Ninteenth Unused Utility Belt | Video, backdated to after the breach ends (cw: fire damage)

[hellofist]

[The feed comes on to show Cass... well, she kind of looks like crap. But more than that, behind her her room, her real room on the Barge, seems to be confused about what it wants to be. In some places it's a replication of what Merlin's room looks like - there's his bed in one corner, a large wooden table with a red rose in a pot, for example.

Other parts are what the inside of a burned down building would look like. There's smoke damage, blackened walls, the remains of a dresser. The big computer is halfway melted and warped, the screen cracked and beyond repair. Looks like the Barge couldn't recreate what home is for Cass because she doesn't even know herself anymore.]

I'm back.

[There's not... that much to say after that, really. She's back, yay, no she doesn't want to talk about it.]

It was... about a week? I think. Learned... lots of things. About me, about... what I'm for. Why I... was made. It's funny, how you can... be so sure, who you are, but be... completely wrong.

Anyway. Back.


[Private to Merlin]
Are you... working? Or in room?


[Private to Dean, Chris, and Cassel, sent separately]
Have... to give you something. Can I come over?


[Private to Stephanie]
I understand, now. Why... I'm not Batgirl. Why you are. I didn't really, before. But... I'm glad you are.


[Private to Kon]
[After far too long passes with no answer to Steph, Kon gets a slightly panicked message from Cass.]

Where is Stephanie?


[Private to Dick Grayson and Tim Drake]
I know... that you won't see this. You can't. I just miss you. I shouldn't, but I wish... you were here.

Comments

spam

[patheticvillain]

You're wrong.

[It's just a fact. He breaks things.]

Re: Private Video

[bodilesswarrior]

[Oh, honey. Barbara is already moving, but she keeps the comm up and open.]

Cass, it's not your fault. Okay? It was not your fault.

[Her voice is desperately intent, as if her sheer belief can soothe the turmoil in her daughter's heart.]

SPAM

[hellofist]

[He doesn't move, but she does. She has to, seeing all of that in him and feeling as lost as she does, she has to put her arms around him and hug him tightly, face buried against his chest.]

I'm sorry. I didn't- I'm so sorry, Merlin.

private/video > spam

[tolaywaste]

Okay. Be there soon.

[He waits for her, as long as it takes; he's sure she has other things to be doing, probably has to go check on Merlin for sure. The CES comes out Midwestern scrub for him, which he's fine with. He just walks - paces, really - by the door, until she shows up.]

spam

[hellofist]

I'm not. Wouldn't matter though. Want them with you.

SPAM

[takeyouapart]

No. No, no, no. Please don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault.

[He wraps his arms around her, draws her into him, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. He doesn't know how or why, not yet, but she's changed in ways even he can see.]

I'm just happy you're back.

[Happy you're home.]

[Private]

[mistconduct]

[And Chris is up and opening the door as soon as he can get over to it, wrapping his arms around Cass before she has a chance to say anything]

Jesus fuck, Cass. Fucking christ, jesus, I can't fucking....God damn it I'm glad you came back.

[ Spam ]

[surfaceshine]

[Normally, Dean would be more awkward about being quite this forward; for all his casual physicality, showing affection this outright is not much on the docket. But this is Cass - she tries to hold him back but he doesn't let go, and then she's relaxed some and he breathes out.

She's still holding herself separate, though, so he doesn't force the issue for much longer. He backs up a step, arms loosening, though one remains slung protectively around her shoulders.]

Come on. You can use my shower if you need to, or I've got some snacks and soda around here somewhere.

spam

[patheticvillain]

[He passes them from hand to hand, staying quiet for a moment. Then he puts them away in a drawer. He'll take them out to look at later. To think about.]

You made Chris sad.

[He still won't look at her.]

Private Video

[hellofist]

[Of course she'll try to meet her halfway.]

If I hadn't... almost killed Ravager, or ruined everything... for Penguin, then... things would be different.

[She isn't stupid or self-centered enough to think it wouldn't have still happened, but there's still guilt. It was her city, she should have done something.]

Re: private/video > spam

[hellofist]

[It's not too terribly long before she's there, stepping in and raising a hand in greeting.]

