Darcy and Topaz || Cat Trade Off
Nov. 24th, 2021 07:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsDarcy drops by Topaz's suite with Midnight and some recovery supplies.
It took an entire hour of lounging on her couch for Topaz to wonder out loud, "Where's my cat?"
The answer was pretty obvious, and she could have just gone down the hall to get her back from Darcy - that little spot of warmth on her chest sounded amazing in theory - but she was already tired from struggling to find just the right amount of light in the room - not too bright because it still hurt her eyes, but too dark for too long inevitably made her think about... things she didn't want to think about. Things that could wait for therapy.
And instead of looking for Midnight, she wrapped herself in a thick blanket and curled up on the couch, music playing in the background (because of course sound was another thing she needed to readjust to), and she buried her head in her little cocoon, pointedly Not Thinking about anything for minutes or hours (it was really hard to tell) until a knock at the door jarred her out of her daze.
"S'open," she called, grabbing her water bottle to take a sip.
Darcy slipped into the room, Midnight racing past her feet to jump on the couch. "Fuzzy brat missed her Mom, I think," she said with a soft chuckle as she closed the door.
"Brought you a few other things. Lentil and veg soup, some fresh rolls--you can thank Terry for that--and some fairy lights to give you a brightness option between overhead on or just a lamp." She set everything down carefully, pulling the lid off one of the soup mugs and walking it over to Topaz. "There's a few more bowls of it already portioned out for you, just pop it in a pot or the microwave until it's hot enough for you."
Topaz carefully unwrapped her cocoon to let Midnight hop up and snuggle into her chest. It took her another minute to catch up with Darcy, though. Food. Right. She needed that. "Um, right. Brilliant. Thank you." She blew out a long breath, scrubbing her eyes with one hand as she sat up. The fairy lights were a nice touch. Not something she would've thought of. "Sorry, still kind of... out of it, I think."
"Don't expect you to be at your best right now," Darcy said kindly, handing the mug over. She disappeared briefly, returning with a roll and a spoon. "She's been very affectionate, so you may have a shadow every time you move for the next few days. And either I can put up the lights, or you can ask one of your taller visitors."
"Would... you mind doing it?" She hated having to ask because really, she should have been able to do it herself, at least with magic. But nope, that was also limited until she was able to build up some of her reserves again. So instead she did her best, not to look too ashamed, even if she couldn't look Darcy in the eye.
"Wouldn't have brought them if I minded putting them up for you. Over the window so they aren't directly in your face?" Darcy kept her tone matter of fact as she grabbed the lights and something sturdy to stand on.
There was something... off. Topaz tilted her head slightly, trying to place it, but everything was still kind of messed up. "Over the window sounds good, thank you. Are you okay?"
"Just been stressed," Darcy replied with a smile. "And I haven't had the time to schedule an appointment with Dr. Grim or one of his in the know associates yet, but it's on my list once I have a bit of calm." She perched on the chair carefully, pinning the lights near the ceiling and moving as she needed. A few minutes later she was done hanging them up, draping the power cord over the back of the couch for easy reach as she plugged them in. She smoothed a hand over Topaz's hair lightly before taking a seat, taking care to project her relief and joy at the other woman's return. "I'm so glad you're back, and relatively unharmed."
It still felt weird, but what the hell did Topaz know. Instead she smiled at the brief moment of contact and said, "I'm sure things have been absolutely delightful around here. Did I hear Barton's back? Tell me I imagined that."
"Ugh yeah, you missed all the fun," Darcy chuckled as she leaned forward. "Extracted him right before the Brotherhood attacked the Sentinel facility he's apparently been undercover at? We fared better than the last team to face them, but it was still a cluster. I'm sure you're going to hear people laughing at me about this, but uh.. Kevin got caught in an EM field and stuck as a woman for a while? And I was a bit of a walking disaster about it." She blushed, laughing a bit self-deprecatingly. "You'd think I'd be immune by now, but no, hind brain was like 'ooooh deadly and competent hot lady' and I basically couldn't function until Nora--that form's name--brought me back to my senses."
