[Deleted]

lots of fake in this space

CAN YOU MAKE IT STOP?

Mattie's dance came to an abrupt stop, and the hair on her neck bristled. Noah had full control, and she would've been fooling herself if she thought for a second she was alright with it. Maybe it was because she usually had the control? A sense of loss overcame her. Then suddenly, she was calm. It was an odd feeling, being on the other end of the command. It had started almost forced, but then her mind did as told - of course she would calm down, why not? 

She held his gaze, and smirked. "You would ask. It's sort of like deja vu I imagine. Every time now that I'm around you, I'll remember this time when I was....calm. Not necessarily snapping in and out - sort of a lingering memory." 

She worried only momentarily before the smoothness of his voice coaxed her. "A secret? I hate my mother. I wish she were dead," the words tasted of vinegar as they spilled from her mouth - but Mattie knew it was true. She'd never much told Noah how she'd ended up in Los Eurosia for medical school - he'd mainly been interested in getting her involved with Blackstorm, which of course had been a success. He wasn't one much for small talk and banter - though she imagined he may pry at her secret, Mattie didn't show much of her family didn't lead with her family's mess, though she didn't care who heard of her hate for Mattis Sr, either.

Noah St Cloud

[Noah St Cloud]

[nospaces]

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[attr="class","NoahLpostlyric"]Just as a flower does not choose its color,[break]
we are not responsible for what[break]
we have come to be

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostingbox"][break]

The secret he’d asked for came quickly and vehemently. Noah’s brow shot up and he let out a low whistle. “Yikes. Fighting words.” Still, he knew enough about Mattie to guess why she would feel such a way. A little digging into her background was par for the course; Noah always researched potential recruits before approaching them, just in case they were Sector loyalists or had ties to hunters or were just generally people who would betray the location of Blackstorm’s main hideout. [break][break]

“Your mother… You’re named after her, right?” For all of Jacob’s faults, at least he hadn’t been interested in that particular tradition. Carrying that man’s name, hearing it used every day to refer to to Noah would truly have been hell. He couldn’t find it in himself to feel grateful for that small mercy though. Not by a long shot. “I always thought it took a very particular brand of narcissist to name their kid after themselves. It’s not unusual to love hearing your name, but to love your name so much that you give it to your kid? Weird. Definitely something off about that. How come you haven’t had yours legally changed?”[break][break]

“And wishing she were dead, well…” He tutted, shaking his head. “Like I said, those are some fighting words, Mattie-blue-blue. If you really and truly meant it… You would’ve made it happen.” God knew he had. “You have your hypnosis, after all. Seems like you could commit the perfect crime; how would anyone know?”[break][break]

But perhaps Mattie had a shred of hope, a distant wondering buried in her skull about the possibility of their relationship somehow becoming better. Maybe she was still waiting on that final straw. Just a small, petty action to push her over the edge – like it had for him. [break][break]

Or maybe normal people didn’t find it so easy to murder.[break][break]

He grinned. “Stand on one leg until I tell you to stop.” What would happen once she became physically unable to do it for any longer? If her other foot touched the ground, would she panic? Hasten to pick it up again? Snap out of the spell altogether?[break][break]

He tapped his fingers against his arms, tilting his head to scrutinise her. “Your mom – she the one who put you in a psych hospital?” [break][break][break]

---

[break]

OOC: Let me know if you’d rather Noah didn’t know about the psychiatric hospital, I can just edit out the last para c:

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[attr="class","NoahLPostTag"]Tag: @mattis

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[Deleted]

lots of fake in this space

CAN YOU MAKE IT STOP?

The words shot at her and they stung for a moment - mostly she was sour that she couldn't change her name - Ambrose would have been devastated. But of course - what an honor to be called the same as such a fantastic physician - a beacon of promise and hope in her work, a dedicated scholar. Not to mention that she was technically Mattis Fox the fifty-ith, though her and her mother were the only ones that shared "Ophelia" as a middle name. She rolled her eyes, "If I even considered changing my name, my dear father would die of a heart attack. Family traditions are sort of his thing," she remembered how he had begged, practically down on his knees, for Mattis to pursue medicine. She'd finally agreed just to get him to stop. Fortunately for her, though, she found the emergency room and developed a passion - or at least she mustered up enough enjoyment to make a living out of it.

