Eighth Unused Utility Belt | Text, Video, Action Spam

[hellofist]

[Private text to Bruce Wayne]
[It takes her ten minutes and a lot of staring because what she gets out doesn't look right, but in the end, Cass sends the message anyway. He'll get it a few minutes after midnight.]

Marry Krismiss
Love, Cass

[She doesn't expect him to say anything back, but she can't let her first Christmas pass without saying something to him.]


[Video]
[When the video turns itself on, instead of an excited Merry Christmas!, the barge gets a shot of Cass sitting in bed in a blank cabin. She's in her pajamas still, hasn't gotten far, and her eyes are red and she's still crying.]

Merlin's gone. [Her voice is surprisingly even, despite speaking through her tears.] Went to bed and... he was here... Now his room is...

[She doesn't really know what to do, to say, but she knows she has to tell people that Merlin has disappeared, gone home. She's not thinking it might seem strange to most people on the Barge that she'd be sleeping in Merlin's bed at all, not right now. With a swipe at her eyes to try to dry them that completely fails, she tries to continue.]

Don't know... if he'll come back. But, he's...

[She doesn't finish. Instead, her hand covers up the camera and there's a few muffled sobs before the feed cuts off entirely.]

[Spam]
[For anyone who wants to go looking for her, Cass is still in Merlin's bedroom, still in his bed, curled up under the blankets. It's not fair that her first Christmas be like this, that she doesn't even have the familiarity of Merlin's room to comfort her. She'll get up eventually, but it will only be to drag some of her things back to the empty room. She has to save it for when he comes back, can't let anyone else move in. If that happens, she really has lost him.]

Comments

private; audio

[theonlyresponse]

[The only reason he's using audio is because she can't read if he texts.] It's spelt M-E-R-R-Y C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S.

private; audio

[hellofist]

[Holy crap you replied. She didn't expect that at all. NOW WHAT?]

Oh. Thought it... looked funny.

[This is the most awkward pause.]

Merry Christmas, Bruce.

private; audio

[thirtyfiveminutes]

[Adrian's voice is authoritative, but full of concern.] Where are you?

private; audio

[hellofist]

Merlin's room.

[There's a few long moments before Cass remembers not everyone knows where Merlin lives.]

Level one, room nineteen. [It's a basic, default room now. The door doesn't lock, he'll have no trouble getting in.]

[video] 1/?

[fearthepackingchips]

[video] 2/?

[fearthepackingchips]

Video

[fuckingvisions]

[ the room's really dark since he has his cover over the window. He looks like he's not slept, even though he had tried. He took a moment before speaking, a hand run through his messy black hair.]

Darlin', first off calm down. People leave and come back all the time. You gotta have faith. [ He spoke in the sleepy brogue. He was more hung over then tired but he was trying to play it up as tired anyway. Save his own skin and such.]

You need to stay positive and know that he'll likely be back. [ he hoped for her sake.]

Video

[hellofist]

He's just- He was here, when we... went to sleep. Dean, Tim, they said goodbye...

[Private]

[youwillgotohell]

[Merlin's gone, and that is wonderful. Elating, even. It's like a weight shifting - not lifted entirely, but someone's helping her bear it, now.

On the other hand, Cassandra is crying, and Cassandra has been kind to her, for no discernible reason.

On the other other hand...]

You went to bed with Merlin. [She had to have heard that wrong, right, it's Merlin, that doesn't. No. What.]

[Private]

[hellofist]

[Well yeah, but not like that Morgana. But Cass nods anyway because literal translations, man.]

Wanted to... Wake up for Christmas, with him.

[love_slave]

Cass? Where are you? [She's going to come find her. If there's something she empathizes with, it's broken hearts. She's had enough of them.]

[hellofist]

Level one, room nineteen.

[Broken heart, check. Yeah, that's exactly what this feels like.]

[Private]

[wedonot]

He's left before, and come back. [But there's always the chance he won't, and as much as Charles likes looking on the bright side, there's nothing worse than false hope. But. Well.]

Try not to worry too much.

[Private]

[hellofist]

Before, did he... just disappear?

Private

[onceandfutureprat]

[There are just so many things here, Merlin gone, Cass in his bed, Arthur wracked with a sudden guilt at never addressing Merlin properly. He doesn't really know what to think himself and empathy is not his strongest trait, so have this awkwardness.]

You're more than welcome in Camelot any time.

Private

[hellofist]

[It's almost enough that he's saying anything at all, she knows how he is with feelings stuff. It would be enough, if Merlin hadn't disappeared before he and Arthur had worked things out.]

