impure_tale | 223 [Audio]

[ Someone is too tired to think about this shit and he doesn't private this. ]

What do you mean, Zev isn't coming back? She was-- I got her-- what happened?

She was gone before we could reach her, probably before we even awakened in Silent Hill. She helped us to escape, but she couldn't leave with us.

[ There's a little sound, low and miserable, and a noise that might be a clatter, before the audio very abruptly cuts. ]

[Not long afterward, the Marquis knocks at Megamind's door.]

[ He doesn't bother answering his own door; the lair is deathly quiet (the first sign something is wrong) and a brainbot answers the door for the simple fact nobody told it not to recently. The Marquis is on the "friendlies" list, and it lets him within without question. It floats away, bobbling over to where most of them perch of cluster, watching after their master, each with a single red optic cluster. ]

[ Megamind sits with a lapful of dog, one leg -- the injured one -- stretched out on his couch. Angus occasionally wiggles and whines, but the early franticness as passed, and right the sixty-five pound, ten-month old pup is just trying to press himself into Megamind's chest where he sit. ]

[ His head is down, his face pressed against black fur. He's never honestly lost some one, not like this. ]

Edited 2013-05-29 22:29 (UTC)

[He closes the door behind him (or lets the brainbot do it, so long as it's done and comes a few steps closer, hesitant.]

Megamind?

'm here.

[ Quiet and hoarse, but there. He tips his head back, rubbing Angus's ears once, before he taps the dog. ]

C'mon, off. [ Obedience reluctant but there, Angus drops down from his cuddle-spot to sit at the floor and stare, intensely, at Megamind, as if the puppy could will everything better by the power of his big brown eyes. ]

You didn't-- have to come down. I'll-- It's--

I'll be okay.

[Once he's certain he won't startle him he comes to take a seat next to him.]

But you're not right now, which is why I'm here.

[Because he needs to be able to do something.]

There's nothing to do. There was something we couldn't prepare for, that Zev wasn't ready for, that-- she--[ he bites his tongue then, hard enough to still it in his mouth, and swallows what he was going to say. ] I worried about their skin and their bones but -- how do you protect their hearts and minds? I didn't do that at all.

Somehow I don't think the Admiral could have prepared us better. [A frown.] There was a Warden here for quite some time, since before I came here an Inmate, who talked of the place. Many lost, or who left afterward. Perhaps he wished to prevent that.

Why not?

What arbitrary rules say he can't? What is the point of all this? Someone didn't come back! There might be others! Jesus, de Sade, Chris has to choose between his father and me! What is that-- supposed to, other than break his heart?

[ And Megamind's is unraveling now. ]

[He slips an arm around him, something of a habit left behind from the flood that he doesn't shy from now.]

And if we had known, how many Wardens would have left to spare themselves? How many Inmates would have been left behind with no Wardens to guide them? What if Chris had been sent into that place alone?

Edited 2013-05-30 03:14 (UTC)

I would never--!

[ The denial comes up, hard and fast, but he doesn't resist the touch; if he could be Jude right now, Jude who didn't really know Zev and thus can't share his grief, right now, he'd hand over the reigns. ]

[ He's just too afraid of simply doing that and never coming back out of his own head. ]

I wouldn't have left him to face this alone. Not even Rorschach-- would be so cruel.

[ Still, the argument was made. His eyes are bright, swimming with wetness, but he dips his head, one hand on the Marquis' arm, clinging now, anchoring. ]

I wouldn't have left him. I love him. [ That's the son of his heart and he'd quicker have cut his own throat than left Chris behind. ]

Edited 2013-05-30 03:22 (UTC)

No. [His voice is more gentle than it often is, or rather has less of its characteristic sense of play.] So many might have out of fear. You would have stayed, but how many Inmates could the Admiral tie to each remaining Warden just in the hopes that no one would be alone?

[He sighs.]

We would have all panicked. Knowing what it was like the first time, especially. I'm glad he didn't tell us everything. There were fewer than ten people on the ship when I first came here.

[ The brief moment of no I wouldn't, I wouldn't leave him panic passes; alright, that's just-- too much emotion after too much stress and not enough sleep. He leans forward, resting his great big head in his hands, but doesn't stray from the Marquis' embrace. ]

Fewer than ten.

How many do you think we'll lose this time? Rex is already packing his bags.

There's talk on the Network of at least one other, but it's uncertain whether he was left behind or if he chose to leave as well.

[It's difficult to be optimistic after all of...that, especially.]

I think we've come out better, overall, but only time will tell if others wish to run away. Rex has been here for years, and someone is waiting for him.

I know.

I don't-- begrudge Rex. He got his deal. He should go be happy. We should all be so lucky, inmates and wardens, to have someone waiting for us.

[ Megamind's not sure if he does. Roxanne is-- a mystery. If he'll even be the same person she loved when he returns. The barge does that. ]

I can make few promises in that regard, but you've ever need of a friend, I will always be here.

[ Will you really? He doesn't say it, but it's in his mind. ]

Thank you. We've been through-- a lot, haven't we? The barge-- lovers, friends, a bit of madness.

Something you'll have to grow accustomed to. The ones who stay as long as I do have a lot of that to look forward to.

I honestly don't know how you manage, sometimes. I mean, it's like your superpower. 'Withstanding all the barge crap ever'.

Someday, Megamind, you are going to be much older. I guarantee it. You are even going to die, and you may find yourself with a choice to be in a place such as this, or elsewhere. And after a lifetime of wins, losses, pleasures and pains, you'll find that surmounting new surprises is something akin to muscle memory.

[ That earns a smile; a sad one, but a smile all the same. ]

I hope so. It means I'll have lived my life fairly well, I think.

[Because this Inmate has encountered a fatal error and will have to shut down.]

It looks like a couple of doors changed back, but I don't know who was in 'em. I think one was that nice German guy.

[And he hopes if he's right, then he just went somewhere and he's not there]

Not as many as the last time, then. With hope.

Her back. [Someone sounds like he's been crying.]

Can I bring you anything? Wine to help you relax? Even some quiet company? I could understand the desire to not be left alone right now.

[He takes a moment to think about that.] Some Gallifreyan wine, if you can request it from the Admiral. And... yes.[Perhaps company would be better than simply hugging his rovie plush.]

I don't think I have the authority to request such a thing. I have a few vintages I've saved, however.

...What is your cabin number, dear?

...All right. And level 5, 18.

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