TM 139: Do you make friends easily?
Yes, I do. And somewhere an X-type has just died laughing, so let me qualify that.
I am sometimes a sarcastic, tactless son of a bitch, acknowledged. I also have a hell of a lot of experience with the shit hitting the fan, and I don't mind getting my hands dirty when I have to; people I know tend to appreciate that. I know where to find a game of poker in a town I've never been to before, what pub will have just the right kind of company, and who to call when I need a favor quick. That's what I call friendship.
What I don't need out of a friendship is a surrogate family, which is where me and the Excalibur team never saw eye to eye. (That, and the worst case of burnout I've had yet, and getting the girl they all seemed to think of as a little sister. So, not quite the best foot forward there.) I'm thinking it's a yankee thing, side effect of that whole us-versus-them situation for the mutants over there. Never really happened around here. A quirk of the genes means I'm a walking space heater, and that's about all. What I do with that quirk of the genes, it's a job. If I'm working with you, that makes us partners, not family. I don't need to talk about my feelings. Far as you're concerned, I have no feelings. I don't need empaths telling me otherwise, either. Y'see, the dysfunctional family I was born with is plenty, thanks; not looking for another one.
I'm not the friend whose shoulder you cry on. I'm the friend who finds whoever made you cry in the first place and makes his life hell. Keep the distinction in mind, and I've got no problem making friends at all.
I am sometimes a sarcastic, tactless son of a bitch, acknowledged. I also have a hell of a lot of experience with the shit hitting the fan, and I don't mind getting my hands dirty when I have to; people I know tend to appreciate that. I know where to find a game of poker in a town I've never been to before, what pub will have just the right kind of company, and who to call when I need a favor quick. That's what I call friendship.
What I don't need out of a friendship is a surrogate family, which is where me and the Excalibur team never saw eye to eye. (That, and the worst case of burnout I've had yet, and getting the girl they all seemed to think of as a little sister. So, not quite the best foot forward there.) I'm thinking it's a yankee thing, side effect of that whole us-versus-them situation for the mutants over there. Never really happened around here. A quirk of the genes means I'm a walking space heater, and that's about all. What I do with that quirk of the genes, it's a job. If I'm working with you, that makes us partners, not family. I don't need to talk about my feelings. Far as you're concerned, I have no feelings. I don't need empaths telling me otherwise, either. Y'see, the dysfunctional family I was born with is plenty, thanks; not looking for another one.
I'm not the friend whose shoulder you cry on. I'm the friend who finds whoever made you cry in the first place and makes his life hell. Keep the distinction in mind, and I've got no problem making friends at all.