"Okay, there's a lot to untangle there, hang on." Topaz took a small sip of soup. It was warm, and tasted amazing, but she had a feeling that bar was low after two weeks (apparently) of granola bars. "You know what, I'm going to focus on Kevin. Really? Is Nora still around?" She'd seen Kevin change plenty of times, had seen him impersonating her (and hell if that hadn't been weird), but Darcy was making her curious.
"Unfortunately not. The week ended up coinciding with your return, actually. It was great while it lasted." Darcy shrugged, beaming as Topaz took a sip of the soup. "But yeah, you'll probably read it in reports but Gabe had to get Kevin back to the van. Low key terrifying, seeing him like that."
"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be spending some time catching up." Topaz sighed, shoulders falling. "I'm sorry I wasn't there." There was absolutely nothing that said her presence would have changed a damn thing, but it was part of a bigger apology. I'm sorry I got stuck. I'm sorry I scared everyone.
"You have nothing to apologize for." Darcy's tone was gentle but stern. "Can I hug you? I wouldn't bother asking, but if people touch is too much right now, it can wait."
"Yeah." She nodded as she nudged Midnight to jump onto the back of the couch, or risk getting squished. She'd been trying really hard not to be too needy about things, but she'd forgotten how nice something as simple as a hug could be.
Darcy wedged herself between Topaz and the side of the couch, wrapping her arms firmly around the blanket burrito. "You have nothing to apologize for," she repeated gently. "We were overrun. You got us out, and the damn portal took you. I almost wish you could've seen how upset everyone was. W.. they did a lot to try and guide you back. And you're here, and there's nothing to apologize for, because you didn't leave us on purpose. I'm sorry we couldn't get you back faster."
Topaz managed to get one arm out of the blankets to wrap around Darcy as tight as she could manage. For a moment that was all she could do - hug and breathe until the tightness in her chest dissipated, and she felt like she could talk again without her voice breaking. "Thanks for not giving up," she said half into Darcy's shoulders. "I didn't think you would, but..."
But there was always a chance. And it had scared her.
"Never." Darcy vowed. "You remember that talk we had about magic requiring a sacrifice? I think there would've been a line to get you back.. or at least get closure about what happened to you, if getting you back had been impossible." She let out a watery chuckle. "I'll have to see if the security footage survived. It's not really funny, but you can watch people trying to kick and punch a hole in a stone wall because of how much they love you. It wasn't funny at all at the time, or in the days following."
Topaz laughed a little. It wasn't funny, but it was better than giving in to the tears filling her eyes. Amanda had told her some of the work that had gone into helping her get home, and while it all sounded incredibly inconvenient, she was glad no one had to bleed or lose a limb for her. "I'll take your word for it. Pretty hard to doubt now, anyway." Not after all this.
Darcy let out an exaggerated sigh, voice fond. "Doug.. and if you haven't seen him yet, I'm telling you this so you can absolutely give him shit about it, okay? He punched the wall with his real hand, Topaz. I thought he'd broken the damn thing. A fist made of nanites and he uses the fragile bone one." She eased her hold slightly, keeping one arm securely around the other woman. "Although hey, it's a little late for Diwali proper, but I guess we can finally send that 13th lantern off. I read somewhere that you're only supposed to send it off once everyone is home, and.. you're back now. Clint too."
"He did what?" Topaz groaned. "He does realize he's not going to get another nanite arm, right? Those are in pretty limited supply. He has to at least try and take care of the other one. I hope at least three people yelled at him."
The mention of the lantern made her smile, and if she curled just a little into Darcy, what of it? "I'd like that. Maybe after a week or so of sleep."
"I did a fair bit of yelling and bossing. Threatened to send Clarice after him if he didn't go to the medlab. Busted knuckles, a jammed finger." Darcy poked Topaz lightly in the shoulder. "Finish your soup, hermanita. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me to."
