The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

On Friday, Arthur had reached a decision. After the weekend, he wasn't in the best mood to follow through on it, but there were few reasons to let his mood interfere with what was, essentially, a duty of some kind.

The duty of survival. As Crown Prince, it was a real one.

Still, he thought, as he arrived in the salle, Dinah had best be grateful. And it was all tactics. His gut still twinged with the sting of clear betrayal, but his sense of morality was as confused on this subject as anything else ever was, and so he ignored it.

[[ open! ]]

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[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice smiled, faintly, and bowed her head. "I believe so," she answered. "I've finally accepted that it is, indeed, Monday. My younger self seemed less inclined to violence."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Mine too. But I remember being that little. I wasn't a fighty kid." She paused, biting her lip. "I forgot what it was like to be so... safe, though."

Happy, she'd almost said. She was happy now. But there'd been a long decade in between of not being like that.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"As had I," Alice said, her chin firmly set. "Either we were innocent, or we were entirely too naive."

No one was ever safe, not even at home, asleep in one's own warm bed. Alice's life had taught her that quite well.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah thought about that a minute, setting her feet, and adjusting her grip on the practice sword. "Innocent, I think. Knowing about the world, what it's really like-- I think it's supposed to come gradually. While you grow up. Not all at once. If your parents are doing it right, anyway."

Hers had been a series of hard, sharp shocks, like falling down stairs, hitting a landing, then falling further again. Mom had let her down, then Ted and Pam. Fortunately she'd landed with Barbara and Helena at the end of it.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"It isn't always within their power," Alice said sharply. "Sometimes, life sees fit to disillusion one rather abruptly. No warning, no soft words; only cold reality."

Like shattered glass and winter snow.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah blinked, aware she'd stepped on some tripwire, and abruptly wondered what had changed Alice, then, if she'd been less... herself, when she was little. "Sorry. My issues there." She looked away. Her mom, she could almost forgive. The Redmonds-- not so much. "But that's why I fight, I guess. So other people don't have to know that."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice flushed, and then shook her head. "No, it's I who should apologize," she said. "I believe that sounded horrid. I only meant that ... parents can be taken from one as easily as anyone else, which makes it quite hard for them to keep one safe from the inevitable disillusionment that follows."

It had to be clear she was speaking of herself, and yet she preferred to place it in third person. Detached.

"That's a noble reason, to fight. Yours, I mean."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah's turn to blush there, and pay extra attention to the hilt of her sword for no good reason. "I like fighting, too. But it isn't enough for me, I guess. People should be able to feel safe walking home in the dark, is all." She thought of her little younger self, and wished things could have stayed simple and matter-of-fact for her for longer than it had.

It sounded like Alice's childhood had come to an abrupt stop too. And not because her parents didn't care. British reserve only went so far, but it didn't sound like it was something she could ask about. "It's okay, what you said. I didn't mean to condemn all parents who can't totally protect their kids. Half our classmates grew up in war zones or worse, it seems like. Nobody can fix that for them, not even parents who love them."

She thought of Tony's parents, and set her jaw. "The others, well." She spun the sword, and smiled up along the blade. "We can try to fix that, at least."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice nodded. "You're a protector," she said. "Benevolent, hoping to save the innocent. I fear I'm not. I fought largely for myself. It was that, or to be trapped in Hell."

She didn't feel she was exaggerating; lying in the asylum, neither alive nor dead, subjected to whatever drugs or treatments the doctors dreamed up ... she would die before she would return there. Or kill, with little remorse.

"It seems a luxury," she said, instead. "Growing up peacefully and quietly, that is. Far too often, life gets impatient and can't wait for one to get older before delivering its shocks."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"So you're a survivor." Dinah studied her, wondering what happened to her after the loving parents disappeared from her life. "That kinda explains..." She paused, looking for the right word. "The fierceness. Ferociousness? When the harpies attacked." And the vorpal blade. And... yeah.

