Just gals being pals...
Sep. 11th, 2024 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsJust some gals being pals, doing their nails and also talking about the complexities of living in a world that hates and fears them, when some of their own people work against equality.
"This Ayame girl, I would bite." Sharon swiped Instagram closed and reclaimed her can of tuna with a curled lip. "She is speaking at Empire State? Expertise is what, showing belly to humans?"
Mel moved from peering over Sharon’s shoulder to painting her nails again, seasonally appropriate plum coating her fingers in neat strokes. “Not sure she should be speakin’ on it anyways. Ya wouldn’t know she’s a mutant from lookin’ at her.” She paused a moment before adding, “If she’s gettin’ stares in public it’ll be fer her fashion sense.”
"And not the good kind." Ashley's own phone, in its rugged case was sticking out of her hoodie pocket, safely, where she would not watch another tiktok commentary and accidentally crush it. "If that latex fetish outfit is how she's controlling her powers, I guess, but she could at least try to make it fashion. Latex comes in colors."
"What even is her mutation?" Jessie asked. She was on her phone reading an article about the Empire State event. "Are we sure she's not like, a regular human pretending to be a mutant to push this stupid respectable agenda?"
“I don’t know,” Paige said, reading on her own phone. The more she read, the more irritated she became. “Feels like a lot of effort, but that honestly wouldn’t surprise me at this point.”
Sharon licked a fleck of tuna from her spoon. "I have heard a name for people such as these. Collaborator. This is correct, yes?"
"Fake as fuck is usually what I go for." Jessie locked her phone and looked up. "But I guess you wouldn't have to really find someone to pretend to be a mutant. People like this exist in every minority. 'Oh if we just pretty ourselves up and make nice they'll let us live.'"
"Quisling. Was some euro politician during world war two, but now it's someone who cooperates with bigots.." Ashley's usually cheerful face was twisted into something bitter, angrier than her peers had seen before. "People who turn on their own kind to work with bigots, and don't get it. All it means is they kill you last, maybe, if you're lucky."
“Worse than a bootlicker, you ain’t jus’ playin’ with folks livelihoods, but their lives.” Mel, ever reliable to supply a labor union analogy. “Or at the very least makes cowards more comfortable in bein’ bigots offline,” she said, thinking back on her first date with Madin.
Sharon clicked her teeth. "I would simply bite. Why are such speakers not only allowed, but invited? This I do not understand."
“Because it’s ‘unfair’ for the university to decide whose opinion gets expressed on campus,” Paige said scathingly, picking at her sleeve. “The university doesn’t approve, of course, but they wouldn’t want to stop anyone from using hate speech on campus. That would be too much of an overstep of their power. It’s such bullshit.”
"Hate speech doesn't deserve protection." Jessie hit her phone against her hand with each word to emphasize it. "It's not even an opinion, it's just hateful. Pineapple doesn't belong on pizza is a freaking opinion -- it's wrong, but it's an opinion. Certain people don't deserve to live isn't an opinion!"
There was a soft hiss as Sharon's lips peeled from her teeth in a snarl. "Is no sense," said Sharon with the clarity of one who had never before interacted directly with the bureaucracy of higher education. "'I don't agree with what you say, but I'll defend your right to say it' -- this I have heard many times. The sentiment is understood, yet always is used to defend the most illogical of sentiments, like alleged consumption of pets by immigrants. Is excuse to protect offensive speech and half-truths only." After all, it had been Sharon who ate Alani's rooster, and she was an American.
Blowing softly to dry her polish, Mel said, “I reckon there’s plenty of people who would say the same thing ‘bout a pro mutant rights speaker, or anything of the like. Those sorta protections go both ways, though fer a private institution it’s still shitty.”
"The paradox of tolerance. We don't have to put up with bigoted bullshit, and it shouldn't go both ways. We're not wrong if we want bigots to shut up, and we don't have to protect their hate speech." Ashley said, eyes on the group, but fingers sliding over the screen of her phone. "And even if the stupid college says we have to, we can protest or shout them down. You know there were Jews who tried to side with the Nazis? And there's gay republicans, women who think women shouldn't have jobs or vote, we don't have to actually put up with our own people turning against us."
"I'll never understand people who vote against their best interests," Jessie said, disgusted. "Those people you're fawning over don't care who you agree with, they'll take you down with the rest of us."
“It doesn’t make any fucking sense,” Paige said angrily. “Why would you sell yourself out like that? They’re only going to turn on you the moment it’s convenient.”
"Such beliefs are easier for passing mutants, maybe. To hide what you are, this is a privilege. Is not possible for some of us." Sharon leaned across the table to rest her cheek on her forearms while her eyes sought Mel's. "Curious. Madin is visible mutant, you are not. This complicate the dynamic of your relationship? Similarities are had with interracial dating, maybe, and how each partner must navigate the world."
“Dating?” Paige chimes in. “Since when are you dating someone?”
“It ain’t anythin’ official yet,” Mel flushed, bright red. She hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask for that sort of commitment. To Sharon she said, “A bit, maybe. Their opinions are different than mine, but I try my best to understand.”
"Aaawww that's sweet though," Jessie said, perking up a little. "Madin seems really cool. I think I've stuck my foot in my mouth one too many times with them, but..." She shrugged in a way that could only be her best imitation of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. "That's awesome for you guys."
"Mellophane's visible if she's flying though, which isn't like, mostly anything but it is something." Ashley pointed out. "And." She turned her phone to show the screen, with a picture of Madin's face in a nail-polish color matching app. "Somebody is matching nail polish to their crush, which is..." She paused, putting dramatic emphasis on the next words. "The cuuuuuteeest."
