IC Inbox

[toabsolution]

Comments

[oohforeshadowing]

Trouble, for a moment, looks viscerally uncomfortable. Then they take a gulp of their cocktail which practically empties the glass.

"...It would have been nice," they concede, "to have lasted a few hours longer."

[toabsolution]

He's not seen that face on them in - well, ever. So he's quiet for a moment, still nursing his own drink. "Yeah."

But then, because he needs this to be something they understand, he presses. "Why?"

[oohforeshadowing]

Oh, they understand. It's the admission that's tricky. It's falling out of character for long enough to be articulate.

"...I'm reasonably sure that the heroes all emerged intact and triumphant, of course. But actual certainty would have needed me to get clear of the remaining Horde troops."

[toabsolution]

"Which heroes?" he wonders. "Someone you would have wanted to talk to the other day? To get that certainty?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"...when we escaped the speakeasy, Scorpia stayed behind to cover us. Undoubtedly she was chipped like the other patrons and fell under Horde control. And that was the last I saw of her."

[toabsolution]

That's not a name he knows, though it's not surprising. "Who's Scorpia?"

[oohforeshadowing]

They shrug.

"One of the Princesses. She'd been raised in the Horde when I first met her, but she defected a little while after. Didn't surprise me in the least. She was far too soft for them."

[toabsolution]

"Raised in there and then forced to go back?" he mutters. "Ain't surprisin' that you're worried about her."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Yes. Well. Horde Prime certainly considered his clones expendable, and I can't see him extending much more courtesy to his mind-controlled drones."

They clear their throat.

[toabsolution]

Jake watches them a moment, taking a drink. "If you go back, do you think you can save her from him?"

[oohforeshadowing]

Trouble shakes their head.

"He's history, darling. Either she's already saved or she's...well. Beyond saving."

[toabsolution]

"Right, yeah." He rubs the back of his neck. "Do you want me to help you fix it, Trouble, or do you just want to talk about it?"

He really isn't sure if there is anything he can do, but he can always ask. He doesn't want to keep beating his head against the wall if they don't want answers, just empathy.

[oohforeshadowing]

"I'm not describing a situation which needs fixing," Trouble says, sounding slightly aggrieved. "Either it's already fixed or it is inextricably broken, and the only thing that's good for that would be..."

They pause, and make a face like they're about to find out if their cocktail looks at lurid coming back up as it did going down.

[toabsolution]

"Would be?" he presses softly.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Would be."

Would be Jake's stupid forsaken deal. Which they don't want, and even if they did want it, they'd want it for something for themself because obviously that's what they'd want it for. Not to save someone else's life, or undo someone else's damage, for no other reason than it being...

They get up so fast they almost knock over the bar stool.

"Lovely drink, absolutely terrible to see you, you have my permission and encouragement to continue ignoring me, goodbye."

Rapid exit, stage right.

They will, incidentally, be absent from Jake's item the next time he happens to look at it.

[toabsolution]

Jake doesn't even have time to react.

"Aw, Trouble! What the hell?" he calls out but doesn't follow after them. Not that he could - they're booking it.

He finishes his drink and picks up his notebook, planning on giving them a few days to cool off before he goes after them again.

It'll be a few days before he panics.