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thisavrou_log2017-02-17 09:59 pm
justice_from_above) wrote in thisavrou_log2017-02-17 09:59 pm
Entry tags:
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Who:Fareeha Amari, Ana Amari, with special guest Soldier: 76
When: Friday evening
Where: Old People's Farm
What: Awkward Family Reunion
Warnings: Overwatchdrama
Fareeha was good at adapting. She'd had to be, considering how her best laid plans were usually uprooted by forces beyond her control. Finding herself here on Kauto was no different; she's thrown herself into finding a new normal. Settling into a house had its challenges - especially as not all the inhabitants necessarily got along with each other - and it was harder to keep in touch with friends and family.
But she did her best. Her mother, of course, made a habit of visiting her and her roommates often enough, and it was time Fareeha returned the favor. Keeping in mind her mother's warning about a twitchy housemate, Fareeha was sure to send word ahead of time when she'd be able to visit, and was able to arrive only a few minutes ahead of schedule. She shifts the packages in her hands in order to knock on the door.
So far, from the outside, it looked like a nice place. There was a simple beauty about farms, Fareeha thought. She had little experience with anything of the sort but had found the idea kind of idyllic.
She waits patiently, glad her mother has found something quiet and peaceful.
When: Friday evening
Where: Old People's Farm
What: Awkward Family Reunion
Warnings: Overwatchdrama
Fareeha was good at adapting. She'd had to be, considering how her best laid plans were usually uprooted by forces beyond her control. Finding herself here on Kauto was no different; she's thrown herself into finding a new normal. Settling into a house had its challenges - especially as not all the inhabitants necessarily got along with each other - and it was harder to keep in touch with friends and family.
But she did her best. Her mother, of course, made a habit of visiting her and her roommates often enough, and it was time Fareeha returned the favor. Keeping in mind her mother's warning about a twitchy housemate, Fareeha was sure to send word ahead of time when she'd be able to visit, and was able to arrive only a few minutes ahead of schedule. She shifts the packages in her hands in order to knock on the door.
So far, from the outside, it looked like a nice place. There was a simple beauty about farms, Fareeha thought. She had little experience with anything of the sort but had found the idea kind of idyllic.
She waits patiently, glad her mother has found something quiet and peaceful.
no subject
"Good evening, Fareeha. Hopefully your trip was uneventful."
Greeting her, Ana waved her in, stepping to the side to make room for her daughter and the packages in her hand. The gifts were a surprise so she'd have to make sure to guide Fareeha to a clean spot to place the packages first.
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"I brought you a couple things from my neighborhood; there are some little shopping gems if you just know where to look." She sets the boxes down in a clear space Ana indicates. One contains a rather ornate tea set for Ana, and the other had a couple coffee mugs. "I didn't know who did the bee-tending but I figured it had to come from somehwere."
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Ana was mostly commenting on the scenery and general locations, as her daughter had pointed out. Getting old did have downsides, even outside of lowered reflexes and strength.
"Thank you, it's quite beautiful." While she did manage to hold back a gasp, a big smile was most certainly forthcoming. Ana most certainly approved of her gift. And Soldier's. "And I'm sure he will appreciate his gift too. Something for him to laugh at internally." Because having him laugh out loud would ruin his image.
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"I saw it and thought of you; elegant, complicated, tucked on a high shelf very nearly out of sight." She gives a little grin, and then shrugs in reference to the mugs. "They put a smile on my face, I figured I couldn't go wrong there."
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"But please, sit down and I will make you some tea now, if you would like."
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"I would love some tea. You know, no one quite makes it he way you do." She's missed it, she missed you, is what she's trying to say.
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"Perhaps it is because it is my mother that makes it exceptional." She quiets, smiling softly, speaking plainly. They'd come so far since Ana's arrival, with the truth that she'd been alive for years and Fareeha didn't know. To sit here, in her home, chatting like a mother and daughter should without feeling a press of confusion and hurt and betrayal (which, to some point, would always be there, but in this moment was at its lowest point) was a victory in and of itself. Fareeha was grateful for it.
"I've missed you."
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But his charade is unraveling, and agents are finding out one by one, which means that he really should just tell the rest before they find out from someone else. Cut it off at the pass, and take the chance to explain himself, if he can.
Jack doesn't know what Ana and Fareeha are talking about when he decides to insert himself onto the scene. There's no good way to come back to life in circumstances like this. Showing up unannounced into a conversation with no regard for what they may or may not be talking about is selfish, sure, but he really has no idea how to go about this beyond just showing up in what has to be the worst surprise ever. He lingers in the doorway, watching some apparent reconciliation, and the lack of tactical gear (he's in casual clothing for once) makes him feel more than a little exposed.
He has to remind himself that this is necessary. It's been a long time coming. Hell, maybe without the mask on, she won't even recognize him as Soldier: 76--just Jack, inexplicably back from the dead and standing in the entranceway to her mother's kitchen.
"Not interrupting, am I?"
He's totally interrupting. There's no way this isn't interrupting.
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No. As her single eye moved to Jack then to Fareeha, she realized she'd have to deal with another omitted truth. Not entirely a lie but words that may as well have been considering the intent they were told. There were no protests from her or denials. That wouldn't be Amari way. Instead, she gave a sigh that foretold future issues. None of them Jack's fault so she promised herself right then that no matter what happened, she wasn't going to redirect any of her future feelings at her partner. It wouldn't be fair in the slightest.