"All right, all right." Topaz leaned forward to grab the soup, unable to keep from smiling a bit. "Thanks, Darcy."
It took an entire hour of lounging on her couch for Topaz to wonder out loud, "Where's my cat?"
The answer was pretty obvious, and she could have just gone down the hall to get her back from Darcy - that little spot of warmth on her chest sounded amazing in theory - but she was already tired from struggling to find just the right amount of light in the room - not too bright because it still hurt her eyes, but too dark for too long inevitably made her think about... things she didn't want to think about. Things that could wait for therapy.
And instead of looking for Midnight, she wrapped herself in a thick blanket and curled up on the couch, music playing in the background (because of course sound was another thing she needed to readjust to), and she buried her head in her little cocoon, pointedly Not Thinking about anything for minutes or hours (it was really hard to tell) until a knock at the door jarred her out of her daze.
"S'open," she called, grabbing her water bottle to take a sip.
Darcy slipped into the room, Midnight racing past her feet to jump on the couch. "Fuzzy brat missed her Mom, I think," she said with a soft chuckle as she closed the door.
"Brought you a few other things. Lentil and veg soup, some fresh rolls--you can thank Terry for that--and some fairy lights to give you a brightness option between overhead on or just a lamp." She set everything down carefully, pulling the lid off one of the soup mugs and walking it over to Topaz. "There's a few more bowls of it already portioned out for you, just pop it in a pot or the microwave until it's hot enough for you."
Topaz carefully unwrapped her cocoon to let Midnight hop up and snuggle into her chest. It took her another minute to catch up with Darcy, though. Food. Right. She needed that. "Um, right. Brilliant. Thank you." She blew out a long breath, scrubbing her eyes with one hand as she sat up. The fairy lights were a nice touch. Not something she would've thought of. "Sorry, still kind of... out of it, I think."
"Don't expect you to be at your best right now," Darcy said kindly, handing the mug over. She disappeared briefly, returning with a roll and a spoon. "She's been very affectionate, so you may have a shadow every time you move for the next few days. And either I can put up the lights, or you can ask one of your taller visitors."
"Would... you mind doing it?" She hated having to ask because really, she should have been able to do it herself, at least with magic. But nope, that was also limited until she was able to build up some of her reserves again. So instead she did her best, not to look too ashamed, even if she couldn't look Darcy in the eye.
"Wouldn't have brought them if I minded putting them up for you. Over the window so they aren't directly in your face?" Darcy kept her tone matter of fact as she grabbed the lights and something sturdy to stand on.
There was something... off. Topaz tilted her head slightly, trying to place it, but everything was still kind of messed up. "Over the window sounds good, thank you. Are you okay?"
"Just been stressed," Darcy replied with a smile. "And I haven't had the time to schedule an appointment with Dr. Grim or one of his in the know associates yet, but it's on my list once I have a bit of calm." She perched on the chair carefully, pinning the lights near the ceiling and moving as she needed. A few minutes later she was done hanging them up, draping the power cord over the back of the couch for easy reach as she plugged them in. She smoothed a hand over Topaz's hair lightly before taking a seat, taking care to project her relief and joy at the other woman's return. "I'm so glad you're back, and relatively unharmed."
It still felt weird, but what the hell did Topaz know. Instead she smiled at the brief moment of contact and said, "I'm sure things have been absolutely delightful around here. Did I hear Barton's back? Tell me I imagined that."
"Ugh yeah, you missed all the fun," Darcy chuckled as she leaned forward. "Extracted him right before the Brotherhood attacked the Sentinel facility he's apparently been undercover at? We fared better than the last team to face them, but it was still a cluster. I'm sure you're going to hear people laughing at me about this, but uh.. Kevin got caught in an EM field and stuck as a woman for a while? And I was a bit of a walking disaster about it." She blushed, laughing a bit self-deprecatingly. "You'd think I'd be immune by now, but no, hind brain was like 'ooooh deadly and competent hot lady' and I basically couldn't function until Nora--that form's name--brought me back to my senses."
