Truth and A Dare

**Wednesday, November 25, 2020. Casa Nixon.**

“Seriously, what is *in* this? ‘Fatherly love’, yeah yeah sure whatever, but for real. Is it nutmeg? Some kind of spice? Melange?!” Ellen downs the rest of her mug of hot chocolate and exhales with immense satisfaction. “C’mon, Scott. You can’t hold out on me forever. Who even knows how much longer I’m gonna be around to ask!”

Scott narrows his eyes at her. “Are you dying? Is this a Make-A-Wish thing? Because *maybe* I’ll share some secrets if it is. But no, seriously, the most important ingredient is a father’s love.”

“He didn’t tell me until we were already married,” Tanya supplies from where she’s leaning against the kitchen counter with her own mug. “Literally, I had to watch him make it to figure it out, and he wouldn’t let me until we had said our vows and everything.”

*Technically, he doesn’t know that I’m not dying. I could put on an act… Tempting.* Ellen drops this line of thinking when she remembers that she’s clearly not a child. “I’m just gonna assume that ‘non-fatherly’ love works just the same and go with that. You ever try to copy him Tanya? How’d that work?” She holds her mug out towards Scott for more.

As Scott pours Ellen seconds from the startlingly large kettle he’d pulled out when she arrived, Tanya grins conspiratorially. “I have, actually. It didn’t come out *exactly* the same, I think I got some of the ratios a little off? But he and Nattie were sick, and I wanted to cheer them up. Scott and Nattie said the differences were because I used a mother’s love instead of a father’s, so there are definitely substitution options.”

“As long as there’s love in it, that’s what I always say,” Scott adds, handing Ellen’s mug back to her. “If you need to check your hot chocolatier’s heart for love, you can use a stethoscope. I borrow Tanya’s every now and then just to make sure *my* source is in working order.”

“I keep telling you I need that for work,” Tanya says, rolling her eyes.

Ellen smiles warmly at them as Tanya chides Scott for continually borrowing her stethoscope, think about the stupid arguments she and Tay have. *Waitaminute,* her brow furrows, *a stethoscope isn’t gonna do shit with Tay.* She can’t help but laugh at the image of Tay, sitting there bored as hell, with herself listening in to a stethoscope just waiting for something to happen.

Scott, taking Ellen’s chuckle as fuel for his own antics, dramatically holds a hand over his heart. “21 years together, and she acts like she doesn’t know I always give the stethoscope back. It really - oh, hi, Nattie, how are you?”

Nat doesn’t immediately respond to her father, standing frozen in the kitchen door like a deer in the headlights. Her eyes dart back and forth between Scott, Tanya, and Ellen a couple times before she blinks and seems to force herself to look more relaxed. “Uh, hi, Mom, Dad, I’m okay. Hi, Ellen? I didn’t expect you?” Again Nat’s eyes dart to her mother, like she’s using Tanya’s body language as a barometer for the situation she’s walked into.

“Hey Ba-” *No, dumbass. Don’t call her that,* “hey Nat. Yeah, I kinda barged in. Gotta talk to you, if that’s cool?” Ellen takes another long sip of her hot chocolate, eyes flitting between Nat, Tanya, and Scott, all too aware of the tension she’s caused by being here. Not like it’s new, but still.

Nat catches that Ellen stopped herself from calling her "Banshee" and glances at her again before her eyes bounce straight back off Ellen and back to Tanya. Scott, looking for all the world like he has no idea there’s any subtext happening in his kitchen, raises his eyebrow at his daughter and blows across the surface of his hot cocoa. He grins a little as his wife and daughter start an intense non-verbal conversation using only slight body language and facial expressions. Finally, Tanya raises her eyebrows at Nat, Nat huffs a breath out through her nose, and they both turn to Ellen in probably-creepy unison.

“Okay,” Nat says. “Do you wanna talk in my room, or…?”

Ellen follows the mental conversation through Nat and Tanya’s facial expressions to the best of her ability, eyes widening when both their gazes turn to her. “S’your house. Your call, but I don’t mind if Scott and Tanya are there. Why not clear the air for everyone, right?” Nat’s parents are so nice, Ellen feels a bit like she’s been taking advantage of them while their kid is actually afraid of her. *Why not save time and just apologize to all of ‘em at once?*

Nat nods, trying not to look visibly relieved as she edges around the kitchen toward Scott. She’s still trying to look casual, but she’s doing an *awful* job of it. “Clear the air? I don’t know what you mean.”

“Sweetie,” Scott murmurs, passing Nat a mug of hot chocolate that he seems to have spontaneously produced in his hand. She takes it, murmuring her thanks, and turns back to Ellen. She’s going for an attentive look, but there’s still way too much of the whites of her eyes in it.

