150 147 Permission Slip 2 Electric Boogaloo

The mood in the office is a strange mix of tense and relaxed. Tense because Faultline and her crew are tense, and relaxed because Mimi and I don't give a shit.

Seeing as she doesn't seem to be planning on answering me, I decide to just ask again. Who knows? Maybe she just didn't hear me the first time. "Well? Can we go see Elle or what?"

It's clear to me that there is something going on with Elle, which actually kind of makes sense now that I think about it, since Mimi 𝘥𝘪𝘥 meet her in the fucking asylum. Because there is no other reason I can think of for Faultline to suddenly be acting so reticent to the prospect of meeting her.

"If I may be blunt," she eventually says, and I get the feeling she's not just going to do what I want just because I ask nicely, "I am.. hesitant to introduce someone of your.. reputation to Elle. I don't want to cause her any undue stress, and I am worried that your presence may have a negative effect on her."

Unfortunately, before I can respond to that, Burnscar beats me to it, "Bullshit!" She yells as she jumps to her feet and slams her hands on Faultline's desk, all the while the flames dancing on the tips of her hair flare out. The desk itself starts turning to slag under her palms as they heat up with her emotions, "Elle is 𝘮𝘺 friend! What do you know about her?!"

I notice Gregor behind us preparing to use whatever his power is, and Faultline is clearly ready to move, but of course Mimi doesn't notice any of this, because she's an idiot.

"Stop hiding her away from me! You're just locking her up again! Just like 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 did!" The flames are growing hotter, raising the temperature of the room enough that I can smell Faultline starting to sweat, "take me to her! Take me to her or I'll fucking burn-"

All of a sudden, everything stops.

From Mimi's words to the growing heat, it all pauses the moment I lay my hand on her shoulder, a single gesture from me acting like the metaphorical bucket of ice.

Slowly, fearfully, Mimi's head turns to face me, and she flinches the moment we make eye contact, looking away immediately. I'm not surprised, as I can guess that the expression I'm making isn't particularly comforting, even if I am smiling.

"𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳," I say as my crimson eyes burn holes into her head, "you are embarrassing me in front of my new friends. There's nothing shameful about losing control of your emotions, but to do so over something so pointlessly simple as this is pathetic. 𝘚𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 and 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 or I'll rip your fucking throat out, we both know you wouldn't be able to escape me. The adults are talking."

Without another word, she does as I say and sits back down, staring intently at the ground as her flames go back to being just a mild fire in her hair, much more calm.

Turning back to Faultline, I see that while she is certainly still tense, she is a lot more relaxed now that I've shown that I don't want to fight.

"Haha, really sorry about that," I say with a friendly smile, "teens, am I right? So emotional.~ Reminds me of when I was young.~ I once got this girl hospitalised because she copied my makeup, heheh hormones, you understand right?~"

I don't even regret that. I was trying out a new look, and it turned out great, then this bitch, 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺, named after a fucking day of the week, copied the whole fucking thing! And then she got a boyfriend! Like, the next fucking day! With 𝘮𝘺 look!

The 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺.

You know, now that I'm actually thinking back on it as an adult, I totally overreacted. I mean, fun's fun, no reason not to let people copy me if it makes them happy.

Wow, I really was just a bitch in high school. Friday was in the hospital for like a month after I got those gangbangers to mug her.

"...Right."

Oh right, I'm in the middle of a conversation.

"Be that as it may," Faultline says, and I notice her head twitch minutely in a way that makes it clear she's glancing to the side, at Mimi, and isn't experienced enough to hide the movement, "Elle's mental state isn't always perfect, I would, at the very least, prefer to wait for her to be having a 'good day' and even then, her losing control could be potentially lethal to anyone nearby, which would naturally include me, and I am rather fond of living."

Hais.~ So much effort! I just want to go find that guy who wants to join my Clowns already. I don't even know what his power is, because he wants it to be a 'surprise.'

...If it's something lame after all of this, I'm going to turn him into a slushie and feed it to a nun.

Ah well, despite complaining a lot, I'm still having fun.

"Alright, alright, I get it," I say before turning to the others in the room, my smile placid and calm, "would you mind giving us the room? I'd like to have a word with Faultline here in private."

Immediately Gregor seems weary, and Newter, who I belatedly realise is still here, looks like he's about to jump up and say something, only to be quelled by a look from Gregor. Faultline meanwhile, well, I don't know about her, because her costume really covers too much.

I take back that compliment I had about her focusing on practicality. Practicality sucks, looking good and showing any amount of your face is the best.

"Oh relaaax,~" I say, just guessing that she's worried about speaking to me in private, since that would make the most sense, "I just want the chance to 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 you, in a purely verbose manner!" I quickly add on at the end for the sake of Gregor.

Before he can voice his obvious protests, Faultline speaks first. "Gregor, if you would," she says as she gestures to her door, and despite his clear disagreement, he does as told, Newter following behind him a second later.

Turning to my side, I see that Mimi hasn't got the message.

"That means you too ya dyke. Go wait outside and don't start any fights, in fact, just don't talk to anyone."

