Owner Pose
Madison Evans     After inviting Crush over, Madison gets to work setting up her miniature paints and supplies, along with an array of minis to choose from. There's people from sci-fi and fantasy, creatures both furred and scaled, and a weird, horrifying, tentacled thing. There's also snacks, drinks, and a Star Wars movie playing in the background. As she's seting up, she explains cheerfully, "She's a little bit older - I mean, maybe college age? But she's in school with us still. I think maybe she's graduating this year? Anyways. She just needs to learn some chill, yeah? So I'm teaching her how to paint. You'll like her - she's nice! I mean, a bit gruff. But a nice gruff!"
Xiomara Rojas The promise had been made, Crush remembered saying she would and so when the invitation finally came, she was. Signing out from the dorm, she grabs her sleeveless jacket and heads off school grounds. The address wasn't all that far from the school, she could have ridden her motorcycle, but the walk would give her time to put on her 'nice' face for the mother. A mother. Maddie's mother.... key-rist that wasn't going to go well.

Reaching the apartment building, she adjusted the jacket, then adjusted Obelus a little. Why did she care? That was what crossed her mind as she walked up the steps to the door. Why did she care what Madison's mother thought? And the answer that hit her, made her stops dead in her tracks and just stare at the door. She cared because she liked Madison. Well shit, that's a whole new thing isn't it?

Taking a long, deep breath she heads into the apartment building and up to Madison's front door. "Don't knock it off the hinges," she reminds herself, then does her level best to knock without killing the door.
Madison Evans     The rap at the door is rather firm - earning a faint wince from Madison, followed immediately by a broad, reassuring smile for her mom. "You know people at the school have a lot of different gifts, yeah? She's real strong. That's why I want to teach her to paint minis! You know. To work on like... finer control, you know?" That said, she hurries to the door, ignoring her mother's dubious expression. "Hey Crush! Come on in - this is my mom! Mom, this is Crush."
    As Madison gestures the girl in, her mother studies her with a carefully neutral expression. "You... brought a chain with you," she remarks with some surprise. Then she adds, "Hello, Crush. I'm Gladys," while Madison mouths 'Ms. Evans' behind her mother's back - hoping her friend catches onto the hint.
Xiomara Rojas When the door opens Crush puts on a smile, part of it is real because it's Madison and she just realized that in spite of the pure glee squad the girl was, she actually liked her. The other part was for her mother, to put on an agreeable expression.

"Uh, this is just Obelus, Ms. Evans," she explains softly, chewing a little at her tongue. "She won't do any harm, I just... I can't go places without her or she comes anyway."

She fidgets, honest to goodness fidgets then says, "It's nice to meet you Ms. Evans, y...you can call me Xio." No, you don't tell a mother to call you Crush, not that kind of mother and it had been a /LONG/ time since Crush felt the drilling, judging eyes of a mother.

Only then does she step inside, carefully, making sure not to bump anything.
Madison Evans     "Uh. Hello... Obelus," Gladys replies, a puzzled look on her features, while Maddie just looks relieved that her friend got her mother's name right.
    "It protects her, mom, if there's any trouble. Not that there's any trouble - I mean, why would there be? We're just mini painting."
    To say that Gladys gives Madison a dubious look is a bit of an understatement - but it seems she decides not to challenge her daughter on it right now. "Well, I hope you girls have fun. If you need anything - I have some emails I'll be finishing in my room. You girls are going to stay out here in the living room, right?" Where she can keep an eye on them if it's necessary.
    "Sure, mom! 'course!"
Xiomara Rojas It had been a while since Crush let herself be judges, let someone make up their mind about her without getting punched for it. You don't punch someone's mother, that's just not acceptable and even she knows that.

"You really don't need to worry about her," she reinforces, her tone staying calm and even. "Maddie's right, she just protects me... that's it, nothing more, and that's why she goes with me. But she won't do anything, I promise."

