0017 ☆ video, backdated to yesterday at noon.

[fishnets]

I've got a question. [She tenses up, avoiding eye contact even though it's a camera before her on the coffee table and not a person. Whatever she is about to ask, she doesn't want to.] I was wondering... how do you know when someone has been permanently ported out? Is it different somehow? Is there a way to recognize if they'll be coming back or

Comments

voice

[pacifisted]

[Seeing a sad Zee is no fun. So, quietly:]

When they don't come back.

[Trying to pick his words carefully, aware that he's not always the best at it.]

My friends have been exPorted several times. That's still the only way I know.

[A couple of seconds go by before he adds:]

Who?

permavideo;

[fishnets]

I see. So I might never know, then... [So she can grasp at nothing forever. Just like every other part of her life. Awesome.]

...Lassiter.

[pacifisted]

Lassiter? That's--

[It takes him a second to register who the name belongs to because he didn't know Lassiter all that well and mostly thought of him as "the cop that's afraid of snow-globes" or "the guy with the beard that Zatanna hated". But when he does, he realizes what that means for her.]

I'm sorry.

[An awkward sort of pause.]

...Hold onto the hope for a little while--in case it isn't.

It hurts more. And it's harder.

But it's better to feel that than nothing.

[fishnets]

[She might have hated that beard, but she would tolerate it if he was here...]

I've experienced loss before. [Slowly, she reaches up to her neck and rubs the side of it with the meat of her palm, eyes closed.] It never gets easier, you know? I just hate the uncertainty. [And she misses him already. :c]

[yourentirelife]

I don't think there's any way to tell. What's going on?

[encrypted to bffl]

[fishnets]

Carlton's gone.

[encrypted to bffl]

[yourentirelife]

Need me to come over?

[encrypted to bffl]

[fishnets]

I'm going to go pick up Gaster, but I think I'd like to be alone. Just for a little while. If I go off the grid, come searching for me, alright?

[fuuuuuuuck]

You can tell when they don't come back. It's a shit system. But you knew that, I'm guessing.

[fishnets]

Yeah, I figured. I thought there might be some dumb little detail. Something small and weird that I could search my memory for and maybe figure it out...

[voice]

[meowminx]

No. Sometimes they come back in a few days, sometimes six months, sometimes not at all. Sometimes they remember, sometimes they don't.

[ little pause ]

Who?

permavideo;

[fishnets]

...I figured. Still, couldn't hurt to ask. Right?

[Ugh. She's really not enjoying this.] Carlton.

permavideo;

[meowminx]

[ After a bit, the video flips on. At least she doesn't really look angry now. Maybe a little sad. ]

When?

[fishnets]

[She was his friend, after all.]

Last night. I was half-asleep. There wasn't enough time.

permavideo;

[fishnets]

...a connection that gets severed?

[fishnets]

I'm pretty sure he doesn't have an ability like that.