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om_mainHe doesn't mean to, but Warren catches Harley in the middle of being sneaky. He handles her crazy quite well though!
With a quiet thunk, Harley dropped the chair she was carrying onto the green surface of the pool table. She'd done this a dozen times, having found the perfect hiding place in one of the ceiling tiles in the rec room. It wasn't her only stash spot, but it was where she put the things that were most important to hide, things that would make people mad or that she didn't know what to do with.
And this box definitely belonged up there, she was sure. And it had to be now, because if she waited until later River would hear her thinking about it or something and, and then she might have to talk about it. So she held the box under one arm, springing barefoot onto the table and then onto the chair, reaching up to push at the tile.
As the door swung open, she suddenly remembered why she only used this spot at night.
This was an odd sight. At first Warren thought that maybe the younger girl was playing a game of some sort, but then he noticed the look Harley had. There was something off about it, and his own expression turn into one of curious concern.
"Ah. I don't suppose you were looking for something in particular up there?" Warren rubbed his chin and glanced up at the ceiling again.
"Nope!" Harley quickly dropped her arm, which instinctively fell to protect the box. Then she realized that mistake, but too late, so she brought the box around in front of her. "Just, uh, practicing?"
There was no space for any kind of lead-in, but the height meant she could still fit in a double flip with a full twist, and she landed with only a small step out. Then she raised her hands overhead, box between them. Pretty good chair-on-pool-table dismount really. Maybe he'd think she was using the box as a spacer, practicing keeping her arms in the right place?
Warren's eyes went so wide at the sudden flip, and he nearly thrust his arms out to try and make sure she wouldn't break her neck--but she surprised him. Landed perfectly on her feet with the box in hand. All he could do was freeze in his half-step position with his mouth agape, staring in bewilderment.
"You were...wait what?" So. Confused. "That was...well executed?" At least? But what did that have to do with digging around in the ceiling!? He was way too simple for this kind of thing.
"Not really..." Not bad for no planning, but her rotation had been sloppy, and the box meant her balance was off 'cause she couldn't use her arms right. But right, not what this was about. Squirming a little, she quickly fidgeted the box behind her body, hoping this would take attention away from it, but the cardboard made funny rustling sounds and she couldn't seem to get a good hold on it behind her back, and then she looked up at him and wished she'd stayed on the chair because he was really tall...
This was about when the box fell open and dumped the bagged, store-bought Halloween costume to the floor, a hand-written note fluttering after it. Harley flinched and froze in place, still staring up at Warren.
The look she was giving him right then made Warren feel like he'd just somehow scolded a puppy, and it was enough to make him backtrack a bit. He dropped down to a squat to collect the items for Harley, wings billowing out around him. "You know, the ceiling is an odd place for a...skeleton."
He raised an eyebrow and glanced up at her. "Not in the mood for Halloween?"
Harley gasped when his wings did the thing. She'd never been so close to them before! Distracted, words spilled out. "My mom sent it to me and its the first thing since I said I hated them to keep them away but they don't know things and they think they still want me-" She huffed and abruptly switched topics, biting at her lip. "No one's... hurt you?"
That time Warren smiled, and held the costume out to Harley to take back, if she wanted. "No, no one's hurt me. I get some odd looks at times, but that's about the extent of it." They could get back to her situation with her parents in a moment. "People are always giving odd looks, though, so who cares right?"
She shyly held out the empty box for the costume and let him drop it in - but as soon as he had, she put the box on the ground and skipped quickly around him to get a better look at his wings, still inspecting for damage. They were so pretty!
"But then they do more than look and you get hurt," she muttered, thinking of River's scar. They'd hurt her brain, broken everything and left her in pieces. Pouting at the dark thoughts, Harley reached out a tentative finger to touch the end of a feather.
After releasing the package, Warren had intended to get back up to his feet to finish the conversation with Harley, but opted to stay put when she ran around him instead, not wanting to startle (or excite) her. When it came to people touching his wings anymore, Warren had grown rather used to it---and also very patient. It had always been an area of interest for people here, but now it was basically the case for everyone since he'd come out.
