Logs:No, You

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Content Warning

Drug use (marijuana).

Cast

Teagan and Glitch

Setting

Downtime, the Direct Action hollow

Log

The Mirrorskin hasn't really left Downtime since they got back from defeating The Armsmaster. They don't trust the Icon to leave it alone, even though they trust their motley: it's as if they expect it to just run off into the Hedge on its own.

But! Teagan seems relatively chill with it. Laura has been bringing them Real Food so they don't have to subsist on goblin fruit. June, too. They're relaxing in the Hollow with a box of Chinese food, noshing lazily. Tank top, sleep pants. Machete and icon sitting nearby.

Glitch slowly slips in from the outside world, shucking his jacket and shoes at the entrance. He approaches with a relaxed smile, holding up a pixelly hand. "Hey P2. Bailey hasn't gotten back to me yet." He's brought a brown paper bag with him, though there's no scent of food. "How you holding up in here?"(edited)

"Sometimes they spend time in the Hedge and you can't text them, or, well, you can, but... " but they won't get it until they come back out of the Hedge. Teagan takes another bite of Chinese and then sets the box aside, stretching a hand out to them and wriggling their fingers. "I'm doing OK. It's almost like a vacation?"

Glitch nods. "If my games worked in here I could stay for months. The fact they don't is a good thing, though." He flops down at the edge of the pit and produces a little freshly purchased glass bong, a lighter, and some weed, all fresh from the mortal world.

A little laugh from Teagan. "I think it's a really good thing that you can't stay in here for months. You don't have the most, uh, solid of brains, from what June said. Need to level that shit up. If you were in here too much, it would be a problem." The Mirrorskin peers at the bong, eyebrows raising. "I didn't know there was a bong on the planet that you didn't own," they offer teasingly.

Glitch sticks out his tongue, keeping his eyes lidded in a sullen look of teenish exasperation at the same time. "I have like, three glass pieces and a vape. I bought this for 30 dollars on the way over here to make sure you had shit to use that wasn't made out of whatever the fuck hedge things are made out of." He loads the bowl and holds it out with the lighter to Teagan, letting them have the first hit. "Laura told me she was keeping you fed. And June...I owe her one. She did great. Didn't let me wave her off. What did she say...?" He leans in, eyes widening into genuine curiosity more than his squint of suspicion.

"I love you and I'm teasing you," Teagan replies lazily, watching Glitch prep the bong, and then reaching out to snag both lighter and bong from the Sprite. "Oh June?" This comes sort of creaky out of Teagan, around a lung full of smoke. "She said you're statted like a glass cannon and you need to pay more attention to your dump stats. I think. A lot of that kinda... slides past me."

"I know," he beeps back, giving a flat little wink. June's words get a sort of surprised noise from him, halfway between a cough and a laugh. "Wait, what? She literally said that?" And he's smearing a hand down his face laughing. No confusion on his part. "That's completely true. Nothing gets past her. I don't even know how she saw past me there, but yeah, she dispelled me when we hit those Loyalists at the hotel. After I hit the string."

"She's really good at her job, whether that's fighting fire or figuring out what's going on in people's heads. I can't say often enough that, you know... " Teagan trails off for a minute. "If she wasn't that good at it, I don't know where I'd be. Or if I'd be anywhere." They hand the bong over to him, leaning to kiss him on the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, she mentioned."

The kiss is returned, the bong hit, and then it's set aside so the little Sprite can slide against Teagan and wind his arms around them, head tucking right against their chest. "I still feel weird. That they're both doing that, because of me. Sig was already doing so much, you know?"

That's where Teagan pauses. Wait. Did no one tell them that story? (No, no one did.) Their arms wrap around Glitch and snuggle him in close against them. "... what?"

Glitch frowns and looks up. "You didn't ever...shit. I'm sorry. I was so messed up over it I never..." He swallows. "I started the fire the night they killed Robin. It was my fault. The firefighters wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for me." He sounds resigned to it, the wound since healed, but he's certain of his role in the events. "I thought Sig or Sturm told you."

