I13DT: Daddy Issues

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"That sounds pretty selfish to me," Mars says.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Perhaps, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to live with yourself. Whatever that means to you."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"I guess that makes sense. Thanks," Mars says.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Also do not be an asshole! That should go without saying, but you'd be surprised at the number of assholes around."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"I'll do my gosh darned best," Mars says, smiling.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"All any of us can do, right?"

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"Well, we could try doing our worst," Mars says. "I don't think it would go nearly as well though."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"That tends to bring...repercussions."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"How do you make that sound so ominous?" Mars teases, grinning at Altamira.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"That comes with the shiny red suit."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

Mars looks a bit confused. She stares dumbly at Altamira, apparently knowing nothing about the Phoenix.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Pay it no mind. I just have a sort of...stuffy job where I have to take care of things. When you're in charge of stuff, you learn to use The Voice, as it were."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"Oh," Mars says. "...Do you like your job?"

[Altamira Vazquez]

"I've...come to appreciate it more, over time."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"Yeah, that's a 'no'," Mars says.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"If I meant 'no', I would have said no, wouldn't I?"

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"People never say what they mean," Mars says.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"I always mean to say what I say. Do not believe otherwise," she said, a little intensely.

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"Yeah, I've heard that before," Mars says.

[Altamira Vazquez]

"Do not trifle with me, Marcie Tiboldt. The Phoenix's word is her bond."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

Marcie was intimidated, sure, but her family had been intimidated by the best. She wasn't about to go whimpering off in a corner because some wannabe cape and tights type had a spooky voice.

"I don't know what that is," Mars says. "But I'm not afraid of you and I know what it sounds like when someone is getting defensive."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"When attacked, one gets defensive," she says, a faint psychic impression of flames building up behind her.

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"And when someone gets angry, they get stupid," Mars shoots back. "I have known many men and women with pride and tempers. They are nothing but bullies, no matter how powerful."

She says something rude in French and spits on the ground. She was stubborn and stupid. A potentially lethal combination.

[Altamira Vazquez]

Altamira replied back, in perfect French, "Be careful when dealing with cosmic forces, little one, or you shall get burned."

[Marcie Tiboldt]

"A cosmic force? Such a large ego on you. I don't see any cosmic force here," Mars says. "Why would a cosmic force care about what I say about it, huh? Does death care if I call it a bitch or a liar? Does it get angry? No. But you do."

"All I see is a woman. An emotional, mutant woman."

[Altamira Vazquez]

Mira's eye twitched.

And then, the two of them were gone.