─ one hundred & forty-one

[amiable]

[ This isn’t right.

Uru stares with uncertainty into the empty room. Her head is trying to process what exactly is going on. Everything that belonged to either Damian or Dick was gone. Instead of the familiar arrangements of furniture and whatever else is supposed to be in here, there’s nothing. It’s reverted back to a standard Paradisan room, as if nobody had ever once inhabited it. Every trace of proof that Damian Wayne lived here... gone.

She manages to get out her journal, tearing her gaze away from this emptiness. Desperately, her eyes scour the journal, flipping the page slowly at first before she picks up the pace and tries to find his handwriting or hear his voice.

Again, there’s nothing.

She ends up blurting it out without thinking: ]

Damian’s gone.

[ Her heartbeat begins to race. There’s an unwanted surge of emotion in her chest and making its way down into her stomach, but she pretends it isn’t there, because this is all just a mistake. ]

I mean— I can’t find him. [ A beat. ] But this has happened before. His room, it... it was just a loss. It—

[ She abruptly cuts herself off. ]

Comments

[secondchances]

Right. Which means we have to take advantage of the time we do have. No wasting it by worrying all the time, right?

1/2

[amiable]

[amiable]

Right.

[ Even though she says it, she still feels weird about all this. Tomorrow is basically the start of her life in Paradisa without Damian. ]

[secondchances]

Right. So.

First of all, we should get out of here. Where are you planning on staying tonight?

[amiable]

[ She looks around the room at first, as if Steph was talking to someone but her. ]

Um, I guess back in the apartment?

[secondchances]

The apartment? [Wrong answer, Uru. :I ]

[amiable]

[ But who will feed her cats and chinchilla. Crowley got her a babby kitten... ]

I have to open the store and all my stuff is there for that. And... I got another cat.

[secondchances]

... oh.

[FINE. :'( ]

Acceptable, in that case. C'mon. [She stands, extending her hands to lift Uru up to her feet.]

Don't become a cat lady.

[amiable]

[ DO YOU WANT HER POOR CATS TO DIE... BLAME CROWLEY. ]

I'm not! He was a gift.

... You're coming?

[secondchances]

Just walking you back. I'll situate Ace after.

[amiable]

[ A quick nod. ]

Okay. I don't have anything to get here.

[secondchances]

After you. [She motions to the door.]

[amiable]

[ She feels bad about this. It's like being babied and Steph shouldn't have to do that. But she walks ahead, keeping her head low. ]

[secondchances]

[Steph's feeling pretty bad, too. That thing about not crying hit something strange in her. She's worried that Damian might be somewhere else that's not Gotham, and she's not sure what to do now that he's gone... but a part of her feels like a weight's been lifted off her shoulders.

It makes her feel terrible. Especially when Uru's so sad.

She follows Uru out, shutting the door behind them.]

[amiable]

[ The silence is unnerving. She's never been good with them. ]

Um...

[secondchances]

Hmm?

[amiable]

Ah! You're quiet. [ Too quiet for Stephanie Brown. ] Are you thinking about something?

[secondchances]

Oh, I'm--well, yeah. Nothing in particular. Kinda. Just lots of things.

[amiable]

Like what? [ She enters the elevator, holding it for her. ]

[secondchances]

[She steps in.]

How to fit Ace into my room. What to do if Damian shows up and doesn't remember Paradisa. That time he dumped purple dye on me. I should try baking cookies. If Dick ever shows up again, I'm stapling him to the castle.

Stuff like that.

1/2

[amiable]

[ If Damian doesn't remember...

He won't remember her. ]

[amiable]

[ That's what she fears the most -- forgetting. She doesn't want to be forgotten any more than being alone here. But if he forgets... it's almost the same. ]

He can't forget.

[secondchances]

My head's all over the place. Don't worry about that right now, Uru.

1/2

[amiable]

[ CAN'T HELP IT... DAMI... ]

[amiable]

Okay. Okay. [ Doesn't want to stress Steph out. ]