I don't watch her leave, instead I just close my eyes and wait for the click of the door closing.

There's a good reason I never offered Mimi a place in my Clowns. She's too unstable, and that's saying a lot since it's basically a requirement to be insane and or psychopathic.

The moment I hear the door behind me close, I snap my eyes open and my face loses it's near permanent smile, leaving me with a solemn expression for the first time in a while.

Almost immediately, Faultline tenses, probably worried about some 'hidden personality' shit, that the smile is all a lie and I'm actually just a dick beneath it or something.

But I ignore all of that and just lean forward, pausing momentarily in thought before letting out a sigh and getting to my feet once more.

"Look," I say as I lean down on the desk, resting my hands in the moulds left behind by Mimi's outburst, "Mimi survived the 𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘦 with me. The only reason I could even end that asshole, Jack, was because most of the members were like myself, new. He didn't have the time to dig his fangs into us. It's just- It's sentiment, I guess."

Looking away, I stand straight and stare wistfully at the ceiling.

"We've been through a lot together, her and I. Because when the Nine came knocking, you didn't get a choice on whether or not you wanted to accept."

Turning back to her, I look her solemnly in the eye, or where the eyes should be behind the mask at least.

"I couldn't do anything for her when Jack was around, it was too risky. But now I've finally got a chance to make up for that, y'know? I just want to do right by her, because despite whatever I may say, there's very little I wouldn't do for those who suffered under Jack with me. We've a connection not unlike soldiers do with their squads after surviving the impossible."

The tenseness in her posture is all but gone as my melancholic words wash over her, and I can tell easily how she is hanging off my every word.

"But here? Here I have a chance to do something, to maybe, just maybe, give Mimi 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 after a life of having nothing at all. And besides," as I continue to speak, I start walking around her desk, "I care a lot more about Mimi's happiness than I do your life."

Stopping by her side, I lean down so that our heads are level, and I reach a hand to her mask. She makes a motion to stop me, but my eyes flash red once more as I give her a glare which works to freeze her just fine.

"T-the unwritten rules-" She starts, but I cut her off before she can finish, "only apply to those too weak to ignore them."

With a gentle grip, I take hold of her welding mask and casually lift it off of her head, as if I am not breaking one of the biggest taboos among capes.

Her face is lightly tanned, not enough to hint at ethnicity, it's clear that it's just tan from how her skin is lighter behind the ears. Her features are noticeably sharp, having a long jaw and clean, solid eyebrows. With a bit of makeup, I'd say she could be a pretty good model with her attractiveness.

It also turns out that I was probably right in my assumption of her age. She's probably only a year younger than me.

I spend a moment just studying her face, every minute detail taken into consideration, and when I do eventually start speaking, I do so while making use of my power.

My cheek bones crack and reform, taking on a new shape as my features slowly transform. "You see, in the end, it doesn't really matter what you say, because Mimi's happiness comes first right now. So if you try and get in the way of that."

I pause as my features snap into place, and Faultline's eyes widen in fear as she looks at me, my face now a perfect replica of her own, and when I speak next, it is her voice that leaves my throat.

"Then 'you' won't. Understand?"

Now, you might think I'm just threatening her into submission, but there's more to it than that.

By making my threats all 'for the sake of Mimi' then she, as someone who clearly cares about her friends, will simply find my actions to be reasonable. I'm only doing it for the sake of a friend after all, and if I can act like this for a friend, then clearly I can't be that bad of a person, right?

Obviously it's all bullshit. I just don't want to keep dragging Mimi about, but I also don't want to kill her, because she is decently powerful, and that means something interesting could happen around her.

It's basically an investment for the future of my entertainment, like the Clowns and my deal with Uppercrust.

This world is a circus after all, it's all just meaningless entertainment.

"...Alright, fine," Faultline finally says after taking a minute to think about it, no doubt arguing the pros and cons of the situation, "just let me make sure she's having a 'good day' first, if she isn't then you can come back when she is, but Mimi can see her without you, and I'll be there too, I'm not leaving her alone with Mimi. Gregor can keep you company while they talk."

Eh, that's fair enough. Probably the best I'm gonna get from this helicopter mom without causing unnecessary friction.

I would prefer she have a positive opinion of me after all. Having connections with an up-and-coming mercenary band can never be a 𝘣𝘢𝘥 thing.

It's not like I particularly care what the two girls will talk about anyway, unless it means I have to figure out some other place I can abandon Mimi to.

I would be annoyed if that were the case, after all the effort of getting her here.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I have had two paragraphs saved to my clipboard that are Mimi in canon worm talking to use as reference material for her conversation with Elle, but I've written two chapters now where I just got distracted talking to Faultline and didn't get to use them, and I probably won't even use them at all, because now I'm thinking I'll just skip the conversation.

Both because idk if I'd be able to write it properly, and because it'd only be a few hundred words anyway, plus the idea of doing a cut away take is funny to me.

Also, I couldn't think of a title so I just looked through both of my fics for a title I could electric boogaloo :3

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