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xp_logs2024-09-14 01:05 pm
xp_chameleon) wrote in xp_logs2024-09-14 01:05 pm
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Jay and Jessie (backdated)
Jay and Jessie meet in the community center kitchen and follow up on this journal thread. Backdated to September 14, 2024.
The best way to not fall into a spiral was obligations. This had worked for Jay for months now, and he wasn't about to stop now. So in addition to work, wormhole duty, and church groups, Jay had taken on volunteering at the Community Center in District X. He mostly taught music lessons, but when he was told that they needed a hand making school lunches for the food bank, he volunteered for that too. He had years and years worth of making kids' sandwiches. His wings were tucked neatly behind his back as he worked.
Jessie made her way into the kitchen and to one of the big fridges, humming to herself. "Oh, hey Jay!" she said cheerfully as she started pulling water bottles out. "How goes?"
"It goes," Jay said, raising a sunbutter-y (no peanut butter because of allergies) knife in greeting before he went back to his assembly line of bread. He gave her a bit of a smile. "What're you up to today?"
"Assistant coaching for soccer." She found a free milk crate to dump the waters in and started adding fruit snacks to the crate as well. "You? Wait, that's dumb. Sandwich duty?"
"In between music lessons," Jay affirmed, pausing in his sandwich making. "This is a right Ruritan y'all got up here," he praised. "It's real good to see there is a sense of community. I weren't sure there would be at all when I moved up here."
"I love this place. I've volunteered at a lot of places, but this one is like..." Jessie waved a hand as if that would sum up what she was trying to say. "I know Madin says it's not safe as long as non-mutants are allowed to come here, and I get their point of view, but also I think that's part of what makes it great? But I also get what they're saying. It's complicated. But I really, really love it here."
"Community ain't community unless everyone is allowed, I say," Jay said. Personally, he didn't really get what Madin said at all. He paused in his sandwich making so he could turn to face Jessie. "But yeah, I like it here too."
"What's going on here is a really good thing. But I also think it means we have to be willing to defend it, ya know?"
He paused. "What're you sayin' by that?" He asked. Defending your community could range from standing up against bosses to put and out shoot-outs. He didn't know Jessie well enough to know what she meant. And he wasn't sure where Madin stood either.
Jessie held up her hands in surrender. "I realized how ominous that sounded as soon as I said that. I just mean like... so what's his face, that blonde guy was talking about how there was a mom here who didn't want her non-visible mutant kid playing with a visible mutant. Their response to that was to ban the mother from the center. The response Madin thinks is appropriate is to ban non-mutants from the center all together. I like Madin, but I don't agree with that particular sentiment, but I was lucky enough to have a supportive mother. But I think banning the mother was the right choice. And if her response to being banned had been to get violent... then I think it would have been appropriate to do the same. Because as much as we want to be the bigger person, that's not always a choice. Once someone resorts to punching, words aren't really going to work anymore."
Jay's wings relaxed from where they had been tensed and fluffed against his back. "I don't know about that, gettin' violent back. Violence begets violence an' all that." That said, he knew how he would respond. He would have his knuckles bloody, and he would jump in the moment there was something. But he was a good Christian, he had to at least put up a front of not supporting fighting. Especially up here, where all the norms were different. But even as he said it, he knows it sounded paper thin and like he didn't really believe it.
"Yeah, it does, but what does not getting violent get us?" Jessie shrugged helplessly. "I've spent my entire life being told there's something wrong with me, I'm not right, I don't belong. And sometimes the people saying those things get violent. And don't get me wrong - I always try to talk first. I want to work things out like reasonable people. But people who are willing to use their fists to get what they want aren't generally reasonable."
At the end of the day though, Jay had never liked fighting. He hated who he was when he fought, he had never liked what it did to him. But if that was something Jessie was prepared to take on... "So long as you keep a straight head about it, I suppose. It's easy to have fightin' back just become fightin'."
"Oh trust me I'm a lover, not a fighter." Jessie winked. "Although to be completely clear there's nothing straight about me."
"That so?" Jay snorted, smiling. "You change your appearance, ain't that right? Hell even your hair ain't straight 'less you feel like it."
Jessie grinned back, delighted that he got the joke. "Being blonde is boring. Colors are always the way to go."
