(no subject)
“Mom, do you even know me any more?” Rissa stared at Suze. “God, did you ever know me? I cheat at cards. I pick locks. You haven’t known me for the last four years, so don’t go assuming that you can tell me everything about my love life and what I want from it. If I wanna get married, trust me, I’ll let you know. Not gonna happen, though, okay? I’m not gettin’ up and wearing a frou-frou white dress and throwing flowers at people because that is not me. I’m not saying my feelings where other people can hear ‘em because that is not me. You can marry Dad all you damn well want, but don’t expect me to wanna do the same with Theo.”
Suze folded her arms. “Then why did you want the rules changed, Clarissa? Why, if not so you could marry him?”
“Because not everyone sees the world in black and white like you do, Mom,” Rissa snapped. “Because I am capable of thinking about the people beyond my own freakin’ neuroses. I did it for you, all right? For you, and for my kids, so their lives get to suck marginally less than mine has. And y’know why my life sucked? Wanna take a guess, Mom?”
“Stop it, Rissa,” Suze hissed.
“Do not try glossing over it. I am an adult now, and that means I can see through everything that happened to me when I wasn’t.” Rissa folded her arms. “I get that you have major issues. I’d be pretty fucked up too if my older brother and my kid had both been killed by the same psychopath. But that does not give you the right to decide that all the protection I was getting from the Simselves wasn’t adequate enough, and that I had to live under house arrest for the first seventeen years of my life.”
“I’m sorry for that! I am, truly…”
“No, you’re not, otherwise you would have listened to me, You would have listened to Dad, and to Fire and M’ina and Rose and Cee and Lark and Adam and everyone else who said to back the fuck off and let me have a childhood!”
“Language, Clarissa Hadl…”
“I AM NOT A CHILD!” Rissa shouted. “You are not allowed to tell me what to say, and you are not allowed to speak to me as if I am a child. I am a grown woman, with a child of my own and another one probably on the way! You lost the right to tell me what to say and do a long time ago.”
“You are not blameless in this, Clarissa! Four years, it’s been, since I’ve heard from you. You could’ve been dead, or missing, and all you had to do was pick up the phone and tell me you were okay! You had four years, and now you decide to turn up on my doorstep and tell me how I should have done things better?”
Suze folded her arms. “Then why did you want the rules changed, Clarissa? Why, if not so you could marry him?”
“Because not everyone sees the world in black and white like you do, Mom,” Rissa snapped. “Because I am capable of thinking about the people beyond my own freakin’ neuroses. I did it for you, all right? For you, and for my kids, so their lives get to suck marginally less than mine has. And y’know why my life sucked? Wanna take a guess, Mom?”
“Stop it, Rissa,” Suze hissed.
“Do not try glossing over it. I am an adult now, and that means I can see through everything that happened to me when I wasn’t.” Rissa folded her arms. “I get that you have major issues. I’d be pretty fucked up too if my older brother and my kid had both been killed by the same psychopath. But that does not give you the right to decide that all the protection I was getting from the Simselves wasn’t adequate enough, and that I had to live under house arrest for the first seventeen years of my life.”
“I’m sorry for that! I am, truly…”
“No, you’re not, otherwise you would have listened to me, You would have listened to Dad, and to Fire and M’ina and Rose and Cee and Lark and Adam and everyone else who said to back the fuck off and let me have a childhood!”
“Language, Clarissa Hadl…”
“I AM NOT A CHILD!” Rissa shouted. “You are not allowed to tell me what to say, and you are not allowed to speak to me as if I am a child. I am a grown woman, with a child of my own and another one probably on the way! You lost the right to tell me what to say and do a long time ago.”
“You are not blameless in this, Clarissa! Four years, it’s been, since I’ve heard from you. You could’ve been dead, or missing, and all you had to do was pick up the phone and tell me you were okay! You had four years, and now you decide to turn up on my doorstep and tell me how I should have done things better?”