Alma Wade will not give up (its_my_nature) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-06-07 17:32:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, alma wade, roy harper (red arrow) ii, wrex |
"I should have cleared that up. I was...well, not thinking at the time. I was kind of panicked."
Who: Wrex and Roy and Alma
What: Wrex has to deal with shit. Like crushes and metaphorical bombs
When: Yesterday
Where: Urdnot Ranch
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13 for angry krogers and near Gibbs~Smacks
There had been some scuttlebut going around. Roy getting teased, rather mercilessly in some cases. Alma had a crush.
Roy had gone along with it for the most part, since, yeah, he'd have probably done the same if it had been a friend of his who was being crushed on. He'd sort of learned to put up with it, but had been trying not to encourage the crush or anything, since you know, totally inappropriate and wrong, and, well, Oliver like. He'd pretty much rolled with the punches, didn't discuss it with the kids, and elbowed a few of the adults at the ranch who went too far. But that was about it as far as reactions went. It was cute, and well, he was sort of glad Alma had a focus other than everything she'd come from too.
On the other hand, Wrex didn't like what he was hearing, and since the whole blow up with Shepard he was feeling especially protective and NOT especially reasonable. Kind of like an extremely angry Kroger, except damn it he wasn't a Kroger.
After hearing about the crush for about the 18th time today, a member of the Staff actually came in to speak to him about it. And that was pretty much the straw that broke the kroger's camel's back. So he got over the intercom, "Roy to Wrex's office. Now."
Alma looked up from some pottery she was working on. She'd taken to a lot of the more calming activities. Art, creation. Any sciences of course. She'd been meaning to ask about some kind of instructor in meditation. As long as she felt calm, then she wouldn't cause others undue distress. It was difficult - especially when others around her weren't calm. Some of that calm wavered and she ruined her pot. Was Roy in trouble?
There were snickers from Roy's class, and it felt...sort of like being called into the principal's office. Not that he had any idea why, well, okay, he had a vague one, if things people had been saying had gotten out of hand, but...still. It wasn't worth the snickers and knowing looks he got. "Okay, guys, seriously." he told the kids, rolling his eyes. "I'm pretty sure I'm not getting suspended or anything. You guys go on ahead and head to the rec room. I'll come get you if I'm back before the period's up." and he made sure to gather up the arrows quickly before heading in, just in case anyone got any ideas. And then, well, he was heading to Wrex's office, trying to think about what he might have done that someone could have misconstrued.
The pottery instructor clucked her tongue at Alma and her ruined pot, then helped her to start spinning a new one. SHE thought this whole thing had been blown out of proportion, but she was more down to earth than some of the other more excitable staff members.
Wrex was waiting in his office with a gigantic cup of coffee in his hands. When Roy showed up in the doorway he motioned for him to come on in, "Shut the door behind you, kid. We're going to have several talks. About things."
Alma eyedarted. It wasn't without effort to snag Roy, if she was bluntly honest. She knew it was a lost cause, but she was discovering this thing about being a teenager, where lost causes never became fully lost.
Roy blinked and shut the door, then sort of stood there awkwardly a minute, trying to think of something to say that wasn't, well, gonna make whatever this was worse. What came out was...something else. "Is this a bad time to beg you to please, please not call my guardian because I won't do it again?" he got out, then looked...kinda horrified. "Uh...sorry. Reflex. Is this about the rumors going around? Because...I haven't encouraged her or anything. We talked about why it can't happen in fact."
"Hell. Do I look like the kind of guy that calls people's guardians?" Wrex snorted and got up, then started to pace a bit, "Yeah, it's about the rumours. Senorita Martinez decided to get her bun all in a twist about it. So now I have to make it my problem. You know how I hate it when things become my problem."
He paused in his pacing to take a long sip of coffee, like his entire life depended on drinking the stuff. Then he turned, and looked at Roy, "Tell me what you talked about."
He sighed, and added, "And try and keep your emotions all zen or whatever. I don't need her acting up. If you relax she won't feel like you're in trouble."
Alma messed up another pot, before calming herself down and making a third one just right.
Curiosity got the best of her and she snuck out a few moments later.
Roy snorted a little too, then leaned half against Wrex's desk for now, rather than sitting straight away. "She mentioned having feelings for me." he said. "I let her know that while she's a really sweet girl and that I care about her, romantic things are inappropriate. She...seemed to accept that." he looked a little tired now, more to do with recent events than anything else. But he was relieved they hadn't come up either and hoped it was going to stay that way. He didn't really want to talk about, well, what he'd learned yesterday. It was too much to handle. "We've talked since then and...okay I admit I've hugged her and things but...no more than the other kids if they have things come up. I'm not sure if that's totally inappropriate or not, given the circumstances, so...instinct."
Wrex rubbed at his head as Roy talked, then nodded, "I hate crap like this. If you don't hug her, she's going to think she did something wrong or feel left out. If you do, I got teachers with sticks up their asses yelling at me to do something about it."