Jay fluttered his wings a little and, for a split second, spread them a little. Not enough to cause problems, just enough to show off the shades of scarlet. "I'm partial to red myself."
The best way to not fall into a spiral was obligations. This had worked for Jay for months now, and he wasn't about to stop now. So in addition to work, wormhole duty, and church groups, Jay had taken on volunteering at the Community Center in District X. He mostly taught music lessons, but when he was told that they needed a hand making school lunches for the food bank, he volunteered for that too. He had years and years worth of making kids' sandwiches. His wings were tucked neatly behind his back as he worked.
Jessie made her way into the kitchen and to one of the big fridges, humming to herself. "Oh, hey Jay!" she said cheerfully as she started pulling water bottles out. "How goes?"
"It goes," Jay said, raising a sunbutter-y (no peanut butter because of allergies) knife in greeting before he went back to his assembly line of bread. He gave her a bit of a smile. "What're you up to today?"
"Assistant coaching for soccer." She found a free milk crate to dump the waters in and started adding fruit snacks to the crate as well. "You? Wait, that's dumb. Sandwich duty?"
"In between music lessons," Jay affirmed, pausing in his sandwich making. "This is a right Ruritan y'all got up here," he praised. "It's real good to see there is a sense of community. I weren't sure there would be at all when I moved up here."
"I love this place. I've volunteered at a lot of places, but this one is like..." Jessie waved a hand as if that would sum up what she was trying to say. "I know Madin says it's not safe as long as non-mutants are allowed to come here, and I get their point of view, but also I think that's part of what makes it great? But I also get what they're saying. It's complicated. But I really, really love it here."
"Community ain't community unless everyone is allowed, I say," Jay said. Personally, he didn't really get what Madin said at all. He paused in his sandwich making so he could turn to face Jessie. "But yeah, I like it here too."
"What's going on here is a really good thing. But I also think it means we have to be willing to defend it, ya know?"
He paused. "What're you sayin' by that?" He asked. Defending your community could range from standing up against bosses to put and out shoot-outs. He didn't know Jessie well enough to know what she meant. And he wasn't sure where Madin stood either.
Jessie held up her hands in surrender. "I realized how ominous that sounded as soon as I said that. I just mean like... so what's his face, that blonde guy was talking about how there was a mom here who didn't want her non-visible mutant kid playing with a visible mutant. Their response to that was to ban the mother from the center. The response Madin thinks is appropriate is to ban non-mutants from the center all together. I like Madin, but I don't agree with that particular sentiment, but I was lucky enough to have a supportive mother. But I think banning the mother was the right choice. And if her response to being banned had been to get violent... then I think it would have been appropriate to do the same. Because as much as we want to be the bigger person, that's not always a choice. Once someone resorts to punching, words aren't really going to work anymore."
Jay's wings relaxed from where they had been tensed and fluffed against his back. "I don't know about that, gettin' violent back. Violence begets violence an' all that." That said, he knew how he would respond. He would have his knuckles bloody, and he would jump in the moment there was something. But he was a good Christian, he had to at least put up a front of not supporting fighting. Especially up here, where all the norms were different. But even as he said it, he knows it sounded paper thin and like he didn't really believe it.
"Yeah, it does, but what does not getting violent get us?" Jessie shrugged helplessly. "I've spent my entire life being told there's something wrong with me, I'm not right, I don't belong. And sometimes the people saying those things get violent. And don't get me wrong - I always try to talk first. I want to work things out like reasonable people. But people who are willing to use their fists to get what they want aren't generally reasonable."
At the end of the day though, Jay had never liked fighting. He hated who he was when he fought, he had never liked what it did to him. But if that was something Jessie was prepared to take on... "So long as you keep a straight head about it, I suppose. It's easy to have fightin' back just become fightin'."
"Oh trust me I'm a lover, not a fighter." Jessie winked. "Although to be completely clear there's nothing straight about me."
"That so?" Jay snorted, smiling. "You change your appearance, ain't that right? Hell even your hair ain't straight 'less you feel like it."
Jessie grinned back, delighted that he got the joke. "Being blonde is boring. Colors are always the way to go."
Jay fluttered his wings a little and, for a split second, spread them a little. Not enough to cause problems, just enough to show off the shades of scarlet. "I'm partial to red myself."