(no subject)

[spoileralert]

WHO: Stephanie Brown
WHERE: The Fountain, 6I inn
WHEN: July 16
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: Violence and injury in the narrative

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A moment ago (or maybe it was hours, who could even tell anymore?) Steph would have told you she was dead. It seemed obvious. She'd been fighting for hours before she was captured, throwing herself against enemy after enemy in a desperate attempt to get things under control. Then she'd been in the hands of a sadist for... days? Weeks? A lifetime. Getting shot in the chest was just icing on the cake. Definitely dead, she would have told you.

Now she burst through the water's surface with a gasp like a quiet scream. There was only one thought in her head: If I'm alive, I want to stay that way. She dragged herself to the edge of the fountain with sheer desperation, certain she was still in the clutches of the Black Mask.

[ Later ]

The inn was like something out of a movie. Then again, Steph’s experience with hotels was pretty limited to Gotham City shitholes where criminals go to hide. She tried not to think about that as she hugged the peacoat tight around herself next to the fire. It probably wasn’t the best look for a girl, staring blankly into a fire, huddled in a coat on a warm summer evening, but her black scrub top was still drying next to her. And besides, the warmth was comforting after a frankly harrowing however-long-it-was.

She didn’t shy away from company, she just didn’t seek it out either. She seemed more adrift than anything. She wasn’t sure where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do.