"I've been very lucky so far, and I plan on keeping it that way," he assured with a chuckle, but then a tad more seriously, "There isn't much point in staying scared forever. That's no way to live."
River wasn't lucky. The thought was dark and toxic, and Harley threw it away, grabbing onto her usual manic energy to leave it behind. She cartwheeled back around him, chirping cheerfully, "Alive is a good way to live!" That was all she needed to know, really. She stopped in a handstand over her box, then kicked down lightly to her feet.
Warren took that opportunity to straighten himself up, climbing to his feet and gently shaking out his wings. Floor dust could be such a bitch. "Alive'll do it too."
After a beat, Warren pursed his lips together and folded his arms. "Is that why you are trying to push your parents away? You don't want them to be hurt?"
Harley guiltily used a foot to push the box behind her. "Kinda?" She mulled it over for another moment before looking up at him again, imploringly now. "I didn't know how to tell them about River... And they think I hate them because of gymnastics but I was scared to go home! And everything's different now but they're not and they dunno that I don't fit anymore." She bit her lip, took a breath, wondered where all those words had come from.
"It sounds like your parents love you a lot, Harley. I mean, they went out of their way to send you a costume, even," Warren pointed out softly and gestured to the box. It was just a costume, yes, a thing but perhaps it was sent out of affection and not just obligation. Not all parents were like that with their money, after all.
"Things are different now, of course, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to cut off all of your ties with them, right? I'm sure that hurts them a lot, too."
She squirmed, torn between guilt and something even more uncomfortable. Her hands came up to guard her chest, fingers twining nervously.
"But- but they- they think they love me, but they don't know that now I'm..." Harley didn't have a word for what she was now. She wasn't theirs anymore though - the girl they called Quinn who was gonna go to the Olympics, she was all gone. Her voice dropped until it was almost inaudible. "...what if they don't want me anymore?"
"And what if they do? Truly?" Warren asked softly. "Sometimes it's worth letting things play out naturally rather than trying to force them one certain way. It could end in pain, sometimes, but other times it's okay. Fears can be unfounded."
Harley blinked up at him. She thought she understood what he'd said, but why did he talk like that? Shaking her head, she tried again to explain. "No, but-- but I was someone else and now I'm not and they're gonna be mad or- or sad, or something. Disappointed." It was one of the worst words she knew. Another fear surfaced. "And what if they decide to take me away?"
"And you think they would?"
They'd taken gymnastics because she was a mutant and it wasn't safe, so if they decided here wasn't safe... Harley nodded.
"I'm sorry." That did make this a dilemma. Warren frowned and took a seat on the pool table. His own parents wanted him here as a way to hide him from the world. Obviously that had backfired in their faces, and they couldn't take him back now. He was eighteen. Harley didn't have that advantage, unfortunately. Furthermore, her slight...imbalance, may have made the whole thing a tad more touchy. She was damned if she did reach out to them, and damned if she didn't.
"What do you want, Harley? What would be your ideal situation?" His voice was slightly more upbeat, but still soft. Warren just wanted to give her a chance to talk, maybe. It was impossible to offer her a for-sure-solution but he could try and help her feel better. Hopefully.
"I wanna stay here," she said right away, regarding him warily, like maybe he'd tell her it wasn't a good idea. River only went to New York, with Laura, and she got taken and they almost never found them, and River had Simon to find her and rescue her - who would rescue Harley in California?? No, she had to stay here, where it was safe. But... "But I don't want them to hate me either..."
"Staying here isn't a bad choice," Warren told her finally. "I've been going to school far away from home almost all of my life and there were times that my parents had decided that they didn't like where I was and took me out. The bad part is you can't stop them from doing that, not legally. What I learned I had to do was make them think that there wasn't anything wrong--that things were always going very well--as long as saying that didn't hurt anyone else in the process."
Which, basically, meant that he lied to them and often. It wasn't an honest solution but it made things better for them both in the long run. It was a lot to tell someone to do, but the options were kind of limited here. Maybe Harley wouldn't like that anyway. "I just can't help but think that ignoring them completely might tip them off eventually, and maybe might even make them think that they have a reason to come try and search for you."