Her left leg raised, bending at her side. Noah sure was having fun - at least he was having her do foolish things though, rather than dangerous. She stiffened a bit - of course he had done his research. "Firstly - she did not have me committed. The correct term is 'evaluated'. My stay was approximately one day, seventeen hours, and thirty minutes." She paused, adding in a more melancholy tone, "And of course it was mother. She's a witch." Her head shook from side to side, "I think that is quite enough for the day, don't you?"

Noah St Cloud

ooc: no worries lol, mattie will just now shut down instead of talking out her family issues bc why would she talk to someone? bottle it up, bottle it up lol

[Noah St Cloud]

[nospaces]

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[attr="class","NoahLpostlyric"]Just as a flower does not choose its color,[break]
we are not responsible for what[break]
we have come to be

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostingbox"][break]

Noah nodded along to her explanation. He was familiar with the importance of naming traditions to some people; his own family had been obsessed with ensuring every single member had a name that was written in the Bible. Blessed names, his grandparents had called them. He’d wondered if the sentiment included the names of bad people in there as well. Would they have been pleased with Cain? Herodias? Abimelech? [break][break]

Part of him wanted to sarcastically comment that it sounded like Mattie was completely over being evaluated, since she remembered the exact amount of time she was in there, but he only held up his hands in surrender for a brief moment. “I meet so many people these days who dislike one or both of their parents,” he mused. “It’s truly an epidemic.”[break][break]

A wiser person might have taken the hint and backed away from the topic of family, but Noah was still curious and wanted to press. It was wholly possible that he was perhaps a little cockier than he’d usually be in her presence, being in possession of her gift. “You didn’t answer my question, though…” Though perhaps the avoidance of it was an answer in itself. “Perfect crime?” he prompted. “Or, well, you could just command her to leave you alone forever. And command your dad not to care about your relationship with her. So why haven’t you?” He was trying so hard to understand. Mattie's mother was evidently still causing her distress - why allow it to go on? If he’d had her gift from birth, well… His family would have been far more agreeable. They’d probably be alive. “Why not use your gift to change your mom? You could have made your family perfect.”

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[attr="class","NoahLPostTag"]Tag: @mattis

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[Deleted]

lots of fake in this space

CAN YOU MAKE IT STOP?

Rather than return her ability to her, Noah continued to press. She did her best to reign in her empathy abilities, but the curiosity steamed off of him. She choked it back down, gritty her teeth to resist his pressing. She sighed, "They are happy together. Just not happy with me. Why would I ruin that for them? It's worth a little suffering at senior's hand, I suppose."

If she was honest with herself - she'd considered it before. But she had recently mended her relationship with Ambrose, and she knew if she contradicted him about his relationship with her mother, or even discussed it, their newly re-found love would be broken. Not something she was willing to risk. She rolled her eyes, "Anything else you would like to know, snoopy?"

Noah St Cloud

[Noah St Cloud]

[nospaces]

[break][break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostlyric"]Just as a flower does not choose its color,[break]
we are not responsible for what[break]
we have come to be

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostingbox"][break]

The weight in his tongue lessened, replaced by the feeling of cloud-soft tendrils curling around his arms and into his chest. Her frustration (or annoyance; it was hard to differentiate between the two when they were so similar, often synonymous, but there was a difference) oozed like mist around him and his attempt to escape it was impeded by the back of his legs hitting the table.[break][break]

He hissed. “God damnit. Mattie–” He stopped himself, frowning at the ground. Wouldn’t he normally laugh it off and ask to use her mind control again? Keep things amicable? It was her frustration, he was sure, that had crept in from the air to pace around inside him. Not his. But then, maybe he would be irritated; the better of her gifts had been in his possession for mere minutes. Had she purposefully given him her empathy to steal it back? Was he actually irritated or not?[break][break]

The confusion only irked him more. His jaw clenched. “I was just trying to get to know you a little better. I could have forced more information from you, remember? But I didn't. And I didn’t even get to see what would happen with the leg thing.” He assumed she could put it down now the gift was no longer his. What an anticlimactic experiment that had been. And while he knew he should leave it at that and simply ask for the gift back, her feelings (his feelings?) were in his head, and they made him bristly. Made him talk. His eyes narrowed. “I just don’t get why you won’t make your mom accept your life choices and stop being an asshole. Seems like an easy fix to me. Why are you so desperate to be a martyr?”

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[attr="class","NoahLPostTag"]Tag: @mattis

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