ax_main | Tamara and Nolan

Tamara goes to tear Nolan a new one about the hacking. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Tamara was on a mission.

She'd dressed for the part. Tight black jeans, black crop top that bared her stomach, and "Zero fucks to give" necklace obvious on her chest. Her makeup was flawless, bold red lipstick and heavy winged eyeliner, and her hair was pulled back from her face and into an intricate ponytail. Finish the look with some fierce boots with oversized safety pins and some killer earrings...

Basically, she was dressed to kill.

It took her a couple tries to find the place (freakin' mansions...), and when she found the right door she actually reached her hand out to knock before thinking better of it. That was not the attitude she was bringing into this.

Instead, she planted her hands on her hips and called through the door. "Nolan? You in there?"

Nolan looked up from the spreadsheet he had been working on, eyebrows raised. Was that Tamara? Not knowing that it might have been a good idea, he hadn't at all dressed for battle himself. He was wearing a simple sweater with a pair of black pants, since he didn't have any videoconferences scheduled for the day.

"Yes?" he called out, and mechanically saved what he had been working on before closing the window. He stood up and moved to open the door, taking in her outfit and her body language at a glance. He wasn't the best reader of people, but she broadcasted anger. "Can I help you with something?"

Even with heels, Tamara was only 5’3”, but she owned every inch of it as she glared up at him. “What. The hell. Did you do?”

"I - have no idea," Nolan answered, and moved out of the way so she could come in. If she was going to yell, she might as well do it from inside his office. And he genuinely had no idea what she was talking about. Had it been a couple of days earlier, he would have assumed that she meant at her party, and his conversation with Lil.

Tamara’s wings flared as soon as she was in the door. “Then let me refresh your memory. You hacked into Lil’s school records! Who does that?!”

If Nolan looked surprised, it was that Lil had only just told Tamara. He wasn't sure what that meant, but he was certain that making wild guesses would be a bad idea. "I do, clearly," he answered simply, unimpressed with Tamara's attitude.

He had, after all, faced much worse, mostly in the form of businesspeople and Hamptonites.

Tamara stared up at him like he'd just spoken ancient Greek. "What, and you just think that's okay?" Of all the entitled white boy bullshit...

"I know I'm not going to justify my actions to you," Nolan replied evenly, keeping Kitty's words in mind. He still didn't feel good about it, and he felt terrible about the effect it had had on Lil, but if Kitty understood - approved, even - then he was all right. But the point was, he did not owe Tamara anything.

"Good," Tamara snapped back at him, completely undaunted, eyes flashing. "That'd be a waste of time." Her lip curled back angrily. He wanted to be ice? No fucking problem - Tamara was always fire. "Who the fuck gave you the right to do that? Especially to someone who trusted you - someone who thought you fucking cared about her? And y'know what else?" she demanded, not even pausing to let him get a word in if he wanted to, wings actually shaking behind her with anger. "I thought maybe you weren't just some rich white fuckboy, but you're just a total disappointment."

"I'm glad we got that sorted," he told her with an empty smile.

"I'm just getting started," she retorted with a glare.

"Right," Nolan acknowledged, and sat down in his desk chair - the only chair of the tiny office. If she was going to yell for a while, he might as well get comfortable for it.

Sparks danced around Tamara’s fists, clenched at her sides. He was infuriating - but at least he was at her eye level now. “Y’know what’s really fucked up about this whole thing?”

Nolan's gaze dipped to the sparks dancing around her fists, and he couldn't help but think back on that 'joke' she had once made. He was glad that his back had already been straight, so the fear that ran down his spine did not risk straightening it. He lifted his gaze back up to her face as if nothing were the matter, and gave her one of his distant, dry smiles, not about to let his unease show. "You're about to tell me."

“Someone should,” she all but snarled, pointing a finger at him. There was half a second’s pause as she seemed to notice the electrical sparks for the first time, and she extinguished them, but went right back to tearing Nolan a new one. “You got all high and mighty about whether or not Lil was a bully before, even though she’s not now and you know it - got so freakin’ paranoid about whether or not she’d abused her power that you abused your power to illegally take something from her that wasn’t yours to take.” Tam finally paused for breath, not sure she’d gotten all those words out in the right order but daring him to correct her.

Nolan let the silence stretch for a few seconds, then told her, very simply, "I'm not going to engage with you on this. If there's more you want to get off your chest, go ahead."

“What, like I’m just beneath your notice? You think I’m less than you?” And the sparks were back. This time Tamara didn’t try to stop them, because it felt good to give her anger an outlet. ...and considering she kind of wanted to kick him right now, a few sparks were definitely the better option.

And the sparks were back. Wonderful. "Yes, that's exactly why," Nolan said, his usually dry voice now dripping with sarcasm.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Tamara retorted, eyes narrowing to a glare that had made jocks cower before.

"I thought your entire point was that I was one," Nolan answered. His heart was beating double time, from the sparks rather than her glare, but he gestured at the door. "Now, if there's nothing else..."