"Oh man, I didn't even think of that..." Harley's stomach seemed to drop, like when a move went wrong in the air and you knew you were gonna land bad. She let her legs collapse her into the splits on the floor and reached into the Pocket to retrieve the small stuffed rabbit she kept for magic tricks, holding it close to her chest. This wasn't how things were supposed to be.
"I was gonna go to the Olympics," she told Warren earnestly, not sure exactly why. She didn't talk about this with anyone anymore, kept it locked away with the other Before thoughts. But her dad was her coach, and she couldn't think of him and not think of this. "That's what we did."
He let his wings droop a little, circling gently around his arms and shoulders and spilling over the side of the pool table to the floor. It was a distracted habit of fiddling with feathers that he had when he was thinking long and hard about something in particular.
"And there was nothing else that you did together?"
Warren would believe it, completely, if Harley said no. There wasn't much else that he did with his own parents outside of being paraded to auctions, galas, and conferences. At least, that was something that they did before he outed himself. Now they just didn't seem to want to bring him anywhere or do anything but get tense with him at home.
Harley had unconsciously picked up his habit, and reached out one hand to play with his feathers too, where the long ones brushed the floor. She brushed at them nervously, not liking the way he'd said that - nothing else they did together? He said it like it was an empty thing, like it meant they only cared about gymnastics and not about her, but that wasn't it. It was everything, to all of them.
No, no it used to be. Not anymore. "Yeah, I guess... But, but we loved it. Home is the gym."
It saddened him to know just how many people in this place had sacrificed the things they loved to come here--or were forced to quit those things. Furthermore, losing family in the process just made it harder for everyone. It got more and more difficult to comfort people for it anymore, but Warren still tried to be an empathetic ear as best as he could.
"So it's a good memory for you, then? It doesn't make you sad to talk about?" he asked carefully. "Because I'll listen if you want to talk about it. To be honest, I've never been to or really seen a gymnastics competition. It sounds cool, actually."
"It's super cool!" she informed him enthusiastically, releasing his feathers to throw her hands up in the air (one hand still holding the stuffed rabbit) and ignoring what he'd said about talking or being sad or whatever. "And everyone works so hard, and you only get a few minutes to show your stuff, so it has to be your best." Then she regarded him skeptically, hands still in the air. "Don't you watch the Olympics?"
"Sometimes." And by sometimes, Warren meant that he didn't usually watch gymnastics when he did--not because of any disdain or anything like that, but because he honestly hadn't ever thought to in the past. With a fleeting thought it just did not seem as 'important' as soccer, track and field, swimming, or aquatic sports. But putting some thought into it now? He probably should have given the sport some more credit! It was silly to cast off one sport as more important than another.
"There's all different kinds of it, if I remember correctly. Like vaults, bars, and rings? What kind do you like best?" Just to cover for himself now!
"Floor!" Tucking the rabbit back in the Pocket, she leaned forward onto her forearms and lifted her legs over head before pushing up into a full handstand, showing off her surprising strength. "You get to do tumbling! And dancing!" She kicked down to her feet and easily over again in a flawless walkover. "And lotsa saltos!"
"That's so great!" It made Warren split a grin from ear to ear. "You must be able to incorporate a lot of that into your gym and squad practices. You're very good at it, Harley."
Harley came back to her feet, over by her box again. "Gymnastics is the best! You should try it!" Then her face fell as she actually considered it. "No, wait, you shouldn't! Your wings would get hurt. Like, a lot. Nope, no gymnastics for you!"
That made him laugh--her concern (which was sweet) and the mental image of even attempting such a thing (which was much less sweet and much more mortifying). "No...definitely not. I don't think that sixteen feet of feathers make for all that much grace on the floor."
Harley giggled too. Dropping quickly in and out of a crouch, she picked up her box again, clutching it to her chest. With Warren still at the pool table, she had a straight shot at the door - time to go! "Okay, I'm gonna go now!" An exaggerated overhead wave. "Bye Angel-guy!"
With that, she took off at a sprint.
"See you later, kiddo." Warren watched her leave with a shake of the head, only very slightly thrown off by the sudden disappearance (he'd gotten at least somewhat used the randomness along the way of their conversing).
