[ ray hits the brakes in a feat of near-cartoon physics. his feet almost dig into the concrete under them and if you squint you might see a small furl of smoke curl up from beneath his heels. he overbalances when he shoots his arms up instinctively in a surrender and just wobbles there for a bit.
eyes wide, mouth caught between smile and grimace, he just nods. a lot. ]
Right. Yeah. No hugging, yeah. Of course. That would be ridiculous.
[ it turned out that standing still did not fool gertrude. it seems ray thinks that perhaps it will work on mick, though. weeble. wobble. weeble. wobble. ]
You ever so much as try to hug me, I'll do twice what Chronos did to your ass. You understand me?
[Mick backs up warily, not unlike a dog who's tail keeps getting pulled by a hyperactivity toddler. There is a lot of uncertainty as he sort of loops around Ray to get to the food. Do not sneak hug him.
He will break your nose.
Once he has his hand on the food, he grunts a little and pulls out a cupcake, distracting himself with that and trying to give Ray a moment to compose himself and stop trying to get cuddly.]
[ once mick's past him, ray relaxes, and he lets out a laugh that's half stress-relief and half genuine. his casted wrist swings up in front of him on display. ]
He didn't touch my ass, actually.
[ the laugh turns to a smirk that's far too cocky for the situation. ]
[Mick pretty much shoves a whole cupcake into his mouth and chews it a few times before it's entirely gone, swallowing hard and feeling very content with himself. Cupcakes were always the best.
Idly kicking some of the rubble, Mick looks around this place for anything still salvageable.]
He is Chronos. Just cause he's a mirror, doesn't make him any less me. He's the sum of his parts. It's like they always say in sci fi movies where a guys brain gets uploaded into computers and stuff like that, clones and androids, it ain't about whether they lived it. If they have memories of it, it's like they were there.
[If Chronos was here for that specific reason and he knew what Mick had been through, if he felt a tenth of the pain and the suffering, then he wasn't unlike Mick. He was him in a way. Just differently made.]
I doubt he cared. It wasn't a devious plan with other motives or a big event to make distraction, he just wanted to hurt you. All of you.
[ ray starts to tend to the decluttering, forgetting the coffee he'd brought himself, and the pile of treats besides. ]
There's nothing of us in them, not really. They might walk like you and talk like you and maybe even do what you think they would because you're similar but you aren't. Not even a little.
[ the person he trusts when it comes to wonderland how-to had taught ray this less than a year ago. it's something he believes implicitly. he has to. ]
I don't think my mirror is much different to how I was once. Only he didn't get his closure, I did. I see me in him and I can't help that. I ain't as much of a bastard but I got it in me.
[Mick has a feeling there's a bigger story here, Ray doesn't even seem to want to entertain the idea. Mick shakes his head a little.]
Look, buddy, I ain't saying every single one of them is like us. Some of them are far out there, I can't even recognise them. I'm just saying that Chronos is like me. I was Chronos. He feels how I felt.
[ he continues cleaning, but he's shaking his head through every word mick says. he can't entertain the idea, not a moment of it. he won't ever let himself think of them as worth the air they breathe. ]
That's just ... really dangerous to think that way about them. He can't come back like you did, he's just a bad copy.
[ not that they'd deserved mick back, after everything. but that was the point. mick was good enough to offer up forgiveness where it wasn't warranted. ]
He was a lot like me. He looked like me, he hated you idiots like I did and he was packing the heat gun. I'm not saying I'm in love with the fact I got to deal with this shit again but he's a lot like I was.
[Mick shrugs his shoulders.]
Once I was like that. Once I would have killed you without hesitation and we both know it. We've seen it. Don't deny what my nature once was.
[ and to ray, whatever that thing over there is, it's not a version of this mick. not from any time.
and that makes ray remember his own place on the team, and in his dynamic with mick. he forces a smile and walks past mick to pick out the one flourless cupcake in the bunch. he wedges it in his broken hand and peels the paper back with his good one. ]
If you were, you'd have killed me just a moment ago. I'm just glad to have you back, buddy.
I know, I don't need the pep talk. Look, I know that everyone on that stupid ship thinks if the right circumstances came along, I'd switch it up and become a no-good thug in seconds. Like I'd just abandon all of my morals and go back to killing but that ain't me.
