Thread: Pollux and Quinn
Who: Quinn and Pollux When: December 29, 2012 Where: Quinn’s house then Pollux's house What: A holiday spirit takes over Pollux Warning: Pollux’s slightly odd perception of the world, kisses, possible super vague thoughts re:Castor(twin-cest) and talk of family trauma
Pollux finished the last bit of sanding on the sculpture that had been occupying his mind. He was still avoiding Man-Mountain and his Brother for the holidays. His grandfather was terribly ill and as much help as he tried to be he felt the need to flee inch up his spine. He kept thinking of holidays, of the expressions that the new year brought. This whole world seemed to be filled with advertisement telling you to buy for your loved ones. It was strange, why shell out money on an impersonal piece of junk that would only go forgotten after ti was given. He looked down at the carving in his hand. It was time to get into the season of giving. In a blink He was outside of Quinn’s house.
It wasn’t the best festive season she’d ever had, but it wasn’t exactly the worst. Her mother had got her some lovely new clothes and she got a new laptop. It was exactly what she’d asked for. The thing was, she sort of missed the ‘excitement’ and festivity of Christmas time. So instead of sitting downstairs with her mother, sister and her family, Quinn was upstairs, in her room, painting her finger nails.
For once Pollux actually found a use for the cell phone his grandparents had tethered he and Castor with. He watched a blond sheet of hair move in the window of the upper east window. He rang her number. “How is your room laid out?” Yes no hello or standard greeting, just a question.
“Um,” as far as weird conversations she’d had few with Brittany, but this greeting took all the prizes. “Like a room? Desk under the window, bed by the wall, wardrobe to the back.” She recognised the speaker. “Pollux?” She hadn’t expected him to call her, nevermind calling her to ask about her bedroom of all things.
“Go sit on your bed and don’t move.” He smirked, watching where her shape in the window shifted to. He had a decent view of where he was going now. He hung up the phone and blinked.
Suddenly he appeared, a slight smell of burn ozone was all that remained of his spot outside her house. He blinked with his hands behind his back and his feel just a half inch above her floorboards. He was never sure what was on the floor of the places he appeared, so it was better to have a little landing room. “Happy deep winter freeze.”
While she’d sort of gotten used to the whole ‘blink’ thing, she definitely wasn’t used to people suddenly appearing in her room. “Oh, my-” Her hand rested over her chest, heart thumping in her chest.
“Pol, jeez, you scared me.” She stood up from the bed, half smiling through the surprise. “What’re you doing here?”
He smiled just a little. He glanced around her room, taking in the image of a ‘typical’ teen girl. It was certainly happily colored. He wasn’t sure how well it suited it’s inhabitant, but he didn’t know her well yet. He certainly hoped some of the magazine clippings of outfits and purses and shoes up on the cork board did not represent a key part of her. It was all far too consumerist for his tastes. He couldn’t imagine hoping to acquire such things as idealizing goals.
He turned back to her, finally getting around to answering her question. “I’m told Christmas is about showing appreciation for those you hold dear. I’m also told that it’s about a fat man created by coca cola who gives toys and about a child born 2000 years ago so it gets a little confusing. But since I liked the first reason best I brought you something.”
She was hasty in kicking her PJ shorts under her bed before swiftly crossing the room to close the door over. Her mother would freak out if she found a boy in the house, least of all in Quinn's bedroom, alone. "Pol, you didn't have to." She wasn't sure if the twins celebrated Christmas, she assumed that Dave was probably introducing Castor to it if he didn't, but it made sense that Pollux would be going on what he heard.
"I don't have anything for you." She did love presents though; any kind really, she was used to being spoiled somewhat rotten. "So, you just popped all the way over here, in the middle of the holidays, just to give me a present?" The shock was wearing off, and it was mostly just really sweet that he was there at all.
“When giving you’re not supposed to do it to get something in return.” He smiled easily seeing that she was excited for it. “It’s not what you’re used to. Promise.” The statement was not an apology, more like a boast. From behind his back he pulled forward a wooden carving. He’d been making these since he was old enough to hold a knife and his more patient nature lent itself to intricate design. He carved her, his image of her, her clothing melting into the nature around her. It was just as he imagined that day he watched her laugh and the make-up and performance outfit that looked just like everyone else had faded to show just her.
