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xp_logsSharon and Madin repair some bridges after the journal fight.
TW: radicalisation
Well, apparently, posting on the journal system was a good way to make friends and influence people.
Madin had had to put the laptop down and walk away. Fuck. Having ranged around the mansion for a few minutes, bored, restless, frustrated with the people who lived here, they eventually settled on the rec room. It was, at least, seemingly empty. There was a TV bigger than the one in their and Illyana's suite and fuck, it was finals footy time and they had a Kayo pass, even if Essendon hadn't made the 8.
The room was already occupied. Sharon was already there, perched on the man-sized cat tree of Liam's design and scrolling furiously through TikTok with the expression of one who had recently endured multiple people being Wrong on the Internet. From her point of view, this state of events was quite common.
Her eyes snapped up at the sound of another person entering the room. Her posture indicated that, depending upon who the newcomer was, she was prepared to continue the fight. However, when she saw who it was the incipient anger dimmed.
Dimmed, but did not warm. Sharon could always spare time for a grudge.
The movement drew Madin's eye. "Ah fuck. Sorry. Thought the room was empty. I was going to watch some footy. Everyone is just too much for me to be near a computer right now."
Sharon gave them a long, silent stare. As with most cats, it went on too long. Then, finally, she spoke.
"You are permitted."
Don't pick a fight. Madin repeated it to themself. "Thanks." It was dry but not aggressive. They queued up Kayo and the Brisbane Calton game. Watching Carlton lose was like therapy.
The slight puff to Sharon's tail smoothed as the other mutant settled in. She wasn't exactly pleased to see them, but she would grudgingly allow that they had supported her on the journals, and that, while she had not acknowledged them, it had been very validating. Resuming her draped position, Sharon returned to scrolling.
Madin settled in for a session of cheering for Brisbane, truly appreciating the fact that Carlton had not turned up for the game at all, carefully ignoring the presence on the platform across the room. "Looking to be one of the lowest half time scores on record..." Ohhh yeah. That was the shit. Satisfying.
Sharon flicked a dismissive tail. "I do not know this game," she said, wondering why Madin thought she would care. After a moment of racking her brain for something that might explain this behavior, she looked up from her tablet to regard Madin warily.
"You are trying to make smalltalk?" she demanded.
Madin shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? I guess." They paused to shout at the screen. "Big sticks. The ball goes through the big sticks." To Sharon, they added, "but it's fine. Carlton are losing."
"This I do not care about." She set down her tablet and regarded them with suspicious yellow eyes. "Your support on the journals was not unappreciated, but this interaction I do not understand. When last we spoke you declared me a predator of minors. If that is your judgment I do not understand this overture."
"Emotional. Not like, sexual. I know you don't do that." Madin paused. "I mean. um. Can I explain?"
Once again Madin received the slightly too-long stare, then Sharon nodded.
Madin stared at the TV, rather than at Sharon. "You know I spent time in detention? I was really young. Like, I wasn't even 18. They had programs for us, lots outdoor ed. Hiking. Camping. Our own section of the compound. But we weren't fully segregated. Some of the adults were. They were there for us. Never tried to fuck me, but... they taught me about the Brotherhood. Got all up in my emotions. Taught me to be angry. And about how we need a revolution."
Madin kept talking, quietly. "After we. After they broke us out, I was in one of their safe houses. They. They made me understand that I needed to join them if I wanted any kind of life. I guess you could call it grooming. I guess. If you were being technical."
It was like a dam had broken. Madin continued, "we'd rotate out of the field sometimes for a few months and get placed with the Underground. It was nice. Sure, we were always squatting but there'd be people from the Underground who agreed with us and cities like LA or London and Marseilles are so easy compared with Lagos or Kinshasa. All we had to do was keep an eye out for mutants who were.... angry was good, especially against humans. Or people who didn't know much about the world because they'd been sheltered. Solo teenagers were good, as long as they had good powers. Useful powers. But we'd work on them. Be the cool friends who convince them to join a terrorist group."
