hopefully this is a purely academic conversation Who: Emma Summers and Velma Kelly Where: a bookstore What: trying to be civil When: recently Warnings/Rating: R for language when civility fails. Status complete
Emma wasn’t doing much resting with her half days off. She was trying to finish buying all the things they’d need for the baby and her office so that she could spend her time on true maternity leave decorating and obsessing without leaving the house.
Today, however, she was out looking for things for herself. She had the entire back of the van full of baby clothes, but little to keep her mind occupied in the long hours of nothing she would be experiencing in about a month. The bookstore was a pleasant distraction, and she smiled as she went down the aisles peering at the books about art and architecture. She was tempted to go look at the engineering and science books, but God forbid she try to build another machine anytime soon.
Velma was having her first day in weeks where she felt good enough to actually leave the house. She’d gone for a book, figuring she could at least lie on her back and read if the morning sickness came back.
She was deep in the back of the store, reading a pregnancy book, though she’d laid a few books on the floor next to her that she’d grabbed from the fiction section. She was just happy she could sit up in a relatively normal position.
Emma didn’t need any pregnancy books, but she did have a hole in her child development collection. She saw Velma, which made her attempt to move quietly. She didn’t see the books, and she wound up kicking one at Velma on accident. She put her hand over her mouth. Of all the people to run into like that, of course it was the one who disliked her the most. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you down there.” She didn’t think she’d kicked the book hard, but that wasn’t the point.
Velma jumped when she heard the book fly across the room, but she froze when she looked up and saw Emma fucking Frost. Oh, God. She didn’t need an overflow of bitch today.
Still, she tried to be nice. “It’s ok, I shouldn’t have left them on the floor.” She picked up the ones she could reach; she’d deal with the other one at another point. She didn’t want to provoke a fight that might end in vomit. She was just too fucking tired to deal.
She actually tried to be sort of nice, given what she’d heard around. “You look like you’re doing better. I heard this last round of crazy got you.” And as bitchy and rude as Emma was, she didn’t want the woman to die or anything.
Emma winced. Well, this was going to wonderful. Still, she had to deal with it, This animosity wasn’t going to get better on its own and she had better things to do. “Yes, unfortunately.” She waved it away, as though nearly dying for a week was not important. “I hope you weren’t affected.”
Velma was about to reply, but visibly changed her mind. “I got what I think is a power, of sorts. Kind of like you guys have.” She got to her feet, closing her eyes and forcing herself to think of terrifying things - being locked in a psych hospital again, miscarrying, losing Logan. It made her want to throw up - unfortunately, she had a good imagination. When she opened her eyes, though, her force fields were up. The world was a strange tinge of yellow. “Logan said it was like Sue Storm’s, whoever that is.”
Emma tried to touch Velma, and tested the shield gently. “Fascinating. And these have persisted after the end of the event.” She said it to herself. “Any unwanted side effects?” She could focus on this, this was important.
It took her a minute to calm down, to remind herself that it was only her imagination. When she had a better grip on herself, she answered, “I haven’t noticed any side effects, no. I’m sick all the time, but I’m twelve weeks into being knocked up, so if there were any side effects, I might not notice.”
Huh. “Congratulations.” She looked at the books Velma had grabbed. “I bought a lot of the same books, they’re helpful, up to a point.” If she wasn’t as big as a house she would have helped Velma pick them up, but as it was she was pretty much stuck standing there awkwardly.
Velma blinked, but had to laugh. “Sorry, just thought you knew. I’m surprised Logan didn’t tell everyone.” No matter how much he liked to protest otherwise, Logan was possibly more thrilled than her about having a baby. “I freely and totally admit I’m in uncharted waters, so books’ll probably help me. I was scared that the force fields were going to hurt the kid, but it doesn’t seem like it so far.”
“That’s typically how it goes. Either the child is immune to the effects of the mother’s mutation, or has a compatible mutation itself. When I was sick my child was unaffected.” Even though Magius thought it should be dead. The thought still gave her chills. “I’m not sure how useful the books will be. I found that they often caused more concern than was warranted for myself.”
Velma actually listened - someone who was a mutant obviously knew more than she did about this, even if it was bitchy Emma. Who was being surprisingly un-bitchy. “I’d guess the baby is immune, if only because Logan’s immune system might get passed on. Even Logan can’t cut through the force fields, by the way. We tried.”
“I noticed you use an emotional trigger to bring them up. Very interesting. Typically the child will get the powers of the mother over the father, but I’m not sure how it goes in cases where the mother isn’t a mutant. Personally I’d prefer it if our child had some completely hidden power that would only be useful for defensive purposes. Even your forcefields could have an offensive use, if you thought about it.” She wondered what Velma’s capabilities were. It was easier to deal with her if she thought of Velma as a potential student instead of a hyper emotional jerk.
