![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phormthevixdjinn"So then. What exactly is it that you want here?" Her voice was like gravel over pavement, grunge and friction. Just like it always had been.
"What?" Vect interjected, genuinely baffled. "What the fuck do you think?"
"I'm asking you." The skunk gestured toward Vect with her glass, ice tinking against the side as she did. "I want to hear it from your mouth."
Vect frowned as the skunk took a pull from her bourbon slowly.
"It's not a puzzle. We want equality. Accountability." Her expression was steadfast and unmoving, "Above all, Justice."
Her guest continued her measured drink, lowering her gaze along with the glass as she swirled the ice pensively. A heavy pause filled the empty club for far too long. Vect squirmed inwardly at the lack of sound.
"A fool's errand, then."
"The fuck do you know? Huh? You come back here just to shit all over me after all this time? Does that make you f-"
"Pipe down," The skunk's voice emerged with force, but not malice. It sent a familiar chill down Vect's spine. "I'm saying you're believing in fairy tales here. Fables. Utter fiction. That's all."
Exasperated, the mink threw her hands into the air.
"Does this look fake to you? Does any of this look fake to you?!" She gestured wildly to all corners of the club, even as her guest languidly followed with a tepid stare. "This is all that is real, goddamnit! This community is filled with real people, and every single goddamned day they're living their real lives. Their joy, their pain, their triumphs and their suffering? That's all there is! This shit isn't a fairy tale, and it's not abstract. It's the only thing that matters, and that's why I want to do everything I can to defend it."
The skunk swung her right boot off table now, bringing it to the ground as she pivoted slowly forward in her seat. She cast a low glance upward at the agitated Vect.
"Yeah, you're right. And that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, you think you're owed these things?" There was a beat as the skunk stabbed at the tabletop with a fingertip, "You think, just because you and your community are here, you're owed equality? Accountability? Justice? That these are things you are due?"
The thick silence choked Vect, just like it always did.
"Because," her guest continued, "Unless you're deluding yourself, surely you know these things are bunk. What is equality, when so many of you have to hide to avoid mistreatment? Where's accountability, when they can kill you with impunity, or break the rules that bind you? In case you haven't noticed, the powerful people who continue to shit on you don't suffer a lick for their malfeasance. And sweetie, that's not a mistake. That's shit working as intended. So I ask you again..."
The skunk reached into the breast pocket of the jacket that hung loose around her shoulders, pulling out a cigarette as Vect continued to furrow her brow from across the table. She flicked the stick into her mouth unlit, shooting a cutting look to the mink.
"What justice can you hope for, when the very framework that promises it is rigged against you? What is it you want here, if all of that is a lie?"
Vect's eyes had lowered to the table at this point. She felt small again. The world around her, and the skunk across the table, so much larger than she could ever hope to comprehend - Let alone the world outside.
No. The mink shook her head and planted her palms on the tabletop.
"So what? Did you walk in here after all this time just to fucking tell me I'm an idiot? Is that it? That I should lie down and die?"
"I s-"
"No!" Vect slammed the tabletop, "You think I don't know this shit is rigged against us? Of course I fucking know that! But I don't see much point in accepting that bullshit, and there's no way in hell I'm going to roll over and show my throat just because some jackboot fascist assholes are telling me to play by the rules that say I have no chance."
Vect's eyes were lighting up now, the fire of passion stoking deep within her as she reflected on the absurdity of the question. "I may not have put up the walls of this bar, but I sure as fuck helped build the community here. You understand me? We worked together to make a place that was safe, and a place where we could flourish. And yeah, maybe from the outside it looks like we're accepting our lot, but here? HERE? In this place? We made something together. And it's good and nourishing, and it's ours!"
The mink steadied herself gradually, but the fire continued in her voice. "Do I think we're owed equality? Justice? No - I know well enough these aren't think we just... get by default. I'm not that naive. But do I think we're deserving of these things? You better fucking believe I do. Every single person here, and any person who wants to be here, deserves to have the peace and the safety afforded by equality. By the promise of justice."
The mink leaned over the table, her eyes on the polished hardwood surface for a long, lingering, choking silence once again. Slowly, her gaze swept up to meet the skunk's eyes.
"So if equality is a fairy tale, if accountability is a fraud... If justice itself is a fable that doesn't exist. Well..."
The mink spoke with clarity and force, "Then we'll fucking build it ourselves. From scratch, if we have to."
A gradual, growing smirk warmed from the corner of the skunk's mouth as she swirled her drink further. She nodded her head as her expression swelled with understanding and pride, a toothy grin emerging around the cigarette between her lips.
