Ninth Unused Utility Belt | Video and Spam

[hellofist]

All the food... is big.

[Or, you know, she's small and everything else is huge in comparison. Cass has made it to the kitchen and found herself a pie, which she's already dug her hands into and started eating. She's actually in the pie now, holding onto a cherry the size of her head, mouth all smeared with pie filling and there might actually be some in her hair, but she doesn't care. It's a giant pie. Come on.]

Had dreams, like this. Giant food, no one to... stop me. Probably can't... eat whole pie, though.

[She looks over to the other side of the pie, the crust still all in one piece. She hasn't made it to that side yet.]

I guess... I could share.


Spam for Merlin

[After her pie escapades and a rather long bath in the kitchen sink to de-pie herself, Cass had sent out a message to Merlin. It had been a voice one just in case he hadn't wanted to see her, just something to check in on him, make sure he was handling his first strange Barge occurrence well. She was glad this was his first one, considering it was pretty easy, just a little bit of shrinking, but she still couldn't shake her need to check in on him.

He hadn't replied though. And maybe she should have just left it at that, but she just couldn't. What if he was small and got trapped under something, couldn't call for help? So she'd gone off in search for him, wiggled her way under his door and found the main part of his room seemingly empty. The stairs up to his bedroom were a bit of a challenge but before long, she's in Merlin's room, looking up at his bed and the pile of blankets there.]

Merlin?

[There's a bit of the sheet hanging down and it's easy to jump and grab it, climb up to his bed for a better look at the blanket mountain there.]

Are you... in there?

Comments

[video killed the radio star]

[fearthepackingchips]

Or you can try to eat the whole thing. You need somebody to bet you on it?

[video killed the radio star]

[hellofist]

It's a lot, though. I might throw up...

[She really doesn't look that worried about that, though.]

[Spam] note for errant threadstalkers: spoilers. always spoilers.

[takeyouapart]

[Merlin's there. Though it doesn't really feel like he's…present. In the moment.

Abruptly being eight inches tall woke him on Saturday morning and since then he hasn't moved far from his bed or really done anything. It's a contender for 'strangest thing ever to have happened to him' but at the same time it feels peculiarly irrelevant.

The slow trickle of memories that started on Wednesday night have broken into full flood. They pitch and roll awkwardly in his head; his mind doesn't know where to put them. It was two weeks ago, or four years, or at some time beyond his understanding. He remembers --

Speaking to a man with Uther's face. Killing a goddess. Walking the streets of a dusty town still in its infancy. Cutting a stranger's throat. Making flowers grow under the touch of his hand. Becoming his own father, asking after his son. Summoning the soul of a girl long dead from a distant shore. Walking alien worlds.

Letting Morgana kill him. Reshaping the sky to make a girl smile. Flying, and feeling his own wings brush the ground. Tolerating almost a year of Arthur's thinly veiled disapproval -

- thank you -

Sam. T'Pol. Buffy. Hayley. McCoy. Annie. Severus. Ethan. Claire. Wichita. Sveta. Isaac. Cara. Trip. Jim. Olive. Valmont. Tim.

Reaver. Charles. Jean. Cassandra -

He hears her voice, and he flinches.]

Cass.

[He draws in a breath. It judders painfully around the lump in his throat.]

I'm up here.

[Spam]

[hellofist]

[That's not a good sound at all, and it has Cass climbing faster, scaling the bed with something that feels a lot like desperation. He called her Cass and he's not telling her to go away. She wants to smile, but she can't when his voice sounds so sad.

Once she's climbed up all the way, she hurries to find him.]

You're little too, huh? [Is he in the blankets somewhere? She pulls at them, trying to find him. Small talk has never been something she's good at, but she tries anyway. It's what people who don't know each other do, to get closer.] Not bad, for first flood. Probably not... strangest thing, you've ever seen.

[Spam]

[takeyouapart]

[He laughs bleakly.]

No. No, it isn't.

[The blankets are in their way, but they're too thin to form much of a barrier. He waves a hand, and the hillocks and crests of his bedsheets billow out and fall flat.]

[Spam]

[hellofist]

[He laughs, but his body language tells her he's far from happy. She wants to hug him, but she just covers over and sits down beside him. Instead of reaching for his shoulder, she folds her hands in her lap and just gives him a careful smile.]

Hi, Merlin.

[video threadjack]

[routemistress]

[Iris is just going to insert herself into Deadpool's video feed, since she's right here riding his shoulder like one of those mechanical bull things.]

Oooh 'ello Cass love!

...Now that looks like fun. Got room in there for a little one, eh?

[video threadjacks killed the radio star]

[hellofist]

[Oh hai Iris!]

Yes. You should... both have some. There might... be more, somewhere. For Wade.

[Spam]

[takeyouapart]

Hi.

[He's quiet for a while because he doesn't know how to say it. How to contain it all in one sentence - that he remembers the Barge, and her, how much has happened in Camelot, what it's done to him, how it's broken him, that he's probably never going to be the person who left her, that he's sorry.

He swallows.]

Arthur's -- dead.

[Spam]

[hellofist]

[The thing of it is that he doesn't have to say it. She sees in his body that there's familiarity there now, but more than anything else, he's hurting in a way that will take so, so much to fix. But it can be fixed. Somehow, he can be fixed because there's all the time in the world here, his friends and family are here.

