Template:Featured Articles/10-2017
 "I get that," Maya said, looking up at him. She wasn't short for her age, but she was still only fourteen and hadn't exactly come into her true height yet, not that it would be a truly epic height given what her dad had said about her mother. 'Petite' and 'pocket-sized' had been two terms he'd used. "You angry with me?" "Not angry," Wade said, shaking his head. "I can see why you asked that question. It's the context of the situation. I don't actually know who you're friendly with here, besides Monica. So I don't know who you've talked to about what, the kinds of things they might've told you, or if you know anything at all about what happened during M-Day. Y'know, with our people specifically." He paused to shake his head. "There were a lot of us out there. A lot of people trying to... stop bad stuff from happening, trying to keep it from getting worse once it went bad." Stretching his shoulders a little to make his back crack, Wade went on, "I've finished four cars. That's four friends. I got another... I dunno, upwards of fifteen left to go? That's a lotta friends that didn't make it outta M-Day. A lot of good people. There're others here at the mansion that're in the same boat as me. But see, our friends died to keep people here safe. It's just... difficult to see those kinds of questions thrown around by somebody that you don't really know after something like what went down with the X-Men — with Keller specifically. He's one of your mentors, right?" "Sort of, I speak to Jessica more often though," Maya murmured, a blush of shame darkening the skin on her neck before she shook her head. She curled her arms around her legs and placed her chin on her knees, just looking at him for a moment. "I'm sorry you lost people, that everyone lost people. I wasn't trying to dredge all that up, I was just scared." "I know you didn't — I know you were. That's why I'm not angry. You've been through some rough stuff. Nobody's discounting that. But you gotta remember that other people've been through some rough stuff, too. That's why half of us wound up here in the first place. So it's the same as... I don't know. It's the same as people not giving you a hard time when you don't wanna ride in a car, right? "Sometimes avoiding topics or not making a big deal out of 'em's for the best. Sometimes people need a push. But you gotta let them decide when they're ready to confront whatever ghosts they got haunting 'em. It's courtesy," Wade said, frowning just a little. He realized that could be taken negatively a moment later. Clearing his expression, he continued, "So like I said — you got a question like that, you come to me or somebody else that you trust to talk things over with you. Hell, I can go through all the security protocols we've got set up and talk about the teams' risk management strategies and preventative measures, if you want. Whatever you need to feel safe, right? But other people deserve to feel safe, too. And dealing with trauma like M-Day... not everybody does that by restoring vehicles, making 'em gorgeous, and auctioning them off for charity." "Could we do that?" Maya asked, feeling some of the tension leaving her body at his mention of security protocols. She knew the teams had scenario training, Julian and Jessica had gone over with all the kids what they were supposed to do if the mansion ever got attacked, which had frankly kept her awake for nights afterwards before she convinced herself they were just being paranoid in a good way and not actually serious about someone coming here. "Right now, I mean?" "We can do that right now, yeah," Wade said, pulling a dirty rag out of his pocket so he could wipe his hands and face off. "There'll probably be things you can't specifically see for security reasons — just so you can't accidentally mention them somewhere. I don't think you'd do that on purpose or anything, you're smart when it comes to caution. It's just like we won't let anybody here see certain things. But if it'll help you feel more secure, I'll give you the basic tour." |
