Topaz and Marie-Ange || Work Meeting
Aug. 6th, 2025 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsTopaz and Marie-Ange have a quick catch up and snark session.
"...and overall things have been pretty quiet with all my contacts." Topaz checks off the item on her list as she speaks. "Next... Little Avalon is fully complete. Everything is organized, tagged, color coded, and appropriately warded."
Marie-Ange absently tapped the little "one on one, Topaz" reminder on her email calendar to make it go away. They'd started early, and the reminder window had been sitting in the corner of her screen, being bothersome. "I do love colour coding, and also not having magical fishing poles deliver us rains of mackerel." She leaned on one elbow. "I think if your contacts are mostly quiet, it is probably a good time to add some new skills in your repertoire. We've neglected your intelligence training to some degree." She waved a hand, apologetically. "Remy did the same thing to Amanda for a little bit. We focus on your magic abilities and contacts and neglect the intelligence. I do not need you to be a spy, but I am going to start having Doug put you through some of his more annoying training seminars on crowd management and losing a tail."
"Annoying training seminars," Topaz murmurs as she writes that down. "Are they just recordings that Doug has or am I going to be subjected to his acting skills?"
The laugh that came out of Marie-Ange was low, genuine and surprised her. "Oh. I was too coy. No, he is going to drag you all over the city and make you follow him as he is a little terror and tries to lose you. He will probably have other ones. Of any of us, he is probably the best to help you develop those skills because you and he can cheat in similar ways." She sounded fond and lightly exasperated. "Do not let him try to give you the basics, you know them. This is more... post graduate work. Integrating your empathy into basic spy skills."
Topaz considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "At least I don't have to sit around and listen to him. Should I reach out to him about that, or do you want to set it up?"
"So you do not want another ninety minute lecture on the social intricacies of Burning Man?" Marie-Ange said, teasingly. "He will probably want to explain small details, but that is just Doug all over. Does he ever always like to talk about his favoured topics? Yes. Does he have so many favourite topics? Also yes. I can ask him, or you can drop into his server room and complain I am making you learn things. Either is fine, one is funnier."
Topaz looked over her shoulder as if checking no one was there, then looked back at Marie-Ange. "Don't ever tell him this, but I actually did enjoy learning about the history of Burning Man. It was the realization he was conceived at it that I could have done without." She mock-shuddered. "Anyway yeah, I'll drop in after this. How long do you think I can string along 'Marie-Ange is making me learn things' until he realizes he's the teacher?"
"No, the real trick is to see how long you can string him along before he realizes I've turned him into Remy." Marie-Ange looked as smug as a cat who has gotten into a bag of shrimp. "Pete was our chessmaster. I don't think you ever met him. Remy... " Topaz had known Remy, just had never been on a team with him. "Remy was motivated by other factors. Doug is likely to be genuinely angry at me about this. Do it anyway. I need you to have those skills."
"Not Pete, but I did meet his sister," Topaz murmured absently as she scribbled down notes. "Talk to Doug, see how long it takes him to figure out you've turned him into Remy, learn skills. Got it."
Marie-Ange waggled her hand back and forth. "A little Remy. Motivated by grief and guilt and a little love. But yes, skills. You have many, I want you to have more. Which means - the empathy. Which I find just as distasteful as you do, but we all do horrible things for the job."
"I do tend to neglect the empathy," Topaz admits, lips twisting into a half frown. "And I know it's not useless, but sometimes compared to magic it feels that way."
"Well, also we have tended to ... " Marie-Ange looked at Topaz directly. "You know we have talked about Manuel, yes? Empathy is a power too many of us have had uncomfortable encounters with, and that has been horribly unfair to you. You are not him, you have never been him, and we've all rather been stuck in the past about it. I would not have hired you on if I did not trust you with this team, and then we all let ourselves negect you because we've got issues. Unfair to you, unfair to the team. So this is not just me saying develop that, it is me apologizing for being stuck in the past."
Topaz gave Marie-Ange a wry smile. "Stuck in the past about something traumatic? I certainly don't know what that's like. Can't even imagine."
"Nothing any of us can relate to at all."
"...and overall things have been pretty quiet with all my contacts." Topaz checks off the item on her list as she speaks. "Next... Little Avalon is fully complete. Everything is organized, tagged, color coded, and appropriately warded."
