Ninja Drama

No, there were no ninjas involved. But last night's "drama" snuck up on me.

Most of the night was relatively quiet. Yeah, Mase gave Fyre the back rub. Fyre knew what to expect. Fyre's not dumb. She doesn't have a lot of the kind of knowledge that E, the doctor, does, or Mason, the former chemist, does, but she's experienced with people. Particularly with people who want something from her. Giving someone a massage in the middle of Pocket D doesn't have anything to do with relaxation, or even the outside chance at seduction. Mason wanted something. She didn't know what until he studied the mark on her neck, and then she figured it out.

For someone who said no more lies and no more secrets, Mason's been untruthful at best, deceitful at worse. It made her mad, probably as expected.
Star had joined them and was acting strange. You know, stranger than usual. But Fyre was preoccupied, and when it was clear that Star wasn't hurt or in danger, Fyre just had more immediate concerns.

Fyre pulled E aside to tell him about the guy that Malta had kidnapped. She knew talking to E alone would make Mason and Frost suspicious, but she wasn't willing let out information that E would want kept quiet, even to Star. As soon as she was able, she at least told them what it was about, so they wouldn't be concerned. Of course, she doesn't care if they trust her or not, right? Of course not. Right. Suurre, she doesn't.

Throughout the night, Fyre was acting more than a bit "out of it," and a little vague. Uh, that was mostly the player. Long day, player was tired and preoccupied. But, it fit Fyre's storyline nicely, so I let it go, and even played it up some. Fyre's not sleeping, stressed, scared, and trying to manage entirely too many things. So if she doesn't pay attention when someone talks, goes the wrong direction, or stares into space for long periods of time, it's really no wonder.

Fyre considers one of her "people" being caught as another failure on her part. But she can't let herself doubt the plans or the people, or she'll make herself crazy worrying about Jen's safety. Fyre's putting only herself at risk, and both character and player slipped last night when Fyre said, "No one knows where Jen is except for me and the people with her." She and I didn't think anyone caught it, but she admitted that she knew where Jen was, when she had claimed not to previously. Fyre figures that eventually, Strym's going to go the direct route to get to Jen, and the only way to get to Jen is first find someone who knows where she is. If the others don't know, Strym has no reason to go after them. And, you can't tell information you don't have. She knows she won't tell, no matter what Strym does, but she's not willing to risk Jen's safety with anyone else.

While she was talking to E, though, she noticed that he was "glowing" more than before. He denied it, and she agreed, just to avoid an argument. She knows something's going on. She doesn't know what, though.

So, Council caves, Council World complete with Nazi parade march music... all pretty quiet, drama-wise. Mason dismisses Star, and they head to their next mission in King's Row. E gets there first, and he's on fire. Fyre's had nightmares like that for almost a year. She's shocked enough that she's almost not sure of what she's seeing for a minute. Cutting through Pocket D, someone had thrown fire shields on him, and she realizes that's what it is before E explains, but it was still a very unpleasant image for her.

Now that the four of them are alone, they discuss what Fyre told E. Nice, calm discussion. Mostly. Mason's a bit dense, and E is less than patient with him.

E starts rubbing his arm, and Mason tries to help him. E seems to very much NOT want help. Fyre stands back. There's nothing she can do, after all. Mason's the comforter, the healer. She's the destroyer, she does the damage. That's always been her role in the team, and in situations like this, she usually feels like she has nothing to contribute. And, E really, really doesn't seem to want "help." But then E starts saying he has to get to his "appointment." Fyre doesn't trust these "appointments" in the least. He's secretive and maybe a little obsessive about them, and they seem to be making him worse. E's not a good liar or secret-keeper. Something is very wrong here. He needs help, which becomes more and more apparent. His hospital teleporter kicks in, and the question of what to do with him is taken out of their hands.

(In the logs now, I see that E's player had exited the character from the team, but I'd already hit the teleport for Fyre to drag him back, and I didn't even see that line until today)

So... they all band together and cooperate to find a solution to the problem.

Yeah, right.

They're stunned, shocked, concerned, scared, and lost. Fyre's trying to think of something to do, and even wondering if there were signs that something this extreme was going to happen. Mason's unhappy about his apparent helplessness. He prompts Fyre to work on getting them more information. Fyre replies, condensed and paraphrased, "Duh." She is still angry about one of her "people's" failure, and has added that to the mistakes that she's made recently. She's working herself up to a rant, and Mason interrupts to say that he's sorry he was angry at her for not doing enough for E.

