fandomhighdorms | Fifth floor common room, Sunday evening

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Fifth floor common room, Sunday evening

Nadia was . . . pretty sure that Walter was currently with Al. Who would certainly contact someone if something happened, so she was doing her best not to worry.

She was hoping to locate Pippi at some point and apologize for her part of the argument and try to explain herself better . . . but right now, a bit of sitting down and trying to relax in the common room seemed like the thing to do.

[ooc: it's a common room. Thusly is it open.]

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Pippi is on her way back from seeing her Grandfather off and is in a good mood as per usual.

She did notice Nadia and, knowing that Nadia preferred to avoid people she'd had disagreements with, considered jumping out the window before the other girl spotted her.

Nah, screw that. That's pretty much how they got in this mess in the first place.

"Hey Nadia. Good weekend?" Pippi asked as she made her way across the room to the hallway.

Nadia sat up suddenly, jolted out of her thoughts. "Um, it's had its ups and downs. You?"

Pippi gave that some thought.

"More ups then downs I'd say, but certainly some interesting developments." She said. "What happened that's down? ... Unless you'd rather not talk about it... With me."

"I . . . can't. It's not because it's you, I just promised I wouldn't. I . . . do want to apologize, though. And explain."

"You don't have to apologize for not telling me something you promised to keep secret."

"Not about that. Though I'm glad you understand that. I mean the other day."

"Okay." She nodded and sat down on the arm of the couch.

Nadia took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad--actually. Okay. I did mean to make you feel bad for being older. And that was really nasty of me. But I really wasn't trying to tell you to brainwash Mr. Neilson. And it really hurt that you thought I was."

"I did not want to tell you that I didn't want you to train, or condition, or teach, or whatever Mr. Neilson in a way that would hurt you. I am sorry that I didn't succeed. But I rather felt backed into a corner. I was also angry that you interpreted Mr. Neilson's behavior as being mean. He's not mean, he's just a monkey. And I think Fandom has given you some unrealistic expectations about animals. It seems like nearly everything you look at you see negatively and it's very frustrating."

"I'm not trying to be negative, though. And yes, I know that I've changed since I went through that training, but it just means I'm looking at some things more objectively. I'm not going to go into the Mr. Neilson is just a monkey thing right now because I don't want to argue and I'm pretty sure we disagree about that. Just . . . I feel like you're always attacking my ideas lately, like you think I'm being dumb."

"Any time I have thought you were being dumb I have actually said it. And while you did change in the time you were away, being negative was something you did quite a bit before you left, it's just a lot more pronounced now." Pippi said. "The only thing I have not told you I think is dumb that you do is getting angry and mean whenever somebody expresses concern for you. Like you think that we think it's your fault if there's something wrong. Which is dumb. So I have never said anything about how I think somebody might have... Been unkind to you while you were gone and how angry that makes me because I do love you whether you like it or not and I AM concerned with your well being."

"I'm not--" Nadia cut herself off before she could continue her insistance that she wasn't a negative person. Since the best example she could think of of not being negative was exactly what she wasn't supposed to tell Pippi about.

Walter had better appreciate this.

"I'm not trying to get into another argument with you. I've had a lot of really bad experiences in my life that I don't want to repeat, and maybe that makes me seem like I'm being negative. But it's hard not to be when every time I try to talk about my experiences or tell you about something I know, you assume what I know is bad, or evil, or is going to be negative."

"I'm not trying to argue with you either Nadia I am being honest. If you think I treat you like a kid, and I'm always walking on eggshells around you so I don't say something to upset you, maybe that's what you mean. So I'm not going to do that any more." Pippi said. "I never assume you are going to be negative. I wait and hear what you have to say first. It's just turning out more and more to be so. And I know you've had some bad experiences, and that's why you make certain choices in an effort to not repeat them. You said as much on a few occasions the first semester we were here. So the fact that you are even more so now indicates you had some really bad experiences recently and God forbid I care about it. You're about as forth coming as a wooden figure head, and if you don't want to talk to me about that's fine. But if you keep me in the dark and you feed me shit you can't be surprised when I turn out to be a mushroom."