"Okay, there's a lot to untangle there, hang on." Topaz took a small sip of soup. It was warm, and tasted amazing, but she had a feeling that bar was low after two weeks (apparently) of granola bars. "You know what, I'm going to focus on Kevin. Really? Is Nora still around?" She'd seen Kevin change plenty of times, had seen him impersonating her (and hell if that hadn't been weird), but Darcy was making her curious.
"Unfortunately not. The week ended up coinciding with your return, actually. It was great while it lasted." Darcy shrugged, beaming as Topaz took a sip of the soup. "But yeah, you'll probably read it in reports but Gabe had to get Kevin back to the van. Low key terrifying, seeing him like that."
"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be spending some time catching up." Topaz sighed, shoulders falling. "I'm sorry I wasn't there." There was absolutely nothing that said her presence would have changed a damn thing, but it was part of a bigger apology. I'm sorry I got stuck. I'm sorry I scared everyone.
"You have nothing to apologize for." Darcy's tone was gentle but stern. "Can I hug you? I wouldn't bother asking, but if people touch is too much right now, it can wait."
"Yeah." She nodded as she nudged Midnight to jump onto the back of the couch, or risk getting squished. She'd been trying really hard not to be too needy about things, but she'd forgotten how nice something as simple as a hug could be.
Darcy wedged herself between Topaz and the side of the couch, wrapping her arms firmly around the blanket burrito. "You have nothing to apologize for," she repeated gently. "We were overrun. You got us out, and the damn portal took you. I almost wish you could've seen how upset everyone was. W.. they did a lot to try and guide you back. And you're here, and there's nothing to apologize for, because you didn't leave us on purpose. I'm sorry we couldn't get you back faster."
Topaz managed to get one arm out of the blankets to wrap around Darcy as tight as she could manage. For a moment that was all she could do - hug and breathe until the tightness in her chest dissipated, and she felt like she could talk again without her voice breaking. "Thanks for not giving up," she said half into Darcy's shoulders. "I didn't think you would, but..."
But there was always a chance. And it had scared her.
"Never." Darcy vowed. "You remember that talk we had about magic requiring a sacrifice? I think there would've been a line to get you back.. or at least get closure about what happened to you, if getting you back had been impossible." She let out a watery chuckle. "I'll have to see if the security footage survived. It's not really funny, but you can watch people trying to kick and punch a hole in a stone wall because of how much they love you. It wasn't funny at all at the time, or in the days following."
Topaz laughed a little. It wasn't funny, but it was better than giving in to the tears filling her eyes. Amanda had told her some of the work that had gone into helping her get home, and while it all sounded incredibly inconvenient, she was glad no one had to bleed or lose a limb for her. "I'll take your word for it. Pretty hard to doubt now, anyway." Not after all this.
Darcy let out an exaggerated sigh, voice fond. "Doug.. and if you haven't seen him yet, I'm telling you this so you can absolutely give him shit about it, okay? He punched the wall with his real hand, Topaz. I thought he'd broken the damn thing. A fist made of nanites and he uses the fragile bone one." She eased her hold slightly, keeping one arm securely around the other woman. "Although hey, it's a little late for Diwali proper, but I guess we can finally send that 13th lantern off. I read somewhere that you're only supposed to send it off once everyone is home, and.. you're back now. Clint too."
"He did what?" Topaz groaned. "He does realize he's not going to get another nanite arm, right? Those are in pretty limited supply. He has to at least try and take care of the other one. I hope at least three people yelled at him."
The mention of the lantern made her smile, and if she curled just a little into Darcy, what of it? "I'd like that. Maybe after a week or so of sleep."
"I did a fair bit of yelling and bossing. Threatened to send Clarice after him if he didn't go to the medlab. Busted knuckles, a jammed finger." Darcy poked Topaz lightly in the shoulder. "Finish your soup, hermanita. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me to."
"All right, all right." Topaz leaned forward to grab the soup, unable to keep from smiling a bit. "Thanks, Darcy."
