point_b | nasatya

There's more evac work to do, but it's slower going - no more easily drained population centers with functioning phones and internet, and fewer places to put the people. Eventually the last places that were willing to take evacuees fill up and close and they have nothing else to do.

A little while after that, things at the Junebug offices calm down enough that they're willing to make calls that say things like:

"Are you willing to give an interview for the Associated Press on your contribution to the evacuation efforts?"

Bella says she will if they want, if it won't take too long, and if they'll give her lunch. Alli agrees under similar conditions.

They're minors, so they're supposed to go by code names for limited identity protection. (Adults sometimes have these too, but it's required for anyone still in school.) Apparently somebody in the Junebug offices has suggested "Flicker" for Bella, which she accepts. Alli thinks on it with Bella's help and two of her own brains for an hour before settling on "Verge".

Their interviews, Alli followed by Bella - Verge followed by Flicker - are only a few minutes long each. Alli smiles at the interviewer and says that mostly she was just helping her sister and that she's really glad she had a chance to do something about Yellowstone and that she's really impressed with all the scientists who gave them warning and that she's glad she had the chance to move in with her dad since her home was within the danger zone.

Bella's is a little different.

"Flicker," says the interviewer, "you're thirty-second out of all the Junebug evacuators in estimated lives saved. You're going to get a medal when school starts up again in the spring term. Are you proud of yourself?"

"I suppose abstractly I could be," says - Flicker. "But I'm really not. It's not about my place in the ranking, per se - I don't think I could have cleared Sweep's number even if I'd been perfect. But I don't think very much about how good I was, I think about the moments I was distracted or tired or hungry and I slowed down just that little bit. When I was perfect and everything was lined up by the National Guard or other Junebugs, I could do four people a second. I don't know exactly how many I lost the chance to teleport to safety from stopping to catch my breath, or roll over after I woke up from an enforced sleep break, but - it was more than a few."

"Still, you did more than a million other participating twins."

"I didn't do it by being clever or brave, I did it by having a good bonus and concentrating, and I didn't do as well as I would have liked at the concentrating."

The interviewer changes the subject. "What are you and Verge doing now?"

"I think she mentioned we're living in our dad's house, outside the tuff area. It's ashy but livable, sort of - I've been doing the grocery shopping in other countries."

The reporter nods sympathetically. "How did you feel when you were teleporting people?"

"I avoided doing too much of that, really, it would have slowed me down - I had to focus on places and targets and not having emotional reactions. When I had any it just made me concentrate on being faster, because for every person I happened to get a good look at, there were millions who just weren't standing in the right place and didn't deserve help any less." She swallows. "Now that there's nowhere else to put anyone and nothing else for me to do I mostly think about the school bus that got swallowed up in the quake when it first hit. I didn't get everybody out."

"Do you think," says the interviewer, "that it was wrong to put a child of your age in that position?"

"Absolutely not," snaps Flicker. "Even if I couldn't deal, even if I were going to spend the rest of my life crying in a corner - and I'm not, I'm holding up - but even if that were going to happen, I saved one and a half million people. Sparing me would've been literally throwing every one of those people into the fire. One and a half million isn't my algebra homework, it's lives. Even if I were going to spend the rest of mine crying in a corner, one and a half million people get to have lives at all because the Junebugs didn't have qualms about child labor laws when Yellowstone rumbled. I wouldn't hesitate to make the same call if it were up to me."

"Do you have anything you'd like to say to the people you saved, Flicker?"

"I'd rather they didn't think of me at all. I wish they hadn't needed me, and now that they're done needing me they should go back to living like they appeared in Japan or wherever I put them by autonomous magic. They don't owe me anything, even listening to whether I think they do or not."

The interview ends there.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

you_miss_it

"And she likes you back, fuck, hoooly fuck, okay, okay, uh - didn't, first off, your forehead's unmolested and shit. And she's - being super stupid. Um. Do - you're an explanations person, right? You like explanations? Do you want one, or do you want me to sit down and unfuck Adana's head for her and then shove her in your direction after with her head nice and unfucked, or like - drop it and never talk about it again, or... Or what?"

From:

point_b

"I would love an explanation."

