video;

[anewlanguage]

Well waddaya know. I've got a shower of my own.

[Actually he's been home (or in his cabin anyway) over an hour. He'd returned from his shift, and bam. Shower.

So of course he had to test it out before announcing anything. Maybe it was a trick, after all--but nope.

He's graduated.]

...Thanks, Dean.

Comments

[routemistress]

[Iris is still in her room, still flat on her back, because overdosing herself with stimulants to get through the comms glitch day without having to explain her death to everyone may not have been an entirely wise idea.

She's not in the slightest bit sorry she did.]

About bloody time.

[You have to be a Cain to see how much muted squee there is behind those words.]

[anewlanguage]

I dragged my feet a bit, but I got there in the end. No one had to drag me, either. Sounds like cause for celebration!

[routemistress]

Like anyone could drag you anywhere.

[So pleased. And also terrified. Pleased is winning.]

[anewlanguage]

Well I might've been nudged.

[He admits this very fondly.]

[routemistress]

You're a man of extraordinary grace and integrity. You never weren't.

[Perhaps it's the shock of relief, watching the other conversation . Perhas it's just a thing Iris has been holding in her mind to say for a long time, and this seems like a moment to say it in.]

I am so glad.

[She doesn't say glad I met you as distinct from glad you graduated, but that's what she means.]

[deadly_ned]

...Oh.

Congratulations.

[anewlanguage]

Got an apple pie so I can celebrate?

[deadly_ned]

With cinnamon in it?

[anewlanguage]

And sugar on the crust.

[deadly_ned]

Be right up.

[bodilesswarrior]

[Oh.

It's hard to sort out her emotions, at first. There's still wariness there, bitterness, anger. But it's been dimmed, muted, along the way. He's more, now, than someone who hurt Cass. More, even, than someone Iris loves.

So she smiles, and it's real.]

Congratulations, David.

[anewlanguage]

Thank you, Barbara.

[This isn't as awkward as he thought it would be (or would have thought, if he'd ever pictured he and Barbara talking about something non-emergency).]

...It's not exactly the end of the road though.

[bodilesswarrior]

No, it's not.

What are your plans now?

[NOT HERE]

[routemistress]

[Iris isn't interrupting, but she's not bothering to pretend not to be watching either.

And there it is: the thing she hasn't mustered the courage to ask, and she's grateful and anguished in equal parts when Babs asks it for her. She's been trying to resign herself, because this is what happens. Everyone leaves.

She's not been very successful, and the hope that she might not have to is sharper than a shock, deeper than a bone bruise.]

[anewlanguage]

Oh...I think I'll take a week off, enjoy being free to leave the prison walls.

Then I think I'll try being a Warden. [He is braced, a little, for her scorn or her doubt.]

[surfaceshine]

I.

You.

[It's been a long goddamn haul with Cain - longer than with Kon, and different, of course. So often Dean was frustrated thinking he wasn't doing a goddamn thing, and there wasn't a goddamn thing he could do about it. It's not like the Admiral actually listens to requests to be re-paired that he knows of.

But he checks his amulet, now, and then squints up at Cain.]

Holy shit. I'll be damned.

[anewlanguage]

Congratulations. Dream come true for you, right?

[surfaceshine]

I dunno about that.

[But as it sinks in, the grin is starting. Slow, small, and more on one side than the other, but it's there.]

Let's call it an item off the list. I got more work to do, but this...

[Then he grins all at once, abruptly.]

Yeah. This'll get us a step closer. Thanks.

[anewlanguage]

[Cain can count on one hand the number of times Dean has actually grinned at him (a grin without any irony in it, anyway). It's unexpectedly nice to see, and it keeps him from feeling any guilt over the gratitude.]

Let me know how it goes. If the Admiral doesn't keep his end we'll break in and bust his head.

[ichoosefight]

Wow.

[ That's all she can really say. They talked, and it wasn't awful, but she doesn't really have strong feelings towards him one way or another. She's just. Surprised. ]

NOW SAFE FOR BITTY STEPH

[anewlanguage]

Took the word right out of my mouth.

[And he's delighted, but there's a part of him that's very aware of all the other things going on in the Barge.]

Any other surprises lately?

CRYING WITH LAUGHTER

[ichoosefight]

No kidding.

[ Other things? What other things? There are no other things. ]

Too many, if you ask me.

[anewlanguage]

Yeah? Are they run of the mill, everyday thing or leftover from the last stunt the Admiral pulled?

I heard this was on 4th wall day so.......

[terminates]

Congrulations.

SLADE <3

[anewlanguage]

Well, now there's a voice I never thought I'd hear again. How was it for you when they finally got you to the finish line?