Hope and Sam
Jan. 4th, 2024 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs(Backdated.) Sam makes a child cry. The child deserves it.
Hope had spotted who she thought was Sam from down the hall and made a beeline toward him, fully intending to pelt him with questions about his mutation - primarily, when she could use it and exactly how much reading he was going to extract from her in exchange. What she saw when she got closer, though, gave even her pause.
Sam looked bad. Not just tired, although that too, but tired and with bruises on his face and a kind of energy that suggested he hadn't slept in a really, really long time. The shadows under his eyes were, yes, physical, but they also seemed somehow related to his expression, deepened by whatever was going on in his head. He looked - she searched her mind for a comparison - he looked like an X-Man coming home from a mission where they'd lost someone.
She almost stopped mid-step and turned right around, but she was close enough now that she wasn't sure if he'd seen her, so she kept going, plunging in because she saw no reasonable escape: "Oh, hi, wow, are you Sam? I'm Hope! Summers, I know there's another one around here but I'm not her, um, obviously! We talked on that webpage thing? About, um, powers, and reading, and lots of stuff, and I saw you and wanted to come say hi and maybe talk to you about things because your powers sounded really interesting and I thought - "
Sam ran his hand down his face and sighed as he watched Hope make the active decision to approach him. She’d paused there for a moment and had clearly thought about it- and then decided to push forward anyway. As she spoke, her words became faster and faster - it reminded him of how Cissie talks when she’s nervous. It wasn’t Hope’s fault that thinking about his family right now only made him feel grumpier, but that didn’t stop him from feeling that way.
“Hope.” He said, perhaps more harshly than he’d intended. “Gotta give a man a chance to get a word in edgewise, god.” He sighed again. “I ain’t exactly in the mood to be used like a power experiment right now, kid..”
Uncharacteristically already well aware that she should have just turned around, Hope couldn't help it - her eyes welled with embarrassed tears as she flushed hotly. "Yeah, um, yes, you're right, I'm sorry - I just didn't wanna be rude - and, um - " Her voice hiccupped, and she wiped her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I'm gonna go. I hope you're okay. Sorry."
Fuck. He hadn’t meant to make her cry. He just- he was just trying to set a boundary and it’d come out all wrong. It had come out mean. It reminded him in all the wrong ways of who Jay’s Julia had been afraid he was. He’d proved her right already he didn’t want to keep proving her right.
“Hope,” He said, much more gently, squatting a bit so he was more eye level with her. “I’m sorry. I shoulda minded my tone better, ‘specially when I know all this is so new to you. I’m sorry. What’s eatin’ at me ain’t your fault and I’m sorry if I made you think I was upset with ya……… you just reminded me of my youngest sister and family’s…… a bit of a sore spot right now. Ain’t your fault, I ain’t mad at ya, and I promise I’ll talk to ya about my powers and readin’, but I can’t right now. Okay? I don’t trust myself to use my powers safely ‘s drained as I am. I don’t wanna hurt ya.”
He wanted to hug her, his instinct telling him to reach out and pull her close and wipe her tears away. But this wasn’t his babiest sister, this was a teenage girl he’d just met from another dimension- that would be weird. So instead he tried to offer a smile that probably looked a whole lot more like a grimace. “Anyone made you hot chocolate yet? How bout I make you a cup and you can ask me all sorts of questions that don’t pertain to my powers so that maybe we can be friends? Get your curiosity settled a bit too?”
"It's okay, it's not your fault." Hope shook her head vigorously, scrubbing at her eyes - very aware that she had cried at or on too many people lately. Her voice was still a little thick, but she managed to pull herself together. "I should've - I just didn't know if you'd seen me, and I didn't want you to think I didn't want to talk to you, but I'm - I'm not very good at talking to strangers. And I talk too fast. Do you want someone around or would you - would you prefer to be alone?" The cadence of the last sentence implied that Hope had received coaching for these kinds of situations; Sam was not her first rodeo.
"Hope, darlin' can you look at me?" Sam asked gently. "'s it alright if I give you a hug or is that gonna upset you further? I really appreciate you tryin' to be polite, that was very thoughtful of you. 'Specially when I get the feelin' manners here are a whole lot different than where you're from. You're a good kid, Hope. And I think...I think maybe I could use a little company, and that I might make myself a cup of hot chocolate and could be persuaded to make a second cup if I knew I was gonna have company."
Hope had raised her eyes to Sam's face, taking a deep, shaky breath as she did something that was rare for her - listening with her full attention. She nodded, shy now, and said, "That sounds nice if it's okay. And - you can hug me, if you want. I like hugs."
Sam pulled Hope into a tight hug and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I like hugs too, and I know I ain't your dad, but I've got a whole lotta practice pretendin' to be one so if you ever need a dad hug... come find me okay? I promise to be less snippy with ya."
