week 6, post trial

[robitussin]

[Their numbers keep falling. Three people have died already this week, with two more on the way tomorrow. With the outburst the townspeople gave them once the results came through... If anyone were feeling downhearted, it's to be expected at this point. Things continuing at their current pace is a frightening thought, after all. Like last week, the offer to spend time together or meet in a central location doesn't come.

Hawks and Dabi wait for the morning in their cells, but the rest of the tourists are free to wander about the town as they please; free to rest, to talk with each other, and to try to gather strength wherever they can. So, where does the evening find you, Cartesio?]

Comments

[robitussin]

...So you think he brought you here as some kind of tool to break him instead, then.

[There's a frown on her face, but she waits for confirmation.]

[amburere]

[ The most response he'll give her is a nod. Saying it is too much for so many reasons. ]

[robitussin]

Well... Congrats, then.

[It's deadpan, before she moves on.]

What do you mean by his body's like a void?

1/2

[amburere]

[ Give him a moment cause he needs to laugh. At himself, at everything, at those stupid words that hero said months ago that repeat in his head.

"Did you ever think-" He thought all the damn time. Constantly. And it drove him crazy. ]

[amburere]

[ But after that, he forces everything back down. His tone is back to normal and he'll meet her deadpan stare evenly. ]

Got him to stick his hand inside his face. Went through as far as his arm would bend.

[robitussin]

[She notes the details about his face, but...]

What's funny?

[amburere]

Remembered something. Doesn't matter now.

[ He moves on, clearly not wanting to talk about it. ]

Kurogiri can do something similar to what he can. His body is basically a warp gate. Anything you try to throw into it or do it just gets absorbed.

[robitussin]

[Once again, it's unclear for a few moments whether she'll insist. Instead, though:]

You think it's the same ability? Could your pal have shoved someone into the ground like he did with Sting?

[amburere]

[ He shifts on the floor, leaning back and stretching a bit. ]

Close enough for attacking purposes. Don't think he could do that, but one of the boss's earlier plans was to splice the number one hero in half using him.

[robitussin]

...That's fucked up, but I assume you know that.

[A beat.]

You got any recommendations for getting around that?

[amburere]

Kurogiri wasn't thrilled with it either. [ Dabi honestly... kinda agrees. ]

His villain name is Blackmist, but there was one part of his body that was his core. Besides that, heard people have tried to vacuum him up before. He's not with us anymore he got captured. They probably have him in a large glass jar to keep 'im contained.

[ Or the equivalent of one. ]

[robitussin]

...Are you honestly trying to tell me that a vacuum is our best bet here?

[amburere]

Why not? [ ..........like, really. ]

Get a big one.

[robitussin]

[A long moment passes, and then:]

I can't believe that we've reached the point that I'm actually taking you seriously here.

[amburere]

If it works, I want the credit. [ This is ridiculous, he knows. But he's from a world where a literal washing machine in human form is among the top ten heroes. Whatever works! ]

[robitussin]

[It gets a laugh, weak as it is.]

Right. I'll tell Robert to write another editorial about you.

[amburere]

Good. Need anymore advice from the leader of the Villain Vanguard?

[robitussin]

[She's not sure whether the answer is yes or no, but she leaves it for a moment in favor of...]

You've always been more than that. You know that, right?

[amburere]

[ ................. ]

I'm just Dabi. That's all I am and that's all I want to be.

[robitussin]

...Then I have something else to ask that person, if I can.

[amburere]

What?

[robitussin]

[It feels... almost irrelevant, after all that’s happened, but the idea of not asking, not knowing, is worse.]

This place, these people... Did any of this matter to you at all?

[amburere]

Fires don't burn forever. [ It's a shitty answer, and Dabi knows it. But it's been years since he knew how to properly express his feelings, and almost that long since he's cared that he can't.

They mattered for the time, maybe. But what's left unsaid is that even when the flames are long gone, there's always ash left behind in their place. ]

[robitussin]

...I don't know what that means.

[For all that she normally pushes him to tell her more, to open himself up crack by crack, this time... It's more a statement than a question, spoken with a tone of defeat. After a moment:]

Anything else you want to say?

[amburere]

Ask me again next time. [ That might be a better way to put it. ]

Yeah. There's a DVD in my room you should take. Got it from the abandoned electric store, had to melt a door for it.