“Oh, wow,” he was right, it wasn’t like anything she was used to. The only hand-made thing she owned was the bracelet she’d bought from Melody that currently sat downstairs in her key-bowl by the door. But this, this was so much more than that. “Pollux, this is-”
Her hands reached out, taking it from him in a reverent grasp, fingers tracing over the delicate detail and following the smooth lines down the figure. “It’s so beautiful.” And it was, decadent almost. “You made this? Yourself?” Of all the gifts she’d gotten that year, nothing actually felt as meaningful as this.
“All myself. The wood is a piece of mahogany I picked up on my traveling. There used to be a grove of them by our old home. ” He smiled very sadly at the memory of the now ruined home they’d lived in.
She wasn't self-involved enough not to notice that he was moderately upset by something; likely his need to actually leave said home and come here of all places. Quinn could understand that. With the carving cradled to her chest she stepped towards him, reaching one arm around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug.
"It's great, I love it, thank you so much." And she was being honest. If asked, she wasn't really sure what made her stroke the side of his face as she pulled back from the hug, moving forward to press a sweet, chaste kiss against his mouth. It wasn't pity, or even gratitude, she didn't rightly know what it was. She just felt the need to do it.
He immediately wrapped his arms around her body. His hand splayed over the small of her back as he took the offered affection. He missed things like this, simple physical touch. Cas was always the cuddly one, the touchy one, the one to initiate kisses and... He tried to shake the comparison from his head. “I’m glad. You look much happier when you smile like that.”
“What, when people give me things?” She had to smile a little, laugh at herself. She knew it wasn't what he meant, but she was conscious of the blush building on her cheeks. It was like she never got compliments or something and he just set this off with her. But then, when she did get the compliments, they never really felt so honest than when he gave them. "Most girls do like gifts." She was no different, especially ones as thoughtful as beautiful, hand carved works of art.
She made a point of not stepping back from him, running her hand over his shoulder and tilting her head to the side. "So, are you just taking a little breather from your family festivities?" Or could he stay around a little longer. Quinn loved her mother, dearly. She'd lived half of sophomore year without her and it had pretty much hammered home how much the teenager depended on the woman. But having Thea around, and her perfect husband, it just didn't make the holiday much fun.
Pol laughed easily at the tease. He petted the small of her back very lightly, just enjoying the movement of her clothing, her body, the sound of her breathing and laugh. “People like receiving by nature I suppose. I do as well. That smile is plenty of gift to me.”
He pressed a soft kiss right to the side of her smile. “No. My grandmother was in the hospital with George. It’s been a lack of celebration. Cas... Cas is with Man-mountain.”
Leaning into the soft press of lips to her smile was almost second nature -who didn't lean into sweet little kisses like that? Even as she listened to what he said. Man-mountain must be Dave, although she'd never actually heard that term being used for him before, she could see it fitting him well. And George must be his grandfather, who was ill. "You've been alone? On Christmas?" That just, well, sucked.
She'd thought that, having a twin, it would be all about getting space, not really that they wouldn't be there. She knew a few twins, read books and watched television shows with them. They'd always been depicted as being close and almost always wanting to branch out from each other. Except the Olsen twins, but they were money spinners with their twin-ness or whatever.
Pollux being alone because Castor was with David didn't actually hit her until then. "Well, okay, why don't we do Christmas?" She pulled away from him, although a little reluctant, placing her new carving on her dresser, in the middle of it -prime placement her mother called it. Turning back to Pol, she grinned. "What do you want to do?"
“Christmas was never a holiday for my family at the commune. We were free of religious systems and rules. We usually held a group fire and celebration of life around the middle of winter. Being alone on Christmas isn’t a big deal because Christmas was never a deal.” Except he was still alone, and still burning from the fight he’d had with his brother over his ‘engagement’. Man-mountain had made things sound like he was supposed to be with them for the holiday. Except Cas wouldn’t want him and he knew he’d make more fights to get Cas pissed at him.
“What do people do for Christmas?”
Being Christian, Quinn celebrated the birth of a savior. The presents were a more communist thing, yes. It was all inclusive so that all branches of Christianity could indulge in the holiday -even she knew that the date was wrong by the tellings of the bible. But Christmas was a celebration and celebrate she did.