"Attagirl."
"What?" Vect interjected, genuinely baffled. "What the fuck do you think?"
"I'm asking you." The skunk gestured toward Vect with her glass, ice tinking against the side as she did. "I want to hear it from your mouth."
Vect frowned as the skunk took a pull from her bourbon slowly.
"It's not a puzzle. We want equality. Accountability." Her expression was steadfast and unmoving, "Above all, Justice."
Her guest continued her measured drink, lowering her gaze along with the glass as she swirled the ice pensively. A heavy pause filled the empty club for far too long. Vect squirmed inwardly at the lack of sound.
"A fool's errand, then."
"The fuck do you know? Huh? You come back here just to shit all over me after all this time? Does that make you f-"
"Pipe down," The skunk's voice emerged with force, but not malice. It sent a familiar chill down Vect's spine. "I'm saying you're believing in fairy tales here. Fables. Utter fiction. That's all."
Exasperated, the mink threw her hands into the air.
"Does this look fake to you? Does any of this look fake to you?!" She gestured wildly to all corners of the club, even as her guest languidly followed with a tepid stare. "This is all that is real, goddamnit! This community is filled with real people, and every single goddamned day they're living their real lives. Their joy, their pain, their triumphs and their suffering? That's all there is! This shit isn't a fairy tale, and it's not abstract. It's the only thing that matters, and that's why I want to do everything I can to defend it."
The skunk swung her right boot off table now, bringing it to the ground as she pivoted slowly forward in her seat. She cast a low glance upward at the agitated Vect.
"Yeah, you're right. And that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, you think you're owed these things?" There was a beat as the skunk stabbed at the tabletop with a fingertip, "You think, just because you and your community are here, you're owed equality? Accountability? Justice? That these are things you are due?"
The thick silence choked Vect, just like it always did.
"Because," her guest continued, "Unless you're deluding yourself, surely you know these things are bunk. What is equality, when so many of you have to hide to avoid mistreatment? Where's accountability, when they can kill you with impunity, or break the rules that bind you? In case you haven't noticed, the powerful people who continue to shit on you don't suffer a lick for their malfeasance. And sweetie, that's not a mistake. That's shit working as intended. So I ask you again..."
The skunk reached into the breast pocket of the jacket that hung loose around her shoulders, pulling out a cigarette as Vect continued to furrow her brow from across the table. She flicked the stick into her mouth unlit, shooting a cutting look to the mink.
"What justice can you hope for, when the very framework that promises it is rigged against you? What is it you want here, if all of that is a lie?"
Vect's eyes had lowered to the table at this point. She felt small again. The world around her, and the skunk across the table, so much larger than she could ever hope to comprehend - Let alone the world outside.
No. The mink shook her head and planted her palms on the tabletop.
"So what? Did you walk in here after all this time just to fucking tell me I'm an idiot? Is that it? That I should lie down and die?"
"I s-"
"No!" Vect slammed the tabletop, "You think I don't know this shit is rigged against us? Of course I fucking know that! But I don't see much point in accepting that bullshit, and there's no way in hell I'm going to roll over and show my throat just because some jackboot fascist assholes are telling me to play by the rules that say I have no chance."
Vect's eyes were lighting up now, the fire of passion stoking deep within her as she reflected on the absurdity of the question. "I may not have put up the walls of this bar, but I sure as fuck helped build the community here. You understand me? We worked together to make a place that was safe, and a place where we could flourish. And yeah, maybe from the outside it looks like we're accepting our lot, but here? HERE? In this place? We made something together. And it's good and nourishing, and it's ours!"
The mink steadied herself gradually, but the fire continued in her voice. "Do I think we're owed equality? Justice? No - I know well enough these aren't think we just... get by default. I'm not that naive. But do I think we're deserving of these things? You better fucking believe I do. Every single person here, and any person who wants to be here, deserves to have the peace and the safety afforded by equality. By the promise of justice."
The mink leaned over the table, her eyes on the polished hardwood surface for a long, lingering, choking silence once again. Slowly, her gaze swept up to meet the skunk's eyes.
"So if equality is a fairy tale, if accountability is a fraud... If justice itself is a fable that doesn't exist. Well..."
The mink spoke with clarity and force, "Then we'll fucking build it ourselves. From scratch, if we have to."
A gradual, growing smirk warmed from the corner of the skunk's mouth as she swirled her drink further. She nodded her head as her expression swelled with understanding and pride, a toothy grin emerging around the cigarette between her lips.
"Attagirl."