Ellen takes another gulp of hot chocolate before starting. “So, short version: sorry. Long version: ‘bout the whole ‘Banshee’ thing. I didn’t realize you hated it so much, so… yeah. Does that… fix… this?”

She scans everyone’s faces for any kind of cue as to whether what she’s said is helping, but is just met with confusion from Tanya and Scott and wide eyes from Nat. *Whatever “this” even is. Ugh, stupid Melchior and his stupidly telling me about this whole stupid thing. This is stupid.* She pouts into her mug while waiting on an answer.

“I don’t...I mean, I don’t think you’re, like, evil or bullying me or anything?” Nat offers. “I just, um. That one time, I lost control and I hurt you by accident, you were *really* mad. And I met Tay and she seemed fine with me, but when I saw you next after you were so mad was truth or dare, and uh, you were still calling me Banshee? Which is what you called me when you were really mad at me? So I assumed you were still really mad at me?”

Tanya and Scott exchange a look that says something like a combination of *this again* and *that tracks*. This is hardly Nat’s first time assuming someone dislikes her and operating on that assumption for months; on the other hand, it’s also hardly the first time someone has given Nat a mean nickname, or held a grudge against her for a loss of control.

“You didn’t tell us anything about that, sweetheart,” Scott says, turning his attention back to Nat. “I could’ve told you she probably didn’t mean it in a bad way. She came here on Halloween to check on you, after all.”

Nat cringes a little at the reminder. “I just didn’t really wanna talk about it?” She says, more to her cocoa than anyone in the room. “I, uh, I thought Carmen would be the only one coming over that night. And - and when I woke up in the graveyard later, everyone but Carmen had left for the Ellen party, so...”

“Ok, so a couple of things there.” Ellen throws back the rest of her second mug and keeps her head rolled back to hide the massive eye roll she’s doing. *Ughhhh now I’m gonna have to tell Noodle he was right! Dammit!*

Recomposing herself, Ellen sits upright and faces Nat. “First of all, I wasn’t mad at you for that. I mean, maybe for the day or two I couldn’t hear, but it’s not like I haven’t got the shit kicked out of me for less before. I mean, I lived with Melody for months.” She pauses for a laugh that never comes, coughing to recompose herself.

“And two, I don’t remember a ton from truth or dare, but Tay filled me in and also *I was super sick*, so maybe cut me some slack there? You’ve never been sick and pissed about it? C’mon, dude.”

She eases back into the couch, slouching into it more with every word. “Also, with the Halloween thing, wouldn’t you rather wake up with your friend than with me carrying you while *I* was *also* being carried to a shitty party where another one of me tried to turn all of us into vampires? Dude, you were passed out. Why would we drag you into that shit?”

Nat casts one last nervous look at her parents when Ellen’s head falls back. Tanya gives Nat an encouraging smile and nods towards Ellen. Scott continues to placidly sip his hot cocoa in a way that somehow conveys *I told you so* perfectly. Nat purses her lips at her father and turns back to Ellen.

“Um, you weren’t mean at truth or dare or anything, I was just...because the Banshee thing.” Nat makes an abortive gesture that could mean anything. “And, uh, I guess? I mean, about the Halloween thing? But I’ve woken up in all sorts of situations, it would’ve been okay.” She chuckles nervously. “I actually didn’t know there was an Ellen trying to turn everyone into vampires there? I was, uh, preoccupied with one that attacked me for time travel reasons. And I already felt pretty dumb and embarrassed that night, and then I passed out like twice, and...uh. I wasn’t thinking really clearly?”

“Ok, but Banshee is just a nickname. Like… I mean, you *do* scream a lot. I wasn’t trying to be mean; it’s like how we call Mel ‘Noodle’ and stuff. Plus, how was I supposed to know you didn’t like it? I can’t read minds, and you’re weirdly shit at sticking up for yourself. I’ve seen you take down whole buildings, I don’t get why just saying a thing is harder than that for you.”

Ellen’s brow furrows as the pressure of a stress headache starts building behind her eyes. She hasn’t had to deal with the consequences of her actions in months and it’s not like she was any good at it before then.

Ellen’s body language just seems to distress Nat further. She’s not *scared* per se, but she’s allergic to conflict and leaping to finding ways to end this one. “I mean, I only didn’t like it because I thought it meant you were mad? And, like, the other Ellen attacked me on sight, and I know she’s not you and everything but it wasn’t a great indicator. I just, you know, usually, if someone’s mad at me because I hurt them they stay either mad at me or scared of me, and either way it’s usually best to just stay out of their way? And - and! You’re a much more established member of Big Team! Lots of people like you! So I thought it would be better if you didn’t like me to stay away from you so I wouldn’t make you madder and cause team drama!”

As Nat hits full semi-apologetic ramble, Tanya and Scott exchange another look. They’re staying out of this for the moment, letting Nat iron out her own interpersonal issues, but they’re aware of Nat’s habit of just avoiding things that upset her. She’s not wrong about her past experiences, but her parents are frowning a little, starting to worry about how precarious she seems to think her place on Big Team could be.

