Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Cosmos Nova - What's there to be Thankful For?

[Ross Shreveson]

Thanksgiving Day, 2012

Outside Karrie's Lab

The blaring thrum of death rock echoed from Karrie's lab, and given the ungodly amount of noise, Ross was almost about to turn and wake away for the sake of his ears. Almost. He rather preferred spending time with the playful inventor - and having someone he was reasonably close enough to get some stuff off his chest.

The door slid open, and Ross walked in, choosing not to cover his ears, though his teeth gritted a bit. He had his container of stuffing with him, as a Thanksgiving gift, she was a friend, after all.

When Karrie caught sight of him, she turned down the volume, and smiled. Ross smiled back. "Hey, I know you were going to be working today, so I thought I could drop by."

He passed her the cornbread, apple and sausage stuffing. "Made the stuffing myself. Happy Thanksgiving, Karrie."

[z-Coyote-Mad Scientist]

Ross had never found out why Karrie worked on Thanksgiving. The smile disappeared at the mention of stuffing, even as Karrie took the container from him. She popped off the lid and dumped the contents in the trash, saying, “No offense to you, Ross, but I refuse to participate in the sick celebration of the white-man’s slaughter of the first inhabitants of this land.”

“Uh… sorry.” Ross was trying not to laugh at her statements. She said them more to play up the angry Injun stereotype than from a belief in them. “If I’d known you were going to throw it away, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“But then I wouldn’t have had the fun!” Karrie washed out his Tupperware and handed it back to him. “So why aren’t you with your family, enjoying the traditional merriment of genocide?”

[Ross Shreveson]

Ouch, there it was. The thing he probably did also have to get off his chest, beside Lance. It was Thanksgiving after all, and Karrie's comments did have a way of sparking memories of the uncomfortable realities he'd perceived behind all of his family's white-washing and movie-like romanticism of their sordid deeds.

"Let's see." Ross said, a bit quiet and pained now, making Karrie wonder for a moment before Ross explained. "One, they're in New York. Two, I really would like to never have to see or talk to them again. Three, even if I did want to, it's probably ill-advised for my health. Four, I would believe the DSA frowns on their agents meeting with mobsters, relations or not."

"Mobsters?!" Karrie blurted out, incredulous.

"Yes." Ross said flatly. "My dad is Brendan Shreveson, the mob kingpin of New York City. My mother is runs much of the... vice operations... and since I broke the whole omerta code by going to the FBI, my sister is more than ever certain to be the heir apparent."

[z-Coyote-Mad Scientist]

“Well, you did imply a certain Mafioso-type flavor to your family before. I just hadn’t bothered to remember.” Though the comment was rude, it wasn’t meant to be and Ross didn’t take it like that. Karrie’s bluntness sometimes bordered on razor-edged. Dark brown eyes focused on him with intensity, thoughtfulness in their gaze. That was far more worrisome than any insult or comment; Karrie was her most dangerous when she was thinking.

“So how come your family isn’t in jail yet?” she asked.

“Because they’re not dumb and they’ve been doing this for a while.” Ross took a seat on a bench and looked at the mess of equipment in front of her. It looked to be chemical rather than her normal mechanical. “Whatcha working on?”

Karrie’s face reddened slightly. “Personal project,” she muttered, closing the laptop screen. “Back to you—I mean, if you went state’s evidence on them, why aren’t they in jail now?”

[Ross Shreveson]

Ross looked quietly to the side, annoyed at himself and his past errors. “Because they’re not dumb and they’ve been doing this for a while. I mean, I knew that already well enough. But somehow at first I thought they could be brought down. After a bit in, I realized what the outcome would be well before it happened. That's the thing with the organized crime - it's organized, and quite structured. The top gets to make the orders, and can't be linked with them.”

"I knew there wasn't much to link my mom and dad with, but what there was they could be feasibly charged with, I had stuff for. But what I forget about the whole omerta... crap, is even though all it is is a dressed up way of justifying these atrocities against innocent and not so innocent people for personal gain and holding a syndicate together for it- some take it really seriously. Even the parts about taking the rap."

Ross had watched much of the proceedings from seclusion on cable TV, and more than a few of the men on trial had been around the house. At parties he'd be dragged too. "It's not like the Feds weren't entirely upset. My actions did a very big number. Nicky Adamson, Oliver Minos, Philip Zhang, lieutenants and soldiers got snatched up. But my family is still out there, crippled temporarily but free. That's the story."

[z-Coyote-Mad Scientist]

“Oh.” Karrie went back to looking thoughtful. “You know, if you need some help getting stuff to stick, I’d probably be able to help you out.”

“They distance themselves from incriminating evidence.” Ross sighed heavily. “Trust me, if there was a way to connect them, I’d have done it.”

“They can’t protect themselves from evidence they didn’t know was evidence,” Karrie said, her voice far too innocent. “Or evidence that was true in spirit rather than reality.”

The handsome young man stared at her for a second, slightly shocked. “Karrie!” He glanced around the empty room. “Are you suggesting that we fake evidence?!”

“No, no!” Ross had a heartbeat to start to calm down before she elaborated, “We just have to fake the connections to real evidence! It’s brilliant!” Karrie shook her head in shock at her own intellect. “Sometimes I don’t know why people don’t think of these things…”

[Ross Shreveson]

Ross couldn't really follow her, at least without it sounded legally dubious in nature. And honestly, this was a topic he did not want to stay on, the Family did not control his life even when he was free and clear! "Karrie, I'm not going to obsess over trying to put them behind bars, I wish they would be, but...."

Ross groped around for a topic changer. "Anyway, so how's it been since you broke up with Connor?" There was a sudden, deep conversational pause the size of a yawning chasm of DOOM. Oh, dear lord, did I just go there? I'm dead.

[z-Coyote-Mad Scientist]

“I didn’t break up with Connor.” The words could have cut a diamond, they were so sharp. Even as Ross fought not to cringe—Rob had told him more than once not to show weakness in front of Coyote and now he wasn’t sure if the other nova was joking—Karrie bared her teeth and growled, “We’re just… working through some issues!”

Ross wisely didn’t remark on that statement. “Working through issues can be rough,” he said diplomatically. “How are you doing?”

“It’s tough, but I’m holding on.” It was more than tough. Karrie wouldn’t admit it, but the only Project Recovery kept her going—that and Rob. He was being sweet and extra-attentive; he wasn’t even teasing her about her fanfictions. Not that she’d written any since their first date. She hadn’t needed to after their date, and then she couldn’t. It was too painful; she couldn’t even read others’. “Are you still seeing Lance?”