The younger girl watched them with the concentration of one trying to puzzle out a particularly advanced math problem. "Your circumstances are noted," Sharon said, "and these are difficult also. But recruitment, this I do not require. I socialize with whom I please. What my friends choose to believe or do, this is no matter."
"They'd have loved getting hold of you, or Match, or Shatterstar or Julio. They'd have convinced you to join eventually. They can... they work on people." Madin kept their eyes locked on the TV. Carlton were closing the gap on Brisbane.
"But it's. The emotional stuff. It's worse than fucking a teenager. You take a teenager, get all in their emotions until they'd do anything for you."
"I cannot be compelled," Sharon replied with the bold confidence of one who had never had to live within a hostile system and an ever-shrinking pool of choices. Nonetheless, she grudgingly considered Madin's words.
"With Liam," she continued, "is only that we are both Cat. We understand each other as others do not. When you are told to be this or be that, even though is not natural or intuitive, is it not desirable to have one who expects you to be nothing but yourself? Still, your concerns become more understandable, maybe." Sharon's clawed fingers pricked at the carpeting of the shelf as she slowly tried to follow their reasoning. "You feared I would do to the younger ones as older people did to you. Some influence that is harmful, but emotional only. Something that would keep them from developing independence. This is correct?"
Madin's mouth was dry. "Yes."
White teeth worked against a pink lip. At last, Sharon rendered her judgment.
"Suspicion was unfounded," she said. "Accusations uncalled for also. Kitten is not so impressionable as you think. Still, intentions were just. To harm the young, this is wrong. In this we are in agreement." Sharon straightened, purple hair bouncing around her face with her nod. "Very well. You are forgiven."
What did you say to that? "I shouldn't have assumed. I just. Yeah."
"In the future, simply explain your concerns so that discussion may be had. I am the most reasonable." Incredibly, this last was uttered without the faintest hint of irony.
Sharon slid from the high shelf feet-first and landed in a graceful crouch. Collecting her tablet, she turned back to Madin.
"The misunderstanding is resolved now, yes?"
"Uh. Yeah. I think so. Sorry for um. Trauma dumping on you."
TW: radicalisation
Well, apparently, posting on the journal system was a good way to make friends and influence people.
Madin had had to put the laptop down and walk away. Fuck. Having ranged around the mansion for a few minutes, bored, restless, frustrated with the people who lived here, they eventually settled on the rec room. It was, at least, seemingly empty. There was a TV bigger than the one in their and Illyana's suite and fuck, it was finals footy time and they had a Kayo pass, even if Essendon hadn't made the 8.
The room was already occupied. Sharon was already there, perched on the man-sized cat tree of Liam's design and scrolling furiously through TikTok with the expression of one who had recently endured multiple people being Wrong on the Internet. From her point of view, this state of events was quite common.
Her eyes snapped up at the sound of another person entering the room. Her posture indicated that, depending upon who the newcomer was, she was prepared to continue the fight. However, when she saw who it was the incipient anger dimmed.
Dimmed, but did not warm. Sharon could always spare time for a grudge.
The movement drew Madin's eye. "Ah fuck. Sorry. Thought the room was empty. I was going to watch some footy. Everyone is just too much for me to be near a computer right now."
Sharon gave them a long, silent stare. As with most cats, it went on too long. Then, finally, she spoke.
"You are permitted."
Don't pick a fight. Madin repeated it to themself. "Thanks." It was dry but not aggressive. They queued up Kayo and the Brisbane Calton game. Watching Carlton lose was like therapy.
The slight puff to Sharon's tail smoothed as the other mutant settled in. She wasn't exactly pleased to see them, but she would grudgingly allow that they had supported her on the journals, and that, while she had not acknowledged them, it had been very validating. Resuming her draped position, Sharon returned to scrolling.
Madin settled in for a session of cheering for Brisbane, truly appreciating the fact that Carlton had not turned up for the game at all, carefully ignoring the presence on the platform across the room. "Looking to be one of the lowest half time scores on record..." Ohhh yeah. That was the shit. Satisfying.
Sharon flicked a dismissive tail. "I do not know this game," she said, wondering why Madin thought she would care. After a moment of racking her brain for something that might explain this behavior, she looked up from her tablet to regard Madin warily.
