Time Warp: M*A*S*H of the Titans (Sean)

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

(October 15th, 1972)


Sundays were the best.

Well, actually, that wasn't really true. Sundays were a good day, but there really wasn't a best day to be seen around the school. At least, not when you looked like some weird cat-human hybrid. But one Sundays, people tended to either shut themselves up in their rooms studying (like Maggie did) or go out around the town for the local farmer's markets. Or partying. Or whatever normal-looking teenagers did.

Amberlyn Rosalie Ivchenko-Lewis was not a normal-looking teenager.

Granted, that didn't really matter much to her. Having fur meant that she got away with a lot of things whenever she wasn't in class. Not wearing clothes, for example - can't be naked if you're wearing a fur coat, right? Which meant that on warm Sunday afternoons, she could just lounge around in the sunshine on the first floor of the dorms, dozing and watching TV and occasionally curling up with a book. Since September, it also meant hanging out for most of the day just so she would be sure not to miss her newest show. It was some sort of war comedy, and while she didn't really have an opinion on the conflicts going on overseas, Rose found the dramatic comedy very interesting and funny.

So, at some point in the evening, the feline anthromorph blinked herself awake and stretched, a little disappointed but unsurprised that the sun had vanished for the day. Unsure of what woke her, she glanced around before her eyes settled on a figure approaching the couch from the stairwell leading to the boy's dormitories. The blue-green orbs slit into an annoyed glare, and a fluffy tail began to twitch irritably. Well, there went her afternoon.

"Well if it isn't Pat Neville," she stated coolly, giving the tall teen an equally chilly look. "What a lovely surprise."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean liked Sundays. He had always liked Sundays, because Sunday mornings were reserved for mass. Back at home in New York, after walking home from mass and changing from his church clothing, the rest of Sunday had been reserved for relaxation. His mother made lunch, and then Sean would read, or help his mother, or play with his father or little sister. Perhaps with one of his friends in the neighborhood.

Then he moved to Vermont.

He still walked to church every Sunday morning; he never missed services, even when he had the telepathic migraines. The teenager tried to reserve his Sundays for relaxation, which involved doing his weekend homework on Friday afternoon and Saturday, while shifting around his schedule to spend time with Maggie.

But she was busy tonight with some of the other girls on her hall, which left him to his own devices. He was fine with that, since he’d spent more than enough time on his own. And he was never really alone, not with the telepathy.

He’d wanted to watch the new episode of M*A*S*H. It was based on a movie that was based off a book, and the first few episodes had been very funny. It was about doctors, so he understood a lot of the references, and it was a nice diversion. But the television was in the common space, which involved having to leave his dormitory room to get there.

He knew that Maggie’s roommate Rose was down there before he saw her; that was the telepathy. And upon entering, he offered her a gentle smile, seemingly unoffended by her obvious displeasure with his arrival.

“Hello, Rose.” He walked by her to settle on a different sofa, where he could still see the screen. “Nobody really calls me ‘Pat,’” he added, since that was a mostly outdated nickname from New York. “You can call me ‘Sean’ if you want.”

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

With a snort of mild disdain at the older student, Rose settled back onto the couch, pointedly acting as if his presence meant little to her before replying. "I'll stick to 'Pat', thanks. Too many 'Seans' around this school for my tastes."

That was her being petulant - there were maybe four other "Seans" in this rather large school, and by far Sean Neville was the most memorable of the lot. Tall, calm, always friendly despite most people's apparent suspicion of him, intelligent... there was a lot people could say about him and much one could observe. He appeared to be the perfect teenager for adults - model student, caring classmate, devout Catholic... this telepath could do no wrong and had learned from the best the school had to offer.

Still, there were protocols to observe. As Maggie's roommate and friend, Rose had an obligation to dislike him until he proved himself. So far, they'd had little interaction outside of the occasional outing with Maggie, considering that they were a grade apart, but this would hardly be the first time they'd been near each other without Rose's gentle roommate between them. This would probably be the first time they'd been without her around in addition to having no one else around either.

It was surprisingly quiet, too. It made the feline anthromorph nervous, which in turn made her tail twitch erratically. Stretching again, the auburn-grey fur rippled over the teenager's tiny body as she shifted position, leaving the comfort of the overstuffed couch momentarily to change the channel on the television to the proper input - the show would start soon, and she liked the introduction music so she didn't want to miss it.