She looks toward Madison now with a 'is it okay?' sort of expression, then remembers something. "Oh! I uh... got you something Ms. Evans." She reaches into her satchel and pulls out a wrapped package. It's not wrapped well, but it is wrapped. "My... mother said never to go to someone's house empty handed, so I uh... organic honey." She extends the package toward the woman.
Madison Evans     "Oh!" Gladys seems surprised - and finally disarmed and reassured that the girl at least knows this much about social norms. "That's very kind of you - Xio? Madison said your name is Crush." She looks to her daughter for confirmation before she adds, "Thank you."
    Madison beams and gives Xio a thumbs up - though that changes to a silent, questioning mouthing of the unfamiliar name. Xio?
Xiomara Rojas Of course that's going to be a thing, time to explain, sort of... maybe?

"I... nickname, you know?" She offers a smile. "I prefer it over my real name is all, so... Crush, I mean look at me." The smile turns to a grin. "But uh... uh parents, they... you show respect, my mother taught me that. So, you get my name, school doesn't even have my name." She muttered the last part.

"I never told Maddie my name, she just knows Crush, not her fault, that's on me." She then adds, glancing down at the floor. "My parents were killed, they were the last people to use my real name... so, it's... difficult to hear other people use it, that's all." Over sharing, was that a thing? Would it matter? It was the truth, the reason she didn't use her real name. In her head she could still hear her Rojas calling her, when she'd be out in the yard playing or in her room, the sound of her mother's voice with a slight accent saying her name. Was it wrong to always want that to be the sound of her name in her head?
Madison Evans     "I'm sorry to hear that, Xio," Gladys says with sympathy and concern. "Well... I hope you girls have fun. I'll put this honey in the kitchen - if you girls want to have it in some tea, or maybe have a peanut butter and honey sandwich?"
    "With bananas?" Madison supplies eagerly.
    "If you like," she agrees with a smile. Then with a last nod to Xio she adds, "Nice to meet you Xio," before disappearing into her bedroom.
Xiomara Rojas The second Gladys it out of the room, Crush deflates like a balloon and rubs her face.

"I like your mom," she breaths out, then finally looks back up to Madison. "Mostly anyway... so, miniatures?"

Yes, she was making an attempt to brush off everything that just happened as 'never happened'.
Madison Evans     "She's not bad. I mean - she cares a lot. She's just- you know. She's real... protective." Madison shrugs her shoulders before adding, "But she's only got me, so- I mean. I get it."
    She gestures Crush over to where the paints are set up, inviting brightly, "Pick any of them minis that you like. Then we stick them onto one of these wine corks with some blue tack, yeah? It helps us hold and control them. Then we pick our colors, squeeze 'em out onto this wet pallette - it keeps them from drying out - and start painting! You want to use as little paint as possible - you don't want thick layers. And you want to put your elbows on the table to keep your hands steady. Easy, right?"
Xiomara Rojas Now that the shock of meeting the mother has passed, Crush starts looking over the table of miniatures. Madison was pretty darn serious about this, so many choices and they all looked pretty cool actually.

"My parents were over protective too," she offers quietly, as if trying not to say it but still say it. "You have a preference? I mean, you don't want me squeezing colors, that's one thing, but which of these you think I should try my hand at?"

She remembered then the conversation about an ewok army, so that's what she looks for, an ewok. "Smooth painting, not a lot of paint to avoid layers, elbows on the table..." She looks to Madison with a grin. "Totally against everything you get told right there."
Madison Evans     "I mean - miniature painting is different from dinner with the grandparents!" Madison says with amusement - before sobering up to add, "Err, I mean-" she opts not to dwell on it.
    "I find that painting something with fur or scales gets you the best results - straight out of the gates. Because when you put a wash on it, it has lots of little crevices to sink into to make shadows and it makes you look like a //genius// painted. Putting a wash on is //magic,//" she says seriously. There is indeed an extra ewok on the table available for painting. "But really - you gotta start with what you like. Just- ...don't paint something that's predominately white, or predominately black as your first mini. Just- ...trust me. Yellow's also a little tricky."
Xiomara Rojas Finding an ewok, complete with little hood and bandolero, Crush finally eases herself carefully into one of the chairs. She denser and heavier than her size even looks, so she's always careful about sitting.

"I remember you talking bout the ewok army," she says with a grin. "I was a little loopey still, but I remember... been thinkin about ewoks since. This one here, got a nice hood and bandolero, hand looks like there should be a staff in it... I was thinking of doing a light tan for the fur, maybe the hood could be darker..."

