recolle | April Catch All with Derek Matthews [OPEN]

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harry potter: draco malfoy

April Catch All with Derek Matthews [OPEN]

WHO: Derek and YOU!
WHERE: Varius Places around Recolle
WHEN: Varius times throughout April
WHAT: Derek is really busy in April
WARNINGS: Possible large amounts of alcohol consumption

April is a fairly busy month for Derek, he is trying to remember when he had this much of a social life.

I.A. Riding the Nimbus 2001 OTA

Even with being more social than normal, Derek still finds time to take his Nimbus 2001 out for a ride, usually at night. He can be found flying over the city. You can try to call out to him or if you have the mean, why don't you join him? Or challenge him to a race?

I.B. Taking a break OTA

Or perhaps you have caught him during a break and he is sitting on the roof of a building and you just happen to look up and see his feet dangling on the side. If you ask him what he is doing up there, he will gladly take the chance to show off his Nimbus 2001.

II. A. Run into Derek at a Bar OTA

Derek is no stranger to drinking. Retrospec still stresses him out, thus the occasional drink is in order. Besides, if it's after the 9th, he's recently found out his sister, Amanda, isn't on the app anymore, meaning she has "been reset." Derek does not take it well at all. Not as bad when his ex dumped him right after Christmas and move half way across the country, but bad enough that he will probably be visiting a bar at least every other night for the rest of the month. No promises that he will be in a good mood when you talk to him.

II. B. Run into Derek at Expressive OTA

On the nights that he is not drinking, he is at Expressive drinking some Earl Grey. With all the drinking he is doing at bars this month, at Jirou and Kenta's engagement party, and Alex's birthday party, he has to have some sort of control over his alcohol consumption. God knows he needs to drink a bit less. So, feel free to join him wit your own coffee or tea.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I can't believe it took you almost six months to feel you had a legitimate reason to be pissed at him. It took me what... 5 minutes at most? Also, you're assuming that the military officer is a responsible competent person. So officers tell their men to keep fighting to the death.

[Derek takes a swig of his drink.]

Think you can be a good surrogate dad to all these kids Foggy?

It's not like we could talk to Retrospec before now and it's not all one single guy's fault. I'm pissed but I'm trying to choose my battles wisely here.

[He huffs.] I'm their babysitter either way. There are what? Two or three parents of children on the app who also have it?

Most of the people on the app are students. There aren't many working professionals on the app. We are just short of becoming Lord of the Flies.

Don't jinx it dude! We're still on the same team. It won't be Lord of the Flies until the app users turn against each other and lose their humanity. Thankfully we're still a far cry from that far gone. This is more of a 1984 situation so far.

[Derek vaugely remembers reading 1984 in high school.]

I guess. The book wasn't that memorable to be honest.

[Derek takes another sip of his bear.]

Hey, have you hear about the case that Matt is the prosecutor on? I was thinking of attending the trail. You?

Hey don't make me force you to reread it! [He's joking.]

Oh yeah I know about the case. The son is one of my students. Shouto. I told him to focus on taking care of himself and his mom and we'll work out the lesson details later.

So he's holding up alright or what? I mean, when I heard about the case, all I could think was, "Seriously? Another one?" Like, what makes a parent do that to their kid?

Or spouse? Entitlement. Selfishness. Anger. An inability to see that the people they're supposed to love are just as important as they are.

Well, yeah in theory. It's just hard for me to imagine, when all I know is the orphanage, mom, dad, and our whole family. I mean, our family is big, loud, and just full of love. So when I see cases like the one with Shouto and his family, I'm just... a bit dumbfounded to be honest. Maybe it's because I've only been in my line of work for almost three years. Maybe I just don't have enough experience with this kind of material that I haven't been able to fully emotionally separate my self away from these kind of cases. Murder, poisonings, blood, that stuff, I'm fine. But abuse? I just... start to get a bit angry. People like that don't deserve to be parents, husband, wives. They can go rot in prison for all I care.

[Foggy stares into his glass.]

It's uh. It's a tricky thing. People naturally love their family and want them to love them back. Nobody wants to believe the person they love meant harm. And some of them turn around and apologize immediately in grand gestures and everything. Many of these abusers have really charming sides to their personalities too. There's a reason they have families. Typically someone fell in love with them and they had kids. Some of them do good things and contribute to society. Some of them love their families even though they hurt them.

How can a person possibly hurt someone they should love? People shouldn't do that. They shouldn't hurt someone they say they love. That's not love.

[It's not that Derek doesn't know the answer to his question. It's more of expressing his frustration with how people are. He knows sometimes people just repeat what they see their own parents do to them. A viscous repetitious cycle that he is glad at least Shuoto is trying to end.]

Love doesn't make a relationship conveniently good for someone. People hurt the people they love all the time. Most of them never cross certain lines though. There are some things you just don't say to other people or do. Some people are so out for themselves that they cross the line and keep doing it. Even if they regret it later.

Then there are the people that are a step beyond that and they only love the people they deem worthy. Love is something that has to be earned. [Foggy takes a generous drink.]

I feel bad for anyone who has to go through that. Having to earn love? That could only ruin a person sense of self worth.

[Derek glances at Foggy and his generous drinking.]

You need another drink mate?

Yeah at least one more. ["I don't want to think about this without a drink right now." He clears his throat. This is awkward. Unintentional on Derek's part he's pretty sure. Still awkward.]

It's more common than it should be. I've heard those words come out of Ava's mouth before. The old mantra drilled into her by dear old mother.

[That stopped Derek drinking for a bit.]

I know you're mom is a piece of work, but how bad was she?

[He turns to Derek with a stern look on his brow.]

It's like I said. Some abusers have sides to their personality that people really like. She's a successful, talented woman that people idolize and look to for leadership. She does good things, she gives to charity, she's intelligent and graceful. In the eye of the public she's perfection and she knows it. That's why it's so important that the people in her proximity reflect that. You perform impressively and she's proud and will show you off and tell everyone how much she loves and adores you.
When you're that close to it all it seem like it's logical.

[Derek quietly listens and a frown starts to form as Foggy speaks.]

What happened when you didn't perform well?

[He wrinkles up his face and frowns as he chooses his words.]

Key word being perfect. You can perform well and it's not enough. When you disappoint her you feel like you made a serious mistake and hurt her in the process.

Perfection? But that's impossible. No one is perfect. So, did she give you disapproving looks or did she... [how do you ask this without being blunt?] uh...get physical?

Mostly verbal. Words were more than enough to scare you straight. She'd never do something that would damage the face of her little star. My dad found out finally when he took a day off of work and went to rehearsal with me in her place. I collapsed from exhaustion and the director and one of the other kid's moms pulled him aside and told him they suspected I was getting pushed too hard. And the rest is history.

[Derek's eyes narrowed a bit.]

Not to sound overly critical, because it is horrible what happened to you but... why did the director and that mom not speak up before you collapsed in front of your dad? Wouldn't you exhaustion be something noticeable earlier on, prior to that happening?

[He shrugs his shoulders.] I don't know all the details I was just a kid. Maybe I have something backwards. But my mother is a real intimidating force. You don't just accuse her of doing something wrong.

How old were you when this happened anyway?

Eleven going on twelve.

Good grief, not long before I met you really. A couple of years... I'm sorry you had to go through that.

[Derek reaches over at pats Foggy on the shoulder.]

I have even more respect for you now. I mean, you get the kids who go through stuff like this. Me? Not really. I can try but... not the same.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

April Catch All with Derek Matthews [OPEN]

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Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

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Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

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Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood

Re: II A CW: mentions of Child abuse, murder, blood