[And seeing Chronos, hearing about what he wanted to do, what he did, it really drove it home for Mick. He wasn't that guy any more. He was better. Better didn't mean bad, it just meant... better. And he was slowly becoming okay with that.]
I'm not that guy. I don't feel responsible for my mirror because that ain't me. And whether or not people believe that, I don't care. I don't care what people think about me. I know what I am.
[Mick watches Ray fumbled to unwrap his cupcake before sighing and shaking his head.] I'm not doing this as a penance either, just so we're clear. I'm doing it cause I want to. I do everything cause it's what I want to do. And right now, I feel like playing nice.
[ that makes him soften more genuinely. the smile isn't forced, and he doesn't sound like he's trying to convince himself of anything. he forgets that words don't always do much for mick. but he'd also accepted that he couldn't help him back home too readily, too. ]
I know, man.
[ if this mick suddenly snapped, ray would die trying to bring him back. but faced with the mirror version of chronos? he'd die trying to kill that thing. ]
I think most of this stuff is toast, but the metal might be salvageable. Looks better all melted like that, if you ask me. Unique.
[ he's totally talking just about the furniture. yep. ]
[Mick growls a little under his breath and instinctively kicked some rubble... of course that minor kick was to a load bearing leg of the one remaining table, mostly buried in smashed metal and flooring. That then fell. Loudly. And crushed several things under it as it fell.
Whoops.
Mick winces and turns back, giving Ray a slightly sheepish look. A rare look from Mick.]
Ah. Shit. I didn't think it'd break like that. [And, behind Mick, one of the light fittings from the ceiling fell down, as if to make a point that yeah, no, this place is fucked. At least that one wasn't Mick's fault... kinda.]
[ he means to laugh but the destruction makes ray jump. and it makes his cupcake jump, and then the light crashes and his cupcake's upside down on the floor.
ray pauses to consider his luck before bending over in laughter. between huffs of air, he ekes out: ]
Maybe we should just burn it the rest of the way down.
[Well, at least things couldn't get that much worse - God, please, don't get worse. He has no idea how to handle things being worse than this cause this is his limit right here.
Of all the things he's ever done to Haircut, he feels worst about his cupcake - r.i.p cupcake]
How about we call it a day and get more cupcakes and beers?
Rip can't get out of bed and I don't know where the hell Pretty is but I can probably get Snart to meet us.
[He just won't mention Ray or Leoonard will magically have an excuse. The last time he asked, Leonard was washing his hair - what fucking hair and how does it take more than two seconds?]
You hit up Nancy, I'll hit up Snart and we'll go see Rip.
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eyes wide, mouth caught between smile and grimace, he just nods. a lot. ]
Right. Yeah. No hugging, yeah. Of course. That would be ridiculous.
[ it turned out that standing still did not fool gertrude. it seems ray thinks that perhaps it will work on mick, though. weeble. wobble. weeble. wobble. ]
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[Mick backs up warily, not unlike a dog who's tail keeps getting pulled by a hyperactivity toddler. There is a lot of uncertainty as he sort of loops around Ray to get to the food. Do not sneak hug him.
He will break your nose.
Once he has his hand on the food, he grunts a little and pulls out a cupcake, distracting himself with that and trying to give Ray a moment to compose himself and stop trying to get cuddly.]
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[ once mick's past him, ray relaxes, and he lets out a laugh that's half stress-relief and half genuine. his casted wrist swings up in front of him on display. ]
He didn't touch my ass, actually.
[ the laugh turns to a smirk that's far too cocky for the situation. ]
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[Mick pretty much shoves a whole cupcake into his mouth and chews it a few times before it's entirely gone, swallowing hard and feeling very content with himself. Cupcakes were always the best.
Idly kicking some of the rubble, Mick looks around this place for anything still salvageable.]
Chronos really did a number on this place.
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[ not in ray's opinion anyway. mirrors aren't something you give any sort of empathy. ever. ]
Think he would've cared that I had some data from the experiments responsible for all this?
[ it wasn't the best reason for chronos to trash the place, but it's on ray's mind. that was data that hurt to lose. ]
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[If Chronos was here for that specific reason and he knew what Mick had been through, if he felt a tenth of the pain and the suffering, then he wasn't unlike Mick. He was him in a way. Just differently made.]