Ellen laughs. The laughing makes the headache worse and she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Dude, welcome to being on a team. You put any number of people together, there’s gonna be some fighting or arguing or at least people disagreeing. But lemme tell ya, from experience, not talking about it never helps. ‘Cause it’s gonna eat away at you from the inside and people—well, most people—are gonna notice you’re acting weird, and then the truth comes out anyway and-”

At this point Ellen realizes she’s getting loud; her brain feels like it’s trying to break out of her skull. She wipes a hand up her face, pushes back her hair, and sighs deeply. She continues in a much softer voice, not wanting to alarm her hosts further, “Look, what I’m trying to say is that you gotta get used to talking things out, ‘cause things get worse when you don’t. No one on the team is out to get you. Most of ‘em are there for basically the same reasons: they’re worried about their powers, they’ve got a lot of shit changing real fast, and they just want some friends.”

She half smiles at Nat, “Take it from a ‘more established member of Big Team’,” making air quotes around Nat’s words.

As Ellen’s volume climbs, Nat straightens, shifting from scared to a little angry. She *can’t* raise her voice in an argument, no matter how upset she is, and it strikes her as something of a cheap shot for Ellen to raise hers. When Ellen gets control of herself, though, some of the tension bleeds out of Nat’s frame - she hardly has a leg to stand on when it comes to someone’s voice getting away from them.

“I don’t know that,” she says, voice soft and even. “I don’t know how a team works, and I don’t *know* what to do when someone on it doesn’t like me other than just avoid them. I don’t exactly have any friends anywhere else, Ellen. What has always happened before is I hurt someone, they get mad, and we never speak again. How am I supposed to know any different with you?”

Tanya elbows Scott and jerks her head towards the kitchen door. “I’m going to go have your father look over some of the pamphlets and things I’m rotating into circulation at my office,” she says firmly. “You two talk the rest of this out in peace, okay?”

Scott looks like he’d rather stay and watch, but Tanya doesn’t give him the opportunity. She refills her mug and his, then pinches his shirt between two fingers and tows him out of the kitchen behind her. Nat slips into the place he’d been standing and refills her own mug, just for something to do with her hands.

“Sorry ‘bout the shouting. That’s probably gotta put your folks on edge, huh? Plus, I was kinda shouting more at myself than you.” Ellen mumbles the last bit before walking over to Nat and leaning next to her. “I’m not saying you’re the only one who fucked up here. I assumed we were fine, and look how that turned out!”

“So if you’re fine with, like, any little thing being the reason you never talk to someone again, then you can keep doin’ what you’re doin’. Or, you could take the first step. Say you’re sorry, ask if they’re alright, just… something. You said people get mad and then you never talk again? Well it takes two to not talk; how many of ‘em did you reach out to? How many tried to talk to you but you were hiding behind a sofa?” Ellen raises her eyebrows with a grin at Nat, the memory of Nat scribbling away behind a couch in the base clouded by a soupy haze.

Nat blushes and scratches at the back of her head self-consciously. “It’s been...a while,” she allows. “I mean, I didn’t always just...let things be? But like I said, people outside of Big Team don’t tend to want me around that much. The grapevine tells me I’m scary.” She huffs a laugh. “I did the same thing with Mel, kind of. He was scared when we met after I lost control, and I may have assumed he was scared of me? He had to corner me in a storage closet to get me to listen to him, though, so. That’s worse than my kitchen. Baby steps.”

“Um…” she trails off a little, shifting her weight and blushing again. “How much do you remember from truth or dare, exactly? You seemed really preoccupied with the soup, and trying to physically fuse with Tay.”

“Like I said, Tay filled me in,” Ellen snorts, “don’t worry, I’m not gonna hold you to that song writing thing. I think I’ve probably taken up enough of your time today, yeah?”

“No, it’s okay, I don’t usually like to back down from a dare,” Nat says. “I mean. If *you* don’t want to, that’s okay, we don’t have to. But. If you *do* want to?”

“Huh! Is this you… *reaching out?*” Ellen makes an over-the-top shocked face, her voice teasing. “Hell yeah, if you’re down then I’m down, B- dammit that’s gonna take some gettin' used to. But yeah. That sounds fun! I’m sure we can work up something that, uh…” she gives Nat a once over, “mixes our styles. Wanna start now?”

Nat sticks her tongue out at Ellen’s teasing, but yanks it back into her mouth when she remembers they’re still on kind of unstable ground. “Um, sure! Let’s go upstairs, I’ll get my notebook.” Nat tops off her mug one last time and then trots out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Ellen follows suit, pouring herself another mug before taking off after Nat. “God, what do we even write? What kind of music do you 12 year olds even listen to these days?”