"You're probably right. A happy childhood is a luxury item. Even here and now in most parts of the world." Dinah thought of what she'd lost and what she'd found again in New Gotham. So, so, so lucky. "I can afford to keep others' safe now, though. I'm safe again. Loved again. So I guess I'm sharing it."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice nodded, feeling strangely awkward. "I am," she said. "I survived, and so many did not. I fought to the kill, and not just as a last resort. My enemies would not have had mercy had I spared them."

They'd shown none to her allies, after all.

"I'm happy that you are loved," she added. "I've ... a family, here. I never expected to have one again."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah suddenly beamed at her, delighted. "It's great, isn't it? To have that back?" She bounced on her toes, then sobered a little. "I guess I've been lucky there, too. None of my enemies have been powerful enough that they didn't leave me options. Or fast enough that I got backed into a corner." Saying 'I'm sorry' would've sounded wrong, somehow, because she was glad Alice was okay, and coping and strong. But... "I hope you don't have to face anyone like that again."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Were you adopted, as well?" Alice asked, eyes lighting up. "Fandom gave me a sibling, and I thought it an idle term. How very happy I am, to be wrong."

She hesitated. "I don't believe I will," she said. "Not to that extent, perhaps. I had nothing to lose; that adds a layer of ruthlessness to one. It's strange to be ... stripped down that far, I suppose. Odd to try to live comfortably again, afterwards; soft and relaxed without constantly guarding your blind spots."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Both, kinda. Jamie Madrox is my Big Sib. He's crazy." Dinah grinned. "He explained stuff and took me rapelling off the roof, too. But it was so great, to meet someone different my first hour here, and not feel all weird, and know it was safe to tell the truth." In most ways, anyway. "And I got adopted in New Gotham last year. I have two older sisters now, who are incredibly cool and help with the fighting stuff. Who's your big sib here?"

Listening to Alice, Dinah slowly nodded. "It would be hard, I'd guess. Especially if the change is real fast, from where you were to... well, there's fighting here. But it's not so cut-throat." Which reminded her of Alice and the harpies, and blood splattered everywhere, making her shiver.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Dean Winchester," Alice said, with a faint smile. "He realized I had no family and felt it his duty to provide one. This island is strangely ... healing, I believe. Although it seems for you, that your city was, as well."

The rest earned a wry grin. "It was a matter of days," she allowed. "Between victory and arriving here, battered suitcase and little else to my name. I suppose, in time, things will be different."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I like Dean. He loaned me his extra gun while we were fighting the harpies. Yay for him being a real big brother to you." Dinah grinned. "It is healing, isn't it? There's all these things I have to keep secret back home. Not here. And all these people expecting stuff there, that I can just ignore here. It's... calmer."

She grimaced as Alice explained the gap between her lives. "They do exit-strategy stuff for soldiers who leave the fighting here. So it's not so disjointed. Hard to get that for someone our age. But yeah. Time has to help."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Perspective, as well," Alice said easily. "I can leave those pieces behind, but they shall always be a part of me. I only need to know and accept that, I suppose."

She brightened at the mention of Dean. "He's amazing, isn't he? You know, I suspect each of us have secrets we imagine anyone else would run from, and all those others are more concerned with their own."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah nodded, then found herself looking over at Arthur. "Yeah. I think you're onto something there." She shook her head. "Perspective again. Or maybe we're growing up?" She made a face, looking five again. "Ew."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice considered that for a moment, and then laughed. "You may be the first person to ever think me grown-up," she allowed.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"More grown-up than me!" Dinah sang, then grinned. "And you know, as badly as I want to be an adult, this weekend reminded me why it's good I'm not one yet. One cahn't be serious awll the time," she said, her voice mimicking something between Alice and Arthur's accents.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice drew herself up properly. "If you ever catch Us behaving in a proper and appropriate manner," she said, doing her very best Queenly drawl, "please assist Us at once, for We are clearly ill."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah chortled, and twirled, and gave Alice a bow instead of a curtsy, saying, "Yes, Your Maj. You got it. Fun times to save you from Propriety!"