"Feed you--What is so wrong with not wanting to talk about bad experiences?! The more people I tell about what happened, the more danger those people are in. And I'm sorry I can't tell you everything that happened, but that's just a fact that I have to deal with since I decided I wanted to be a spy. And don't start telling me about how you hope I don't get to be a professional spy or that the training was full of crap. Espionage is something that interests me and that I'm good at."

"Hey, here's a thought. How about, instead of trying to play it off like you'd only been gone for five days on your side, you just said, 'Hey, I've been gone for considerably longer then five days, and that weirds me out and I don't want to talk about it.' Just as an example on the 'feeding me shit' point. And if you had stopped to remember what I ACTUALLY said, you'd know I didn't say I hoped you didn't get to be a professional spy. But that I hoped you'd be a spy for some other department or agency. Also, I wasn't going to start telling you anything of the sort because I've already said my peace I don't feel the need to dwell on what I've already got off my chest. Now if you're quite finished putting words into my mouth I have homework to do."

Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit. "Pippi, hang on. I'm sorry I wasn't honest about that. I'm trying to be honest now, okay? But I don't like feeling like I have to defend my choices with you."

"I understand that, and I really do appreciate it. But I don't like feeling as if I'm not permitted to disagree with you, or be honest with you, or care about what happens to you or how you're feeling."

"Fine. Just. . . ." Nadia screwed her eyes shut. This conversation wasn't going the way she'd hoped it would, but it could be worse, she supposed. "I am right, sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes."

"I never said you weren't." Pippi said. "You're right about a lot of stuff. I never woulda got up the nerve to ask Pip out if it wasn't for you. And I'd still be dressing the same I did as I was nine if it wasn't for you. And I miss sparing with you in self defense club because you're a way better fighter then me even before you left. I just know how to be really strong."

". . . Which isn't going to help you in a fight if the other person knows how to go up against really strong." Nadia smiled a little shakily at Pippi. "You should look into Aikido. It's all about strength and redirecting it."

Pippi nodded.

"Yes. That it exactly. Do you know any?" She asked tentatively. "Bel's agreed to spar with me so I don't have to worry about making mistakes as much but... I think he fights a lot with his fireballs which I don't really do."

"We covered a lot of the martial arts, actually. But I sort of latched onto that one, because it means using your opponent's stregnth and weight against them. And I can't outweigh or out-lift many people."

"Is it more grapply then punchy kicky then?"

"More like . . . ." How did one explain it? Nadia looked around the room. If they went slow and she didn't actually try to throw Pippi, they could probably do a demonstration. "I'll show you." She stood up from the couch and dropped into a loose stance in the center of the room. "Come at me like you're going to hit me. Slow, so we don't break anything."

Nadia has underestimated just how slow Pippi can go.

Nadia tried not to roll her eyes and waited for Pippi to get close. Then she reached out, matching Pippi's speed scale, to redirect Pippi to the side of her, stepping through to give her a slight push in the direction she was already going.

"It's redirecting. You've got all the momentum, so I just have to make it go in a direction that I'm not in."

Pippi thought about that.

"Kinda like what Walter does when I throw something and he catches it with his wires."

The last time they tried it, Walter had put a ball of crumpled up metal she'd thrown through a refrigerator...

She uncharacteristicly pictured doing that to a person.

Or rather, a certain freakishly tall nazi fuckhead werewolf.

"Kind of, yeah. Only no wires. Since I don't know how to use those. But get me with a staff and watch out." Nadia sat back down again. "I saw a five-foot-six, hundred and seventy pound man drop a guy who was at least a foot taller and a third again his weight to the floor with a single hand on his shoulder."

Sure, the taller guy had been drunk at the time, and had bounced right back up, but it had still been impressive.

Pippi nodded.

"People generally underestimate other people who are smaller. I don't generally try to change their minds until the last possible minute."

"Probably a good plan. You don't want to lose that advantage until you have to."

"That was my thinking yes."

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Fifth floor common room, Sunday evening

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