un: fiend; video

[spoileralert]

[ @everyone ]

[ Steph seems terribly excited about something, though she keeps the level of cool she usually does when chatting with people she doesn't know that well. ]

Hey, so, we have at least one chemist here, right? I need a favor.

[ She turns her watch around, with some difficulty and blurry transitions, until it shows a box containing the largest, squarest coffee bag Steph has ever seen. The top is open, of course, so those not familiar with the packaging can see that it's full to bursting of coffee grinds. ]

I need somebody to test this and make sure it's not poisoned without using more than like, a spoonful.

[ There's some grunting and then Steph appears on screen again, evidently sitting next to the box. ]

If it's gonna take more than that this is a bullet I'm happy to take. In fact, I insist. If somebody is risking their life by drinking coffee it's gonna be me.

Comments

[retributes]

I slept for a majority of my time here, in the beginning. I came through the fountain bleeding out and injured.

[spoileralert]

[ Steph shudders and swallows thickly, imagining what it would have been like if she’d arrived that way. ]

I’m sorry. I think I only managed to avoid that one by virtue of dying.

[retributes]

That's the thing—I'm dead back home. But I guess this place decided it was such a fabulous fucking idea to drag me in right at that moment.

[spoileralert]

Shit.

[ That's all she says for a long moment. She can't help imagining how that could have gone for her, if she would have survived it, gunshot wound or no. Months ago Tim told her she did survive, so it isn't hard to imagine. ]

I'm sorry. I'm glad you're okay now.

[retributes]

Physically, yeah. I'm okay. Still healing up but that'll take time with any physical injury. Mentally? I'm not okay. And I think I'm okay with admitting it. But....

[ Lucy waves a hand. ]

You don't have to apologize. I did it to myself.

[spoileralert]

Yeah. I haven't exactly been myself either.

I'd tell you unless it was suicide it's not strictly your fault but that'd make me a huge hypocrite.

[retributes]

No suicide. But what I did leading up to it, that was on me. It was a matter of choosing sides, that's all.

What's your story?

[spoileralert]

I...

[ She sighs. If anyone would understand it's probably Lucy, but it's not easy to put into words... or to leave out the superhero stuff that nobody seems to understand. ]

I made a bad choice. And I wasn't the only one who died because of it.

[retributes]

Jesus. Are you me?

[spoileralert]

Not as far as I know. But it does seem kinda likely, right?

[retributes]

Kind of, yeah. But the other party in my situation died because he... needed to. [ That probably doesn't come out right. ] It involved saving the world.

[spoileralert]

Yeah, mine... didn’t.

[ She huffs and rubs at her eyes and head. ]

It was stupid. It was all stupid and it never should have happened. I don’t know how many hundreds of people are dead for such a stupid reason.

[ The coffee has really improved her outlook, though. She only feels like crying a little! ]

[retributes]

Was it stupid to you but right to the other party involved?

[spoileralert]

It was stupid of me. There was no other party. Just a whole lot of people reacting to the mess I made.

[retributes]

Bad reactions? I'm sure they couldn't have been good ones.

[spoileralert]

[ She winces. ]

About what you’d expect of a gang whose leader was killed seemingly on purpose...