"Oh god." Claire whispers, and, from the way her voice is muffled, Matt suspects she has her hand pressed in front of her mouth. The free Matt doesn't say anything, but his whole body is so rigid and still Matt wonders whether there is going to be an explosion soon.
He steps in quickly - apparently, even though he logically knows that the other Matt is *them*, too, the instinct to prevent free people from getting angry still persists - and stands next to Imperious, who (of course) seems to have gone back to kneeling on the floor. On some level, Matt wonders whether he does it on purpose, just to freak people out.
"Get *up*," he hisses to him under his breath (even though he sadly has absolutely no illusions that everyone but Claire will be able to hear him) "You're upsetting them. And besides, I can *hear* your knees creaking."
"We..." the free Matt swallows. "We *abolished* slavery here over a hundred years ago. Why the fuck is it still working in your world?"
"Seems to be equal-opportunity slavery, too," Claire mutters, and Matt for a moment curiously wonders what she means by that. Maybe in this world only women were enslaved?
"And why the hell would you care about reflecting badly on your *torturers*?"
"Sometimes you can't help it." Matt can feel the reply slip out without meaning to say anything, but now the attention is on him, heads turning. "I don't...I don't like making *Foggy* look bad, either," he says, grimacing.
(It's not that simple. Sometimes they *both* enjoy upsetting standards, being scandalous in Matt's lax treatment and revelling in the boggled stares and gasps. Once, they had been meeting with a potential client, who had not only utterly ignored anything Matt had said, but also asked Foggy several times whether any 'services' Matt provided in the office could also be taken advantage of right now, since he should put his mouth to use somehow. At that point, Foggy had very calmly, very quietly asked "Matt, do you think we should take Mr Vasquez on as a client?" and Matt had replied, cheerfully as anything, "No, Foggy, I think we should throw Mr Vasquez out on the street and laugh when he loses his ridiculous case." Which they had done and were still laughing about occasionally.)
"And it's *not* Stockholm Syndrome," he grates out next, because *that's* a conversation he doesn't want to repeat.
"...right. Okay, ignoring how fucked-up that is," Claire says, and Matt doesn't protest, because on some level he is aware that she's right, even if he thinks Foggy and him are still making the best of a horrible system here - he also shifts his focus to Imperious, whether he reacts to any of that - "what about changing that law? Because that shit ain't right."
"Or," the kid says, for the first time speaking up, in all the hubbub of voices, "what if you just...stay here? If you don't have a Foggy anyway."
Re: Fill, Ipad's response to Opposite's impromptu slam (correct version)
He steps in quickly - apparently, even though he logically knows that the other Matt is *them*, too, the instinct to prevent free people from getting angry still persists - and stands next to Imperious, who (of course) seems to have gone back to kneeling on the floor. On some level, Matt wonders whether he does it on purpose, just to freak people out.
"Get *up*," he hisses to him under his breath (even though he sadly has absolutely no illusions that everyone but Claire will be able to hear him) "You're upsetting them. And besides, I can *hear* your knees creaking."
"We..." the free Matt swallows. "We *abolished* slavery here over a hundred years ago. Why the fuck is it still working in your world?"
"Seems to be equal-opportunity slavery, too," Claire mutters, and Matt for a moment curiously wonders what she means by that. Maybe in this world only women were enslaved?
"And why the hell would you care about reflecting badly on your *torturers*?"
"Sometimes you can't help it." Matt can feel the reply slip out without meaning to say anything, but now the attention is on him, heads turning. "I don't...I don't like making *Foggy* look bad, either," he says, grimacing.
(It's not that simple. Sometimes they *both* enjoy upsetting standards, being scandalous in Matt's lax treatment and revelling in the boggled stares and gasps. Once, they had been meeting with a potential client, who had not only utterly ignored anything Matt had said, but also asked Foggy several times whether any 'services' Matt provided in the office could also be taken advantage of right now, since he should put his mouth to use somehow. At that point, Foggy had very calmly, very quietly asked "Matt, do you think we should take Mr Vasquez on as a client?" and Matt had replied, cheerfully as anything, "No, Foggy, I think we should throw Mr Vasquez out on the street and laugh when he loses his ridiculous case." Which they had done and were still laughing about occasionally.)
"And it's *not* Stockholm Syndrome," he grates out next, because *that's* a conversation he doesn't want to repeat.
"...right. Okay, ignoring how fucked-up that is," Claire says, and Matt doesn't protest, because on some level he is aware that she's right, even if he thinks Foggy and him are still making the best of a horrible system here - he also shifts his focus to Imperious, whether he reacts to any of that - "what about changing that law? Because that shit ain't right."
"Or," the kid says, for the first time speaking up, in all the hubbub of voices, "what if you just...stay here? If you don't have a Foggy anyway."