Becky and Angie | Backdated to Novemeber 20th

[om_ghostwriter]

Becky and Angie watch the coverage of the Genetic Disclosure Act vote with disgust, try to figure out how things might get better, and greatly abuse the popcorn.



"Are you kidding me!?" Becky stared at the TV as the news host thanked the pundit and segued to a commercial. She turned her head to look at Angie, building fury evident in her eyes. "They've gotta just be messing with us, right? No way anyone's that much of an assbutt, right?"

"Welcome to the wonderful world of politics. Where the talking points are made up and everybody's an assbutt." Angie flicked another piece of popcorn at the TV before offering the bowl to Becky.

Becky snorted before grabbing a couple of kernels. "I can only wish that Ryan Stiles was writing all of this as a searing commentary on how utterly stupid people can be!" Chewing angrily, she leaned back and crossed her arms. "Seriously, like, I've never felt the need to keep my mutant status quiet, but to put it on my ID?!"

Angie nodded, leaving the bowl between them. "I'm one of those that isn't ready to come out yet. I mean, if it happened, I'd deal with it? But it's not something that I'd be doing on my own right now. Too many other people around me that could get pulled into things."

Frowning as she tweeted a short but scathing response to the current coverage, Becky turned towards Angie. "What do you mean? Like, then they'd know your dad at least has the X-gene?"

"Youngest of seven," she replied with a shake of her head. "And my oldest brother and sister have kids of their own now."

"No way, really?" Becky turned more fully towards Angie, rage temporarily forgotten. "What's that even like? I always wanted a sibling, and I wrote myself an older sister to play with a lot, but I can't imagine seven."

She smiled at Becky. This was better than rage, anyway. "Mom and Dad sort of spread us out. Usually at least two or three years between, except for the twins, of course. So by the time I even really start to remember anything, my oldest two were mostly off to college already."

"Oh man, my mom cried so much when my sister went to college last summer!" Becky snorted at the memory, forgetting for a moment that it was based around an imaginary person. "Are you the only mutant of the bunch?"

"To the best of my knowledge, yeah. I mean, one of the nieces or nephews could be? Or maybe we run toward subtle mutations. I mean, I didn't realize I was a mutant until I nearly burned myself with acid and armored my hand in self-defense." Angie shrugged, looking back to the TV. "Which is why this is so stupid. There are lots of people who aren't a danger, who just want a nice, quiet life and they'd drag them out into the open."

Becky looked back, as well, frown reforming. "Yeah, and it's so stupid, because I think the solution to all this is just to have more mutants go public - to show the world that we are normal, just like them. Not just the super famous people. Like, the JP's and Sirius's of the world are great, but they're so different from the rest of us."

She wrinkled her nose as an ad saying that coverage would be continuing for the next hour came up. "But this is one-hundred percent not the way to make it happen. If people aren't voluntarily coming forward, than why should the rest of the country think that we weren't hiding somewhere, up to no good?"

Angie nodded. "Exactly. But, you know, it's not an easy choice to make. I mean, people can't even get over the color of other people's skin when it's a color that's been around since humans came into being. It's no wonder we're worried about coming forward with stuff like what we can do."

"Ugh. People. Why are we the worst, sometimes?" Becky rolled her eyes at the TV and continued with heavy sarcasm. "Well, maybe at least race tensions will go down what with all the good, normal humans able to join up against the terrible mutant threat?"

That got a sigh and a half smile. "The world is in one hell of a state when that's a bright side, you know?"

"Well, there's also the fact that a bunch of these old white guys are going to die soon?" Becky shrugged and grabbed another handful of popcorn.

"As long as the bunch of white guys that get elected after them aren't as terrible." Which wasn't any guarantee. "I wonder if, at this point, it might be a good idea to start a civil rights based party. Except it probably wouldn't get a lot of traction."

Becky hummed, something tickling at the back of her head. "I think I remember something about the US having a three-party system like a loooong time ago, but I don't really see it happening again. Besides, don't you think it would just be ignored as an 'extremely liberal' offshoot of the Democrats? Though somehow the Tea Party got supporters, so who knows what the country is thinking."

"There have always been third parties. And fourth. And so on. But yeah, it would take a lot for another party to get traction now. And I'm not sure there are enough mutants to make it viable." The best estimates she'd seen had still only been estimates, after all.

"Well, it could be for more than just mutant rights, but we're still political pariahs, so..." Seeing the host appear again, Becky frowned. "Ready to see another human decide what's best for mutants?"

Angie snorted, then offered Becky the bowl again. "At this rate, I'm going to have to make more popcorn to be ready for that."

Cracking her knuckles before grabbing a few kernels, Becky narrowed her eyes at the screen. "I'll make some next commercial. I'm sure we'll need it."

Picking up a few kernels of her own, Angie settled back. And hoped the teachers would forgive them the popcorn mess in from of the TV.