"This Ayame girl, I would bite." Sharon swiped Instagram closed and reclaimed her can of tuna with a curled lip. "She is speaking at Empire State? Expertise is what, showing belly to humans?"
Mel moved from peering over Sharon’s shoulder to painting her nails again, seasonally appropriate plum coating her fingers in neat strokes. “Not sure she should be speakin’ on it anyways. Ya wouldn’t know she’s a mutant from lookin’ at her.” She paused a moment before adding, “If she’s gettin’ stares in public it’ll be fer her fashion sense.”
"And not the good kind." Ashley's own phone, in its rugged case was sticking out of her hoodie pocket, safely, where she would not watch another tiktok commentary and accidentally crush it. "If that latex fetish outfit is how she's controlling her powers, I guess, but she could at least try to make it fashion. Latex comes in colors."
"What even is her mutation?" Jessie asked. She was on her phone reading an article about the Empire State event. "Are we sure she's not like, a regular human pretending to be a mutant to push this stupid respectable agenda?"
“I don’t know,” Paige said, reading on her own phone. The more she read, the more irritated she became. “Feels like a lot of effort, but that honestly wouldn’t surprise me at this point.”
Sharon licked a fleck of tuna from her spoon. "I have heard a name for people such as these. Collaborator. This is correct, yes?"
"Fake as fuck is usually what I go for." Jessie locked her phone and looked up. "But I guess you wouldn't have to really find someone to pretend to be a mutant. People like this exist in every minority. 'Oh if we just pretty ourselves up and make nice they'll let us live.'"
"Quisling. Was some euro politician during world war two, but now it's someone who cooperates with bigots.." Ashley's usually cheerful face was twisted into something bitter, angrier than her peers had seen before. "People who turn on their own kind to work with bigots, and don't get it. All it means is they kill you last, maybe, if you're lucky."
“Worse than a bootlicker, you ain’t jus’ playin’ with folks livelihoods, but their lives.” Mel, ever reliable to supply a labor union analogy. “Or at the very least makes cowards more comfortable in bein’ bigots offline,” she said, thinking back on her first date with Madin.
Sharon clicked her teeth. "I would simply bite. Why are such speakers not only allowed, but invited? This I do not understand."
“Because it’s ‘unfair’ for the university to decide whose opinion gets expressed on campus,” Paige said scathingly, picking at her sleeve. “The university doesn’t approve, of course, but they wouldn’t want to stop anyone from using hate speech on campus. That would be too much of an overstep of their power. It’s such bullshit.”
"Hate speech doesn't deserve protection." Jessie hit her phone against her hand with each word to emphasize it. "It's not even an opinion, it's just hateful. Pineapple doesn't belong on pizza is a freaking opinion -- it's wrong, but it's an opinion. Certain people don't deserve to live isn't an opinion!"
There was a soft hiss as Sharon's lips peeled from her teeth in a snarl. "Is no sense," said Sharon with the clarity of one who had never before interacted directly with the bureaucracy of higher education. "'I don't agree with what you say, but I'll defend your right to say it' -- this I have heard many times. The sentiment is understood, yet always is used to defend the most illogical of sentiments, like alleged consumption of pets by immigrants. Is excuse to protect offensive speech and half-truths only." After all, it had been Sharon who ate Alani's rooster, and she was an American.
Blowing softly to dry her polish, Mel said, “I reckon there’s plenty of people who would say the same thing ‘bout a pro mutant rights speaker, or anything of the like. Those sorta protections go both ways, though fer a private institution it’s still shitty.”
"The paradox of tolerance. We don't have to put up with bigoted bullshit, and it shouldn't go both ways. We're not wrong if we want bigots to shut up, and we don't have to protect their hate speech." Ashley said, eyes on the group, but fingers sliding over the screen of her phone. "And even if the stupid college says we have to, we can protest or shout them down. You know there were Jews who tried to side with the Nazis? And there's gay republicans, women who think women shouldn't have jobs or vote, we don't have to actually put up with our own people turning against us."
"I'll never understand people who vote against their best interests," Jessie said, disgusted. "Those people you're fawning over don't care who you agree with, they'll take you down with the rest of us."
“It doesn’t make any fucking sense,” Paige said angrily. “Why would you sell yourself out like that? They’re only going to turn on you the moment it’s convenient.”
"Such beliefs are easier for passing mutants, maybe. To hide what you are, this is a privilege. Is not possible for some of us." Sharon leaned across the table to rest her cheek on her forearms while her eyes sought Mel's. "Curious. Madin is visible mutant, you are not. This complicate the dynamic of your relationship? Similarities are had with interracial dating, maybe, and how each partner must navigate the world."
“Dating?” Paige chimes in. “Since when are you dating someone?”
“It ain’t anythin’ official yet,” Mel flushed, bright red. She hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask for that sort of commitment. To Sharon she said, “A bit, maybe. Their opinions are different than mine, but I try my best to understand.”
"Aaawww that's sweet though," Jessie said, perking up a little. "Madin seems really cool. I think I've stuck my foot in my mouth one too many times with them, but..." She shrugged in a way that could only be her best imitation of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. "That's awesome for you guys."
"Mellophane's visible if she's flying though, which isn't like, mostly anything but it is something." Ashley pointed out. "And." She turned her phone to show the screen, with a picture of Madin's face in a nail-polish color matching app. "Somebody is matching nail polish to their crush, which is..." She paused, putting dramatic emphasis on the next words. "The cuuuuuteeest."
