several kinds

[thaumobabble]

Glass appears in the Belltower, where the Jokers less Felicity are still assembled.

"There are," she announces, "kinds of you."

Comments

[pythbox]

"...I feel weird 'cause I'm on the other side of this from most of us," he says. "I was never the kid they're talking about. But I wish there was a way for Golden to understand it better than that. But I get what the Joker's saying about her, too; she's the way she is because that's the life she's lived and the way she's lived it, and you can't just wish people would stop being themselves."

[thaumobabble]

"I mean, she will probably follow reasonably well-operationalized advice about how to interact with Felicity. I just can't promise she won't feel smug while she does it."

[pythbox]

"Fuck it, then," Corona mutters.

[gunpowdergelatine]

Queenie pops across the room to snuggle him.

"Thing is," she says, "I don't think we have advice. We just have - feelings."

[pythbox]

"How about 'don't ever talk to him, 'cause he can smell smug from a mile upwind and he'll hate you for it'," Corona suggests, "is that operationalized?"

[thaumobabble]

"'Don't ever talk to him' is operationalized," says Glass. "The rest of it would probably only serve to make her defensive."

[pythbox]

Corona opens his mouth, and then shuts it again.

[gunpowdergelatine]

Queenie hugs him some more.

[thaumobabble]

Glass looks at Corona, but doesn't actually formulate a question.

[manofmyword]

The Joker nods approvingly.

[thaumobabble]

"So - am I telling Golden not to interact with her new grandfosterling?"

[pythbox]

"If she's going to be smug about him—" says Corona, and then he stops himself and takes a breath and continues more calmly, "yeah, that's a pretty good plan."

[thaumobabble]

"I don't know that she is!" exclaims Glass. "She's in a position from which smugness is easy, that doesn't mean that she'll react to everything that way."

[pythbox]

"Well," says Corona, "if she's smug about him, and if he notices - and I'm pretty sure he'd notice - then either he won't give a shit about her any which way, or it'll hurt him and he won't deal well. So maybe better just to avoid the whole problem. Unless she wants to take the chance, I guess. But you said telling her what's up would make her defensive, so..." He shrugs.

[thaumobabble]

"Putting it the way you put it would. I'm trying to think if there's - I mean, if one of my daughters were bringing up a fosterling, I'd want to meet the kid," says Glass. "If the kid needed particular care in handling, I'd do my best to accommodate that - but then my eldest already requires care in handling, so maybe I'm just used to it."

[pythbox]

"Yeah?" says Corona, slightly hopeful. "Do you get it, then?"

[thaumobabble]

"I still don't know what you mean by 'get it'. I think maybe all I get is that I don't get it."

[pythbox]

"Well, that's a start," says Corona.

[thaumobabble]

"I keep thinking about Carinna. Probably Felicity isn't anything like Carinna. Carinna's not traumatized, she just - she got all my malcontentment and most of Sherlock's depressive tendencies and none of either set of coping mechanisms."

[pythbox]

"Yeah. Well, if Felicity is anything like me at that age... he hasn't really figured out people yet," says Corona. "The way he sees the world is - everything is dangerous, everything is going to hurt him, it's just a matter of when and how. You get so you don't even feel scared anymore, you don't notice it as a feeling, but even when you're not feeling it it's still there. Under everything. It's exhausting. Sometimes it's almost comforting to just sit there and feel it for a while, and sometimes it's the worst thing in the world and there's nothing you can do to get away from it."

He closes his eyes and leans into Queenie's arms.

"Like when I was in the sun," says Harley. "But with fear instead of pain."

"Yeah," says Corona, "a lot like that."

Harley piles on to the Queenie-and-Corona hug.

[thaumobabble]

"I hestitate to - but - Golden has that empath brother-in-law, is this the sort of thing that could be usefully addressed directly?"

[pythbox]

Harley and Corona both shake their heads.

"He'd never agree to it," says Corona. "And I'm not sure how much it would help even if he did."

[thaumobabble]

"Yeah, long shot. Should I bring him a poof?"

[pythbox]

...Harley giggles. "You know what, yes," he says. "Bring him a poof. And a poof fountain."

Corona nods slowly, looking thoughtful.

[thaumobabble]

Glass looks at Corona, again without forming a question.