"So what are you doing down here?" she asked, her tone relatively disinterested but at least civil. "I haven't seen you here this late before."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean was far calmer than the younger girl; three years with Robert Hopkins, plus his naturally gentle personality insured calm in many (although not all) situations. He also overheard her thoughts and was flattered by the description, even though he knew that she intended those qualities as derisive. They were important to him, and that was what mattered.

Just like avoiding conflict was important. He’d told her about his preference for his nickname, and since she chose to avoid it, there wasn’t much he could do about it. Maybe with time she would change her mind. Or if Maggie was here, she would be able to smooth it over.

But there was nothing he could do about that either.

“I wanted to watch M*A*S*H,” Sean explained, a smile breaking out on his lips when she changed the channel to the proper station. Apparently, they had that in common, and they needn’t argue about who had control of the television.

He had watched it at Robert’s house last week, because he had been invited to supper with his trainer and Beth. Although the program was new, the young telepath was rather fond of it. It was funny and quirky, and the medicine seemed real, based on what his father had told him of his career over the years.

“I see you like it too,” he added, which was an attempt to be friendly and inclusive in conversation.

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

Of course he did. It was a show about doctors, after all. Maggie had said that the too-tall boy had been aiming to be one for a long time, so naturally one could assume that he'd go for any and all entertainment he could find in the field. Rose hadn't really thought much on it, but it hadn't seemed to her like it was much of his sense of humor. Still, she wasn't going to be contrary and miss her new favorite show just because she wanted to be cattish. Instead, she gave a fluid roll of her shoulders, the lush fur on her body rippling in interesting patterns as she did so.

"It's pretty funny," she admitted. "Besides, it gives me something to do besides homework on Sundays." In a way, it made her feel almost social, even if her actions while watching it were considered anti-social. Then again, being in a social environment made her feel isolated anyway, so why change the trend?

Moving back to the couch, the anthromorph stretched languidly over the cushions, tail flicking back and forth in a mild display of annoyance (partially) and to amuse herself with its motion (mostly). Somewhere in her mind, she was bemused at the thought that Sean had the decency not to point out that she was "naked" - it garnered a little bit of gratitude from the petulant teen, but at the same time she knew he came from a more conservative upbringing that she did. Why wouldn't he mention it? He didn't even look uncomfortable like most people (including teachers) did when she wandered around like this. It almost made her feel self-conscious.

"I thought you'd be in church," Rose mentioned casually. "Or is that just mornings?" Not being Catholic, the younger meta knew very little about the rituals that went with having a set faith. Her mother was a Russian Orthodox practicing, yes, but her father had mostly allowed his daughter to choose whether she came with them to the few services in their neighborhood. She rarely had, and since coming to Hammel she'd stopped going at all. Hard to believe in a deity that condemns you for being born without being self-loathing.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean nodded in agreement. “It’s nice to have a little ritual,” he agreed. He and his sister had watched a fair amount of movies back in New York, but they were more judicious with television. Mostly, they had watched anthology series, and then the occasional show that kept their interest, aside from children’s Saturday morning programming. It was nice to have a television show he liked and could look forward to throughout the entire week. Aside from classes, Mass, and training, and then whatever time he could spend with Maggie.

The telepath didn’t remark on her thoughts about her nudity because Robert had spent the past few years teaching him when it was, and when it wasn’t, appropriate to mention what he overheard. He didn’t remark on her nudity at all because he didn’t find it strange. If he had never gone to Hammel, then it might make him uncomfortable. However, the telepathy had eroded most boundaries that existed for him, and he didn’t think it his place to call people out on things that didn’t hurt other people, and which made them more comfortable. Besides, he didn’t have a physical power; he didn’t know what worked with shapeshifting, and he wasn’t the arbitrator of side effects.

Not to mention that he would still rather someone covered with fur, but otherwise nude, to a teacher thinking about sex with their spouse while administering a test.

Sean vigorously shook his head, denying the accusation that he might be at Mass this late in the evening. “Mass is in the mornings. Well, technically, there’s an evening Mass too, but you only go to one, since they’re the same service. I went this morning.” He always went to morning Mass; that had been the tradition in his family, apart from Christmas Eve and Easter Eve.

Unfortunately for Rose, now that she had gotten the telepath started on the subject, he had reason to believe she was interested. That meant a further explanation was in order. “Mass is usually only about an hour. Nice and short, and it gives you the rest of the day to think about what happened.”

He liked Mass a great deal. But the telepath didn’t think that he would do well in one of those Protestant churches that had services all day on Sunday.