If anything, Warren was content in knowing that she had left with a smile on her face.
With a quiet thunk, Harley dropped the chair she was carrying onto the green surface of the pool table. She'd done this a dozen times, having found the perfect hiding place in one of the ceiling tiles in the rec room. It wasn't her only stash spot, but it was where she put the things that were most important to hide, things that would make people mad or that she didn't know what to do with.
And this box definitely belonged up there, she was sure. And it had to be now, because if she waited until later River would hear her thinking about it or something and, and then she might have to talk about it. So she held the box under one arm, springing barefoot onto the table and then onto the chair, reaching up to push at the tile.
As the door swung open, she suddenly remembered why she only used this spot at night.
This was an odd sight. At first Warren thought that maybe the younger girl was playing a game of some sort, but then he noticed the look Harley had. There was something off about it, and his own expression turn into one of curious concern.
"Ah. I don't suppose you were looking for something in particular up there?" Warren rubbed his chin and glanced up at the ceiling again.
"Nope!" Harley quickly dropped her arm, which instinctively fell to protect the box. Then she realized that mistake, but too late, so she brought the box around in front of her. "Just, uh, practicing?"
There was no space for any kind of lead-in, but the height meant she could still fit in a double flip with a full twist, and she landed with only a small step out. Then she raised her hands overhead, box between them. Pretty good chair-on-pool-table dismount really. Maybe he'd think she was using the box as a spacer, practicing keeping her arms in the right place?
Warren's eyes went so wide at the sudden flip, and he nearly thrust his arms out to try and make sure she wouldn't break her neck--but she surprised him. Landed perfectly on her feet with the box in hand. All he could do was freeze in his half-step position with his mouth agape, staring in bewilderment.
"You were...wait what?" So. Confused. "That was...well executed?" At least? But what did that have to do with digging around in the ceiling!? He was way too simple for this kind of thing.
"Not really..." Not bad for no planning, but her rotation had been sloppy, and the box meant her balance was off 'cause she couldn't use her arms right. But right, not what this was about. Squirming a little, she quickly fidgeted the box behind her body, hoping this would take attention away from it, but the cardboard made funny rustling sounds and she couldn't seem to get a good hold on it behind her back, and then she looked up at him and wished she'd stayed on the chair because he was really tall...
This was about when the box fell open and dumped the bagged, store-bought Halloween costume to the floor, a hand-written note fluttering after it. Harley flinched and froze in place, still staring up at Warren.
The look she was giving him right then made Warren feel like he'd just somehow scolded a puppy, and it was enough to make him backtrack a bit. He dropped down to a squat to collect the items for Harley, wings billowing out around him. "You know, the ceiling is an odd place for a...skeleton."
He raised an eyebrow and glanced up at her. "Not in the mood for Halloween?"
Harley gasped when his wings did the thing. She'd never been so close to them before! Distracted, words spilled out. "My mom sent it to me and its the first thing since I said I hated them to keep them away but they don't know things and they think they still want me-" She huffed and abruptly switched topics, biting at her lip. "No one's... hurt you?"
That time Warren smiled, and held the costume out to Harley to take back, if she wanted. "No, no one's hurt me. I get some odd looks at times, but that's about the extent of it." They could get back to her situation with her parents in a moment. "People are always giving odd looks, though, so who cares right?"
She shyly held out the empty box for the costume and let him drop it in - but as soon as he had, she put the box on the ground and skipped quickly around him to get a better look at his wings, still inspecting for damage. They were so pretty!
"But then they do more than look and you get hurt," she muttered, thinking of River's scar. They'd hurt her brain, broken everything and left her in pieces. Pouting at the dark thoughts, Harley reached out a tentative finger to touch the end of a feather.
After releasing the package, Warren had intended to get back up to his feet to finish the conversation with Harley, but opted to stay put when she ran around him instead, not wanting to startle (or excite) her. When it came to people touching his wings anymore, Warren had grown rather used to it---and also very patient. It had always been an area of interest for people here, but now it was basically the case for everyone since he'd come out.
"I've been very lucky so far, and I plan on keeping it that way," he assured with a chuckle, but then a tad more seriously, "There isn't much point in staying scared forever. That's no way to live."
