Template:Featured Articles/37-2016

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Moment of Awesome - Artie Maddicks: Talking with David Haller, Artie reflects on the 'brave new world' and its changes in his own particular way.


"You know I haven't been back to the Morlock tunnels. Annalee's there. My father Carl Maddicks? Chicago. Working on mutant research in December and everything's classified tighter than the CIA since. Might take a trip down there one of these days."

"Well. That is specific." Haller sat back, studying Artie. The wheels of tact spun uselessly for a fraction of a second before he said, frankly, "You're right. That's a hell of an upheaval."

"world is fukd" The text scrolled through the air for a moment before vanishing.

"I'm starting to think we need to invent a stronger adjective. Are you thinking about it? Visiting either of them?"

"Annalee? No. This woman here? She's not my mother, not even in the crazy, batshit fucked up ways that I had Annalee for. I don't - ever want anything to do with her. Carl? I wouldn't mind seeing what he's researching. But I haven't seen the man since I was one, so..."

"I understand. Even without major differences the people who didn't make it over with us aren't quite . . . the same. The disconnect can be painful." Haller frowned thoughtfully. "But your father -- you never did meet him after you found out who he was, did you? Not contact or anything?"

"If he'd wanted anything to do with me, he'd have looked."

"Maybe, though it's possible that, in this world, he did. But the real question is: would you want to have anything to do with him?"

"I have no fucking idea, Haller." Artie tossed a taco wrapper into the bag and shrugged. "I have no idea. If it was you - your father... Would you?"

Haller paused. "If it were me, I would want an explanation," he said at last. "Of course I'd want to find out that he really cared. That it was some kind of mistake, that losing me hurt him. Who wouldn't? It is possible. But if I found out he wasn't sorry, that he really didn't care . . . then fuck him. I could hate him for abandoning me, no more ambiguity, no more 'what if'. One way or another, I would finally know." He shook his head. "But there's a big difference between confronting someone you know and tracking down a stranger. For you, it all depends on whether not knowing is something you can and want to live with."

Artie nodded. "Exactly. And this isn't the version who abandoned me. If it was ... before? Sure. I thought about it. But now? This one? I have no fucking idea what I want from him. The me... the me in this world grew up in the sewers, too, but can I hang that childhood on him?"

Haller gave a pragmatic shrug. "It doesn't matter what his reasoning was before. You never met that man, and now he's gone. You still grew up how you grew up. The man that exists now is the only father you'll ever know, if you want to know him at all. I think it's fair to judge him by his actions. Whatever those might be."

Artie shrugged and finished his coffee. "We've been talking about my wangst but not yours. How are you, really?"

He didn't bother calling out Artie on the not-subtle-at-all change of topic; the boy was tough, and it was rare to get as much out of him as he'd offered. He'd obviously been mulling this over for some time before breathing a word to Haller, and rightfully so. It wasn't up to the counselor to force the point. "Fine so far, honestly," said Haller, sipping his own coffee. "Like I said, I'm protected right now. The biggest issue is keeping track of the new contacts and arrangements we're meant to already be familiar with. Wangst doesn't bother me, but I may die from paperwork."

So, basically, you're a counselling robot. Artie nodded. "We have the same problem."

"Possibly a bigger one, considering the type of contacts you deal with," Haller remarked. "It's funny, somehow I didn't think the end of the world would involve so much database work."

"Hah."