[Gabe, Sharon] Repairs

[xp_catseye]

Gabriel attempts to do a good deed. Results are inconclusive.



Mel had helped her remove the furniture and strip the old carpet, but Sharon had decided no assistance was necessary for sizing the replacement. She had studied dozens of home improvement videos on the matter, and she was already comfortable with taking measurements for precise cuts thanks to her time in the woodshop with Liam. Flooring would not defeat her.

She had not reckoned with the process of actually transporting the carpet. Unsure how much she would need, Sharon had selected the largest roll from the stock kept for basic maintenance and replacement only to find that when she lifted the carpet over one shoulder it immediately folded in half. Carrying it was to be simultaneously beaten on the shins and slapped against the calves, shortening her stride. Her purple hair was already starting to frizz with sweat.

Equally sweaty was Gabriel in his gym clothes, his headphones blaring Karol G as he moved through the mansion and approached what appeared to be a sentient roll of carpet. Though he knew it wasn't, because he could see the young woman straining underneath it, which also gave him pause. He watched her for a second, then slid his headphones off his ears and around his neck. "Do you need help?"

The purple tail visible beneath the roll stiffened in surprise, and relaxed only fractionally when Sharon turned to look at the speaker. Her face underwent a series of small twitches as she visibly weighed the value of pride against expediency. She shifted the carpet awkwardly.

"Is not required," Sharon replied, "but I . . . shall accept." The etiquette so painstakingly drilled into her engaged, and she added, "Thank you."

He was tempted to offer a sarcastic remark on how her acceptance of his offer was so generous. But unsure whether he wanted to enter a conversation with Sharon about sarcasm, Gabriel instead just nodded. "Yep. Set it down for a second." He turned his headphones off and tossed them and his phone onto a narrow table in the hall. Then, he moved toward her, trying hard not to stare at her tail or make any sudden movements that might leave her jumpy. "You know, you could probably pay somebody to do this."

"Yes." Sharon half-knelt and let the folded carpet slide down her shoulder and onto the ground. She gave one end a shove with her foot, trying to nudge it from a V to an I as she watched him from the corner of her eye, half-anticipating one of his unsettlingly sudden appearances from one place to another. "But, restoration is my responsibility. This I have accepted."

“Hm.” Gabriel kept his tone neutral, his expression placid, because he thought this was how people handled skittish pets. Really, he was a dog person. He was sure she sensed it.

“Sure that they’ll appreciate that.” Whether he was talking about Madin or the rest of their cohabitants was left unclear. “You made quite a mess. How heavy is this thing?”

"Madin shall not appreciate. They have set their 'boundary.' But this is fine. I am Taking Accountability." Sharon continued to eye him; startling movements aside, Gabe struck her as the sort of person who would pick a cat up by the armpits. Still, her tail movements were growing less stiff. She nudged the roll with her foot again. "Is the size, not the weight. Too long. It buckles in the middle."

Gabriel made a noise of assent as he nudged the plastic-clad roll of carpet with his foot. "And thick too." He didn't care if she picked up on it. Life was short, and sometimes he wanted to be juvenile. Still, he decided not to leave too long of a pause in the conversation. "Madin's ... volatile," he said. So was Sharon, but he didn't think this was worth pointing out. "But I meant the greater 'they.' Plenty of people who don't take responsibility for their actions here but love to pretend otherwise. I'm ready when you are."

Sharon regarded him for a moment, clearly torn between her desire to keep Gabe where she could see him and her unwillingness to follow anyone for any reason. Pride won. She stooped and heaved the front end of the carpet over her shoulder.

"Madin has a decided-upon reality which they inflict upon the rest of us," Sharon declared with a complete lack of self-awareness. "But is better than some others. When problems with Madin occur, these are always communicated. Even if problem is stupid." She gave Gabe a backwards glance. "Few things are sufficiently communicated. We are not friends. This responsibility is not yours, also. Why do you assist?"

Gabriel instinctively raised his eyebrows. "Because there's no point in being an asshole."

The look Sharon gave him indicated she did not have the proper formulas for the required internal calculus.

"To not be an asshole, this would imply neutrality only," she pointed out. "To assist, this is active choice."

"Do you want my help or not?" Gabriel didn't wait for her answer, squatting down to lift the roll of carpet so he could lift it with his legs and hoist it onto his shoulders. "I don't like watching people struggling. Even people who are not particularly friendly and who don't respect the privacy of others."

The girl studied him for another long moment. Gabriel seemed to be describing an impulse she believed was "altruism", which was not an expected reply from this man. She associated tender hearts with people like Sooraya and Alani -- full of sympathy and pure intentions, and thus easily manipulated by those who were not. She did not associate such thinking with people she categorized as Kevin's favorites. It seemed too dangerous a thing for such a life.

Not that Sharon required Kevin's favor, of course. It simply irritated her to know other people had more of it.

"This reasoning is not mine," she confessed, "but the assistance is accepted." Flicking her tail, the girl readjusted her grip on her half of the carpet and began to walk. The burden was much easier with two. "I was hasty, maybe, in my destruction. Is an inconvenience to those I like also. Is reasonable that I provide redress. That is all."

"Yeah." Gabriel grunted. He was starting to regret offering to help her, not because of the physical burden, but because of the social one this conversation was taking. "Most people here focus their destructive energy inward, so I guess your way might have been healthier." He shifted the carpet slightly. "Hard to say."

"I am the most healthy," Sharon agreed. Perhaps she had misjudged this man, even if his power was inconsiderate to her personally. They paused at a threshold to do an awkward little dance based around the logistical difficulties of working an extremely long item through a doorway without the benefit of a doorstop. She half-turned to address Gabriel over her shoulder.

"Outside is staging area," she remarked. "I must cut to size. This I may do without assistance."  The shapeshifter gnawed her lower lip thoughtfully. "You have been helpful. Is as you say. Many here focus inward. Negative impulses, but positive too. Introspection smothers that which should be said. As the healthiest, I must provide an example."

"No," Gabriel said quickly. "I said 'might' and 'hard to say', if you were listening closely. Introspection isn't the same thing as self-destruction. And—" He winced as he brushed too close to a corner. "I don't think destroying property is an example either."

"This I have been told. It shall be taken under consideration." Sharon's tail flicked again, relaxed now. The statement was uttered in the sort of neutral tone that made it impossible to ascertain its sincerity.

"Great. Well. Consider." Gabriel refused to be blamed for whatever happened next. "You go ahead and do that."