shrinkage | ( ARCHIVED )

Being worried about my partner? Why?

Yeah but we went over this, Len.
This doesn't feel like worry. This feels like you can't let go of what you chose to put in motion.

You read too much Machiavelli, Raymond.

You knew he'd be alone.
But that was OK when you didn't think you'd have to face what that actually meant for him.

Yeah. Sure. What a selfish bastard.

Yeah, I've been told I know a little something about that.
I don't know how to help him, Len. We tried. I can't be anything but what I am and I don't think it's enough.

Edited 2017-04-21 14:41 (UTC)

All right.

Ain't on you.

You either.
And for the record? I don't think you're selfish.

Whatever.

I can't be who Mick needs anymore. Maybe no one can. With me, he can't even look at me. Maybe you can give it a shot. I don't know. But you are why he's still a Legend. Whatever that is. You told me that before he ever got here.

I don't think there's an easy answer.
What do /you/ need?

I'm dead. Pretty low maintenance.

If I throw you a funeral I'm making Rip do the eulogy.

Look I won't pretend it's the same, but when everyone thought I was dead back in Star City, it was important for them to move on. I was gone and buried, it was done. That's the rule-- a person dies, and they stay dead so that everyone else can move on with their lives.

And when I came back, my life wasn't there waiting for me. Everything was different and I didn't fit anymore. Death isn't supposed to hurt the dead, it's supposed to hurt those we leave behind. Those are supposed to be the rules. But with you in his face-- as a hallucination, as the real you? Mick doesn't have to move on.

Everyone wants to say that Wonderland's given you a second chance, but I think we both know that's not the truth at all. The rules are different, and we have to figure out how to deal with that.

I'm sorry.

Yeah. That's precisely it.

[Is he lowkey impressed that Ray actually caught on to that? Maybe. But he's not admitting it either way.]

Other than not being in his face? No can do anyway. Apparently he just hallucinates me when I'm not available in person.

I think he doesn't want to cope. You've been partners since you were kids, right? Even with closure, that's not something a person moves past easily. And Mick's the most stubborn person I've ever known.

[ and he's worked with oliver queen. and felicity smoak. and y'know. himself. ]

He sees me as someone to look after. I can't figure out how to turn it around on him, you know? I'm Haircut. Boy Scout. Pretty. None of those really evoke the kind of respect he'd trust when it comes to this stuff. But I can try again. I can talk to him. Get punched, probably.

Since juvie, yeah. Mick's got a thick head. He gets in his own way. I can usually handle him. Used to.

Just do what you want to do. Guess it ain't really my business anymore.

Although, for the record, he used to call me all sorta nicknames too.