keeps_a_cool_head | 0027

[Finally - after having his room stripped of supplies twice, after the Mirror Barge nonsense and allies lost and warden annoyances - Scorpius is holding in his hands the sum of the hours he's spent cooped up in his cabin.

He stands up from his work desk, holding what looks to be a ridiculously sharp and extravagant blade to be fitted over an arm. It has other uses - to pick up delicate things, to turn doorknobs and so on - but the chief inspiration seems to come from excessive weaponry.

Scorpius fits it over his own arm, and with a heave, turns his arm to cut into the wall next to him. The blade embeds itself into the wall some three inches deep before stopping. Satisfied, he pulls it free and sets it back on the table]

I believe your replacement is ready, Horatio.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ichoosefight

Aw, you just want to spoil me. [ She flaps a hand at him, waving off the concern. ]

My life is full of assholes. I'm used to it.

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

Didn't you die prior to arriving here?

From:

ichoosefight

You know that I did.

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

Then perhaps you ought to find more pleasant company in the future.

From:

ichoosefight

That's just crazy talk. I can't kick pleasant company's face in.

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

Whom do you have, in your own world? Who is pleasant to you?

From:

ichoosefight

The Birds. [ Her answer is instantaneous. ] Babs, Huntress, Dinah, Batgirl. Poor Tim is trying so hard to avoid me, but I haven't made it easy for him. I keep trying to tell him, Batman will have to get over the whole Black Mask thing eventually.

[ It does not occur to her that she hasn't named a single person not in the vigilante business. ]

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

[Scorpius, however, catches onto this rather quickly, given their names. He gives a grim smile]

Any person who does not run around in a cape?

From:

ichoosefight

[ For an embarrassingly long couple of seconds, she's stumped. ]

My mom? And the people I volunteer with are pretty decent, most of the time.

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

You don't find an issue with this?

From:

ichoosefight

Well, no. I love my friends, and I love my job. That's what you're supposed to aim for, isn't it?

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

Not necessarily. I was fond of my position as well.

From:

ichoosefight

But you didn't love your friends.

[ He didn't have friends, really. ]

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

Let's not pretend I had friends, Stephanie. I had coworkers, allies, subordinates and superiors. Never friends.

From:

ichoosefight

Makes all the difference, you know.

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

Yet for a vast multitude of reasons, it will never happen.

From:

ichoosefight

Aw, don't be like that. You have friends! You made Horatio a monstrous scorpion looking swiss army hand, didn't you?

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

And how long will it be before he disappears as well?

You must admit I have a record for making allies and losing them.

From:

ichoosefight

People leave. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. That's not limited to you, or to the barge.

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

And yet aside from you and Horatio, it has happened to every person I have managed to..

...I hesitate to use the word 'befriend', for obvious reasons.

You must admit it's been a poor string of luck.

From:

ichoosefight

[ She smiles, pleased by the hint that he likes her. ]

No, I can't really argue with you there.

From:

keeps_a_cool_head

[You're annoying and perky and you don't like science, but...damn, Steph, you're stern but fair. Fairness isn't something he sees a lot of, and he's grown attached to that, at least]

What will you do, when the time comes for us to unpair?

[He leaves the question of whether he will graduate unanswered. It's more likely he believes that either he or Stephanie will leave not of their own will]

From:

ichoosefight

You mean when you graduate?

[ She raises her eyebrows at him, unwavering in her conviction that he will eventually graduate. ]

Head home for a bit then come back, I guess.