Does she sound 13?
Oct. 31st, 2007 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
perpetual_motionThe Heroes/X-Men fic of DOOM is at 16,218, and after pages and pages of Mohinder and Matt, I've gotten back to Molly, who has been sitting in a window seat considering the notion of bad parents [as it doesn't seem that she's ever had them.] Nightcrawler's come into the room, and she's talking, and I'm not sure is she sounds 13 or way too old or way too young. I remember being 13, and saying "Sucks" a lot, but that's all I've got. So read it, and tell me if she sounds at all like a 13-year-old girl of above-average intelligence who's seen some freaky shit but is still 13.
Molly looked out of the window and watched the lake ripple in the wind. She’d been in that spot for over half an hour, arms wrapped around her knees, knees tucked under her chin, and in that half hour, she’d come with nothing to explain anything about parents who sucked. She turned as she heard someone come into the room, ready to move if asked, and she saw Kurt, book in one odd-looking hand. He spotted her as well and smiled.
“Hello, Madchen. Are you done with your tour?”
“We got to the swimming pool.” She smiled when Kurt tweaked the ends of her hair that way Mohinder did sometimes.
“You did not go in,” Kurt guessed.
“Nah. Matt started talking to Scott and,” Molly paused, wondering how to phrase it. “Do you have parents?” She asked Kurt finally, relieved to see him smile at the question.
“Naturellement, but I did not know them.”
“Did they die?”
“No, but it is best we not know one another.” Kurt gestured to the open section of the window seat. “May I?”
“Sure.” Molly rearranged herself to give Kurt more room. She wasn’t sure how much space the tail would need. “So you don’t know your parents at all?”
“I know the people who raised me. That is enough. I traveled mit the circus in Germany. I was an acrobat.” He smiled when Molly smiled.
“That’s cool.” Molly looked out the window at the lake again. “My mom and dad died when I was eight. I was hiding, and Matt found me, and then The Company had me for awhile until Mohinder came and found me. And then he and Matt adopted me.”
“And you are happy.”
“Yeah. I mean, they’re cool, for dads, but Mr. Summers said that you have kids here who have parents who just leave them here, and I guess…” Molly looked at Kurt and gave an expansive sigh. “It’s not that I don’t get that some parents kinda suck, you know? I mean, I have this friend, Jenny, and her mom hit her, and her dad’s just kinda, out there, somewhere, and so she’s with this foster family who are pretty cool, but I mean, it’s just-“ Molly cut off and bit her bottom lip. “I dunno. It just sucks more, I guess, when it’s not beause your mom’s always been a jerk but because you have this genentic mutation that isn’t even your fault. Don’t people understand how genetics work?”
Kurt had to force down the smile that he could feel trying to rise up. Nothing like a kid trying to understand the world to make him hopelessly happy. “Even if we explain it, I do not think it will help. Prejudice isn’t science.”
“Prejudice sucks.”
“Yes,” Kurt agreed, deciding that less was more.
Molly put her chin back on her knees and sighed again, the worn-out sigh of a thirteen-year-old discovering that the world was just a bit worse than she’d suspected. “I feel bad for them, you know? I remember my parents being really awesome, and then I got my dads, and they’re kinda dorks, but – I punched this guy at school because he was being mean to my friends, and my dads bought me ice cream. I mean, that’s cool. Most kids would get grounded, and I get ice cream.”
“Ice cream is gut, but I do not think that is your point.”
“I’ve had two sets of parents who are, like, really good at being parents, and I get that makes me lucky, but it makes me sad, too, because then there’s all these people whose parents are bad at being parents, and they’re just stuck where they are.”
Molly looked out of the window and watched the lake ripple in the wind. She’d been in that spot for over half an hour, arms wrapped around her knees, knees tucked under her chin, and in that half hour, she’d come with nothing to explain anything about parents who sucked. She turned as she heard someone come into the room, ready to move if asked, and she saw Kurt, book in one odd-looking hand. He spotted her as well and smiled.
“Hello, Madchen. Are you done with your tour?”
“We got to the swimming pool.” She smiled when Kurt tweaked the ends of her hair that way Mohinder did sometimes.
“You did not go in,” Kurt guessed.
“Nah. Matt started talking to Scott and,” Molly paused, wondering how to phrase it. “Do you have parents?” She asked Kurt finally, relieved to see him smile at the question.
“Naturellement, but I did not know them.”
“Did they die?”
“No, but it is best we not know one another.” Kurt gestured to the open section of the window seat. “May I?”
“Sure.” Molly rearranged herself to give Kurt more room. She wasn’t sure how much space the tail would need. “So you don’t know your parents at all?”
“I know the people who raised me. That is enough. I traveled mit the circus in Germany. I was an acrobat.” He smiled when Molly smiled.
“That’s cool.” Molly looked out the window at the lake again. “My mom and dad died when I was eight. I was hiding, and Matt found me, and then The Company had me for awhile until Mohinder came and found me. And then he and Matt adopted me.”
“And you are happy.”
“Yeah. I mean, they’re cool, for dads, but Mr. Summers said that you have kids here who have parents who just leave them here, and I guess…” Molly looked at Kurt and gave an expansive sigh. “It’s not that I don’t get that some parents kinda suck, you know? I mean, I have this friend, Jenny, and her mom hit her, and her dad’s just kinda, out there, somewhere, and so she’s with this foster family who are pretty cool, but I mean, it’s just-“ Molly cut off and bit her bottom lip. “I dunno. It just sucks more, I guess, when it’s not beause your mom’s always been a jerk but because you have this genentic mutation that isn’t even your fault. Don’t people understand how genetics work?”
Kurt had to force down the smile that he could feel trying to rise up. Nothing like a kid trying to understand the world to make him hopelessly happy. “Even if we explain it, I do not think it will help. Prejudice isn’t science.”
“Prejudice sucks.”
“Yes,” Kurt agreed, deciding that less was more.
Molly put her chin back on her knees and sighed again, the worn-out sigh of a thirteen-year-old discovering that the world was just a bit worse than she’d suspected. “I feel bad for them, you know? I remember my parents being really awesome, and then I got my dads, and they’re kinda dorks, but – I punched this guy at school because he was being mean to my friends, and my dads bought me ice cream. I mean, that’s cool. Most kids would get grounded, and I get ice cream.”
“Ice cream is gut, but I do not think that is your point.”
“I’ve had two sets of parents who are, like, really good at being parents, and I get that makes me lucky, but it makes me sad, too, because then there’s all these people whose parents are bad at being parents, and they’re just stuck where they are.”