River wasn't lucky. The thought was dark and toxic, and Harley threw it away, grabbing onto her usual manic energy to leave it behind. She cartwheeled back around him, chirping cheerfully, "Alive is a good way to live!" That was all she needed to know, really. She stopped in a handstand over her box, then kicked down lightly to her feet.
Warren took that opportunity to straighten himself up, climbing to his feet and gently shaking out his wings. Floor dust could be such a bitch. "Alive'll do it too."
After a beat, Warren pursed his lips together and folded his arms. "Is that why you are trying to push your parents away? You don't want them to be hurt?"
Harley guiltily used a foot to push the box behind her. "Kinda?" She mulled it over for another moment before looking up at him again, imploringly now. "I didn't know how to tell them about River... And they think I hate them because of gymnastics but I was scared to go home! And everything's different now but they're not and they dunno that I don't fit anymore." She bit her lip, took a breath, wondered where all those words had come from.
"It sounds like your parents love you a lot, Harley. I mean, they went out of their way to send you a costume, even," Warren pointed out softly and gestured to the box. It was just a costume, yes, a thing but perhaps it was sent out of affection and not just obligation. Not all parents were like that with their money, after all.
"Things are different now, of course, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to cut off all of your ties with them, right? I'm sure that hurts them a lot, too."
She squirmed, torn between guilt and something even more uncomfortable. Her hands came up to guard her chest, fingers twining nervously.
"But- but they- they think they love me, but they don't know that now I'm..." Harley didn't have a word for what she was now. She wasn't theirs anymore though - the girl they called Quinn who was gonna go to the Olympics, she was all gone. Her voice dropped until it was almost inaudible. "...what if they don't want me anymore?"
"And what if they do? Truly?" Warren asked softly. "Sometimes it's worth letting things play out naturally rather than trying to force them one certain way. It could end in pain, sometimes, but other times it's okay. Fears can be unfounded."
Harley blinked up at him. She thought she understood what he'd said, but why did he talk like that? Shaking her head, she tried again to explain. "No, but-- but I was someone else and now I'm not and they're gonna be mad or- or sad, or something. Disappointed." It was one of the worst words she knew. Another fear surfaced. "And what if they decide to take me away?"
"And you think they would?"
They'd taken gymnastics because she was a mutant and it wasn't safe, so if they decided here wasn't safe... Harley nodded.
"I'm sorry." That did make this a dilemma. Warren frowned and took a seat on the pool table. His own parents wanted him here as a way to hide him from the world. Obviously that had backfired in their faces, and they couldn't take him back now. He was eighteen. Harley didn't have that advantage, unfortunately. Furthermore, her slight...imbalance, may have made the whole thing a tad more touchy. She was damned if she did reach out to them, and damned if she didn't.
"What do you want, Harley? What would be your ideal situation?" His voice was slightly more upbeat, but still soft. Warren just wanted to give her a chance to talk, maybe. It was impossible to offer her a for-sure-solution but he could try and help her feel better. Hopefully.
"I wanna stay here," she said right away, regarding him warily, like maybe he'd tell her it wasn't a good idea. River only went to New York, with Laura, and she got taken and they almost never found them, and River had Simon to find her and rescue her - who would rescue Harley in California?? No, she had to stay here, where it was safe. But... "But I don't want them to hate me either..."
"Staying here isn't a bad choice," Warren told her finally. "I've been going to school far away from home almost all of my life and there were times that my parents had decided that they didn't like where I was and took me out. The bad part is you can't stop them from doing that, not legally. What I learned I had to do was make them think that there wasn't anything wrong--that things were always going very well--as long as saying that didn't hurt anyone else in the process."
Which, basically, meant that he lied to them and often. It wasn't an honest solution but it made things better for them both in the long run. It was a lot to tell someone to do, but the options were kind of limited here. Maybe Harley wouldn't like that anyway. "I just can't help but think that ignoring them completely might tip them off eventually, and maybe might even make them think that they have a reason to come try and search for you."
