olopi

The same team was a very simplistic way to put it, sure, but Monica did have to concede that it was right in its essence. And that it would mean more problems if that was the perception she was giving off. The personal benefits were still there – she learned about all of this thanks to it, after all! Whatever Ashley (or whatever her actual name was) was feeling right now wasn’t a primary concern of Monica. Her entire deal was clearly a lot more complicated than it already appeared to be. “Yeah, that’s what the GSA is there for! No matter your background, who you are, all that. Of course what you did was real, why would you think I’d think it wasn’t?” “All of this” she waved her hands around a bit “doesn’t change that. “ …it does explain a few things, though. “School’s still gonna be school after all, right? “

Physical contact was not something Monica got a lot of, and more often than not it did make her uncomfortable, but right now, she just enjoyed the moment. It was almost definitely more than just normal body heat that Judy … Jaycee? was giving off here, but with Monica’s own powers she didn’t have to care too much. Once that was done, she turned around to face the agent and confirm her suspicions. A lot of her behavior suddenly made sense, and yet, at the same time, many more questions were raised. “Quite good, quite good. Have to say, when Beth told me about strange impersonation conspiracies and people not being who they claimed, I did not expect to find that here of all places.” She returned a smile, matching her rather playful tone.

The conversation turned a bit morbid quite quickly there. Monica wasn't entirely sure what Judy was trying to say. Maybe she interpreted a bit too much into it, but it sounded mildly alarming if nothing else. There was some concern visible on Monica's face as she listened to Judy explain her situation. And then some more as she tried to figure out how to respond. Was this the time for some motivational speech about how accepting who she was would help her? It didn't really feel like it. But then again, that was what Monica stood for, wasn't it? The thought of being able to see everything that mentioned her crossed Monica's mind, something that visibly unnerved her and was enough to make her respond. "…oh ####." She turned away her head for a moment when she realized what she just said, then continued. "Sorry. … I don't really know …" She slowly reached out for a hug, checking whether or not Judy would go for it or back off.

Did Judy…Jaycee actually want to do this? To Monica it still felt like this was her having to reveal a secret she didn't really want. Cleary one she wasn't entirely comfortable with either. Monica listened and nodded for now. Once Judy had finished, she moved a bit closer. "Hey, hey. If there's ever been a good secret to keep, it's this one. Remember that time that Corinne almost got kidnapped? Apparently, that wasn't even the only time something like that happened to her." Sure, Monica didn't bring up superpowered stuff with her girlfriend too often, Corinne didn't like talking about it too much, but these sorts of things had come up before. "I'm here because I want to be. All of the stuff I've done so far I can only blame myself for." This entire conversation made Monica realize that she had no idea what Judy's powers even were. Or how she felt about that controlling aspect. It sounded similar to what Corinne was dealing with, and it was something that Monica had absolutely no experience with still, because, well, she had some of the best mentors out there. Mentors, who would give her some specific advice for this situation. She moved a bit closer still, and then spoke, softly. "Just a matter of time until things are mostly normal again, then."

Monica still had no idea how to react. She didn't even really notice what was going on around her right now, all of this was too confusing, and her brain felt like it was overloading dealing with all this information. As it turned out, learning people's secret identities was the sort of experience that some of her teachers had talked about after all. She sat down, and noticed the voice as the agent closed the door behind her. Was that?... "Okay." She took a deep breath. "So. Where do I start… No Grue, no alternate dimension? Summers is obviously in on this, and Ash…" So that was that secret that Monica was sure the sisters … sisters? … had. Everything was falling into place. Definitely not what she'd expected. It did explain a few things, sure. But it raised many, many new questions. And concerns over some of the things Monica had planned for her appearance with Cahill…

So the rest of the room was feeling similar to Monica. That was a relief. And come on, they were working in government, if they fully trusted her word on something like this, that was their own fault. She took the tablet and held it in her hand, she didn't exactly have anywhere to put it right now. Not that it mattered much, as apparently business was over and now it was part for the more casual stuff. If there was such a thing as casual in this kind of scenario. She followed the President into what appeared to be one of the bedrooms. Sure, she'd seen the president's daughters on TV once or twice, but she'd never paid much attention to them. Which probably explained the situation she was facing right now. Judy? Jaycee Cahill? What the… ? Monica responded to the hug in kind, more of an automatic reaction than anything. Then, she looked at her classmate (?), around the room, at the president, and then back at Judy. "Uuuuuuh."