"You are trying to make smalltalk?" she demanded.
Madin shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? I guess." They paused to shout at the screen. "Big sticks. The ball goes through the big sticks." To Sharon, they added, "but it's fine. Carlton are losing."
"This I do not care about." She set down her tablet and regarded them with suspicious yellow eyes. "Your support on the journals was not unappreciated, but this interaction I do not understand. When last we spoke you declared me a predator of minors. If that is your judgment I do not understand this overture."
"Emotional. Not like, sexual. I know you don't do that." Madin paused. "I mean. um. Can I explain?"
Once again Madin received the slightly too-long stare, then Sharon nodded.
Madin stared at the TV, rather than at Sharon. "You know I spent time in detention? I was really young. Like, I wasn't even 18. They had programs for us, lots outdoor ed. Hiking. Camping. Our own section of the compound. But we weren't fully segregated. Some of the adults were. They were there for us. Never tried to fuck me, but... they taught me about the Brotherhood. Got all up in my emotions. Taught me to be angry. And about how we need a revolution."
Madin kept talking, quietly. "After we. After they broke us out, I was in one of their safe houses. They. They made me understand that I needed to join them if I wanted any kind of life. I guess you could call it grooming. I guess. If you were being technical."
It was like a dam had broken. Madin continued, "we'd rotate out of the field sometimes for a few months and get placed with the Underground. It was nice. Sure, we were always squatting but there'd be people from the Underground who agreed with us and cities like LA or London and Marseilles are so easy compared with Lagos or Kinshasa. All we had to do was keep an eye out for mutants who were.... angry was good, especially against humans. Or people who didn't know much about the world because they'd been sheltered. Solo teenagers were good, as long as they had good powers. Useful powers. But we'd work on them. Be the cool friends who convince them to join a terrorist group."
The younger girl watched them with the concentration of one trying to puzzle out a particularly advanced math problem. "Your circumstances are noted," Sharon said, "and these are difficult also. But recruitment, this I do not require. I socialize with whom I please. What my friends choose to believe or do, this is no matter."
"They'd have loved getting hold of you, or Match, or Shatterstar or Julio. They'd have convinced you to join eventually. They can... they work on people." Madin kept their eyes locked on the TV. Carlton were closing the gap on Brisbane.
"But it's. The emotional stuff. It's worse than fucking a teenager. You take a teenager, get all in their emotions until they'd do anything for you."
"I cannot be compelled," Sharon replied with the bold confidence of one who had never had to live within a hostile system and an ever-shrinking pool of choices. Nonetheless, she grudgingly considered Madin's words.
"With Liam," she continued, "is only that we are both Cat. We understand each other as others do not. When you are told to be this or be that, even though is not natural or intuitive, is it not desirable to have one who expects you to be nothing but yourself? Still, your concerns become more understandable, maybe." Sharon's clawed fingers pricked at the carpeting of the shelf as she slowly tried to follow their reasoning. "You feared I would do to the younger ones as older people did to you. Some influence that is harmful, but emotional only. Something that would keep them from developing independence. This is correct?"
Madin's mouth was dry. "Yes."
White teeth worked against a pink lip. At last, Sharon rendered her judgment.
"Suspicion was unfounded," she said. "Accusations uncalled for also. Kitten is not so impressionable as you think. Still, intentions were just. To harm the young, this is wrong. In this we are in agreement." Sharon straightened, purple hair bouncing around her face with her nod. "Very well. You are forgiven."
What did you say to that? "I shouldn't have assumed. I just. Yeah."
"In the future, simply explain your concerns so that discussion may be had. I am the most reasonable." Incredibly, this last was uttered without the faintest hint of irony.
Sharon slid from the high shelf feet-first and landed in a graceful crouch. Collecting her tablet, she turned back to Madin.
"The misunderstanding is resolved now, yes?"
"Uh. Yeah. I think so. Sorry for um. Trauma dumping on you."
no subject
Date: 2024-09-13 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-13 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-23 09:47 am (UTC)And Sharon is lovely as always, and so much a Cat it’s hilarious.