Sadie Thompson, Geokinetic (likepetrichor) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2013-01-26 21:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, - ivi staff, sadie thompson |
WHO: Sadie Thompson and Team Leader Shin
WHAT: Sadie has not been a model Parakeet.
WHEN: Thursday, January 24, before training.
WHERE: Shin's office.
WARNINGS: None.
STATUS: Complete.
Sadie knew when she started off down this path that she would be required to disappoint people. Most of them she didn't care about - really, who gave a crap what Senor Chang thought? - or she was angry enough at them that she could easily pretend she didn't care about their opinion. Sam fell into this category, in one way, and pretty much the entire staff of IVI in another way. Other people she just hoped would understand, if not now, then maybe eventually. Where Team Leader Shin fell in this categorization was hard to pin down. Sadie liked her Team Leader, for all his gruff mannerisms and reserved affection. He taught her how to box. In theory, it was easy to lump him in with the Dean and her counselor and everyone else that didn't take her seriously, that wouldn't cooperate with her when it came to Robbie, but in practice? In practice it was harder than it should have been to come late to practice, to deliberately disobey, to ignore her concerned teammates and skive off with her like-minded ones. To skip her first scheduled boxing lesson since before the break. She found she couldn't look him in the eye, and Sadie resented that. So it was resentment that fueled her stony glare and sullen attitude when she was finally called into Shin's office, and not the anger that the Dean and her counselor faced. Once admitted, she stalked over to a chair and slumped in it, arms crossed, not saying a word but glaring at a spot just over Shin's shoulder. For his part Shin sat comfortably slumped into his desk chair, shoulders sagging into the worn leather. He had been reading a sheaf of papers on his lap when Sadie entered, and slowly turned his gaze up through the bifocal reading glasses that made him look ten years older. Despite his seemingly sluggish posture, his gaze was shrewd and assessing as it swept over the sulking teenager that had just dropped herself into the chair opposite. “You missed boxing.” Was all he said after a long pause, the clipped words both a question and an accusation. "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to do that anymore," Sadie shot back, her scowl darkening even as she said the words. She liked boxing, but boxing was taught by Shin, and Shin worked for the IVF, and besides, there was nothing to stop her from practicing by herself. She spared a brief, sad thought for Malcolm Macdonald - maybe if he were still here, she could practice with him. But he wasn't. Shin’s eyes narrowed further as he regarded his student from his slouch, and the low rumbling ‘harumph’ with which he responded spoke articulately as to how he felt about this particular decision. With this opinion known he turned his gaze back to the sheets of paper in his lap, peering through his bifocals. “Late to practice too.” He observed, his tone heavy with disapproval. “This week, three times. And when you are there, you are not really there, eh?” His gaze flickered up to her again, brows raising expectantly, inviting an explanation. Sadie's expression mirrored his, eyebrows raised defiantly, mockingly. "Maybe," she said, her chin lifting up slightly, "I don't want to do that anymore, either. Seems like a huge waste of time to me, training. Classes. All of it." Her expression changed minutely, shifting from mocking and defiant to challenging, expectant. Now explain to her why she should care, when caring got her nowhere. “Oh?” One might mistake Shin’s curious reaction for one of legitimate interest, but members of his squad would be a bit more familiar with his subtle sarcasm. “This is good for me to know, eh? That I have been wasting your time for so long. Very rude of me, I think.” His passive aggressive tones also made perfectly clear that he was mildly hurt by her insinuation, but the sarcastic edge made it difficult to tell. She managed not to cringe, but just barely; the lines of her mouth drew in, the taste of Shin's sarcasm too sour for her liking. "Oh, it's not you," she said after a moment, giving an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders. "I mean, you did choose to work for the IVF, but it's not you I have a problem with." A thought occurred to her, and she leaned forward suddenly, fingers gripping the edge of his desk. "Actually, I have a question. Why did you come here? Why? Is it just following orders? Or did you want to make sure for yourself that the Vols wouldn't be loose on the world, putting others in danger?" That was unfair, and she knew it, but she went ahead anyway, eyes blazing. Shin’s eyes crinkled with bemused disapproval at this sudden line of aggressive questioning, and from the lines on his face he was none too pleased by it. Not a month ago Shannon had posed him the same question and he’d answered, but he was disinclined to do the same in the face of Sadie’s impetuous outburst. “Yaa!” He retorted, in a voice that was raised in volume without being a full on shout. A single sharp syllable that he had often used to bring about silence in his own household, the telltale tone of an exasperated father. He glared across the desk at the teen, loudly expressing his disapproval with his eyes. Sadie jerked backward into her chair again, startled by the rebuke, wordless as it was. She was struck with the vivid image of her own grandfather shouting Enough!, and the thought of Shin as a (grand)fatherly figure made her expression darken still more. Crossing her arms again, Sadie’s mouth formed a thin line and her nostrils flared. Shin was not a father figure. Father figures stood up for their charges, they didn’t let them stay separated from babies who needed them, they didn’t let defenseless infants remain basically alone in a world that hated Vols, and Shin had, to her knowledge, done none of these things. Neither had her grandfather. Or her mother. Or Sam. Nobody took her worries seriously. She didn’t voice this, though. Just let it simmer inside her as she sat back in her chair and glared. Shin allowed a long silence to fall between himself and the sullen American, partially for emphasis and partially to let his own anger subside. When he spoke again it was with a gruff sense of resignation that could almost be interpreted as an apology. "You are young. You are angry. I understand this. You have some good reasons, eh? Better than many, I think. But this way to deal with things, it shows no one you are an adult, ne? That you are ready for the responsibilities you are asking for." He exhaled heavily, his hands folding thoughtfully over his belly. "I come here because I want to help you crazy young people, eh? I am not your enemy." "Really?" Sadie challenged, looking all the more sullen for the rebuke, gentle as it was. "Because I tried that. Showing how responsible I was. It turns out nobody listens to good girls." "I'm done grinning and bearing it, okay? Why should I cooperate if nobody is going to cooperate with me?" Unchecked, her voice kept rising until she ended on a shout. She didn't mean to yell, though; it betrayed just how betrayed she felt. The geokinetic shifted her glare to the floor. Shin's eyes narrowed, but this time he let his student's voice raise without reprimand. Instead he released one of those long, low grumbling sighs that neatly telegraphed his dismay over today's youth. "If everyone give up on things after five months, this world would be a very different place, eh?" He splayed his hands out lazily, to demonstrate the destruction of society that would surely follow in his hypothetical scenario. "You are a good girl, eh?" He continued with authority, making the statement like an accusation. "Not this angry sulking thing. Do not undo your hard work because you are so impatient. I do not want to make more excuses for you, eh?" His brow raised challengingly, but his tone seemed to indicate that he had said his fill and made his point. She was free to go. Sadie continued to glare at the floor while Shin reprimanded her; the comment about excuses made on her behalf did not go unnoticed. As such, when she lifted her eyes to confirm that yes, their meeting was in fact over, her gaze was still stony, but not nearly as wrathful. She stared at him for a long moment more, deliberating over whether or not to tell him that she didn't believe that the next five months would be any different, that she'd done anything to impress upon the powers that be that she should be allowed to be a mother to her son. Ultimately, she decided it would be a waste of breath. She got up and left without another word. |