What?

She's done everything she feel she possibly could for E. She tried to help him get Jen back, and when necessary, she's put herself at risk to keep Jen, and E, safe. She gave him a place to stay, and more, when he needed it. During which time, Mason was a homicidal psychopath who wanted to kill them both, and not much after that, a ticking time bomb that they dragged around with them, trying to help him, with no help at all from him. As far as she's concerned, she's the only one who's actually working on the problem of Strym. Mason and E talk a lot, but they haven't done anything. She'd love to charge up to Strym and set him on fire... or as the case may be, turn him into one of those little fluff-balls that follow her around. But that's not possible, so she's been doing the only other thing that's open to her.

Mason plows on, telling her that she hasn't "taken care of" E. The hints he throws out seem to have a lot less to do with keeping E safe, and a lot more with significant-otherly duties, which Mason admits that E doesn't want from him. Fyre did that at one point, but it ended, prompted in no small part by the fight that Fyre and E had when Fyre bailed Mason out of jail. Fyre hasn't really explained that to Mason, though he's asked, because she doesn't want him to blame himself. When Mason hints now that it was because Fyre failed, she yells it at him.

She doesn't know what else she could have possibly done to "take care of" E. She suggests that she should let Strym kill her again, and maybe that would appease Mason. Mason, though, hears differently, and thinks that she's implying that she's cut, or attempted to cut, a deal with Strym. He throws up all his armors and tries to act threatening and intimidating. She's never been afraid of Mason, even when he was trying to kill her, so she's doubly not impressed now. And, also, more pissed off than ever. Threatening Fyre isn't going to get you anywhere you want to go.

Mason backs down from that tactic, and says he expected Fyre to be "maternal." When Mason says "maternal," she hears "weak, girly, silly," and a ton of other stereotypical, negative female roles. Fyre is incredibly protective of people she thinks deserve it. She's done it with E and Mason most notably, but also Star and to some degree Frost. While he's said she hasn't done enough for E, she thought he meant things like protective, but with "maternal," and "girl things," she's seeing that all along, he's meant "girlfriend things."

Mason says, "And that's probably all he wanted out of you."

What? That's all she's capable of? No way. The anger sky-rockets. "That's not all he wanted. Some men appreciate women that aren't weaklings. Some men like equals." Men who aren't "weaklings" themselves, who are confident enough not to be intimidated by a woman who's not a push-over. Like E. Not like Mason. Mason keeps going on his "maternal" rift, though, and he's equating "maternal" with "protective." Not only is she not buying it, but it's making her see red.

She screams at him, "What the fuck else did you want me to do? I died for him--" As soon as she says it, she realizes what she's said. Something she hasn't even said to herself. If she did die for him, then, in a way, her death was his fault.

Before Malta came up recently, she mentioned her death twice. Once in one sentence to E and Mason when they all regrouped, at the beginning of Team 2.0, and once to E, when they were fighting, in very cold, clinical terms. She hasn't thought about it, and certainly hasn't dealt with it.

Mason admits that he was wrong for saying that she hasn't done enough for E. It's too late, though, the damage has been done. Mason's already said what he thinks of her, that she's inadequate, untrustworthy, and good for little more than "girl things," which she can't even do right. Worse, the things that she has tried to do, above and beyond the things that Mason thinks she's capable of or that Mason himself is capable of, haven't worked.

Mason offers to let her hit him if it will make her feel better. Hitting things is Mason's answer to most questions, and the last thing she wants to do at that moment is be anything like Mason, though maybe she would really like to hit him. If he'd made the offer five minutes before, she'd have probably taken him up on it.

Mason suggests that he should go away for awhile. Mason likes to run away from things, Fyre knows. Usually she tries her best to make him see things through, but right now she just doesn't care, and definitely doesn't want him around. He's ceased to be any kind of help, and he's done his best to hurt her, just when she trusted him again.

E is out of of commission, Fyre's barely holding it together, Mason's... well, who can keep track of Mason?, and poor Frost is probably traumatized from everything he's seen and heard, and/or suffering radiation sickness. Team Angst should be... interesting tonight.