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

Another rolling shrug of apathy answered his words. Rose didn't have rituals, persay. A ritual implied doing something because of a greater meaning; rituals meant something. Watching a show every Sunday was simply (for her) because that was the day and time it aired. Missing an episode meant she'd be behind until the season was over, in which case she could watch a re-release of it sometime later. But that would mean missing some joke for the whole season. It was to save herself the annoyance more than anything. Plus - not doing homework was always better than doing it. Especially when Maggie wasn't around to help her.

The amount of response to her rather sardonically asked question made the cattish teen glare a little at the other student. She'd asked to find out why he was there, not to catch a dissertation on the proceedings of a legion of God-groupies. "Why would you want to listen to someone talk to you for an hour on something that they don't understand any more than you do?" she asked, venom touching her voice.

As a matter of fact, why would you let a group of hypocrites tell you how to run your life at all? she mused angrily. "Love everyone, except those who aren't like us," am I right? Most religious people hated metahumans, even though many did nothing wrong and were just trying to be like everyone else. Same thing with homosexuals - the younger teen didn't understand that one very much, but her general idea was that it wasn't anyone else's business who you loved or what you did as long as it didn't hurt people. Especially if they didn't believe the same things you did.

However, keeping those thoughts from passing her lips was a lot easier than keeping them from being thought. Having not really dealt with those with mental powers, Rose had yet to learn any remotely adequate mental shields. Thus, anything and everything she thought was wide open for the telepath to read.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean tilted his head at the question, offering her an inquisitive look. “Anyone who studies something more than I do would know more about whatever they study. Or if they’ve lived longer.” That was how studying worked. Priests who had gone to Seminary knew more about the Lord and the proper teachings than he did because he was only fifteen and they had gone to Seminary and had lived longer. The young telepath didn’t view that as particularly problematic. “The Priest is like a teacher; he knows what he’s talking about.”

At this point, she had most of Sean’s attention, as opposed to the television. Particularly when her thought permeated his shields and found its way into his brain. He shook his head adamantly. “Love everyone.”

The telepath came from a conservative family, but his father was a man of science. More than that, he came from New York, which had a lot of ideas about society, and he had been taught by Jesuits before coming to Hammel. The Pilot Ridge parish was quite liberal and accepting; in other circles, the Priest might count as a radical as a result.

No matter the politics, Sean was firm in quite a few ideas, even before the telepathy. After he had developed his telepathy, he knew first-hand how most differences were – quite literally – only skin deep. “I was told powers are a blessing, not a blight.” That had helped him through those first difficult weeks and months. “And everyone deserves to be loved; you can do a lot with that, to help people. Stopping wars and feeding the hungry and healing the sick.”

As for individual sin, that was a matter for the people in question, the Lord, and their priests, if they were Catholic. If they weren’t, then it was a matter for the people in question and the Lord. “What matters most is trying your best not to hurt people.”

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

Trying to focus on the episode was particularly difficult with someone talking to her. Rose gave the older student a glower that basically shouted "You really don't know when to live and let die, do you?" and snapped back a response. "Just because someone studies doesn't mean they're studying the right things. And just because someone's older doesn't mean they're any smarter than you. Besides, how can you teach someone to interpret a story? Shouldn't your interpretation be right because you saw it that way?"

The feline teen had a particular dislike for people who told her how to think or that her opinions were wrong simply because they weren't shared. Her mother's preacher had told her that and had told her that her ideas were wrong without even asking how she managed that view. It had been one of many steps towards her seriously questioning whether or not God existed, and one of the last pushes that made her decide that He didn't.

The answer to her angry thoughts made her jump upright from the languid position she'd been resting in, her fur sticking up at all odd ends. Being that she cared not for rumors and that she and Sean had spent little time with each other, she had been completely caught unawares by his reading of her mind. The shock then wore off into an indignant outrage, though less explosive than most feared her temper was. "Yeah, great ideal - except that people don't," she snarled, curling back up on the sofa.

This time, however, she only took up one cushion.

"Besides, what's the point of having these powers anyway?" she grumbled, figuring that if her thoughts were going to be read willy-nilly anyway, she may as well just speak them aloud. "All they do is make growing up that much harder, and causes people who are different to be more different." Rose did not hate her powers; on the contrary, she preferred her feline form over her original one any day of the week. However, she'd seen how much damage even benign powers could cause when they appeared in the wrong person, family, or community. Such things were ugly beasts.

Hurting people comes naturally to human beings. It was an unintended thought, but considering that it crossed her brain as her eyes tracked the people on the screen, she continued it by saying, "Sure, people can be good and nice and help people all the time. But for every one of them, there's another person out there who does the opposite for one reason or another. Sometimes, they're even the same people."