She pauses to look up Madison and ask, "You have dinner at your grandparents often? Ya know, you can talk bout your family. It don't hurt me just cause I don't have one. I never had grandparents, just my mom and dad, and even they weren't really my parents, they adopted me. So it's cool Maddie, you can talk about your family."
Madison Evans     "Well. Only when we go back out to California, now," Madison says with a sigh. "I mean, //everyone's// out there. Aunts, uncles, cousins... It's just me and mom out here. But there aren't a lot of schools that - you know. Take Jedi." Madison gives her friend a wry smile. "She wanted me to be around kids like me. I was pretty pissed about it at the time, leaving everyone I knew but- ...I mean, this school's pretty rad," she admits. While she's talking, she squeezes out small amounts of paint into the pallette. "You can mix different colors together to get the color you want - if you need to. Try not to get the paint up into here though," she explains, pointing to where a metal band holds the bristles to the wooden handle. "Or it ruins the brush."
Xiomara Rojas Now it was time to look over the colors, to seek out the perfect tan that this little ewok needed to be. Crush lets her eyes search through the colors, then starts lining them up to compare them.

"My parents woulda killed for a school like this when I was little," she admits, getting her selection down to three shades of tan. "But we moved a lot, so I wouldn't have gotten to stay anyway."

Holing up a very light tan to the light, she nods and looks back to Madison, "You may want to squeeze this onto the palette, or there might be tan paint everywhere." She states, then offers the color over.
Madison Evans     "Happy to help," Madison says in a bright voice. She squeezes some of it out as she adds, "I mean - I came here during the summer break last year - and they let me go on the school trip anyways, to get to know some of the kids. AND they let me join the science fair that was happening over the summer. And I won a $50,000 scholarship to college! That's //wild//!" she says enthusiastically. Lowering her voice she adds, "I wasn't really planning on going to college but now- I dunno. I guess I kind of have to."
    She picks up her own mini - a trandoshan warrior as she adds, "But I guess - I mean. I can go to college and be a super hero. Right?"
Xiomara Rojas With the paint on the palette, Crush takes a moment to look it over and ensure it's the right tan, even paints a little on her own hand to see it spread out. "Perfect ewok tan," she confirms, then starts to very carefully start painting the ewok. Oddly, she seems pretty good at it, a delicate touch when it comes to the brush against the plastic of the miniature.

"Course you can do both," she then says with a grin. "It might be harder, to try college and heroing at the same time, but you can do both. Just have to learn how to function on little to now sleep, still study, and get to classes when you can."

Little strokes at first, to see how the paint spreads, then she gets bolder, but she makes sure not to get paint past a certain point on the brush. "Why you want to hero?" she then asks, and this question is one she really wants the answer to. She wanted to know why people want to help other people, because it was a questions that had come up with another she knew who also heroed.
Madison Evans     "Think I can get the Titans to write me a note? 'Dear Professor Smith, please excuse Madison from class. She was busy fighting an alien invasion. We'll make sure she watches the video of your lecture later. kthnx, the Titans.'" She smirks with amusement at this thought - glancing towards the hallway as if afraid her mother will suddenly emerge and overhear her.
    "Why?" Madison says with some surprise. "I- well. Because I //can,//" she says firmly. "Because that's what Jedi //do.// They're supposed to protect people. If you can help people, and you just stand around, and ignore it, and never help or protect anyone... Then... How is that right? If you can save someone, and you don't, isn't it a little bit your fault?"
Xiomara Rojas Crush chuckles as she says, "That's the perfect note right there. I think they'd even let you get off the hook with a note like that." She carefully dips the brush in the paint, then back to the ewok.

