[GP] All we can do is learn to swim

[st_oriedqueen]

Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim. - Vicki Harrison

"You're sure?" Regina already knew the answer but demanding that Sam tell her what she already knew satisfied something petty in her. Or maybe just something hurt that hoped he'd have a different answer than her locator spell had already provided.

"Yeah." Sam half-rolled his eyes at her as he leaned across the pink bar counter to grab bottles of beer from the Silver Bar ice bin -- probably the results of Rebekah's last work-effort at the Inn -- for himself and his newly arrived companion.

Briefly, Regina considered burning a hole in the seat of his jeans, but it wouldn't bring Rebekah or any of the absent ones back. Instead, she took refuge in straightening her A-line and walking around the stylish counter Sam lay across like he was surfing the waves of grief. She took down a bottle of pointlessly pricey champagne, and then found the precise cut-crystal glasses Rebekah and Miss Fisher had preferred for their afternoon indulgences. She poured herself a glass and one for the person who dared her openly bitter expression.

"So who all are we missing?" they both said at once, glared at each other and sighed. They both knew the answers, in their own way and for their own reasons. And neither of them wanted to say.

Rebekah Mikaelson. Henry Winchester. Jack Robinson. Phryne Fisher. Dorothy Williams. Angua von Uberwald. Jaime Vegas. Harry Dresden. Lydia Martin. Raleigh Becket. Yasmeen. Joanna Beauchamp. Constance Bonacieux D'Artagnan. Lindsey McDonald.

"Grief is like the ocean," Sam clearly quoted from some fucking where, and Regina tuned him out until he added, "All we can do is learn to swim. Rebekah told me that."

Now Regina rolled her eyes; they weren't friends. "Shut up, Sam."

Comments

Re: Tag Regina

[st_arknaked]

"I'm not one of your people." He reminded her, she could rage or cry or do anything else she needed to do.

She needed a friend, not subjects.

"I'm your friend, or I'd like to be if we can. But I'm not a subject. Neither are the others, and they might need to cry as well."

Re: Tag Sam/Regina

[st_oriedqueen]

Regina blinked and then told herself not to think about the fact River had plucked that thought out of her mind. She'd get angry and she didn't want to be angry.

"Today, everyone wants something I can't do. To bring their people back or to send them home. It's...good," she decided was the right word. "To be asked to do something I can say yes to."

Re: Corbie - OTA

[st_oriedqueen]

Moved to see the tears in Corbie's eyes, Regina reached over to brush her fingers across her cheek. "I hope you understand why I didn't tell you before now."

Re: Tag Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Everyone has their niche." Kitty's had always been infiltration. If they needed someone flashy upfront that was what Ro or Jean or Warren were for.

Re: Tag Sam/Regina

[st_makemeastone]

Also, River can't help it. Getting angry would be useless.

"It is illogical and unfair to ask those things of you. You are not responsible for this place."

Re: Tag Kitty

[st_everybodylives]

A truer statement River wasn't sure she'd ever heard.

"And mine happens to be loud, and a little.. obvious."

Re: Corbie - OTA

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Yes," the girl agreed with a nod. She hadn't been ready, as she'd tried to tell Harry even though she hadn't entirely grasped that was what she was trying to tell him. It was still confusing and she wasn't sure she understood, but she did believe.

Corbie leaned into the touch. "I miss them. I miss them so much."

Re: Tag Regina

[st_oriedqueen]

But he was. They all were. Maybe not in the same way they had been in Storybrooke, but she needed them to be. She had amends to make that depended on her taking care of them and putting them before her own needs.

Still, he was offering and she was too weak to resist. Today. When Rebekah was gone and Yasmeen who would have braced her spine was gone.

Her hands came up to cover her face and she nodded while she took a tentative step forward. The words he said didn't matter. Just his presence.

Re: Tag Sam/Regina

[st_oriedqueen]

"Perhaps not." But she had been responsible for one very like it. And she had been a queen, if not always a very good one. "But it doesn't stop me from wanting to be able to do them."

Re: Corbie - OTA

[st_oriedqueen]

"I know, dear." She felt so impossibly ancient in the moment. So tired and so full of the sorts of emptinesses Corbie was only beginning to know. "If it helps, they were happy and very proud of you."

Re: Tag Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Someone's got to distract the guards, and somehow I doubt anyone's much better at it than you."

