"Now who's being depressing," he quips with no edge or steel in it, murmuring a thanks as Fitz hands him the drink. He can't help the pull of a proud smile that he turns into the glass for a sip to busy himself.
"She does seem pretty regular. Almost too regular. I'm honestly blown away. A real shame that bein' here is gonna fuck it up inside three months. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see her, but this place isn't exactly easy. The only good news is that there seems to be a good clutch of people willin' to help keep an eye on her. That helps."
"How is that depressing? In this moment, you should be in the middle of hoping that your kid will like spending time with you."
He shakes his head. "There is that being a little too normal is generally a sign that there's some level of poorly adjusted somewhere, but still much better than if the normal bit isn't there. But, yeah, she's definitely going to hit a new level of fucked up from being here." There's no point in lying about that.
"I think you and I might be miles apart on the opinion of kids mixin' their drunken parents drink. I'd rather spend time with her that ain't me half crawling into a bottle. Which is, kind of exactly, part of why I'm here."
And thank god he had a drink in his hand, he fucking needed it.
"Malcolm thinks she has the starts of anger issues, but I think she's just 15. I hate that the Admiral lets kids on here like this. I know we got a few, Hunter, Nathaniel, but- Feels wrong, asking them to shoulder all this shit."
"The bit where I was twenty is probably another difference." He shrugs. "Lotta people I grew up around probably had a 'problem' with drinking, but that wasn't mum. We did always not fit in with the neighbors."
He laughs.
"Yeah, I'd have a hard time untangling being fifteen and anger issues. I was angry as hell when I was fifteen, and it didn't prove to be a start of longer term issues with anger. 'At least they're not dead' does offer something, when you're talking about inmates. Also you know they're already deeply fucked up, so it's just some new flavors."
"Yeah, that's about where I'm at with it. When you're a hammer, everything's a nail. But yeah, age has a lot to do with it. I know most folks start drinkin' early over on that side of the pond, so I just figured..." He shrugs a little.
"I don't know what I woulda done, she came in as an inmate," he huffs. "But I can wave her innocence goodbye. And now I gotta worry about... boys." The worst thing, outside of everything else that the Barge was made up of, was at least the most normal.
"Oh, I definitely started drinking way earlier than that. But there was far and away too much other stuff for that to ever be my impression of my mum."
He waves. "Now, now. You know full well that you don't have to worry about boys. You have to worry about boys and girls. But, yeah, people can use this place as a chance to be nice. Or whatever it is that says it's embarrassing to get into a fight with a teenager."
"Never sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," he admits with a huff.
But what Fitz follows with gets a grimace.
"Might hav'to. Not exactly somethin' I think is totally appropriate for me to be askin' about though. I can't say I'm sorry that she got unleashed on the populace. They need to understand how Earth Teenagers are."
"I don't have any kids, and never will. I know that in some times that sort of thing is something you might casually want to bring up to be clear that you wouldn't think it's the worst thing to be arrested for, and then far enough in the future you don't have to say anything cause it's just assumed."
He laughs a little. "I'm not entirely sure that people need to know how Earth Teenagers are. Talking as someone... talking to someone who was once an Earth Teenager." He hadn't quite been at the right time to be called a teenager himself.
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"She does seem pretty regular. Almost too regular. I'm honestly blown away. A real shame that bein' here is gonna fuck it up inside three months. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see her, but this place isn't exactly easy. The only good news is that there seems to be a good clutch of people willin' to help keep an eye on her. That helps."
no subject
He shakes his head. "There is that being a little too normal is generally a sign that there's some level of poorly adjusted somewhere, but still much better than if the normal bit isn't there. But, yeah, she's definitely going to hit a new level of fucked up from being here." There's no point in lying about that.
no subject
And thank god he had a drink in his hand, he fucking needed it.
"Malcolm thinks she has the starts of anger issues, but I think she's just 15. I hate that the Admiral lets kids on here like this. I know we got a few, Hunter, Nathaniel, but- Feels wrong, asking them to shoulder all this shit."
no subject
He laughs.
"Yeah, I'd have a hard time untangling being fifteen and anger issues. I was angry as hell when I was fifteen, and it didn't prove to be a start of longer term issues with anger. 'At least they're not dead' does offer something, when you're talking about inmates. Also you know they're already deeply fucked up, so it's just some new flavors."
no subject
"I don't know what I woulda done, she came in as an inmate," he huffs. "But I can wave her innocence goodbye. And now I gotta worry about... boys." The worst thing, outside of everything else that the Barge was made up of, was at least the most normal.
"People are seemin' nice enough about it though."
no subject
He waves. "Now, now. You know full well that you don't have to worry about boys. You have to worry about boys and girls. But, yeah, people can use this place as a chance to be nice. Or whatever it is that says it's embarrassing to get into a fight with a teenager."
no subject
But what Fitz follows with gets a grimace.
"Might hav'to. Not exactly somethin' I think is totally appropriate for me to be askin' about though. I can't say I'm sorry that she got unleashed on the populace. They need to understand how Earth Teenagers are."
no subject
"I don't have any kids, and never will. I know that in some times that sort of thing is something you might casually want to bring up to be clear that you wouldn't think it's the worst thing to be arrested for, and then far enough in the future you don't have to say anything cause it's just assumed."
He laughs a little. "I'm not entirely sure that people need to know how Earth Teenagers are. Talking as someone... talking to someone who was once an Earth Teenager." He hadn't quite been at the right time to be called a teenager himself.