He looked Roy in the eye then, and smiled a bit, "You did good. Handled it the right way I think. Talking it out with her and everything. She seems smart enough to get it. In here," he pointed at his head, "At least. Now if you could just get the hormones to understand, right?"
Alma leaned her ear against the door, frowning. She did get it in her head. But he was right. The hormones didn't understand. The dreams didn't help. She'd had the one with Beckett again. Like before his face had changed to Roy at the end. Another world, perhaps, mixing with her own desires.
"Yeah really." Roy admitted, shaking his head a little. "God knows I was a wreck when I was her age, and it's got to be a real shock with the hormones just STARTING to come out." He shuddered a bit, imagining what that must FEEL like. And then he smiled back. "So that's a good thing anyway." Then he really stared at Wrex. "You okay?" he asked, frowning. 'You're kind of banged up."
"I bashed my head against some people. It felt good, but I'm regretting it," Wrex was nothing if not honest. Most of the time, and usually when it was probably completely inappropriate. He finally took a seat at his desk, and set his coffee down, "We have problems. Some of them I'm not sure I'm ready to talk to you about. But you're one of the people on staff that is more equipped to deal with them. And Ms. Beckett, it is impolite to eavesdrop."
Alma opened the door and peered in, "Uhm. I am sorry."
She came in, and closed the door behind her.
"Hey." Roy gave her a little nod. "So uh. Hormones suck?" he tried to smile. "But they're navigatible, I swear." Then he looked back at Wrex. "Oh this sounds really really bad."
"I'm glad you're in here, but next time wait until I call you." Wrex nodded at Alma, then turned to Roy and nodded, again, "It is really, really bad. And it has nothing at all to do with Ms. Beckett being here, for which I am actually surprised."
He sighed, "I have a friend named Shepard. She got into some trouble, which we might say is an activity she excels at. I went to go and save her the other night. The Ranch might be in trouble, but I don't want YOU," he looked at Alma, "To run off. Roy shoots arrows and I am more danger than any one person should be messing with. If anything happens or you FEEL trouble coming, get to my office."
He turned back to Roy, "I don't know what your guardian feels about this, but I want you to be staying here for a while. I need backup from someone who knows how to sound the alarm and shoot arrows at things."
Alma nodded her head. Rest assured, she could be an early warning system!
"I can do that." Roy agreed, although it put sort of a hitch in his plans to deal with the other problem, it wasn't the major one right now so he could...stick around for a while without...dealing with the other problem. "And don't worry, the Oliver thing was a joke. Okay, so don't let him know there are rumors because I'd never hear the end of it, but I haven't actually crashed with him since I was seventeen. I can definitely shoot arrows."
"Shepard works here, so that's probably why we're on alert." Wrex took another long sip off his coffee, and ran a hand through his hair. There'd been other things he'd meant to deal with, but whatever was bothering Roy would have to wait until Alma wasn't sitting there.
So instead, he looked at Alma, "You like Roy. Roy's a nice guy. In a few years and if he wasn't your teacher I'd tell you both to be happy. But it isn't a few years from now and he is your teacher. Is this going to continue to be my problem or can you control this?"
Alma blinked at him, "I..can control it." She sounded more confident than she felt. But he was one of the things keeping her sane.
Roy smiled at her and gave her a little nod. He was glad she sounded so in control of that. And relieved that this conversation seemed to be veering away from his monumental stupidity about other issues.
Monumental was about how Wrex would have worded it.
"Good. But I'm going to be honest. If these rumours keep flying I'm going to have to pull you out of his class. I don't want to do that. There's a lot you learn from archery. I know Roy keeps you balanced. So just work on it."
Wrex sounded really relieved, and a bit more of a smile was able to show up on his face. He liked it when stuff got resolved. He lifted up his hands and set them on the table, like that was that.
"I'll give you time to get some stuff from your place and have a room for you set up. Is there anything either of you guys needs from ME before you go?"
Standing, Alma shook her head, "No...no that is...nothing." Teenage heartbreak. Woe.
She glanced at Roy, "I should go. I think you two have something you need to talk about."
"I should be fine, actually." Roy said quickly, trying to look like he was, well, sure of this. What he needed to do was going to have to wait was all, and that was...actually that was fine. More time was a plus, actually. But avoiding actually talking about it, well. "And I don't think I need anything else." Sure.
Alma gave him a knowing look and slipped out!
"Bullshit."
Wrex gave him a knowing look, "You remind me of me when I was your age. Kids HATE it when I say that. Talk, or I'm going to get mushy and emotional on you."
Roy briefly considered his options here, which weren't actually all that great. But on the other hand, actually saying it? There was no way in Hell he could make it make sense. So let's see. Other options. "It was a metaphorical weapon I posted about." he said at last. "I should have cleared that up. I was...well, not thinking at the time. I was kind of panicked."
"Not thinking at the time? Roy, that's an understatement. There are at least 10 federal agents on that thing and then there's the ones we don't know. And there's people after Alma. You think they're not reading your posts? They know you work here. They know who I am. They probably know she's here. Then you go talking about ticking time bombs in your life."