Marie-Ange absently tapped the little "one on one, Topaz" reminder on her email calendar to make it go away. They'd started early, and the reminder window had been sitting in the corner of her screen, being bothersome. "I do love colour coding, and also not having magical fishing poles deliver us rains of mackerel." She leaned on one elbow. "I think if your contacts are mostly quiet, it is probably a good time to add some new skills in your repertoire. We've neglected your intelligence training to some degree." She waved a hand, apologetically. "Remy did the same thing to Amanda for a little bit. We focus on your magic abilities and contacts and neglect the intelligence. I do not need you to be a spy, but I am going to start having Doug put you through some of his more annoying training seminars on crowd management and losing a tail."
"Annoying training seminars," Topaz murmurs as she writes that down. "Are they just recordings that Doug has or am I going to be subjected to his acting skills?"
The laugh that came out of Marie-Ange was low, genuine and surprised her. "Oh. I was too coy. No, he is going to drag you all over the city and make you follow him as he is a little terror and tries to lose you. He will probably have other ones. Of any of us, he is probably the best to help you develop those skills because you and he can cheat in similar ways." She sounded fond and lightly exasperated. "Do not let him try to give you the basics, you know them. This is more... post graduate work. Integrating your empathy into basic spy skills."
Topaz considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "At least I don't have to sit around and listen to him. Should I reach out to him about that, or do you want to set it up?"
"So you do not want another ninety minute lecture on the social intricacies of Burning Man?" Marie-Ange said, teasingly. "He will probably want to explain small details, but that is just Doug all over. Does he ever always like to talk about his favoured topics? Yes. Does he have so many favourite topics? Also yes. I can ask him, or you can drop into his server room and complain I am making you learn things. Either is fine, one is funnier."
Topaz looked over her shoulder as if checking no one was there, then looked back at Marie-Ange. "Don't ever tell him this, but I actually did enjoy learning about the history of Burning Man. It was the realization he was conceived at it that I could have done without." She mock-shuddered. "Anyway yeah, I'll drop in after this. How long do you think I can string along 'Marie-Ange is making me learn things' until he realizes he's the teacher?"
"No, the real trick is to see how long you can string him along before he realizes I've turned him into Remy." Marie-Ange looked as smug as a cat who has gotten into a bag of shrimp. "Pete was our chessmaster. I don't think you ever met him. Remy... " Topaz had known Remy, just had never been on a team with him. "Remy was motivated by other factors. Doug is likely to be genuinely angry at me about this. Do it anyway. I need you to have those skills."
"Not Pete, but I did meet his sister," Topaz murmured absently as she scribbled down notes. "Talk to Doug, see how long it takes him to figure out you've turned him into Remy, learn skills. Got it."
Marie-Ange waggled her hand back and forth. "A little Remy. Motivated by grief and guilt and a little love. But yes, skills. You have many, I want you to have more. Which means - the empathy. Which I find just as distasteful as you do, but we all do horrible things for the job."
"I do tend to neglect the empathy," Topaz admits, lips twisting into a half frown. "And I know it's not useless, but sometimes compared to magic it feels that way."
"Well, also we have tended to ... " Marie-Ange looked at Topaz directly. "You know we have talked about Manuel, yes? Empathy is a power too many of us have had uncomfortable encounters with, and that has been horribly unfair to you. You are not him, you have never been him, and we've all rather been stuck in the past about it. I would not have hired you on if I did not trust you with this team, and then we all let ourselves negect you because we've got issues. Unfair to you, unfair to the team. So this is not just me saying develop that, it is me apologizing for being stuck in the past."
Topaz gave Marie-Ange a wry smile. "Stuck in the past about something traumatic? I certainly don't know what that's like. Can't even imagine."
"Nothing any of us can relate to at all."
no subject
Date: 2025-08-07 06:18 pm (UTC)Otherwise known as "the thing that brings all of X-Force together, so that it can never happen again". *g* Nothing like guilt as a motivating factor.
Nice log, guys. I really liked how Marie-Ange outlined the need to develop Topaz' mutant skills as well as her magical ones, and why that's been an issue. <3
no subject
Date: 2025-08-10 11:10 pm (UTC)Topaz is all of us forced to do corporate trainings