this privilege be theirs?" Sharon abruptly dropped into a squat, wrapping her arms around her knees as her tail coiled around her ankles. "Is others who make no sense. Is why cats are preferable."

Shatterstar moved to sit cross-legged next to her and shook his head. "Cats don't make any sense to me either. They and you are hardly straight-forward." He didn't mean it as an insult though, nor did he say it as one.

Sharon gave him a sulky look. "I am the most straightforward," she said. "Is just that you are not Cat."

"You are the one who has been avoiding me and not told me why," he said, getting slightly annoyed with her.

The older girl held his gaze for a long moment, then leaned one cheek against her knees.

"You were not told because I was not asked, But if truth is desired, is because of your association with the interloper. My presence was no longer wanted." Sharon chewed her lip and added, "This was my belief."

"Because I train with Hope?" He asked in clear confusion. "You have never seemed interested so I never asked." And for that matter, how was he supposed to ask why he was being avoided when he was being avoided?

"I thought you didn't want to be around me since you stopped being around me." His voice was a little rough around the edges and he pulled at his hair in frustration, trying to model the conversational skills from the worksheets he had offered and not get angry with her.

Sharon looked up to give him a mild scowl, but it didn't last. A moment later she leaned her cheek back against her knees. "Is her I did not wish to be around or discuss. But was a little jealous also, maybe. I can see this now."

"Then we don't have to have her be around or talk about her," Shatterstar said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He leaned forward so his elbows were on his knees. It didn't matter to him if Sharon was jealous- he wasn't that much of a hypocrite. Jealousy was a familiar emotion to him.

"This is appreciated." Sharon regarded him with her huge yellow eyes, tail-tip twitching. "Is easier with you," she observed. "With you, all questions are straightforward. Answers also. Why are other people not like this?"

"They have poor scripts," Shatterstar said, and it wasn't clear even to him if he was joking or not.

The older girl nodded in agreement. "You should copy worksheets for them also. Why should we be the only ones to learn? They must standardize their behavior if we are expected to respond properly."

"If I had blank ones I would," Shatterstar nodded in agreement. "But I only trust you with my notes. And Haller- I have given these to him in the past as well."

He paused before adding, "Sharon?"

Sharon gave him a quizzical look. "Yes?"

"You are welcome to come into my room," he said with a resolute nod. On one hand, he wouldn't be surprised if she had already been in it without him knowing (which did annoy him to think about), but on the other hand he often kept his door close and hadn't even formally let Liam, who he lived with, in.

While Sharon had, in fact, already thoroughly explored Shatterstar's room, she accepted his invitation with great solemnity. It was no small thing to allow access to his territory. She tried to think of an equivalent offering.

"This invitation is accepted. In return, you may share in my Allowed Meat." Sharon paused to consider this decision. "Just text if you so indulge, so assumptions are not made and Kitten is not clawed."

He held out his hand to shake on it with all the solemnity the occasion required. "Understood."

Sharon accepted the hand with the awkwardness of someone who had only seen the gesture performed on television but was willing to try.

"Understood," she agreed, and they were.