"I agree that if you see something happening, you should do something about it," she then says, eyes staying on the ewok. "But being a hero, that's more than that... it's going out, specifically looking for trouble to help stop. You think that's what people with abilities and powers should do?"
Madison Evans     "I mean..." Madison looks thoughtful, as she concentrates on covering the trandoshan's blaster with a gunmetal color. "I don't know. Not everyone's got powers that let them do that, even if they do have powers, right? Like... if you have the power of making smells or something. How're you going to fight crime? Gag the crooks with stinky fart smell?" she asks with a smirk. "And some people have had real bad stuff happen to them, and maybe they're not... you know, emotionally able to handle it? Or... whatever. Not everyone //has// to go running into danger to help people. ...but I kinda feel like I oughtta. Even if my mom's so set against it."
    She rinses off her brush, turning her mini upside-down to make sure she got every part of the blaster as she adds, "I mean there's people in the police, or the army, or whatever who do just that - //without// the powers."
Xiomara Rojas The tan continues to be spread evenly over the ewoks body, while Crush also makes sure not to get any of the paint on other parts of it.

"Maddie... you care about people, all people, right?" She asks softly, looking up at the younger teen for a moment then goes back to smoothing the tan in place. "That's... my whole life no one's cared but my adoptive parents, so it's hard to care about other people."

She pauses for a moment, both talking and painting, then goes to get herself a glass of water to sip at while painting. "I'm trying to care," she adds once she sits back down. "You, Irie, that Terry guy, Ms. O'Connail... people who've shown they care, I care... it's a start, right?"
Madison Evans     "Well I mean - some people more than others but- yeah. I care about people. Everyone should be safe, and have food, and clothes, and a house, and medical care, you know? And if any of those things aren't true - we should help them! You know?" she remarks in an encouraging voice. "And if I see someone that's been hurt... I mean, it makes me a little sad. But not as much as if it happened to my mom, or Irie, or you, ya know?"
    She gives a shrug of her shoulders, choosing a dark grey color for the figure's pants. "It's a start. I mean, most people are pretty good. They're pretty kind. Sure, some are jerks - but maybe they just need to learn, you know? That they're hurting people, and that's not okay."
Xiomara Rojas Crush is quiet for a little bit, working on the ewok's body as she debates what Madison said. In her experience, most people were not good, but those were people at the ends of their ropes, people on the streets with nothing. Some were okay, most were cruel and just out for themselves because when you have nothing, you have nothing to lose in attempts to get something. Being at Happy Harbor, that was the first time she'd seen people who were actually good, and that was likely because they didn't have to fight tooth and nail just for one meal for the day.

"Most people are jerks," she finally says bluntly. "Most people are out for themselves or their family, and don't give a rats ass about anyone else... but there are good people. People like you, just... pure cheer and good."

Setting the ewok down to start to dry, she runs the brush through the water to clean it. "See, you drive me crazy with your cheer Maddie, but at the same time..." she considers then just says it. "... at the same time, I love it. You remind me what normal people can be like, I mean you aren't normal, you got powers and are a Jedi, but... you know what I mean, right?"
Madison Evans     "I don't think //most// people are jerks," Madison replies - her brow furrowing slightly. "I mean, it's natural to want to help your family. To better their situation. But that doesn't make someone a jerk." Does it? "Not if you work for it, and you earn it, and you do it without like... hurting people."
    She then grins at Crush before adding with her usual cheer, "I'm the most normal Jedi you know!" Setting a low bar.
Xiomara Rojas Crush blinks a few times. "Yeah, most normal Jedi," she agrees with a smirk.

"Regarding people though, I'm talking about those people only out for themselves and will try to hurt or hurt people," she cleans off the palette while talking, preparing for the next shade of brown for the hood and bandolero. "Those are the people I've been around, because I was on the street with em. Those are the people that killed my parents, the sort they were running from. They're all I know... so yeah, I know there's jerks out there, and that's not the word I would normally use."
Madison Evans     "Well. I guess my da-" Madison starts, before cutting herself off short and staring at Xiomara. "But he wouldn't kill anybody!" she asserts hastily. "I mean, he mostly- thinks of himself. And his //new// family. But he's not like... a murderer or anything. I don't think I've //ever// met anyone like that."
    She's still staring at Xiomara when she asks uncertainly, "Just... how many bad people have you met?"
Xiomara Rojas The outer hood is going to be a rich sienna brown, the inner line a dark green, Crush has it all figured out and the colors chosen.

"You can say dad," she says with a slight chuckled snort as she looks back to Madison. "The word ain't the problem, the person is... as for bad people?"