But that news, along with what she sees in him...]

Oh, Merlin.

[Now she hugs him, because he needs it and she needs to do it. Arthur's dead repeats in her head and everything, from his emptiness to his desire to clean Arthur's room, it all makes sense now.]

[Spam]

[takeyouapart]

[For a split second his whole body goes rigid like he's going to shake her off because he doesn't want it, he doesn't, he's weathered peace and war alike for years without anyone to lean on who truly understands the weight of his burden. Even at the very end he still carried Arthur, held him, and now it's gone. It's all gone. Now he feels weightless, and it's not better; it's worse in ways he couldn't have imagined. There's nothing to ground him, nothing to steer him except the distant promise of the Once And Future King.

Cassandra's arms, they anchor him. And he weeps, his body wracked with the compulsive sobs he hasn't let out since the day he arrived.

He hides his face against her neck. He's eight inches tall; he feels smaller.]

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

[Spam]

[hellofist]

[One hand goes up to the back of his head, but her other arm stays tight around him like if she just holds him a little closer, she can leech all his pain away, take it into herself and bear it for him.]

Don't be sorry. I've got you. [She knows him and she knows no matter how it happened, how things played out, she knows he'd done everything he possibly could. She could use her deal to save Arthur's life. Or go back with them after all, shadow Arthur the rest of his life to keep him safe.

Find the person who did it and kill them before they have the chance.

There has to be an option to stop something so horrible from happening, but now isn't the time to brainstorm. She strokes Merlin's hair instead, sets them to rocking gently while she lets him pour all of his tears out. Words are useless when all you feel is hopelessness and hurt and she knows better than anyone that sometimes, you need to break before you can begin to heal.]

[with_my_teacup]

Strap it to a stretcher, haul it back to your room?

[Spam]

[takeyouapart]

[He can't know for sure if it helps. Sometimes, the only thing that keeps you upright is knowing there's nobody left to catch you when you fall. In Cass' arms, there's a real chance he won't be able to stop crying, or shaking, or feeling like he could just lay down and never stand.

Eventually - it's not a short time - he goes quiet. Face white-pale, eyes dark and red-rimmed, he rests his forehead on her shoulder.]

...I am sorry. I don't want to make a liar of you, Cass, I don't want to ask it of you, but...he can't know. He can't. Morgana - none of them can know.

[video threadjacks killed the radio star]

[fearthepackingchips]

Yakking just means you've got more room to fill.

[...um. Right.]

Nah, I can just watch you both. Like mud wrestling, but tastier.

Maybe we should sell tickets!

...if people would buy them...

Aw, who'm I kidding. Of course people would buy tickets to that! Where're you at?

Re: [we can't rewind, we've gone too far]

[routemistress]

[Iris is in what you might call a rare good mood if good mood weren't more or less Iris' default. Being tiny is nothing but hilarious, apparently.]

Oooh. Whipped cream, d'you reckon? I think 'e'd like that.

[Spam]

[hellofist]

[Familiarity makes her press a quick kiss to the side of his head and she doesn't realize it might be the wrong thing to do until after it's already done. She won't take it back, though.]

Will never tell. Knowing you're... going to die, it changes you. Don't want that, for him.

[Things matter a little less, when you know everything you do will end up pointless before it ever should. If Arthur ever does find out, it won't be from Cass.]

What happened? If you... can say. [If he's not ready to talk about it yet then she's perfectly content to just keep hanging on to him, but it seems right to give him the chance to stop carrying this burden all on his own.]

[hellofist]

[Okay you're the smartest best person ever.]

Then I could... save it for later. Good plan.

[She looks around, taking stock of the things hanging around.]

Could take lots. Stockpile. Stairs will... be an issue.

[video threadjacks killed the radio star]

[hellofist]

Pie wrestling. Could work. More interested... in the eating part, though.

In kitchen. Better hurry, before I... eat whole thing.

[Yeah right. She'll try though!]

[Spam]

[takeyouapart]

[The words come strangely easily.]

One of - Arthur's knights. Mordred. He turned against us, he joined Morgana, and they...they raised an army to march on Camelot. Arthur took his men out to meet them, and Mordred...

...Mordred dealt him a mortal blow, on the field of battle.

[He draws a deep, shuddering breath, and what comes next is harder.]

I knew it would happen. I knew, but...Morgana stole my magic from me. By the time I had it back, by the time I sought out Mordred, Arthur had killed him and it was...too late. It was already done.

[He'd failed. Perhaps not in fostering the Albion he had always dreamed of, but in protecting his best friend.]

[we can't rewind, we've gone too far]

[hellofist]

Probably some, somewhere. Would be good, on pies.

Re: [we can't rewind, we've gone too far]

[routemistress]

...I'd suggest chocolate mousse for the wrestling scene, but I think someone's 'ead might explode. Be right with you, lovey!

[Spam]

[hellofist]

Mordred.

[That's a name she's never going to be able to forget, now. And Morgana's part in it... There's so much there to consider. When Merlin breathes that way Cass gives him another hug, hand rubbing at his back gently.]

Being here... can change Morgana. If it doesn't... Arthur said, I'm welcome in Camelot. Could go back, if he does. Can protect him.

[ichoosefight]

A girl after my own heart. Give me a minute to get Patches up and flying again and I'll come join you.

[we can't rewind, we've gone too far]

[hellofist]

.... Scene?