Monica nodded slowly. This was a good sign. Sure, her appearance would mean something, but the President was careful enough to navigate around Monica's obvious issues. After all, it was not like she couldn't work with him at all, it was all a matter of giving and taking. "Pleasure to meet you, Joshua." She took the tablet and began to skim over the speech. The style was amazing, of course, that was to be expected. The content was, as her teachers may put it, slightly missing the mark. Not concrete enough, dodging the issue. She'd gotten that criticism on a few of her essays. This was what Cahill wanted her to say, clearly. But he had just given her the greenlight to tweak it as she wanted, hadn't he? "I can tell this was written by one of the best of the best. I like it. Some personal touches here and there, but overall … yeah, I can work with this." Technically she was speaking the truth. Or so she told herself at least.

His presidency was indeed on the record. That was the issue. Sure, things could be worse, and under many other politicians they may have been. But they could be much better, too. Cahill did not stand for fast and meaningful change. Monica knew, and Cahill knew that she knew. And in this situation, she held the power in her hands. He needed her more than she needed him. He gained something out of appearing with her – she didn't. But then again, he was quite nice about it all. And maybe that sort of stage was just what Monica needed… "I had a hunch you would ask something along those lines. " Why couldn't her friends be here right now? Or her teachers? She would even take her therapist. Just somebody she could talk to about this. She had to make this decision by herself, and she didn't like that. "Standing for all American families? What are you imagining?"

Cahill definitely had some ties to Claremont, that made sense. With the stories she'd heard, POTUS not being briefed on it, probably by Summers herself, would be weird. Her mother leaving the room – she was quite keen to talk one-to-one with the First Lady – was actually a positive for Monica right now. Sure, she didn't feel super confident, but without her family watching over her, she could maybe say thing she otherwise wouldn't. The moment she realized that, she felt better. It was just Cahill and her in this room. The tension she was feeling all around her body loosened up a bit as he began speaking. "Yeah, … yeah, I'm … quite aware of how people feel about me at this point…" He knew about all the toxicity and threats that had come her way, right? There was no way he wouldn't have been informed of something like that, right? "I like that assessment. I'm a credit to them. I was given these powers to do good with them. I have the ability to help them, to improve their lives, to make the world a better place for them. And I'm willing to do that, no matter the backlash. " She could feel her confidence increase as she talked, and with it The Spirit did its thing, as by the end of it, she was no looking looking up at Cahill, she was now slightly taller than him. And looking straight into his eyes. "The question is, Mr. President, are you?"

Huh. He really was less threatening in person. Monica felt at ease when he talked and embraced her. That came as a bit of a surprise, considering the scenarios she had gone through while trying to fall asleep yesterday, but it was pretty nice, actually. Monica took a few glances around the room while doing her best to keep her attention on Cahill. Being respectful was important here, but she was still curious. Fortunately her mother was quick to respond. "Quite nice, our car isn't nearly as comfortable." "And Johnson – my handler – is, sorry mami, probably a better driver than you are." The First Lady had a similar air about her as her husband. Less cuddly, … which was weird to think about, Monica realized, but still something that made Monica feel like she was at some of her mom's friends house, not in a hotel suite with POTUS. "I can only imagine how busy all of this gets…" Monica took a few steps towards the main window. "Every time I've seen this building I've wondered what the view was like from up here. But yes, yes." She turned around to face the First Lady properly. "I've been enjoying my time off, school has been busy so I've been catching up whenever I've not been dealing with more … official matters. That's what a school like Claremont gets you, I suppose." Sure, the situation was more complicated than that, but this was the time to upsell herself.