Sam pulled back and offered her a small more genuine smile. "Now how's about that cup of cocoa?"
"I love hot chocolate," Hope confided, the hug having calmed her; she had relaxed, shoulders untensing, though she was still careful to keep her speech to a normal speed. "We don't have a lot of chocolate where I'm from? So it's mostly on birthdays or special occasions. And, um, thank you. For the hug. I'm not very used to being here yet." She paused. "Are your brothers and sisters all here?"
“Not all of them, just two….for now. I wouldn’t be surprised if more of us manifest but for now it’s just us oldest three. So me, my sister Paige, and my brother Jay……Jay and I room together but Paigey has her own space.” Sam slowly guided Hope towards his suite where he had all the ingredients for hot chocolate. “The rest of em are back in Kentucky with our Mama.”
"It must be nice to have some of your family here," Hope said wistfully. "Mine - I mean, I know there's versions of some people here, but it's not like they're my versions." If she'd had the words, Hope might have been able to say she felt lost and homesick; but lacking the words, what she said was, "But the food here is a lot better. I'm gonna bring as much back with me as I can, even if Dad says that messes with the balance of dimensional resources or whatever."
"There's a lot more food here than where I'm from too." Sam said, whispering conspiratorially. "And so many more kinds than I'm used to and kinds I ain't ever heard of before. It don't always feel quite real....I do cook a lot though, if'n you ever wanna come by for supper that's alright by me. Always end up makin' too much anyhow."
"I'd love that!" Hope said, her equilibrium returned as they walked. "It's nice to eat with people here. Everyone eats different stuff - Sooraya, she's from Afghanistan? And Alani is from Hawaii. I wanna try everything."
“Oh Alani’s one of my best friends.” Sam said easily. “She could come for dinner too with you if you want, she doesn’t cook much so it would be nice to have her.”
"Yes, please - she's so nice. She's nice in my world, too - she's my auntie. I know people aren't the same in every world, but I feel like she'd always be nice."
“Do you have any favorite foods? Somethin’ yer dad made for ya maybe? I’d be happy to try an make it for you.” Sam asked gently, keying open the door to his suite and frowning just a bit when he realized Jay wasn’t home. He really needed to figure out if he wanted his brother to get out of the room or not.
"Dad, um, Dad didn't really cook that much," Hope admitted, scrunching her nose as she thought. "He made noodles a couple times, but - anyway, my favorite is Grandpa's stew. We make fresh bread with it, not like the bread here? Like, it's not as, um, normal looking? But it tastes good."
“Do you remember what’s in it? Maybe you could help me recreate the recipes and I could teach you how to cook? That might be a fun surprise for your family when you go home.” Sam said, offering a small smile. “I like to make recipes from my Mamaw and Daddy when I’m missin’ home. Makes it feel not so far away. Would you wanna try that sometime?”
"I'd like that," Hope said, almost shy again. "I - I mean, I'm going home soon, I know my dad won't be that long, but I miss it, you know?" She brightened a little, dismissing this. "But I can cook a little, I used to help with the kitchen sometimes. What kinds of foods do you miss from home? When we went for supply runs it was always cool to see what other people ate."
“Cornbread.” Sam said immediately and without hesitation. “Real cornbread, not whatever the folks up here think cornbread is. I’ve always been big on pickled beets but I don’t think my siblings like ‘em as much. And fried chicken’s just better down there on account of we ain’t afraid to use the right grease…… I been missing my Mama’s apple stack cake even if I ain’t missin’ Mama herself a whole lot right now.”
No, he wasn’t really missing Lucinda…..just the idea of her. A version of his mother he hadn’t seen in about fifteen years, before some of the kids were even born.
"I didn't know you could make corn into bread." Hope looked intrigued, clearly picturing an ear of corn somehow merging into a loaf of bread - how this was transmitted solely through her expression and body language remained a mystery but stood nonetheless. "All of that sounds really good. I can help in the kitchen. I know how to do some stuff! And I like eating. There's so much food here."
"I'll have to teach you how to make it sometime." Sam said. "I'm... not sure it's quite what yer picturin' but I think you'll like it.......so tell me everythin'- how're you findin' our world compared to yours? You made any friends yet? I wanna hear all about it."
Hope had spotted who she thought was Sam from down the hall and made a beeline toward him, fully intending to pelt him with questions about his mutation - primarily, when she could use it and exactly how much reading he was going to extract from her in exchange. What she saw when she got closer, though, gave even her pause.
