07-04-2019, 10:28 PM
Troy saw that the continuing to engage Helen now would just prolong things, and turned to finish defusing Julie before coming back to her.
"Susan's going to be all right, Sunflower. I don't know how to fix all of this at the moment, which is why I need you here, with me. The other two-thirds of the reason I didn't suggest you go somewhere safe with her were becaue I knew you wouldn't; and I had hoped you wouldn't. Because I can deal with absolutely anything if My Julie is by my side. I know nothing bad can happen to either us when we're together."
"Susan doesn't have either of us right now." Julie whispered back.
"No, she doesn't. And if we try to go after her, we'll just make things worse. Helen sent Velazquez with her, that woman can take care of any Triads by herself. She's also with Mander, whom we don't know all that well, however, Helen wouldn't have brought him unless he was OK and good at what he does. I'm more worried right now that Susan's going to come home and find that the OTHER two women I love most in the world have killed each other over her."
His words calmed Helen down as well, and she righted what was left of a chair and sat down.
"Dammit, Troilus, stop being right all the time."
Troy's phone buzzed. He checked the message.
"There's something outside. Can you two not kill each other long enough for me to go get it?"
Helen nodded and took a drag. Julie nodded as well. Troy stood and left the room. Once they were alone again, Helen spoke.
"I told her that she wasn't expendable. How I'd never forgive myself, and neither would you two. But that's not even the VERY worst possible outcome I can think of, Julie. Even worse than that thought, or the thought of you and Troy getting killed, is the thought of ONLY you OR Troy getting killed! Because I know that neither of you would be able to live for one minute in a world without the other."
"I think of that sometimes. I worry more about what Troy would do without me than what I'd do without him. That's why if anything ever happens to me, they both have triggers to remember how I would want him and Susan to be together and honor my memory by loving each other just as much, if not more, than we do."
"Nobody could love anyone more than you two." Helen thought a second. "That reminds me, I looked up that Bechdel Test thing, and you were totally right. To possibly just now make up a word, we suck at Bechdeling."
The two of them were laughing by the time Troy returned with a giant bag of random chocolate.
* * *
Susan Bailey drove into Seattle. Or, more accurately, crawled inch-by-frustrating-motherfucking-inch up I-5 and onto the Pike Street Exit.
"You have two major streets," Primo Tenente Marisol Velasquez of La Squadra de Ultimados asked her from the passenger seat. "Called Pike and Pine, running parallel through the middle of the city? People are not confused by this?"
"Oh, often. I have a theory about that." Susan replied. I think that Seattle's original city planner was told that he was fired on a Monday, but to finish out the week. So, he hit the bar at lunch, got all liquored up, then came back to work and said, 'I'll lay out your fucking city for you!'"
At the bottom of the off-ramp, Susan saw why getting into the city had involved more drivers whose sole purpose for living was to be slow in front of her than usual. security officer were directing traffic around the protest zone, trying to keep the crowds contained. Although no violence had yet occurred, she noticed that the riot cops at the barricade already had gas masks on.
"I was just a kid when WTO happened." She told Velasquez and Mander; who was sitting in the middle of the back seat, between them. "I remember someone describing the riot squad moving in as 'a wall of Darth Vaders.'" She looked at Mander in the rear-view mirror. "That wasn't another cover for one of these auctions, was it?"
"Don't think so." Mander replied. "I'm not connected like Her Countessness. Only way a geezer like me gets in'd be as someone like 'erself's Plus One, so I ain't on the list. But not all of 'em are the Auctioneers, though. Sometimes, these fancy, do-nothin' conferences 're exactly what they say on the tin."
"I don't think I've ever heard anyone but Captain Jack Harkness use that expression." Susan replied with a smile. "Hey, just a thought, that reporter did have a decent question: Why is STRANGERS being held in Seattle, and America wasn't even invited?"
Mander and Velasquez both suddenly started laughing at that.
"Ya think..." Mander explained between laughs. "ANYONE in the world... wants 'at turd you spray-painted orange... stuck a Tribble pelt on top... an' call it Dipshit-In-Chief... 'avin' ONE MORE doomsday weapon?"
