MCA 8, Saturday morning

[craftyladyparts]

After an annoying, annoying trip back to town that at least ended okay (thanks, Tony!), Jessica was trying to get back to normal. She'd spent weeks either on Earth-001 or Earth-803 and then so much time dealing with Portalocity on her way back. She had real take out food last night and caught up and/or gave up on her personal and work e-mails. Both

Comments

[fjordicswagger]

we should probably talk sometime, Tamsin texted.

It had been months. And that wasn't exactly all on Jessica.

Oops. Avoidance ran deep.

[craftyladyparts]

Any time in particular? Jessica responded. I'm just playing god with the color of my hair right now if you want to do it sooner rather than later.

She wasn't sure how much of that talk was going to be "Hey, noticed you disappeared for a couple months with no notice," "Yeah, that's a thing I do," and how much would be whatever was going on before said disappearance. There was no way to tell without just seeing.

[fjordicswagger]

Back over on Godiva street, Tamsin let out a groan. "Fine," she muttered. "Time to put my big girl panties on."

Be there in a sec.

Ugh.

[craftyladyparts]

Please bring coffee. I have none. 🙁

That would also give Jessica a chance to rinse so there wouldn't have to be a weird hair break in the middle of a potentially serious conversation.

[fjordicswagger]

Tamsin, being the-- okay, being uncharacteristically obliging under the current circumstances, stopped by the Perk first to pick up two very large cups of coffee.

Because of a freak whipped cream incident, she didn't make it to Jessica's until half an hour later.

The knocking might have involved her foot.

[craftyladyparts]

With her hair partially air-dried, Jessica answered the door. "Hello, I've missed you. And hi to you too, Tamsin," she smartassed as she took the coffee. "Come in."

[fjordicswagger]

"Thanks," Tamsin said, downing a large gulp of her own coffee on her way in.

Damn it. Should've Irished hers up.

"So it's been a while," she said. Lamely.

[craftyladyparts]

"Sorry about that," Jessica said, offering to take the heat. She gestured toward the living room and ended up taking a seat on the couch. There were other chairs if Tamsin needed some room, or there was the couch. "I ended up helping other spider-people fight an army of guys with electrical powers and got stranded in a steampunk world for a while. You know how it goes."

[fjordicswagger]

Tamsin hesitated for a long time between the chairs and the couch.

In the end, she picked the couch.

"Yeah, I... wasn't trying very hard to get in touch with you," she admitted. "Sorry. After..."

Damn it. This was hard.

[craftyladyparts]

"The teenager thing? Where you had all the hair?" Jessica guessed. It wasn't a tough thing to guess. It was the last significant interaction they had for a while.

[fjordicswagger]

"When you found out I was a Valkyrie," Tamsin agreed. "Nobody's supposed to know that."

[craftyladyparts]

"That too," Jessica said. "It's safe with me. I'm a former spy-slash-superhero. I know how to keep a secret."

[fjordicswagger]

"I know," Tamsin said, "You're still not supposed to know that."

Could she hide behind her coffee? Maybe if she tried really hard.

"And I was going to offer to come over to answer questions, but then I... didn't."

[craftyladyparts]

"Why didn't you?" Jessica checked.

[fjordicswagger]

"It's not really something I like talking about?" Tamsin tried.

[craftyladyparts]

Jessica considered her approach for a moment. "For the longest time, I didn't tell anyone anything real about myself. Nobody here about the superhero thing for a long time. Fewer people knew about the spy thing. And being a clone? I went to school here for three years before I mentioned that to one person. It was partially the job, partially... I needed to figure out who I was. Eventually I figured out that I was a person who could afford to be more open, who could help people by being that way. And there's still parts of me that you still haven't heard about just because... Well, a lack of segue, but also because it doesn't mean as much to who I am today."

"That level of honesty about a really complicated past isn't for everyone. And as long as you're being an overall decent person, I'm okay with knowing as much or as little as you really want to share."