[ There's a relief when Karen sits back, like she's leaning into this conversation to stay permanently or at least for a while. This isn't— Furiosa would never dare ask anyone for a debrief about the complicated matters of Christmas. She doesn't think she has anyone either. There's Nash and the girls at the club, but Furiosa is a decade and some change older than all of them. More than that, it feels a little… petty, maybe? To complain about something where no one died. Her standards are very fucked. But Karen talking feels a little bit like permission for her to feel those same complicated, uncertain emotions she's been trying to bat off.
Furiosa grabs her rolling shop stool, sitting down with knees wide, and leans her weight onto her elbows. It's fine. Karen's car isn't going anywhere. ]
Yeah. We didn't— [ She squints, thinking of the right word and falling short. She makes a noise. It's a laugh, arguably, but sort of humorless. ] Do Christmas where I'm from?
[ Like, she's still not entirely sure of the mythos behind it, and if pressed Furiosa prefers the stories Nash shared about the archangel Micheal coming to earth to slay the heretic Yeshua over stories of gods and sons and salvation. ]
Not just Christmas. Any holidays. Sort of... not much to celebrate.
[ She's quick to clarify. Maybe it paints a bleak picture of her world, but Furiosa doesn't seem too torn up about it. Her world was bleak. That's just a fact. No use in being uselessly upset about it. That's not the point, though, it's just the context. ]
So, it was new to me, right? And I heard it was supposed to be about. [ She swallows. She shrugs. ] Spending time with the people you care about. And—[ She shakes her head a little, catching Karen's eye. This is the long and short of it. ] He didn't want to.
[ He didn't say that, but she could tell. She can couch it and say Frank hadn't thought about it or just hadn't brought it up, but the fact of the matter was she was the one who set the plan into motion. Left alone, Furiosa would've worked a double at Assets Management instead.
Is this sharing too much of his business? But Karen doesn't know Frank (...). Furiosa hasn't even told her his name, so it's fine. It's fine. ]
I think— I think it was too much pressure. Just a lot to deal with. Being here for him too without his people.
[ But that's the sting. Neither of them have their people in Panorama, but neither of them have their people back home either. Just ghosts following them around. So why won't he let her be his people too? ]
[ that is probably, exactly, what karen was trying to say without saying anything at all. furiosa is obviously relieved when karen settles, and that piques karen’s interest, too. like, perhaps, they’re both somewhere in this middle ground - feeling something tight and tangled in their chest, without anywhere real to start to work it out. part of karen thinks there are more people she could go to, or perhaps maybe there should be more, but she hasn’t. she doesn’t. something about settling where she does feels like permission for them both, feels like an unspoken understanding, possibly even a disclaimer.
yeah, we didn’t- and karen thinks she knows where this is going. she’s thankful she doesn’t have work anytime soon, thankful that furiosa seems to be equally in need of this, and only briefly she wonders if there is a bottle of something to drink nearby.
the humorless laugh has karen’s brow curling upward, but the words that follow make sense, and karen nods. she supposes some part of her should have already expected as much - that there would be people in the city who wouldn’t have those experiences, who don’t have baggage and memories and years worth of what christmases could be to compare to. When furiosa mentions not much to celebrate, karen’s eyes soften a little - because while she doesn’t understand, not really, she can see how that would complicate things. ]
Yeah. I mean- it’s about… well. I guess it depends on where you come from, but for me? It’s about your people. Your family. Enjoying the end of a year and the start of another with the people you- yeah. Care about. [ which is…curious. She wonders where this is leading, because she knows furiosa has her man, this figure that she and furiosa have talked about often enough that karen feels like she knows him, even though she doesn’t. doesn’t have a name, or a face, and somehow that’s also okay.
the he didn’t want to has karen frowning, softly, and letting her head tilt a bit to the side. she feels for her, understands in a way the shape of what furiosa is dealing with, and ends up nodding. ]
No it’s… it’s hard, if you have people you left behind who aren’t here. Especially if you had planned to spend the holidays with them. [ karen says because she doesn’t know. she says it because it’s closer to what she’s feeling, to the shape of her problem.
but then she wonders… and because she feels like she can, she asks. ] Did he say that? That it was too much pressure?
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Date: 2026-02-01 04:41 pm (UTC)Furiosa grabs her rolling shop stool, sitting down with knees wide, and leans her weight onto her elbows. It's fine. Karen's car isn't going anywhere. ]
Yeah. We didn't— [ She squints, thinking of the right word and falling short. She makes a noise. It's a laugh, arguably, but sort of humorless. ] Do Christmas where I'm from?
[ Like, she's still not entirely sure of the mythos behind it, and if pressed Furiosa prefers the stories Nash shared about the archangel Micheal coming to earth to slay the heretic Yeshua over stories of gods and sons and salvation. ]
Not just Christmas. Any holidays. Sort of... not much to celebrate.
[ She's quick to clarify. Maybe it paints a bleak picture of her world, but Furiosa doesn't seem too torn up about it. Her world was bleak. That's just a fact. No use in being uselessly upset about it. That's not the point, though, it's just the context. ]
So, it was new to me, right? And I heard it was supposed to be about. [ She swallows. She shrugs. ] Spending time with the people you care about. And—[ She shakes her head a little, catching Karen's eye. This is the long and short of it. ] He didn't want to.
[ He didn't say that, but she could tell. She can couch it and say Frank hadn't thought about it or just hadn't brought it up, but the fact of the matter was she was the one who set the plan into motion. Left alone, Furiosa would've worked a double at Assets Management instead.
Is this sharing too much of his business? But Karen doesn't know Frank (...). Furiosa hasn't even told her his name, so it's fine. It's fine. ]
I think— I think it was too much pressure. Just a lot to deal with. Being here for him too without his people.
[ But that's the sting. Neither of them have their people in Panorama, but neither of them have their people back home either. Just ghosts following them around. So why won't he let her be his people too? ]
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Date: 2026-02-12 02:04 am (UTC)yeah, we didn’t- and karen thinks she knows where this is going. she’s thankful she doesn’t have work anytime soon, thankful that furiosa seems to be equally in need of this, and only briefly she wonders if there is a bottle of something to drink nearby.
the humorless laugh has karen’s brow curling upward, but the words that follow make sense, and karen nods. she supposes some part of her should have already expected as much - that there would be people in the city who wouldn’t have those experiences, who don’t have baggage and memories and years worth of what christmases could be to compare to. When furiosa mentions not much to celebrate, karen’s eyes soften a little - because while she doesn’t understand, not really, she can see how that would complicate things. ]
Yeah. I mean- it’s about… well. I guess it depends on where you come from, but for me? It’s about your people. Your family. Enjoying the end of a year and the start of another with the people you- yeah. Care about. [ which is…curious. She wonders where this is leading, because she knows furiosa has her man, this figure that she and furiosa have talked about often enough that karen feels like she knows him, even though she doesn’t. doesn’t have a name, or a face, and somehow that’s also okay.
the he didn’t want to has karen frowning, softly, and letting her head tilt a bit to the side. she feels for her, understands in a way the shape of what furiosa is dealing with, and ends up nodding. ]
No it’s… it’s hard, if you have people you left behind who aren’t here. Especially if you had planned to spend the holidays with them. [ karen says because she doesn’t know. she says it because it’s closer to what she’s feeling, to the shape of her problem.
but then she wonders… and because she feels like she can, she asks. ] Did he say that? That it was too much pressure?