Freya Mikaelson is Tired™ (frelsi) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-09-12 05:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, finn mikaelson, freya mikaelson |
Who: Finn, Freya, NPC!Esther and Mikael
What: Esther and Mikael have concerns about Freya. Finn thinks otherwise
When: First week of September before Evie and Freya’s vacation
Where: Esther and Mikael’s
Warnings: Homophobia
Status: Log | Complete
While there was still a lot that Freya could be doing out of the county, the whole getting sick thing had sort of made her re-evaluate the schedule she’d been keeping. Being back home and not alternating which brother she was staying with also helped. But with that, and then needing to get things ready before she and Evie went on their vacation? Well, she was once again more permanently in the area as opposed to a few days a week.
Of course that also meant that she had less of an excuse to avoid seeing her parents as well. Because she’d been getting the messages. Honestly the only reason she had actually finally relented was that she wanted to keep one or both of them from showing up at either her job or Pimpernel Outreach. No, she’d see whatever it was they wanted to talk to her about and just get it over with.
Then Finn walked in and all Freya could do was groan.
“So it’s going to be one of those conversations. Great.”
Because she knew her parents. If they didn’t anticipate her getting upset, they wouldn’t have Finn there at the same time. Him and Elijah were often the ones they seemed to think would be able to moderate her reactions on whatever it was they told her or wanted to talk to her about.
When his parents had asked him to come over, Finn hadn’t known that Freya would also be there, but upon seeing his sister he really wasn’t the least bit surprised to see her. “It would appear that way.” Finn shook his head, wondering what on earth their parents really wanted to talk to them about. There were only so many topics they would want to talk to both of them about, “What did they tell you to get you over here?”
There really was only so much that they could talk about with both of them where it wasn’t a conversation that would undoubtedly get Freya riled up and them wanting to keep her supposedly a semblance of measured so that she would ‘listen to their logic’ or whatever. And given those were things that hadn’t been mentioned? Freya had a good idea on where the conversation would end up heading.
“Supposedly they just want to catch up, see how I am since I’ve been so busy lately. I only showed up so they wouldn’t decide to actually show up at work or Pimpernel Outreach.”
Finn nodded slowly, arms crossed over his chest as he listened to Freya, “Catch up. I’m sure that’s what they have in mind.” He honestly didn’t know why they continued on like this. Considering the last time they had both been at the house, Finn had stood up for Freya, before the kitchen had exploded, he didn’t see how they didn’t get that he would never take their side on anything they had to say to them. “Will they never tire of this game?”
Oh Freya was well familiar with the last time they had pulled this sort of configuration of sorts, saying that they wanted to catch up - first because of how long she’d been out of the country and now because of how busy she was - then inviting Finn along and going into something else entirely. All while playing the role of concerned parents. It was exhausting and why Freya didn’t bother with them most of the time.
“We both know the answer to that.” And the answer was no.
But before she could say much more on the fact, Esther and Mikael entered so it was seeing what they actually wanted. Which didn’t take all that long since once the pleasantries were out of the way, it was straight to the point.
“Now, we know your work is important to you however-”
And there it was. The however and Freya sent a look to Finn.
“Your father is in a difficult re-election campaign and having his eldest daughter out there giving quotes contrary to his votes isn’t exactly helpful right now as it gives his opponent ammunition to use against him.”
Okay. Not exactly what she was expecting but Freya still rolled her eyes because seriously? They were worried about Mikael’s re-election campaign and how dare her work be in contrast with his bigoted views?
“Well I’m just terribly sorry that my work and life are the complete opposite of his views.”
“Freya, that’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it though? You’re asking me to stop being so visible in my immigration and refugee work, as well as the work I do for women and children.”
“It’s not just that. Your….dalliances with that woman-”
And there was Mikael with the expected homophobia because how dare Freya actually find someone she wanted to date and spend time with and who helped her decompress from all the work she did.
Finn returned the look from Freya as he listened to their parents. It figured that this was all about them and what they felt made them look good, or bad as it seemed was the case for this particular conversation. When Evie was brought up, Finn couldn’t mask his irritation and as usual, let it be known, “Honestly, this is ridiculous. It’s 2018. There are far worse things than same sex relationships. I’m sure that many of your supporters have friends or family who are part of the LGBTQ community. Hell, some of your supporters probably are as well. But so long as they vote for you, you have no problem with that, right?” If they really thought Finn’s views on Freya’s orientation or the LGBTQ community as a whole had changed, they were sorely mistaken.
Well it was pretty much always about them. The main difference was that the last time they had really needed to worry about how Freya at least was representing them was when she’d still been in high school as she had gone to England for university and didn’t come back beyond visits until the previous year. She had left partially to get away from the constant expectations that she could never meet if she wanted to be true to herself.
Pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off a headache, Freya shook her head.
“So basically your appearance and re-election is more important than the happiness of your children. Got it, I mean I already knew that but it’s always nice to have verification.”
“Freya!”