As quickly as her anger had flared, it dissipated into a sullenness that was more common to Rose's disposition. Just because she didn't believe meant that she had to brandish her anti-faith like a cudgel. She wasn't going to apologize, but she wasn't going to turn it into a big explosive argument either. She could let it fall to the wayside.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“The Priests give context,” Sean tried to explain. Faith wasn’t the same as reading a book in English class, even if one could have a spirited debate about either. That wasn’t easy for the teenager to explain, particularly to someone who was so certain that it was a waste of time. He didn’t understand the hostility, since he wasn’t trying to drag her to Mass with him, and since he didn’t actually believe that the rules of Catholic Doctrine applied to anyone who wasn’t Catholic. He didn’t think that everyone who wasn’t Catholic was automatically sinful and thus bound for Hell. The telepath tried to see the good in everyone, and he thought that the good outweighed the bad most of the time. “I listen when my English teachers tell me about plays, too,” he pointed out.

“Some people don’t. But some people are just looking for excuses for their behavior.” He thought that messages of tolerance were a net positive. Just because not everyone adhered to them didn’t make the underlying message, or the harbinger, worthless.

Sean shook his head, adamantly denying that all their powers were good for was to make life harder for them. He conceded that their powers could make life difficult for them, both because of side effects and the need to learn to control, as well as for society’s demonization of meta-humans. However, that didn’t mean that there were no upsides. It had taken him a long time to embrace his telepathy, and Robert still worked with him on that. “We can help people with them,” he protested. Robert helped so many people with his powers, and Sean hoped to do that too. Helping even half as many people with his telepathy would be miraculous. And some biological manipulators could heal the sick and wounded. “Some people can see and things that nobody else can. Have you ever heard a plant manipulator talk about spring?” He asked. “It’s beautiful.”

There was no other word for it.

There wasn’t much that Sean could say about the second part, mostly because it was true. People could hurt each other; some people hurt as many as they helped, and it was a balancing act. However, he didn’t see that as a reason why people shouldn’t try to tilt the scales in favor of good. Instead, he saw it as incentive to try even harder. “That’s why we have to try,” the young telepath said. “Even if it isn’t good enough, it’s all we can do. Otherwise, life would be a lot worse.”

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

Grumbling incoherently, the cattish teen turned her eyes back to the television and chose not to pursue the argument. Some people wouldn't listen no matter what, even if she had the eloquence to explain her position. Just because I shut up doesn't mean I agree with you, she growled in her mind, choosing not to say the words aloud in an attempt to diffuse the conversation.

At least they agreed that not everyone was the inherently good person they claimed to be.

Even though she was trying really hard to keep an eye on the show, Rose couldn't help but look back to Sean again in agreement. She supposed that it could be like that for some people. After all, her cat-senses were so much better than her human ones, and being in a feline form made her feel more... alive. Sadly, not everyone appreciated her powers as much as she did. But... then again... people were kind of afraid of Sean, too... "Maybe you're right," she mumbled softly, turning her slitted gaze back to the television. "But then why do people make it so hard? At least if no one knows you're a meta, you can hide it. They look at me like I'm some kind of freak."

Even her pervasive thoughts of self-doubt blew that statement out of the water. She loved her powers. She just hated how people treated her because of them.

"Sometimes, trying isn't enough," she replied, nodding to the television. "Sometimes it's all we can do just to get by, and still people are against us. Even when we help people. Even when we aren't hurting anyone."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean overheard her thought, but he also chose not to argue. The sentiment was one he overheard a lot and understood as a rule of life. He’d learned not to get into it over everything with everyone for that reason.

“A lot of people are ignorant, and they fear what they don’t understand,” Sean explained without hesitation. That was a frequent topic of discussion with Robert, and the young telepath felt experienced enough to offer that explanation, even if he wasn’t an expert on psychology. Perhaps someday. “That’s been the same cause of wars, oppression, and persecution for millennia.”

That might seem hopeless in one sense, since it meant that humans fell into the same pitfalls with each generation. At the same time, Sean thought that there was hope. After all, if there was a cause of fear and ignorance, then knowledge could breed compassion, and compassion would lead to an end of violence and oppression. The young telepath didn’t believe it was an easy task, but he believed it was a possible one, with enough dedication.

Only fifteen years old, and he already intended to dedicate as much time and effort as he could to that, one way or another. That was one reason that he tried to cultivate his patience, so that he could offer what he could to others, to give the compassion that he had inside of him and that he wanted in return. He could thank Robert Hopkins for that.

