8/26 Instance: Forgiveness Fail

[tears~fall~like~glass]

timeline: after Where in the World is Jean-Paul Martin?


Johnny: Dropping down onto the porch, Johnny grumbled. The window he'd left open wasn't open now, so he had to go around to the front door. He'd been searching for hours for JP, hadn't come up with anything useful, needed to check in with Jay to see if he'd discovered, and wanted to go to bed. Slipping in, he quietly closed the door behind him, scrubbing at his face. He could start all over again after classes tomorrow.

Tigra: Tigra lifted her head from her arms as the front door opened. She yawned and stretched as she uncurled herself and scented the air, recognising the scent, she scrambled to her feet and hurried to catch up with the owner. "Johnny?"

Johnny: He let out a sigh and paused in his trek up the staircase, "What?"

Tigra: "Where've you been out so late?" She paused at the bottom of the stairs.

Johnny: Johnny gave a raised eyebrow, "Why does it matter?"

Tigra: "I... wanted to talk to you... heard things...." she chewed her lip, her tail curling around her legs.

Johnny: His eyebrow remained raised as he leaned against the railing. Though, he wasn't even sure if people could really tell his expression when he was in this form. "About?"

Tigra: "About JP... About... he's not back yet...." she looked down at the floor.

Johnny: "No, he's not," Johnny ran a hand through what would be his hair, "What about him?" He couldn't honestly say he wanted to hear it.

Tigra: "That's it... just that..." she sat down on the bottom step and curled her tail around her. "This is all my fault..."

Johnny: "I'd split the blame between you and Ronnie, but yeah. Pretty much."

Tigra: She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her hand, "I didn't mean to..."

Johnny: Ugh, tears. Johnny rolled his eyes, "Well, at this point, I wouldn't say it matters much what you meant to do and what you didn't."

Tigra: She put her face in her hands and gave up trying to stop crying, "I'm sorry... I always mess up... but it's never this bad... I didn't mean any of it..." She sobbed and hugged herself.

Johnny: "Then, you shouldn't have said any of it." He didn't really feel any pity. One of his friends was missing. She should feel that bad.

Tigra: "I couldn't help it... I lost my temper... You never say anything you don't mean?" she looked at him over her shoulder.

Johnny: "Yeah, I have," he answered, shaking his head as he continued, his tone becoming a bit more heated, "But I don't throw bricks at people after they get pissed at me for accusing them of being a terrorist."

Tigra: "I know! I know okay!" she hid her face behind her hands again, "I have a temper, I can't help it... I know it's not an excuse but I didn't mean it... I just want to say sorry to him..."

Johnny: "Well, then, go get anger management! I mean, there's probably about fifty ways to deal with that problem instead of just whining about it!" The flames flared a bit, "I imagine saying sorry would be easier if you hadn't run him off, and you wouldn't even have to if you hadn't run your mouth and said a bunch of stupid shit."

Tigra: "Stop yelling at me! Don't you think I know that?! How do you think I feel? I don't have a lot of friends and I actually liked JP..." she ran her hands through her hair, "And now you don't like me either..."

Johnny: "Honestly, I don't care how you feel. How the hell do you think JP feels? Or... How do you think I feel? Because I'm pretty sure I was on your people to accuse of a bombing list if I remember correctly." Johnny scowled, "People not liking you is generally a side effect of that."

Tigra: "People were accusing me too!" she reminded him, "At least we were saying to your face instead of behind your back!"

Johnny: He let out an exasperated sigh, "It doesn't matter! They shouldn't be thrown around in the first place!"

Tigra: "Well what do you expect! Everyone's scared, Johnny, this stuff makes all of us look bad! No one wants to think anyone is capable of that but it can't be helped and with a history already that he hid for so long what did he expect from people when it got out? I'm not saying it's entirely his fault but that's the kind of thing you should come clean about if you don't want it to bite you in the ass later."

Johnny: "Why the hell would he ever want to talk about something like that?" Johnny fired back, stepping away from the railing before it caught fire, "I mean, I don't hear you going around announcing that you fucking killed someone!"

Tigra: "That was completely different!" she stood up and turned to face him, her ears back.

Johnny: Johnny knew she was likely to try and rip his throat out if he kept going, but he couldn't say he really cared since he was in his fiery form, "No, it's not. He was feeding and protecting his family."

Tigra: "There are plenty of ways to do that! I didn't have a choice!"

Johnny: "Oh, don't give me that shit," he shook his head, "There's always a choice. Always. Especially when it involves whether to kill someone or not."

Tigra: "And if it's another feral mutant who's trying to- to..." she gave up, "You think I wanted it to go that far?!"

Johnny: "You think JP wanted to have to resort to that? I'm thinking he didn't since he turned himself in," Johnny shot back, adding as he turned to continue up the stairs, "You want to say he shouldn't have been keeping secrets about his past, but until you can take your own advice I don't think you need to be judging anyone on theirs."

Tigra: "Oh fine, I'll go tell everyone I killed someone and see how many more friends I can lose!"

Johnny: Johnny called back, "Have fun with that."

Tigra: "Ugh!" She stalked off to the front door. Another night out in the woods for her. She slammed the door behind her.