Monica still wasn't sure about this. The sort of people who were excited about this weren't the sort of people that were excited about her. Well, apart from the government. She'd been keeping an eye on the local channels, news and social media. Her mom was more excited about it. Sure, she too had some issues with Cahill, but after everything he'd given her family so far, she was pretty exciting to potentially meet him. Nora, Monica's sister, didn't really care much. Politics weren't that big of a deal to her yet. She'd didn't really want to come along, but did so anyways. "Hello Johnson. Always nice to see you. As ready as I'll be…" The way he'd phrased that question sounded exciting for all the wrong reasons. Which Monica had come to get used to by now, Johnson just seemed to always be doing that. She got into the car, and as it drove off, her mom began adjusting Monica's dress again. She wanted her daughter to look perfect for this. Which, if nothing else, was a good confidence boost for the both of them. Getting into the hotel was certainly an experience. Not necessarily a pleasant one, but as far as dealing with the Secret Service went it probably was one of the more comfortable possibilities, Monica told herself. As she took a deep breath to calm down, her mom did her thing – "You can do this Monica." Then, she opened the door.

"Well, I can't really say no to that, can I?" Yes you can. This is exactly where you say no. You're already seen as a tool. Don't become her. It was true, this was another level. Public support by the administration or showing up at one of the president's events. A meet and greet, nothing too public from the sound of it. Not a rally. So if the information got out, it would probably look even worse. And it meant that Cahill could downplay it to the part of his base that didn’t like her. The positive aspects of this really were limited, weren't they. And yet… "Meeting you and your family in person will be quite the honor, I gotta say."

When she heard about the GSA meeting, Monica was quite conflicted. On one hand, she enjoyed the idea, and thought about attending. On the other, not only was she fairly high-profile after everything that had happened during summer, she was also quite aware that a lot of people had soured on her over it. And that meant drama, at the one place she was totally fine not having any of that. Still, she kind of had to go, right? Just to know what was going on directly. With her hoodie drawn over her head, and wearing the most low-profile outfit she could (which, truth be told, wasn’t different from what she wore most of the time), she entered the room right behind a larger group of students, quickly taking a seat towards the back of the room and observing. If anybody looked at her she did her best to not notice, or, if she trusted them, just gave them a slight nod. Hopefully that’d be enough to signal that she wanted to stay low-profile. And if not, her room wasn’t that far fortunately.

Somebody who would like to speak to her? Well, that one didn’t sound ominous at all. Monica thought about who Johnson could mean for just a moment, before she got the answer. It wasn’t who she’d expected to talk to today, but, she guessed it made sense, and part of her had expected to speak to the man himself at some point. Still didn’t mean she was prepared, though. “Uh, …” Wow, POTUS, right there. She was on the phone with probably the most powerful person on the planet (at least as far as politics were concerned), right now, and he’d just acknowledged that. Now, what would she do with this opportunity… “Pleasure to meet you, sir. I can’t say I expected you to call me, truth be told. I imagine you’re calling me for a reason of some kind?”

Part of Monica had hoped that by the second time she got national media attention, it’d get easier. It didn’t really. Sure, this time the reporting was more positive, but just like before, the reactions from people weren’t. Last time it was about her identity. This time it was about her identity and her “selling out”. Which, she had to concede, she kind of had done. But that had been the situation she’d been forced into, and she regularly reminded herself that this was the best outcome she could realistically hope for. At least everything the government put out about her was technically true. After all, she’d have to work together with them from now on, at least until everything had been fully worked out. Perhaps all of this happening during summer break had been part of the government’s media strategy - Monica was on the front page for quite a while. And it meant there wasn’t much else going on in her life. She’d signed up for working at a summer camp, but with all that was going on, the camp had decided it was best if she didn’t. She couldn’t exactly complain about being bored as each day brought something new, and as different as each one was, at some point all of them blended into one another. Lying in bed after yet another day full of all sorts of administrative things she had at this point lost the overview over, she spent some time browsing her favourite webpages, as bad of an idea as that had turned out the past few days. Monica opened her phone’s Notes app, and wrote down a single sentence: I am Monica Gutiérrez, and I am the America you refuse to see. And then she tucked in. Tomorrow would be busy enough.