Who will tell your story?

[solomonjihad]

[Sometimes after the trial, Astarte decides to burn her anger off in the kitchen. That's a good idea, right? Right?? This trial really opened her eyes. Monsters - real monsters - they could be in any form.

The voice would be enjoying the anger, if it had not been so suppressed beforehand. If the anger hadn't been real, righteous anger like Astarte feels.

At some point, the small of cooked pumpkin wafts through the air, and soon enough in the first floor lobby, there's a little paper at the merchandising booth.

CAKE AND COFFEE IN THE TEA ROOM.

Its not a crazy recipe - its just pumpkin bread. Where did Astarte get the pumpkin to make it? Who knows? In any case, at least one loaf is a little burnt on the bottom. There's also a large thermos of coffee on the table. Feel free to help yourselves.

Astarte, for her part, is sitting in the tea room, staring at the fire as she drinks her cup of coffee. Staring, and thinking. Ruminating.

There are more question than answers that have come up, after all.]

Comments

[robitussin]

Holding up great. I am 100% held up. Things are going fine.

[Convincing. Anyways:]

Did you know either of them well?

[inforapenny]

[Well, it's about as convincing as he was, so he'll let it slide. She's just his girlfriend's Buddy, not his, and he doesn't know her that well.]

I- no, not really. Mrs. Hamilton was... kind, to me, but I didn't know her well. And I barely spoke to Darla, but... Even the cruelest kid doesn't deserve to die like that.

[robitussin]

Yeah.

But... I mean, that guy was the last obviously evil person here, or at least the last obviously evil and stupid person here. The other people who are awful at least seem smart enough to know they'll get caught, so maybe this will be the last one.

[inforapenny]

Tch. I hope so. My side of the courtroom's gonna smell better, anyway.

...He reminded me of a guy from back- where I come from. A real tool, honestly. Seeing everyone turn on that sleazeball made me feel...better?

[robitussin]

Yeah? Who did he remind you of?

[A pause.]

Not that I'll know who it is, but. You know.

[inforapenny]

The guy's name was Captain Hammer. He wasn't a real captain and the only Hammer was just how big a frigging tool he was, but. Yeah. He threw a car at my head.

We weren't exactly friends.

[robitussin]

...Okay, let me get this straight. He threw a car at you, you're somehow still alive, and he's somehow not in prison?

[The ??? is palpable.]

[inforapenny]

...He's a jerk with great publicity?

And I mean, I barely dodged the car, I just. Didn't dodge his fists. Anyway, so, uh...

[robitussin]

How can you dodge a flying vehicle and not a punch?

[She has so many questions??]

[inforapenny]

I was kind of focused on the car flying at me?

[robitussin]

How did he throw a car at you and punch you at the same time? Did he not need a second to recover from the car throwing?

[inforapenny]

You know, it was one of those things where he like, threw the car and I did this-

[He half ducks and then turns over his shoulder.]

-and when I turned back he punched me in the face.

[robitussin]

...So he can throw cars, and you can dodge cars, and this is run of the mill enough that you're not traumatized just talking about it.

[Hm.]

Are you from a comic book or something?

[inforapenny]

...If I was from a comic book, I wouldn't exactly know it, would I?

[It may be sarcastic, but it's not too biting.]

Though there are superheroes and supervillains back in my world, if that was what you meant.

[robitussin]

Whaaaat. You're a superhero? That's so cool.

[oops]

[inforapenny]

Uh. Yeah. [Heh.] It's- it's the coolest.

[robitussin]

What kind of stuff did you usually do?

[inforapenny]

You- you know, uh. Thwarted injustice, and stopped evildoers... [um.] Rescue cats from trees... Help old ladies cross the street...

A-a lot of it's about the publicity you have, not about the powers you have.

[robitussin]

...If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to, you know.

[inforapenny]

No, no, it's fine! It's just...

[an idea occurs to him. Or rather, an excuse.]

I mean, it's just that... No one here really, uh. Knows about it. Se-secret identity, and, uh. And stuff.

[robitussin]

[A pause.]

If you don't want anyone to know about it, you might not want to bring up people throwing cars at you in casual conversation. Just a tip.

[inforapenny]

Heh. [He smiles awkwardly.] Y-yeah, probably.

Anyway, it's not like I'm, you know, big league or anything. Nobody makes action figures or anything of me.

[robitussin]

That doesn't really make it less cool, you know.

[inforapenny]

Really?

[Because you know, like, capitalism. And stuff.]

[robitussin]

Dude, saving people is saving people. It's not a competition measured in action figures or whatever.