ichoosefight | 20 - Farewell, my friends

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game: the last voyages

20 - Farewell, my friends

[ Video ]

Hey. So. I don't usually do this sort of thing, but I guess this is a public service announcement:

If somebody's door is missing, they're gone. Probably for good. Sometimes people come back, sometimes different versions of them come back, sometimes they come back and remember some things but not everything. It just... happens, sometimes. People disappear. It happens to wardens too, so don't go assuming that a missing warden just up and left without saying goodbye.

As for inmates? Well... I'm pretty sure when they disappear they go back to being dead. So that sucks. A lot.

But, yeah. I heard a lot of people wondering about missing friends, and I just want them to know when to stop looking. It's when the door goes back to standard.

That's all.

I'm sorry.

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Missing anyone important, Stephanie?

Bruce needed to go home anyway. But Mindy? Mindy's just dead. [ And that really sucks. Things between them were left off so crappy, too. Not that it really matters if the dead can't hold grudges. ]

Banner was your warden, yes?

I find it difficult you're not simply growing used to the concept of death by now.

You're still around.

[He's almost as relieved as if this was Cassandra.]

Yeah, I am. [ It's still a little surprising to hear that concern in his voice. ]

And so are you. [ She smiles, because that should be comforting. ]

The place is hard to quit!

[But the difficult question:] Do we know if we lost anyone else yet?

Not that I've seen. I don't know if this is a normal disappearance thing or a Mirror Barge disappearance thing.

[He's breaking a rule in asking, but...]

Have you seen if Cassandra...?

She's still here.

[ Steph doesn't mind breaking rules for Cass. This is her best friend in the whole world they're talking about. ]

Thank God. Is she holding up? Did you see her--what are we calling 'em, doppelgangers?

She isn't not holding up? [ She should really know more about how her BFFL feels after all these shenanigans, but they've all had a lot on their minds. ]

I didn't meet her evil twin. I tried really hard not to meet anyone, for the most part.

Good. I don't think any of us would want to meet the flip version of her. [Thinking about it curdles his stomach, honestly.] Yours probably wasn't so bad though.

[ She makes a face, something between a shrug and a grimace. ]

So I hear. I talked to her a bit. She had a nasty attitude problem.

I think I was about as scared of running into mirror Cass as I was of mirror Supergirl, to be totally honest.

I'm still thanking God or whoever that I didn't bump into her.

[Mirror Cass would have broken his heart and probably his neck, but Cain would have let her. Mirror Cara? The thought scares the hell out of him.]

You'll have to show me a good hidey hole, next bad flood I'm going to take cover with a book or something.

You gotta find rafters. Nobody ever looks in the rafters.

I know one guy who does! But thank God, he's not around anymore, huh?

[Bruce Wayne: creepy rafter-dwelling ninja man.]

Small favors, right? I'd hate to be on the wrong side of his evil twin.

[She's pretty good, usually, at controlling her emotions. Setting them aside, focusing on something else.

But seeing her Stephanie again, and remembering the promises she made to the other one -

Her eyes burn, and her throat closes, and for a few moments she can't speak at all. When she does, it's rough and quiet.]

Do you need anything?

[ Steph feels pretty damn good about seeing Babs again. The right Babs. The other one wasn't some horrible monster, but she still spent most of the month hiding from basically everyone. Just feeling free to socialize again is pretty awesome.

Her grin is as wide as it is relieved. She may have lost a few friends, but most of them are still here. ]

No, thanks, I'm good. I've got everything I need. You?

[It's easy, somehow, to smile back. Stephanie is like that.]

I'm fine. Got my fair share of provisions.

[ She does try. ]

If nothing else, a Bat is always prepared for disaster.

Most of them, anyway. [There's a bitter edge to her voice, but she's not going to dwell, not right now.]

How did you do, over there?

I did okay. I stayed out of the way, for the most part. Which sucked, but it kept me alive. And, well, Scorpius helped arm me. [ which was a little weird and touching??? ]

[...Yeah, that draws a smile.] Well, that's one way to bond.

...I'm glad. I know it's difficult, keeping your head down, even when it's the best option.

[ She makes a face. ]

I'd rather be alive and useless than dead, brutally mangled and useless.

It does suck.

I'm sorry, too.

[A pause.] How are you?

[Because from what he heard, your counterpart had a really, really hard life on that other Barge.]

I'm okay. Better than most. [ She got by hiding as much as she could. ]

You?

Same. [He's just resilient. Or so he likes to think.] I'm glad you're back - although probably not as glad as you are.

Now that would be a challenge. [ She is so glad to be home, you don't even know. ]

I hope my evil twin didn't give you all too much trouble.

Yeah, that's what I figured. [Then he's just all the more glad she's home.]

Her? Nah. She was an interesting gal. [Once she stopped trying to kill people - or did she ever?]

Dare I ask?

[ 'Interesting' is not necessarily a good adjective. ]

Oh, she wasn't that bad. Just a little rough around the edges.

Can't say that I blame her, based on what she told me about living over there.

Can't say I blame her either. I only got by because we wear the same suit and she keeps to herself. Hiding in plain site, you know?

That's not a bad plan. In fact, sometimes it's the safest. I'm glad it worked for you over there.

Hey, I should know. It's kept me alive for most of four years.

But thanks. I just wish we hadn't lost so many.

Then I'd definitely say it's working, and I'm glad to hear it.

Yeah, me too. I guess when it rains, it pours.

Lightning and thunders, too. [ She sighs. ] Always has.

Yeah, you've got that right.

Hopefully we'll have earned a little sun around here, sometime soon.

[Butttt if he doesn't sound overly convinced, can you blame him?]

It'll come. This place has been a home to me. Sometimes things get bad, but they get good again.

Yeah. That's been my experience, too.

[And he's sure hoping that experience holds.] Although sometimes you do have to nudge them along, a little.

Sometimes you have to punch 'em in the face to remind them that somewhere out there the world's still turning.

[ In a shocking turn of events, this is only metaphorical violence. ]

Sometimes you do. Repeatedly. Good thing I'm stubborn.

[A girl after his own heart, metaphorical violence or not.]

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20 - Farewell, my friends

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