Instead, her eye roved its way back to Jack. "Not at all. Would you like to sit down for some tea?"
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Fareeha had sensed someone else was there - expected a roommate of some sort but hadn't actually anticipated meeting anyone. She turns a smile to him at first but as the voice hits her it causes confusion to furrow her brow. She looks at the man and, sorry Jack, but that gruff voice and that silver hair and hey - she's a well trained observant soldier herself - she knows it's 76.
But as she looks at him and sees his face without the gear, it's an almost immediate chain of emotions as she recognizes Jack under those years of wear. She doesn't speak, but her expression shifts between a fleeting joy knowing he's alive to realization he always has been and then she stiffens when it settles on the reality of betrayal. That he's be here through everything and hadn't said a word.
She breathes carefully, looking down at the table for a long moment before looking up at her mother.
"How long did you know?" She looks back at Jack like she's disbelieving herself, but it's him. He's here. She keeps herself still, tries to school her expression into something unreadable, but the hurt is there in her eyes.
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"Your mother, she--"
How do you explain being able to look at grainy television footage, at the vague silhouette of a man in a jacket, and know? How can you explain hearing whispers of a sniper giving some gunrunners hell in Egypt, and know? Trying to articulate his relationship with Ana is often difficult.
"She had me figured out from the start."
From that very first piece of grainy television footage. It's occurring to him that maybe he should have warned Ana that he was giving it up before he inserted himself into this conversation without warning, but it's too late now. He'll press forward, because that's all he knows how to do. At the very least, he won't throw Ana under the bus. This is on him.
"It ain't her fault. I made her keep it secret."
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Actually, Ana shook her head, knowing that wasn't the entire story. "No, I knew before even arriving here. The bounty hunting, the wanted posters...those were all done to draw him out of hiding back home so I could meet up with him."
In short, Jack may have made her keep it a secret but it could have been the first thing out of her mouth when she met up with her daughter again. All it would have took was a muttering to say that Jack was still alive. She didn't even have to point fingers at others to label who he was.
Rather than face the brunt of Fareeha's eyes any longer, she turned to grab another cup. Tea probably wasn't going to happen but she needed to redirect herself elsewhere.
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"I don't know how either of you expect I'll be able to trust you after this." She's doing an immense job of keeping her voice steady; she's too proud to let them see how deep the hurt really goes, but there's an undeniable edge to it. "I'm sorry on my part that I didn't instill you with any confidence that ... that you felt you could have told me."
A little glance up at Jack, but it's not him, not really. Whatever had happened, this wasn't the Jack she knew. The Jack she'd grown up with would have rallied people together, would have inspired confidence and been there as a rock.
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As far as Jack's concerned, she can do or think whatever she likes--it's still probably less than what he really deserves. He has his litany of excuses all lined up, but this is an argument that's existed for years. If he tells her that all he was trying to do was keep her safe, it rings hollow when that had been the reason to keep her out of Overwatch, too. She's an adult with a decorated military career of her own. She doesn't need to be kept safe.
But he thinks there will always be a part of him that can't quite let go of the fact that he's known all of his people for so long--you can't shake it when you've watched so many of them grow up. Perhaps in some ways Fareeha is still that little girl in the halls of the Watchpoint.
"But it's nothing you did, either. This is on me."
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"As a daughter, you are free to have your own wishes and feelings about this. That is your right. However..." That last word was sharp, as if to cut off discussion on that line of conversation. "...as a soldier, you must understand and respect where Jack's decision and mine stand."
She didn't stop her actions of pouring out a couple cups of hot tea, talking as if this was completely natural to her nor was it riling her up. But inside, it did hurt that she had to have this conversation and say what she had to.
"Doing what you can to protect others calls for sacrifices. Especially when you have the kind of foes we have, Fareeha. Keeping you in the dark was one of those unfortunate sacrifices, especially with certain people around." Ana didn't feel like she needed to elaborate on whom and what organization they tended to support but it was out there.
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Jack's about to get an earful about how he is asking something of her, that he's challenging her whole identity and she has to reevaluate the things she'd learned from him when she was younger, but then her mother speaks. Her mother is wise to cut her off because she was ready with opinions there too, but Ana keeps speaking and Fareeha grows dangerously still and quiet. She's pulled her expression into something tight and controlled, as neutral as she can get it, but there's a deep, hot anger brewing.
How dare she. How dare they. She had spent so much of her life hoping her mother would recognize her as a soldier and she slaps her in the face with it now, of all times.
And Jack - Jack who had pushed her away, had acted repulsed by the very ideals she'd picked up from him. Any joy she had derived from learning he was alive were crushed under this expectation that it somehow wasn't going to grievously effect her life. I'm not asking anything of you. How had she been so wrong to idolize these people?
"Right. I've overstayed my welcome." She stands and tugs at her blouse, as she might have done when facing an officer she didn't much care for. "Keeping me in the dark did no one any favors. Although, I suppose it has shown me who I can and cannot rely on."
She gives them each a look; hard edged, proud, and utterly disappointed, then carefully pushes her chair in and turns to leave.
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"It ain't personal, Fareeha."
He'd kept the rest of them in the dark just the same, though he knows that she's taking it personally, even if it's not about that at all. But he won't keep her from leaving.
"Let me know when you're ready to talk. You know where to find me."