Sam looked bad. Not just tired, although that too, but tired and with bruises on his face and a kind of energy that suggested he hadn't slept in a really, really long time. The shadows under his eyes were, yes, physical, but they also seemed somehow related to his expression, deepened by whatever was going on in his head. He looked - she searched her mind for a comparison - he looked like an X-Man coming home from a mission where they'd lost someone.
She almost stopped mid-step and turned right around, but she was close enough now that she wasn't sure if he'd seen her, so she kept going, plunging in because she saw no reasonable escape: "Oh, hi, wow, are you Sam? I'm Hope! Summers, I know there's another one around here but I'm not her, um, obviously! We talked on that webpage thing? About, um, powers, and reading, and lots of stuff, and I saw you and wanted to come say hi and maybe talk to you about things because your powers sounded really interesting and I thought - "
Sam ran his hand down his face and sighed as he watched Hope make the active decision to approach him. She’d paused there for a moment and had clearly thought about it- and then decided to push forward anyway. As she spoke, her words became faster and faster - it reminded him of how Cissie talks when she’s nervous. It wasn’t Hope’s fault that thinking about his family right now only made him feel grumpier, but that didn’t stop him from feeling that way.
“Hope.” He said, perhaps more harshly than he’d intended. “Gotta give a man a chance to get a word in edgewise, god.” He sighed again. “I ain’t exactly in the mood to be used like a power experiment right now, kid..”
Uncharacteristically already well aware that she should have just turned around, Hope couldn't help it - her eyes welled with embarrassed tears as she flushed hotly. "Yeah, um, yes, you're right, I'm sorry - I just didn't wanna be rude - and, um - " Her voice hiccupped, and she wiped her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I'm gonna go. I hope you're okay. Sorry."
Fuck. He hadn’t meant to make her cry. He just- he was just trying to set a boundary and it’d come out all wrong. It had come out mean. It reminded him in all the wrong ways of who Jay’s Julia had been afraid he was. He’d proved her right already he didn’t want to keep proving her right.
“Hope,” He said, much more gently, squatting a bit so he was more eye level with her. “I’m sorry. I shoulda minded my tone better, ‘specially when I know all this is so new to you. I’m sorry. What’s eatin’ at me ain’t your fault and I’m sorry if I made you think I was upset with ya……… you just reminded me of my youngest sister and family’s…… a bit of a sore spot right now. Ain’t your fault, I ain’t mad at ya, and I promise I’ll talk to ya about my powers and readin’, but I can’t right now. Okay? I don’t trust myself to use my powers safely ‘s drained as I am. I don’t wanna hurt ya.”
He wanted to hug her, his instinct telling him to reach out and pull her close and wipe her tears away. But this wasn’t his babiest sister, this was a teenage girl he’d just met from another dimension- that would be weird. So instead he tried to offer a smile that probably looked a whole lot more like a grimace. “Anyone made you hot chocolate yet? How bout I make you a cup and you can ask me all sorts of questions that don’t pertain to my powers so that maybe we can be friends? Get your curiosity settled a bit too?”
"It's okay, it's not your fault." Hope shook her head vigorously, scrubbing at her eyes - very aware that she had cried at or on too many people lately. Her voice was still a little thick, but she managed to pull herself together. "I should've - I just didn't know if you'd seen me, and I didn't want you to think I didn't want to talk to you, but I'm - I'm not very good at talking to strangers. And I talk too fast. Do you want someone around or would you - would you prefer to be alone?" The cadence of the last sentence implied that Hope had received coaching for these kinds of situations; Sam was not her first rodeo.
"Hope, darlin' can you look at me?" Sam asked gently. "'s it alright if I give you a hug or is that gonna upset you further? I really appreciate you tryin' to be polite, that was very thoughtful of you. 'Specially when I get the feelin' manners here are a whole lot different than where you're from. You're a good kid, Hope. And I think...I think maybe I could use a little company, and that I might make myself a cup of hot chocolate and could be persuaded to make a second cup if I knew I was gonna have company."
Hope had raised her eyes to Sam's face, taking a deep, shaky breath as she did something that was rare for her - listening with her full attention. She nodded, shy now, and said, "That sounds nice if it's okay. And - you can hug me, if you want. I like hugs."
Sam pulled Hope into a tight hug and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I like hugs too, and I know I ain't your dad, but I've got a whole lotta practice pretendin' to be one so if you ever need a dad hug... come find me okay? I promise to be less snippy with ya."
Sam pulled back and offered her a small more genuine smile. "Now how's about that cup of cocoa?"
"I love hot chocolate," Hope confided, the hug having calmed her; she had relaxed, shoulders untensing, though she was still careful to keep her speech to a normal speed. "We don't have a lot of chocolate where I'm from? So it's mostly on birthdays or special occasions. And, um, thank you. For the hug. I'm not very used to being here yet." She paused. "Are your brothers and sisters all here?"