He then shook his head, although his expression was sympathetic. He didn’t deny that she had it hard because, even though she could pass, she didn’t want to, and that he didn’t experience the same thing. However, he couldn’t actually pass for non-meta either, not with what he had inside his head all of the time.

It was hard to pass.

“Nobody really passes,” he whispered, his gaze remaining on the television.

Her other comment earned a shrug, but it wasn’t intended to be dismissive; rather, it was an expression of powerlessness. “All we can do is keep trying, since the only other choice is to give up.” And that wasn’t much of a choice.

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

While there would likely come a time when the young girl's faith in humanity would be restored, right now was not exactly one of them. Still, with people like Sean in the world (who, while being a little naive and misguided in her opinion) who had their hearts in the right place. Maybe he'd end up changing the world. Then again, maybe she would, too. In the meantime, all she added, "Well, let's hope we get over ourselves at some point, because this whole persecution thing is getting really old-hat."

Though she didn't really believe that nobody passed, it was something to think about. Rose glanced back to Sean with a bit of curiosity, but refrained from asking. No point in getting an answer for a question she didn't really understand.

"True, I guess. I'll give you that," she added with a sigh. Stretching out over the couch again, her feline ears perked and swiveled at the sound of several noisy someones entering the building. She barely fought the instinct to look and caved quickly, noting a pair of girls who had looked over towards the common area and given a nervous little wave to the two occupants before hushing their conversation and moving on. As if being quieter really helped.

At least pretend you aren't avoiding us, her mental "voice" grumbled, and without a sound the furred youth curled back up on the couch, watching the television from a newer, more upside-down perspective now. She didn't comment on this to Sean; she was pretty sure he'd either noticed and not cared, or was wonderfully oblivious. Either way was fine with her; she knew from Maggie that he had it tough. Telepaths were generally mistrusted anyway in the world, from what she heard; even inside the school, they were social pariahs, Sean more than most (though she didn't know why). She wouldn't bring it up out of spite, either for the girls or the older student accompanying her.

When the main characters began talking with a fresh face (though, "fresh" was relative, considering that this was episode five) Rose tilted her head back upright. The story took place in the middle of the Korean War - what was a Korean girl doing at the beck and call of a soldier?

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean nodded in agreement, because there was no way to argue with what she’d just said, and he didn’t want to. Cruelty and oppression were exhausting to encounter, and the world would be better off without them. That would take work, the young telepath knew, but he had faith that headway could be made. After all, the world was changing and other forms of bigotry and oppression were slowly being peeled away, even though that came with pockets of resistance.

Sean had noticed the girls in the doorway; it was impossible for him not to notice, given the fact that their whispers were too loud, and their behavior was all too familiar to him. People never seemed to realize that whispering was useless when a telepath was involved anyway, but he wasn’t going to give people tips on how to better shun him. Instead, he returned the wave, pretending that he didn’t notice their behavior, or if he had, that it didn’t bother him.

It didn’t bother him in the same way that it had when he first came to Hammel. His training with Robert helped there; the sessions had given him more confidence than he had had three years ago. That was something. And he had friends now, which was also progress.

Maggie made everything better.

“Robert says they’ll look back on this someday and be ashamed,” the telepath said quietly, once the girls had left. Since he had no reason to doubt anything that his trainer said, Sean was sure that was true.

Then he turned his attention to the program on the television screen, since M*A*S*H had officially started. It seemed different from the past few episodes, especially with the new characters, but he was curious to see what happened and what the girl was doing with the soldier. And why she was carrying his things, since that was backwards; the soldier was bigger and a military man who should be able to carry their belongings.

[Lyn Ivchenko-Lewis]

Rose hadn't initially been shunned or outcasted when she came here. Her powers hadn't really bothered people when she "employed them appropriately". It was the frequency with which she used her abilities, and her own caustic personality, that had driven people from her. The young girl had refused to be treated like some sort of pet for the pleasure of others and thus had become the stray on campus that no one really liked. Her isolation from people had been by choice, even if she grew disdainful of others because of it.

Sean had it worse, even if she didn't know it. Fortunately, he was right; Maggie made everything better.

Making a disgruntled noise, the red-grey furred girl shrugged as if it didn't bother her (which it did). "I hope so, but I won't count on it," she replied. "People always think they're right, even when they're wrong. If either of us ever get an apology, I'll be amazed."

There was a brief period of conversational lull as the two of them watched the opening segment, the younger of the two very curious about this whole "moose" thing. "He bought her... like a slave?" she mumbled, furrowing her brow slightly. "Isn't that against the law?"