"No. Everyone was pretty fucked up about it, and I just ... assumed that Robin had started the fire, or that it had just... started." Teagan doesn't let go of Glitch or draw away - instead they wrap their arms tighter around him, pulling him in close. "I trust that you had your reasons, though."

He tucks in tight, heaving out a sigh. "It...it was a fuck-up, Teagan," he murmurs. It's no secret, but he sounds like he's confessing, though he keeps himself from spiraling into upset. "I jumped the gun. I offered to blow the power...and then I did it too soon, before the signal. She was...I panicked. She was streaming. She wanted Sig and Sturm on camera. Do you know what would happen if they'd..." He huffs. "I blew the power to cut the stream. I did have a reason. But I did it without the go-ahead, and the fire just...spread from there." He's quiet a moment. "It's the first time anyone's...died because of me. A normal person. Someone innocent. It's why I was beating myself up for months. It's...why I cried that night, in Sturm's lap."

"So you had reasons, but you fucked up in applying them," Teagan answers, slowly sliding their fingers through Glitch's hair. "You know that I have made mistakes. I thought I was about to get Sturm killed last week. We have all fucked up." Their arms squeeze around his shoulders, reassuring and strong. "I'm sorry that happened, Player One. I'm glad that Sigrun and June found a way to make it ... good."

The little Sprite relaxes as he confesses. "I don't think I even told anyone that's why I did it. Sturm and Sigrun don't know. That's...your secret, then," he mentions. "I know. I stopped beating myself up. It doesn't help me improve. It's just distracting. Self centered. Even I get tired of it eventually," he quips darkly. "But..." He leans back and closes his eyes as he lets Teagan dote on them. "The firefighter thing feels so weird. I'm proud of them. It's a noble thing to do. But it feels like..."

The mention that it's their secret makes their broken mirror eyes glitter contentedly, and they slowly rake their fingers through his hair. "It feels like what, Player One?" Teagan prompts gently.

He closes his eyes at that gentle goading. "This is a secret too, then. It feels...bad. Like they're shouldering the burden of what I did. Or like, I knocked them off course. Put it on them. Or maybe it just keeps...reminding me of it." He huffs. "M'not trying to be all heavy," he says, turning to bury his face against Teagan's shoulders. "Not after I just pulled you back up. I'm...stable. I just never...talked to anybody about this."

They kiss the top of his head, slowly petting him still as he talks. "I think it's the latter, honestly. That it's your guilt talking, not anything else. Think about how often Sigrun had to leave us to go to a movie set. How much she hated being apart from us. But that was her career, you know? So now she's got a purpose that keeps her close to us, one that lets her be of service to her community... and she doesn't seem to mind showing up at home in the firefighting uniform and the reaction she gets," laughs the Mirrorskin. "June, too. We're putting down roots here after years of wandering together. June and Sig are committing to being here, and that's ok." More petting. "I'm okay. It's easier for me to talk about your issues than mine, P1."

Glitch sucks in a nice slow breath, holds it a while, and then exhales hard enough to shudder. Like he's pushing what he carried out into the air to breathe away, like smoke. "I...yeah. You're right. Thank you. I needed to hear that." He rubs at his face. "We're putting roots down here. I can't act like I'm still a street-hobo anymore. Or that I don't have a big, wonderful family now. Nice things to live for."

They tug him in close against them, slowly smooth their scarred palm along the side of his face. "Of course you did." Teagan leans down to kiss him: once on each of his eyelids, once on the tip of his nose, once on his lips. "I mean, you can, for fun, if you want. But yes. We're here for keeps."

He gives a coy little expression at 'doing it for fun'. "You know me so well," he murmurs, kissing them on the lips, slipping his arms up higher so he can pull himself face to face, nose to nose, without Teagan leaning down so far. Easier kisses. "Makes sense. You helped make me like this. Helped me heal. You're... a wonderful person, Teagan, I hope you know that."

"No, you," responds the Mirrorskin playfully, and then there are far more kisses than words, and many other things as well.