From:

you_miss_it

"Okay, can do. First off - twin thing, she doesn't say anything about it, because she's Adana and often doesn't know how to fucking talk, but it sort of bothers her how we are taken in pairs. Like, we are the Sanders twins, not, Adana and Savannah Sanders, who happen to be twins. That bugs her, she's cool with being my twin, but the - taken in pairs thing bugs her. Second thing. Surprise, I am not monogamous. Or monoamorous. Or - whatever. You get the idea. So, sharing, I don't give a fuck. Like, literally, no fucks given, except for like - mechanics of safety and not being a bitch to whoever I'm with and lying to them or putting them at risk for any sort of shit without their - anyway. Yes. That. I am that. Adana, is not. Third, the big one. We are - well, twins. Irreplaceable to each other, and I know you're like, 'Yeah, duh' but it's not - there was a - before dad got us, when we were with mom, that was it. It was us. And anything, anything ever fucking that shit up, that was terrifying. That's the shit nightmares are made of, when you've got one tiny little lifeline in a storm and it's the only fucking thing keeping you sane, and you're clinging to it with all of your might. Right? Make sense? Okay, good, 'cause I need that.

"So this all probably sounds like a huge fucking tangent and you're like, 'But Savannah, none of this makes any fucking sense or is connected to the other parts you're talking about!' Don't worry, it does. I think. Whatever, I'm trying here. So - she very much doesn't want to have - people think, that because we are twins, she is definitely going to be buddy-buddy with all of the wonderful, glorious things I get up to. She's fine with like, me doing it, but wants exactly zero part of it and will not be pleased if people think it's okay. So she got all observant and was like, 'There is a potential problem here that could spiral really, really badly,' and I believed her, 'cause, sister. She's the smart one. Pretty sure she was right, too, because of her bouts of weirdness, but - not important. So, our solution - we would not mess with each other's - whatever. Romantic whatever. Right? Like the bro code, but with tits and sisters. Enforcing the 'we are definitely not the same person' thing, romantically, because some of the people I'm interested in would take one look at her and be like, 'Hottie, let's fuck her!' Mostly for her benefit, but she's abiding by it too, because she's Adana and is like, 'Fairness! Equality! Kittens for all!'

"Except. She, she is doing the thing where she's like, 'I said I would do this so I need to do this!' and she's - she forgot the why. Like, this is not why we did that shit, I do not fucking own you because we went to a dance, once, and had zero chemistry, that is grade A bonkers. When I said I was going to go unfuck her head, that is what would happen, I'd be like, 'No, you are not forced into the proverbial decision of 'me vs. Bella,' calm down, you can have both.' And probably explain it slowly and pat her head and give her cookies and tell her the world is not as scary as she thinks it is sometimes."

From:

point_b

"I... think I follow? Maybe go unscramble Adana and I'll ask her for a - paraphrase."

From:

you_miss_it

"All-righty. It might take a bit, 'cause I didn't catch this early and she's probably scrambled a bit more now because you are miserable and that will make her miserable. So, questions before I go?"

From:

point_b

"I think I'll wait. But - thanks."

From:

you_miss_it

"Yup. And - uh. Sorry I didn't catch this early. I thought she was getting better about this shit. Little baby bird hopping out of the nest and - that fuckery. Anyway. Going to go unscramble my sister, woooo!"

From:

point_b

"Thanks," repeats Bella.

From:

you_miss_it

And off Savannah goes. She twines her sister.

"Hey, you. No, don't even try it, I already know all of everything. Put a portal up, come here, we're getting - damn, we can't get icecream, uh - want to share some ramen?"

From:

blink_and

"Okay," murmurs Adana, and - portal, and in comes a cold, slightly sooty sister. "Ramen. Ramen works."

From:

you_miss_it

"Cool."

And then, shortly, there is ramen. Also some blankets, Adana's kind of - freezing cold because of the extreme temperatures caused by the eruption.

When ramen has been had and the offending sister is warmed up under sufficient blankets: "So. Bella."

From:

blink_and

"Bella," she agrees.

From:

you_miss_it

"No, don't you do that thing. Stop it. Right now. The other thing, too, you're not allowed to start that one."

From:

blink_and

"Which things...?"

From:

you_miss_it

"You were going to clam up and not be talkative and mope about it for weeks instead of doing anything about it. And then, after I told you that I'm totally fine with you going after Bella, you were going to do the thing where you were like, 'But no! I've ruined my single chance forever, it's not like we can ever do anything ever again, or - god forbid - I go talk to her!'"

Edited Date: 2014-09-10 05:17 am (UTC)