If Wrex had ever watched NCIS in his life, this might have been a moment where he got up and Gibbs-smacked Roy on the back of the head. Instead he opened a drawer, pulled out some alcohol, and poured it into his coffee cup, "Metaphorical weapon. I want less metaphors and more information. Take your time, word it however you need to word it, and no I won't drop it."
He offered Roy the bottle, "Have some if you want. You're not driving anytime soon."
"Yeah..." Roy admitted, frowning. "That was another of those moments of extremely dangerous stupidity. I thought I was over them." he added, glancing downward a minute, because yeah, the ranch and everything. He could have at least locked it. "That's...inexcusable isn't even the word." Because it wasn't. And if he made enough of a deal over this, maybe he'd get a reprieve somehow. Gratefully, he accepted the offer of booze and poured some out. "Small valarnet?" he tried drily, and he wasn't even trying to be funny so much as he felt the need to make the comment.
"It is pretty small." Wrex took the bottle back and put it back in his desk, then leaned back in his chair. "But I talked to an Agent Hill who said she'd take it to Fury. I've met the two of them. They are not fucking around with anything. They think I'm handling it. That means I am."
"Shit. Fury." And Roy looked, well, vaguely horrified. But you couldn't really blame him, given what he'd seen of the guy. "Well. That's at least a couple people who aren't going to be included anymore." He tried, and well, yeah. Wrex WAS handling it now. "The metaphorical weapon is...well. I'm pretty sure I'm going insane." he said, inspired as that sort of half truth came to him. If anyone knew all of it? They'd try to stop him doing what he had to do. He couldn't have that on his conscience. "That's the problem."
"You think you're going insane and this is a weapon that..." Wrex furrowed his brow, and held up a finger, "Hold on."
He turned back to the computer, which still had the thing loaded up, and squinted at the text on the screen, "... Will wreck a path of chaos? Do I have to take your bow and arrows away? Why do you think you're going insane?"
He recalled a message once from Roy's guardian along a similar line, but he wanted to hear it straight from Roy. He got the impression that he and his guardian didn't exactly see eye to eye and bringing up any amount of concern was just going to piss the kid off.
Roy debated saying voices told him things, but...that had gotten Castiel sent to the mental ward, and and he didn't want to end up there. Not when it wasn't actually a thing. And besides, he probably couldn't fake that as well as going for the half truth approach did. "The dreams." he said at last. "I'm starting to feel the pressure in real life. Which is completely crazy and I'm not going to snap yet but...I don't know that it isn't. Not anymore."
"Those dreams, huh? I bet you don't dream you're a gigantic angry turtle man who lives in outer space, whose entire race was neutered because it was too dangerous to reproduce and run free." Wrex said the entire thing with a straight face, then calmly sipped at his drink.
Roy almost sputtered on what he'd just started to swallow. "That's...gotta be a mindfuck." he said at last. "Neutered? Seriously? Ow."
"Hundreds of little turtle babies, born dead. Which is worse than them not being born at all."
"Remember when I disappeared for a month? Yeah."
"I can see where that would..." Roy shook his head and frowned. "That's screwed up." And it wasn' t that he thought his own dreams were any more screwed up than that, hell, he knew a lot of people had more disturbing ones on some level. It was more...what he'd learned abut himself that had lead to this. What he WAS now. Because he did believe the dreams were pointing out some essential truth and...there was just one answer for how to handle it.
"I go back and forth about it. I tell Shepard that I'm not that big angry turtle man. I don't want to be that big angry turtle man. You don't see me posting up things about how dangerous a weapon I could be someday. Kid." Wrex shook his head, "It isn't a pissing contest. But we're all dreaming some crazy shit. We're all dreaming about stuff we can't handle. Bottling that shit up isn't going to make it better."
"Probably not. " Roy admitted, frowning a little. "I guess that's why. It's like an outlet. Writing it down or something. Instead of the last time. Let's just say..I had a mini crisis of my own. It only lasted about a week at least." he added, with a tiny smile.
Wrex sighed, "I understand about outlets. Hell, this place is all about those. Try writing it on paper and burning it or at least locking it to friends. I've learned how to use that. Did you know phones can send messages now? You could message some people. Don't go exploding on me. I need you to not be a weapon for at least a few weeks."
"I can handle that." Roy nodded. "There's a purpose. I'm good with those."
"I'm letting you off the hook with this because you're stubborn. But I AM here and you CAN talk to me. Okay?"
"Okay." Roy gave him a little nod and smile. "Thanks." He added, not quite sure what he was thanking him for. The support or the offer or the letting him off the hook without the whole story.
"Get out of my office. Don't shoot arrows at people while under the influence." Wrex grinned at him. He had the feeling he wasn't really getting the whole story, but he was glad he'd at least gotten some of it.
"I'll do my best!" Roy smirked and headed out, glad that that was over. So far, so good?
So far, so good. Wrex was gonna take a 5 minute nap in his chair.