“Not all of them, just two….for now. I wouldn’t be surprised if more of us manifest but for now it’s just us oldest three. So me, my sister Paige, and my brother Jay……Jay and I room together but Paigey has her own space.” Sam slowly guided Hope towards his suite where he had all the ingredients for hot chocolate. “The rest of em are back in Kentucky with our Mama.”
"It must be nice to have some of your family here," Hope said wistfully. "Mine - I mean, I know there's versions of some people here, but it's not like they're my versions." If she'd had the words, Hope might have been able to say she felt lost and homesick; but lacking the words, what she said was, "But the food here is a lot better. I'm gonna bring as much back with me as I can, even if Dad says that messes with the balance of dimensional resources or whatever."
"There's a lot more food here than where I'm from too." Sam said, whispering conspiratorially. "And so many more kinds than I'm used to and kinds I ain't ever heard of before. It don't always feel quite real....I do cook a lot though, if'n you ever wanna come by for supper that's alright by me. Always end up makin' too much anyhow."
"I'd love that!" Hope said, her equilibrium returned as they walked. "It's nice to eat with people here. Everyone eats different stuff - Sooraya, she's from Afghanistan? And Alani is from Hawaii. I wanna try everything."
“Oh Alani’s one of my best friends.” Sam said easily. “She could come for dinner too with you if you want, she doesn’t cook much so it would be nice to have her.”
"Yes, please - she's so nice. She's nice in my world, too - she's my auntie. I know people aren't the same in every world, but I feel like she'd always be nice."
“Do you have any favorite foods? Somethin’ yer dad made for ya maybe? I’d be happy to try an make it for you.” Sam asked gently, keying open the door to his suite and frowning just a bit when he realized Jay wasn’t home. He really needed to figure out if he wanted his brother to get out of the room or not.
"Dad, um, Dad didn't really cook that much," Hope admitted, scrunching her nose as she thought. "He made noodles a couple times, but - anyway, my favorite is Grandpa's stew. We make fresh bread with it, not like the bread here? Like, it's not as, um, normal looking? But it tastes good."
“Do you remember what’s in it? Maybe you could help me recreate the recipes and I could teach you how to cook? That might be a fun surprise for your family when you go home.” Sam said, offering a small smile. “I like to make recipes from my Mamaw and Daddy when I’m missin’ home. Makes it feel not so far away. Would you wanna try that sometime?”
"I'd like that," Hope said, almost shy again. "I - I mean, I'm going home soon, I know my dad won't be that long, but I miss it, you know?" She brightened a little, dismissing this. "But I can cook a little, I used to help with the kitchen sometimes. What kinds of foods do you miss from home? When we went for supply runs it was always cool to see what other people ate."
“Cornbread.” Sam said immediately and without hesitation. “Real cornbread, not whatever the folks up here think cornbread is. I’ve always been big on pickled beets but I don’t think my siblings like ‘em as much. And fried chicken’s just better down there on account of we ain’t afraid to use the right grease…… I been missing my Mama’s apple stack cake even if I ain’t missin’ Mama herself a whole lot right now.”
No, he wasn’t really missing Lucinda…..just the idea of her. A version of his mother he hadn’t seen in about fifteen years, before some of the kids were even born.
"I didn't know you could make corn into bread." Hope looked intrigued, clearly picturing an ear of corn somehow merging into a loaf of bread - how this was transmitted solely through her expression and body language remained a mystery but stood nonetheless. "All of that sounds really good. I can help in the kitchen. I know how to do some stuff! And I like eating. There's so much food here."
"I'll have to teach you how to make it sometime." Sam said. "I'm... not sure it's quite what yer picturin' but I think you'll like it.......so tell me everythin'- how're you findin' our world compared to yours? You made any friends yet? I wanna hear all about it."
no subject
Date: 2024-02-23 04:12 pm (UTC)Sam really IS new.
"He made noodles a couple of times" - these were ancient ramen noodles, weren't they. (The rarity of chocolate also reminds me of the dystopian scarcity of 1984. Now someone introduce Hope to non-American chocolate and have it blow her entire mind.)
Sam collecting siblings, Hope collecting aunties and uncles...the perfect combination.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-28 05:02 am (UTC)"It's okay, it's not your fault." Hope shook her head vigorously, scrubbing at her eyes - very aware that she had cried at or on too many people lately.
I love the bit of self awareness from Hope here. Her notes about her dad, grandpa, and family are lovely, but the opening where she notes that Sam looks like an X-Man returning was perfect.
“Cornbread.” Sam said immediately and without hesitation. “Real cornbread, not whatever the folks up here think cornbread is.
Quality cornbread is delicious, but I love these kinds of immediate from the hip answers when they're matched context.