"Susan's going to be all right, Sunflower. I don't know how to fix all of this at the moment, which is why I need you here, with me. The other two-thirds of the reason I didn't suggest you go somewhere safe with her were becaue I knew you wouldn't; and I had hoped you wouldn't. Because I can deal with absolutely anything if My Julie is by my side. I know nothing bad can happen to either us when we're together."
"Susan doesn't have either of us right now." Julie whispered back.
"No, she doesn't. And if we try to go after her, we'll just make things worse. Helen sent Velazquez with her, that woman can take care of any Triads by herself. She's also with Mander, whom we don't know all that well, however, Helen wouldn't have brought him unless he was OK and good at what he does. I'm more worried right now that Susan's going to come home and find that the OTHER two women I love most in the world have killed each other over her."
His words calmed Helen down as well, and she righted what was left of a chair and sat down.
"Dammit, Troilus, stop being right all the time."
Troy's phone buzzed. He checked the message.
"There's something outside. Can you two not kill each other long enough for me to go get it?"
Helen nodded and took a drag. Julie nodded as well. Troy stood and left the room. Once they were alone again, Helen spoke.
"I told her that she wasn't expendable. How I'd never forgive myself, and neither would you two. But that's not even the VERY worst possible outcome I can think of, Julie. Even worse than that thought, or the thought of you and Troy getting killed, is the thought of ONLY you OR Troy getting killed! Because I know that neither of you would be able to live for one minute in a world without the other."
"I think of that sometimes. I worry more about what Troy would do without me than what I'd do without him. That's why if anything ever happens to me, they both have triggers to remember how I would want him and Susan to be together and honor my memory by loving each other just as much, if not more, than we do."
"Nobody could love anyone more than you two." Helen thought a second. "That reminds me, I looked up that Bechdel Test thing, and you were totally right. To possibly just now make up a word, we suck at Bechdeling."
The two of them were laughing by the time Troy returned with a giant bag of random chocolate.
* * *
Susan Bailey drove into Seattle. Or, more accurately, crawled inch-by-frustrating-motherfucking-inch up I-5 and onto the Pike Street Exit.
"You have two major streets," Primo Tenente Marisol Velasquez of La Squadra de Ultimados asked her from the passenger seat. "Called Pike and Pine, running parallel through the middle of the city? People are not confused by this?"
"Oh, often. I have a theory about that." Susan replied. I think that Seattle's original city planner was told that he was fired on a Monday, but to finish out the week. So, he hit the bar at lunch, got all liquored up, then came back to work and said, 'I'll lay out your fucking city for you!'"
At the bottom of the off-ramp, Susan saw why getting into the city had involved more drivers whose sole purpose for living was to be slow in front of her than usual. security officer were directing traffic around the protest zone, trying to keep the crowds contained. Although no violence had yet occurred, she noticed that the riot cops at the barricade already had gas masks on.
"I was just a kid when WTO happened." She told Velasquez and Mander; who was sitting in the middle of the back seat, between them. "I remember someone describing the riot squad moving in as 'a wall of Darth Vaders.'" She looked at Mander in the rear-view mirror. "That wasn't another cover for one of these auctions, was it?"
"Don't think so." Mander replied. "I'm not connected like Her Countessness. Only way a geezer like me gets in'd be as someone like 'erself's Plus One, so I ain't on the list. But not all of 'em are the Auctioneers, though. Sometimes, these fancy, do-nothin' conferences 're exactly what they say on the tin."
"I don't think I've ever heard anyone but Captain Jack Harkness use that expression." Susan replied with a smile. "Hey, just a thought, that reporter did have a decent question: Why is STRANGERS being held in Seattle, and America wasn't even invited?"
Mander and Velasquez both suddenly started laughing at that.
"Ya think..." Mander explained between laughs. "ANYONE in the world... wants 'at turd you spray-painted orange... stuck a Tribble pelt on top... an' call it Dipshit-In-Chief... 'avin' ONE MORE doomsday weapon?"
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