“What? I’m not going to be someone I’m not just because it’s inconvenient to you.”
“No, she’s right.” Finn said, brow furrowing as his gaze flicked from one parent to the other, “Why did you even have children if you were simply going to order us to do things that made you look good?”
“Now that’s not true and you know it.” Esther said, frowning slightly at Finn.
Finn couldn’t help but laugh, “Isn’t it? Isn’t that what this entire thing is?” He asked, sweeping an arm towards Freya and Mikael.
They really should have expected that Finn wasn’t going to stand for this. But Freya had been the golden child no matter what she might feel on the matter, and Finn the ever dutiful son. Funny what moving away and living their own lives meant to that.
“This is ridiculous. I don’t see why you feel the need to be so obstinate about this! You’re bringing shame to this family going about things the way you are.”
Freya just set a cold glance at her father, a man she had idolized in the dreams because she only had memories up until the age of five before being ripped away, a man who here she had disagreed with countless times but had remained his favorite. Where once the comment on bringing shame to the family have given her pause (Dahlia had hung that over her head plenty of times before to keep her in line), all Freya felt was anger.
“I’d rather that while being true to myself than miserable and the perfect daughter you seem to wish I was.”
As far as Finn was concerned, that was the final straw. Turning on their father, he stared straight into his eyes, not even fully aware that he was doing it. He was simply that angry now over the way they were treating Freya, “The only one bringing shame on this family is you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Freya or her relationship.”
“Finn..” Esther was shocked and reached out for Finn’s arm, causing him to turn his penetrating gaze on her next.
“Neither of you are going to give Freya anymore grief about who she dates.” While Finn had always been closer to Esther, much like in the dreams, and had disagreed with her over things in the past, this was the first time he ever felt this level of anger at their mother. Perhaps it was also the fact that he was tried to help her kill him and his siblings in the dreams that was pushing him over the edge now.
Where Finn wasn't fully aware of what he was doing, Freya recognized right away what he was doing. And honestly, it was something she would more have expected Elijah to do as opposed to Finn. She also wasn't entirely sure on what she felt about it as well. Because it wasn't just her sexuality that was the issue. It was her beliefs, her work and that she was outspoken about it. The homophobia was just the thing that gave their parents a more visceral reaction to when it came to Freya and the entirety of her life. There was a lot running through her head, so Freya just pinched the bridge of her nose again. This was not what she had expected at all.
Finn hadn’t intended on compelling their parents tonight and even if he had, he would have thought it out better. Would have done more than try and put an end to their homophobia where Freya was concerned, but he couldn’t stop now.
“From now on you’ll leave Freya alone about her life choices and all that you’ll care about is the happiness of your children.” He knew that he had both Mikael and Esther’s attention, his pupils dilating as the compulsion took affect. After a moment he stepped back and glanced over at Freya, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.” He couldn’t quite read her reaction to what had just happened.
Well it wasn’t like Freya herself really knew what her reaction was. There was just… a lot. Nor had she ever been one who really expected her brothers to fight her fights for her. If she had (barely) survived Dahlia, she could have continued to handle their parents giving her a hard time. At the end of the day, it was her siblings’ opinions who mattered and she had brushed off Dahlia’s influence that caused her doubts for the most part.
“I mean while you’re at it, why not go for broke and just have him take back every hateful and bigoted comment he’s made and vote the opposite he has been?”
She paused.
“I mean, don’t. Because it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t undo any of the harm he’s already done to this family and really everyone and it’s not like he’d have done it of his own volition.”
And Freya would always have her thing about people having a say in their actions. She understood where compulsion could be beneficial - getting abusive assholes away from those they harmed, ensuring someone didn’t drown themselves in grief…It was a tricky situation no matter what.
Finn understood where Freya was coming from, but even if he hadn’t intended to compel their parents, he didn’t regret it. He’d had enough of the way their parents treated Freya as a result of her relationships, “Just tell me that you’re not mad at me.” Finn could deal with a lot of things, but he hated to think that Freya might be upset with him for what he’d done.
At that moment Mikael blinked, eyes narrowing, “What was I just talking about?” Finn glanced back at their parents.
There was so much that Mikael had done in his life that was horrible, that both their parents supported in the home and in public life. The harm they had done, that Esther tried to whitewash with her nonprofit work. How they treated her was the least of Freya’s concerns.
“No, of course I’m not upset with you.”
And she wasn’t. She had her issues with compulsion, especially in something like this, but she knew that Finn’s heart was in the right place and well, it would be nice to have one less thing to worry about such as them showing up at either work or Pimpernel Outreach.
But then Esther and Mikael seemed to snap out of the daze and Freya shrugged.
“Nothing of importance.”
Finn was relieved to hear that and decided that it was probably best, from now on, to try and keep better control over his temper and compulsion. At least, in the future he’d try not to make such rash decisions when it came to compelling their parents. At least when it would affect his siblings.
“Nothing you couldn’t have told us over the phone.” Finn said, nodding in agreement.