I doubt he cared. It wasn't a devious plan with other motives or a big event to make distraction, he just wanted to hurt you. All of you.
[That was the motive of Chronos. Always.]
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[ ray starts to tend to the decluttering, forgetting the coffee he'd brought himself, and the pile of treats besides. ]
There's nothing of us in them, not really. They might walk like you and talk like you and maybe even do what you think they would because you're similar but you aren't. Not even a little.
[ the person he trusts when it comes to wonderland how-to had taught ray this less than a year ago. it's something he believes implicitly. he has to. ]
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[Mick has a feeling there's a bigger story here, Ray doesn't even seem to want to entertain the idea. Mick shakes his head a little.]
Look, buddy, I ain't saying every single one of them is like us. Some of them are far out there, I can't even recognise them. I'm just saying that Chronos is like me. I was Chronos. He feels how I felt.
[And Mick has accepted that.]
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That's just ... really dangerous to think that way about them. He can't come back like you did, he's just a bad copy.
[ not that they'd deserved mick back, after everything. but that was the point. mick was good enough to offer up forgiveness where it wasn't warranted. ]
He's nothing like you, or like the real Chronos.
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[Mick shrugs his shoulders.]
Once I was like that. Once I would have killed you without hesitation and we both know it. We've seen it. Don't deny what my nature once was.
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[ and to ray, whatever that thing over there is, it's not a version of this mick. not from any time.
and that makes ray remember his own place on the team, and in his dynamic with mick. he forces a smile and walks past mick to pick out the one flourless cupcake in the bunch. he wedges it in his broken hand and peels the paper back with his good one. ]
If you were, you'd have killed me just a moment ago. I'm just glad to have you back, buddy.
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[And seeing Chronos, hearing about what he wanted to do, what he did, it really drove it home for Mick. He wasn't that guy any more. He was better. Better didn't mean bad, it just meant... better. And he was slowly becoming okay with that.]
I'm not that guy. I don't feel responsible for my mirror because that ain't me. And whether or not people believe that, I don't care. I don't care what people think about me. I know what I am.
[Mick watches Ray fumbled to unwrap his cupcake before sighing and shaking his head.] I'm not doing this as a penance either, just so we're clear. I'm doing it cause I want to. I do everything cause it's what I want to do. And right now, I feel like playing nice.
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I know, man.
[ if this mick suddenly snapped, ray would die trying to bring him back. but faced with the mirror version of chronos? he'd die trying to kill that thing. ]
I think most of this stuff is toast, but the metal might be salvageable. Looks better all melted like that, if you ask me. Unique.
[ he's totally talking just about the furniture. yep. ]
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[Mick growls a little under his breath and instinctively kicked some rubble... of course that minor kick was to a load bearing leg of the one remaining table, mostly buried in smashed metal and flooring. That then fell. Loudly. And crushed several things under it as it fell.
Whoops.
Mick winces and turns back, giving Ray a slightly sheepish look. A rare look from Mick.]
Ah. Shit. I didn't think it'd break like that. [And, behind Mick, one of the light fittings from the ceiling fell down, as if to make a point that yeah, no, this place is fucked. At least that one wasn't Mick's fault... kinda.]
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ray pauses to consider his luck before bending over in laughter. between huffs of air, he ekes out: ]
Maybe we should just burn it the rest of the way down.
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[Well, at least things couldn't get that much worse - God, please, don't get worse. He has no idea how to handle things being worse than this cause this is his limit right here.
Of all the things he's ever done to Haircut, he feels worst about his cupcake - r.i.p cupcake]
How about we call it a day and get more cupcakes and beers?
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Think Snart would want to meet us? Rip and Nate?
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[He just won't mention Ray or Leoonard will magically have an excuse. The last time he asked, Leonard was washing his hair - what fucking hair and how does it take more than two seconds?]
You hit up Nancy, I'll hit up Snart and we'll go see Rip.
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We'll bring the party to Rip. He'll love that.
[ :D :D :D ]
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[Mick knows Rip would hate it but it's not like it would bother him so much. If he wants to party, he wants to party.]
Good thinking, haircut.