Hi. What'd I miss?

SPAM

[hellofist]

[Her arms tighten around him when he says that and she nods, rapidly.]

Me too.

[She had always thought if she went home, it would be her choice. She'd be able to prepare for it, but she wasn't ready at all for what did happen.]

Are you okay?

[Private]

[hellofist]

[It takes her a second, but then she's hugging him back just as tightly. The bundle she's got in her hand makes it a little awkward, but she manages and once she's adjusted to hugging again the idea of letting go isn't all that appealing.]

Wouldn't leave on purpose. Had to come back, for you.

[Private]

[mistconduct]

[Chris is also perfectly content to just keep hugging in his doorway, snuggling Cass and dropping his chin on top of her head]

Fuck. Fuck, you scared the crap out of me. Fucking Barge..

[youwillgotohell]

[Hey she knows a feel like that, but she's also pretty good at knowing when people don't want to talk about things.]

What's happened to your room? [Her body says it, even if she doesn't: she's glad Cass is back.]

[inexactitude]

You're back! [What is up with your room. Seriously though.]

We were like a day away from sending a search party. [She doesn't know how to ask if everything's okay, given they're not super close, but she will worm her way there.]

[ Spam ]

[hellofist]

[She stays close, stays under his arm and partly against his side. Her head is fuzzy and weird still, not all of this feels real, but Dean is safe. He's always been safe.]

Not hungry. Soda would... be okay. Um...

[She'd kind of folded it up in her hands, but she unfolds it now, smoothes out the lump of black fabric and fixes the ears, so they stand up the way they're supposed to. For a moment Cass just looks down at the stitched up mouth and the blacked out eyes, but then she holds her cowl out to him, hand steady and expression stony.]

Put that... with Sammy, for me?

spam

[hellofist]

[She frowns, the guilt clear on every inch of her. It doesn't matter how much she didn't want to go, how it wasn't her choice, she still hurt people. She hurt people who matter most to her in the world, it's only right Cassel remind her.

Maybe she wants this, someone to punish her for abandoning everyone. In a way, it feels good.]

I know. I'll fix it.

[Private]

[hellofist]

[She hates herself for forgetting him, forgetting how important Chris is to her. He's family now, but she'd abandoned him. She nods, clinging onto him just a little.]

I agree. Fucking Barge.

[Private]

[mistconduct]

[Happy to let Cass cling all she likes, Chris maneuvers them both back into his room and kicks the door shut with his foot]

You're okay? Everything's okay?

spam

[patheticvillain]

[You made me sad, he wants to tell her, but he can't. Not only because he doesn't know how to make the words come out, but because it feels less real than the pain Chris felt. It only just came to him now. How can that be the same thing?]

[His mouth twists as his fingers lock together in his lap, almost painfully. There's a phantom sense of broken bones, not real anymore, but it's easier to focus on that than on Cass's presence.]

[When he speaks at last, his voice is thick.]

Sorry I was such a bad brother.

Private

[hellofist]

[It's okay Morgana share your feels with Cass it might help you AND her.]

Bludhaven, my city... was destroyed. It was my home, before here. The one place... that was mine.

[ Spam ]

[surfaceshine]

[There's the part of Dean that is instinctive and geared towards taking care of others; he's honed it on a lifetime of raising his kid brother, being singularly, intensely focused on that one task to the sacrifice of all else. Cass has never needed Dean's protection, not like Sam did, not like others, but he keeps her close now anyway, and the weirdness draws his eyebrows together slightly in unacknowledged empathy.

He's about to break away to get the soda when she starts moving and he pauses, waiting, watching... her cowl unfold. Now he's actively frowning, hand lifting reflexively to take whatever she's offering him, but he doesn't pull it back to him just yet.]

Cass?

[hellofist]

[That almost gets a smile, her eyes brightening a little. Being rescued would have been good, she thinks. She made so many stupid mistakes, so many people could have been saved, but-

No. She can't think of those things now. She's on the barge, everything else is behind her.]

We was... you and Merlin?

[hellofist]

[She moves with him and when she answers, her voice is very quiet.]

Not... really. In time, maybe, but... everything went wrong.