"Oh man, I didn't even think of that..." Harley's stomach seemed to drop, like when a move went wrong in the air and you knew you were gonna land bad. She let her legs collapse her into the splits on the floor and reached into the Pocket to retrieve the small stuffed rabbit she kept for magic tricks, holding it close to her chest. This wasn't how things were supposed to be.
"I was gonna go to the Olympics," she told Warren earnestly, not sure exactly why. She didn't talk about this with anyone anymore, kept it locked away with the other Before thoughts. But her dad was her coach, and she couldn't think of him and not think of this. "That's what we did."
He let his wings droop a little, circling gently around his arms and shoulders and spilling over the side of the pool table to the floor. It was a distracted habit of fiddling with feathers that he had when he was thinking long and hard about something in particular.
"And there was nothing else that you did together?"
Warren would believe it, completely, if Harley said no. There wasn't much else that he did with his own parents outside of being paraded to auctions, galas, and conferences. At least, that was something that they did before he outed himself. Now they just didn't seem to want to bring him anywhere or do anything but get tense with him at home.
Harley had unconsciously picked up his habit, and reached out one hand to play with his feathers too, where the long ones brushed the floor. She brushed at them nervously, not liking the way he'd said that - nothing else they did together? He said it like it was an empty thing, like it meant they only cared about gymnastics and not about her, but that wasn't it. It was everything, to all of them.
No, no it used to be. Not anymore. "Yeah, I guess... But, but we loved it. Home is the gym."
It saddened him to know just how many people in this place had sacrificed the things they loved to come here--or were forced to quit those things. Furthermore, losing family in the process just made it harder for everyone. It got more and more difficult to comfort people for it anymore, but Warren still tried to be an empathetic ear as best as he could.
"So it's a good memory for you, then? It doesn't make you sad to talk about?" he asked carefully. "Because I'll listen if you want to talk about it. To be honest, I've never been to or really seen a gymnastics competition. It sounds cool, actually."
"It's super cool!" she informed him enthusiastically, releasing his feathers to throw her hands up in the air (one hand still holding the stuffed rabbit) and ignoring what he'd said about talking or being sad or whatever. "And everyone works so hard, and you only get a few minutes to show your stuff, so it has to be your best." Then she regarded him skeptically, hands still in the air. "Don't you watch the Olympics?"
"Sometimes." And by sometimes, Warren meant that he didn't usually watch gymnastics when he did--not because of any disdain or anything like that, but because he honestly hadn't ever thought to in the past. With a fleeting thought it just did not seem as 'important' as soccer, track and field, swimming, or aquatic sports. But putting some thought into it now? He probably should have given the sport some more credit! It was silly to cast off one sport as more important than another.
"There's all different kinds of it, if I remember correctly. Like vaults, bars, and rings? What kind do you like best?" Just to cover for himself now!
"Floor!" Tucking the rabbit back in the Pocket, she leaned forward onto her forearms and lifted her legs over head before pushing up into a full handstand, showing off her surprising strength. "You get to do tumbling! And dancing!" She kicked down to her feet and easily over again in a flawless walkover. "And lotsa saltos!"
"That's so great!" It made Warren split a grin from ear to ear. "You must be able to incorporate a lot of that into your gym and squad practices. You're very good at it, Harley."
Harley came back to her feet, over by her box again. "Gymnastics is the best! You should try it!" Then her face fell as she actually considered it. "No, wait, you shouldn't! Your wings would get hurt. Like, a lot. Nope, no gymnastics for you!"
That made him laugh--her concern (which was sweet) and the mental image of even attempting such a thing (which was much less sweet and much more mortifying). "No...definitely not. I don't think that sixteen feet of feathers make for all that much grace on the floor."
Harley giggled too. Dropping quickly in and out of a crouch, she picked up her box again, clutching it to her chest. With Warren still at the pool table, she had a straight shot at the door - time to go! "Okay, I'm gonna go now!" An exaggerated overhead wave. "Bye Angel-guy!"
With that, she took off at a sprint.
"See you later, kiddo." Warren watched her leave with a shake of the head, only very slightly thrown off by the sudden disappearance (he'd gotten at least somewhat used the randomness along the way of their conversing).
If anything, Warren was content in knowing that she had left with a smile on her face.
