Template:Featured Articles/46-2023

Moment of Awesome - Jessica Jones: New to the mansion and certainly not a people (or cat) person, Jessica manages to connect with an acting-out cat-girl despite herself. It was a very tired, very uncharacteristically-clad Jessica Jones who entered the classroom to hear this. She held up her hands, saying, "I'm not here to catch you, spray you, or yell at you," and, rather than getting any closer to Sharon herself, sat down on the edge of a seat made for a pre-schooler. At 5'9", this meant she was leaning her forearms on her knees for balance. Two yellow eyes glared back at her. The young mutant made no reply, but the tenor of the noise dropped to something much closer to a growl. "Yeah, I get it, I get it." Jess sighed and rubbed at her face with one hand. "Sooraya told me about your mom." She pressed her lips together and looked away from the glaring yellow gaze, up at a colorful display of cardboard and construction paper on the topic of 'fall leaves'. "My parents and my little brother died when I was thirteen. I'm not saying I understand you or anything. But . . . " She had not started today imagining talking about this, and knew her voice was a little too even. "I know what it's like to wake up and you're suddenly alone. And then make that everyone else's problem." Sharon didn't move, but the growling stopped. Her tail, until now twitching with agitation, went still. The silence was less threatening, at least. Jessica kept her eyes on the fake leaves. "I would get frustrated in PT and just sit on the floor refusing to move. They had to carry me back to my room. More than once. I was in detention for every single day for four months of tenth grade because I told my English teacher to fuck off, and then I told the vice-principal to fuck off when she sent me to him. I put my foster sister's bra in the garbage disposal - which she deserved." Her voice twisted dryly, at the end, not quite as much of an endorsement of the destruction of Aleshia's bra as it sounded. The silence from beneath the table continued. "Anyway, it's not like I have any life lessons or whatever to share." Jessica vented a sigh, not frustrated, just ill-at-ease; her fingers twisted subconsciously. "It sucks to have to be the one who keeps going, that's all." She pushed the sleeves of the stupid fuzzy sweater up her arms, and added, "I'm sorry about your mom."