Je me fous du passé

[wormintheglass]

[The feed opens with Bianca. She stands in Delight's bar, the lighting rearranged to get as close as she can to the appearance of being on stage, and she glares into the camera and takes a large swig of the glass in her hand before she makes any sound.

Then she sings. Inside the bar, her voice is strong enough to rattle glasses.

People listening to the feed on the network may hear the familiar Lancastrian accent of Kate, grumbling almost inaudible complaints. Most of them seem to be along the lines of why did I agree to this and why did I give up booze.

The song ends and Bianca casts a grateful look at Kate before launching into speech.]

I have lived a long time, my friends. I am sorry for many things. I've been unforgivably careless of people's hearts and hopes. I've allied myself with the most treacherous of worms - I have trusted too much, cared too much, and -

[She stops.]

Or not cared enough. I have broken people for my own gain. I have sold myself to a power I knew to be malevolent, to buy my own life. I have tormented those I believed I loved, and abandoned those I know I did. Kate -

[She gazes, stricken, past the camera.]

I pulled you into this scheme. You almost died. Sharon and Maketh did die. I'm sorry, so sorry, for that.

[And then she lifts her chin, defiant.]

But I'm not sorry we made the attempt. I'm not sorry for taking a risk on the chance of buying all our freedom. Are you watching, Hope? Did you feel it, just when it started? The only real hope I've felt since coming here? I hoped so hard to end you.

I'm only sorry we failed.

[There's a brief resigned sigh from behind the camera as the feed goes out.]

Comments

[torrefied]

Maybe you should've thought about that before you single-handedly made everything Sharon did exponentially worse.

private

[dedikated]

[ she's tired. she's so fucking tired. her power is completely drained, still, and she's sleeping twice as long as she usually does if she manages to sleep at all.

and none of this, none of bianca's dramatics or her own refusal to give into sorrowful drinking, is helping. and mello is just making everything worse.

she just doesn't have the fucks to give. barely has the energy to fight or keep herself in check. ]

Wasn't given fucking premonitions. Did what I could. Stop acting like you have any idea why this happened.

permaprivate

[torrefied]

It doesn't take a fucking crystal ball to see that amplifying a power like hers isn't going to help with doing anything against the gods here. Did you completely forget that one of them is called Fear? Did you honestly forget what it is that he wants from us? I assume you did, because I literally cannot imagine another reason why you would do something so incredibly stupid, so let me spell it out for you, Kate - he wants us to be scared.

[dedikated]

[ Oh, Mello. No. No.

Kate just laughs. It's tired, like everything else in her voice is, and short, but she laughs all the same.

When she speaks - ensconsced in a private corner outside the bar, as she has been since her last reply - her voice is calmer than it has been in a week, possibly longer. ]

You've had this ability all your life, aye? You know everything about what it does? [ There's a pause for breath before she continues. ] There are people in my world who don't know how my power works. Hell, even I haven't figured out all the ways it works. How can you know what I was trying to do? Because you heard a minute long conversation on the network or caught Bianca's brief summary?

Stop trying to talk like you know anything I was thinking, or what I or Sharon can do. You know nothing. [ It was a fuck up of the highest proportion, and she didn't get it at all right for all sorts of reasons, but the hell if she's going to let the assumption that her power is that simple or that her goals were just 'make the monsters stronger' slip by. ]

[torrefied]

[Mello's just going to take a moment to drag his hand down his face off-camera, because for fuck's sake, Kate.]

If you don't even know the extent of your ability and you used it anyway, you're even more stupid than I gave you credit for. You don't use a weapon if you don't know exactly what it will do, Kate, and you don't use a weapon unless you know how to use it. Everyone knows that.

[dedikated]

I know how to use it in this situation, you utter wazzock. Fucking hell. [ Her next intake of breath is a hiss, angry and sharp. ] Mind getting off your high horse for five seconds and considering that I know better than you here? Every part of my theory was fucking sound. I've probably been making those enchantments longer than you've been alive, kid. [ Except for the fact that there were a lot more variables than she really took time to consider. But you know? She's too angry to give a crap about that right now. Who the fuck do you think you are, Mello? ]

[torrefied]

I am not a kid.

[He may be young, but he never had the luxury of a proper childhood, and he bristles against being discounted on the simple fact of his age, because it's not an accurate indicator of his experience level when it comes to things like risk analysis and making hard decisions. He had to learn fast in order to stay not only in the game but ahead of it, for whatever measure of ahead he was able to achieve.]

And it sounds to me like you need to spend some serious time back at the drawing board with your theories.

[dedikated]

Sure you're not. [ She says that purely to twist whatever knife is making him bristle. It's cruel, but, hey, if what happened proved anything it's that she has plenty of cruelty hidden away. ]

I'll do that and you keep your opinions out of shit you're not asked about. No one wants you to say the shit they've already said to themselves.

[torrefied]

You're the one who jumped into this conversation without invitation, Kate.

[dedikated]

[ A pause. A breath. A moment to try and calm herself. ]

You're right, I did. Because your conversation was public and I was stuck listening to it.

[ Did she mention she has no patience today? ]

[torrefied]

Then plug your ears. Or, better yet, take it up with your illustrious partner in crime for making a public broadcast.

[dedikated]

You say that like I didn't already. [ did you not hear the bitching under bianca's song? she tried. ]

[torrefied]

It's not my fault you failed.

[dedikated]

[ you know what? fuck this.

she's out. b y e. ]