Perhaps Miss Fisher had been as good, but not better. Definitely.

Re: Closed to Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"The suit, the powers, the quips."

Kitty had never felt so old in her life as when he said she was the third person to know. She could hardly remember the beginning of it all these days.

She felt even older when she patted his drumming hand to still it, and soothe the inevitable nervousness of someone new knowing. It was as though in five minutes, she'd aged into an entirely different generation of superheroes.

"I get it. It's weird. Kind of exciting, terrifying, and a relief all at once, right?"

Re: Corbie - OTA

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie nodded. "It does," she whispered. She wasn't sure why, but knowing Felix was proud of her made warmth spread in her belly and she sat up a little straighter. "I'm okay."

Re: Corbie - OTA

[st_oriedqueen]

Regina blinked, smiled wryly, and shook her head minutely. "Not yet, probably. But you will be." And a hell of a 'wizard', to boot.

Re: Tag Kitty

[st_everybodylives]

"What is it they say? Necessity is the mother of invention?" She was extremely good at distracting guards, with or without hallucinogenic lipstick. She could also carry out a long con (or a short one) as needed. Really she was a one woman crime spree most days.

Re: Tag Sam/Regina

[st_makemeastone]

She nodded, "Simon does the same. He is a doctor, not a deity but he insists on trying."

Re: Tag Regina

[st_arknaked]

That step was all it took, he released the edge of the counter behind him, took a step of his own and embraced her without a word.

Re: Molly OTA

[st_eampunk]

Even if Molly couldn't feel the sincerity, which she could, his body language would have told her. She had years of practice reading her brother, uncles, Harry and Sanya before magic kicked in. Her dad was more demonstrative, she didn't need to read him.


"Drinks sounds great, but how about we skip the bar? Mind magic and other people's emotions don't mix well."

Re: Tag Vex, others by arrangement

[st_ubby]

Vex held the hug as long as he did, and when he started to pull back, she eyed him carefully again – being slightly familiar with Percy, who was the worst at knowing how okay he was, and herself, who would flat out lie about being all right – but he seemed at least better now than he had been. Her hand squeezed his shoulder once more as she let him step away.

"If I have to track you down later, you know I can do it." She didn't really need to add the and I will, did she?

Re: Snow White - OTA

[st_ubby]

Vex gave a nod of approval, mostly because she remembered what it was like not getting that sort of encouragement.

"I imagine you don't want to go back to the inn, have to deal with a bunch of people yet. I could stay a while longer if you'd like? Or not, if you'd rather. Trinket is company enough, I know."

Re: Closed to Kitty

[st_arkintern]

Peter averts his eyes in an attempt to hide his own embarrassment when Kitty pats his hand. He knows he's incredibly readable, and the last thing he wants is for this girl he just met to think that he still gets embarrassed when a pretty girl touches him.

Even if he does.

"Yeah, I mean... well, kinda. You're the first person who didn't just freak out about it." Both Ned and Aunt May had pretty extreme reactions. But this made sense; Kitty had powers too, so it wasn't so weird or spectacular now.

"There's lots of people with powers here. It feels weird keeping it a secret when everyone's so open about the things they can do, but it feels weird just telling people, too."

Re: Molly OTA

[st_ingofthehundred]

"Yeah, sure."

Whatever she needed, was what he meant, but he didn't know how to say that without pouring too much of himself in it. So he stuck with yeah, and trusted she'd gather he wouldn't leave until she felt ready to be alone.

Re: Tag Regina

[st_oriedqueen]

Her hands stayed over her face at first when she pressed up against him. This...this comfort was still unfamiliar, especially from a 'friend'. She didn't know what that meant now, when before it meant sex but it didn't anymore.

But the warmth of his body, she knew too well to stay aloof from it, and eventually, she unbent enough to wrap her arms around him. There should have been tears, she should have been punching him for hurting her so much, but there was only shuddering breaths and relief.

Re: Tag Sam/Regina

[st_oriedqueen]

"Who is Simon?" Regina knew everyone in the Inn and there was no one named Simon, and the only recent arrival had been called Coby.

Re: Tag Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"That sounds like a story for a different day," Kitty replied as she glanced across the bar. She'd been talking long enough that a few people's drinks had gotten low. "I should do the only useful thing I can today and pour alcohol."