What if he... doesn't remember me?

SPAM

[looksfine]

[Aya did not bother with an over the network response. Words were difficult for her in circumstances like these. There was still so much about human emotions she did not always understand, and this was a highly sensitive situation.]

[Instead, she merely set her scanners to locate Cass's distinct biometric signature. A quick stop in the dining hall for something Ben had once introduced her to...and, within the span of less than 15 minutes, Aya was knocking quietly on the door.]

SPAM

[hellofist]

[When Cass comes to open the door, she doesn't quite lift her head to look at Aya.]

Was unlocked.

[video]

[routemistress]

Oh, sweetheart.

[Iris only knows Cass vaguely from the network; a fleeting impression of a bright-eyed, pleasant girl that she's made a mental note to get round to making friends with sometime, because anyone who scales skyscrapers for shits and giggles is worth knowing in Iris' book. But she knows all about separations and heartbreak.]

Look, chances are 'e'll be back in no time, love, 'ow could any bloke stay away from a girl like you? But if 'e doesn't - if 'e can't, pet, we can always go and find 'im.

[Probably. There aren't many realities Iris' bus can't reach, with a bit of luck and the right trail to follow. Finding the trail's sometimes a bit of a challenge, admittedly, and so is getting there without hitches, but that just adds to the fun. Nor is Iris completely certain she could get back to the Barge if she left. But she'll worry about that if and when she gets to it. For now, it's the most natural offer of help that springs to mind, and she means it unreservedly.]

[video]

[hellofist]

[Congratulations, Iris. That actually has her looking a little hopeful, sitting up a little to ask her questions.]

We can? How?

Private.

[an_abomination]

I disappeared once and left once on my own will. I returned both times, the second time when I was a Warden, I remembered everything that happened on the Barge. You guys were always in my thoughts and I made sure I got home back in time.

The Admiral might have sent him home, but since he's a Warden, he may remember anything and will make sure he gets back too.

Private.

[hellofist]

[None of that helps, though. Merlin is still gone and she still woke up alone and he's still stuck back in Camelot even though he didn't want to go back there. If he'd had to go back at all, she had wanted to go with him but she's here. Alone. It hurts.]

What if he can't? What if he's... trapped?

[spam]

[silvestris]

[It takes her a while to track down the room, but she opens the door without knocking and moves silently into the room. She locks it behind her--or hopes she did, she doesn't trust these doors.]

[spam]

[hellofist]

[When Selina comes in, Cass is sitting on the edge of the bed still. She'd been about to get up, to leave the room, but... she can't. She doesn't want to. She doesn't want to give up on him yet. She hears the door, though, looks up to see Selina and wipes at her eyes, trying to clear them.]

I think... I agree with you, about Christmas, now.

[ichoosefight]

Is his room still the same? [ Because, having been there before, that's the most comforting thing she was able to determine. ]

[hellofist]

[She's still in what used to be Merlin's bed, but now it's just one of the default ones. She shakes her head in answer.]

Everything's gone...

[Private]

[batmanschmatman]

Do you need anything?

[Private]

[hellofist]

[All of the hugs in the world would be a good start.]

For people... to stop leaving.

[ Spam ]

[surfaceshine]

[Dean always was a little bit shit at keeping up with the network; he usually catches up, but all at once, preferring to be out and about and interacting with people rather than messing about with a device.

He catches her at the moving part, stepping down out of a stairwell and watching quizzically for a moment as she disappears into a Barge-normal door. There's confusion there, and no small amount of concern before he even catches sight of her face; is she moving? Why? He doesn't get to make the choice about whether or not to walk over, just calls ahead of himself, curious and wary.]

Hold up there, sweetheart.

[ Spam ]

[hellofist]

[Dean has seen her sad many times, probably more than anyone else has on the barge, even Merlin. When she turns and looks at him though, with her arms wrapped around a duffle bag and a red rose in a pot perched carefully on top, it may hit him that he's never seen her this sad.

She doesn't have anything to say, though, so she just looks at him and sniffles and waits for him to come closer.]

Video

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara leans forward, hand almost reaching out.] Oh, Cass, I'm sorry.

119, right?

Video

[hellofist]

Yes.

[Cass touches where Barbara is reaching and the tears well up again.]

Hurry.

[burnmythoughts]

[Jean stares at the screen for a long time, eyes wide and bright. When she speaks, her voice is small.]

Oh.

[Xen is gone. She hasn't even said anything yet, she's not sure how to announce that kind of thing. And now - ]

He might - he might come back.

[hellofist]

He will. He has to. Arthur is... still here.