TXT to Sam

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/2] Hey, stopped by Kirby's and they said you were off for the day.
[2/2] Figured I'd check in, see how you're doing.

Comments

[xp_cannonball]

[1/2] I'm good, spent the last few hours listening to my baby brother complain about band camp and assuring the even younger siblings that middle school won't kill them when they start in a few weeks.
[2/2] How're you?

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/2] Doing alright. Work was a little slow earlier.
[2/2] How many siblings do you have?

[xp_cannonball]

[1/1] .....eight

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/2] And I thought I had trouble juggling two.
[2/2] I'm smack in the middle. Where're you?

[xp_cannonball]

[1/2] I'm the oldest.
[2/2] And I basically raised my siblings to the point that the youngest two called me "dad" today so that was "fun."
A minute later.
[1/1] I mean they were three when our dad died so I get it. I'm not upset about it. It's just a lot.

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/4] Hey what'd I say about no judgement, man? Remember that.
[2/4] It's important.
[3/4] You're right though, that's a lot.
[4/4] What brought you all the way up here to NYC?

[xp_cannonball]

[1/3] Manifested my mutation at nineteen after almost getting crushed in a mine explosion.
[2/3] Professor Xavier offered me a chance to learn to control my mutation in Scotland, and I went.
[3/3] Once I got control I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to having to raise my siblings so I came to DX.

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/4] Dude.
[2/4] I didn't know you knew about Professor Xavier.
[3/4] Small world.
[4/4] You ever think about living at the mansion instead of DX?

[xp_cannonball]

[1/3] Sometimes? Figured I'd try living on my own for the first time in my life.
[2/3] Used to share a room with about three siblings or more if there was a thunderstorm or an accident had happened down in the mines.
[3/3] sides, I might try and do college in the next year or two, and I don't know if I wanna stay up here or go back to KY for that

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/6] So I'm just gonna point out that the mansion
[2/6] offers free room and board and the commute
[3/6] wouldn't be an issue because we've got an
[4/6] international teleporter if you don't feel
[5/6] like driving. So you know. I'm not saying.
[6/6] I'm just saying.

[xp_cannonball]

[1/3] If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to talk me into stayin
[2/3] Part of the decision is also what's best for the kids though
[3/3] been selfish for about seven years now and I know things are hard at home financially

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/5] I mean, take it from an ex-carnie foster kid, the
[2/5] mansion's legit. And I'm not gonna tell you how to
[3/5] handle your family sitch, but if that whole 'free
[4/5] room and board' thing is no joke, so finances might
[5/5] not be so tight.

[xp_cannonball]

[1/4] My little brother's already mad at me for leaving and the twins were only four or five when I left
[2/4] They've asked if I left because I don't love them anymore
[3/4] I just wanted a chance to be *Sam* for once and not have to pretend to be my dad, but I think I fucked everyone else up by leaving
[4/4] goin home means fights with Jay (the brother who's mad at me) and back to the mines but maybe I can make everything right again? Now that I know I won't accidentally blast through the house?

a few minutes later

[1/1] I don't know- if I ask my sister she'll tell me to find the cheapest college I can but she got a full ride right out of high school and isn't trying to start college at 26

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/7] Okay, I'm 100% hearing where you're coming from.
[2/7] Probably my older brother would get it more, but
[3/7] he's in Bed Stuy right now and I don't think he'd
[4/7] appreciate me waking him up to ask difficult
[5/7] questions. Point being, what's gonna help your
[6/7] family more - you with a degree and some actual
[7/7] income? Or you going back to the mines?

[xp_cannonball]

[1/2] I plan to major in sociology. I very genuinely would make more money in the mines.
[2/2] I just don't know if it's good for me to go home. I know what's best for them. But I still haven't really thought about myself.

[xp_hawkeye]

[1/6] Okay, but like. Hear me out here.
[2/6] How good is the pay gonna be if you die
[3/6] because you got blacklung? Like, dude.
[4/6] Dude. Don't know you you can't take care
[5/6] of anybody else if you don't take care
[6/6] of yourself? They put that in AIRPLANES.

[xp_cannonball]

[1/2] I've been taking care of my family since my Daddy got black lung when I was nine.
[2/2] I've already made it so my little brother had to step up when I left, they shouldn't have to raise themselves.