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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 1:40:18 GMT -5
Sid smirked. "I've been told I oughta try politics, once or twice. I say no thanks--ya couldn't pay me enough for that. 'Sides, I like the job I got."
"Somehow I can't help but feel a little worried," Miriam murmured. "Maybe the man is alright, but will he stay alright? 'Power corrupts', and all that. Just getting promoted in the medical examiner's office was enough to turn a few nice people into real savages--professionally speaking."
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 1:47:02 GMT -5
Daws shook her head. "Your guess is good as mine is, Doc. I never cared any for politics. Always seemed to me like if you vote for a bad guy, they're pretty much all the same -- and if you vote for a good guy, the job pretty quickly turns him into a bad one. But . . ."
She lay back and laced her fingers behind her head, "Cole didn't sell out to Tiernan when he first could've. I don't think he would've, if me and the kid hadn't come along. All these years, seein' what it's like inside a crooked politician's head . . ." She shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe it's taught him better'n to go crooked himself."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 1:53:36 GMT -5
"In that case, he'd be better fer humans too--not just mutants," Sid observed.
Alex idly plucked a blade of grass and chewed it. "So you think the rest of us'll have a chance to meet Cole, or is he going to be more of a silent partner?"
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 2:05:12 GMT -5
Daws shrugged. "He seemed interested in meeting the rest of the resistance, but I think it's better if we wait a while. Tiernan's interested in Cole -- and I don't want anyone followin' him to the rest of you. But once it's relatively safe I don't see any reason why he couldn't be introduced -- at least to you guys."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 2:10:12 GMT -5
"So what's next on the agenda?" Sid asked. "Do we just sit around an' wait for Tiernan to make another move before we can do somethin' useful again?"
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 2:23:00 GMT -5
"I went by Our Lady after talkin' to Cole and Tiernan," Daws replied. "Vance was there -- and between him an' me havin' some choice words over his use of the Doc's name," she scowled lightly, "He told me somethin' kinda interesting.
"Apparently there's gonna be some sorta big scientific conference this comin' week. Couple of the bigshots there aren't so fond of mutants -- at least accordin' to Vance. Vance's gonna be 'keepin' an eye on things' -- and he suspects Tiernan will be, too."
She shooed an inquisitive fly away from the remains of the picnic. "I thought I'd call Caddy, see if he knows anythin' about it. Might be worth us keepin' an eye on -- in case Tiernan tries anything."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 2:37:18 GMT -5
Miriam's expression darkened. "For once, it isn't necessarily Tiernan I'd worry about. I went to a few science seminars in my time--and I've met one or two of those mutaphobe scientist types. Without even knowing what I was, they still scared the heck out of me. They have their own ideas about what they'd like to do with us."
"My folks usedta tell me about what they saw the Nazis do with 'science'," Sid rumbled. I've always kinda wondered... if history was gonna repeat itself."
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 2:49:27 GMT -5
Daws rolled over onto her stomach and glanced at Sid in surprise. "I never knew your folks lived under the Nazis."
She flinched slightly -- it didn't take a genius to know that a family with a name like Rosenstein hadn't fared well in Nazi Germany. "I guess that explains some things, though." She added quietly.
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 3:14:45 GMT -5
"Yeah." Sid rubbed his jaw absently, his gaze wandering off into the woods. "A concentration camp is where my parents met. They were real young then; they were strong, they held on through the forced labor. But their parents didn't."
He turned his gaze back to the detective. "That's why people like you an' Foxy an' the Doc mean somethin' to me. I never knew my grandparents, 'cause somebody decided they were too different to live. An' I saw how my folks' memories hurt 'em to the day they died." He smiled wanly and shrugged. "I'm not gonna let those things happen again--not if I can help it. Not to my daughter, or any of you."
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 3:30:12 GMT -5
Daws nodded gravely, her eyes meeting the older man's. "Thank you, Sid."