“What, I’m angry so I don’t deserve your time?” she demanded, fists planting on her hips and wings puffing slightly. She had no intention of leaving now. “God, could you act like a person for a fucking minute?!”

"Apparently not," he answered dryly, before he could prevent himself. Stop engaging, he reminded himself. It was the only viable strategy.

“Well why the fuck not?!” Gah, she was so fucking pissed— she closed her eyes for a moment and ramped up her electricity, both hands bursting into flame for a second, then out entirely. At least now she wasn’t sparking like a spoon in the microwave... “I don’t care how much money you have or what a genius you are, you don’t get a pass on treating people like shit!”

There wasn't much room in his office at all, so when Nolan pushed back instinctively, to get away from her and that fire, his desk chair was almost immediately stopped by the filing cabinet behind him. "I've heard you," he told her, all emotion bled out from his voice, even his usual dryness.

“Ohmygod, Nolan, I’m not gonna torch your office!” Tamara couldn’t help rolling her eyes at him. Her hands were completely spark-free now and planted on her hips again. She dialed it back a notch, losing some volume but none of her intensity. “And I know you heard me,” because no shit, “but I wanna know that you get me. Any asshole can sit there and snark back.”

"I get you," Nolan told her, dryness and desperation mixing in his tone. He stood, to try and give himself some countenance, never mind how tepid a performance his body language could give. "Now, will you take yourself and your fire out of here?" His office was the last thing he was worried about.

“Prove it,” Tamara demanded, not giving an inch as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Nolan opened his mouth, then closed it. No. He hadn't given in to bullies in a long time, and he wasn't going to break his streak now. "I don't owe you anything," he replied, his eyes hard.

“You hurt a friend of mine,” Tamara countered, “so yeah, you do. And I’m not gonna disappear because your rich white ass finds my anger inconvenient!!!”

Inconvenient was a very feeble word for what he found her, and her anger. But he wouldn't let his fear control him. "I'm so glad you've made that clear."

Tamara wanted to tear her hair out, but resisted the urge. Instead she just glared and asked, “How could you do that to her? I thought you cared about Lil.”

Nolan slid his hands into his pockets, the gesture controlled and calculated. Show no weakness; that's when they pounce. Sometimes, they pounced anyway. "I'm still not going to engage with you about this," he told her, keeping such a tight hold on his voice that its evenness nearly made it sound quieter than it was.

“And why not?” Tamara was still glaring, but at least there had been something almost human in that response (unless she’d imagined it).

"I'm not sure what it is about 'I'm not going to engage with you' that you don't understand," Nolan replied. He might have pinched the bridge of his nose, but that would have meant taking his eyes off of her, and he was not going to do that.

“You don’t get to pick and choose when to be human, Nolan!”

Nolan simply looked at her, resisting the urge to answer anything. She might tire more quickly if he put his money where his mouth was and did not engage at all.

When she didn’t get a response, Tamara seemed to settle in a tense, bristling way, wings folding tight to her back. “Jesus Christ, Nolan,” she muttered, staring up at him, “who fucked you up this bad?”

A great many people just like you, Nolan nearly answered, but managed to hold it in. His eyes stayed hard as they looked at her, waiting (praying) for her to go.

With one last frown, Tamara did exactly that, turning on her heel and storming out of his office. Fuck him and his bullshit anyway.

Except she'd forgotten something, and stopped abruptly with her hand on the door knob. Without turning, she lowered a wing so she could glare over her shoulder at him. "Have you been spying on her?"

Nolan had been relieved far too quickly, and between that and his incredulity at the question, he forgot to remain quiet. "What? No."

Tamara turned, most ferocious glare in place. "She's afraid of her computer and her phone and I swear, Nolan, if I find out you're lying about this--"

That still made no sense to Nolan, even after thinking it over after Lil's parting words at Tamara's party. He raised his eyebrows, his blood cold, waiting for her to finish her thought out loud.

The lack of response from Nolan just made it worse. Tamara huffed a breath. "Don't make me go to the Professor." Tattling to the teacher wasn't her style, but... "Whatever you've been doing, knock it the fuck off or I'll tell him, and he'll make sure you do."

"Please," Nolan told her, his tone as cold as he could make his gaze. "Go to the Professor."

He had no doubt that, unlike Kitty, the Professor would have a problem with what Nolan had done. But he hoped that Charles Xavier would also recognize Tamara for what she was. Nolan could not even imagine what being kicked out might entail, in terms of his very survival, but he was not going to let Tamara bully him into anything, even if that was the price to pay. He had left that aspect of his life behind, and that was where it would stay.

It wasn't as if he was actually still doing anything, after all.

"Fine, I will," Tamara shot back, wings bristling.

"Now, will you leave?" Nolan asked coldly, less coldly than he hoped, a hint of his desperation for her to go making it into his voice.

"Fuck you," she replied with another heated glare, but turned to go, actually making it out the door this time, slamming it behind her.

Nolan stepped around his desk to the door to lock it, then let out a breath. He went back to his chair and dropped inside it, running his hands back through his hair before wiping them over his face. He would need a couple of minutes before he could force himself to focus on work again. At least.