Emma sounded a bit cold, but she’d rather have cold than clinical and judgmental. “For whatever reason, they seem to come up when I’m scared. The quickest way to scare me is to get me thinking about a bad turn in the future.” And if Emma commented on that, she’d get an earful. But the other comment was a fair one, and she found herself nodding. “Logan was saying the same thing about an offensive use ... I’d been thinking to protect me and the baby, but I guess I could use it almost like a battering ram.”
“Depending on the range you can get with it you could call it up in the middle of someone as well.” She shrugged. “But hopefully this is a purely academic conversation.”
“Here’s hoping.” Christ, that’d be ugly. “I’ll do what I have to, to keep Logan and Eli and this kid safe, though.” Maybe a trifle pointed, but only a trifle. Emma had actually been nice, so she’d try to be the same.
One of Emma’s eyebrows raised. “I don’t recall imply you wouldn’t, or that I took issue with the idea. Eli seems quite intelligent, and I’ve offered my help to Logan before. We’ve worked together, I’m not quite sure why-” She stopped. “Forget it. Have a good day.” She took a deep breath and turned around. She was in no mood to argue about this now.
“All I meant was that I’d do it.” Velma kept her voice calm. “One time, you told me that I ought to think twice about going down this road if I couldn’t handle it, and you were right.” Even though she hadn’t liked the snotty tone. Talking about other things would be better. “Eli is ridiculously smart, incidentally. Smarter than me and Logan put together. I’m pretty lucky she’s around.”
Emma took a deep breath. “She seems like she had a good head on her shoulders.” She could be civil, goddammit. She turned back around slowly, so she wouldn’t lose her balance.
Yes, good. Who the hell knew, maybe having better karma with Emma would make her morning sickness go away. She’d take anything right now. “Eli’s very practical. Between her and me, we think Logan has a good shot at making it to next year without hurting himself too badly. I think she knows your son, actually.” She seemed to recall that Eli was actually friends with Nate Summers. Or had been when he was younger.
Mentioning Nate made Emma relax. She realized then that she’d been gripping her books hard enough to hurt her hands, so she took one hand off and flexed it, then switched to let the other stretch. “Oh, probably. He’s friends with everyone. If he wasn’t just like Scott in almost every other way I’d assume his mother was a liar.” She even smiled a little.
“He seems like a good kid.” Velma meant it. She’d only ever seen Nate Summers being helpful and kind to people. Very unlike his parents. Hopefully Emma wasn’t listening to her think. “I don’t ask this to be rude, just because I don’t know - I had thought he was biologically yours?”
Emma’s eyes narrowed and her posture became stiff again. “No, unfortunately not. It’s a long story, and since he’s old enough to care who hears it I will leave it to him to tell. I adopted him a few months ago, when he was still young enough for it to matter.” This was stupid and pointless. There was no reason to even continue the conversation. Clearly they were just not going to get along. She made a mental note to tell Logan he was a jackass again to his face. It wouldn’t solve anything, but it would make her feel better.
Velma blinked. “I wasn’t actually trying to be rude. He’s got powers, and so do you - I guessed wrong about where they came from, I guess.” Christ. “I really didn’t intend to poke you or whatever.” That would have been a hell of a lot easier, if she’d been feeling mean.
“Look, it’s clear that this conversation isn’t doing either of us a lot of good. I appreciate the effort, and I’m pleased that you have a way to defend yourself now. Congratulations on your child, I hope you’re both breathlessly happy with each other and live long, full lives.” She shook her head. “I apologize for wasting your time. Have a good day.”
Velma’s eyebrows shot sky high. “Maybe you didn’t understand because I didn’t actually use the words. I’m sorry for offending you. I didn’t actually mean it. And I really don’t know why I seem to rub you the wrong way, but I don’t actually wish you ill will. I sincerely hope you have a safe labor, and I’ll try to stay out of your way from now on, you frigid bitch.”
Emma held on tight to her books. “Frigid bitch? Oh yes, clearly you have no interest in offending me. Nevermind the fact that you can’t go one sentence without thinking about how much you hate me, or how little use you think I am. Clearly you’re the one being maligned here, and I’m just a cunt, isn’t that right?” She took another deep breath and turned away. This was over. She was done now, no matter what Velma said or did. She had to tell herself that, because Velma was probably going to (correctly), point out that her thoughts were private and Emma shouldn’t be poking around in them anyway.
Fine, she wanted to play that way? Velma sighed. It isn’t entirely fair that I can’t hide my thoughts from you, you know. She tried to sound calm. I don’t recall ever thinking you were useless, but I do dislike you. Maybe hate you, I don’t know. The hour after I watched the man I love die in my arms, you told me to suck it up, and I can’t get past that. My fault for being unable to let go, I guess. I’d just never heard anything so cold in all my fucking life. At least she could be honest about how she felt. And now she’d let Emma go. She’d even give her the last word, if Emma was so inclined to flounce back in her direction. But she never did.