"We sing carols, praise to our Lord but that's mostly a religious thing. We decorate trees and wrap presents and share goodwill and joy with each other." Quinn had even gone so far as to not snark with anyone for the whole week. She felt that was fairly good of her, she even sent Rachel a birthday card. "It's supposed to be about family and love. But, barring that, it can be about life and love." She shrugged her shoulders. "There's also ice skating, snowball fights, snow angels. Fun kid stuff."
“Fun kid stuff. Let’s do that over praising a lord that I don’t want to be beholden to. But I’m always for spirituality. We can enjoy nature and the miracle of life with the snow.”
"Fun kid stuff it is." Quinn smirked with a nod. She hadn't done the fun kid stuff in so long, the snow angels and the snow balls and just enjoying winter. It wasn't like Lima had an abundance of snow every year, but they got enough to really try to enjoy it. "You don't mind taking us out, right? There's this really awesome place just by the quarry. It's almost always undisturbed until after New Year, it's like, the best place to really enjoy the snow."
While she was talking she was finding her winter boots, pulling on a pair of woolen socks to keep them on before shoving her feet in her boots. Her jeans and shirt would be fine, just a sweater over the top and then her jacket and scarf. "Do you want to go back to your place for some warmer clothes?" Because if they were legit going to play in the snow, it was going to get cold.
“I probably should. You want to sneak into my house with me?” He smiled realizing he hadn't put on warmer clothing. He was getting a little too reliant on his powers to eliminate the need to walk.
The fact that sneaking into anything got a grin from Quinn only told her that he was a terrible influence -they'd already, technically, broke into the mall together. But she really didn't seem to mind. Sneaking out of the house and into his to go out and have fun, well, it really trumped being stuck in her room doing nothing but messing around with her new laptop.
"Sure," she thought about turning on the shower to distract her mother, but it would run too long and waste water, so she just shifted to her bed, pushing a pillow under the sheets to create the lump and pulling the covers up. The desk lamp cast enough of a glow that when Quinn turned out the bedroom light, you couldn't really tell what was under the covers. "Ready when you are."
“I see you’ve done this before.” He offered her a wry little grin. His hand took hers and he tucked her body close to his. He kissed her cheek once before imagining his room back home exactly as he’d left it. In a blink they were there.
For all that she'd moderately gotten used to travelling with Pol, it was still unnatural enough for Quinn to shut her eyes and lean in to him. Her grip wasn't just as tight, trusting him with his powers well enough that nothing bad would happen, but she still clutched to his side. When she felt the shift of solid ground beneath her feet again, she carefully drew back, smiling just a touch while her stomach resettled.
"Like you've never snuck out of the house?" She didn't want to seem rude, mostly, but she couldn't really stem the curiosity of just where Pollux lived and how. At least she wasn't overly obvious in her looking around.
Pol’s room was sparse of posters or decorations. There were various carvings in different states of creation scattered on the counters. One wall had obviously been spackled a few times in the same stop. Pol hadn’t been the best at controlling his anger when they first came here. To the side was a bathroom that led directly to the now vacant room of Cas. He opened the closet to find warmer clothing. All of the clothes were hung neatly and precisely. When he opened the dresser the socks and underwear were color coded and perfectly folded like something out of a magazine. This was clearly not the doing of a free-spirit damn the rules boy like Pol. When he pulled out the heavier pair of socks he glared at the neat organization and casually swiped a hand through it to induce a little chaos before shutting it again.
“I have, but I don’t see it a sneaking. This isn’t a prison as much as it feels that way. I’ve never held myself to rules like that. Of course Betsy... grandmother, she’s stopped trying to get me to obey rules. George on the other hand was the iron fist of the house.”
"Is it hard?" She wandered around, seemingly aimlessly, even as she drew closer to the carvings on a particular counter. "Going from where you were to where you are?" She wasn't exactly sure about the whole 'commune' thing, although she guessed it was like those stories of the 70s, where groups just lived together in an area without barriers or whatever. Quinn couldn't imagine living without the shelter of her four walls and her roof.
Her fingers trailed over the unfinished carvings, feeling the difference between the smooth and the rough. "You preferred it there, right?" It wasn't hard to see that Pol wasn't throwing himself into 'domesticated' life with eagerness.
