orderfromchaos | 29. juxtaposition

[Video]

[Grumpy Dillon is grumpy. His clothes from over a month ago are unwrinkled, and he has no bedhead, but he manages to look groggy anyway.]

So, while I was unconscious for a month, Hangover ate all my socks. Or sucked the reality out of them, or whatever he does.

[The camera swings around to see a bobbing lavender jellyfish like creature, wriggling self-consciously on a few sad strands of translucent yarn. Squiddle shaming!

Back to Dillon.]

So can I borrow some, maybe?

[Filtered to Tucky, Dillon, Bucky, Jean, Iris, Abigail, Horatio, Chris, Helena, Gene, Snafu, and Scott]

What's up with you guys? Are you okay? I feel more out of touch than I did breaking out of prison.

[Spam for Merlin]

[Once he's checked in with people, he goes searching for Merlin, ends up discovering him in the infirmary which is, frankly, perfect, since he's stuck on shift. Dillon grabs a wheelie chair and scoots next to him, forcing himself to tamp down his anger. Just from the set of his shoulders, it's clear the guy is kind of messed up.]

Hey. Can I talk to you for a minute?

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[She smiles. It's a little shaky and watery, but it's genuine.]

I know. I got Mason and Iris and Simon-- and you. And other people, too.

I can tell you about the other stuff that happened now, if you want. The good stuff.

Yeah, c'mon.

[He pulls her inside and toward the bed, sits cross-legged against the headboard. The purple jellyfish thing floats into his lap and he scritches it a little.]

I totally want to hear the good stuff.

[She hops up next to him and leans against his shoulder.]

Okay.

Well... mostly it was the port. It was my first one. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I've got a... a history, I guess, of doing stuff that don't make me proud and don't make other people proud. But this port was different. There was a lot of scary stuff, but I didn't panic or freak out, 'cause I had a goal in mind: I wanted to find the people I cared about and stick with them. So that's what I did. I got some weapons but I only fought monsters with them, and I climbed up and up and up and did okay, even though I was on my own a lot of the time. And then I found Mason-- you know him, right? He says he knows you. Anyway, he was in bad shape, so I took care of him until he was better. And then we got out, just like we were supposed to.

[She shifts around to look up at Dillon.]

People were proud of me, and that felt great, you know? But I was also proud of myself, and that felt just as good-- maybe even better. Just like people said it would. It changed me. I have been doing real well all month because of it.

That's really great.

[It is, and he's beaming a little, pleased and proud.]

He's really lucky you were there.

[She smiles too. It's not as big a smile as it would normally have been, but a combination of her own pride and his pride and just his presence does help her feel a bit better.]

Mason, you mean?

[... Okay, talking about Mason helps her feel better, too.]

Well, I was lucky he was there, too. Him being around always makes things better.

Yeah.

We've talked a couple times, I don't know him really well, or anything.

[So she can totally tell Dillon all about him if she wants.]

[You're opening the floodgates, Dillon; beware.]

He said he liked you 'cause you did something to a vampire, or something. Made him human?

Oh yeah, that thing. I did.

He was killing and harassing people, and zero didn't make him blink, and neither did the death toll when people got revenge. He didn't have a warden to reign him in better. I told him I'd do it if he got out of line again. He thought I was bluffing.

[Quiet. Not precisely proud. It was a messed up thing to do, in some ways, but he still thinks it needed to be done.]

[Tiffany nods, neither bothered nor surprised. If anything, she's surprised that sort of punishment doesn't happen more often.]

Good. You'd lose some of your power over people like that-- powerful, evil people-- if you bluffed too much, I think. Or bluffed at all.

[She drops her head back onto Dillon's shoulder.]

You'd like Mason, probably. He's sweet and wonderful and kind.

Yeah, he's alright.

[He remembers Mason's early lectures on successful graverobbing and can't help an amused smile. A fuckup, yes, but a sweet one. Dillon still feels bad that he got saddled with Dillon's memory of Hannibal.]

All right?

[She gives Dillon a playful little elbow-nudge in the ribs.]

Yeah, I can tell you don't know him that well at all. He's the best inmate we got here; that's a lot more than just all right.

29. juxtaposition

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