anewlanguage | Forward dated to after Iris-Roderick shenanigans

Forward dated to after Iris-Roderick shenanigans

[Private to Barbara Gordon]

We oughta do a check in, you and me.

[he's seething but managing to hide it. Kind of.]

[Private to Iris]

[This is the first time she's ever death tolled that he hasn't waited at her side for her to wake up. But he knows himself, and he knows that right now the safest thing for everyone is if he is nowhere near her.

So instead there's a message waiting for her.]

You've got a lot of fuckin' nerve doing what you did, darlin'.

[spam]

[And between all that he'll be wandering, mostly hanging out at the pool, which so far has only pretty happy memories. Nothing that he has the urge to scream at or shoot; progress!

Feel free to come poke the bear.]

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~~because you have no idea what it's like, of course.~~

yes, I have and that wasn't news to you.

it was needed. i'm sorry

[When Tiffany sees David go into the pool, she doesn't hesitate to run back to her room, change into her swimsuit and put her clothes on over it, and then rush back, hoping that he's still in there. As an inmate, she can't get into the pool without being let in, and the easiest way to do that is either to flag down a passing warden, or wait until someone goes in and then follow them. Today, she's doing the latter.

She knocks on the door.]

Hey! Can I come in?

[It isn't that Dean is any more or less convinced about what this place is or isn't; it's that he's had to learn perseverance not so much above all else but around, under, through all else. It's persevere or go mad, and he did his very best.

Besides, he's been in worse Hells than this one. There's a pool, which is easily the most obvious and unlikely reminder of this. Dean doesn't swim, but sometimes after his shift in the kitchens but before he's ready to sleep he wanders up there to smell the chlorine, watch the artificially clear water, and remember where he isn't.

Which is what he's doing when he glances up and sees Cain. He's fully dressed in jeans, boots, and layered shirts with no obvious intention of getting in the water or moving from the pool chair he's stretched out in; he has an unlit cigarette in his hand, a smudge of spaghetti sauce on his cheek, and a detached expression when he glances over.]

[Barbara is angry too, but it's a quiet, sad sort of anger.]

Agreed.

It wasn't needed. Wasn't needed when I was the one jumping up and down to be shot, either, remember that?

[He's in a dark mood today but Tiffany, for whatever reason, makes it hard to be too broody. He smiles and pushes the door open, then holds it for her.]

You'll be Olympic-ready, how often I see you here.

When'd you pick that up?

[Nodding at the cigarette. What Dean is doing here, Cain can only guess. Could be he's here working up the nerve to jump in and sink to the bottom; could be he's here waiting for someone.]

You been in to see her yet?

i was so angry. i know.

but i might have been wrong about you needing it then, too. i had so much anger and misery and powerless resentment piled up in me.

that part wasn't so different, roderick's different though. this wasn't about pointless vengeance and stupidity. he's wired himself so that he has killing all tangled up with love and passion.

he's killed a lot of people. but he never had anyone offer before. i wanted to see what that would do.

[She can have that effect when she's being adorable and upbeat instead of hostile and vicious.]

This pool, my room, and the spa are the nicest places I ever been. I can't believe it's real.

[She enters bouncily and starts stripping down to her suit. Totally planning to canonball into the deep end here.]

Not yet. ...I'm afraid I'd yell at her.

You weren't wrong. What I needed was to suck it up and deal with the hole I'd dug, not to throw myself in a fire like I was some damn martyr.

And what he needs is not for you to fucking enable him! And what I need is for you to not justify it like you were doing this all out of the goodness of your hearts.

[He'll probably see that side of her sooner or later, but luckily he's spent so long as an assassin that it's really hard to chase him off or disturb him.]

Yeah, every day I feel a little better about-

[He sees what she's about to do and scrambles to at least get his electronics out of the splash zone.]

Yeah. Same here.

[He sighs heavily and shakes his head]

This time seems real different to me.

[SPLAAAAAAASH

Then she surfaces.]

About being here, you mean. Yeah, me too.

no, i agree it was selfish. i still hope it'll do him some good in the long run. but it was about me, mostly.

why does it sometimes feel so good to let yourself burn?

[Fast as he is, the room isn't quite large enough that he got out of the splash completely. He's pretty soaked, but laughing.]

You thinking about being a warden when your time's up? You'd be a really good balance to all the hardasses we've got right now.

You tell me. You tell me why it feels so good to stop giving a shit about me and Barbara for a while? We dog you that much? Because say the word and I'll back right off.

[He's planning to do so, regardless, until he cools off. Which might be a long time coming.]

[She hasn't thought about it at all-- for a lot of reasons, one of which is that she's a terrible forward thinker.]

You think I'd be good at it?

you know that isn't why. you know that.

Yeah. I mean you've got a handle on dealing with the inmates already. You've got a better attitude about the rules than most the wardens do. I guess it comes down to if you want to work one on one with someone who's figuring out how to unfuck their life.

[And he dives in, though without the splashiness she'd had]

Well it obviously wasn't a factor in you getting some help that didn't come with a death. I sure hope you weren't thinking about me when you pulled that stunt.

hell fuck no.

I should have been. That would have stopped me.

i'm sorry

[Wow she is super flattered by all of this, and not even thinking about the fact that he might change his tune if he knew more about her.]

I do have a handle on dealing with inmates. I was in another prison before this.

[Where most people disliked her. And in the short time she's been here, she's gotten into two fights, provided another inmate with alcohol against his warden's wishes, and broken into someone's room because somebody told her to.

She sees no reason to bring up any of that.]

[The apology quiets him for a while, drains some of the anger out of him. But that leaves only hurt to deal with, and that's worse.]

I'm gonna need some time to get my head around it.

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Forward dated to after Iris-Roderick shenanigans

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