She unsheathed the claws of her left hand and stared at them meditatively. "I like to believe that the world's really an okay place, y'know -- once you scrape through a couple layers of ugliness, anyhow. I like to think that even with all we gotta put up with, things're gonna get better -- that eventually people'll realize there's nothing all that different about any of us. Even those of us who look like I do." She smiled wryly and sheathed her claws.
"I'm either the world's most cynical optimist, or the world's most optimistic cynic," She remarked. "But I don't think history'll repeat itself, Sid. 'Cause either the world's smartened up enough to avoid it," She glanced at her friends, "Or else the people like us will dig in our heels and fight it off."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 3:40:46 GMT -5
"The good folks fightin' back I might believe--but I wouldn't bet the world's gotten any smarter," Sid replied grimly. "I scraped through enough a' those layers of ugliness just on the human-to-human side a' things. It's a little harder fer me to be positive."
Alex grinned at his friend. "Are you kidding, Sid? You're living proof of how people can change. I didn't know you when you were running with the Comancini bunch, but I've heard the stories. Far as I can tell, you couldn't be more different now."
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 3:51:56 GMT -5
Daws nodded in agreement, thinking about Joey Falco. "It isn't easy," she murmured, "But people can walk away from the ugliness, if they just try hard enough."
She smiled at Sid. "I didn't know ya back then, either -- but even if I had, it wouldn't matter." She ducked her head. "You've been good to me -- you an' your family. That's enough for me."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 4:02:31 GMT -5
Sid blushed, and it looked peculiar on him. "Oh, I'm just a people person."
Further conversation was cut short by the rustling of the brush, as the children returned, their bags laden with wild blackberries.
"The woods are full of 'em this year!" Holly proclaimed, dropping her bag on the picnic blanket.
"Ya didn't get scratched by any brambles, did ya?" Sid quizzed the children. They collectively responded in the negative, looking bored with their father's concern.
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 4:07:49 GMT -5
Daws chuckled at the telltale stains on the kids' lips and fingers. "Looks like you guys have already sampled the goods," she grinned, rolling into a sitting position.
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 4:14:28 GMT -5
"Well, of course!" Tara replied brightly, grinning. "After all, we have to find out which bushes have sweet berries and which have tart ones."
Alex smiled, chewing on a berry. "If we've got enough, I can take some home and make blackerry jelly. Nothing from the store can ever match stuff made with real wild berries."
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 4:20:48 GMT -5
"I'd like to try that." Daws grinned and reached for the berries -- then paused and glanced at the kids' blue-stained fingers again.
Chuckling, she used two extended claws to dip into the nearest bag. "Somethin' tells me those stains'd take ages to come outta my fur," she remarked, popping a blackberry into her mouth. "Of course, it probably still wouldn't be as bad as the time I knocked an inkwell over on my arm."
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 4:28:44 GMT -5
Sid blinked at Daws. "I didn't think anybody'd used inkwells for a hundred years. You got some cute quirks."
"Nothing could be worse than the time I whipped up some homemade spirit gum," Alex reminisced, with a sheepish grin and a shake of his head. "I used it to get made up like an old man for an act--and I think I lost about ten layers of skin getting it off."
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 4:34:40 GMT -5
"Yowch." Daws grimaced. "Yeah, that beats my incident with the superglue by a long shot." She held out her right elbow, which was missing a small but conspicuous patch of fur. "Haven't used the stuff since." She added, wincing at the memory.
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Post by Jordanna on Jun 21, 2006 4:40:01 GMT -5
"It's too bad you couldn't try out makeup, though," Alex grinned. "It's fun to turn yourself into somebody else. Hey--drop in backstage at the Paragon sometime, and we'll goof off with the costumes in the wardrobe room. I bet you'd like that."
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Post by skybright on Jun 21, 2006 4:52:51 GMT -5
"Yeah, that does sound like fun," Daws grinned back. "I do my share of actin' when I'm working -- but it's mostly just fast-talking desk clerks and secretaries into tellin' me what I wanna know. Not much point in disguises or costumes -- unless ya count the coat and the fedora as one, which I don't."
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