Honestly, my style was more manipulating people into doing things that deep down they were always willing to do. Brainwashing is less reliable than using the motivations that are already there.
I never...I never tried to manipulate people emotionally, is the thing. I wasn't really a person, so I didn't have the leverage. There was nothing there worth listening to or caring about. I just...put the right people in situations where I knew they'd do the thing I needed.
[She starts mixing a few other icing ingredients into the now-melted chocolate.]
Which had some nasty consequences. But they all made their choices; I didn't change anybody. Not even in the insidious pressure and influence and seeming care way.
I mean, as far as everyone I lived with was concerned, I wasn't. Mutants were people, and I was a throwback, an unfortunate pet. At best I was a rather clever monkey, but clever monkeys are actually hideous pests who steal food and make messes of everything.
Nobody listens to something that belongs in a cage.
That's...the opposite, though? Thinking of people as people - what do they want, what matters to them, how do they see the world - that's the only way you really figure it out.
Not at all the time. But most of the time. It's not a survival strategy anymore - if I don't pay attention to someone and misjudge them and they yank my rib cage out, then...whatever, the admiral will bring me back.
So now that I have a choice, I generally don't waste my time on people unless I care about them at least a little.
When we first met, I said it didn't cost me anything to be nice to you. Since then, I've learned that you're interesting company, more perceptive than most people I talk to, and you have a wonky gear shift in your brain on the topic of family where somebody stuck a wrench when you were too young to stop them.
So I care enough to want to meddle. It still doesn't cost me much.
Mmm. Half a batch of brownies I could have kept all to myself, to start with.
[And he can hurt her now; she hurt, a little, when he said she saw people like pets. She's more frank with him than she's been in a long time, wrapped in Magneto's cape, but even fearless, she shies away from admitting that.]
[It's okay; she doesn't need to say it. He knows. And, while he's not her friend exactly and would hurt her if he felt it would save him, he wouldn't hurt her just for fun. So that's progress.]
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fridgetothefire) wrote2013-06-09 09:15 pm
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Blood is blood. Blood's blood.
[Twice more, and then he stops, with a crooked, self-defensive smile.]
Why do I keep saying that?
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I dunno, it does sound a little creepy-brainwashy.
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Beat this.
[She hands him a whisk.]
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[He takes that whisk and beats the shit out of those eggs.]
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I never...I never tried to manipulate people emotionally, is the thing. I wasn't really a person, so I didn't have the leverage. There was nothing there worth listening to or caring about. I just...put the right people in situations where I knew they'd do the thing I needed.
[She starts mixing a few other icing ingredients into the now-melted chocolate.]
Which had some nasty consequences. But they all made their choices; I didn't change anybody. Not even in the insidious pressure and influence and seeming care way.
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Nobody listens to something that belongs in a cage.
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[This is conversational, almost cheerful. He's proud of her, even now.]
Sometimes I get the feeling that you look at people like they're all unfortunate pets. Like "if I poke it with a stick right here, what'll it do?"
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That's...the opposite, though? Thinking of people as people - what do they want, what matters to them, how do they see the world - that's the only way you really figure it out.
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So now that I have a choice, I generally don't waste my time on people unless I care about them at least a little.
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[She finds a wooden spoon.]
Okay, you pour that into the dry mix slowly while I stir.
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[He rolls his eyes, but he pours. Slowly.]
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When we first met, I said it didn't cost me anything to be nice to you. Since then, I've learned that you're interesting company, more perceptive than most people I talk to, and you have a wonky gear shift in your brain on the topic of family where somebody stuck a wrench when you were too young to stop them.
So I care enough to want to meddle. It still doesn't cost me much.
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Not much, but still something?
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[And he can hurt her now; she hurt, a little, when he said she saw people like pets. She's more frank with him than she's been in a long time, wrapped in Magneto's cape, but even fearless, she shies away from admitting that.]
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[He grins.]
Well, you're just too generous for your own good.
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I want to graduate. It's strategic altruism.
[True and not true; it's still sincere. Anya always has many reasons. SHSL doublethink.]
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Now, where'd I put the amaretto?
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That shit?
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