Taking a drink of her water she sits back, Mister Ewok needs a little more time to dry. "I was thirteen when my adoptive parents were killed by drug dealers, so that right there should be indication of the kind of bad people I've been around. They tried to keep me away from it, moved constantly but it caught up with them. Once I was alone, on the streets, that's the only kind of people out there."

She glances toward the direction Gladys went, wanting to make certain she wasn't just standing there. "There's always someone out there who wants to control a homeless kid, someone who wants to make a deal for my abilities, someone who wants to use me... and when they couldn't get what they wanted, they ended up in the hospital and I had to move on," she looks down at her hands, no anger in her voice despite the topic. "Constantly on the move, living hand to mouth, using the fights to have money for food, low life scum, hookers, drug healers, druggies, these were the people around me."

She finally looks back up at Madison and offers a half smile. "That's the world I know, Maddie, but I'm trying to learn that it's not the only thing in this world."
Madison Evans     "Oh, I know I can say dad. It's just- I mean. He's a jerk, but he's not... //Bad,// you know? He only really cares about his //new// family... But it's not like he- you know. I don't know. I mean, he's not a drug dealer, or anything," Madison explains, staring down at her mini as she resumes painting. She keeps the heels of her palms pressed together - further stabalizing her hands.
    "Your adoptive parents were into drug stuff?" she says a little uncertainly. "That's... sad. I mean, you head about addictive and stuff at school... And how you need to avoid drugs and cigarettes and things."
Xiomara Rojas This time Crush makes the attempt to squeeze just a little brown out, a light pinch, very light, too light... so she sets it down with a sigh, takes a deep breath and tries again. Maybe too much brown comes out, but she didn't shoot it all over the room.

"They used to," she responds. "Ran up debts, I mean... come on, they found me a Burning Man Festival. The debts chased them all over, that's why we moved around."

"It caught up with them, when I wasn't home," she cleans the brush a little more, then wipes it off. "They burned the trailer down with them in it, took Obelus... but, we'll let's just say I clearly got her back and leave it at that." She didn't want to tell Madison what she'd done to get Obelus back, or that those particular drug dealers were now six feet under.
Madison Evans     "I'm sorry," Madison murmurs quietly, looking towards Xiomara for a moment, then back down with a sigh. "Criminals are... bad people. But at the same time, desperation sometimes makes people make bad choices, right? If you're starving, you're going to steal. If your kid needs medicine... You'll do anything to get it. So I guess- that doesn't make people bad. It's just- they shouldn't have to be that desperate in the first place, I guess. Like, how some some people have ten cars and a mansion, and some people live in a cardboard box? It's messed up. Doesn't make the people who live in the cardboard box bad just because they want food."
    She keeps her eyes on her mini as she adds, "But I guess that's easy for me to say. I've never had to live like that - or deal with people like that."
Xiomara Rojas "Not all are bad," Crush says softly. "Not all of them were just out for themselves... that's just the majority, and I don't blame them. I'm just saying it is what it is, and this is the first time I've known actual good people who seem to actually care."

Dipping the brush in the new darker brown, she picks the ewok back up and starts to paint his outer hood. "My real name is Xiomara Rojas, not that I have identification or anything, but that's the name the Rojas gave me. Xiomara. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
Madison Evans     "Tell anyone what, Crush?" Madison counters - flashing the other girl a broad smile. She grows more serious before she adds, "Thanks for telling me, though. I mean- it's a pretty name. They must have loved you a lot to give you a pretty name like that - yeah?"
    Her gaze is on her mini again, as she works on painting individual toe nails. "Did you not... have a name before that? Or you were just too little to remember it, and share it?"
Xiomara Rojas "When I fell to earth, with Obelus around me," Crush begins. "I was a baby, I mean like little baby. Couldn't walk or talk. If I have another name, don't know it, wasn't on a card or anything. I don't think a parent who throws you at the earth bothers to name you." There was a hint of anger in her tone, but it fades out pretty quickly.

"David and Lisa Rojas saw me fall, like flaming through the atmosphere, land near them, fall. Obelus let them take me, and then I got a name."