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

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

[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.

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[His voice is a strange mess, so messy he won't even attempt video because he doesn't know what his body would be saying to her now. He's angry, sad, confused, so confused after breach, but - he's happy, too, desperately happy to hear her voice. The happiness brings the grief he felt at her absence to clear light for the first time.]

[Cass.]

Yeah. If you want.

[Alex's face is screwed up, pleased to see her but concerned with what's behind her, what she's saying.]

You . . . want to talk?

Oh thank God. [The words are a breathless rush, and her eyes are bright.]

I - that's your room?

Good. Coming now.

[Not much time passes before she's knocking on his door, and then just to be sure he'll answer-]

It's Cass.

[She doesn't. She'll have to eventually, and she trusts Alex, but it's all still so fresh she's not sure she's ready.]

About you? Sure.

[On a similar line with Cassel, Chris has slunk back to his room after the breach to mull over the confusing thoughts in his head. Still, Cass is important, and he's relieved as hell to see her back]

Jesus, Cass, you know you don't have to ask by now. Come on, come over.

[As soon as she sees Barbara, she knows it was stupid to not immediate go find her. It's a little strange, seeing her now after what happened with Shiva. This is what a real mother is and that's never been more clear.]

Bludhaven... Dick's deal fixed it, but not... when I went back. It's gone, now. Everything, everyone...

[It was one thing to hear about Bludhaven being destroyed and another completely to see it for herself. She didn't remember until she returned the Barge what Dick had done, how he saved it, and even though she knows now that Bludhaven will be fine, it's still fresh in her head.]

[He nods. That's fair. He doesn't blame her at all.]

You want to get out of that room, maybe?

[He takes his time opening the door. Leaves her waiting. It's punishment for leaving, and it's petty, but he's too confused to be anything but petty.]

[When the door opens, he looks at her blankly, then moves aside without a word to let her past. Both beds are messy, one more so than the other. He sits down at the desk, looking at the posters on the wall instead of at her.]

[Dean has no idea what his emotions are doing right now; he's relieved and excited to see Cass again, but the state of her, the distance he can hear in her voice and see in her face is worrisome, almost as much as her being here again at all. No one comes here because their lives are going fantastic.

He's smiling, but it's an uncharacteristically complicated one, pleased and concerned, his voice warm.]

'Course, sweetheart. You don't have to ask - or I can come to you.

Cass -

I'm in my room.

[He'd say he'll come to her but honestly he doesn't want her in that mess of a cabin any longer than she has to be.]

Just figured... warning would be good. Be there soon.

[She comes around quickly because waiting is stupid, it's painful when she wants to see him so badly, check on him and try to fix what the barge messed up by taking her away when she only wanted to stay. When she knocks, it's a little more insistently than it really needs to be but he really needs to open the door, okay.]

[She understands. The breach... she still feels a leftover connection to him, something deeper than friendship. He still feels like her little brother and it's easy for her to accept that, but of course it wouldn't be for Cassel.

She steps inside and puts what she brought for him on the desk, then takes a measured step back to give him room. She's still close enough that she can reach him if she needs to, but... well, they're not there yet.

It's her gloves, the gloves from the Batsuit. They might not fit him, but this is a symbolic gift more than anything else.]

Yes.

[Absolutely no hesitation there, she's not really sure she likes her room at all right now.]

Meet where?

[She looks behind her, careful not to move the camera around too much, and then looks back at him. Is he serious?]

No. Your room. Have something... for your locker.

[And she turns her feed off after that, knocking on his door right after.]

[She doesn't really want to be there either, so she nods.]

It's okay. I'll be right there.

[And she runs, to get to his floor. She can't waste time now, not when it's Merlin. Not when she knows how badly this time apart must have been, all of the things he must have imagined happening to her. She almost just throws the door open, but knocks instead. It seems better to give him time to answer the door, collect himself if he needs to.]

[He only steps forward once she's stepped back, reaching out for what she's put down and examining it. These gloves - he doesn't understand why she's giving them to him. Doesn't know if he wants them or doesn't.]

[Now he looks at her, if only to express confusion.]

[He's maintenance for a reason - if the Admiral won't fix it, he will. But Dean understands that, too, and so he busies himself flipping the covers back over the bed where they mostly go, dropping a few beer bottles into the trash can while he waits.

Some people might wait to see what she wants before doing what Dean does next; it would probably be more tactful. Dean doesn't care about tactful. He cares about Cass and, whatever else she's been through, whatever else she has to say, whatever else may yet happen, that means the first thing he does is scoop her into a hug.]

CES?

When I... was gone, I didn't remember here. Everything I learned, all my friends... just gone.

[She shakes her head, trying not to get caught up in how alone she felt until she came back here.]

Being Batgirl... was all I had, all I was. Barge taught more, but I still... felt that way, here. Time to move on, now. Have to... be more, now. But this way, if you have these... Batgirl's not gone, really. And I'll know... part of her is safe, with you.

[He laughs abruptly, shocked. Safe with him. God, that's the funniest thing he's heard since - ever.]

I'm not a good person to leave things with for safekeeping, Cass.

[She's stiff at first, one hand going to his chest to hold him back. That works for a moment before she remembers what she's doing where, who this is, why he's hugging her.

There's still some hesitation, but her arms go loosely around him in return.]

Sure. You go in first.

[She's pretty positive she'll get rain if she's the first one who steps inside.]

[There's no real reaction to his laughter, she just waits for him to stop.]

You think that. I don't.

[He's been collecting himself since she appeared on the network - has been trying to - can't, really. There are so many questions he simultaneously wants to ask and doesn't want to know the answers to, and what little she's said -

It's funny, how you can... be so sure, who you are, but be... completely wrong.

- it frightens him.

But for all that, he opens the door the instant he hears the first knock and all he wants to do is pull her close and tell her that she was missed, that she's loved no matter what, and yet...

He knows how much can change in a week. So at first he doesn't move at all.]

Cass.

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

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