“It was my home. One day it was raided by a group of men with guns, tear gas and armor, Everyone around was screaming and crying. I was thrown in with my brother and told my parents, who believed in the sacredness of all life and peace and the goodness of human spirit were drug dealers and deserved to be put in metal cages and I and my brother were shipped off to this place to live with people we never met.” The bitterness was blatantly clear. “Everyone I ever loved or knew save for my brother was ripped from my hands in the space of 30 minutes.”
His hands traced over the top of his dresser. The wood had been etched into by his own hands, tents, fires, trees, it was a scene from his memories with moving dancing figures and joy. “This place is so different. Cas better at adapting, he’s thrown himself into his life with Man-mountain... I guess I’m still looking for a way home.”
They pity couldn't be helped, but she didn't pity him exactly. It was sympathy for him maybe. "I can't even imagine." She'd been safe her whole life, safe and loved -even when she was found lacking- and secure all of her years. Her existence was a little bit boring at times, but never to the extent where she'd swap it at all. "I lost something I loved once, but losing all of it, and not knowing why."
Quinn understood drugs and their effects, she looked at drug dealers to be gangster type people in big cities or business type people hiding behind connections. But parents weren't meant to be like that, and neither Cas or Pol seemed dangerous, not the sorts you'd expect were raised by 'drug dealers'. "I'm sorry." Her hand tentatively reached out for his shoulder, hoping he wouldn't shrug off her concern.
He put a hand over hers, easily accepting the touch. “The cruelest thing to do to a free spirit is to lock them in a cage. I know now why they felt the need to take us, but my parents were not bad people. They encourages happiness, connection to nature. Everything we did went back into the earth. He lived free. I come here and watch people destroy mother nature, the carbon fumes.. . All of the trash that goes straight into a land fill. You can barely see the stars. And yet my parents were the ones determined to be so evil they needed to be stopped?”
He sighed, the old anger arching uselessly within him. “No one ever touches here. Have you noticed? Everyone stays in their bubble and the only times they are allowed touch is when it’s from a sexual partner or violence. I feel like I’m slowly dying from it. If I touch even to hug or show friendship to a man I’m attacked for being gay. As if being gay is wrong. If I touch a woman then I’m ‘trying something’ on her.”
Her brother-in-law was what her father called 'an eco-warrior'. He was an environmental lawyer of some type and mostly spent his days dealing with mobile phone companies and nuclear waste disposal. Quinn didn't know the slightest thing about it all, but Thea drove some eco-friendly, green fuelled car that, up until right now, Quinn thought was stupid.
"We never really see it that way." She drove a diesel, she got a new cell phone every year, drove instead of walked and didn't even think where her trash was going. "We're too caught up in what's considered normal, I guess." Brittany was a hugger, but Britt was cute and sweet and got away with it. Quinn seldom stepped out of the box to engage in affectionate behaviour beyond those she was dating or her close friends, which usually was only Santana and Brittany. Even hugging Rachel had felt awkward.
She moved her hand to run it over his cheek, smiling softly as she stroked to his neck and took his hand with her other hand. "Some people don't mind touching. Some people, some people just have issues."
He turned his cheek into that pet. His bright blue eyes closed slowly, just enjoying the simple human connection. “Everyone here is so.. focused. On their work, or classes or parties or status. I don’t understand how everyone can be so blind. We have super powers. We are dangerous to the government. We can’t stay hidden like this. They will come for us and I don’t want to lose anyone else I love to men with guns.”
"We won't be then," she remembered what he'd said, about the Government and their laws and what they might do. She knew that their powers were likely to attract attention, that they were going to lose control one day and nothing could turn back. She fought hard for control and still lost it, just like the others. "We'll get prepared, we'll make plans."
His paranoia didn't seem so much like paranoia now, it seemed like a necessary precaution maybe.
"We're supposed to have some meeting, right? About what Ava found. So, we'll go to that and find out what she knows, and we'll make plans." Her hand squeezed his, trying to offer some kind of support. "You aren't like before anymore, Pol. There are powers, and you can fight back this time." That was an important part of this, she was sure. They weren't going to be helpless against what others decided. There wouldn't be the same imbalance in their actions.